Sea Monsters: UK & Alaska

This has been a good summer for sea creature sightings. First off, William Jobes, a dude who's been hunting the Loch Ness Monster for 45 years, claims to have finally captured the creature on camera. It's a pretty good photo, though skeptics may dismiss it as a seal. Even Jobes admits that "I immediately did think it was a seal but it's head was like a sheep."

Just as interesting is the rotting carcass of a 30-foot sea monster discovered on a British beach in Bridge of Don, Aberdeen. The mainstream explanation of the remains is that it's a whale.

Meanwhile, Alaska may have its own Nessie, as cryptozoologist have video of a creature they identify as the Cadborosaurus. The sea serpent has "a long neck, a horse-like head, large eyes, and back bumps that stick out of the water." The video was shown in Hillstranded on the Discovery Channel. Paul LeBlond, co-author of the book Cadborosaurus: Survivor from the Deep, claims it is "the least unlike a plesiosaur." More mainstream explanations label it as either a shark, a giant eel or the remains of Sarah Palin's political career...

Loch Ness Monster? Or a stick...? After a 45-year hunt, walker claims to have photographed elusive creature
22nd July 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017649/Loch-Ness-Monster-stick-Walker-claims-photographed-creature.html

Loch Ness monster-like beast filmed in Alaska Jennifer Viegas
7/18/2011
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43801173/ns/technology_and_science-science

New photo of 'English Nessie' hailed as best yet

Nick Collins
18 Feb 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8332535/New-photo-of-English-Nessie-hailed-as-best-yet.html

Pictures of a mysterious creature surfacing from Lake Windermere have been hailed as the best ever sighting of the English Loch Ness Monster, or "Bownessie".

The photograph, which shows an object with three humps breaching the surface of the lake, is said to be the best evidence yet of what some claim is a monster lurking beneath the depths.

It was taken on a camera phone by Tom Pickles, 24, while kayaking on the lake as part of a team building exercise with his IT company, CapGemini, last Friday.

Mr Pickles said he saw an animal the size of three cars speed past him on the lake and watched it for about 20 seconds.

He said: “It was petrifying and we paddled back to the shore straight away. At first I thought it was a dog and then saw it was much bigger and moving really quickly at about 10mph.

“Each hump was moving in a rippling motion and it was swimming fast.

“Its skin was like a seal’s but it’s shape was completely abnormal – it’s not like any animal I’ve ever seen before."

This is believed to be the eighth sighting of a long humpbacked creature – known by local residents as "Bownessie" – in the past last five years.

Mr Pickles’ companion Sarah Harrington, 23, said: “It was like an enormous snake.

“I only saw it for a few seconds but all I could think about was that I had to get off the lake.”

The pair were on the last day of a team building residential training course at Fallbarrow Hall, Bowness, Cumbria.

They said they had kayaked 300m out into the lake near Belle Isle when they spotted the beast to the south.

Mr Pickles's picture perfectly matches the description of an earlier sighting from the shores of Wray Castle in 2006 by journalism lecturer Steve Burnip.

He said: “I’m really pleased that someone has finally got a really good picture of it.

“I know what I saw and it shocked me, it had three humps and it’s uncanny the likeness between this and what I saw five years ago.”

Photo expert David Farnell of Farnell’s photographic laboratory in Lancaster said: “It does look like a real photo but because it’s been taken on a phone the file size is too small to really tell whether it has been altered on Photoshop or not.”

Sceptics remain unconvinced that something so large could exist in the 11 mile long lake.

Dr Ian Winfield, a lake ecologist at the University of Lancaster, said: “It’s possible that it’s a catfish from Eastern Europe and people are misjudging the size but there is no known fish as large as the descriptions we’re hearing that could be living in Windermere.

“We run echo sounding surveys every month and have never found anything.”

Loch Ness monster is real: former Scottish police chief

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0427/Loch-Ness-monster-is-real-former-Scottish-police-chief

Loch Ness monster is real: former Scottish police chief
Newly published documents reveal that a Scottish police official in the 1930s believed 'beyond doubt' that the Loch Ness monster existed. Expert Loren Coleman says it reveals the government's longstanding policy to protect the mythic beast.
By Stephen Kurczy, Correspondent / April 27, 2010

The revelation that a former Scottish police chief believed in the Loch Ness monster and was concerned for its survival underscores how Scottish authorities have sought to protect the iconic beast, says Loren Coleman, a leading experts on mythic animals.

