Monday 28 December 2020

New Nessie Sighting ?

Nessie filmed again?

A mother has been left 'baffled' by a mysterious grey object on the surface of Loch Ness, she spotted during a walk- which has become the 13th Nessie sighting of this year.   

Mother-of-two Louise Power, 38 and her mother Jennifer Macrae, 60, said they spotted the lake monster during a stroll along the Great Glen Way above Temple Pier at Drumnadrochit - where Mrs Power, 38, has lived all her life next to Loch Ness. 

Mrs Power, a local high school clerical assistant said: 'Mum saw it first and said 'look!' and I just said 'be quiet'. 

'I expected to see a seal or something but we spent 20 minutes watching this thing moving slowly along the middle of the loch. 

'There was a wake after it and during that time it did not disappear - it just kept moving slowly.

'Then it turned towards Dores with a big wave and just went under the water and disappeared.

'I just couldn't believe it. It was quite big and whitish grey. I couldn't put an exact size on it - other than it was big.  

Read rest see video here :

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9092585/Nessie-spotters-claim-13th-sighting-year.html?fbclid=IwAR0m0N__FeCgQ0825CmvFGXRc4UpeJzZBSU7CuTL52zA3Io15xB-HfZ4CxY

Thanks to Mike Playfair for sending me this x

Wednesday 23 December 2020

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays

 Merry Cryptid Christmas

I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas or if you prefer Happy holidays. Thank you for reading and supporting the blog for another year. Its been a very tough year for us all. There have been quite a few Nessie sightings and Bigfoot reports to lighten the gloom somewhat. Lets hope the Covid vaccine is soon available to all and is a success. Its not a monster that ground the world to a halt but a microbe.I wish you all the very best  time you can have and will be back in the new year .xx


PS If you like crypto fiction my books are available on Amazon. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=tabitca+cope&ref=nb_sb_noss

Wednesday 16 December 2020

Creatures of Long Lakes

 

 

Long Lakes Creatures

There are several lakes called Long Lake in the USA. At least two of them are said to have monsters.

Long Lake State Park

In 1993  a Milwaukee newspaper carried an article about a monster sighting in Long Lake by several campers from the Milwaukee area.They said it was dark,serpent like and  had an undulating movement causing waves to hit the shore.

In the Summer of 1994, Beth Quinn was vacationing on Long Lake when she witnessed a  strange sight. Quinn said that "I saw a big black swan type sea monster. It had a dragon type face." She was close enough to the creature to clearly see that it was not a swan or a duck - in fact it wasn't like anything she'd ever seen before. She ran into a nearby cabin to fetch her companions . When she came back out with the rest of the group, the creature had already disappeared back under the surface of Long Lake.

In 1998 a woman reported seeing a huge dark object several hundred feet off shore. It moved with a violent undulating motion which sent waves rolling over a pier and then crashing into the shore.

Four years later a couple who were staying in the Long Lake state park stopped at the Din's Garage, Dundee for some ice. They told the proprietor that they spotted an eel like monster about 28 feet long swimming along the shore of the state park beach. It was dark brown with light brown spots. It gradually submerged out of sight.

A 3 foot long salamander like creature was reported crossing Highway  67 that runs along Long Lake. I have no date for this but it was speculated it was a baby lake monster.

I could find no recent reports but something was causing a stir in Long Lake State Park.

 

Long Lake Massachusetts.

In 2018 two local scientists claimed they saw a  long-necked aquatic animal rising above the surface of Long Lake in Littleton, Massachusetts.

Dr.Timothy Ahearn and Dr, Lawrence Millman, were boating along the shores of the lake around 11 PM when they saw a large serpent-like form rise out of the water. The creature stared at them briefly and then arched its back and submerged.

“It looked like your classic Loch Ness Monster, “ Millman said. “Or descriptions I’ve read of Lake Champlain’s creature, Champy, and I would have thought I imagined it, except that Tim saw it too.”

It rose about five feet above the water and  had a snake-like body and a head that resembled some sort of reptilian otter.

Dr. Ahearn, who lives on the lake, has seen a giant water scorpion just below the ice. Eels, black water snakes and an unusually large snapping turtle have also been seen in the lake over the years.

A legend among the local indigenous people the Nashobah talks of a of a lake creature known as the Ap’chinic, although that was described more like an octopus.

On the one hand the lake is quite shallow so not the usual depth for a lake monster,on the other scientists are unlikely to be involved in a hoax. What do you think,is there a monster in Long Lake Littelton?

Wednesday 9 December 2020

The Grassman ,Ohio Bigfoot?

 

The Ohio Grassman

The Ohio Grassman sometimes called Orange Eyes is reported to be a type of bigfoot that lives in the Ohio woods. It gets its name from eating tall grass and wheat  although it has been seen hunting game.Three-toed footprints have been reported as being  seen in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The Grassman is reportedly  7 to 9 feet tall and weighs approximately 300-pound.

In the 1700s the  Indigenous people  of the Ohio grasslands told stories  of a race of ape-men, called the Wild Ones of the Woods. They would leave out food and offerings for them.

In 1869 there was a spate of sightings reported near the Ohio River . One man claimed a hairy biped tried to drag him from his horse and carriage .It ran off  when his daughter threw stones at it.

One of the most reported sightings was in 1978 at Evelyn and Howe Cayton’s home. Evelyn and Howe were relaxing indoors  when suddenly their children and some friends came running into the house screaming. They said  that whilst they were playing outside they came across a monster in a gravel pit. The pair headed outside and saw a creature covered in matted  dark hair that was about 7 feet tall and weighed about 300 pounds. The Grassman simply stood there but the Claytons fled.

