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Lake monsters

No I'm asking about convergence in the folklore. We're talking about two cultures that lived on opposite sides of the planet and had no contact with each other
That was a joke. Sorry
 
I saw that documentary the one for bigfoot also.

That was funny... how the dad had those foot prints and they traced that every where he moved, the foot prints started.

The son finally figured it out when he discovered the shack. LOL
 
That was funny... how the dad had those foot prints and they traced that every where he moved, the foot prints started.

The son finally figured it out when he discovered the shack. LOL
I have freakishly large feet to the point where I have trouble finding shoes as often thought about making cats of my own footprint and see how long it is before someone catches it.
 
I have freakishly large feet to the point where I have trouble finding shoes as often thought about making cats of my own footprint and see how long it is before someone catches it.

And nobody gives two shits about it...
 
A giant catfish is a little more believable than I completely unknown species that is very large such as the loch Ness monster.

My question was about the convergence. I'm curious as to why all these lakes have a sort of sea serpent morphology or some sort of long neck air breathing animal.

Did all of those lake monsters start out portrayed like that back in antiquity, or has that portrayal come along in more modern times when people have been aware of such prehistoric creatures?

I've spent a lot of time on lakes and rivers- alone and at night- and nothing in the water has ever given me pause that I couldn't think about and figure out it was nothing supernatural.

Now, I will admit that I've had bouts of being uneasy in the woods at night, as long as I can remember. Too many late night sessions reading about Bigfoot an Dogmen and crap like that as a kid, I think. It imprinted on my mind. It's not a debilitating fear or anything. Just a general uneasiness...and not all the time either. Sitting out on the back patio late at night, smoking a little weed with a fire dying in the pit, and hearing something walking back and forth in the woods 100 feet away...I sometimes just decide to go on in for the night. :oops:
 
Did all of those lake monsters start out portrayed like that back in antiquity, or has that portrayal come along in more modern times when people have been aware of such prehistoric creatures?
Pretty great at playing audio they're always depicted as serpent like.
I've spent a lot of time on lakes and rivers- alone and at night- and nothing in the water has ever given me pause that I couldn't think about and figure out it was nothing supernatural.
Once again I'm not saying it's real.
Now, I will admit that I've had bouts of being uneasy in the woods at night, as long as I can remember. Too many late night sessions reading about Bigfoot an Dogmen and crap like that as a kid, I think. It imprinted on my mind. It's not a debilitating fear or anything. Just a general uneasiness...and not all the time either. Sitting out on the back patio late at night, smoking a little weed with a fire dying in the pit, and hearing something walking back and forth in the woods 100 feet away...I sometimes just decide to go on in for the night. :oops:
I wonder if the unease is some sort of woodland creatures watching you. Behaviors of various species suggests that they know when they're being watched.
 
Pretty great at playing audio they're always depicted as serpent like.

Once again I'm not saying it's real.

I wasn't saying you were. I'm just saying that even an imaginative chickenshit like me has never seen anything in the water- while on lakes or rivers- that would make me think I saw some sort of crypto-creature.
I wonder if the unease is some sort of woodland creatures watching you. Behaviors of various species suggests that they know when they're being watched.

Could be. There's a lot of animals in the woods around here. I haven't imagined the couple times I've heard something walking back and forth though.
 
I wasn't saying you were. I'm just saying that even an imaginative chickenshit like me has never seen anything in the water- while on lakes or rivers- that would make me think I saw some sort of crypto-creature.
Well like I said I'm not saying these people aren't seeing something. At least the more grounded sightings. My guess is the mythology plants the seeds and it's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. But in most cases I am betting it's a case of misidentification.
Could be. There's a lot of animals in the woods around here. I haven't imagined the couple times I've heard something walking back and forth though.
I've spent enough time in the wilderness mostly just observing. The animal I think that's most Keen to know when it's being watched is a deer particularly dough during fawning season. This is the season win people aren't typically hunting them depending on the species of deer. They don't seem to react the way to remote cameras the way that they react to you physically being there.
 
Yeah I get that there is a common thing to create mythology regarding the unknown.

The specific thing about this lake monster thing is why are they all long-necked reptilian sort of creatures. It's a really bizarre convergence.

It's not like El chupacabra which was this little scaly humanoid thing with red eyes and spine's going down it's back. There isn't anything else like that in human folklore or mothman or the jersey devil, wendigo and so forth these are all very different looking mythical creatures
Chupacabra was real. And to the point, people’s fear causes them to believe what they’re seeing is much more diabolical than what is actually there.

The chupacabra turned out to be emaciated coyotes with mange.

downtoearth%2F2024-10-17%2Fv4x1orty%2FCoyote-Mange.jpg
 
Chupacabra was real. And to the point, people’s fear causes them to believe what they’re seeing is much more diabolical than what is actually there.

The chupacabra turned out to be emaciated coyotes with mange.

downtoearth%2F2024-10-17%2Fv4x1orty%2FCoyote-Mange.jpg
No. Chupacabra was a thing that drained blood out of goats that's how it got its name coyotes don't do that. It was a bipedal reptilian creature with glowing red eyes and a line of spikes down its skull and spine.

That sounds nothing like a coyote. That's not a case of mistake and identity I think it's a case of wanting to save someone's reputation.
 
