Phantoms and Monsters

Marketing Bulgaria's Rabisha Lake Monster
The Papua New Guinea Pterosaur
Photos: Plasma Anomalies - Southwest Utah
Are Conspiracy Theorists the New Domestic Terrorists?

Marketing Bulgaria's Rabisha Lake Monster

Posted: 08 Mar 2010 10:48 AM PST

novinite - The world famous monster Nessie from the Loch Ness in Scotland is about to get a rather tough competitor – the Water Bull from the Rabisha Lake in Northwestern Bulgaria.

Even though the Water Bull and Nessie seem to be of very different species, the Water Bull of the Rabisha Lake is set to conquer the world going in the footsteps of the Loch Ness Monster, Emil Tsankov, Mayor of the town of Belogradchik has told Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency).

Belogradchik is a small, though, rather famous and picturesque town in the Bulgarian Northwest. First and foremost, it is known for the Belogradchik Rocks – absolutely miraculous rock formations stretching for some 30 km in the western part of the Balkan Moutain (Stara Planina).

Over the past year, the Belogradchik Rocks did pretty well in the competition for the New Seven Wonders of the World, and even though they failed to make it to the finalists, they have found a spot on the prestigious reserve list. The other amazing thing near Belogradchik is the Magurata Cave with its enchanting paintings by prehistoric people.

And the third world-class tourist attraction the Belogradchik Municipality wants to add to its portfolio has to do with the Monster of the Rabisha Lake.

Mayor Emil Tsankov has submitted an application to the EDEN (European Destinations of Excellence) contest, a EU-wide project focusing on sustainable development. The topic of the 2010 edition of the contest is "Water as a Force of Life and Prosperity" which made the Rabisha Water Bull a rather logical participant.

With the funding that the Belogradchik Municipality hopes to get, it plans to promote the legend about the Rabisha Lake Monster and to resurrect the local traditions related to the mysterious creature.

The Rabisha Lake – Bulgaria's Loch Ness

The Rabisha Lake ("Rabishkoto Ezero" in Bulgarian) is located between the villages of Tolovitsa and Rabisha, in the Belogradchik Municipality, to the northwest of Sofia.

It is the largest lake in Bulgaria's interior even though with its area of about 1 square km it is much more modest in size than the Loch Ness.

The Rabisha Lake has a tectonic origin. It was formed in the Quaternary Period, some 2,5-3 million years ago, and its depth reaches 30-40 meters.

"The lake has never been explored in detail so it is not unknown exactly what sorts of species from previous periods it is the home of," Mayor Tsankov told Novinite.com.

One thing that stands out about the Rabisha Lake is the fact that it is an endorheic lake – no rivers flow out of it. This has turned it into the object of many folk tales and legends of medieval Bulgarians who believed that water had to be in circulation all the time.

Thus, the people in the region thought the lake was bottomless, and was therefore the home of many scary creatures common to the Slavic mythology.

The Legend about the Water Bull, the Rabisha Lake Monster

There are various legends about the Rabiska Lake Monster but Mayor Tsankov has picked the most "credible" one – which dates back to the 18th century – in order to focus their project on it.

The legend has it that a fearful monster inhabits the lake. Unlike Nessie and many other lake monsters, however, this one is no dinosaur; it is a lot more human-like, and is actually more like a minotaur.

The Rabisha Lake Monster, the so called Water Bull, has the head of a bull, the body of giant, strong man, and the tale of fish.

In order to keep this terrifying beast at ease, the local people would offer as a sacrifice to it the most beautiful young girl in the entire region in order to buy their safety. They would hold a procession taking the girl to the Rabisha Lake where it would get on a boat together with many wonderful gifts, and would fall pray to the monster.

It is exactly this procession with a gorgeous young girl, lavish gifts, and songs and dances that a major focus of the project to revive the Rabisha Lake legend, together with some other traditional folklore customs of the region. These customs and ceremonies will be shown to tourists and guests, and they will actually be invited to participate in them.

"The terrible story of the annual sacrifices to the Water Bull actually has a happy ending," Tsankov explains with a smile. "The most gorgeous girl in the world was born one day in the village of Rabisha. When she grew up and the time came to offer her as sacrifice, she was placed in a boat and taken to the middle of the lake.

"However, when the Water Bull saw her, he was so enchanted by her that instead of killing her, he fell in love. He asked his sister, who was a sorceress, for help, and with her powers she made the beautiful girl immortal. The Water Bull took his young wife to the bottom of the Lake, and never came back for more prey. The two of them are still believed to live happily down there."

Water Bull or Wels Catfish?

Huge Catch!

Click for video

What might have given rise to such a legend (there are actually a number of local legends about the Water Bull Monster in the Rabisha Lake which have slight variations)? Assuming of course the actual Bull doesn't hang around down there.