The Claytons would see the Grassman again several times. One night they saw it peering at them through their kitchen window. Howe went to get his gun, but the creature  was gone before he returned. The police were called  and several footprints were spotted  in the mud and a terrible smell still lingered in the air. On another day the Grassman was seen by the Claytons on a hill near the strip mine. The next month the couple observed two hairy bipeds on the same hill. Some days before  the Claytons' German Shepherd was found dead, its neck broken,thought to have been  killed by the Grassman.

 Over 36 sightings have been reported to Don Keating of Newcomerstown since the middle 1980s. Keating decided to host the ‘Annual Bigfoot Conference’ at Salt Fork starting in 2005.

More recently this year whilst hiking in the woods at Salt Fork State Park, two Ohio men claim they saw a Bigfoot .On January 12th, the two hikers said they found themselves staring at a figure that had characteristics of Bigfoot: a hairy, upright-walking ape creature. “Seeing the creature was scary,” said Nathan Gray, of Winterset, a crossroads located just east of Salt Fork State Park. “When I couldn’t see it anymore, that was terrifying.”

With so many reports going back to 1700s ,there must be something that people are seeing. Whether it is the Grassman or Bigfoot we won’t know until definite evidence turns up.

Monday 7 December 2020

Christmas Monsters!

Christmas is also for Monsters!

 Not all Christmas creatures are benign like Santa Claus. Krampus looks like a demonic goat who walks on its hind legs like a human. He punishes naughty children, beating them with birch branches and carries a basket on his back so he can carry off a child to eat later.The 5th of December is Krampusnacht ,men in homemade Krampus costumes run around Alpine villages causing havoc. These 'Krampus Runs' continue today. The Karakoncolos looks like a cross between the Devil and a Sasquatch. In Turkey, the legend says he would stand at street corners on winter nights setting riddles for passers-by. If the traveller gave an answer that included the word ‘black’ they were free to go on their way. If not, he would strike them dead .Sometimes the Karakoncolos would just put them in a trance and leave them to roam free. In Serbia, the story says the Karakoncolos jumps on the victim’s back and uses them as a ride. The exhausted person was only released at dawn. Jólakötturinn is the Icelandic Yule Cat or Christmas Cat. Jólakötturinn, who first appeared in the 19th century, a huge, ferocious beast with razor-like whiskers, blazing eyes and terrible claws who consumed any child who did not receive new clothes on Christmas Day.It is tied into an Icelandic tradition in which those who finish their work on time received new clothes for Christmas, while those who were lazy did not . Jólakötturinn could tell who the lazy children were because they did not have at least one new item of clothing for Christmas and these children would be eaten by the Yule Cat. Then there is the macabre skeleton mare of Welsh tradition,Mary Lwyd, which rises from the dead and wanders the streets with her undead attendants, to remind the living of their existence. Mary Lwyd wants to to get into your house. To keep the zombie horse out, you must engage in a battle of rhymes . Usually singing the rhymes to which the zombie horse replies.On New Year’s Eve, the undead mare is represented by a puppeteer parading a horse skull on a pole draped in white cloth around the towns and villages. Next there is a creature from Scandinavian folklore who looks like a gnome and lives among the dead inside burial mounds called the Tomten.He can act as a caretaker of the household, that is if you keep on his good side. The Tomten has quite the temper and is known for biting people who upset him. The bites are poisonous and deadly. People leave a gift of food out on Christmas Eve for the Tomten. One of Iceland’s creatures associated with Christmas is Gryla a giant troll who is bad tempered with an insatiable hunger for children. Each Christmas, Gryla comes down from her mountain dwelling to hunt for naughty children. She catches them in a sack and takes them back to her cave where she boils them alive for her favourite stew.

 A Cryptozoology Christmas Carol To be sung to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas: 

 On the first day of christmas I received in the post an owlman in a large tree
 On the second day of christmas I received in the post two thunderbirds 
 On the third day of christmas I received in the post three almas
 On the fourth day of christmas I received in the post four ozark howlers
 On the fifth day of christmas I received in the post five gold ogopogos
 On the sixth day of christmas I received in the post six bunyips laying
 On the seventh day of christmas I received in the post seven Nessies swimming
 On the eigth day of christmas I received in the post eight chupacabras sucking
 On the ninth day of christmas I received in the post nine yetis dancing
 On the tenth day of christmas I received in the post ten spring heeled jacks leaping 
 On the eleventh day of christmas I received in the post eleven black dogs howling 
 On the twelfth day of christmas I received in the post twelve bigfoots drumming And an owlman in a large treeeeeee. 
(First posted 2009)

Wednesday 2 December 2020

More Discoveries About Megalodon.

 

 

Megalodons  the Ocean’s Most Ferocious Prehistoric Predators, Raised Their Young in Nurseries,

Millions of years ago, monstrously sized sharks named megalodons dominated the ocean. These giants grew larger than modern day humpback whales, casually snacked on animals like dolphins and seals, had the strongest bite force of any creature to ever exist—yes, including T. rex. But despite being fierce predators, a new study published last week in the journal Biology Letters suggests that megalodons were pretty good parents and raised their young in nurseries, reports Mindy Weisberger for Live Science.

Nurseries provide a safe haven for baby sharks to grow before they depart to take on the great blue sea. They are typically found in warm, shallow waters, such as coral reefs and mangroves, that offer an abundance of food. Nurseries also shield baby sharks from predators and protect them as they learn to hunt, reports Melissa Cristina Márquez for Forbes. And this behavior didn't die out with the megalodons—some modern-day shark species, like great whites and catsharks, also raise their young in nurseries.

