Phantoms and Monsters

Ninki-nanka: The Gambia Dragon
Fortean / Alternative News: Sweden Anomaly, West Kilbribe UFO and Sammy Hagar Abducted
Reader Mail: The Lacerta Interview and More Mothman Information

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 03:36 PM PDT

Back in 2006 a team of UK dragon-hunters ebarked on an expedition in The Gambia to track down a mysterious creature known locally as the "Ninki-nanka".

Believed to live in swamps, the ninki-nanka appears in the folklore of many parts of West Africa.

It is described as having a horse-like face, a long body with mirror-like scales and a crest of skin on its head.

Team leader Richard Freeman said evidence was sketchy as most people died soon after seeing it.

Mr Freeman, a cryptozoologist from the UK-based Centre for Fortean Zoology, admitted that the ninki-nanka's existence was "very far-fetched indeed".

Second-hand accounts varied wildly from it looking like a crocodile or a snake to having wings and spitting fire, he said.

But he disputed a suggestion that the hunt was a waste of time and money.

"We didn't know any of this before we came. We have to look into everything to see if there is a possibility that there's a real creature there," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

Cryptozoology is the search for animals whose existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, such as the Loch Ness monster.

A park ranger from the Kiang West National Park lived to tell the tale of his encounter three years ago.

He described an immense animal 50 metres long by one metre wide that he watched for more than an hour before being taken ill.

He put down his survival down to a herbal potion given to him by an Islamic holy man, Mr Freeman said.

After being shown pictures of various reptiles and mythical animals, the ranger said the creature's face most resembled that of a Chinese dragon.

"We've heard very similar stories all over The Gambia but mostly not first hand eyewitnesses... there seems to be this thing when you see the ninki-nanka you will die usually within a few weeks," Mr Freeman said.

"We haven't discounted the possibility that there is a flesh and blood ninki-nanka in the swamps of West Africa, it's just at the moment the evidence is pointing to something more folkloric," he said.

The 2006 Gambia Expedition blog is still available.

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The Dragons of Africa

The team of British cryptozoologists from the Centre for Fortean Zoology released a film, documenting their expedition into the swamps and jungles of West Africa, in search of a dangerous dragon-like monster known as the Ninki-Nanka.

The six person team visited the Gambia and Senegal in the summer of 2006, to investigate the legend of a monster so awful, locals believe that to look upon it is death. The Ninki-Nanka is said to resemble a gigantic crested serpent and provokes terror in the locals even to this day.

"One man was so frightened of the monster he refused to enter a swamp where, years before, a sighting of the beast had caused a whole village to be abandoned. We had to speak to him from behind a bush, where he was hiding in terror," said Richard Freeman, Zoological Director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology.

The team spoke to many people who claimed their relatives or friends had seen the dragon, and had subsequently died. One man, who claimed to have seen the beast himself, described it as a monstrously huge snake with a horse-like head, and a crest. He believed that only a herbal potion from a holy man saved him from the Ninki-Nankas' curse. When shown pictures of an Apatosaurus, a Komodo dragon, a Nile monitor lizard, and a Chinese dragon, he chose the Chinese dragon as being most like what he saw.

The beast was also blamed for causing a lorry to crash, as it slithered out on to a rural road. The team visited the crash site, where the lorry is still on the side of the road.They spoke with keepers at a sacred crocodile pool, who recount an ancient song to keep the monster at bay, and were even given a supposed Ninki-Nanka scale for examination.

The team also investigated two other unrelated mysteries; a supposed sea serpent carcass - buried on a beach by an amateur naturalist - and the continued existence of a tiny lizard known only from five museum specimens.

Just as tangled as the African forests, are the jungles of the mind, where legend, and superstition, are entwined with natural history. The film goes some way towards exploring both of these shadowy places. - CFZTV

Click for video

Fortean / Alternative News: Sweden Anomaly, West Kilbribe UFO and Sammy Hagar Abducted

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 12:51 PM PDT

Photos by Robbert van den Broeke of Netherlands

Real? West Kilbribe, UK

Details of amazing UFO sightings in West Kilbride have been released by the National Archives.

