Once more the notoriously shy Loch Ness monster has been reportedly sighted in Scotland’s deepest loch. This time close to a commercial fish farm.

Jon Rowe, from nearby Lewiston in Drumnadrochit, took the eerie snaps moments before the mysterious shape slipped beneath the water.

And the stunned fish farmer is convinced that the shapes he saw in the morning light are Nessie.

He said: ‘It was a very strange morning. It was misty with a bit of rain and sunny at the same time.

‘There was a rainbow so I got my camera out to take a photo and noticed this really large dark shape in the loch with two humps that were barely out of the water.

‘My instant reaction was “That’s Nessie“.’

Mr Rowe has dismissed claims that the shapes he saw in the water were not the legendary beast of the deep said to stalk the atmospheric Highland loch.

He added: ‘I have no doubt, I work on the loch everyday and I’ve never seen anything like it.

‘Almost as soon as I took the shot the shape disappeared under the water and out of sight.

The 31-year-old told how he had not believed that a monster swam the depths of Loch Ness until he captured Nessie on film.

‘It can’t have been a buoy or a mooring as it’s in the wrong place and the ropes would be visible in the water.

‘A few people have said it was birds diving under the water – but I didn’t see any birds fly by. It can’t have been birds – the whole thing went down into the loch.

‘It was quite spooky but I think it’s really interesting.’

The legend of the Loch Ness Monster began in 1933 when its ‘existence’ was first brought to the world’s attention by George Spicer and his wife. They said they saw an unusual animal cross the road in front of them.

Countless subsequent searches of the loch over the years using sonar and other high tech approaches have failed to prove that the monster exists and lives in the loch.

The most frequent speculation surrounding the mythical creature states that it could be from a line of long-surviving plesiosaurs, though this has never been proved.

As a result the Loch Ness Monster remains a modern-day myth and sightings are often dismissed by the scientific community as wishful thinking.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036998/Thats-fine-Ness-youve-got-Fish-farmer-claims-saw-loch-monster-says-photos-prove-it.html

At first glance it looks like another dark ripple on the water.

But study the photograph more closely and a dark hump and tail can be seen poking through the water’s surface, or so a life-long hunter of the Loch Ness monster hunter claims.

William Jobes, 62, believes that he may have at last captured the elusive creature on camera after 45 years of trying.

‘I had a wonderful shock,’ Mr Jobes said.’I have actually been coming up to Inverness for the past 45 years and I have never seen anything like this before.’

Quickly grasping his camera, Mr Jobes from Irvine in Ayrshire, managed to take a single picture before the ‘head’ disappeared under the surface.

However, to his delight a dark, hump-like shape broke the waves and he was able to take more photographs of the apparent sighting on May 24 at just after 11.10am.

Mr Jobes is convinced it was not a seal or piece of wood.

‘To be honest I know the difference between a piece of wood or a particular animal,’ he said.

‘I immediately did think it was a seal but it’s head was like a sheep.’

However, veteran Nessie hunter Steve Feltham, remains sceptical, although he admits the hump photograph cannot be immediately explained and is worth further investigation.

‘The river comes out there and something large could have come down the river and flowed out there,’ he suggested.

Mr Jobes’ is the second potential sighting of nessie so far this summer.

Last month Foyers shop and cafe owner Jan Hargreaves and her husband Simon believe they caught a glimpse of the creature.

The apparent sighting of Nessie comes after a couple were left shocked when they discovered the rotting body of a sea monster while walking along a beach at Bridge of Don,  Aberdeen.

Margaret and Nick Flippence made the incredible find as they exercised their dogs at the popular beauty spot.

Mr Flippence, 59, who lives nearby, said: ‘We were stunned. I thought, “oh my God what is it?”

Curled up by the foot of sand dunes was the 30ft-long body of the unidentified animal with head, tail and teeth all discernible.

Experts are now examining the pictures with one suggesting it could be the body of a whale.

Before the discovery of the enormous sea carcass, a large creature, 20 to 30ft long with humps on its back, was filmed moving through the waters of an Alaskan bay.

