Ancient super crocodile fossil found in museum drawer

Long-forgotten remains of a long-forgotten species, have been discovered in a museum drawer in Scotland. The beast, a dolphin-shaped crocodilian "super predator," was able to eat other species its size and larger.

The ancient newfound crocodilian is named Tyrannoneustes lythrodectikos, Greek for "blood-biting tyrant swimmer." Sounds pretty friendly, doesn't it? "Tyrannoneustes was a dolphinlike crocodile that lived 165 million years ago," said researcher Mark Young, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the University of Southampton in England.

The predator possessed a long snout, large flippers, armorless skin and a tail fin where the bottom half is larger than the top half, resembling an upside-down version of an ordinary shark's tail fin.It's uncertain how large Tyrannoneustes was, but the right side of its lower jaw was at least 26 inches (67 centimeters) long. It featured enlarged teeth with serrated edges, and a jaw that evolved to open wider, allowing it to swallow smaller prey whole.
Back when Tyrannoneustes was alive, the area in central England where the fossils were discovered was covered in a shallow sea encompassing much of what is now Europe. Originally found between 1907 and 1909, the fossil has been lost in a drawer at the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow for nearly 100 years.

There are no modern descendents of the animal. Instead, this predator was a kind of metriorhynchid, an extinct family of marine crocodiles.

The discovery of Tyrannoneustes shows that during the Middle Jurassic, metriorhynchid crocodiles were beginning to evolve into predators of large-bodied prey. By the Late Jurassic, numerous metriorhynchid species were suited to feeding on large prey, but Tyrannoneustes is the first known from the Middle Jurassic. How this impacted upon other predatory groups such as pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs is still unclear.
 

Future research can scan Tyrannoneustes bones to develop computer models of how it might have fed, Young said. He and his colleagues detailed their findings online Jan. 4 in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.

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Bigfoot In Oregon? Strange Bloodcurdling Noises In Pendleton Swamp

Is there a bigfoot in Oregon?

The sounds of cries and roars can be heard throughout the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, The Oregonian reports Jan. 25. The reservation is home to about 1,500 people across 178,000 acres in Oregon’s Blue Mountains. The possible Bigfoot noises were heard near an old reservation community center just north of Wilhorse Resort and Casino. Residents first started hearing the noises last month, and rumors quickly spread that it could be a mythical ape-like humanoid creature, Bigfoot.

Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is the name given to the mysterious ape-like creature that some people believe inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Scientists discount the existence of Bigfoot, usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid, and consider it to be a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax.

Among some Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest, however, the Bigfoot is not to be taken lightly. Stories about the hominid hairy creatures roaming the forests of the region have been passed down from generation to generation in some tribal cultures, so when the screeches first drifted over the swampland, it did not take much to convince the locals that those were the cries of Bigfoot.

According to the Oregon Live, the eerie late-night sounds, which range from high-pitched screams to basso profundo roars, started in November and have caused bigfoot rumors to spread. Several reservation unit tenants and home owners call authorities to report the strange sounds. One man even claimed his dog was too afraid to go outside.

One said the cries were made by "a young Bigfoot that had got separated from the rest of his clan." The howls also make some believe the animal making those noises are foxes or a female coyote.

So far no one has been able to nail down exactly what the source is of the spooky sounds. For decades many have believed Bigfoot does, in fact, live in Oregon within its thick forests. Reported Examiner...

Carl Sheeler, wildlife program manager for the Walla Walla and Cayuse tribes, said the strange noises may just be from animals known to live in the area.

But some of those who have heard the sounds don't agree with Sheeler. "Foxes do sound creepy," said Sylvia Minthorn. "But it's not the same sound, not even close."

Did Oregon residents within the reservation actually hear Bigfoot? Enthusiasts of the creature think that they are getting closer to finding the elusive Bigfoot, and sightings continue. Late last year, a group of hikers in Utah encountered what they thought was a bear, but then the animal turned and stood on two legs, looking very much like Bigfoot.

Sasquatch Watch Canada posted a recording of the howls to Youtube. Listen to them below:

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Giant Earthworm Discovered In China

In a province Binchaun County in southwest China was found a snake-like earthworm measuring over 19 inches (a half-meter) long in a house gutter. Li Zhiwei, a Forestry Bureau worker, made the discovery and eventually decided to keep the worm. "It looked like a snake, I looked carefully and found it was actually a huge earthworm," said Li. Li’s neighbors who came to see his unusual find said they had never seen an earthworm that long in their area before.

Biologists said they plan to study the giant earthworm found in Li’s backyard to find out why it was able to grow to such an enormous length. An adult earthworm's measurements vary by species and can range anywhere from 10mm long and 1mm wide, to 3-meters long and over 25mm wide. Environmental factors also influence an earthworm's body size, and they tend to grow longer and larger during humid seasons if they take in sufficient nutrition and have no natural enemies. Biologists plan to study the earthworm found by Li to classify it and identify the reason it was able to grow to its current length.

The discovery is especially cool for Li. He said he plans to keep the giant earthworm in his backyard and raise it as a pet.

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Unknown Creature Discovered In Africa

Hunters in Namibia have caught strange creature that has never been seen before. Recording of events caused strong reactions - is a being from another planet, the mythical creature or something completely different?
Video showing the unusual creature caught in Africa has become a hit on the Internet in just a few days. In his description states that local hunters in Namibia saw a strange creature in search of food. One of the hunters had shot him, after which the creature fled into the bush, but hunters nevertheless find it.

Hunters have found three other similar beings. One of them attacked them, so they killed him, but the other escaped.
The body of of the weird being were taken away in a hunting camp and is expected to detailed investigation. People on YouTube have made ​​a discussion on the origin of this creature. While some believe that it is a fake photographs, others are convinced of their authenticity, and some even claim to have themselves seen similar being.
Watch the video and judge for yourself whether he is a being from another planet, the mythical creature or something else.

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Do The World's Tiniest Fly Really Decapitate Ants?

A new species of phorid fly from Thailand is the smallest fly ever discovered. The tiny fly, Euryplatea nanaknihali, is also the first of its genus to be discovered in Asia, and it belongs to a fly family (Phoridae) that is known for "decapitating" ants.

It is a gruesome parasite that lives inside the heads of ants, growing in size until the victim is decapitated.
They lay their eggs inside their victims. When the maggots hatch, they move towards the ant's head, where they gorge upon the brain and other tissues. The ant stumbles about in a literally mindless stupor until the connection between its head and body is dissolved by a enzyme released from the maggot. The head falls off and the adult flies burst out.

