Monday 30 August 2010

Giant Fish in Alabama?


Swap a few big fish tales Sunday, August 29, 2010 at 6:01 a.m.
Most people growing up in Etowah County have heard the strange stories of giant fish in the lakes and rivers of Alabama. Horror stories began to surface during the late 1950s and early 1960s when the many dams were constructed along the Coosa River and the other rivers in Alabama.These stories of catfish as large as a Volkswagen have been told over and over again for more than 50 years. While these stories have been told as true, is it actually possible for a freshwater, Alabama catfish to swallow a man?The Coosa River is formed at Rome, Ga., by a junction of the Etowah and Oostanaula Rivers, which flow to Gadsden and on to Wetumpka. Riverboats began bringing commerce to the Etowah County area as early as 1845, when this area was sparsely settled.The steamboats were a major means of transportation for both passengers and goods.As commerce and transportation began, so did the legends of unusual creatures and giant fish.The riverboat traffic on the Coosa River not only brought commerce and growth to the small village of Gadsden, but also a legend of a sea monster that was sighted on several occasions.The serpent was seen by several prominent residents of the surrounding area and also was reported by several riverboat captains making the trip between Rome and Gadsden.While the story about this “sea monster” caused a panic for many years along the Coosa River, it eventually faded into the history of the river.The stories were retold many times during the late 1800s and early 1900s when several alligators were reported killed along the Coosa River.The unusual sightings and reports seemed to explain missing livestock along the river banks The strangest stories seem to have surfaced with the constructions of the dams along the Coosa River and Tennessee River. The stories tell of catfish large enough to swallow a man or at least a small child. These sightings supposedly have come from experienced scuba divers who have witnessed the giants when the structure of the dams have undergone inspection. Do these sightings explain the story of Jonah in the Holy Bible, which tells of an unwilling prophet who was swallowed by a “great fish,” or are they merely the product of an overactive imagination? This question seems to appear in the news more frequently in both print and on the Internet, as well as many television specials.There are historical reports that can’t be verified from the 1800s and early 1900s of catfish weighing more than 200 pounds in Alabama. Those may or may not be true. Still, a 200-pound catfish would not come close to being able to eat even a small child. At a lake in Kansas in 2004, a flathead catfish made national news for its appetite. Lakeside residents there discovered the catfish, estimated at 50 pounds, had inhaled a child’s basketball and it was stuck in the fish’s mouth.The fish was alive and trying to dive to the bottom, but the basketball kept bringing it to the surface. The giant fish was caught in a net and the basketball was punctured, allowing it to be removed from the While these fish are huge and reports of Alabama catfish tipping the scales at 100 pounds or more surely exist, these fish could not come close to swallowing a human, even a small child. The giants either do not exist or may never be caught if they actually are out there. There are saltwater fish that do exist that could possibly swallow a man whole. These include whale sharks and modern day whales.Although there has never been any evidence found to support the stories of giant fish in the Coosa River, there has been evidence found throughout much of the world of a prehistoric shark known as Megalodon. The giant shark was an ancient relative of the Great White Shark found throughout much of the world. It was up to 75 feet long and had a mouth large enough to swallow a bass boat. Teeth from the giant were up to seven and a half inches long, and the monster fed on whales. Teeth from the Megalodon are found throughout the Southeast. Reports of strange creatures and giant fish probably will continue to emerge from the Coosa River. The reports have been a part of living in Gadsden and Etowah County as long as people have lived here.
Mike Goodson is a correspondent for The Gadsden Times. E-mail him at gtdbear@aol.com.