The unidentified creature which was filmed by local fisherman in 2009 has already drawn comparisons to Scotland’s infamous Loch Ness Monster.

Scientists believe that the Alaskan creature could be a Cadborosaurus -  a type of sea serpent that got its name from Cadboro Bay in British Columbia and is said to roam the North Pacific.

Paul LeBlond, former head of the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of British Columbia, told Discovery News: ‘I am quite impressed with the video.

‘Although it was shot under rainy circumstances in a bouncy ship, it’s very genuine.’

The Cadborosaurus willsi, meaning ‘reptile’ or ‘lizard’ from Cadboro Bay, is an alleged sea serpent from the North Pacific thought to have a long neck, a horse-like head, large eyes, and back bumps that stick out of the water.

In 1937, a supposed body of the animal was found in the stomach of a whale captured by the Naden Harbour whaling station in the Queen Charlotte Islands, a British Columbia archipelago.

Samples of the animal were brought to the Provincial Museum in Victoria, where curator Francis Kermode concluded they belonged to a fetal baleen whale.

The animal’s remains, however, later disappeared.

James Wakelun, a worker at the whaling station, last year said that he saw the creature’s body and ‘it wasn’t an unborn whale.’

Like other cryptids, animals whose existence is suggested but not yet recognised by scientific consensus, the Cadborosaurus has existed only in grainy photographs and eyewitness accounts.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017649/Loch-Ness-Monster-stick-Walker-claims-photographed-creature.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

From krakens to gigantic sea serpents, terrifying monsters of the deep have haunted the imaginations of generations of  mariners.

Now experts in marine life claim sea monsters might actually exist. Because scientists are still finding new species of underwater life, the discovery of ‘marine monsters’ is not impossible, a meeting heard yesterday.

‘The huge number of sea monster sightings now on record can’t all be explained away as mistakes, sightings of known animals or hoaxes,’ said palaeontologist Dr Darren Naish of the University of Portsmouth.

‘At least some of the better ones – some of them made by trained naturalists and such – probably are descriptions of encounters with real, unknown animals.’

One such example was reported in 1905 by zoologists Edmund Meade-Waldo and Michael Nicoll, who encountered a strange ‘sea serpent’ off the coast of Brazil.

And in August 1848, the crew of HMS Daedalus saw a 60ft-long sea creature during a voyage to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic.

At the time, biologists in London claimed it was most likely an elephant seal – or even an upside down canoe.

Dr Naish told yesterday’s meeting of the Zoological Society of London: ‘Because large marine animals continue to be discovered – various new whale and shark species have been named in recent years – the idea that such species might await discovery is, at the very least, plausible.’

Some people have suggested present-day monsters might be plesiosaurs, long-necked marine reptiles that lived at the time of dinosaurs. But this was dismissed by Dr Charles Paxton, of the University of St Andrews, who organised yesterday’s meeting, entitled Cryptozoology: Science or Pseudoscience?

‘If there are prehistoric animals alive today it would imply that there’s something very wrong with our understanding of the fossil record,’ he said.

Dr Paxton argues it is wrong to assume that all large animals living in the oceans have been discovered. ‘If the criteria is solely bigness, then this is not the case,’ he said. ‘In 1995 a benthic ray, which lives on the ocean floor, was found that measured 3.42 metres.’

Eight large marine species have been discovered in the past 20 years.

Cryptozoology is the ‘study of hidden animals’ – or the search for creatures whose existence has not been proved, such as the Loch Ness monster and the Abominable Snowman.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2013773/Sea-monsters-really-DO-exist-scientists-claim.html

FOYERS shop and cafe owner Jan Hargreaves and her husband Simon believe they caught a glimpse of Loch Ness’s most elusive resident — Nessie.

It was while taking a break on the store’s front decking — looking out to the loch — when Mrs Hargreaves and kitchen worker Graham Baine spotted an unusual figure cutting a strange shape through the water.

“We were standing looking out and saw something that looked bizarre,” said Mrs Hargreaves.

“I said to my husband to come and have a look.”

“We stand here all the time and look out and we see boats and kayaks but it didn’t look like anything we have seen here before.”

