The Loch Ness monster was believed to exist according to a 1930s declassified document.
In 1938, the chief constable of Inverness-shire raised concerns about protecting Nessie from hunters!
In a letter released by the National Archives of Scotland (NAS), he wrote: “That there is some strange fish [creature] in Loch Ness now seems beyond doubt.”
Interestingly he refers to it as a “strange fish“, and not a creature or monster.
But what is clear is at the time there was a real concern for the safety of the locals, tourists and the monster itself (if it exists!).
Three people were taken to hospital after an angry goat invaded a nursing home in Australia.
The animal’s rampage at the On Luck Chinese nursing home in Melbourne ended only when it was caught by police.
The seven-year-old goat, named Billy, wandered into the grounds of the nursing home after escaping its enclosure at a nearby home.
The animal became agitated when a gardener tried to shoo it away, butting the gardener before attacking a second man, in his seventies, who rushed over to help.
Both of the men suffered suspected spinal injuries during the incident and the gardener, aged 60, was also left with cuts to his head and elbow.
A woman who had witnessed the furore also injured her ankle as she ran for help.
Sad news, a northern bottlenose whale (nicknamed Gilbert) that had been spotted along the south coast of England near Bournemouth, has been found washed up on the beach near Alum Chine.
The female whale had been delighting watchers every morning with tail flapping and water breaching, but experts had voiced their concerns as it was very unusual for such a whale to be found along the south coast.
There has been lots of whale sighting in the past, but they are usually spotted passing up or down the English Channel and very rarely stay in one place for long.
The dead whale was discovered around 9pm yesterday (21 September 2009) and is now being examined by conservationists to try to determine its cause of death.
One theory is that Gilbert became caught in a rope as a deep mark around her beak had been found and several cuts are clearly visible on its belly, which is believed to have been caused as she thrashed around in an attempt to free herself.
Another hairless creature has been found, this time near Panama City.
The creature, dumbed a Montauk Monster look-a-like was allegedly spotted by teenagers crawling out of a cave near the town of Cerro Azul, north of Panama City.
Fearing for their safety as the beast moved towards them, they attacked the creature with sticks before throwing it into a pool of water.
They later returned to take pictures of the hairless, rubbery body, which were then posted on the website of the Central American Telemetro Television station.
The story and photos have now been reported on almost every Cryptozoology website with varying theories and explanations – hairless sloth seems to be one theory?
I’m a bit sceptical and suspect we will continue to see more and more of these weird things.
August was a fantastic month for Cryptoworld, with over 20,000 unique (new) visitors and almost 800,000 hits! Unfortunately hits aren’t really a true indication of the amount of visitors to a site, but it would be great if we can top the 1 million mark before the end of the year!
Anyway – the top stories for August are as follows – interestingly a couple of old stories have crept back into the top ten!
Scary Ants?
1) Scary! Ants form Global Mega-Colony
Very Scary: A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered. Read the whole start here >>>
2) Mermaid spotted in Israel
Israel was in the grips of mermaid fever in August after numerous sightings of the mythical sea creature off its coast. Read the whole story here >>>
3) Orange balls of light seem over South London
Crowds of people gathered in Balham and Tooting (South London) to watch two sets of orange lights fly in formation across the night sky.
Still a very popular story – now with 75+ comments!!! Read the whole story here >>>
5) Sewer Creature is REAL – but not what you’d expect!
One possible answer – Bloodworms (Tubifex tubifex) – what’s your thoughts? Watch the video here >>>
6) Lights, Lanterns and UFOs!
Lots and lots of people are seeing strange lights all over the world. Here in the UK, there are new sightings on an almost daily basis – but what are they? Read the full story and watch the video here >>>
The Bare-faced bulbul
7) Bald Songbird discovered in Laos
The latest strange creature to emerge from a rugged region of Laos is a bald songbird, dubbed the “bare-faced bulbul”. Read the full story here >>>
8 ) 4 new Thylacine sightings in 3 months!
An old story from June 2006 has crept back up the charts – Four new sighting of the Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine) have been reported in the last three months on the outskirts of Portland, Southern Australia. Read the whole story here >>>
Helensburgh Big Cat?
9) Big Cat captured on video in Helensburgh, Argyll?
