Here are 6 strange creatures spotted on camera. From a giant Icelandic worm to a faceless, bloated creature that washed ashore after hurricane Harvey, we take a look at mysterious creatures spotted in real life.
6. Faceless Creature Washed Ashore
Science AlertIn September 2017, after hurricane Harvey battered the coastline of Southwest Texas, this strange faceless, fanged creature washed ashore. Strong winds and heavy rains pounded the shoreline, bringing with it this bizarre looking animal.
Preeti Desai, a social media manager for conservationist company Audubon, was documenting the devastation caused by hurricane Harvey when she came upon the unknown animal. She took some photos and posed the question to Twitter – ‘…what the heck is this?’.
Okay, biology twitter, what the heck is this?? Found on a beach in Texas City, TX. #wildlifeid pic.twitter.com/9IUuuL65qh
— Preeti Desai? (@preetalina) September 6, 2017
When the photos went live it whipped people into a frenzy, quick to call it a prehistoric dinosaur or even an alien from another planet.
Desai said that someone suggested that she get in contact with Kenneth Tighe, a biologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Tighe, who is a specialist in eels, commented on the photos suggesting it was most likely a fangtooth snake-eel, or Aplatophis chauliodus.
As the photos don’t conclusively show certain features of the creature, it’s still not positively identified leaving some to speculate on the species’ origin.
What do you think, is this merely a bloated eel or is this some kind of prehistoric beast that lurks deep in the ocean off the coast of Texas?
5. Florida Skunk Ape
Released in January, 2015 this startling footage, shot in Lettuce Lake Park, Tampa, Florida, shows a bipedal ape-like creature walking through the swamp.
The man who captured the footage, known only at Matt M, was canoeing through the swamp when he noticed something strange. He initially thought he had spotted a bear and began filming. But when he later asked a park ranger about bears in the area they said that they tend to stay away from swampy areas.
If you take a closer look it appears to have much longer arms than a bear and walks comfortably on its hind legs.
Many say a hominid, cryptid creature known as a ‘skunk ape’ roams the Florida area. It gets its name from the foul smelling odour that it reportedly emanates. Numerous witnesses throughout Florida have reported seeing a big, hairy ape-like creature that runs on two legs. Could this be the skunk ape?
4. Giant Icelandic Worm
In February 2012 this footage was released to the public. Filmed in Lagarfljót, Iceland, the footage shows a long slender creature snaking through icy water. Many locals believe it to be a mythic Icelandic worm monster that has had reported sightings as far back as 1345.
The legends tell of a heath-dragon that slithered into the lake centuries ago. It grew large and heavy as it fed on unsuspecting villagers. Since these early tales many sightings have been reported. Most notably, in 1963 when the head of the Icelandic National Forest Service spotted the long slender beast trailing through the murky waters. Then in 1998 a teacher and several students say they saw a worm-like creature swimming just off shore.
The lake where the sightings occurred is notoriously murky, with very poor depth visibility as the glacial-fed waters have high siltation.
In 1983, contractors were laying phone cabling in the lake. While conducting preliminary tests, they detected a large moving mass near the eastern shore. Later when they retrieved their cabling it had sustained massive damage right where the moving mass had been detected. The heavy duty cable had been badly torn in several places. One of the engineers believed they had dropped the cabling directly on top of the fabled beast.
Over the subsequent decades sightings diminished until the striking 2012 footage emerged. A panel of experts were assembled to scrutinise the footage. Some believe it to be gasses rising from the lake bed, creating an optical illusion, others think it’s nothing more than a fishing net trailing through a current. However, others believe the scientific explanations to be inconclusive, admitting that they had no reason to doubt the existence of the great Icelandic worm.
Could this creature be nothing more than debris or optical illusion or is there some truth to the legendary folklore? Let us know in the comments section below.
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