Phantoms and Monsters

The Thetis Lake Monster Legend
Owner of Ghostly Racton Ruins Seeks Permit to Restore as a Home
Mysterious Image Appears In New Zealand Post Office Window
UFO Encounter, Lost Time - Near Wichita, Kansas - 10/23/1973

Posted: 06 Feb 2010 05:00 PM PST

As we have seen in some movies, the deep lakes are sometimes the home of some ghastly and terrifying creatures. Thetis Lake in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada is not an exception. Many cryptozoology advocates have claimed that the mentioned lake houses a man-sized, silvery-scaled, gill-bearing humanoid.

The Victoria Daily Times reported that the creature attacked two teenagers on the lake on the 19th of August, 1972. The two boys, namely, Robin Flewellyn and Gordon Pike, were standing next to the recreation center on Thetis Lake when they saw a scaly creature emerge from the lake and move unto the shoreline. It was, as they had described, roughly triangle shaped, with dark, large, bulging fish-like eyes and mouth, and a razor-sharp spike on the top of its head. Its weight is estimated to be 120 lbs, and measures around 5 feet tall, and 5 feet wide. The two teens were terrified at the sight of the huge scaly amphibious monster and they ran for their lives.

With its sporting webbed extremities, the creature chased the two teenagers until a few distance from the lake. The voracious predator was able to catch up with one of the young men, lacerating his hand with its razor-pointed head.

The two lads, still filled with terror after narrowly escaping the grisly creature, rushed to the nearest Royal Canadian Mountain Police station and told the officers about the incident on Thetis Lake. They showed them the cut that was claimed to have been caused by the razor-sharp fin of the lake monster. The authorities felt sincerity on the story of the two boys, hence they immediately launched a manhunt, or should I better say, "monsterhunt", on the said lake. However, nothing turned up during that time of investigation.

The case was almost taken for granted until four days after, August 23 of the same year, at around 3:30 in the afternoon, Russell Van Nice and Mike Gold claimed to have seen the same creature from the opposite side of the Thetis Lake. But unlike the report of the two teens that were pursued by the creature, this time, it only emerged from the lake, looked around, and submerged itself back into the water.

Gold and Nice described the monster-faced creature as having a human-like body, of at least 5 feet tall. It has silver-colored scaly skin, a sharp point protruding on its head, and very big ears and horrifying eyes. Today, even if there were no more sightings reported since the 23rd of August, 1972, many cryptozoology fans still consider the Thetis Lake Monster as a real Canadian Cryptid.
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SIMILAR THETIS LAKE MONSTER ACCOUNT

First brought to international attention in the early 1970's, this grisly aberration of natural selection has been described as being nearly 5-feet tall and weighing approximately 120 lbs., with an epidermis consisting soley of silver scales. This animal's horrifying visage is made complete by the six, razor-sharp spikes - connected to one another by a thin, membranous webbing - which are said to protrude from its amphibious skull.

With it's dark, bulbous eyes, fish-like mouth and webbed hands, feet and ears, the Thetis Lake Monster bears more than a passing resemblance to the iconoclastic image of "The Creature From the Black Lagoon". What lends credibility to these reports however, is the fact that for centuries North Americans natives have reported numerous - and oft times fatal - encounters with various creatures which they describe as being carnivorous, aquatic-humanoids.

These man-like anomalies purportedly lurked in the mist shrouded lakes and rivers of the Pacific northwest. One of the beasts chronicled in these Native American legends was the Pugwis, which reputedly tormented the Kwakiutl Indians of the Puget Sound region for years. These accounts, of course, vastly pre-date the Thetis Lake Monster as well as its cinematic companion.

On August 19, 1972, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched a brief investigation into this phenomenon after two teenage boys - Robin Flewellyn and Gordon Pike - claimed to have been attacked by the creature on the shores of Thetis lake. According to the two witnesses, as they were standing on the beach near the Thetis lake recreational center when they both saw a spontaneous surging of water just off the shoreline.

Suddenly, the monstrous head and silver-scaled, torso of the creature rose from the lake and - with an almost preternatural speed - shot from the churning surf. According to their reports, this vicious creature pursued the young men almost back to their car.

Narrowly escaping this voracious predator, Flewellyn and Pike made their way to the nearest RCMP station, where one of the teens displayed a laceration across his hand, which he claimed was the result of contact with the spike-like fin that adorned the monster's skull. The officers on duty were so impressed by the sincerity of the boys' tale that an immediate manhunt (or monsterhunt, as the case may be) was Launched.

Nothing was turned up on that occasion, but just four days later, at approximately 3:30 pm. on the 23rd of August, the monster reared its head again. This time the creature - which perfectly matched previous descriptions - was seen by Mike Gold and Russell Van Nice on the opposite side of the lake.