Friday 27 August 2010

Nessie award and Lake Norman monster stories


Nessie nominated for tourism award
Published:  24 August, 2010
THE world famous Loch Ness monster has been nominated for a top tourism accolade.
Advertising. Usually the shortlist for the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards is kept secret but the team behind this year's event have decided to release the unusual nomination to spark debate.The legend has been nominated for the honour of Highland Ambassador of the Year - an entry submitted last month under the pseudonym "The Snitch".Awards chairwoman Elizabeth Mackintosh said: "Nessie has made a major impact on the positive profile of the Highlands and Islands worldwide over the years and perhaps we should seriously consider this nomination for HITA's Highland Ambassador of the Year 2010."Two months ago, at a tourism meeting held in Inverness, Councillor Thomas Prag criticised Inverness for not embracing the monster legend to increase visitor numbers.He claimed Inverness had a "snooty" attitude towards Nessie and the city's long-term reluctance to being identified with the monster had not helped when trying to attract more tourists.Yesterday, the Inverness South ward member said the nomination was a lovely idea but added: "I think they may find it a bit difficult to present the award if Nessie were to win!"In nominating Nessie, "The Snitch" said the monster had been an unstinting supporter of tourism for over 1500 years, attracting tourists and sustaining communities across the north of Scotland."Her timely appearances have been carefully measured to tempt many visitors and researchers to come to Loch Ness."The board is welcoming further nominations and entries are accepted at www.highland-tourism-awards.co.uk     

A scary fish story
With tales of piranhas, snakeheads and the Lake Norman Monster, is it safe to go back into the water?
By Théoden Janes  Friday, Aug. 27, 2010
There's really no reason to be afraid to swim in Lake Norman or Lake Wylie. Or ... is there? On the one hand, the wildlife swimming in our lakes isn't nearly as wild as the man-eating piranhas terrorizing spring breakers on fictional Lake Victoria in "Piranha 3D," the campy gore-fest that made $10 million at the box office last weekend.On the other, toothy fish do lurk beneath the surface of our lakes. And some locals are afraid to get their feet wet."I'll go to about my ankles, but that's it," says Stephanie Sawyer, 35, of Matthews, who has been petrified of lake swimming since her childhood. "(It) definitely has to do with the 'creatures' in the water. Absolutely."Lake Norman resident Whitney Dainko's fear cropped up more recently.
"I was running about a month ago near my house when I noticed an animal lying in the sand trap," she recalls. "As I got closer, I realized it was a turtle. It was huge ... probably 2 feet. When it saw me, it freaked and ran a lot faster than I thought a turtle could move and jumped in the lake. I have to say, I'm not that psyched about swimming in Lake Norman anymore."
It is against state law to own piranhas and several other species of exotic fish. But people occasionally get their hands on them, and in rare cases, release them into the wild because they can no longer keep them.In 2007, state wildlife officials identified a fish caught in the Catawba River as a piranha ... but later they determined it was a pacu - also illegal, but not as menacing-sounding. In recent years, two other predatory nonnative fish have turned up: In 2007, a man caught a snakehead in Lake Wylie; another was caught there in 2009.Chris Wood of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission says that even if a piranha got into a lake, a single one could cause little harm. The problem with snakeheads? "They are indiscriminate fish eaters and can have deleterious effects on native fish" - but they aren't aggressive toward humans."Sorry," Wood says, "but (our) fish fauna is pretty benign." Still, there are a couple of types of local fish that would be scary to run into while swimming.One is a gar, which has an elongated jaw filled with sharp teeth. They can grow 2 to 3 feet long and weigh 6 to 7 pounds. The other is a bowfin, which also has sharp teeth and can grow to more than 3 feet long and as much as 20 pounds. Both might bite anglers as they unhook them, but they're otherwise docile.Nope, experts say, there's not a fish around that will attack a human."No man-eaters in the lakes," says Ken Manuel, Duke Power's head aquatic biologist. "But watch out for alligators."Manuel is kidding, of course.
But a handful of people are convinced there's a beast of some sort in Lake Norman. Most of them can be found trolling LakeNormanMonster .com , which features a cartoon dinosaur as its mascot and hawks T-shirts, key chains and a "monster hunting call."  The site includes reader "sightings" like this one, from "Jacob" of Denver: "Me and my dad were on our boat and ... we saw a 30-foot fish. It swam away as fast as lightning."Gus Gustafson, a longtime Lake Norman fishing guide and Observer columnist, spins the Lake Norman Monster story as well as anyone: It's a tale about a genetically engineered superfish that escaped from a fishing farm in the '60s.Asked if it's true, he laughs, then says - with tongue in cheek - "Uh, I'm not sure."Ultimately, though, he gets serious: "I don't wanna frighten anybody. ... Your bigger concern really should be the boat traffic and the jet skis. That's a real danger. It's not what these fish are gonna do to you."  


