Lake Merritt Monster

IS THERE A MONSTER IN LAKE MERRITT? SCIENTIST SAYS YES!

Artist Jamie Chreszczyk's rendering of the rumored Lake Merritt monster. Courtesy of Jamie Chreszczyk.

By Dara KerrPosted June 22, 2011 3:32 pm

Few know what lurks the depths of the murky, brackish, crustacean-filled Lake Merritt. Few know what beastly beast, what cryptid, what leviathan, what man-eating monster could be swimming below, slithering through those fetid waters. Few know… but many have seen.

“It’s black, it’s big, it has spikes on its head and its tongue sticks out,” says Dr. Richard Bailey, local expert on the rumored Lake Merritt monster and executive director of the Lake Merritt Institute, a non-profit dedicated to cleaning the lake. “It’s got typical round monster humps.”

According to Dr. Bailey, who has a masters degree in zoology and a doctorate in natural resources, sightings of this Lake Merritt monster, which he fondly refers to as the “Oak-ness monster,” have become more frequent in the past five years.  Dr. Bailey believes the creature prefers clean lakes, so perhaps it is no coincidence that he says these appearances come with massive lake clean-ups that make it easier for lake-goers to spot monster-like objects in the water. “There were reports of him years ago,” he says. “The water quality got bad for awhile, and then it got better.”

Various recent reports from people who insist they have seen the beast say that sightings begin with a slow roiling bubble on the surface of the lake. Then what appears to be a dragon’s head attached to an eel-like body with undulating humps emerges. It may stay aloft for several seconds and then will bubble back down, vanishing into the inky water.

Rumors have it that the best spot to catch a glimpse of this half-sea monster, half-fresh-water-dwelling megafauna is from the docks of the Lake Chalet restaurant, which sits on the southwest shore of the lake. Lake Chalet bartender Laurance Alvarado claims to have seen the beast a handful of times. “I remember the first time I saw it,” he said as he prepared drinks at the dockside bar last week. “It went in and out of the water, then disappeared. It was literally right there, I could’ve thrown a stone at it.”

Alvarado described the monster as about 8 feet long and said that it doesn’t surface often; it’s something you’d be lucky to see. And although some may doubt that such a mysterious creature actually exists, Alvarado just says, “It wouldn’t surprise me at this lake, some mutant thing.”

Recent photo taken of what is thought to be the Oak-ness monster. Courtesy of the Lake Merritt Institute.

Cryptozoology is a touchy field of study, and scientists like Dr. Bailey have their work cut out for them in attempting to not only prove to a skeptical public that the monster actually exists, but in explaining how it got into the lake. Dr. Bailey says he’s consulted with experts, including someone he claims is a retired UC Berkeley geologist named Dr. Kenneth Spelunker who believes the monster could be an abominable reptile that crawled through an open fissure at the bottom of the lake.

“He thinks that climate change may have opened a crevice under the lake,” says Dr. Bailey, “and this thing may have swum in after that.” (For the record, there is no account of Dr. Spelunker outside of the Lake Merritt Institute’s own newsletters, which only adds to his mystery.)

Although sightings at Lake Merritt have only recurred recently, Dr. Bailey believes this monster is as old as time. “These things go back to antiquity era,” he says. Quoting James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, he says the monster has probably been around since “joshuan judges had given us numbers or Helviticus committed deuteronomy.”*

Recorded Lake Merritt monster sightings date back to the 1940’s. According to Jack Burroughs, a former reporter for the Oakland Tribune, the monster once inhabited the lake and then left (although, if Dr. Bailey is correct, he seems to have returned again). On June 21, 1946, Burroughs wrote in his weekly column:

The legend, which some go so far as to disbelieve, dates back to that far-off time when turgid streams snaked their way down from the hills to form the San Antonio creek. On a day of untoward lightnings and unseemly thunderings a vast, slimy, amphibious creature slithered along one of these water courses into San Antonio creek, waded along the creek till he came to the estuary, swam out the estuary into the Bay and thence out to sea. But before he left he hollowed out with a fillip of his tail, the basin that later became Lake Merritt. He must have been wired for sounds, for before he left he roared, in a voice that echoed from Mt. Diablo to the Farralons, a prophecy that has since been freely translated from the old Crow Indian dialect as follows: “Lake Merritt… home!”

This archival article was recently dug up from Oakland’s Main Library by Oakland resident and artist Justin Kanalakis, who has quickly become a monster buff and started making and selling t-shirts with the creature’s likeness. “He’s kind of a slithery dragon amphibian,” says Kanalakis describing the monster. “He’s wingless—he’s a water bearing creature.”

Cryptozoologists know that lake monster apparitions have been sighted all over the world. Of course, there’s the famous Scottish Loch Ness monster, and the Champs monster that supposedly lives in Lake Champlain in New England. Less famous sea beasts reportedly inhabit Oregon, Brazil and China. Dr. Bailey believes some of these monsters may be related and notes that the humps on the Loch Ness monster are strikingly similar to those on the Oak-ness monster.

Even though there are thought to be monster fish, sea serpents and waterborne hump-backed dragons in several countries, Dr. Bailey nevertheless says that such creatures are endangered species. Recently, he asked the Oakland City Council to write a proclamation to honor and protect the Lake Merritt beast. There’s been no response from the council yet, but Dr. Bailey remains hopeful. “It would be nice if the city council would recognize it,” Dr. Bailey says. “We’re lucky to have this rare creature.”

Dr. Bailey adds that despite the monster’s frightening appearance and prodigious size, he believes that it’s actually quite harmless. “We think it’s docile, it’s never really attacked anybody,” he says. “But we warn people not to get too close—just to be safe.”

*The interview with Dr. Bailey happened to be on June 16, Bloomsday, which is why he quoted James Joyce.

[It seems this is just possibly the same kind of spiky=backed water monster or faux-alligator that is otherwise seen all over the Southwest. 8 feet is a reasonable enough estimate for the size, although estimates do run up to 20 feet long commonly. These are amphibious creatures that can travel overland and sleep in underground dens when the water dries up-DD]

Bigfoot Boob Bounce and More

Note from Poster of Video:" I have attempted to show the bounce of Patty's breast. Real of fake you can decide for yourself but the breasts do appear to be moving."

At the same time I got this I also found this following video of Bill Munns' analysis. From what I have heard of Munns' studies he makes some excellent points and I concur 100% with everything he has said that I have heard so far, and on several points we have both made the same arguments separately and we have published separately. I think that part is pretty important to realize also.