“The Scottish government has long been interested in protecting Nessie,” says Loren Coleman, who is co-author of The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep. “This just reinforces this whole notion (that) the officials in Scotland take this creature very seriously.”

Newly publicized documents reveal that a former Scottish police chief believed that the existence of the Loch Ness monster was “beyond doubt” but its protection could not be ensured.

William Fraser, chief constable of Inverness-shire Constabulary in the 1930s, wrote a letter expressing fears that a London man might kill the beast with a large harpoon gun. "That there is some strange creature in Loch Ness seems now beyond doubt, but that the police have any power to protect it is very doubtful," Mr. Fraser wrote.

To be sure, most biologists believe Nessie to be a myth, and nothing more, pointing out that large animals typically leave large remains when they die. No "monster" carcass has ever been found.

But as recently as 1999, Scottish authorities took steps to ensure the safety of their tourist-attracting monster, Mr. Coleman told the Monitor in a telephone interview from Portland, Maine, where he runs the International Cryptozoology Museum.

In 1999, Coleman was set to go on a Nessie-search expedition in a homemade submarine with Dan Scott Taylor. Thirty years earlier, while diving deep in Loch Ness in a one-man submarine, Mr. Taylor had said he undoubtedly bumped into the monster. Now, he wanted to bring with him both a secondary observer – Coleman – and a harpoon so he could take a DNA sample of the beast.

When Scottish authorities caught wind of Taylor’s plan, they revoked his exploration permits and the submarine trip never materialized. Taylor died in 2005.

“There’s always been the sense that quietly…they were taking the reports more validly. There was a serious acknowledgment that the Loch Ness monster exists,” says Coleman.

While the submarine trip never happened, Coleman still presided over a two-week surface expedition in 1999. He interviewed 38 people who claimed to have seen the monster then or in the past, and of those sightings Coleman says eight appeared valid.

Sightings often describe the monster’s iconic neck sprouting from the lake, but Coleman says experts agree that those sightings are only of an otter’s tail or a water bird’s neck. In his opinion, the Loch Ness monster is something like a whale or a walrus.

But sightings have dropped of late. There was only one "credible" reported sighting of the creature in 2009, causing enthusiasts to fear the monster may be dead, reported The Telegraph.

American officials, too, have had their odd beliefs and close encounters with the third kind. The Vermont legislature voted in 1982 to protect the legendary beast “Champ” of Lake Champlain. And current Representative Dennis Kucinich and former presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan have all seen UFOs.

Coleman says that new animal discoveries show that humans still have a lot to learn about the world. Just three weeks ago, scientists reported that they had discovered a new species of giant lizard in the Philippines. Coleman says that the finding underscored how strange animals – from Big Foot to Yeti to the Loch Ness monster – may still be lurking beneath our noses.

“There are animals out there that will surprise us in the future,” he says.

Loch Ness monster death rumours denied

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6936872/Loch-Ness-monster-death-rumours-denied.html

Loch Ness monster death rumours denied
The head of the Loch Ness monster's fan club has denied suggestions that the animal is dead following just one credible sighting last year.
06 Jan 2010

A new documentary examines the possibility that the monster might be extinct as its reported appearances become increasingly rare.

Gary Campbell, president of the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, said only one sighting, made just off the Clansman Hotel on 6th June, 2009, was judged by him to have been a credible report.

Loch Ness named top British attractionAnd according to Mr Campbell such reports are increasingly rare.

He said: ""That's why were so relieved to have heard about this sighting.

"In June, when it was reported, nobody had seen anything for a year. If it hadn't been for that one, we would have been really, really worried.

"There is an embarrassment factor to seeing Nessie. The first thing people say to you is, 'Had you had a drink?'

"Ten years ago we had a lot of good sightings, but in the last two or three years, they have tailed off."

He added: "What we regard as a dependable sighting is very much down to the person who sees it.

"This was a local chap who knows the things that Nessie isn't - boat wakes, debris on the loch or seals in the summer. A local person will know what these things look like."