Thursday 26 August 2010

Chupacabra attack claimed in Dallas


DALLAS -- A woman near Dallas is now a believer in the chupacabra. The woman believes she was attacked by one and is undergoing rabies shots because of it.
The attack happened Saturday in Jack County, northwest of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Staysha Henderson was at her grandmothers house. Henderson said the skinny, malnourished, gray creature she and her family believe is a chupacabra was lurking inside a camper. The animal attacked and bit Henderson on her hand. Her family shot and killed the animal.
Officials are now testing to determine exactly what the creature was.
Source and photo here :http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Woman-claims-chupacabra-attacked-her/2mZUJXYkakOB4SjqDOgoWQ.cspx

Have a look at the photo and see what you think but more likely a poor mangy dog gone a bit crazed poor thing. 
posted by J for tabitca 

Chupacabras: And Other Mysteries 

Saturday 21 August 2010

Bigfoot and UFOs, loveland frog and Mothman festivals.


 For those who have an interest in both Bigfoot and UFOs:
Vancouver's Trailrider Research explores Sasquatch, UFO connections
An extract:
Bruce shared details of his first-time experience with the Secret Message Report audience:
I was ... rock climbing in [the] Skaha area in the Okanagan, near Pentiction, BC. We were in a canyon, in the very far back of the climbing area and there [were] sounds that led us to think that some bighorn sheep were coming down the canyon we were in. So we prepared ourselves to see that. That's not what happened, though. What happened was we started hearing rocks breaking, and not falling to the ground. So it was like there was rock-fall coming off the canyon walls but not hitting the ground. It was very strange.“We knew there was a large animal in the canyon. And then, the next thing we knew, there [were] large rocks being broken.“I was with another friend and my dog and we were overcome with fear. The classical response where you are in the vicinity of a Bigfoot and there is an overwhelming fear that takes over. Irrational fear.
See full article here :


Is the Loveland Frog real?
Posted by Opinionati August 19th, 2010, 7:53 am
Have you ever heard of the Loveland Frog? A supposed 3-to-4 foot tall amphibian with green leathery skin that walks erect and hangs out near the Little Miami River in Loveland?
We haven’t either.
Well, if you ever smell alfalfa and almonds while strolling near the area, it might be close by.The creature has reportedly been seen by a businessman in 1955 and two police officers in 1972 but not since. Despite an appearance percentage on par with the likes of the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot, the Loveland Chamber of Commerce hosts an annual Loveland Frog Festival at Nisbit Park, now in its third year. This year’s festival is scheduled for Saturday, October 2nd from 8:00AM-4:00PM.Though the festival sounds interesting — Opinionati will be sure to mark it on our calendars — a 3-to-4-foot-tall biped frog with webbed feet and hands that smells like alfalfa and almonds? We need to see that.First person to grab a confirmatory image of our green friend wins infinite Cincinnati notoriety!  Source: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/opinionati/2010/08/19/is-the-loveland-frog-real/
 
Tourism Center prepares for Mothman Festival, other news
by Delyssa Huffman
POINT PLEASANT — Board members of the Mason County Tourism and Visitor’s Bureau gathered Tuesday morning to discuss upcoming events in the area. Of those, September events, including the Mothman Festival, were subjects talked over.
This will be the ninth year for the annual event which takes place along Main Street and at the Point Pleasant Riverfront Park, and committee members present discussed new events that have been added to draw in more tourists.
Source:

Thursday 19 August 2010

An Unknown Creature in Ootsa Lake BC?