Native 'Big Foot'

We have published this before but this version just posted at Facebook has a better illustration and some additional information in the description:

The “Hairy Man” pictographs - Their Yokut name is Mayak datat, which translates as “hairy man”. They have another name for the creature: Shoonshoonootr, one of the few natives words to literally translate as “big foot.” This set of rock art in east central California seemingly depicts three of these hairy giants. They are believed by some to represent a male, female, and juvenile Bigfoot

Bill Munns on Patterson-Gimlin Film

Bigfoot: Fact or Fiction? Patterson Film Analyzed

Bigfoot researcher, computer animator, and Hollywood costume designer Bill Munns receives access to the original Patterson-Gimlin film to thoroughly exam.

Desert Dwelling Bigfoot

The Borrego Sandman (1939 - Present)

Written By: Ken Hulsey



Many of you are undoubtedly familiar with the legends of Bigfoot and all of his ape-like kin who are reported to dwell in the numerous remote wilderness areas and swamps throughout North America. These vast areas where man seldom treads provides a perfect refuge for these creatures where food and water are plentiful and protection from the elements can be easily attained.

It may come to your surprise that the legendary monster is also a desert dweller as well.

As hard as it may be to fathom there are many reports from the vast deserts of Southern California of Sasquatch-like creatures roaming the sand, much like they do in the lush forest. These very dry areas with little vegetation, and almost no water supply would seem like the last place that a 6-to-10-foot-tall animal that weighs upwards of 400 pounds, and not to mention is covered with thick fur, would want to call home, yet the sheer number of Bigfoot sightings in these areas are too numerous to ignore.

In the late 1960's reports of Bigfoot sightings in the desert towns of Lancaster and Palmdale reached a feverish pace that lasted well into the 1970's, then tapered off. Though these areas border on the Mojave desert, they also border on the Angeles National forest, so it wouldn't seem to unlikely that the creature could have been lured out of the wilderness and into the desert for some unknown reason.

More bizarre are the stories that have surfaced from nearby Edwards Air Force Base, that is farther inland and farther from the forested areas near Los Angeles, of frequent intrusions by creatures that match the description of Bigfoot. As the story goes, Base Security is in possession of several surveillance video tapes that plainly show giant, up-right, apes trespassing in the numerous underground tunnels under the facility. How, or where, the Bigfoot break into, or gain access to these tunnels has never been revealed, obviously for security reasons, but reportedly these incidents happen rather often, and are a nuisance.

The Mojave Desert and Death Valley are two of Southern California's more famous barren areas, but there is also a stretch of inhospitable desert that stretches from the Mexican border northward to the edges of the San Bernardino mountains. This area to has had it's share of Sasquatch sightings over the decades, and this is the area I wanted to focus on today.

The desert wilderness of the Anza-Borrego area has been home to many a tall-tale and several strange events over the past several hundred years. Many a desert rat has emerged from the region with tales of a mysterious Spanish ship filled with pearls inexplicably marooned in the sand, or of a Viking boat embedded in the rock, strange lights in the night skies, and most commonly, of vast quantities of gold just waiting for some lucky prospector to cart out.

It was undoubtedly the lure of these reported gold deposits that first lured the white man into this desolate area and it is from one of these fortune hunters that the first report of Bigfoot, or the Borrego Sandman as it is known in these parts, came. Reportedly in 1939 a prospector, who when interviewed in the 1970s wished to remain anonymous, was attacked by a large group of upright-walking-apes as he camped near the Borrego Sink. The frightened man described the creatures as very large, covered in white fur, with glowing red eyes. The only thing that saved the man from the attack was the fact that the monsters were afraid of his camp fire.

Another report of giant footprints from that same general area came from a man named Victor Stoyanow in 1964. His story was retold in a famous article in SAGA magazine entitled, "America's Terrifying Woodland Monster-men" in 1969. The piece also featured the story of Harold Lancaster, a miner who encounter the Sandman in 1968. Here is an excerpt:

Gold prospectors and treasure hunters frequently seek their lost bonanzas in isolated areas. Since 1964, treasure hunters in the Borrego Valley desert in California have whispered about "the Abominable Sandmen of Borrego." The arid area is near the Mexican border, it is virtually uninhabited. There are many fissures, caves and crevasses in the Superstition Mountain region and prospectors say the Cocopah Indians have told of a subterranean labyrinth under the mountain, Maj. Victor Stoyanow was seeking an access into the Superstition Hills in January 1964, when he noticed large, humanoid tracks in the sand dunes. "The prints ran in pairs, generally parallel and averaged about 14 inches in length and nine wide at the instep," Major Stoyanow declared. He returned to the desert on several other occasions, made plaster casts of the prints, and snapped photographs."Curious as I am, I hope that the person who discovers what kind of beast it is doesn't happen to be me." Major Stoyanow said after his thorough investigation into the tracks.

The San Diego Union ran an unverifiable article some years ago of a "sandman" that was shot by hunter Frank Cox at Deadman's Hole, near Warner, California in San Diego County. The beast was described as a cross between "a man and a bear." The head was rather small, with protruding teeth and powerful jaws. The muscular creature had feet that measured 24 inches in length and the body weight was estimated to be 400 pounds.Harold Lancaster, treasure hunter, was prospecting in the Borrego Sink, east of the settlement of Borrego Springs. California in July 1968, when he saw a "sandman." "I was camped up on a mesa one morning when I saw a man walking in the desert," he reported. "The figure came closer. I thought it was another prospector. Then, I picked up my binoculars and saw the strangest sight in my life."It was a real giant apeman," Lancaster said. "I had heard about the screaming giant apeman up in Tuolumne County that frightened people for a couple of years. Another person and I even went up there to look for the thing. I decided it was a hoax and never expected to actually see one."

As the "sandman" drew closer, Lancaster became worried. "That thing was big. I was no match for it," he reported. "I had a .22 pistol on my hip but it would have been like shooting at a gorilla with a pea shooter. I was afraid the beast might get too close. So, I fired a couple of rounds into the air. The sandman jumped a good three feet off the ground when the sounds of the shots reached him. He turned his head, looked toward me and then took off running in the other direction!"Why didn't Lancaster shoot the alleged sandman? "I was afraid," he admitted. "They should be protected. They're a form of a human, a primitive species. It would be murder to kill one. They should be studied."