It is five times smaller than a fruit fly and tinier than a grain of salt (0.4 millimeters) in length — half the size of the smallest "no see-ums.""It's so small you can barely see it with the naked eye on a microscope slide. It's smaller than a flake of pepper," said Brian Brown, of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, who identified the fly as a new species. "The housefly looks like a Godzilla fly beside it."

Although this has not yet been observed, it is highly likely because the fly's only known relative, Euryplatea eidmanni, is known to parasitize ants in Equatorial Guinea.

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Unknown Creature in Kanas Lake

Kanas Lake, which means "beautiful, mysterious lake" in Mongolian, is tucked away in Xinjiang and China's far North Western corner. The scenery here is more like Kazakstan or Russia than China with the 24km long and up to 2km wide lake flanked by birch and larch forest. The lake is 1,374 meters above sea level and covers an area of 45.73 square kilometers with the deepest point of 196 meters. The famous legend about "Kanas Monster" adds another air of mystery to the lake. If the stunning, Siberian-like scenery wasn't enough there is some mystery thrown in regarding what is known as China's Nessie - the Kanas Lake Monster! According to the legend, huge monsters dwell in the lake's depths and often dragged horses and camels drinking into the water before swallowing them.

Some scientists believe, however, that the monsters may be taimen trout, one of the world's largest and most ferocious freshwater fish which can grow as long as 10 meters.

This footage was filmed in China, where lake monster sightings have been popping up around a Kanas lake. Usually, lake monster “sightings” are later discovered to be common animals such as otters or eels. According to CCTV, about 15 of the unknown creature was found in Kanas Lake in China's Xinjiang Province on the 5th of July.

Not just one, but more than a dozen huge creatures can be seen churning across Lake Kanas in remote western China, leaving a foamy wake more like an enormous motorboat than a big fish.
The tourists saw the lake monster in the lake at the foot of a mountain more than 2,000 meters away. The lake monster, four or five meters long, appeared in the lake with the huge wave, revealing its white belly.

This video recording is the latest sighting of the creature captured in June 2012, by a local worker Wang.



The tale about this monster has been spread for thousands of years in the Kanas area of China, which is about the creature engulf cattle and horses in one swallow and then dive down into the deep bottom of the cold Kanas Lake.

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Bigfoot Spotted In Idaho?

A group of high school students believe they may have stumbled upon Bigfoot while in the Idaho wilderness for a class project.

The teenagers were in the woods near Mink Creek in Franklin County when they said they noticed a dark creature watching them from a ridge. Mysterious creature was caught on tape for a few seconds near Mink Creek before it retreated into the treeline.

The group then raced to the point they had seen the creature, and said they found a large foot imprint in the dirt and took a photograph of it. 

“It just didn’t look human-like. I don’t know what that is, it’s not a bear, it’s not a moose or anything. It was big and bulky and black,” said the student, who did not want to be identified on camera.
“I’m not going to say yes it was a Bigfoot or no it wasn’t, because I don’t know, and nobody knows,” the student told the news station.

Bigfoot is allegedly an ape-like creature said to inhabit forests mainly in the Northwest, but his existence has not been scientifically proven.

There have been scores of sightings, including in Spokane, Washington in May 2011, when a woman hiker captured a large figure on camera and uploaded the footage to YouTube.

The Animal Planet show Finding Bigfoot will visit Pocatello, Idaho next month to investigate the claims that Bigfoot could be in the area.

See below for video:

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Mermaids: The Body Found

Could mermaids actually exist?

The idea of mermaids has tantalized seafarers for millenia! According to Charlie Foley's speculative documentary "Mermaids: The Body Found," which aired Memorial Day weekend on Animal Planet, "real" mermaids are more like those scary merfolk from "Harry Potter" than the Disney version.

Paul Robertson, a former employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), speaks in a two-hour Animal Planet special about his experiences with his research team while they were investigating mass whale beachings around the world.

The film, begins with the real, actual fact that the Navy’s use of sonar systems is suspected by some scientists of contributing to whale beachings. And it takes note of an odd underwater sound known as the Bloop that was recorded in the Pacific Ocean in 1997. It turns out that whales haven’t been the only creatures beaching themselves; two boys in Washington State caught something else on a cellphone camera before the authorities swooped in and pressured them into silence.



Also, remains found inside a shark in South Africa were decidedly mermaidlike.
An expert uses those remains to reconstruct a mermaid, which, sadly, is not nearly as cute as Ariel from the Disney film and doesn’t have her flowing red hair. But the public never got to meet this model mermaid because the whole project was black-opped.

People are taking it super-seriously -- even pointing to the fact that the website listed in the trailer, BelieveInMermaids.com, has been seized by the Department of Homeland Security.

Could there actually be a scientific grounding to this legend?

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Mysterious Deep Sea Cascade Creature Caught on Cam

A huge weird blob was filmed by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) near an underwater drilling site and it’s been named the Cascade Creature. It’s size is very big, somewhere around six meters, it’s brownish skin has hexagonal shapes on it and it’s extremely weird and creepy.

As soon as the video turned viral, scientists of all sorts hopped to analyze the strange footage, in hopes that they can clarify what all the commotion is about. Some have said it’s something man-made: like a huge fishing net, but they were soon contradicted by the very evident elements that prove this huge creature was once alive. It has an intricate blood vessel system and the texture of it’s “skin” confirms it was once a living creature.

Assessments from experts such as Steven Haddock at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Craig McClain at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center have cleared up the mystery, though perhaps disappointing fans of extraterrestrial theories. They concluded that the cascade creature is indeed a Deepstaria enigmatica. The scientist declared that:

“This bag-like jelly is not that rare, but is large, so rarely seen intact. In the video, the swirling from the sub makes the medusa appear to undulate and it even turns inside-out … The web-like pattern is not a nerve net, as some comments have said. It is branches from their digestive system”

According to Wikipedia, "Deepstaria enigmatica, is a jellyfish of the family Ulmaridae first described in 1967 by F.S. Russel. The bell of this jellyfish is very thin and wide (up to approx. 60 cm), and resembles a translucent, folding sheet or "lava lamp" as the animal moves."

Meanwhile, according to the Marine Species Identification Portal, the Deepstaria enigmatica is found in the South Atlantic Ocean, with a bell that can measure up to 60cm in diameter. The portal adds that the jellyfish has “oral arms” which end in “curious hook-shaped organs."

