CRYPTOLINK: The Marjory Moir Story Revisited

A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 

 

I showcased this classic sighting from 1936 in a previous article. You may think that would have been it but a comment submitted to that article recently has brought it back to life in more ways than one.

Marjory Moir passed away some years back but before then her account was recorded on audio tape back in the early 1980s by her granddaughter. The transcript of that conversation is given below as Mrs. Moir relives that exciting day fifty years previously.

The other fascinating thing about this new information is that one of the witnesses is still alive today and living in Scotland! Indeed, she had a second sighting of the creature, although it was not as spectacular as this famous account. She was the youngest of the party and is called "Ann" here to respect her anonymity.

Read on...

KARL SHUKER - HERE'S THE HIPPOTURTLEOX

What has an ox-like body with hippopotamus-like skin, the legs of a turtle, and a pair of short curled horns on its head???  Read Dr Karl Shuker's latest ShukerNature blog post and find out!

Read on...

ANOTHER EXCELLENT LAKE MONSTER ARTICLE FROM CFZ CANADA

http://cfz-canada.blogspot.com/2011/11/bobbing-for-bessie.html

KARL SHUKER ON THE MONSTERS OF LAKES ILIAMNA AND CLARK

Read all about it dudes and dudettes..

LAKE MONSTER SNIPPETS

Athelstane1314 wrote to me via the CFZtv account on YouTube:


Many years ago I was in a pub on the shores of Loch Ness and there was a photo on the wall of a man on a row boat. By his dress I'd say this was early 20th century. He was standing holding an eel by the throat. He had the proportions of a big guy, a lot of Highlanders are and the fish was more than a foot thick and more than 12 feet long.



In 1995 I was comming out of a lough near Sligo after swimming and I met a German guy on the beach. He told me he used to swim in there often until one day he saw something under him swim past and he said [it was] about 7 meters [sic] long!

CHINESE LAKE MONSTER

Richard Freeman sent this, commenting that it looks like a huge eel or python. The YouTube blurb reads: 'This video is provided by Liupanshui TV,showing a lake monster spotted in Zangkejiang River flowing through Liupanshui,a small city located in the southwest of China.Rumors say the monster sank a cargo ship,leaving a crewman dead. A witness estimates the monster is about 8-meter long.

It looks like a giant python,dosen`t it?'

I don't know about sinking cargo ships but it is certainly an interesting piece of film and more convincing than many of its type.

FAKE MONSTER VIDEO FROM A NEW YORK LAKE

Richard Freeman sent this.

MAX BLAKE: The sweet potato hypothesis.

There is a lot of evidence that supports the existence of a large undiscovered animal currently living in Loch Ness and in other freshwater lakes around the world. Though many sightings have been recorded, plus photographs and video footage, an animal’s existence remains questionable despite the insistence of many witnesses that the object they are seeing is animate. Here I propose that the “animal” people are seeing is actually nothing of the sort, and is in fact a vegetable, using the Ipomoea batatas paratype CFZ076 as evidence.

Ipomoea batatas is a globally important root vegetable well known for its sweet flavour and potato-like texture. It is eaten nearly worldwide with a major production centre in China. Its maximum size has been well documented as being just over 11kg, but never before has a shape for the potato been grown to give a satisfactorily plesiosaur-esque shape.

New evidence now clearly shows that sweet potatoes can both grow large enough to be seen from a distance bobbing in water, but can also grow in a shape sufficient to produce the general shape seen by witnesses. The large floating sweet potato hypothesis to explain sightings of lake monsters should be taken very seriously indeed by all researchers working in this field.

LINDSAY SELBY: The Rømsjøen Beast

Rømsjøen, or Rømmen as it used to be called, is a small lake in Østfold in Norway. It is quite a small lake when compared to lakes like Loch Ness but there have been reports since the 1700s of a monster in the lake. The first account described the creature as having a head resembling a cow and a body like a log. The stories and reports of sightings have continued since.


Astrid Myrvold was 88 years old in 1993 and told a story of when she was 24 in 1929, and had an encounter with a strange creature at the lake on a summer’s day. One of Astrid`s chores was to fetch a bucket of water from the lake. On her return journey she paused because of the hot sun by the house. Looking back out onto the lake’s mirror-like surface she saw something big and black lying on land. She described it looking like a long tube.

She watched the animal moving through the grass and the short reeds and followed its path by the movement of the vegetation. Then it slid into the water only to surface again. She saw the head emerge and described it as like the head of a foal with two ears standing erect. Then it took off, swimming fast across the small bay. Astrid said she could see how the body undulated looking like many coils. The tail was fish-like and the swimming creature left a wake like a boat. She ran to tell her mother who was baking bread. Her mother on hearing her story, left the bread and hurried down to the shore. Astrid was scared and refused her mother to go right to the edge of the water. Her mother believed her story but others made fun of here so the story didn’t come to light until sightings in 1976 were publicised.


