3 Kinds of Moas

For people not following the matter of surviving moas lately, there seen to be three kinds of surviving moas: the slaller sort that Heuvelmands and Sanderson were writing about suppoted by some very recent mummified remains (possibly dating to the 1800s), the medium-sized one Roy Mackal was speaking of and which generally resembled emus but which were more thickset and lived in forests where emus would never be, and then the largest sort, taller than a man to perhaps ten feet or more (estimated), one of which has been photographed in recent years. There is a peculiar situation in that Eberhart records reports of ALL of them, but instead of listing them under the common name "Moa", he chooses to list them under the name of the SMALLEST form, the Roa-roa.

Eberhart, George, in Mysterious Creatures, 2002:
Roa-RoaFlightless BIRD of New Zealand that might be a
surviving moa.
Etymology: Maori (Austronesian) word, also
used for the great spotted kiwi of South Island.
Variant names: Roa, Rua, Tokoweka.
Physical description: A kiwilike bird about the
size of a turkey, though larger birds have been
reported  occasionally.  Gray,  blue,  or  spotted
plumage.  Small  head  and  beak.  Long  neck.
Sharp spurs on its feet.
Behavior: Call is similar to that of a kiwi.
Tracks: Three-toed. The middle toe measures
up to 14 inches from heel to tip.
Distribution: South Island, New Zealand; also
possibly in Urewera National Park on North Is-
land, New Zealand.
Significant sightings: George Pauley claimed
to have seen a bird 20 feet high by a lake in
southern South Island in the 1820s.
Walter Buller wrote that the Maoris claimed
a large kiwi lived in the Chatham Islands until
about 1835.
In  January  1861,  fresh-looking,  three-toed
prints about 14 inches long were found in the
mountains  between  Takaka  and  Riwaka  in
northern South Island by members of a survey-
ing party.
Sir George Grey was told in 1868 about a
small moa captured and killed near Preservation
Inlet, North Island. It had been taken from a
drove of six or seven birds.
In 1878, several people reported seeing a sil-
ver-gray bird larger than an emu on a station
near Waiau, South Island. In one instance, a
sheepherder’s dog flushed the bird from a patch
of scrub and chased it for about 40 yards before
it turned and chased the dog. The moa stood for
ten minutes watching them, bending its long
neck up and down like a swan.
Seven-year-old  Alice  McKenzie  touched  a
big, navy-blue bird at Martin’s Bay, near Mil-
ford Sound, South Island, in 1880. It was at
least 3 feet tall and had dark-green, scaly legs
and three claws on each foot. It began to attack
her, so she ran home to get her father, who re-
turned and measured the tracks it left.
In 1896, some schoolboys saw a moalike bird
cross a road in the Brunner Range, South Is-
land.
In 1963, a scientist saw a large, moalike bird
in the brush in the North-West Nelson State
Forest Park, South Island.
In May 1991, Jim Straton saw an enormous,
dark-colored bird cross a hiking trail in front of
him along the Waimakariri River. He estimated
its height at 11 feet.
Paddy  Freaney  and  two  other  hikers  pho-
tographed a 6-foot-tall moa in the Craigieburn
Range of South Island on January 20, 1993. It
was covered with reddish-brown and gray feath-
ers  and  had  thick  legs  and  huge  feet.  Their
blurry photo, snapped after the bird had started
running away, is inconclusive.
Rex and Heather Gilroy made plaster casts of
three-toed tracks, the largest of which were 9.5
inches long, that they found in September 2001
in Urewera National Park, North Island.
Possible explanations:
(1) A surviving species of the Moa family
(Dinornithidae), possibly the Upland moa
(Megalapteryx didinus), which is generally
thought to have been exterminated by the
seventeenth century. Some Maori
informants suggest the bird may have
persisted into the late eighteenth century.
Relatively fresh remains were occasionally
found in the nineteenth century. M. didinus
stood about 3 feet 6 inches high, while the
Large bush moa (Dinornis novaezealandiae)
was 7 feet tall and the Stout-legged moa
(Euryapteryx geranoides) was about 6 feet
tall. Most of the alleged sightings by
Europeans date from 1850 to 1880. The
majority of Maori accounts of the final
extinction of the moa place it between 1770
and 1840, though 25 percent of them put it
prior to 1600. It seems increasingly unlikely
that such a distinctive bird could have
survived virtually unnoticed. Frequent moa
hunts have failed to turn up any sign of the
birds’ recent survival.
(2) An unknown species of Kiwi (Apteryx
spp.). A cloak made for a Maori chief has
kiwilike feathers that are larger than those of
any known kiwi.
(3) The Great spotted kiwi (Apteryx haasti)
only grows to 2 feet tall and does not have
spurs.
(4) The Takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri) is a
rare, flightless rail with blue plumage that
lives on South Island.
Sources: Ferdinand von Hochstetter, New
Zealand: Its Physical Geography, Geology and
Natural History (Stuttgart, Germany: J. G.
Cotta, 1867), pp. 173, 181–197; Walter
Lawry Buller, A History of the Birds of New
Zealand (London: Walter Lawry Buller,
1888); Alice McKenzie Mackenzie, Pioneers of
Martins Bay: The Story of New Zealand’s Most
Remote Settlement (Christchurch, New
Zealand: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1952);
Michael M. Trotter and Beverley McCulloch,
“Moas, Men, and Middens,” in Paul S.
Martin and Richard G. Klein, eds., Quaternary
Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution (Tucson:
University of Arizona Press, 1984), pp.
708–727; Atholl Anderson, Prodigious Birds:
Moas and Moa-Hunting in Prehistoric New
Zealand (New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1989), pp. 176–178; “Trampers See
‘Moa’ in Bush,” New Zealand Herald, January
25, 1993; Geoff Mercer, “Obsession and
Stories Sparked by Scientists,” Wellington
Evening Post, January 26, 1993; “New Zealand
Moa Sighting Reported by Three Witnesses,”
ISC Newsletter 11, no. 4 (1992): 1–5; Karl
Shuker, “The Case of the Missing Moa,”
Fortean Times, no. 69 (June-July 1993):
42–43; H. W. Orsman, ed., The Dictionary of
New Zealand English (Auckland, New
Zealand: Oxford University Press, 1997), p.
676; Darren Naish, “Cryptozoology of the
Moa: A Review (Part One),” Cryptozoology
Review 2, no. 3 (Winter-Spring 1998): 15–24;
Errol Fuller, Extinct Birds (Ithaca, N.Y.:
Cornell University Press, 2001), pp. 28–51;
Rex Gilroy, “Search for the Little Scrub Moa
of New Zealand,” Australasian Ufologist 5, no.
6 (2001): 4–9.
I should also add that Rex Gilroy reports what could be the tracks of all three forms.
Best Wishes, Dale D.

Wierd Australia Bunyips, Sea Serpents and Plesiosaurs

http://weirdaustralia.com/2011/12/09/bunyips-serpents-other-creatures-lurking-beneath-our-waters/

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All that's weird in Oz. UFOs, ghosts and yowies…

Bunyips, serpents & other creatures lurking beneath our waters

Posted on December 9, 2011by weirdaustralia

In July 2011, a saltwater crocodile was found wandering a main street in the tourist city of Cairns in Far North Queensland. A ranger and several police wrestled the wayward croc with broom handles and a towel before loading it into a car and whisking it away. Australia certainly has its fair share of fearsome aquatic creatures, from the tiny but deadly irakandji jellyfish to the saltwater croc and Great White Shark.

And there appear to be other … unknown creatures also lurking beneath our waters, like the human-devouring bunyips, Australia’s own Loch Ness monster and whale-hating sea serpents.

The Bunyip … a chameleon cryptid?

In 1847, the Australian Museum in Sydney displayed what was claimed to be the skull of a bunyip. The supposed skull was on display for just two days, before being quietly removed. An article appearing in The Sydney Morning Herald about the skull prompted many witnesses to speak of their own encounters with the elusive creature. Before long, the bunyip had become a subject of fascination with the Australian public.

The bunyip has long been feared by the first inhabitants of Australia. It is said to devour humans, sneaking up on unsuspecting victims in silence. Descriptions of the creature varied. It was often described as having a huge body, sometimes covered in fur, sometimes in feathers. Instead of legs, it had flippers.

In a drawing of the bunyip by a Murray River Aboriginal in 1848, the creature was depicted as having a body resembling that of a hippopotamus and a horse-like head. A depiction by a Victorian Aboriginal, however, showed it having the neck and head of an emu. There seemed to be as many differing descriptions of the bunyip as there were sightings.

W. Westgarth, in Australia Felix, published in 1848, described the bunyip as “a huge animal of extraordinary appearance. It had a round head, an elongated neck with a body and tail resembling an ox”.

G. C Mundy writing in Our Antipodes in 1855 depicted the bunyip as “a sort of half horse, half alligator haunting the wide, reedy swamps and lagoons of the interior”.

In The Bulla Bulla Bunyip, published in December 1885, a specimen that had taken up residence outside the town was described as being “bigger than an elephant, in shape like a bullock, with eyes like live coals and tusks like a walrus”.

