Phantoms and Monsters

Recent Sighting of the Van Canavari (Lake Van Monster)
Fortean / Oddball News: Aussie UFO, Creationist Theme Park and 700 Lashes For Sorcery
'Gargoyle Watch' in Southwest Puerto Rico

Recent Sighting of the Van Canavari (Lake Van Monster)

Posted: 07 Dec 2010 11:29 AM PST

I received the following email from Huseyin in Turkey on Sunday, December 5th. I needed to clean up some of the broken English:

Dear Sir - I write to you after witnessing a creature near my home in Ahlat, Turkey on the 26th of September this year. My friends and I were taking a day long boat ride on Van Golu (Lake Van). Near east Akdamar Island we noticed a violent boil on the surface. When we got closer, I saw a large eel-like creature with a high long fin across the back. I attempted to take a photograph but the creature dove into the darkness. Since I was so close to the creature I was able to get a very reliable description - about 20 meters long, mottled brown with a high ray or fin that extended across the entire back. I got a glimpse of the head which had round eyes that were front set, not like that of a fish, with a pair of ears or flaps.

I presented the description to a biologist and government specialist the following week but was told that I most likely saw a sturgeon or another uncommon species of fish. This is not what I witnessed. I sent an email to 2 other crypto organizations but neither responded. My friend recommended you. What is your opinion of my sighting? Please contact me at your convenience. Thank you - Huseyin

I wrote back to Huseyin. His reply didn't offer much more information other than there had been reports of a similar creature in the past and a more recent sighting a few weeks ago near another island on the lake. He also stated that the only fish known to survive in Lake Van are the Pearl Mullet or Darekh.

Click for video

From CNN in 1997: Sightings of the Lake Van monster were first reported about two years ago, but further evidence was offered on Tuesday: bad quality amateur pictures of something long and dark moving in the middle of the lake.

After each sighting, professional camera crews have rented boats to try to capture the alleged beast clearly on film, but were unsuccessful each time.

The subject became an obsession for 26-year-old Unal Kozak, a Van University teaching assistant who has been talking to eyewitnesses since the first sightings.
kozak

Stationing himself at spots where most of the sightings were reported, Kozak says he saw and filmed the so-called monster on three occasions. Kozak also wrote a book on the creature, including drawings of the monster based on the descriptions of some 1,000 witnesses.

He says the creature is about 15 meters (49.5 feet) long. Public opinion is divided over whether the Lake Van monster is a clever hoax to attract visitors to a region that could use some tourist revenue.

The city of Van is in an underdeveloped area of eastern Turkey that for years has lost out to holiday resorts in the west of the country.

The pictures have been sent to Cambridge University for examination, and Jacques Cousteau, the world-famous marine biologist, is expected to visit and examine the lake.

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...this lake was formed some 6,000 years ago when the volcano that is Turkey's lesser known Nemrut Dağı (Mt. Nemrut) erupted and threw the entire top of the mountain into the lake, thereby cutting off the water's natural escape route into a river near Muş. The waters of Lake Van are known for being highly alkaline, which means that it's actually possible to wash clothes in them without using soap. Swimmers also find the water extremely buoyant, although pollution around the main population centers means that it's not really that wise to risk bathing...

...Lake Van is home to all sorts of unusual beasties, some of them real, others entirely fanciful. Perhaps its most prized resident is the inci kefalı (pearl mullet), a fish so revered that it's spawned commemorative statues not just in Van itself but also in the small town of Erciş. Then there is the Van Canavarı, the Lake Van Monster, a creature uncannily like Scotland's Loch Ness Monster and just as elusive -- the closest you'll come to it is the statue in Van's Feqiye Teyran Park where a diplodocus-like creature can be seen wrapping its long neck around other local features... - sundayszaman.com

Fortean / Oddball News: Aussie UFO, Creationist Theme Park and 700 Lashes For Sorcery

Posted: 07 Dec 2010 10:01 AM PST

UFO Over Southern Tablelands, NSW

dailytelegraph - A prospector who went to find gold in the hills thinks he may have found something better - evidence that aliens really do exist.

Adam Cainero believes he captured a photograph of an alien spacecraft hovering above an escarpment near Majors Creek, in the Southern Tablelands near Braidwood.

After an unsuccessful weekend fossicking for gold Mr Cainero and a friend were making the long trip home when he stopped to take a snap of the steep mountain they had driven down.

When he got home, Mr Cainero said he realised he had found gold of another kind after all.