Newly published files indicate unexplained activity in the skies above the village on numerous occasions, dating from August 2003 to April 2005.

The strange phenomena confirms the village's status as one of the UK's biggest hotspots for UFO enthusiasts, after previously published Ministry of Defence papers named it as Britain's record holder for sightings in 2004.

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Self-professed Loma Prieta predictor says it's time for a temblor

sfexaminer - A retired geologist who said he was suspended from his job as a geologist for making a prediction about the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake is forecasting another big one in the northwest this week.

Jim Berkland, who claims that mainstream geologists refer to him as a "clown," said that the moon's close proximity, extremely high tides and magnetic field changes affecting marine wildlife are all tell-tale signs.

"I predict a 3.5 to a 6.5 magnitude," Berkland said. "The seismic window is between March 19 and 26."

He also listed off natural phenomena that have recently boggled scientists, such as the 175 tons of dead sardines that plagued Redondo Beach, which he says are all leadups to a major trembler.

"I've predicted hundreds, including all 23 in the Bay Area since 1974," he said. "I've been within one day of all of them."

Berkland is known for stating just prior to the 1989 World Series in October that a major one was near. The former U.S. Geological Survey geologist said he was warned about making predictions on work time, and was suspended for two months.

USGS spokeswoman Leslie Gordon said scientists have historically studied Berkland's associations, but they have not been statistically significant.

"Nobody has truly seen correlation," Gordon said. "We don't believe that it's possible to predict earthquakes in the short term. We do a long-term forecast."

According to Gordon, there is a 62 percent chance at any given time that there will be a 6.0 or greater magnitude earthquake in the northwest within the next 30 years.

"People will say, 'Oh yeah, my cat was acting really funny.' But every time that cat acts really funny and there's not an earthquake, then what does that mean?" she said.

Berkland says, however, that both the tremor that struck Japan and one that stuck Alaska were either during or sometime close to a full moon.

"Don't believe me, that's fine," he said. "But I'm sure I'll hear from you after the quake."

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Bizarre Object in Sweden...UFO or Possible Streetlight?

This was posted by AllNewsWeb.com so it could really be anything other than a UFO.

Click for video

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N.Koreans told to use pets as quake warning

AP - North Korea advised its citizens on Sunday to use their pets as an early-warning system for earthquakes, amid heightened fears following Japan's quake-tsunami disaster.

Governments worldwide have focused on ensuring their alert systems go some way to protecting them against the horror wreaked by natural disasters such as the massive tremor and giant waves which killed thousands in Japan on March 11.

While Pyongyang has also told North Koreans about the technology it has in place to anticipate disasters, state media urged the public to take note when animals behave oddly.

The Sunday edition of Rodong Sinmun, a newspaper of the North's ruling party, and a report Saturday from the official Korean Central New Agency warned that people should beware if they see dogs barking incessantly, cattle refusing to eat or horses constantly trying to storm out of stables.

Evidence of the reliability of animal behaviour in predicting quakes remains mixed, although National Geographic reported after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami that many species fled to safety before the catastrophe.

Elephants ran for higher ground, dogs refused to go outdoors and flamingos abandoned their low-lying breeding areas, nationalgeographic.com reported.

"The belief that wild and domestic animals possess a sixth sense -- and know in advance when the earth is going to shake -- has been around for centuries," the magazine said.

It is thought that low-frequency electromagnetic signals may cause animals to behave unusually before an earthquake.

The state-run Korean Central TV station aired a series of programmes last week on how to respond to government quake alerts, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

The programmes detailed how the alerts would be issued via sirens and bells in case of emergency and advised people to evacuate to open spaces such as nearby parks.

"Please respond calmly since a quake alert will be issued several hours in advance," Yonhap quoted one broadcast as saying.

The isolated regime was "taking aggressive action to cope with potential earthquakes that may happen" by beefing up nationwide monitoring and research on seismic activity, the KCNA said on Saturday.

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Sammy Hagar Abducted by Aliens

nowpublic - Former Van Halen Front Man Sammy Hagar Says That He Was Abducted By Aliens

If you're one of those fans who think Sammy Hagar ruined Van Halen, don't blame him, blame the aliens that messed with his brain. In Sammy Hagar's new book, Red: My Uncensored Life, the veteran rocker says that he was abducted by aliens, and they either "uploaded" or "downloaded" information from his brain.

