MAX BLAKE ON GIANT EELS

http://maxzoo.blogspot.com/2010/08/tale-of-giant-eel.html


As regular devotees of the CFZ will know, we have always been interested in large specimens of the European eel. Max has found a rather interesting story from Cumbria....

LINDSAY SELBY: A strange tale from Wastwater, Cumbria

In the Wasdale Valley, Cumbria, is Wastwater, a deep and mysterious lake. It is an example of a glacially 'over-deepened' valley. It is 3 miles long, half a mile wide and about 260 feet (87 metres) deep. The surface of the lake is about 200 feet (66 metres) above sea level, while its bottom is reported to be 58 feet (19 metres) below sea level. It was called one of the best views in England, surrounded as it is by the mountains Red Pike, Kirk Fell, Great Gable and Scafell Pike. The water is rather cold and is home to arctic char, which have thrived there since the Ice Age. They spawn between November and March. Trout have also been caught there - reminds me of the description of Loch Ness.

It is popular with divers and in February 2005 it was reported that a "gnome garden" complete with picket fence was removed from the bottom of Wastwater by police divers after three divers died in the late 1990s. It is thought the divers spent too much time too deep looking for the gnomes. There was a rope that led you there if you knew where to look for it. But now there's a rumour about a new garden beyond the 50m depth limit. As police divers we can't legally dive that deep, so if it exists, the new garden could have been deliberately put out of reach.

But I know of a more mysterious tale about Wastwater....

A school friend of mine came from the Whitehaven area, not far from Wastwater. Her father, knowing my interest in lake monsters, told me that in the late 50s/ early 60s men were putting water pipes into the lake for the nuclear plant cooling system at what is now known as Sellafield nuclear power station. He said they told tales in the pub of being scared by something in the water; a long monster. Sadly neither my friend nor her father are with us any longer. I was thinking about her today and it reminded me of the story. On digging deeper into the story I found this from 2002:

Anybody who has ever dived England's deepest lake, the eerie Wast Water [sic] in west Cumbria, knows that there's something very large and very strange down there. I saw it move off into the depths, way below me, when I was at 36m in wonderfully clear water in the early '80s. Sceptics would say I was full of narcosis. I say I saw something the size and shape of a giraffe head off into the deep. When you stop laughing, consider this fact. There are little fish in Wast Water left behind by the retreat of the last Ice Age. Perhaps something higher up the food chain was left behind with them.

Source:http://www.divernetxtra.com/biolog/1202monster.htm

So perhaps they weren’t just beer tales after all. And the description sounds awfully like the Rines photo shown here. It certainly would make most people think twice before diving!

If you have an interest in lake monsters look at divers sites online. You will be surprised by some the tales you find. They tell each other but not the world.

RICHARD FREEMAN: The Case of the British Thylacine

Once again, we were pootling through the CFZ Picture Archive, when we found these two images of a slightly moth-eaten stuffed thylacine in Kendal Museum. This reminded Richard of the intriguing story of another Lakelands Thylacine...

In the spring of 1810, a bizarre series of livestock killings began. Over the next six months, a mystery predator cut a bloody swathe through Cumberland. This creature was never identified, but became known as the Girt Dog of Ennerdale. Though often quoted, this chapter In British animal mysteries is one of the most cryptic and obscure. On re-reading the tales recently, I found a strange thread that no-one (to my knowledge) has picked up on before. The saga of the Girt Dog may be even odder than anyone has ever realised: and the 'Dog' itself may be a doubly Fortean beast.

The tale began when the corpse of a half eaten ewe was discovered on the fells above Ennerdale Water. The victim was soon followed by others, as the culprit killed evey night. Farmers and shepherds patrolled the hills, but the creature remained unseen.

Such was the quantity and ferocity of the attacks; that natural predators, like foxes, were discounted. As local farmers became worried, posses of men and dogs scoured the area. But the beast evaded them. It never attacked the same flock on consecutive nights. Its uncanny elusiveness caused superstitious ramblings among the villagers. More fuel was added to this growing fire when the beast began to show some disturbing eating habits. Many carcasses were left mostly uneaten, but the blood had been drained from their wounds, as a vampire would do.

Finally, someone caught a glimpse of the creature. A shepherd watching his flock at dawn saw the killer, but its description brought even more confusion. It was like a tawny-coloured dog, with dark, tiger stripes. quite unlike anything he had ever seen before.

