Nexus - 0803 - New Times Magazine-pages

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THE DEEP DWELLERS The subterranean dwellers of various ancient religious and mythical traditions have parallels with the underworld beings of modern-day accounts. Part 2 of 3 ith the advent of the "scientific century", i.e., the 20th, occurrences which in earlier times would have been deemed "magical", demonic or the work of faeries, gods or witches were given descriptions or names which down- played their inexplicable nature and sought to fit them somehow into a com- prehensible, "modern" world view. The problem then was, and continues to be, that such anomalous phenomena have defied the most rational, sceptical and "scientific" explanations. Also termed "Fortean" events, after anomaly researcher and writer Charles Fort, these occurrences have continu- ally thrown a philosophical monkey-wrench into the cherished machinery of scientific dogma. In other words, science has no explanation for these events or discoveries, so it largely ignores, ridicules or dismisses them out of hand. There is no doubt that many of these phenomena are genuine, and for now are beyond the ability of the currently dominant science belief system to explain. This brings to the fore the first category of research (outlined in part one), which may tie in very closely with "what has gone before". CRYPTIDS AND MYSTERY CREATURES "Cryptozoology" is a term which was coined by Belgian biologist Bernard Heuvelmans to designate a field of study concerned with unknown creatures or animals, also referred to as "cryptids" ("hidden" animals). For the purposes of this study, the term "cryptid" will not be used to designate known or suspected known animals which are simply "out of place" or out of their customary environment; it will be reserved for those creatures which are truly "unknown". The comings and goings of such creatures, their sudden appearances in remote, rural or densely populated areas and their equally sudden disappearances with scarcely a trace left behind have long befuddled researchers in the field of cryptozoology. With a careful examination of specific unknown animals or entities and their habitats, interesting connec- tions to the ancient traditions are revealed. 1. Lake Monsters and Sea Serpents Many freshwater lakes around the world have longstanding traditions of "lake monsters" of various types, ranging from humped or sinuous, scaled or plated, to sporting "elephant- like" hide and "horselike" manes of hair. Most such creatures appear sporadically, often in high mountain lakes or large isolated lakes of great depth with little or no access to the sea. Questions which have yet to be answered include: 1. How do such creatures maintain a breeding population of sufficient numbers to pro- vide genetic diversity in relatively closed environments? 2. How do these populations, their bodies being of immense size, manage both to feed themselves and maintain a high core temperature, usually in cold waters with limited food resources? 3. What is the relationship of "lake monsters" to "sea serpents"? 4. If migratory, how do large populations of such creatures travel from lake to lake or from lake to ocean and ocean to lake? Without a doubt, the most well known of such beasts is the "monster" of Loch Ness, a large deep lake in the Highlands of Scotland. Loch Ness is connected to the sea by the River Ness, yet sightings have only very rarely taken place in or at the river. The loch by Wm Michael Mott © 2000 E-mail: mottimorph@earthlink.net Website: http://www. hiddenmysteries.com/cart webtv/item111.html APRIL — MAY 2001 NEXUS = 59 MODERN FORTEAN AND CRYPTOZOOLOGICAL CONNECTIONS www.nexusmagazine.com