Monsters and Myths

It was reported in the media last month that the lost civilisation of Atlantis had been discovered in the Atlantic Ocean, a few hundred miles off the coast of Morocco, just where Plato said it should be, beyond “the Pillars of Hercules”.

The image was discovered on Google Ocean by Bernie Banford, of Chester, and it showed a rectangular area roughly the size of Wales that appears to have roadways, man-made area divisions and a city-like grid design.

It was quickly discounted in some quarters, but whether the discovery is valid or not – other much-vaunted locations for Atlantis over the years have included Cyprus, the Azores, and even Antarctica – it has been postulated that Atlantis was the “mother culture” of the Egyptian, Native American, Mayan and other ancient civilisations around the world.

I think it’s more valid to treat Atlantis as a metaphor for an early advanced race which spread its knowledge around the world, and which was largely destroyed in some global catastrophe, rather than as one particular place.

Of course, the “A” word is not mentioned in academic circles without a smirk and a raised eyebrow. But the concept, that legend recounts as being destroyed by a great flood, has grasped the imaginations of generations of researchers and historians.

One author who has spent 20 years travelling, researching and scuba-diving to find evidence of this lost civilisation is Graham Hancock, of Bath, who has written three books on the subject – the runaway best-seller Fingerprint of the Gods, most notably, Heavens Mirror and Underworld.

Although Graham never discovered the actual location of Atlantis, and rarely mentioned the “A” word, his research has helped to shift the view that advanced societies could not possibly go back in to prehistory. He believes we are a species with amnesia, which has completely forgotten its remarkable past but, fortunately, our ancestors left clues in great stone monuments all around the planet that seem to be triggering a cultural memory recall.

Graham will be discussing his latest research into lost civilisations – and will talk about how our current civilisation, with climate change and rising sea levels, could become the next Atlantis – at the annual Megalithomania conference at Glastonbury on May 23 and 24 where he will be the keynote speaker on the Saturday evening, a role he has fulfilled previously at the conference, to great acclaim.

Almost every week a major archaeological discovery is made that pushes back the date of advanced cultures. Edmund Marriage, of Milborne Port, Dorset, who has been researching the Biblical area of the Garden of Eden, in the area once known as Sumeria and the Lebanon, points to the discovery, again with the help of Google Maps, of great canal systems and megalithic construction.

Edmund, who runs a research organisation called the Golden Age Project, will be outlining these new discoveries in the context of other megalithic sites in the area at the conference on the Sunday.

Megalithomania resides in a persuasive and growing minority that seriously challenges the current, outdated view of history, specifically from the Neolithic era going back to 10,000BC, the era of the legendary Atlantis.
thisisbristol.co.uk/wdp/mysteriouswest/Atlantis-key-lost-golden-age/article-768622-detail/article.html

A 150-year-old mystery has reared its head after a woman woke to find ‘Satan’s hoofprints’ dotted across freshly fallen snow in her back garden.

The single track of cloven-like prints - which appear to have been made by a two-legged creature - precisely resemble footprints recorded in the area in 1855.

The phenomenon, which has never been explained, became known as the ‘Devil’s foot prints’ in a local legend.

The new tracks appeared in fresh snow in Jill Wade’s back garden on March 5th.

Grandmother Jill, 76, of Woolsery, Devon, said: ‘I looked in the garden and it really intrigued me.

‘I couldn’t believe it - the footprints were in the shape of a cloven hoof. There were no other marks at all in the snow.

‘I was quite surprised by it and I hadn’t got a clue what it was, but I thought I would love to know.’

Scientists from the Centre for Fortean Zoology inspected the prints which measure 5ins (13cm) long with a stride of between 11 and 17ins (28 and 43cm).

Jonathan Downes, who runs the centre, is investigating whether the footprints could have been left by a hare or rabbits hopping on their hind legs.

He said: ‘Thousands of people across the world believe in the paranormal, but so far every single thing we have looked into has turned out to have a natural explanation. I’m sure these will as well.

‘Do I believe that the Devil comes from the pits of Hell to wander around the gardens of North Devon? Of course not.

‘But if you’re asking if there are things that can’t be explained by modern science, then yes. But human knowledge is expanding all the time.

‘I believe that things that are currently put down to the paranormal will one day be explained by science.’

The original ‘Devil’s footprints’ appeared after a light snowfall on February 8th, 1855, and travelled from Exmouth to Topsham in Devon - even crossing the estuary of the River Exe.

The tracks reportedly continued unbroken for 100 miles - appearing on both sides of 14-foot walls and locked gates.

Some villagers blamed the church, who had recently changed the standard prayer book, for letting the devil into their communities.

