My love of the paranormal and weird runs way back into my early life. As a child I lapped up books on ghost stories, UFO abductions and the Loch Ness monster. When my atheism and scepticism began to slowly take me away from such childish things I went kicking and screaming (as evidenced by this blog, my attempt to hold on to the stories even as belief slipped away). Once you've allowed yourself to believe the world is a "magical" place, why would you want to wake up to reality?
A year or so ago I read Abominable Science: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids, a brilliant step-by-step take down of every major tenet of cryptozoological lore. I was by then well past belief in any woo but it acted as a refreshing breeze of sanity and science to help clear away the last delusional cobwebs. A great read which I very much recommend for really seeing how little evidence there is for pretty much any cryptid you can think of.
Now Darren Naish has written a similar book. Again it demolishes case after case. He does so with an ease that highlights just how much wishful thinking one has to put in to believing in bigfoot or Loch Ness monster just to make them seem possible.
However the book won't surprise any sceptic with a decent knowledge of cryptid lore. It feels somewhat unnecessary coming a couple of years after Abominable Science.
That's not to say it isn't a well-written, well-researched and easy to read take-down of cryptozoology. It sets out a clear, rational case to be sceptical of claims made about "undiscovered" animals. And that serves a valuable purpose in fighting woomeisters and creationists alike.
A couple of years ago I read Joly's amazing "The Dark Tourist". It was at once informative and laugh out loud funny. Learning about the touristic "delights" of "taboo" destinations, such as discovering that you can ski in Iran, as an absolute joy. I guess Joly was hoping to recapture that perfect travel book balance again with Scary Monsters and Super Creeps. Unfortunately he fails on one front.
This book is still laugh out loud funny. I was desperately containing snorts of laughter on the train to and from work. For that along it is worth the read, Joly has a way of seeing the world that makes his grumpy old man character seem endearing rather than tiring. However his "search" for some of cryptozoology's biggies (he calls them the "Big Six"), leaves a lot to be desired.
If you want to find out about the culture of foreign airports, basic infrastructure and how big a fool Joly sometimes felt as he gets himself into allsorts of scraps ("Are you looking for Ogopogo?" is all I'm saying!) then this is the book for you. If you want to know anything about the veracity of the tales about the "Big Six", look elsewhere.
He does take a video of a "sighting" of Ogopogo but he doesn't even take basic steps to try and work out what it really is. Here's a video that could, you never know, blow this case wide open. Or it could be some fish having a bit of a fight (which hey, might have been enlightening!). But he just moves on. He never makes it past the nearest village to Mokele Mbembe's purported location, he spends lots of time in Hiroshima and Nagasaki rather than actually looking for the Hibagon and he doesn't, understandably, get to the sort of altitudes in Nepal where the yeti is mostly reported from. And we hear more about his hot tub social encounters in Inverness than the Loch Ness monster.
It all felt very half-hearted and that just made it feel a little pointless. A shame really as it is still pretty hilarious.
Hello Dear Constant Reader! It's been a while, there is only so many fantastic stories one can take I suppose. But something has awoken me from my slumber and that was my hand hitting my face in a particularly aggressive facepalm. So here I am again...
The UK, more precisely Essex, is in the grip of a big cat scare. This is hardly surprising as we in this country aren't strangers to big cat sightings, as we've seen before, but this time it's a lion!
Being the sceptical sort, I expected this to be yet another case of mistaken identity or a hoax. How wrong could I be? There are pictures!
Firstly, this may not be the "real" photo shown to the police. Well I hope it wasn't.
Secondly. Can you see that photo? Does it look even remotely like a genuine photo? Not to me. The lighting is just totally wrong. Maybe it is genuine but if so... it's the worst genuine picture of animal seen since my dog attacked me while trying to photograph him.
I have a strong whiff of bullshit in my nostrils....
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George and Jeannie Chapman and their children were an Amerindian family who, in September 1941, lived in Ruby Creek, British Columbia.
They lived close to the railway, upon which Mr. Chapman worked. Mid-afternoon, one September day, the oldest Chapman child (who was 9) came running into the house stating there was a cow coming down out of the woods. He was agitated enough for his mother to decide to take a look at what could have upset him.
There were some bushes bordering the nearby railway tracks and she spotted what appeared to her to be a bear moving among them. She called her younger children, who were playing near the tracks, to her side and then watched with horror as the creature reached the tracks and she saw it for what it really was; a gigantic 7 1/2 foot tall man covered in light brown, 4 inch long, hair. She described it to Ivan Sanderson shortly before her death thus:
Mrs. Chapman told me that the creature was about 7½ feet tall. She could estimate its height by the various fence and line posts standing about the field. It had a rather small head and a very short, thick neck; in fact really no neck at all, a point that was emphasized by William Roe and by all others who claim to have seen one of these creatures. Its body was entirely human in shape except that it was immensely thick through its chest and its arms were exceptionally long. She did not see the feet which were in the grass. Its shoulders were very wide and it had no breasts, from which Mrs. Chapman assumed it was a male, though she also did not see any male genitalia due to the long hair covering its groin. She was most definite on one point: the naked parts of its face and its hands were much darker than its hair, and appeared to be almost black.