However, there were a number of "more dubious" sightings over the course of 2009. These included a sonar contact witnessed by "'Allo,'Allo" star Vicki Michelle and other cast members from the stage version of the popular BBC sit-com when they took a pleasure cruise on Loch Ness in May during the play's week-long run at Eden Court.

Their boat, the Jacobite Queen, picked up five mysterious arch shapes on its sonar between Dores and Urquhart Castle.

Also claiming a possible Nessie picture was data analyst Ian Monckton from Solihull who used his car headlights and the flash from his camera, to take a picture of what he thought could be the elusive monster while driving to Invermoriston late at night.

The 2009 episode "Death at Loch Ness" of the documentary series "MonsterQuest" looked at the theory that the Loch Ness Monster might be extinct.

In this programme researcher Robert Rhines' claim that Nessie, if it existed, may now in fact be dead and its corpse is lying somewhere at the bottom of Loch Ness is investigated.

To prove this theory wrong, Mr Campbell hopes new witnesses might come forward.

"If people start to believe this, it might start to affect tourist numbers.

"Whether you believe in Nessie or not, the Loch Ness Monster is one of the most important tourist attractions we have.

"Perhaps, though, the answers are to be found underwater instead of on the loch's surface.

"Unknown sonar contacts happen all the time.

"Maybe Nessie is just keeping her head down."

Scott Rose Meets The Loch Ness Monster

Konformist Korrespondent Scott Rose (of ScottWorld.com fame) visits the Loch Ness in Scotland and makes a sighting...

7 Wonders of Nature

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hAQ2Fuh7cF1b-B-1bom23X4KGMNAD95I09RG0

Grand Canyon, Loch Ness compete as nature wonders
By ELIANE ENGELER
1-6-9

GENEVA (AP) — The Grand Canyon, Mount Everest and Loch Ness will vie with more than 200 other spectacular places in the next phase of the global competition for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, organizers said Wednesday. The 261 nominees from 222 countries include some of the most famous mountain peaks, lakes, and other attractions, such as the Great Barrier Reef and Niagara Falls.

Over a billion people are expected to join in Internet voting that will nominate 77 semifinalists for the top natural wonders, which will share in the glory already enjoyed by the seven man-made wonders chosen 18 months ago.

"We are calling on people all over the world to actively show their appreciation for our ... natural world by joining together to celebrate the most extraordinary sites on our planet," said Tia Viering, spokeswoman of the New 7 Wonders campaign.

The Swiss-based nonprofit foundation collected 441 nominations over the Internet since it opened the selection process in 2007.

The foundation then chose the top vote-getter from each country, making a list of 222 sites. The overall list rose to 261 with the inclusion of sites shared by two or more countries — such as Niagara Falls and Lake Superior between Canada and the United States, and the Matterhorn, between Switzerland and Italy.

Votes can be cast until July 7. Registration on the Web site aims to prevent people from voting twice.

The quarterfinalists include some lesser known sites, such as Yasur Volcano on the south Pacific island of Vanuatu or Nigeria's Zuma Rock, a giant monolith in the middle of the African country.

A panel of experts in nature, chaired by Federico Mayor, former chief of UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, will reduce the list to 21 finalists in July.

The seven winners will then be chosen in another round of public voting lasting until 2011, this time by Internet, telephone and text messages.

Around 100 million people voted in the selection of the seven man-made wonders. The winners were the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt; the Colosseum, Italy; the Great Wall of China; the Taj Mahal, India; Petra, Jordan; Christ the Redeemer Statue, Brazil; Machu Picchu, Peru; and the Pyramid at Chichen Itza, Mexico.

"The enthusiasm for the campaign, which brought culture out of dusty corners and back to life on front pages, TV screens and computers everywhere, crossed all social and economic lines," said Viering. "Everyone from schoolchildren to entrepreneurs eagerly participated."

Choosing world wonders has been a continuing fascination over the centuries. UNESCO keeps updating its list of World Heritage Sites, which now totals 878 places.

The New 7 Wonders campaign led by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber aims to promote cultural diversity by supporting, preserving and restoring monuments and natural sites. It relies on private donations and revenue from selling broadcasting rights.

