tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23307959335395802902024-03-14T06:46:24.754-07:00Malcolm's Musings: CryptozoologyCryptozoology is the investigation of animals not yet recognized by science, but whose existence is hinted at by eye witness accounts, photos, or traces. I provided a major review of Australian cryptozoology in my 1996 book, "Bunyips and Bigfoots". This blog aims to continue reporting on that research.
However, initially, I intend to provide a service of translating into English a number of foreign language accounts from around the world.Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-65822241983496597842023-03-12T18:42:00.000-07:002023-03-12T18:42:23.689-07:00More on the Malayan Ape-Man Who knows what mysterious creatures might walk out of the jungles of southeast Asia? Rumours abound of strange bipedal apes sequestered in those rainforests. Many US troops saw them in Vietnam and called them "<a href="https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/01/the-mysterious-rock-apes-of-the-vietnam-war/" target="_blank">rock apes</a>". (See also <a href="https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/us-troops-saw-bigfoot-vietnam/" target="_blank">here</a>.) But it is on the Malay peninsula that things get really weird.<div> A year and a half ago I <a href="https://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com/2020/11/big-footprints-in-malayan-jungle.html" target="_blank">reported</a> on Harold Stephens' expedition in search of the <i>orang dalam</i>, and his discovery of humanoid footprints consistent with something 8 feet or 2.4 metres in height. The orang dalam would thus appear to be similar to the North American bigfoot. But this is pedestrian compared to what came out of the jungle at Christmas 1953. I <a href="https://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com/2020/10/introducing-malayan-bigfoot.html" target="_blank">also reported</a> Harold Stephens' summary of those events. On three occasions there were encounters with two male and one female humanoids with pale skin, long body hair, and protruding fangs, all of them wearing rough loin cloths, and with the males sporting mustaches which reached to their waists. This represented a whole new level of weirdness. They sounded like some bizarre group of human beings. Now, however, I have just come across a document published in 1957, which not only provides full details of the encounters, but contains a lot of follow-up information.<span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div> The author was a Malay writing under the pen name of "Ungka Dong". Although educated in England, he grew up in the villages, and heard all the familiar stories about the spirits of the forest.</div><blockquote><div> But most fascinating and thrilling of all were the Hairy Men! My father told me of these weird, sinister creatures one night as I lay on my mat in the darkness of our <i>roomah</i> [house]. They were not exactly apes, he said, but ape-humans. I shuddered as he went on to describe the Hairy Men - men covered with hair from head to foot and with long, fang-like teeth projecting from their mouths. And, most strangely of all, their bodies underneath the hair were said to be <i>white</i>.</div></blockquote><div> Now for the events of 1953/1954, and how they were carefully investigated shortly after the event by two radio commentators, Tony Beamish and Stewart Wavell. Essentially, the summary provided by Harold Stephens was accurate, but a few extra snippets of information could be gleaned. </div><div> For a start, the first witness, Wong Yee Moi was 16 years old. As she spoke to the interviewers, her eyes darted from face to face, and she glanced fearfully out of the doorway towards the rubber trees. The second witness, one of a detachment of security forces, was a Malaya Police corporal, Abdul Talib. When he raised his rifle, the creatures dived into the water. The third witness, the Hindu worker, was a 45-year-old Indian rubber tapper called Appiasamy. All their descriptions tallied, although they were told independently to different interpreters, in three different languages: Cantonese, Malay, and Tamil respectively.</div><div> Miss Wong described the male as being as tall as 6 foot [183 cm] Wavell, but much broader. She and Appiasamy, both of whom had been grasped by one of the creatures, described an "animal smell". Wong said that the "woman" spoke in a language like birds croaking. Abdul Talib said they made strange grunting noises. Appiasamy reported hoarse growls and laughter. Wong said that the female wore a yellow bark skirt, and the males loin cloths made from either skins or tree bark. All three reported that the males had curved knives slung at their hips.</div><div> In other words, they couldn't have been mere animals; they must have been some different version of humanity. But how could a community large enough to be capable of making such items remain hidden in the jungle? The many suspected unknown primates are all reported to be solitary and nocturnal. But human beings, and even, presumably, our immediate ancestors, are diurnal and live in, at the bare minimum, small bands. There must be clusters of makeshift dwellings, with bits and pieces of tools and the like, sprinkled around the forest. Over a long period of time such things could not go unnoticed. It doesn't make sense.</div><div> Now earlier reports were coming out of the woodwork.</div><div></div><blockquote><div> Eight days after the last reported appearance of the hairy trio, veteran Malayan Henry W. Cowling came forward with evidence of an encounter with similar creatures which he had experienced twenty years before. He recalled that he and an Army officer saw a "very hairy ape-like couple" walking along the Mura Batu Anam road. The female was carrying a pole about ten feet [3 metres] long which had been stripped of bark. "Could these have been ancestors of the present trio?" asked Cowling.</div><div> He had been motoring towards Batu Anam and was about thirty miles [50 km] from the town when his driver suddenly cried, "Oran Utan!" Cowling and his companion, Major Armstrong, looked up and saw two waddling figures at the side of the road walking towards them. They were very hairy and black and rusty brown in colour. Fear showed in their bloddshot eyes as the car passed them. Both creatures were between four and four-and-a half feet [120 - 140 cm] in height.</div><div> Mr. Cowling added that he stayed that night with an engineer, Mr. J. S. Boissier, who told him that a whole colony of these hairy people - about a hundred and twenty of them - existed near the spot where Cowling had seen the two creatures. They lived in tree branch shelters and contact was made through the Sakai aborigines who could speak "ape language".</div></blockquote><div></div><div> The next day the well-known badminton star, Ong Poh Lim came up with a story of what had happened, not in Malaya, but in the forest of South West Borneo, near the Sarawak border, nearly 20 years before. (This was before the area was incorporated into the modern state of Malaysia.)</div><div></div><blockquote><div> I was a schoolboy of eleven and we lived near the area. A group of fishermen passing through the jungle saw a hairy figure leaping from tree to tree. At first they thought it was a monkey but a second look told them it was not. The fishermen rounded up more people from the village and, after a hectic chase, the creature was caught.</div><div> There was a great excitement in the village when it was discovered that the creature was a man. He was covered all over with thick hair. He wore no clothes and was unable to understand or answer his captors when questioned. He was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors shaved off the hair to examine him. He was found to be wearing earrings.</div><div> The prisoner became morose and refused to be fed. Finally he died and, soon after his death, natives found an old wreck near the spot where the creature had been captured. It was then believed that the creature was a sailor who had wandered into the jungle years before when his ship had been wrecked.</div></blockquote><div></div><div> May I humbly suggest that this second hand story has gained a bit in the telling? And the most obvious point of contention would be the earrings, which would certainly mark him off as human. A shipwrecked sailor would be unlikely to survive in the jungle. If he did, he would run to the fishermen for help, not leap from tree to tree. And he certainly wouldn't grow a coat of hair to replace his lost clothes. On the other hand, the site was close to the area where zoologist John MacKinnon undertook the first field study of the social life of orangutans. And on pp 113-5 of the popular book about his adventures, <i>In Search of the Red Ape</i> (1974) he recounted how, much to his amazement, he came across a set of small humanoid footprints which the natives attributed to a ghost called a <i>batūtūt</i>. He also noted that the footprints matched even larger ones in Malay attributed to the <i>orang pendek</i>, and in Sumatra to the <i>sedapa</i>.</div><div> But to continue with the Malayan story, an army office sent the following report to the Director of Aboriginal Research in Kuala Lumpur: </div><div><blockquote> In 1951 I was stationed at Ulu Dong in Pahang. One of the villagers spoke of having seen tall, hairy creatures washing themselves early in the mornings at a spot some miles up-river. I wanted to visit the spot when on patrol but I was moved from Pahang before I could arrange it. A police lieutenant was with me when the villager spoke of the hairy people and he afterwards reported that while on a patrol from Ulu Cheka, he had seen some of the creatures.</blockquote></div><div> Among other testimonies, we have the following from a planter in Perak:</div><div></div><blockquote><div> I met five of these creatures in the Cameron Highlands in 1927. It was a hot August night and all the dogs were howling and barking. We spent an eerie and restless night. The next morning some workmen came to say that many strange footprints had been discovered in the newly-dry nursery beds at the Experimental Station. I decided to investigate.</div><div> After a hurried breakfast I started. Ko Po Chet, a Burmese, and Nirh Bahadur, a Gurkha, insisted on coming with me. All we had was one shotgun, one <i>saung dah</i> and one <i>kukri</i>. We had been walking for about an hour in the jungle and were going up an incline. I was taking my turn to clear the way ahead when we were brought to a sudden stop by the sound of a deep cough. Looking up we saw an apparition corresponding to the description of the Trolak 'ape-men'. It had huge fang-like teeth and a placid, fixed gaze.</div><div> Behind it I saw four more of the creatures. I felt weak at the knees and looked round for the gun which Ko Po Chet had been carrying. To my dismay he had put it on the ground and moved off. He shouted to me to leave the gun alone. When I looked up again I saw all five creatures had turned their backs on us and were moving away.</div><div> Po Chet later told me that these creatures were quite common in Burma. They were, he said, the spirits of murdered people, sometimes visible, sometimes not. They were hunting their murderers with the aim of tearing them to pieces.</div></blockquote> Then we heard from another army officer: This was at the height of the war against communism during the <a href="https://historyreclaimed.co.uk/thank-britain-for-the-peoples-republic-of-malaya-we-never-knew/" target="_blank">Malayan Emergency</a>.<div><blockquote> In 1949 I led a five-man patrol on a jungle track some miles up-river from Kota Tinggi, Johore. I saw what appeared to be a human lurking in the undergrowth about thirty yards away from us. I halted the patrol and loosed off a shot. There was the most horrible scream I have ever heard and I had the fright of my life when I saw a hairy shape, the size of a fully grown man, running with one hand clutching its shoulder. The rest of the patrol saw it, too. The Bren gunner was too flabbergasted to do anything. I would not like to come across the same thing again!</blockquote><div><b>Reference: </b>"Ungka Dong" (1957), 'The fang men of Malaya', <i>The Wide World</i>, March 1957 (Aust./NZ), Feb. 1957 (UK/US), pp222 -9</div></div><div> Then something similar appeared close to the site of the original sighting less than two years later. I shall quote from <a href="https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19560815-1.2.6?ST=1&AT=search&k=kampong%20chempa&QT=kampong,chempa&oref=article " target="_blank"><i>The Straits Times</i>, 15 Aug. 1956, page 1</a></div><div></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">'Hairy' creatures scare tapper.</div><div> The big question is: were they apemen?</div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt; text-align: justify;"> Slim River, Tues. - Three hairy “things” - two males and a female - have been seen in the jungle near here, reviving memories of the famous ape-men who hit the headlines when they were spotted in this district two years ago.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt;"> Terrified villagers are now asking: “Are they human or animal?”</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt;"> The “things” were seen twice in a day recently by separate groups of tappers.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt;"> Two sisters working in the Kampong Chempa area, two miles from here, were the first to spot them. Chan Ming Tuah, 12, said she saw three hairy creatures suddenly appear ten yards away at seven o’clock in the morning. The creatures, covered with long, matted hair, walked upright towards her with their hands “wobbling wildly” at their sides. They had long fingernails and were about four feet in height. Chan screamed and fled with her sister. In her panic she fell several times, tearing her samfoo. And for three days after that she was too frightened to go to work.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt;"> Three Indian tappers, working some distance away, also saw the creatures who shambled off when they shouted at them. The tappers, who did not know Chan and her sister, corroborated the girls’ report that the unknowns had hairy bodies and long fingernails. The creatures, they said, carried short sticks. The two males were taller than the female who was about four feet [120 cm] in height.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt;"> Officialdom, however, was sceptical about the reports. “They are probably apes,” said a spokesman of the Department of Aborigines.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt;"> A police officer said, “We’ve heard rumours but no one has lodged a report. We are NOT investigating.”</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt;"> In January 1954, 20 Special Constables sent to scour Trolak Estate in a “bring ‘em back alive” bid after the ape-men. On that occasion witnesses described the ape-men as having bushy eyebrows, long fangs, and wearing scanty loin cloths. Their stories aroused world-wide interest and speculation in anthropological circles.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt;"> Asked what he thought about the “things”, the Manager of Trolak Estate, Mr.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt;">G.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt;"> M. Browne, said today: “I haven’t heard the reports but I believe they could well be true.” He pointed out that though people had scoffed at the ape-man theory, no one could account for the fact that different eye-witnesses, unknown to each other, had seen the creatures on separate occasions and given identical accounts.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt;"> At that time many people came forward with stories of their encounters with similar creatures in different parts of Malaya. A man quoted a P.W.D. executive engineer, Mr. J. S. Boissier, as saying that a colony of ape-men lived 30 miles from Batu Anam in Johore around 1934. The ape-men wore loin cloths and lived in tree branch shelters. Contact was made through aborigines who could speak their language.</span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt;"></span></div><div> Another reference was: '<span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt;">Those Ape-Men Appear Again', </span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt;">Singapore Standard</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt;"> 15 August 1956.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt;"> One account said that the creatures were naked. How did they recognize their sex? Unless the witnesses got a good look at their genitals, it is most likely that the female had obvious breasts. That would imply that either she had a baby nearby, or they were close to the human evolutionary lineage, because it is only human females who possess prominent breasts when non-lactating. In any case, despite their small size, they were mature.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt;"> It is far from clear that the creatures related here all belong to the same species. So just what going on in the jungles of Malaya?</span></div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-79104399770187197842022-10-15T14:20:00.001-07:002022-10-15T14:20:23.092-07:00A Bug-Eyed Monster off New Zealand<p> Readers will no doubt be familiar with the name of Ivan T. Sanderson who, along with Bernard Heuvelmans, was one of the founders of cryptozoology. All sorts of other Fortean phenomena captured his imagination, if not always his critical faculties, with the result that he founded the Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained (SITU), with its journal, <i>Pursuit</i>. Now, in my old age, I am going through my own copies of this journal, and thus happened to come across an article inspired by a clipping from a Japanese newspaper. So, as this blog seeks to rescue stories which are likely to get overlooked or lost, I shall republish it here verbatim. The comments at the end were, I presume, written by Sanderson himself. As for the last sentence, there does not appear to have been any follow-up. And no, I have no idea what the animal was. If any reader is an expert in large marine life and has any suggestions, they are welcome.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p style="text-align: center;">.................................................................</p><div style="text-align: center;">A SEA-MONSTER OFF NEW ZEALAND</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Pursuit</i> 4(4) [Oct 1971] pp 95-6</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> A correspondent resident in Japan has sent us a clipping from the <i>Manichi Daily News</i> of the 18th July 1971. It is datelined Yaizu, Shizuoka.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGB3U8UdK07rW4kjl57KKopmGEk6CDQcMaiTkB7wv9NxFFpBlu_MKAv_f64yK2YzhzKj7YEG9EuE74pDDbou1qSFtJodPw4Atu0Xom3cSIk8ZvaX5msSLdGEmB3V1PPPC8hU4uY5nCsOsgUCF6gBZPAedYMmwB9YmMF0IjEhgWif5QC6JyPHA_PsEDbQ/s2063/IMG_0002.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1620" data-original-width="2063" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGB3U8UdK07rW4kjl57KKopmGEk6CDQcMaiTkB7wv9NxFFpBlu_MKAv_f64yK2YzhzKj7YEG9EuE74pDDbou1qSFtJodPw4Atu0Xom3cSIk8ZvaX5msSLdGEmB3V1PPPC8hU4uY5nCsOsgUCF6gBZPAedYMmwB9YmMF0IjEhgWif5QC6JyPHA_PsEDbQ/s320/IMG_0002.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> "A bug-eyed monster (BEM) startled crew members of the 253-ton </span><i style="text-align: left;">Kompira Maru</i><span style="text-align: left;"> as it observed their fishing operations off the South Coast of New Zealand recently. News of the BEM and a sketch of the monster - see cut - was released after the 26-man crew returned to Yaizu Port, Shizuoka Prefecture, recently. The crewmen reported that the BEM's head reared about 1.5 meters [roughly 5 feet] above the sea's surface, and that its eyes appeared to be about 15 cm. [roughly 6 inches] in diameter. The captain of the vessel drew the sketch. It appeared to have a nose like a deformed hippopotamus so they named it 'Kabagon,' after Kaba, the Japanese term for the river animal. The ship's log gave the date of the sighting as about noon on April 28 and at 44.15 degrees south latitude and 173.34 east longitude and about 40 kilometers [roughly 25 miles] southeast of Lyttelton on South Island. The sea depth was about 40 meters, the weather was fine with a north wind. According to the fishermen's testimony, the animal looked something like a hippopotamus. But one noted that the hippopotami live only in fresh water.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"> "When the boat got within about 30 meters of the monster and a harpoon-gun was being loaded, it disappeared, according to the fishermen. Meanwhile, a weekly magazine in New Zealand reported strange footprints had been found on Lyttelton Peninsula."</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipks0i4upjj9zWXb3gp1JULsWavNzig4WWU-ZH2xNJBsOaNSdokvMqF1-yKOqoHdclInGCenfdUi3CLRY1K34qWpegNtkrq6sTzPOUZq5pbAPe2hnPdhD4r_r8Vl8m-8CStOnEIcQMrAIaG8G_Qca4d2CxIRD4Ufqi1l_Xy1zfEVCyXvzxB5T1Bp7fRA/s2081/IMG.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1330" data-original-width="2081" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipks0i4upjj9zWXb3gp1JULsWavNzig4WWU-ZH2xNJBsOaNSdokvMqF1-yKOqoHdclInGCenfdUi3CLRY1K34qWpegNtkrq6sTzPOUZq5pbAPe2hnPdhD4r_r8Vl8m-8CStOnEIcQMrAIaG8G_Qca4d2CxIRD4Ufqi1l_Xy1zfEVCyXvzxB5T1Bp7fRA/s320/IMG.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> Although hippos do occasionally go to sea, they are confined to Africa, and the sketch reproduced in the <i>Mainichi Daily News</i> (reproduced here in simplified form) does not look anything like a hippo to us in any event. What it does resemble is a female walrus, but this doesn't help very much since the Walrus is - so far as anyone knows! - native only to the Northern Hemisphere. One wishes that the crew had been a lot nippier with that harpoon-gun. If there is a Southern Hemisphere Walrus, it must be enormous. 'Ordinary' male walruses reach a maximum length of abut 12-½ feet (the females are much smaller), so that an animal with a head reported to measure 5 feet in 'length' would be heaven knows how long. Six-inch eyes are not to be sneered at either; and one should note that enormous eyes are commonly reported by those who say they have observed sea as opposed to freshwater monsters.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"> We have thus far been unable to find out anything more about the tracks on the beach at Lyttelton (at least presumably on a beach), but walruses do not 'walk' and therefore do not leave tracks in the ordinary sense. Whether there us in fact any connection between the two is open to debate as yet. We are continuing our enquiries and will attempt to report further on this at a later date.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div></div><p style="text-align: center;"></p>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-20799190103305757942021-11-06T18:04:00.000-07:002021-11-06T18:04:56.682-07:00The 1983 Californian Sea Serpent Personally, I consider sea serpents more credible than lake monsters. It's the logistics of it all. The sea is vast, and we move across it with noisy vessels along narrow sea lanes. Anything could be there. Lakes are small, and tend to be surrounded by people. What lives there ought to be seen a lot more often. Yet, when I was researching the digitalised files of Australian newspapers for Australian and foreign sea serpents, I noticed something peculiar: up to the Second World War, it was respectable to see and report sea serpents, often uncritically. However, once the war started, people had much more important things to talk about, and after that date, although it has become respectable to see and report lake monsters, reports of sea serpents droppedoff dramatically. But they still turn up. One case was in late 1983, off the coast of California. Again, I have the old International Society of Cryptozoology to thank for the summary. Although it is anonymous, the author was almost certainly the editor, J. Richard Greenwell.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div style="text-align: center;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . </div><div style="text-align: center;">"Sea serpents" seen off California coast.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The ISC Newsletter</i> 2(4): pp 9-10 (Winter 1983)</div><div><br /></div><div> A new "sea serpent" sighting took place at Stinson Beach, north of San Francisco, California, on October 31, 1983. The incident involved several witnesses, five of whom were members of a construction crew repairing Highway 1 on a Marin County cliffside overlooking the sea. Shortly before 2 p.m., according to Steven Rubinstein of the <i>San Francisco Chronicle</i>, who interviewed the witnesses, a flagman named Gary saw the unidentified animal swimming towards the cliff, and he called Matt Ratto, another crew member, on his two-way radio, telling him to get his binoculars. The binoculars were reportedly used by the crew to observe distant objects of interest, particularly nude sunbathers on the beach below during their lunch breaks.</div><div> Ratto watched the animal through the binoculars; it was reportedly only a quarter of a mile<i> [400 metres]</i> away and 100 yards off-shore. Of particular interested was the detail that the animal was being followed by about 100 birds and two dozen sea lions. "There were three bends, like humps, and they rose straight up," said Ratto. "Then the head came up to look around." The "serpent" then turned, lowering its head beneath the surface, and moved out to sea, gradually lowering its humps beneath the water until it disappeared. "Look," Ratto told reporters, "I'm not a psycho, I'm a regular guy. If I was going to make up something, I'd make up something like a 12-foot Mickey Mouse with five arms." The animal was described by all witnesses as dark, slim, and about 100 feet <i>[30 metres]</i> in length.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikDnDF6AqKK6Plsq9vBNB4t5RIxQbd5xjc0PTNVcu7bVZeBOB0EcKBvTL4yAYI6XF7LR0i0uKbK5BvzzWJd1yc5aHwV1z_qIMQ98gE6Qcx2KTTnZy2to4NRSjpOs6_5wATDjmGB0Nje7Pz/s2543/IMG_0069.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="881" data-original-width="2543" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikDnDF6AqKK6Plsq9vBNB4t5RIxQbd5xjc0PTNVcu7bVZeBOB0EcKBvTL4yAYI6XF7LR0i0uKbK5BvzzWJd1yc5aHwV1z_qIMQ98gE6Qcx2KTTnZy2to4NRSjpOs6_5wATDjmGB0Nje7Pz/w400-h139/IMG_0069.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> Another witness, truck driver Steve Bjora, said, "The sucker was going 45 to 50 miles an hour <i>[70 - 80 kmh]</i>. It was clipping. It was boogeying. It looked like a long eel." But Bjora says he saw only two humps. Marlene Martin, a safety inspector with the Department of Transportation, also saw the animal. She was subsequently "unavailable for comment," but her daughter told the <i>Chronicle</i>: "Mom came home and told us it was the biggest thing she ever saw in her life, and my Mom doesn't lie. She said it made 'Jaws' look like a baby." Apparently, Mrs. Martin described four humps to her family.</div><div> According to the tabloid <i>Weekly World News</i>, another witness surfaced - on the beach itself. Roland Curry, 19, said it was the second time he'd seen the "sea serpent" in less than a week. On the first occasion, he claims, it was visible for about 30 seconds, but the head appeared for only about 2 seconds, just before the body submerged. "I told my girlfriend about it, and she said I was nuts," commented Curry, "but this time I saw it and there were other people who said they saw it. That makes it real in my book. From now on, when I go to the beach, I'm bringing my camera."</div><div> The <i>Chronicle </i>also spoke to Jack Swenson, a biologist of the nearby Point Reyes Bird Observatory, who said there have been "periodic sightings" of unknown marine animals off the Marin County coast, and that "no one every figures out what the sightings are ... A whale surfacing in backlit sunshine, silhouetted with a lot of glare, could look like the Loch Ness Monster. On the other hand, there may be all sorts of prehistoric creatures swimming around out there that we know nothing about."</div><div> Witness Ratto was emphatic that "there's no way it could have been a whale or a porpoise, and it was too graceful to be a machine. Anyway, a submarine doesn't have a head." Two points add credibility to the incident: 1) the construction crew members admitted to having the binoculars to observe nude sunbathers, and although this in itself is of little (if any) significance in California, the admission tends to indicate a truthful version of the events; and 2) a separate witness, Mrs. Martin, who holds a responsible job, saw the same phenomenon, although she later was "unavailable". This gives independent support to the claimed sighting by the construction crew.</div><div> Later in the week, on November 2, a group of surfers reported seeing a "sea serpent" near Costa Mesa. "It was just the way they described it up there - a long black eel," said Young Hutchinson, 29. The sighting took place in the mid-afternoon, about 60 feet<i> [18 metres]</i> off the Santa Ana River Jetty. He thought the observation was "too crazy" to report, until he read about the Marin County sightings. "At first I thought it was a whale, but I've seen a lot of whales and it didn't look the same, " said Hutchinson, who claims that it surfaced only 10 feet<i> [3 metres]</i> from his surfboard. "There were no dorsal fins," he added. "The skin texture wasn't the same [as a whale], and when it broke water it wasn't like a whale at all. I didn't seen the head or the tail."</div><div> The Costa Mesa <i>Daily Pilot</i> quoted a spokesman for the Corona del Mar marine facility of the California Institute of Technology as stating: "It could have been a pilot whale or a gray whale ... It also could have been three or four porpoises in a line jumping from the water." The spokesman preferred to remain anonymous.</div><div> "It was really moving," concluded Hutchinson, "like a whale with a purpose ... We got the hell out of there and paddled for shore."</div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-15065641741999935352021-10-23T18:24:00.001-07:002023-10-23T02:46:42.453-07:00A "Tree Crocodile" in Papua? The jungle clad mountains and valleys of New Guinea, just north of Australia, have turned it into a vast patchwork of "ecological islands" with new, rare, species just waiting to be discovered. By following up clues left by the natives, one of our more prominent zoologists, Dr. Tim Flannery managed to locate two new species of tree kangaroo concealed in localised pockets. The possibility that the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, believed to be extinct in Australia, may still exist in the Indonesian half of the island, is something I have discussed in this blog (<a href="https://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com/2011/10/thylacines-in-indonesian-new-guinea.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com/2013/10/thylacines-in-indonesian-new-guinea.html" target="_blank">here</a>) and in my up-dated <a href="https://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com/2021/02/bunyips-and-bigfoots-is-back.html " target="_blank">second edition</a> of <i>Bunyips and Bigfoots. </i>Just the same, it was still a surprise to discover a 1955 article by a certain Walker Pearson, about a legendary giant lizard, or "tree crocodile" in Papua. Not only that, but he was able to cite, not only native legends, but credible reports by Europeans concerning the cryptid.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div> First of all, a brief discussion on geographic terminology. The independent nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG) takes it name from the two jurisdictions under which it was governed by Australia. In 1526 the Portuguese mariner, Dom Jorge de Meneses touched on the Vogelkop Peninsula at the far northwest of the island, and named it Ilhas dos Papuas, the "island of the Papuas". The last appears to have been a name used in eastern Indonesia for the Melanesians, and was probably stressed on the second syllable, whereas now the stress falls on the first. Then, in 1545, the Spaniard, Yñigo Ortiz de Retez followed the north coast of the island and, noting a resemblance in countryside and inhabitants to the Guinea coast of Africa, called it Nueva Guinea. New Guinea thus became the name of the island. After the Dutch claimed the western half, Germany began colonising the northeastern section, so the British colony of Queensland induced Britain to annex the south eastern section, under the name of Papua. Once the Australian colonies federated into the new nation of Australia, Papua was turned over to its control, and during the First World War, Australia conquered German New Guinea.</div><div> This meant that while Papua remained a Crown Colony, the Territory of New Guinea was administered as a mandated trust territory under the League of Nations, and later the UN. When Indonesia managed to get hold of Dutch New Guinea, it named its new <strike>colony</strike> province West Irian. Since then, they have renamed it Papua.</div><div> For the purposes of this story, however, Papua refers to the original Crown Colony, south of the Owen Stanley Range, and in particular, the broad swath of country inland from the Gulf of Papua.