Inside Out of BBC News sets out to investigate the possible existence of a monster living in the waters of Lake Windermere. The lake monster known as Bownessie which has often been compared to the Loch Ness Monster is said to lurk in the waters of the lake. There have been many sightings of the creature over the years which has caused a stir in the usually quiet waters. Tom Noblett local world record holding swimmer believes he was within a few feet of the creature one morning while out on a swim. Linden Adams a professional photographer claims he seen the creature and was able to capture multiple pictures of Bownessie. His photos are being analysed by forensic visual computing experts.
This video footage of this odd object or perhaps creature was taken at the glacial river Jökulsá í Fljótsdal in east Iceland. Many believe this may be footage of a snake like monster called Lagarfljótsormurinn that is said to live in lake Lagarfljót. The lake monster Lagarfljótsormurinn is said to be Iceland’s equivalent to the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland.
Sighting and reports of the creature go back all the way to 1345. A legend linked to the creature claims it was at first a tiny worm which was placed on a ring of gold so it could make the gold grow. But when the ring owner returned she was terrified to find that the worm had grown and not the gold so she tossed both the ring and worm into Lagarfljót and the worm continued to grow.
Whether or not this is actual footage of this mysterious creature and evidence of its existence is still up for debate. Some skeptics who don’t believe such a creature exist say the video could show nothing more then a torn fishing net. Here is the actual video taken so you can decide for yourself what has been captured.
Here is the latest video of the lake monster known as Champ posted on YouTube and is attributed to a young lady who is clearly the daughter of Ruby Anderson, leader of several Champ searches over recent years. The video is from back in July but was just recently released. The video was taken at Button Bay Start Park and last just under 2 minutes.
Here is the Champ video for you to examine and determine for yourself whether you think this is possibly Champ or not.
The unknown lake creature in Georgia Altamaha-ha, known more casually as “Altie,” defies scientific explanation. Even before European settlement, the Tama tribes people told stories of a giant, snake-like river animal that hissed and bellowed. Over the past century, fishermen, lumberjacks and boy scouts have reported sightings of a creature in the tributaries and marshes of the Altamaha River, which feeds one of the largest river basins on the Atlantic Coast. The eyewitness consensus holds that the Altamaha-ha has a dark, smooth hide, apart from the tire-tread-like ridges on its back, as well as a narrow neck, prominent snout and flat, porpoise-like tail.
Could it be a sturgeon on steroids? A throwback to marine reptiles like the toothy plesiosaur? Maybe the Loch Ness Monster’s cousin from across the pond? I’m skeptical about cryptids, the kind of famous beings like Bigfoot unrecognized by the scientific establishment, but the Altamaha-ha called me with a siren song, despite the likelihood of a search turning into a snipe hunt. But even if the Altamaha-ha isn’t real, it could still have significance.
Founded in 1736, Darien, population 1,719, turns out to be a nexus of Altamaha-ha hot spots. The relaxed little town, 30 miles north of Brunswick on the South Georgia coast, boasts considerable history as the state’s second-oldest planned city and the location of Fort King George. Darien natives treat Altie the Georgia lake monster like the town’s unofficial mascot, comparable to leprechauns on St. Patrick’s Day. “He lays low, but he’s beloved,” says Kathleen Russell, the feisty, silver-haired editor of the Darien News, who maintains a thick folder of Altie sightings, letters and other news accounts. “I’ve seen him a couple of times. Once, a couple of years ago, in Doboy Sound, I saw a wake coming up the river, and there’s nothing that could make a wake like that.”
Source: http://clatl.com/gyrobase/stalking-altie-does-georgia-have-its-own-loch-ness-monster/Content?oid=3283993&storyPage=1
Bownessie ?
The terrifying “beast”, thought to be up to 50ft long, was captured on camera by two pals out kayaking on Lake Windermere.
Shocked Tom Pickles and Sarah Harrington told how the mystery creature swept through the still waters at ten miles per hour – creating a giant wake.
They claimed they watched it for 20 seconds before it vanished into the mist, leaving them to scramble 360 yards to the safety of the bank.
Astonishingly, theirs is the EIGHTH sighting reported in the Lake District in just five years.
Last night experts hailed the snap as the best proof yet that “something” lives in Windermere which – at 10.5 miles long and 220ft deep – is England’s biggest natural lake.
And, referring to Scotland’s own legendary monster of the deep, one lake ecologist told The Sun: “If this thing is as big as they say it was, we’re in Loch Ness Monster territory.”
Graduate Tom, 24, snapped the creature on his mobile while on a team-building exercise with 23-year-old IT company colleague Sarah in Cumbria.
They were near the Lake’s Belle Isle when they saw the “monster” 160ft to the south.
Tom, based in Shrewsbury, said: “At first I thought it was a dog, then I saw it was much bigger and moving really fast.