Full list of nominees on: http://www.new7wonders.com

Sweden's Loch Ness monster caught on camera?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/swedenanimallegendoffbeat

Sweden's Loch Ness monster possibly caught on camera
Fri Aug 29, 2008

Sweden's own version of the Loch Ness monster, the Storsjoe or Great Lake monster, has been caught on film by surveillance videos, an association that installed the cameras said Friday.

The legend of the Swedish beast has swirled for nearly four centuries, with some 200 sightings reported in the lake in central Sweden.

"On Thursday at 12:21 pm, we filmed the movements of a live being. And it was not a pike, nor a perch, we're sure of that," Gunnar Nilsson, the head of a shopkeepers' association in Svenstavik, told AFP.

The association, together with the Jaemtland province and local municipality of Berg, installed six surveillance cameras in the lake in June, including two underwater devices.

The project, which has so far cost some 400,000 kronor (43,000 euros, 62,500 dollars), is aimed at resolving the mystery of the Swedish Nessie.

The first sighting dates back to 1635 and the most recent to July 2007, with most speaking of a long, serpent-like beast with humps, a small cat or dog-like head, and ears or fins pressed against the neck.

The association employs one person full-time to review the recorded video footage each day.

In the images filmed Thursday and posted on a website dedicated to the Storsjoe monster (www.storsjoodjuret.nu), a long serpent-like being is seen swimming in the murky waters.

"A highly-advanced system on one of the cameras detected heat produced by the cells," indicating that it was a live being, Nilsson said.

"It's very exciting and quite spectacular," he said.

He readily admitted however that the project was also "aimed at improving business around the lake."

"The monster has helped us," he added.

Some 20 more cameras are due to be installed soon, including one at a depth of 30 metres (100 feet) to catch any movements under the winter ice.

Montauk Monster and the best cryptids of all-time

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2008/07/31/182279.aspx

The Montauk Monster and the best cryptids of all-time
Posted: July 31, 2008
by Mark Medley

By now, you're certainly have had nightmares about the Montauk Monster story that Gawker broke on Tuesday. Is it a turtle missing its shell? A dog thrown in the ocean by its evil owner? A nutria? A viral marketing campaign for Cloverfield 2? Someone call a cryptozoologist, on the double.

This isn't the first monster to grip our collective consciousness -- there's Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Chupacabra -- but these are certainly not the only famous cryptids.

• Jersey Devil -- Ever wondered where the NHL's New Jersey Devils get their name from? This creature reportedly has a long, slender neck, hooves, and wings, with its height ranging from three to seven feet. Back in the 19th century the devil was blamed for the killing of livestock. More recently, the creature popped up in an episode of The X-Files.

• Jackalope -- Part rabbit, part antelope, all trouble. It lost all its mystique when it was repeatedly featured on the very unfunny America's Funniest People -- and named Jack Ching Bada-Bing -- in the early 1990s. Thanks Dave Coulier.

• The Mothman -- A large, moth-like creature that was spotted in West Virginia in the late 1960s. Richard Gere can't be wrong.

• Goatman -- A half man-half goat creature first spotted in Maryland in the late 1950s. Since then, there have been sightings as far south as Florida and as far north as Ontario.

• Dropa -- A race of mini-aliens said to be discovered in China in 1938.

• Mokèlé-mbèmbé -- The African equivalent to the Loch Ness Monster. A dinosaur the size of a small elephant, there have been several expeditions -- right up until this year -- to try and locate it.

• The Beast of Bray Road -- The first sightings of this werewolf-like creature were in Wisconsin in the 1980s. After a spate of sightings, one local reporter wrote a book about the beast.

'The Water Horse'

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-water25dec25,0,7893362.story

REVIEW: 'The Water Horse'
'The Water Horse' offers a coming-of-age story about a mythical sea creature and changing relationships.
By Kevin Crust
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 25, 2007

An enchanting tale of friendship and evolving relationships, "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" engagingly grafts coming-of-age movie chestnuts onto Scottish folklore. Though most of the narrative won't surprise anyone who has seen "E.T. The Extraterrestrial" or numerous similar stories, director Jay Russell and screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs create a realistic world in which the fantastical is credible.

In a present-day Scottish pub, a young American couple looking at the infamous photo of the Loch Ness monster is offered the true story behind the legend by a charming old man (Brian Cox). They bite and the man quickly whisks them back to World War II with the tale of a young boy named Angus MacMorrow struggling with his sailor-father's absence.

