Myth or Reality, Today's Perception on Monsters

Monsters, which are seemingly just myth and fantasy, do have some truths
to their legend. In fact, some creatures may have actually existed and still do
today, even though they should not be percieved as monsters.
What if the stories of a giant "ape-like" creature that have circulated
over the globe for centuries were true? There have been numerous sightings and f
irst-hand accounts of this creature everywhere in the world, from the United Sta
tes to the Himalayas. One of the more famous sightings took place at Bluff Creek
in 1967. Roger Patterson and a friend were horse back riding when they saw a hu
ge hair covered creature. It began to run away when it noticed the two men, but
not before Roger shot some film of the creature. The creature that was filmed wa
s a female, while you cannot see in this view, breasts are clearly visable in ot
her frames of the film. Scientists who have studied the film have said that the
estimated stride of the creature is larger than that of a man. They also say it
would have been very difficult for a man to simulate this larger stride. Footpri
nts were the same type as typically found at a Bigfoot sighting. A more recent s
ighting of Bigfoot took place last year on July 11, in the Wild Creek area in th
e foothills of Snoqualmie National Forest.The picture was obtained from the phot
ographer bt Cliff Crook, the director of Bigfoot Central. The cameraman was out
on a hike when he heard splashing coming from the stream below him. He then foun
d himself face to face with the creature. Usually after most sightings, footprin
ts of the usually large creatures can be found. Footprints have been found every
where including at these two mentioned sightings. The length of the prints has v
aried between 1' to 2.5' indicating from scientific study that Bigfoot could be
as tall as nine feet. Also the deep inprint that is left indicates that the crea
ture could weigh as much as 600 pounds. Researchers at Ohio State University hop
e to come within a hair of verifying the existence of Bigfoot. Scientists are us
ing a new DNA matching process to determine whether there may be more to the Sas
quatch legend than some blurry film footage and a few giant footprints. The evid
ence consists of two tufts of hair, each with about a dozen individual strands,
recovered in Washington State after a recent sighting. "This is the first time t
hat I'm aware of that anybody will be able to do any DNA extractions on Bigfoot,
" said Frank Poirier, chairman of Anthropology. "I don't expect anything to happ
en because I'm pretty sceptical about this. But good science requires some wild
goose chases from time to time." The hair that is being tested was from creature
s reportedly observed at a distance of about 100 feet in a dence, dark forest. I
f the Washington hair samples turn out to be from an unknown primate, it will be
compared with hair samples reputed to be from the ancient Chinese "wildman", a
human-like primate that was investigated in Asia. There is much evidence that to
prove that a Sasquatch could be an actual species of ape, maybe even a decendan
t of Human beings themselves.
The Loch Ness Monster is one of the most compelling myths in human lore,
and for good reason because some of the scientific fact that lay behind it is a
mazing. The vast majority of the Earth's oceans and seas are unexplored. Is it r
eally hard to believe that there are creatures that live so far down or in such
remote areas, that they are rarely, if ever, seen by humans. The Giant Squid was
thought of as a creature of myth and legend until recently, when scientists fou
nd corpses of such a creature. Many of these "sea serpents" descriptions are sim
ilar to creatures that are thought to be extinct. The Coelacanth was thought to
be extinct for 70 million years until it was discovered alive and well in 1938.L
och Ness is located in the North of Scotland and is one of a series of interlink
ed lochs which run along the Great Glen. The Great Glen is a distinctive incisio
n which runs across the country and represents a large geological fault zone. Fo
r many years it has been supposed that there is a large dinosaur-like "monster"
resident in Loch Ness. The evidence for it's existence are a series of sightings
of a Plesiosaur-like dinosaur throughout the last 100 years. The case has been
occasionally been supported by indistinct photographic evidence. However, severa
l scientific studies have been conducted, including thorough sonar surveys of th
e Loch, and these have not revealed any presence of such a "monster". Many peopl
e believe that the size (21 square miles) and great depth of the Loch (almost 80
0 feet), together with potential underwater caves, gives the monster many places
to hide. Regardless of the truth, suggestion of the monster's existence makes L
och Ness one of Scotland's top tourist attractions. One of the more famous sight
ings of the monster occured on July 22, 1933. Mr. and Mrs. George Spicer of Lond
on were driving along the Loch Ness Lakeshore Road returning from a holiday in N
orthern Scotland when their car nearly struck a huge, black long-necked creature