The Dalesfolk argued over the identity of this strange beast: as to whether it was a wolf, or a lion, or a tiger? Some even believed it to be a supernatural entity, touting its love of blood as 'proof'. Around this time the name 'Girt Dog' was coined. Another queer attribute of the 'Girt Dog' was its effect on normal dogs. Fell sheepdogs would cower in its proximity, and refuse to follow its spoor. More proof of its diabolical nature, whispered the locals. Hunting dogs were brought in to replace the sheepdogs and a pack was collected to hunt down the killer. After days of hunting, the pack finally tracked down the 'Girt Dog' and forced it to break cover. It tried to run. but the hounds soon caught up with it. the 'Girt Dog' turned on its pursuers with unbelievable savagery, killing several hounds swiftly. The rest at the pack scattered in terror and the monster escaped. Obviously no normal dog could have caused such a bloody rout.

The farmers changed tactics and littered the hillsides with poisoned sheep cadavers. The'Girt Dog', however, disdained carrion, preferring to rend and slay amidst the living flocks. As the bodycount rose, rewards were offered for anyone who could end this reign of terror. Once a group of armed men had the beast encircled. The creature charged at one of the men, who lost his nerve and threw himself aside. Unfortunately. an elderly man, Jack Wilson, who was also quite deaf, was collecting firewood close by. The 'Girt Dog' ran straight through his legs and bowled him over. Jack swore that it was more like a girt lion than a girt dog.

Professional huntsmen were called in. but had no more luck. The 'Girt Dog' led many on a wild goose chase. Up to 100 mounted men with packs of dogs failed to catch it. Finally. on September l3th 1810, the 'Girt Dog' was surrounded and shot. Incredibly it escaped despite its wound and ran towards the River Ehen. Here it was found cooling its injury and ran once more to Eskat (Eskett) Wood. where it made its last stand. Flushed from cover, mortally wounded, the huntsmen's dogs closed in and tore it to shreds.

What little was left of the bizarre predator was sent to Keswick Museum, and mounted as a specimen. Sadly, Keswick Museum closed in 1876 and no record was kept of what happened to the exhibits. So ends this weird tale. What are we to make of it? well, we have some intriguing clues.

The 'Girt Dog' displayed some characteristics which were very unlike any dog. All the witnesses described it as being striped. There are no striped dogs, but this animal must have sufficiently resembled a dog to have been given the name 'Girt Dog'. The animal drank its victim's blood, while often leaving the flesh untouched. All canids eat the meat of their prey. It terrified ordinary dogs, and easily killed hunting dogs, even when outnumbered.

Only one animal could account for these descriptions - the Thylacine. The striped coat and blood drinking behaviour of the marsupial wolf is well known. Tasmanian hunters described how it could bite through a dogs skull with ease and Sir Richard Owen described it as "the most fell beast of prey". This hypothesis may seem fantastic at first, but let us examine some facts.

The thylacine did not suffer from serious persecution until the 1860s. In 1810, it was still a common animal. In Tasmania, where many were kept in captivity, there were no laws governing zoos at the time and although there were only a few sedentary zoos in Britain in the 1800s; there were many travelling zoos. These appalling institutions consisted of caged animals being carted around Britain by horse-drawn carriage. This must have been a terrible ordeal for both the exhibits and the horses.

Perhaps the best known of these was the infamous Wonbwell's Travelling Menagerie. As well as the stock-in-trade such as bears, lions, tigers and monkeys; Wonbwell's also exhibited rarer animals, such as snow leopards. It is even thought that they possessed a gorilla, without even knowing it! Apparently mis-labelled as a chimp. It would have been the first gorilla in Britain, (gorillas were as unknown as yetis until the 1840s). Zoological accuracy was not a high priority in these establishments. It is not out of the question that a travelling zoo had thylacines in its collection, and that one of them had escaped in the Lake District in 1810. Remember there was no television or radio then and many people were illiterate, especially in the countryside. Most people knew nothing of natural history beyond their own country, hence the confusion the 'Girt Dog' caused.

Enquiries at the new Keswick Museum drew a blank. As did those at other Lake District museums, Libraries and Historic Societies. No records of the whereabouts of the stuffed specimens were kept. One hopes that the museums stock was sold on, rather than just thrown away.

Very little of the 'Girt Dog' would remain now, but it isn't beyond all hope that somewhere, in some dusty basement or attic, is still a skull labelled 'wolf' or 'dog', which has too many incisors and opens far too wide to be either species.