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There’s even a scientific-sounding name for it: cryptozoology, the study of hidden or unknown animals. Obsessive fans of legendary monsters travel the world over to hunt down their legendary quarry. The most famous U.S. cryptid is Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, and in Scotland it’s the Loch Ness Monster, Nessie.

Cryp fans know that besides these top two, there are many more whose lairs have become tourist draws. In the U.S. alone, you might have heard legends of the Mothman (West Virginia), Thunderbird (Lawndale, Illinois), Chessie (Lake Champlain) and the Jersey Devil (Pine Barrens of New Jersey), while roasting marshmallows around the campfire.

Obviously the U.S. hasn’t cornered the cryptid market. If you grew up in Scotland, you would’ve listened wide-eyed to tales of Nessie, who lurks in the deep dark waters of the famous Loch Ness.

Africa boasts a bunch—the walrus-like Dingonek, the Gambo, and the Adjule. In Java, you would have heard about the massive, flying Ahool, found in the deepest rainforests. England lays claim to the phantom wildcat, the Beast of Bodmin Moor, and the carnivorous Black Shuck, said to roam the craggy coastlines of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex.

Given such a wide variety of cryptids, it’s no wonder that at some point, monsters grew from an interest into an obsession, and finally, into a career for Loren Coleman, author of 30 books and an adviser to TV’s “In Search Of” series. He’s even opened a museum on the subject, the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine. This by-appointment-only showplace features artifacts, toys and artists renderings from around the world.

Coleman has traveled far and wide looking for mysterious creatures, covering every state in the union and much of the world. His favorite spot so far: Not surprisingly, Loch Ness. “It reminded me of the first time I saw Fenway [Park]. It was so green and so beautiful,” he reminisces. “I got up every morning to go looking for the Loch Ness Monster.”

“They have the haar—the fog that goes across the loch; it was amazing,” Coleman continues. “Like a fairy tale.” Besides the atmosphere, Coleman also found it a relief to be immersed in a like-minded population. “Just to have people not laugh at you for being into monsters. . . .” he half laughs. “It certainly has changed the economy there. It changes the economy of a lot of places where the creatures are found.”

Not everyone is as obsessed. Scottish filmmaker John McFarlane remains skeptical about the Loch Ness monster, his country’s most famous resident. Though she was first reportedly spotted back in the sixth century A.D., he says that growing up, it certainly was a topic of conversation. “When I was a kid, my grandfather told me it is quite feasible that there is a creature that lives in the loch … that’s maybe from the dinosaur period,” he says. “There was speculation that there might be a link from the loch’s bottom out to the open sea.”

Fact or fiction? Go and see for yourself, but watch out for large, hairy (or scaly) animals.

Source: msnbc

Unknown creatures that reportedly devour and suck blood from livestock are haunting villagers at Onheleiwa, Oidiva and Oikango of Ongwediva constituency.

Over 20 goats have been killed at Onheleiwa and Oidiva villages and an unknown number at Oikango, where the situation is said to be worse.

Villagers are convinced that the creatures have something to do with witchcraft. They are now accusing an elderly man who has a house at Onheleiwa village and his sister who has a house at Oikango village of being the owners of these strange, blood-sucking beasts.

Oshana Police spokesperson, Christina Fonsech, said the police were called at Onheleiwa last week where they followed the creatures’ footprints.

According to her, the creatures’ footprints are bigger than a dog’s footprints, and police could not identify the creatures.

“We followed them but they walked until a spot where they just vanished. It’s difficult to explain what happened to those footprints because they looked as if they climbed onto something but it was in an open space, so we don’t know what happened,” she said.

Olivia Shikongo had her whole kraal wiped out by the creatures, leaving her with only two kid goats.

According to Shikongo, on July 3 five of her goats were eaten up. All that was left were traces of hooves and heads of some of the goats, while other goats had their stomachs cut open and had no intestines or liver.

“Last Wednesday they came to the kraal again. When I heard the goats making noise, I started to scream. It seems that they could no longer kill the goat that they had bitten so they left. When we went to the kraal in the morning, there were only three goats. One goat, which is the bigger one, was fighting for its life. There was no trace of five other goats that were also at the kraal the previous night,” she explain
According to her, when she and other villagers looked around all they could find were the footprints of the unknown creatures while her five goats seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

Shikongo lost a total of 11 goats in two nights.

“I’m only left with two small goats that we now lock up inside a room in the house,” she said.

Another villager who also lost a goat said he saw the creatures when he ran to the kraal after he heard his animals making noise.

According to him, he found four animals at the kraal but when they saw him, they ran away.

The villagers that claim to have seen the unknown creatures, said they look like tigers. Although the community members are also scared for their lives, they said they understand that the animals do not attack human beings.

“If you find them at night, they just sit still on the side of the path and wait for you to pass by,” said another villager.

Source: newera

If you ask the average zoologist what makes mysterious creatures like Bigfoot or El Chupacabra so impossible today when once scientifically-dismissed species like the Mountain Gorilla or Giant Squid are now common enough concepts, they’ll probably say, “The difference is the gorilla and the squid are real, and Bigfoot isn’t.”

The scientific dismissal isn’t keeping Animal Planet from releasing a new DVD featuring stories of cryptozoological oddities.

Announced this week and set for release this fall (October 6), Lost Tapes operates under the thesis that, while thousands of new species are discovered and classified each year, there are some creatures that science still refuses to recognize.

Lost Tapes offers dramatic reenacts of reported encounters with The Monster of Monterey, Cave Demons, the Megaconda and the Mothman.

A lot of this is outright bollocks, and Animal Planet could be accused of repacking a horror/sci-fi show as an animal documentary here. But, there’s a “ghost story around the campfire” charm about shows like this that an intrigued audience could enjoy a chill or two. People need a good scare now and then, even if it comes from a non-existent Thunderbird or Hell Hound.

Source: tvsquad