</div><div> Getting back to the subject, the author reported that the Papuans call the giant lizard <i>Aou-Angi-Angi</i> (this appears to come from the Mékéo language), which means the "crocodile that lives in trees", although it is hard to see how that phrase could fit into such a short word. According to legend, it would stalk its human victim, strike him with its long tail, then tear at him with its needle like teeth and claws.</div><div><blockquote>When food is scarce, it sometimes comes creeping out of the bush to feast on the dead, laid on platforms in the trees. </blockquote></div><div> A plausible allegation. We tend to assume ground burial as the norm for the disposal of dead bodies, and forget that it depends on the use of metal shovels. Where stone hoes or wooden digging sticks are the norm, this is not practicable, especially if the ground is hard or, as in the hinterland of the Gulf of Papua, swampy, with a high water table. For this reason, the natives of both New Guinea and Australia were more likely to go in for tree burial - thus leaving the deceased's remains vulnerable to any scavenging arboreal predator.</div><div> After this introduction came a couple of second hand stories. One was of a Visiting Magistrate, who was asked by some village elders to help them get rid of a rampaging <i>Aou-Angi-Angi</i>. They could not show him the monster, but assured him that a neighbouring village had invoked sorcery to send it against them!</div><div> Another was the time Assistant Magistrate Thompson was approached by a disturbed "police boy" from the village of Gibu, close to the mouth of the Turama River. (Google Earth locates it at 7°49'S, 143°51'E). Apparently, two village men entered the jungle, and discovered a lizard as big as a crocodile. When they attempted to cast a noose around its neck, it reacted violently, knocking one of the natives, called Sigai, to the ground with its tail, while biting off the lower arm of the other native, who nevertheless escaped back to the village. Sigai, however, remained in the forest, where he lived with the monster, which was now regarded as a god, even riding on its back. His daughter would go to the edge of the forest every day to converse with her father, asking questions about the future of the village, and leaving food. The police boy alleged that he had seen the "god". Thompson followed the girl into the jungle, where he failed to see Sigai, but did catch a glimpse of the animal, which looked like a big crocodile, except that it was up a tree.</div><div> I suspect that this story had gained a bit in the telling. Nevertheless, the author was able to cite a couple of good documents. The first was by Father Joseph Guis, a French missionary who worked among the Roro and Mékéo people in the hinterland of the Gulf of Papua. According to an <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mekeo" target="_blank">online encyclopedia</a>:</div><div><blockquote>The Mekeo region lies between 7°15′ and 8°45′S and 146°20′ and 146°45′E, 100 kilometers to the Northwest of the capital city Port Moresby. It consists of nearly 400 square kilometers of low-lying fluvial plain with varied grassland, forest, riverine, and swamp habitats. Villages are situated along the meandering tributaries of the Angabanga and Biaru rivers. There are two seasons: a "wet," during the Northwest monsoon from December until April; and a "dry," from May through November. Annual rainfall averages between 100 and 180 centimeters, and temperatures fluctuate Between 20°and 30°C.</blockquote></div><div> Between 1897 and 1901, Fr. Guis published articles about his experiences in two French church magazines, and these were consolidated in 1936 in a book entitled, <i>La Vie des Papous. Côte sud-est de la Nouvelle-Guinée (Roro et Mékéo)</i>, which translates as "Life of the Papuans. South-east coast of New Guinea (Roro and Mekeo)." Walker Pearson was able to access this work in the British Museum Library and translate the relevant section. Note that, although published in 1936, the data relates to the end of the previous century.</div><div><blockquote> Certain villages in the Mekeo district (the hilly back country behind Hall Sound in the Papuan Gulf) . . . namely Inafoka, Eboa, and Inuaboue . . . do not bury their dead, but expose them on platforms of boughs built in the jungle until only the skeleton remains. . . . The corpses are washed with cold water every morning until decomposition is complete, or until they vanish, for at Eboa a kind of enormous iguana, the <i>Aou-Angi-Angi</i> (the man-eater), comes out at night to devour the corpses . . . Both the existence and the ferocity of this creature have been widely discussed, some people disputing the probability of either. But today there is no longer any doubt about the reality of this giant iguana. One of our Brothers - a brave man and, moreover, armed with a gun - fled this monster when he caught sight of it in the jungle near Onghinfeke. A Father at Inaouaia was jibing at one of the local natives for being so afraid of the <i>Aou-Angi-Angi</i>. "Have you seen him yourself?" the Father asked. "Have I seen him?" the native replied. "I've seen him eating my wife!"</blockquote></div><div> The second document he was able to cite was provided to him by the Royal Geographical Society: <i>The Annual Report of the Territory of Papua for the year 1936-37 by the Lieutenant Governor (Sir Hubert Murray)</i>. Sir Hubert Murray, I venture to add, was a judge and Lieutenant-Governor of Papua from 1908 to 1940. He was our greatest colonial administrator, but most of his fellow countrymen know nothing about him. Even my wife, Esther, who was <a href="https://malcolmshome.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-adventures-of-leon-and-theophila.html" target="_blank">born and raised</a> in New Guinea, was never taught the history of the colony at school there and, of course, those of us who were educated in the home country received no information either.</div><div> Be that as it may, the <i>Annual Report</i> provided details of an expedition by Ivan Campion "in the indescribably-rugged delta regions around the head of the Papuan Gulf." Campion was an experienced explorer. In 1927-28, along with another official, Charles Karius, he had crossed the country from the Fly River to the Sepik. This time, now an Assistant Resident Magistrate, he took Patrol Office C.J. Adamson, twelve native policemen, and twenty-seven convicts to serve as porters, on a five month expedition through unexplored territory inhabited by uncontacted, hostile tribes. According to Walker Pearson, they explored the area between the Ramu and Purari Rivers, but this makes no sense. The Purari flows into the Gulf of Papua, but the Ramu flows to the north coast, and is separated from the Purari by a mountain range. I suspect he meant the Purari and the Kikori.</div><div> Be that as it may, the crucial entry occurred on 4 May 1936, when "the explorer and his mean were battling their way yard by yard up the Kikori River towards the River Mobi." The Kikori enters the Gulf of Papua through a large delta, and near the head of the delta stands the town of Kikori at 7°24' S, 144°13' E. I have not been able to locate the Mobi River on any map, but there is a town called Maubi downriver from Kikori on one of the delta branches. In any case, it will be noted that this is about two degrees west of the Mekeo area referred to by Fr. Guis, and very close to the site of Thompson's experience.</div><div> On the day in question, one of the native police pulled at Campion's arm and pointed to a great tree beside the river bank. Up in the canopy, he saw what he first imagined was a huge tree kangaroo. Just then, the other police fired a ragged volley at the animal, and the next minute a gigantic lizard crashed, dying to the ground. Campion noted that it was longer than a good-sized crocodile, and it still held, clutched in its jaws, a cuscus (a type of possum) as large as a fox terrier. Campion concluded that it was big and powerful enough to dispose of a human being. The police called it an <i>Aou-Angi-Angi.</i></div><div> To this report, Sir Hubert added the comment:</div><div><blockquote> I first heard of a 'land crocodile' or 'tree alligator' many years ago. I have never seen one, and its existence was doubted. Ahuia-ova, a well-known native of Port Moresby, also told me that he had shot one of them, and seen two others. The one he shot had been fighting a pig which it tore in pieces. It was, he says, as big as a small crocodile. He cut it open, cut out the fat and made oil, which he sold for 4<i>s</i>. to Mr. Ballantine, a former treasurer. The realistic touch suggests that there is some foundation in the story. The other two which he saw were, he said, so big that he was afraid to shoot; in one case he hid behind a tree; in the other he ran away. Ahuia had a gruesome story to tell of a Gorohi native whose dog was seized by one of these 'alligators'. The Gorohi saved the dog, but was seized himself, carried up a tree, and torn to pieces. His head was found at the bottom of the tree.</blockquote></div><div> I suspect that that last part of the story had grown in the telling. Sir Hubert also added that the animal was called <i>si-e</i> in the language of the Koita of Port Moresby.</div><div><br /></div><div> So, what is it? Sir Hubert referred to the opinion of the missionary, Rev. Mr. Parry, that it might be a close relative of the Komodo dragon, <i>Varanus komodoensis</i>, and that it must be very rare. The Komodo dragon, as the world's biggest lizard, can reach 10 feet [3 metres] in length, and weigh 70 kg [154 lb], as much as a man. Some have been known to reach 90 kg [198 lb.] Such a thing could really be described as being as large as a small crocodile. However, I find it hard to believe that something so bulky would regularly climb trees.</div><div> The largest known lizard in New Guinea is the crocodile monitor, or Papua monitor, <i>V. salvadorii</i>, itself also a close relative of the Komodo dragon. It is arboreal, and inhabits the lowland rainforests and mangroves of the southern part of the island, all the way to the Vogelkop. Remember, these animals continue to grow, albeit slowly, throughout life, so most specimens will be below maximum size. And, of course, there will always be freakishly large individuals. A good sized crocodile monitor would measure 8 feet [2.4 metres], of which more than half would consist of its long, whiplike tail. However, it would not normally weigh in at more than 14 kg, or just a fifth of the Komodo dragon.</div><div> Does Papua harbour a rare, arboreal monitor even bigger and more dangerous than <i>V. salvadorii</i>? The trouble is, the article was written in 1955, and the most recent official sighting in 1936. Since then, despite the increase in population, exploration, and animal collecting, nothing more has been heard about it. I'm afraid I must conclude that these old tales refer back to exaggerated stories of the more prosaic <i>Varanus salvadorii</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Reference:</b> Walker Pearson, "The thing that eats men", <i>The Wide World</i> January 1955, pp 166-171. (This was the Australian edition; the UK and US editions were probably December 1954.)</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rat6DMOtUko" target="_blank">Here's</a> a more recent Youtube.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rat6DMOtUko" width="320" youtube-src-id="rat6DMOtUko"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-34281470171464984632021-09-27T15:02:00.001-07:002021-09-27T15:02:53.264-07:00The Thylacine That Wasn't When researching reports of mystery animals in Australia, the ones which give me the most headaches are not alien big cats (which shouldn't be here), nor the bigfoot-like yowie (which definitely shouldn't be here!), No, they are the ones describing thylacines, or Tasmanian tigers, on the mainland. The reason is, firstly, they were never recorded there in historic times (at least, not in the areas where they are now being reported) and, secondly, it is just so easy to mistake a mundane animal for a thylacine. The most disconcerting thing is, there still remain a residuum of cases which are not so easy to reject. So, my initial feelings were, "Here we go again!" when, earlier this month, I received an e-mail from a Mr. David Szabo concerning his experience in southeast Queensland, close to the New South Wales border. He has generously agreed to let me share the story.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div> </div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"> I would like to report a sighting of a thylacine near Donnnellys Castle Queensland. It is a tourist attraction with natural granite rocks that form a system of caves. After visiting Donnellys Castle we were heading back to Stanthorpe. It was around 11:53 am when we were driving along Donnellys Castle Road, which is an unsealed fine gravel road. It was around 3 minutes drive from the tourist attraction. I couldn’t believe my eyes, a thylacine appeared on the right hand side of the road and ran out in front of us about 15 metres distance. It started running from the right hand side of the road across to the left hand side of the road. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"> “Thylacine!” I cried out to my wife as it ran across our path. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"> “What is that?” my wife asked as it darted across the road. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"> “It’s not a dog!” “It’s a thylacine!” I replied, “A Tasmanian Tiger!” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"> I immediately pulled the car to the left hand side of the road and stopped the car. I stared across my wife in the passenger seat through the left passenger window and spotted the thylacine. It was only about 10 metres away in the scrub. The thylacine and I stared at each other for around 20 seconds. It had short, round ears, and a triangular shaped face. It’s eyes looked golden-brown, not dark brown like a regular dog. The head was a lighter tan colour to the rest of his body. I grabbed my mobile phone and turned the camera on. I exited the driver’s side of the vehicle. I made my way around the front of the vehicle towards the thylacine. It turned and ran off into the scrub. I walked in the direction the thylacine ran for a few metres, scanned left and right, but I could not spot it again. I then returned to the vehicle. I noticed there is a green house about 50 meters on the left hand side of the road past where we sighted the thylacine. It appeared to be a young adult. It would have been around 45cm high at the shoulder and about 90cm in length. The tail was around 50cm in length. It’s body was a dark tan colour with short hair and had distinctive black bands on it’s hindquarter, the rump and tail were black. The tail was fairly straight and was a long sharp conical shape. This is an experience my wife and I will never forget.</span></div><div><br /></div><div> So, the sighting was at close range, and the description of the head, ears, and tail sounded reasonable, but the rump and tail of a thylacine are not supposed to be black. I therefore requested further information. In response, Mr. Szabo sent me two screenshot pictures, with the following comment:</div><div> <span style="font-family: arial;">Its tail looked just like the smaller one in the first photo definitely solid black without stripes, the body was more of a grey colour like in the second photo. As it ran across the road the tail was nearly dead straight, only a very slight downward slope of 22 degrees. It ran with a weird gait, not like a dog. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYGBKLW6F6ksbBi_MQeBdWNNicgdyY_NolIPsZSkYHEJKtSU0q-DZYxYeoSzqah8XSDmM_EnWdJDRyyXvhq07BPmALJtkxSMTBfqGEgfTnSycf1RduI8BCkuzQYiRMc26LA6KCAwTVb3FI/s1106/Screenshot_2021-09-19-23-24-46-22.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="1106" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYGBKLW6F6ksbBi_MQeBdWNNicgdyY_NolIPsZSkYHEJKtSU0q-DZYxYeoSzqah8XSDmM_EnWdJDRyyXvhq07BPmALJtkxSMTBfqGEgfTnSycf1RduI8BCkuzQYiRMc26LA6KCAwTVb3FI/s320/Screenshot_2021-09-19-23-24-46-22.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">He also added:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I could see about 6 stripes near the rump like in the second picture, but because it was moving I didn't notice the stripes further up the back.</span></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQv-xz3HRawxKnmLO_VK4hY-uGXac6eP-51Y_UvipSqru13etObsRV_kGqsB1bzVaBDWlRVDpy3FFpvx1fBv4ctIkA5tjswUPhBmMEsRdweptV5SJuLor2fRusJ6_8BArrnCmMM2b7KsrG/s947/Screenshot_2021-09-19-23-19-25-07.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="947" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQv-xz3HRawxKnmLO_VK4hY-uGXac6eP-51Y_UvipSqru13etObsRV_kGqsB1bzVaBDWlRVDpy3FFpvx1fBv4ctIkA5tjswUPhBmMEsRdweptV5SJuLor2fRusJ6_8BArrnCmMM2b7KsrG/w342-h201/Screenshot_2021-09-19-23-19-25-07.jpg" width="342" /></a></div><div> From all this, it would appear to have been the sort of sighting which would have been taken very seriously had it occurred in Tasmania. Nevertheless, I still had some lingering doubts. This thing shouldn't have been there. Also, there was still the possibility of a mistaken identity. I felt like putting it in the file labelled, "Who knows?"</div><div> Finally, out of the blue, arrived another e-mail from the witness:</div><div><div> J<span style="font-family: arial;">ust a follow up email with regards to my supposed sighting of a thylacine in the Stanthorpe area Friday last week. I have done a lot of research online in the past few days and have come to the conclusion that what I did in fact see was a fox with the early stages of mange. The fox was the same colour as the attachment, a grey brown colour rather than the usual red brown that we associate with foxes. If you see the attached photo of the fox with extreme mange you notice it's dead straight tail, which is what I witnessed, however, the fox I saw had a black tail. The photo of the wombat with mange shows the creased skin amongst the fur, which when viewed from a few meters away, could be mistaken for stripes in the fur. And finally the photo of the fox face. From a few meters away could be mistaken for a thylacine - however, the eye colour does not match the black/brown colour that we normally associate with the thylacine.</span><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiggouehmmuEwFZgI_o-6ofELPL9kvJv4XFivkP1hA82_glaq9wg3YaDhSskKSbEkOhToMwgm95F6DpXjgZ8RZUkbXDym20xR8ozHaIkL4xw8NOBGiHbg1XGb_WSRbvU6-oNp7HKw6cx7Zg/s1080/fox.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="1080" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiggouehmmuEwFZgI_o-6ofELPL9kvJv4XFivkP1hA82_glaq9wg3YaDhSskKSbEkOhToMwgm95F6DpXjgZ8RZUkbXDym20xR8ozHaIkL4xw8NOBGiHbg1XGb_WSRbvU6-oNp7HKw6cx7Zg/s320/fox.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div> So there you have it. And it just shows why you must be so very, very careful when observing an unknown animal, and even more exact when questioning a witness.</div><div> Large dogs can sometimes also be mistaken for big cats, if your mind is set that way. However, it is hard to think of anything which can be interpreted as a yowie.</div><div> Wombat footprints are also similar to those of a thylacine. Nevertheless, I have heard several reports of "thylacines" which are better than this, so I am left to wonder. </div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45Jte1R7ljpUD7y1yEHt9yyIjR2Uc09M4ITmlSg2ReOLTEFZy6u-ahzXv5Jj3afY3MB5bRfRZ0nRbVNyc5nMpwM8-uA0THAGW6qA3-ElL95Z6QbeTdoYf1sLVVcoA0M8OIhgDS8yiV5yz/s2340/fox+with+mange.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="2340" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45Jte1R7ljpUD7y1yEHt9yyIjR2Uc09M4ITmlSg2ReOLTEFZy6u-ahzXv5Jj3afY3MB5bRfRZ0nRbVNyc5nMpwM8-uA0THAGW6qA3-ElL95Z6QbeTdoYf1sLVVcoA0M8OIhgDS8yiV5yz/s320/fox+with+mange.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0cpM3DdYVwDTgE6rYzaGSWmcCG-ALP2L-sV9W_Jmk3WiumE00N5IP5V4C1qax_QsIN5rL5Lw7Gh5HR-IqUvl55TZg5_m56fAV7yezbhBvLlxLBbWuOIkj88BIPHHV5_l2JQVChKxJvUJU/s1411/wombat.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="838" data-original-width="1411" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0cpM3DdYVwDTgE6rYzaGSWmcCG-ALP2L-sV9W_Jmk3WiumE00N5IP5V4C1qax_QsIN5rL5Lw7Gh5HR-IqUvl55TZg5_m56fAV7yezbhBvLlxLBbWuOIkj88BIPHHV5_l2JQVChKxJvUJU/s320/wombat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-33795476601720783932021-08-15T14:53:00.001-07:002022-11-05T01:37:24.005-07:00Yes, There Really Are Pygmy Elephants. Let's be realistic: the idea of a big hairy ape stomping around North America, all unnoticed by science, is weird. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it is definitely counter-intuitive. Even weirder still is the idea of monsters, which <a href="http://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/lake-monsters-what-they-arent.html" target="_blank">don't breathe air</a>, lurking in our lochs and lakes. But there is nothing weird about pygmy elephants wandering the trackless depths of the African jungle. The jungle is big enough to hold them all. The pygmy elephant was described back in 1906, and named <i>Loxodonta pumilio</i>, and since then they have been repeatedly sighted in the wild, and live specimens have even turned up in zoos. Nevertheless, the scientific consensus has been that they were just dwarf individuals of the known elephant species, or juveniles roaming in their own temporary bands. <div> Nevertheless, 30+ years ago, two German zoologists, Drs Martin Eisentraut and Wolfgang Bohme marshalled the evidence and produced two papers establishing the existence of the animals. As they were published in German in the journal of the Cologne Zoo, a publication not prominent in the libraries of English speaking universities, they were largely ignored by English speaking scientists. Fortunately, the now defunct International Society of Cryptozoology got hold of them and summarised them in their newsletter. It is these summaries which I now intend to summarise in turn.</div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div> To start with, there are two official species of African elephant: the huge bush elephant, <i>L. africana</i> of the savannas, and the smaller, but still big, forest elephant, <i>L. cyclotis </i>of the jungle. And we know where they live, don't we? Think again! The pygmies, who are hunter gathers, no doubt know, but although the agricultural tribes do indeed consume large quantities of "bush meat", their villages are located alongside rivers and roads, and their expeditions into the jungle are perfunctory. <div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgheiPTF7LaJmoeQIZ3SPB26zNjIgltXTRn6k1CwYuHwZdT554gijwyxh_wySODNHG0iNFgzOUWbehHt8AkNGVSbHJyoydHxcWpOsDNkQTNuZYepbaJmF2bBodj5gSqnRP5z2GVcUK15eUG/s1024/LoxodontaCyclotisIUCN.svg.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="1024" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgheiPTF7LaJmoeQIZ3SPB26zNjIgltXTRn6k1CwYuHwZdT554gijwyxh_wySODNHG0iNFgzOUWbehHt8AkNGVSbHJyoydHxcWpOsDNkQTNuZYepbaJmF2bBodj5gSqnRP5z2GVcUK15eUG/s320/LoxodontaCyclotisIUCN.svg.png" width="320" /></a></div> Here is a map by Alexander Kürthy showing the probable range of the forest elephant. The dark green reveals where it is known to exist, the light green where it might exist, and the pink where it may well be extinct. That's a lot of uncertainty about something as big as an elephant! It also means a lot of ground where a smaller variety of elephant can hide.<div><div> The pygmy elephant was first described when a specimen was captured by the famous animal collector, Carl Hagenbeck and housed eventually in the Bronx Zoo in New York. Although an estimated six years old, it stood only 6 feet [1.8 metres] tall, as big as an 18-month old forest elephant. By the date of its death nine years later, it had grown only another half foot.</div><div> In 1911, a Belgian officer, Lt. Franssen in what was then the Belgian Congo, but is now the D.R. Congo, captured and sent to his homeland an elephant only 5ft. 5 in. [1.6m] high, with tusks over 2 feet [60 cm] long, indicating it was mature. People kept seeing them, and then in 1932, a major P. Offerman, at Gangala-na-Bodio in what is now the D.R. Congo, reported the capture of two adult elephants, both between 4 and 5 feet [1.2 - 1.5 m] high. That they were adults was proved by the presence of "long and stout tusks almost touching the ground."</div><div> Equatorial Guinea is a small nation squeezed between Cameroon and Gabon, and used to be known as Spanish Guinea. 1962 saw the publication of a book on the country's wildlife by a certain A. Basilio, who wrote (in Spanish): "In the interior of the vast forests, we saw trails made by elephant herds, with track sizes no bigger than that of juveniles of the common elephant (<i>cyclotis</i>). We also saw tracks of single elephants, and these were exactly the same size as the tracks of the group-living elephants. However, we never found small elephant tracks mixed with normal-sized elephant tracks, and this clearly indicates group homogeneity." In other words, these were not juveniles or dwarf individuals, but genuine pygmy herds.</div><div> He also provided a photo of an adult elephant just 6½ feet high, shot by Captain Chicharro near the Benito River. Its tusks measured 28 and 29 inches [71 and 75 cm]. Not only that, but it lived in a herd of 21 individuals, all of which left footprints smaller than 12 inches [31 cm]. The sole pads of all the forest elephants shot by Chicharro measured 16 to 20 inches [43 to 51 cm]. The local natives gave two different names to the two types of elephant, and insisted that the pygmy ones were more aggressive.</div><div> Between 1969 and 1985, animal collector, Ulrich Roeder made 16 expeditions into the heart of the Cameroonian jungles. On his fourth expedition, near the border of Equatorial Guinea, he found many elephant tracks only 10 or 11 inches [26 to 29 cm] across. The following year, he was able to inspect a male elephant which had been shot. Its teeth revealed its age to be 16 to 18 years, but its estimated weight was only 3,080 lb [1,400 kg], and its tusks 29 inches long.</div><div> Eisentraut and Bohme also examined a collection of pygmy elephant skulls, and discovered differences between them and the forest elephant. Finally, a French zoologist, L-P. Knoepler told Bohme how, in a pygmy village in Gabon, he had examined two elephants which the villagers had killed in the swamps. They were a female with a shoulder height of 5ft 3in [1.6m], and a male 6 ft [1.8 m] high. In other words, they were the same size as juvenile forest elephants. However, they weren't juveniles; when the pygmies butchered the female, they found she was pregnant with a full term fetus!</div><div> All of this should be sufficient to establish that the pygmy elephant is a separate taxon. Furthermore, once Eisentraut's and Bohme's first paper was published, it inspired other witnesses to contact them - enough, in fact, for a second paper. Thus, R. Bechinger told how he had repeatedly found signs of bands of small elephants, leaving small diameter tracks, at the Debo River in the Ivory Coast, and that the Bete tribesmen distinguished them from the regular forest elephants. The Ivory Coast, I need hardly mention, is a long way to the west of the other reports. He also heard of similar reports from the Makokou and Lambarene trines in Gabon, and he himself saw a small individual designated a "pygmy elephant" in the zoo in Kinshasa, in what is now the D.R. Congo.</div><div> In addition, Claus C. Müller wrote how, in 1963-64 he served as veterinarian for the private zoo of the President of Liberia. A pair of very small elephants, the male of which nevertheless possessed very long tusks, were present in the zoo. They did not grow during the two years he was there, and they hadn't grown by the time he returned in 1970. It was believed they had been imported as a gift to the President from what is now the Republic of the Congo (not to be confused with the Democratic Republic of the Congo).</div><div> But the most telling evidence came from Harald Nestroy, the West German ambassador to the Congo, who, in 1982, found himself in the swampy Likouala area close to the borders of Cameroon and the Central African Republic. (Keen cryptozoology fans will recognize this as the alleged habitat of an even stranger cryptid, the sauropod-like <i>mokele-mbembe</i>.) There he watched a herd of four adults and two juvenile elephants cross a clearing just 30 feet in front of him. He could see that the youngsters were merely the size of sheep dogs, while the fully tusked adults were no taller than a human being. Not only that, but he later watched a herd of forest elephants follow the same path, accompanied by forest buffalo. He could see at once that these elephants were bigger, and that the buffalo were about the same size as the pygmy elephants had been. (The forest buffalo, <i>Syncerus caffer nanus</i> is only about 4 feet high.)</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKYXJCyj04mY4lUZDwuHlM7YncT5OmTN1CNXbpkjqaKDM7k3JaXpd9fnkheYqCYIXxsvzGtkwU1-WENc8Ba21fDEEw6iXQyxBc5xEkr4s5UJRxaAUKqoRgd82GupP2Q9r8TiJvMEeAJ7KB/s2048/Pygmy+Elephants.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1437" data-original-width="2048" height="435" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKYXJCyj04mY4lUZDwuHlM7YncT5OmTN1CNXbpkjqaKDM7k3JaXpd9fnkheYqCYIXxsvzGtkwU1-WENc8Ba21fDEEw6iXQyxBc5xEkr4s5UJRxaAUKqoRgd82GupP2Q9r8TiJvMEeAJ7KB/w619-h435/Pygmy+Elephants.jpg" width="619" /></a></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghor_-WIuvTdo4Z4iXR54Sm8qvQj8vhT0cam8JI-qDlmYumHqfpuevOAdROMONDqufMSpX-kvCBbCQUY_j0FN8JDGQZE3MbVXR4MnGkkaVxO8gcI4yY6Xe_J_JOC6cUT-PNloYL7UJLDmd/s2048/Pygmy+Elephant+and+Egret.jpg" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1181" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghor_-WIuvTdo4Z4iXR54Sm8qvQj8vhT0cam8JI-qDlmYumHqfpuevOAdROMONDqufMSpX-kvCBbCQUY_j0FN8JDGQZE3MbVXR4MnGkkaVxO8gcI4yY6Xe_J_JOC6cUT-PNloYL7UJLDmd/s320/Pygmy+Elephant+and+Egret.jpg" width="185" /></a> Fortunately, he managed to take a couple of photographs of the pygmy herd, the second of which is shown above. The white thing on the far left is not some weird-looking tusk; the lead female had just passed in front of a great egret, <i>Egretta alba</i>. Here is a close up on the right. The importance of this is that the standing height of these birds is known to be 40 inches [101 cm]. From this it is clear that the height of the adult elephant cow is only 5 feet, or 1½ metres. </div><div><i> But are they a separate species?</i> In 2003 a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14556388/" target="_blank">paper was published</a> in which four scientists compared the mitochondrial DNA of 9 specimens labelled as dwarf elephants, against 8 of regular forest elephants, and a few of other elephants. Their conclusion was that the pygmies are not a separate species, but fit within the forest elephant clade.</div><div> Nevertheless, considering that they have now been shown to form separate herds of their own, I strongly suspect that they rank as a subspecies within the forest elephant species.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>References</b></div><div>Martin Eisentraut and Wolfgang Bohme (1989), 'Gibt es zwei Elephantenarten in Africa?' <i>Zeitschrift des Kölner Zoo</i> 32(2):61-68.</div><div> (1990) 'Zur weiteren Dokumentation des Zwergelephanten (<i>Loxodonta pumilio</i> Noack, 1906)' <i>ibid.</i> 33(4) 153-8</div><div>The author of the summaries in the Newsletters of the International Society of Cryptozoology was not given, but was almost certainly the editor, J. Richard Greenwell.</div><div> 'New evidence supports existence of pygmy elephant' <i>The ISC Newsletter </i>9(1): 1-6 (Spring 1991)</div><div> 'New pygmy elephant photos indicate separate species', <i>ibid</i>. 11(1):1-3 (1992)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-43741387275413595032021-04-03T17:48:00.000-07:002021-04-03T17:48:53.142-07:00Up Close and Personal with Ogopogo I was a foundation member of the International Society of Cryptozoology (ISC) in 1982, even contributing to its peer reviewed journal, <i>Cryptozoology</i>, and continued until it folded in 1998. Recently, I was going through the old Newsletters, and found an article I remember well: of a close encounter with Ogopogo which, I am sure you are aware, is the monster of Lake Okanagan in British Columbia, Canada. Reading it again, I realised that it had never been published elsewhere. As you are unlikely to have any copies of the <i>ISC Newsletter</i>, I shall share it with you. The author was anonymous, but was almost certainly the editor, J. Richard Greenwell, now deceased.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Close Encounter in Lake Okanagan Revealed</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>ISC Newsletter</i> vol. 6, no. 1, Spring 1987</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xi7pfYb6DM18dqDeTB1nGI9BuB99ALrhVGaHs42Pm7DD0yyhM23f_xo0aci6S-OTobSGWHILdrmFxf_ZnyjEN7hkj6hnpx3jLfneQpqJoj0_xDiVOdo1Bd5oexQ2r5fkx-C9xvkwA0ny/s1447/Ogopogo+1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="1447" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xi7pfYb6DM18dqDeTB1nGI9BuB99ALrhVGaHs42Pm7DD0yyhM23f_xo0aci6S-OTobSGWHILdrmFxf_ZnyjEN7hkj6hnpx3jLfneQpqJoj0_xDiVOdo1Bd5oexQ2r5fkx-C9xvkwA0ny/w400-h253/Ogopogo+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div> A remarkable "close encounter" between a "lake monster" and a Canadian woman in the 1970's was recently revealed to the Society. The event took place near the southern shore of Lake Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada, when the witness, now a married woman, was a teen-age student. The witness, who wishes to be referred to simply as Mrs. B. Clark, was alone at the time, and had actual physical contact with the unknown animal while she was swimming. This is the first time Mrs. Clark has publicly described her experience.