CryPtoReports.com

A new documentary examines the possibility that the monster might be extinct as its reported appearances become increasingly rare.

Gary Campbell, president of the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, said only one sighting, made just off the Clansman Hotel on 6th June, 2009, was judged by him to have been a credible report.

And according to Mr Campbell such reports are increasingly rare.

He said: “”That’s why were so relieved to have heard about this sighting.

“In June, when it was reported, nobody had seen anything for a year. If it hadn’t been for that one, we would have been really, really worried.

“There is an embarrassment factor to seeing Nessie. The first thing people say to you is, ‘Had you had a drink?’

“Ten years ago we had a lot of good sightings, but in the last two or three years, they have tailed off.”

He added: “What we regard as a dependable sighting is very much down to the person who sees it.

“This was a local chap who knows the things that Nessie isn’t – boat wakes, debris on the loch or seals in the summer. A local person will know what these things look like.”

However, there were a number of “more dubious” sightings over the course of 2009. These included a sonar contact witnessed by “‘Allo,’Allo” star Vicki Michelle and other cast members from the stage version of the popular BBC sit-com when they took a pleasure cruise on Loch Ness in May during the play’s week-long run at Eden Court.

Their boat, the Jacobite Queen, picked up five mysterious arch shapes on its sonar between Dores and Urquhart Castle.

Also claiming a possible Nessie picture was data analyst Ian Monckton from Solihull who used his car headlights and the flash from his camera, to take a picture of what he thought could be the elusive monster while driving to Invermoriston late at night.

The 2009 episode “Death at Loch Ness” of the documentary series “MonsterQuest” looked at the theory that the Loch Ness Monster might be extinct.

In this programme researcher Robert Rhines’ claim that Nessie, if it existed, may now in fact be dead and its corpse is lying somewhere at the bottom of Loch Ness is investigated.

To prove this theory wrong, Mr Campbell hopes new witnesses might come forward.

“If people start to believe this, it might start to affect tourist numbers.

“Whether you believe in Nessie or not, the Loch Ness Monster is one of the most important tourist attractions we have.

“Perhaps, though, the answers are to be found underwater instead of on the loch’s surface.

“Unknown sonar contacts happen all the time.

“Maybe Nessie is just keeping her head down.”

Source: telegrapgh.uk

1. There was only one confirmed good sighting of our old friend – on June 6th, just out from the Clansman Hotel.

2. There were, of course, a couple of apparent “sightings,” such as the cast of “‘Allo ‘Allo,” a touring production who were conveniently lucky enough in May to see some unidentified sonar blobs.

The Jacobite Queen cruise ship, with the “’Allo ’Allo!” cast on break on May 21, 2009, was on its way to Urquhart Castle when the crew picked up a strange signal on their sonar. The unusual readings on the ship’s sonar screen (actual video capture above) occurred between the village of Dores and Urquhart Castle. Ms. Michelle dashed below decks for a look, and was amazed to see five mysterious “arch shapes” on the screen.

3. Back in March, the most ludicrous passing off of another blob, this time just some light on a black background by some tourists even made it on to US TV.

4. In August, Google Earth came to the loch with an apparent worldwide exclusive of what is clearly a boat going up the loch which the boys at Google thought must be Nessie! If you look closely enough at the picture though, they seem to have missed a trick as there are some slightly more unexplainable traces of something in the water just to the side of the boat.

5. In September, we discovered that the Natural History Museum in London had done a deal to permanently exhibit any Nessie carcasses caught at the loch. (This came from a review of their archives and apparently was influenced by some money being offered by our old friends, William Hill the bookies.)

6. Towards the end of the year, we were all saddened to read of the death of Bob Rines. A colourful character, Rines was a dedicated Nessie hunter for many years and there is no doubt that his efforts at the loch spurred many others on in the quest for Nessie and her family.

7. In April, the History television show “MonsterQuest” revealed that they had made a previous, surprising discovery at Loch Ness. When the expedition’s US scientists lowered their high tech, cameras 800ft into Loch Ness, they were prepared for anything – except tens of thousands of golf balls.

8. “MonsterQuest” kicked off their Season III on February 4, 2009, with their program “Death at Loch Ness.” looking at the theory that the Loch Ness Monsters might be extinct. Adrian Shine, Gordon Holmes, and Robert Rines were involved with the episode.

9. The unexplainable Monckton Loch Ness phtograph opened the year. Ian Monckton, from Solihull, and his fiance Tracey Gordon, on a romantic weekend at Loch Ness, were driving to Invermoriston at about 11pm, when they pulled into a lay-by (a pull off along the road). Before the couple stopped their auto, they heard a noise in the water. Using their vehicle’s headlights and the flash from his camera to check their footing on the rocky shores of the loch, data analyst Ian unwittingly recorded this picture which he thought could be the elusive monster.