Have a look at the video below and let us know what you think it may be:

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England’s version of the ‘Loch Ness Monster’

Kayakers snap photo of England’s version of the ‘Loch Ness Monster’...
Nothing puts a damper on a serene afternoon's kayaking like the sight of a primeval sea monster.

That was the rude lesson for Tom Pickles and Sarah Harrington, who'd taken their watercraft out on the foggy waters of Lake Windermere, only to encounter what appeared to be "an enormous snake" swimming by.

"It was petrifying and we paddled back to the shore straight away. At first I thought it was a dog and then saw it was much bigger and moving really quickly at about 10 mph," the 24-year-old Pickles told The Telegraph. "Each hump was moving in a rippling motion and it was swimming fast. Its skin was like a seal's but its shape was completely abnormal—it's not like any animal I've ever seen before."

But what did Pickles and Harrington expect? Didn't they know that Lake Windermere is reputedly the home of the British version of the Loch Ness monster? In the past five years, sojourners on the lake have reported eight sightings of a Nessie-like serpent.

But the kayaking couple rallied from their shock and snapped the clearest photo of the Windermere "monster" since the sightings began. A journalism professor and his wife inaugurated the recent spate of Nessie-esque encounters on the lake back in 2006 reporting they had seen a "giant eel" somewhere between 15-20 feet long.

Ever since then, researchers have set out upon the lake with sonar equipment, in pursuit of "Bow-Nessie," as the creature's British compatriots like to call it. But so far, their efforts haven't borne fruit.

Of course, people in Scotland have reported sightings of the Loch Ness Monster since 1933, and even with dramatic advance sonar and video technology, Loch Ness research teams have likewise been unable to turn up any credible scientific evidence of its existence. Even its most noted hunter, Robert Rines, recently gave up his quest to find the beast after trying for nearly 40 years. "Unfortunately, I'm running out of age," the 85 year-old Rines said last year when he announced he was calling it quits.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Winfield, a lake ecologist at the University of Lancaster, told The Sun he thinks the mysterious appartition people are seeing in Lake Windermere is merely a really big catfish. But all of this speculation overlooks the central mystery in the latest sighting: Why on earth would a couple go kayaking on an English lake in the middle of February?

source

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Eyewitness Accounts of Megalodon sighting

A sharp, coppery emptiness rumbled deep within the creature's gut. Two full moons had come and gone since it had last fed, and its need was now overriding. Desperate. Before it, an invisible cone of fear swept the warm, shallow sea clean of life. Shoals of hake and tilefish panicked at its coming, scattering like handfuls of flung metallic spears. At a length of 50 feet (15 metres) and a mass of over 52 tons (47 tonnes), it would take more than a mere morsel to satisfy the megalodon. The enormous shark needed food - big food. A marlin circled lazily to the Megalodon's left, its barred ultramarine flanks glittering in the flickering shafts of late afternoon sunlight. Capable of mind-stuttering bursts of speed, it was too hard to catch for the shark to bother with. But still Megalodon's hunger burned. Skulking silently along the bottom, the megalodon caught a glimpse of a whale rising gently to the surface to ventilate its lungs. It was a cetothere, slow-moving and about 30 feet (10 metres) long: perfect. But the whale would only be vulnerable for a few moments, as it recovered from its most recent dive. As the whale drew in fresh air to replenish its spent supply, megalodon continued its stalk. Closer . . . closer . . . NOW!! The shark pumped its tail powerfully from side-to-side, accelerating rapidly to close the distance between it and the fuel its cells so urgently needed. The Megalodon's jaws gaped wide, revealing triangular, serrated teeth the size of a man's hand. Oxygen-bearing water pounded through its gills exhilaratingly. The Megalodon's upper jaw, slung loosely under its skull like that of other sharks, protruded forward and down: reaching, straining in anticipation of sweet, warm flesh . . .

Less than 5% of the deep-sea has been explored, and even less than that sampled biologically. Yet we know that sharks live at least as deep as 12,000 feet (3,660 metres) and Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are believed to dive to 10,000 feet (3,050 metres) in search of squid. If there's enough food down there for 60-foot (18-metre) whales, there is probably enough to support Megalodon.

-In the year 1918 I recorded the sensation that had been caused among the "outside" crayfish men at Port Stephens, when, for several days, they refused to go to sea to their regular fishing grounds in the vicinity of Broughton Island. The men had been at work on the fishing grounds---which lie in deep water---when an immense shark of almost unbelievable proportions put in an appearance, lifting pot after pot containing many crayfishes, and taking, as the men said, "pots, mooring lines and all". These crayfish pots, it should be mentioned, were about 3 feet 6 inches [1.06 m] in diameter and frequently contained from two to three dozen good-sized crayfish each weighing several pounds. The men were all unanimous that this shark was something the like of which they had never dreamed of. In company with the local Fisheries Inspector I questioned many of the men very closely and they all agreed as to the gigantic stature of the beast. But the lengths they gave were, on the whole, absurd. I mention them, however, as a indication of the state of mind which this unusual giant had thrown them into. And bear in mind that these were men who were used to the sea and all sorts of weather, and all sorts of sharks as well. One of the crew said the shark was "three hundred feet [90 m] long at least"! Others said it was as long as the wharf on which we stood---about 115 feet [35 m]! They affirmed that the water "boiled" over a large space when the fish swam past. They were all familiar with whales, which they had often seen passing at sea, but this was a vast shark. They had seen its terrible head which was "at least as long as the roof on the wharf shed at Nelson's Bay." Impossible, of course! But these were prosaic and rather stolid men, not given to 'fish stories' nor even to talking about their catches. Further, they knew that the person they were talking to (myself) had heard all the fish stories years before! One of the things that impressed me was that they all agreed as to the ghostly whitish color of the vast fish. The local Fisheries Inspector of the time, Mr Paton, agreed with me that it must have been something really gigantic to put these experienced men into such a state of fear and panic.
 
-One eyewitness accounts interpreted as being of Megalodon are put forward by Cartmell (1978). His first piece of evidence is sonar trackings by “one of the new breed of underwater exploratory vehicles” of an unidentifiable object about 100 ft (30 m) long that was travelling faster than any submarine. The absurdity of this account---which supposedly serves as evidence for C. megalodon survival---will not be commented upon. Cartmell also mentions another eyewitness account of a giant shark:
In the 1960’s along the outer edge of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, an 85 foot [26 m] ship experienced engine trouble which forced it to weigh anchor for repairs. Although the men subsequently refused to openly report what they had seen for fear of public ridicule, the captain and his crew later told friends of sighting an immense shark as it moved slowly past their ship. Whitish in color, they were awed by its size. It was as long if not longer than their boat! Experienced men of the sea, they too were certain the creature was not a whale.

