MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES - round-up of strange animal stories from Hong Kong

Hi good people,

It`s been a while since I presented a round-up of progress on  the CFZ`s research into mystery animals in  Hong Kong. These are stories for the  Mystery Animals of Hong Kong book Jon and I are preparing. Here is a short selection of old newspaper stories and other gleanings from the Net that I hope will whet your appetite. I could launch into dozens of stories and I believe I have hardly scratched the surface of websites in languages other than English. Especially Chinese of course. [I use Google Translate-R]

I stumbled across a web site consisting of an e-mail from the national library of Japan to myself in 2011. I think it was listing all the bibliographical research they had done  (and there were very many titles)  to find Japanese references to the Hong Kong Stanley Prison Camp tiger of 1942 and I was pretty incredulous to find none at all. But that`s life, as someone once said. I had only previously had a Japanese-language version of this e-mail. More on Japan below.

But in chronological order, here we go:

1. TWO STRANGE FISH STORIES

The first of these stories comes from The Roanore Times, an American paper of June 6th 1893, as follows:

THE WORLD'S WONDERS.

Something strange lately affected the fish in Hong Kong waters. For many days they were in a state of stupor, and allowed themselves to be caught by hand, making no effort to escape.

 The second is almost the exact opposite; hyper-active fish,as reported on the Hong Kong Horror Network website [ http://horrorhk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/blog-post.html ] on July 9th 2013:

'Wan fish accounted appear tomorrow in Hong Kong after a good strange visions lead to panic.' This told the story of fish jumping frantically out of the water in various parts of Hong Kong, including Aberdeen and Lamma Island. Apparently fire fighters had to shovel the fish into bins there were so many of them. This lead to rumours of  an impending disaster such as an earthquake or tsunami. On May 17th 1999 at Sok Kwu Wan something similar happened. One speculation was lack of oxygen in the sea. [Or seismic activity- R]

2.  PARROTS IN HONG KONG

Hong Kong Telegraph   March 14th  1902:

Parrots are not generally supposed to range so far north as Hong Kong, but we learn that a couple have recently been shot in the Colony, one on the Island and the other in the New Territory [sic]. The shooting of a single specimen could of course be put down to an escape, but it is hardly possible that two escaped birds of the same species should be met with in one season and at a considerable distance from the town.

[Now this is interesting because I thought parrots were supposed to have escaped from somewhere during Japan`s occupation of Hong Kong; 1941-45. So what have we here? – R]

3.  BLACK PANTHER  1960s or 1970s

Gwulo.com reported in 2013 that in the 1960s or `70s a black panther was reported in Hong Kong. Confusingly, the militant black American civil rights group the Black Panthers had some connection with Hong Kong at this time! Confusingly, when using Google Images and you`re looking for a cryptid black cat, I mean.

4. HONG KONG`S UNUSUALLY COLOURED COBRAS .


This photo is taken from the Romer archives at the Zoological Society of London, showing a specked-coloured cobra in Hong Kong, c.1970s.

MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES: Hunting the ground sloth

Here are two newspaper stories, one from the San Francisco Call, May 19^th 1901, and the other from the Washington Times, January 18^th 1920 on the hunt for a living Giant Sloth in Patagonia.

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1901-05-19/ed-1/seq-3/#d

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1920-01-18/ed-1/seq

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: THE TRAGIC DEATH OF A HONG KONG CAMEL

A suitably eccentric ending to 2013,  story-wise! This account from the China Mail of July 24^th 1897, of the death of the (then) famous Belilios Camel. I am tearful as I type this and feel I will shortly have to call El Presidente (Jon) for consolation!

'Many a youngster in the Colony will learn with sincere regret of the death of the dromedary which has been one of the features of social life at the Peak for several years. The dromedary belonged to the Hon E.R. Belilios . and was a great favourite with the youngsters, attending the garden parties at the Eyrie. Last night, the dromedary was turned loose to graze in the little valley between Mountain Lodge and the Eyrie, and it is supposed that the mafoos() watching some ponies in the same valley drove the dromedary off and chased it over the embankment at Mountain Lodge, causing it to fall over the steep declivity on the Pokfulam side and kill itself. The police have been communicated with and detectives are making enquiries with a view to the apprehension of the parties responsible for the death of the favourite. Anyone in a position to give information should communicate with Mr Belilios. The dromedary was brought from Peking in 1888.' (1)

1. http://gwulo.com/node/18427  accessed 22/12/2013.