10. Beside Robert Rines, another death linked to Loch Ness happened earlier in the year. James E. Colvin (pictured below, in the US Navy, 1943), 96, who was the director of two expeditions in search of the Loch Ness Monster for World Book Encyclopedia, died of natural causes, on January 4, 2009, in Greenville, South Carolina.

The Loch Ness launch in July 1969 of the World Book Encyclopedia Expedition’s Viperfish involved minisub builder  Dan Scott Taylor , Dr. Roy Mackal of the University of Chicago, and Harry Reucking, Vice President of the World Book Encyclopedia. James Colvin ran the operation from Chicago.

source: Crytomundo

photo source lakestv.net- footage also available

The so-called “Bownessie” is fast becoming part of modern Lake District folklore, as reported sightings of the fabled creature continue to be made.

Footage that some people believe appears to show the creature causing ripples in the surface of Windermere was shot by Lakes TV cameraman John McKeown on Saturday.

It has since appeared on Sky News on Sunday evening and American TV network giant CBS is also interested in the story.

People in Windermere are not convinced Bownessie actually exists.

But they believe it could be good for the town’s tourist economy if the legend can capture the imagination of visitors in a similar way to the Loch Ness monster.

Councillor Bill Smith, mayor of Windermere, said: “If they believe it’s actually there, I’m sure it will attract them to come and see.

“Anything that draws interest and awareness to the Lake District has to be a positive opportunity.

“I don’t think the term monster is the best expression of an animal living in the lake that could be of interest.

“It suggests something nasty, not something that could be attractive and positive.

“Bownessie conjures up something that’s a bit more cute.

“The people that have seen it believe genuinely they have seen something, even if there is no real proof yet.

“But let’s be honest, it’s far better for Loch Ness that they’ve never located it because it helps perpetuate the belief.”

Paul Holdsworth, Windermere town centre manager, says the Bownessie phenomenon is the latest in a long line of Lake District mythologies.

He said: “Probably the longest standing one is Tizzie Wizzie, which was first spotted by a Bowness boatman around 1900 and he used to tell stories of this extraordinary creature.

“It was said to have the body of a hedgehog, tail of a squirrel and a pair of bee-like wings and was a shy, water-loving creature.

“So, for the sceptics who think Bownessie is something to get the tourists in, this tale has already been around for over a hundred years. There is nothing new under the sun perhaps.”

Jacqui O’Connor, press officer for Windermere Lakes Cruises, said: “Our vessels sail up and down the lake 364 days a year and we have never seen anything unusual.

“However, our skippers remain alert as always.”

Source: nwemail.uk

A TEAM of investigators will scour Windermere in a hunt for a legendary monster that is claimed to lurk in its deep waters.

The search follows years of reported sightings of a big creature in the lake, the most recent being in July when Lake District hotelier Thomas Noblett was hit by a three-foot wave as he was swimming.

A chartered boat will take to England’s longest lake on September 19 with celebrity and sports psychic Dean Maynard at the helm. He will be joined by Windermere photographer Linden Adams who claims to have seen ‘Bownessie’ – the nickname for the monster – from a viewpoint on Gummers How in 2007.

There will also be people with cameras dotted around the shoreline to capture any unusual activity.

“Linden Adams and I are really geared up and ready for the challenge ahead and we hope to find some concrete evidence something big does exist in the lake,” said Mr Maynard.

In 2006 The Westmorland Gazette reported how Huddersfield University journalism lecturer Steve Burnip, of Hebden Bridge, saw a serpent-like creature emerge from the waters as he stood at Watbarrow Point across from Waterhead.

He described it as being 15 to 20 feet long with a little head and two small humps following in its wake. He said it looked like a giant eel.

“I am absolutely convinced that there is a big creature in the lake,” said Mr Burnip. “I am really pleased that there is a renewed interest in it because I know what I saw.

“I can see it in my head now, this grey lump and the humps breaking the water like you see in the classic Loch Ness pictures. There is something in there, something quite big and elusive.”

Mr Adams, whose picture of the creature was studied by photographic experts after appearing on the front page of the Gazette, said: “I looked at it through binoculars and the naked eye and what I saw was huge.

“A lot of photographic experts have had the opportunity to look at the pictures and they are still baffled.”

Ecology experts have told the Gazette that catfish are sometimes introduced to lakes by anglers. They believe that what could be being seen is the Welsh catfish that originates from mainland Europe.

Source: westmorlandgazette

WHEN asked if he has ever seen a monster in the deep dark waters of Loch Ness, local identity David Muir doesn’t flinch and doesn’t hesitate – he’s been asked before.

“Oh aye,” he says, tugging at his long, flowing white beard before conspiratorially looking over his shoulder, then leaning in close from his electric wheelchair to impart some advice.

“If you want to see the beastie, laddie, then the best way is after 10 Glenmorangies (whisky) and if you don’t see it after that, then you may at least get a visit from a herd of elephants.”