Reports from the area continue to this day. In 1998 some hikers discovered a set of strange footprints near Boundary Peak, close to the Mexican border. Likewise in 1993 a hiker saw a Bigfoot, um ...... using the restroom on the La Jolla Indian Reservation. Reports have also surfaced from military personnel at Camp Pendleton who had encounters with the creature while on maneuvers during the 1960's and 1980's.

New Footage: Happy Camp Bigfoot Photo

Last Monday on Bigfoot Evidence:

New Footage: Happy Camp Bigfoot Photo

Monday, August 13, 2012

The photo above was purportedly taken near the town of Happy Camp, CA. It's located in the canyons of the Klamath Mountains-- along the Klamath River. It is the home territory of a Native American tribe called the Karuk Ar. Happy Camp is also home to many reported sightings of the "Hairy Man".

Read More

California Monsters Featuring Lizardmen

http://robojapan.blogspot.com/2010/02/lizard-men-are-they-living-amoung-us.html

Lizard Men - Are They Living Amoung Us? (Part 1)

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: Louisville Mojo

As most of you already know, I have an incredible fascination with monsters (no...is that why this place is called Monster Island News?) and strange creatures of lore, mythology, cryptozoology, television and, of course, movies.

Now, today, I was planning on writing an article about one of the lesser known cryptids that have been seen all over the world, Lizard Men. My article was going to focus on the history of sightings here in California, and their possible link to the lost continents of Mu or Lemuria.

Mu and Lemuria are basically the Pacific Oceans' very own versions of Atlantis, to make a long story short.

Low and behold, I left the materials that I was going to use for that article at home this morning in my haste......my bad.

Now, you may think that this is some sort of coincidence, but while I was skimming through the news on Google this morning I came across a story about a Lizard Man written by J.S. Holland for Louisville Mojo.

That's weird. I came actress a story about Lizard Men on the very same day that I was going to write my own.

Some of you may say that this was some sort of fate, a cosmic connection, others will simply dismiss this as randomness. I, however, believe that all things happen do to plan, whether that be by God's plan, or not.

Now to get to the meat of the J.S. Holland piece. It seems that way back on October 28th, 1878, there was an article in the Courier-Journal (Louisville) about a scaly "Wild Man of the Woods" that had been captured and put on display.

When one generally hears the term, "Wild Man", images of a Sasquatch or Bigfoot normally comes to mind, this creature, however, was far different. According to the original article, this strange being was about 6-foot-tall, with large eyes, and covered with scales.

This strange lizard-like humanoid was reportedly displayed in Louisville for some time before, like the "Minnesota Ice Man"and the Bigfoot captured by railroad employees around the turn of the century in Canada, it disappeared, never to be seen again.

I should be noted that 'hoaxed' newpaper stories were very popular in the 1800s. Articles concocted to stimulate the public and boost newspaper sales. The more wild and unbelievable the better. However, according to Holland (I didn't read the article myself) the 1878 story in question was, ".. treated rather matter-of-factly despite its outlandish subject matter.."

Does that add any credence to the validity of the article.......probably not.

Regardless, this 1878 account of a "Lizard Man" is not unique, not on a worldwide scale, or even for the American south.

In June of 1988, a sixteen-year-old boy named Christopher Davis was attacked by a 7-foot-tall, scaly monster, while changing a flat tire near the Scape Ore Swamp in South Carolina.

The "Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp" (also known as the Lizard Man of Lee County) reportedly tried to attack the youth's car as he tried to escape.

In the following months after the attack other local residents reported sightings and other attacks on vehicles. Seems this "Lizard-Man" wasn't much of a car buff.

Reports of the creature, and sometimes creatures, continue to this day in the area, the latest being reported in 2005 and 2008.

Other areas of the country that seem to be home to lizard-like humanoids include Loveland, Ohio (The Loveland Frog), Thetis Lake, British Columbia, Canada (Thetis Lake Monster) and also here in my home state of California.

More on these California sightings in a follow-up article.

Is there really a race of "Creature from the Black Lagoon" esque "Gill-Men" living in obscurity in North America?

Good question?

Though, these things aren't seen with near the regularity of the Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, the reports may be worth some investigation.

Local legends of lizard-like races come from various periods of human history. There is the Cecrops, the mythical first King of Athens who was half-man-half-snake, the Dragon Kings of Chinese mythology, the Nāga in India and the Zahhak, a figure from Zoroastrian mythology, just to touch on a few.

One of the predominant theories about these creatures is that they are extraterrestrial, that is, they are aliens from another world. Indeed, there have been numerous reports of lizard-like aliens emerging from UFOs.

Many authors about UFO encounters have postulated that these guys are hear to start a colony, but if that's true, then they have either been really slow about it, or they are already living here.

More about that in my follow-up.

Food for thought, for now, I promise to write about all the California "Lizard Men" sightings as time permits.

Is there more here than meets to eye?

I know....I'm a tease...

[A subsequent bit of information on the site concluded with the information:

Lizard Men aren't just exclusive to rural South Carolina. On the opposite coast, in California, reports of humanoid reptiles have been reported for decades. In the 40s a fortune hunter claimed that a race of lizard people had built a labyrinth of tunnels filled with gold under Los Angeles. Likewise in the 50s a man almost hit a Lizard Man on a road in Riverside. On top of that Lizard Men have been reportedly seen on the slopes of Mt. Shasta.

--Now there are reports of Lizardmen living in catacombs under Los Angeles but elsewhere in Southern California there are vague reports of human-sized Lizards looking like iguanas but with the bodies that were the size of human beings (not counting the tails) AND they were said to hole up in caves. It might seem to be ridiculious to suggest such a thing, but it is also possible that some of these big lizards were living in caves in the Los Angeles area and occasionally fed into reports of Lizard Men: otherwise the descriptions tend to merge into "River Liz" and similar "Water-Monster" reports, and be about the same size with the same features. There are also some California "Chupacabras" sightings that fall into the pattern and which are much the same as the Mexican Chupas, and reported largely within the Hispanic population. I imagine there are also the usual mangy-dog sightings but I have not heard of any definite ones from California.    
                                                                                        

[Location of Lake Elsinore, one of the locations where Iguana lizard-shaped, spinybacked Water Monsters have been reported. Such reports in Southern California and Arizona are frequently referred to as "Alligators" or "crocodiles" but also as "Spinybacks", "Godzillas" and "Godzilla Lizards". Some have turned out to be released pet alligators but a couple have even turned out to be released pet monitor lizards. Some are reported along the Colorado River but there seems to be a concentration of reports near Phoenix, Arizona]

http://www.anomalies.net/archive/cni-news/CNI.0703.html

[I have heard of several other such Chupa reports from Southern California: it is notable in the reports quoted in this article that some of the witnesses think the spine is decorated with distinct tufts of hair-not otherwise on the body-and others speak of a spiny back "Like a Dinosaur"]

WEIRD CREATURES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA -- CHUPACABRAS?