And the following account was published in The Bunylp at Last! in Brisbane’s Worker on 19 January 1907:

“A strange creature which has a cry like a seal, and very much resembles this well-known amphibious specimen about the head, has been seen in a lagoon at Tumut NSW. The tail is described as being like that of a kangaroo, running from a fair thickness at the root to a taper at the point. The ‘Bunyip,’ as the residents call it, swims rapidly and as it glides along keeping its head above water. Its length, from the tip of the nose to the extremity of the tail, has been set down at about 4 feet, and the colour of the creature is reputed to be black. The animal does not appear to have ears, but if it has they are very small.”

Then, in Hobart’s Mercury on 11 February 1935 an eyewitness described the creature as “neither dog, seal, hyena, nor Tasmanian devil, about the size of a cocker spaniel dog, brindle in colour, with hair so fine that at first it looked as though it had none. The face resembled that of a ferocious dog, but there were two prominent tusks protruding from the bottom jaw.”

So, the bunyip was anywhere from the size of a small dog, to that of an elephant! Perhaps the only common trait of the bunyip was its fierce reputation.

The Register News-Pictorial on 19 September 1929, included the following account of an attack on a dog at Coopers Creek some forty years earlier:

“We rode over to a large waterhole, and the two dogs went in for a swim. Almost immediately one of the dogs was seized by something in the water and dragged under. A violent struggle took place, under the water, which soon become stained with blood. Presently the dog and the ‘thing’ came to the surface, with the dog on top. We grabbed the dog and hauled him out. He was badly cut in the neck and behind the shoulder. All we saw of the ‘thing,’ which disappeared quickly was what appeared to be part of its body, a light brown, smooth surface, much like a saddle-flap in appearance.”

And according to the the Windsor and Richmond Gazette of January 1927, a bunyip living in a swamp near Roberston in the Southern Highlands of NSW may have been responsible for the unexplained disappearance of a stranger.

“A party of men who lived by means of their skill at shooting went out … They returned terrified and related that they came upon the thing basking in the sun, on the side of a hole supposed to be bottomless, situated about the centre of the swamp; and at their approach, the creature, which they stated to approximate the size of a two-year-old steer, and which appeared to possess two short, broad fins or flippers, and in colour was a dirty white or very light grey, took fright and plunged into the hole.”

The article continued: “A stranger to the district called at the rectory and asked to be directed to Kangaloon. While complying with his request he was warned not to attempt to cross the swamp, which looked very easy going from the rectory garden … a bare four miles by that route. Going by the road meant a nine-mile journey. Whether he did so attempt is not known. He was never seen again, and this much is known, he never reached Kangaloon.”

So what exactly is this chameleon-like cryptid? Descriptions vary wildly and it’s interesting to note that not even indigenous accounts of the creature share much in common. Perhaps, the creature is more cultural memory than flesh and blood animal. Maybe stories of long extinct mega fauna have been passed down over thousands of years through the oral traditions and it’s these stories that spawned the rash of sightings by European settlers throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Or perhaps, there are any number of fearsome flippered creatures hiding in the swamps, billabongs, creeks and rivers of the outback.

Australia’s Nessie in the Hawkesbury River?

Far from the outback, the Hawkesbury River winds its way to the sea from the north west of Sydney. The deep blue headwaters of the river, surrounded by National Parks, provide some of the most spectacular views on Australia’s east coast and the vast waterways are a popular destination for recreational fishers, water skiers, boaties and holidaymakers enjoying the scenery from the comfort of luxury houseboats.

And this picturesque waterway may also be home to Australia’s very own Loch Ness monster.

Australian researcher of all things unexplained, Rex Gilroy, is one who does believe that a Nessie-like monster inhabits the waters of the Hawkesbury having collected a number of eyewitness accounts over the years.

One such encounter occurred shortly after World War II in Broken Bay. According to Gilroy, “A Mr Doug Bradbury and another man were fishing in a small rowboat. Suddenly a giant snake-like head on the end of a long neck, rose six metres above the water. The men dropped their fishing equipment and rowed quickly for the nearby shore. From the shore they were able to get a good look at the creature. It displayed, apart from the long neck and serpent-like head, a large body, with two sets of long flippers which were partly obscured by the water, and a long thick eel-like tail.”

Reports of a Nessie-like creature go back as far as 1924 when the Windsor and Richmond Gazette on 5 September published the following, somewhat sceptical report: “The man who supplied the following sensational story to the Sydney Sun 28/8/1924 must have been suffering from ‘the morning after the night before’ complaint. We would seriously advise him to ‘put more water in it…”

That man, suspected of having imbibed the night before making his amazing claim was Mr. W.J. Riley, who with his brother Mr. R. Riley, worked on an orchard at The Terrace by the Upper Hawkesbury River.

“’While walking along The Terrace at midday, we were attracted by something in the water beneath, in a deep hole – I should say about 20 feet deep,’ said Mr. Riley. ‘We looked down and saw a big ugly thing, 2ft. 6in. to 3ft. in depth, with a length of from 5ft. to 6ft., and a yellowish or sandy colour. As to whether its skin was scale-covered or not we could not see, the top of The Terrace being probably 200 yards from the water. It was moving around continuously, and, though we watched for over 15 minutes, we could not get a good look at its head. It had a square-looking fish-tail.’

“’Anyhow, it is not a pleasant looking animal’, he concluded, ‘and I certainly should not care to be in the water and have it after me.’”

Is the Hawkesbury Nessie, as Rex Gilroy believes, a plesiosaur surviving from prehistoric times? Or, is it perhaps a lost sea serpent making its way up river?

Sea serpent sightings

For as long as man has been sailing the open waters, the sea serpent has captured the imaginations of seafarers. While regarded as a mythical creature, reports of encounters continue to surface.

The Cairns Post on 17 August 1934 included the following account of one such sea serpent encounter: “The party claim that they sighted what was a specimen of sea serpent and in the light following the dawn they had a good view of this weird marine visitor.

“The sea at the time was very calm, when without warning the monster suddenly appeared some little distance from their launch. It had a weird head, whilst its neck resembled a snake in its sinuous twistings.

“The head waved backwards and forwards above the surface for some little time, and it was estimated that the full length of this marine visitor was about 50 feet. The rest of the body from the head down could be seen on the surface of the sea. After viewing the fishermen the ‘apparition’ began to slowly swim and a few seconds later it was submerged, only to reappear a few minutes later. On this occasion, it was in considerably closer proximity to the boat. The repulsive appearance of this denizen of the deep coming nearer to the party caused them some little apprehension. The sea serpent did not come right up to them but started swimming around in circles during which it made some peculiar sounds which were distinctly heard. Then the strange thing stopped swimming and lay almost motionless on the surface of the sea, giving those on board the boat a very excellent view of it. A little later, the. sea serpent started swimming out to sea and continued in that direction till it was lost to view.”

Less than 12 months later, two boys at Narooma on the south coast of NSW discovered the carcass of an unknown creature washed up on the beach. The Morning Bulletin in Rockhampton reported the sensational claim on 16 April 1935:

“On the beach, near Narooma today two lads discovered and were later assisted to recover from the water the carcass of what all local experts agree can be nothing but a sea serpent … “

“… The postmaster has given the following description of it: Long, tapering bead, high cranium, eyes level with the mouth … two fins at the back of the head, a dorsal fin and a two-bladed propeller tail; 24 teeth in each side in the top row and most likely more than 48 in the bottom row (many teeth having fallen out); smooth and leathery hide; approximately 12 feet long when extended on the beach.”

Perhaps the most stunning of these accounts was retold by the captain of the Perth, Mr. Angus Campbell, in 1900 in which he, his crew and passengers witnessed a possible battle between a sea serpent and a whale while en route from Geraldton to Fremantle in Western Australia.

“ … about 12 miles off land and 35 miles north of Rottnest Island, the chief officer who was on the bridge, saw the giraffe-like object upreared vertically from the surface of the ocean, and immediately he rushed to me and reported that there was some ‘unseemly monster about 100 yards away from the vessel. Eager to see what the creature was, I at once ran up to the bridge, and after waiting a couple of minutes saw the uncanny creature raise its head and body 20ft. out of the water. It would remain in that position for about a ‘minute, and then disappear.

“This pastime it indulged in most regularly for a long time. A small whale, too, occasionally made its appearance,- and appeared to be at war with the other monster. I noticed that the whale never appeared above water during the time the sea serpent was visible. They seemed to take turn about in coming above and going under the water.

“I watched their manoeuvres for fully quarter of an hour, and then went down to breakfast … As far as I could judge with the aid of my binoculars, the monster appeared to be 6ft. in breadth, with a flattish body, and the head and scales seemed to be similar to those of a snake. The head was black and small, and like that of the ordinary reptile falling away at the neck and widening at the body, which was white.

“During the time the monster’s head and body were visible it lashed the water into foam. With the temporary disappearance of the serpent the whale would come up smiling again, as it were, and ‘blow’ in rare form.”