In the 1930s an anonymous witness was returning through the woods one night after visiting a friend. He saw an unknown animal in front of him, which looked like a big, black, crawling mass, and reminded him of a forest snail. It was estimated to 10-12 feet ( 3-4 metres) long. The man was quite shocked and scared and fled as soon as the creature went into the lake.


Then in 1970s reports appeared again of something in the lake.


1974 - again on a summer day between Ramberg and Haukenes something strange was seen by Kjell Roger Nilsen and his wife Bjørg, Rømskog. "At a distance of 500 meters we saw something big that kept swimming in circles, at the same time making loud audible splashes. I was bathing with my wife Bjørg. I do not remember how long the commotion went on, but my theory at first was that it was a pair of mating pikes or several big pikes playing in the surface. However, it was so strange and inexplicable that for years we did not tell anyone, mostly of fear we would not be taken seriously"


In 1976, September 20th, on another sunny afternoon, a bus driver Asbjørn Holmedal, from Rømskog, his wife and several school children saw something in the lake: "When the bus passed Stranden about 700 meters from the junction to the church, I and some of the passengers saw a strange thing that seemed to be swimming towards the shore. I stopped the bus and everybody got out to have look. We watched the weird thing for a while. At last it dropped out of sight and all was quiet. At first I thought it was a swimming moose, a notion I soon had to discard. I have seen swimming moose before, but this was so long that there must be another explanation. It was about 10 metres ( 30 feet) long, black and only just breaking the surface. The waves it created reminded of waves from a boat with an outboard engine. It submerged when we tried to get closer down by the edge of the water. The distance to it was 15 – 20 metres( 45-60 feet) when it submerged." Asbjørn said that he at first thought it was a swimming moose. He told the children and stopped the bus to let them see it. He realized it was something strange, and everybody got out for a better look.


In 1992 something was seen by Thorleif and Bjørg Bøhn and their daughter Anne Grethe, again on a nice summer day. Bjørg was down at the jetty drying herself after a morning swim. On her way back to the family cabin she turned and looked back at the lake and saw an oval thing about 5 metres (15 feet) long . She ran inside the house and summoned her husband and daughter: “Come and see, the sea serpent’s coming! No wait, it’s a crocodile. From the windows they could all see a dark object in the water, about 10–15 metres (33-49feet) from the shore. It was about 1.5 metres (5feet) long and 25–30 cm (10-12 in) or more in width, heading for the shore leaving it a small wake behind it. After 10–15 seconds, it suddenly dived and disappeared. They estimated it rose above the water by 10–15 cm (4-6in )They ran to the shore to have a better look. When they got there, the creature had already submerged. Where the water was 2–3 metres (7-10ft) deep, they could see disturbances, as if something was moving in the depths.

Rømskog town council offered a reward of 10,000 Norwegian Kronerfor the capture of the creature .The reward has not yet been claimed.


So was it misidentification or a giant eel or fish or water snake of some description?

2002 article on the creature:
http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/255/in_search_of_norways_nessie_rmmie.html


List of Norwegian lake monsters:
http://www.mjoesormen.no/seaserpentsinnorwegianlakes.htm

LINDSAY SELBY: Loch Hourn monster

Loch Hourn runs inland from the sea opposite the island of Skye. Sometimes described as the most fjord-like of the sea lochs of Scotland. It is open to the sea, which is important to remember when looking at explanations for sightings in the loch. Hourn is Gaelic for Hell, and the Loch is so named because of the spin drifts, which capsized many sailing boats. Quite a few lives have been lost on the loch. Around a hundred years ago Loch Hourn was busy with small boats fishing for herrings.

Most people will have heard of the famous sea serpent sighting in the loch that was reported in The Zoologist. According to R. T. Gould in August 20 and 21 of 1872 6 people on board the cutter Leda saw the creature described as a line of black humps with a head and neck occasionally seen above the surface on the loch. The estimates of its length varied between 45 feet (15 metres)and 60 feet (20 metres) in length. A Mr G. Bogle, also a passenger on the cutter, made sketches, which are shown in Gould's book. (The Loch Ness Monster 1934)

Here is an extract from the statement in The Zoologist:

Norwegian Sea-serpent, on the Western Coast of Scotland, in August 1872, by the Rev. John McRae, Minister of Glenelg, Invernessshire, and the Rev. David Twopeny, Vicar of Stockbury, Kent. On the 20th of August 1872 we started from Glenelg in a small cutter, the Leda, for an excursion to Lochourn. Its only exit in this direction to the north was by the narrow Strait of Kylerhea, dividing Skye from the mainland, and only a third of a mile wide, and we left our boat, wondering whether this strange creature had gone that way or turned back again to the south. We have only to add to this narrative of what we saw ourselves, the following instances of its being seen by other people, of the correctness of which we have no doubt. The ferrymen on each side of Kylerhea saw it pass rapidly through on the evening of the 21st, and heard the rush of the water; they were surprised, and thought it might be a shoal of porpoises, but could not comprehend their going so quickly. Finlay McRae, of Bundaloch, in the parish of Kintail, was within the mouth of Lochourn on the 21st, with other men in his boat, and saw the creature at about the distance of one hundred and fifty yards. Two days after we saw it, Alexander Macmillan, boat-builder at Dornie, was fishing in a boat in the entrance of Lochduich, half-way between Druidag and Castledonan, when he saw the animal, near enough to hear the noise, and see the ripple it made in rushing along in the sea. He says that what seemed its head was followed by four or more lumps, or "half-rounds," as he calls them, and that they sometimes rose and sometimes sank altogether. He estimated its length at not less than between sixty and eighty feet. He saw it also on two subsequent days in Lochduich. On all these occasions his brother, Farquhar, was with him in the boat, and they were both much alarmed, and pulled to the shore in great haste. A lady at Duisdale, in Skye, a place overlooking the part of the Sound which is opposite the opening of Lochourn, said that she was looking out with a glass when she saw a strange object on the sea, which appeared like eight seals in a row. This was just about the time that we saw it. We were also informed that about the same time it was seen from the island of Eigg, between Eigg and the mainland, about twenty miles to the south-west of the opening of Lochourn. We have not permission to mention the names in these two last instances.

JOHN MCRAE. and DAVID TWOPENY

The full article is here : http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2010/02/sea-serpent-sighting-reported-in.html


It was dismissed by some as wave formations and seals etc. However, then I came across this:

(In the 1950’s )Willie MacKenzie was 9 years of age when he was sitting on a small knoll, near the sea, waiting for his father, to return from delivering the mail, by boat. The head of a creature, that could only be described as a big eel or a serpent emerged, ten feet out of the water, moving its head from side to side, about 250 yards in front of him. Willie had to be forced back in the boat to go home, and to this day, his heart still races when he crosses that part of the Loch. It was suspected that Rob Foster, a fisherman from Corran also saw the monster, around this time. As he refused to go out in the boat, and never went further than the edge of the shore. At this time, there were also sightings of the monster in Sandaig, by the MacDiarmids'.

Source: http://www.glenelg.co.uk/places/arnisdale.shtml

So it appears that the sea serpent/ creature made other appearances in Loch Hourn. Interesting, especially as local people would recognise seals, porpoises etc having seen them before. The fact that some would not go on the loch again shows they believed they saw something that scared them and it was not a known creature to the locality.

LINDSAY SELBY: Loch Awe Monster

Loch Awe is a large fresh water loch in Western Scotland with a length of 35km and total surface area of 14.9 miles. It is known for being a good fishing loch, with large trout being caught regularly. There is a legend about its creation which concerns the holy well on Ben Cruachan.

The well had to be capped by a large stone every day after use. One day the attendant was too tired to replace the stone and fell asleep. When she woke up (apparently three days later) she found that the well had flooded the valley below and created Loch Awe.

There have been stories of a creature in the loch going back hundreds of years. The creature is said to come ashore during winter and can be heard growling and panting.

One of the few written accounts of this creature was written by Timothy Pont, who chronicled what he called gigantic eels in the loch. He said he was frightened to fish in the loch because of the large eels and they also frightened fishermen away from the loch. The eels were described these eels as being the girth of a horse and reaching huge lengths, such as 33 feet (11metres). The description sounds very much like the horse eels of Ireland.

We may scoff at the thought of such large eels but further up the western coast on the islands this report was printed in The London Times March 6, 1856:

The Sea Serpent in the Highlands


The village of Leurbost, Parish of Lochs, Lewis, is at present the scene of an unusual occurrence. This is no less than the appearance in one of the inland fresh-water lakes of an animal which from its great size and dimensions has not a little puzzled our island naturalists. Some suppose him to be a description of the hitherto mythological water-kelpie; while others refer it to the minute descriptions of the "sea-serpent," which are revived from time to time in the newspaper columns. It has been repeatedly seen within the last fortnight by crowds of people, many of whom have come from the remotest parts of the parish to witness the uncommon spectacle. The animal is described by some as being in appearance and size like "a large peat stack," while others affirm that a "six-oared boat" could pass between the huge fins, which are occasionally visible. All, however, agree in describing its form as that of an eel; and we have heard one, whose evidence we can rely upon, state that in length he supposed it to be about 40 feet. It is probable that it is no more than a conger eel after all, animals of this description having been caught in the Highland lakes which have attained huge size. He is currently reported to have swallowed a blanket inadvertently left on the bank by a girl herding cattle. A sportsman ensconced himself with a rifle in the vicinity of the loch during a whole day, hoping to get a shot, but did no execution.