“Each hump was moving in a rippling motion. I could tell it was far bigger underwater from the huge shadow around it. Its skin was dark black or browny and like a seal’s – but its shape was not like any animal I’ve ever seen.
“It looked about the length of three cars. It was petrifying.”
Sarah said: “It was like an enormous snake. It freaked us out. All I could think about was that I had to get off the lake.”
Locals in the town of Bowness have reported sightings of a creature, affectionately dubbed Bownessie, since the 1950s.
Among them is lecturer Steve Burnip, who claimed an encounter in 2006. He said yesterday: “What I saw shocked me. It had three humps – and the likeness with this is uncanny.”
Lake ecologist Dr Ian Winfield, of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, said the creature could be an Eastern European catfish – but he added: “If that size is accurate, I’ve no idea what it is.”
Yet sceptics remained unconvinced by the “beast” last night.
Nigel Wilkinson, director of Windermere Lake Cruises, said: “We carry millions of passengers and none has ever brought Bownessie to our attention.”
Source: thesun.uk
The last thing Darlene Thompkins expected to see on her holiday was something she referred to as the ‘Ootsa Lake monster’.
Thompkins who is holidaying in Burns Lake with her family from Edmonton, said she named the mysterious sighting in Ootsa Lake a monster because she didn’t know what else to call it.
Thompkins and her granddaughter were wading in the water near the Ootsa Lake spillway last week, while her friend George sat on the shore.
“A plane flew over and we watched that go by, it looked like the pilot was doing some sort of training exercise, then when we looked back down there was a big wave in the water,” she said.
Thompkins said the wave struck her as being unusual at the time so she watched the large ripple in the water about eight to 10 metres from where she and her granddaughter were standing.
Thompkins then said she and her granddaughter saw a head appear out of the water.
“It looked like a huge snake head ,,, and it was a dark grey colour,” she said.
“I called out to George to come and look, but he said to come out of the water and was a little scared. I didn’t think about being scared because I was trying to see what it was, I grabbed my video camera and recorded but I was in a hurry and the focus was zoomed in so the footage is blurry,” she said.
Thompkins then grabbed a camera to take a picture of the creature and snapped a shot.
“It looks further away in the photo that what it was …. we saw it much closer,” she said.
“We saw it twice, then another one came up beside it and a third one came too,” said Thompkins adding that the creatures were very long like a snake.
“You could see the head while they were swimming along then further back there was another part of it – like a hump …. I can’t stop thinking about what we saw and wondering what it was,” she added.
“My uncle said it was probably a sturgeon, but this creature was swimming along with its head out of the water …. right up and out of the water …. and it was really big,” she said.
“I wish I knew what it was, I have heard other people say they have seen something similar ….. these lakes are so big, you would never know what is living in them,” she added.
Source: bclocalnews
CYNICS may dismiss it as just a piece of driftwood or a trick of the light.
But a photograph showing what appears to be a long-necked sea creature has got marine experts scratching their heads.
The ‘animal’ was snapped stalking a shoal of fish just 30 yards off the British coast.
The fish were apparently so terrified they beached themselves just seconds later.
The creature was spotted off the Devon coast at Saltern Cove, Paignton, by locals who reported a sighting of what they thought was a turtle.
But pictures taken by one of the baffled witnesses, Gill Pearce, reveal the neck of the greenish-brown beast with the reptile-like head is far too long for it to be a turtle.
Mrs Pearce, who took the photo on July 27, reported her sighting to the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) where it was studied by sea life experts.
Claire Fischer from the MCS said: ‘Gill Pearce spotted the creature about 20m from the bay at Saltern Cove, near Goodrington.
‘It was observed at about 15.30 on 27 July but by the time she had got her camera it had moved further out.
‘She spotted it following a shoal of fish which beached themselves in Saltern Cove.
‘The creature remained in the sea, then went out again and followed the shoal – this indicates it’s not a turtle as they only eat jellyfish.
‘We would love to know if other people have seen anything like this in the same area and can help clear up the mystery.’
Source: news.com.au
Russian fishermen are demanding a probe into a creature resembling the Loch Ness monster in a remote Siberian lake.
Locals say that ‘Nesski’ has devoured anglers who have been pulled into the murky waters of Lake Chany from their boats.
Those claiming to have glimpsed the creature say it resembles the classic long-necked image of Scotland’s fabled monster. It has also been called ’snake-like’, while other accounts suggest a large fin and huge tail.
The latest mysterious death of a 59-year-old man last week has fuelled demands for a proper probe into what lurks beneath the surface of Chany, one of Russia’s largest freshwater lakes.
‘I was with my friend… some 300 yards from the shore,’ said 60-year-old Vladimir Golishev. ”He hooked something huge on his bait, and he stood up in the boat to reel it in.
‘But it pulled with such force that he overturned the boat. I was in shock – I had never seen anything like it in my life.
