An Octopus Walking...On Land.

Something I wanted to post but kept forgetting.  In Some Things Strange & Sinister  I wrote a chapter entitled "The Nameless Thing Of Berkley Square" -it concerned mysterious deaths and hauntings at a fashionable London home.

Now one of the theories was that the "slithering horror" might have been an octopus that had dragged itself up out of the sewers and later returned there.

Now I ridiculed the idea (I still do not believe that any octopus was involved) of a land octopus because despite tales I'd never seen such a thing.  Now I have and you can also. Its odd and no hoax.
 Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjQr3lRACPI

Then go here for scientific takes on this.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/octopus-chronicles/2011/11/24/land-walking-octopus-explained-video/

Time For A Sunday Sermon

As is normal when I'm trying to relax and catch up on old and new events involving Sasquatch, sea creatures and UFOs (oh come on -I was investigating them from 1973-2003), not to mention ghosts, I started trawling You Tube.

There really is so much abysmal crap on it with the usual fakers/hoaxers that really need to be given mental health care workers. Then again, maybe I'm being to grumpy? I don't mind the people who want to have a laugh or openly label their videos as "mockumentary" -I can skip past those. 

Its the ones who claim it is all real and lack any imagination -guy in a monkey suit trying to walk like the creature in the Patterson-Gimlin footage (but no one ever gets it even close) or have no imagination so its "oh, duude, let's do a quatch Blair Witch film!"  I actually fell into a coma watching two of those yesterday but luckily I fought back to life (my sister claims I was actually sleeping -but she aint no professional duude).

Which videos would I recommend?

Well, unless you want to waste time avoid Big Foot Hunters. I am sorry but I always had a lot of faith in the Bigfoot Field  Researchers Organisation (BFRO) until I saw these episodes.  Firstly, yeah, I know "Bigfeet" and "Quatch" or "Quatchie" is very annoying.  I do need to point out, though, that Ivan T. Sanderson (one of my heroes) did write "Bigfeet" in Abominable Snowman -Legend Come To Life.  I use "Bigfoot" or "Sasquatch" for plural, too.



I got side-tracked somewhat there.  Right, first, the old documentaries which give you the basics. In Search Of  was narrated by non-other than Leonard Nimoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z0S2zPNP6s

Then you have Peter Graves (Yes, Peter frickin' Graves!) in his Bigfoot quest, though it does skip out at one point to take a quick look at the Loch Ness creature) in Mysterious Monsters (1976) and there is a full movie version available!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjVIX98wFN8

More modern times and I'd go for two Monster Quest episodes.   

Sasquatch Attack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iTYP2mqkVM

and a later follow up inventively titled sasquatch Attack II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYkxHm5o-k4 

Monster Quest Critical Evidence is quite interesting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8csreQ5qYbo 

There are other episodes and documentaries but I think there is a great of "playing up" for the camera in some and even worse one-liners that make you cringe: "I've a feeling tonight we're gonna get our Bigfoot/evidence" and "We stand a better chance than anyone before" and "Let's lock n load!" anyone shouting that out while dressed in cammo "hunting" an elusive primate in the dark loses credibility.

As for analyses of the Patterson-Gimlin "Patty" footage...well, there are lab tests using high tech to see whether a tall athletic person can emulate its movements (fails), analyses of the footage which with todays technology (remember the footage was shot in October 1967 when even Hollywood had trouble creating realistic looking ape suits) reveals things that were not originally seen in the shaky footage but if P & G faked this suit then they were both genius level effects men.  For instance the "leg bump":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR_6GE3whF8&feature=related

We also have Bill Munns excellent analysis of the footage and no one has ever gone into this amount of in-depth checking before.  The sceptics could always respond "Its a man in a gorilla suit" and you ask "Why didn't the sceptics use all this tech stuff to explain the footage away?"  Oh, they are -but they are using Munns' footage to 'prove' points and failing. Seriously, I was always sceptical on the P-G footage and I have tried to view the portions of footage the sceptics put forward but it is so far inane and not far off name-calling.  I love the "Look -its a loose bit of suit cloth and THEY say its a leaf stuck to the sole of its foot!" uh, well, it's been established that there was no such material until the mid 1980s and, though I look hard and pause a lot I can't see much other than what might be a leaf -it is walking in softish earth in..uh, a forest...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKUwdHex1Zs&feature=related