. The "prehistoric animal," as Mr. Spicer described it, shambled across the road
, slithered through the underbrush, and splashed into the murky Loch. Had the Sp
icers experienced a rare land encounter with the Loch Ness Monster? To date ther
e have been over 3000 recorded sightings of the celebrity monster, according to
cryptozoologist Roy P. Mackal, author of "The Monsters of Loch Ness". This figur
e may be on the high side, but whatever the figure is, Nessie is certainly one o
f the most-sighted monsters in the world. Only a month before the Spicer sightin
g a less-talked about sighting had been reported by James MacIntosh. He was trav
elling home to Inverness after a fishing trip with his son, also named James. Yo
ung James had first sighted the unidentified object, telling his father, "Dad, t
hat's not a boat." "I was concentrating on my driving but I looked over the Loch
and I suddenly saw this brown thing with a neck like a giraffe break the surfac
e. It was was an eerie experience. It was swimming quite swiftly at the time," r
ecounted the elder MacIntosh. While the world first learned of a Loch Ness Monst
er in July, 1933, there had been numerous earlier sightings of a large unidentif
ied creature in the Loch, dating back to St. Columba's oft-mentioned encounter w
ith an unknown creature in the River Ness in 565 A.D. Now with all the popularit
y of Nessie in the 30's there have been quite a few hoaxes. One insodent involve
d a couple of teenagers building a raft which looked like Nessie and taking a pi
cture. The picture made them famous but was exposed as a hoax shortly after. One
theory on the Loch Ness Monster still holds true today. The theory is that Ness
ie is a Plesiosaur, a dinosaur which was thought to be extinct along with all th
e other Dinosaurs. Not only could there be on Monster, but it would make more se
nse to say that there is a community of Plesiosaurs living in the Loch. Plesiosa
urs were air breathing amphibians, which would explain why there have been so ma
ny sightings of a sea creature, even on land. Because of numerous sightings, and
some good scienific theory, Nessie has built a reputation for being a possible
reality.
Sharks, viewed as monsters by most, are just part of the ecosystem and d
eserve to be treated as any other predator, not as monsters. In the movie "Jaws"
, a shark is seen terrorizing a small community of people in the heat of Summer.
The shark in this movie is a Great White, which nowadays is the largest and mos
t feared shark at up to 15 feet long. However the movie does exaggerate quite a
bit, and the shark is made to be 22 feet long, a huge exaggeration by any means.
This movie made sharks out to be massive, unthinking maneaters, which in real l
ife is not true. Most people, even now have that same attitude about sharks, whi
ch is completey ignorant. Personally, after I saw the movie, I was afraid of the
swimming pool, but as I was educated about the subject, I lost my fear complete
ly. A trip to Sea Worldand the Florida Keys, where I swam with sharks proved tha
t I was over that. Most shark attacks happen for some reason, whether it be beca
use the shark confused the surfboard for the underside of a seal, or the bright
colours of the man's swimsuit peaked the sharks curiosity. Besides, shark attack
s are so few and far between that you are more likely to die from a bee sting th
an a bite. Very few people actually know what goes on when a shark feeds. Just i
magine........a young Californian sea lion splashes about on the surface of the
Pacific Ocean but ten metres from it's safehold, a massive rookery of the sea li
ons all basking on the rockey shores of Northern California. Luckily, the unexpe
rienced sea lion is among a small "raft" of older sea lions, a tactic used by se
a lions to ward off predators that go after sole, lone individuals.........and t
hen the young pup strays a little far from the frolicking adults, out into the o
pen waters. The pup looks around, confused as to where everyone has gone. He at
once spots the raft, and starts a feeble attempt towards them. Splashing about
like a puppy dog walks, the young sea lion inches towards the group of adults, n
early there. Suddenly from behind the pup, a wall of water rises up in the sinis
ter outline of a large shark , it's caudal fin swishing violently from side to s
ide. The pup keeps swimming, but it is no match for the twelve foot long Great W
hite Shark closing in from behind. The shark takes the pup quickly and quietly,
closing it's massive jaws and jerking it's head repeatedly. This feeding describ
ed was a more passive attack, by the Great White's standards. Usually the first
encounter is a massive blow from the snout of the shark or a small bite to get a
feel for it's prey. That is also why 90% of shark attack victims survive, human
s do not taste as good as a fatty seal and can usually escape after the enitial
contact. Even though sharks have the capacity to behave like monsters, they act
on instinct alone and do not hunt humans beings purposely.
Monsters, whether they be fictional or not, all have some truth in them.
Whether they be real or not all depends in how you see them.