The Rabisha Lake is actually proven to be the home of real water monsters – gigantic wels catfish have been caught there. The largest ones reach 5 meters in length, and a weight of 350 kg!

The Belogradchik Mayor says there are also various reports of spotting these fish monsters near the surface of the Rabisha Lake – mostly in the months of April and May – even though the wels catfish usually spend most of their time on the bottom of the lake.

"This huge fish – a real monster – might have been cause of Water Bull legend in the first place," Tsankov thinks.

A giant Wels Catfish caught in Rabisha Lake

Legend or no legend, the development of a brand new tourist product has been initiated, and the 24 Chasa Daily and the Belogradchik Municipality have already announced a competition for taking a photo of the Rabisha Lake Monster, and everyone is welcome to participate.

Hopefully, the photos of the enthusiasts rushing there will not capture any dinosaur, Nessie-like monster in the lake as this is going to throw into disarray the tidy plans of the municipality about its Water Bull.

Of course, Mayor Tsankov actually is much in favor of advertising the Water Bull as "the Bulgarian Nessie" in order to benefit from the world renown of the Loch Ness Monster.

The Papua New Guinea Pterosaur

Posted: 08 Mar 2010 11:17 AM PST

NOTE: I received an email from Jonathan Whitcomb at Live Pterosaur: "Last month I interviewed an eyewitness who lives in the Manus Island area of Papua New Guinea. More interesting than his short sighting one night is the account from an older man: The "kor" (a new name to me, probably the same species as the ropen of Umboi Island, or at least similar) creatures attacked some Japanese, during World War II, with a devastating response from those Japanese. I believe this story, for my contact seems to be credible."

The following is posted at his blog:

Japanese World War II Ship Shelled Pterosaur Caves

February 18th, 2010 at 5:29

Three days ago, I received an email from R.K. (anonymous), of the Manus Island area of Papua New Guinea. (We starting communicating earlier this month.) The nocturnal flying creatures that he described to me–I believe they are ropens–were common and were dangerous to local fishermen previous to the early 1940's, when their numbers declined. In these northern islands, the creature is called "kor."

Here is part of R.K.'s account of the Japanese retaliation against the creatures that had attacked them:

"...it was the japs [Japanese miliary] on the island who were attacked by the kor. They [Japanese soldiers] apparently shot several wounding them then followed them to cves [caves] and blew [blew up] the entrances. They called ships fire on the hills and pounded them for several hours."

R.K. asks an interesting question: "I wonder if there is a record of that somewhere?" Perhaps there is an old Japanese veteran who knows about this or has written about the battle with those creatures. If so, perhaps the word used for those creatures would be "dragons."
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The Kor of Northern Papua New Guinea

R.K., of Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, reports that the glowing nocturnal flying creature of those northern islands is called "kor." Descriptions strongly suggest that they are at least similar to the ropen of Umboi Island, perhaps the same species: glowing with various colors, a long tail, "skin all over it," and a few creatures growing to a large size. A few American investigators (some of them exploring in some areas of Papua New Guinea) are convinced that these are living pterosaurs.

According to what R.K. has learned from some older villagers, the kor catch fish "by skimming slowly around on the ocean surface, then as the light under their wings and belly glowed bright and attracted fish, the korr would swoop in . . . " and "they eat in flight."

But these are not just old reports. R.K. has reported his own encounter [early 2010 report]: "Two years ago we took a boat out to investigate and could see the lights soaring over us and heard flapping of wings."

Older web page reports of smaller "ropens" around Manus Island (as if these were a different species because of size) are questionable. One kor was large enough to kill an islander in the 1960's (according to R.K., this was the last human death from an attack). Perhaps the reports of smaller creatures come from the larger number of younger ones. Larger ones are reported to eat turtles and even young crocodiles. Some animals continue to grow throughout their lives; perhaps the kor, on occasion, also grows to a large size.

Click for video - Three men describe the pterodactyl-like creature of Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea. They saw the giant "ropen" (about 1994) flying over Lake Pung.
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World War II Veteran Saw Giant Living "Pterodactyl"

Duane Hodgkinson, now a flight instructor in Livingston, Montana, in 1944 was stationed near Finschhafen, in what was then called New Guinea. After he and his buddy walked into a clearing, they were amazed as a large creature flew up into the air. The men soon realized that it was no bird that started to circle the clearing. It had a tail "at least ten to fifteen feet long," (book Searching for Ropens, 2007) and a long appendage at the back of its head: apparently, a live pterosaur.

