The Lake Monster of Japan’s Mt. Fuji

I am reposting this from another blog by request

The Lake Monster of Japan’s Mt. Fuji 

posted  July 21, 2014 by Brent Swancer

 

Japan is a rugged, mountainous land filled with natural beauty. Perhaps the most well known example of this is the majestic and iconic Mt. Fuji, one of the country’s most famous and instantly recognizable landmarks. Rising up from Yamanashi prefecture, Mt. Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan, it’s majestic peak widely visible for miles around, even from the bustling metropolis of Tokyo.  The mountain, which is in fact a volcano, has been revered by the Japanese people for centuries. In addition to its stark beauty, Mt. Fuji is also known for its mysteries.

Sprawled out in an arc under the northern shadow of the looming Mt. Fuji are The Fuji Five Lakes, also known in Japanese as “Fujigoko,” (literally, “Fujis’s five lakes”). The lakes were formed by previous eruptions of Mt. Fuji, when volcanic lava flows blocked and dammed up rivers and streams to create the lakes. These five lakes are Lake Kawaguchi, Lake Motosu, Lake Saiko, Lake Shoji (the smallest of the five), and Lake Yamanaka, which is the largest of the five and also the third highest lake in Japan. The Fujigoko are a popular travel destination for people all over Japan and are also allegedly home to a bizarre, water dwelling beast.
For years, these picturesque lakes have been the setting for a series of strange sightings of an unidentified creature in the water, which has been affectionately referred to as Mossie, モッシー” in Japanese, in an attempt to emulate the naming of its more famous Scottish cousin Nessie. Mossie is reported as being up to 30 metres in length, with a horny, bumpy back like an alligator or crocodile. Some reports have also mentioned a long dorsal fin like that of a shark, yet the majority of sightings have been simply of large, dark shapes swimming under the surface of the water, with no details visible. A good majority of the sightings have occurred at or near dusk, when the creature appears to be more active.

Mt. Fuji’s lake monster first became widely known in the 1970s, when there was a rash of sightings of something large and unexplainable lurking in the depths of the lakes. The idea of a water monster roaming the waters at the foot of the famous Mt. Fuji captured the public imagination, and drew a lot of media attention at the time. People began to arrive in droves in order to not only bask in the beauty of the mountain and surroundings, but also in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the monster.
At the height of this lake monster fervor, boats descended upon the lake trying to find it, and one group of fishermen decided to try their hand at catching whatever the thing was. The fishermen spent days laying an elaborate system of sturdy nets on the hopes of ensnaring the creature, then laid in wait. Not long after, the nets were pulled up and were found to be completely shredded and ripped apart, much to the fishermen’s surprise. It was surmised that only something very large and strong could have done that much damage to the nets that were used.
Meanwhile, some of the boats scouring the lake came up with bizarre sonar readings of large moving shapes near the bottom. One boat captain claimed to have repeatedly picked up the sonar signature of an inexplicable dark form that he described as being around 25 meters in length. Other boats reported getting sonar hits on multiple unidentifiable shapes at the same time, which they described as almost a school of huge, eerie creatures that they insisted could not have possibly been schools of fish or geographical features.
One man, a Mr. Ken Yanoguchi, claimed to have had a very close encounter with the beast in the 1970s. While fishing on lake Saiko in his small boat, Yanoguchi reportedly bumped up against something in the water. Thinking it was a log, he went to investigate only to find a large creature of some sort lurking just under the surface with part of its back protruding from the water. The exposed part of the creature was described as black, slick, and rubbery looking. The rest of the creature had the appearance of an enormous fish or whale, and Yanoguchi himself even said that his first impression was of a whale, although he could not fathom why a whale should be out in one of the five lakes. The creature reportedly leisurely sunk beneath the water and was not seen again.