"I just took a picture of the mountain range and the sun was in my eyes so I just kind of pointed and shot," Mr Cainero said. "Then we looked at the picture - we were, like, no way."

With its shape and its position in the sky, Mr Cainero said he immediately knew the black object was a UFO.

"We always see really weird things as we go out to places where there is no one around," he said.

There had been talk among fossickers about UFOs being in the area, he said. "A lot of people I know who go into the bush reckon they have seen one," Mr Cainero said.

Earlier this year The Daily Telegraph revealed the suburbs around Gosford, on the Central Coast, were the state's biggest hot spot when it came to UFO sightings, with dozens of cases reported every year. Each month people turn up to meetings to share their UFO experiences.

The region was the scene of one of Australia's most baffling UFO cases - a series of sightings in 1995 and 1996 - reported by police and many other credible witnesses.

Residents saw shiny UFOs hovering above water.

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Two Maids Jailed, to be Lashed 700 Times for Sorcery

emirates247 - A Saudi court gave heavy jail sentences to two Indonesian housemaids and ordered them lashed 700 times with a whip on charges of practising witchcraft to extort money from their employers, a local daily reported on Monday.

The two maids, aged 33 and 25 years, had used clothes and other personal items to cast a spell on the man and his family in Riyadh since they started working for him nearly three years ago, 'Alyoum' newspaper said.

The court in the Saudi capital was told that the two maids used their magic skills to control the family's life and drain their employer's financial resources.

"They also controlled his behaviour and the health of all family members…the family started to look feeble and pale and could not do anything to end their ordeal," the paper quoted the man's brother as saying.

"They succeeded in extorting much money from the family to send it to their families in Indonesia. They drained the family financially and physically."

The paper reported the court sentenced the 33-year-old maid to five years in prison and 500 lashes and the other maid to two years in jail and 200 lashes. It also ordered their deportation after completing their jail terms.

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The Queen's Knickers Up For Auction

news.com.au - A pair of undergarments that reportedly belonged to the the Queen are set to go under the hammer in America.

The monogrammed item, reminiscent of shorts, reportedly came into the possession of a "famous Miami playboy named 'Baron' Joseph de Bicske Dobronyi" more than 40 years ago, celebrity website TMZ reported.

He received the garment from a friend after it was left on a private plane used when the queen visited Chile in 1968.

After Dobronyi's death in June, his estate began planning to auction off the royal garment which is expected to sell for $9000.

A pair of silk briefs that kept Napoleon Bonaparte warm during his exile on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena was due to go on sale over the weekend for between €15,000 ($20,000) and €20,000.

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Plan for Creationist 'Ark' Park Draws Paleontologists' Ire

sciencemag - Kentucky scientists are slamming Governor Steve Beshear's (D) announcement yesterday that the state is partnering with Answers in Genesis (AIG), a creationism group, to create "Ark Encounter," a park related to Noah's Ark. Replete with what developers call a "full-scale" ark and models of dinosaurs, the $150 million amusement park in Grant County will be a follow-on to AIG's Creation Museum in Petersburg, which opened in 2007.

The governor says the for-profit developers behind the planned park will apply for tax breaks, which could provide up to $37.5 million in savings from the state. Governor Beshear says the park will create 900 jobs for the state. But Daniel Phelps, president of the Kentucky Paleontological Society in Lexington, says the park is "government entanglement with religion" and doesn't make the state attractive to scientists and technically minded individuals. "I don't envision people, especially those with science backgrounds, wanting to move to a state where the 'ark park' has government support," says Phelps, who works as an environmental geologist for the state.

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Moonlanding for Croatia in 2012

croatiantimes - Croatia is expected to make its mark on the Moon by the end of 2012 when Astronomical Society Vidulini from Istria plans to launch its space exploration vehicle - rover "Histrohod."

The robotic vehicle is the brainchild of Zeljko Mogorosa who has been working on its prototype for the past two years. "Histrohod" is expected to land at the same spot where Apollo 17 – the latest manned mission to the Moon – landed in 1972.

Through a group of mobile devices, "Histrohod" will send televised segments down to Earth.
"This is a big challenge for our society and we are extremely proud that our association and our small Istria will become a part of space exploration," said the Society's president Marino Rumpic.

The cost of building "Histrohod" is estimated at 20,000 Euros and is expected to be covered by various donors from around the world.

The Astronomical Society Vidulini started the first Croatian space program (Astronautika) and forms part of the international team Synergy Moon which is participating in the "Google Lunar X Prize" contest.