</div><div> It is believe that this is the first time that a witness has had physical contact with a "lake monster," or at least has claimed to have done so.</div><div> The exact date of the event is no longer recalled, but Mrs. Clark, in her report to the Society, states that it occurred in mid-July of 1974, at about 8 a.m., while she was taking a morning swim in the lake. The sky was partly cloudy, but it was generally sunny and warm. The lake's surface was "ripply."</div><div> Mrs. Clark's report states: "I did not see it [the animal] first. I felt it. I was swimming towards a raft/diving platform located about a quarter of a mile offshore, when something big and heavy bumped my legs. At this point, I was about 3 feet from the raft, and I made a mad dash for it and got out of the water. It was then that I saw it." The report goes on to describe the observation: "When I first saw it, it was about 15 to 20 feet away. I could see a hump or coil which was 8 feet long and 4 feet above the water moving in a forward motion. It was traveling north, away from me. It did not seem to be in much of a rush, and it swam very slowly. The water was very clear, and 5 to 10 feet behind the hump, about 5 to 8 feet below the surface, I could see its tail. The tail was forked and horizontal like a whale's, and it was 4 to 6 feet wide. As the hump submerged, the tail came to the surface until its tip poked above the water about a foot . . . About 4 or 5 minutes passed from the time it bumped me until the time it swam from view."</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij9H0JkBCqdU6uKlUHTtpJDmJqTlp9xtkWJRS3oYOULhpkqyhYi2ce19WBhGgc7-6Y-Tm1HHdLM96eSmosMBIZ2N424DDlg2IhDnzdMfzw1ypDjxQgx7NSIX8ACQzIj44rVJOijOGNdAUC/s1457/Ogopogo+2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="823" data-original-width="1457" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij9H0JkBCqdU6uKlUHTtpJDmJqTlp9xtkWJRS3oYOULhpkqyhYi2ce19WBhGgc7-6Y-Tm1HHdLM96eSmosMBIZ2N424DDlg2IhDnzdMfzw1ypDjxQgx7NSIX8ACQzIj44rVJOijOGNdAUC/w400-h226/Ogopogo+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> The report by Mrs. Clark went on to give specific details: the estimated length of the serpentine-shaped animal was 25 to 30 feet. Its breadth was estimated at 3 to 4 feet. Its color was described as "a very dull dark grey." No head was observed, and it appeared that the animal kept its head below the surface. The witness "got the impression that the head joined the body without a neck -- like a fish or snake." She also felt that "it may have had fins, but it didn't see any." No hair was discerned, but "on its back it had light colored stripes and on its tail it had light colored round spots. The animal was long, narrow, and smooth. Because it was moving away, I could only see its back and tail."</div><div> The report continues: "It was in the process of diving when I first saw it. It did not completely surface again, but it was so large and the water so clear that I could see it very well as it lazily swam north just a few feet below the surface . . . It swam north in an undulating manner. Although it swam smoothly and well, it created a very large wake. It traveled about 3-5 miles per hour. It moved up and down . . . After it was too far away to see any more, I could still see the large wake for several minutes until it too disappeared." The animal itself was not heard to make any call or noise, and no cetacean-like blowing was heard or observed. Mrs. Clark believes that the animal "was very curious about me" and "the shock of seeing it freaked me out."</div><div> In her summary, Mrs. Clark states: "At the time, I could not believe my eyes, so I told myself it was just a big fish. However, fish don't grow that big (in lakes anyway) or behave the way this thing did. This thing looked and acted more like a whale than a fish, but I have never seen a whale that skinny and snaky-looking before. Nor have I ever heard of any that fit that description. I have seen killer whales perform at the Vancouver Aquarium, and although the animal I saw had a whale-like tail, it didn't use it the same way as normal whales. By this I mean that it didn't seem to rely on it to the same extent as regular whales. Instead of using it as its main source of propulsion, it kind of "humped" itself along like a giant inchworm . . . I really have no idea what I saw, but it was definitely not reptilian, and I'm sure it wasn't as fish."</div><div> Mrs. Clark also stated that she did not report her encounter at the time as "I was afraid no one would believe me." After receiving the report, the Editor contacted Mrs. Clark to propose publishing the highlights of her encounter in the <i>Newsletter</i>, and, because reservations had been expressed about unwanted publicity, to propose that a pseudonym be used. Her response was: "Although we are not seeking publicity, I would not mind you using the report provided you refer to me as Mrs. B. Clark. We do not want our address used, however. While we wish to remain semi-anonymous, to protect our privacy, we would find it offensive to see my sighting in print with another name attached to it."</div><div style="text-align: center;">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</div><div> That, then, is the story, and it appears to be the most detailed description of "Ogopogo". What was it? The term, "cetacean" means belonging to the order of whales and dolphins, and the witness constantly referred to the animal's whale-like characteristics. First year zoology courses will teach you that mammals flex vertically when moving, while reptiles, salamanders, fish, worms - in fact, almost everything else - flex horizontally. There are reasons for this, which we won't go into, except to say it is a function of the way mammalian limbs have been moved vertically under the body to permit a more efficient gait. For this reason, a whale's tail flukes are horizontal, while a fish's are vertical. Mrs. Clark was correct in stating that whales use their tails as the primary source of propulsion, but mammalian spines are flexible vertically, and an elongated whale could probably increase its vertical flexure by adding its lumbar spine ie the region behind the ribcage, to the equation.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQUrPm9SskTF1n-LO2qqnaOCVR0_tfMWl6yQ0ujvo6cSqq-q_Gpsz1hoIbrDYWGbb1yazpec5VZei2tZ1q6BkT3jassWWWBUiM9hGd39QAfbVc7yt7CIVtRKAruyuQ7LwgjXvqnKwST6uz/s1457/Ogopogo+3.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="1457" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQUrPm9SskTF1n-LO2qqnaOCVR0_tfMWl6yQ0ujvo6cSqq-q_Gpsz1hoIbrDYWGbb1yazpec5VZei2tZ1q6BkT3jassWWWBUiM9hGd39QAfbVc7yt7CIVtRKAruyuQ7LwgjXvqnKwST6uz/w400-h110/Ogopogo+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> In point of fact, among the archaeocetes or zeuglodonts, the predecessors of modern whales, there once existed an elongated family, the Basilosauridae. They have long been proposed as an explanation for some "sea serpent" sightings. Moreover, Dr. Roy Mackal proposed them as explanations for, not only Ogopogo, but similar "monsters" in other Canadian lakes, and suggested they can enter and leave more or less at will, through connecting rivers and marshes. The author of the article agreed, and suggested that Mrs. Clark had actually observed, and been touched by, a zeuglodont. It makes perfect sense. So there you have it: Ogopogo is a living fossil, a Basilosaurid.</div><div> But not so fast! I hate to have to correct zoologists more experienced than myself, but although Basilosaurids might well explain many sea serpents, there is a very good reason to rule them out as lake monsters: they have to breathe. And no matter how long a whale might hold its breath, it has to come to the surface at frequent intervals. As I put it on <a href="https://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com/2015/04/lake-monsters-what-they-arent.html" target="_blank">my essay</a> about lake monsters,</div><div><blockquote>[a]lthough a sign at Lake Okanagan declares that it is the home of Ogopogo, you know you would have to be incredibly lucky to see it. And let's be realistic: how long would it take for even a single whale to exist in even a large lake before its presence became of regular occurrence for every boat-user on the waters, it acquired a pet name, its movements were tracked in the local press, and tourists were setting out with a reasonable expectation of sighting it?</blockquote></div><div> Sorry! Mrs. Clark's encounter proves that Ogopogo looks like an extinct whale, and it swims like an extinct whale, but it isn't one. It isn't a reptile or fish, either. So what is it?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-72110207454003234442021-03-11T17:33:00.000-08:002021-03-11T17:33:37.851-08:00Apes in North Queensland The yowie, for those who are unaware, is the Australian version of the North American bigfoot. Of course, it shouldn't exist, because Australia is marsupial country, and no non-flying, non-swimming placental mammal larger than a rat has ever arrived here without human help. I didn't believe in it, until the evidence became too strong to ignore. In their definitive work on the subject, <i><a href="https://shop.aer.io/AnomalistBooks/p/Yowie_In_Search_of_Australias_Bigfoot/9781933665160-2544?collection=Cryptozoology/9971" target="_blank">The Yowie</a></i>, Tony Healy and Paul Cropper catalogue sightings and encounters from the south of the continent all the way up to north Queensland. Newspapers have not been as active in reporting sightings as they used to be, but last month a major capital city newspaper provided a glimpse into the situation in north Queensland. I have therefore decided to copy the report which appeared on page 26 of <i>The Sunday Mail</i> (Brisbane) on 7 February 2021.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">YOWIES AFOOT!</div><div style="text-align: center;">Hunt for Queensland's mythical creature</div><div style="text-align: center;">by</div><div style="text-align: center;">Nathan Edwards</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> Lionel Carroll was just eight when he claims he had his first yowie encounter. Now an adult, he hasn't forgotten about the hairy, ape-like creature and he's found other like minded north Queenslanders to help him prove they exist. Mr Carroll created the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/666382860506088" target="_blank">Far North Queensland Yowie Research</a> group on Facebook in 2019 after having multiple run-ins with large creatures he claims were yowies.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> "It was at my grand-dad's house in Tully when I was about eight, but I put it all behind me because I couldn't prove it," Mr Carroll said, speaking of his first encounter. "But a few years ago I was on the outskirts of Mareeba and late at night I heard a sound, busted out the side door and saw this large creature shamble over my back fence, and the weirdest part was finding the torn remains of a large kangaroo leg in my yard. There's not many creatures that I can think of that look like that and can do that."</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Mr Carroll said he had now heard dozens of stories from other north Queenslanders who have had similar encounters. He now leads yowie hunting parties and has heard of sightings from south of Mission Beach to Port Douglas. The group's exploits have also been able to convert non-believers, with Mr Carroll citing one "professional" who was left "speechless" about the discoveries made on a single expedition, including one that nearly hurt his son.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> "My son and another lady, who claim they are both sceptics, walked down to a remote creek after we had heard strange noises," he said. "He saw something in the trees and then a huge rock the size of a football came screaming out of the dark, smashed onto another rock a few inches from his feet and made this huge cracking sound. I've never heard anything like it."</div><div style="text-align: left;"> While Mr Carroll understands there are still "hundreds" who doubt the yowie's existence, he called any effort to undermine the legitimacy of [the] creature to be "close-minded" and disrespectful to the ancient Aboriginal stories and culture around the creature. "This isn't something that came up recently, there's been sightings all the way back to the early 1800s," he said. "Even if 90 per cent of these stories are bulls---, 10 per cent of it is still real and that's enough for me."</div><div style="text-align: center;">..........................................................................................................</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Below are three photographs included with the story. The first is of Lionel's son with the rock which almost hit him. I express no opinion about the other two.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdMJxAIUEnvyDrG5wTXSQ7NEijiUJ9vANHMXzerx15mRDopMzJHYFyXkUYwp13TxyJPf300mrgSCTTDvkjrFkDf2EW7k-iVakwpZ5zLZKN5R_Wqa4XKI3YpJi90PM5qtryDpHjg0aQnZi5/s2048/Yowie+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1167" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdMJxAIUEnvyDrG5wTXSQ7NEijiUJ9vANHMXzerx15mRDopMzJHYFyXkUYwp13TxyJPf300mrgSCTTDvkjrFkDf2EW7k-iVakwpZ5zLZKN5R_Wqa4XKI3YpJi90PM5qtryDpHjg0aQnZi5/s320/Yowie+2.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Og68qlHS3PZNOxNX2r334wVYhRDeVj0ncqBWHXZylXQdsUrRlsThBrdo4MedGs34i8O1uM5hdZb-Xb4ExZi_NQ8SwMNRc7Fcj1BNuSsm7C9WxZc0yQbmJ14sK1poaJB_7wrPo_CYB66O/s2048/Yowie+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1361" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Og68qlHS3PZNOxNX2r334wVYhRDeVj0ncqBWHXZylXQdsUrRlsThBrdo4MedGs34i8O1uM5hdZb-Xb4ExZi_NQ8SwMNRc7Fcj1BNuSsm7C9WxZc0yQbmJ14sK1poaJB_7wrPo_CYB66O/s320/Yowie+3.jpg" /></a></div></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_oLh14bX5yCnxLd22dKUP48Pca4NQz_rMpUEfmpGN7BhBd0zVUCtjWj9eRvjVZYn2TU_i8krgl4klWpCp41Cqbw_KZ5UcCRHiP7ZZHLZid1K4iTAp4E5nc2UXJRJDZX2VeD1NuJ0KrLWP/s2048/Yowie+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1554" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_oLh14bX5yCnxLd22dKUP48Pca4NQz_rMpUEfmpGN7BhBd0zVUCtjWj9eRvjVZYn2TU_i8krgl4klWpCp41Cqbw_KZ5UcCRHiP7ZZHLZid1K4iTAp4E5nc2UXJRJDZX2VeD1NuJ0KrLWP/s320/Yowie+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-54604243523514177112021-02-05T17:15:00.001-08:002021-02-05T17:15:51.313-08:00"Bunyips and Bigfoots" is Back!<p> Doesn't time fly! It was a quarter of a century ago - in 1996- that my book, <i>Bunyips and Bigfoots, in search of Australia's mystery animals</i> was published. Since then, it appears to have become a boon to second-hand booksellers. From a recent websearch, I notice that the asking price varies from $50 to $220 US. At least that's lower than the £3000 (pounds, not dollars!) one seller was asking in late 2013. Even I admit that it wasn't worth that much. Never fear, however; I have just published an up-dated second edition at a reasonable price in both print-on-demand paperback and Kindle editions.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNkA2FEiE74LGP-JKQ8p-2kkARDx04JZ6Jy6_kYZfpayl1MBq1BaOdZ-m5xg4Ib3WIIOpORvcZpXM85mLopX-YZK5_IR8khyphenhypheng6yiwgveyy33KQAD1HtPAD5IiqLjNehi4tKhdfTfc8UaYV/s499/2nd+B%2526B.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNkA2FEiE74LGP-JKQ8p-2kkARDx04JZ6Jy6_kYZfpayl1MBq1BaOdZ-m5xg4Ib3WIIOpORvcZpXM85mLopX-YZK5_IR8khyphenhypheng6yiwgveyy33KQAD1HtPAD5IiqLjNehi4tKhdfTfc8UaYV/s320/2nd+B%2526B.jpg" /></a></div> And here's what it looks like. Yes, I agree that the cover is not as snazzy as the <a href="https://malcolmshome.blogspot.com/2011/03/bunyips-and-bigfoots.htm" target="_blank">original</a>, but it is not worth my while to hire a graphic artist. <div> Nevertheless, the interior is an improvement. By word count, it has been expanded by more than a sixth, by the addition, after nearly every chapter, of an addendum reporting on the developments in the 25 year interval since the first edition.<div> As many of the readers of this blog will be aware, I was trained in zoology, and I have sought to make it a comprehensive guide to the unknown animals of this continent. It is fully documented, with 471 references.</div><div><strong>Details about the chapters.</strong><br /><em>Introductions </em>to First and Second Editions<br /><em>1. The Passing of the Bunyips.</em> Everyone knows that the bunyip is the mythical monster of Aboriginal tradition, but what isn't known is that it was taken seriously by white settlers, and sightings were reported by them every 20 or 30 years until the 1970s. This chapter sets out the evidence, and makes some attempt at an explanation. <br /><em>2. Yes, Virginia, There Are Sea Serpents.</em> A comprehensive catalogue of sea serpent sightings along the Australian coast, along with some anomalous carcasses washed ashore. <br /><em>3. A Legend Stalks North Queensland.</em> This covers the famous "North Queensland marsupial tiger", which has never been caught, but had actually been listed in two classic Australian mammal guides. <br /><em>4. The Thylacine Moves to the Mainland.</em> We all know that the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, became extinct in Tasmania last century (or did it?), and it became extinct on the mainland a few thousand years earlier with the arrival of the dingo. What bothers me is that a lot of people are reporting seeing the animal on the mainland - and many of those reports are not so easy to dismiss. <br /><em>5. The ABC of ABCs.</em> The initials stand for "alien big cats". All over the south and west of the continent, people have been seeing huge cats, regularly reported as black panthers or cougars. Massive stock losses, bearing all the hallmarks of cat attacks, have sparked interest by state parliaments. The material on this topic is extensive, and even this large chapter could not cover it completely.<br /><em>6. Apes Down Under?</em> This chapter covers the yowie - the "bigfoot" in the title - a huge ape very, very similar to the sasquatch or bigfoot reported in North America. It is something which definitely should not exist in Australia, but the evidence appears to be overwhelming. I started this chapter as a non-believer, and halfway through, I became a believer. .<br /><em>7. A New Zealand Mystery.</em> This covers the waitoreke, a mysterious small mammal reported from New Zealand for the earliest days - in a country which has no known land mammals. <br /><em>8. Odds and Ends (Mostly Odds).</em> A miscellany of strange reports, including the Ompax hoax, questionable stories of diprotodonts and giant goannas, and some more credible sightings of crocodiles far south of their normal range. The chapter also includes some extraordinary sightings of animals like nothing on earth. <br /><em>9. So, Where Do We Go from Here?</em> In this final chapter, I give my opinions as to how unknown animals ought to be investigated in Australia. <br /></div></div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-10785477148677514822020-11-04T20:02:00.000-08:002020-11-04T20:02:18.345-08:00Big Footprints in the Malayan Jungle Last month I introduced you to the <i>orang dalam</i>, or "man of the interior", the bigfoot or abominable snowman of Malaya. To be more precise, I copied extracts of the background information unearthed by Harold Stephens in his <i>Argosy</i> article of August 1971. I promised that this month I would describe his expedition of that year (?) in search of the monster. But first, I need to cite how he first heard about it.<span><a name='more'></a></span><blockquote><span> We found it hard to believe.</span><div><span> "What big tracks?" we asked.</span></div><div><span> "Giant people," the village headman said.</span></div><div><span> "Yes. The Orang Dalam."</span></div><div><span> Big tracks. Giant people. What kind of talk was this? More native superstition, no doubt. For two days, we listened to these aborigines spin yarns abut rogue elephants, man-eating tigers and, now, about giant of the jungles.</span></div><div><span> Kurt Rolfes, an ex-combat photographer from Vietnam, and I were invited by an old friend, Prince Tunku Bakar of Johore, to join him on a fishing trip on the lower Endau River. We went, expecting good fishing, but monsoon rains and a fast-rising river forced us to seek shelter in an aborigine village. Now, as we sat on mats and smoked native cigars, we listened to Tunku translate aborigine tales.</span></div><div><span> "And these tracks," Kurt said. "Where did you see them?"</span></div><div><span> "Far upriver," the headman explained through Tunku. "Above the twelfth rapid on the Kinchin. Orang Dalam lives on the high plateau and comes down to the river when it is dry."</span></div><div><span> At the time, we didn't put much faith in what the old man was telling us. We knew that many of these jungle tribes, who were not far removed from the Stone Age, had their myths and folklore, combined, perhaps, with an active imagination. But it made good listening and it did help to pass the time.</span></div></blockquote> Let's orient ourselves. The aborigines referred to are the pre-Malay inhabitants of the peninsula, dwelling in the interior, and living at a lower level of culture to the dominant Malays. The Endau River (pronounced"endow") flows east from the mountains, entering the sea at the town of Endau, located at 2½° N, 103½° E. The Kinchin is one of its tributaries, the combined rivers now belonging to the Endau-Rompin National Park, whose headquarters is at approximately 2½° N, 104° E.<div> In any case, it was this interaction which led them to read up on the old cases referred to in my previous post. The upshot was that Stephens and Rolfes set out on an expedition up the Endau with three staff: a Eurasian safari guide called Kenny Nelson, who spoke the local languages, and two aborigines, Bujong, and the half-Chinese Achin, all aboard a 16-foot longboat laden to within a few inches of the water line. I shall now record the climax of the expedition in Stephens' own words.</div><div></div><blockquote><div> We came to the tributary of the Kinchin. We decided first to explore the headwaters of the Endau and leave the plateau on the Kinchin until last. We moved on up the Endau. By dark, we found a wide sand bank and a likely place to camp. Kurt and I stepped ashore to look for tracks. They were everywhere: elephant, with fresh droppings, and numerous tiger tracks.</div><div> Kurt led the way, checking carefully. Suddenly he spread out his arms for me to halt, and he stood motionless, staring down. There in the hard, crusted sand were human prints, but not of an ordinary human being. They measured some sixteen inches <i>[40 cm]</i> long, and were half as wide. The creature has left the jungle and had entered the water.</div><div> We called the others. Bujong came running and stopped dead. He shook his head. "Orang Dalam," he said and returned to the boat. Both Bujong and Achin insisted that we camp on the opposite shore, on a much narrower beach, on the pretext that it was too hot on this side. We did, but not before Kurt photographed the tracks.</div></blockquote><div></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJa-LiYUivGdXytVB_mrG7mTJ0EaMp4A7noBYHDSyLVgmbWxOMPfYLmJjhKo1auCCwc4pvcBctJTZ5o6_WwLmR3JBKEsmYhD6RUVn56vPl4Mo1Ysdu2s3DGt9vRp2QmRotDrKltYe5B_aA/s2048/IMG_0063.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1595" data-original-width="2048" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJa-LiYUivGdXytVB_mrG7mTJ0EaMp4A7noBYHDSyLVgmbWxOMPfYLmJjhKo1auCCwc4pvcBctJTZ5o6_WwLmR3JBKEsmYhD6RUVn56vPl4Mo1Ysdu2s3DGt9vRp2QmRotDrKltYe5B_aA/w400-h311/IMG_0063.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;">Stephens and Bujong examine the tracks. <br />(Insert) a footprint in comparison to Bujong's foot.</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><blockquote><div> It was a tense evening. The river at this point was evidently on a game trail: elephants, tiger and questionable human tracks. But what kind of human tracks? Achin refused to talk about it. In fact, when we finally got Bujong to loosen up and talk, Achin withdrew to the far end of the lean-to and covered his head, so as not to hear us.</div><div> By our being skeptical, Bujong became positive. We knew that the Malay aborigines are honest people. They are superstitious, but they don't tell lies. What Bujong had to tell us, he swore on the head of his newborn son was true. </div><div> A year ago, he was with the headman when they saw the tracks of the man-beast Orang Dalam. Neither of them actually saw the creature, but others from the village had, including the headman's father. What was so amazing about the story Bujong had to tell us was that it confirmed things that Kurt and I had read and heard about the giants.</div><div> The size of the man-beast varies; he is described as anything from six to ten feet <i>[1.8 to 3 metres]</i> tall. All agreed the creatures are hair-covered but not furry. Males have much more hair about head, chest, arms and legs. The eyes are red, or at least bloodshot. And all reports claimed that they give off a powerful smell, which Bujong described as "monkey urine."</div><div> Another interesting characteristic about the creatures is that, at first contact, they appear to be friendly. They usually make the first overtures and approach slowly, and then for some reason become frightened and flee into the jungles.</div><div> How do such creatures evade detection from man? I found this most baffling. But not so the aborigines. Bujong pointed out that elephants and rhinos flee from the approach of man, and tigers often circle back and track their trackers. Why can't a creature - perhaps a super-beast or a sub-human with a higher degree of intelligence than the average animal - cunningly and cleverly keep clear of man?</div></blockquote> Stephens then pointed out that, by and large, all we know of the jungle are the narrow trails and the river banks. They then forced their way upstream for three days, crossing ten more rapids, making a total of 56 since the expedition had begun. It took them just a day to return to the junction of the Kinchin. But now the jungle was nearly impenetrable, and before they reached the plateau they heard the roar of a tiger and, being unarmed, they decided to return. But their description of the jungle show give some idea of how unexplored it was.<div><b>Reference:</b> Harold Stephens, ' "Abominable Snowman" of Malaysia', <i>Argosy</i> August 1971, pp 37-44.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizGNX8FYrq1s45ZBJBetCcaJ8bV63hi2-nh6ZKQ453tHWl0AdqlOcp-3sLR6N5YY1CrWe-ctnkpZVhwlDiHgi0pKEoa72a9mkMUHppsl_LogVuWES0rgo46q8a2lClum7PiXLxnc2_Jn7R/s2048/IMG_0062.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1590" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizGNX8FYrq1s45ZBJBetCcaJ8bV63hi2-nh6ZKQ453tHWl0AdqlOcp-3sLR6N5YY1CrWe-ctnkpZVhwlDiHgi0pKEoa72a9mkMUHppsl_LogVuWES0rgo46q8a2lClum7PiXLxnc2_Jn7R/s320/IMG_0062.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> In his 1972 book, <i>Bigfoot</i>, Dr John Napier, who was then one of the most prominent primatologists in the world, multiplied foot length by 6.6 in order to calculate height. Yes, we know that people of the same stature can have different shoe sizes, but he was able to show that, when applied to humans, it was accurate to within a few inches - which is all that is necessary. On this basis, judging from the length of Bujong's foot alongside the orang dalam print, Bujong would have been about five foot high - which seems reasonable. In contrast, the 16 inch footprint of the mystery animal implies a height of 8ft 10 in, or 268 cm.</div><div> However, that implies a foot like a human's. A very big, heavy biped with a flat foot and a rolling gait may well possess a different foot-height ratio. In an article in volume 13 of <i>Cryptozoology</i> (1998), the journal of the now defunct International Society of Cryptozoology, Wolf Fahrenbach provided what appears to be a better computation of height and foot in the North American bigfoot. According to him, a 16 inch print equates to a height of 7ft 11in, or 241 cm. Interestingly, he lists the mean footprint length for this species as 15.6 in.</div><div> I wish to emphasize that I have been writing this with the <i>Argosy</i> article in front of me, so I can guarantee the accuracy of the transcription. I mention this because, when Stephens was interviewed in <a href="http://cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/harold-stephens/" rel="nofollow">2006</a>, the length of the footprints was given as 19 inches, and the width 10 inches. The relevant paragraphs also contained some trivial, but nevertheless real, changes in phraseology. I have no explanation for this, unless a later text was being cited. If so, the original report, made shortly after the event, should be more reliable.</div><div> Interestingly, at the interview, Stephens added: "By accident we found footprints of a jungle giant. What was even more frightening, which I never told anyone, was when we awoke the next morning, all around our camp were footprints half the size of human prints."</div><div><br /></div><div> Now, let us turn to a more up-to-date report (apparently by a journalist whose first language with not English.)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>New Straits Times</i> (Malaysia) 25 April 2001</div><div></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">MALAYSIA: Big-foot sightings.</div><div style="text-align: center;">by Sager Ahmad</div><div> There has been some reported sightings of <i>hantu jarang gigi </i>or big-foot in the vast Endau-Rompin park in the East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia. The shy, hairy and harmless creature is said to reside in the 40,197 ha <i>[155.2 square miles] </i>park, but so far no image of it has been captured. Orang Asli <i>[ie aborigines]</i> who live in the forest and officers of the Forestry Department, Rela members and some campers have reported of sightings of the big-foot from a distance or finding its footprint in wet soil. The "creature" as described has dark brown hair covering its whole body, is about three metres <i>[9ft 10 in]</i> tall and its footprint is about 45cm <i>[18 in] </i>in size - abut twice the size of an adult shoeless foot.</div><div> One area where sightings have taken place is Sungai Kencin <i>[Kinchin River]</i>, a tributary of the Endau River and reports include fish bones scattered on the ground as if big-foot just had its meal. Orang Asli living in the area believe that there are only three of them - a male, a female and their child.</div><div> Pahang State Women's Affairs, Culture, Art and Tourism Committee chairman Maznah Mazlan while launching a 4WD event in the forest reserve recently said the big-foot has a keen sense of smell and would run away from humans. She says it is believed that one way of seeing the big-foot is by not taking a bath for two weeks!</div><div> There has been several sightings in the forest near Lubuk China, Malacca and locals call the creature Ensut-Ensut. Its foot is inverted. Ghazali Yaacob, a surveyor, says villagers have reported having come face-to-face with the creature. The last sighting is of the creature running out of a burning jungle with its young one in search of shelter.</div><div> In all the sightings, no one has reported of being threatened by big-foot in any way.</div></blockquote><div></div><div> What does the alternative name for the animal, <i>hantu jarang gigi</i> mean? It is difficult to translate, but the interpretation I've seen on other sites, "snaggle tooth ghost" appears to be inaccurate. Essentially, it consists of three Malay words:</div><div><i>hantu</i> = ghost</div><div><i>jarang</i> = rare, scarce, sparse, wide apart, wide-spaced</div><div><i>gigi</i> = tooth (singular and plural).</div><div>Bearing in mind that, in Malay, unlike English, the defining word comes <i>after</i> the word to be defined, a close approximation to the meaning might be "tooth gap ghost", or even "gap-toothed ghost", except that in such a case, I would expect the words <i>jarang</i> and <i>gigi</i> to be reversed.</div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-89895648503543878572020-10-06T23:09:00.003-07:002023-03-12T18:43:37.581-07:00Introducing the Malayan Bigfoot Throughout the world stories crop up of unknown bipedal apes which live solitary lives, and are largely nocturnal. The North American bigfoot, or sasquatch is usually described as being like a gorilla on stilts ie it is massive and tall, just as you would expect if a gorilla had legs like a human. The Australian yowie - which definitely shouldn't exist, because it is not a marsupial - is almost identical. It is what lies between which is peculiar. The <i><a href="https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/01/the-mysterious-rock-apes-of-the-vietnam-war/" target="_blank">người rừng</a> </i>of Vietnam appears to be man-sized, while Sumatra's <i>orang pendek</i>, as its name ("short man") is much smaller, and the <i>batutut</i> of Sabah appears to be of similar size. However, the jungles of Malaya are alleged to harbour something much bigger: the <i>orang dalam</i>, or "man of the interior". <span>They are still being reported, and there are <a href="http://www.api.sg/research/MYbigfoot/BF.htm" target="_blank">citizens</a> who are looking for them. But what came out of the Terolak Forest Reserve in Perak (3° 53' N, 101° 22' E) in late 1953 represents a new level in weirdness.