I'm reasonably sure that with enough alcohol and/or other substances we can all find a bigfoot or a water monster or a space ship.
 
No. Chupacabra was a thing that drained blood out of goats that's how it got its name coyotes don't do that. It was a bipedal reptilian creature with glowing red eyes and a line of spikes down its skull and spine.

That sounds nothing like a coyote. That's not a case of mistake and identity I think it's a case of wanting to save someone's reputation.
Whose reputation would I be saving?
 
Whose reputation would I be saving?
You were the original person to identify a coyote is chupacabra?

This is chupacabra according to the first report
Chupacabras.webp
It's not a coyote it's not a meth head this is what the first person who reported it said it looked like.
 
So I remember the first time ever heard about loch Ness and Nessie. I was a boy at the time so my imagination ran wild on me for all the crazy things that could be. But recently I've been thinking about these lake monsters in folklore.

And there seems to be consistency in several different parts of the world with sightings of various sorts of lake monsters typically reptilian serpent like creatures. I just wonder about the convergence in the folklore

There's of course Nessie in Loch Ness,
Champ in lake Champlain, Ogopogo in lake Okanagan, Bessie in lake Erie, Mishebeshu in lake Huron, Gaasyendietha in lake Ontario and there are reports of similar creatures in lake Superior.

Some of these perhaps all of them are quite old. Mishebeshu I know for a fact was part of native tribal lore and I'm willing to bet the myth of Nessie goes back quite a ways.

So these are two very different parts of the world that have this convergent myth of a very specific type of entity hiding out in these lakes.

I wonder if it's just a facet of the human imagination and it doesn't matter where you were born in and what culture you were brought up in to see these sorts of things or to imagine them.

Anthromorphization of nature is as old as humanity.
These days it mostly takes place via the disneyfication of nature (oh no, an animal would never do that because surely it is cuddly and has human morals), but historically the opposite has been equally true. I don't know what you call that. The "McCarthyfication of nature?" (I submit to this comittee that the Loch Ness monster is a Commie out to subvert our children!)

Certain types of terrain is more likely to get a bad reputation, and it's usually the ones with higher than usual mortality rates.
Lakes that are surprisingly cold and lakes that are deep or have deep silt layers are prime candidates. Used to be that you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a mountain or forest or swamp that was "magical" in one way or another. Quite often this would manifest as nature spirits that took the shape of animals of which Nessie and various others are modern versions. At other times, especially in Slavic and Finno-Ugric folk lore, terrain features were living beings with personalities of their own. I believe that in one story lake Ladoga teleported a Rus merchant to the Black Sea because it wanted him to say hi to it's cousin.
 
Anthromorphization of nature is as old as humanity.
These days it mostly takes place via the disneyfication of nature (oh no, an animal would never do that because surely it is cuddly and has human morals), but historically the opposite has been equally true. I don't know what you call that. The "McCarthyfication of nature?" (I submit to this comittee that the Loch Ness monster is a Commie out to subvert our children!)
Some of these myths predate electricity let alone Disney and also communism.
Certain types of terrain is more likely to get a bad reputation, and it's usually the ones with higher than usual mortality rates.
Lakes that are surprisingly cold and lakes that are deep or have deep silt layers are prime candidates. Used to be that you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a mountain or forest or swamp that was "magical" in one way or another. Quite often this would manifest as nature spirits that took the shape of animals of which Nessie and various others are modern versions. At other times, especially in Slavic and Finno-Ugric folk lore, terrain features were living beings with personalities of their own. I believe that in one story lake Ladoga teleported a Rus merchant to the Black Sea because it wanted him to say hi to it's cousin.
Different forms of folklore or magical properties in different cultures make sense I'm talking about the convergence.
 
Some of these myths predate electricity let alone Disney and also communism.

Oh yes.
From the Life of St. Columba (referring to an event in 565 AD)

ON another occasion also, when the blessed man was living for some days in the province of the Picts, he was obliged to cross the river Nesa (the Ness); and when he reached the bank of the river, he saw some of the inhabitants burying an unfortunate man, who, according to the account of those who were burying him, was a short time before seized, as he was swimming, and bitten most severely by a monster that lived in the water; his wretched body was, though too late, taken out with a hook, by those who came to his assistance in a boat. The blessed man, on hearing this, was so far from being dismayed, that he directed one of his companions to swim over and row across the coble that was moored at the farther bank. And Lugne Mocumin hearing the command of the excellent man, obeyed without the least delay, taking off all his clothes, except his tunic, and leaping into the water. But the monster, which, so far from being satiated, was only roused for more prey, was lying at the bottom of the stream, and when it felt the water disturbed above by the man swimming, suddenly rushed out, and, giving an awful roar, darted after him, with its mouth wide open, as the man swam in the middle of the stream. Then the blessed man observing this, raised his holy hand, while all the rest, brethren as well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, and, invoking the name of God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air, and commanded the ferocious monster, saying, ‘Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed.’ Then at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified, and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes, though it had just got so near to Lugne, as he swam, that there was not more than the length of a spear-staff between the man and the beast. Then the brethren seeing that the monster had gone back, and that their comrade Lugne returned to them in the boat safe and sound, were struck with admiration, and gave glory to God in the blessed man. And even the barbarous heathens, who were present, were forced by the greatness of this miracle, which they themselves had seen, to magnify the God of the Christians.
 
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