In the 1980s, sightings continued and the creature was even allegedly caught on film in October, 1987. A Mr. Yoneyama was out with three others taking pictures of the lake and its surroundings when they saw a surge of water out on the otherwise calm lake. Within this surge, they reported seeing 3 to 5 meters of the exposed back of something they could not identify, which was described as being rough like that of a crocodile. They were able to capture the animal on film, but the results are less than impressive, showing merely a dark shape and thus proving to be inconclusive. Sightings of the animal have dropped off in recent years, but a group in the village of Kamikuishiki has been investigating the Mossie phenomena since 2005.
Mossie has been sighted in more than one of Mt. Fuji’s five lakes, which could be explained by the unique geological features of the lakes, namely the fact that Lake Motosu is connected to Lake Saiko and Lake Shoji by a system of underground waterways that mysterious underwater creatures could use to travel back and forth between lakes. However, what can’t be readily explained is why an enormous lake monster should be here in the first place. The very nature of the lakes makes them an odd location for a lake monster to be found since the Fuji Five Lakes are not particularly ancient. It is thought that the volcanic activity that formed the lakes is very recent in geographical terms, with the lakes forming sometime during the 9th and 10th centuries. This makes it impossible for the creature to be some type of prehistoric animal trapped in the lakes millions of years ago.
The presence of a large, unidentified monster here is also further complicated by the fact that there are no rivers or natural drainage connected to the lakes either, so there is no possibility that something has travelled there from the sea through this route. In addition, many of the fish in the lakes were stocked, and there is no species of fish known there that even approaches a size large enough to cause the reports. These facts make it difficult to determine a biological possibility of  just what Mossie could be.
Many theories have been put forward. Ideas run the gamut from oversized introduced fish like the enormous wels catfish or sturgeon that have somehow been released into the lake. Sturgeon have indeed been introduced in some areas of Japan, but this is not known to have happened in the Fuji five lakes. As it stands, no species of fish known to inhabit the lakes even approaches the sizes reported for Mossie.

Wels catfish

Regardless of the head scratching nature of the Fujigoko lake monster phenomenon, sightings of Mossie continue to occasionally come in to this day. Is there any chance that a large, unidentified creature is lurking somewhere in these lakes? Those who swear to have seen it say yes. Giant fish or unknown monster, perhaps one of these animals is swimming out there right now, cutting a path through the tranquil reflection of Mt. Fuji upon the water.

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/07/the-lake-monster-of-japans-mt-fuji/

In Search of....The Oklahoma Octopus

Monday, December 02, 2013

[At the Phantoms and Monsters site: I actually was involved partly in the breaking of this story some years back, before it was generally known, through my contacts in the Native community... DD]

In Search of....The Oklahoma Octopus

http://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2013/12/in-search-ofthe-oklahoma-octopus.html

 

The mysterious Oklahoma Octopus is supposedly a huge freshwater cephalopod-like creature generally said to inhabit at least two lakes in Oklahoma (Lake Thunderbird and Lake Tenkiller...there is some mention of Lake Oolagah as well) where it attacks and kills unsuspecting swimmers. According to legend and rumor, this freshwater monster measures the size of a horse and resembles a marine octopus, with long tentacles and leathery, reddish-brown skin.

Is it conceivable that a saltwater creature could survive in freshwater lakes? The Giant Pacific Octopus, for example, has tentacles with the strength of a 200-pound man and a powerful beak that it uses to kill prey.

Although no physical evidence exists in the case of the Oklahoma Octopus, many point to the high mortality rate and large number of unexplained drownings in the lakes as a clear sign of its presence. There have also been numerous reported sightings. Cryptozoologists have pointed out that species of jellyfish have been able to adapt from saltwater to freshwater conditions, and the same adaptation may have been possible for a giant cephalopod trapped in an inland lake when coastal waters receded.

There is an established story that three teenagers, Tyler Shuman, Ruthie Simple and Bruce DelRoy were reported to have drown, pulled down by the creature. The newspaper reports also apparently said the two other teenagers with them had blister like wounds and scabs, like the marks caused by Octopus suckers. The only problem is that I have seen a copy of an actual newspaper account published anywhere.

The tales goes back to the Native Americans of eastern Oklahoma (especially the Caddo Empire), who told legends of a large creature that looked somewhat like a leech and ate men alive...even the lake were man-made in the mid-20th century. The stories go on to say that the ponds were linked underground so the tentacle creature would lurk just beneath the surface waiting for prey to come for a drink. It would then drag them to their deaths. When the lakes were made, the creatures moved in, but still lurked in the old springs that lead to the lake bottom. This seems a bit far-fetched IMO.

According to Monster Spotter's Guide to North America dive shop operator Tim Knight, owner of Nautical Advertures in nearby Cookson, says that any reported giant octopus sighting can’t be a case of mistaken identity from a chance jellyfish encounter, because the size disparity between the two aquatic creatures is simply too great. "The jellyfish we have are very small, and an octopus has to have eight tentacles.” he said. "The largest jellyfish I’ve seen was maybe the size of a golf ball.” Yes...there are freshwater jellyfish in Oklahoma.

Beau Fairchild, the lead coldwater biologist at the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks says that octopus may have been 'confused' at some point.