Jonathan Whitcomb, a forensic videographer, interviewed Hodgkinson, in 2004, and found his testimony credible. In 2005, Garth Guessman, another experienced ropen investigator, video-taped his own interview with Hodgkinson and the session was analyzed by Whitcomb, who became even more convinced the World War II veteran was telling the truth: The man had seen a ropen.
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INVESTIGATIONS

In late 2006, Paul Nation, of Texas, explored a remote mountainous area on the mainland of Papua New Guinea. He videotaped two lights that the local natives called "indava." Nation believed the lights were from the bioluminescence of creatures similar to the ropen of Umboi Island. The video was analyzed by a missile defense physicist who reported that the two lights on the video were not from any fires, meteors, airplanes or camera artifacts. He also reported that the image of the two lights was authentic and was not manipulated or hoaxed.

In 2007, cryptid investigator Joshua Gates went to Papua New Guinea in search of the Ropen for his TV show Destination Truth. He and his team also witnessed strange lights at night and could not confirm what they were.

In 2009, the television show Monster Quest conducted an expedition in search of the "demon flyer" but found no evidence of the creature. Later, they had a forensic video analyst examine the Paul Nation video. The analyst could not definitely conclude what was causing the lights, but ruled out vehicles and campfires believing the footage was of a pair of bioluminescent creatures perched in a tree that later take flight.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ropen

Click to video 1

Click for video 2

Click for video 3

As well, here is the YouTube page with the MonsterQuest clips - Flying Monsters

Photos: Plasma Anomalies - Southwest Utah

Posted: 08 Mar 2010 11:19 AM PST

© P&M Network Images

NOTE: my friend, 'Fearless' from southwest Utah, forwarded these images yesterday. Not sure what to make of these other than it resembles a plasma (or 'ectoplasmic') manifestation...though, not sure if it is spiritual, extra-dimensional or something completely different. I have posted an earlier submission below to give you an idea of what she has experienced previously. Any thoughts? Lon
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Mysterious Probes and 'Reptilian' Orb? - Southwestern Utah

The following photos were sent to me from 'Fearless' in southwestern Utah (approx. 140 miles from Groom Lake). The resolution was low but the photo technician was able to enhance two of the photos (without retouch or pixel manipulation) to form these remarkable images. 'Reptilian' is the first word that comes to mind. As well, the other photo looks like some type of probe. The photo technician stated... 'the photos are so small and of such low resolution, that this is about all I can do without actually changing anything. As for the first orb, it is obviously a 'probe' of some type. It is not clearly defined, except that it appears to have 'light protuberances'.

The 'face' appears (to me) to be reptilian. There is a what appears to be a 'snout' angled to the foreground, with eyes set close to the top of the head, somewhat to the sides looking forward. The facial distort appears to be due to motion blur, some other unknown factor, or a combination of both.'

'Fearless' states the following:

We had an extensive lightening storm about 8 miles from my home. I was trying to capture lightening. I took over 400 photos within a 30 min period. During that time, I saw the many lights coming toward my house...from the south to the north. They seemed to be coming away from the lightening. I saw the bright light, then several more. The large disc was silver in color, which I have seen several times in the local area. It seemed to be hanging just watching me. I noticed the 'face' after downloading. It attached itself to the metal dolly handcart. It appears in several of the photos, in different stages of manifestation. I really didn't notice any smells....but I do smell ozone quite often while I'm taking these kinds of pics. I see alot of activity out here.

Are Conspiracy Theorists the New Domestic Terrorists?

Posted: 08 Mar 2010 08:08 AM PST

Click for video

alternet - Authorities say a suspected gunman has been killed and an off-duty officer injured in a shootout outside a Walmart store in the east Texas town of Commerce.

Commerce spokeswoman Marty Cunningham says the incident Sunday began when police received a call of shots being fired from a red Ford Mustang at a bridge in the town of Greenville, about 50 miles northeast of Dallas. Source: CBS News

Lately there have been a lot of shootings by people that have decided to resort to violence for what they see as an inequitable and unjust society.

I don't know if the recently reported Wal-Mart shooter is one of these.

In the CNN video below, the talking heads are claiming that conspiracy theories are pushing people over the edge.

But people are not resorting to violence because of conspiracies (real or imagined). They are resorting to violence because they see their circumstances as intolerable and their society as unjust.

I know there are conspiracies. The government prosecutes criminals all the time for engaging in them. But that doesn't make me want to shoot people. In fact, just the opposite. I want to make a real peaceful change so that we don't have people resorting to violence.

But, as I have warned, we will see more and more people resorting to violence over the societal situation. Sure they are mentally unstable. But they are often pushed over the edge because of what they see going on around them.

When we have a break down in social justice and in a sense of fairness, and people don't see peaceful alternatives, many will resort to violence...Grant Lawrence

NOTE: Go to Above Top Secret and read for yourself. The fact that some of those people who post there also walk among us...should that raise some concern? Your thoughts...Lon

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