Cryptozoology and Mysteries

Alrighty, for any of you that know me, you know that a large part of my life involves natural mysteries and those man made things that no one can explain. I made a small listing of some in an earlier post but I felt like making one with a few of my favorite topics in that genre.

I know that some people think that all this is made up crack-pot stuff and that's fine, it's a free world and you can think what you want but it works both ways, so can those that beleive it.

So please, if you think it's bullshit, just don't read this one.


MOTHMAN

The Mothman is a creature reportedly seen in the Charleston and Point Pleasant areas of West Virginia from November 12, 1966, to December 1967 (Though he is seen in other areas and in much more recent times). Most observers describe the Mothman as a man-sized creature with large reflective red eyes and large wings. The creature was sometimes reported as having no head, with its eyes set into its chest.
A number of hypotheses have been presented to explain eyewitness accounts, ranging from misidentification and coincidence, to paranormal phenomena and conspiracy theories.

KONGAMATO

The Kongamato ("breaker of boats") is a reported pterosaur-like creature said to have been seen in the Mwinilunga district's Jiundu swamps of Western Zambia, Angola and Congo. Suggested identities include a modern-day Rhamphorhynchus, a misidentified bird (such as the very large and peculiar Saddle-billed Stork), or a giant bat.
Frank Melland, in his 1923 book In Witchbound Africa, describes it as living along certain rivers, and very dangerous, often attacking small boats. They are typically described as either red or black in color, with a wingspan of 4 to 7 feet. Members of the local Kaonde tribe identified it as a pterodactyl after being shown a picture of one from Melland's book collection.
In 1956 an engineer, J.P.F. Brown, allegedly saw the creature at Fort Rosebery near Lake Bangweulu in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). It was about 6:00 p.m. when he saw two creatures flying slowly and silently directly overhead. He observed that they looked prehistoric. He estimated a wingspan of about 3 to 3 1/2 feet (1 meter) and a beak-to-tail length of about 4 1/2 feet (1.5 meters). It reportedly had a long thin tail, and a narrow head which he likened to an elongated snout of a dog.

JERSEY DEVIL

The Jersey Devil, sometimes called the Leeds Devil, is a legendary creature or cryptid said to inhabit the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many variations. The Jersey Devil has worked its way into the pop culture of the area, even lending its name to New Jersey's team in the National Hockey League.
Most accounts of the Jersey Devil legend attribute the creature to a "Mother Leeds", a supposed witch of whom it is said that while giving birth to her 13th child she screamed "let it be the devil!" thus the baby was born normally then transformed into a devil like creature, the grotesque offspring flew off into the surrounding pines.

THUNDERBIRD

The Thunderbird is a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. It's considered a "supernatural" bird of power and strength. It is especially important, and richly depicted, in the art, songs and oral histories of many Pacific Northwest Coast cultures, and is found in various forms among the peoples of the American Southwest and Great Plains. Thunderbirds were major components of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex of American prehistory.
Across many North America indigenous cultures, the Thunderbird carries many of the same characteristics. It is described as a large bird, capable of creating storms and thundering while it flies. Clouds are pulled together by its wingbeats, the sound of thunder made by its wings clapping, sheet lightning the light flashing from its eyes when it blinks, and individual lightning bolts made by the glowing snakes that it carries around with it. In masks, it is depicted as many-colored, with two curling horns, and, often, teeth within its beak. The Native Americans believed that the giant Thunderbird could shoot lightning from its eyes.

BLUE or MALTESE TIGERS

The Maltese tiger, or blue tiger, is a suspected coloration morph of a tiger, reported mostly from the Fujian Province of China. It is said to have bluish fur with dark grey stripes. The term "Maltese" comes from domestic cat terminology for blue fur, and refers to the slate grey coloration. Many cats with such colouration are present in Malta, which may have given rise to the use of the adjective in this context; however the tigers have nothing to do with the island.
Most of the Maltese tigers reported have been of the South Chinese subspecies. The South Chinese tiger today is critically endangered, and the "blue" alleles may be wholly extinct. However, "blue" tigers have also been reported from Korea, home of Amur tigers.

MONGOLIAN DEATH WORM

The Mongolian Death Worm (Mongolian: олгой-хорхой, olgoi-khorkhoi, "large intestine worm") is a cryptid purported to exist in the Gobi Desert. It is generally considered a cryptozoological creature; one whose sightings and reports are disputed or unconfirmed.
It is described as a bright red worm with a wide body that is 2 to 5 feet (0.6 to 1.5m) long.
The Worm is the subject of a number of extraordinary claims by Mongolian locals - such as the ability of the worm to spew forth sulfuric acid that, on contact, will turn anything it touches yellow and corroded (which would kill a human), and its purported ability to kill at a distance by means of electric discharge.
Though natives of the Gobi have long told tales of the olgoi-khorkhoi, the creature first came to Western attention as a result of Professor Roy Chapman Andrews' 1926 book On the Trail of Ancient Man. The American palæontologist was not convinced by the tales of the monster that he heard at a gathering of Mongolian officials: "None of those present ever had seen the creature, but they all firmly believed in its existence and described it minutely."