Ootsa Lake is part of the Nechako Reservoir system in British Columbia Canada.It is the largest of the original lakes to be part of the reservoir and sometimes it is referred to as the Ootsa Reservoir. In the Pleistocene Era, ice movement  left  grooves and ridges in the landscape forming lakes when the ice melted. Ootsa lake is one of these lakes and is popular for fishing having stocks of large rainbow trout and char. The waters of the lake are said to be cold and deep, some say up to 1000 feet deep(approx 333 metres) .There is a local legend/ story  of a  monster in Ootsa Lake. Several newspapers claim it has been spotted this week:

Ootsa Lake Monster
By Rebecca Billard - Burns Lake Lakes District News
Published: August 17, 2010 11:00 PM
The last thing Darlene Thompkins expected to see on her holiday was something she referred to as the 'Ootsa Lake monster'.Thompkins who is holidaying in Burns Lake with her family from Edmonton, said she named the mysterious sighting in Ootsa Lake a monster because she didn't know what else to call it.Thompkins and her daughter were wading in the water near the Ootsa Lake spillway last week, while her husband George sat on the shore."A plane flew over and we watched that go by, it looked like the pilot was doing some sort of training exercise, then when we looked back down there was a big wave in the water," she said.Thompkins said the wave struck her as being unusual at the time so she watched the large ripple in the water about eight to 10 metres from where she and her daughter we standing.Thompkins then said she and her daughter saw a head appear out of the water."It looked like a huge snake head ,,, and it was a dark grey colour," she said."I called out to my husband to come and look, but he said to come out of the water and was a little scared. I didn't think about being scared because I was trying to see what it was, I grabbed my video camera and recorded but I was in a hurry and the focus was zoomed in so the footage is blurry," she said.Thompkins then grabbed a camera to take a picture of the creature and snapped a shot."It looks further away in the photo that what it was .... we saw it much closer," she said."We saw it twice, then another one came up beside it and a third one came too," said Thompkins adding that the creatures were very long like a snake."You could see the head while they were swimming along then further back there was another part of it - like a hump .... I can't stop thinking about what we saw and wondering what it was," she added."My uncle said it was probably a sturgeon, but this creature was swimming along with its head out of the water .... right up and out of the water .... and it was really big," she said."I wish I knew what it was, I have heard other people say they have seen something similar ..... these lakes are so big, you would never know what is living in them," she added.
 Source: http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/lakesdistrictnews/news/100808924.html


When the lake was flooded lots of trees were covered by water. There is, according to the internet ,some sort of logging operation under way to retrieve the trees for commercial use. So could it just have been a log that surfaced? A dark grey head makes me think seal but I have no idea if seals would be found in those lakes. Perhaps some one else knows and can leave a comment. Again it is noted it is a glacial lake ,similar to many other lakes that have sightings. If they are not unknown creatures then something similar must happen at all these lakes to produce the effect of a  monster in the water. Intriguing isn’t it?

written by Tabitca. Posted by J.

Tuesday 17 August 2010

Claims that the The Yacumama are real.


