Monstrous Monkeys and Weird Waters

According to Scottish legend, the Kelpie – or the water-horse – is a wholly supernatural creature that haunts the rivers, bridges and lochs of ancient Scotland and that has the uncanny ability to shape-shift. The most common form that the Kelpie takes is that of a horse – hence the name. It stands by the water’s edge, tempting any passing and weary traveller that might consider continuing on his or her journey to mount it. That, however, is always the fatal downfall of the traveller, as invariably the beast is then said to rear violently and charge head-long into the depths of the river or loch, and thus drowning its terrified rider in the process.



Very notably, the Kelpie was also said to be able to transform itself into both a beautiful maiden – or mermaid – and a large, hairy man that would hide in the vegetation of Scottish waterways and leap out and attack the unwary. The latter sounds very much like the so-called Man-Monkey of England’s Shropshire Union Canal, a creature I have written about extensively, and which may be the closest thing the UK has to Sasquatch – albeit a paranormal Sasquatch!

Wildman by Nick Redfern

And the more we look into such matters, the more we see yet further evidence of sightings of hair-covered wild-men linked to reports of beasts of the water. In other words, the reports are suggestive of the distinct possibility that not only are the old legends of the Kelpie still among us, but they may be legends that have their origins in paranormal reality. Let’s take a look at a few more accounts linking anomalous apes and water in the UK.

The small Shropshire, England village of Child’s Ercall has legends of a hairy wild man and a mermaid attached to it. One strange creature in its midst would be strange enough, but two? And then there is Aqualate Mere, Staffordshire – which is very close to Woodseaves, the home of the Man-Monkey, no less – and also reputedly the lair of a beautiful mermaid. It must be said that sightings of predatory mermaids and magical maidens, as well as hairy monstrosities, are the veritable hallmark of the presence of a shape-shifting Kelpie, as well as being amongst its most preferred forms of appearance after that of the traditional water-horse.

The village of Defford, Worcestershire, England is home to a pub called the Cider House. One of the very few still-existing traditional cider houses in England, it has been in the same family for a century and a half, and visitors to the Cider House will find their drinks served to them in quaint pottery mugs, and amid a welcome atmosphere that harks back to a time long gone. More notable is the fact that for the locals that frequent the Cider House, it has a distinctly different moniker: Namely, the Monkey House.

So the legend goes, many years ago, a regular customer charged breathlessly into the pub late one night, claiming to have fallen into dense bramble bushes, after being attacked by a group of monkeys. Notably, the village of Defford is situated very close to Eckington, whose historic Eckington Bridge spans the River Avon and at which, late on weekend night in 1957, a man named Albert Micklewright was witness to what was described as a “big hairy thing from Tarzan.”

Then there is the intriguingly named Monkey Marsh Lock. Situated on the Kennet and Avon Canal, it weaves its way through the Thames and the River Avon, links the city of London with the British Channel, and has been designated an ancient monument by English Heritage. It is also one of the only two remaining turf-sided locks in England of the type that were chiefly used in the early 1700s. Needless to say, the origins of the lock’s admittedly eye-opening name remain shrouded in mystery and history.

Moving on, there is the encounter of Mike Atkins – an encounter that took place in 1996, but that Atkins steadfastly decided to keep firmly to himself until he read an article penned by me in December 2002 (for England’s Express & Star newspaper) on the exploits of the Man-Monkey of the Shropshire Union Canal.  According to Atkins, he was driving over the road-bridge that crosses Staffordshire’s Blithfield Reservoir in the early hours of a particular morning in 1996 when a giant, hairy animal “practically launched itself across the road at my car.” Fortunately Mike skilfully avoided a potentially catastrophic collision.

The Kelpie may well be a terrifying entity whose origins are based firmly in the past. But, as the above-data demonstrates, the malignant thing seems determined to maintain a strong foothold in the present. And, should we expect anything less of the future? Probably not, albeit unfortunately for those who may, one day, find themselves crossing its infernal, deadly path, whether in the guise of a terrible water-beast, an inviting maiden, or a giant, hairy man-beast.