So large Eels were not unknown in the Highland lochs in the past. Food for thought for those who think the Loch Ness creature is a giant eel.

LINDSAY SELBY: The OTHER Trout Lake Monster

In view of the thing found washed up at Trout Lake Ontario (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario/big-trout-lake-monster-sparks-internet-debate/article1576748/), I thought I would look at other lake monster tales from there.


Trout Lake is alleged to have another monster. According to Wilson Street, a local historian and author, there have been reports of large swells of water, shadows and figures of various proportions and sizes, much , he says, like the Loch Ness monster. The lake is a glacial one, like many others from the Ice Age where there have been lake monster reports. Street says the lake is considered almost bottomless in parts.


The stories about the alleged monster gained more attention after the mysterious disappearance of Margaret and Allen Campbell on May 25, 1956. Apparently, after eating lunch they went out in their fibreglass boat, and were never seen again. In 2006 the Ontario Provincial Police, acting on a report from a fisherman, used imaging equipment and discovered the couple’s bodies on the bottom of the lake, not far from the cabin. Their boat was also found.


Local sighting reports of the 'monster' have included crocodile/alligator-like creatures, and serpent-like creatures (sounds familiar doesn’t it?).


The latest carcass of some rather ugly looking poor dead creature has sparked some controversy. Some residents of Big Trout Lake, an Oji-Cree community of 1,200 south of Hudson Bay, believe the animal is a rare local creature known as an omajinaakoos, which roughly translates to 'ugly one.' Band councillor Darryl Sainnawap said his great uncle spotted one about 50 years ago. “He says in his younger days he was with his grandfather ... and he did see this same creature and that’s the last time he saw it," he said. “His grandfather called him omajinaakoos." Some local elders in the community, which is also known as Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, believe the animal is a messenger of bad news. “No one knows what it is but our ancestors used to call it the Ugly One. Rarely seen but when seen, it’s a bad omen. Something bad will happen according to our ancestors," the community’s website says.


Lets’s hope nothing bad happens, but the monster tales have been around for while and it will be interesting to see if more sightings are reported after the recent publicity. Sometimes it encourages people to come forward.

John Robert Columbo (1999), "Mysteries of Ontario", Toronto: Hounslow Press, (page. 163 to read about Wilson Street )

LINDSAY SELBY: Oggie of Onondaga Lake

Located northwest of Syracuse, New York, and south of Lake Ontario is Onondaga Lake. The lake is five miles (8 km) long and a mile (1.5 km) wide, and is reported to have a maximum depth of 63 feet (19 metres). It is said to be the home of a creature called Oggie. The traditions of the Onondagas and Iroquois, indigenous peoples of the region, indicate that a creature has lived in Onondaga Lake for centuries. However, the lake has a long history of being polluted from being used for sewage disposal and then was used for the disposal of the run-off from Oswego’s Nine Mile Island nuclear power facility, which discharged its waste directly into a river that feeds straight into Onondaga Lake. Today Onondaga Lake is considered by the Environmental Protection Agency to be one of the most polluted lakes in the United States. It is this polluted water that supposedly gave birth to the monstrous creature known as Oggie. One of the more popular urban myths involving the origin of Oggie was from 1972 when a boy scout returned from a camping trip with a salamander. When the boy eventually lost interest in the creature the parents released in into the sewer from where it ended up in the lake and was immediately immersed in pollutants. This then mutated the salamander to a monster. In 1977 a cub scout troop reported a dragon-like creature swimming in the lake. Some sightings have described it as an alligator. Oggie has become a local celebrity and appears in the area’s annual Halloween festivities as a large fibre-glass statue on parade.

How likely is it? Well, this is a report on the quality of the lake water:


Onondaga Lake water quality continues to improve in response to reductions in nutrient loading from the Metro wastewater treatment plant. However, the 2006 Lake conditions demonstrate the effect of a wet year on nutrient loading. Nonpoint source phosphorus input to the Lake increased in 2006 as a consequence of the above-normal precipitation and runoff. In response, Lake phosphorus and algal abundance showed a slight increase over 2005 conditions. Dissolved oxygen content of the Lake has increased to the point where water quality standards are now routinely met during fall mixing. Algal blooms are diminishing and cyanobacteria (blue-greens) represent a minor component of the algal community. Improvements in the Lake have allowed the beds of aquatic plants to greatly expand; this has increased the amount of nesting and nursery habitat for the warm water fish community.
Source: http://www.onlakepartners.org/lake_quality.htm

So it sounds like things are improving for the lake but if, as is reported, mercury had been tipped into the lake, it is unlikely that anything much could survive in there. Most mercury spills kill off the fish and poison the plant life, and that would mean no food source. I think we can chalk this up to urban myth and the stuff of horror films but if anyone knows anything different please post a comment.