Victor Valley Woman Investigates Series of Close Encounter Reports
[CNI News thanks Joyce Spivey for sending us this exclusive story of her ongoing investigation into reports of a weird creature -- some say Chupacabras -- repeatedly sighted in the high desert country east of Los Angeles. Joyce can be contacted by email at tspivey@ctainforms.com]
by Joyce Spivey
Has the Chupacabras, well known in Puerto Rico, come to the Victor Valley in the High Desert of Southern California?
I have lived in this area for nineteen years. I got interested in the paranormal about eight years ago after seeing and hearing about so many strange things in this beautiful desert.
On the night of October 8, 1996, many witnesses reported four UFOs in the northeastern sky around 8:00 PM. A newspaper pressman for our local paper took video of the mysterious lights. It made front page news in the Victorville area.
Our local paper has taken an interest because it is good for the community. A lot of movies and videos are being shot up here, becoming a cottage industry, due to the fact that this is the former home of George Air Force Base. The city of Victorville is more than happy to let the movie and video makers use this former base for a fee. Jodie Foster was here last October to shoot scenes for "CONTACT," an alien-encounter movie based on Carl Sagan's novel, due for release this summer.
On October 9, the day after the alleged UFO sighting, a local woman called the Sheriffs's Department to report her run-in with a scary animal on a dirt road while going to pick up her daughter from a friend's home. I contacted the woman later and interviewed her. Her story is humorous now, but it wasn't on the evening it happened to her.
There are a lot of dirt roads in the desert. She was on one in west Victorville at the time of the encounter. She was driving slowly because the road was like a washboard. The sun had just gone down; it was twilight. She had just turned on her car lights when she noticed something or someone standing up the road. As the lights from her car illuminated it better, it leaped into the brush beside the road. She said that the creature, before it jumped into the brush, appeared to be about four to four and a half feet tall.
Now feeling curious, she slowed down to about 7 or 8 miles per hour and rolled down her window to see if she could hear anything. She heard something coming through the brush toward her, and then silence for a moment. At that instant, she saw something crouching behind a large bush about eight feet from her. Its head was moving as if it were trying to see her better too.
She became very frightened when she saw "the glowing red eyes, just like a Christmas tree lights." She realized that her car lights were pointing straight ahead, while this creature was right beside her on the driver's side. She deduced from this that the eyes were glowing on their own, not from her car lights.
As it stood up from a crouching position behind the brush, she stepped on the gas to get away from it. She said it kept coming toward her even as she was picking up speed. It was running faster than a dog or person.
"It didn't run like any animal I'm familiar with," she said. "It was upright, like a person. I was trying to roll up the window and step on the gas. At the same time, I was shaking, and it was getting closer."
Describing the creature, she said "it was a medium gray in color but had darker spots on the chest, which was broad. It had glowing red eyes. The shoulders were rounded. It had slender arms with what looked like claws. I couldn't see the legs or feet, but it was upright and moving fast. It had tufts of hair on different parts of the body.
"I didn't really take time to see it real well, because I was so frightened," she said.
Next I interviewed a family in an area called Pinion Hills in the Victor Valley, at the base of Wrightwood, a skiing resort. The family lives in a sparsely populated area at 4,300 feet elevation. The creature has been hanging around, and still is at this date [mid March, 1997]. They have seen it several times, but never as close as the night in October, 1996.
The children saw it first, then the husband and wife . The children, a boy age 11 and his sister, 13, were in the bedroom playing a board game. Mom was in the kitchen preparing dinner, while dad was in the living room, reading and watching the news on TV. The children stood up from playing and saw something standing outside the window with glowing red eyes, like lights. It just stood there staring at them through the window, about ten feet away from the house.They both got a good look, because they were curious. It seemed just as curious about them.
What they remember best, before becoming frightened and yelling for mom and dad, was the eyes. They were big and glowing red.
I had them draw a picture as best they could remember. The boy saw a creature standing upright, about four or five feet tall. In the drawing he shows the creature with sharp teeth, hunched over a little. The head seems to sit on the shoulders, without much neck. It has small pointed ears, long arms and what could be claws. He said it looked gray with small tufts of hair on different parts of the body, but not all over it.
"It looks meaner in person," he told me.
I talked to his 13 year old sister next. Her story is basically the same. The kids seem to focus on the eyes and the fact that they glowed red and were big, but not round.
I talked to the parents about that night. They were running toward the bedroom as the children ran out of the bedroom yelling, "It's a monster outside!" The parents ran outside and just got a glimpse of something moving very fast, then gone.
The parents did find odd footprints of something that was on two feet. Estimating from the depth of the prints, they figured it must have weighed forty to fifty pounds.
The creature is still seen at times around their two and a half acre homesite. I have asked someone to stay up there several times with a video camera, he is planning to make more trips in the coming weeks. I have told the parents to get plaster of Paris for footprints.
The parents seem to think the creature shows intelligence.
I have talked to several other people who have seen it, but who don't want anyone to think they are crazy and don't want their names in the paper.
A group of school children have seen something unusual in the same area as that of the first woman I interviewed. They have seen it more than once. They say it runs upright, very fast, and jumps a long way.
A student at our Junior College has seen it several times along the banks of the Mojave River in an area called Ore Grande. She said it frightened her because it wasn't like anything she had ever seen, especially the eyes. She got frightened while talking about it. "I haven't said anything because I don't want people to think I'm nuts," she said. "I know what I saw."
Several of the people said it has spikes or quills down its back that move.
I have one report from a young woman who got a real good look at something a little different. She was the only one who saw a tail, thicker at the body and thinner at the end. It didn't drag the ground, but looked like it was used for balance. The creature was light and dark gray, mostly dark. It had no visible ears. It was bulky, about four and a half feet tall, walked upright, and its arms and legs looked thicker than those of a human. It had gold or orangish eyes, big but not real round, and a snout with short and pointed teeth.
Her drawing looks like this creature has something like a chicken's comb that goes from the top of the head to the end of the tail. "Kind of like a dinosaur," she said.
This young woman said she didn't know why, but she felt sorry for it. The creature made no move to harm her.
In an area called Deep Creek, a wooded canyon at the base of the Big Bear mountain range, I heard two reports of a creature that sounds similar to what most of the other witnesses have seen. But in this case, the creature seems able to fly short distances with leather-like wings that cannot be seen unless it is soaring, like a flying squirrel.[or else they are bats-DD] 
The mystery continues. I keep getting more reports. I believe these people saw something. But what? Your guess is as good as mine at this point. Something very strange is going on in the Victor Valley.
Original file name: CNI - Chupacabras.Spivey
This file was converted with TextToHTML - (c) Logic n.v.