An off-duty Ministry of Defence police dog handler has taken a video of what he claims is a panther-sized big cat. Read the story (with photo) here >>>
10) Cannibal Frog found in Australia
The matchbox-sized green-stripe frog normally eats bugs – but this one swallowed a green tree frog. Read the full story (with photo) here >>>
The Environment Agency said its staff were amazed to find a dead piranha in the East Okement tributary of the River Torridge.
The piranha, which has razor-sharp teeth, is generally considered to be the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world.
The 35cm (14in) fish was spotted by Bob Collett, Dave Hoskin and Eddie Stevens during a sampling trip on the river.
Fish species which the team would commonly expect to find within the river include Salmon, Brown Trout and possibly other species such as Bullheads, Stone loach and Minnow.
‘What we actually discovered was something we would not expect to find in our wildest dreams. We could hardly believe our eyes,’ said Eddie Stevens, from the Environment Agency.
Israel is in the grips of mermaid fever after numerous sightings of the mythical sea creature off its coast.
One town council is taking the reports so seriously that is is offering a $1m (£609,000) reward to anyone who can prove the existence of a mermaid in its waters.
Kiryat Yam municipality, near Haifa, says it has been told of dozens of sightings in the past few months. “Many people are telling us they are sure they’ve seen a mermaid and they are all independent of each other,” said council spokesman Natti Zilberman.
The nautical nymph is only seen in the evening at sunset, according to media reports, drawing crowds of people with cameras hoping for a glimpse. “People say it is half girl, half fish, jumping like a dolphin. It does all kinds of tricks then disappears,” Mr Zilberman said.
Asked whether a dolphin or large fish could be a more rational explanation, he insisted: “They say it is a female figure, it looks like a young girl.”
The council denied its offer of a reward was a publicity stunt, but said it hoped to nurture the mermaid as something which could bring in more tourists.
So, it’s probably just a dolphin, but the local council seem to think it’s a mermaid and plan on cashing in – why don’t they just set up dolphin spotting boat trips?
An off-duty Ministry of Defence police dog handler has taken a video of what he claims is a panther-sized big cat.
Pc Chris Swallow was helping a friend with their garden in Helensburgh, Argyll, when he spotted the black creature on a nearby railway line.
The officer, who is stationed at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde, said the cat was as big as a Labrador dog.
Big cats have been reported in the area in the past, with several sightings of the so-called Coulport Cougar.
Pc Swallow said he saw the animal on 30 June while working in the garden at Kildonan Drive, Helensburgh.
He could tell it was not a Labrador, as he first thought, because of the way it was walking, and because its tail was about twice the length that a dog’s would have been.
The Nomura, also known as the Echizen jellyfish, would not look out of place in a Godzilla film. They can weigh up to 200kg and measure up to 2m in diameter.
For the past four summers, they have mysteriously materialised in the Yellow Sea off China and the Korean peninsula before drifting across into the Sea of Japan. Experts expect large numbers to arrive this year – which could spell disaster for Japan’s fishermen.
Six adults can completely destroy a fishing net, as well as poisoning the fish inside, leaving them inedible.
Fishermen are also liable to get stung trying to remove them.
The last time Nomura jellyfish were seen in Japan’s coastal waters was in 2007, fishermen made more than 15,000 complains about damage done to their nets.
The Nomura’s Jellyfish (エチゼンクラゲ echizen kurage, Nemopilema nomurai) is a very large Japanese jellyfish. It is in the same size class as the lion’s mane jellyfish, the largest cnidarian in the world. The width of the Nomura’s Jellyfish are slightly larger than the height of most full grown men.
Growing up to 2 meters (6 feet 7 inches) in diameter and weighing up to 220 kilograms (ca. 450 pounds). Nomura’s Jellyfish live in the waters between China and Japan, primarily centralized in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea (via Wikipedia).
Video of the Basking Shark that washed up on a Long Island beach on the 14th July 2009.
The now 20-foot-long (orginaly thought to be 24-foot) basking shark that washed ashore on a beach on New York’s Long Island on Tuesday appears to have died from some kind of illness.
New York State Parks official George Gorman said researchers will examine the basking shark to determine a cause of death. After that, it will be buried in nearby sand dunes on the beach.
After examining the basking shark, Tracy Marcus of Cornell University’s Long Island-based Sport Fishing Education Center said the shark weighs about a ton. She said it is unusual for an ailing basking shark to come ashore. Usually they die in the ocean.
The cause of the Long Island shark’s beaching may remain a mystery—as is where the giant creatures come from.
Three people were taken to hospital after an angry goat invaded a nursing home in Australia.
