The sea monster - Photo by Larry Kenner

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the serene Lakeside Park, most specifically the exciting developments in its pond. This isn’t the kind of location where you would expect to find a lot of excitement, as it is quite tranquil and many people go there to get away from the stress of the day.

However, there is something strange lurking beneath the waters of the pond… It is unknown what exactly it is at this time, but it has been dubbed the “Lakeside Nessie”.

This mystery creature doesn’t really fit the bill of being a full fledged sea monster, however it is rather large and doesn’t seem to be too fish-like.

A lone dog walker a few weeks ago, Hannah Ramsey, was walking along the pond, when she saw a very large fish-like creature on the banks.
“It was really weird,” Ramsey said. “It had a snake’s tail. It was really long and really big in the middle and it had fish scales.”
Ramsey continued by saying that she was within arms reach of the creature, but that it didn’t make any sudden moves.
“It stayed there for a couple of minutes, but it wouldn’t turn so I could see its face. It was acting like it was strangling a fish or something.”

However, Ramsey’s mother, Laura, has said that she believes that the creature on the banks was a giant carp. Lots of people feed things to the local wildlife, such as ducks, and the food sinks attracting the fish to the shoreline. She goes on to state that in the last she has seen two really large carp close in to the shore of the pond.

However, that doesn’t explain the snake-like tail, or the other odd features of the creature… Is it possible that Nessie has a cousin? Or maybe its just on a well deserved vacation? Whatever the answer is, the populace of Lakeside is eagerly awaiting the outcome.

My money is on a carp or other large scale fish because, lets not fool ourselfs, that is what it looks like.

78-year-old Florida resident Russ Sittlow has spotted something big swimming in the canals of Madeira Beach at the coast of Pinellas County in western Florida.

The retired engineer first spotted the creature in April, and has now seen two of them – one bigger and one smaller. He estimates the largest to be at least 30 feet long.

“His head come up out of the water, and then he rolled up in a double roll behind him and he was long he was huge,” he said of that first sighting.

Sittlow think it might be a sea serpent and has nicknamed it Normandy Nessie since he lives on Normandy Road.

“This is a snake I guarantee you, or a serpent like thing that looks like a snake,” he explained, adding that it might be an anaconda or a python or “a mutation there of.” He believes the creature to be dangerous and doesn’t recommend anyone swimming in the canal until the thing has been positively identified.

In order to capture the creature on film, Sittlow set up a surveillance camera and has now recorded “Normandy Nessie” three times. (see the video here) The video shows a dark form that appears to be 30 feet long swimming close to the surface. There is also a sequence where the creature is splashing in the water.

Sittlow’s neighbour Maria VanAiken and her husband have also encountered the elongated animal in the canal.

“I looked up and I saw this like huge-looking creature,” VanAiken said, adding that it wasn’t a manatee or dolphin.

She spotted the creature from her back porch which overlooks the canal. “This huge thing just came out of the water,” she said.

State wildlife officials that have seen the video do not give much for the sea serpent theory; they believe the animal is a manatee.

The Kouris Dam, which impounds the River Kouris in the Limassol Distric on Cyprus, is now rumoured to house its very own lake monster. Tales about the dam being home to a “strange creature” began to surface three years ago, but these rumours centred mainly on the alleged dumping of a crocodile in the 3.6 km³ large dam. Today, local residents are instead talking about a serpent-like creature; a sort of Cypriot Nessie.

After receiving numerous reports about the creature, the Cypriot Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Affairs has launched a search for the extraordinary dam dweller but has failed to come up with any proof of its existence.

Even without any hard evidence, the Kouris Serpent may prove just as alluring for holiday-makers as its Scottish equivalent. According to local community leader Savvas Sava, housing may have to be constructed around the dam to cater for the needs of tourists wishing to catch a glimpse of the elongated beast. Tourism already occupies a dominant position in the economy of Cyprus, with 1 in every 3.4 jobs being found in the tourism sector.

The Kouris dam is the largest dam in a network of over 100 dams on Cyrpus. Situated at an altitude of 250 meters, the dam regulates the water flow of the rivers Kouris, Kryos and Limnatis. Water is also diverted into the dam through a connecting tunnel from the river Diarizos. The water storage volume is 115 million cubic metres and the overall catch area exceeds 300km². It is a fairly young dam, with construction being completed in September 1988.

A swedish documentary film crew claims to have caught images of a famous swedish sea monster on film. The beast is called “storsjöodjuret” which translates into “the monster of the big lake”. Storsjön is the name of the lake in which it supposedly lives. The monster have been sighted for a very long time and is very bellowed by the people who lives by the lake. It has been used to promote the area and have become a symbol for the area in much the same way Nessie is a symbol for Loch Ness.

The team have capture the picture with submerged cameras placed on a small island and you can follow the cameras online here. The film apparently show a large creature generating body heat and since there are no similar large sea creatures in Sweden except for the wells catfish which normally isn’t found this far north they believe the film shows the lake monster.

The team currently have six cameras but are going to place 24 more cameras next year and a NBC is going to make about the lake monster and their work this fall.

If you asked me the video is far from conclusive and very blurry but it is still better than many other videos like this so I decided to post it here and allow you to make up your own mind about what it depicts

The clip is from Swedish television

Transcript if dialog:
TITLE: Sweden’s Legendary Great Lake Monster (Storsjödjuret) has been caught on Film

ANNOUNCER: .6 constantly monitoring submerged cameras have captured poor images of the Storsjöodjuret, and an American TV company is on its way to depict the hunt for it.

VOICE OVER: This is supposedly the first moving images ever caught of the Great Lake Monster (Storsjödjuret) taken by an underwater camera . The red is representing heat. At least the group trying to disciver the lake monster want to believe that the swedish Loch Ness is captured on film. A special monitoring station have been built in Svenstavik.

SUSANNE KINDSTRÖM (on the team) It is clear that what have been caught on film is alive and contain cells as the equipment shows red (heat) So, is it a sea snake or a part of the lake monster on might wonder. As we’ve just discovered.

INTERVIEWER: It can’t be a piece of wood, or something else..?

SUSANNE KINDSTRÖM: That’s NO piece of wood, that I can see! Not with that movement pattern

VOICE OVER: This is supposed to be the back fin of the lake monster, the camera supposedly indicates heat on this video as well [Shown on video is a BLUE rectangle] Since the project Storsjöodjuret began this spring [2008], the interest for it has been huge – most of all from abroad. The american TV-company NBC is said to be making a film about the lake mosnter this fall. Next summer, they (the lake monster team) are going to increase from 6 to 30 cameras. It is on this small island the cameras are placed today.

INTERVIEWER: But.. do you believe you will ever get Storsjöodjuret on film?

KURT JONSSON (project Storsjöodjuret): I believe so. And I am also convinced that the technology will also be able to….(help) . in 15 or 20 years, you will be able to search any lake. From space or with unmanned vehicles. Technology goes forward..

INTERVIEWER: So this won’t end with it being (just) a piece of wood?

KURT JONSSON: No, I don’t think so. Something will turn up, yes.