Flixton Werewolf

 

 

 Flixton is a village about 5 miles south of Scarborough on the North Yorkshire coast. It would have been quite isolated many years ago and it is still a quiet place .Tales of a werewolf in the area go back centuries.

In 940 AD a hostel was built there  for the protection of travellers. The werewolf had reportedly attacked  sheep and local people as well as travellers. Even freshly buried corpses were dug up and partially eaten, and anyone out alone risked being attacked.

Reports stopped until 1150 when a shepherd and a girl and some farm animals were reportedly attacked and even eaten.The werewolf was reported as having a bad smell and walking on its hind legs and having a very long tail..

It went quiet again until 1800 then a carriage travelling to York was attacked just outside Flixton by a large wolf like creature .The driver was attacked and one of the travellers shot at the creature. However it survived and ran off. 
A Ghost Hunter's Road Book, by John Harries published in 1968 described a creature in the area , “A fearsome beast, equipped with abnormally large eyes and exuding a terrible stench, the animal is supposed to fell nocturnal wayfarers with its tail, which is almost as long as its body. The eyes are crimson and dart fire”.

In the early 70's more sightings were reported in the Flixton area. Locals said a truck was attacked when a huge wolf like creature jumped on the front and tried to bash its way through the windscreen.

A sighting of something strange   was reported  in 1985, by local youngster  Richard Perkins. He describes how he was out playing with friends  when they saw what they  thought was a dog in the field above. One boy went to fetch some binoculars. He was a long time  but they  kept watching the beast until he got back. They described it as big dog-like thing but it didn't look like a dog, it looked like a cat, a 'dog cat' they  thought. Richard Perkins had asked his father about what they had seen and his father told him that when keeping  exotic pets became illegal, people chucked them out into the wild. We thought this is what it could be, a 'chucked-out big cat'! . Locals said it was the werewolf.
In 2016, a story was widely reported in the media about a creature which was seen near the market town of Beverley, about 25 miles south of Flixton. There were at least seven sightings reported of a creature described as 'half man, half dog' which stood upright on its hind legs, then dropped down and ran on all fours before jumping 30 feet ( 10 metres)over the Barmston Drain drainage canal. It was reported to be at least 8 feet tall (2. 7 metres ) and covered in shaggy hair. Locals had a hunt for it but it was not found.

So is Flixton the home of a family of werewolves? There would have to be a gene passed on each generation for it to be around this long, at least 1000 years .John Harries book also mentions a magician, a shape shifter in the area.There would have been wolves in the area centuries ago but wolves have not been around in modern times except at the zoo. There is a zoo near Scarborough that has been there about 60 years in some form or another . ( I visited it as a child and I am in my 60s)Could some of the sightings be an escaped wolf or big cat? Either way an interesting history of events. If you go that way keep a sharp eye open !

Elves,Hobbits or Forest People?

Elves or Hobbits?

Icelandic Elves are referred to as Huldufólk (hidden people).They  live in rocks and cliffs where they keep animals , grow crops, go fishing etc. very like humans. The Elves keep to themselves preferring not to mix with humans. They tend to only be seen at times like Midsummer Eve.

These Hidden people are protective of their homes and will attack anyone who disturbs their peace. There are documented incidents where building projects in Iceland have been altered to avoid so called enchanted rocks and cliffs in which hidden people have made their home.

The most recent incident occurred in 2015 when a new road was to be laid through an enchanted spot in the lava field of Gálgahraun. Heavy machinery had continually broken down for no apparent reason and workers had suffered freak accidents. The construction company was forced to move the road so that it would bypass the enchanted area.

55% of Icelanders firmly believe in the existence of elves. They may be influenced by the fact that denying the existence of elves is believed to bring about a lifetime of extremely bad luck.

We may scoff at this belief in little people but could there have once been a race of small people like the Flores Hobbits, the Ebu Gogo.

Ebu Gogo is a small hairy human-like creature from the mythology of the people of the island of Flores, Indonesia.. They are said to be about one metre tall, their grapefruit-sized head covered in hair, pot-bellied, and with ears that stick out. The name translates as some thing like “thing that eats everything”.The people of Flores believe that the Ebu Gogo were alive at the time of the arrival of Portuguese trading ships in the 17th century, and some hold that they still survive but are rarely seen.Read about them here:

https://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2009/10/ebu-gogo-hobbit-ape-or-myth.html

The Forest People of Central Africa known by their respective ethnic or tribal groups, such as Bayaka, Mbuti and Twa,are a diminutive people ,short in stature.It is quite possible that other communities lived in different parts of the world leading to stories of elves and little people.There could still be some surviving groups like the Forest people living hidden from view in other countries. So elves or hobbits or simply the remnants of a community of people of diminutive stature?

