Reports of a prehistoric creature in untouched Lake Murray

A cryptid known as “Murray” reportedly lives in the swamps on the edges of the largest lake in PNG, Lake Murray in Western Province, which covers a vast area of about 700 sq. miles.

While tales of long ago dinosaurs may sound farfetched and exaggerating, Lake Murray residents says they may have a living, breathing dinosaur hiding out in the swamp land.

Research conducted by Genesis Park found that this creature has been described as resembling a theropod dinosaur.

While Genesis Park says that it was not difficult to find people who claim to have seen a large reptilian that walks erect and is about 15 ft tall. Only a few of the villagers around the lake have actually seen it in the lake. More common were reports from village hunters of running into the creature in the remote swamplands and rivers that feed into the lake.

According to eyewitnesses, villagers travelling in a canoe reported seeing the creature wading in shallow water near Boboa. The following day, a Seventh Day Adventist pastor and a church elder say they saw the animal not far from the first sighting. The creature was described as having a body ‘as long as a dump truck’ and nearly two metres wide, with a long neck and a long slender tail. It was walking on two hind legs ‘as thick as coconut palm tree trunks’, and had two smaller forelegs. The head was similar in shape to a cow’s head, with large eyes and ‘sharp teeth as long as fingers.’ The skin was likened to that of a crocodile, and the creature had ‘largish triangular scoops on the back.

While the testimonials from the local Lake Murray Monster witnesses came across as reasoned, consistent, and credible, more research is needed and a follow-up trip that would press further into the swamps and rivers is pending.

Read More

4,000–year-old Mesopotamian city discovered in Kurdistan

The site where Xarab I Kilashin lies.

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient city, roughly 4,000 years old, on the banks of the Great Zab River in the Kurdistan Region.

The city known as Xarab-I Kilashin was unearthed as part of a major archaeological investigation of a 3,000 square kilometer area in the Region which began in 2012 and is expected to conclude this year.

The region had been off-limits to archaeologists for many years, first because of political instability in the area and later due to the presence of the Islamic State (IS).

"What is surprising is the size of this settlement," one of the expedition leaders, Rafał Koliński of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, told IBTimes UK.

"All the earlier settlements evidenced in the area are very small in size, rarely exceeding 1 hectare. The same can be said of settlements contemporary to Xarab-i Kilashin, our urban site, which were mere villages."

Xarab-i Kilashin is arranged in a semi-circle around the northern river bank, stretching for a diameter of about 300 meters. Settlements of this size were not thought to have existed in the region before the Middle Ages.

The major research project on the settlement history of the Kurdistan Region led by the Institute of Archeology at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań is to be based on the result of an extensive archaeological reconnaissance carried out on both banks of the Great Zab River, 50 km north of Erbil

Some 12,000 artifacts were discovered in the area, including pottery and terracotta stamps used mainly for decorating tissues.

The ancient Mesopotamian city is thought to have been an independent administrative seat for a dignitary who ruled prior to the rise of the Assyrian empire.

The archaeologists plan on releasing a series of maps of the area by 2018.

Read More

Ape-like creature filmed in La Crescenta woodland

Wildlife authorities have been investigating the recent sighting of an ape-like creature in California.

Jake Gardiner had been walking along a woodland hiking trail in the La Crescenta foothills last week when he encountered a peculiar uneasiness and the feeling that something was watching him.

Taking out his cellphone, he recorded footage of the surrounding area in the hope of picking something up. To his surprise, when he watched the video back afterwards he noticed what appeared to be a large ape swinging through the trees above.

"It's a little startling, too, you know? Because you're not really expecting to see an ape up in the trees out there. You're looking for more like deer or mountain lions, stuff like that," he said.

"You can definitely see a torso and four limbs moving around and swinging around," he said.

The video has caught the attention of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Andrew Hughan, with the department, said the video is being investigated with help from Los Angeles animal control.

"We think that it's a pretty good possibility that it is some kind of ape," said spokesman Andrew Hughan. "These animals are incredibly strong and they can very easily kill or seriously injure a person because - if it turns out to be an ape - this animal is scared, hungry, out of its element."