In an interview with MTV Hive, Hagar says he believes that he was "contacted by aliens in the foothills above Fontana."

It was real. [Aliens] were plugged into me. It was a download situation. This was long before computers or any kind of wireless. There weren't even wireless telephones. Looking back now, it was like, "Fuck, they downloaded something into me!" Or they uploaded something from my brain, like an experiment. "See what this guy knows."

Sammy Hagar also described a childhood incident which he believes may have been an encounter with a UFO.

In his book, Hagar also talks about his wild days with Van Halen and his years of drug use. Still, it's the Sammy Hagar alien abduction story that has gotten the most attention.

Hagar has written about aliens in his music. While in the band Montrose, Hagar recorded songs "Space Station #5" and "Spaceage Sacrifice" which dealt with extraterrestrial life.

Reader Mail: The Lacerta Interview and More Mothman Information

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 10:22 AM PDT

I thought it was time to get caught up with some of the reader correspondence:

Sir - I am a French speaking, English educated Belgian, living in France and translator/contributor to the French edition of Nexus Magazine. I have just read the Lacerta interview.....

....The Sumerian tablets, fairly widely known today, have been made popular by the late Zecharia Sitchin. His interpretations are in many respects questionable and have given rise to a popular fancy and often frantic search for Planet X, the presumed space ship of the Anunnakis.

Other exegetes are much more reliable. I am personally familiar with two of these: the late Laurence Gardner (who died last year), author of "Genesis of the Grail Kings", and Anton Parks who, though his pen name sounds English, is a Frenchman. Parks has been spending the greatest part of his adult life studying the Sumerian tablets. His comparative analysis of the Acadian-Sumerian languages with Egyptian, Hebrew and Greek etymology is the most comprehensive to date. All the more so that, as a young man, he was unwillingly urged into this work by repeated compelling mental flashes which he had to acknowledge as reminiscences of a former life. He has written three volumes of a series of books titled "Les Chroniques du Girku", the last one has been recently published. The history of the genetic manipulations by advanced aliens, which have led to our present human race, is absolutely true. Of course this information is devastating for all religions and cultures of our civilization, but the truth is going to burst into public knowledge very soon, so better be prepared.

The explanations given by Lacerta corroborate exactly Parks' findings and even add some precision to the time scale; and obviously Parks could not have known about Lacerta before he wrote his books.

The books have not (yet) been translated into English, but this is a must for any one with an open mind who also reads French.

André

NOTE: this contributor had previously submitted a wonderful article at Jean de Rignies and the Bugarach...Lon

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RE: The Coyne Incident

We lived in Lewistown Penna. Over this time frame, A pastor and his family (as reported in the local newspaper) was approached via a same kind UFO rendering their vehicle helpless. Everything in their vehicle stopped working, no lights, motor shut off and as I remember the UFO hovered right above their vehicle. Their innocent occurred after dark. It was a cigar shaped object as well.

They were traveling down a roadway that runs parallel with a valley which is very open to line of sight. I think the report was in the local newspaper (Lewistown Sentinel). As I recall this was in the late 1970's.

Barry

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I sat in my bedroom contemplating the thought of making another move while staring at nothing in particular only to suddenly become overwhelmed by the realization that I was not alone. Shifting my vision outward became aware of a individual sitting on what looked like a day bed made of a cloud like formation. He said in a loud confident and prophetic voice that I would indeed do so and even sooner than I expected. Immediately startled at first, yet infinitely curious at what I saw, stood up and approached to see that it was a man except that he had very large brown eyes and bird like wings that covered his shoulders and folded over his arms, leaving only his hands exposed. His medium length hair was very straight and thin, matching the texture and color of the wings.

As I closed the distance between us, the expression on his face turned, first to fear, then repulsion as I asked, in spite of it, if I could feel his wing? He nodded in the affirmative and I reached down and touched the one wing on my right side, his left one, just below the elbow,noting it felt just like the wink of a dead sparrow I had found laying in the grass as a child and even was the same black and white coloring.