And I found a link to an interview with John Bindernagel who has to be one of the most thorough and respected Sasquatch researchers on how he got involved in the matter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6cA4avGLYg

Now, Jane Goodall was a very famous naturalist and though I had read that she accepted Sasquatch as a reality I had never heard her say so in her own words so there was always the thought of misquote at the back of my mind.  Now I have a recording of her speaking on the subject:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NmCmfdFAhQ


Now, I don't want to get all Sasquatch obsessive so...

As some people will know -either through talking to me or reading my book Some Things Strange & Sinister and Some More Things Strange & Sinister I have a very keen interest in "mystery" sea creatures. I have absolutely no doubt that there are many undiscovered creatures in the depths of our seas and oceans.  I do get fed up of seeing seals or wakes in water called "mysterious sea monster" though.  So, what has You Tube to offer on this?

Again, I go back to two Monster Quest editions that look at the subject of giant squid and octopus:

Season 1 episode 3: Giant Squid Found

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9zCCv2jp0M&feature=related


And a follow-up of sorts looking for giant octopus season 2 episode 11: Boneless Horror

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzw3DQ3lWYc 

Series 3 episode 7: Mega Jaws
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybxskJkFqaQ&feature=related 

I think that the best comments, applicable also to Bigfoot and other creature research comes at the end of "Boneless Horror".

After looking at camera footage, diver Dale Pearson says:"I'd like to leave it (camera)  down there a few more days"

Diver and marine researcher Scott Cassell then responds with: "I'd like to leave it down there for a year."

And that is the key. For over thirty years I was a wildlife advisor to UK police forces specialising in exotic cats and, sometimes, mustelids and canids (canids see my book:The Red Caper:Canids).  Farmers, experienced hunters and others would go to an area where there was cat (leopard or puma) activity and set up cameras and lie in wait. Nothing.  They leave and the next day the cat turns up.

You can cammo-up as much as you want but, whether large cats or hairy hominids, they will both smell and sense you.  It's incredible how they do it but they do -its how they survive. Spray as much "anti-scent" on yourself as you like but even if it did work these creatures have eyes and ears...they also note how other animals and birds react and that tells them "somethings not right".

Trail-cams need to be set up and left for as long as possible. Some wildlife researchers set up cameras that send back photographs to a base via satellite-link.

Snellgrove, featured in the Sasquatch Attack episodes would be a perfect location for such a long term camera study.  We have so much technology today from audio-recording devices, infra red/heat cameras and night vision that evidence can be gathered BUT it will take time.  Tv companies want in-and-out with a few days/week because of schedule and cost.  After the stone-throwing incident at Snellgrove what else might have been recorded had the team stayed on a few more days or weeks?

Now, before I go on to other work that is waiting for me, I need to mention The Paranormal Report. Its a podcast taking the next step up from those old American radio shows that took weekly looks at the odd and weird.  The main host is Jim Harold and its a fun show worth checking out:


http://jimharold.com/guests/

and you can watch episodes on you tube.

Hope this has not been all boring?!


The Red Paper:Canids
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-red-papercanines-vol1/18605332?productTrackingContext=author_spotlight_338105_

Some Things Strange & Sinister

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/some-things-strange-sinister/14958906?productTrackingContext=author_spotlight_338105_

Some More Things Strange & Sinister
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/some-more-things-strange-sinister/14847371?productTrackingContext=author_spotlight_338105_

To Report A Strange Beast, A Ghost or A UFO...

 I am very interested in hearing from anyone who has seen a UFO, strange beast, ghosts or who has studied the subject seriously.

You can email me here:
blacktowercg@hotmail.com

Thanks.

Mystery Beast At The Waterhole

A repost from 2011.

A few days ago I forwarded a url link to cryptozoologist Loren Coleman (a link to his Cryptomundo blog is over on the blog list).  I thought that Loren might find it of interest and wish to share it with others.

