Saturday, October 30, 2010

St. George

Yesterday night my church had a Reformation Celebration.  The Reformer that we were taught about was John Huss.  I, my brothers, and my sister, all took part in the events offered to the children that night.  You can "dress up" if you like.  And so I did; I dressed up as St. George. 

Now, St. George was a "dragon slayer", for he killed several dragons in his lifetime.  His most famous encounter with a dragon was in Selene, a city in Libya, Africa.  The amazing story can be read here:
http://www.kellscraft.com/stgeorge.html



This story is truly amazing.

Here's some more things about St. George:

- St. George also killed a dragon Brinsop, England, and he killed another dragon in Uffington, England.

- St. George was martyred for believing in Jesus Christ.

- April 23 is St. George's day.

- The flag that is white with a red cross, is often associated with St. George.  This flag is pictured below.


Friday, October 29, 2010

Does a T-Rex lurk in Australia's outback?

Is there a living T-Rex in Australia?  Reports seem to indicate that this may very well be the case. The Burrunjor is said to have two short, almost useless upper arms, sturdy back legs, a long tail, and strong jaws with serrated teeth.  And need I say, an attitude!  It is said to be bipedal , about 20-30 feet tall ( 6-10 metres)! 

The Burrunjor lives in Arnhem Land, Australia.

In 1922, north of Cloncurry, stock men saw a "big lizard monster" that was bipedal and moved its tail from side to side when walking.

In 1950, in the Burketown region, two reptile tracks were sighted by ranchers.

Back in 1950, cattlemen lost stock to some mysterious beast that left the mutilated, half-eaten remains of cows and bulls in its wake over a wide area, stretching between the border country and Burketown.  At first the cattlemen suspected crocodiles, but, Charles Waterman, a cattleman, described a "fearsome", mottled 20 foot tall beast carrying a cow in its jaws that bounded out of sight as he hid behind a bush.

Searchers on horseback found huge reptilian tracks of some bipedal-walking beast.  They followed these three-toed tracks with their cattle dogs through some rough jungle terrain until they entered swampland beyond which was more dense scrub.

However, it was at this point that the cattle dogs became uneasy and ran off.  The horses were also uneasy and obviously did not want to cross the swamp.  While most of the cattlemen decided their animals knew best, two men set off on foot with their carbines.

The story goes that they soon came across further tracks in an open area beyond the swamp.  While his mate searched about, the other man briefly spotted the dark form of an enormous creature, perhaps 30 ft. in height, further off in dense timber.  The men left the scene in haste.

In 1950, Jack Peckham, a buffalo shooter, spots some 38 cm footprints of a three toed bipedal animal in Arnhem Land.


In 1957, near the McArthur river in Northern Territory fifty cattle began to panic.  The ranchers were perplexed, especially when one of their team ran screaming into a nearby river for relative safety.  Just like the Urupunji incident a loud grunting and snorting noise was heard.  Witnesses viewed the silhouette of a tall monster fleeing into a nearby scrub land and daybreak revealed several mutilated cattle, some half eaten.

In 1960, three toed tracks are found near Alice Springs and Mount Isa.

Johnny Mathews, a part-Aboriginal tracker, claimed to have seen a 25ft. tall bipedal reptilian monster, moving through scrub near Lagoon Creek on the Gulf coast one day in 1961. “Hardly anyone outside my own people believes my story, but I known what I saw”, he said to Rex Gilroy in 1970.

In 1961, north of Mount Isa, kangaroo hunters spot a bipedal reptile eight meters (about 26 feet) tall during a dust storm.

In 1970, near Floraville, Jack and Jane Mulholland spotted a "20 foot tall Tyrannosaurus Rex like monster with a mottled skin coloration".

In 1977, at Normanton district, an Aboriginal couple ran into a grey skinned Burrunjor that resembled a Tyrannosaurus, feeding on a bullock.

In 1978, a Northern Territory bushman and explorer, Bryan Clark, related a story of his own that had taken place some years before.  While mustering cattle in the Urapunji area, he became lost in the remote wilderness of that part of Arnhem Land.  It took him three days to find his way out of the region and back to the homestead from where he originally set out.

He had not known at the time, but his footprints had been picked up and followed by two Aboriginal trackers and a mounted policeman.  On the first night of their search they camped on the outskirts of the Burrunjor scrub, even though the two trackers protested strongly against doing so.  The policeman hobbled his horse, cooked their meal, then climbed into his swag and went to sleep.