He pauses for a second before throwing his head back and erupting into infectious laughter that he tries to stifle unsuccessfully, hand-to-mouth, to produce a series of snorts and cackles.

For more than a century, Loch Ness in the misty Scottish Highlands has captured the imagination the world over but continues to either raise a laugh or a sombre, more serious tone, depending on who you speak to.

Recently, a grainy Google Earth satellite image purportedly captured the beastie swimming just below the surface, its “fins” splayed out behind, apparently propelling it along the 40km stretch of freshwater. It had been almost four years since a credible sighting.

“Oh that,” Steve Feltham sighs when visited in the hamlet of Dores on the banks of Loch Ness.

“That was the Ness Express (boat service).”

The 46-year-old speaks with authority and if anyone should know, it’s him.

Steve came to the banks looking for Nessie but the strangest thing he discovered was that, 17 years on, he was still there, living in a 1970 Dodge van.

The former graphic artist and home security alarm installer had planned a two-week hunt to satisfy a childhood obsession. He drove his Dodge to the loch and it and he never left.

Steve now makes small plasticine sculptures of the creature to fund his continued search for the truth.

In 18 years, he has had only one surface sighting, in about 1994. Armed with a pair of large ex-navy binoculars, he keeps looking.

On a shelf in his van, he has a collection of articles and images of so-called sightings. All are fakes – done by photographers or tourists to make money.

“If I was ever going to cry wolf I would have done it at year two or year three, not year 18,” Steve muses. “So there would be a little more weight of a sighting by myself because everyone knows this is what I do.”

His modelling is interrupted by two well-dressed Jehovah Witnesses selling salvation. Steve loves it and challenges them to prove their deity exists – he’s got evidence, he says, eye witnesses, sonar soundings.

They leave dejected, perhaps to probe further this rival religion.

Steve is an authority on Nessie hunting, with people now coming to him to show them their photos of all things suspicious.

He is a filter of nonsense, he says, and most of what he has seen falls well and truly in that category.

“But it’s not financial; for me it’s about the fact that this little tiny island that we live on has a world-class mystery on its doorstep which almost nobody is bothering to investigate. That, I find amazing, and that makes me want to be here doing it,” he said.

Richard Macdonald has been steering the Royal Scot ferry boat for 27 years and in that time, he says he has seen the monster seven times. He reels off the dates and precise times – June 28, 2007 at 6.01pm is the most recent.

But while the sightings are open to debate, he says the evidence that the world-class sonar equipment on his vessel finds is not, picking up moving objects up to 230m below.

Even if some are sonar glitches or reflections, he says there are just way too many for there not to be something there. His sonar records fish life, but also appear to show an entity more than 10m long, weighing six-and-a-half tonnes and moving at 40km/h.

One of the most credible sightings was by a no-nonsense policeman who, while on a fishing trip on June 15, 1965, watched a creature stir off his bow for 50 minutes.

Last word to Gary Campbell, president of the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club.

The pic on Google Earth is from 2006 and has been well researched before, with the clear conclusion that it is of a boat, Gary says.

Indeed, but for millions the hunt goes on.

Source: news.com

There are reports that an object visible in Loch Ness on Google Earth could be the Loch Ness monster.

A search of the loch, using the website’s satellite images, reveals what appears to be a light coloured object with a rounded front and a number of protrusions.

The object can be seen in the middle of the loch, across from the village of Invermoriston.

Over the years a number of theories about the existence of the Loch Ness monster have been put forward, including the possibility that sightings are a result of mis-identification of regular animals, birds, or objects such as trees.

Others maintain that there is a so-far unknown type of creature in the loch, possibly a surviving example of an otherwise-extinct type of dinosaur, or else a previously-unknown species of a known animal like a seal.

Over the years the loch has been subject to analysis and exploration using a number of means, including sonar, underwater video and unmanned submarine. While many of these projects recorded nothing unusual, others produced results that could be interpreted as proof of Nessie’s existence, including a picture of what could be the fin of a large creature as well as sonar contact with what could be a large object moving underwater.

Source: news.stv

Cadborosaurus willsi, affectionately known as “Caddy,” was last spotted several years ago off the shores of Galiano Island, according to Paul Leblond, a retired University of British Columbia oceanography professor who wrote a book on the Cadborosaurus in 1995.

“The search is still ongoing,” he said.

Leblond said Jason Walton, vice-president of the B.C. Scientific Cryptozoology Club, keeps a video camera at Telegraph Cove monitoring the waters for a hint of the sea serpent.

Leblond said his threshold of proof for Caddy sightings are higher than those who documented the Ogopogo or Loch Ness  sightings. He needs specific details, like a hump, an eye or a head, he said.

“Hell, waves are all over the place,” he said.