LINDSAY SELBY: Monster of Lough Major

There have been sightings of a creature in Lough Major in Ireland. The first recorded report was in about 1912 when three boys said they watched a strange water-creature playing in the lake. They threw stones at the creature and then ran when it moved towards them. It was described as having a hairy, horned head. Probably a hoax, you might think but then I came across this article from 1963.

The Evening Herald 1st August 1963
Monster seen in Irish Lake
A Monster, 8 to 10 feet long, with two protruding tusks and hairy head scared the wits out of three youths who were returning from a fishing trip in Lough Major, Co Monaghan. The youths, G. Reilly (18), Talbot Duffy (17) and Paul Pentland (12) said they saw the “monster” splashing up and down the in the lake like sea lion. Although frightened they watched in amazement for a few minutes, but decided to make for home quickly, when one of them threw a stone in it’s direction and it made towards them at great speed. Badly frightened the boys ran across a filed, but were overtaken by the terrier dog, which had at first stayed behind to bark at the “thing” but which shot past them with it’s tail between it’s leg, gaining an easy first in the race for home.

Questioned later, it was suggested the monster might have been a large otter but Talbot Duffy denied this flatly stating he had shot plenty of otters. Returning the next day, the boys found that the dozen or so large bream left on the bank the night before had disappeared, only a few bones remaining. And later another local man, Patrick Brady, confirmed the boys’ description, having also seen the animal surface; and it is now considered to be responsible for the disappearance of pike from the lines set by anglers, because on one occasion only the heads are found; attached to the baited hooks.

The creature sounds like a walrus or a seal of some kind but the lough is 36 miles from the sea and as far as I can see on the map does not drain into any large river that would facilitate the creature entering the lough that way. So where did it come from?

LINDSAY SELBY: Loch Morar Monster

Loch Morar is a fresh water loch in Morar, Lochaber, Scottish Highlands. It is of glacial origin and contains five sizeable islands and is said to be eleven miles long and a mile and a half wide and 1000 feet (333 metres) deep at its deepest point. Like Loch Ness, reports of large unidentified creatures in the loch have been made, some said to date back to the 1880s. The monster has been named Morag by locals. Sightings of the creature were thought to be the warning of a death of one of the local clansmen.

Sightings date back to 1887 and include some 34 incidents, as of 1981. Sixteen of these involved multiple witnesses.

I found this transcript that Tim Dinsdale had in his book The Leviathans (1976 ed. Futura pub ltd, London page 239 ) from the tape of an interview with Mr Macllelan and Mr John Mac Varish who had an encounter with the creature of Loch Morar in 1975.
The fear from the men shows it was something they did not recognise; however, that does not mean it was an unknown animal, just unknown to them. Once again the sighting follows the pattern of so many other lake creature sightings throughout the world. The description of whale like, the size and the movement. One day we may find the answers.

More info:
http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2009/09/morag-lake-morar-creature.html

LINDSAY SELBY: Florida Lake Monsters in the news

Florida Lake monsters have been in the news:

'In the United States alone, researchers list 222 lakes and rivers as alleged cryptid habitats,' Michael Newton wrote in “Florida’s Unexpected Wildlife.”

“It was green and black and a yellowish mingled colors, and they watched it crawl to the sea,” Emily Bell wrote of an encounter in Jupiter in “My Pioneer Days in Florida, 1876-1898.” “It raised its head and looked all around till it turned their way. Then they said it looked like a human face. It stood up about three or four feet. They measured to where its tail was and to where the head was and it was about 30 feet long and looked the size of a small nail keg.” “In 1885, a ship moored in the New River inlet found that its anchor had snagged on something. When the crew finally brought the heavy anchor up, they saw that it had hooked a dead serpent-like carcass,” Charlie Carlson wrote in “Weird Florida.” “The creature was described as being over 40 feet long and six feet wide, with two front flippers and a long skinny neck. It was in a bad state of decomposition and was never scientifically studied, but it would sure smell like a dead plesiosaur to a cryptozoologist.”

Some of Florida’s monsters have even earned names. “Pinky,” for instance, is said to haunt the St. John’s River near Jacksonville, while the “Astor Monster” in Lake County has been the subject of reports for more than a century. “In the late 1960s fishing guide Buck Dillard and two of his clients encountered a beast ‘the size of an elephant’ while trolling on the St. Johns River near Lake Dexter,” Newton wrote of the Astor Monster. “Dillard says the creature walked along the river bottom, thus presumably eliminating possible confusion with a manatee.”