It continued to approach and, whilst she stood her ground, she ordered her oldest child to round up his siblings and get a blanket. Believing the creature may be after the children, she decided to use a blanket to shield them. When the creature was about 100ft from her, she held the blanket aloft and backed away with her children out of sight behind her down the river nearby and then they fled towards the village.
She hoped by concealing the children in this way, the creature may not pursue them but instead busy itself by searching the house for them. Her instincts proved correct as it did search the house and then an outhouse where it broke apart a very large saltfish barrel allowing them to make their escape.
Mr. Chapman meanwhile returned home from work. He found the outhouse door broken, and very large footprints milling around the property. Concerned, and with the stories he knew of "sasquatch" he searched the property for his family. He found their tracks by the river and saw no large footprints following them but his relief was tempered when he then stumbled upon more large footprints disappearing back into the bushes near the railway.
Over the following week fresh footprints were found around the house each morning, the dogs were heard to become very over excited at night and the couple heard unnerving noises outside. Being sensible folk, they decided to leave their house and did not return.
Later investigation details can be found here and a little video with some more details on those is below.
Further Reading
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The year is 1979 and we're paying a visit to Cleveland County, North Carolina. Something odd is afoot. Strange noises "like a woman screaming" have been heare d in the woods and Forest Price found his full-grown goat, Bill, dead due to a broken neck.
Last Sunday morning, Forest Price found his full-grown goat, Bill, dead of a broken neck.
"I didn't see it happen. I don't know how it happened. All I know is that something just killed the hell out of Bill and now I've got to get me another goat," he said.
A few days earlier, Price said, something frightened his animals, causing a mule to beak a rope and escape.
Yeap. Sure enough, there were reports of a bigfoot about, first seen by 88-year-old Minnie Cook near her house on December 21st 1978. Knobby became a big hit with local news and radio programmes who used "searches" for this elusive beast as publicity stunts. Pretty soon after the initial flurry of reports, Knobby disappeared.
Until....
Timothy Peeler called 911.
Peeler, of Vanada Drive in Casar, is a self-proclaimed “South Mountain man.” He’s surrounded by woods and a ridge worthy of postcards.
It was June 5 when Peeler supposedly spotted a man-beast, upwards of 10 feet tall, that screeched like “a night bird” and grunted in the warm night air.
The creature sported dark hair, Peeler said, with a grey beard stretching to its navel.
Authorities were dispatched that morning around 3 a.m., according to a report from Cleveland County Communications.
Deputies filed a suspicious person report after investigating the incident. Source: Shelby Star
Here's a clip from a local news station on the latest sightings:
Over a year ago I wrote The Last Dinosaurs, a post stating quite clearly that I don't believe dinosaurs (as in the order dinosauria) have managed to survive in a recognisable form into the modern era. Birds are the closest we are going to get.
But there are still a few interesting stories that I've seen since then that should be put out there for consideration. Tales of sauropods and other quadrupedal dinosaurs are two-a-penny in cryptozoology. But theropods, two legged dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus Rex, are a little less common and all the more intruiging for it. Could there really be giant bipedal dinosaurs stalking our planet still?
The Burrunjor
Although I'd obviously previously heard of the most famous Australian reptilian anamoly; Megalania (I type this sitting in a chair with one of Megalania's relatives Mr Gibbs The Bearded Dragon lying on my chest) I'd never heard of a Burrunjor. It would appear there is another giant beast stalking the outback.
Campfire stories substantiating Aboriginal claims are commonplace across the far north. Back in 1978, a Northern Territory busman and explorer, Bryan Clark, related a story to me of his own that had taken place some years before. While mustering cattle in the Urapunji area, he became lost in the remote wilderness of that part of Arnhem Land. It took him three days to find his way out of the region and back to the homestead from where he originally set out.He had not known at the time, but his footprints had been picked up and followed by two Aboriginal trackers and a mounted policeman. On the first night of their search they camped on the outskirts of the Burrunjor scrub, even though the two trackers protested strongly against doing so. The policeman hobbled his horse, cooked their meal, then climbed into his swag and went to sleep.Later that night the two Aborigines shouting intelligibly and grasping for their packs and saddles suddenly woke him up. The policeman also realised at this moment that the ground appeared to be shaking. Hurriedly getting to his feet, he too gathered up his belongings, and shortly afterwards, the three galloped away. As he told Bryan Clark later at the Urapunji homestead, he had also heard a sound, somewhat like a loud puffing or grunting noise, certainly loud enough to be coming from some large animal. When asked if he intended to include this incident in his report, he replied he would not because he feared no one would believe him. The policeman warned Bryan never again to return to that area, because if he got lost there again he’d be “on his own”, as he would not come looking for him!