Later that night the two Aborigines shouting intelligibly and grasping for their packs and saddles suddenly woke him up.  The policeman also realized at this moment that the ground appeared to be shaking.  Hurriedly getting to his feet, he too gathered up his belongings, and shortly afterwards, the three galloped away.  As he told Bryan Clark later at the Urapunji homestead, he had also heard a sound, somewhat like a loud puffing or grunting noise, certainly loud enough to be coming from some large animal.
    
When asked if he intended to include this incident in his report, he replied he would not because he feared no one would believe him.

The policeman warned Bryan never again to return to that area, because if he got lost there again he’d be “on his own”, as he would not come looking for him!

In 1979, north of Burketown, Aborigional fishermen spotted three toed footprints.

In 1980, at the Kamuna district, Max Field found a trackway of 50 footprints.  The inner toe (37 cm) is longer than the outer ones (10 cm) as in dinosaurs.

In 1982, east of Arnhem Land, a human sized bipedal reptile was sighted.

In 1982, an interview with bushman Allan Richie, who roams remote far northern areas of Australia, revealed that he found, "Aborigines terrified of these animals.........There is one region..... beyond which no horse will go willingly-nor will most Aborigines.  Horrific sounds are heard....and the crashing of foliage in the jungle as the monsters move about."

In 1982, the Burrunjor was sighted in east Arnhem Land.  It was said to be blackish/brown colored. 

In June of 1984, Rex Gilroy found some three-toed footprints outside of Narooma NSW.

In 1985, a 4-wheel drive vehicle and it's family of travellers, the Askeys, heading for Roper River Mission, happened to take a back road for some sightseeing.  Just before they were to pull up and turn around to resume their journey to the mission, they all saw, moving together across an open plain some distance away, two bipedal-walking reptilian creatures a good 20ft. tall respectively.
    
“The monsters were a greyish-brown color, and dinosaur-like in appearance.  We didn’t wait around,” said the father, Mr. Greg Askey.

While it's possible that it's a T-Rex, it also could be an Allosaurus, but one things for sure, this is a real dinosaur.

Sources:

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Mountain Boomer

In the the Big Bend region of Texas, near the Big Bend National Park, comes reports of a dinosaur-like creature that has been dubbed the Mountain Boomer because of it's booming sound.  The Mountain Boomer might be bipedal (walking on two legs).  It possesses long back legs, and short front legs.  It's about 5 to 6 feet long.  It's color is greenish or brownish. 

Jimmy Ward claimed to have heard tales of a "giant lizard that walked on its hind legs and whose voice sounded like the roll of distant thunder." 

In the early 1970's, someone said that a dinosaur ran a car off the road. 

In 1993, someone else saw a Mountain Boomer scavenging a road kill.  The "creature" ran off when this person's vehicle came close.

Is it a lizard?  Read the below paragraph for some more insight.

Crotaphytus collaris is a North American lizard that can reach a foot (30 cm) long in length (including the tail), with a large head and powerful jaws.  They are well known for the ability to run on their hind legs, looking like small dinosaurs.

It's possible the Mountain Boomer could be a dinosaur, while it's also possible that it could be a lizard.  But, this North American lizard "can reach a foot (30 cm) in length," while the Mountain Boomer cryptid is reportedly 5 to 6 feet long.

Sources: Dinosaurs: Dead or Alive? O'Donnell, Phillip Xulon Press 2006 and  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_collared_lizard

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Untold Bigfoot Sighting

In 1986, my Father was in the U.S. Navy, while in the Navy, he spoke to a man who claimed to have seen Bigfoot.

The man was out walking at night, when he looked up a hill, and saw the cryptid known as Bigfoot.  This Bigfoot was crossing the road, or going from one side of the road on the hill to the other side.  The man ran to his house. 

He told my Dad, "They're real, and I saw one!"

This sighting took place in Washington State, in the late 1970's.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Photos: Genuine or Fraud?

It was February, 1976, when a lady known only as "Mary F.", took two interesting photos, or did she?  That February day was a day like no other, or was it?  The photos taken by Mary F. are photos like no others, or are they? 