So-Cal Sandman And Such

I have known about the site Monster Island News for some time now and I have been waiting for a while to run some of the material from that site on this blog. Part of the problem is that some of the material promised has not shown up there yet. There is some new information on "Lizardmen" there that I hope to get to at some time, and the current excerpted series on California Monsters.

In this case I am going to focus on some South-Californian "Man-creatures" which seem to me NOT to be the same thing as the Northern-Californian Sasquatch/Oh-Mah-Ah.
http://robojapan.blogspot.com/2010/09/borrego-sandman-1939-present-california.html
Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The Borrego Sandman (1939 - Present) - California The Monster State - Part 2

Written By: Ken Hulsey

Many of you are undoubtedly familiar with the legends of Bigfoot and all of his ape-like kin who are reported to dwell in the numerous remote wilderness areas and swamps throughout North America. These vast areas where man seldom treads provides a perfect refuge for these creatures where food and water are plentiful and protection from the elements can be easily attained.

It may come to your surprise that the legendary monster is also a desert dweller as well.

As hard as it may be to fathom there are many reports from the vast deserts of Southern California of Sasquatch-like creatures roaming the sand, much like they do in the lush forest. These very dry areas with little vegetation, and almost no water supply would seem like the last place that a 6-t0-10-foot-tall animal that weighs upwards of 400 pounds, and not to mention is covered with thick fur, would want to call home, yet the sheer number of Bigfoot sightings in these areas are too numerous to ignore.

In the late 1960s reports of Bigfoot sightings in the desert towns of Lancaster and Palmdale reached a feverish pace that lasted well into the 1970s, then tapered off. Though these areas border on the Mojave desert, they also border on the Angeles National forest, so it wouldn't seem to unlikely that the creature could have been lured out of the wilderness and into the desert for some unknown reason.

More bizarre are the stories that have surfaced from nearby Edwards Air Force Base, that is farther inland and farther from the forested areas near Los Angeles, of frequent intrusions by creatures that match the description of Bigfoot. As the story goes, Base Security is in possession of several surveillance video tapes that plainly show giant, up-right, apes trespassing in the numerous underground tunnels under the facility. How, or where, the Bigfoot break into, or gain access to these tunnels has never been revealed, obviously for security reasons, but reportedly these incidents happen rather often, and are a nuisance.

The Mojave Desert and Death Valley are two of Southern California's more famous barren areas, but there is also a stretch of inhospitable desert that stretches from the Mexican border northward to the edges of the San Bernardino mountains. This area to has had it's share of Sasquatch sightings over the decades, and this is the area I wanted to focus on today.

The desert wilderness of the Anza-Borrego area has been home to many a tall-tale and several strange events over the past several hundred years. Many a desert rat has emerged from the region with tales of a mysterious Spanish ship filled with pearls inexplicably marooned in the sand, or of a Viking boat embedded in the rock, strange lights in the night skies, and most commonly, of vast quantities of gold just waiting for some lucky prospector to cart out.

It was undoubtedly the lure of these reported gold deposits that first lured the white man into this desolate area and it is from one of these fortune hunters that the first report of Bigfoot, or the Borrego Sandman as it is known in these parts, came. Reportedly in 1939 a prospector, who when interviewed in the 1970s wished to remain anonymous, was attacked by a large group of upright-walking-apes as he camped near the Borrego Sink. The frightened man described the creatures as very large, covered in white fur, with glowing red eyes. The only thing that saved the man from the attack was the fact that the monsters were afraid of his camp fire.

Another report of giant footprints from that same general area came from a man named Victor Stoyanow in 1964. His story was retold in a famous article in SAGA magazine entitled, "America's Terrifying Woodland Monster-men" in 1969. The piece also featured the story of Harold Lancaster, a miner who encounter the Sandman in 1968. Here is an excerpt:

Gold prospectors and treasure hunters frequently seek their lost bonanzas in isolated areas. Since 1964, treasure hunters in the Borrego Valley desert in California have whispered about "the Abominable Sandmen of Borrego." The arid area is near the Mexican border, it is virtually uninhabited. There are many fissures, caves and crevasses in the Superstition Mountain region and prospectors say the Cocopah Indians have told of a subterranean labyrinth under the mountain, Maj. Victor Stoyanow was seeking an access into the Superstition Hills in January 1964, when he noticed large, humanoid tracks in the sand dunes. "The prints ran in pairs, generally parallel and averaged about 14 inches in length and nine wide at the instep," Major Stoyanow declared. He returned to the desert on several other occasions, made plaster casts of the prints, and snapped photographs."Curious as I am, I hope that the person who discovers what kind of beast it is doesn't happen to be me." Major Stoyanow said after his thorough investigation into the tracks.

The San Diego Union ran an unverifiable article some years ago of a "sandman" that was shot by hunter Frank Cox at Deadman's Hole, near Warner, California in San Diego County. The beast was described as a cross between "a man and a bear." The head was rather small, with protruding teeth and powerful jaws. The muscular creature had feet that measured 24 inches in length and the body weight was estimated to be 400 pounds.Harold Lancaster, treasure hunter, was prospecting in the Borrego Sink, east of the settlement of Borrego Springs. California in July 1968, when he saw a "sandman." "I was camped up on a mesa one morning when I saw a man walking in the desert," he reported. "The figure came closer. I thought it was another prospector. Then, I picked up my binoculars and saw the strangest sight in my life."It was a real giant apeman," Lancaster said. "I had heard about the screaming giant apeman up in Tuolumne County that frightened people for a couple of years. Another person and I even went up there to look for the thing. I decided it was a hoax and never expected to actually see one."