Source:  http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2013/06/monstrous-monkeys-and-weird-waters/

Sasquatch Speaks and Strangeness Strikes

It’s fair to say that I’m not just a regular recipient of strange tales of a supernatural nature. Just occasionally, I’m the recipient of tales that easily exceed what could be termed strange. I’m talking about those distinctly rogue cases that veer into territories where a researcher is forced to take one of two views: (a) what the witness reported simply did not happen; or (b) some of the mysterious things that people such as me chase down are not just weird. They’re beyond weird. The following case is a perfect example of the latter.

It came to me a few years ago from a couple named Donnie and Lynne, a thirty-something pair originally from Tulsa, who were living on the fringes of Oklahoma City when I interviewed them. March 8, 2007, Donnie told me, marked the couple’s second wedding anniversary. And, as keen outdoors-people with a love of nature, they decided to avoid the typical vacation resorts that would normally spring to mind, and instead decided to spend nine days deep in the heart of the grand Ouachita National Forest. The decision was one they would later come to bitterly regret.

Covering the western section of Arkansas and parts of eastern Oklahoma, the Ouachita National Forest is the oldest National Forest in the southern United States. It encompasses almost two million acres, including most of the scenic Ouachita Mountains – Ouachita being the French spelling of the Indian word Washita, which means “good hunting grounds.”

Around 5.00 p.m. one day before their vacation ended, the pair was walking along the aforementioned Ouachita National Recreation Trail, when Donnie developed a distinct and foreboding feeling that we all experience now and again: namely, that of being watched. He was not wrong.

As the pair strolled along the trail hand-in-hand, to the left of them and at a distance of no more than twenty feet a huge, hairy creature came crashing through the trees. Although up until this point, they had no more exposure to the world of cryptozoology than most people, they instantly knew what they were looking at: a Bigfoot.

 

 

Donnie told me that the creature was truly immense: at least eight and a half feet tall, “obviously male,” and with very bulky arms and legs. It had a cone-shaped head, a “massive chest,” and was covered in “dark brown hair that had a lot of white in it [and] which made us think he was really old.” Too shocked to move – “I fell to my knees,” Lynne told me – the couple merely stared, as the huge creature did likewise in their direction.

But then something truly strange occurred: in somewhat hesitant tones, Donnie said they continued to look on in both awe and fear, when suddenly their minds were filled with a soothing female voice that uttered the words: “Do not be afraid. You will not be harmed. Do not come closer.”

It was as if “we were thinking the words, but listening to them, too, if that makes any sense,” Donnie said, as he grappled to explain the sensation of hearing the disembodied, telepathic-like voice. And, of course, the fact that a soft female voice emanated from a beast that looked like it could tear apart a small car, only made the whole situation even stranger. But even weirder things were to come.

Trying to compose himself, at least as best he could, as his wife still sat shaking on her knees and clinging to his right leg for support, Donnie’s first thought was to take a photograph of the beast. As he made a move to open his back-pack and pull out his digital-camera, two ever so slightly stern words reverberated around his head: “Do not.” For a moment, he tried to ignore the words and continued to frantically dig for his camera. “No, do not. No, do not,” the voice repeated, as the face of the creature changed from one of a blank stare to a distinctly malevolent frown.

 

 

“Do not,” the voice continued, still in eerily calm-and-collected female tones. Perhaps wisely, Donnie finally did as he was told, and sank to his knees and held Lynne tightly. At that moment, the mighty Bigfoot edged closer and to a point where he was about ten feet from the by now terrified couple. “The smell was terrible: like a dead animal,” Lynne recalled.

As it loomed over them, they heard one final message: “You will not be hurt and you need not fear. Go. One more time I shall see you.” Needless to say, Donnie and Lynne needed no encouragement and, struggling to stand on their trembling legs, headed off at high speed down the trail, constantly looking over their shoulders until the creature was lost from sight as the pathway took a turn to the left. The event was over.