The two photos, shown on the right, are the two that were supposedly taken by Mary F.  The photos are supposedly showing Morgawr, the cryptid of Falmouth Bay, Cornwall, England.  Morgawr means "sea giant" in Cornish.
Here's the story: A woman known only as "Mary F." claimed to have sighted Morgawr in February, 1976, and she was able to take two photographs.  She submitted the photos anonymously to the local newspaper, the Falmouth Packet, which published them on its front page on March 5, 1976.  Mary F. included a note containing the following description of what she had seen:

"It looked like an elephant waving its trunk, but the trunk was a long neck with a small head on the end, like a snake's head.  It had humps on the back which moved in a funny way.  The color was black or very dark brown, and the skin seemed to be like a sea lion's... the animal frightened me.  I would not like to see it any closer.  I do not like the way it moved when swimming."

She also indicated that the creature was about 15-18 feet long, and that it was visible only for a few seconds. She apologized for the poor quality of her photography, writing that, "The pictures are not very clear because of the sun shining right into the camera and a haze on the water.  Also I took them very quickly indeed."

Here are the reasons why these photos could be frauds:

1) These photos have nothing to compare the creature's size with except for how high it is out of the water.

2) Mary F. said that, "The pictures are not very clear because of the sun shining right into the camera and a haze on the water.  Also I took them very quickly indeed."  The photos seem quite clear, and appear like they were not taken very quickly at all.

3) How did she get a close-up on the creature?

4) Neither Mary F. or the negatives have ever been traced.  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgawr_(cryptid)

Points like these, and others, appear to show that the photographs are frauds, but let us look at some reasons on why these photos could be genuine.

1) It could be that the photos are close-ups because she got close, and that is why she was frightened.

2) There seems to be some water that is being upset by the creature, but not too much considering how big the creature appears to be.

3) The creature does appear to have moved forward in the second shot.

4) Noted mystery writers and photographers Janet and Colin Bord have examined first-generation copy prints, and "feel that these photographs could well be genuine." 
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgawr_(cryptid)

I do not know if these photos are genuine or fraud; please share your thoughts.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Lake Ikeda Enigma

Lake Ikeda, Japan, is a caldera lake.  Lake Ikeda's average depth is 135 meters (about 443 feet), while it's maximum depth is 233 meters (about 764 feet).

Lake Ikeda is home to a mysterious creature, Issie.

Here are some sightings of the Lake Ikeda Enigma:

1900, supposedly, marked the first reported Issie sighting.

In 1961, Issie was supposedly seen again. 

On September 3, 1978, 20 attendants of a memorial service testified that they saw Issie.  Yutaka Kawaji was one of the witnesses.  Yutaka Kawaji's children, Hiroto, Mutsumi and Tomoko, noticed two humps from a creature that was gliding through the water.  These were big humps measuring five metres (16.26 feet long) and standing some 60 centimetres (two feet) out of the water.  The children alerted the adults in the party to the presence of the creature and before anyone had time to breathe, Yukata Kawaji leapt aboard a motorboat and pursued the creature as it crossed the lake at a fair clip.

Kawaji was unable to catch up with the creature but during a sighting that lasted three to four minutes, he was able to see the humps twice for about 20 seconds.  Conditions on the lake were mirror smooth with no wind or waves to speak of.  The witnesses agreed that the only activity on the lake came from the immediate area where the cryptid had made it appearance.  Source: http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptotourism/issie/

Yutaka Kawaji saw Issie on three occasions; twice in one year.
On December 16, 1978, Issie was photographed by Toshiaki Matsuhara.  It was 1.30 p.m. when Matsuhara saw a whirlpool suddenly appear in the middle of the lake.  For five minutes he watched it through a 50X telescope as it moved northward before it disappeared.  While scanning the lake in the aftermath of his initial sighting, Matsuhara’s attention was drawn to a moving object.  He quickly took a series of photographs, and in one of them, what appears to be two humps with spinal ridges, can be seen.  When the photos were published, Yutaka Kawaji contacted the tourism department to say that Matsuhara had photographed the creature he had seen three months earlier and that it was also in the exact same location off a local landmark known as the Couple’s Rock.  Source: http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2009/09/issie-japanese-lake-monster.html

Supposedly, Matsuhara photographed the creature on four more occasions, but few have seen these photos and they have not been submitted for serious scrutiny.                    
Source:  http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptotourism/issie/

In January 1991, another visitor at the lake took video footage of a creature, approximately 30 ft. in length. 

This video appeared on Nippon TV special World’s Mysterious Phenomena. 
Sources: http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2009/09/issie-japanese-lake-monster.html and http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptotourism/issie/.


On Episode 18, Season 2, of Destination Truth, Josh Gates and his team went searching for Issie.  Their expedition led to some pretty interesting videos.  Also, they gathered some more sightings of Issie.