Extracts from Source:

http://www.theledger.com/article/20081026/COLUMNISTS/810260310

Interestingly enough there is something in Lake County:


Teenager Talks About Battle With Alligator POSTED: 8:21 am EDT July 25, 2006


DELAND, Fla. -- A Central Florida boy was released from a hospital Monday after being attacked by an alligator. Officials said they believe the alligator was about 11 feet long, and the teenager was able to fight off the attack, WESH 2 News reported. Corey Workman, 16, said he learned what to do to escape by watching television. He suffered puncture wounds on his leg and nerve damage. "At first it was just a reaction. I just kept punching, and I pulled myself together. I kept on thinking, 'I'm not going to die this way,'" Workman said. Workman and some friends were on the water's edge near Astor in Lake County Saturday night when he felt something grab his left ankle. He said he instinctively started throwing punches, and then when he realized it was an alligator, he remembered what he had seen many times on the Discovery Channel. "I grabbed its jaw, and I put all my weight back so it would roll over, and I could get closer to it. I put my right thumb in its eye, and as I did that, it let go," Workman said. A trapper sent out Sunday to look for the reptile caught an 11-foot alligator. It will now be up to a forensic tooth expert to compare the bite marks on Workman's leg with the teeth of the alligator. If they can confirm it is the alligator that bit Workman, the teenager said he would love to have it. "I'll probably use it as a trophy. I'll stuff its head or something and keep it," Workman said. Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said even though it's the fourth alligator attack this summer, they are very rare. They said the best way to protect yourself is to avoid hanging out in vegetated areas of water, especially this time of year.

Source:

http://www.wesh.com/news/9569904/detail.html

So it appears the tales may have some truth in them but in this case it may be a known creature rather than an unknown one. That isn’t to say there aren’t any unknown creatures out there .

LINDSAY SELBY: Florida lake monster

Does Lake Clinch in Polk County have a lake serpent? The lake contains quite a large fish stock of large mouth bass, and bluegill and lack crappie. There is a food source to sustain something in the lake. However, there is some controversy over whether there is a tradition of a creature in the lake.

'There is a tradition that a sea serpent, or lake serpent, used to haunt Lake Clinch,' M.F. Hetherington wrote in his 1928 A History of Polk County. 'The Indians many years ago insisted there was an immense serpent in this lake. In 1907 residents of Frostproof declared they had seen the monster, and that it must be 30 feet long - this, too, before post-prohibition liquor was known.'

and the opposite view:


'My own inquiries to local libraries and newspapers failed to produce any leads or archival reports,' Newton wrote. 'It is entirely possible that Lake Clinch has produced some cryptid sightings in the past, or that it may figure in aboriginal mythology, but as of press time for the work in hand, no further information was available.'

However, I found this interesting story from 1926 about a man thought to have been killed by a large serpent in the lake:

'...but talk about a lake creature persisted. Settlers spoke of something in the lake and early pioneers, including citizens, claimed to have seen a 30 foot [9.1 m] long “sea serpent” while boating or from the shore. On the night of August 30,1926, 49-year-old Charles M. Mallet stepped out of his simple Florida Cracker style home wearing a bathing suit and carrying a tackle box and bait. Mallett was a businessman, founder of the town’s first bank, and a partner in a prosperous fertilizer and supply company that served the local growers. He was a practical man and tales about a giant serpent inhabiting the lake adjacent to his home did not worry him as he prepared to venture onto the legendary monster’s domain. Before going fishing, Mallett had told several associates that he would be leaving for Sarasota the next day and absent from his usual haunts in the coming week. He stopped long enough to wave to a neighbor then made his way down to the dock. Like other men in Frostproof, he kept a small boat at the pier and frequently fished for the Largemouth Bass that were, and are, abundant in the lake. It was Florida’s “monsoon season” and there had been heavy rain that afternoon, but now it was clear skies as Mallett boarded his boat and headed out onto smooth dark water.