This discovery also offers a new theory to how the world's most ferocious predator went extinct more than 3 million years ago, which remains a pervasive mystery. They know that megalodons thrived during a period of warm temperatures that lasted for millions of years. But as the climate cooled about 5 million years ago, it could have reduced the availability of suitable nurseries for the sharks to raise their young. And without good nurseries, juveniles wouldn't have survived, which could have helped drive the species to extinction, reports AFP.

Read full article here :

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/even-oceans-most-ferocious-predators-were-raised-nurseries-180976419/

This further substantiates that Megalodon could not survive in today’s polluted dark cold ocean depths.

Tuesday 1 December 2020

Boonville Bigfoot?

 

The Boonville Creature

Boonville is a city in Boon Township, Warrick County, Indiana, United States .The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters

In 1936, an animal described as a “monster hairy ape,” or a “giant sloth,” was reported in Boonville.The first appearance  of the animal came in 1936, when fisherman Ralph Duff reported that a large hairy animal had attacked  his dog . Duff's wife saw the animal, which ran off when she screamed, describing it as a "towering monster larger than a bear". Ralph Duff set up bear traps along the river to catch it.

On 13th August 1937, Mrs. Duff again saw the animal, which she compared to a giant ape. Other residents of Boonville reported hearing "blood-curdling shrieks and yells". Posses were formed to search the river area. A police dog was supposedly mauled "so bad it had to be shot". Mothers kept their children indoors, traps baited with raw meat were laid with hopes of luring the creature in. Some area residents guessed it was an ape hiding in a cave near the Ohio River.

On 18 th August a man went to  the Boonville newspaper office and claimed that the animal was a giant sloth which he and his uncle had captured during an expedition to Mexico two years previously. He said they lost it near Evansville. When questioned he was uncertain if it was two-toed or three-toed, but averred that sloths came in both varieties. It had apparently been in a circus and escaped from its travelling cage.

On August 19th newspapers announced that the search was being “temporarily abandoned” and no mention was made  of resuming search.An  article, written a month later, points out that the rumours began just as blackberry season started and suggests that Boonville people spread the horror story to keep people away from their blackberry patches.

I find the sloth story not believable. A sloth is not an animal to be kept in a circus as they move slowly and don’t perform tricks. They are not normally aggressive although they can cause some damage with their claws but are not usually bigger than a bear.The fact the man did not know if it was a two or three toed sloth also casts doubt on his story. So what was the creature? A bigfoot perhaps?

Coelacanths-a living dinosaur.

 

Coelacanths: the fish that 'outdid' the Loch Ness Monster

By Emily Osterloff

The unexpected capture of a living coelacanth in the 1930s was 'the most sensational natural history discovery' of the century. In April 1939, New Zealand's Auckland Star proclaimed that the Loch Ness monster, a sensation that had caught the world's attention not long prior, had been 'outdone'.Making up for the world's disappointment that there wasn't a prehistoric creature living in a Scottish loch was the South African discovery of a strange, steel blue fish with limb-like fins.The fish was a coelacanth, one of a group that was thought to have gone extinct 70 million years earlier. But this one was alive.Coelacanths were first described by Louis Agassiz in 1836 from a 260-million-year-old fossilised fish tail. He named the genus Coelacanthus. Many more fossil coelacanths have been found since, ranging in age from 409-66 million years old.

The living West Indian Ocean coelacanth reaches up to two metres long and 100 kilograms. It's typically found 90-300 metres below the surface, in waters 18°C and below. The fish shelter in caves during the day and venture out at night to hunt cuttlefish, squid and fish. It has been suggested that they have a lifespan of 100 years.

In 1975, scientists discovered that the fish give birth to live young. Eggs hatch in the female's body, and the pups grow to about 30 centimetres before they are born after a gestation of over a year.

Finding a living coelacanth has been described as like finding a dinosaur wandering around your garden. The youngest known fossil coelacanth is 66 million years old, leading to the assumption that these animals were extinct.

Read the full story here :

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/coelacanths-the-fish-that-outdid-the-loch-ness-monster.html

Monday 23 November 2020

Green Hill Bigfoot

 

The Green Hill Monster

Oklahoma has been  a frequently reported place for bigfoot sightings.The heavily wooded south eastern area is the one most mentioned. One of the sightings occurred in  1971, when a group of local high schoolers  decided to go for a jaunt along the  back roads near Talihina one evening. They parked up  and one of the  boys wandered away from the group and into the forest. The boy came running  back to the car in a frightened state.He said he saw a hideous creature taller than a human and covered in long, matted hair.They drove quickly back to town and reported the sighting to the local sheriff.The sheriff investigated and found several dead deer in the woods .He told the local people not to venture into the woods at night  in case they were attacked.The creature was never caught.The locals later called it  the “Green Hill Monster" .I came across a report from someone who was there at the time:

In the fall of 1971 while I was in High School, several of the students were at Dressers Ranch Barn preparing a Homecoming float, when some of the Talihina, Oklahoma High School football team, drove up to the Barn yelling and screaming that they had seen something in the woods on Green Hill Road.They  said that what ever it was, was bigger than E.S. -E.S. was a football player and was well over 6 foot 3 inches tall and weighted approx. 245 lbs. E.S. would not get out of the truck, when they got to Dressers Barn. He was white as a sheet and seem to be in some sort of shock.Several of the other football players said they were there when it happened, but didn’t see anything, except E.S. passing them and locking himself in his truck. E.N. got his spot light out of his truck to shine it where E.S. had. E.N. said he seen  a large Hairy animal standing about 20 feet from him. The sheriff went to investigate The sheriff and his deputies found there were three deer, necks broken, and guts ripped out. None of the Deer had any bullet holes and were intact except for the guts being ripped out.

Historically there have been other reports . The Choctaw people’s history of Bigfoot comes from the early 1880s. Old timers who had lived there all their lives recalled Bigfoot encounters.