HAPPY 2014!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bob Dylan fans, note. If the camel had been called Hattie, the headline would have been 'The Lonesome death of Hattie Camel' but it wasn't to be.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ML59QL4iUk

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: GIANT SPIDER IN LIVERPOOL

Another blast from the past, another volt from the vault, another… (that`s enough jollity for one blog!)

Here is a story titled GIANT SPIDER HUNT. Webs 10-ft long in Warehouse at Liverpool.

A dockside worker has had a weird experience in a warehouse where a large consignment of rubber from Para (the Brazilian seaport on the Amazon) was recently stored , wires the Liverpool correspondent of the Daily Chronicle. Shortly after the arrival of the rubber he discovered what looked like several net hammocks.

With the aid of a lamp he investigated, and found webs with a filmy mesh about two feet broad and from six to ten long. Brushing them down, he was stopped in alarm by “eyes peering from a hole in the wall.” Unnerved by his experience, he ran from the warehouse and told his story to some of his comrades. They returned with him in time to start a chase of what they declare to have been a gigantic spider, evidently brought in the rubber cases from the Amazon. The chase was an exciting one, but the spider escaped, the boxes of rubber impeding his would-be captors (1)

1. The Straits Times March 11^th 1921 p.10

MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES: Chinese temple dragon?

I found this image a few weeks ago on a Chinese web site, supposedly showing a
dragon in a Tibetan (?) temple. I cannot vouch for its authenticity.

MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES: Hong Kong Dugong folklore

According to Wikipedia on the dugong: 'Although they are social animals, they are usually solitary or found in pairs due to the inability of seagrass beds to support large populations. ^[13] 'Gatherings of hundreds of dugongs sometimes happen,^[15] but they last only for a short period of time.^[13] Because they are shy, and do not approach humans, little is known about dugong behaviour.^[13] (1)

About a week ago a Facebook contact, Amy, provided me with the information below:

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·                                 Hi Richard, I have not heard about any realistic story about dhole. However, a friend told me another story about the sea cows and their ancestors’ tombs. During spring (Ching Ming Festival) and autumn (Chung Yeung Festival), villagers will go to pay respect to their ancestors at the tombs in the hill side next to their village (Chak Keng). 
For many years, during the ceremony they saw waves rolling toward their ancestors’ tombs, just like an act to bow to their ancestors. The village is located in a very quiet cove – the water is always very calm so these waves look very strange and noticeable to them. When they took a closer look, they found that the waves were actually caused by many (about a hundred) sea cows swimming toward their village. This had happened for many years until the end of World War II. The villagers became very poor and they had very little food. Some villagers used the guns leftover during the war to kill a few sea cows for food. Afterward, they hardly see the sea cows come back again. 
This story happened almost 70 years ago and my friend learned about this from his grand father. I hope you can understand what I meant.

6 September at 09:13 via mobile · Like

·                                

Richard Muirhead Ann this is very interesting indeed.Do you believe all the sea cows have now becoming extinct in Hong Kong waters or are one or two still seen? Are you familiar with the story from the book The Hong Kong Countryside by Geoffrey Herklots that in 1940 or 1941 a dugong was killed in Hong Kong harbour? There is a photo somewhere.Also, I have been told about a black panther in Hong Kong in the 1960s and even an Eurasian lynx!

6 September at 09:31 · Like

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Richard Muirhead Ann do you know my blog Muirhead`s Mysteries?See Google.It has many Hong Kong related stories on it.Also,please may I reproduce your message to me about sea cows in Hong Kong as my next blog?

6 September at 10:52 · Like

·                                

Ann Wong Yes, you may use my story in your blog.