The legend of the Loup-Garou or Canadian Werewolf.

Loup-Garou, the werewolf, is found in French Canadian folklore .The Loup-Garou is not always a wolf or dog, but may also take the form of a calf, a pig, a cat or even an owl.

In 1767  a terrible creature was reported as stalking through the streets of New France. The Gazette de Québec published an article saying  that a werewolf , a Loup Garou, was in the area. This was not the werewolf we normally associate with changing on the full moon.These creatures had to transform every night for101 nights. If a Loup-Garou attacks you, the advice is to throw rocks at it or stab it with a knife because if you manage to draw blood, the curse will be broken and the monster will revert to its human form.

The loup-garou  had apparently been stalking the area for years. The Gazette’s first report had been published in June, the werewolf had been seen outside the walls of Quebec City. It was  disguised as a beggar, to confuse its prey. The most recent sighting suggested the creature was heading in the direction of Montreal. The newspaper warned its readers to be careful. “It is recommended to the Public to be as cautious of him as it would be of a ravenous Wolf.”

The Gazette reported that  the people of New France organised to fight the Loup Garou in the autumn  of 1767. In October, they set their dogs upon the werewolf over and over again, seriously injuring the “monster.” On November 3, the newspaper reported that “he received such a furious Blow… that it was thought they were entirely delivered from this fatal Animal… as it soon Time after retired to its Hole, to the great Satisfaction of the Public.”

A few weeks later, the Loup Garou was back. In early December, the Gazette reported, “This Beast is not entirely destroyed, but begins again to show itself more furious than ever and makes terrible [havoc] wherever he goes.” The paper gave a chilling warning: “Beware then of the Wiles of this malicious Beast, and take good Care of falling into its Claws.”

From The Quebec Gazette, July 14, 1766 and December 10, 1767.

“One learns of Saint-Roch, near Cape Mouraska (Kamouraska) there is a werewolf running coasts as a beggar, who, with the talent to persuade it ignores and promising what he can not keep, was the one to get what he wants. It is said that this animal, with the help of his two hind feet, arrived at Quebec on the 17th and last he returned the next 18, intending to follow his mission till Montreal. This beast is said to be in its kind as dangerous as the one that appeared last year in the Gévauclan *, which is why we urge the public to be wary as a ravening wolf.

Kamouraska, December 2, we learn that a werewolf , traveling the province for several years, and did a lot of damage in the district of Quebec, received considerable number of attacks last October by various animals that had been armed and unleashed against the monster, and in particular the three following November, he received a furious blow with a small lean animal, which is believed to be fully delivered from this fatal animal, as he remained some time retired to his den, to the great satisfaction of the public.”

 After this it seems to have disappeared. Perhaps transformed back to a human? It was thought that the werewolf story or perhaps the Loup-Garou itself arrived on the ships with the early French settlers. It could, of course, have simply been a wolf .What do you think?

Sea monster 'half-mermaid half-whale' washed up on Porthleven beach

The day a sea monster 'half-mermaid half-whale' washed up on Porthleven beach

Villagers 'could see no legs to it, but it appeared to crawl on its belly, raising its body at times a little from the sand'Some described it as having a human-like head on a 48ft body. Others said it could be a mermaid. One thing is certain, something washed up on Porthleven beach long ago and it terrified the villagers.The hair-raising event happened on September 14, 1786, during a violent storm.Two local boys were running around Porthleven beach, looking for shipwrecks, when they discovered an 'enormous' creature.The story was shared upcountry in the old weekly newspaper Hereford Journal in October of the same year. It was reported by a man from Cornwall who related how villagers slew the unknown beast.

Called 'Sea Monster', the article reads: "A just and particular description of a very curious and most surprising sea monster driven on shore in Portleaven Bay (sic), on the coast of Cornwall, on the 14th of Sept. 1786, by the strong westerly winds and tempestuous weather, which continued to a violent degree for several days successively, and did much damage at that place and neighbourhood.