In archived copies of the McCurtain Gazette, two encounters had  occurred during the spring of 1926, and were recorded by the paper’s editor, W.J. Old, Sr.The first sighting was by a doctor from Haworth. He was driving his Model-T Ford one night “close to Goodwater,” when his headlights caught the big, shaggy creature darting across the road. The second encounter involved a couple of hunters who were camped along the Mountain Fork River. While stalking game west of their campsite, they topped a hill and sighted a big, black, hairy “ape-man” in a small clearing below. The men yelled at the creature, which immediately jumped up and ran away.

Then there was a report of possible baby bigfoot sighting in 2009.You can read it here: 

http://www.texlaresearch.com/ok_mccurtain_sighting01.htm

No one has yet produced a photo of the elusive bigfoot but many people believe it exists in the area. There has certainly been a long history of sightings. Hopefully there will be more in the future and an investigation.

Monday 16 November 2020

Discovery Passage Monster ?

Campbell River Creature

Campbell River or Wiwek̓a̱m is a city in British Columbia on the east coast of Vancouver Island at the south end of Discovery Passage, Discovery Passage is a strait that forms part of the Inside Passage between Vancouver Island and the Discovery Islands of British Columbia. The strait is considered the most important natural passage for vessels' entering or leaving the Salish Sea from the north.

In the winter of 1962, and again in 1963, many locals noticed something strange swimming in the waters of Discovery Passage. First seen by Mr and Mrs. Maclean, it was soon reported  by many others who also had seen something out of the ordinary. In his account Mr  Maclean described it as being “16 to 18 feet long, and is a dirty ivory colour, with streaks of red shooting through it. A short distance behind its turtle-like head is a huge hump.” He went on to say, “The neck seemed to be six or eight inches though, and it was compressible. By that I mean that it lengthened or shortened as the creature thrust its head out or drew it back.” The Maclean’s report launched a flurry of sightings and debate in the local papers about the existence of a Campbell River Sea Monster.

A second sighting of the mysterious "sea monster" within a month was reported by Mrs. J. C. Durrant of Shelter Point. She  said the creature she saw was about 25 feet long and looked like a dragon and made a hissing noise.Three weeks later  another sighting of a similar unknown beast of the sea was reported in the same area by  a Campbell River resident, who claimed it was first seen by the  Indigenous tribes of the area  200 years ago.The Baldwins also reported seeing the creature but were unable to get a photo .A blurry photo said to be taken from Quada Island did however appear in the local newspaper,along with several sketches people submitted.

After much local media attention a contest was run to name the creature , and it was christened “Klamahtosaurus” in honour of the Indigenous name for the Campbell River Spit, at the time commonly spelt Klamahto.There have been no recent reports of sightings.

James CosgroveThe marine biologist says that B.C.’s west coast is home to the Giant Pacific Octopus, which is the largest species in the octopus family.He says the largest one he's ever seen weighed 156 pounds and was 22 feet across. It’s listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. He said that may have been what people saw.Dive operator and photographer Roger McDonell of OceanFix.ca Dive Centre says the waters around Campbell River are some of the best cold water diving locations in the world, and are perfect for viewing the creature."You'll find octopus just about everywhere. There are some specific sites that we know we can go on a regular basis and find them," said McDonnel. "They're particularly a nocturnal creature so (any time) we can go for a night dive there's a better chance of seeing octopus."

However the sightings do not sound like an octopus but something much stranger so what did people see in the 1960’s in the area?

 

 

 

Egyptian Mystery

 

Egyptian Cryptids?


I have always been intrigued by the Egyptian depictions of monsters. They are found everywhere on ceremonial slates, plaques ,knife handles, inside tombs particularly at  Hierakonpolis and Naqada in Upper Egypt. These are early depictions and include winged griffins and what looks like leopards with long, winding necks (see photo) . They are thought to be inspired by models found in Mesopotamia. What if the images were also inspired by travellers and their stories? The long winding neck creature reminds of stories from other parts of Africa of prehistoric looking creatures such as Mokele- Mbeme.

There are also modern monster stories from Egypt, such as the strange carcass washed ashore in 1950 called the  Ataka animal because of the place it was found.
In January of 1950, following a gale, which raged along the banks of the Gulf of Suez, Egyptian authorities discovered huge carcass decomposing on the beach. A team of scientists were sent to try and identify the carcass.It was described as the size of a whale with two  huge walrus-like tusks, which protruded from either side of its large mouth. There was some evidence of a blow hole but no apparent eyes and a row of cilia like appendages circling its maw.
This led some to speculate that the animal may have been an unknown species of marine mammal. Eyewitnesses, at the time, claimed that there was  a large, whale-like creature swimming in the gulf just ten days before the storm. Experts could not positively identify the creature at the time , which seems odd considering that in modern times it has been dismissed as a Baleen Whale. Surely marine biologists in the 1950s knew what a Baleen whale looked like? The appearance of "walrus-like tusks" on the Egyptian carcass have been said to be the lower splayed jaws of the whale. Surely the experts in the 1950’s would have realised if it was a whale carcass , even decomposed. It has been a matter of speculation for years and there is no definite answer. So another Egyptian mystery.
.

Wednesday 4 November 2020

Lake Sidney Lanier and Strange Stories.

 Lake Sidney Lanier and the Legend of Fish Head

Lake Sidney Lanier (or  Lake  Lanier) is a reservoir in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956. Named after  American poet Sidney Lanier, it was built and is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and water supplies.The flooding covered a former town and has lead to many stories about hauntings and strange experiences in the area.

I was sent a story, an urban legend ,if you like by a former inhabitant of the area.