“That’s very possible, yeah. It could happen.” said Fairchild, who is in charge of taking care of the aquarium’s giant Pacific octopus. “Something like that is very feasible, as far as going upriver like that, but I don’t know how long an octopus could go upriver and be breathing and taking in freshwater before it would die. I don’t know what kind of limit it has, exactly.” Though living day to day in freshwater instead of saltwater, Fairchild contends, is “physiologically impossible."

Like most legends, something was mostly likely seen and reported to be an anomalous creature. The last reported sighting was in 2009. Maybe the beast will make an appearence in the not-so-distant future.

Click for video - Oklahoma Octopus

Lost Tapes - Oklahoma Octopus

[My conclusion and an opinion shared by several others was that the creature at the bottom of these stories was more likely a giant catfish, the whiskers being described as tentacles-DD]

Another Monster Catfish

Here is an old gag illustration of a water monster from Michigan that has a simple (although perhaps not immediately obvious) solution The barbels on the face and the shape of the tailfin mark it as an embellished catfish, probably a bullhead, and the vertical extensions above and below the head would be fins located on the body further back and not barbels (There are fins above and below on the body only a little way back from the head. The several humps in between were either added by mistaken views reported by witnesses or possibly because several big fish were in a line (Just west of Indianapolis (Where I live) there is a location of a historically-reported multiple-humped water monster in Eagle Creek: this was said to have turned out to be several large catfish swimming together) There were at least half a dozen reported Water Monsters in Michigan in the 1880s and 1890s (apart from the great lakes) that were frequently described as "Giant snakes 20-30 feet long with long wiry hairs growing out of the head" and so now it seems that these were most often exaggerated reports of catfish. Several of the historical reports of Water Monsters in Northern Indiana were catfishes too, and I understand from local Bigfooter Steve Abney that the reports of ugly giant catfishes are still being made in Indiana.

Below, a photo from a google photo search for "Michigan catfish"

Largest fish ever caught in Arizona is a true freshwater monster

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/largest-fish-ever-caught-in-arizona-is-a-true-freshwater-monster

This may be old news by the time you read it. However since this blog has an ongoing interest in reports of giant catfishes, I add it here to be part of the permanent record.

 

Largest fish ever caught in Arizona is a true freshwater monster 

The 76.52-pound flathead catfish was pulled in after a 35-minute struggle, by an angler named, oddly enough, 'Flathead Ed.'

          

By Bryan Nelson

Tue, Apr 16 2013 at 2:40 PM

 

 

Photo: Arizona Game and Fish Department

Several lakes around the world are thought to harbor monsters from Loch Ness to Lake Tahoe.

Now you can add Arizona's Bartlett Lake to that list, as one angler recently proved. Eddie Wilcoxson, 56, was sleeping on his pontoon boat at 2 a.m. when something truly gigantic began tugging on his 60-pound braided fishing line. After a 35-minute struggle, Wilcoxson finally caught sight of his Bartlett Lake monster: a behemoth flathead catfish.

"When it came close to the boat, I saw there was only one treble hook in the corner of his mouth," explained Wilcoxson, "so I backed off on the drag. If not, it would have ripped right out of his mouth."

Wilcoxson said he required a heavy-duty lip grabber to lift the fish aboard. The fish would later weigh in at 76.52 pounds, the heaviest fish ever caught in the state of Arizona of any species, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department. It also measured at 53.5 inches in length and had a girth of 34.75-inches.

It was particularly apropos for Wilcoxson to be the one to reel it in, given that locals have taken to nicknaming him "Flathead Ed" for his dedication to fishing for these catfish.

"I sleep out on the water 3-4 days sometimes," said Ed. "Sometimes during Thanksgiving I’ll spend three weeks straight out there. Also, I fished 39 weekends last year."

The catch came at a great time for his business, the AZ Fishing 4 Flathead Cat fishing guide service. Wilcoxson had just received his guide license on April 1, though he has been fishing these waters his whole life. In fact, he had previously pulled in a 65 pounder, though obviously his latest catch is his largest ever.

The previous record in Arizona was held by Adrian Manzanedo of Florence, who in 2003 caught a 71-pound flathead in San Carlos Lake. Though these fish are impressive, the all-time record for a flathead stands at 123 pounds. That leviathan was reeled in by an angler in Kansas in 1998.

Bartlett Lake doesn't only harbor monster catfish. The lake also produced the largest carp ever caught in Arizona, a 37-pounder claimed in 1987. These massive carp are actually a prey species for the larger flathead.

So what does it take to reel in such a prize catch? Wilcoxson offered some advice that waxes prophetic across most walks of life: "Everybody’s got the same chance I do. You just have to get out and do it."

Related on MNN: 11 largest freshwater fish in the world