6 September at 13:35 via mobile · Like

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Richard Muirhead Thanks,and if you ever recall any more Hong Kong odd fauna stories I`d love to read them

6 September at 14:40 · Like

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Ann Wong Richard, My friend also told me that, although he has never seen any sea cows in his village, he thinks some sea cows did live around his village a few decades age. He recalled that about 40 years ago his grand father pointed to the sea and told him that the special waves in a distance indicated that some sea cows were swimming under the sea because their movement causes some waves that are different from waves caused by wind.

9 hours ago · Like

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Richard Muirhead Thanks Ann,what was the name of this village?Were the Hong Kong mermaid reports the same as dugongs?

7 hours ago · Like

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Ann Wong Chek Keng Village, Sai Kung Hong Kong

5 hours ago via mobile · Like

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Richard Muirhead Thanks (2)

3 hours ago · Like

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So this all adds more information to what we already know about the dugong in Hong Kong – which isn`t a lot.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugong#Ecology_and_life_history

2. Facebook correspondence, Ann Wong with Richard Muirhead

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: WHEN IS A HONG KONG WILDMAN NOT A WILDMAN?

When is a Hong Kong wild man not a Hong Kong wild man? When I get carried away with myself and think he was talking about a Yeren or something.... This note below is a clarification by Tung from the Gwulo.com web site. But I am following up the 'fairy' story he mentions (see below) and will follow up the Silver Chics (sic) too. Are there any silver-coloured baby birds in S. China, anyone?

“The long-eared wild man we saw , around 1953-54, was half-naked, perking on the bushland bordered between this hidden valley and the CLCY village. He was also seen covered with fur skin and leafy clothing with weird hair decorations from seashells, eyes so red like being on fires and voiced very low-pitched as a very old man. He was big, more hairy than normal, kind looking and quite majestic, like a Chief from the Amazon forest. His ears were very big, long and curled up with hairy tip on each top. He smoked with a very long bamboo pipe and seemed always on guard on his tiny territory with a rod like a prophet under the torching sun, sometimes eagles and ravens flying in circle in the sky above. More than once he wanted us to come closed to his den which was like an opening to some unknown shelter next to this forest. For the sake of our parental advice, we never accept his plea, our curiosity always directs our thinking that he might be a fairy because  his location was on the edge of the area known as Sen Yan Jiang which means The Fairy's Well.

real mystery,

and that's not the only fairy we knew (?) on the island.

Anyone know about this one: A legendary story of the " Flock of Silver Chics in the Bamboo Forest near Pai Tai Temple"

Believe it or not! “(1)

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES:MORE HONG KONG CRYPTOZOOLOGY - A LONG EARED WILDMAN

The following has appeared on the Hong Kong history site Gwulo in the last day or two. I`m following it up. Flying Snake is now out.

Hello Richard,

Back in the 1950s, the Colony was still wildlife everywhere except the city districts. We didn't need Hollywood to brighten up our storyline.

Once having Dim Sum lunch with my family elders after a storm, we saw a very large snake swimming in the river by Sha Tin's mudland and everyone were excited and amazed to watch from a safe distant, for a quarter hour, as it seemed to struggle against the angry downstream current rushing to the seawater. It must be more that ten feet long.

Once on a hot day ferrying back to Cheung Chau island from Hong Kong, a school of dolphins were chasing the ferry from behind. Those day, the rear of the ferry's upper deck was like a open balcony and soon all the passengers were aroused to enjoy watching the happy chasers. In minutes the dolphins passed us on the left and made lots of noise and splashings along the course. They surely won the race and screamed wild in victory!!

But the most famous or notorious events were the sighting of South China Tigers in the New Territories. They were being spotted on various parts of the New Territories causing nerveous incidents for not only the Chinese and the British but also the Japanese in WWII. Few were captured or shot dead or unmercifully slaughtered for tasty reason or trophy of selfish glory, near  Kowloon's city outskirt by the Shing Moon Reservoir area or remote hillside forests in Tai Po, Yuen Long or Fan Ling ...etc  area. Yet most of them left the New Territories without a trace, holding the population in fear for long while.

We liked to read the news updates when the Colony's safety was shaken really hard by some lost-minded beasts.

As to jackals, I think on the Lantau island's terrains, folks hunted on a kind of popular small wild dog known as Wong Gann (means Yellow little Jackal). Occasionally the poor unlucky animals were being entrapped and were brought to the street market for the highest bidder as a choicy rarity meat. 