A pregnant  woman, was walking the shore of Six Mile Creek where it empties into the Lake, when a giant Catfish, reared  up near the shore and frightened the woman to such an extent  that when her baby was born, he resembled the Catfish. His eyes were small and beady, his mouth was nothing but a lipless slit in his face and he never grew hair. His skin was pale gray and his feet and hands had webs between the toes and fingers.This child was to become known in the local Community as “Fishhead”.He was ridiculed and made fun of so much that he shrank from society. He played by himself, retreating into the woods along the back of Six Mile Creek, fishing and playing with the animals that lived there. He didn’t attend school because of the ridicule and fear.His  Mother died when he was in his teens and he continued to live in the woods and established a home in the rocks by the Lake .Some people caught sight  of Fishhead every now and then and rumours started that a monster was living by the  side of  the lake . Two men decided to capture the boy and put him on display in a side show to make money.They set out in a boat and approached where the boy was said to live.A splash was heard and a few minutes later, they were gone. Nothing was ever found except their boat with claw marks on the side as if some animal had grabbed the side and turned the boat over.He finished by saying “All I know is that I’ve heard some strange sounds and seen some movements in the water and woods on the shore that I cannot explain.I wouldn’t go up there alone at night”

Its not the only story about the lake.There are  stories of large  catfish lurking at the bottom of the lake, big enough to swallow a dog whole. There have been an unusual number of accidents and deaths on Lake Lanier – in 2011, there were 17 deaths alone. People have reported feeling arms and legs in the water, but have not been able to find them.This has lead to tales of spirits and ghosts.

Local fishermen say that there are huge catfish in the lake up to 7 feet long and are said to attack swimmers and divers. ( Could the cat fish's whiskers be what people feel when they think it is arms and legs in the water?).It is not unknown for Wels Catfish to reach huge sizes.

These catfish are said to live in the deep waters below Buford Dam. There are reports  from divers working on the dam who have seen the huge fish for themselves. Some were said to have  refused to return to the water. One of the local tales concerning the catfish is about a truck carrying live chickens, which dove  off  the Thompson Bridge in the 1980s and sank to the bottom along with its cargo. Divers were sent down to look for wreckage who said they saw catfish “the size of 12-year-old boys” gathered about the sunken truck that were  swallowing the chickens whole. Fishermen have claimed to hook one and it then towed their boat across the lake until the line snapped.

Huge catfish have been found in other places and even found to have dragged children into the water .They are carnivorous and can develop a taste for human flesh. The cat fish story is quite likely to be true.As for Fish Head ,it is possible some poor deformed human is living in isolation by the lake ,but it may just be another story.

Irish Sea Monster

 

County Clare Sea Monster

A sea monster spotted several times during the nineteenth century near the coast of County Clare Ireland was reported to have a head like a horse, a mane of seaweed, and a large body which was hidden under the water.

The Irish Times  newspaper reported that a ‘monster’ was the subject of various reported sightings in the 19th-century, including one in 1850 when it was seen, improbably, “sunning itself near the Clare coast off Kilkee”.

In 1850, the Limerick Chronicle reported: “In September it was reported that a sea monster had been sighted near Bishop’s Island, and this was regarded by the superstitious as a certain ill omen. In the following week a Miss Evans, a visitor, disappeared after having been seen walking towards the cliffs.”

An account of the sea monster's appearance was featured in a newspaper article in the Victorian publication, The Day's Doings on 21 October 1871.The paper reported that there had been "some excitement" in Kilkee at the appearance of the "extraordinary marine visitor".It appeared before a "party of strangers, composed of several ladies and some gentlemen", one of whom was a well-known clergyman in the "north of Ireland", when they went down to "Diamond Rocks".They were watching the heavy ground swell from the Atlantic when their "attention was arrested by the appearance of an extraordinary monster who rose from the surface of the water" about 70 yards from where they were standing.The sea monster remained for "some minutes" before it "vanished in the same mysterious way that it had come".In a bid to understand more about this "extraordinary animal", the paper quotes the "renowned living naturalist" Philip Henry Gosse.Gosse's own opinion, "formed after a mature deliberation" of the evidence, was that there "were existing still some specimens of a nearly extinct race of sea monster".He concluded that the sea monster seen in Kilkee possessed "close affinities" with the fossil of an extinct group of marine reptiles known as Enaliosauria.

In early December 1875, an Irish Times reader had a very close encounter with a “most extraordinary monster of the deep” in Fodera, near Loop Head lighthouse, in County Clare.According to the Times: “Its head and neck resemble a horse, and of a reddish hue; it has short, round ears, and flowing mane, and from the poll extended two branching horns like that of a stag, with eyes glaring and protruding.”It made towards our witness, who – wisely - immediately moved to a new vantage point, further from the water - and the creature. And not a moment too soon: the creature “rose high out of the water and plunged with such force as to cause the water to fly so far and in such quantities as to drench the observer to the skin, he standing 40 feet back from the water at the time.”

The sighting lasted 40 minutes. At intervals, the beast would rear out of the water, allowing our witness a good look at its form. In addition to its stag and horse-like features, “it was observed to have the tail of a porpoise and two large fins from the shoulders, and oh the breasts were two large fatty lumps, which shook with every motion of the extraordinary creature. It then shaped its course westward, still keeping its head and neck well elevated. Its bulk far exceeded that of the largest porpoise ever seen on the coast.”

In more recent times:

7 MAY 2017 A fisherman has told of how he caught a monster 1,500lbs shark - the biggest ever in Europe - off the coast of Ireland on Thursday.Ben Bond, aged 26, spent 90 minutes struggling to reel in the deadly 25ft long sixgill shark after it took his bait off the coast of Clare.He was on a three day fishing trip to Carrigaholt with friend Ben Carter when he made the catch.The beast was eventually bought close to the 40ft long fishing boat Ben was on.After releasing the sixgill safe and well, exhausted Ben, from Ilchester in England made it back to port and celebrated with pint of beer.