The captain reassured the interviewer when recounting his extraordinary sighting that, “I am a total abstainer, and in regard to the others who witnessed the remarkable sight, it may be as well to add that there is no bar on board this vessel.”

Why is it that whenever somebody is witness to an anomalous event, that the overzealous consumption of alcohol is automatically suspected of playing a leading role?

Plesiosaur Art by Alain Beneteau
Rearranged by Dale D

About weirdaustralia Andrew Nicholson brings you all that's weird in Oz. UFOs, yowies, ghosts and hauntings, strange disappearances, out of place artefacts & everything paranormal in Australia. Email your stories to weirdaustralia@bigpond.com Follow on twitter @weirdaustralia      

4 Responses to Bunyips, serpents & other creatures lurking beneath our waters

truthmonger says:

December 12, 2011 at 3:08 am

I’m just thankful that I never saw “Dot and the Kangaroo” as a child. If I start singing the Bunyip song around some of my friends they give me the stink eye. Thx for that particular export, AU

1. Pingback: Australia’s Mysterious Bunyip! | Paranormal Encounters
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Dale Drinnon says:

February 24, 2012 at 7:21 am

At one point, anything wierd in Australia was called a “Bunyip” including the Yowie. So there is some confusion especially since descriptions mix giant monitors and stray crocs, long-necked animals and seals of all sizes. And I have always been fascinated with the variety that has walrus tusks, there are supposed to be no walruses in the Southern Hemisphere (although the New Zealand Maori also have legends of a walrus-like creature)
Although the corpse from 1935 sounds promising, I would not get my hopes up, it is more than likely a shark. the fact that it has pectoral fins near the head, a dorsal fin and a two-lobed fish tail sound suspiciously sharklike.
I see you have some more good sightings of the longnecked animal at sea, and Angus Campbell’s description of the one dodging the whale sounds much like the reports of the Manopouri and Rotomahansa near New Zealand (famous cases so I did not check the spellings, they are ships named after New Zealand place names, Sea Serpent sightings in the 1890s)
Best wishes, Dale D.

--This follows on an earlier posting made about Australian sea monsters:

http://weirdaustralia.com/2012/02/05/sea-serpents-explore-australias-scenic-southern-coastline/

Sea serpents explore Australia’s scenic southern coastline

Posted on February 5, 2012by weirdaustralia

In the winter of 1935, sightings of sea serpents were reported right along the scenic coastline of western Victoria in Australia’s chilly southern waters.
Following a sighting by two boys in June, two fishermen in a boat 300 kilometres away were terrorised by a sea serpent a month later. They resorted to shooting at it to make good their escape. Nearby, road builders clambered down to the shoreline and attempted to capture the serpent using heavy ropes and a draught horse before deciding it was probably far more sensible to leave the creature be and “not curtail its liberty”.
Sea serpent finds its way into Portland Bay
The Portland Guardian on 24 June 1935, reported, somewhat reluctantly, of a sighting of a sea serpent by two lads at Blacknose Point in Portland, Victoria.
“In Saturday’s Star appears the startling announcement … that a sea serpent has found its way into Portland Bay. We have heard of its appearance, but will give the credit to the Star of vouching for the authenticity.”
“A report from Portland states that while strolling along the beach beyond Blacknose Point one day this week two lads saw what they thought was a school of porpoises. When the object came closer they were so startled they climbed to the higher ground, where they had a better view, and were also further away, because, as they said, ‘They did not know if it had legs.’ The body, it is reported, was a slaty blue colour, from 80 feet to 100 feet long, with a neck between 15 feet and 20 feet long, the head being something the shape of a giraffe’s.
“The head was high in the air, the body had a dorsal fin and a wide tail, something like that of a whale, with serrations on the end, and slaty grey and white stripes along it. The object was travelling parallel with the shore. It then turned and went out to sea. The head and neck were visible high in the air for several miles out. As the tail thumped the water in travelling along, great masses of spray arose.
“Now, one can only wonder where the old gentleman [the serpent] will turn up next,” the article concluded sarcastically. But the sceptical writer of that article would not have to wait long for an answer.
Just over a month later on 31 July, the Morning Bulletin reported on the “well-authenticated” appearance of a sea serpent in the waters off Barwon Heads in Victoria, around 300 kilometres away from the Portland sighting.
The creature was described as combining the characteristics of “a snake, a whale, a sea lion, and a seal, with other features unknown to science”.
“Two Queenscliff fishermen have reported that as they were sailing three miles off Point Lonsdale, yesterday evening, their boat was threatened by an aggressively poised creature 20 feet long and eight feet thick, with a head four times the size of a diver’s helmet, eyes like saucers, a neck three feet long and like a snake’s, and a coat of short, black fur.”
Strange enough for a museum … ugly enough for a nightmare
“One of the fishermen said that they first noticed the monster about three yards from the boat with its head poised in an attitude suggesting an imminent swoop upon them.
“After the first shock of amazement had passed, he picked up a gun and fired, whereupon the creature disappeared, only to return more belligerent than ever.“
The fisherman then took aim at the angry sea serpent once again, but his gun misfired. He then fired a third shot, and the serpent dived into the water.
Happily for the frightened fishermen, they did not see it again.
“I thought we were gone,” the fisherman said. “I do not know what it was, but it was strange enough for a museum and ugly enough for a nightmare.”
Road workers attempt to lasso the monster
The two fishermen were not the only ones to have witnessed the sea serpent off Barwon Heads, according to the same article.
“Road workers about a mile from Barwon Heads attempted early yesterday to capture a creature which they described as about 18 feet long, of a grey colour, with a head and neck like a serpent’s, an enormous mouth, a fur-coated body, and a white-striped chin. It slid from the rocks as they tried to lasso it.”
The Northern Standard, on 2 August 1935, elaborated on the road workers’ foolhardy attempt to capture the unknown animal. “Working on a new road between Barwon Heads and Torquay, workmen looking from the outer cliff saw an extraordinary sea monster. The foreman sent a gang of men to the beach equipped with ropes and a draught horse to capture it. After trying to lasso the monster from a distance they decided not to curtail its liberty. It then waddled into the sea and disappeared. It was about 15 feet long, greyish in colour, snakelike head, enormous mouth, white stripes under the chin, eyes like motor car lamps, and possessed other characteristics unknown to science.”
Probably just as well that their attempt to lasso the creature failed. Perhaps they should’ve settled for a smaller specimen.
Smaller serpent also spotted nearby
A smaller sea serpent was also sighted according to the Central Queensland Herald on 8 August. Could this have been the offspring of the serpent sighted earlier?
“Hard on the heels of the news of the reappearance of the Barwon Heads sea serpent near Queenscliff comes a report from Airey’s Inlet of the appearance of a sea monster, which appears to be a younger and smaller relative of the creature seen at Queenscliff.
“J. Davis, of Airley’s Hotel, who saw it lying on the fringe of the surf, said the body was about 10 or 12 feet long … The head was a light grey in colour, and it had a sparse coat of darker coloured hair. It had big eyes like those of the Queenscliff monster, but there were no stripes on the body. The head was round.”
Following this sighting, it appears these sea monsters headed back out to sea as sightings along the rugged coastline of western Victoria soon dwindled and these unknown creatures were soon forgotten.
Such sea serpent sightings are not unique to the southern waters of Australia, however.
Similar creatures have been sighted off the coasts of Western Australia and Queensland. The carcass of an unknown sea creature was reported to have washed up on the shore at Narooma on the south coast of New South Wales. Interestingly, this was in April of 1935, just two months before the sightings in Victoria.
Read more sea serpent reports, including the Narooma carcass in Bunyips, serpents & other creatures lurking beneath our waters.

2 Responses to Sea serpents explore Australia’s scenic southern coastline

1. Dale Drinnon says:

   February 13, 2012 at 2:35 am

   I notice that most of the reports cited here had the characteristics of elephant seals-big black eyes, body 15-20 feet long and 5-8 feet thick, medium-short neck, big head with a big open mouth and a tail divided into two fins. The first one reported with a giraffe-like neck was however a good sighting of the Longnecked type and I don’t doubt that you have more sightings of that type also in the area. Somebody was wrong when they said it was up to a hundred feet long: with the neck that long, half that length would be more like the usual proportion. No doubt some witnesses were actually measuring the wake. But there was no reason to get surly or sarcastic about it: that is the single most-often observed category of Sea-serpent worldwide.
   Best Wishes, Dale D.

   Reply
   • weirdaustralia says:

     February 24, 2012 at 4:09 am

     Hi Dale,
     Thanks for your excellent feedback … and apologies for taking so long to reply.
     The report of the creature being around 100 feet long was from the two boys so there may have been some youthful exuberance evident in their reporting. I’ve since come across several more reports of creatures estimated at up to 90 feet, but as you said, this could mistakenly include the wake. In regards to the reporting, thankfully, most newspaper reports were fairly evenly balanced compared with more modern times.
     If you’re interested, I posted some other reports of sea serpent sightings, and in one case a carcass washing up on a beach, in Bunyips, sea serpents and other creatures luring beneath our waters.
     Thanks again for taking the time to share your knowledge.
     Cheers
     Andrew
2. Dale Drinnon says:
   

   February 24, 2012 at 7:37 am

   I’m going to take the liberty of posting the two articles on my Frontiers of Zoology blog. If I get anything useful by wany of a reply, I shall surely let you know.
   Best Wishes, Dale D.