Gardiner said he's been back to the scene a couple of times, trying to get another crack at the possible ape. But wildlife officials said that's a bad idea because if it is an ape, it won't be cute or cuddly.

"It's going to be scared and it's going to be disoriented. Therefore, it's going to be potentially really, really dangerous. They can kill you very easily," Hughan said.

He added if it does turn out to be a chimp, it most likely was someone's illegal pet that either escaped or was dumped. His advice is to stay away from the area and head to the zoo if you're looking for that kind of nature experience.

Read More

Batsquatch

Batsquatch is an elusive flying cryptid reportedly sighted near Mount Saint Helens from 1980s.It resembles a flying creature, similar to the Ahool and the Orang Bati of Southeast Asia, and its name is  derived from the words "bat" and "Sasquatch." 

Appearance:

This creature was said to have yellow eyes, a wolf-like muzzle, blue tinted fur, sharp teeth, bird-like feet and leathery bat-like wings that span up to fifty feet. In addition, Batsquatch is said to be 9 feet tall and has the ability to affect car engines. This is possibly a misunderstood sighting of Mothman considering it also affected man-made things, like Mothman can.

Chronology:

It is widely reported that on  May 1980 was the first time the creature was supposed to have been seen as it showed itself in the shadow of the clouds during the Mount Saint Helens eruption. 

On April 1994, Brian Canfield was driving in Washington's Pierce County when his truck suddenly died. Canfield said a large creature landed in front of him. He said it was human-like, 9 ft tall with batlike wings and also sported a coat of blue fur. Ever since then it has not been seen and skeptics dismiss it as a hoax.

A possible second sighting was reported in 2009 near Mt. Shasta in California. Several hikers witnessed a "huge" creature with leathery wings (spanning 50 ft.) fly out of a crevice in the mountain. At first, an eye-witness described the creature as having a head similar to a pterodactyl, however upon reconsideration the witness claimed it was more akin to a bat or a fox. 

On June 2011 Pheonix Tieraz (pseudonym) was in his yard walking his dog. He went to pick up the dog when he saw something in the sky. He said the following:

"I saw something flying the the sky. It had bat wings, blue fur and had a face similar to eyes glowing red. It was about 9 feet tall at the least, after I watched it just flew away. "

On April 14, 2014 at Archbishop Hoban High School in Akron OH, a second period Spanish class spotted a giant black mass zip by the window of the classroom at incredible speed. The class claims it was about 9 feet tall with a 20-30 foot wingspan.

Read More

Dragon's Breath Chilli Pepper

Dragon's Breath pepper

Death by chili pepper may not be a common way to die, but it's certainly a possibility for unlucky souls adventurous enough to try Dragon's Breath, the new hottest pepper in town.

Mike Smith, the owner of Tom Smith's Plants in the United Kingdom, developed the record-breaking pepper with researchers at the University of Nottingham. He doesn't recommend the pepper for eating, however, because it may be the last thing a person ever tastes.

So how exactly do hot peppers, such as Dragon's Breath, maim or kill those who try to eat them? Let's start with the pepper's spicy stats: Dragon's Breath is so spicy, it clocks in at 2.48 million heat units on the Scoville scale, a measurement of concentration of capsaicin, the chemical that releases that spicy-heat sensation people feel when they bite into a chili pepper. Dragon's Breath is hotter than the current record-holder, the Carolina Reaper, which packs an average of 1.6 million Scoville heat units, as well as U.S. military pepper sprays, which hit about 2 million on the Scoville scale, according to the Daily Post.

The Carolina Reaper was the previous record holder for hottest pepper.

In comparison, the habanero pepper is downright mild at about 350,000 Scoville heat units, as is the jalapeño pepper, which registers at up to 8,000 heat units, according to PepperScale, a site dedicated to hot peppers. Bell peppers have a recessive gene that stops the production of capsaicin, so they have zero heat units, PepperScale reported. [Tip of the Tongue: The 7 (Other) Flavors We Can Taste]

Dragon's Breath, in contrast, is so potent that it will be kept in a sealed container when it goes on display at the Chelsea Flower Show from May 23 to 27 in London, the Daily Post reported.