Claims that giant anaconda are real- here are extracts from the  article :
The Yacumama are real. They may even be a previously undiscovered species.
 (CHICAGO) - The world is filled with secrets. Many of them it does not give up easily. Empires have risen and empires have fallen in the midst of mysteries-riddles that remained unsolved through the centuries.One such mystery has haunted the darker, steamier regions of the fabled land of the Amazon. The Amazon, that dark, forbidding river sluggishly twisting its way through Brazil and eight other South American countries. It is a river second in size only to the mighty Nile and it's so wide that no bridge passes over it. According to the indigenous peoples other giant snakes inhabit the Amazon's shadowy realm too: the Sachamama and the Minhocão, a snake that some Amazon natives believe can alter the land as they pass through.Despite the herpetologists' belief, the natives were not speaking of big anaconda by different names. They spoke of true monsters-leviathans so huge that the anaconda would be small in comparison. The snakes the natives sometimes spoke of in fear and awe-over village campfires and the safety of their homes—measured 120, sometimes 160 feet long. The heads of these mammoth creatures were said to reach 6 feet wide. They could shoot down prey with explosive jets of water, topple trees in their passage and change the course of minor tributaries.
Over the years, many sightings of Yacumama have included descriptions of the snake as sprouting horns on its head. This peculiar feature, mentioned in so many reports coming from independent observers up and down the Amazon, has led Warner to his hypothesis that the Yacumama could be a prehistoric version of the modern day caecilian. Most of the 50 or so species of caecilian that are cataloged do have a groove running along either side of the head that contains retractable tentacles. To untrained observers, they may appear as horns.According to Mike Warner, "The exact species of this creature is unknown but we believe that the physical characteristics and behavior are that of a snake [or amphibian] with behavior similar to a caecilian." [An amphibian creature similar to a snake.] Most of the witnesses who have sighted a Yacumama did not spend too much time studying the creature-they usually happened upon it by chance and then turned tail and ran for their lives.Warner's research led him to discover that the Yacumama seeks its prey near regions where two rivers merge into one, called a "confluence."
Are the Yacumama real?Yes, they are real. They may even be a previously undiscovered species. They are also, without a doubt, some of the most dangerous and terrifying predators in the animal kingdom.In the links below you will find the first documented photograph of one of the world's largest snakes. Known by the names of Yacumama, Sachamama and the Black Boa by the indigenous Peruvian cultures of the Amazon. The snake in the photograph is estimated to be more than 130 feet long with a head wider than 6 feet across.

Read the full article here:
Aug-16-2010 History Mysteries: The Legendary Yacumama, Mysterious Monster of the Amazon Terrence Aym Salem-News.com.
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/august162010/monster-amazon-ta.php

posted by J

CFZ find leopard in uk

http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2010/08/there-are-indeed-big-cats-in-britain.html

CFZ video from the Weird Weekend showing evidence of leopard hair and tracks being found in the UK.

posted by J

Tuesday 10 August 2010

J’Ba FoFi , the giant spider - real?


New research has been conducted into the J’Ba FoFi (Giant Spider) in the Congo, said to have a leg span of five feet across. Records of this monster have been documented in African Folklore for centuries, however further studies have unearthed encounters with westerners and, according to one, this creature has also been spotted in the United States of America.New research by Terrence Aym* has documented tales from African folklore, of a species of giant spider living in the Congo, Uganda and Central Africa in densely forested areas. More than this, he has uncovered testimonies from Western travellers in the area, who confirm the reports of a monster spider with a leg span of five feet across.
Terrence Aym’s piece in his site helium.com tells of massive spiders living in forests near African villages, with webs stretched across pathways and trip-wires to ensnare passers-by, including humans, who are then pounced upon and injected with venom by the creatures’s fangs.Aym’s research shows these monster arachnids are more than flights of fantasy in African folklore: there are documented encounters with explorers. Cryptozoologist George Eberhart writes of an encounter between a British couple and the J’Ba FoFi in 1938, when what they thought to be a cat or a monkey crossing the path in front of them turned out to be a giant spider three feet across.Another cryptozoologist, Willian J. Gibbons, was told of the J’Ba FoFi by the pygmies inhabiting the Congolese jungle on his third expedition to the region. Their description of the J’Ba FoFi was the same as that told in other accounts, namely a giant spider which can reach a span of five feet across, brown on top with a purple abdomen which weaves nests of leaves and web. The article reveals that this creature was once very common in the region but its numbers have dwindled in recent years due to the destruction of its habitat.Other sightings have been made, one as recently as the year 2000, when two Americans were informed by a village leader that a giant spider had built a nest in the forest behind the village.
However it is not only in Africa that the giant spider has been seen: according to Cryptomundo there was a sighting in Leesville, Lousiana one evening in 1948, when a spider “as big as a washtub” crossed the road in front of a family of church-goers.
*Terrence Aym is a US-based writer. Read the original article:


Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY  PRAVDA.Ru


Of interest:
There are daily updates on crypto news here :

A new site about Nessie (worth a read) :

Personal update
Thank you for messages on twitter and in  the comments. I was  put on some serious medication which left me weak and nauseous but this should settle down. I couldn’t even bear the weight of the lap top on my knee because of painful muscle/-skeletal problems caused by the side effects of medication and I couldn’t walk from one room to another without having an asthma attack, so you can see keeping up the blog had become a problem for me. However if this new medication starts to help ease things I hope to be back. In the meantime my friend J will post any news items of interest and any guest blog posts or anything I manage to write. Thank you for continuing to read the blog .*hug*

Tuesday 3 August 2010

caddy in the news


By Natalie North - Victoria News
Published: August 02, 2010 3:00 PM
He’s been a media star since the ’30s, lighting up newspaper headlines and television interviews. And there’s no telling when he’ll pop up. You could be washing your dishes and gazing out the front window or walking your dog on the beach. The mythical sea serpent namesake of Cadboro Bay only shows his head when he’s ready and on his own terms.The few locals who track Cadborosaurus, and who are determined to prove it exists, won’t rest until hard photographic evidence is secured. Evidence that could be on the verge of being revealed.Jason Walton, cryptozoologist and head of the current search for recognition and classification of the legendary creature, says video footage of the creature is set to air next month on the Discovery Channel.“There’s a guy up in Alaska who filmed about 15 (Cadborosauruses) swimming across an Alaskan Bay,” Walton said, adding that the video was shot from a boat and is close-up to the subjects.Should Caddy show up back home, Walton hopes to capture his own film, thanks to 24-hour digital video surveillance across sighting-rich waters of Telegraph Bay.“I didn’t know what to think about the whole thing at first, but when you speak to a witness who’s so adamant about the Cadborosaurus – what they see and what they describe is so unlike anything else that’s swimming off of Vancouver Island.”The accounts have included what appear to be loops (presumably the body) coming out of the water or heads and necks.Sometimes it’s a single, two-and-a-half-metre-long head and neck and sometimes there are several heads, as reported by ferry captains, Walton said. In 1991, one woman claimed she met Caddy on the steps to the beach as she walked her dog.In 1937 a 3.2-metre carcass of a reptilian-looking animal with a camel-like head was reported found in the stomach of a sperm whale in Naden Harbour. The remains, Walton said, were shipped to Bellevue Wash. for display as proof of a baby sea serpent, and later lost. Hundreds of sightings of believed-serpents off local waters have been recorded, yet no concrete proof of Caddy’s existence has ever been documented.“People are totally open-minded nowadays,” Walton said. “I think they find it fascinating, but there is a certain tilt of the eyebrow, shall we say. Scientists will start laughing outright. Most people are uninformed.”Before the days of Walton’s tracking efforts, which includes a “Caddy Scan” website, he was critical of the mythology too, believing the legend was “totally unreal” until he spoke with his first witness. But Walton’s not interested in converting skeptics.“We’re not out to change people’s minds or opinions. All we’re out to do is provide a service for people who have seen the Cadborosaurus and try to accumulate new information.”Walton asks anyone who thinks they may have seen Caddy to report the sighting at 250-721-3836 or caddyscan@shaw.ca.

posted by J. message from tabitca"If anyone would like to write any guest blog posts please leave a comment  and I will get back to you"