Simultaneously scared and fascinated by the water, Angus (Alex Etel) discovers a large, barnacle-covered egg in a tide pool at the seashore. He smuggles the egg back to the stately manor where he lives with his sister, Kirstie (Priyanka Xi), and mother, Anne (Emily Watson), the head housekeeper. Perched on a large loch, the home is empty save for a small domestic staff.

That changes when an army regiment, led by Capt. Hamilton (David Morrissey), arrives to use it as its billeting quarters, and Anne hires a secretive handyman named Lewis Mowbray (Ben Chaplin). The suddenly bustling grounds make it a challenge for Angus to hide his discovery, especially once the egg hatches, releasing an adorably strange sea creature with four flippers and a tail.

Angus bonds with the tiny beast and dubs his new friend Crusoe after being unable to identify its genus or species. Kirstie and Mowbray are unavoidably recruited to help in hiding Crusoe after discovering him in an upstairs tub, and the latter tells the children the myth of the water horse, a mysterious creature of which legend dictates only one exists at a time.

Though the duo of Angus and Crusoe initially conjures images of "Beany and Cecil" ("Help, Cecil! Help!" "I'm comin', Beany-boy!"), the relationship deepens as the boy attempts to fill the void left by his father. Etel is excellent as Angus, helping to ground the film in the uncertainty of wartime. Watson also shines as the protective mother unable to salve her son's emotional wounds. Morrissey and Chaplin give depth to their roles as men from opposite ends of the British social spectrum innately pitted against each other.

Best known for family-friendly fare such as "My Dog Skip" and "Tuck Everlasting," Russell, along with director of photography Oliver Stapleton, shot the film primarily in New Zealand but manages to beautifully evoke the Scottish coast and the 1940s. The visuals comfortably balance warmly nostalgic hues with the harsher shades of the film's more serious themes and action sequences.

Adapted by Jacobs from the Dick King-Smith ("Babe: The Gallant Pig") book, "The Water Horse" treads carefully on issues of loss and at times may be too intense for small children. Crusoe morphs rather quickly from cuddly urchin to fierce sea monster, and likewise, some of the film's shifts in tone are equally jarring, moving from kitchen-sink realism to slapstick, high adventure and back again.

Still, given the lack of intelligent, nonpandering family films, "The Water Horse" provides substantive entertainment. What it lacks in originality, it makes up for in execution.

kevin.crust@latimes.com

"The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep." MPAA rating: PG for some action/peril, mild language and brief smoking. Running time: 1 hour, 51 minutes. In general release.

The Top Ten Cryptozoology Stories for 2007

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/top-cz-07/

November 27th, 2007
The Top Ten Cryptozoology Stories for 2007
by Loren Coleman, Cryptozoologist and Author, Mysterious America, Cryptozoology A to Z, and other books.

From Bigfoot to Yeren, and from dwarf killer whales to dwarf manatees, it was quite a year.

Welcome to this year’s top stories in cryptozoology. It wasn’t heaven during 2007 for the cryptids, but instead seemed to have been a year of reflection, mistakes, fakes, and a few new finds.

In the 1940s, the Scottish-born American zoologist Ivan T. Sanderson began using a word he coined, “cryptozoology,” to describe a new discipline of science that investigates hidden, yet-to-be-discovered large animals. In the late 1950s, after a decade of correspondence with Sanderson, Belgian zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans began formalizing “cryptozoology.”

Today, cryptozoology is to be found from academia to museum exhibitions, from new television series to tee-shirts.

My annual picks are cryptozoological events, which became newsworthy during 2007 (even though they may have happened in an earlier year).

Here is my top ten list of the cryptozoology accounts of most interest to the public, cryptozoologists, Bigfooters, fans, friends, foes, and the media during this year. They may not be the most remarkable but they are the ones that garnered the largest media reaction and greatest public discussions on our favorite topic for 2007:

1. Holmes Nessie Videotaped

Gordon Holmes, a 55-year-old lab technician, was at a lay-by about 70 feet above Loch Ness on May 26, 2007, when he captured digital video of what he said was “this jet black thing, about 4 to 5 feet (1.4 m) long, moving fairly fast in the water.” Adrian Shine, a Nessie skeptic, described the footage as among “the best footage ever seen.” The footage shows no points of reference to demonstrate scale.