BTW, I think that the cartoon of a Bunyip I added at the top is illustrating one of the Diprotodont types.

Whale Scale

Whale Scale: Whalesized Sharks, Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises

The order Cetacea whale, includes the marine mammals commonly known as whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Size comparison of all known extant cetacean species. Note the human diver at lower right for scale. (Click on pictures to enlarge)

WhaleScale alternate size

I had commented on this composite image above before, saying that when it came out a few of these species had been "Unknown" or "Unconfirmed" until shortly before it came out.There are a couple of them that would have been called Cryptids. At the same time, the more obvious Cryptiid types remain steadfastly off the chart (including dolphins with two  dorsal fins, sometimes explained as a feakish mutant strain) We evidently have a largefin beaked whale that is teetering on the edge of recognition, one or two species of tusked whales

..... and the one everybody is keen to learn more about, evidently a beaked whale with the body proportions of a zueglodont Archaeocete, represented by the Emu carcass.

In checking through records pertaining to the creature I am calling The Whale Eater, I find that in the Pacific and in Latin America especially, interest is not so much in the large Mosasaur creature, it is more in the giant supposedly-extinct shark Carcharodon megalodon: the two are however sometimes both called by the same name in the literature (a surprising finding that turned up during the research) This is the correct spelling bt the way: large C small m on the megalodon and officially you should be saying "C. megalodon" rather than just "Megalodon", much in the same way as people say "T. rex" and mean Tyrannosaurus rex.

http://oldsouthghosthunters.yuku.com/topic/63

Carcharodon Megalodon

The megalodon shark - Carcharodon megalodon - was a giant shark estimated to grow up to 50 or 70 feet in length. Some people have suggested it could have reached up to 80 feet, which would make it even bigger than most land-based dinosaurs. The megalodon was a carnivore that would hunt other creatures in the ocean. It probably used its huge tail or flippers to stun its prey. Based on fossils, its teeth alone are some 5 to 8 inches or more long and its jaws around 6 to 10 feet wide. That sort of hunter could give even a whale a run for its money and it's been suggested that whale meat was one of its favourites. [Ecologically, a living C. megalodon would seem tro fit somewhere between orcas and sperm whales in dietary choices: the bigger Marine Saurian type would be changing its target  prey items as the individual creature gets bigger, but the best information is that the fully-grown adults eat medium-sized whales and larger sharks preferentially. It seems from the information given here, living C. megalodons also cruise the greater depths for bigger squids to supplement their diet-DD] Officially the megalodon is extinct, however rumours of its continued existence abound. If these turn out to be true then it wouldn't be the first "living fossil" cryptid to be discovered - the most famous example is the coelacanth. There have been numerous sightings of unusual giant sharks, possibly megalodons. There are also many globsters (weird unidentified marine corpses) that add weight to the idea. However there have been no confirmed megalodon sightings. The most famous megalodon sightings were collected by the Australian naturalist David Stead. In the early 20th century he collected reports of a gigantic white shark that had terrorised the fishermen of Port Stephens. Since most of these eye witnesses are anonymous their accounts are often dismissed by sceptics as being anecdotal and of little value. However such reports - whilst not proving the existence of the megalodon - make this mystery an area of interest to many cryptozoologists.

Large fossilized Megalodon teeth are among the most startling of natural objects. They are huge blackish triangles that appear 'puffed up', resembling fresh-baked (fresh-burned?) cookies. The root is bilobed and rough, in stark contrast to the smooth, enamel-like polish of the blade. The blade itself is often cracked longitudinally and the edge has about 50 serrations per inch (20 per centimetre). The heft of a good-sized specimen is remarkable - about three-quarters of a pound (0.4 kilograms). It is hard to think of these massive stones as ever having been teeth. But that's exactly what they were. This undeniable fact has generated much awestruck speculation about what the entire shark must have looked like.
Fossilized teeth are almost all that remains of Megalodon. Therefore, placing some of these teeth in a model of the long-gone cartilaginous jaws is an expedient way to start reconstructing this creature. But how many teeth and how big to make the jaws? Since Megalodon teeth so closely resemble those of the modern white shark in form but are about three times as large, it seemed to early museum curators that a scaled-up model of White Shark jaws would be a reasonable approximation. Despite their huge size, these early reconstructions were not as scary-looking as one might imagine: resembling gigantic, white lips filled with hundreds of blackish fossil teeth. (Fossil shark teeth can be almost any color - black, purple, blue, green, brown, red, pink, orange, yellow, beige, or almost white - depending upon the precise chemistry of the sediment in which they were deposited. Because most commercially-sold megalodon teeth come from Cooper River and other South Carolina deposits rich in dark phosphates, these fossils are almost always dark grey, brown, or black.) But the stand-in jaws did give an impression of the sheer enormity of megalodon. Measuring eleven feet (3.4 metres) tall and nine feet (2.75 metres) across, the reconstructed megalodon jaws suggested a monster shark more than 80 feet (25 metres) in length. Small wonder that, even today, plaster reconstructions of Megalodon jaws are among the most popular paleontological exhibits in museums.

Does The Megalodon Still Live?

Officially the megalodon is extinct, however rumours of its continued existence abound. If these turn out to be true then it wouldn't be the first "living fossil" cryptid to be discovered - the most famous example is the coelacanth.
There have been numerous sightings of unusual giant sharks, possibly megalodons. There are also many globsters (weird unidentified marine corpses) that add weight to the idea. However there have been no confirmed megalodon sightings.
The most famous megalodon sightings were collected by the Australian naturalist David Stead. In the early 20th century he collected reports of a gigantic white shark that had terrorised the fishermen of Port Stephens. Since most of these eye witnesses are anonymous their accounts are often dismissed by sceptics as being anecdotal and of little value. However such reports - whilst not proving the existence of the megalodon - make this mystery an area of interest to many cryptozoologists.
Based on the average rate of deposition of manganese dioxide around nuclei composed of fossil shark teeth, some have calculated that Megalodon may have lived as recently as 11,000 years ago, rather than died out 1.6 million years ago, as suggested by radiometric dating. In geological terms, that's yesterday.

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

Another different article included a scale with a fossil Plesiosaur, a killer whale (Orca) and the C. megalodon: the Plesiosaur as shown here is a good model for the size and shape of a male Long-Necked SeaSerpent (a "Merhorse")

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?46630-CARCHARODON-MEGALODON-SIGHTINGS

CARCHARODON MEGALODON SIGHTINGS

Coelacanth thought to be extinct 65 million years ago is still around, giant squid, still around, Megamouth Shark discovered..and many others, if not live specimen or washed up carcass, there are sightings...the big deep ocean is so full of mystery.

Some say this monster is estimated to be up to 50 feet in length, some say closer to 80 feet and others up to 100 feet or more. Whatever is the case, The Carcharodon Megalodon is possibly the biggest predator ever to exist next to the Sperm Whale. But the question that some ask today...could this monstrous Megalodon still be around swimming in the deep ocean..waiting to be discovered? There are quite a number of eyewitness said to have sighted what to have believed to be the extinct Carcharodon Megalodon once lived between 5 million and 1.6 million years ago.
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One Of The Sightings:

Great white shark experts Richard Ellis and John McCosker have included a rather compelling chapter on Megalodon in his definitive 1991 volume, Great White Shark. Ellis (who authored the chapter on Megalodon), notes that although all the fossilized Megalodon teeth found so far indicate that the shark is extinct, we should really get concerned about the welfare of our divers if someone ever dredges up a white Megalodon tooth. Because if we did, "we would know that the giant shark became extinct quite recently," writes Ellis, "or is flourishing somewhere in the vastness of the oceans and has simply lost a tooth."

As frightening as a notion like that may seem for anyone who doesn't live in central Nebraska, could it ever happen? Almost all who have investigated the possible existence of the great Megalodon realize that if it is extinct, it has only recently occured in the geological record. The creature lived as long ago as 50 million years (Middle and Late Tertiary Period), but Ellis confirms that scientists have concluded Megalodon probably "just" became extinct, in the late Pleistocene or early Holocene epochs. In other words, as close as 10,000 years ago! Pretty scary stuff, Mr. Cousteau.