<a name='more'></a></span><div> I was originally alerted to this by an article by a certain Harold Stephens entitled:</div><div> ' "Abominable Snowman" of Malaysia' in the August 1971 issue of <i>Argosy</i>, pp 37 - 44.</div><div> He didn't take much notice of an aboriginal headman's talk about the orang dalam, giant footprints and hairy giants, until a Chinese friend in Singapore told him such stories were "all in the newspapers" during the Malayan Emergency against the Communists. </div><div><blockquote> That night, I phoned Kurt [who had been with him during the headman's talk]. The next morning , we began our homework at the <i>Straits Times</i> newspaper. It was slow work. The Emergency covered a span of years, from World War II until 1953. We were about to give up. We reached December 1953. Then we saw it. The black print seemed to leap up at us.</blockquote></div> Regrettably, writing a popular article, the author did not specify the precise reference. However, I managed to locate what appears to be the <a href="https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Search?ST=1&AT=advanced&K=wong%20yee%20moi&KA=wong%20yee%20moi&DF=01%2F12%2F1953&DT=31%2F01%2F1954&Display=0&NPT=&L=English&CTA=" target="_blank">original report</a> which mentions the witness by name:<div><br /><div> "Hairy beings may be missing link",<i> </i>on the front page of the <i>Singapore Standard</i> of 2 January 1954. </div><div><br /></div><div> Unfortunately, it is not available online, so we will have to do with Stephens' summary:</div></div><blockquote><div> It was Christmas Day. A young Chinese girl named Wong Yee Moi was tapping rubber trees on an estate in south Peark [ie. Perak], when she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to be confronted by a most revolting female, covered with hair, with white caucasoid-type skin and long, black hair. She wore a loin cloth of bark and stank as if "of an animal." The female grinned and revealed long, nasty fangs. Yee Moi fled in panic for the compound, but not before sighting two similar types she thought to be males, standing in the shade of trees by the river. They had mustaches hanging down to their waists. </div><div> The estate manager, a Scot named Browne, immediately called up the Security Forces' local headquarters which responded with a posse of the Malayan security guards. On searching the estate, the guards spotted three hairy types on the river bank - such as described by Yee Moi. The creatures dived underwater, emerged on the far bank and vanished into the jungles. Had the lone, panic-stricken Chinese girl made a report that she saw three hairy jungle creatures, we might dismiss the story as having to do with some fantastic monsters of her own imagination. But when the security guards saw the same creatures, it had to be more than imagination.</div><div> Nor did the incident end there. The following day, a Hindu Indian worker was squatting to tap a flow of rubber latex when he was encircled by a pair of hairy arms. Panic-stricken, he broke loose, only to fall in a dead faint on his way back to the compound. He revived to find the same trio standing over him, laughing at his discomfort. Again, we could say that the unfortunate Indian worker was frightened by the story Yee Moi had to tell and that he had imagined seeing such creatures. But when the security guards were summoned, they, too, saw the same hairy creatures on the river bank.</div><div> Newspapers and Radio Malaysia reported the sightings and brought forth official statements from such sources as the Federation's Department of Museums and Aboriginal Research. Authorities believed this could be "one of the most valuable anthropological discoveries since Darwin."</div></blockquote><p> Fortunately, some newspaper reports are indeed open online to shed light on all this. The first one is a brief summary from <i>The Straits Times</i> of 1st January 1954, on page 7.<br /></p><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"> Ape-humans on estate</div>Three ape like human creatures, two men and a woman, have been seen on three different occasions in the last few days near the Trolak Forest Reserve in Perak. They are covered in long hair down to their waist and the men have moustaches of equal length. They have hairy bodies and protruding teeth similar to a wild boar. Their hair on their forearms is long like a gorilla's. They were dressed in loin cloths made of either skins or tree bark.</blockquote><p></p><p>The next one is from the front page of an Australian newspaper: the <i>Canberra Times</i> of Saturday 2 January 1954. <br /></p><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">WEIRD MEN-APES EMERGE FROM MALAY JUNGLE</div><div style="text-align: center;">Kuala Lumpur, Friday (A.A.P. - Reuter)</div> Three hairy, fanged creatures, one female and two males, who appear to be half human and half ape, emerged from the edges of a 150-mile tract of dense jungle in Northern Malaya on Christmas Day and have frightened rubber trappers. Radio Malaya in an exclusive broadcast last night, said that two trappers, a Malay child and reliable Malay Home Guard corporal all agreed in their description of the creatures. Deputy Director of the radio service, Tony Beamish, who made the broadcast from a remote rubber plantation on the edges of the vast Trolak forest reserve in Perak state, said the creatures were unknown to scientists in Malaya.<br /> "I am sure this is one of the most valuable anthropological discoveries for years," he said.<br /> A handful of people who saw the creatures describe them as tall, powerfully built and covered with unkempt hair from their heads hanging down to their waists. All had dog-like fangs which could still be seen when they had their mouths closed. Both men and the woman had moustaches and all were said to smell of animal.<br /> Mr. Beamish said last night he believed that a colony of the strange creatures might have been forced from its jungle home by a flood and, starved and displaced, had wandered into the fringing rubber plantations.<br /> "They probably were as surprised to see the tappers as the tappers were them," he said. "I do not think they mean harm and they should be protected. There are old legends in Malaya that tell of strange hairy aborigines who once lived in mountain jungles, although white men have not reported any. The creatures are particularly weird to the Malays, who are almost hairless."</blockquote> It seems to me that the A.A.P./Reuters correspondent simply interviewed Mr Beamish for the story. Now let's go to a slightly later local paper: the front page of <i>The Straits Times</i> of 5 January 1954:<div></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">THE WORD GOES OUT: BRING IN THE 3 HAIRY 'THINGS' ALIVE</div><div style="text-align: right;">KUALA LUMPUR, Monday</div><div> The three hairy "things" - two men and a women [<i>sic</i>] - have spread fear through the entire labour force on Trolak Estate in south Perak. Terrified by accounts from fellow-workers who had met these creatures, the workers at first refused to leave their quarters at all. Only the promise of guards persuaded them to change their minds. Aborigines in the district have been alerted to contact and make friends with the creatures and bring them to the authorities for study. Twenty special constables from Slim River have been scouring the area every day since the three unknowns were first sighted on Christmas Eve. They have orders to "bring them back alive." The authorities have asked that care should be taken to preserve any footprints found until plaster casts can be made for further research.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Others seen</span></div><div> Mr. G. de A. Seiveking, Director of Museums, who is planning an expedition to the district, said that reports now being investigated revealed that similar creatures had been seen in Kelantan and Perak in 1937. Commenting on statements from eye-witnesses that the three creatures had fair complexions, he said that this was probably due to pigments which they had daubed on their faces. Close questioning of estate workers and others who had encountered the three had provided a much clearer picture of what the creatures actually looked like, Mr. Seiveking said.</div><div> The bushy and very pronounced eyebrows hinted at a "taurus ridge" and a sharply receding forehead - physical characteristics possessed by primitive man in his earliest days. These facts, coupled with the long fangs which projected from either side of their closed mouths, suggested that the creatures were the survivors of one of the earliest wandering tribes to come to Malaya. They had probably been driven deeper and deeper into the jungle as civilisation progressed, Mr. Seiveking said.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Woman had moustache</span></div><div> The three were well-built and tall - nearly six feet - and had thick black hair on their chests and arms. Animal-like stench came from their bodies. The woman had a moustache and was clad only in a yellow loin cloth made of bark or skins. The men were similarly clothed. They ran like human beings and did not use their arms to assist themselves, Mr. Seiveking said. He surmised that the creatures had had some sort of contact with "civilisation" before their encounters with the estate workers last week, as they evidently knew and feared rifles. "Civilisation in this case probably means Communist terrorists," Mr. Seiveking said.</div></blockquote><div></div><div></div><div> The final one in this series (though not necessarily the same kind of animal) comes from <i>The Straits Times</i> of 13 January 1954, on page 2.</div><div></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">ARMY OFFICER SAW APE-HUMAN</div><div style="text-align: right;">KUALA LUMPUR, Tues.</div><div> Malaya's mysterious anthropological curiosities, the ape-humans, have disappeared again into the Trolak Forest but reports of previous sights of similar creatures continue to reach the Director of Museums, Dr. G. de G. Sieveking. The latest comes from an army officer now in England, who writes that in 1951 he was stationed at Ulu Dong in Pahang when one of the village elders spoke of having seen tall, hairy creatures washing themselves early in the mornings at a spot some miles away on the river. "He wanted me to visit the spot when I was on one of my patrols. Unfortunately I was moved afterwards and never had the opportunity of doing so," says the writer. He added, "When I was told this there was also present a police lieutenant who is now also in England. He gave reports that on a patrol from Ulu Cheka he had seen these creatures."</div></blockquote><div></div><div> You will notice that the name of the Museum Director is different in this account. In fact, his name was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gale_Sieveking" target="_blank">Gale de Giberne Sieveking</a>. As far as the sites go, Ulu Dong is a 3° 56' N, 102° E, and Ulu Cheka at 3° 57½' N, 102° 08' E. Incidentally, "ulu" means "up river" in Malay.</div><div> More details about these encounters can be found <a href="https://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com/2023/03/more-on-malayan-ape-man.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><b> Analysis</b></div><div> Most readers will recognize that the specimens described here were quite different from the usual unknown primate. Indeed, it is one of the strangest cases I've come across. Firstly, although the descriptions are piecemeal and incomplete, I get the impression that the creatures were not covered all over with hair; they just had more hair on areas which tend to be hairy in human beings. The fact that their complexions were likened to those of caucasians rather than Malays suggest they must have been quite pale - something unexpected in the tropics.</div><div> The loin cloths are particularly puzzling. These are a human attribute - even more so in that loin cloths in the tropics are inspired by modesty rather than a quest for warmth. Humans started wearing clothes about 170,000 years ago. To be sure, there are <a href="https://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com/2012/03/creatures-of-caucasus-2-witnesses.html" target="_blank">stories</a> from the Caucasus of almasties stealing human clothing. However, I doubt if that applied in this case. For one thing, it is unlikely that all three would have taken that course - or that they would know how to fasten a loin cloth. Also, it is unlikely that the aborigines at that time or place would be wearing loin cloths of bark or skins, or that they would not be able to recognize cloth when worn by the creatures.</div><div> It becomes more complicated. Human beings possess a number of what are known as "epigamic" features: features whose main function is to serve as a social signal. Thus, there are good practical reasons why a man has broad shoulders and a woman broad hips, but the only reason a man has a beard is to tell the world that he is a man, and not a woman or a boy. These features are long head hair and everted lips in both sexes, beards and the occasional hairy chest in men, and prominent breasts even when the woman <a href="http://malcolmsmiscellany.blogspot.com.au/2017/09/the-book-was-right-breasts-are-meant-to.html" target="_blank">is not lactating</a>. No ape possesses these features, but it would be expected that humanity's immediate ancestors or close relatives would have shared some of them.</div><div> With respect to the Terolak Forest creatures, nothing is said about the female's breasts, but I note that she was recognized as female, despite her loins being covered. And both sexes had long hair on their heads. Then there were the moustaches. Everything suggests that these three were representatives of our early ancestors or close relatives. But there are still problems. For a start, I find it hard to accept the presence of moustaches (especially moustaches that long!) without beards. But most of all I am puzzled at the fangs. This in an ape feature. None of our ancestors for several million years had possessed them. And not even gorillas or chimpanzees have fangs so huge that they are visible when the mouth is shut. The animals, in other words, can't exist, and yet several reliable people saw them.</div><div><br /></div><div><b> But there's more ...</b></div><div> We shall now return to the <i>Argosy</i> article by Harold Stephens, who had heard the headman use the term, "orang dalam" with reference to hairy forest giants. Now, on the basis of his research he declared:</div><blockquote><div> Official reports also disclosed that this wasn't the first time such sightings in Malaya were recorded. Kurt and I had to dig deeper, into dusty old volumes at the Singapore library. Again, we hit pay dirt. Two British anthropologists, Skeat and Blagden, wrote in their volumes of "The Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula" that aborigines encountered such jungle types, which they called Orang Dalam, or "Interior People."</div></blockquote><div> Not quite accurate. This work can be found online <a href="https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.10645/mode/2up" target="_blank">here</a>. The term, "Orang Dalam" occurs only on page 22 of volume 1, where it is a self-designation of certain tribes of the interior.</div><div> Stephens then cited the report of a certain A. D. Frederickson, F.R.G.S. about his experience in Malaya in 1871. From the sentences quoted, it is clear that the book was <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/adoriente00fred/page/n7/mode/2up" target="_blank">Ad Orientam</a></i>, published in 1889, but based on Frederickson's diaries and sketch books at the time. The relevant text is from pages 276-7:</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhigC5bgVHWrx2RSUXkRmMqNjRJIhPQeL9JioX263rldTi0yOfHsnPVX4GXmw1h7IUT7TfFKi9qjQFaECwbvViG5e7HZmmRNa0xwc-cyZqTvT-B9869ADi-ZHucV0GbxvumkOksjwZHasv2/s1323/IMG_0065.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1323" data-original-width="987" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhigC5bgVHWrx2RSUXkRmMqNjRJIhPQeL9JioX263rldTi0yOfHsnPVX4GXmw1h7IUT7TfFKi9qjQFaECwbvViG5e7HZmmRNa0xwc-cyZqTvT-B9869ADi-ZHucV0GbxvumkOksjwZHasv2/s320/IMG_0065.jpg" /></a></div><br /><blockquote> A curious specimen of hairy humanity, not unlike Darwin's ideal "Origin of Species" was at the time of my visit being conveyed to the coast for shipment to some society at Calcutta. This is the individual as he appeared, - [see drawing]. He had been found in a wild state in the deep forest of Johore, where he had existed upon fruit and roots, and presumably never seen a human soul. I have no doubt that in Barnum's possession this man would have turned out a mine of gold, although not a pleasant subject to look upon, rather like some of those hideous Santos one meets with in the Nubian desert.</blockquote></div><div> It does not appear that any scientist took any notice of the specimen, either in Malaya or Calcutta. Note the general human shape, the beard, and the loin cloth. I would suggest that, despite the back story of being found in the deep forest, this was a normal human being suffering from hypertrichosis.</div><div> Stephens then cited another incident.</div><div></div><blockquote><div> The most astounding report we uncovered came from Lake Chini district. It was dated 1959. A mining engineer, Arthur Potter, was sleeping in his boat at the side of the lake one night when he was suddenly awakened to see the eight-foot-high [2½ m] roof of the boat being lifted upwards, leaving a gaping hole. Potter shone a light and saw a red eye peering down at him. It was the size of a tennis ball.</div><div> His first impression was that it was a huge snake, but the next morning, he found eighteen-inch [46 cm] tracks in the mud in the river bank. He followed the trail for 200 feet until it disappeared in the jungle.</div></blockquote><div></div><div> Mr Potter's actual words can be found <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=DDqdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT48&dq=chini+lake+dragon&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=chini%20lake%20dragon&f=false" target="_blank">here</a>, although the source is not given. However, the tracks were said to have been 18 <i>feet</i> <i>wide</i>, and "It looked as if something slimy had gone over the ground." Even if "feet" was a misprint for "inches", I don't think this has anything to do with an unknown ape, but I do note that the lake is reputed to be the home of a dragon called <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=DDqdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT48&dq=chini+lake+dragon&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=chini%20lake%20dragon&f=false" target="_blank">Seri Gumum</a>. For what it is worth, Lake Chini is located at 3° 26' N, 102° 55' E.</div><div> So there we have a disparate series of reports, the most unusual being the ones commencing Christmas Day 1953. Reports of the orang dalam are <a href="https://www.alpfmedical.info/freshwater-monster/orang-dalam.html" target="_blank">still coming in</a>, but next month I shall tell you the results of Stephens' expedition in search of the animal.</div><blockquote><br /></blockquote>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-33124695855262345532020-08-31T18:25:00.001-07:002021-04-13T14:40:57.208-07:00When Scientists Were Visited by a Yeti The trouble with cryptozoology is that its data are all over the place - newspapers, magazines, websites, in fact, everywhere except in peer-reviewed scientific literature. We really need a central registry of personal testimonies, and in lieue of something better, this blog will have to do. So let us take the case of the zoologists camped on a snow-covered pass in the Himalayas, who were visited in the night by an abominable snowman. It is surprising this has not received more comment and discussion in the scientific literature (or perhaps it isn't surprising).<span><a name='more'></a></span><div> <span> Edward W. Cronin, Jr is best known for his popular 1986 manual, <i>Getting Started in Bird Watching</i>, but for three years in the early 1970s, he was the chief scientist of the Arun Wildlife Expedition. The Arun Valley in eastern Nepal is one of the deepest in the world, and according to Google Maps, it is situated right in the Himalayas at approximately 27½° N, 87° E.<span><br /></span><div> Cronin's 1975 article in the <i>Atlantic</i> is too long to transcribe, nor is it necessary, for more than two thirds of it involves explaining why the presence of an unknown ape in the fastness of the Himalayas is not extraordinary, and speculating on its possible identity. He points out that, when the Arun villagers were asked about the fauna of the valley, they included the yeti as a matter of course. Stories of encounters dating back generations often appeared "so ornamented and corrupted through retelling that they seem impossible", but stories from their own lifetimes were consistent in their descriptions, without any of the elaborations one would normally associate with a monster story. He also made the point that </div><blockquote><div>(t)he behavior described is even more familiar to the scientist. Local villagers and Western observers relate the yeti's behavior that are easily recognized as displacement conflicts, aggressive posturing, and threat displays - patterns which scientists have recently found to be typical of wild ape behavior. The reports seem too good, too accurate, not to be true.</div></blockquote> All this strikes a chord with me, because <a href="http://malcolmsmiscellany.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/the-behaviour-of-koala-1-background.html" target="_blank">my original field</a> was in ethology, or animal behaviour, and the study of primate behavior was in its infancy when I was at university.</span></div><div><span> Of course, the villagers were farmers and pastoralists. When travelling, they were forced to keep closely to the trails. The valley, with its numerous gullies, canyons, and slopes, is incredibly steep, and the forest dense. Whenever they attempted to enter it, the scientists had to force their way through, often with a machete. A large mammal could have remained unnoticed just fifty yards off the trail. Of course, the author made the point that the "abominable snowman" doesn't <i>live</i> in the snow. Like the humans, it merely walks through it from one site to another.</span></div> Numerous bear footprints were also encountered, and the locals occasionally attributed them to the yeti. Nevertheless, the zoologists were never fooled. Bear prints invariably showed equal-sized, symmetrical arrangements of toes. He might also have mentioned that their habit of placing the hind foot over the print of the front can produce a print superficially similar to that of a human being - at least to the non-professional eye. However, the bear's habit of turning its forepaws inwards is the opposite of the human's, and is certainly the origin of many local legends of beings which walk with their feet turned backwards.<div> Anyhow, now we come to the nitty gritty. On 14 December 1972, Cronin and Dr. Howard Emery, the expedition physician, set off for the area of the Kongmaa La. ("La" is the Tibetan word for a mountain pass. There really is such a place as Changri La.) Their porters turned back because of the cold. On the 17th, along with two Sherpas, they discovered a depression in the ridge at an altitude of about 12,000 feet [3,650 metres] and less than half an acre [1/5 hectare] in extent, but flat, and covered with firm snow. The weather was beautiful, and the sky clear. Animal tracks were absent. They pitched their two tents.</div><div></div><blockquote><div> Shortly before dawn the next morning, Dr. Emery climbed out out of our tent. He called excitedly. There, beside the trail we had made for our tents, was a new set of footprints. While we were sleeping, a creature had approached our camp and walked directly between our tents. The Sherpas identified the tracks without question as yeti footprints.</div><div> We immediately made a full photographic record of the prints before the sun touched them. Like the conditions Shipton had encountered, the surface consisted of crystalline snow, excellent for displaying the prints. These conditions were localized to our camp area, and were the result of the effects produced on the depression by the sun and the winds of the previous days. The prints were clearest in the middle of the depression, directly beside our trail, where some ten to fifteen prints, both left and right feet, revealed the details of the toes and the general morphology of the creature's foot. Some of the right footprints were actually on our previous trail, making them difficult to interpret; other prints of the right foot were distinct.</div><div> The prints measured approximately nine inches by four and three quarters inches wide <i><span style="font-family: arial;">[23 x 12 cm]</span></i>. The stride, or distance between individual prints, was surprisingly short, often less than one foot, and it appeared that the creature had used a slow, cautious walk along this section. The prints showed a short, broad, opposable hallux, an asymmetrical arrangement of the four remaining toes, and a wide, rounded heel. These features were present in all the prints made on firm snow, and we were impressed with their close resemblance to Shipton's prints.</div><div> We then proceeded to explore the rest of the trail left by the creature. By the direction of the toes on the clear footprints, I determined that the creature had come up the north slope. I investigated these prints first, following the trail back down the slope. Because the north slope received less sun, it was covered with very deep snow, and the tracks consisted of large punch holes in the snow, revealing little detail. I descended several hundred yards, but the heavy snow made walking impossible, and I was forced to cling to the slope with my hands; the creature must have been exceptionally strong to ascend this slope in these conditions. From a vantage point, I could look down the trail, which continued towards the bottom of the valley in a direction generally perpendicular to the slope, but there seemed little advantage in climbing farther down, and I returned to the top of the ridge.</div></blockquote><div></div><div> He then describes how the tracks continued down the south slope, and the scientists climbed higher up the ridge, to see from above how the tracks crossed back and forth several times. A hoax by the Sherpas was out of the question. They sent word back to the other members of the expedition, and the expedition mammalogist, Jeffrey McNeely, came up and made plaster casts of the prints. They also made a new camp, and spent several nights watching for further activity, but were disappointed.</div><div> The author listed eleven conclusions about the animal, which I shall summarise.</div><div> <b>1. </b>The prints were not caused by melting snow.</div><div> <b> 2. </b>Nor were referrable to a known species.</div><div> <b> 3.</b> However, they were similar to the one photographed by Shipton 21 years before, suggesting it belonged to the same species. (More about that later.)</div><div> <b>4.</b> They appears to belong to some sort of ape.</div><div> <b>5. </b>The animal was bipedal.</div><div><b> 6. </b>In full winter clothes and boots, Cronin weighed 185 pounds <span style="font-family: inherit;">[84 kg]</span>. Since the yeti's prints were not quite as deep, he suggested a weight of 165 pounds [75 kg].</div><div> <b>7. </b>The animal appeared to be nocturnal. (I have commented elsewhere that all of the alleged bipedal primates remain unknown because they are nocturnal, solitary, and shy of humans.)</div><div> <b> 8.</b> It was inquisitive, having detoured along the ridge to enter their camp and pass between their tents.</div><div> <b>9.</b> It inhabited the forest, having come from the heavily forested valley of the Barun, and used the ridge to descend into the forests of the Kasuwa, rather than ascend into the high snowfields.</div><div> <b>10.</b> It was very strong.</div><div> <b>11. </b>The prints led credibility to the existence of an unknown species in the Himalayas.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Reference:</b> Edward W. Cronin, Jr. (Nov 1975), 'The Yeti', <i>Atlantic</i> 236(5): 47-53</div><div>There were two other references which I have not sighted:</div><div>McNeely, J. A., E. W. Cronin, and H. B. Emery (1973), 'The yeti - not a snowman', <i>Oryx</i> 12(1):65-73</div><div>Cronin, E. W., Jr. (1979), <i>The Arun: a natural history of the world's deepest valley</i>, Houghton Mifflin. It includes a chapter entitled, 'The Night of the Abominable Snowman'.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjL71ymK2YrQihPxfCPSUkRjXtTMkZnnd3G4CEkR0t5obIdqPNdWwyyiA7C2-QvPtyWu5eb4Y73OQgn7-9yh_ztrh1KyxxtTGJLLxh4AHbsaPnmtiPtXWhXfjZ6QuisAYKNdhg91wJmMfX/s354/Yeti+-+Cronin%252C+1972.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjL71ymK2YrQihPxfCPSUkRjXtTMkZnnd3G4CEkR0t5obIdqPNdWwyyiA7C2-QvPtyWu5eb4Y73OQgn7-9yh_ztrh1KyxxtTGJLLxh4AHbsaPnmtiPtXWhXfjZ6QuisAYKNdhg91wJmMfX/s0/Yeti+-+Cronin%252C+1972.jpg" /></a></div>The Footprints.</b> In his 1972 book, <i>Bigfoot</i>, John Napier, at the time one of the world's leading primatologists, estimated height by multiplying the length of the foot by 6.6. Yes, we know that equally tall men can have different shoe sizes, but he was able to show that the formula was accurate to within a few inches, which is all that matters. In that case, the prints described by Cronin would equate to a height of 4 ft 11 in, or 151 cm, and consistent with the estimated weight. He suggested it might have been immature, or a female.</div><div> Unfortunately, the article cited contained no photo of either a footprint or a plaster cast. However, the photo on the left was taken from <a href="http://www.alamas.ru/eng/publicat/Tracht7_e.htm" target="_blank">this article</a>, and the source appears to have been Cronin's 1979 book. As you can see, it does bear a resemblance to other prints from the eastern Himalayas. However, the <a href="https://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com/2017/02/more-on-chitral-yeti.html" target="_blank">prints</a> of the <i>bar manu</i> of the Chitral province of Pakistan are much different, and more humanlike.</div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-12499160042710316222020-08-17T01:21:00.001-07:002021-02-05T03:43:16.508-08:00Forgotten Bigfoots Around the World - a New Book<p> Everyone has heard of the bigfoot, or sasquatch of North America, but it is not so well known that reports of similar beings exist in every continent except Antarctica. Ivan T. Sanderson did a fairly good job of summarising the evidence in his 1961 book, <i>Abominable Snowmen: legend brought to life</i> - though even he managed to miss the yowie of Australia, one continent where such animals definitely should not exist. Now I have published a new book on the subject - in both paperback and e-book editions, and available through Amazon - to provide information otherwise unavailable to the average Anglophone reader. <span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPr2f89_sr9WGnRdsT1KQVdCAJQz-7FhvD7mJ2CcTNEpieUbICMs3vxX8ww73FtF6YuGYtYQgZ2Xyk-wKXsHwG0hKYNkwaj_Lf_KGDgK7Qw-N08mg9jgZ4C77P8mbn4bNhpHyuhx8F5TUX/s499/Forgotten+Bigfoots.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPr2f89_sr9WGnRdsT1KQVdCAJQz-7FhvD7mJ2CcTNEpieUbICMs3vxX8ww73FtF6YuGYtYQgZ2Xyk-wKXsHwG0hKYNkwaj_Lf_KGDgK7Qw-N08mg9jgZ4C77P8mbn4bNhpHyuhx8F5TUX/s0/Forgotten+Bigfoots.jpg" /></a></div> <i>Forgotten Bigfoots Around the World</i> is not intended to be comprehensive; it is not an update of Sanderson's work. Rather, it is a compilation of reports on specific regions, culled from out-of-the-way, difficult to access journals, and mostly in foreign languages, which I have translated. Although I would never be proficient enough in French or Spanish to serve as a professional translator, I am confident that the purport of the original texts has been preserved. In fact, if it occasionally appears a little bit stilted, it is because no two languages express the same idea in the same way, and I have favoured accuracy over elegance.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> The longest sections are the detailed reports of Dr. Magraner on his investigations in the Chitral district of Pakistan, which effectively proves the existence of the yeti, followed by Dr. Koffmann's lengthy summary of her investigations in the Caucasus. These two translations take up the first half of the book.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> After that, you will read of mysterious sightings in Europe (of all places!), Central and Southern America, and Africa.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Have a good time with it. It will open your eyes. And remember: this is really only the tip of the iceberg.