At Cryptomundo, the film’s credibility was questioned early, due to Holmes’ past claims of filming black fairies. Many also wondered aloud if this video was nothing more than an otter swimming in the loch.

Nevertheless, media interest in Nessie and other lake monsters was extremely high in the wake of the Holmes video, which was broadcast on BBC Scotland on May 29, 2007, and on CNN on June 1, 2007.

In early September 2007, a brief Internet frenzy occurred regarding the 20-minute video of six Lake Tianchi Monsters in China. A closer look at the Chinese video seems to show probable waterfowl.

2. Shunka Warak’in Mount Found

After 121 years, the mysterious taxidermy mount of the Shunka Warak’in (a wolf-hynea-like cryptid), from 19th century Montana, was found. The wolf-like creature prowled the Madison Valley, Montana, destroying livestock and reportedly letting out ungodly screams.

After being killed and stuffed in 1886, the taxidermy mount disappeared. In 2007, the body was tracked to the Idaho Museum of Natural History in Pocatello. It will be on display at Montana’s Madison Valley History Museum in May 2008. Hopefully DNA testing will finally determine this mystery candid-like species’ identity.

3. Bigfoot Film’s 40th Anniversary Celebrated

At Bluff Creek, California, an apparent female Bigfoot was filmed on October 20, 1967, by Roger Patterson, with assistance on his search from Bob Gimlin. Because this was the 40th year since that event, Bigfooters talked a great deal about the film in the last few months, attempted one gathering in California that was cancelled due to people not wanting to pay the high ticket prices, and quickly organized a celebration at Willow Creek. No one has proven the footage was faked, and during 2007, the merits of the footage were discussed frequently.

4. Cuero Chupacabras Killed

In July 2007, the pictured animal was hit by a car and killed on Phylis Canion’s property, on Buenger Road off U.S. Highway 183 south of Cuero, Texas. Canion had said she saw this “animal” for two years roaming her property. The immediate cry heard throughout the media was “Chupacabras” (sometimes incorrectly spelled without the “s”). Before the frenzy was over, tee-shirts had appeared on the scene.

In early November, the DNA results from tests run on the so-called “Chupacabras” by biologists at the Texas State University found the dead animal was a coyote (Canis latrans). In the end, the “Cuero Chupacabras” was only a mangy canid.

5. Dwarf Killer Whale, Dwarf Manatee, Giant Peccary, and More Discovered

The year was filled with a number of new species being announced. In a paper entitled the “Dwarf Form of Killer Whale in Antarctica,” the first 2007 issue of the Journal of Mammalogy summarized findings that few paid any attention to. Meanwhile, media accounts of the six years ago reports of the giant peccary in Brazil, or the more recent discovery of a dwarf manatee in the Amazon spread widely.

At Cryptomundo, other new species findings, from a new monkey in Uganda to a new clouded leopard in Southeast Asia, from new limbless amphibians in India to walking sea anemomes off the Aleutians, projected hopes for more cryptozoological surprises for the future.

The list is a long one of the 2007 discoveries. Reports of these new species were shared often at Cryptomundo, and included news of bizarre octosquids, legless amphibians, ethnoknown vipers, beaked whales, flying foxes, eel-like catfishes, golden frogs, Thai geckos, Hawaiian sharks, Thai mountain frogs, Panama salamanders, sucker-footed bats, cloud-forest rats, Madagascar millipedes, chicken-eating tarantulas, and Steve Irwin’s new turtles.

Also, an extinct echidna was rediscovered, an extinct blind snake was found, the first Zanzibar coelacanth was caught, the first Sumatran striped rabbit photographed, and the first video footage of elusive Borneo rhinos was captured. It was a good year. (Compare that list to a couple missteps - a fake photo of the allegedly extinct-in-the-wild South China tiger and a hoax photo of a supposedly rediscovered parrot.)

6. Nguoi Rung Kidnap Victim Returned

Ro Cham H’pnhieng, 27, was discovered on the edge of the Cambodian jungle in January 2007, after she was caught trying to steal food left under a tree. She was seen with a hairy Wild Man, a Nguoi Rung. Reportedly, she had been kidnapped in 1989 by the wild people and taken into the jungle. Attempts to find the Nguoi Rung (below) were made, with no positive results.