Though the shark was a monster it could hardly be mistaken for the creature with a horse’s head described as seen in 1800s.What the creature was remains a mystery.

Wednesday 21 October 2020

Heavenly Lake Monster Sighted Again

 Heavenly Lake Creature 

A worker at a national park has filmed what he believed to be the famous lake monster in north-eastern China. 

Eerie footage captured by the man shows a black round object floating on the surface of the Tian Chi, or 'Heaven Lake', at the Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province.

The alpine lake is renowned for having a mysterious beast - the Chinese equivalent to the Loch Ness Monster - said to be first sighted nearly six decades ago. 

See photos ,read rest here :

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8863023/Chinas-Loch-Ness-Monster-Mountain-caretaker-shocked-spot-mysterious-beast-lake.html?fbclid=IwAR0i0j3mv4kqj4wHZAoJnq3SSfac9M6p57ytSz-h8EID8nQE7d0k8qK1M-0

Heavenly Lake is in a remote region of the Jilin Province of China on the border of the Ryanggang Province of North Korea. The lake is also known as Lake Tianchi ,Chonji Lake in Korean (Heavenly Lake in English). It lies in a crater at the top of Baekdu Mountain. It is the highest crater lake in the world, at 7,180 feet( 2360 metres) and with a depth in places of over 1,200 feet( 400 metres). A large unknown creature has been reported seen in the lake for many years. It has been described as a large greyish black animal, about 30 feet(10 metres) in length with a horse like head..

The first sighting appears to be in 1903 when one reportedly attacked three people. It was described as a huge buffalo-like creature that roared retreated underwater when they shot at it In August 1962, there were over reported sightings of two creatures chasing one another through the water.

in 1994 a Chinese State Media report quoted a sightseer by the name of Meng Fanying who stated that he watched the creature leap from the water, in a seal like fashion, 30 feet off shore.

Read rest here :

https://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2010/02/heavenly-lake-monster-seal-or-something.html

Some sightings report the creature as having fins like a whale or being seal like.The question is how did it get there?

Tuesday 20 October 2020

Blue Lakes Devil Fish

 Blue Lakes

There s a unique pair of  California lakes called Blue Lakes. They lie 135 miles north of San Francisco .Blue Lakes is two separate lakes ,Upper and Lower

The upper lake is 180 feet  deep  and 1.2 miles long. Lower Blue Lake is 25 feet deep. Blue Lakes is exceptionally popular for fishing having large mouth bass, trout, catfish etc.

From autumn  1870 until 1872, the Blue Lakes were inhabited  by a creature described as either  a Chinese Dragon or a thirty foot giant fish.

The local indigenous people have stories about a huge monster resembling a half fish and half horse, to which they call the Devil Fish. Different reports state the creature varies  in length from ten to twenty feet.  The monster is held in great dread. It is said to make its appearance on the surface of the water only once in ten years and heralds calamity and bad luck.

I also found this : One of those beings was called “Bagil”. This being lived at Blue Lake and made that location a danger to humans. Barrett, S.A. 1933, Pomo Myths, Vol 15, pg 1-608, Bulletin of the Public Museum of Milwaukee.

 

There were several articles in the Press about the sightings.

Russian River Flag, Number 4, 8 December 1870
Extract from  ‘A VOICE FROM BLUE LAKE’

It is said that there is a monster fish, or water dragon, inhabiting the upper Blue Lake. He is described as being thirty feet long and has only been seen by a few of the older inhabitants. The Indians of this country have long had a superstitious notion of the presence of his fishship and regard him as a sort of deified king of the water. They never camp close to that lake. One of my neighbors here is so strongly impressed with the belief that such a fish does inhabit the lake that he has had made a hook and is now engaged in trying to catch him. The hook is nine inches long, and attached to it is twelve feet of strong chain, which he don’t believe any fish can bite in two, and to that is attached a good large rope seventy feet long, which is firmly fastened to a tree near the water’s edge. The hook is baited with a ham of venison and is now floating in the lake awaiting the approach of this fabulous Hydra.’

A few months later a man driving a wagon on a road overlooking the upper lake shared his sighting.
Russian River Flag, Number 10, 19 January 1871

The Monster in Blue Lake
‘Your correspondent—“H.D.L.” in a most recent letter to you of this country, and among other things, mentioned a reputed inhabitant of one of those lakes. But he, like many other, myself included, discredited the existence of his fishship. My doubts were dispelled the other day, however, by an awful view of this curiosity. While coming across the grade on the bank of the upper lake last Saturday, I caught a glimpse of him swimming near the opposite shore, a distance of some four hundred yards from me. I stopped the team to have a good look at him. When I first saw him he was at a considerable depth in the water, but he soon rose to the surface, so that I could see him plainly. He moved slowly a short distance, then changing his direction swam out of sight. I should think it would measure at least twenty feet in length and five or six feet around the body.

The Indians here-abouts have the superstition that a sight of this monster devil fish, as they call him, is certain death to them. They will not fish in the lake he inhabits, (the Upper Blue Lake). I refused to believe this big fish story until convinced by the evidence of my own eyes. I find my incredulity gone but am unable to say what this huge creature is. Inhabiting the water, it is evidently a fish. Of what kind I shall make it a point to ascertain if possible. Our neighbor, who for some time has had a mammoth hook set for this monster, has never had a bite yet; but it is no wonder, since he pays no attention to his hook, and never changes the bait.’

A few months later it was seen again.