Despite the unidentified creature being quite a distance from their vantage point, 51-year-old Mrs Hargreaves said it had a long neck which was too long to be that of a seal and it was black in appearance.

“It went under the water and disappeared for probably 30 to 40 seconds and then came back up again,” said Mrs Hargreaves.

“It was around for a good four to five minutes. It was just so strange.”

Keen to stress she is not seeking publicity, Mrs Hargreaves does firmly believe what she saw was the Loch Ness Monster.

“It was so exciting,” she declared.

Since August last year, The Waterfall Cafe and Foyers Stores with post office, opposite the village’s famous Falls of Foyers, has been run by Mr and Mrs Hargreaves.

Nessie hunter Steve Feltham, who lives in a former mobile library turned research centre on Dores beach, said he heard about the possible sighting when he popped into the store last week and believes because it was from residents rather than tourists, it is more credible.

“I’m excited by the fact it was locals who had seen it,” said Mr Feltham.

“It’s quite a distance from the shop to the water and they watch everything that goes on there.”

“For them to be impressed then there is a possibility it could have been Nessie.”

What particularly excited Mr Feltham was that it was from the exact same vantage point where Tim Binsdale shot the best footage of the legendary creature back in 1960.

“I’ll put the sightings with the other sightings,” said Mr Feltham. “I will also continue to carry out surface observations.”

The sighting was recorded on Wednesday afternoon between 2.30pm and 3pm.

Source: http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/News/Loch-Ness-Monster-sighting-reported-by-locals-21062011.htm

“Richard Preston Nessie Photo”

Richard Preston, a landscape designer, has been the latest person to spot a mysterious shape that might be the Loch Ness monster and capture a series of images on camera.

While working on Aldourie Castle gardens on the banks of the Loch Ness, 27-year-old Mr Preston spotted a shape on the loch’s surface out of the corner of his eye.

He told STV News: “I was just walking through the castle gardens and I spotted something in the distance. When I looked closer I could clearly see the four hump-like features. I thought I’d take a picture of it, to see if there was anything in it, to see what others thought.

“I was surprised that it stayed there as long as it did. I took various shots of it before it suddenly disappeared. I literally just turned my back and it was gone.”

He showed one of his friends who was also convinced there was certainly some mystery in the pictures.

When asked whether or not he believed in the monster, Mr Preston said: “Well there’s definitely something in the myth.There were no ripples in the water, no boats, nothing around. I have no idea what it was, but it undoubtedly looks like Nessie.”

The latest sighting has brought hope to monster enthusiasts, as it had been a relatively quiet spell for spotting any activity in the Loch. Fears had been mounting that Nessie might be dead since reports of any sightings had been diminishing.

In July 1930, three people in a boat at the north end of the loch saw a 6m long hump-like shape travelling fast through the water. In April 1933, Aldie Mackay saw a violent disturbance in the water and a hump “like that of a whale” while driving along the north side of the loch.

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

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

What lurks beneath the dark waters of Scotland’s Loch Ness? Newly released documents on display Tuesday in Scotland show that during the 1930s, police in Scotland were convinced some sort of creature inhabited the Highlands lake — so sure, in fact, that they worried about how to protect it from big-game hunters.

The files from the National Archive of Scotland show that local officials asked Britain’s Parliament to investigate the issue and confirm the monster’s existence — in the interests of science.

“That there is some strange creature in Loch Ness now seems beyond doubt,” wrote William Fraser, a senior police officer, “but that the police have any power to protect it is very doubtful.”

The Nessie Files, kept secret for 70 years, were revealed as part of an exhibition on government secrecy. The exhibit examines how governments once kept almost everything secret, and how attitudes evolved to move toward more open government in modern times.

Nessie, of course, was the epitome of mystery. The loch in which the monster is said to swim is the deepest inland expanse of water in Britain. At about 750 feet (230 meters) to the bottom, it’s even deeper than the North Sea.

The legend of what lies beneath the surface dates to 565 A.D., when an early Christian, St. Columba, is recorded as having driven away a water monster by the power of prayer, the National Archive said.