</div><br /><p></p>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-66323408811958255002020-08-01T13:28:00.000-07:002020-08-01T13:28:54.903-07:00Lost 20th Century Sea Serpents Last month I ransacked the <a href="https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Search?ST=1&AT=search&k=sea%20serpent" target="_blank">digitalised archives</a> of Singaporean newspapers for sea serpent reports of the 19th century, checked them against cases recorded by earlier researchers, and published those previously unknown. This month I shall complete the process for 20th century reports. Again, we have the problem that the journalists asked no questions, but limited themselves to the information the witnesses volunteered.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div> The first one occurred in Singapore Harbour itself. The report is taken from <i>The Straits Times</i> of 12 October 1903, on page 5.</div><div></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">THE SEA SERPENT IN SINGAPORE HARBOUR</div><div> One of the Marine Police officers who was patrolling the harbour in the police launch on Saturday night <font color="#b45f06">[ie 10 October]</font>, alleges that he saw something in the water which he declares very closely resembled the Sea Serpent, or what the Sea Serpent is supposed to be. The monster was seen at Tanjong Pagar near the old hulks. It could not be seen plainly, owing to the dim light, but what appeared to be the head, which was black was raised about two feet <font color="#b45f06">[60 cm]</font> above the water. It disappeared on the approach of the launch.</div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> Needless to say, this could have been anything.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Cornwall, 1907. </b>This one had not gone completely unnoticed by earlier researchers; they just didn't have enough detail. On page 379 of <i>In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents</i>, Dr. Heuvelmans refers simply to "the rather larger creature seen by two students off Tintagel Head in 1907." Tintagel, for those who are unaware, is supposed to have been the birthplace of King Arthur. Anyway, this detailed account of its sea serpent comes from <i>The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser</i> of 26 October 1907, on page 4, although the original encounter took place more than a month before.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">THE SEA SERPENT</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">SEASONABLE REAPPEARANCE IN CORNWALL</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> Amid the excitement of following ocean liners, test cricket matches, and the weather, it seemed probable that the sea serpent would not reappear this season. But apparently the monster has only been waiting for the sunshine and a favourable opportunity for a notice in the newspapers.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> It is not off the Scilly Islands or in the Pacific Ocean that it has raised its head on this occasion, and the authority for its reappearance is no ancient mariner. The information comes via Sheffield and Plymouth, that it has been seen off Tintagel, on the north coast of Cornwall. The Sheffield Telegraph startled its readers yesterday by the announcement that the Rev. T. C. Davies, of Sheffield, and Mr. E. Dodgson, of Jesus College, Oxford, had seen it, while the Western Morning News has published a letter from Mr. Dodgson, which will make the public thirst for more information on the subject,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> It was not late in the day when the monster is stated to have revealed its presence. "At 11.45 am I was seated with the Rev. T. C. Davies on the edge of the cliff of the Cove, known as Gulla Stem, at Tintagel," writes Mr Dodgson, "when he called my attention to a black object that was moving at a distance of about 200 yards very rapidly along the calms surface of the sea towards Tintagel Head. In about a minute it had disappeared behind the cliff that bounds the cove on the west."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> From the description that is given by Mr Dodgson it does not seem to have been the serpent that appeared off the Irish coast early this year, which was computed to have been 40 ft.<font color="#b45f06">[12 metres]</font> long, or the serpent that was last year described by Dr. Raphael Blanchard, of the University of Paris, the flexible neck of which was ornamented with a fine moustache. Mr Dodgson says nothing about a moustache; but he states that it was a serpent at least 20ft. <font color="#b45f06">[6 m] </font>long, "holding its large head with apparently some kind of crest or mane upon it, aloft." Unfortunately the visitors had no camera with which to take a photograph. It is to be hoped that the monster will not interfere with the Cornish pilchards. Perhaps the visitors who had such an interesting experience may add to the graphic details an illustration of the latest sea serpent. - (Tribune) Sept.17.</div></blockquote><div> From this you will gather that the witness provided only a very meagre description, and the journalist decided to fill in the blanks with a lot of irrelevant verbage. Just the same, it must be pointed out that there isn't any known marine species which goes around with its head held aloft in the manner described.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>North Carolina, 1909.</b> Here's another account which would really have benefited from a full description. This brief, untitled paragraph comes from page 6 of <i>The Straits Times</i> of 21 September 1909.</div><blockquote><div> The latest sea serpent, says Capt. Serenson of the little Norwegian fruiters' Simon Dumois of the Cuban Planters, Co., is a turbine model. Capt. Serenson says he fell in with the marvellous freak north of Cape Hatteras. It was about six feet <font color="#b45f06">[1.8 m]</font> around the body and eighty feet <font color="#b45f06">[24 m] </font>long, the skipper says. He didn't get near enough to measure it, but says his estimates are conservative. The most peculiar feature of the monster was the innumerable fangs which grew from the body like sickles.</div></blockquote><div><b>England, 1911.</b> I don't know how this got overlooked by earlier researchers. It was off the Royal Naval Dockyards on the River Medway, just before it joins the Thames estuary. This untitled paragraph comes from page 6 of <i>The Straits Times</i> of 24 October 1911.</div><blockquote><div> It is reported from Chatham that a "sea serpent" of huge proportions has been seen in the River Medway off the dockyard. It is described as 30ft. <font color="#b45f06">[9 m]</font> in length, with bulging green eyes. Shots were fired at it by a fisherman, but he says it evidently had an ironlike carcass, as the bullets were seen to strike it and bound away. It was followed down the river, blowing and snorting.</div></blockquote><div> That last sentence suggests it was some sort of mammal. One wonders if it weren't a known species of whale.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Scotland, 1934.</b> The final story comes from the most northwestly point of mainland Britain: Cape Wrath (59° N, 5° W). The animal appears to have been seen at close range - close enough, in fact, to allow a fuller description that was actually received. The report comes from the <i>Malaya Tribune</i> of 8 August 1934, page 13.</div><div></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">ANOTHER MONSTER</div><div style="text-align: center;">Giant Sea Serpent Off Cape Wrath</div><div style="text-align: right;">Stockholm.</div><div> A sea monster 36 feet long and over 6 feet broad is reported to have been seen about 20 miles <font color="#b45f06">[32 km]</font> from Cape Wrath by the crew of the Swedish steamer Nordia during a voyage from Finland to Liverpool. A letter from B. A. Berggren, steward of the Nordia, dated June 27, addressed to the Stockholm newspaper "Svenska Dagbladet," reads:-</div><div> "Today at 2.35 we sighted ahead of us a formless mass which we first took to be a piece of wreckage, but as the ship slowed down we made out a big sea monster like a giant sea serpent. The beast broadened out at the middle. It had a long narrow tail, four great fins and head something like that of a bullhead, (a British fish known also as the miller's thumb from its broad, flattened head). It was not easy to estimate its size, but I reckon it was about 10 to 11 metres long and at least 2 metres broad.</div><div> The first officer who rushed forward watched it glide alongside the ship and then when it was amidships it turned off and, plunging into the sea, disappeared. Eight persons saw the monster, including a passenger, the principal of a Malmo school.</div><div> We are now lying 20 miles S.W. by W. of Cape Wrath, Scotland."</div></blockquote><div> And that, folks, is the end. Because five years later a war started, and people had more important things to think about. I noticed this when researching Australian sea serpents. Reports became far less common after the war. By the time the shooting stopped, people had forgotten that it was once acceptable for people to see sea serpents, and for newspapers to report them. Ironically, it is lake monsters which are now acceptable.</div><div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div></div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-28947316473232175472020-07-01T14:34:00.000-07:002020-07-01T14:34:52.824-07:00Lost 19th Century Sea Serpents As I said in my May 2020 post, I thought I had finished with forgotten sea serpent reports, when Paul Cropper suggested I look at the <a href="https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Search?ST=1&AT=search&k=sea%20serpent" target="_blank">newly digitalised</a> Singaporean, and some Malayan, newspapers. As before, I have checked every report against those in Heuvelmans' <i>In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents</i>, and my own <i>Forgotten Sea Serpents</i>, based on Australian newspapers. Anything not found in these is assumed to have been overlooked by previous researchers. So here goes.<div><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><div> <b>Norway, 1878.</b> This took place at a fjord close to Ålesund (pronounced something like "<i>o</i>-luh-soon", and spelled "Aalesund" in the report), which is located at 62½° N, 6°E. The untitled article appeared in <i>The Straits Times</i> of 12 October 1878, on page 4.</div><div></div><blockquote><div> The sea serpent would appear to be ubiquitous. He is heard of at intervals on the China Coast, in the Straits of Malacca, in New Zealand Waters, and in the south American seas. The following in the latest account of the creature taken from the London <i>Echo</i> of 3rd September.</div><div> A<font size="2">T LAST</font> - just as we were despairing of his appearance - our old but retiring friend, the "Sea Serpent" has made his appearance. In due season the three-legged chicken, the half-ounce gooseberry, the centenarian who walks four miles every day, the gigantic hen's egg, and the rest of the familiar concomitants of autumnal journalism, will claim chronicling. This time the Sea Serpent has appeared in one of his very old haunts - namely, off the coast of Norway, near Aalesund, between Bergen and Drontheim. It was in this region that it was observed upwards of two centuries ago, as recorded by Bishop Pontoppedian, in his learned work on the natural history of his native land. This time, however, no credulous bishop but Mr. "Joachim Anderson, Danish Consul at Aalesund, formerly member of the Jury at Philadelphia for the fishery group" was the witness of the marine "serpent's" exploits. They - the serpent and Mr. Anderson - were near Aalesund, at Valdersund Fjord, last Sunday afternoon - a week ago - when the serpent rose to the surface of the water. His head was of the dimensions of a large dog, but "very flat and considerably narrower round the neck. The trunk appeared to be about twenty metres <i><font face="verdana" size="2">[65 feet]</font></i> long and two-thirds of a metre <i><font face="verdana" size="2">[about 2 feet]</font></i> in diameter." There was no mane and no scales, and, though chased by a fleet of boats on this and the two following days, he escaped and has not again appeared. . . . </div></blockquote></div><div><b>China Sea, 1878</b>. This report, untitled, comes from <i>The Straits Times</i> of 5 October 1878, page 4. As far as I can establish, Cupchi Point, or whatever it is called now, is on the Chinese coast at 116 degrees east ie about 220 km northeast of Hongkong.</div><blockquote> The sea serpent has been once more heard of, this time in the China Sea, heading towards Hongkong, where its arrival will perhaps be more welcome that the typhoon which the weather prophets there has been prognosticating for some time. The <i>China Mail</i> of the 21st September gives the following account of it:- <div> On the 17th instant, about 7 a.m., whilst the good S.S. <i>Yungching</i> was on her downward trip from Shanghai to this port, the monster was observed scarcely two ships' lengths' distance on the port side of the vessel, the steamer being then off Cupchi Point. It reared its head out of the crested billows, and shook itself as if proud of being observed and to assure all sceptics of its living, moving, wriggling existence. Its length roughly estimated was something over 60 feet <i><font face="verdana" size="2">[18 metres]</font></i>, the circumference of its body was about as thick as a man's leg, and its skin was speckled. The first person on board the <i>Yungching</i> to observe his serpentine Majesty was a Celestial <i><font face="verdana" size="2">[ie a subject of the "Celestial Empire", China]</font></i>, the supercargo, who at once called the attention of the Chief Engineer to its presence; most of the officers were either asleep or dressing, so that they had no opportunity of witnessing to the fact. Why will these flaws in the evidence always creep in? Every one on board should have seen the monster; a written statement should have been drawn up, giving the length, breadth and other details as taken from each observer's point of view; and endeavours should have been made to capture it. . . .</div></blockquote><div> The article continues in the same vein, without adding any more detail. While capturing it might have been a tall order, I can't help agreeing with the rest of that final sentence. If only journalists would ask questions, instead of just reporting the information volunteered!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>? Red Sea, 1883.</b> I have not been able to locate the island of Jubal-Zukor, but it appears to be somewhere in, or near, the Red Sea. This extremely brief, untitled report comes from page 2 of <i>The Straits Times</i> of 21 February 1883.</div><blockquote><div> Her Majesty's troopship <i>Crocodile</i> which arrived in Bombay about the end of January, reported having seen a sea serpent off the island of Jubal-Zukor. It appeared to be about 200 feet <i><font face="verdana" size="2">[60 metres]</font></i> long and was visible for some minutes, but on the approach of the ship it gave a great splash and disappeared under water.</div></blockquote><div> <b>South Africa, 1885 or 1886.</b> Page 424 of Antoon Oudemans' book, <i>The Great Sea-Serpent</i> contains the following brief annotation:</div><blockquote><div>1885, October 4. - Near Umhlali (Umlazi ?) in Morewood's Bay, South Africa.</div></blockquote><div> I have not been able to locate Morewoods Bay, but not far from Umlazi is the town of Umhlali, and Umhlali Beach is situated at 29° 30' S, 31° 14' E. At any rate, I am taking this report from <i>The Straits Times Weekly Issue</i> of 6 March 1886, page 2, but apparently the story originally appeared in the <i>Aberdeen Weekly Journal and General</i> <i>Advertiser for the North of Scotland</i> of 30 January 1886.</div><div></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">The Sea Serpent Again</div><div> From advices brought home by the last arriving Cape mail steamer, it would seem that the great sea mystery, the sea serpent, has just made its appearance in South African waters. In this instance, it was not seen to the terror of the sailor, but was observed from the shore. According to the despatch, a huge monster was observed about four o'clock in the Morewoods Bay, Umhlalily, by eight or nine people. It was first seen seven or eight miles <i><font face="verdana" size="2">[11 to 13 km]</font></i> from the shore, swimming in a very erect manner. from the first sight it seemed as if there were two fish, but a closer inspection proved that the near one was the tail of the serpent. According to the account furnished by those who witnessed the sight, the monster appeared to proceed at the rate of about eight miles an hour <i><font face="verdana" size="2">[13 kph]</font></i>, occasionally plunging into the water, making a noise as if a sea was breaking heavily on an open shore, and causing foam to extend for about twenty yards on either side of it. It appeared to be about 15 or 20 feet <font face="verdana" size="2"><i>[4½ or 6 metres]</i></font> out of the water, and its whole length was computed at not less than 90 or 100 feet <i><font face="verdana" size="2">[27 or 30 metres]</font></i>. Fins like immense oars were seen striking the water on either side. It had a large stripe down the body, the remaining portion being of a dirty yellowish colour.</div></blockquote><div> Well, at least it can be recognized as one of the "long necked" types, although the colour scheme was rather strange. However, it would have been nice if we had been informed just how close it got to the coast, because I doubt if anything pertaining to its size and sound could have been noted at 7 or 8 miles. Indeed, without any other frame of reference, it is difficult to judge size in the open water. All that can be said is that looked very big.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Burma, 1897.</b> This report comes from <i>The Straits Times</i> of 17 August 1897, on page 2. Although brief, it is, to say the least, rather colourful.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>THE SEA SERPENT</div><div> It is reported in the <i>Times of India</i> that a sea serpent has been seen off Bassein on the Burma coast. The monster was 60 feet<i><font face="verdana" size="2"> [18 metres]</font></i> long, proportionally thick, and of a yellowish blue colour. It had two horns, and was sighted by passengers of the <i>Hazara</i>. It was chasing porpoises with jaws wide open, showing fangs fearful to contemplate.</div></blockquote><div></div><div><b>East of Vietnam, 1898.</b> This more detailed report comes from a weekly called <i>The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser</i> of 7 July 1898, on page 5. This was also clearly one of the "long necked" variety. The dorsal fin is unusual, but I am reminded that something similar was sighted off Port Stephens, Australia in 1925, by the crew of the <i><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt;">Saint-François-Xavier.</span></i></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt;"></span></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt;">THE SEA SERPENT</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0pt;"> Mr. N. H. Burgh, 3rd Officer S.S. <i>Pak Ling</i> writes as follows to the <i>Hongkong Telegraph</i>: -</span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Sir, - Thinking the following might prove of interest to the general public I send herewith an account of an animal seen from the upper bridge of this steamer, and which upon close examination proved to be the far famed sea-serpent which has been described so often in the various newspapers of the world. I "sighted" this monster about 11 a.m. on the morning of 15th inst. in Lat. 15 deg. 10 min. N. and Long. 112 deg. 40 min. E., and when first seen it was about half-a-mile </span><i><font face="verdana" size="2">[800 metres]</font></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> on the starboard bow and was travelling in a W.N.W. direction at the rate of about 4 or 5 knots an hour </span><i><font face="verdana" size="2">[7 - 9 mph]</font></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, the "ripple" where its body touched the water being distinctly seen.</span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Its head and body was </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">[sic]</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> reared to a height of fully 20 feet </span><i><font face="verdana" size="2">[6 m]</font></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> above the water, and I should calculate its extreme length to be about 70 feet </span><i><font face="verdana" size="2">[21 m]</font></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, whilst the girth of body was fully 6 feet </span><font face="verdana" size="2"><i>[1.8 m]</i></font><span style="font-size: 12pt;">; it was also possessed of an immense dorsal fin thickly covered with long hair or seaweed of a light brownish colour.</span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Its progress through the water as it swayed its huge body backward and forward appeared to be a succession of graceful, undulating movements of about 10 strokes to the minute.</span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> I had always been sceptical of the existence of such animals, but after what I and others have so recently witnessed I am fully convinced that such animals exist.</span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Altogether the creature was in sight about four minutes, and disappeared when within 200 yards of the ship.</span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Kowloon, 18th June, 1898.</span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <i>P.S.</i> - We were as you are doubtless aware bound from Singapore to this port at the time, and the animal in question was evidently making for the Paracel Group.</span></span></div></blockquote><div><b>Persian Gulf, 1898.</b> Here we have another very brief account from <i>The Straits Times</i>, this time on page 2 of its edition of 26 August 1898.</div><div></div><blockquote><div>THE SEA SERPENT STILL STRONG</div><div> The captain of a steamer sighted the sea serpent in the Persian Gulf last month. It had a long body with huge bull-shaped head with two large fins or flappers behind it, and an enormous pair of jaws. The length would probably be not more than 70 or 80 feet <i><font face="verdana" size="2">[21 - 24 m]</font></i>; the body was of a dark colour, speckled with streaks of a dirty white.</div></blockquote><div></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></div><div></div></div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-49012215654420259302020-06-04T15:13:00.000-07:002020-06-04T15:13:01.684-07:00Half Snake, Half Crocodile, Fully Forgotten Java: the most densely populated island in Indonesia, hills terraced right to the summit, miles and miles of incredibly beautiful scenes of paddy fields surrounded by green trees. (I know; I've been there.) The native tiger drifted into extinction in the 1970s. The native rhinoceros is holding on by its toenails to a single small peninsula. This is one place where you'd never expect an unusual and unknown animal to reside, isn't it? Well, here is a story originally told in 1899, although the event itself took place thirty years before.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div> The man who reported it was Lieut-Col. Andrew Haggard, D.S.O. who, I noticed, later wrote a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Under-Crescent-Star-Andrew-Haggard/dp/1378649052">book</a> about his experiences soldiering in North Africa. However, the original teller of the tale was his friend, Baron Alfons Pereira, the Consul-General of Austria-Hungary in Tunis. This sounds a strange posting for someone with a Portuguese name, but I <a href="http://www.thepeerage.com/p60727.htm#i607263">note</a> a Baron Johann Ludwig Alfons Pereira-Arnstein who lived in Vienna and may, or may not, be the person in question. The entry is a bit late, but it appears the particular baronage is of joint Portuguese-Germanic origin.</div><div> Anyway, the Baron was anxious that the story be put on record because, whenever he recounted it, it was treated as a "traveller's tale". Also, in the years since the event, he had never come across an picture of the animal, except drawings of an "ichthyosaurus". (I presume he meant "plesiosaur".) </div><div> The story began in February 1869, when he and Assistant Resident Metman were travelling in a large Javanese canoe. Dawn had just broken when they found themselves close to the mouth of the Batavia River. This name is no longer in use, but Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies, is now known as Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. I therefore conclude that the Batavia River is now the river of Jakarta, the Ci Liwung. (<i>Ci</i>, pronounced "chee" is the Javanese word for river.) I conclude, too, that they had been rowing downstream, because they now found the water to be salt, and there was a considerable swell caused by the waves of the sea clashing with the tide. In any case, we are dealing with an area close to dense human populations.</div><div> Suddenly, the Malay crew became excited, and started to call out the word, "Linguin!" and pointing out what looked like a crocodile in the mud about 150 metres away. "Linguin!" they cried, "Shoot! Shoot!" He shot, although the light was poor.</div><blockquote><div>Instantly, there was a most tremendous commotion in the mud. I saw a huge creature whirling round and round in the liquid ooze, first on its head and then on its tail - much like the firework called a Catherine wheel - while liquid mud was being scattered around in all directions.</div></blockquote><div> That strikes me are a rather unusual behaviour for a wounded animal. Anyhow, the steersman of the canoe seized a Malay scimitar and, diving into the water, swam to shore to do battle with the monster. As they got closer, the baron could see that the <i>linguin</i> had the body of a crocodile attached to the head and neck of a snake. At the approach of the Malay, the linguin ceased its whirling, and strove the bite its opponent, but the Malay dodged all its attacks, while inflicting wounds with his scimitar until a final cut to the neck killed it. </div><div> With great difficulty, the victor dragged it by the tail to the canoe, where they managed to get it aboard, although the weight almost brought the gunwale on that side to the water line. Since the body alone rested on two thwarts of the boat, it length must have been between nine and ten feet [2.7 to 3 metres]. Although the Malay sword had inflected many gashes, there was no bleeding, and they could see that the flesh was white. They carried the carcass until the middle of the day, by which time decomposition forced them to discard it.</div><div> The baron stated that never again saw another linguin. Nevertheless, he had recently (c 1899) sighted a letter from Java confirming that the animal did exist.</div><div> What are we to make of this? The anatomy of the animal makes no sense, nor does it relate to anything known, extant or extinct. It was killed near a densely populated area of a densely populated island, and has never been seen since. Pardon me if I am not impressed. However, you now have the details, and can make up your own mind if any further information turns up.</div><div> (As they say: What is the difference between a fairy tale and a traveller's tale? A fairy tale starts: "Once upon a time ..." A traveller's tale starts: "Now, you won't believe this, but ...")</div><div><b>Reference:</b><i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>Lieut.-Col. Andrew Haggard (March 1899), 'The Linguin', <i>The Wide World Magazine</i> vol. 2 (11), pp 570 - 572. You can download it for free <a href="https://archive.org/details/wideworldmagazin02lond/page/n7/mode/2up">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-78321286147347087422020-05-07T15:11:00.001-07:002020-05-07T15:11:41.914-07:00The Amazing "Nestor" Sea Serpent of 1876<div> Ah, the irony! I had started this blog intending to use it for translations of foreign language articles on cryptozoology, along with specific Australian reports which had come my way. These, of course, can still be found if you consult the <a href="https://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com/p/index-to-this-site.html" target="_blank">Index</a>. However, it seems that for the last couple of years it has been used to chronicle sea serpent reports overlooked by previous researchers. I had thought I had finished with it all, and had just published my <a href="https://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com/2020/03/introducing-three-new-books.html" target="_blank">two books</a>, <i>Australian Sea Serpents </i>and<i> Forgotten Sea Serpents</i>, when I received a Facebook message from Paul Cropper. Our association went back 32 years, when we collaborated on a paper about Australian Sea Serpents, and now he suggested I check the <a href="https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/" target="_blank">digitalised newspapers</a> of Singapore. Thank you, Paul! I have now done it, and this is the first installment. This is not an unknown case. Indeed it is one of most famous ones, because it is so unusual. My reason for citing it is that I now have some earlier information, and the descriptions differ somewhat.<span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div> <strong>Malacca Straits, 1876</strong></div><div> The S.S. <em>Nestor</em> saw something very big, very sluggish, and very strange in the Straits of Malacca in September 1876. The most frequently cited report is the affidavit sworn by Captain Webster and Dr. James Anderson, ship's surgeon, before Donald Spence, the Acting Law Secretary to the British Supreme Court in Shanghai, when the ship arrived at that port in October 1876. </div><div><blockquote> On September 11, at 10.30 a.m., fifteen miles<font color="#f57c00"> [24 km] </font>north-west of North Sand Lighthouse, in the Malacca Straits, the weather being fine and the sea smooth, the captain saw an object which had been pointed out by the third officer as 'a shoal!' Surprised at finding a shoal in such a well-known track, I watched the object, and found that it was in motion, keeping up the same speed with the ship, and retaining about the same distance as first seen. The shape of the creature I would compare to that of a gigantic frog.<font color="#f57c00"> [Heuvelmans suggested he meant "tadpole".] </font>The head, of a pale yellowish colour, was about twenty feet <font color="#f57c00">[6 metres]</font> in length, and six feet <font color="#f57c00">[1.8 m] </font>of the crown were above the water. I tried in vain to make out the eyes and mouth; the mouth may, however, have been below water. The head was immediately connected to the body, without any indication of a neck. The body was about forty-five or fifty feet <font color="#f57c00">[13.7 - 15.2 m]</font> long, and of an oval shape, perfectly smooth, but there may have been a slight ridge along the spine. The back rose some five feet <font color="#f57c00">[1½ m]</font> above the surface. An immense tail, fully one hundred and fifty feet <font color="#f57c00">[46 m]</font> in length, rose a few inches above the water. This tail I saw distinctly from its junction with the body to its extremity; it seemed cylindrical, with a very slight taper, and I estimate its diameter at four feet<font color="#f57c00"> [1.2 m]</font>. The body and tail were marked with alternate bands of stripes, black and pale yellow in colour. The stripes were distinct to the very extremity of the tail. I cannot say whether the tail terminated in a fin or not. The creature possessed no fins or paddles so far as we could perceive. I cannot say if it had legs. It appeared to progress by means of an undulatory motion of the tail in a vertical plain (that is, up and down).</blockquote></div><div> Since a Fortean always gives his sources, here goes. The proximal source is pages 341-2 of <i>The Great Sea-Serpent</i> (1892) by A. C. Oudemans. He cites it from Wilson's <i>Leisure Times Studies</i>, which in turn quotes it from an article by R. A. Proctor in <i>The Echo </i>of 15 January 1877. While this might sound like an example of Chinese whispers, the report had been quoted verbatim in each, so it is unlikely anything got lost in transit.</div><div> Proctor also stated that Mr. Anderson confirmed the captain's account. He considered the animal to be gelatinous or flabby, and although it was travelling at ten knots, or 18½ k.p.h., its movements appeared lethargic.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj96o3hbxOXwRk5TXyWTf6mJ3ZAfr1FOTCxmkKkGsNtF2oXQ2d3rnyfrntLLjIJ7wiUKjoX43EVJawqEARdk8FVBZWb1K6i144Bu48C_QL66Qt-VKRrP5YxokrPoDrAAOMhnMWWWxvLBqVY/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="2810" height="103" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj96o3hbxOXwRk5TXyWTf6mJ3ZAfr1FOTCxmkKkGsNtF2oXQ2d3rnyfrntLLjIJ7wiUKjoX43EVJawqEARdk8FVBZWb1K6i144Bu48C_QL66Qt-VKRrP5YxokrPoDrAAOMhnMWWWxvLBqVY/w400-h103/IMG_0060.jpg" width="400" /></a>.