The memory of the incident seemed to momentarily transport me back in time to the actual event as I leaned over and picked it up out of the grass, stroking the lifeless feathers of its wings while it lay in my hand. Filling me with a sense of overwhelming sadness. Suddenly, again startled for the second time. looked around me to see that the mothman, along with the conveyance that he had been sitting upon, was gone along with the old memory. Only the feeling of sadness remained.

My next move happened just as the mothman said. I had been in the apt only a short time when I heard a slight scratching on the window screen outside about the mid-night hour where I was working, that grew louder till it could no longer be ignored. Half scared, finely forced self up and opened the blind to see a huge moth the size of a sparrow hanging on the screen outside. It had huge brown eyes that stared back into mine that were chilling.

Meantime, several moves have ensued since and each time I begin to question another the scratching on a outside screen about the midnight hour can be heard. The irony is that after ten years have ended up back in the same perfectly lovely apt where the original mothman return occurred against all odds. Am still hoping I'll never have to move again.

Best wishes, J. L Hedden

A follow up correspondence:

I want to point out that the mothman I encountered could not have been the same one noted in the Keel book although have encountered the same species of Bird Men that are twice. They too feed in flocks and in my experience with them it was on a species of what the inner Earthers term Black Snake. A delicacy that at times can hospitalized some. The Snakes Meat when boiled looks & tastes like lobster. It breeds annually in a few locations and grows to over 20 feet long. Another related species is brown but only breeds in the area every 7 years that when cooked turns red and looks and taste like shrimp.

Their both vegetarians, defy gravity like snails, feeding on the bacteria in moss and dampness. Having long whiskers like catfish and are as nasty and ugly as sin itself.The good news is when the plunged into a boiling pot of water their skin folds up to cover their heads within minutes that make them much more palatable to the cook prior to lobbing off the heads and disposing of those neat looking collars prior to eating them.

The Keel-like Birds are about 8 feet tall, have identical human heads and bodies with large hook like noses except that instead of hands and feet they have claws that are three pronged each like a chickens foot. They are most cunning and have long range binocular vision. They communicate among themselves using eye color and if you ever meet one with red eyes, dive for cover cause its one irritable hungry mean sucker.

Best Wishes, J.L. Hedden

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Hi Lon,

Your article on Reptilian Files is very well put together and I enjoyed it. I read it with great interest.

How about an article on vortexes? My house sits on one. Several years ago, I was weed eating in front of my house when I heard: "DON'T GO ANY FARTHER!!!! That's where the Fairies are!!!! WHAT???? I really didn't believe in them until that moment. My psychic friend, who told me about the vortex, wonders if the fairies created the vortex. He is one of two people that told me about the vortex.

I hear noises through the night often and one day when I came home from working at the prison, I heard natural voices in my utility room. It was like two women talking in normal tone etc. I called out that I needed to use the bathroom. when I came out, I was totally expecting to see two friends (no one in particular). I thought another friend had went to the store for something because there was no car here. When I came out, no one was here.

Also, how about an article about protecting our houses from unwanted, unsolicited intrusion from the reptilians and other questionable characters from other realms.

Thanks,

Elaine

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Hey, Lon. Not sure I mentioned this before, but I live in a 1920s vintage haunted house (quite), but they're mostly harmless. (Got a greeeat photo of the previous owner -- deceased -- walking up the stairs, which he does all the time). The upper story was built entirely with wood from an old church -- and it shows. Anyway, the good news is twofold: their presence keeps the house extra cool (well, COLD) in the summertime -- and MAN, do they keep interlopers at bay, wow; strangers take one step onto the property... and turn right around and hurry off. The ghosts are very protective of the house if your mind's not in the right place.

Now the bad news: their presence has a decidedly technologically disadvantageous effect: they're wireless sinks. When I feel it get cold, I notice on my laptop that my 54g wireless connection has dropped to 1 Mbps, or blanked out entirely. They must be curious and try to look at my screen, then wander off... and the signal returns. Interesting.

Anyway, thought you might like this little tidbit. That Air
Force-created-to-track-UFO thing was veeery interesting. Keep up the good work.

All the best,

"A Man Called Da-da"

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