‘I pulled off my clothes and swam for the shore, not daring hope I would make it.’
He said his friend was pulled under the surface, a description in common with earlier incidents.
‘He didn’t make it – and they have found no remains.’
Three years ago 32-year-old Mikhail Doronin – a special services soldier – was lost.
‘The lake was calm, but suddenly the boat was rocking, and it capsized,’ said his 80-year-old grandmother Nina, who has lived beside the lake all her life.
‘Something of an awesome scale lives in the lake, but I have never seen it,’ said her husband, Vladimir, 81.
Official figures say 19 people have drowned in the lake in the past three years and in most cases their remains were never found. Locals say the true figures are higher.
Some bodies that have been washed up had been eaten by a creature with large teeth, they claim.
‘It is time to find out the truth,’ said Golishev.
Unlike deep Loch Ness, Lake Chany is no than 23 feet in depth. Frozen in winter, it is warm and popular with swimmers in summer. It is known to contain large carp.
The lake is 57 miles in length by 55 miles in width. A relic of the Ice Age, accounts of monsters in its waters were first made public in Soviet times.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Imagine a monster living on the borders of the upper north shore. An aquatic beast which lurks in the depths of the Hawkesbury River. A creature related to the Loch Ness monster.
For cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy, the fledgling legend of the Hawkesbury River Monster is real and he’s determined to prove it.
Since 1965, he and his wife Heather have been gathering information on a creature he believed still lives in our major waterway, or once did.
After years of “patience, field trips and stake-outs’’ along the shores of the river, Mr Gilroy, who is also known for his research on the Blue Mountains Panther, hopes to finally obtain photographic evidence.
“Sooner or later, I’m hoping to get the shot of shots,’’ Mr Gilroy told the Advocate.
The Gilroys say they have compiled hundreds of sightings reports.
“They tend to be seen around (Mooney Mooney and Long Island),’’ Mr Gilroy said.
“There are stories of houseboats being lifted up at one end when something underneath tried to surface over at Jerusalem Bay.
“A lot of the inlets here have stories.’’
The most recent sighting was by fishermen near Wisemen’s Ferry, in March.
“(One of them) momentarily saw a serpentine head and about 2m of long neck rise above the water before submerging,’’ Mr Gilroy said.
He also referred to a sighting by Rosemary Turner in 1975, who reported a monster swimming upstream from a lookout at Muogamarra Nature Reserve.
Robert Jones, a palaeontologist from the Australian Museum, said that as far as science is concerned, the existence of the Hawkesbury River Monster has never been proven.
“It’s impossible for them to live in the Hawkesbury River; they just don’t exist,’’ he said.
But according to Mr Gilroy, the monster is part of Aboriginal folklore, with stories of women and children being attacked by the “moolyewonk’’ or “mirreeular’’ both indigenous names. They also feature in ancient rock art on the banks of the river.
“There’s got to be something to it,’’ Mr Gilroy said.
Descriptions of the Hawkesbury River Monster liken it to the prehistoric plesiosaur, an aquatic dinosaur 70 million years extinct.
The Loch Ness monster is also said to be related to the same extinct creature.
Mr Jones said plesiosaurs did exist in Australia, but ther was no evidence of them inhabiting the Hawkesbury River.
However both Mr Gilroy and Mr Jones describe the aquatic dinosaur as grey and mottled in colour, with a large bulky body, two sets of paddle-like flippers, a long neck and serpent-like head and thick, eel-like tail.
Sighting reports describe it as about 24m long. Mr Jones said the plesiosaur grew up to 10m long.
Mr Gilroy said he and his field assistant Greg Foster may have sighted the creature last August, from a high bank near Wiseman’s Ferry.
They described seeing a dark, bulky shape with a long neck about a metre from the surface.
Its movements caused surface disturbance which appeared to suggest a marine creature with two sets of flippers and a tail, Mr Gilroy said.
“It was encouraging,’’ he said.
“I’m hopeful that I’m going to get some sort of evidence that satisfies me … and when I’ve got that, I will be pleased to put it on the desk of some scientist and say `well there you are!’’’
Source: hornsby-advocate
Bulgaria’s Rabisha Lake
The world famous monster Nessie from the Loch Ness in Scotland is about to get a rather tough competitor – the Water Bull from the Rabisha Lake in Northwestern Bulgaria.
Even though the Water Bull and Nessie seem to be of very different species, the Water Bull of the Rabisha Lake is set to conquer the world going in the footsteps of the Loch Ness Monster, Emil Tsankov, Mayor of the town of Belogradchik has told Novinite.
Belogradchik is a small, though, rather famous and picturesque town in the Bulgarian Northwest. First and foremost, it is known for the Belogradchik Rocks – absolutely miraculous rock formations stretching for some 30 km in the western part of the Balkan Moutain (Stara Planina).