"I've tried it on the tip of my tongue, and it just burned and burned," Smith told the Daily Post. "I spat it out in about 10 seconds."

Spicy havoc:

When a daredevil, such as Smith, eats an exceptionally spicy pepper, the first sensation is usually mouth numbness, according to Paul Bosland, professor of horticulture at New Mexico State University and director of the Chile Pepper Institute.

"What's happening is that your receptors in your mouth are sending a signal to your brain that there's pain, and it's in the form of hotness or heat, and so your brain produces endorphins to block that pain," Bosland told Live Science previously.

However, unusually hot peppers go beyond numbing the mouth. When these extreme examples are eaten, the body inflates liquid-filled "balloons," or blisters, in areas exposed to the concentrated capsaicin, including the mouth and (if swallowed) the throat, Bosland said. These blisters can help absorb the capsaicin's heat.

"The body is sensing a burn, and it's sacrificing the top layer of cells to say, 'OK, they're going to die now to prevent letting the heat get farther into the body,'" Bosland said.

Some peppers, such as Dragon's Breath, are so hot, that blistering alone would not contain the heat. Rather, their capsaicin permeates the blisters and continues to activate receptors on the nerve endings underneath them, which can lead to a painful burning sensation lasting at least 20 minutes, Bosland said.

In some cases, people vomit up the pepper, as did one 47-year-old man in California who ate a burger topped with ghost pepper puree, according to a 2016 case report in the Journal of Emergency Medicine. The man vomited so violently, he ruptured his esophagus and needed medical attention, Live Science reported.

The immune system can go into overdrive if the capsaicin is too concentrated. That's because TRPV1 receptors — proteins on nerve endings that detect heat — are activated by capsaicin, and erroneously interpret capsaicin as a signal of extreme heat, Live Science reported previously. This mistake can send the body's burn defenses through the roof. [Why Does Your Nose Run When You Eat Spicy Food?]

In some cases, eating a hot pepper can lead to anaphylactic shock, severe burns and even the closing of a person's airways, which can be deadly if left untreated, according to the Post.

However, Smith didn't intend for Dragon's Breath to be part of a meal. Instead, he grew it so that it could be used as a topical numbing anesthetic for people who are allergic to regular anesthetic.

Original article on Live Science.

Read More

Fachen

In both Scottish and Irish folklore, the Fachen (aka Fachan, Fachin or Peg Leg Jack) is a malevolent fairy with an appearance so frightening that it reportedly induced heart attacks in anyone who saw it. It wields a spiked club, and uses it to chase away (and kill, if it can) anything that comes near it. It hates all other life, and will destroy whole farms and orchards in a single day. It is active all year, but you can recognize its lair quite easily, due to there being no trees, animals or grass, just barren ground. It only has one arm and leg, so it compensates for being extremely strong in those limbs.

Appearance:

Descriptions tend to vary and include such physical features as a single eye, a rooster like crest, a mane of black feathers tufted at the top and a very wide mouth. The Fachen also was reported to have a single foot and in some cases is said to have only half a body.One of the strangest physical features of the Fachen was its mangled, arm like appendage which is said to have jutted out of its torso. It was said that with this strong, singular, mangled arm, the Fachen could destroy an entire orchard with a chain in one night.

Legend:

A story in John Francis Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands features a Fachen by the name of Nesnas Mhiccallain who was defeated in a race by the story's hero, Murachadh Mac Brian, who would later become king of Ireland. In Campbell's book the Fachen was also referred to as Direach Ghlinn Eitich, or the Dwarf of Glen Etive.

The Fachen is Monster in My Pocket #114, and resembles a strange, feathery insectile creature.

In a story written by John Francis Campbell the Fachan is described....

"Ugly was the make of the Fachin; there was one hand out of the ridge of his chest, and one tuft out of the top of his head, it were easier to take a mountain from the root than to bend that tuft."

