Monsters and Myths

Fifty years ago sightings of the Loch Ness Monster or ‘Nessie’ were common and few Scottish locals doubted the presence of an exotic water creature in their locale which might have been the last living member an isolated relic Plesiosaur population. Sightings of Nessie have decreased over the last few years and extensive and thorough scanning of the Loch Ness by scientists and researchers have failed to produce any evidence of Nessie. This has led many to believe, sadly, that this gentle, secretive creature had passed on. Now, astonishingly, frequent sightings are being reported of a creature living in the English Channel that appears, judging by images (picture above, video below) captured by astonished witnesses, to be similar in form to Nessie. This cryptid has been dubbed ‘The Channel Creature’.

Many are now asking: Is Nessie the Channel Creature? Is it possible that a hidden water passage exists linking the Loch Ness to the ocean? Perhaps Nessie instinctively realises that open knowledge of her presence would jeapordise her existence and has thus moved out to sea. UFO activity in the area is fairly frequent and a UFO is reported to have crashed in the region some five years ago. Was Nessie placed in the lake by extraterrestrials and then moved by them for her own safety?

Some Nessie researchers claim that scientists are aware of the Loch Ness Monster’s presence and the existence of a secret underwater tunnel leading to the sea ‘She goes out to mate, thus perpetuating the elusive species. But she always returns home to the Loch Ness’ one told us.

Two backpackers on a year long trip around Australia got the fright of their life last week while they were out trekking in bushland in the vicinity of the township of Leura, not far from the well known Katoomba landmark, ‘The Three Sisters’.

It was early evening and by the two ladies admission a bit late to be by themselves in the bush. Ingrid Schön 23, of Germany and Adi Hassan, 22 of France decided to head back into town when they heard the breaking of branches and loud footsteps heading towards them. Ingrid shone a torch onto the track in front of them.

At this point they both claim to have seen what they now describe as Bigfoot charge away into the distance.

‘Admittedly we did not get a close look but we think what we saw looked like the American Bigfoot, basically covered in fur and about two meters tall. It definitely had no clothes on and was not human.’ Ingrid told All News Web reporter Jadyn Cassidy. ‘We were petrified and almost lost our way back in our nervous state’ Ingrid commented.

The Blue Mountains is believed to be the home of a creature known as the Yowie, basically Australia’s version of Bigfoot or the Yeti. There have been many recent sightings.  Prior to the arrival of Europeans local Aboriginal tribes were certain of its existence. Aboriginal communities still living in the Blue Mountains along with some other locals continue to believe the Yowie might be out there in the vast expanses of Australia’s Great Dividing Range.

A part of the greater Cincinnati area, Loveland, Ohio today has a population of around 11,600 people. But some folks there might say that population count should include a weird two-legged creature with a face resembling a frog or lizard.
It was on cold, clear night 37 years ago this week that a police officer encountered what would become known as the Loveland Lizard.

On the night of March 3, 1972, a police officer was patrolling the streets of Loveland when he saw something lying in the middle of the road. To the officer, it looked like some kind of animal that had been hit by a car.
The officer got out of his patrol car to check it out. He intended to drag the poor animal over to the shoulder of the road until the local game warden could be called out and pick up the carcass. As he opened his car, the door made a noise that caused the creature to suddenly rise up. The officer suddenly realized that this was no deer or dog that had been hit by a car.

He later described it as a human-like creature with the face of a frog or lizard. It was about 4 feet tall and had a green leathery skin. The creature got up and took a crouched position, like that of a defensive lineman, and stared back at the officer. Its eyes were illuminated from the lights of the patrol car, according to a Web site.

Then, the creature began to hobble over to the nearby guardrail. It lifted its leg over the guardrail and while doing so, kept its lizard eyes fixed on the startled officer. As the creature went over the guardrail and down an embankment, the policeman fired a shot at it but missed. In no time, it was clean out of sight. Investigators believe it disappeared into the nearby Little Miami River.

Later that month, a farmer in Loveland also claimed to have seen the mysterious creature. Folks there remembered that these were not the first sightings of the Loveland Lizard.

The first claimed sighting happened in May 1955. At that time, a businessman said he saw three or four frog-faced creatures squatting under a bridge near Loveland. He described them as having wrinkles instead of hair on their heads and standing about 3 feet tall. He also said they had lopsided chests and wide mouths without lips, like frogs or toads. The businessman said they also left behind a strong smell of alfalfa and almonds, according to a Web site.

And just nine years ago, a tourist in Loveland happened to encounter the weird creature. In 2000, a person visiting Loveland on vacation reported seeing the Loveland Lizard on the way to his hotel. He described it as a 4-foot-tall creature that seemed to be part human and part lizard or frog. He said it had scaly skin, webbed hands and feet and was holding a wand-like stick.

The tourist tried to take a photo of the creature but he mistakenly shot off the flash from his camera, which scared it off. He then tried to call the local animal control officer but he couldn’t give them a full description and location because his cellphone’s battery went dead, according to a Web site.

mcdowellnews.com/content/2009/mar/04/mike-conleys-tales-weird-land-love—and-lizardmen

WEST BRANCH - An illusion of the light, a figment of the shadows, a trick played on a travel-weary eye?

Hard telling.

A quick glimpse was all that Phil Shaw and his wife ever received, but he was certain of this much: The creature that crossed the forest clearing stood upright, was much larger than a man and moved in a way that was definitely non-human.

“There was an opening in the trees and this guy was just going across there,” says Shaw. “She and I looked at each other and at the same time we said, ‘Did you see what I saw?’

“We didn’t see any hair or clothes, like you would on a human. And he had a funny gait, which is often the case in a Bigfoot sighting; people say their movements are not quite human.”