There was also an unexplained sighting of a strange long-eared wild man jointly acknowledged by the children of the CLCY village. In our adulthood, some of us did talk about our own sightings on the same subject as a real  bizaare experience. Will report mine's later.

Real funny!

Tung

MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES: A Chinese apocathery's shop from 1946

These photographs of the animals in an apothecary`s shop in China probably in the 1930s were on a much longer Chinese-language blog I translated into English.

Although there is nothing cryptid about them, they are interesting and show Draco-volans-type lizards,which I thought were confined to Malaysia/Sumatra. The link is below.

http://tieba.baidu.com/p/1499440056

Flying Snake 5 is now available at £3.99 on pdf and the hard copy will be available about August 12th. See the magazine`s Facebook page

MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES: THE CROCODILES OF WEXFORD, IRELAND

Over the last few years I have come across a total of four different crocodile sightings in the vicinity of the coastal town of Wexford in south-east Ireland, spanning a period of about 390 years. The first isn`t really a sighting but the emblem of a crocodile on a pillar in the ruins of the  abbey of Selsker in Co. Wexford, dating from 1623.

 

This image was found in the Dublin Penny Journal ,  August 2nd, 1834.(1)

The next report dates from the Irish Press, August 17th, 1933:

STRANGE WEXFORD ANIMAL

An animal, said to resemble a young crocodile, was discovered in a heap of debris in a garden at the back of Dr. Cantwell`s residence, Main Street, Bunclody, Co. Wexford, and has been forwarded to the Dublin Zoological Gardens. (2)


Forty-two years later another crocodile-type animal turned up off Co. Wexford: 'Hook Head is one of the two capes at the south end of the Barrow estuary in Co. Wexford. Here, in 1975, a monster resembling a lizard, about 20` long, was seen by fishermen.' (Cunningham and Coghlan, 2010) (3)

The fourth and final crocodile was supposedly photographed on a Wexford beach near March 17th 2010, which happens to be St Patricks Day.  I don`t know enough about Photoshop etc. to tell you if it`s genuine or not. (4) 

---

1. Dublin Penny Journal 2/8/1834  p. 87
2. R. Muirhead Irish Snakes, Wild Cats and Other Mystery Animals . BioFortean Notes 2  p. 21
3. Ibid p.22
4. http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/backstage/82898-albino-croc-spotted-wexford-ireland-beach.html

MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES: Hairy Tortoises

In China, specifically around Hankow so it seems, is a type of hairy tortoise; the following story appeared in the Bradford Observer of March 13^th 1875, and the e-mail I was sent containing it included errors, but the substance of it is below. This is also a Christmas present for Jon as I know he`s interested in these critters.

Telescopic Fish and Hairy Tortoise

Several notable living curiosities have been brought to the Brighton Aquarium. Chief amongst them were the " telescope fish," just  arrived  from China, and which are so  called from their prominent eyes protruding considerably from each side of the head.  The Chinese name of the fish is " Long-sing- ya. Bloch makes it a distinct species, which he calls  Cyprinus macropthalmas, but it is merely a monstrosity —though a very remarkable one— of the common gold- carp (Carassius auratus), and has been cultivated by (natural?)selection by the Chinese, … breeding these domesticated pets, until the progeny is so disguised that the original form is almost lost. Regarded from the front, it appears to have a -red forehead, large and projecting eyes, and compressed under-lip ; a countenance, in fact, which resembles at once  a half-strangled pup-dog. My friend Mr. Bartlett, of the Zoological gardens, who tells me that [it is] many years since he had some of them … i compare the skin of the Chinese… perpetuating these deformities in fish with that of the Japanese in producing, by similar selection, pet dogs with very short noses, and large projecting eyes. We learn from ancient Chinese encyclopedias, quoted by Mr. Darwin in his Descent of Man," that goldfish were first reared in confinement in China in A.D. 960. In the year 1129 they abounded; and "since 1548 these have been produced at Hang-chow a variety called the -fire-fish/ from its  intensely red colour. It is universally admired, and there is not a household where it is not cultivated, in rivalry as to its colour,  as a source of profit." A gentleman, Mr. John Meaney, of the Imperial Customs, Hankow, recently arrived from China, brought with him with great care, and  most kindly presented to the Aquarium, a little tortoise covered with a singular growth on the shell,  three or four inches long, which he believed to be hair. This erroneous (?) belief is doubtless fostered by - the Chinese, who induce Europeans to purchase, at great curiosities, their "hairy tortoise," as some rogues in England sell painted canaries. The so-called " hair "is a filamentous alga, or water weed, which grows on the hack of the animal in the pond or tank in which it is kept exposed to the light. I remember examining- with  Mr. Buckland, some years ago, a similar specimen which  had been sent to him. The microscope soon showed us the character of the filiform growth.— Land and Water. (1)