However, I have not heard back yet and I've been holding on to this since July, 2010 so want to "get it out there".

I was looking at the usage of trail-cams and how good they were for one of my own projects. I came across the web site Buckshot Survival by accident and scanned over the photographs before moving onto another page.  It was then that I said out loud "What the-?"  I clicked back to the page and saw that fourth photo.

Here is that blog entry:

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 

Water Tank Pictures in Texas

 

I receved this in an email sorry I don't know who took the pictures to give them proper credit.

Take a look at what shows up at a South Texas stock water tank in dry weather. For those of you that have never hunted in South Texas , sometimes we post motion detector cameras at our feeders/tanks to see what is going on.

Check out this sequence at a water tank. Watch till the end.

Cool Mt. Lion picture.

Great looking Bobcat.

And then...

Just so you can see the image larger...

It's a Coati (Nasua narica)

Coati occupy habitats ranging from hot/arrid  areas , grasslands and bush areas to the humid South American rainforests and  even the cold slopes of the Andean Mountains.  The geographical range of the Coati extends from the South Western United States -southern Arizona, Texas and New Mexico and through northern Argentina.

So, no big surprise but it does show the variety of wildlife that can be filmed using trail/game-cams.  And if you want a better image of Nasua narica:

Interestingly, the water tank individual appears not to have a tail in view -someone pointed out to me that the ears are not very pronounced, one thought they were missing.  I think this is just due to angle. It just goes to show how knowledgable some hunters aren't on local wildlife -but then, they are only interested in shooting it.

I am aware, from my years as a police forces wildlife consultant and running the Exotic Animals Register (EAR) that there are/were 10-12 coati that formed a colony in Cumbria, UK. That came as news to me from Police and wildlife rangers.

Get a trail-cam --you never know what you'll film!

ANOMALOUS OBSERVATIONAL PHENOMENA: What Landed At Gatton?

ANOMALOUS OBSERVATIONAL PHENOMENA: What Landed At Gatton?: The following is taken from Some More Things Strange & Sinister On a quiet Sunday afternoon the last thing you ought to expec...

What Landed At Gatton?

The following is taken from Some More Things Strange & Sinister

    On a quiet Sunday afternoon the last thing you ought to expect is to become embroiled in yet another UFO mystery.  Well, unless you are me that is. 

    In February, 2004, I answered the telephone to find it was Squadron Leader “Colin Tarr”, who had been an associate of Air Vice Marshall Sir Victor Goddard and Admiral of the Fleet Lord Peter Hill-Norton, and knew as much about the AOP Bureau as I did –and then some. I had never met Tarr nor spoken to him but he knew all the case reports we had sent to the Ministry of Defence as well as about reports that never got submitted officially.  When he initially contacted me I had thought it a hoax but he’d proven his connections easily.  For that reason when he asked “Fancy hearing something interesting?” I was interested but replied “I am retired now,you know” which got a loud laugh followed by “No such thing, old boy!”

    I was told that something unusual had happened in 1999 near to a place called Gatton, in Shropshire.  Some rough details were given but I pointed out that what I was being told amounted to not much at all.  “Wait a day or so and you’ll be contacted by a field officer –he’ll give you the details.” 

    Surprisingly, the person who contacted me I already knew so it wasn’t long before I had all the pieces.

    Around September 1999*, at approximately 15:15 hours and in good, clear daylight, a large number of observers including hill-walkers, horse-riders and botanist Nora Hill, saw a low-level flying discoidal object.  Walkers on Stiper Stones,were able to look down at the object as it passed and reported that the top of it looked “like mother of pearl.”  Colouration –possibly markings?—were reported.  The object was seen to land “heavily” and remained on the ground for some 6-7 minutes before ascending into the air and flying off.

    Looking at the information later supplied to me helped to conclude that there may have been a strong electro-magnetic field present because particles kicked up by the object created a circle around it.

    This would just have been another “UFO landing” had it not been for what happened next.   A local RAF man had mentioned that a team had been to the area to check things out and talk to some witnesses.  The RAF man immediately asked the Field Officer not to mention this, however, when another officer mentioned the team it was considered an “open fact”.