The region’s cave art, thousands of years old, depicts these monstrous animals. Many Aborigines believe these monsters wander back and forth across the Gulf country and Cape York to this day. Back in 1950, cattlemen lost stock to some mysterious beast that left the mutilated, half-eaten remains of cows and bulls in its wake over a wide area, stretching between the border country and Burketown. Searchers on horseback found huge reptilian tracks of some bipedal-walking beast. They followed these three-toed tracks with their cattle dogs through some rough jungle terrain until they entered swampland beyond which was more dense scrub. However, it was at this point that the cattle dogs became uneasy and ran off. The horses were also uneasy and obviously did not want to cross the swamp. While most of the cattlemen decided their animals knew best, two men set off on foot with their carbines. The story goes that they soon came across further tracks in an open area beyond the swamp. While his mate searched about, the other man briefly spotted the dark form of an enormous creature, perhaps 30ft in height, further off in dense timber. The men left the scene in haste.
Johnny Mathews, a part-Aboriginal tracker, claimed to have seen a 25ft tall bipedal reptilian monster, moving through scrub near lagoon Creek on the Gulf coast one day in 1961. “Hardly anyone outside my own people believes my story, but I known what I saw”, he said to me in 1970.
In 1985 a 4-wheel drive vehicle and it s family of travellers, the Askeys, heading for Roper River Mission, happened to take a back road for some sightseeing. Just before they were to pull up and turn around to resume their journey to the mission, they all saw, moving together across an open plain some distance away, two bipedal-walking reptilian creatures a good 20ft tall respectively. “The monsters were a greyish-brown colour and dinosaur-like in appearance. We didn’t wait around”, said the father, Mr Greg Askey.
I certainly think there is a lot more "evidence" for this creature than for the slightly more famous story which is to follow, but I still think we must be wary. Australia is certainly massive and whilst it may have over 20 million inhabitants, this is a drop in the ocean considering the size of the continent. However could something large really escape the attention of science for so long? I think it is interesting that the aborigine population have legends that back up the story but aborigine's know no more about the outback than many other Australians nowadays and thus I don't think we should suddenly start to accept all their beliefs and folk tales as fact.
Kasai rex
Reports regarding this mysterious creature seem to have been duplicated and names confused. Supposedly the story originated in the Rhodesia Herald in 1932 with a story regarding the exploits of a Swede named John Johnson (in other versions he is J. C. Johanson)
On February 16 last I went on a shooting trip, accompanied by my gunbearer. I had only a Winchester for small game, not expecting anything big. At 2 p.m. I had reached the Kasai valley (sic).
No game was in sight. As we were going down to the water, the boy suddenly called out "elephants". It appeared that two giant bulls were almost hidden by the jungle. About 50 yards away from them I saw something incredible - a monster, about 16 yards in length, with a lizard's head and tail. I closed my eyes and reopened them. There could be no doubt about it, the animal was still there. My boy cowered in the grass whimpering.
I was shaken by the hunting-fever. My teeth rattled with fear. Three times I snapped; only one attempt came out well. Suddenly the monster vanished, with a remarkably rapid movement. It took me some time to recover. Alongside me the boy prayed and cried. I lifted him up, pushed him along and made him follow me home. On the way we had to transverse a big swamp. Progress was slow, for my limbs were still half-paralyzed with fear. There in the swamp, the huge lizard appeared once more, tearing lumps from a dead rhino. It was covered in ooze. I was only about 25 yards away.
It was simply terrifying. The boy had taken French leave, carrying the rifle with him. At first I was careful not to stir, then I thought of my camera. I could hear the crunching of rhino bones in the lizard's mouth. Just as I clicked, it jumped into deep water.
The experience was too much for my nervous system. Completely exhausted, I sank down behind the bush that had given me shelter. Blackness reigned before my eyes. The animal's phenomenally rapid motion was the most awe-inspiring thing I have ever seen.'
I must have looked like one demented, when at last I regained camp. Metcalfe, who is the boss there, said I approached him, waving the camera about in a silly way and emitting unintelligible sounds. I dare say I did. For eight days I lay in a fever, unconscious nearly all the time.'
Now based on this report, even if it was real which I very much doubt, there is nothing here to suggest this is a Tyrannosaurus. The creature is referred to as a lizard and no remarks are made about it hunting on two legs or in fact even standing up on them. So alas I don't think we have two legged carnivorous dinosaurs roaming about the Congo.
With just one report I think we can safely put this one down as a "hoax".
So there are two more dinosaur survival stories for you to feast on. Enjoy!
Bill Gibbons, he of Mokele Mbmeme fame, has also recorded stories of another cryptid in the jungles of Africa (in this case the Democratic Republic of Congo): a giant spider.