Zoological history has proven that very large animals can remain hidden from modern science, especially in our planet's under-explored ocean depths. So if the famous coelacanth can remain undisturbed for 60 million years, why not push our giant white shark up a mere 10,000? Apparently Ellis sees no major problem with that when he writes, "Except that we have not found one, there appears to be no reason why Megalodon should not be flourishing today." Granted, Ellis feels that no concrete evidence has been found for Megalodon's current existence. "But there will always be those who keep hoping that one will appear. Let us hope we are not in the water when it does."
Or has one already appeared? Contained in Ellis's chapter on Megalodon is quite an amazing sighting report from Australia. It is taken from David G. Stead's Sharks and Rays of Australian Seas, published in 1963. Here is the now-classic monster encounter, in Stead's words:

In the year 1918 I recorded the sensation that had been caused among the "outside" crayfish men at Port Stephens, when, for several days, they refused to go to sea to their regular fishing grounds in the vicinity of Broughton Island. The men had been at work on the fishing grounds--which lie in deep water--when an immense shark of almost unbelievable proportions put in an appearance, lifting pot after pot containing many crayfishes, and taking, as the men said, "pots, mooring lines and all." These crayfish pots, it should be mentioned, were about 3 feet 6 inches in diameter and frequently contained from two to three dozen good-sized crayfish each weighing several pounds. The men were all unanimous that this shark was something the like of which they had never dreamed of. In company with the local Fisheries Inspector I questioned many of the men very closely and they all agreed as to the gigantic stature of the beast. But the lengths they gave were, on the whole, absurd. I mention them, however, as an indication of the state of mind which this unusual giant had thrown them into. And bear in mind that these were men who were used to the sea and all sorts of weather, and all sorts of sharks as well. One of the crew said the shark was "three hundred feet long at least"! Others said it was as long as the wharf on which we stood--about 115 feet! They affirmed that the water "boiled" over a large space when the fish swam past. They were all familiar with whales, which they had often seen passing at sea, but this was a vast shark. They had seen its terrible head which was "at least as long as the roof on the wharf shed at Nelson's Bay." Impossible, of course! But these were prosaic and rather stolid men, not given to 'fish stories' nor even to talking about their catches. Further, they knew that the person they were talking to (myself) had heard all the fish stories years before! One of the things that impressed me was that they all agreed as to the ghostly whitish color of the vast fish."(3)

In this popular account, we apparently have credible witnesses, and a knowledgeable investigator, Stead, who believed the fishermen were telling the truth (and that they may have witnessed a living Megalodon). I believe the "fact" that they did not return to sea for days could be added to their credibility, and to their loss in wages after the apparently traumatic experience (unless they were hoaxing the entire event, of course.) We also have some rather strange features in this report, including the tremendous lengths the fishermen reported, if we cannot attribute these to exaggeration due to intense fear. If we cannot, then it seems if Megalodon has survived, it may have grown bigger, and I am not sure which idea is scarier.
In his 1989 book There Are Giants in the Sea, BBC film producer and wildlife author Michael Bright concludes his sea-monster volume with mention of the giant fish:

Imagine, then, the shock when scientists dredging the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, earlier this century, discovered two 10 cm. (4 in.) long megalodon teeth that were what can only be described as geologically "fresh." One was estimated to be 24,000 years old--roughly the time of the Lascaux cave paintings. The other was just 11,000 years old and therefore belonged to a gigantic shark that swam in the Pacific Ocean at the same time as man was migrating from Asia into North America. Could this enormous predator still be lurking in the ocean depths?(4)

I suppose we'll have to see what the oceans of the world turn up for the monster hunters to hold triumphantly over the heads of skeptics. But how exciting it would be if a 70-foot shark was deposited on the shores of California, surrounded by excited vacationers with video cameras in tow. Putting child-like dreaming aside, however, leaves us with the fact that whether or not the huge Megalodon is alive today is debatable only on theoretical grounds. Despite thousands of giant, still fossilized teeth, no matter how "fresh" they might be, and the amazing (perhaps exaggerated) report from Stead, there is not much to go on.(5) However, if some shark experts can agree not to completely write off "Meg" into extinction, then we might want to ponder the possibility that Peter Benchley's imagination is not as wild as we thought it was. And we will never go deep-sea fishing in anything smaller than an aircraft carrier ever again.

Actually, you can think about all that. I'll keep chiseling for more replica teeth.

[In the Australian case frequently noted, including above, I tend to call that an unusually-pale "Yellow-Belly" instead. White sharks are not WHITE. -DD]

Rare Whale Caught on Film-Google News Item

Rare whale caught on film for first time

The Shepherd's beaked whale is so rare it has never been filmed live before
  (AFP/Australian Antarctic Division, Mike Double)

(AFP) – 9 hours ago

SYDNEY — Australian researchers Thursday revealed they had filmed a pod of extremely rare Shepherd's beaked whales for the first time ever.

The Australian Antarctic Division team was tracking blue whales off the coast of Victoria state last month when they spotted the reclusive mammals, which are so rarely seen that no population estimates of the species exist.

Voyage leader Michael Double said the black and cream-coloured mammals with prominent dolphin-like beaks had been spotted in the wild only a handful of times through history.

According to the Australian environment department, there have only been two previous confirmed sightings -- a lone individual in New Zealand and a group of three in Western Australia

They have never been filmed live before.

"These animals are practically entirely known from stranded dead whales, and there haven't been many of them," Double told AFP, calling the footage "unique".

"They are an offshore animal, occupying deep water, and when they surface it is only for a very short period of time."

Double said what was remarkable about the sighting was that the whale was previously thought to be a solitary creature, yet was in a pod of 10 to 12.

"To find them in a pod is very exciting and will change the guide books. Our two whale experts will now carefully study the footage to work out the whale sizes and so on and prepare a scientific paper."

The Shepherd's beaked whale, also known as the Tasman beaked whale, was discovered in 1937 but little is known about them.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.

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Pukas, Pukwudges, and Tyler's FW Monkeys

Pukwudge

The following posting was added at the end of Karl Shuker's blog on "The Genetics of Fairies"
http://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2011/03/genetics-of-fairies.html

Some may have been attributed to Williams syndrome, but... if research is done they are a species that do/did exist, at least thru the mid 1980's, water pollution and disease may have finished them off, I have trhu triangulation located only two pockets of where they used to be till then. More commonly known with linguist root forms of puk, pukas, pooka. An example, the puk-a-wadji, translation, 'little wildmen of the forest' native american Delaware. Pookas, same thing,Fox, Sauk, Ioway and mid-western tribes. Pooka river in Germany, called and meant as 'little people river', they allegedly lived along it's banks. Shakespears 'Puk", a possible rudimentary rememberance? Last seen in the Ohio Valley in the white river area in the early mid 70's both by people with phd's. I have a friend here in east central Iowa, native american older woman who remembers them when she was young, will not talk about to Anglos tho. In the early days interacted with native tribes and pointed out hunting in trade for items, clothing was of woven inner bark material, in recent times with modern cloth..not surprising as till the early 60's most farms had a ravine and dumped their trash there. The stood approx 18-22 inches tall,moved silently and lived in caves, early native stories say they were moon worshippers and it does not surprise me that is why in the British isles and elsewhere, they were seen at night in a ring and dancing. There really is alot out there one merely has to know where to look! You don't have to believe me but I have given you all enough hints... it should be easy to verify what I say. I know these and other things as it is rather a hobby for me and I think differently and know when and where to look!! Best to you all.
Emmett

I have heard other information similar to Emmett's from other sources, and indeed much of the same theory before when I was corresponding with some of the other CFZ guys. There is this root for Little People that sounds like Puk, Pook, Bwca and so on, and it has been treated Linguistically as equivalent to Bunyip (And sometimes translated as either "God or Devil" but more reasonably related to the term  Spook) And commentators at the CFZ have managed to relate these stories of water-Brownies or aquatic dwarfs to Leprechauns and Welsh Afnacs. Here is an alternative internet posting on Boggarts (Another derivation for Buggerts from Bwcas)

added12:01 by aldaria02

The boggarts (or bwcas, bogan, bogle, boggle) are from the British mythology. They are described as hideous dwarf, hairy and malicious. We often tell them to haunt the moors and devastate the cottages without good reason, for the sole purpose of causing harm. There is a more refined version, presented by Jacques I of England in his treatise on demonology, published in London in 1597. He speaks of the "hairy man who haunts various house without doing any harm, but has sometimes as if it were necessary to put the house upside down". To get rid of it, they said he had to either call an exorcist, or surmise that he kept his name secret. Brasey Edward argues that the boggart would be in the imaginary English cousin of degenerated brownie, a serving British spirit. Indeed, there are legends or boggart is described as a spirit attached to a family home, but unlike its "cousins", it does no service and plays tricks on people, even to steal them . He can follow his family or her to go in order to harass. We sometimes hung a horseshoe before the doors of houses to ward off boggarts. In the folklore of north-west England, the boggarts live under bridges, and it is bad luck not to greet them if you come across them.

And so the "Trolls" that live under bridges are also probably Bog-Boggles: and once again the Water-Brownie "Gollum" is counted as a degenerate form of Hobbit (=Brownie)  and sometimes crawls into cellars or cottages for shelter-at times of flooding, the story sometimes goes. Pukwudgies grow to a yard tall, BTW, and the legend is also local to central Indiana where I live, oddly enough

:http://perieci.meneyung.com/.cache/pukwudgies.html

Pukwudges=Trolls of the lesser kind

In all of this it is quite easy to recognise Tyler Stone's aquatic freshwater macaque monkeys with a lionlike ruff around the head, clawlike nails on webbed feet, perhaps even with a short tail, and being observed at the edges of wetlands, around bridges, or when being driven out of their homes by rising flood waters. They also act like macaques, pulling pranks but more prone to stealing from people and being destructive. And we see them on both sides of the Atlantic so presumably the stories went along with the Megalithic culture as well as the particular name of Puks that was used for them.