Over the past year, the Belogradchik Rocks did pretty well in the competition for the New Seven Wonders of the World, and even though they failed to make it to the finalists, they have found a spot on the prestigious reserve list. The other amazing thing near Belogradchik is the Magurata Cave with its enchanting paintings by prehistoric people.
And the third world-class tourist attraction the Belogradchik Municipality wants to add to its portfolio has to do with the Monster of the Rabisha Lake.
Mayor Emil Tsankov has submitted an application to the EDEN (European Destinations of Excellence) contest, a EU-wide project focusing on sustainable development. The topic of the 2010 edition of the contest is “Water as a Force of Life and Prosperity” which made the Rabisha Water Bull a rather logical participant.
With the funding that the Belogradchik Municipality hopes to get, it plans to promote the legend about the Rabisha Lake Monster and to resurrect the local traditions related to the mysterious creature.
The Rabisha Lake – Bulgaria’s Loch Ness
The Rabisha Lake (“Rabishkoto Ezero” in Bulgarian) is located between the villages of Tolovitsa and Rabisha, in the Belogradchik Municipality, to the northwest of Sofia.
It is the largest lake in Bulgaria’s interior even though with its area of about 1 square km it is much more modest in size than the Loch Ness.
The Rabisha Lake has a tectonic origin. It was formed in the Quaternary Period, some 2,5-3 million years ago, and its depth reaches 30-40 meters.
“The lake has never been explored in detail so it is not unknown exactly what sorts of species from previous periods it is the home of,” Mayor Tsankov told Novinite.com.
One thing that stands out about the Rabisha Lake is the fact that it is an endorheic lake – no rivers flow out of it. This has turned it into the object of many folk tales and legends of medieval Bulgarians who believed that water had to be in circulation all the time.
Thus, the people in the region thought the lake was bottomless, and was therefore the home of many scary creatures common to the Slavic mythology.
The Legend about the Water Bull, the Rabisha Lake Monster
There are various legends about the Rabiska Lake Monster but Mayor Tsankov has picked the most “credible” one – which dates back to the 18th century – in order to focus their project on it.
The legend has it that a fearful monster inhabits the lake. Unlike Nessie and many other lake monsters, however, this one is no dinosaur; it is a lot more human-like, and is actually more like a minotaur.
The Rabisha Lake Monster, the so called Water Bull, has the head of a bull, the body of giant, strong man, and the tale of fish.
In order to keep this terrifying beast at ease, the local people would offer as a sacrifice to it the most beautiful young girl in the entire region in order to buy their safety. They would hold a procession taking the girl to the Rabisha Lake where it would get on a boat together with many wonderful gifts, and would fall pray to the monster.
It is exactly this procession with a gorgeous young girl, lavish gifts, and songs and dances that a major focus of the project to revive the Rabisha Lake legend, together with some other traditional folklore customs of the region. These customs and ceremonies will be shown to tourists and guests, and they will actually be invited to participate in them.
“The terrible story of the annual sacrifices to the Water Bull actually has a happy ending,” Tsankov explains with a smile. “The most gorgeous girl in the world was born one day in the village of Rabisha. When she grew up and the time came to offer her as sacrifice, she was placed in a boat and taken to the middle of the lake.
“However, when the Water Bull saw her, he was so enchanted by her that instead of killing her, he fell in love. He asked his sister, who was a sorceress, for help, and with her powers she made the beautiful girl immortal. The Water Bull took his young wife to the bottom of the Lake, and never came back for more prey. The two of them are still believed to live happily down there.”
Water Bull or Wels Catfish?
What might have given rise to such a legend (there are actually a number of local legends about the Water Bull Monster in the Rabisha Lake which have slight variations)? Assuming of course the actual Bull doesn’t hang around down there.
The Rabisha Lake is actually proven to be the home of real water monsters – gigantic wels catfish have been caught there. The largest ones reach 5 meters in length, and a weight of 350 kg!
The Belogradchik Mayor says there are also various reports of spotting these fish monsters near the surface of the Rabisha Lake – mostly in the months of April and May – even though the wels catfish usually spend most of their time on the bottom of the lake.
“This huge fish – a real monster – might have been the cause of the Water Bull legend in the first place,” Tsankov thinks.
Legend or no legend, the development of a brand new tourist product has been initiated, and the 24 Chasa Daily and the Belogradchik Municipality have already announced a competition for taking a photo of the Rabisha Lake Monster, and everyone is welcome to participate.
Hopefully, the photos of the enthusiasts rushing there will not capture any dinosaur, Nessie-like monster in the lake as this is going to throw into disarray the tidy plans of the municipality about its Water Bull.
Of course, Mayor Tsankov actually is much in favor of advertising the Water Bull as “the Bulgarian Nessie” in order to benefit from the world renown of the Loch Ness Monster.
Source: novinite.com