"I first became aware of a giant ground-dwelling spider through Miss Margaret Lloyd, formerly of Rhodesia and now living in England. Her parents, Reginald and Margurite Lloyd were exploring the interior of the old Belgian Congo in 1938 when they spotted something crossing the jungle track ahead of them. At first they took the object to be a large jungle cat or a monkey on all fours. When they stopped their vehicle (an old Ford truck) to allow the animal to pass, they were thunderstruck to see that it was a very large brown spider, similar in its appearance to a tarantula, with a leg span of at least four or five feet. Mr. Lloyd trembled so much with excitement that he was unable to retrieve his camera in time to take a snap, and Mrs. Lloyd was so distraught that she wanted to return home (Rhodesia) immediately. This creature is known as the J’ba Fofi; J’ba meaning “great” or “giant” Fofi meaning “spider” (spiders of all kinds are called Fofi)."
Certainly doesn't make me want to take a trip through the Congo without a very large gun!
I will admit to having a soft spot for movies like Eight Legged Freaks
So is there any more evidence for this massive creature? Not really... the "facts" as far as they can be ascertained, thanks to Karl Shuker's Extraordinary Animals Revisited, are that the spider is claimed by members of the Bake pygmy tribe of the area to be yellow with a purple abdomen when a spiderling, growing to up to 3 feet in length and brown in colour as an adult. Its eggs are supposed to be the size of peanuts. It builds hides that resemble the huts of the local tribes, and is supposed to be able to build webs that are capable of capturing birds and small forest antelopes. It has been said to eat humans if given the chance.
There are also other stories. Monster Quest recently did a show on giant spiders in the Amazon said to be big enough to attack even humans but mainly "livestock" (for which read chickens). This is pretty similar to reports, now quite likely substantiated, of a Chicken Eating Spider which appears to exhibit the strange, for a spider, behaviour of communal living and hunting!
The problem with spiders getting to any size much bigger than a dinner plate is the level of oxygen in the atmosphere. This causes problems with the growth of land invertebrates (as per this article) which is why in the past we had giant dragonflies and arachnids but not anymore. However evolution is a tricky process and will often throw up some new way of overcoming such problems.
Invertebrata Enigmatica: Giant Spiders, Dangerous Insects, and Other Strange Invertebrates in Classic Science Fiction and Fantasy - Chad Arment (Editor) (US Amazon, UK Amazon)
As you should know, Dear Constant Reader, I am convinced by the evidence available (i.e. the big cats that have actually been caught/killed!!) that there are exotic big cats roaming our countryside. If you don't believe that, I honestly don't know what to say. We've caught them. We've killed them. They are there. They might not be breeding in great numbers, and may not establish a permanent population. But they are there.
Even so, having watched this latest video which purports to be an exotic big cat in Helensburgh, Argyll, I have to say I'm very unconvinced.
Look at the way it walks! Look at the way it's legs and tail look fluffy. The most convincing moment is as the cat walks from the bushes to the train tracks where it would appear to have a very "panther" like body. But the picture seems very distorted and I'm not actually sure that affect is not partly caused by the angle the cat is in relation to the camera and the poor camera quality.
No, I'm sorry, but I feel it's nothing more than a well fed and oversized domestic cat. And if you don't think cats get that big, then really you're missing out as my favourite breed is the awesomely gigantic Maine Coon (I want SEVERAL ;) )
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I've got a Venus Fly Trap! Despite warnings from every good carnivorous plant website saying "Don't you dare get one, they are too delicate" I threw caution to the wind and now sitting upon my windowsill is the latest addition to our household (the other recent addition "Gibbs The Bearded Dragon" is cowering in his vivarium because of the heat as I type). So I thought "How can I link this in to a Moonlight Investigation post?". Well Venus Fly Traps are your stereotypical weird flora which leads us pretty quickly to the lesser known fortean "science" of cryptobotany (also called cryptophytology).
Cryptobotany is the floral counterpart to cryptozoology; the search for "hidden" plants. Of course this doesn't appear to be a search for any old type of plant, but more a search for man eating plants! And when I say a search I mean repeating old stories from the comfort of one's armchair (a bit like I'm doing now). Botany is a much maligned science but personally I've always been respectful towards it. Not excited by it, zoology is my "thing", but respectful. Plants are not just living things, they are competitive, dangerous and all round inventive living things. So it's sad that the alternative science equivalent to it is so uninventive and unexciting. There's plenty of amazing plants out there, without needing to go looking for man eating ones!
Audrey II
Of course a lot of people, even those interested in cryptozoology, dismiss reports of undiscovered plants on the basis that "plants can't hide" like Bigfoot or Nessie. But I don't think those people have ever been outside and found just how difficult it is to get through vegetation and obviously new species of plant remain out there to be found (if you don't believe me check out the Wollemi Pine). This post though will focus on the more typical cryprobotanical ilk...
Let's not beat around the bush (oh yes people, a botany joke!!); there is very little information around about cryptid flora. But let's take a look anyway...
THE SNAKE-TREE The "Snake- tree" is described in a newspaper para- graph as found on an outlying spur of the Sierra Madre, in Mexico. It has sensitive branches of a slimy, snaky appearance, and when a bird alights on them incautiously, it is seized, drawn down in the tree and lost to sight. Soon after it falls, flattened out, to the ground, where bones and feathers, no doubt of former captures cover the earth. An adventurous traveler having touched one of the branches of the tree tells how it closed up on his hand with such force that it tore the skin when he wrenched it away. He then fed the tree with chickens, and the tree absorbed their blood by means of suckers with which its branches were covered, very much like those of the octopus.