"This monster was first discovered by two boys who (agreeable to the custom of that place) went in search of wreck soon after day break; and as they stood on the cliff which commanded a prospect of a small sandy cove, they, at a distance of about a mile, discovered something of enormous hulk near the shore, and which after a short time they apprehended to be the side or part of an unfortunate ship which had the preceding night been broken to pieces by the extremities of the shore.

"They immediately went towards the place with sanguine expectation of great success, and as they approached the spot (the breaking waves at times leaving it dry) they were both struck with the utmost consternation to perceive such motions as it was something which had life." Terrified, the boys ran towards a group of men they knew and told them what they had witnessed.The men did not believe them at first, but eventually decided to follow them and see the monster for themselves."A great number of people soon collected themselves into a body, and determined to go armed, some with large sticks and pokers, others with hatchets, spits, etc, which was, after some deliberation, carried into execution," the article reports."On their coming near the spot they perceived it to be something living, as was represented, and it raised its head, which had not before been perceived, and appeared to direct its course towards them. All were alarmed – some stood their ground, others possessed of greater fear turned back, they could see no legs to it, but it appeared to crawl on its belly, raising its body at times a little from the sand." No one knew what the animal was."Various were the opinions about this creature; some said it was a mermaid, others a whale – but the greater number disbelieving the existence of the former, and adhering to the improbability of the latter, they were all equally at a loss," the story reports.

"When it was agreed to examine what it was, they all went towards it, and after an hour’s beating, stabbing it, etc, it expired with a groan. Its length was found to be from the top of its head to the end of its tail, 48 feet to inches, and its circumference in the largest part of the body 24 feet and a half. Its head was large, and prickly in the hinder part, and not formed much unlike that of a man; its eyes were greenish; its mouth large; its nose flat, and from its neck to the navel, resembling nearest to the human kind; its back was hard and more difficult to penetrate than the shell of a turtle; it had two short fore feet, formed like the paw of a monkey, and its hinder parts shaped measured full seven feet in width at the extent, and but five feet long."

 It is not known what was done with the body of the creature, or if anyone studied it."It is supposed a large quantity of oil will be produced from it, which, with the shell of its back, and its fins, are judged, if properly managed, to be of great value, and will be of considerable benefit to this neighbourhood," the Cornish man who sent the article added."No one that has seen it knows its name, nor has any monster like it ever been described in record, or come within the knowledge of this kingdom."

The description of the strange creature sounds very similar to a spooky sea serpent many have spotted in the Cornish waters over the years. Called Morgawr, it is said to slither its way through the sea and live off Falmouth Bay.Described as a long-necked beast with dark skin and humps on its back, it has been - reportedly - seen several times in the last 140 years.

Source:https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/day-sea-monster-half-mermaid-4302932

You can read about Morgawr here: https://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2013/09/is-there-cornish-sea-serpent.html

What was it? Sounds like an Elephant Seal.It could ,of course, be an unknown creature but without sketches/diagrams  it is impossible to know.

Will Scientists Find The Great Lakes Serpent?

Lake Huron Investigations.

Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is connected at the easterly portion of Lake Michigan by the 5-mile-wide Straits of Mackinac. More than a thousand wrecks have been recorded in Lake Huron. Lake Huron has an average depth of  200 feet but the deepest part of the lake is estimated to be 750 feet. It has sink holes or blue holes in the lake bottom. These are now to be investigated :

https://news.jrn.msu.edu/2020/07/scientists-to-explore-mysterious-lake-huron-sinkholes/

However could this be the lair of a serpent or giant snake seen in the lake and around the area?

Ojibway legends tell of the water monster "Mishebeshu" (great lynx), who is said to have an underwater den near the mouth of the Serpent River that flows into Lake Huron.One of the stories involves a young boy  13 years old.The custom of the Ojibway people,was that he  would now journey from his home,to the Sacred Spot, known today as Herman’s Point on the shores of the big lake.The boy would fast and if the spirits were pleased a vision would come. His mother accompanied him to the sacred place and left him with a blanket to protect against rain.

A few days later she returned to the sacred spot. There was no sign of the boy. The blanket she had given him was hanging on a tree. The villagers searched the area without success. Several weeks later a group of hunters noticed a great commotion in the waters. A great serpent rose above the waves, a giant creature with large horns. Clinging to the monster’s back was the young Indian Boy. After that there were many disappearances and strange noises and people began to move away.