'Three days later, on Thursday morning, G. D. Moree cast a fishing line into Lake Clinch from the eastern shore. While reeling it in, he snagged something big - a human body. The features were so mangled, that given the condition, it might have remained unidentified but for a ring on the corpse’s finger; the name faintly engraved on the inside of the band was “Charles M.Mallet”. To confirm the identity, a person was dis-patched to see if Mallet had returned from his trip. One of Mallett’s employees, C.C. Matthews, dis-covered the door to the Cracker house unlocked and Mallett’s personal effects and suitcase awaiting his return from the lake. There was no doubt that the body was that of Charles Mercer Mallett, but what happened out on Lake Clinch? It is likely that a physician or district coroner examined Mallett’s body (Polk County did not have a medical examiner until the 1970s). A record of the death has been found in the state’s official Death Index'


Source: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache%3AcYrFR-bA5iUJ%3Amysteriesmagazine.com%2Fpreviews%2F24%2F24_lake_clinch.pdf+lake+clinch+monster&hl=en&gl=uk&sig=AHIEtbRvNfjkI4mIBiZVR-PeG6stqpF8Bw

So did Mallet meet the serpent of the lake? Local stories would have it that he did. I have been unable to find any recent sightings of anything in the lake so am inclined to dismiss this as folklore, but if anyone has any new information, please post a comment.

LINDSAY SELBY: Gaasyendietha, a dragon in Lake Ontario

Gaasyendietha, according to Seneca mythology, is a dragon that dwells in the deep areas Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario empties into the St Lawrence river, which runs out into the Atlantic Ocean. The average depth of Lake Ontario is 280 feet (72 metres) and in the deeper areas the depth is about 800 feet (266 metres). Like Loch Ness the lake rarely freezes in the winter.


Jacques Cartier, the French explorer who mapped much of the St Lawrence river, kept a journal and in it he recorded that he and members of his crew saw what they described as "a giant finned snake" that moved like a caterpillar, using its side fins to propel itself forward in the water. Cartier's crew tried to capture the beast, but it moved too quickly and dived beneath the waters. When Cartier consulted with the indigenous peoples of the region, they called the creature "Gaasyendietha.”


The reports of something in the lake continued:

• In 1817 the crew of a ship witnessed the appearance of a blackish snake-like monster “a foot in diameter (30cm) and 30 – 40 feet in length (10- 15 metres)” approx three miles offshore.


• In 1829 two children stated that they saw a “20 – 30 feet.”( 7-10metres) snake-like creature near Grantham. Their experience was recounted in a local paper, which went on to state that “this wasn’t the first sighting in Lake Ontario and, doubtless, that such serpents lived in the lake.”


• This newspaper report appeared on http://www.cryptomundo.com/1867 September 5 – Another report of the appearance of the great snake or water monster in Lake Ontario has reached us. We have it from reliable citizens who reside on the Lake shore in Parma [New York], ten miles or so west of the mouth of the Genesee, that on Thursday last [possibly August 29] , just as sunset, this monster was seen in the water close to shore. A drove of cattle went to drink, whereupon the huge monster raised his head above the water and approached the shore, intending no doubt to take an evening meal of fresh beef. The noise made by the animal as he came into shallow water frightened the cattle and they ran back from the beach in great fright. Half an hour later the same drove of cattle sought to drink at a place fifty rods west of the spot where they first went and were again driven away by the monster. The occurrence drew to the beach several persons residing not far distant and caused a sensation. It won’t answer for anybody to go into that neighborhood and say that there is not a monster in the lake. Too many have seen the animal to doubt its existence. – Rochester [N.Y.] Union.“The Ontario Sea Monster Again,
  Galveston, Texas, Galveston Daily News, September 5, 1867.


• In 1968 a Scarborough resident saw an eel-like creature 20 feet (7 metres ) long with a “mane of some sort” in the waters off Toronto. These sightings are from the Eastern end of the Lake.


• September 1881. Passengers and crew of the steamship ‘Gypsy’ saw a creature approx. 25 – 40 feet( 6-14 metres) in length with small legs and a large tail in the water.


• In 1888. in the channel between Wolfe and Simcoe islands two sailors reported seeing a serpent creature


• In 1892 a couple was reportedly “attacked by a huge serpent with eyes like balls of fire” near Brackey’s Bay. The husband fended off the monster with his fishing pole.


• In 1931 Two physicians reported a 30feet long ( 10 metres) creature described as having “one eye in the middle of his head as well two antler-like horns” as they sailed from Alexandria Bay to Kingston’s yacht club in August


• In 1970’s an employee of the Ministry of Natural Resources twice witnessed “a large creature dive into the lake from the shores of Prince Edward County. (However whether this is on official record I don’t know).
  

So does a dragon live in Lake Ontario or some sort of water snake or eel? If anyone knows of any recent sightings please post.

LINDSAY SELBY: The Kouris Dam Creature

Most people will remember seeing this in 2008.