Best Wishes, Dale D.

Footnote: I thought there might also be a connection to the Shropshire Man_monkey especially since the encounter happened near to a canal:

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-monkey-British-Bigfoot-Nick-Redfern/dp/1905723164

Product Description

In her 1883 book, Shropshire Folklore, Charlotte S. Burne wrote: 'A very weird story of an encounter with an animal ghost arose of late years within my knowledge. On the 21st of January 1879, a labouring man was employed to take a cart of luggage from Ranton in Staffordshire to Woodcock, beyond Newport in Shropshire, for the ease of a party of visitors who were going from one house to another. He was late in coming back; his horse was tired, and could only crawl along at a foot's pace, so that it was ten o'clock at night when he arrived at the place where the highroad crosses the Birmingham and Liverpool canal. 'Just before he reached the canal bridge, a strange black creature with great white eyes sprang out of the plantation by the roadside and alighted on his horse's back. He tried to push it off with his whip, but to his horror the whip went through the thing, and he dropped it on the ground in fright.' The creature duly became known to superstitious and frightened locals as the Man-Monkey. Between 1986 and early 2001, Nick Redfern delved deeply into the mystery of the strange creature of that dark stretch of canal. Now,published for the very first time, are Nick's original interview notes, his files and discoveries; as well as his theories pertaining to what lies at the heart of this diabolical legend. Is Britain really home to a Bigfoot-style entity? Does the creature have supernatural origins? Or is it something else entirely? Nick Redfern addresses all of these questions in Man-Monkey and reveals a story that is as bizarre as it is macabre.

 

Evidently there were a total of two dozen or so encounters with the "Man-Monkey" subsequently, all around this bridge area. And it occurs to me that the man could easily have let the whip drop from his hand and added "me whip went right tru it" later on as an excuse.

 

 

Shropshire Union Canal man-monkey, Richard Svensson [The artist may have made the creature more manlike since the original description seems to have meant something skinnier and more monkeylike, alythough it became commonplace to refer to it as a "Gorilla" in later literature]

 

http://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2010/09/devil-of-mystery-from-smethwick.html

---

Original Text:

More Cryptid Bats

http://gtanime-kai.foroactivo.com/t141-murcielagos-criptidos
Google Translation from Spanish
Author: Akavane, Guatemala
Cryptid bats
good how such a topic that is more cryptozoology gsuta me or the study of undiscovered animals and belong to the kingdom of the legends that they see voya to talk about the pro bats that are kind if the in vuerlta in mystery and there are legends of vampires known but others roam throughout the world as ahool batsquasht or others that are not widely known, so he put them to expand their knowhow to ancient myths, modern mysteries No other species has fueled terror, and even phobia of bats, as the common vampire, Desmodus rotundus. This bat is one of the three species that feed almost exclusively on blood of large animals, including as not man, but more sporadically. They are animals of small size, the larger ones have a body of 9 cm long, 35 cm long with wings outspread, 40 grams of weight and flattened face, which with their sharp tusks, produces a small wound to his prey to the blood flowing, but not freely, as their saliva contains anesthetic agents and coagulants. With his tongue licking the blood is going to eat equivalent of 40% of their body weight, about 20 g, which is quite damaging to their prey if several of these animals the attack at once, it can produce more or less anemia degree. Camazotz has become the stuff legends key importance in human society and the human vampire myth, ie the undead awakened every night to feed on blood, fangs sticking in the throat of his victim and in turn transforming in other undead. The main figure of this myth is the Wallachian prince, Vlad Thepes, whose real name was Dracula, son of Daracul, son of the devil. Well known for its extremely sadistic practices, including impalements, and even said he came to drink the blood of their victims, like Elizabeth Bathory, another Countess, famous for bathing in the blood of its young victims and consumed. But there is a place in the world where this deeply ingrained this myth, although it might seem, it is not  Transylvania, is Central America. The legends and myths about creatures that resemble or are related to vampire bats of very large size, are present in folklore from pre-Columbian times. The stories of vampires in Mexico date back to the time of the Maya, whose territory was located in what is now Guatemala, but also reaching the Yucatan Peninsula and southern Mexico. This was the land of vampire bats, which were incorporated into the mythology of the Mayas, in fact one of its most important deities is the god / devil Zotz or Camazotz, the lord of the underworld, vampire bat-shaped and oversized bloodthirsty. Lord of death and the realms of twilight, the Maya were trying at all costs not to go through the caves they thought the domain of this being, to avoid arousing their anger and they kept some of his enemies and those guilty of crime these places, known as `` The Camazotz house.'' `` ... Pusiéronlos then in the House of Bats. There was nothing but bats inside this house, the house of Camazotz (bat of death), a large animal, whose instruments were killed as a dry point, and perished instantly those who came before him ...'' . There are numerous representations of this deity in stone and pottery, to emphasize the relevance it had. Desmodus draculae Scientists give a length for D.draculae forearm 8 cm (compared with their relative proportions D.rotundus) and CONICET researchers estimated a wingspan of 60 to 80 cm (~2 to 3 feet) for D. draculae, and weighing approximately 60 g., making it a sizeable bat to be a Microchiroptera, larger than the largest that exists today the Eumops perotis, the largest U.S. bat belonging to the order Microchiroptera. Paleontologists determined that the Centinela del Mar vampire corresponds to a giant extinct form, probably  Desmodus draculae, and would be one of the last representatives of that species, registered previously. Although the article in The Nation speaks of "fossils" actually is a bug. The tooth, which was discovered by Ulysses Pardiñas was not in a fossilized state. In fact, had not had time to fossilize!. And dating is that made ​​mass spectrometry provided a really surprising result: the upper left canine from Centinela del Mar belonged to an animal that was a contemporary of the Spanish conquerors and that probably lived between the ..... fifteenth and seventeenth century of our era! there is another legend of a strange monster called Piuchén bloodsucker, with variations as Pihuychén, Pitutrén, Pihuenche and Peuchén, Some describe it as a strange bloodthirsty winged serpent that silva and grips trees to stalk them to their next victim, others describe it as a snake that after some time it becomes a species of frog large, all covered with a fine hair, wings very short and broad, the strong legs and bulging eyes and scary. Other times it is described as a strange predatory bird larger than a turkey (Maybe some kind of relationship with Thunderbird? Do not know.[Actually, it is a "Water-Turkey" or Anhinga!]) Of all these descriptions, they always say that the animal in question lives in caves and holes of the trees and their droppings are red because of their biting power. winged Men Brazil and Cãoera Many are the legends in Brazilian lands, concerning beings half human, half bat creature who terrorized just say his name. These testimonies have been collected by many folklorists as Elizabeth Benson who has studied the symbolism of the vampire in ancient cultures, provides further information on the subject: "For the Arawak Indians of northern Guyana, the" Mountain of the Bat "is inhabited by "Murderous Bats," and there is a similar figure in the folklore of Venezuela. Demons-bat dedicated to behead people, appear in various myths of the Amazon region and further south, in the Gran Chaco of northern Argentina . The folklore of Ge, a tribe of Brazil, talks about "Indians" who had wings and out only at night. flew like bats and killed with "anchor axes" or "moon machetes." Another story is said that humanity received the ceremonial axes of bats, who used to decapitate. The shape of the axes is the same as with the knives for sacrifices that are often represented in ancient Mochica art of the Central Andes " A Despite all the supposed existence of several of these creatures is confirmed by a sighting occurred in the area in 1950 by Mr. and Mrs. Royal, who observed a huge bat-like creatures that flew over the forest above trees and their heads, landing on the floor, which left traces of their claws around the setback (characteristic of some of the sightings of man-beast) and bats quite logical, since when they are perched their feet are directed backwards. In Brazil's equally remarkable Cãoera we find the story of a giant bat whose existence are convinced Muras Indians living near the border between Brazil and Guyana, in a region that is part of the newly created National Park Tucumaque the largest reserve of tropical rainforest in the world. According to Muras, this animal is huge, bigger than the vulture, black vulture or South American (Coraegyps atratus) whose wings are 1.5 m (~5 ft) wingspan. Indians say can suck all the blood of their victims and then devour them, it is stated that the big bat lives in holes underground Amazon and comes out when cooking meat or when burned hair and animal skins. You may also see-Engracia warns when you wash your fish bones in the river or even when one starts screaming in the woods. Apparently, the myth of Cãoera occurs in the border region with Guyana in the territory of the Arawak, Carib and Tupi also. In 1991, biologists E. Trajan and M. Vivo found a fossil specimen of Desmodus third D draculae, particularly in a cave in the Ribeira Valley, State of Sao Paulo, demonstrating the existence of this species in this area. Once more ... Is there a relationship between the two? In this case it is said that the animal eats meat and is quite larger than the D.draculae so perhaps this reinforces the hypothesis that it was another unknown species. [This would instead be my giant FALSE Vampire bat, Vampyrum sp X2-DD]
Sasabonsam (African demon) This being enigmatic, is a real challenge for any researcher in cryptozoology. It is a myth really old and related to the culture of the Ashanti, an African native people, natives of Ghana. For them, this creature is a kind of evil demon who worship (we emphasize the similarity to the Mayan legends) the figure is similar to the winged male Brazilians, or anthropomorphic but Chiroptera details. He often described as being of humanoid face, bearded and two horns facing out in your head (typical demonic symbol). As they say, their short arms are huge bat wings, connected by a membrane to its short but strong legs equipped with claws. Among their customs was that of hunting and devouring humans, betting on the branches of trees to catch them with the claws of their feet and take them to the cave where he lives. Seen this way we could say that, can not be anything beyond an Indian myth. But the resemblance to other similar case makes us wonder if it could not hide behind the myth rooted, some unknown species of bat known long-loved repertoire of `` similar'' bat that occurs throughout Central Africa, some well known as Olitiau [Ole ntya=Devil Bat], or Kongmato or closely related to flying creatures as pterosaurs. However, the descriptions of this creature do remarkably different. His features similar to those of other legends and his habit of eating meat and blood meal to relate it more bats than any other creature. During one of his trips to Africa explorer JB Danquah had discussions with the Ashanti people, who perfectly described this `` being'' not as a mythological
 Winged humanoids of Vietnam Strange winged creatures with clawed feet and pointed ears, come being sighted for years in Vietnam. According to descriptions in appearance coincide with previously treated other creatures, strange beings that is half human and half bat. In the case of winged men in Vietnam have witnessed some exception, though still very little information exists about these beings. According to official reports from 1969, in parts of South Vietnam, have been taking these types of sightings. The first, at least you have news, as we advanced, three soldiers were protagonists of the U.S. Marines near Da Nang. The men claimed to have seen various figures flying and deep into the jungle. According to them they look human, but with strange details in the head and huge bat wings, leathery appearance. They were covered with fine hair, and some saw as a feminine details developed breasts. When they went flying over the trees above their heads, they could hear the sound of their wings to beat, and see details such as these membranes. At no time showed interest in them. Alan Another puzzle, comes this time from [Java] the Philippines, whose dense and dark forests are said to inhabit another race of creatures half-man half-bat. His favorite places of rest are the deepest parts and dark where they spend much of the day hanging head in that way so typical of these animals. His description is very similar to him from other beings like men winged humanoids Brazil or Vietnamese, but with a remarkable feature that makes them distinctive and this is a long finger-shaped claw on their forelimbs (other descriptions place it on the feet) with the function subject to the branches of trees. According to the Filipino natives and legends, these are often peaceful creatures, who have established a friendly relationship with them. The folklore of the area itself is even talk of human stories of children abandoned in the jungle and adopted by the Alans. But of course this reality perhaps not so idyllic, and not altruistically act in a way can be considered as indigenous but simply they took them to devour. Despite this and as with the winged humanoids Vietnam, there is no indication that it considers violent or aggressive these creatures, which, it could be some sort of giant flying foxes mentioned, or perhaps if we consider stories, some rather large omnivorous species related to the false vampires or horseshoe bats, although lacking the aggressiveness of others like Sasabonsam.[Alans are in fact the mythological version of the Ahool and "all-Female" The myth may also be present in Bali or the other islands, but the Filipinos tell other stories as mentioned below-DD]
 Orang-Bati This time we travel to Indonesia, specifically the island of Seram, for meet one of the most mysterious cryptids. Known to [East] Indonesians as Orang-Bati, ie the flying man, they describe it as a rare and aggressive primate with wings. For decades the Moluccas had blood-curdling stories of Westerners who heard concerning a bloodthirsty winged predator hurtling night the lush jungles in search of victims. The descriptions given to this `` flying demon'' (curiously highlight the similarities in Indonesia indigenous culture, with the African Sasabonsam) refer to its large size, is said to be covered with short hair and red, leathery skin on their black or blood red and provided with a membranous wings of a bat. It also has a prominent feature and the presence of a small tail visible. His simian face (strange similarities with the `` Big Bird'') is crowned with pointed ears. the English missionary Tyson Hughes, who in 1985 traveled to the Moluccas, the island of Seram, for 18 months, to attend the population of the island and help in management of their livestock and farms. Tyson began to hear stories about this being, and although at first was very skeptical, he soon became convinced that he did not seem to be any mythical god `` true'' if not real animal. Soon news about this being communicated to the world. After 9 months living in Seram Hughes, claimed to have seen the creature and heard repeated night sounds.