    The Field Officer contacted the base in question –MoD Boscombe Down. The MoD Boscombe Down is an aircraft testing site located south of Amesbury, Wiltshire. And it is run and managed by QinetiQ; the company created as part of the break-up of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in 2001 by the UK Ministry of Defence. It is the home of the Empire Test Pilots' School.

    At the time of the Gatton landing it was known as RAF Boscombe Down and since 1939 had evaluated aircraft for the British armed forces and a lot more.  The Field Officer identified himself and requested confirmation that a team had been sent to Shropshire.  There was a delay as someone else was passed on to field the call.  This person   asked a few questions and then stated: “We don’t just send people out anywhere you know.  We are a busy establishment and I can’t recall anyone mentioning Gatton.”  After an apology for not being able to help the conversation ended.

    The Field Officer told me that it had been very interesting because:”I never once mentioned Gatton –just an incident in Shropshire!”  Made me wonder.

    But then came the task of talking to people.  For this the Field Officer called on a well known local man who had worked with Customs and Excise as well as the police and passed on local UFO reports, James Green.  While the Field Officer was talking to Mr. Green, a warden responsible for the area in question, the phone rang.  The caller identified himself as “Dr. David Clark, Sheffield University” –as it was a speaker phone the Field Officer confirmed this.  Mr. Green was asked whether he could investigate the incident and pass all the  data along to an address [a Post Office Box as it turned out]?  Mr. Green agreed, though he was suspicious as ‘Dr. Clark’ had mentioned knowing that he’d visited the site.

    The RAF team who had visited the site were reported to Mr. Green who had not been contacted and vehicles had crossed land without permission.  A Wing Commander who would not give his name but claimed to be from the Flight Investigation Unit, Boscombe Down, denied Mr. Green access to the area and stated that it was “for public safety”.

    Green, and others, watched as coverall suited men began sanitising the area; picking up anything that was not going into “odd looking vacuum cleaner style devices”.  A couple of other men were using devices that could not be clearly seen.  Site integrity was maintained until they had finished and with a “thank you” they drove off.

    All of this was duly noted down.  The odd thing was that the object, according to all the witnesses, was far too small to have been manned.

    When I later spoke to Dr. David Clark, at Sheffield University, he was brief and to the point: he had never heard of the Gatton incident and had certainly not contacted Mr. Green.  That was that.  

 Incidentally,there is no one else based at Sheffield University called “Clark”/”Clarke” with an interest in UFOs.  A request had been placed in with the report Mr. Green sent to the address given which stated that there was “something” that he didn’t want to put into writing so could he meet Dr. Clark?

    He never received a response.

    We could all speculate on who the caller might have been but it really was not important to the incident.  I checked around, the Field Officer checked around and even Mr. Green tried his bit but we all reached a dead-end.  One UFO group did claim that they were told “small bodies were removed and flown off in a helicopter” but this was pure fantasy.

    To my mind, once everything had been collated, it was quite clear what had come down in Gatton and then flown away.  A Remotely Piloted Vehicle [RPV].  The size and details seemed right and similar devices had been tested for assessment as battlefield intelligence gatherers.  This was probably a far more up-to-date device than the one that created a huge UFO stir when it was sighted by a trainee pilot and instructor over Blackbush,Hampshire in the 1980s: that device had originated at Boscombe Down.

    I sent everything to Squadron Leader Tarr and washed my hands of the whole affair.  Why had I been contacted to look into a “possible UFO incident” if it was known from the start what the object was?  To confuse the issue –or to find out whether anyone had spotted something that might give a clue to why it temporarily landed?

    One thing I learnt with the AOP Bureau was that sometimes we were given leads that led to non-UFO events and the data we gathered was obviously useful to someone.  So, if you read of a “UFO crash” in 1999, at Gatton,Shropshire, you know what it really was!

 *It has been requested,for a specific reason,that the exact date is not given and I have agreed.

NB:sadly,since writing this chapter I have heard that Mr. Green has passed away.

A Very Unexpected Surprise!

THANK YOU to all those who have visited this site since it was set up on Saturday -1000!!!



Now I'll have to keep posting!