 -Possible Megalodon in Mariana trench 

The deepest portion of the Pacific Ocean, the Challenger Deep, is located in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific. Recently, Japanese researchers have conducted an interesting experiment in the Suruga Bay, not far from the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot in the World Ocean. The researchers put a container with some smelly bait on the bay bottom. A special video camera was attached to the wall of the container. The researchers peered into monitors to see what would happen with the container and the bait. The smell of the bait attracted a shoal of deep-water sharks. But then the researchers saw something incredible that left them speechless. Suddenly the sharks scattered in all directions and researchers saw an incredibly huge monster on the screens of their monitors. The giant slowly soared before the video camera at a depth of about 1.5 kilometers. The length of the sea Goliath was over 60 meters (more than 180 feet). It was not clear what the giant was in fact.Researchers failed to answer the question, just made conjectures concerning what the creature may be. They said that might be a sleeping shark, the largest shark . Even now people know just few facts about these sharks. They have been hiding in the dark ocean deeps for millions of years. People have never seen live sleeping sharks as well as giant squids. Only once, in 1964, a bulk of a dead sleeping shark was cast ashore in Indonesia; it was just a very young shark judging by its size of 26 meters. ..PRAVDA 9/20/03 "Scientists still do not know what they saw, registered and filmed and not a single frame has been released. If it was a giant shark Megalodon is a good candidate, even though this monster is thought to have died out 170 million years ago; see our features Megalodon the Monster Shark and New Evidence for Megalodon. If it was a classical sea serpent it´s easy to understand why the Japanese scientist´s are cautious and would like to analyze the video footage very careful before releasing it to the world."


An alleged footage of this event:


-Another sighting took place in 1933, again off the coast of Rangiroa. Aboard the S.S. Manganui, Grey and his son Loren were returning to San Francisco after a fishing trip to Tahiti. One evening at about 5:00 p.m., Loren was at the rail when he saw a small flock of spiralling sea gulls and, near by, an area of yellow water :
At first I thought it was a whale, but when the great brown tail rose in the ship’s wake as the fish moved ponderously away from the liner, I knew immediately that it was a monstrous shark. The huge round head appeared to be at least 10 to 12 feet across if not more ... It was my belief that this huge, yellowish, barnacled creature must have been at least 40 or 50 feet long. He was not a whale shark: the whale shark has a distinctive white purplish green appearance with large brown spots and much narrower head. So what was he---perhaps a true prehistoric monster of the deep?

What we had seen was something [that] no ichthyologist had ever dreamed existed. The largest known specimen of this type of shark, generally known as a sand shark or black-tipped shark, had hardly been known to exceed a length of about 15 feet.
Despite Loren Grey’s assertions that what he saw was not a whale shark (mirroring his father’s reaction to his own sighting), it is most likely that that is exactly what is was. Grey’s description of a whale shark is completely erroneous: whale sharks are a dark grey, greenish grey or reddish colour above, with many white or yellowish spots and transverse stripes, and are yellowish or white on the underside (Castro 1983). As mentioned previously, they also have a very wide, squarish, yet slightly rounded head. All of these traits fit well with Grey’s description.


 If you want to know more about this there is an interesting book about Megalodon:

Megalodon: Fact Or Fiction?

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Mysterious creature washes up on South Carolina shore

Something strange washed ashore on Folly Beach in South Carolina this past weekend. The beast had some wondering if it was some sort of new species. It could have been America’s answer to the Loch Ness Monster...

The corpse of a large, beady-eyed and scaly creature washed ashore on Folly Beach, much to the shock of locals. 

But, be not afraid. According to AOL's Pawnation, the freakishly large creature may look alien, but it is harmless. A veterinarian from a South Carolina aquarium identified the fish as a Atlantic sturgeon.
The species can grow to be as big as 15 feet long and 800 pounds, but are usually around 10 feet long and 300 pounds. Reports say that these alien-like creature is actually harmless.
Their bodies are covered in bony plates called scutes rather then scales, and they have barbels on their faces that help them locate prey, characteristics which give them their bizarre appearance.
But this may be the last time residents in the area see a fish to this scale as sturgeons, which have been swimming our seas for 100 million years, are at risk.
Sturgeon populations are being hit hard by commercial fishing, with several species making the endangered list, as they are a popular target for caviar.

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Chronology of Vampires

Vampires appear in various lore, folklore and legends throught history. They are mentioned in many cultures, in different parts of the world in different time periods.
This is a timeline of the vampires through the history:

Year	Event
5000 BC	The emergence of Vampirism in the Mediterranean Basin.
2000 BC	Tomb of the Vampire is erected in Giza, Egypt.
31	Jesus is claimed to have healed vampires at Capernaum.
140	Reign of Longinus, Rome's Vampire Emperor.
773	Charlemagne defeats Quadilla the Vampire thus saving Rome.
1047	First appearance of the word "upir"(an early form of the word later to become "vampire")in a document referring to a Russian prince as "Upir Lichy",or wicked vampire.
1096	First Crusade expels vampires from The Holy Land, Jerusalem.
1190	Walter Map's "De Nagis Curialium" includes accounts of vampire like beings in England.
1196	William of Newburgh's "Chronicles"records several stories of vampire like revenants in England.
1428/29	"Dracula" aka Vlad Dracula or aka Vlad the Impaler is born.
1476/77	Dracula is assassinated.
1484	The Malleus Maleficarium (the witch hunter's bible) is writtenby Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. The topic of how to hunt anddestroy a vampire is discussed within it's pages.
1530	Italian scientist Ludovico Fatinelli burned at the stake forsuggesting a biological cause for vampirism in his "Treatise onVampires".
1560	Erzsebet (Elizabeth) Bathory is born.
1607	"The Ship of the Dead" brings vampires to the New World.
1610	Bathory is arrested for killing several hundred girls and bathing in their blood. Tried and convicted, she is sentenced to life imprisonment, being bricked into a room in her castle. Leo Allatius finishes writing the first modern treatment of vampires, "De Graecorum hodie quirundam opinationabus".
1614	Elizabeth Bathory dies.
1657	Fr. Francoise Richard's "Relation de ce qui s'est passé a Sant-Erini Isle de l'Archipel" links vampirism and witchcraft.
1672	Wave of vampire hysteria sweeps through Istra.
1679	A German vampire text, "De Masticatione Mortuorum", is writtenby Phillip Rohr.
1710	Vampire hysteria sweeps through East Prussia.
1725	Vampire hysteria returns to East Prussia.
1725/30	Vampire hysteria lingers in Hungary.
1725/32	The wave of vampire hysteria in Austrian Serbia produces the famous cases of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paul (Paole).
1734	The word "vampyre" enters the English language in translations of German accounts of European waves of vampire hysteria.
1744	Cardinal Giuseppe Davanzati publishes his treatise, "Dissertazione sopre I Vampiri."
1746	Dom Augustin Calmet publishes his treatise on vampires, "Dissertations sur les Apparitions des Anges des Demons et des Espits, et sur les revenants, et Vampires de Hundrie, de boheme, de Moravic, et de Silesie."
1748	The first modern vampyre poem, "Der Vampir", is published by Heinrich August Ossenfelder.
1750	Another wave of vampire hysteria occurs in East Prussia.
1756	Vampire hysteria peaks in Wallachia, Romania.
1772	Vampire hysteria occurs in Russia.
1797	Goethe's "Bride of Corinth" (a poem concerning a vampire) is published.
1798/1800	Samuel Taylor Coleridge writes "Christabel," now conceded to be the first vampire poem in English.
1800	"I Vampiri," an opera by Silvestro de Palma, opens in Milan, Italy.
1801	"Thalaba" by Robert Southey is the first poem to mention the vampire in English.
1810	Reports of sheep being killed by having their jugular veins cut and their blood drained circulated through northern England. "The Vampyre," an early vampire poem, by John Stagg is published.
1813	A vampire appears in Lord Byron's The Giaour.
1819	John Polidori's "The Vampyre," is the first vampire story inEnglish is published.
1820	"Lord Ruthwen ou Les Vampires" by Cyprien Berard is published anonymously in Paris. June 13: "Le Vampire," the play by Charles Nodier, opens at the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris. August: "The Vampire; or, The Bride of the Isles," a translation of Nodier's play by James R. Planche, opens in London.
1829	March: Heinrich Marschner's opera, "Der Vampyr," based on Nodier's story, opens in Liepzig.
1841	Alexey Tolstoy publishes his short story, "Upyr," while living in Paris. It is the first modern vampire story by a Russian.
1847	Bram Stoker is born.
1850	Haussman destroys Paris' Vampire Quarter then rebuilds city.
1851	Alexandre Dumas' last dramatic work, "Le Vampire," opens in Paris.
1854	Copper Creek Siege in California prompts formation of FederalVampire and Zombie Agency. The case of vampirism in the Ray family of Jewell, Connecticut, is published in local newspapers.
1872	In Italy, Vincenzo Verzeni is convicted of murdering two peopleand drinkin
1874	Reports from Ceven, Ireland, tell of sheep having their throats cut and their blood drained.
1882	New York Vampire riots ensue.
1891	Steketee's Vampire Rights movement in France is started.
1897	"Dracula" by Bram Stoker is published in England.
1905	Worldwide vampire population hits the one million.
1924	Fritz Haarmann the "Vampire of Hanover" is arrested, tried and convicted of killing more than 20 people in a vampire crime spree.
1931	Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, is released. Peter Kurten of Dusseldorf, Germany, is executed after being found guilty of murdering a number of people in a vampiric killing spree.
1932	The movie "Vampyr," directed by Carl Theodore Dreyer, is released.
1936	"Dracula's Daughter" is released.
1942	A. E. Van Vought's "Asylum" is the first story about an alien vampire.
1943	U. S. President Franklin Roosevelt unveils "The Zozobra Project".
1943	"Son of Dracula", stars Lon Chaney, Jr., as Dracula.
1950	In New Mexico an auto mechanic named Joe Valdez becomes the first successful recipient of the vampire vaccine.
1962	The Count Dracula Society is founded in the United States by Donald Reed.
1964	"The Munsters" and "The Addams Family"; television shows with vampire characters.
1965	Jeanne Youngson founds The Count Dracula Fan Club.
1967	Due to the Lazo Disaster in Siberia, the United Nations (UN) passes a resolution banning vampire blood research.
1970	Sean Manchester founds The Vampire Research Society."In Search of Dracula" by Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu is published. --Stephan Kaplan founds The Vampire Research Centre.
1976	The first of The Vampire Chronicles, "Interview With the Vampire", by Anne Rice is published.
1978	Eric Held and Dorothy Nixon found the Vampire Information Exchange.
1979	Frank Langella stars in the remake of Dracula.
1980	Richard Chase, the so-called Dracula Killer of Sacramento, California, commits suicide in prison. The World Federation of Dark Shadows Clubs (now Dark Shadows Official Fan Club) is founded.
1985	"The Vampire Lestat" by Anne Rice is published and reaches the best seller list.
1986	President Reagan lifts ban on the vampire and zombie blood research.
1987	"Methuselah Project" is initiated at the Santa RosaInstitute.
1988	"The Queen of the Damned" is published by Anne Rice.
1992	Andrei Chikatilo of Rostov, Russia, is sentenced to death after killing and vampirizing some 55 people.
1994	The film version of Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" opens with Tom Cruise as the Vampire Lestat and Brad Pitt as Louis.
1998	Blade is released into theaters. Pandora by Anne Rice is published. The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice is published.
1999	Vittorio the Vampire by Anne Rice is published.

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Iceland's Worm Monster

Video footage that allegedly show Icelandic equivalent of the Loch Ness monster is published by the Icelandic national broadcaster.



The creature is filmed ​​by a local resident of the valley Fljotsdal, Hjortur Kjerulf. A snapshot is now seen by more than three million people.

While some claim that it is a fishing net, others think that this is a huge snake, and there are those who believe that it is a mythical giant worm dragon or serpentine that were believed to live in the lake Lagarfljót.

This creature is a part of Icelandic folklore, and the first story appeared in the 14th century.

In the case of a python or a similar large snake, the question is how come it is in the icy water, when it is known that these snakes live in tropical conditions.

Ring and the snake

According to legend, a girl was given a gold ring from her mother. She wanted for that ring to be big, so she could sell it for even greater price.

The mother told her to put a worm on it and then the ring will grow.

The girl did it and then closed the ring and the worms in a box. However, the next day the worm grew and broke the box, but the ring still remain small.