'Gargoyle Watch' in Southwest Puerto Rico

Posted: 07 Dec 2010 08:54 AM PST

A photo capture of a supposed 'gargoyle'

Scott Corrales of Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology recently posted the following translation from Preocupa al alcalde de Guánica búsqueda de la gárgola:

Martin Vargas Morales, the mayor of Guánica, asked the general population to remain calm and cautious, while at the same time making [UFO contactee] Reinaldo Rios and Canovanas Mayor José "Chemo" Soto responsible for any accident or mishap that may occur on the premises of the old sugar mill during the "gargoyle watch" convened for this evening.

"The site is very dark and is a structure in ruins from which pieces are braking off daily. Neither Rios nor Soto will be able to halt the flow of persons to the interior of the facilities and I fear that an accident may occur, given that the there are easy points of access that cannot be controlled. It's an irresponsible act by both of them," said the Mayor in a written statement.

The municipal leader highlighted that there are persons seeking headlines and benefits from exposure in the communications media. "Allegations by people who have supposedly seen strange things in the old mill are taken seriously, but they must be clarified responsibly without creating spectacles that endanger the lives of persons whose curiosity may lead them to the site," he stated.

A Gargoyle in Puerto Ensenada

Mayor Martin Vargas Morales further noted that he found the subject of alleged apparitions in the sugar mill curious, as they have occurred after the Planning Board approved the Puerto Ensenada project.

"There are people who have stated their reservations about the project. Others know that construction of Puerto Ensenada represents a giant step for our administration, and would not like to see it carried out, with the economic benefits that its construction and operation would bring, creating over 12,000 jobs," notes Martin Vargas.

Vargas says that project investors are on the planning board and are very interested in transferring their capital to Guánica. "The actions of these two characters will not cause the developers to waver. They will not deteriorate the image of that historic location. The project is a reality that will benefit thousands of families, not only in Guánica but in the entire area."

NOTE: here is another excellent reference to this phenomena - THE CHUPACABRA: A Bizarre "New" Creature...Lon

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Posted at Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology

Source: El Nuevo Dia - Puerto Rico Hoy section
Date : 29 August 2010
Reported by: Pedro Bosque Pérez

The Gargoyle vs. The Chupacabras

A strange creature with wings resembling those of a bat and which has been dubbed "the Gargoyle" has attacked several animals and even a human, according to reports issued by residents of Guánica.

Attacks by the "Gargoyle" resemble those of the mythic Chupacabras to a certain extent, given that it operates under cover of darkness and allegedly exsanguinates its victims.

Some people have identified it with the Chupacabras, yet others believe it is a differnt, elusive and sinister entity whose lair is in Barrio Ensenada, amid the ruins and tunnels of the Guanica Sugar Mill, where the skeletons of its victims can be found.

The Gargoyle's exploits have gone on for many years, mostly in Guánica, but in Lajas and San Germán as well.

The creature has been seen by people who have opted to avoid making formal complaints to the Police, fearing they'll be considered mentally disturbed or subjected to scorn. With the exception of one policeman and a schoolteacher who researchers strange phenomena, the other parties involved refused authorization to disclose their names.

A gargoyle is a mythic entity, a mixture of human and bird, represented by stone statues. These are placed on the cornises of cathedrals and other buildings.

A Human Is Attacked

"He was injured in his stomach, his [abdominal] fat could be seen," noted a witness, describing the injuries suffered by a man on his belly and back, caused as if by "an animal's claws."

The witness soberly expalined that the wounded man lifted the t-shirt he put on after the attack, saying that a "large winged" animal took him by surprise in his back yard and attacked him.

The injured party, surnamed Valdo, also spoke to policemen patrolling the area where the attack took place, near Guánica Lagoon, in the mid-1990s.

Police officer Miguel Negrón states that he has not seen what is popularly referred to as the gargoyle, but two months ago, while patrolling the area with another officer near the old Guánica Sugar Mill, he heard the beating of powerful wings, as if something was propelling itself off the zinc roof of one of the mill's cranes.

Agent Negrón indicated that some describe the gargoyle as a very large bird, emitting a sulfuric or rotten odor. It feeds on live animals like dogs, cats and horses, draining their blood and leaving them dry.

The creature goes forth at night or in the early morning hours, and for this reason there are few sightings. There are no photos or videos of the phenomenon, which attacks healthy animals, unlike a predator that seeks out sick or feeble animals.

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