Lake Monsters continued

Long before Nessie's Media debut, Ogopogo, Canada's most famous lake monster, resident of Lake Okanagan in British Columbia, was making media waves. Roy W. Brown, (editor of the Vancouver Sun) in 1926 (a full 7 years before the article on Nessie) wrote (Too many reputable people have seen ( the monster) to ignore the seriousness of actual facts". Over the years there have been hundreds of sightings at Loch Ness, but thousands of sightings of Ogopogo, including half a dozen films. The first time Ogopogo was caught on film was August of 1968, when Art Folden and his family spotted something near the shore of the lake late one afternoon. Using an old 8mm camera Mr. Folden recorded the animal submerging and resurfacing multiple times. Having very little film left, Folden stopped his camera every time the creature submerged and started filming again each time it resurfaced.According to Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe ( authors of The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep) one Kerry Voth examined the Folden film frame-by-frame in 2000, and revealed some surprising details. "A threshold increase analysis showed that the creature was a solid object rather than a shadow effect. A large position of it is actually out of the water showing humps and a dark-green color with brown running along what appears to be the spine of its back. The object exhibits three protrusions, one to each side and a third upward."
ogopogomonster.com claims that over 1170 people have seen a beast in the waters of Okanagan. The site also claims that Ogopogo, called Naitaka by the native canadians, is the original lake monster, known sightings of the beast supposedly go back a full eighty years before the first known sightings of a creature in the waters of Loch Ness. According to ogopogomonster.com "Ogopogo is protected by Federal Law under the Fisheries act: 'No one shall hunt, kill fish or marine animals by any means of rocket, explosive materials or explosive projectiles or shells,' Ogopogo is also specifically protected under Provincial law under the Wildlife Act."
With so many sightings, photos and films, its no wonder people are convinced Ogopogo exists. However, if Ogopogo is real where are the bodies? Why in all this time have we never found any lake monsters, dead or alive? While I would like to believe in animals like Nessie and Ogopogo, until a specimen is recovered most will continue insisting lake monsters are just a myth.
TBC...

Aliens and UFOs Continued

Just about everyone has heard of the Roswell landing, at least in passing, whether they are UFO aficionados or know nothing of extraterrestrials. The story of Roswell is one fraught with conspiracies, most revolving around the idea of a government attempt to cover up a true crash-landing of an alien spacecraft. This is because in the summer of 1947 something crashed down on a ranch not far from Roswell Army Air Field. The 509th Bomb Group from RAAF were called in to inspect the debris and on July 8 1947 Walter Haut public information officer of the RAAF issued a press release stating that the 509th had found  "flying disk" that had crashed on the ranch. Of course this release sparked quite a lot of media intrigue. But the very next day the press reported Roger M. Ramey, Commanding General of the Eighth Air Force as having stated that in fact the debris found was from a radar-tracking balloon and NOT a flying disk. In later years it was announced that the balloon was an experimental high-altitude surveillance balloon from a project called Mogul. The fact that a second press release was issued, this time showing pieces of the debris (which did indeed seem to support the weather balloon theory), does not deter aficionados, however. In fact many feel that this second press release was meant as a cover up. They are sure that the first press release was right, after all, why say it was a "flying disk" if it was only a weather balloon. Skeptics will tell you that the first announcement was a mistake on the part of an overly eager public information officer, nothing more. Believers are convinced that the statement about a weather balloon was used to prevent the general public from a) fearing alien invasion or visitors, or b) knowing that the American government had gotten their hands on technology not of this world. The events of Roswell were followed by a series of other UFO sightings all over the country. Personally I don't know what to believe, the debris could have come from a balloon, and the first press release could have been the result of an over-eager P. I. officer. Or the debris could have come from a UFO and the second release merely a cover up.

While I am sure there is life out there in the universe somewhere, I cannot be sure about extraterrestrial visitation to Earth. I find it equally easy to believe in e.t. visitation as it is to disbelieve. Skeptics usually appear very credible, and quite a few believers and those who claim to have experienced extraterrestrial phenomena seem very much less so. On the other hand one cannot assume that because the human race has not achieved travel beyond our solar system, no other race out there has either. The way I see it there could easily be civilizations out there advanced enough to have the technology to reach our home from theirs.

Either way there have been many stories of UFO sightings and alien encounters since the late 1940s, all over the world. Skeptics will continue to be skeptical until undeniable evidence is finally found and proves them wrong. Meanwhile the Ufologists and the like will not stop looking until they find that proof.

TBC...