Rumours are again rife that some kind of reptile or large sea creature is lurking below the water in the Kouris Dam. By Alethea Reynolds 28.OCT.08

Talk of the dam being occupied by a “strange creature” started to circulate three years ago, when a report was made that a crocodile had been dumped in the deep waters. Since then, there have been countless sightings of the “creature from the depths”, with some local newspapers calling the mystery the “Cyprus Loch Ness". One citizen was so adamant he had spotted the creature that he told a newspaper “I watched this serpent with my own two eyes, this was no mistake.” Despite the speculation, no proof has yet been found and even the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Affairs have drawn a blank on the Kouris mystery. An official from the ministry confirmed that they were actively searching for the creature, adding fuel to the rumours that the lake was home to some kind of serpent. Reports suggest that officials will try and coax the beast from the murky depths by using bait such as live hens and raw meat. In recent days rain has hampered the search effort, which is expected to resume tomorrow. A local community leader, Savvas Sava, told a daily newspaper yesterday that if the creature is caught then it will become a tourist attraction and facilities to house it must be constructed.

Source:

http://www.famagusta-gazette.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=69&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=6085&wpage=&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=2350&hn=famagusta-gazette&he=.

The Kouris Dam was put into operation in 1988 to provide water to the area. The dam has fish stocks of roach, pike-perch, carp and mosquito fish. The water has a high pH level and is hard and the water temperature of the reservoirs is between 8°C and 27°C. Since 2005, a number of witnesses have come forward reporting to the authorities that they have observed an animal moving like a snake in the waters of the dam. There was a report that someone had released a crocodile into the dam in 2005 as it became too big for them to care for.

Fears imported croc is on the loose in Cyprus

October 27, 2008 - 1:58PM

Wildlife experts in Cyprus are trying to verify reports a crocodile smuggled to the island is on the loose in a nature reserve popular with visitors. In recent years reports of crocodile sightings have been common on the island, where they do not breed and the closest thing that remotely resembles it is the innocuous and much smaller chameleon. "The fisheries department has been conducting inquiries since mid September to verify information on the presence of a crocodile at Kouris reservoir," Cyprus's department of fisheries said, adding the information could not be verified. Rumours have been swirling for some years of crocodiles in the vicinity of Kouris, a reservoir just north of the southern coastal town of Limassol. Authorities searched the area in 2005 after reports baby crocodiles smuggled from Egypt were released when they became too big for the owner to handle. Nothing was found. New inquiries and a sweep of the area eight times in the past month have not found any trace of it, the fisheries department said. Kouris is Cyprus's largest reservoir, though reserves are now virtually depleted by a four-year drought. It is a popular haunt for anglers, where the normal catch in a good year would be carp or a largemouth bass. They have now been told to be on the lookout for the oversized reptile, which feed on fish, reptiles and mammals. Depending on species, crocodiles can grow anything between 1.5 metres and 5 metres in length. The latest report suggested the reptile was a metre long. Home to pygmy hippos until about 11,000 years ago, Cyprus's wildlife is now relatively limited, with nothing bigger than the timid moufflon goat in its mountains.
Source: Reuters

There appears to have been no more news on the creature in the dam. Whether it was a crocodile or an unknown creature remains unsolved. If it was a croc it could be quite a size by now. Lets hope anglers take care when fishing, just in case.

LINDSAY SELBY: A little blog

Paddler is the name of the lake creature that supposedly inhabits Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho. The lake is said to be Idaho's deepest lake at almost 1200 feet and is 43 miles long and just over six miles wide at its widest point. The creature has been described as over 20 feet long and that it moves up and down in the water as it swims (undulates).

The first sighting was said to be in 1944; however, there were also rumours that the navy were testing submarines in the lake.


In the 1970s more stories appeared about a monster in the lake. In September 1977 a young girl was reportedly attacked by a strange creature near the Sandpoint City Beach. Journalists called the creature the 'Pend Oreille Paddler.'


In 1984 an expedition to the lake by a North Idaho College professor James R. McLeod concluded that the creature was most likely to be a giant sturgeon. While collecting testimonies McLeod noted that many people had reported seeing strange things on the lake; possibly submarines.


The US Navy admitted to using the deep end of the lake for submarine research, albeit many years later. The International Submarine Engineering group (ISE) of Canada also used the lake to test the Pisces I minisub in the 1960s. However, the story doesn’t end there:


On Memorial Day 1985 Julie Green and her friends set out for an afternoon on the lake in the mid-afternoon sun. The teacher from Coeur d'Alene reports that a large V-shaped wave crossed about 200 yards in front of her boat. "There was clearly something in the water ahead of us that was undulating, coming in and out of the water," she recalls. Green dropped her engine and gave chase, but the gunmetal-grey object, which rivalled the length of her 22-foot boat, soon outdistanced her.

So does the paddler really exist? There was speculation that it was a story put about by the navy to cover their activities. A sturgeon is of course a possibility but in such a deep lake could there be something else lurking? Maybe the navy should use a mini-sub to find out.

There is a book on the creature by James R. McLeod: Mysterious Lake Pend Oreille and its Monster.