Unlike the Flewellyn and Pike encounter of the previous week, these witnesses claim that the creature merely rose out of the water, looked around, then submerged. The men further claimed that they did not linger long enough to see whether the beast would manifest its previously displayed tendency towards aggressive behavior.

HOAX?

On 26 August 1972, The Province received a call from a man claiming to have lost a pet Tegu lizard in the area the previous year. Tegus, indigenous to Latin America and mostly carnivorous, can grow up to four feet in length. They are commonly kept as pets. The investigating police officers believed the lizard matched the description the creature and the case was closed.

Despite the sensational claims, repeated in some cryptozoology literature which portray it as a genuine cryptid and relative of the Loveland Frog, no other sightings have been reported since leading the monster sighting to be "a fact widely unknown among swimmers." Local historian Ross Crockford remarks that the advice given in Haden Blackman's 1998 Field Guide to North American Monsters to carry a flaming torch to defend oneself from the monster is probably more dangerous than any monster, given the tinder-dry nature of the park.

One of the original "witnesses," Russell Van Nice has said, "it was just a big lie," his friend [Mike Gold] was, "trying to get attention." According to Van Nice, his friend was "famous" for being a habitual liar.

Sources:
www.unknown-creatures.com
www.americanmonsters.com
en.wikipedia.org
forum.paranormalborder.com
www.pararesearchers.org

Owner of Ghostly Racton Ruins Seeks Permit to Restore as a Home

Posted: 06 Feb 2010 03:59 PM PST

portsmouth - Plans have been submitted to turn a 238-year-old ruin into a modern-day home.

The proposals seek renewed consent to transform Racton Ruins, which is a striking tower that was built on a hill in 1772 and close to the village of Funtington, near Emsworth.

The tower was built as a folly as part of the Stansted Estate and many believe was used by the then owner to see his trading ships berth at Emsworth, then a major port.

Mark Talbot, who has owned the tower for 30 years, has applied for planning permission to turn the tower into a home.

He has already been granted planning permission before, but wants to renew the consent to keep the refurbishment plan alive.

He said it would cost in excess of £500,000 to convert.

'It's just a renewal of permission which you have to do every three years, if you have not done the work,' he said.

'It's going to take an awful lot of money. We could start next year, or this year even, we just don't know. We just have to keep the planning consent.'

Mr Talbot said he has no qualms about living in the building if it is haunted as rumours suggest.

'I don't believe in it being haunted,' he said.
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THE RACTON FOLLY

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Near the village of Walderton in West Sussex stands an 18th century ruin known as Racton Monument or Racton Folly. Completed in 1772, it belonged to the Stansted estate of the Earl of Halifax and is thought to have been designed by Henry Keene, an architect who was involved in the building of Uppark, a large country house nearby. Little is known about the building's history or its purpose, it may have been intended as a summerhouse or viewing point — the story goes that from the top of the tower Lord Halifax could watch the return of his merchant ships in the Solent.

Constructed of brick and flint, the monument consists of a two-storey, triangular structure with a tower at each corner and a large tapering, circular central tower rising to approximately 25 metres. The three floors of the central tower and its original conical roof are no longer extant.

IS RACTON FOLLY HAUNTED?

The spooky tower of Racton Monument may or may not be haunted but it's certainly one of the spookiest places in Sussex. Some referred to the folly disparagingly as Stansted Castle, assuming it to be an act of grandeur, rather than just a celebration of individuality.

Others went further, deriding the style of the Tower for its undoubted ugliness. But many other people love Racton Tower.

Many think that Racton Ruins is one of the most frightening haunted places in West Sussex. Others disagree.

Let's consider the evidence.

The myths surrounding the use of the tower by smugglers and the general decay of the ruins add to the Blair Witch project type feel of the place. Graffiti adds to the sinister atmosphere.

But the ruins have been a well known place for raves, drinking and drug taking and many of the reports of ghosts come from people who were, by their own admission, not exactly sober at the time of their brush with the undead. Practical jokes are probably not unknown for the same reason. That's not to say that everyone who has ever reported ghostly goings on at the tower was as high as a kite, but it certainly weeds out a few accounts from the ghost hunters' case book.

From a birds eye view it looks like a triangle symbol (that was used by devil worshipers) The folly has been reported to have been used by cults and devil worshipers for over 100 years. The last report we found of this was in 2009.

There is also found reference to it being used as a brothel back in the 1800's.

There are many reports of paranormal activity at the folly. There have been reports of bricks being thrown from the top of the tower and a ghostly woman walking around the building. Also of a ghostly face looking out through a window of one the top floors. And the most disturbing of being physically grabbed and pushed. But oddly the most popular story is that of a ghost tractor in the fields that comes right up to you then disappears.