[Camazotz (Kamazotz), Probably an American Ahool]



[Giant Bat or Devil Bat from Deviant Art, from original article. To my mind the bat is twice too large in all its dimensions-DD]



Unknown very large bat allegedly filmed in Brazil

THE AHOOL

Ahool
Also known as Athol, is definitely the most famous bat cryptozoological and probably one that is more likely to actually exist. In 1925 a zoologist named Ernest Bartels was conducting field research regarding the listing of new species of birds in the waterfalls in the mountains of Salek, the Indonesia island of Java. When I was immersed in his work field notebook, something flew overhead. A strange animal like a bat, which stunned the doctor. by subsequent investigations by the cryptozoologist Ivan T  Sanderson  were collected reports on sightings of this creature, especially among the natives as usual, surprisingly they knew the animal and treated him as one more of its fauna, known from Ahool. Something that is really interesting is that although the descriptions of the animal are very similar according to witnesses, not so much in terms of its proportions, as some claim that it can measure as much as a grown man, while others say its size is much more discreet, like a child about a year. He is described as dark gray face with simian features, similar to that of a monkey or gibbon (detail as we have seen is common in other mysterious bats). According to Sanderson, this should not be taken as something mythical creature as the number of sightings that have taken place during the following years, in western Java show that this is real, it has been sleeping in caves or trees and even feeding on fish in rivers. It ensures that your diet is omnivorous and could be related to some of larger  Microchiroptera or some other kind of omnivorous bat. It is often been linked, as in other cases prehistoric flying reptile

 Aswang. Below, Video Aswang (Most likely a model mock-up because the wings don't flap)
The Aswang Vampire from the Phillipines (more properly the Mananggal which is identified with it) is said to be of the size of "Half a person" only in this case the story goes that it actually IS half of a person flown off to become a vampire. Since the Ahool is already said to be approximately half the height of a small adult such as a woman (~2 1/2 feet tall or a bit more and "The size of a toddler"), it is possible to see where the story originates

http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Aswang

Aswang

An Aswang (also known as Asuwang) is a ghoul in Philippine Mythology which appears to be an ordinary human by day, and turns into a blood-sucking monster as darkness falls. Aswang are known as shape-shifters that transform into animals. They prey on weaker victims like children and old people, but will also attack any single unguarded individual. They feast on the guts or inner organs (heart and liver) of their victims.
Aswang is a generic term for all types of monsters in Philippine Mythology, such as manananggal, witches, pugot, nuno, tiyanak and the like.
The belief in aswang is rumored to have originated in the provinces of Capiz, Iloilo and Antique. It is known by other names such as tik-tik and wak-wak

Appearance and characteristics
An aswang can look like ordinary human being, often appearing as a beautiful woman or an old man. It may also transform into an ugly beast, usually taking the form of animals like pigs, dogs, or other monsters like the sigbin, balbal, wak-wak, etc. Hunting its prey, it will disguise itself as an animal until it finds an opportunity to attack and kill its victim.
An aswang lives as an ordinary person by day and prefers to take occupations related to meat, such as butchery. They live in secluded areas of barrios far from the townsfolk, usually isolating themselves from the public, appearing to be quiet and shy.
An aswang can be distinguished from a human by its bloodshot eyes. Elderly rural folks say that in order to detect an aswang one must look at it from an inverted position.

Superstitions and antidotes

Fear of the aswang leads many to seek means of warding them off. Rural folk believe that they can be driven away with burnt animal horns or sharpened bamboo called bagacay. Aswang are also afraid of bullets, bolos, feathers and canes, and ever-trusted garlic hung on doors and windows or hung as necklaces. A crucifix will kill the aswang.

Types

Aswang as a generic term is usually interchanged with other monsters or ghouls such as the following:

• Wak-wak - a bird-like creature that comes out at night looking for its victim. The sound of a wak-wak is usually associated with the presence of an Unglu (vampire).

• Balbal - a kind of witch that preys on pregnant women. When the balbal is hungry, its eyes turn reddish, become sharp, penetrating the woman's womb.

• Kubot - a bat-like creature that resembles an umbrella with its huge, wide wings. It catches its victim by its claws and takes it home to be butchered.

• Tik-tik - a huge bird that flies at night. The tik-tik looks for a sleeping person. When it finds one, it extend its very long proboscis into the unsuspecting victim and proceeds to suck the blood.