</div> The text was also copied verbatim on pages 269-270 of <i>In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents</i> by Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans, who also provided this sketch, "after Captain Webster". Unfortunately, he did not indicate the source, but he did refer to a number of other newspaper reports in his bibliography. It is not included in Oudemans' book.<div> Of course, the affidavit would have been taken at least three weeks after the incident, which one would consider short enough for the memory to be still fresh. Just the same, we now have some earlier versions. The first is from the <i>Straits Times Overland Journal</i> of 18 September 1876, on page 10, which bears snippets of news in a column headed,</div><div style="text-align: center;">"Tuesday, 12th September" </div><div style="text-align: center;">ie the day after the event.</div><div></div><blockquote><div> The O.S.S. Co's. steamer <i>Nestor</i>, Captain Webster, from Liverpool with dates to the 3rd ultimo, via Penang arrived alongside Tanjong Pagar wharf this morning, <i>en route</i> to Hongkong and Shanghai.</div><div style="text-align: center;">...........................................</div><div> Our friend, Mr. Henry Lee of <i>Land and Water</i>, who in his late work has taken so much trouble to enter into and describe the habits and peculiarities of the Sea Serpent, will be glad to hear that the passengers and officers of the S.S. <i>Nestor</i> which arrived here this morning are unanimous in the conclusion, and vouch for the fact, that an extraordinary Sea Serpent was seen by them between Malacca and Penang on their voyage to this Port on Monday about noon. It was about 250 feet<font color="#f57c00"> [76 m]</font> long, about 50 feet<font color="#f57c00"> [15 m]</font> broad, square headed, with black and yellow stripes closely resembling a Salamander.</div></blockquote><div></div><div> 11th September was, indeed, a Monday. On 16 September the <i>Straits Times</i> published on page 5 a letter from Captain Webster, dated 13 September ie just two days after the event. Although he addressed it to the editor of the <i>Daily Times</i>, I wonder if her didn't mean the <i>Straits Times</i>. If so, I haven't been able to find the earlier report he referred to.</div><div></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">THE SKA MONSTER [<i>sic</i>]</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>To the Editor of the Daily Times</i>.</div><div> SIR, - In reference to your paragraph in your yesterday's issue relating to our having seen a sea-monster answering to the popular notion of a Sea Serpent, I am prepared to vouch for the correctness of the statement already made to you by the doctor and a passenger by my ship. Being on the bridge at the time (about 10 A.M.) with the first and third officers, we were surprised by the appearance of an extraordinary monster going in our course, at an equal speed with the vessel, at a distance from us of about 600 feet <font color="#f57c00">[180 m]</font>. It had a square head, and a dragon black and white striped tail, and an immense body which was quite 50<font color="#f57c00"> [15 m]</font> feet broad when the monster raised it. The head was about 12 feet <font color="#f57c00">[3.6 m]</font> broad, and appeared to be occasionally at the extreme about 6 ft.<font color="#f57c00">[1.8 m]</font> above the water. When the head was placed on a level with the water, the body was extended to its utmost limit to all appearance, and then the body rose out of the water about 2 feet <font color="#f57c00">[30 cm]</font>, and seemed quite 50 feet<font color="#f57c00"> [15 m] </font>broad at those times. The long dragon tail with black and white scales, afterwards rose, in an undulating motion in which at one time the head, at another the body, and eventually the tail formed in its turn, a prominent object above the water. The animal, or whatever it may be called, appeared careless of our proximity, and went our course for about six minutes, on our starboard side, and then finally worked round to our port side, and remained in view, to the delight of all on board, for about half an hour.</div><div> His length was reckoned to be over 200 feet <font color="#f57c00">[60 m]</font>.</div><div style="text-align: right;">JOHN W. WEBSTER, </div><div style="text-align: right;">Commander S. S. <i>Nestor</i>.</div><div style="text-align: right;">Singapore, 13th September, 1876</div></blockquote><div></div><div> As you can see, some slight differences in emphasis exist between the accounts. In the earlier (13 Sept.) one we are advised of the distance. Now, judging distance and size at sea is always difficult. However, it appears to have been close enough for the crew to compare it to the length of the ship, at least as far as order of magnitude goes. In the earlier one you might assume that the animal raised its head out of the water, and wonder why the shape wasn't mentioned. but it turns out all that happened was that the top of the front end was lifted above the water line. Also, not only was the length incredible, but so was the width. It also appears to have been swollen in the middle, the "body" being much wider than the "head".</div><div> What on earth was it? It does not resemble anything known to science <i>or</i> any other "sea serpent". Dr. Roy (<em>Searching for Hidden Animals</em>, 1980) suggested it might have been a giant tunicate colony. Also known as sea squirts, or salps, these are very primitive invertebrates, some groups of which, such as the fire salps, form huge, elongated colonies up to 60 feet long and 3 or 4 feet across. You can see a startling photograph of one <a href="http://www.biodiversityexplorer.info/mm/tunicates/pyrostremma_spinosum.htm" target="_blank">here</a>. Nevertheless, this is much shorter, and much, much narrower than the thing observed from the <i>Nestor</i>, and without the swell in the middle. Also, I can't see such as giant colony possessing yellow and black bands, or swimming by vertical undulations.</div><div> So what on earth was it?</div><div><br /><div><br /></div><span><div></div><!--more--></span></div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-80175033071589574122020-03-20T14:19:00.002-07:002021-05-11T16:03:25.799-07:00Introducing Three New Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am pleased to announce that I have just published three new cryptozoological books, made possible by the mass digitalisation of old newspapers, journals, and other documents by the Australian National Library. The first two, <i>The Truth About Bunyips</i> and <i>Australian Sea Serpents</i>, will, I am confident, become the definitive works on the respective subjects. The third, <i>Forgotten Sea Serpents</i> will be required reading for all those seeking to complete their documentation of this unusual subject. These books are available in both paperback and e-book format from most branches of Amazon. (I know I have even sold a couple in Japan.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXHGMSBxy-HnG3Lv9Sa456U-qK6WY3xnLlBVzRnHJkvbINNjeAc4BBOUrWvCGbOiwB1fIk7QQZUDHKc0Kbq6d3EEtcY4WkLSoDUZYST0LEQCeCvgigGprGP3HSu4TCjCqiaqqFWHTkfwp-/s1600/Truth+About+Bunyips.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="907" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXHGMSBxy-HnG3Lv9Sa456U-qK6WY3xnLlBVzRnHJkvbINNjeAc4BBOUrWvCGbOiwB1fIk7QQZUDHKc0Kbq6d3EEtcY4WkLSoDUZYST0LEQCeCvgigGprGP3HSu4TCjCqiaqqFWHTkfwp-/s320/Truth+About+Bunyips.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<i>The Truth About Bunyips</i></div>
Every Australian knows that bunyips are mythological denizens of the inland rivers and lagoons, but hardly anyone knows what they are supported to look like. You'll find a few children's books on the subject, but only the rare article or book on the actual folklore. By and large, the authors have had to copy from each other, relying on secondary sources, because the original sources were so old and hard to access. Well, I have finally tracked down the original sources. It is established that the original Aboriginal myth emanated from the Riverina, along with the central inland and coastal areas of Victoria. It is also established that, even before they had heard the Aboriginal myth, white settlers were claiming to have seen strange creatures in the inland waterways. Even after an explanation was provided, they still kept seeing them - some of them really bizarre in appearance. The book ends with a table of 53 sightings - the last one in 1989!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt00jijD5Sy_k3gr5SAfc4BnewYonrKy4xN48ZsyUjmwCPaO9lBYDbx861foF0rsw2kADwathfJ507sLGKKLjQGF-nATB6JkKlxLVG-FuJcl8JPk4Gq-xqDddWf-006anxULZNVLi5gVgw/s1600/Australian+Sea+Serpents.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt00jijD5Sy_k3gr5SAfc4BnewYonrKy4xN48ZsyUjmwCPaO9lBYDbx861foF0rsw2kADwathfJ507sLGKKLjQGF-nATB6JkKlxLVG-FuJcl8JPk4Gq-xqDddWf-006anxULZNVLi5gVgw/s320/Australian+Sea+Serpents.jpg" width="212" /></a><br />
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<i>Australian Sea Serpents</i></div>
I was inspired to right this while trolling through old newspaper records. My original intent was to locate the original reports which I knew only from the secondary source of Heuvelmans' classic 1968 compendium, <i>In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents</i>, and I kept coming across reports which no other researcher had discovered. "I could turn this into a book," I thought. The book includes chapters of unknown big fish, the Tasmanian "globsters", and a few loose ends, but the core consists of 87 numbered sightings of sea serpents, the most recent being in 1995. Furthermore, 49 of the 87 were <i>new </i>cases i.e. not recorded by earlier researchers. Some of the 87 could reasonably be identified as known animals, some sounded like hoaxes, and some were too vague for a decision to be made, but after discarding them, that still left 60 worthy of serious consideration.<br />
If I do say so myself, I regard this compendium as exhaustive. I am fairly certain you won't locate any additional written reports prior to (say) 1950. The information is fully documented, and a number of maps are provided at the end.<br />
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<i>Forgotten Sea Serpents</i></div>
Personally, I find it more believable that there might be large unknown animals in the open sea than cooped up in enclosed lakes, where they surface only only once in a while. Yet the strange irony is that people and newspapers are happy to report lake monsters these days, but not sea serpents, although prior to the Second World War they were far from reticent.<br />
As I was trolling through Australian newspaper files researching the previous book, I kept coming across reports from other parts of the world. Cross-checking them against Heuvelmans' list, I discovered that many of them had also been missed, overlooked, or ignored by previous researchers. It seemed to me I would be doing the cryptozoological world a favour were I to publish them in a single volume. But even I was surprised to discover they numbered more than 70. Heaven only knows how many others are out there, which never made it to the Australian press!<br />
Anyway, this volume has been compiled as a service to you. Anybody looking for completeness in their data on this esoteric subject would be advised to acquire it.<br />
<br /><div> As far as e-books go, I consider the Kindle e-reader, which is very easy on the eyes, as the best invention since sliced bread. However, if you don't have, or don't want, one, you can still download a free Kindle app for your PC, Ipad, or phone.</div>Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-77448635945256019382020-03-03T12:46:00.003-08:002020-10-17T02:26:33.602-07:00The Footprint on the Cliff Face<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If you visit Carnarvon Gorge, Central Queensland, as thousands do, you will come to a cliff face where the aborigines have carved the footprints of numerous animals, perhaps as a blackboard for their children. Only a sign erected by the National Parks and Wildlife Service will alert you to the fact that one of them is not referable to any known animal. However, a keen cryptozoologist will immediately recognize its similarity to a footprint found north of Cardwell, nearly 900 km away.</blockquote>
Well, that was what I wrote on page 69 of <i><a href="https://malcolmshome.blogspot.com/2011/03/bunyips-and-bigfoots.html" target="_blank">Bunyips and Bigfoots</a></i>, introducing the chapter on the north Queensland tiger. To my surprise, however, in the quarter century since then I have discovered that I appear to be the only person aware of it. Those who mention it always cite my book. The current staff of the Carnarvon National Park don't know about it. They used to, and they should, but they don't. With this in mind, it is time I set the record straight.<br />
<a name='more'></a> During the first half of last century, legends abounded of a large, striped, cat-like animal, presumed to be a marsupial, dwelling in the fastness of north Queensland. You can read about some of the reports <a href="https://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-great-north-queensland-tiger-hunt.html" target="_blank">here</a>. In fact, as the article explained, the legend really began in 1871, with a letter published in the <i>Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London</i>.<br />
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A second letter was published on 5 March 1872, on page 355 of the <em>Proceedings</em>, and it relates the experience of a surveyor, Mr. Hull on the Murray and Mackay Rivers, north of Cardwell, where he and his team heard roaring three nights in succession, and they discovered a footprint in the soft soil. As it turned out, Alfred Hull was, at the time, busy having his diary published in the southern Queensland newspapers, and he stated the dimensions of the footprint to be 4 by 4½ inches, or 10 by 11 cm, as I related in the first volume of the <em>Journal of Cryptozoology</em>.<br />
In any case, here is Alfred Hull's sketch of the footprint, which he assured the correspondent was correct in every detail. It is not referable to any known species.<br />
The site, or course, was in far north Queensland. However, Carnarvon Gorge is situated at approximately 25° S, 148° 10' E, and consists of a spectacular complex of gorges, now served by a large number of walking trails. More to the point, the cliff faces and rock shelters also feature spectacular examples of Aboriginal art, the most spectacular being on the hard-to-access Art Gallery.<br />
Carnarvon Gorge is not easily accessible to a person like myself acting alone. However, in 1978 and 1986 I booked excursions with companies providing camping tours of the canyon. Because I had taken a large number of photos on my first visit, I left my camera home on the second one. I could have kicked myself! Here is an extract of my diary for Saturday 29 March 1986. At the time, we had done a complete circuit, and were heading back to camp.<br />
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It seemed only reasonable to continue on to the Art Gallery, 5.6 km from the campsite. The trouble was, the trail was very hot and tiring. Beyond the 10th creek crossing it rose ever upwards. Some time after noon we came to a stairway in a cleft in the rocks, and as it was the only shady spot we sat down to eat our packed lunch. At the top of the stair was the Art Gallery - that vast cliff face covered with aboriginal art - stencilled hands, boomerangs, coolamons, nets, goannas, etc. Since I was last there, however, they have added a walkway (at least, I don't remember it there before). Without the notices on the walkway I wouldn't have seen the spirit figure or realised that the most common engraving represented a vulva. They also pointed out an engraving of a 5-toed paw of any unknown animal. I immediately remembered the footprint of the North Queensland 'tiger'.</blockquote>
If I had had my camera with me, I would have taken photos of both the engraving and the sign. As it was, I made a rough sketch of it on a scrap of paper, and later transferred it to my diary. I shan't copy it here because it was very crude but, like Mr Hull's sketch, it displayed the same oval pad, not present in any known native animal, and with five toes - not four - in a line above the pad, but I think somewhat thinner than on Hull's footprint.<br />
For various reasons, I haven't been back since - at least not to the Art Gallery. You can find plenty of photos online of the art at that site, but none of them, as far as I am aware, covers the specific small nook which bears that engraving. In 2016 a correspondent, Chris McLean decided to make written enquiries to the authorities at Carnarvon Gorge about it. It turns out no-one now knows anything about it. The sign directing attention to it no longer exists. Some time in the last third of a century, when facilities were being up-dated, somebody decided to remove the sign.<br />
But the footprint is there. I saw it. I recorded it. If you ever visit the Art Gallery, you may be able to locate it. If you can, please send me a photograph.Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-24138751846640157562020-02-12T14:40:00.000-08:002020-02-12T14:40:45.006-08:00Last Forgotten Sea Serpents (1926 to 1931) I know I've said this before, but this probably really is my last post on old sea serpent sightings. As before, they represent foreign cases which turned up in Australian newspapers, but which earlier researchers had apparently missed. Most of these were reported in the major capital cities dailies, but many others were picked up by minor rural newspapers, often at random. Which makes one wonder how many others are "out there", waiting to be unearthed.<br />
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<b>Los Angeles, ? late 1926</b><br />
<b> </b>One imagines the editor in Perth, Western Australia saying, "Where in the U.S.A. is this place, Venice? Oh well, it's a good story. It'll fill up a paragraph, so we might as well run it." But none of the readers were left with any idea of the geographic context in those pre-internet days. Venice was a Californian seaside town which was annexed by Los Angeles in 1926. It has a popular amusement pier, and during the 1920s its mayor was Clinton Gordon Parkhurst, who now has a building named after him in Santa Monica. Presumably, local newspapers provided more details concerning who, when, and what than is provided in this short paragraph which, if accurate, indicates something rather strange. It comes from the front page of the <i>Daily News</i> (Perth) on Monday 3 January 1927. This suggests to me that the events took place in late December 1926.<br />
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AMERICAN SEA SERPENT</div>
A giant "sea beast" sighted off shore between Liek and Venice piers (U.S.A.) caused a buzz of excitement among beach residents. A permit to kill the huge fish was obtained from the Venice police by residents along the waterfront. The "beast," according to Mayor Parkhurst, was about 35 feet<span style="color: #783f04;"> [10½ metres]</span> long and had six fins projecting out of the water. Fishermen who sighted the strange water creature believe it was attracted by the presence of an unusually large number of dead seals in this vicinity.</blockquote>
<b>Gibsons, British Columbia, 1927</b><br />
The city of Vancouver, of course, is situated on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Just to the northwest lies a triangular stretch of water known as Howe Sound. Gibson lies just on the other side of the sound, at 49° 24' N, 123° 30' W. This was the location of the following series of encounters - in a stretch of water known as the Strait of Georgia, separating Vancouver Island from the mainland. By this time, readers should be aware that this whole area is a known haunt of a sea serpent known as "Cadborosaurus". The story is taken from the <i>Mercury</i> (Hobart) of Friday 22 July 1927, at page 12. Needless to say, the vertical undulations reported clearly reveal that the animals are mammals.<br />
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SEA SERPENTS</div>
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SEEN BY FISHERMEN.</div>
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AMAZING STORY FROM VANCOUVER.</div>
Two sea serpents measuring more than thirty feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[9 metres]</span>, and carrying their heads nearly six feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[1.8 m]</span> above the sea level, are reported to have been seen by three Vancouver men, and many residents of Gibson's Landing, British Columbia (says a message from Vancouver to the New York "Herald-Tribune").<br />
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ENORMOUS HEADS.</div>
The heads of the creatures were said to be about two feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[60 cm]</span> broad by one foot high, with enormous mouth and bulging eyes. The neck tapers slightly from the body, which is thirty inches <span style="color: #783f04;">[75 cm]</span> thick. Coils, twenty feet<span style="color: #783f04;"> [6 m]</span> behind the head, were two feet in diameter, and loose skin hung below the lower jaw, probably a pouch. The head resembled a snake's, but the serpents swam by an up and down wave-length motion. They were devoid of anything resembling fins or scales, the skin being pale pink, blotched with dull yellow.<br />
This description is given by Frederick Parnell and William Park, of Vancouver. Parnell was fishing near shore at Gibson's Landing, when two serpents broke water within 25 feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[7½ m]</span> from his boat, reared their heads nearly six feet, and blew heavily, but did not eject water like a whale. Terrified, he remained silent, watching. Moving their heads from side to side like snakes, the creatures moved rapidly away coils appearing and disappearing behind the heads, which had been lowered slightly.<br />
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DIVED FROM SIGHT</div>
Recovering his nerve, Fred, shouted to his brother George, on shore, "Look, quick." Immediately he did so both serpents lowered their heads into the water and dived from sight.<br />
William Park was with D. Smith in a row boat when they saw a serpent near the same spot. It appeared fifty yards away, and blew heavily, its head nearly five feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[1½ m]</span> above water. Both thought it was a seal or sea lion, but on observing it closely they saw it was neither. After blowing for half a minute the creature dipped its head. As it dived several coils broke water before the tail disappeared.<br />
Fishermen who have also seen the monsters are worried, as fish have almost disappeared from the bay. Plans are being discussed for an organised effort to capture the creatures.<br />
W. Messenger Racher, of Gibson's Landing, has signed a statement declaring he saw the sea serpent twice within 300 yards from the shore off Gower Polat, on April 18. The creatures appeared within 40 feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[12 m] </span>of his boat.</blockquote>
<b>Jersey, English Channel, 1928</b><br />
Here we have a brief, but graphic account from the <i>Advertiser</i> (Adelaide), on Friday 6 July 1928, page 15.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
THE "SEA SERPENT" AGAIN.</div>
Pilots on duty near Corbiere Lighthouse, Jersey, are confident that they have seen a sea serpent. A huge head with bulging eyes appeared a few hundred yards from their bat, they reported in May. "Its head was held upright for some seconds, and, snorting loudly, it dived back and swam off at great speed in a southerly direction," they said. In all their experience, the pilots stated, they had never seen such a large or repulsive-looking fish. It appeared to have horns on its head and spikes or spines from the head downwards.</blockquote>
<b>Off West Africa, 1929</b><br />
Originally published in a prestigious English newspaper, this story was taken up by one in rural Queensland, the <i>Western Star and Roma Advertiser</i> (Toowoomba) on Saturday 26 September 1931, on page 5. Note that the location was not far from that of the S.S. <i>Aro </i>sea serpent of 1911, which <a href="http://malcolmscryptids.blogspot.com.au/2017/09/more-forgotten-sea-serpents.html" target="_blank">I referred to</a> earlier.<br />
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ANOTHER SEA SERPENT<br />
Mr. J. J. R. Smythe, of Notinghill, London, in a letter to "The Times Weekly Edition," makes an interesting contribution to the immemorial controversy concerning the sea serpent. "While travelling to England from Durban in Grantully Castle on March 1, 1929," he writes, "I was on the promenade deck with my wife and my son, who was fourth officer of the ship. At 7.15 a.m., the ship being then in latitude 15.38deg. N., longitude 17.39deg. W., I noticed a big disturbance in the sea ahead. Looking through my binoculars I saw that it was caused by a swimming reptile of some sort. I handed my glasses to my son and asked what he made of it. He said that it was a sea serpent, and that he had seen one on a former voyage; but with usual reticence of those who make their living on the sea he had said nothing about it. The creature rapidly approached the ship and passed us going south at a distance of about 600ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[180 metres]</span>. From the time I first sighted the serpent till it passed out of sight astern could not have been more than three minutes. I estimated its length to be 100ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[30 metres] </span>and its diameter to be 4ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[1.2 m]</span>. Its colour was a dirty yellowish green with large white spots on the body. I saw three distinct undulations or curves above, though not clear of the sea; my son saw the head and said that it looked like that of a snake."</blockquote>
Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-29183838009293633242020-02-04T12:49:00.000-08:002020-02-04T12:49:40.002-08:00More Forgotten Sea Serpents, 1914 to 1926 Once more, I present a collection of sea serpent reports which have appeared in Australian newspapers, having been obtained from foreign dailies, often some time previously.<br />
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<b>Off Borneo, 1914</b><br />
Here we have what, in the Australian vernacular, would be called a "humdinger". It's a highly dramatic account of what appears to have been a hexed voyage. The highlight, sandwiched between a series of fatal accidents, was an encounter with a sea serpent which appeared to want to eat a fallen sailor. Since such behaviour has been so rarely reported, the truthfulness of the story must rest in doubt. (Then again, perhaps the rarity of such reports might be simply explained by the extreme rarity of seaman falling overboard when a sea serpent is in the vicinity.) In any case, the story is too good to pass up. It comes from page 2 of the <i>Express and Telegraph</i> (Adelaide) of Saturday 8 August 1914.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
WITH THE GHOST AT SEA.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
THE SERPENT TERROR.</div>
More like chapter from a sensational novel than an incident in real life are the adventures of of the British tramp steamer Strathspey which arrived in New York on July 1, after a remarkable voyage of one hundred and fifty days from Glasgow to the Far East, via the Cape of Good Hope, and back to New York by way of the Suez Canal. Of her complement of 38 officers and men only eight are whites, the remainder being Chinese, Arabs, and Lascars, says the "Central News" in an account of the voyage. Off Port Natal a Chinese stoker was killed by falling into the hold, and for three days afterwards the steamer merely drifted, the other stokers refusing to work on the ground that the ghost of the dead man was prowling about the stokehold. In the Canton River one of the Chinese coolies working the cargo was knocked on the head by a heavy chain and instantly killed. Off Malta, the chief engineer, James McMurray, jumped overboard, and nothing was seen of him again, although a prolonged search was made.<br />
But the most remarkable adventure of the voyage occurred off the coast of Borneo. According to statements made to the New York newspaper reporters, Mohammed Singh, an Arab sailor, fell overboard from one of the boats, fell overboard from one of the boats he was cleaning. Singh, a powerful swimmer, was nearing the lifeboat when a commotion arose in his wake, and the crew of the boat saw a great green sea serpent raise its head several feet above the waves as if about to seize the Arab sailor in its capacious maw. Singh head the noise and felt the hot blast from the monster's lungs on the back of his bronze neck. He turned half round and then, with a cry of "Allah Kerim," he made a tremendous effort to reach the boat before the sea serpent could seize him.<br />
The Arab sailors on board the boat bent their backs double on the oars and gave a mighty pull, which enabled Singh to be hauled aboard breathless just as the serpent opened its mouth to grab him. Finding he was out of reach, the monster bit the rudder off the boat in its rage. Chowder Loll, who was steering at the time, fell in a faint from fright. The boat was steered back alongside the steamer with one of the oars over the stern. The sea-serpent evidently had been scared off, for he was seen in the distance steering due east at the rate of 30 knots an hour <span style="color: #783f04;">[55 kph]</span>.<br />
After the Strathspey left Port Said on June 18 for New York it was noticed that James McMurray, who was over 60 years old, was very melancholy and walked about the deck a good deal. He was very fond of the parrot, and after talking to him one morning when the steamer was off Malta, he fell overboard. The parrot, Toko, shrieked "eight bells" until the chief officer heard him and saw the chief engineer's coat and vest and cap by the rail. Then he realised what had happened. Captain Jones had the ship stopped and went back 14 miles, but could not see anything of the old man. The Strathspey is a steel screw steamer of 4,432 tons, built by the Grangemouth and Greenock Dockyard Company in 1906, and owned by the Strathspey S.S. Co. Ltd. (Messrs. Burrell & Son).</blockquote>
A couple of trivial points. "Allah Kerim" is Arabic for "God is noble/generous", but Singh in an Indian name. I therefore conclude that, in this account, "Arab" meant "Muslim". As far the sea serpent goes, it is a pity that the journalist did not interview anyone with a close up view of the animal in order to obtain more details, other than the fact that it was green (a very unusual colour) and that it had a "capacious maw". On the other hand, back in 1965 a skin diver described how, off the coast of Florida in 1962, his four companions were apparently killed and eaten by some sort of sea monster. The story was reprinted on pages of 524 - 5 of Heuvelmans' book. Although the tale sounded fantastic at the time, it does tend to corroborate the present account. It just goes to show that you should never discard any report, no matter how unlikely it appears.<br />
<br />
<b>Baltic Sea, 1917</b><br />
Here we have an example of the randomness in the way these stories are published. In this case, it was picked up by two obscure Australian country newspapers months apart. The first one was a short paragraph on page 35 of the <i>Albury Banner and Wodonga Express</i> (NSW) of Friday 23 February 1917. It refers to a Swedish officer having lately written to the press. However, a more detailed citation of the officer's account was published in the <i>Cobram Courier</i> (Vic) of Thursday 3 May 1917, on page 7, so I shall provide this version. Here the officer is said to have written to <i>Nature</i>, which is a very prominent scientific journal, though I am unaware of which issue carried it.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
SEA SERPENT SEEN IN THE SEA.</div>
Major O. Smith, an officer of the Swedish army, has described in "Nature" a sea serpent which he saw in the Baltic Sea, near Stockholm. "At 2.23 p.m." he writes, "we suddenly saw a movement of the water like the ripple of a wave less than 300 feet<span style="color: #783f04;"> [90 metres]</span> from us. The sea was calm and there was no boat or anything else that could cause such a movement. Looking more attentively, all of us saw very distinctly a head like that of an enormous serpent, larger than that of a man, slightly elongated, surmounting a serpentine body about seventy-five feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[23 m] </span>long. The creature was undulating, making at least ten distinct curves, and a large part of its posterior region was above water. We watched this strange creature for more than a minute swimming at a speed of about two knots<span style="color: #783f04;"> [3½ kph]</span>. I have seen many dolphins and whales and I know their movements. Those of this sea serpent were very different."</blockquote>
<b>Atlantic side of South Africa, 1918</b><br />
This one comes from page 6 of the <i>Darling Downs Gazette</i> (Qld) of Monday 21 October 1918.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
SEA SERPENT AGAIN</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
A STORY FROM AFRICA</div>