Racton has also been a place for suicides.

What isn't in doubt is that the site is evocative, atmospheric and definitely spooky, if not actually haunted.

There are plans afoot to restore the Monument - it badly needs it as the brickwork is in a very precarious state.

Sources:
www.portsmouth.co.uk
www.westsussex.info
totallyhaunted.co.uk

Mysterious Image Appears In New Zealand Post Office Window

Posted: 06 Feb 2010 03:12 PM PST

stuff - An Invercargill, NZ man has taken a photograph that could be proof of the afterlife, or it could be a cloud – who knows?

Andrew Watters travelled to St Bathans, near Alexandra, with his partner Kim Ward during the weekend in search of the spirits that reputedly haunt its buildings.

"I'd always been nagging my Kim to go and have a look at the Vulcan Hotel and its supposed ghost, hoping we would find something."

That search turned up short.

"I had a beer at the pub and got goosebumps but I think it was just the excitement."

The pair took plenty of photos and didn't think they had anything until a friend spotted a shape with an uncanny resemblance to a woman in the window at the post office, he said.

"It's freaked me out a bit. The shape is very close to a human figure."

The photograph did not make him any more or less sceptical about the existence of ghosts but it was bizarre, Mr Watters said.

Vulcan Hotel leasee Jude Cavanagh said it was the first she had heard of a ghost sighting at the post office.

"It's a very spirited town, so who knows?"

The post office, which was managed by the Department of Conservation since the 1950s, had been vacant for about a year, at least in the bodily sense, she said.

"It all adds to the legend of the place."

The department's Alexandra community relations programme manager Amanda Ware said she had no knowledge of any phantom presence at the post office.

The building, opened in 1909, was a category two historic place and had been vacant for about a year, she said.

The interior largely remained unchanged from its days as a working port office and the second floor, where the mysterious shape was seen, was the postmaster's living quarters, Ms Ware said.

"Maybe it was him coming back for a visit."

She would tread carefully the next time she stopped by, she said.

UFO Encounter, Lost Time - Near Wichita, Kansas - 10/23/1973

Posted: 06 Feb 2010 11:23 AM PST

MUFON witness statement (unedited): near Wichita, Kansas - 10/23/1973 - We were riding my Harley to a party at Cheney Reservoir around 8:30pm on or about October 23, 1973, in any case, it was a Friday night. We were headed west on 21st Street North barely outside of Wichita, Kansas. I stopped my bike on a dirt road intersection to relieve myself. I was a flight-line mechanic at the Cessna Aircraft Factory at Mid Continent Airport (ICT) in Wichita, and a student pilot, so I was watching incoming planes. That night there must have been a slight south wind, because the aircraft were headed south to land on runway 19 left. Donna and I saw an orange ball just sitting there, seemingly in the way, or the approach path to land. We both watched for a few moments and shrugged it off. As I swung a leg over the seat to start the sportster Donna waited to get on until I kickstarted the bike. She then told me that as she watched me start it, it got darker around me, as if the UFO had somehow lit the area around us, as if watching us. Again, we shrugged it off and rode on toward the party, not knowing we would never get to that party. As we continued down the two lane blacktop, we looked over our shoulders to the east, and it kept the same relative position to us. It was following us. TO MAKE A LONG story short, the ordeal lasted until we thought it was midnight, it was three am. I could think a question, and it would move west for yes, east for no, and north and south if it didn't understand or want to answer. A few days later, a local radio station, KEYN, had a call in talk show on UFO's. A woman from El Dorado, KS. called in and reported that she had had almost the exact same experience a few days before we did, but we did not hear her story until after we had also experienced the same self-explanatory telepathic orange sphere. (With at least one three foot smaller "scout" UFO. It changed our lives. Hers for the worse, and I have had some terrible nightmares over the years, but I feel lucky to have had the experience. One question it answered positively, was that I would see it again someday. Since Donna and I grew up together, and I knew she was our Senior Valedictorian, and I was the Senior Class President, we had some credibility, but did not want to tell anyone. I am now on disability and plan to write a book about the whole story. I thought the UFO was here for her, due to her high I.Q., until about five years ago when we got together for the first time in years, when she told me she knew all along that it was here for me. I guess I am the one that it suggested telepathy to and with. We both always sort of doubted what happened, a sort of denial, but every few years we go out to eat and see a movie, but the conversation inevitably ends up with us reliving that night and talking for hours about it. I am sending this report to MUFON now because I recently had cancer and want to tell it before I die. I'm cancer free now, but I had a taste of mortality, and it sucks.

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.....I HATE SNOW!

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NOTE: Uh...try 30+ inches as I write...Lon

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