 

Russian River Flag, Number 26, 11 May 1871
The Blue Lake monster.
A private letter received here from Blue Lakes, Lake county, states that that fabulous monster of those waters has been seen again, and so plainly as to establish himself in the minds of those who saw him as a reality. A party of picnicers from Ukiah stopped on the shore of the lake, and the brass band [began] to play, when the fish, or whatever he is, came to the top of the water near shore and was plainly seen by all present. A member of the Ukiah brass band who was in Healdsburg on last Monday, confirms the report.

The Indians have always asserted the existence of this large fish, and they regard it with superstitious awe, believing it to be something supernatural; while the most of white men, excepting the few who claim to have seen it, have thought it too big a fish to swallow; but it has been actually seen too often, lately, by respectable, truthful persons, for the existence of the extraordinary creature to be longer doubted.’

The next recorded sighting occurred in 1872 .

“This monster, or Devil Fish, was seen by the Indians in March, 1872; hence large gatherings of all the tribes congregating in Big Valley, on the shore of Clear Lake, to indulge in a grand pow-wow and making peace offerings to the Great Spirit, to appease his anger and avert evils hanging over their wigwams.”
 

Whether calamity followed this appearance there is no record. I can find no reports of modern day sightings. Explanations put forward are a giant cat fish or large eel.Both plausible but unless it reappears we shall never know.

 

PS please excuse the rather derogatory language in the reports. It is the language of the time.

Friday 16 October 2020

Exciting news from Loch Ness

 Analysis of Ronald Mackenzie's sonar contact.


From Steve Felthams's Facebook page :

Ronald has recently told me that Raymarine (the manufacturers of the sonar equipment used), have informed him that his contact has been studied and that a full report will be sent to him any day.
They were able to tell him that they had identified the contact as being one solid object as apposed to two or more fish together.
Not a shoal, on distinct object.
And that single contact is between 15 and 20 feet long.
BAM!
Theres your Nessie!
We have no known animals of that size in here.
We are now waiting for their full report.
Exiting times!
A game changer.
Potentially the best indisputable evidence for large unidentified animals swimming about in Loch Ness.

Can't wait to see the full report .Fingers crossed it shows what Steve is hoping for .

Wednesday 7 October 2020

Lake Pocomoonshine Monster aka Poco

 

Lake Pocomoonshine Monster

 Pocamoonshine Lake is one of the premier smallmouth bass waters located in the famous Princeton-Grand Lake Stream area of Washington County.Its depth is approximately 40 feet (13 metres). Pocomoonshine Lake is in the north eastern Maine town of Princeton.It has a monster or giant snake nicknamed Poco.Native american legend say that the monster has been around for centuries. The monster is described as being a 30-60 foot (9-18 meters) long snake-like creature.

The creature was first documented by Europeans in 1882. The Native American name for the lake is Nesiek, which translates to “muddy from the great fight.” An Algonquin shaman had an altercation  with a Micmac chieftain and they tried to settle the matter on the lake. The shaman ,so the story goes,became a giant snail and the Micmac changed into a 40-foot long serpent. The snail won. Since then there have been sightings claimed  of a creature from the Lake that pulled itself out of the water and went over land to neighbouring Crawford Lake. Sightings have only been in water, but the curved trails of the lake monster have been seen on land.

In 1882 Sewell Quimby, who ran a nearby sawmill, confirmed seeing the trail, measuring between three and four feet wide and nearly three foot deep. It was just like a snake track, only much bigger.

 In Maine, there is only one species of water snake, the Northern water snake. At around 4-feet- long, it doesn’t fit the size of the Pocomoonshine Lake Monster. Another suggestion was that  otters swimming in line would appear like a multi humped monster.There is of course the giant eel which can travel over land and is a popular choice for lake monster sightings.There are no recent sightings unless someone knows differently                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

Lake Teedyuskung Monster

 

 

Teedy the Lake Monster

Lake Teedyuskung is a natural lake located in Pike County, Pennsylvania. There is a family resort called Woodloch Pines and a lake monster called  ‘Teedy’.

The lake has about three miles of shoreline and has a depth of 30 feet ( 10 metres). The lake  is fed by multiple springs. It has  a brown tint to the water caused by tannic acid- a natural substance given off by the  trees surrounding the lake.

Teedy is said to 10 to 15 feet long( 3 to 5 metres) and has blue grey scales.It lives in the bottom of the lake There is some speculation as to when reports of sightings started. Some say 1958 others say 1967.

I have searched local newspaper archives online but have found no reports.In fact I could find little information except that written above. The scales would suggest it is a fish or a water dwelling snake.I am hoping someone reading this may have some more information and will comment.

Sunday 4 October 2020

Is this proof of Nessie ?

 A sonar contact in Loch Ness may be proof of Nessie's existence. See article below. :

Scottish Mail on Sunday, 4 October 2020,

https://www.pressreader.com/search?query=loch%20ness&languages=en&orderBy=Date&groupBy=Language&hideSimilar=0&type=1&state=1&fbclid=IwAR25RNRxLh7jtiSE_wrhVBDpEHPtOCJe0ZZB-0GyOThdYL5vs7nNe_GxSVs

It was taken by a man who has worked on the Loch for years and who would recognise local fauna .Hopefully when it is examined by experts they will agree.


Thursday 1 October 2020

Is this bigfoot?

 A recent comment below leads to an interesting photo. So what do you think is it a bigfoot? 

lefthandedrichard said...

Looked for a contact email but couldn't find one. Have you seen this photo from Northern California. Whether it's a Bigfoot or not, it certainly isn't human.



https://kingbigfoot.com/bigfoot-eureka-park/


Wednesday 23 September 2020

The Strange Story of the Van Meter Monster

 

Over 100 years ago a strange creature was sighted in a  small town called  Van Meter in Iowa.In October  1903, strange  winged creature had been sighted around the town frightening residents . It was described as having large bat-like wings, left a terrible smell and firing beams of light from its forehead.