As the "sandman" drew closer, Lancaster became worried. "That thing was big. I was no match for it," he reported. "I had a .22 pistol on my hip but it would have been like shooting at a gorilla with a pea shooter. I was afraid the beast might get too close. So, I fired a couple of rounds into the air. The sandman jumped a good three feet off the ground when the sounds of the shots reached him. He turned his head, looked toward me and then took off running in the other direction!"Why didn't Lancaster shoot the alleged sandman? "I was afraid," he admitted. "They should be protected. They're a form of a human, a primitive species. It would be murder to kill one. They should be studied."

Reports from the area continue to this day. In 1998 some hikers discovered a set of strange footprints near Boundary Peak, close to the Mexican border. Likewise in 1993 a hiker saw a Bigfoot, um ...... using the restroom on the La Jolla Indian Reservation. Reports have also surfaced from military personnel at Camp Pendleton who had encounters with the creature while on maneuvers during the 1960s and 1980s.

http://robojapan.blogspot.com/2010/09/fontana-speedway-monster-1951-1992.html

The Fontana Speedway Monster (1951 - 1992) - California The Monster State - Part 3

Written By: Ken Hulsey

The southern California city of Fontana has had a long and glorious history in auto racing. As most of you probably know, the city is the present home of the Autoclub Speedway which holds a yearly major NASCAR race along with other racing events of different types.

What many of you might not know is way back in the 1950s there was a drag-strip in the area that was considered one of the best in the country. The Mickey Thompson's Fontana International Dragway, as it was called, lasted for almost two decades before a series fatal accidents forced it to close in 1972.

The area is now a housing tract known as the The Village of Heritage and lies about a mile east of Etiwanda Blvd on the north side of Foothill Blvd.

It seems that these race events that took place for two decades in the area attracted more than legions of die-hard race fans, they also attracted a very curious monster.


The height of these sightings took place in the early 1960s when race patrons would regularly spot a giant, harry, Bigfoot-like creature crossing a field adjacent to the track in full view of the grandstands.

The Bigfoot was seen so regularly that it earned the name "Speedway Monster".

Though the animal was witnessed by hundreds of people, no one ever worked up the courage to investigate it.

It is hard to speculate why a creature that is known for being reclusive and shy of humans would trek so close to a race track filled with people and to mention the load noise produced by the cars?

One can only assume that it was curious about what all the fuss was about or more likely that the creature was making plans on rummaging through the tracks trashcans for left-over burgers and hot dogs after everyone cleared out.

Though the speedway closed it's doors in the early 70s reports of the "Speedway Monster" continued in the city of Fontana and the nearby San Bernardino Mountains continued.

In 1975 a group of Boy Scouts were woken up by a Bigfoot rummaging through their campsite near Barton Flats, likewise in 1976 a young man came face-to-face with the creature outside his cabin near Big Bear.

The area of Lytle Creek, in Cajon Pass, near Fontana has been a 'hot-spot' for Bigfoot sightings for decades.

In 1991 Fontana resident John Davis reported that a harry creature on two legs raided his chicken pen.

The most interesting, post Fontana Speedway, story came in 1992 when several motorists on Foothill Blvd spotted a family of Bigfoot walking along the railroad tracks the crossed over the the busy street. The location was reportedly close to the local Ace Hardware store.

This report is so interesting to me personally because my wife's family had move to nearby Rancho Cucamonga at about that same time. I can tell you from first hand experience, that the area of Fontana was no longer a rural area filled with farms and vineyards in 1992. It was an up and coming community with new housing areas and shopping centers.

To believe that a family of Bigfoot would have wandered into this busy area is nothing short of fantastic ........ if it is to be believed?

Then again the "Speedway Monster" has never been known to shy, so who knows?

http://robojapan.blogspot.com/2010/09/borrego-sandman-speedway-monster.html

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Borrego Sandman / Speedway Monster - Updates - California The Monster State - Part 4

Written By: Ken Hulsey

In the time since I last wrote about both the "Borrego Sandman" and the "Fontana Speedway Monster" I have managed to stumble upon more reported sightings of both creatures while doing research on another. Not wanting to proceed with an article about another of California's legendary creatures, and not wanting to add to the other two articles, I have opted to write a follow-up article instead.

It seems that the Bigfoot that reportedly inhabit California's southern regions have been a lot more active over the decades than I first realised.

Here are a bunch of stories that I happened to come across while doing my research:

Borrego Sandman

As I had mentioned in my previous article, the Borrego Sandman, is said to inhabit the rather desolate desert areas of Southern California that reach from the Mexican border to the San Bernardino Mountains to the north.

It may come to the surprise of those who follow stories about Bigfoot and other mysterious creatures that the first report of these creatures by European settlers did not come from either the East Coast, Midwest, or Pacific Northwest. It actually came from southern California in 1769, when Spanish priests founded the first mission in San Diego. Local Gabrieleno Indians told the padres about "harry devils" that lived nearby. In fact, according to written accounts, the Indians actually lived in fear of these large, foul-smelling, "wild-men" and refused to anywhere near their reported home called "towis puki" (camp of the devil) on the southern bank of the Santa Ana River.

The area of "Deadman Hole" near Holcomb Village, just west of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, was a water stop on the old Stagecoach lines during the mid to late 1800s and the reported site of several alleged murders that were blamed on Bigfoot. In 1876 one the passengers who ventured out of the safety of the coach while it's horses stopped to take a drink reported seeing a large, naked, harry "thing" watching him from behind some scruff.

After that, several people met their demise at the site, either strangled or beaten to death by an unknown person or thing. Of course, the monster got the blame, whether it actually did the killings or not.

In March 1888 two local hunters, Charles Cox and Edward Dean, set out to hunt down the monster and put an end to all the murders. According to a report in the San Diego Daily Transcript (newspaper) the pair found, and killed, what they were looking for, a creature that was described as a gorilla, with the face of an Indian, and fangs like a bear. The body of the creature was transported to San Diego where it was to go on public display, though before it did, it mysteriously disappeared.

In April of 1876, the San Diego Union reported on an encounter with a "missing link" near Warner's Ranch, also west of Anza-Borrego, by a young man named Turner Helm. According to Helm the creature had dark fur like a bear and a face like an American or Spaniard.