That old dear, the sea-serpent, has appeared again. Ethelbert G. Fotheringay says so, and as he is not a German his word is entitled to respectful consideration. In fact, he was loathe to tell the story, for he is hep to the merry ha-ha that usually greets sea-serpent tales. Of course, this is the open season, and they may be caught at any time now off seacoast summer resorts. But this serpent chose the coast of Africa for his appearance - probably he was disturbed in his deep-sea lair by a prowling submarine, and took it on the run for the south.<br />
Mr. Fotheringay has been in Africa for two years gathering rhinoceros hides and ivory for a Chicago firm. He saw the serpent three months ago while on the way from Swakopmund, formerly German South-west Africa, to Capetown, and this is the way he told the story to a New York 'Times' reporter, reluctantly as has been said.<br />
'I was on board the old African steamship Lum-Lum, which carried a Chinese crew with Dutch officer, and commanded by Captain Johann Van den Woof, one of the oldest skippers on the coast, a lifelong teetotaler, and a Baptist. There was only one other white passenger besides myself, Guy de Jolipas, the famous French gorilla-hunter, and about two hundred Hottentots and Kaffirs.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
HEAD LIKE A PORK BARREL</div>
'It was a sweltering afternoon and the ship was about 150 miles <span style="color: #783f04;">[240 km]</span> north west of Capetown. The temperature was 105 <span style="color: #783f04;">[40.5° C] </span>in the shade, with a copper-coloured sky and the sea like boiled oil. Guy, the gorilla-hunter, had just thrown a chatty at the head of Oolu, the Hottentot cabin-boy, because he had brought him a bottle of beer without ice, when I heard a wild yell from deck and saw the panic-stricken natives trying to get down the after-hatch looking over the port side. I saw the weirdest monster that one could possibly imagine, afloat or ashore. When I tell you calmly that the head of the animal, which I realised at once was the sea-serpent, was as large as a good-sided pork-barrel, I do not exaggerate. I refer to the ordinary 500 <span style="color: #783f04;">[unclear]</span> pound barrel and not the <span style="color: #783f04;">[?]</span> tierce of beef which is usually 350 pounds <span style="color: #783f04;">[159 kg]</span> or more.<br />
'The sea-serpent's head was about eight feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[2½ metres] </span>above the surface of the sea, and about three feet<span style="color: #783f04;"> [90 cm]</span> across in the widest part. Its face was covered with bristly spikes which stuck out at angles, and the large, round eyes gazed curiously at the steamship in a reproachful manner, as if the noise of the propeller had disturbed its afternoon siesta.<br />
'The neck was no more than twelve inches <span style="color: #783f04;">[30 cm]</span> in diameter, and was partly hidden by dark, hard-looking barnacles. I could not say exactly how long the sea-serpent was, but judging by the last ripple when it moved I think 150 feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[45 m]</span> would be about the mark. Captain Van den Woof was very much excited as he stood with his big telescope on the bridge examining the marine monster. 'Gott fur dicker,' he shouted, 'this was the big sea-serpent the old Danish skipper Jensen reported three months ago at Capetown, and the people said he was crazy,'<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
SHIP DOES FIVE LAPS</div>
'The captain gave orders to the officer on watch to steam around the sea-serpent carefully and get as close as the ship could go without rushing into needless danger. Five times the Lum-Lum circumnavigated the sea-monster, which turned its massive head slowly, and regarded the vessel with a wistful look as if he wanted to speak to us and tell about its travels around the world. No-one had a camera on board, and the finest chance to snap the sea-serpent was lost. Guy, the hunter, had one when we left Swakopmund, but he broke it on Oolu's head two hours later and threw the debris over the side. He fired his express rifle at the monster several times, and the skipper peppered away from the bridge with an old Snider rifle, but the bullets glanced off its hide without having any perceptible effect.<br />
'Finally the captain gave orders to resume the course, and the Lum-Lum steamed away for Capetown. The last we saw of the sea-serpent astern was the great barrel-shaped head wagging slowly up and down, followed by a big commotion in the water, and then he disappeared beneath the surface. Judging by the course taken, the serpent was going an easy thirty-knot <span style="color: #783f04;">[55 kph]</span> gait towards the Bight of Benin.'</blockquote>
<b>Fiji, 1923</b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
To be fair, it took only a couple of weeks for this story to reach Australia, where it turned up in a couple of minor rural newspapers, but, for reasons explained in the second last paragraph, it took four months for the story to break. In other words, although it took place in 1923, it was not reported until 1924. This is taken from the <i>Advocate</i> (Burnie, Tas.) of Friday 8 February 1924, on page 5.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
SEA SERPENT SEEN.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Mission Station Experience.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
HEAD LIKE A HORSE.</div>
SUVA, January 25 - A remarkable story of a huge sea serpent having been seen comes from the Methodist Station on the island of Taveuni. Nurse Davis, who was on a professional visit to the Mission Stations, was looking out over the Some Somo Straits, which lie between the island of Taveuni and that of Vanua Levu, when she saw a huge head, which she describes as being something like that of a horse, rear itself out of the water. A thick body of a dull brown color, followed, until the head was reared above the waves to a height of 30 feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[9 metres]</span>, suggesting the huge length of the monster beneath the surface. Nurse Davis called out in horror, and her cries brought the Rev. Lelean to the scene. Through his field glass he had an excellent view of the sea serpent. For some time the head and neck of the thing swayed slowly in the air. Then it slid silently beneath the waves and disappeared. This happened on October 9, but shortly afterwards her professional work took Nurse Davis to the Lau Group, and she only recently returned to Suva with her story. The description of the sea serpent is very like that of a monster alleged to have been seen near Noumea by a sailing vessel recently.</blockquote>
A neck 30 feet long is not unknown (they were reported, for example, off South Africa in 1901 and off New Zealand in 1932), but even if the length were overestimated, and it were only 20 feet, the implications are significant. As I have pointed out before, mammals - even giraffes - possess only seven neck vertebrae. Therefore, if the animal were a mammal, its neck would be too stiff to manoeuvre underwater.<br />
As for the Noumean monster, this also appears to be one which has slipped through the researchers' net. I have no record of it. The same goes for Captain Jensen's sea serpent, mentioned in the previous article.<br />
<br />
<b>Java Sea, ? before 1924</b><br />
Here is something which can only be described as an orphaned article. It just happened to omit some cardinal features, such as the name of the witness, and the year. Although it was published in 1924, the reference to sailing vessels, and the phrase, "in those days" suggest it might have happened some time in the more or less distant part. I have no idea where the port of Angier Road might be, but I presume it is/was somewhere in the home countries, and nowhere near the site of the encounter: the Java Sea, between Java and Borneo. Anyway, for what it is worth, here is the story, which appeared on the front page of the <i>Bathurst Times </i>(NSW) of Tuesday 4 November 1924.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Another Sea-Serpent</div>
Some people still see sea-serpents. The appearance of such monsters used to be put down to the brand of whisky favored by the ship's passengers. But a seasoned tourist vouches for the following: - "In crossing the Javanese Sea, on the way to Angier Road, the great port of call for homeward-bound sailing vessels in those days, we saw, one forenoon, an enormous water serpent passing over the channel between two islands, just as we were emerging from it. It must have been nearly fifty feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[15 metres]</span> long and as thick in width as the largest of our coir hawsers. It was holding its head some two feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[60 cm] </span>or so above the water, and moving at a rapid rate."</blockquote>
<b>British Columbia, Canada, 1926</b><br />
Here we have another of those huge 30-foot necks sticking out of the water. This time it was off British Columbia which, as we know, is the haunt of the famous "Cadborosaurus", which is usually described as short-necked, humped, and undulating. This caused Dr Heuvelmans to state in a footnote on page 473 of <i>In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents</i>:<br />
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[I]t was certainly not Caddy that Captain House of the Canadian Government Fishery Patrol saw looking "like a 30 ft. telephone pole" near Hecate Strait between Queen Charlotte Islands and the mainland.</blockquote>
Obviously, Heuvelmans was citing a brief reference in some secondary source. Well, here is the full story. I have taken it from the <i>Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate</i> (NSW) of Saturday 29 May 1926, on page 7. One only wishes that the three sketches provided by Captain House had been included. As far as the location goes, it was not, strictly speaking, in the wide Hecate Strait. Rather, it was in a very narrow passage between a group of small islands and the mainland. The Wikipedia gives the co-ordinates of Wright Sound as 53° 20' N, 129° 14' W.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
SEA SERPENT AGAIN</div>
Seafaring men are already identifying the sea serpent reported to have been seen off the coast of British Columbia a fortnight ago with the one seen in the same vicinity eighteen months ago, says the Vancouver correspondent of the N.Z. "Herald," writing on April 7.<br />
Captain House, of the Canadian Government fishing patrol, was on his way north to Prince Rupert, and had reached a point near Hecate Straits, which separate Queen Charlotte Islands from the mainland, when he saw the monster. He is an officer in whom his fellows place high trust. They say, if Captain House said saw a sea serpent, he saw one; that is enough for them. He had plenty of time to observe the sea serpent, and made a drawing of it, in three positions - as it emerged from the water, when it was most out of the water, and when it was slipping back into the depths.<br />
The following signed statement from Captain House has appeared in the Vancouver Province newspaper: - "I have prepared three sketches of the sea serpent sighted off Cape Bridge, opposite Wight Sound, at 2.45 p.m. on March 16<span style="color: #783f04;"> [?]</span>, coming towards the south end of Grenville Channel. The head was about 18in. <span style="color: #783f04;">[45 cm] </span>wide and possibly 2ft 6in <span style="color: #783f04;">[75 cm] </span>long. The thing remained erect for about half a minute, and then disappeared spirally, as it had come. When submerged, it churned up the water, and left a wake for a long time, like a school of porpoises, moving outwards toward the sea, whence it had come."<br />
Captain House remarked that the sun was shining from the clouds at the time, and gave the monster a greenish-gold appearance. He said he was familiar with most sea creatures, and was positive it was nothing he had seen before. It had the appearance of a telephone pole, as it raised its head 30ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[9 metres]</span> above the water.<br />
The capture, last week, of a serpent-like fish at Powell River, lends colour to the belief that it is the young of Captain House's sea serpent. The Powell River Company have put it on ice, and are sending photographs to the Fisheries Department. It is five feet<span style="color: #783f04;"> [1½ metres]</span> long, with a head like that of a wolf, about the same size as an English pug-dog. The end of the body tapers to a point and skin-like fins at the side extend the entire length.</blockquote>
Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-50355297835755062332020-01-25T03:27:00.000-08:002020-01-25T03:27:37.957-08:00Forgotten Sea Serpents, 1905 to 1911 Here is the next installment of reports of sea serpents which had apparently been missed by previous researchers.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<b>Norfolk, England, 1905</b><br />
This one comes from the <i>Evening News</i> (Sydney) of Monday 27 November 1905, page 3. Regrettably, the details are decidedly sketchy.<br />
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ANOTHER SEA SERPENT</div>
The crew of a damaged vessel which was assisted into Great Yarmouth recently reported having seen a sea serpent off Hastborough Sand, a short distance from the Norfolk coast. It was sighted two miles <span style="color: #783f04;">[3 km] </span>away, and the men at first thought that it was a mass of drifting wreckage. They soon became convinced, however, that the object was moving. Finally, it raised a gigantic head above the water, and dived out of sight. The serpent they declare was of immense length.</blockquote>
<b>Kermadecs, 1906</b><br />
The Kermadec Islands are situated approximately half way between New Zealand and Tonga, in the general region of 29° S, 178° E. This report comes from the <i>Australasian</i> (Melbourne) of Saturday 12 May 1906, at page 38. It is likewise very brief - something which turns out to be significant.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
ALLEGED SEA SERPENT</div>
The steamer Taviuni, which arrived at Auckland from the islands, reports having seen a "sea-serpent" about 60ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[18 m]</span> long, near the Kermadecs. Both on the outward and return voyage it approached close to the vessel, and remained visible for a considerable time. Observers describe the head as resembling that of a gurnet.<br />
Mr. Frank T. Bullen who is sceptical as to the existence of sea-serpents, considers that the monster was a hump-backed whale.</blockquote>
A gurnet, gurnard, or sea robin is a fish with eyes close to the top of its head, which tapers forward like a triangle. But weren't any other details noticed, and what, in any case, is meant by "close" and "a considerable time"? Equally important, who was this Mr. Frank T. Bullen, and why was his opinion important? Well, a newspaper report of 7 May revealed that he had been lecturing on whales in Melbourne, and on 15 May 1906, his opinion on the <i>Taviuni </i>encounter was given in detail on page 3 of the <i>Sydney Morning Herald</i>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
A SEA MONSTER</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">MR. F. T BULLEN SCEPTICAL</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span> Mr. Frank T. Bullen, who has just completed his lecturing season in Melbourne, holds a brief against all sea serpents. A monster of the deep has only to lift his head above the water, and Mr. Bullen will assail with books of science in one hand and a portfolio of personal experiences in the other. A sea serpent must bring its birth certificate, its genealogical tree, and a plan of its anatomy before Mr. Bullen will grant it leave to exist. Last night, at Menzies' Hotel (says the "Argus" of May 11) he saw the telegram that a sea monster had been seen near the Kermadecs, and the sea serpent, (with its beholders) was at once under a fire of words, coming as sharp as a mate's commands.<br />
"Who saw it? Where was it? How far away was it? Was the sea smooth or rough? Was it day? Was it night? Was the weather clear or foggy? What else did the notice about it? What made it look like a gurnet? Did they know what a gurnet was like?"<br />
"They haven't told you much about that sea serpent," Mr. Bullen said. "Generally, a sea serpent has a beard. He raises his head out of the water, and stares at you. This fellow was a hump-backed whale. One of the most famous sea serpents that have been seen turned out to be a whale swallowing a cuttlefish. This was the old fellow himself, scooting along just at the surface, with his head out of the water. Scooting along, probably to meet his wife. So he'd be in a hurry."<br />
"A gurnet's got big eyes, of course, and a hump-backed whale has got small ones. But the people who saw this sea-serpent saw something they thought were eyes. As for his length - well, the old fellow's wake, as he scooted along, would look like enough to a continuation of himself to a sailor. Anyhow, when a sailor sees something he doesn't understand, it's easy enough to multiply the length of it by three or four. Or by 20, for that matter. I've got a book, as thick as your leg, by Professor von Somebody, a great zoologist. He proved the existence of a sea-serpent in a dozen ways - all mutually contradictory. One of his sea-serpents turned out to be a known creature, about 15ft.<span style="color: #783f04;"> [4½ m]</span> long - but with a longer mane. Never mind the name; is got its syllables, and I can't remember them all.<br />
"They saw this sea-serpent both going and coming to the islands. That makes it a whale story, too. 'Near the Kermadecs' is where the old fellow would live and hang about. I know the Kermadecs well; I've fished off Sunday Island, and caught all sorts of queer fish. A sailor's always finding things that he doesn't understand, and he generally puts it down to sea-serpents. I've caught flying gurnets in 14ft. of water in St. Vincent's Gulf, and I once caught a fish with purple tassels growing out of pink spots all over him. I kept him on board till everybody complained; then I threw him away. And none of the scientists at home would take my word for him. But I never saw or heard of a sea-serpent that could not be accounted for in some other way.<br />
"There's no sea-serpent," Mr. Bullen said. "Professor Owens settled that for me. Being an Ophidian, he would have to live at the surface, and some of his remains would be washed ashore; and they never have been. A man in the United States used to show a sea-serpent in a museum, till somebody found out he had dug up the pieces of it in Nebraska or somewhere, and 'faked' it. It was a mixture of a Plesiosaurus and a Pterodactyl, or something like that - a pre-historic land animal.<br />
"Take that sea-serpent away," Mr Bullen concluded, handing back the telegram. "He's the least healthy I've met for a long time."</blockquote>
Personally, I consider the criticism quite valid, particularly the second paragraph. All of that information is essential to make a proper determination of the matter. In point of fact, in dealing with Australian cases, I have come across a number where a whale was mistaken for a sea serpent. In fact, the "sea serpent" off Montague Island, NSW was so well described it was easily recognizable as a hump back whale. Why Mr Bullen was so convinced the Kermadecs creature was a hump back and not some other species of whale is not clear. The details are simply inconclusive. Indeed, it is still theoretically possible that it really was a sea serpent, but the information is just not sufficient.<br />
<br />
<b>Scotland, 1906</b><br />
<b> </b> This event in fact took place in late September 1906, but it seems to have floated around in the ether for three and a half months before being printed in an Australian newspaper - in this case, the <i>Chronicle</i> of Adelaide, on Saturday 12 January 1907, at page 27. As was usual in such cases, it was simply reprinted from whatever original journal they took it from, without any attempt at explanation. In those days, of course, there was no internet, so probably none of its South Australian readers had any idea where Dunottar Castle was. It is, in fact, a ruined fortification overlooking the North Sea half way up the east coast of Scotland, at approximately 57° N, 2° W. You will note that,. although the witnesses were using field glasses, the "monster" was quite a distance away, so you may draw your own conclusions.<br />
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SEA SERPENT'S RETURN</div>
A sea monster was observed off Stonehaven coast, near Dunottar Castle, on September 29. A party of Volunteers were having a shooting match, when one of their number observed a commotion in the otherwise calm sea. A huge body appeared above the surface, and as it was less than a mile <span style="color: #783f04;">[1.6 km] </span>off, the Volunteers were able, by means of their field glasses, to make out that it was some sort of sea monster. As far as could be judged, its length was 50 yards <span style="color: #783f04;">[45 metres]</span>. The body was narrow and of a dark color, and was surmounted by a number of short fins, with protuberances, probably two or three on each side of the main fin. The monster was going northward at the rate of six miles an hour <span style="color: #783f04;">[9½ kph]</span>. It remained above water for half a minute at a time. It did not blow as it came to the surface, and those who saw it are quite convinced it was not a shoal of porpoises. The monster was sighted for half an hour and observed at half-past 10 on the same night about two hundred yards off Stonehaven beach by Sergeant Wright and Constable George. It was clear moonlight. The monster encountered a ledge of rocks called the Brachans and rose high in the air, but finding its way impaired fell back into the water. The police compared it to a large trawler getting on the rocks, and thinking it was coming ashore they were prepared to watch its movements from behind a boat.</blockquote>
<b>North of Borneo, 1907</b><br />
This story was two months old by the time it was picked up by an Australian newspaper - in this case, on page 4 of the <i>Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate</i> of Thursday 18 July 1907. it is interesting that it took place not far from the city of Labuan, which also gave its name to the ship involved. Note that it was apparently recorded in the ship's log.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
A SEA SERPENT</div>
The "North Borneo Herald" states that at noon on May 14, lat. 7.5 N., long. 117.5 E, a sea serpent was seen from the deck of the steamer Labuan by the engineer in charge, a passenger, and a native serang. It appeared to be "at least 50ft <span style="color: #783f04;">[15 metres]</span> long, and moved in a wriggling motion on the surface of the water" in an opposite direction to the ship about 200ft <span style="color: #783f04;">[60 m]</span> distant. It was visible for about four minutes, concludes the log entry, which was signed by the three witnesses of the gruesome spectacle.</blockquote>
<b>Off Banks Peninsula, New Zealand, 1907</b><br />
This story originally appeared in the <i>Canterbury Times</i> of New Zealand, which dated the event as "Saturday", but since it was not reported in Australia until late March, it is uncertain which Saturday was intended. As for the site, the Banks Peninsula is just south of Christchurch, on the South Island, and Akaroa is situated in a deep inlet in that peninsula. However, I have been unable to locate Goashore Bay, and the Ninety Mile Beach is now on the North Island. However, I am assuming that in 1907 the name was applied to the beach of Canterbury Bight, stretching southwest from the Banks Peninsula. In any case, the first report in Australia was on <i>The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser</i> of Friday 29 March 1907, on page 5.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Another Sea Serpent Yarn</div>
A Lincoln correspondent writes as follows:- "On Saturday a remarkable sight was witnessed by a party of Lincoln residents, Messrs. A. Bartram, C. Howell, W. Bartram, R. Bartram, and H. Howell, who were crossing the hill which divides the Ninety-Mile Beach from Goashore Bay, Banks Peninsula. About two miles <span style="color: #783f04;">[3 km]</span> out a large, dark object, at first thought to be a whale, was sighted. Presently, what looked like a line of large birds appeared above the water, followed by an enormous snake-like body, fully 100ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[30 metres]</span> long. The bird-like objects were now seen to be a series of large fins or humps along the entire length of the creature's back. The serpent, or whatever it was, was plainly visible for about half an hour, in which time it travelled a distance of about four miles <span style="color: #783f04;">[6½ km]</span>. Unfortunately, it was too far distant for detail examination with the naked eye, as it did not approach within a mile. Being observed, however, from a height of about 300ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[90 m]</span>, its movements could be plainly seen as it swam rapidly along, with a winding, eel-like motion. At times it raised its head and neck several feet above the water, the head appearing to be about the same thickness as the neck. When last seen it was making in the direction of Akaroa, and was about half a mile <span style="color: #783f04;">[800 m]</span> from land. During the whole half-hour it was plainly visible considering the distance, and remained most of the time on the surface, but sometimes just beneath it. As the sea was very calm, there was no possibility of having mistaken a large whale, a piece of wreckage, or anything else for what was really seen, moreover in swimming about it was frequently going against wind and swell." - "Canterbury Times"</blockquote>
<b>South Atlantic, 1909</b><br />
This report was originally published in the <i>Boston Herald</i>, on who knows what date, and was taken up by the <i>Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate</i> (NSW) on Tuesday 21 September 1909, on page 6. As is often the case, the reader is simply expected to know the places referred to. Thus, the event took place on a voyage from Penarth to Santos. Since the ship was British, and the name sounds Welsh, I presume the city of origin was the original Penarth in Wales, rather than its namesake in Delaware, USA. Likewise, by Santos is probably meant the big port in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. However, the story didn't come out until the ship docked at Boston, which implies a three cornered voyage. The huge size of the creature, and its description as like a giant lizard with huge horny scales, appear to be unique - which makes me doubt its veracity.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
SEA SERPENT RACED SHIP</div>
Entered in the permanent log of the British steamship Mereddlo, Captain Clark, is a record of a sea monster sighted while the ship was on a passage between Penarth and Santos. Chief Officer Neal S. Murray was in charge of the bridge at the time, and a Greek quartermaster was at the wheel. The quartermaster, who first sighted the monster, was almost petrified with fear, and was at the point of permitting the big freighter to take her own course.<br />
"It was like this," explained the chief officer when the Mereddlo docked in East Boston. "The ship was 500 miles <span style="color: #783f04;">[800 km]</span> from Santos. I saw the Greek acting strangely, and followed the direction he was looking.<br />
"My hair nearly stood on end at the sight. Swimming parallel to the ship was a monster lizard. It was as big as a whale. The ocean fairly seethed as it propelled itself with enormous dragon's claws. A head as big as a pilot house and one coil of the beast's neck were above water.<br />
"For a distance of nearly 300 feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[90 metres]</span> the sea heaved and was lashed into foam. I think the lizard was fully the Mereddlo's length, and I feared for the safety of the steamship, as the creature, mailed in huge horny scales of a dark green colour, swerved as if to come alongside. It had a saw-like ridge on its back, and its girth was fully as great as that of a whale.<br />
"After the serpent had raced the ship several minutes it humped its back and sounded. The was from its commotion shook the ship and sent spray over the starboard rail.<br />
"I have followed the sea many years and, mind you, I m not given to fancies. That creature so impressed me that I entered he incident in the gerap <span style="color: #783f04;">[?]</span> log, and later made a permanent record of it."<br />
The Mereddlo's crew substantiate Officer Murray, while the Greek quartermaster admits he did not recover from the shock for several days. - "Boston Herald"</blockquote>
<b>Tasman Sea, 1911</b><br />
This report comes from the <i>Age</i> (Melbourne) of Friday 22 December 1911, on page 7.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
THE SEA SERPENT AGAIN!</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">"SIGHTED" IN THE TASMAN SEA</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">SYDNEY</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">, </span>Thursday.</div>
The sea serpent has turned up again - this time in the Tasman Sea. Officers of the cargo steamer Strathardle, which arrived to-day from New Zealand, report having seen "the monster". It appeared about a quarter of a mile <span style="color: #783f04;">[400 metres]</span> from the ship on Sunday afternoon last. The lookout on the bridge suddenly reported a strange looking object ahead, and all eyes were turned in the direction. The wind was blowing strong from the westward at the time, and the steamer, in consequence, could not get very close to it. Examination was made with the aid of glasses. One of the officers described it as being some 200 feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[60 metres]</span> in length, with a head like that of a crocodile. A large fin showed out of the water, and the body, which appeared to be of bright colors, tapered away considerably at the tail. When seen the serpent was travelling very slowly, and it was soon lost to sight as the steamer forged ahead. The position of the Strathardle at the time "the monster" was passed was about 200 miles <span style="color: #783f04;">[320 km]</span> off the New Zealand coast.</blockquote>
Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-22328617326083490322020-01-15T01:22:00.000-08:002020-01-15T01:22:54.480-08:001903 Was a Good Year for Sea Serpents 1903 was a good year for sea serpents. Heuvelmans, in his classic compendium, listed a dozen cases for that year. However, here are a few which he missed. The first one is rather strange even by sea serpent standards.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<b>Off Brazil, 1903 (?).</b> It is always useful to check the co-ordinates in an atlas, because some hoaxes have been known to provide latitude and longitude co-ordinates for land, just to see if they can get it past the proof-readers. This location of this one appears to have been just off the coast of Brazil. This report comes from <i>World's News</i> (Sydney) Saturday, 28 February 1903, at page 7.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
A MARINE MONSTER</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">A MONSTER OF THE DEEP: THE "SEA SERPENT" SEEN IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span> Captain W. E. Staveley, of the steamship Clumberhall, sends the "Daily Graphic" a sketch of "a large sea monster, sighted in the South Atlantic, in latitude 21deg. 39 min. south, longitude 40deg. 12 min. west." The vessel was on a journey from San Francisco to London, and the following entry relating to the event was made at the time in the captain's private log: - "At 11.20 a.m. my attention was called, by the second officer, to a large sea monster, of an oblong and whale-back shape. In part it was of a light sand color, and partly grey, with large blotches of black. The monster measured approximately 150ft. to 180ft.<span style="color: #783f04;"> [45 to 55 metres]</span> in length, the highest part of the body to sea base measuring from about 15ft. to 20ft <span style="color: #783f04;">[4½ to 6 m]</span>. It was in motion, and for at least five miles <span style="color: #783f04;">[8 km] </span>in its wake the water kept perfectly smooth, as if something of an oily nature were issuing from its body. When first seen it appeared to be heading towards the steamer, and when within a cable's length <span style="color: #783f04;">[185 m]</span> of her it headed away in a south-westerly direction. The head I could not make out distinctly, as it would only now and again show the extremes of the body." A few days after seeing this monster the captain was shown a copy of the "Newcastle (Eng.) Chronicle," containing the account of a large sea monster which had been seen in the neighborhood of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and, as the description tallied, he suggests that it may have been the same monster.</blockquote>
