MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: PINK UNKNOWNS IN AMERICA

Dear folks, it`s time for Muirhead`s Mysteries.

Today`s edition is entirely devoted to pink unknowns in the U.S. and it is largely down to Mark A. Hall and Anon that we have this information. 'There seems to exist on the North American continent an as-of-yet unidentified species of gigantic amphibian. The amphibian seems to closely resemble the mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus.) The mudpuppy is closely related to two species of salamander native to Asia, the giant salamanders Megalobatrachus davidianus of China and M.japonicus, native to the islands of Japan' (1).

Hall succinctly summarises the above-mentioned phenomena of pink creatures [although the anonymous author of the above article on The CryptoWeb does not mention them being pink he/she clearly is refering to the pink cryptids of Scippo Creek, Ohio] thus: 'Western culture inhibits the discussion of anything that is both strange and pink. Other cultures will be puzzled by our reluctance if not out-and-out incapacity to come to grips with such simple topics. The stumbling block is the familiar allusion to the distorted faculties caused by overindulgence in alchoholic spirits. One who over-drinks is considered inclined to see “pink elephants”. By association the report of anything pink and out-of-the ordinary is cause for suspicion and is easily ridiculed. Nature has no respect for our biases. There are unknown animals that are pink and we are going to look at some of the reports here.

'In my book Natural Mysteries I discussed the Giant Pink Lizards of Ohio, which appeared to be the larval stage of a giant salamander still unrecognized by establishment scientists. Two centuries ago they were common in the area of Scippo Creek.' (2) The appearance of pink in that case appeared to stem from the albinism of the larval stage.

Anonymous writes: 'Early 1800s: Scippo Creek,Ohio. The first report of what may be a giant mudpuppy comes from Scippo Creek in Ohio 9 a tributary of the Scipio River). In the early 1800s, settlers there saw a number of animals, measuring between 6 and 7 feet in length, that were pink in color. These pink water-dwelling lizards had moose-like horns [hardly candidates for salamanders then?} Sometime around 1820, a drought struck the area, drying up numerous streams and creating brush fires which destroyed the local ecology even further. It is generally believed that the animals, whatever they were, were wipped out in these two disasters.' (3)

In 1928 Herbert R. Sass and his wife Marion were boating on Goose Creek near Charleston. 'He was on the bow of the boat when they observed a shape moving below the surface of the water. As the boat passed over it Sass extended his oar and managed to lift part of it from the water…..It was a bright salmon pink and orange colour.' (4)

In 1968 the American cryptozoologist Ivan T. Sanderson wrote an article in Argosy in which he mentions '…how he received a letter from a young woman named Mary Lou Richardson, who said that while hunting with her father she had seen some sort of pinking animal. The creature had a flattened head and a small neck.' (5)

Moving on to 1972: this time Ivan Sanderson himself and his 2nd wife Sabina, saw an unknown pinkish critter in a pond on their land: 'They waded into the pond with a blanket extended between them, set on removing some of the offending growth. Suddenly the blanket parted, torn in half, and something alive showed itself for an instant above the water. What they saw was two feet of something pinkish-orange. It was large and worm-like' (6)

Finally: 'Perhaps there is a pink unknown to account for the report from Vermont. Writing in his newspaper column “Fishy Tales” in the Rutland Herald, Charlie Spencer makes reference to a report of a “pink crocodile” in his state. It had been glimpsed in the Tinmouth Channel, which is the name given to the headwaters of the Clarendon River in east-central Vermont' (7)

'Certain peculiarities of the animals in question tally more readily with a mudpuppy explanation, for example the prominent horns of the Scippo Creek animals. In warm, slow moving or stagnant water, the gills of the mudpuppy expand and become much more noticeable. In addition, the largest mudpuppies have been recorded from the southern United States, specifically North and South Carolina - the same general area which has given us several reports of these creatures. The possibility of the existence of such large mudpuppies is an enticing one, although in my opinion, these giant salamanders will probably turn out to be extremely large specimens of N. maculosus, rather than a completely new species.' (8)

1. Anon Giant mudpupies? http://fortunecity.com/roswell/siren/552/noram_mudpuppy.html [accessed Dec 4th 2009]
2. M.A.Hall Sobering Sights of Pink Unknowns. Wonders Dec.1992 p.60 Anon.Giant mudpuppies ?op cit.p.1
3. M..A.Hall Sobering sights op cit p.62
4. Anon.Giant mudpuppies?. op cit p.1
5. M.A.Hall. Sobering sights… op cit p.63
6. M.A.Hall op cit p.64
7. K.P.N.Shuker (? Unclear from text who author is) In Search of Prehistoric Survivors, (1995) in Anon. Giant Mudpuppies?


Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven



There`s a lady who`s sure
All that glitters is gold
And she`s buying a stairway to heaven
When she gets there she knows
If the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for..


Until we meet again…good bye!