• Mansusopsop - a ghoul that preys on pregnant women. Like the tik-tik, it hovers over the rooftop and seek any opening for its long, thread-like tongue to pass through until it reaches the stomach of its victim. It then sucks out all the blood, including the fetus, until the victim is lifeless.

• Sigbin, a kangaroo-like creature which has a wide mouth with large fangs. Some say that this is another form of the aswang, while there are other claims which identify it as the companion of the tik-tik. It kills people with its deadly sneeze.

• [Some say the Muwas (Orangutan) is a sort of 3-foot-tall, monkey-faced bat also)

Publications

• Maximo D. Ramos' The Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore - Phoenix Publications
• Armin T. Santiaguel II' Tikbalang, Aswang, atbp. - New day Publisher

 See also

• Philippine Mythology

References

• Demetrio, Francisco, S.J. Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs and Customs. Cagayan de Oro City: Xavier University, 1991.
• "Mythical Creatures of the Philippines." Associated Content, 10 March 2006. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/21178/mythical_creatures_of_the_philippines.html (Accessed on September 14, 2007).

http://manananggals.com/manananggal.htm

ManananggalAnother Mothman or a Vampire?

What exactly is a Manananggal?

“According to folklore in the Philippines, your typical Manananggal appears to have the body and face of a beautiful older woman, with a couple of minor differences, such as its leathery wings and its ability to detach its torso and fly away sans legs. Manananggals terrorize the Visayan islands, where the local people hang large amounts of garlic around their houses as a deterrent to the Manananggal, to keep them away.”

There are a few of possibilities with the Manananggal:

1. This is folkloric fantasy, and a remnant from the Philippines tribal past - a cautionary tale to provide tribal control, or simply a fire gathering ghost story.
2. A real creature poorly understood, then exaggerated beyond recognition, such as harmless large fruit bats.
3. A witch tale, usually based upon old people cast off from their society and foraging in the wild.
4. A local variation of the universal myth & legend of the Vampire.
5. A local variation of the Mothman creature now known world-wide.

The main problem with verifying the existence of the Manananggal, is the degree of fakery. Factual, believable reports are extremely few. Another problem for this cryptid is the confusion and merging of the characteristics of both the Aswang and the Manananggal - a significant number of reports confuse one for the other - making it difficult to recognize one from the other, and thus validate credible reports.

Here Is What We Know: 

A Manananggal is a mythical creature of the Philippines Islands. It is sometimes confused with the Wak Wak in some areas. It is similar to the Penanggalan in Malay folklore . It resembles a Western vampire, in being an evil, human-devouring monster. The myth of the Manananggal is popular in the Visayan region of the Philippines, especially in the western provinces of Capiz, Iloilo, Antique, though most Filipinos know of it. There are varying accounts of the features of a Manananggal. Like vampires, Visayan folklore creatures, and Aswangs, Manananggals are also said to abhor garlic and salt - in fact these can be fatal to them. They were also known to avoid daggers, light, vinegar, spices and the tail of a sting ray which can be fashioned as a whip. Folklore of similar creatures can be found in the neighboring nations of Indonesia and Malaysia.
A Manananggal is described as being an older, beautiful woman (as opposed to an Aswang), capable of severing its upper torso in order to fly into the night with huge bat-like wings to prey on unsuspecting, pregnant women in their homes; using an elongated proboscis-like tongue, it sucks the hearts of fetuses or blood of an unsuspecting, sleeping victim. The severed lower torso is left standing and it is said to be the more vulnerable of the two halves. Sprinkling salt or smearing crushed garlic or ash on top of the standing torso is fatal to the creature. The upper torso then would not be able to rejoin and will die at daybreak. The name of the creature originates from an expression used for a severed torso: Manananggal comes from the Tagalog, tanggal (cognate of Malay tanggal) which means to remove or to separate. Manananggal then means the one who separates itself (in this case, separates itself from its lower body).

Superstitious folk in the Visayan provinces still hang cloves of garlic or onion around windows, doors, etc. with the purpose of repelling this creature as well as the Aswang. They are a favorite theme for sensationalist tabloids. They may be a product of mass hysteria or intentionally propagated to keep children off the street, home at night and wary or careful of strangers, or simply to entertain them.

About The Manananggal:

With the face and body of an older woman, and features leathery wings. According to local legend, is able to detach its torso and fly away leaving its legs behind. The severed lower torso is left standing and it is said to be the more vulnerable of the two halves. Sprinkling salt or smearing crushed garlic or ash on top of the standing torso is fatal to the creature. The upper torso then would not be able to rejoin and will die at daybreak.

Known to feed on pregnant women, using a proboscis-like tongue to suck out the hearts of fetuses or the blood of an unsuspecting, sleeping victim. Legend also says the Manananggals propagate themselves by spewing a black chick into someone's mouth.
Different regions have different stories on how Manananggals proliferate. One story relates that Manananggals have black chicks in their throats, which provide them with their power. A Manananggal cannot die until the chick is removed, which be done by smoking the Manananggal upside down in a tree or spinning her until she vomits the chick up.

Another story says that heredity or contamination by physical or supernatural means can turn someone into a Manananggal. For example, contaminating someone's meal with an old Manananggal's saliva or human flesh can pass it on. A third story relates that a girl who later became a mananaggal confided in her human boyfriend that she felt the urge to eat sick people's sputum.
According to one source, the Manananggal can also mate like ordinary humans, and have normal offspring, which continue to be outwardly normal until maturity,

Like most entrenched legends, this one appears to have been elaborately embellished. However, at its root is the winged monster that has appeared to many Filipinos.

Tik-Tik:

Tik-tik: Manananggals are sometimes referred to as tik-tik, the sound it makes while flying. Folklore dictates that the fainter the sound, the nearer the Manananggal is. This is to confuse the victim. Black cats and crows often signal a tik-tik's presence, and deformed faces or bodies in children are allegedly signs of the aftermath of a tik-tik attack.

 http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Wak-wak

Wak-wak

From WikiPilipinas: The Hip 'n Free Philippine Encyclopedia

The wak-wak is a vampiric, bird-like creature in Philippine mythology, and is said to be a witch. It is said to snatch humans at night, similar to the manananggal and the ekek in rural areas. The difference between the mananggal and the wak-wak is that the latter cannot separate its torso from its body while the former can. Some believe it is also a form a vampire takes. Other people contend that a "wak-wak" is a Philippine night bird which functions as a witch's familiar similar to black cats in Western mythology.
The sound of a wakwak is usually associated with the presence of an unglu (vampire) or ungo (ghost or monster). It is also believed that this monster is called "wakwak" because of the sound it makes when it flaps its wings while flying. When one hears the wakwak, it is looking for possible victims. If the sound of the wakwak is loud, it means it is far from you. Otherwise, it is near and worse yet, it is about to attack. It slashes and mutilates its victims and feeds on their hearts.
The wakwak is often described by old folks to have long sharp talons and a pair of wings similar to those of a bat. It uses its talons or claws to slash its victims and to get their heart. Many say that its wings are also sharp as a knife.^[1]
The sound that a tiki, tike or teke (common house gecko) makes usually at night when out of sight was discovered by an American who spent much time in the Philippines to be the source of the sound everyone was saying was a "wakwak".
"A Dictionary of Cebuano Visaya" by John U. Wolff published by Cornell University, South East Asia Program and Linguistic Society of the Philippines 1972 defines wak-wak as:

1. wakwak₁

   noun bird which comes out at night, so called from its call. Its call signifies the presense of a vampire (unglo) or in some beliefs, it is a form the vampire takes himself.

   verb 1 [A13] for the wakwak to be about; 2 [a12] victimize someone with vampiritic activity. paN- verb [A2] go about engaging in vampiritic activity. -un noun = UNGLU, noun

Some time ago I had some short discussions about the giant Old-world bats such as the Ahool and Orang Bati, including with Karl Shuker, about the possibility of these Cryptids being Old-world FALSE Vampire bats of the genus Megaderma. There are a couple of species distributed widely across Southern Asia and, incidentally, one species might even be the Vampire bat reported in Ethiopia because these bats are also reported to drink blood sometimes. However the largest bats of this series are not in the genus Megaderma but are in Macroderma, the Ghost Bats of Northern Australia. Even at that these bats are not very satisfactory giants because they fall far short of the size of the New World False Vampire bats and there is that much larger of a gap between these bats and the Ahool or Olitiau.and yet there are advantages to the identifucation. The leaf on the nose of these bats has a curious shape that could be compared to a "Monkey nose" and the ears have prominent tragi that could be compared to horns. And the first experts to identify the family said that it had members both in the Orient and also in South America, and if so the Camazotz really could be a cousin of the Ahool and both of them Mega/Macrodermatids. So below is my blowup with the estimated dimensions needed to transform a ghost bat into an Ahool. The end result is a fishing bat the size of a large eagle, which is about the same description I used before: and the terror of the natives in various countries as believing them to be vampires would be mistaken beliefs based on the actions of smaller bats.

Best Wishes, Dale D.