Moving forward in time now to 1964, when a father and son were pelted with rocks by a"shaggy" creature while hiking near Escondido, then later that very same summer, a juvenile Sandman was blamed for the death of three cows on the MGM Ranch near Jamul, again to the west of Anza-Borrego. This time the creature left behind plenty of large human-like tracks in the soft dirt.

In 1985 a set of large, human-like, tracks were found in the mountains near Anza. A local hiker, who reported the story to the BFRO, noted "I have hunted that area and hiked around there over the years. Many times I have been out there and knew or had some feeling of another presence. I don't mean like small animals or anything of that sort; just some unexplained feeling that someone or something has been watching me or following me."

It seems that the Borrego Sandman has had a long and very interesting history for sure.

The Fontana Speedway Monster

As I mentioned in my prior article, the "Speedway Monster" was seen in the area of the Mickey Thompson's Fontana International Dragway during the 1960s. What I didn't know was that this creature who reportedly wandered the fields near the track and rummaged through it's garbage also had a violent side.

In July of 1965 a young boy was attacked by the monster as he walked home. According to the account the creature surprised the lad by jumping out from behind some bushes. As he tried to wrangle away from the monster his clothes were torn to shreds. The child manged to get loose and run away, the monster reportedly didn't give chase.

On August 27th of that same year a young woman named Jerri Mendenhall was attacked while in her parked car on a residential street in Fontana by a mud-covered monster that smelled "like a dead animal". The creature reportedly crabbed her through the open drivers-side window. Frightened, the young woman put the car in gear and stepped on the gas to escape. Again, leaving the monster in the dust.

Oh, and here is a little history. Back in the 1800s an area between what is now the towns LaVerne and Pomona, near Fontana, was known to local Indians as "Toybipet" ("devil woman who was there) the reported hunting ground of a female Bigfoot.

ALSO reported on the site is the So-Called Yucca Man:

[-Yucca Man is a longrunning hoax set up by some U. S. Marines out of the nearby training base, and the marines will get themselves up as "the Monster" to frighten locals.  They have also got to be quite nervy to do this, since there is always the possibility that they shall be fired upon. I have a brother who was a Marine sargeant at that base for a while, and he filled me in on the details about the hoax. He said he was one of the ones that would dress up as the Yucca Man and go out with the intent to fool and scare the locals-DD.]

-Now I shall have to admit that the illustrations of this series are running downhill. I can tell from my experiences with Eastern Bigfoot portraits that the top illustration is one of the same, and it is right-spot-on except perhaps the arms are shown as a mite too short. The second Illustration is  mite stylized but it passes as a good reconstruction for a fossil man of the  Homo erectus or low-Neanderthloid grade. If the latter, the "point" in back should be lower down and the mistake is exactly the same as in the Dzhungarian Ksy-Giik. That is also significant. But the last one just another version of the Patterson film Sasquatch and it is almost trite by comparison. What excited my attention initially was the same "Face of the Almasty/Leshiye" portrait at top as we had been discussing here most recently. And since it is almost a certainty that the artist had not been looking into depictions of the Eastern Bigfoot, I think that lends credit to this being an independant corroboration. These type of reports continue on into Arizona and Mexico and IMHO they are the same types of creatures as reported on the big Indian Reservations of the Southeast. They can reportedly run right through thickets of cactus and act as if they don't notice. They can leave EXACTLY Neanderthaloid tracks as I have learned from cross-examining witnesses on Reservations, and the descriptions and drawings recall certain similarities to both the Central Asian Ksy-Giiks or Almases, and also to the "Minnesota Iceman."

The larger-sized series of reports in Southern California, Arizona and Northern Mexico I refer instead to the different category of "Monster Bears", which I became aware of in about 1985. These could instead be residuals of the supposedly-extinct Mexican grizzly bear.

Best Wishes, Dale D.

Follow-up to PNW Giant Salamanders

Siberian Shaman's Drum Showing a Possible Giant Salamander Illustrated with other more Mundane Animals.



A reader posted a link to his sighting after the original article on PNW Giant Salamanders went through. Because the information seemed important to me, I'll post the whole text here (Let me know if this is some kind of a problem)

Laguna Creek wetlands Salamander
Posted on Tuesday, 2 March, 2010 2 comments
Columnist: Paul Dale Roberts

Most of my neighbors know that I am truly an odd fellow. I am a paranormal investigator, Fortean investigator, Esoteric detective and part time monster hunter. It appears I may have a monster in my own backyard. The date is February 3, 2010 and I received the following call.

X-Files Ringtone.

Paul: Hello?

Caller: Paul, my name is Jeffrey Sanchez (caller provided his real name, but does not want his real name published in this article). I am your neighbor, I live on -----------. I was hiking along the wetlands trail near Francesca Street and Frye Creek and I swear I saw this 5 foot salamander, it had light yellow type of stripes, if you want to call them stripes, I guess it was more camouflage than anything else, the rest of his body was green. I saw him in the mud alongside the wetlands. I am telling you the salamander was HUGE! I couldn't believe my eyes! I watched it for about 7 minutes and finally it went into the tall grass. When I first saw it, I thought it was a snake. This thing was HUGE! Have you heard anything like this?

Paul: Nope. Not in our area. Hmmm...hold on. I am doing some researching on the Internet. If I remember right, there was a large salamander I think that was seen in Mount Shasta, if my memory serves me right.

After I talked with Jeffrey about this large Salamander, in which I will call the Laguna Creek Wetlands Salamander, there is a similar salamander that was seen in the Trinity Alps. The Trinity Alps is the 2nd largest wilderness area in California. The creature that was spotted in the Trinity Alps was later known as the Trinity Alps Giant Salamander. When the first reports started to come in, Tom Slick led an expedition for this cryptid and was unsuccessful.

After I received this call, I called my colleague Shannon 'Ms. Macabre' McCabe, Monster Hunter. Shannon and I on the very next day, waded through the Laguna Creek wetlands trying to locate this creature. I brought along my binoculars, flashlights, laser light, walkie talkies and 2 long bamboo sticks to brush aside the tall grass and to poke into certain areas for this creature. Shannon with her high rubber boots, got entangled in some brush. The walkie talkies came in handy as I went over to her location and assisted her in getting some of the sticky weed out of her hair.