LAKE MONSTERS

Many skeptics consider lake monsters to be purely exaggerations or misinterpretations of known and natural phenomena, or else fabrications and hoaxes. Most lake monsters have no evidence besides alleged sightings and controversial photographs and a large portion are generally believed not to exist by conventional zoology and allied sciences. Misidentified sightings of seals, otters, deer, diving water birds, large fish such as giant sturgeons or wels catfish, logs, mirages, seiches, light distortion, crossing boat wakes, or unusual wave patterns have all been proposed to explain specific reports. Social scientists point out that descriptions of these creatures vary over time with the values and mood of the local cultures, following the pattern of folk beliefs and not what would be expected if the reports were of actual encounters with real animals.
According to the Swedish naturalist and author Bengt Sjögren (1980), the present day belief in lake-monsters is associated with the legends of kelpies[citation needed]. Sjögren claims that the accounts of lake-monsters have changed during history. Older reports often talk about horse-like appearances, but more modern reports often have more reptile and dinosaur-like-appearances, and Sjögren concludes that the legends of kelpies evolved into the present day legends of lake-monsters where the monsters changed the appearance since the discovery of dinosaurs and giant aquatic reptiles from the horse-like water-kelpie to a dinosaur-like reptile, often a plesiosaur.
Other widely varied theories have been presented by believers, including unknown species of giant freshwater eels or surviving aquatic, prehistoric reptiles, such as plesiosaurs. One theory holds that the monsters that are sighted are the occasional full-grown form of an amphibian species that generally stays juvenile all its life like the axolotl. Cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans held throughout his life that plesiosaur-type sighting were actually an unknown species of long-necked seal.
In many of these areas, especially around Loch Ness, Lake Champlain and the Okanagan Valley, these lake monsters have become important tourist draws.

TSUCHINOKO

The Tsuchinoko (ツチノコ or 槌の子?) literally translating to "hammerspawn," is a legendary snake-like cryptid from Japan. The name tsuchinoko is prevalent in Western Japan, including Kansai and Shikoku; the creature is known as bachi hebi (バチヘビ?) in Northeastern Japan.
Tsuchinoko are described as being between 30 and 80 centimeters in length, similar in appearance to a snake, but with a central girth that is much wider than its head or tail, and as having fangs and venom similar to that of a viper. Some accounts also describe the tsuchinoko as being able to jump up to a meter in distance.
According to legend, some tsuchinoko have the ability to speak and a propensity for lying, as well as a taste for alcohol. Legend also records that it will sometimes swallow its own tail so that it can roll like a hoop, similar to the mythical Hoop snake.

ARTIFICIAL CRANIAL DEFORMATION

Artificial cranial deformation or artificial deformation of the skull is any practice of intentionally deforming the skull of a human being. It is done by distorting the normal growth of a child's skull by applying force. It may also be performed as a rite of passage in adulthood or spiritual maturation.
Early examples of intentional human cranial deformation predate written history and date back to 45,000 BC in Neanderthal skulls from the Shanidar Cave in Iraq. Extreme practices have seemingly not persisted into this century, but mild forms are still practiced by various groups worldwide.
The earliest written record of cranial deformation dates to 400 BC in Hippocrates’ description of the Macrocephales people who were named for their practice of cranial modification (Gerszten and Gerszten, 1995).
The reasons for performing cranial deformation are varied but no one knows for sure.
A prominent hypothesis is that deformation was performed to signify group affiliation (Gerszten and Gerszten, 1995; Hoshower et al., 1995; Tubbs, Salter, and Oaks, 2006).
Or, it may have been done to demonstrate elite status. This may have played a key role in Egyptian and Mayan societies. Queen Nefertiti is often depicted with what may be an elongated skull, as is King Tutankhamen (Gerszten and Gerszten, 1995).

MORGELLONS

Morgellons (also called Morgellons disease or Morgellons syndrome), is a name given in 2002 by Mary Leitao[1] to a proposed condition referred to by the Centers for Disease Control as unexplained dermopathy and characterized by a range of cutaneous (skin) symptoms including crawling, biting, and stinging sensations; finding fibers on or under the skin; and persistent skin lesions (e.g., rashes or sores). Current scientific consensus holds that Morgellons is not a new disorder and is instead a new and misleading name for a well known condition. Most doctors, including dermatologists and psychiatrists, regard Morgellons as a manifestation of known medical conditions, including delusional parasitosis, although the Mayo Clinic says that some health professionals believe that Morgellons disease is a specific condition likely to be confirmed by future research.
Despite the lack of evidence that Morgellons is a novel or distinct condition and the absence of any agreed set of diagnostic symptoms, the Morgellons Research Foundation and self-diagnosed Morgellons patients have successfully lobbied members of Congress and the U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate the proposed condition. The CDC states that while it is not known at present whether the condition represents a new disease entity, or whether persons who identify themselves as having Morgellons have a common cause for their symptoms, share common risk factors, or are contagious, it has begun an epidemiological investigation of the "Unexplained Dermopathy (aka 'Morgellons')."


Well, that's just a few of the worlds mysteries that you can learn about. Who knows, maybe you could be the one to find out the truth behind them.

~Shara (P.S. all info from Wikipedia, pics from Google)