That was three years ago during a family vacation to the Canadian Maritime Provinces.

Returning home to Ogemaw County, Carol Shaw put the beastly episode out of her mind, claiming one of those first three possibilities probably holds the truth.

But not Phil Shaw.

Three years worth of studies and interviews have only strengthened his belief that Bigfoot is lurking out there.

“I’m just intrigued by the possibility that Bigfoot is real, I guess,” Shaw says, noting there are more than 100 recorded sightings in Michigan. “I’m convinced there is something to this. There is far more evidence to prove there is a Bigfoot than there is evidence to suggest that there is not.”

Shaw is not shy when it comes to discussing Bigfoot. He’ll deliver a presentation to any group that invites him. Still, he is well aware that most folks don’t take the idea of a 700-pound, ape-like creature running through the local forest too seriously.

“I think people are spooked by it,” he says. “I don’t know why - I’m not talking religion, I’m not talking politics, I’m not talking sex. Why should they be spooked? You can tell they are embarrassed because they try to change the subject.”

He admits that the Bigfoot phenomenon attracts more than its share of charlatans and frauds, such as the rubber-ape suit frozen in ice that was presented to the world last fall during a nationally televised press conference. Perpetrators of those frauds cast an air of suspicion over those seeking honest answers and legitimate discussion about Bigfoot’s possibility, Shaw said.

Yet enough legitimate evidence, published books and articles and first-hand accounts exist that Shaw can’t dismiss the idea of an unknown giant ape living in relative isolation among us.

“There are a limited number of motion pictures and films. We have photographs. We have footprints and hand castings - there are thousands of those,” Shaw says. Add to that body impressions, scat and hair samples, beds and structures and, the way Shaw sees it, the evidence points to the existence of Bigfoot.

What’s more, the group of believers is growing ever larger and includes anthropologists, biologists and wildlife experts.

Nationally, there are more than 5,000 claimed sightings and similar creatures are a world-wide phenomenon stretching back centuries. Counting the notorious Sasquatch of the Pacific Northwest, Florida’s skunk ape, Ohio’s grassmen, the Himalayan yeti and others, Bigfoot is part of a very large family, too.

Still, those who claim to see Bigfoot are often met with derision. Shaw, retired from the federal Farmers Home Administration, says the only reason he dares to speak out is “because I don’t have a boss that can fire me.”

“You can’t blame people for not saying anything,” Shaw said. “A lot of these sightings go back 10, 15, 20 years. They say, ‘I mentioned it to my family and they ridiculed me so much I never mentioned it again.’ And for every one that comes forward, there are 10 or 15 sightings that are never told.”

By Shaw’s argument, the creatures prevent detection by residing remotely, often in swamps and mountain ranges. And he feels they are closer to apes than man - bipedal with lots of hair, good night vision, mainly herbivore. Close encounters indicate they smell bad, a completely understandable result of their swamp environment, Shaw says.

Those who have heard vocalizations, including locals, call them haunting.

The sound they make is long and low, but it can be quite loud,” Shaw said.

“If they’re intelligent at all, and I think they are, they could remain undetected,” Shaw says. “They’re very shy, like a bear, and it’s lucky they are. If they offended one of us, we’d get up a posse and go out and kill them.”

Shaw has been part of a posse before, though he wasn’t looking to bag a Bigfoot. But the Bigfoot Field Research Organization, a scientific research group, does hold organized expeditions across the country. Shaw participated in one that took a group of Bigfoot believers through the Upper Peninsula woods on an unsuccessful search for the creature.

Sooner or later someone will meet with success, Shaw says, and deliver hard evidence - an irrefutable photograph, a video or DNA evidence. In the meantime, the Internet has expanded the capacity for scientists, backyard researchers and Bigfoot believers to communicate and share ideas.

It also has become a way for first-time observers, many of whom previously either did not believe or gave the legend no thought, to share their stories.

Until, like Shaw, they saw a Bigfoot for themselves.

“People should be more open minded; that’s my conclusion,” Shaw said. “If anyone is out in the woods, take a camera. You might only have a minute or two, but that might be enough time to get a photo.”

mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2009/02/despite_skeptics_west_branch_b.html

Have you ever wondered why the yeti and Bigfoot rumors continue to stay around? So did I until I spent over a year researching the field of Crypto zoology which is the study of animals which fall outs ide of contemporary zoological catalogs. This is the first article of many to come, in later articles I will go into detail on different well known specimens and others that haven’t cracked pop culture yet.

Why do humans love to believe things are real, is it our fascination with the unknown or our fear of not knowing something in the world around us? Crypto zoologists study what is often referred to as cryptids which was coined in 1983 by john Hall. This field is often given little to no attention by the scientific community because of the fact that crypto zoologists study animals that aren’t scientifically proved. Most of the time there isn’t a single photo to go along with these accounts just stories from local natives or eyewitnesses.

Most experts on the matter consider the Bigfoot legend to be a combination of folklore and hoaxes. Although occasionally of the crypto accounts aren’t left as stories. The Mountain gorilla was once thought of to be local folklore of native African peoples living among the mountainous region of Africa until it was physically discovered in 1902. This is a rare case where a previous cryptid was found to be a living breathing animal in the eyes of zoologists. Other examples include the coelacanth, the okapi and the giant squid.

It may be just our human instinct to question our surroundings but is there truth to these tales or have some previously thought extinct animals made their way back from the evolutionary graveyard. We fear what we don’t know and what we can’t understand and for many these animals or legends pose a challenge for our human instinct. We cannot allow our thoughts and opinions to shroud our judgment. When we allow our minds to freely think we obtain a greater amount of enlightenment.

associatedcontent.com/article/1406046/

crypto_zoology_the_study_of_the_unknown.html?cat=2