Thursday 30 April 2009

Russian sea monsters and mystery carcasses


There seems to be a history of reported sea monsters and washed up mysterious carcasses around the waters surrounding Russia.

In 1953 Y. Starikov, a former Soviet Navy officer, reported that he and most of his crew had seen a sea serpent in the vicinity of Kunashir, one of the South Kurile Islands. A creature swam past the vessel at a high speed. Then it smoothly dove into the water, without making a splash.

1959 , crewmembers on board the Soviet Navy patrol boat SKR-55 in the Barents Sea under command of Captain A. Lezov repeatedly saw a sea serpent swimming in close proximity of their vessel..

Oct. 26,1994. MURMANSK, Russia - The carcass of a dinosaur-like sea animal has washed ashore after a storm in the Russian arctic, Itar-Tass news agency reported yesterday. Specialists at the Rybichy Meteorological Station near Cape Nemetsky, 1 500 kilometres north of Moscow, said they discovered the remains on Monday. Officials from the Murmansk Marine Biology Institute, although skeptical, are sending a team to examine the animal today. The creature, approximatley 12 metres long and 1.5 metres wide, was covered in either feathers or wool and "outwardly resembled a dinosaur," Tass said. -APWendsday


A creature was found by Russian soldiers on Sakhalin shoreline. Sakhalin area is situated near to Japan, it’s the most eastern part of Russia, almost 5000 miles to East from Moscow . According to the bones and teeth - it is not a fish. According to its skeleton - it’s not a crocodile or alligator. It has a skin with hair or fur. It has been said that it was taken by Russian special services for in-depth studies, but people who encountered it first took photos before it was taken away. .22.8.2006


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Village residents from the Rostov region of Russia caught a weird creature two weeks ago after a strong storm in the Sea of Azov. The shark-looking creature was producing strange squeaky sounds. The fishermen originally believed that they had caught an alien and decided to film the monster with the help of a cell phone camera. The footage clearly shows the creatures’ head, body and long tail. The bizarre catch was weighing almost 100 kilograms, the Komsomolskaya Pravda reports.















However, ufologists and scientists were greatly disappointed when they found out that the fishermen had eaten the monster. They said that they were not scared of the creature so they decided to use it as food. One of the men said that it was the most delicious dish he had ever eaten.

Chairman of the Anomalous Phenomena Service, Andrei Gorodovoi, stated that the creature, which he could see on the short video, was an anomalous being. However, it could hardly be described as an extraterrestrial form of life, he added. Gorodovoi rejected the version about mermaids too. “There are many legends about mermaids living in the Sea of Azov. Nevertheless, specialists of the Service for Anomalous Phenomena have never confirmed those fairytales. On the other hand, we do not deny the possibility of other forms of life in the Sea of Azov,” the ufologist sad.

A spokesman for the Rostov-based zoo, Alexander Lipkovich, contacted local ichthyologists and asked their opinion about the Azov alien. “They said that the fish bears resemblance to a sturgeon. It was an extremely interesting individual. I have never seen anything like this before in my whole life,” the specialist said. Translated by Dmitry Sudakov Pravda.ru

There are also lake monsters.

Lake. Labynkyr is a deep lake is believed to shelter a lake monster like Nessie, but smaller and more crocodile like. The lake is situated on the territory of Oimyakon uluss. Legends speak about the monster that lives deep in the water of the legendary lake and attacks dogs, reindeers and even people. Stories say how one day the monster wiped out a caravan of Even ( one of the native peoples in the area)people. There are several documented encounters. The public first learned about the monster in the 1950's from the diaries of soviet geologist named Tverdohlebov. Since then several expeditions have set out to prove or disprove the existence of a monster. It is said that it could be a huge pike, a water mammoth, a reptile or a plesiosaurus, or even something from the parallel world. The expeditions don’t seem to have reported any findings.

So mysterious Russia, has Yeti, sea monsters and lake monsters and even whole mammoths found frozen in Siberia. What I wouldn’t give to have access to reports that are stashed away in secret police archives of sightings of all sorts of mystery beasties. Maybe one day they will be open to public gaze or even online.

Wednesday 29 April 2009

The Story Of Sasquatch.


Thought I would continue with the theme with some stuff about the Canadian bigfoot, The Sasquatch.

The name "Sasquatch" loosely translated means "Wild Man of the Forest".