While we were in the Wetlands we observed 3 rabbits, 2 lizards, an assortment of birds, including the white whooping crane, something that moved very fast through the tall grass, I couldn't tell what it was, but imagined if it were a salamander, it could not have moved that quickly. Shannon brought her black poodle Rocket and I brought along my Corkie named HPI (pronounced Hi-Pee) and Pika, a Jack Russell Terrier. Pika became distracted and started re-digging a gopher hole, hoping to pull out the elusive gopher with his teeth. Rocket and HPI were unsuccessful in finding any kind of salamander type of creature.

After about 2 hours of wading through the Wetlands, we called it a night. Shannon and I will conduct a few other investigations in these Wetlands to see if there is any substance of truth to Jeffrey Sanchez' claim. I can only wonder if the Laguna Creek Wetlands Salamander can be related to the hellbender found in the Eastern part of the United States or if the Laguna Creek Wetlands Salamander can actually be the Trinity Alps Giant Salamander. The Trinity Alps Giant Salamander was actually seen in 1939 at the Sacramento River near the West Sacramento embankments. Could the Trinity Alps Giant Salamander somehow migrated from the Sacramento River area to the Elk Grove Laguna Creek Wetlands? It would seem logical and the distance is not that far.

Some people have theorized that the Trinity Alps Giant Salamander is an abnormally large group of Dicamptodon Pacific Giant Salamander. Who knows, but I can say that Jeffrey Sanchez tells a compelling and intriguing story. His story is very consistent. What is also unique about the area of Jeffrey's sighting is that neighboring high school kids think this area is haunted. Two high school kids said that they saw a ghostly stagecoach. Also, the clumps of Eucalyptus trees were placed in strategic locations in the Wetlands for settlers from a long time ago to set up camp. The trees would provide the settlers shelter. The trees were transported here from Australia.

If I have a monster in my backyard, I hope to one day find it. Are you ready Shannon, to wade through the mud again? Let's do this!

Paul Dale Roberts, HPI General Manager
www.hpiparanormal.net

Email: Pauld5606@comcast.net
Paranormal Cellular Hotline: 916 203 7503 (for comments on this story).

If you have a possible investigation call: 1-888-709-4HPI

Sometimes the weight of the whole world is on my shoulders...I just need to work out more! Paul Dale Roberts.

Article Copyright© Paul Dale Roberts - reproduced with permission.

First of 2 comments:
There's the giant European salamander of course, Tatzelworm. There's even a photograph somewhere.. Attached File(s)
Tatzelwurm.jpg (4.95K)
Number of downloads: 1

This post has been edited by Smugfish: 02 March 2010 - 12:34 PM

[2nd of two comments not specifically commenting on Giant Salamanders]

The photo file does not seem to work, however we have also recently published Tatzelwurm info and the average dimensions given for the larger range of reports does match the Giant salamander very well.

In the Eastern United States there are also scattered reports of "Giant Hellbenders" but only on and off again in certain locations. We hear of them historically in the Ohio River but not enough to say that they might still be living there now. In parts of California the reports are consistent and have been consistently coming out of the same areas for decades. That sounds like a much more sure thing. And some of the Giant Oriental salamanders are definitely black or dark brown with irregular yellow markings.And they are definitely known to be the larger relatives of our usual Hellbenders (Same family)

Because it is pertinent here, I shall reprint my first blog devoted to Tatzelwurms, posted for the CFZ blog in September of 2009. Among other things it illustrates parallel creatures from Siberia (Top) and Mongolia, and the information was cited by Darren Naish during his discussion of Giant Salamanders and mentioning Ulrich Magin's theory. The comparison between a Giant Salamander and the Hellbender was included in the original article.

CFZ REPRINT:
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
DALE DRINNON: Looking at the tatzelwurm






Mongolian Dragons, Slab found in the Altai Mountains, from an Internet site on Petroglyphs



The last issue of PURSUIT that I ever received had part 1 of a two-part article on Tatzelwurms. It was Volume 22, whole number 85, date not listed, and despite repeated requests to the then editor I was never able to learn if the part 2 was ever published. It had an illustration of an Austrian tombstone allegedly depicting a pair of Tatzelwurms that had struck a farmer down by poison. The Tatzelwurms are shown as fairly ordinary lizard-shaped creatures of large size; perhaps human size. The original was lost and I have a suspicion that the farmer died of fright rather than of any poison. It was from this tombstone (or "votive stela from some shrine") that Ulrich Magin formed the opinion that the Tatzelwurm was the same size and shape as the Japanese giant salamander, but of more terrestrial habits. This was published in an earlier issue of PURSUIT.


I follow a similar theory, but not all Tatzelwurm reports are alike. Apparantly two legs or four legs are regularly reported, but the four legs are in majority. If it is something like a giant salamander, then the rear legs can be positioned in such a way that they are not apparent (see the following drawing after Young, Life of the Vertebrates, a standard reference work)





The proper genus name of the giant salamanders is Andrias, by the way. The name was first given after a famous fossil example was named "Homo Diluvi Testis" (Man who Witnessed the Flood)




The article in PURSUIT no. 85 was by Luis Schonherr and includes a reference to the "Allergorhai-Horai" on page 9, as information given to Roy Chapman Andrews on his expedition to the Gobi desert in the 1920s. Schonherr considered the story to be much the same as the European stories of the dreadfully poisonous Stollenwurm or Tatzelwurm. More recently, further information has made that identification seem less likely. However, there is still some indication for some sort of a Tatzelwurm-like creature being reported in the Altai mountains region.

While I was on the same search that turned up the Altai petroglyphs which resembled Irish elk, I found a depiction of another tombstone that seems to show two Tatzelwurms on it. This was from a site in the Russian language.


Similar creatures are depicted on Siberian shamanic equipment.

I had also mentioned on another occasion that certain "Pictish" monuments depict what appears to be a similar lizard-shaped "Dragon" from Scotland and Ireland in the Dark Ages. I consider certain of the Water-monsters in that area to be of the same type.

During the middle to late part of the Age of Mammals, the giant salamanders seem to have inhabited a large territory of Europe, Asia and North America: and although reports of the type are in much more spotty distribution in the modern age, they still occur from time to time all over that same general area.

Furthermore, their skeletons can be entirely cartiliginous under certain circumstances (due to mineral deficiencies), which means that their remains "Melt away without any trace" as some of the traditional stories have it. And it is also possible that as salamanders their skin does indeed secrete a noxious toxin (That would be Ulrich Magin's statement and not mine)