 

Many cryptozoologists might simply ignore and wipe their hands of such an outrageously controversial tale. But, I don’t consider myself to be a cryptozoologist in the way in which the term is intended. Rather, I would describe myself as a Fortean who happens to have a very deep interest in cryptozoology. The difference might sound slight to some, but I assure you it most certainly is not.

Rogue stories like that of Donnie and Lynne are as problematic as they are fascinating. And I don’t mean that disrespectfully to the pair. If the event happened as Donnie and Lynne reported it – and, I have to say, there was nothing odd or prankster-like about them - then Bigfoot is a creature even stranger than I generally consider it, which is as something with distinct and decidedly paranormal overtones.

 

But, there’s weird and then there’s beyond weird. This case clearly falls into the second category. Unfortunately, when faced with with these “beyond weird” cases it only makes it more and more difficult to fathom what’s really afoot.

That doesn’t make me want to give up the chase, however. In fact, the exact opposite: it encourages me to push further for the answers – but which might not be the answers we’re expecting. So, with that in mind, I say to fellow researchers of the unexplained (in all its many and varied forms) don’t ignore those cases that are difficult (or near-impossible) to fathom. Instead, embrace them. They may be seriously strange, but they may also be the ones that crack the puzzle.

 

Source: http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2013/04/sasquatch-speaks-and-strangeness-strikes/

Also see:
http://thisisyourwake-upcall.blogspot.nl/2013/04/the-great-alaskan-monster-hunt.html

http://thisisyourwake-upcall.blogspot.nl/2013/04/rangers-sight-pygmies-in-way-kambas.html

http://thisisyourwake-upcall.blogspot.nl/2013/01/zana-bigfoot-human-or-hybrid.html

http://thisisyourwake-upcall.blogspot.nl/2013/01/bigfoot-sasquatch-yowie-batutut-yeti-enz.html

Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yowie, Batutut, Yeti enz

Overal ter wereld hebben ze er een naam voor. Zelfs in zeer afgelegen gebieden zijn ze bekend met dit legendarische wezen. Het beest kent in elk land een andere naam om er een paar te noemen Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yowie, Batutut en Yeti. Ik van mening dat we te maken hebben met een werkelijke verschijning van een intelligent wezen! Ga zelf opzoek naar de waarheid, onderstaand wat voorbeelden!

Als de meeste indianen stammen er zeker van zijn dat het beest bestaat waarom wij niet?

Aanrader: http://listverse.com/2011/05/23/top-20-bigfoot-sightings/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2172607/Paranormal-creature-hunters-claim-Vietnams-Bigfoot-TV-show.html

 American vietnam veteran on Batutut:

Loyd Pye on Bigfoot:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/10/11/scientists-95-sure-bigfoot-lives-in-russian-tundra/

Different Names for Bigfoot


Sasquatch: We all know this one. Maybe viewed by some as more representative of the Pacific Northwest, really it’s pretty much interchangeable with “Bigfoot”.

Yeti: Stalking the regions around the Himalayas, and sometimes called the Abominable Snowman, the Yeti is probably the next best-known cousin of Bigfoot. The Snow Walker clip was a famous Yeti sighting.

Windigo: Hailing from the woods of Canada, the Windigo (or Wendigo) is a big, hairy man-like creature from Native American legend. But legends don’t think of it as an animal; Windigo is a creature that transforms from a human, and has very bad intentions.

Yowie: From the outback of Australia, by many accounts this guy is like a shorter version of Bigfoot. Unfortunately, reported sightings are so varied it’s tough to come up with an accurate description of the creature.

Skunk Ape: The Bigfoot of the Southern US. He’s just as big and scary, but ups the bar with the added benefit of a horrific stench. It’s claimed he gets his illustrious odor by hanging out in methane-packed bogs.

Orang Pendek: From Sumatra, and only a few feet tall, so not really similar to Bigfoot in stature. But Orang Pendek is definitely an example of a bizarre Bigfoot-like critter from an unexpected place.

Yeren: This creature lives in the forests of China, and is described as everything from a Bigfoot lookalike, to a hairy wild-man. What’s interesting is that the Yeren hails from the general area of the world where Gigantopithecus, an ancient giant ape, is believed to have gone extinct.