"MONKEY-TRAP TREE"
A recent report is credited to a Brazilian explorer named Mariano da Silva who returned from an expedition which led him into a district of Brazil that borders on Guiana. He had there sought out the settlement of Yatapu Indians. During his journey he saw a tree which nourishes itself on animals. The trunk of the tree has a diameter of about 90 centimetres and is about six to seven meters high. Around the lower part are found leaves which are 0.9 by 20 centimetres large and the thickness of the thumb. The tree itself exudes a peculiar sharp odor which attracts animals, especially monkeys. As soon as they climb the trunk, all is up with them, for very quickly they are com- pletely closed in by the leaves, and one neither hears nor sees them again. After about three days the leaves open and let drop to the earth the bones, completely stripped.
Also contained is the very detailed, very exciting and very debunked Madagascan Man-Eating Tree. Here's a Wiki summary:
The earliest well known report of a man-eating tree originated as a hoax. In 1881 German explorer "Carl Liche" wrote an account in the South Australian Register of encountering a sacrifice performed by the "Mkodo" tribe of Madagascar:[3]
"The slender delicate palpi, with the fury of starved serpents, quivered a moment over her head, then as if instinct with demoniac intelligence fastened upon her in sudden coils round and round her neck and arms; then while her awful screams and yet more awful laughter rose wildly to be instantly strangled down again into a gurgling moan, the tendrils one after another, like great green serpents, with brutal energy and infernal rapidity, rose, retracted themselves, and wrapped her about in fold after fold, ever tightening with cruel swiftness and savage tenacity of anacondas fastening upon their prey."
The tree was given further publicity by the 1924 book by former Governor of Michigan Chase Osborn, Madagascar, Land of the Man-eating Tree. Osborn claimed that both the tribes and missionaries on Madagascar knew about the hideous tree, and also repeated the above Liche account.
In his 1955 book, Salamanders and other Wonders, science author Willy Ley determined that the Mkodo tribe, Carle Liche, and the Madagascar man-eating tree itself all appeared to be fabrications.
There are also tales of a man eating tree called the "Ya-te-veo" ("I see you") that lives around the South Atlantic, but no recent witness statements mention it and it seems more a local legend than a fortean story.
And sadly this is the sort of thing that then seems to occur throughout reports of strange plants... hearsay, rumour but no "sightings". Death plants, flesh eating vines and over sized Venus Fly Traps are all mentioned in the same way you might mention any other urban legend.
Given your average person's disinterest in plant life (outside of their garden!) I think there are thousands of plants out there waiting to be studied. However I don't think the cryptobotanists will find them. At least cryptozoologists go on expeditions!! Alas, if there is a man eating plant out there it's likely to continue to go very hungry for a long time.
Further Reading
The Beasts That Hide From Man - Karl P.N. Shuker (UK Amazon, US Amazon) - This book has a section on cryptobotany but I can personally attest to it having a great selection of other topics on crptids. Dr Karl Shuker is awesome, if I do say so myself. Great writing style too, serious but not dull.
Flora Curiosa: Cryptobotany, Mysterious Fungi, Sentient Trees, and Deadly Plants in Classic Science Fiction and Fantasy - Chad Arment (Editor) (UK Amazon, US Amazon)
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Could there really be monsters in this world? I'm not talking cryptozoological mysterious animals, but real versions of those scary, looming bipedal monstrosities of our nightmares. Could something like the Creature of the Black Lagoon or one of it's many movie brethren be out there, waiting for us down dark roads and in all the scary places?
On the 5th of March 1954, the Creature from the Black Lagoon was released to scare and stun cinema audiences the world over.
A little over a year later, fact seemed to be following fiction. In May 1955, on a quiet road near Loveland in Ohio, bordering the Little Miami river, one lone business man encountered monsters.
Some time in the early hours he spotted three strange figures in the road, and pulled up to the curb to observe them more closely. He described them as about 3- 4 foot tall, with leathery skin, standing upon two legs. These bipedal creatures appeared reptilian but even more strongly resembled frogs in their facial features and their webbed hands and feet. An artists impression can be found here.
Now I'm sure both we and the anonymous business man must be thinking at this point things can't get any stranger than this. He decided to make a exit but as he pulled away one of the creatures pulled out a "wand", held it above it's head and sparks were seen to fly from it. Needless to say, our intrepid witness made a very quick getaway!
Just a few months later one girl may have had an even closer encounter...
About 250 miles from Loveland is the town of Evansville in Indiana lying alongside the Ohio River (of which the Little Miami river is a tributary). Three months after the weird encounter in Loveland, two girlswere taking a swim in the river. Darwin Johnson and Chris Lamble were enjoying the sun on the 21st August 1955 when, suddenly, Johnson was seized around the knee by an unknown hand and dragged under the water. She kicked herself free of this unwanted attention and resurfaced but was immediately seized from behind.