Frightened, the girl was thrown into the lake a creature and the ring, and that being continued to grow and kill humans and animals.

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Woolly mammoth sighting Siberia

There's a new video that shows supposedly living Woolly mammoth, an animal that became extinct about 4,000 years ago.

Blurred footage shows how some large animal crosses the river, and that moment was allegedly "grabbed" a government engineer by camera, last summer in Chukotka in Siberia.



Some think that this is a scam - computer processed elephant or mammoth, digitally inserted into the scene. In addition it is stated that the man who put footage on the Internet is actually an expert on the paranormal, Michael Cohen, who was behind a series of shots of unidentified flying objects and other phenomena of doubtful authenticity. The question arises why the author stopped recording after 10 seconds, how long video. Also, why only now published if taken last summer?

Others believe that the footage is real, but that the creature is just bear with a fish in his mouth. That would explain the relatively small size of the mammoth, the shape of his "trunk" and the color. According to this explanation, the cameraman was mistaken strange form of animals.

There is a third explanation, the combination of the two preceding, and said that that this is a bear that is a false footage. Accordingly, author of the clip is very well knew what it was, but he - or anyone else who may later come into possession of the recording - decided to present it as a mystery, for fun and publicity.

Derek Serra, an artist for visual effects in Hollywood, who was previously analyzed some fake footage of UFOs, said that the footage, in his opinion, is deliberately blurred, perhaps to hide the true identity of the animal. He pointed out that even low-resolution video camera may very well focus on something.
"But on this recording is nothing in focus. The stones in the foreground seems unnaturally blurred, "he said.

In any case, see for yourself:

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"Bownessie" - Lake Windermere monster

Windermere is a town of about 2300 population within the Lake District National Park in the North West England shire county of Cumbria. Windermere town center is half a mile from Lake Windermere, England's largest fresh water natural lake. Lake Windermere has been summer and holidays cottage country since for the middle of the 19th century when a railway branch line gave the city-folk from central England access to the area's beauty.
The town of Windermere does not touch Lake Windermere. But it has grown together with lakeside town of Bowness-on-Windermere. The odd combined town retains two distinct town centres. The Windermere railway station continues in operation today.
While there are a many cultural attractions in the Wingemere area, none can match the beauty of the natural environment. The mountains of Cumbria surround the lake basin, at the center of which lies the ten and half mile long ribbon lake: long, narrow and deep. Ribbon lakes were formed during the last ice age and are canyons with a river at either end. A glacier would have dug a glacial trough through a vein of soft rock, creating a canyon surrounded by the harder rock of the mountains. Boats from the piers in Bowness sail around the lake. There are 18 islands in the lake, the largest of 40 acres and privately owned. Two other villages are along the lake shoe, Ambleside and Lakeside. Sailing from one to the other is an excellent way to while away a summer's day.
Since the 1950s there have been isolated reports of somethin odd in Lake Windermere. The story, documented by Centre for Fortean Zoology, was not much known until 2006, when a man and wife reported seeing something large swimming about 30 yards from shore. This focused local attention on the Lake and later in the year a photographer named Linden Adams took some photos that were picked up by wire services and cable news network. The pictures have never been proven inauthentic.

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Lake ‘monster’ sighting

A BIZARRE swimming incident on Windermere coincided with the announcement that a paranormal investigator will plumb the lake’s depths in search of a giant creature. Thomas Noblett, 46, was swimming the lake this week when he was suddenly swamped by a three-foot wave of unknown origin. A spate of eyewitness sightings reported by The Gazette during 2006-2007 described a 50-foot long serpent-like animal surfacing on Windermere. Psychic Dean ‘Midas’ Maynard, who came to prominence by accurately predicting sports score lines and X factor winners, will hunt for the beast in September. Mr Noblett trains on the lake for four hours every day in preparation for a channel swim. Never having had to deal with anything more than the odd passing trout, the 46-year-old said he had since reconsidered the legend of the Windemere monster. “I didn’t entertain it before. Now when I’m in the lake it has my full attention,” he said. Mr Noblett, managing director of The Langdale Chase Hotel, was swimming close to Wray Castle at 7am on Wednesday morning when the 3ft swell hit. He and swimming trainer Andrew Tighe – paddling in a boat beside him – were the only people on the lake. “We had gotten up early and Windermere was crystal clear. The lake was totally empty apart from us and all I could hear was the slapping of my arm against the water,” explained Mr Noblett. “All of a sudden this wave just hit us. Andrew said ‘where the hell did that come from?’ and it made the boat rock from side to side,” he continued. Treading water, alone, in the centre of the lake, Mr Noblett watched as two large waves sped towards either shore. “It was like a big bow wave; a three-foot swell at least. There was two, as if a speed boat had sped past, but there were no boats on the lake,” he said. Previously an escape from the jellyfish he dodges while training at sea, Mr Noblett said the lake’s depths were not so inviting anymore. “I always look forward to swimming in Windermere, now I’m starting to get the fear. Twice I have looked down and seen fish, but only small trout. The reeds sometimes scare you, because they suddenly appear like triffids.” Dean ‘Midas’ Maynard will search the lake for the monster in September. Mr Maynard, with a background in ghost hunting, is currently searching for a sonar-equipped boat to use in the search. “It’s a fascinating subject. I’m not saying there is or isn’t something down there. Most eyewitness accounts describe some sore of eel, which if living in open water can grow very big,” said Mr Maynard. Mr Noblett is swimming across the English Channel in mid October. He hopes to raise £10,000 for Richard Rose Central Academy in Carlisle and the Cyctic Fibros is Trust.

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From the Westmorland (Eng.) Gazette: 18 Aug. 2006
A HOLIDAYMAKER has spoken of his horror at seeing a Loch Ness-type monster’
emerge from the depths of Windermere, report Paul Duncan and Peter Otway.
University lecturer Steve Burnip and his wife, Eileen, were shocked at seeing the serpent-like creature surface from the waters as they stood at a well-known viewpoint.
"I was absolutely flabbergasted, I just stood there and couldn’t believe what I was looking at," said Mr Burnip, who has been holidaying in the area for 13 years with his family.
He claimed the creature was about 15-20ft long with a little head and two small humps following in its wake. "It was like a giant eel."
Mr Burnip, who is 51 and from Hebden Bridge, was looking out from Watbarrow
point that looks across the lake to Waterhead.
Ian Winfield, a fish ecologist for the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology at Lancaster University, believes Mr Burnip could have seen a catfish, as they have been introduced to a lot of lakes for angling.
"The Wels catfish comes from mainland Europe and can grow to about 500cm and weigh up to 306kg and there have been numerous records of catfish washing up dead in Cumbrian lakes," said Mr Whitfield.