The tale, written in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, tells of a Fachan by the name of Nesnas Mhiccallain being defeated in a race by the Irish hero Murachadh Mac Brian. Through this deed he subsequently becomes the king of Ireland.

The lore of this solitary faery, the Fachan, says that he is madly jealous of the gift of flight and those who have it. He spends all his time brooding on it, bitter that he does not possess it, bitter at such a oversight by the deities! He hates all living things, not just those who fly, and will not tolerate them in his lands. Thus he is rather a lonely figure though it is doubtful that this bothers him.

Read More

4000-Year-Old Funeral Garden Unearthed In Egypt

The Djehuty Project, led by research professor, José Manuel Galán, from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), has discovered a 4,000-year-old funerary garden- the first such garden ever to be found- on the Dra Abu el-Naga hill in Luxor, Egypt. The discovery comes during the 16th year of archaeological excavations which are sponsored this year by Técnicas Reunidas and Indra.

The discoveries made by this project shed light on a key epoch when, for the first time, Thebes (now Luxor) became the capital of the unified kingdom of Upper and Lower Egypt about 4,000 years ago.

Dr. Jose Galán explains, "We knew of the possible existence of these gardens since they appear in illustrations both at the entrances to tombs as well as on tomb walls, where Egyptians would depict how they wanted their funerals to be. The garden itself consisted of a small rectangular area, raised half a meter off the ground and divided into 30 cm2 beds. In addition, next to the garden, two trees were planted. This is the first time that a physical garden has ever been found, and it is therefore the first time that archaeology can confirm what had been deduced from iconography. The discovery and thorough analysis of the garden will provide valuable information about both the botany and the environmental conditions of ancient Thebes, of Luxor 4,000 years ago."

Galán continues, "The plants grown there would have had a symbolic meaning and may have played a role in funerary rituals. Therefore, the garden will also provide information about religious beliefs and practices as well as the culture and society at the time of the Twelfth Dynasty when Thebes became the capital of the unified kingdom of Upper and Lower Egypt for the first time. We know that palm, sycamore and Persea trees were associated with the deceased's power of resurrection. Similarly, plants such as the lettuce had connotations with fertility and therefore a return to life. Now we must wait to see what plants we can identify by analysing the seeds we have collected. It is a spectacular and quite unique find which opens up multiple avenues of research."

"Digging in a necropolis not only allows us to discover details about the world of funerals, religious beliefs and funerary practices, it also helps us discover details about daily life, about society and about the physical environment, both plant and animal. The necropolis thus becomes, as the ancient Egyptians themselves believed, the best way to understand and embrace life," concludes the CSIC researcher.

The garden, or funeral garden, was unearthed in an open courtyard at the entrance of a Middle Kingdom rock-cut tomb very probably from the Twelfth Dynasty, circa 2000 BCE. The garden, measuring 3m x 2m, is raised and is divided into a grid arrangement of 30 cm2 beds distributed in rows of five or seven beds.

According to experts, these small beds may have contained different types of plants and flowers. In addition, at the centre of the raised garden there two beds which are set higher than the others where small trees or shrubs probably grew.

In one corner, the researchers recovered a still upright tamarisk shrub complete with its roots and 30cm-long trunk, beside which was a bowl containing dates and other fruit which may have been given as an offering.

In addition, attached to the facade of the tomb, which the garden is related to for the time being, a small mud-brick chapel (46cm high x 70cm wide x 55cm deep) with three stelae, or stone tombstones, in its interior was also uncovered. These are dated later than the tomb and the garden, coming from the Thirteenth Dynasty, around the year 1800 BCE. One of them belongs to Renef-seneb, and the other to "the soldier ("citizen") Khememi, the son of the lady of the house, Satidenu." On each, reference is made to Montu, a local god from ancient Thebes, and to the funerary gods Ptah, Sokar and Osiris.

"These finds highlight the importance of the area around the Dra Abu el-Naga hill as a sacred centre for a wide range of worship activities during the Middle Kingdom. This helps us understand the high density of tombs in later times as well as the religious symbolism that this area of the necropolis holds," concludes the CSIC researcher.

Read More