The Van Meter Monster was first seen by a man called  Griffith. He saw what he thought was an electric searchlight gliding across a storefront before disappearing. The next night, the town doctor was awakened by a flash of light. Grabbing his shotgun, he ran outside to find a half-human creature on the ground. He fired, and the monster leaped into the air and flew away. Bank cashier Peter Dunn later also  saw the creature and opened fire. Dunn even took a plaster cast of the "great three-toed tracks." it left behind. ( which has since disappeared)

 Then O.V.White, was awakened by a loud noise, and when he looked out his window, saw a creature sitting on top of a telephone pole. When he shot at it, positive that the bullet hit home, it simply flew away. This awakened Sidney Gregg, who had been sleeping in his store nearby. Gregg said the monster hopped like a kangaroo. The local high school teacher saw it and called it  some sort of antediluvian monster.Volunteers assembled as an armed posse. They headed for the old brickyard where J.L. Platt Jr. heard a noise down by the abandoned coal mine.

From the Des Moines Daily News on Oct. 3, 1903:

"Presently the noise opened up again, as though Satan and a regiment of imps were coming forth for battle. The monster appeared, joined by a smaller version. In a brilliant light they sailed away, only to return in the morning where the men had gathered "to rid the earth of them" with their firepower heard far and wide.The reception they received would have sunk the Spanish fleet, but aside from unearthly noise and peculiar odour they did not seem to mind it, but slowly descended the shaft of the old mine."

The Van Meter Monsters were never seen again. 

A strange tale indeed.The cast of the tracks has not been found.All those involved however were prominent citizens so unlikely to be involved in a hoax. So what could it have been? There are some bats that have enormous wing spans such as the giant golden-crowned flying fox, a.k.a. a golden-capped fruit bat, a species of megabat endemic to the Philippines. It is one of the largest bat species in the world, weighing up to 3.1 pounds but with a wingspan that can stretch to 5.6 feet.Could it have been a species of large bat ? It would appear so if it weren’t for the firing lights from its forehead.Unless the bat had very shiny eyes or perhaps phosphorescence of some kind on its head from the mine,no known species does that. There are those who speculate it was alien from another planet or from an underground world beneath our feet.(The Hollow Earth theory).Unless it returns or the cast of its footprints turns up,we will never know what occurred in October 1903.

Thursday 17 September 2020

Scott Marlowe

Just heard the sad news that cryptozoologist Scott Marlowe has passed away. He was a fellow cat lover and good friend.My condolences to his family especially his son. He did a lot of work in schools introducing children to cryptozoology .A lovely man who I will miss . Rest in Peace my friend. I hope you find the answers to all your questions .The world will be a little dimmer without your shining light.x

Wednesday 16 September 2020

Sea Serpent Sighting from 1965

 

Strange Creature Sighted on West Coast of Scotland.

Mrs Lilian Howe wrote to Tim Dinsdale about a  sighting of a strange creature off  Mingamy Pier ,Kilchoan Ardnamurchan on 21st June 1965  .Three people ,her husband,her  cousin and herself saw something about 100 yards off shore.It  looked like two humps that could be one creature moving through the water . Her husband looked through his binoculars and could see huge shape about 40 feet long.At  first he  thought it was a submarine but then he  saw legs or flippers moving at side of body causing turbulence in the water. He had seen basking sharks and other large sea creatures before but this was nothing like anything he had ever seen.

There were no other reports at the time but I came across this newspaper report  from May 1895.A similar time of year which may be significant.(if you click on it ,it should enlarge for reading easier).




Again it was someone who knew the sea and would recognise known creatures .It could be the same creature ,as sharks and whales have been known to live over 100 years. Maybe it comes back to the area for a reason; to look for a mate or to feed .It will be interesting to see if any other reports surface,or if any other  large creature is seen in the same place that could be mistaken identity.

Friday 4 September 2020

The Truth About the Megalodon

 

Megalodon discovery: Scientists reveal giant shark’s true scale

Researchers in the U.K. have revealed the true size of the megalodon, the prehistoric giant shark. Some may be disappointed that it was not a 100 foot version of the great white shark as portrayed in the movies.

Experts from the University of Bristol and Swansea University have shed new light on the giant megalodon, which is history’s largest marine predator. While the modern great white shark can be over 20 feet long, the megalodon, which lived from 23 million to 3 million years ago, was over twice the length of a great white. Scientists can now reveal the size of the rest of the megalodon’s body, including its huge fins.

The researchers note that megalodon fossils are typically huge triangular teeth larger than a human hand. Armed with data from these fossils, scientists used mathematical methods to ascertain the size and proportions of the megalodons. Comparisons were also made with the creature’s living relatives.

“Megalodon is not a direct ancestor of the great white but is equally related to other macropredatory sharks such as the Makos, Salmon shark and Porbeagle shark, as well as the great white,” said Dr. Catalina Pimiento of Swansea University, who supervised the study.

Estimates suggest it grew to between 15 and 18 metres in length, and therefore a  52.5-foot-long megalodon likely had a head 15.3 feet long, a dorsal fin approximately 5.3 feet tall and a tail around 12.6 feet high, the scientists found. “This means an adult human could stand on the back of this shark and would be about the same height as the dorsal fin,” they said, in the statement.

Source:https://www.foxnews.com/science/megalodon-discovery-scientists-reveal-giant-sharks-true-scale

Some will be disappointed that it is not a huge version of the great white .It in fact had a blunter nose and was not as large as some expected. Still a monster though.