When I got wind of this story, I must admit I was absolutely thrilled to bits at the possibility that there was a cryptid yet to be found in English waters. I happened to have booked a stay in the town of Windermere itself from August 22 to 24 and was going to spend a fair chunk of time visiting the lake and nearby Coniston Water where Sir Donald Campbell died while attempting to break the world water speed record aboard Bluebird in 1967 so I had the opportunity of checking Lake Winderemere out.
People often say that if there is a cryptid in a lake why haven’t more people seen the creature and more often as well. If the body of water is anything like Lake Windermere, I can fully understand why this creature would be so rarely seen. Unlike North American lakes, access to the shore around Lake Windermere is extremely difficult. True, there are a number of piers from which you can board tour boats of the lake, but most of the shoreline – particularly at the southern end – is inaccessible.
The witness, Mr. Burnip, was very fortunate that he was in a location that afforded a good view of the lake. Watbarrow Point is the home a famous local castle so it is not surprising Mr. Burnip and his family were in this area. As the report indicates you can see Waterhead very well from this spot so the witness description of his sightlines is accurate.
Although it is certainly possible there are Wels catfish in Lake Windermere, what Mr. Burnip saw and described is nothing like a catfish. He is adamant that he saw head and two humps and this is certainly not an aspect that one could possibly expect a catfish to exhibit. Richard Freeman and the gang from the Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) in Devon, also checked out the lake, as I did, after Mr. Burnip’s sighting and they hypothesized what Mr. Burnip saw might have been a large sterile eel. Now, that is a hypothesis I could live with. It is possible that Mr. Burnip saw an eel swimming on its side (this does happen and I have seen footage of it myself) which would account for the creature. It would have to be a very large eel to be 15 – 20 feet long, but it is a possibility with some merit to it.
Neither the CFZ crew or our British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club (BCSCC) field work team saw anything out of the ordinary at Lake Windermere, but I am fairly excited about the prospect of revisiting the lake to ascertain whether this unknown creature is a cryptid or an extraordinarily large and unusual eel.

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Eerie Creature from Berwick

BERWICK, Louisiana -- A deer hunter captures a spooky image wandering through the Louisiana woods at night.A hunter near Baton Rouge says he found this freaky photo on his deer stand camera.The hunting camera was broken but the memory card was still there and so was this bizarre image.It looks like a cross between a human and an animal, with long slender appendages and glowing eyes.The hunter says he just hopes it's a vegetarian, if he runs into it in the woods again.

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Most people suspect it’s a hoax. I mean; how cold it not be? There’s nothing on whether the camera was supposed to be recording video or a series of stills. Either way; you’d expect more evidence from the memory card.

Read more about The Berwick woods monster by http://null

Most people suspect it’s a hoax. I mean; how cold it not be? There’s nothing on whether the camera was supposed to be recording video or a series of stills. Either way; you’d expect more evidence from the memory card.

Read more about The Berwick woods monster by http://null

Most people suspect it’s a hoax. I mean; how cold it not be? There’s nothing on whether the camera was supposed to be recording video or a series of stills. Either way; you’d expect more evidence from the memory card.

Read more about The Berwick woods monster by http://null

Most people suspect it’s a hoax. I mean; how cold it not be? There’s nothing on whether the camera was supposed to be recording video or a series of stills. Either way; you’d expect more evidence from the memory card.

source

Most people suspect it’s a hoax. I mean; how cold it not be? There’s nothing on whether the camera was supposed to be recording video or a series of stills. Either way; you’d expect more evidence from the memory card.

Read more about The Berwick woods monster by http://nullMost people suspect it’s a hoax. I mean; how cold it not be? There’s nothing on whether the camera was supposed to be recording video or a series of stills. Either way; you’d expect more evidence from the memory card.

Read more about The Berwick woods monster by http://null

Most people suspect it’s a hoax. I mean; how cold it not be? There’s nothing on whether the camera was supposed to be recording video or a series of stills. Either way; you’d expect more evidence from the memory card.

Read more about The Berwick woods monster by http://nullMost people suspect it’s a hoax. I mean; how cold it not be? There’s nothing on whether the camera was supposed to be recording video or a series of stills. Either way; you’d expect more evidence from the memory card.

Read more about The Berwick woods monster by http://null

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Skinwalker story 1

About 18 years ago, my buddy Kyle and I went canoeing down in south Georgia during the summer. The first part of the trip took us down the Satilla, a beautiful black water river with white sandy beaches. That part of the vacation was uneventful. The trip through the Okefenokee Swamp was not, however.

Even at the age of 17 we were fairly experienced campers. Every weekend we would hike or float down a river. We never left without first plotting a detailed map and we had the best equipment a couple of teenagers could afford. We always planned for the unexpected and made sure to take an extra couple of days worth of supplies. The trip into the swamp was only going to be a short day trip, leaving early in the morning and returning before dusk. We were totally unprepared for what happened.

We set off into the swamp early Saturday morning, leisurely paddling along the well marked canoe trail. We took in the sights of the gorgeous landscape, the beautiful plants and of course we marveled at the alligators. The two of us were loving every minute of our trek. Nearing midday, we became hungry so we paddled away from the trail a short distance, tied up to a tree, and made lunch.

After eating our ramen noodles and jerky we relaxed in the canoe, and soon both of us fell asleep. We woke up a couple of hours later and started paddling back to the main path. We thought so, anyway.

It didn't take us long to realize that we were lost. Neither of us felt any panic or distress. We had been in worse situtations and never failed to get through them. We were both confident we would soon find our way out of the maze in which we found ourselves.

The hours passed and the sun was getting lower in the sky. Still far from panicking, we were growing a bit anxious. We were just chalking it up to another 'Scott and Kyle Adventure'.

The sky continued to darken. At this point, we realized that we were going to have to spend the night in the swamp. Again, it was nothing we were really all that concerned about. We knew that the park rangers would be out looking for us the next day since our return time had come and gone. Kyle's family was staying in a nearby lodge, and even though we knew they naturally worried about us, we also knew that they were confident in our abilities and outdoor skills.

In the Okefenokee, camping is allowed only on platforms built above the water. That way the gators can't get ya. Obviously, we didn't have the luxury of a platform, so we tied up to another tree and just made ourselves as comfortable as possible in the boat.