As her friend screamed her heart out, Johnson made one last attempt to break free and grabbed hold of her friends inner tube violently. Somehow they both made it back to shore without further attack. Johnson had multiple cuts on her leg along with a green, palmprint shaped stain which could not be removed for several days. This led to a nickname for the "creature" among some cryptozoologists of "The Green Clawed Monster".
Whilst no one saw the assailant, could this underwater menace be related to the Loveland Frogmen?
It wasn't until the 3rd of March, 1972 that the Loveland frogmen made another appearance. A police officer was cruising along Riverside Road, Loveland at a very slow speed due to icy conditions. He noticed something like a dog lying by the curb, but no sooner did he see it than the creature darted out in front of the cruiser forcing him to hit the brakes.
The creature lay prone in the beam of headlights. As the officer peered out of his window screen he watched as it stood upright on two legs and stared right back at him, it's eyes glowing from the reflection of his headlights. It then clambered over the railing on the side of the road, down the slope and into the Little Miami river.
The officer described this creature in exactly the same way as that poor businessman did 20 years previously. Another officer investigated the scene the next day but found little evidence of the encounter beyond some scratch marks on the railings which the frogman went over.
Two weeks later Mark Mathews, another police officer, had an encounter with something although later recanted on what he saw. American Monsters describes events accordingly:
The second sighting occurred two weeks later while police officer Mark Mathews had an encounter of his own. According to the report officer Mathews, while driving into Loveland, spotted what he believed to be an injured animal lying on the pavement.
Mathews climbed out of his cruiser with the intention of removing the carcass from the already ice slickened road, when the creature abruptly lurched upwards into a "crouched" position. Taken aback by the Frog Man's Reptilian visage, Mathews unholstered his revolver and took a shot at the creature, which then proceeded to hobble over to the side of the road and step over the guardrail - all the while keeping a watchful eye on the trigger-happy officer. Mathews' "Frogman" matched the first officer's description down to the last detail, with the exception of a tail, which was absent in earlier reports.
His later tale is somewhat different, if actually slightly LESS believable if that was somehow possible. Here it is recounted by X-Project Paranormal Magazine
In an e-mail interview with retired officer Mark Mathews, the second police officer that saw the bizarre creature in March 1972, he states, "There is absolutely nothing to the incident that relates to 'monsters' or the 'paranormal'. This entire thing has been habitually blown out of proportion...".
Mr. Mathews continues with his first-hand account of what he saw:
"It was and is no 'monster'. It was not leathery or [had] wet matted fur. It was not 3-5 feet tall. It did not stand erect. The animal I saw was obviously some type of lizard that someone had as a pet that either got too large for its aquarium, escaped by accident or they simply got tired of it. It was less than 3 feet in length, ran across the road and was probably blinded by my headlights. It presented no aggressive action."
Mr. Mathews pointed out more discrepancies in this famous story. He shot at the creature, as no one had believed his partner's sighting a few nights before. Despite being hit, the lizard still escaped and Mathews suspected it either died of the wound or eventually died from the cold weather. The dramatic, commonly described scene of the lizard standing erect and stepping over the guardrail while keeping it's watchful eyes on Officer Mathews in fact, never happened.
Hmm... this officer's a little trigger happy indeed!! But then again police officers are only human and just as likely to do stupid, dangerous things as anyone else.
If we are to believe the tales of the Loveland Frogmen we must completely rearrange our worldview, because for these creatures to exist we must imagine possibilities outside the fields of known science and head into realms of fantasy. But sometimes that isn't a bad thing. Maybe there is something out there...
A few months after the two police officers encounters, on the 19th of August 1972, two boys - Robin Flewellyn and Gordon Pike - had their own encounter with an aquatic monster in Thetis Lake, British Columbia, Canada. The Thetis Lake Monster was born...
This freakishly scary fiend of a fish is quite different from most lake monsters in that it has a humanoid body similar to that of the beast from the film The Creature from the Black Lagoon. In 1972, two teenagers on the shore of the lake said they witnessed a scaly, humanoid form suddenly rise from the water. The two teens turned and took off, but the creature caught up and cut one the boy's hands with a barbed fin on its skull. - Epoch Times
A day after the story was published in a newspaper (which would be the 23rd August 1972) two men came forward claiming to have also seen the monster but on the opposite of the lake to where the two boys saw it.
But perhaps this story lends some credence to Officer Mathews recantation of his original story in favour of a large escaped pet.