The first sighting of the leviathan dates back to 1932, just off Chatham Island. Since then, there have been hundreds of reported sightings among the waves of Cadboro Bay, which sparked the name Cadborosaurus.

People who say they have seen it describe a serpent-like creature with a long neck and horse-like head.

Tammy Voak, who grew up in Oak Bay, says she used to hear stories about a creature lurking in the waters as a kid, but has since dismissed it as Island folklore.

“You’d think you’d see more of it if it was out there,” she said, as she watched her kids play on the only likeness of the Caddy which can be seen now, the 100-foot-long play structure in Gyro Park modelled after the green serpent. “Yeah, you need proof,” piped in her 11-year-old son Dustin.

But Victoria’s version of the Loch Ness monster did carry enough credence to spark a short-lived tourist attraction, Caddy Tours, which operated from 2003 to 2005. The tour’s former operations manager, Eric Hildebrandt, said there was not a sea monster to be found during any of his tours, which also included viewing of other marine wildlife around Discovery Island.

He doubts the serpent exists, but said his riders enjoyed getting lost in a tale of mystery at sea. “There’s not a lot of mystery left in life,” said Hildebrandt. “So for people to believe in something mythical like that, it makes them feel kind of good.”

While Leblond likes the idea of the homegrown, entrancing tale as much the next Islander, he wants scientific proof to either validate or repudiate the murmurings about the monster.

“We hope that eventually it’s going to be cleared up. Either someone is going to catch one or it will be stranded somewhere or someone will get a photograph,” he said. “Until then, it remains a mystery.”

Source: canada.com

death worm

Two New Zealanders will leave for Mongolia’s Gobi Desert next week on an ambitious expedition to find the fabled acid-spitting and lightning-throwing Mongolian death worm.

The worm has never been documented but some Mongolians are convinced it exists. They call it Allghoi Khorkhoi, or “intestine worm” because it resembles a cow’s intestine and is about 1.5m long.

They say it jumps out of the sand and kills people by spitting concentrated acid or shooting lightning from its rectum over long distances.

Auckland-based journalist David Farrier, who is organising the expedition, and Motueka-based cameraman Christie Douglas, leave on Tuesday to spend two weeks in the Gobi, trying to verify the worm’s existence and making a documentary about it.

They will hire local Mongolians to help them; a guide, translator and cook.

Farrier, who works for TV3, told NZPA he had always been fascinated by cryptozoology, or the search for hidden creatures.

The expedition and documentary, which would cost him between $15,000 and $20,000, would take a serious look at the worm and what it was, Farrier said.

He said he was interested in the death worm because it was one of the most outrageous creatures that were rumoured to exist.

However, it was also one of the mythical creatures that had a better chance of being real.

Rumours could inflate the reputation of things such as the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot, but sparsely populated Mongolia was not a place where rumours were going to propagate, Farrier said.

“If a Mongolian says they have seen a big worm-like creature out in the desert they haven’t really got any reason to lie.”

A number of experts have dismissed the worm’s existence, putting it down as a rumour, but Farrier was not put off.

“I think it won’t be a worm, obviously a worm can’t survive in a desert. I’d say it would be some sort of snake that’s not meant to be there. It’s very out of place and a bit new.”

Farrier said there been up to four unsuccessful expeditions searching for the death worm in the last 100 years, the last two in 2003 and 2005, which had used night vision goggles to look for the worm.

However, the New Zealand team planned to bring the worm to the surface with explosives, as it is said to be attracted to tremors.

Farrier put his chances of finding the worm at between 5 and 15 percent.

“They are high for a ridiculous creature like the death worm but the area I am going to is a very specific place in the southern Gobi where all the sightings have been.”

He only plans to capture the worm on film.

“I have no intention of grabbing it, capturing it, stuffing it, or anything like that. I just want to prove its existence and if I can get it on film, that’s all I need to do.”

Source: 3news

china lake monster ?

Ten tourists from Guangdong and Hubei provinces were the latest to report a “water monster” sighting in Kanas Lake, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. They told local media that they saw a giant black creature on July 5 that stirred waves over 1 meter high and left a wake over 10 meters long for 20 seconds about 100 meters away from their boat.

Kanas Lake, which means “beautiful, mysterious lake” in Mongolian, is China’s deepest freshwater lake with a maximum depth of 188.5 meters, and 24 kilometers long from north to south. It’s located in the Kanas Nature Reserve in the Aletai mountain area of northern Xinjiang and has been the source of numerous monster sightings, similar to Scotland’s Loch Ness (or “Nessie”) monster for decades – particularly since the 1980s when more visitors and settlers came to the area. Scientists have carried out investigations, though no conclusive evidence has been found of the creature.

Some scientists believe, however, that the monsters may be taimen trout, one of the world’s largest and most ferocious freshwater fish which can grow as long as 10 meters.

Source: english.people