Others blamed animals, pranksters, and even a weather balloon - but the phenomenon, described as the ‘great Devon mystery’, was never explained.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1161765/Ancient-mystery-returns-Satans-hoofprints-spotted-Devon-garden.html

On February 15th of this year at around 6pm the residents of the south eastern Siberian city of Chita (population around 300,000) in Russia witnessed a giant UFO cross their city and then disappear over the horizon. Some managed to photograph the craft with their mobile phones. Shocked pedestrians stopped in the town centre and in parks and pointed to sky declaring the object to be a UFO. Above is a photo of the craft.

One witness, a Ms. Anna Kotchetkova , who saw the object after her sons excitedly alerted her to it observed that it looked like ‘nothing on earth’. The UFO was described by witnesses as being completely silent and emitting no lights, its colour was grey-black and looked like a triangle with smoothed edges. Its shape was somewhat irregular and there was said to be some blurriness about the craft.

Other witnesses attempted to photograph the UFO but couldn’t due to its speed and difficulty focusing however multiple photos are said to have surfaced. The UFO was estimated to be flying at around 500-1000 meters above land and appeared to be around the size of a Boeing 747. It was estimated to be moving at around 7 metres per second.

The incident is being widely reported in the Russian media and immediately after the sighting many members of the press made their way to the Siberian city. UFO research teams are also planning to visit the area to interview witnesses.

Many suspect a secret UFO base lies somewhere in the vast spaces of Siberia.

This sighting adds weight to this view.

allnewsweb.com/page5995996.php

Wednesday February 25th 2008 at 8PM Central on the History Channel.

For over 250 years a frightening winged beast has been menacing the residents of New Jersey. The Jersey Devil is described as a winged half-bird half-horse, with hoofed feet and reptilian tail and a penetrating scream that echoes through the forests of New Jersey’s Pine Barrens.

During one phenomenal week, over a thousand individuals were terrorized: a trolley car was attacked, schools were closed and panic gripped the area. Wildlife experts claim however, that misidentification with a known animal may be responsible for the encounters, but recent witnesses who see the beast are scared for their lives–and say the scientific evidence will prove there is a monster.

MonsterQuest launches an unprecedented expedition for the Jersey Devil and sends sixty men into the forbidding forest while detectives meet the witnesses to discover the truth behind the Jersey Devil.

cryptmundo.com/cryptozoo-news/jd-mq

Woman claims to have been attacked by ‘werewolf’
According to the victim’s account, the creature looked like a big dog. Police is looking for a suspect that may have used a costume to attack the girl.

The inhabitants of São Sepé, Rio Grande do Sul, [Brazil] have one more reason to fear Friday the 13th. Besides the bad luck and the strange happenings during the day, a ‘werewolf’ is supposedly at large. One of the possible victims, a 20-year-old, recorded her complaint in the police.

According to the police, Kelly Martins Becker claims to have been attacked in the night of January 28 by an animal that looked like a big dog, that was standing on its back feet and walked as if it were a man. She made a sketch of the creature.

According to the complaint, the creature scratched the face and arms of the victim. The police informed that Kelly underwent medical examination, where the wounds were confirmed. Officers also claim they will investigate if someone is using a werewolf costume to scare people. No suspect was arrested until Friday.

AROUND THE COUNTRY
Cases similar to the one from São Sepé were recorded. In the rural area of Tauá, Ceará, locals asked for police help in July 2008, scared with sightings of an individual “half man and half wolf” that was stealing sheep and breaking into houses.

At the time, the police investigated the case, suspecting that a gang was using costumes to scare the locals and commit the crimes. The case, called ‘the midnight mystery’, then became a joke in the city.

In April 2008, some inhabitants of Santana do Livramento, Rio Grande do Sul, also had their moments of terror with the attacks of the ‘Man in the Black Cape’. With no solid evidence about the creature’s sightings, the police archived the records as folklore.”

If you are a diligent Fortean, you will associate this series of reports with popular panics around the world and history, from the more recent Monkey Man in India (c. 2001) going as far back as the Spring-Heeled Jack in England (c. 1837 and onwards).

And those are just the more obviously similar and famous cases. So similar they are almost identical, with only a couple of differences, like the height of the Indian and the Brazilian creatures. Does this make them real?

Curiously, the more you acquaint yourself with numerous similar cases, the more an alternative explanation that sounds terrible at first looks more and more acceptable. It’s mass sociogenic illness. Or, as it’s popularly known, mass hysteria.

It’s a damned expression, due to no doubt much abuse. Robert Bartholomew is the name to look for if you still dread that term. See: Protean nature of mass sociogenic illness – From possessed nuns to chemical and biological terrorism fears.

We shouldn’t keep abusing the term and tagging everything as “mass hysteria” – criminals could be using costumes, and it’s not impossible that an unknown violent bipedal creature is lurking those places. Only highly improbable, the more so as no solid evidence ever comes up.

And the one important thing about ‘mass sociogenic illness” is that though the creatures may not be real, the victims are. They may also be highly educated, intelligent people.
forgetomori.com/2009/skepticism/a-brazilian-werewolf-is-back