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Since making a false entry in a log is an offence, it would seem unlikely that the captain would have gone to that extent just for a joke. The story is thus probably genuine. But the creature was huge! Admittedly, its approach was no closer than a cable's length, but the witness was probably using a telescope. Just the same, how did he estimate the size? But even if it were overestimated by a factor of two (unlikely), it was still very big. Also, although many sea serpent sightings suggest a large body behind the neck, this is the first time I have heard of one lying stretched out on the surface, with its body riding so high. Also, what was its means of propulsion? It does not appear to have been by undulations.<br />
As for the Cape Breton monster, Andrew J. Hebda has produced a magnificent ebook (downloadable <a href="https://ojs.library.dal.ca/NSM/article/view/6411/5659" target="_blank">here</a>) entitled, <i>The Sea Serpent Chronologies</i>, copying reports of sea monsters sighted off Nova Scotia. The incident referred to would be entry for 9 July 1902 on page 81, for the animal was estimated to have been 200 feet long, although only 50 feet of it was visible.<br />
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<b>Fiji.</b> This story turned up, more or less verbatim, in a couple of capital city dailies, the earliest one being <i>The Daily Telegraph</i> (Sydney) of Saturday 6 June 1903, on page 13.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
The Sea Serpent Again</div>
The sea-serpent has turned up again, this time off the Fiji group. The story runs that on the afternoon of March 13 last, a Fijian missionary named Meli, whilst on a visit to the lighthouse, had his attention drawn by Abdurahim, the Indian lighthouse keeper, to a large black object that was seen lying on the surface of the water close by the shore reef, and which is distance about 500 yards from the bluff on which the lighthouse is erected. From the heights of the bluff a good view is obtained, and the lighthouse keeper and his companion, the only two observers, were afforded the opportunity of witnessing the movements of the monster, which lay, as it were, almost under their eyes.<br />
They described the strange visitor as being about 30ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[9 metres]</span> long, and about as thick through as a small cask, and showing nothing but a long snake-like body.<br />
The creature lay quite still for a considerable time, then slowly raised its head out of the water to a height of about six feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[1.8 metres]</span>, and, apparently satisfied with the survey of its surroundings, started off with a king of corkscrew twist, and with a big splash disappeared below, head first. The by now excited watchers of the unique spectacle pulled themselves together before the waters were again disturbed, and the sportive serpent once more came into view, and a similar performance to the first one was gone through. These evolutions were repeated several times, clearly demonstrating that the marine visitor was, in a way, thoroughly in accord with the theme of "A Life on the Ocean Wave."<br />
Feeling satisfied that the aquatic display was over, the Fijian missionary betook himself for a stroll. His story concerning that stroll is to the effect that upon reaching the beach he saw the sea serpent lying on the beach, three parts in the water, with its head resting on the shore and looking and probably feeling as comfortable as could be. He describes the head of the creature as being about the size of a powder keg.</blockquote>
One really wishes they had provided a more detailed description, because the length and thickness don't sound too snake-like to me. They are consistent with some species of cetacean ie a whale or dolphin. The behviour is also that of a cetacean, provided that we assume that there was no bend in its body when it raised its head out of the water. However, lying with its head on the shore is definitely not a cetacean behaviour. A whale or dolphin in that position would be stranded. For that matter, I don't know of any case where it has been recorded of a sea serpent, either, but I note Heuvelmans' opinion as to why there are no sea serpent strandings: a long, serpentine creature could wriggle out of the shallows.<br />
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<b>Off Victoria, British Columbia, 1903.</b> Of course, this is our old friend, "Caborosaurus", which has been raising its horse-like head off the coasts of British Columbia and Washington right up to the present day. This report comes from the <i>Australian Star</i> (Sydney) of Thursday 25 June 1903, on page 3.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
SEA SERPENT VISITS INDIANS</div>
A Victoria despatch dated April 14 says:-<br />
Officials of the cable station at Bamfield Creek are sponsors of the story that a sea-serpent from forty to sixty feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[12 to 18 metres]</span> long, and with a head like a horse, has been seen off the station. The cable operators say, in letters to the local newspapers, that Indians had been telling of the existence of a sea serpent, but the stories were not credited. David Osborne, one of the officials, say that a week ago the animal was seen from the cable station to raise its big, horse-like head and swim out of the mouth of the Bamfield Creek into Barclay Sound. Mr. Godson, of the cable staff, says that when he first saw the animal it looked like a massive sea weed, but presently he saw the head elevated and the big serpent move off with the speed of a torpedo-boat. On April 10 an Indian saw the thing, and was so frightened that he ran his canoe into the breakers, left it, and fled along the beach to the cable station. The Indian said the thing had a head shaped like a horse, and its body, ten feet<span style="color: #783f04;"> [3 m]</span> of which was lifted, was the size of a barrel. The Indians in the neighbourhood are terrified.</blockquote>
<b>Montrose, Scotland, 1903.</b> Montrose, of course, is a city on the east coast of Scotland, just 38 miles or 61 km north of Dundee. This report comes from the <i>Catholic Press</i> (Sydney) of Thursday 29 October 1903, on page 23. You will note how the original journalist did not bother to ask any questions, or obtain any but the bare details of the story, except that, exaggerated or not, the creature must have been enormous.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
Our Friend the Sea Serpent</div>
This year the sea serpent has been long in coming, but the faithful creature has appeared at last. According to the British Press Agency, a trawler in operation off Montrose made out an extraordinary monster recently. All the hands have been at sea for years, and they have never witnessed anything like it before. The monster was swimming northerly at a great rate, and noiselessly. Its head appeared from four to six feet <span style="color: #783f04;">[1.2 to 1.8 m] </span>long, and then 60 feet<span style="color: #783f04;"> [18 m]</span> behind was a huge protrusion, and behind again another protrusion. The monster's noiseless motion is said to have a most uncanny effect.</blockquote>
<b>Orkneys, 1903. </b>This brief article comes from the <i>World's News</i> (Sydney) of Saturday 19 December 1903, on page 20.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
THE SEA SERPENT AGAIN</div>
Perhaps disturbed by the magnetic storm, the sea serpent has made a tardy reappearance near the Orkney Islands and off the east coast of Aberdeenshire. Its only claim to novelty appears to be that in color it is "a pure white."<br />
On Sunday morning (November 1), says the "Daily Mail") the fishermen at S. Andrews saw a strange sea monster, swimming eastwards, at the back of the old castle. It lived up to the best traditions by swimming with an undulating motion and exposing about 12ft.<span style="color: #783f04;"> [3.6 m]</span> of body at a time, it being about 4ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[1.2 m]</span> broad. Unfortunately, the head was modestly kept under the surface, and the full length of the serpent can only be guessed.<br />
It was followed by a great number of seagulls and by two fishermen in a boat, but the pursuit was unavailing, and the sea serpent when last seen was heading due east, with some appearance of haste.</blockquote>
Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-63937273246829692242020-01-04T20:24:00.000-08:002020-01-04T20:24:15.834-08:00Forgotten Sea Serpents, 1900 to 1902 Would you believe it? I thought I had finished my cataloguing of forgotten sea serpents, but it turns out that I had overlooked a heap from the early days of the twentieth century. Again, these are cases which have never been published in book form before; they escaped the eagle eyes of such investigators as Oudemans, Gould, and Heuvelmans. As before, they are cases which had been picked up by Australian newspapers, although most would have originally been published overseas. As before, I have chosen the earliest and/or most detailed report, but the events themselves may have occurred a few weeks or even a few months before.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<b>Northumberland, England, 1900.</b> This brief story comes from the <i>Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser</i> (Queensland), Monday 17 September 1900, on page 3.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The "sea serpent" has again made its appearance, this time off he coast of Northumberland. The skipper and crew of the trawler Maggie Comb saw the "immense monster" at about 200 yards distance. It seemed to be more than 120ft.<span style="color: #783f04;"> [36½ metres] </span>long, but no head or tail was visible. It lashed the water into foam, and then disappeared!</blockquote>
At first I wondered whether this might not have been a blue whale, its size greatly overestimated. Nevertheless, the distance was fairly close, and although blue whales can reach 30 metres, they would certainly appear much shorter if the head and tail were not visible. It is also unlikely they would remain invisible it was were lashing the water to foam.<br />
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<b>Near Hong Kong, 1901.</b> This time we have a very detailed account, published in the <i>Express and Telegraph </i>(Adelaide, SA), Wednesday 6 November 1901, on page 3. The approximate site, Boddam Cove, lies on the northeast side of Tungho Island, at 22° 02' N, 113° 43' E.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
THE SEA SERPENT</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">SIGHTED IN CHINESE WATERS</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
(From our Special Correspondent.)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
London, October 4, 1901</div>
Our old friend the sea serpent has made his appearance again, this time in troubled Chinese waters. The monster, whose existence there appears no reason to doubt, has been the subject of an official report by Mr. Wolfe, who has been in the Chinese Maritime Customs service for nine years, and is in charge of the armed revenue launch Lungting, a vessel of 100 tons, with a speed of 14 knots <span style="color: #783f04;">[26 kph]</span>.<span style="color: #783f04;"> </span>Mr. Wolfe is certified by one of the Customs authorities to be a steady, trustworthy, and credible man, and his evidence is confirmed by his second officer and all the Chinese crew. Here is Mr. Wolfe's narrative, which speaks for itself:-<br />
"On Sunday, August 18, 1901, at 11.20 a.m., as the launch Lungting was steaming at half-speed, heading for Boddam Cove, Tungho Island, at about 10 cables' length <span style="color: #783f04;">[1.85 km]</span> from the Chuk Chao Island, I sighted a dark object on the surface of the water one point on the starboard bow, which looked to me like a rock. I at once gave an order 'Full speed astern,' and the vessel passed about 30 ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[9 m] </span>clear of the object, which, to my surprise, was a large serpent, lying in a round coil, with its head raised 2 or 3 ft.<span style="color: #783f04;"> [60 or 90 cm]</span>, and slightly moving. Stopped engines and lowered starboard gig. I dispatched Mr. Kuster, second officer, in gig, with orders to kill the monster, if possible. Mr. Kuster stood in the bow of the gig with a boathook ready to strike. The serpent had now lowered its head again, but on approach of the gig suddenly struck out, hitting the blade of one of the oars, turning the sailor turtle-back. In then raised its head to a level of the launch davit, about 15 ft.<span style="color: #783f04;"> [4½ m]</span>, at a distance of not more than 10 ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[3 m]</span> from the gig and 30 ft. from the launch, where I stood. The crew of the gig were scared, and prepared to jumped overboard. Mr. Kuster, still standing in the bow of the gig, prepared to strike with the boathook; but, before he could do so, the monster suddenly dived, and made off. Its actions in swimming was like that of an ordinary water-snake; the water being clear, the reptile could be plainly seen a few feet down. It dived very quickly, and made considerable disturbance of the water. We judged the serpent to be from 40 to 50 ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[12 to 15 m]</span> long and about a foot <span style="color: #783f04;">[30 cm]</span> in diameter. It had a kind of crest on its head, and two fins high up on the neck, just behind the jaws. The thickest part of its body appeared to be about 15 ft.<span style="color: #783f04;"> [4½ m]</span> from the head, tapering both ways. Its head was as big as a Rugby football, with large eyes, and mouth opened wide when striking. It was of a very dark color on the back - striped and mottled, but lighter on the belly. As soon as the serpent disappeared, and we on the launch had recovered from our first surprise, I ordered the ten-barrelled Nordenfeldt to be loaded and the launch moved round slowly for 15 to 20 minutes, in hopes that the reptile would reappear; but not doing so, the vessel proceeded on her way to Boddam Cove.<br />
- (Signed) F. Wolfe, officer in charge C. L. Lungting, August 21, 1901. Witnesses - (Signed) V. Kuster, second officer, and 17 Chinese.</blockquote>
This is very strange. At first glance, it sounds like genuine snake, despite the huge size, but the presence of two fins "high up on the neck" suggests some sort of eel. Similar sightings are rare, but have been recorded.<br />
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<b>Indian Ocean, off South Africa, 1901.</b> This appears to have been a very interesting voyage. The story comes from the <i>Evening Telegraph</i> (Charters Towers, Qld), of Tuesday 10 December 1901, on page 2.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
A NAUTICAL EXPERIENCE</div>
The steamer Heathdene, which has arrived at Wellington (N.Z.) from New York, had a sensational experience on the voyage out. A fire broke out in a part of the vessel close to where 18,000 cases of petroleum were stored. After great effort on the part of the officers and crew, the flames were suppressed, but not before the steamer had been in imminent peril, for a wooden partition separating the petroleum from the spot where the fire was raging had been actually burned through. Whilst the captain and his men were below fighting the flames, the captain's wife (Mrs. Milburn), and her daughter steered the vessel, one keeping a look-out whilst the other controlled the helm. Miss Milburn (the captain's daughter), who is only 14 years of age, is said to be able to steer a ship as capably as any sailor. As if the fire on board did not comprise sensational incidents sufficient for one voyage, the crew of the steamer report also that when she was 10 miles <span style="color: #783f04;">[16 km]</span> off Natal, an extraordinary sea monster was discovered, presumably the sea serpent again. This creature, while was of abnormal size, had a white fin, rising 10ft.<span style="color: #783f04;"> [3 m]</span> high from the water, and a long white streak running the length of its body, which otherwise was black in colour. An officer of the steamer, who has a fairly extensive knowledge of the varied species of fish in the ocean, declares that he has never seen anything like this monster.</blockquote>
<b>Vancouver, Canada, 1902.</b> Right up to the present day, the coast off British Columbia and Oregon has been notorious for sightings of a mystery animal given the whimsical name of "Caborosaurus", However, it has normally been described as a long, sinuous body, not something towering in a vertical column like this one. The account comes from the <i>World's News</i> (Sydney) of Saturday 20 September 1902. Note that the story took 6½ weeks to arrive in Australia.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
THE SEA SERPENT AGAIN</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">SEEN OFF VANCOUVER</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span> A Vancouver, B.C., dispatch of August 5 says:<br />
- "The best sea serpent story that has been developed on the coast in years was brought to Vancouver to-day by the fishing steamer New England. A distinctive feature is that not one but 15 men claim to have seen the serpent for five minutes at a stretch, and these fishermen are willing to make affidavit that their statement is absolutely true.<br />
"The sea serpent incident occurred on Saturday <span style="color: #783f04;">[ie 2 August]</span>, off the northern end of Vancouver Island. The fishermen had gone out in the morning, and were at different distances from the steamer. There were many whales spouting around in the vicinity, and the halibut catch was large.<br />
"All at once an object arose out of the water a little to one side of us," said Alexander Easler, in describing the incident this morning. "I paid no attention at first, as we were busy in pulling in halibut, until my partner drew my attention to it. The fish, or whatever it was, pulled itself 30ft.<span style="color: #783f04;"> [9 m]</span> out of the water, and was almost as straight as if if had been a fixed column in the water. There must have been at least twice the same length under the water to support the immense weight of the body in the air. The fish moved at right angles to us, and left a distinct wake behind. It was very near, not more than a hundred yards away I should think, and the steamer was quite a distance away.<br />
"I called to my partner to look out, and he stood by to cut the gear clear from the boat, so that we could get away if the thing came towards us. It was in the air four or five minutes. and then gradually went out of sight. I have been to sea for 30 years, and I never saw anything like it before. We did not see the head plainly enough to tell what kind of mouth or eyes it had."</blockquote>
It was a pity they were not able to provide more detail - even so much as the colour, or the thickness. In any case, it does appear to have been one of the "long necked" variety, but <i>huge</i> - even if the height was overestimated. Of course, it could not have been a fish. There is a common view that long necked sea serpents are mammals. In that case, it should be pointed out that, with only a few exceptions, mammals possess only seven neck vertebrae. There appears to be some sort of genetic restriction. Even a giraffe has only seven neck vertebrae. The implication is obvious: a mammalian neck 20 or 30 feet long would be too stiff to manoeuvre effectively in water.<br />
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<b>Sardinia, 1902.</b> I strongly suspect that this is a hoax, but it might as well be published, and left to the discernment of the reader. Here, Downunder, it was first picked up by an obscure rural journal, the <i>Euroa Advertiser</i> (Vic.) on Friday 7 November 1902, at page 2, and then exactly a week later in an equally obscure Victorian newspaper, the <i>Horsham Times</i>, also on page 2.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
SEA SERPENTS</div>
The sea serpent is with us once more (says an Italian paper), in fact it generally comes to the surface at this season of the year. If we may believe what is stated, there is a remarkable creature disporting himself in the Adriatic, accompanied by all his family of eight members - sex not stated. A boatman named Bonifacino, sailing in a small boat with mail bags from one place to another in Sardinia, found himself suddenly in the midst of this terrible family party. There were three other persons in the boat at the time, and each of these is ready to attest the truth of Bonifacino's statement. As far as could be seen the creatures were fully 70 ft. <span style="color: #783f04;">[21.34 m]</span> in length, with eyes about 7in. <span style="color: #783f04;">[17.8 cm]</span> in diameter. They swam in a vertical position, raising their heads high above the water. Flaps hung over their mouth like ordinary doors, cavernous-sounding snorts were emitted from huge nostrils, and water spouted from deep cavities on the tops of their heads. They appear, however, to have been quite harmless, as the boatman and his passengers were able to part company with them without sustaining any injury. This seems to be the only occasion on which the sea serpent has brought his family out for an airing, which of itself is interesting; but an equally interesting ichthyological phenomenon is the selection of autumn by these queer fishes, or marine reptiles, as the only season in which they deign to reveal themselves to human gaze.</blockquote>
It is, of course, perfectly correct that this is the only account of a school of sea serpents. All other reports indicate that they are solitary beasts. Likewise, spouting water from the head is, to say the least, a decidedly rare behaviour. The article also appears to be a paraphrase of a report in an Italian newspaper - and not a very good one, I would suggest. For a start, Sardinia is not in the Adriatic Sea; it is on the other side of Italy. Secondly, in place of my usual custom of making approximate translations of imperial measures into metric, I have cited them exactly to highlight another anomaly: Italians use the metric system. Surely an Italian boatman would have cited his estimates in round numbers, such as 20 metres and 20 centimetres?Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2330795933539580290.post-25386685595376836662019-11-19T12:23:00.003-08:002023-09-03T18:15:15.171-07:00The Gatton Yowie, 1998 Monday 9 February 1998: there I was, at my desk, minding my own business - or rather, my employer's business - when the phone rang. I found myself talking to a rather excited man, who initially refused to give his last name, asking if I knew anything about apes in Australia. Apparently, he had phoned the Queensland Museum and had been transferred to Dr. Ralph Molnar, the dinosaur expert, because he was the only staff member interested in cryptozoology. Dr. Molnar had then referred him to me. I told him that, yes, I had recently had published a <a href="https://malcolmshome.blogspot.com.au//2011/03/bunyips-and-bigfoots.html" target="_blank">book</a> on Australian mystery animals, and that I had reluctantly accepted that the "yowie", or Australian version of the bigfoot, really existed. He now wanted me to promise that I would believe his story. I explained that this was too much to ask before I heard it, but that I could promise to take it seriously. He wanted information because of a dramatic incident experienced by a couple of his friends at Gatton, but if I ever mentioned his name, he would deny everything. Clearly, I was not dealing with any publicity hound.<br />
<a name='more'></a> Gatton, Queensland is a town of about 7,000 people in the fertile Lockyer Valley, situated at 27½° S, 152° E. It is also within striking distance of my home in Brisbane, so I arranged to drive to his place and interview the witnesses on Saturday 21 February. As confirmation of their credentials was the fact that they wished to remain completely anonymous. It is a familiar story. People who (think they) have seen a big cat or Tasmanian tiger on the mainland are quite happy to have their names published, but those who report a sea serpent or yowie desire nothing more than anonymity. And these people were particularly scared of publicity, for their position in the community left them extremely vulnerable to public ridicule.<br />
The two witnesses were father and son. The wife and mother had been sitting in the back seat of the car, and thus saw nothing at the time except a "shadow". I interviewed the witnesses separately, although it is almost certain they had discussed the matter between them previously.<br />
<em>The Father</em>. Aged 54, pensioner. According to his testimony, the event took place on a Monday two weeks before. That would have made it the 9th February, but since his friend had phoned me that date, I presume it was the previous Monday, 2 February. The sighting took place at 11.30 pm. He was in the driver's seat as they were heading home from Toowoomba in a Toyota. He had turned left into a road which had farmland with a wire fence on the left, and suburbia on the right. His lights were on high beam. Suddenly, he saw an animal on the left of the road, on the road side of the fence. It ran across the road from left to right, about 20 metres away, right in his headlights, and passed behind a blue van on the other side of the road.<br />
At first she said nothing, because he thought his eyes had deceived him, when his wife cried out, "You're going to hit someone!", and his son said, "[Expletive]! What was that?"<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6wTwgMMyqkGU6Xp86D7nT4_YnZCtv0oeErw-RgjL2e_f2sqbTznEEpW_huH2QTUMX7Yvlykv7Cp_XWRrzcyHN96AhQUJCs9MhVGJ6NFQ6FnKhm3uoadstIEYn7jihAzgvYwiFDMgzcLR9/s1600/IMG_0056.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1455" data-original-width="835" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6wTwgMMyqkGU6Xp86D7nT4_YnZCtv0oeErw-RgjL2e_f2sqbTznEEpW_huH2QTUMX7Yvlykv7Cp_XWRrzcyHN96AhQUJCs9MhVGJ6NFQ6FnKhm3uoadstIEYn7jihAzgvYwiFDMgzcLR9/s320/IMG_0056.jpg" width="183" /></a></div>
Here is his sketch of what he saw. It was a humanoid shape about 2½ metres tall. When I stretched my arms above my head (8ft 2 in), he said it was about right. It ran across the road very quickly and very lightly - more so than a human being. The foot appeared to be different from a man's - not the ball, but the heel, although he couldn't say exactly how. The animal was seen only from the side, and he couldn't see its face. It was about as slim as I am - which surprised me, because most descriptions of this animal, both in Australia and North America, depict it as very heavily built, rather like a gorilla attached to manlike legs. In any case, it was covered with light brown hair, like a monkey's. When I enquired about its length, he held out his hands about 8 inched [20 cm] apart. The hair on the head was not long. It moved its arms as it ran. He assumed it was male because he saw no breasts. (This is not a valid assumption when dealing with non-human primates.)<br />
<em>The Son</em>. Aged 21, employed in computer graphics. According to him, the event took place about 11.30 pm about two weeks before. He believed it was a Thursday, but his mother corrected him and said Monday. He confirmed the location. The moon was present, but not very bright, and there were no streetlights in the area. However, the car's headlights were on high beam. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQsp3_L76QO4G0GoH7PXHu31d5tsdpZEcHMWDqAd0PgubRwtRX4Fad0Fs0pJ_NpuQAU4JI9XHWspsxdSLBRfKVXaG44yH1c7y2cz763MGKPV53zxPv4lfRC0tVPg9MjqhfVMan563x1RKJ/s1600/IMG_0057.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="915" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQsp3_L76QO4G0GoH7PXHu31d5tsdpZEcHMWDqAd0PgubRwtRX4Fad0Fs0pJ_NpuQAU4JI9XHWspsxdSLBRfKVXaG44yH1c7y2cz763MGKPV53zxPv4lfRC0tVPg9MjqhfVMan563x1RKJ/s320/IMG_0057.jpg" width="182" /></a><br />
Here is his sketch. He first saw it on the left hand side (which is the passenger side in Australia), on the road side of the fence. It was "travelling" at the time, but in the shadows, and he could not work out what it might be. Cows were often present in the farm, but this was neither cow nor kangaroo. When the car was about 15 or 20 metres away, it broke and ran across the road into the beam of the headlights. It ran like a man, but much faster, with its arms moving slightly, but not pumping like a man's would. The house to which it ran to had three pine trees, and a white van parked there as well. (His mother then corrected him; the van is always there and it is very pale blue, almost white.)<br />
The animal was very tall- easily 6 feet, maybe 7 or 8 - and was covered with brown fur, not very thick, and fairly short. He recognized it as fur because it had the same effect in the lights as has the fur of a kangaroo. The head hair was not long like a woman's, but there was a lot of hair around the head. He didn't see any neck. The body was slim but, because it was taller than me, it may have been more heavily built. He could not tell the sex. The arms appeared longer than normal, but that may have been because its body was stooped. The legs appeared long, but that may have been because it was running at the time.<br />
<i>The Site</i> was actually only a couple of hundred yards around the corner from their own home - one of the reasons they were so scared. It was on the outskirts of town, where suburbia meets farmland. The road is bitumenised, and the normal width for a suburban street. It was obvious that the sighting must have lasted only a couple of seconds, but the son reckoned it was burned into his brain.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2lRLPw9P4q9pLhFUgNmfkIpw7_yHvMRMIQ9kCl32HyI1zdboNegg3NI_kUWk1CdC2S4Hg6arslur8-HFUhPMe8is12UOvZW_8IyxFdfbcumYVN6Wqe9w_wiaWCYzhD2PtI51x7ovtlNZ/s1600/Gatton+yowie+site+1.+Site+of+crossing+%252811.59+am+Sat+21+Feb+1998%2529.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1073" data-original-width="1600" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2lRLPw9P4q9pLhFUgNmfkIpw7_yHvMRMIQ9kCl32HyI1zdboNegg3NI_kUWk1CdC2S4Hg6arslur8-HFUhPMe8is12UOvZW_8IyxFdfbcumYVN6Wqe9w_wiaWCYzhD2PtI51x7ovtlNZ/s400/Gatton+yowie+site+1.+Site+of+crossing+%252811.59+am+Sat+21+Feb+1998%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Site of the crossing</td></tr>
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In fact, the road faces downhill. You look down over a field of vegetables, and a creek leading to the Gatton State Forest, which covers the whole of the horizon, and is obviously very dense and extensive. On the left hand side was a barbed wire fence about a metre high, or even less, obscured by tall grass on the road margin, but not much behind the fence, where it is presumably subject to grazing. The farm sloped down very sharply to a creek. There was only a few trees on the farm, but the creek was completely obscured by a thick belt of trees.<br />
The father halted the car at the point where he thought he saw the animal, and I paced it off at 30 paces, or approximately 25 yards. His son, however, thought it was much closer: 15 paces. It must be remembered, of course, that the car was moving, and even if the brakes had been applied - and it doesn't seem they were - it would have taken less than a second to cover that distance. The sighting, although brief, would have been very close, in very bright light.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmSD9amNvfLFTzvWMOAi9H91EitvXFYtpmxPpW2vObDQh1Oq1Ppx_3yYekZoUfUesw1H70YxSqwyl2w_1K2vZAbk7OmlYxJnXyMo6ARBHXX47D8Wd8e_p8b39Tv9fGA4FL0upHiVZHw5p7/s1600/Gatton+yowie+site+3.+%252811.59+am+Sat+21+Feb+1998%2529.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmSD9amNvfLFTzvWMOAi9H91EitvXFYtpmxPpW2vObDQh1Oq1Ppx_3yYekZoUfUesw1H70YxSqwyl2w_1K2vZAbk7OmlYxJnXyMo6ARBHXX47D8Wd8e_p8b39Tv9fGA4FL0upHiVZHw5p7/s400/Gatton+yowie+site+3.+%252811.59+am+Sat+21+Feb+1998%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The point of the crossing could be established precisely because, on the footpath on the other side, next to the cub, stood two cypress pines, with very dense foliage extending almost to the ground. Just in front of them was parked an extremely pale blue van. The son claimed that the animal was taller than the van when it ran past. I therefore walked up next to the van, and we were all surprised that it was just as tall as I was: 6 feet, or 183 cm. I then walked over to the second pine which was, naturally enough, a couple of yards downhill from the van. When the son saw it, he realised the animal must have been 8 feet tall. He also remembered that the animal had been close to a tree on the farm before it started to cross. Lo and behold! Right opposite the van and the pines, touching the fence, stood a gum tree. Some yards behind it stood a row of bee hives. This is clear from the first photograph above.<br />
<i style="font-weight: bold;"> Conclusion.</i> A hoax on the part of the witnesses can be ruled out. Unless we assume that a very tall man (who would be very well known in such a small town) was prowling around in a very strange costume, we must conclude that this was a slim version of the yowie. It almost certainly lived in the state forest, and had followed the belt of riverine trees to the farm area. I wobder what the people would think if they knew a great hairy ape was roaming around their front yards!Malcolm Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00672612354161787023noreply@blogger.com3