When Flying Saucers Attack!

[Celesta]

Who are the Lost 400? Me showing my ignorance again.

[plang]

You are one of them celesta, which leaves 399.

[Mike Covell]

Who are the Lost 400? Me showing my ignorance again.

A band of ruthless wanderers, committing libel, copyright infringement, and general nastyness.

Luckily I have selected a band of brothers (and sisters) to fight for truth, justice and the Ripperology way!

[Celesta]

I understand, Mike.

You are one of them celesta, which leaves 399.

Hunh? What are going on about? Why are you torqued at me?

[Mike Covell]

I think Plang was kidding!!

I just read what Arthur C Clarke has had written on his grave stone, as he was buried today.

Here lies Arthur C Clarke. He never grew up and did not stop growing

Wonderful man, Wonderful message

[plang]

celesta, I have no idea what I was on about. Still don't.

Mike is right, just kidding.

Mike, still trying to figure out your signature, umquam.That is a word used by the Romans, was it not? Means, at any time,ever? Some kind of Latin ?

[Magpie]

Out of curiosity, anyone here ever seen a lake monster, or live near a body of water that allegedly contains one?

We have one here (Lake Ontario, nicknamed "Kingsie", but it hasn't been seen since the 1930's.

There's a couple of smaller lakes just to the north that supposedly contain odd creatures, one of them (can't remember offhand) still has sightings on occasion.

[Mike Covell]

Well, my gran claims to have seen Nessie back in 1933!!

She took regular holidays to Scotland as they had relatives up there and one summer she remembers being in the back of the car and her father, who seemed excited pulled over.
He ushered everyone out of the car and over to the roadside which looked out over the Loch.
She described it thus,
"We stood on the road overlooking the loch, on the far side was a large black shiny mass, it had a large body, fat stumpy legs, but the longest neck, it just sat at the waters edge partially in, but resting on the shore, it moved quitely and slowley back into the loch"

I asked if she had seen an elephant, because there was a circus owner who was supposed to have taken his elephants down for a drink at the loch.

"No it wasn't an elephant, in fact, i have seen nothing like it since!"

She told the story shortly before she passed away, when i was still a kid, but all my aunties and uncles speak of it.
She was a no nonesense kind of woman, and had 12 kids!!

We were in Wales and there is a lake there which is supposed to contain a giant, no birds are said to land on the lake, but as we stopped for lunch we noticed a couple of seagulls floating along quite happily!!

There are no lake monsters in Hull, but certain maps showing the surrounding estates do say "Here be monsters"

[sdreid]

Funny that Lake Michigan, 120 miles from here, is larger than some seas but I've never heard of a monster in it. It's at the "monster latitude" too.

A few years ago, about a half mile from my house, some people claimed they saw something like a large crocodile in the Illinois River. I don't know if that qualifies as "The Illinois River Monster". Maybe that's what sunk the Columbia in 1917 and thought it was a German submarine all along or a USO. All they said was that they struck a submerged object.

[Sam Flynn]

Mike, still trying to figure out your signature... Some kind of Latin ?

I think Mike's slagging off "Jack the Ripper's Black Magic Rituals", somehow:

Niger (black) Veneficus (magic[ian]) ritus (rite) est (is the) pessimus (worst) libri (books) umquam (ever)

[Mayerling]

On Lakes and Monsters

Hi all,

I have seen as many lake and river monsters as I have had experiences seeing UFOs. Meaning I've seen none.

As far as I know the Hudson, East, and Harlem Rivers, New York Harbor, the Narrows, the Long Island Sound, and the Jersey waterways have no monsters in them. The closest legendary one is in Lake Champlain, which (as you know) was briefly (about three years ago) added to the Great Lakes by
a manourver by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont to get more Federal funds for the upkeep of that Lake.

The states bordering the real five Great Lakes were rather upset about that action - but after getting the funding Leahy agreed to return the situation to only five Great Lakes.

There are plenty of huge sea creatures that exist that are monsters - the giant squid for example. And even prehistoric creatures like the coelocanth
(I think that is how it is spelled). But if you can prove a dinosaur exists in
Loch Ness or any of the others congradulations.

Best wishes,

Jeff

[Mike Covell]

I read a book a few years ago which stated just about every lake/Loch in Ireland has a beastie of some sort!!

I love the stuff from area within the Congo were these guys have no tv, radio or contact with the outside world but continue to tell explorers about mythical beasts in the local lakes.

I did plan a trip to Loch Ness when my friend and I had left School, but we didn't have the funds, and he had to train before he went to join the Royal Engineers!

It is a dream to go up there, maybe when the kids are older!

[Celesta]

NO river beasties or ocean monsters except for one rather large hammerhead shark in the Bahamas, from a boat, thank goodness, and several 5 and 6 foot barracuda in a reef off the Florida keys. Scary enough, esp. one of the latter guys, as I came eye to eye with one.

[Mike Covell]

I have only ever seen a shark in real life in captivity, thankfully behind loads of thick glass!!

We have the Deep, in Hull which is a massive deep tank full of fish and sharks, they have some giant crabs that look like the head with legs in The Thing!!

We went through the tank in the lift, and the lift stops to take a look over the different species, we thought it had broken down, then some giant shark floated past and we all screamed!!

No wonder I have a bad heart!

[Mike Covell]

Just picked up "The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits" for only £1.50, its a beast of a book a couple of inches thich and packed full of amazing encounters and some great pics!!

I was Amazon yesterday and picked up Melvin Harris's "Ripper File" and "Bloody Truth" for £3.00 each, both hard backed!!!

I am reading a lot more just awaiting dates for the new tests to come through, but I just hope its sooner rather than later!