The documents also offer a glimpse of the collision of centuries-old lake lore with an emerging mass media — a modern effort to document a long-held superstition. The search grew feverish in the 1930s after a surgeon snapped a (now discredited) photo of a black dinosaur-like head rising from the depths.

Archivist Tristram Clarke said the letters reveal that some people sincerely believed there was a monster in the loch — though the cool response from the government suggests there plenty of detractors. If nothing else, Clarke said the Fraser letter proves that the police were under pressure to protect the monster — whatever it was.

Fraser’s letter to officials in London warned that he feared hunters Peter Kent and Marion Stirling were “determined to catch the monster dead or alive” and planned to use a “special harpoon gun.”

Kent was preparing a major operation including 20 experienced hunters and Fraser said he warned of the “desirability of having the creature left alone.”

The idea didn’t get very far in the end. The files show that it was deemed better not to kill the monster — or the myth — by stationing cameras or observers around the lake.

Though the sightings proved to be a hoaxes, they didn’t stop a Nessie-spotting tourism industry from springing up, together with three-humped cuddle toys, T-shirts and mugs.

“I think Nessie is such an iconic part of Scotland,” Clarke said. “The legend lives on. It’s almost part of Scotland’s identity.”

Though the number of sightings has tailed off recently, devoted believers continue to scour the loch. Gary Campbell of the Official Loch Ness monster club lives in hope of finding Nessie one day.

“Fourteen years ago I saw a hump break the water on the loch, I took a double take and then more of it appeared,” he said. “I haven’t seen anything since, but I keep looking. It probably cost me my social life.”

The faithful have long speculated about what the monster is. Some suggest a completely unknown species, or a sturgeon, or even a last surviving dinosaur.

“The reason why the Nessie myth persists is it such a good story,” said Lee Barron, a lecturer in media and culture at Northumbria University. “We get a sense of wonder out of the ‘what ifs’ of it all.

“There are lots of monster in the lake myths around the globe, including the U.S. and Europe, but because of the sightings, the fake photos and the romance of Loch Ness, Nessie is the greatest of them all.”

Source: news.yahoo

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

sea creature carcass

Neither local residents Warrick Lovell, Rich Park, Basil Park, or anyone else it seems, knows what the big creature found dead on a beach here this week might be.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Corner Brook intends to check out the Lower Cove site today hoping to find some answers for the question of many curious onlookers who went there to see for themselves what Lovell found during a Wednesday afternoon walk on the beach.

“It would be nice to see if anyone knows what it is,” says Lovell. “First I thought it was a seal washed up (on the high tide earlier in the day), but when I went down to check on my boat that evening, I walked over to see and then I knew it wasn’t a seal.

“But, I don’t know what it is.”

Of unknown origin and species, so far, the odd-looking seaside carcass sits high and dry on the low tide, its approximately 15-foot length includes a pointed, 10-foot tail twisted in the sand, conjuring up Loch Ness monsters for some.

The animal, bearing a single flipper-like appendage on its right side, appears to have been decapitated and shows other signs of damage.

“I didn’t know what to think of it,” says Rich Park, also among the first to see it close up.

The long tapered tail on the squared torso of the carcass caused him to initially think the large hunk of flesh might be a tentacle off a giant squid Park said, but on closer inspection it became clearer what the protrusion was not that. It got hair on it in spots. I couldn’t (determine) what it was.”

“I’ve lived here all my life and never seen anything like it,” says Basil Park, who went Thursday went to take a look with friends and brothers Gilbert and Ernie Park, and neither one of them could say they knew what it was.

“There’s fishermen around here who fished all their lives and they couldn’t tell you.”

John Lubar with DFO says the Corner Brook office receives a number of calls from residents around the region each year reporting seals in brooks or to have rotting carcasses of whales or other dead things removed from a shoreline, but claims reports of unknown creatures from the deeps washing up are rare.

Common knowledge of the McIvers find spread by word of mouth over the past few days and at least one visitor to the site photographed the carcass and has posted it on Facebook.

DFO expects to have personnel in McIvers to do an inspection of Lower Cove by noon today.

Source: thewesternstar