According to a 1948 issue of the Owen Sound Sun Times, the Flowerpot Island Sea Monster was spotted by people aboard a Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Co. liner. Men yelled and a woman fainted while the serpent slid through the waters of Georgian Bay. It was reported to be a 60 feet long  green and purple scaled monster with a large horned head; this was backed by more than a dozen passengers and many crew members. The serpent apparently came within 500 feet of the ship before slipping off into the fog and rain.

"I've sailed the Great Lakes for many years," stated the captain, "and have yet to see any monster. However, some of the informants in this case have always been persons of sound judgement and character."

A mass sighting of a large group of creatures were spotted near Kincardine and were  reported in the London Ontario Free Press  July 12th, 1975.

 Locals have spoken about the creature:

I lived in Ontario Canada most of my life. I live about 2 miles away from Lake Huron. Over the years I have heard different stories from many people about huge monstrous snakes in the lake.

My Grandfather was witness to one of these snakes so was my Father and my older Brother.

I recently was in Port Elgin walking around the dock area. When I came across a huge snake skin it was about 20 feet long and about 2 feet wide.

What my Grandfather witnessed while fishing out on the lake. He said that creatures head was 3ft long and 2ft wide and with it’s neck , he said it was out of the water by at least 10 ft he didn’t really know how long it was and he didn’t want to find out .

My Father seen 2 of these snakes when he was 1r yrs old while diving off a big rock a Sauble beach . He said the creatures were 10 ft and both black.

My older Brother was diving off a boat just off the shore off Chiefs’ Point and he said he sank down about 6 ft into the water and opened his eyes and saw a huge snake head in front of him .

source:http://whalesinspace.com/2010/09/16/giant-snakes-in-lake-huron/

The Straits of Mackinac adjoining Lake Huron have also had reports of strange creatures:

https://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-straits-of-mackinac-sea-monsters.html

Lake Michigan also has sightings reported between 1867 and 1890 in the local newspapers.  Numerous sightings of  a sea serpent just off the shore in Lake Michigan. there were reports from Evanston down to Hyde Park, and the creature was described as bluish black with a greyish white underbelly and a  long neck.Then a film appeared on the internet:

https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/07/video-captures-sea-monster-swimming-near-pier-in-south-haven.html

Whatever it is, it appears to poke its head out of the water before slinking its way toward the pier. After stopping underneath it for a few seconds, it jumps back into the water quickly. The object appears to have a large tail and a dorsal fin and forked tail. A hoax? Possibly. So many stories about the area are bound to produce some.However there is often some truth in legends and oral history.

So many stories from the connecting bodies of water ,will the scientists discover anything unusual in the sink holes? I hope so.

Australia's River Monster.

Does Nessie’s cousin live down under ?

Dharuk tribal Aborigines of New South Wales, Australia,have oral traditions( stories) of enormous reptilian ‘water monsters’ living in the waterways.. They told early European settlers about these creatures in the Hawkesbury River. Ancient cave art along the river depicts these creatures, which they called ‘Mirreeulla’ (means giant water serpent). It was described as having a snake-like head, long neck, large body, two sets of flippers and an eel-like tail. In 1797 the platypus was first identified and scientifically described on the banks of the Hawkesbury River , so a place for strange beasties being found.

According to Australian naturalist Rex Gilroy, the best not only exists but that the beasties using the central coast as a breeding ground.And he says he has hundreds of reports to prove it , detailed sightings of the creature collected by himself and his wife Heather over the last 30 years, the most recent in November 2000.

"In recent years there have been sightings of creatures surfacing as far up as Windsor," Rex said. "The latest was in the St Albans where there was a report of a 25-30 foot creature spotted swimming in the river. Some people who had been out fishing saw it swimming past the jetty where they were standing, with a snake-like head about a metre or so above water."

"Information collected so far suggests to me that the creatures are breeding somewhere offshore and laying their eggs inland. This would not be out of character, as there were both freshwater and saltwater breeds during the Cretaceous period," he said."They are still being seen in the Hawkesbury River of course, which is not surprising because it is such a deep river. Actually it's a sunken valley."Sightings put the greyish black creature between 7 and 24 metres in length. Like Nessie, the Hawkesbury River monster is described as having a large body, two sets of flippers and a long snakelike neck and head.Rex said new species, as well as those previously thought to be extinct, were being constantly discovered and scientists should be more broadminded in their research.

The length of the river is up to 120 kilometres and is very deep in places so enough room for large creatures to hide. There is an abundance of wildlife and fish in the river. It is known for large fish being caught there.