In the “Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce in Pigtails and Petticoats” by T.T. Cooper (London,Murray,1871, page 459) there is a plate of one of these hairy tortoises from the lakes of Ha-su above Hankow (see image here,Rich) . These curious little animals were two inches long, and covered on the back with a long confervoid growth resembling hair.The tortoise being a sacred emblem in China, the Chinese make pets of the hairy tortoise which they keep in basins of water during the summer months, and bury in sand during the winter. (2)

There was also an American hairy tortoise:

AN AMERICAN HAIRY TORTOISE

To the editors of the Popular Science Monthly

Noticing your interesting extract from “Land and Water” concerning the “hairy tortoise” , I take the liberty of mentioning a similar species found to my knowledge in the lakes of this valley. Its description tallies almost exactly with that of the Chinese variety, except perhaps in size. It is about three inches in length by two and a half breadth, is very closely covered by its shell , the calipiee is not hinged, and out of some dozen specimens examined by me not one was without the coat of water-grass. Its habitat is at the bottom of shallow lakes and ponds, and near the submerged roots of trees, where it is often caught with the hook. It has a remarkably fetid odour. The grassy or confervoid covering is not of any great length, generally about one half or three fourths of an inch. It is, I believe an undescribed species, though Mr Aggasiz may have had a specimen among his collection of tortoises from the Mississippi Valley.

Very Respectfully, J.F. BATTAILE, YAZOO CITY, December 8^th, 1878. (3)

There is a telescope fish in the cold waters of the S.Hemisphere and gold-fish of this name, but I don`t know whether or not the telescope fish mentioned above is of these species.

1. Bradford Observer March 13^th 1875.

2. Popular Science Monthly . Dec 1878. p. 246

3. Popular Science Monthly February 1879  p. 530.

Richard

P.S. Flying Snake 4 will be available in early January containing Dr Devo`s diary, Odd Britsh toads, Chinese coins in strange places, Oxford University`s tortoise mascots, a Japanese snake with two legs, a Giant Crocodile ballad and more! See http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richmuirhead/cryptozoology/   for payment instructions. Back issues available. Happy Christmas!   

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: MONSTER SHOT IN GALWAY PART TWO

Bob Skinner kindly passed on to me the conclusion to the “sea monster” story from Galway in 1935 that I blogged about two weeks (-ish) ago.

Western Morning News May 7^th 1935 p. 9

SEA MONSTER

Fifty-Feet Galway Fish A Basking Shark

From Our Own Correspondent

Galway, Monday.

In the opinion of Professor Dinan, of University College, Galway, the 50ft long sea-monster which was killed on Saturday in Galway Bay is an extraordinary species of basking shark.

The professor accompanied a “Western Morning News” representative to Mutton Island Lighthouse to-day and when the tide had ebbed was able to get a closer view of the creature, which was on a shelf of rock.

He said that the oil was valuable and there sometimes a hundred gallons, worth from £50 to £100. The last record of a basking shark in Galway Bay was in 1922. Efforts are being made to tow the giant shark to the docks for exhibition. (1)

Bob added the following note: 'Basically same story in Nottingham Evening Post 7 May 1935 p. 9 Monster A Basking Shark. Western Daily Press 7 May 1935 p.13  50-Feet Long Sea Monster Turns Out To Be A Basking Shark'

1. Western Morning News March 7^th 1935.