It is described a wild man or ape who stands about 7 feet tall and weighs about 350 pounds. It has hair all over its body, except for the pads of the feet, the hands and the face. The hair colour has been described as from a range of black, red, brown or white. The face is said to be a cross between a human and ape and the nose flat .They walk upright like a human, a biped.

http://www.ontariosasquatch.com/#/whatissasquatch/4521108283 says Common Theories are : 1)A relict hominid, such as a C. Neanderthals.2)A robust australopithecine - an archaic early hominid with a sagittal crest, either Paranthropus or Australopithecus robustus.3)Gigantopithecus blacki, a giant ape that lived in China as recently as 125,000 years ago.4)Or it could be something else that science has not yet documented. But whatever it is, the general view is that it’s a member of the primate family.

There are reports from around Canada of sightings, mainly in wild areas , near lakes and in forests. The sightings go back to the 1800s .

In 1840 Protestant missionary Reverend Elkanah Walker recorded myths of hairy giants that were persistent among Native Americans living in Spokane, Washington.These stories also came from Canada.

1850 people reported Sasquatch sightings at the mouth of Debeck Creek which runs into the north end of Pitt Lake.

1924: Albert Ostman claimed to have been kidnapped and held captive for several days by a family of sasquatch. This incident was said to have occurred summer 1924 in Toba Inlet, British Columbia.

1924: Fred Beck and four other miners claimed to have been attacked by several sasquatches in Ape Canyon in July, 1924. The creatures reportedly hurled large rocks at the miners’ cabin for several hours during the night.

1933 two men reported seeing sasquatch at the North end of Pitt Lake grazing on berries.

1941: Jeannie Chapman and her children claimed to have escaped their home when a large sasquatch, allegedly 7½ feet tall, approached their residence in Ruby Creek, British Columbia.

1955: William Roe claimed to have seen a close-up view of a female sasquatch near Mica Mountain, British Columbia. He was concealed at the time.


1965 Two loggers saw Bigfoot tracks and realized they were being watched and managed to make sketches of him before he ran off. Again near Pitt lake.

1970 At the Wild Duck Inn at Port Coquitlam British Columbia nine loggers reported their logging equipment was found turned over. In 1972, loggers again at the Wild Duck Inn talked about having their cook house pounded with large boulders.

And more recently
2005: April 16 A creature resembling a sasquatch was reportedly seen on the bank of the Nelson River in Norway House, Manitoba. Two minutes and forty seconds of footage was taken by ferry operator Bobby Clarke from across the Nelson River
2006: December 14, Shaylane Beatty, a woman from the Dechambault Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada, was driving to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan when she saw a creature near the side of the highway at Torch River. Several men from the village went to the area and found footprints, and a tuft of brown hair and took photographs of the tracks.

more details :
http://cryptozoology.suite101.com/article.cfm/sasquatch_sightings_at_pitt_lake#ixzz0E4JLVnPn&A

The sightings go back to Native Stories and anecdotal evidence passed down. Unfortunately no body or scientifically acceptable evidence has been produced yet. Another fascinating creature to be found I hope.


Tuesday 28 April 2009

Report on the Yowie


In Australia, there are have been almost 10,000 'reported' sightings of an ape-man like creature, called a Yowie. During the early colonial era, Australian Aborigines often warned British settlers to beware of an ape-like creatures that lurked in the mountains and deep forests of the continent. .

The first official reported sighting of the creature by a white man was reported in 1790 in local Newspapers in a town now known as Sydney. During the 1800's numerous reports followed through out the country. The creature was described as an ape or an ape like man .The earliest known Southern sighting was reported in 1849 on Phillip Island, Victoria. It states that several people had observed a creature, which was 6-7ft tall that resembled a half Baboon - half man. Across the boarder in South Australia at approximately the same time during the 1840's, reports were hitting the newspapers about the Aborigine's telling their stories of the "Narcoonah" (Yowie) which lived in their area. In Western Australia in the 1800's, three men on expedition told of their meeting with a Yowie , which resembled an ape. Then in April 1871, a man named George Osbourne saw an ape like creature amble down a tree and scared his horse.

There are said to be at least two types or species of Yowie The large Yowie is normally between 6-10ft and the smaller variety that is roughly 4-5ft.