The mystery was solved soon afterward. On August 26, the Province newspaper said police got a call from a man who’d lost a teju lizard (below left) in the area the previous year. Tejus, which are native to South America and often kept as pets (their mottled black-and-white skins are also used for cowboy boots), grow up to three feet long. The police decided the lizard matched the monster’s description, and closed the case. - Unknown Victoria
So perhaps these water monsters are really nothing more than large lizards misidentified by the ill-informed. Speaking of which:
W. Haden Blackman suggested in his 1998 Field Guide to North American Monsters that something's still lurking around. “If you do come across it, remember these kind of creatures are all considered extremely dangerous,” wrote Blackman, who told would-be hunters to carry a flaming torch to prevent an attack – a bit of advice far more deadly in the tinder-dry park than any old reptile. - Unknown Victoria
Beware cryptozoologists offering tips of dealing with mystery animals is all I can say. What sort of person makes up remedies for things they don't even know for sure are real??? Madness.
Here's a little video from the Monster Spotter team on the Loveland Frogmen.
Further Reading
Mothman and Other Curious Encounters - Loren Coleman (UK Amazon, US Amazon)
Monster Spotters Guide to North America - Scott Francis and Ben Patrick (UK Amazon, US Amazon)
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I might be a sympathetic sceptic, but even the more hardcore sceptics should give credit where credits due. CFZ do not just accept any old story, they properly look into the merits of each case. That's why I subscribed to Animals and Men last year and will do so again when I have the money. In the meantime I say check out the Peruvian snake saga, and then explore the rest of the fab articles over there. Anyone with a passing interest in animals, or cryptozoology, will find something of interest on there.
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I'm now the owner of my very own Aussie dragon; his name is now Gibbs and he's (gender not confirmed, it'll be Doris if she's a girl!) a bearded dragon. Which sort of got me thinking about my favourite Aussie cryptid. Forget about the yowie, don't even bother with the bunyip. Megalania is where it's at!
Not only is megalania a real prehistoric creature. But it is possible it survived (officially) until sometime around 40,000 years ago. The earliest evidence for human habitation of Australia is from 40,000 years ago. It's a possibility that megalania and man met face to face.
So what is a megalania?
Megalania (Varanus priscus) was the largest terrestrial lizard known to science. It was probably about 3.5 metres (11 ft) long on average and weighed about 97–158 kilograms (210–350 lb). Basically; it was really very big. It was probably at the very top of the food chain, preying on creatures large and small.
So there's the "science". But what makes it worthy of our attention? Well... some say megalania is not extinct and still prowls the outback of Australia.
In July 1979, Rex Gilroy investigated supposed megalania footprints left in a recently plowed field. . About thirty tracks were in the ground, but unfortunately Gilroy was only able to make a cast of one due to rain. There's a picture here. A megalania big enough to leave a footprint that big would be quite a fearsome beast!
More famously later in 1979, Frank Gordon (claimed by sources to be a herpetologist but I cannot independently locate him or his trade), while doing field work in the Wattagan Mountains, started the engine in his vehicle and a nearby 'log' scampered off. What he had thought was a log was actually a lizard about thirty feet in length.
There are also a few other sightings recorded here. And alas this is where we must awake from our daydreaming of giant monsters for something worrying here raises it's head. In my research I've found NO story that doesn't in some way lead back to Rex Gilroy. His own websites show he is a very prolific research of all many of fortean curiosities in Australia, which is nothing in itself worrying. But why are there no independent stories and sightings?
I enjoy wondering if "recently" extinct creatures might just have survived into the modern age. People sometimes forget how big the world is, and how little of it humans see. My own personal experiences of moving to London has found most city folk don't even know what a cow is like let alone a wild animal. So I can believe in the survival of many creatures. BUT until I can see some other sources of sightings of the megalania I have to think it might just be too much a case of one man's quest and less about the truth (no aspersions on Mr Gilroy's character meant, I don't think he is intentionally lying or misleading).
Further Reading
Dragons in the Dust: The Paleobiology of the Giant Monitor Lizard Megalania - Ralph E. Molnar (US Amazon, UK Amazon)
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Aliens are all around us here in the United Kingdom. They walk, fly, slither and grow most any place you can imagine. Some are worried, but most don't seem to care.
Is David Icke's prediction finally becoming accepted fact? No. For we are talking about plain old, but not quite boring, ecological alien invasion.
Take me to your leader!
Copyright Jason Alexander 2005
Grey squirrels and Canada geese are so common and recognisable that they feel almost like natives. But there are other, more unusual creatures, which have also come to call our islands home.
Wallabies. Yes, wallabies, have managed to survive, if not thrive, here in Britain. In this 2006 article there were supposedly 51 sightings of wallabies over the preceding six years. (There were 5,931 sightings of big cats yet wallabies in Britain aren't controversial but big cats are... go figure!).
Once, beyond perhaps an occasional nip by a pike, a Brit could be assured that when stepping into lakes for a dip their digits and dangly bits were in little danger. But no longer as turtles and terrapins have begun to appear all over the place. Reports come from Kent, the Midlands and Cornwall among many other places. My favourite turtle story was of a rather aggressive snapping turtle which had alluded a park keeper for 17 years before finally being caught. Snapping turtles are no joke when they give you a quick "nip".
But could even more dangerous reptilians be stalking the unwary from our ponds, lakes and rivers? Some claim to have seen crocodiles in such places as Swansea, Staffordshire and an alligator in the Midlands. Perhaps we might need to keep an eye on more than just our toes when taking to the water.
