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.

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.

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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.