We passed the time by eating, fishing, and watching the gators. Soon the sun had completely decended and it was night. It was eerily beautiful, and it seemed that Mother Nature had cranked up the volume to 11. The birds, frogs, insects and other swamp creatures became louder and louder. We talked about the sort of things that teenage boys talk about. We laughed and just enjoyed the moments.

THUMP. Something hit the bottom of our boat. THUMP THUMP. Again, something hit our boat. Kyle raised our small lantern and we saw what had to have been the largest alligator in the whole freaking swamp swim past. If it was less than 15 feet long I would be surprised. It turned around and came straight at us, hitting the boat again. Kyle grabbed his oar and smacked the water, hoping to scare the damn thing away. The gator seemed to grow even more brazen and aggressive and once again made a pass at our boat, really hitting it hard and rocking it a good bit. I felt like I was in an alligator version of 'Jaws'. We needed a bigger boat, indeed! I too grabbed an oar and we both began beating the hell out of the water. The gator went under us, REALLY knocked the shit out of the boat, and swam away. We thought it had left for good, but it returned after about 5 minutes. We repeated this entire cycle about 4 times. We were really getting scared that this fucker wanted to kill us. It swam away again, and we waited for it to make another strike.

Then everything went silent. Instantly. And by silent, I mean there was NOTHING making a sound. Not a fucking peep. Even the mosquitos that had been pestering us by buzzing around our faces had suddenly disappeared. We both looked at each other; our puzzled faces were illuminated by the dim lantern. Neither of us wanted to say anything to break the silence. I don't really think either of us could have said anything, anyway.

SPLASH. SPLISH SPLASH. The sound was off to our right, probably 20-30 yards away. That damn gator again, I thought. Thankfully the eerie silence was giving way to some sort of activity. Nope, nothing else made a sound. SPLAAASH. This one sounded heavier; more violent. I told myself it was still just the gator.

Kyle whispered. "Why is it so quiet?"
I didn't have an answer. Surely, no animal in the swamp was so threatening that even the damn crickets and skeeters shut up. Not even our gator menace had quieted the sounds of the Okefenokee.

Of course, as in all movie thrillers, the lantern went out and we couldn't reignite it. And of course, as in all situations like this, the clouds parted and the moon revealed itself.

And of course, the two teenage boys who up to this point were relatively unrattled nearly pissed themselves.

SPLASH! Something darted through the trees to our right. It was not an animal. Well, if it was an animal it was walking on its hind legs. A bear maybe?

"Christ. What in the fuck was that?!" I said, but not too loudly. Didn't want it to hear me.

"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS". Something made a sound like air escaping from a tire. The same figure we saw earlier moved through the trees again.

CRACK! THUMP. CRAAACK! The cracks were sharp and violent. The thump was dull and had a hollow tone to it. Still no other sounds in the whole freaking area.

"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS". There it was again, only a little louder.


Several minutes passed with nothing happening. Our little part of the world was still deathly silent.


PLOP.

Something landed in the water right next to our canoe. PLOP. PLOP PLOP PLOP. It became apparent that the thing was throwing pebbles or something at us.
Okay, now this is getting fucking ridiculous, I thought. Bears don't fucking throw things. Both Kyle and I simultaneously drew our hunting knives from their sheaths, as if that was going to do anything whatsoever.

What happened next was something I will never forget. It is something that both of us wish we had dreamed. It is something that we don't even speak about when we see each other almost 20 years later. Jesus, I'm getting goosebumps and quite nervous even typing this.

CLINK. Something landed in our canoe. CLINK CLINK. Two more somethings landed in our canoe. CLINK CLINK CLINK. Ok, enough with fucking THROWING SHIT INTO OUR CANOE!

It was then we realized that whatever the objects were had come from above, NOT from either side. We looked at each other, our faces so white they rivaled the moon. At the same time, our gazes drew upward.

There it was. Sitting in the tree. OUR TREE. The tree to which we were tied. You know that goat in Jurassic Park that was tied up for the T-Rex to eat? Yeah, we were that goat.

I swear to christ that this thing must have been a child of the moon. The moon seemed to cast down its light on our friend in particular, illuminating it much more clearly than anything else in the area. It was as if the moon wanted us to see this thing in all its glory.

It was humanoid- it had the body of a man with the head of the skull of some kind of animal. It looked kind of like a wolf or coyote or something similar. The eyes glowed yellow, and there was fur covering the shoulders and upper body. This thing was built like a tank, too. Its muscles rippled under its pale skin. It breathed deeply and slowly. In one hand it held some sort of staff that was maybe 3 feet long with a huge knot at one end. Around its neck there was a pouch made from leather.

Oh, one thing I should mention is that this tree had no branches on the lower half of the tree where the creature was. It was grasping the tree with one arm, the staff clutched tightly in that hand. Its feet seemed to be dug into the tree trunk.
With its free hand, he pointed at us. Keep in mind that Kyle and I were in opposite ends of the boat, but each of us swore that it was looking straight into the eyes of each of us. Strangely, our sense of fear went away once it gazed into us. A sense of calm and 'This is gonna be ok' came over us. Slowly, it withdrew its outstretched hand, opened the pouch around its neck, reached two long fingers inside and took something out. It slowly extended its arm again, and dropped the objects into our boat.

"GWAHHHHHHHHHHHHH SSSSSSSSSSSSSKKKKKKKKKKKKKHHHHHH" is the best approximation of the sound it made. It pointed at us again, then pointed off into the distance, to our right.

It leapt from the tree, landed with a very quiet splash, and darted off. The clouds gathered around the moon, and all the swamp's inhabitants began making their music once again.

Of course, we didn't sleep a wink. We sat in silence for the rest of the night, too awed and scared to speak.

The direction it pointed to turned out to be the way back to the trail.

The objects in our boat? Alligator teeth. Freshly dug out from a recently dead gator.

It was clear that this thing had been watching over us.

Once we got back to the canoe center, we told the story of being lost and the gator to the park rangers and Kyle's family. We left the part about our friend out. After we all settled down a bit, we talked to the rangers about the history of the swamp, hoping to gain some insight into what had happened. They mentioned nothing about ghosts, and scoffed at us when we brought it up. They did say that many indian burial mounds have been found, though... some 4000 years old.

Anyway, Kyle and I talked it about once and only once after it happened. It was so amazing, unbelievable, and awe inspiring that we have no need to discuss it I guess. As for telling the story, no one would believe us anyway.

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