Any suggestion that she had been replaced by a crocodilian alien was quickly denied by a spokesman for Her Majesty (pictured) last night
Most of the animals typically reported are obviously headline grabbing but some are slightly more worrying, well for arachnophobics anyway! Check this story for examples of alien spiders in Britain and for another growing trend: the prediction of future alien invasions. These days no story about an alien invasion can be complete without the end warning of the imminent approach of *insert ever more scary species here*.
A Chinese Mitten Crab attempting to take over a Natural England tactical command post
Personally I think it's time we reevaluated the way we deal with invasive species. Many species we consider perfectly acceptable in this country such as hares, rabbits and pheasants are in fact simply successful invaders. Invasion of new territory by more well adapted species is called progress. Yes things will change. Yes species will die. But perhaps we should spend more time worrying about keeping our planet healthy and less about keeping it "genetically pure".
Don't get me wrong, I think efforts to protect the red squirrel, our native crayfish and other species and habitats threatened by invaders are extremely well intentioned and very worthy. But perhaps we should try merely to keep them alive for their beauty and the joy they bring and not just because they are native and other animals aren't. Let's not let humanity's racist thoughts blind our policy towards the environment. A healthy environment free of plastic, toxins and other trash might enable native species to expand back to ranges lost which might ensure a longer term future for them whilst allowing space for change and evolution from the more exotic members of Britains ever changing family of flora and fauna.
"Alien big cats" are reported throughout the country (and throughout the world). But all such reports should be treated critically as human perception can be flawed. So what other evidence is there that large big cats wander our woods, fields and sometimes towns? Let's take a look.
There's plenty of video "evidence" on Youtube and the following video is certainly intriguing but only if that fence is 12 foot high. If it's not then this would be the smallest big cat in history.
In 1991 an European Lynx was shot near Great Witchingham, Norfolk. See the picture below.
Many think this animal was an escapee from a zoo or private collection who preyed upon local livestock until it was killed. It does at least show big cats have survived in the wild in the UK before. Another lynx was captured in 2001 and earned the nickname "the Beast of Crinklewood". She's now called Lara and lives at London Zoo.
Across the country in Shropshire, Devon and even on the Isle of Wight Jungle cats and Leopard cats have been shot or run over (on more than a few occasions!) over the last couple of decades. Now these cats aren't "big cats" but they are large ecologically alien cats and it is very interesting to see that they can be found living wild in this country.
The Times carried a story headlined "Puma Cub Caught Near Hospital" on the 28th of October 1976. That same year the Dangerous Wild Animals Act went through Parliament. This act is often cited as a cause for the release of captive animals into the wild in an effort to avoid breaking the law (it wasn't illegal to release them until the eighties). Although my article on the Surrey Puma shows big cat sightings do predate this event, perhaps this is when a larger more widespread population was introduced. In 1980 Ted Noble caught a puma, later named Felicity at Cannich, Inverness-shire, Scotland. This however didn't stop sightings of a large cat that had preceded her capture and they carried on as she lived out her days as a tourist attraction at the Highland Wildlife Park, Kinguisse. Another incident happened in Greenwich Park (just a few minutes walk from where I sit typing this) in 1987 when police shot a puma near the famous Greenwich Observatory.
Worrying footage can be found about 7 minutes into this video. Part one of this documentary can be found here. I'm not big on conspiracy theories (as you, Dear Constant Reader, know) but I'm at a loss to explain away that footage of firemen and men with guns turning up at this man's property after a big cat sighting. Either there is an established extermination programme or the authorities have reason to take such reports extremely seriously. Now if they were simply taking things seriously surely it would be uniformed firearms officers who attended? Not a ramshackle group of guys who look more like guns for hire than officers of the law? Really rather interesting footage which I will take with a big dose of "reality" but will still ponder for quite some time. The big dose of reality is simply that the "big cat" looks to be a large domestic cat in this instance. Can they really grow that big? YES! I myself am desperate to own a Maine Coon which is a very large (and beautiful!) breed of felis catus. So I'm wary of the rest of the story as the premise (as featured in the video beforehand) is faulty. Another similar sort of report of police involvement can be read here. Again I make no claims of belief in such a cover up but simply put it out there for consideration.
Neil Arnold has an interesting article (among many) on what sort of big cats could survive and remain relatively hidden in the wilds of Kent (and hence most of Great Britain).
Check out the Monster Quest episode The Black Beast Of Exmoor for some more supposed footage of big cats in Britain.
Don't get me wrong, I believe most reports of such cats are simply mistaken identity as most pictures are very clearly domestic cats or some just dogs (I really despair when I see a picture supposedly of a big cat and see instantly it's a dog). But there is too much evidence to dismiss the fact that somewhere out there, right now, a large cat is lurking. Whether it's a rogue or a member of a thriving breeding population... that is what we need to establish.
Charles Hapgood
- Kent Hovind and William Gibbons 
by Rex Gilroy
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