There were a set of reports arose in the 1970s following the sighting of some large (too large to be a human), humanlike tracks by an Australian Air Force surveying team on Sentinel Mountain. Then in the late 1970s Rex Gilroy founded the Yowie Research Center and now has over 3,000 sightings documented . Rex Gilroy, an expert on the Yowie , an expert on the took plaster casts of footprints in Blue Mountains . He said sightings on the Newell Highway go back to the 1870's with newspaper reports of a creature seen by a government wagonette driver.Two years ago a group of tourists found giant apelike footprints in road side bush, similar to experiences in recent months of truck drivers in that area. More recently Rex Gilroy received a report from a Sydney motorist who has stopped his car for a rest and sighted a hairy apelike creature about 10 feet tall watching him from nearby bush. Mr Gilroy says similar reports have come from Lismore and Kyogle areas on the NSW north coast. A farmer riding a horse saw a man sized hairy creature in jungle a few miles from town. Another farmer was approached by an apelike creature bigger than a man while exploring mountains near Lismore. On the Gold Coast a hiker saw a 12 ft creature in a rainforest watching him from trees outside Nerang.

And the latest report April 2009 : http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,25369004-13762,00.html?from=public_rssdeveloped.

Territory Yowie researcher Andrew McGinn yesterday told the Northern Territory News the dog's death - in which its head was ripped from its body - could be the work of the Bigfoot-like beast.But Tim the Yowie Man, a former economist who turned his hand to Yowie research after spotting a hairy beast on a bushwalk 15 years ago, said he was concerned the Yowie was being incorrectly portrayed as an aggressive creature.

"In over 150 years of Yowie reports all over Australia, I've never heard of a Yowie ripping an animal's head off," he told The Northern Territory News."To speculate, with a lack of conclusive evidence to back the claims, that the decapitation of this poor puppy was the work of a Yowie is alarmist." April 2009

Some sites of interest :

http://www.yowiehunters.com/

http://www.mysteriousaustralia.com/yowiesmain.html

http://www.gcbro.com/Australiadb1.htm

Monday 27 April 2009

The Mongolian Death Worm

A change of cryptid today and one I am not very familiar with: The Mongolian Death Worm

The Death worm is said to live in the southern Gobi desert in Mongolia (Gobi means "very large and dry" ). It is one of the largest deserts in the world and it is not all sand but has areas of bare rock.

The Worm,is known to the nomadic tribesmen as the allghoi khorkhoi or ‘intestine worm’ for its resemblance to a cow’s intestine. It is reported to be red , and has been described as having darker spots or blotches, and its also been said to have spiked projections at both ends. They are supposed to be thick bodied and between 2 and 5 feet long. Western scientists first referred to the Mongolian Death Worm in 1926, although the information had come from the locals, not from their own observation: Reported to be between two and five feet long, the deep-red coloured worm is said to resemble the intestines of a cow and sprays a yellow acidic saliva substance at its victims, who if they’re unlucky enough to be within touching distance also receive an electric shock powerful enough to kill a camel… or them.: “None of those present ever had seen the creature, but they all firmly believed in its existence and described it minutely.” The worm is reported to be able to spray an acid like substance that causes death instantly. It is also claimed that this creature has the ability to kill from a distance with an electrical charge

Czech Explorer Ivan Mackerle also investigated this worm and wrote :
"Sausage-like worm over half a metre (20 inches) long, and thick as a man’s arm, resembling the intestine of cattle. Its tail is short, as [if] it were cut off, but not tapered. It is difficult to tell its head from its tail because it has no visible eyes, nostrils or mouth. Its colour is dark red, like blood or salami… It moves in odd ways – either it rolls around or squirms sideways, sweeping its way about. It lives in desolate sand dunes and in the hot valleys of the Gobi desert with saxaul plants underground. It is possible to see it only during the hottest months of the year, June and July; later it burrows into the sand and sleeps. It gets out on the ground mainly after the rain, when the ground is wet. It is, because it can kill people and animals instantly at a range

There is a fear associated with mentioning the worm’s name so it makes it difficult to do research. The area was under Communist government rule which kept it isolated and also outlawed all searches for it .When Communism collapsed in Mongolia in 1990 this allowed Mackerle the access needed to take an expedition to find the worm. Locals told Mac Kerle a story of a young boy playing outside with a yellow ball. When the boy went inside the worm followed. The boy saw the worm and touched it and he was killed instantly. The boys parents found him dead and a trail in the sand leading away. They knew what had killed him and went off to kill the worm but instead the worm killed them.
They also talked to an old woman named Puret who told them . "I have never personally seen the Allghoi khorkhoi,but I have heard much about it. It is said to move about under the sand, and when it wants to kill someone, it moves half its length out of the sand and starts to inflate. The bubble on its body keeps getting larger and in the end the poison squirts out from it."

Sounds like a nasty creature from a horror movie. There is no evidence other than anecdotal at present but there are still many undiscovered creatures still out there. I think extreme care would be needed to look for this one though!