In October 2007, after Ro Cham H’pnhieng’s family tried to have her live with them again, after several incidents of her running away into the forest, she escaped for the final time, apparently to return to the Forest People. She had made her choice, her family felt.

7. Cryptozoology TV Succeeded

During 2007, two down-to-earth field-oriented cryptozoology documentary series were broadcast on cable television. Both programs, each in their first seasons, received high ratings and good reviews.

The SciFi Channel’s “Destination Truth” was produced by the Mandt Brothers, and the History Channel’s “MonsterQuest” was produced by White Wolf Productions. “MonsterQuest’s” episode on “Sasquatch Attack” created quite a stir in the Bigfoot community. The program dealt with an apparent rock-throwing incident that occurred during the actual filming of the program. Furthermore, DNA tests were conducted on old blood and tissue samples left on screws said to have been stepped on by a Bigfoot.

8. Mapinguary and Yeren Reemerged

The Mapinguary (pronounced MA-ping-war-E), the huge unknown anthropoid ape or the giant sloth-like monster of the Amazon, was in the news again in June and July 2007. New attention from The New York Times, revisited the topic early in the year, and spread to the UPI and NBC’s “Today Show.”

“It is quite clear to me that the legend of the Mapinguary is based on human contact with the last of the ground sloths,” said David Oren, former director of research at the Goeldi institute in Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon River.

The South American focus continued with the Centre for Fortean Zoology’s end of November excursion to Guyana to look into reports of the Didi and the overlap with the accounts of the Mapinguary.

New sightings of Chinese “Wild People,” two Yeren in Shennongjia, were reported on November 18, 2007. According to the witnesses, the two Yeren were skinny and covered with black hair. The taller one was about 1.7 meters high and the other one was approximately 1.3 to 1.4 meters. On November 22, members of the China Association for Scientific Expedition took plaster casts identified as two footprints left along the Licha River where the two mysterious creatures had been spotted.

9. Jacobs Creature Photographed

With timing keyed to the 40th anniversary of the Patterson-Gimlin footage, a Pennsylvania trailcam photograph was released for maximum exposure labeled to indicate it might be a “juvenile Sasquatch.” The picture and accompanying photographs of bear cubs were reported to have been taken on September 16, 2007, by a Bushnell game camera by an individual named R. Jacobs.

The “Jacobs Creature,” or “Jacobs Photograph,” as it was called, resulted in several ridicule-filled media reports and much debate within the Bigfoot community on the worth of the photograph. Cryptomundo noted it appeared to be of a “mangy bear,” and anthropologist Jeff Meldrum agreed, as did the Pennsylvania wildlife department. A few saw in the photograph a youthful Bigfoot.

Were other frames of the trailcam sequence being hidden from the public? Why was the photographs withheld for a month? What is the entire story of the Jacobs cryptid? At year’s end, many questions remain unanswered about the events surrounding the mystery photo.

10. Heuvelmans Biography Published

The biography of one of the “Fathers of Cryptozoology,” Bernard Heuvelmans, was published for the first time in 2007, in French. Jean-Jacques Barloy, who wrote the biography, “Bernard Heuvelmans, un rebelle de la science” (1st volume of the “Bibliothèque Heuvelmansienne,” Editions de l’Oeil du Sphinx, juin 2007) - Bernard Heuvelmans: A Rebel of Science - would win an award for his writings, the “Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2008? (category essay). The announcement of the prize was made on November 3, 2007.

Plans are in place to have the Heuvelmans biography translated into English, and published in a forthcoming year.

As far as obituaries for 2007, the most prominent in cryptozoology was the death of Bigfoot researcher Archie Buckley, an early and significant member of hominology, a cornerstone founder of the Bay Area Group, the Sasquatch research collective of the San Francisco Bay area. Buckley died on June 18, 2007.

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Join Loren Coleman on Saturday, December 1, 2007, as he delivers his talk, “Introduction to Cryptozoology,” at 1:00 PM, at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, New York, in conjunction with their current exhibition, Mythic Creatures.

Loren Coleman has been involved in cryptozoology since 1960. He is the author of over 30 books and hundreds of articles, appears frequently in documentaries, and is the director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Coleman may be reached via email at lcoleman@maine.rr.com