One sighting took place shortly after World War II , at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River, when a Mr Doug Bradbury and another man were fishing in a small rowboat. Suddenly a giant snake-like head on the end of a long neck, rose 6 metres above the water. The men dropped their fishing equipment and rowed quickly for the nearby shore. From the shore they were able to get a good look at the creature. It displayed, apart from the long neck and serpent-like head, a large body, with two sets of long flippers which were partly obscured by the water, and a long thick eel-like tail.

Some more recent reports:

Hawkesbury River Bridge - August 1979:

“I was not seeing things. It was right there in the water, out there in the middle of the river with its snakelike head moving from side to side, four feet above the water.” That was how Miss Rosemary Turner, a young bushwalker, described the horrible reptilian creature that surfaced nearby as she stood on the bank of the Hawkesbury River, a few kilometres west of the Hawkesbury River Bridge, one August day in 1979. Rosemary had been resting during a hike in the surrounding bush and on the Sydney side of the river. The water was calm on a sunny afternoon around 3 pm, she later recalled-when, suddenly, a dark shape began to appear in the water ahead of her. "All of a sudden this large, shiny, scaly, black pair of humps rose two feet out of the water to a length of about 20 feet. I could clearly see two long flippers, at least a few feet in length, moving below the surface. At this moment a head appeared 15 feet ahead of the humps. The animal appeared to be facing an east-west position. Four feet of head and neck rose above the water and I could partly make out the tail just below the surface some feet east of the body. The head of this monster reminded me of a snake-ugly, and about two feet in length (by now she was observing the creature with her binoculars hastily snatched from their case)-but it quickly sank beneath the waves, the tail rising out of the water in a quick flip as the monster plunged into the depths, leaving a great wake in the water." All this time, Rosemary stood petrified watching the creature, still not sure what it was. All she could tell was that the animal was at least 45 to 50 feet in length.

May 1979

Report by another woman, Judy Morgan, of Sydney, who saw a huge animal in the same region at about 4 pm one Sunday in May 1979. “I had been watching water-skiers from the top of a 50-foot bank (Sydney side of the river) with my binoculars. Soon after the skiers had passed up the river in the direction of the Hawkesbury River Bridge about four miles to the east, I observed from about 300 feet out in the centre of the river a large pair of humps rise out of the water up to three feet."From where I stood I could clearly see two sets of long paddle-like flippers just below the surface, and these may have extended out at least several feet from the body. I also spotted a tail partly visible below the surface, and this rose to the surface after about a minute before submerging again. So far the creature's head had not appeared; but this suddenly also rose out of the water, snakelike, and on the end of a long, thick neck several feet above the surface. I estimate the animal could have been a good 40 feet in length, at least!"

Then I came across some more recent sightings :

The first account was from Martin Shaw, who in 1999 or 2000, saw a very strange-looking animal, that at first he thought was a log, surfacing repeatedly.From a rock 100 metres away, he estimated the animal was around the same size as a seven-metre boat he owned."It surfaced repeatedly, loafing around, and articulated around the centre, like a semi-trailer - slowly bending back and forth. I saw it pretty clearly. There was no sign of dorsal fins, etc. I estimate it was up to one metre [broad] at either end, but narrowed towards the centre to about half that,"

A similar sighting by 'A. M.' occurred in 1995 when he was 12 years old. From 100 to 150 metres away, he saw an animal about 20 feet long, just above the water, which appeared similar to a crocodile. He said it moved stealthily and quickly.

A more dramatic report came from 'M', who was fishing in Sackville in 2005, when he saw a great pressure wave indicating something very large was under the water, causing a 10-inch high double wave to come towards him. "It had rounded up a big school of mullet, and they were jumping out of the water, dozens of them, trying to get away," said M.

There has also been several second-hand reports of plesiosaur-like animals - similar to common depictions of the Loch Ness 'monster' - being seen at Wisemans Ferry.

Source for recent sightings:

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6812720/is-the-river-monster-an-eel-or-something-more-sinister/#gsc.tab=0

Most would agree that a plesiosaur could not have survived  all these years but it could be an evolved creature of some sort. It certainly couldn’t  have  survived in the same form as it was, as it lived in times of warm shallow seas and higher oxygen content in the air,not like today’s polluted waters and air. Any suggestions for what it might be or other sightings please  add a comment.