Bilk - no 039 - 1991 01

Magazine Overview

BILK is a bi-monthly publication by Ulrich Magin, based in Mutterstadt, Germany. This issue, BILK 39, is dated January 1991. The subscription rate is 15 German Marks per year, and the magazine welcomes news and views from its readers.

Behemoth

Loch Ness

The October expedition to Loch Ness was mentioned, with reports from Rhein-Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau. It was noted that no sonar image or hazy photo would be sufficient to claim the £600,000 prize, only the approval of the British Museum of Natural History. A figure named "Screaming Lord Sutch" reportedly attempted to lure the monster with a bait of Haggis and British Rail sandwiches. The expedition was reported across Europe by AFP.

Bibliography

The Stuttgarter Zeitung reported on an AP story about the Lake Erie monster. A scientist named Fred Snyder from Ohio stated that a monster in Lake Erie is impossible due to the lake being formed only 12,000 years ago, making it unsuitable for a living dinosaur. Other related items include a July 1990 expedition for Ogopogo by a Japanese TV team, an article on secret submarines and sea serpents turning into aquatic UFOs, and a piece on living dinosaurs in Africa, including a lake monster story from Lake Tanganyika. Tourism related to Loch Ness was also mentioned.

Isis

An article by the editor on Edgar Dacque's theory of evolution, which includes aquatic amphibious men, was published in "Die Pfalz am Rhein" 4/1990.

Leviathan

Megamouth Shark

A megamouth shark was observed and filmed alive. According to the Rhein-Zeitung, a 5-meter, 900-kilogram shark with a large, silvery mouth was caught in a net off Dana Point, California. This was the fifth megamouth shark recorded. Scientists attached a sending device to its skin for tracking, and they believe its habitat is at a depth of 700 meters. The previous four megamouths were found off Hawaii, California, Australia, and Japan.

Kraken

Scottland

Reports from Germany (Rheinpfalz, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Stuttgarter Zeitung) covered an incident where giant octopi threatened the lobster breeding industry off Northern England and Scotland. Due to mild weather, the octopi grew from their usual 15 cm to 1 meter in length. A spokesman for the Northumbrian Fishery Association stated that the octopi crawl into breeding pools and consume everything. A fisherman commented on the unprecedented size of these creatures.

Bibliography

A previous report in Bilk mentioned the attack of a giant octopus on a small boat off Manticao, Philippines, on December 24, 1989. Fortean Times 55 also featured a story about a giant jellyfish, the size of a car, killing a French family, which may have occurred in 1987 but is described as a "tabloid invention using mythological material."

Cryptozoology

Yeti News

A 2-meter "abominable snowman" was reportedly observed by an army patrol on the Soviet side of the Himalayas. An interview with Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner discussed his sighting of a yeti, described as a large black bear-like creature, and his attempts to prove their existence. Questions were raised about whether Shipton's pictures of yeti footprints were faked. British researcher Jim Cowling planned to visit the USA to hunt for Sasquatch for six months. Museum officials in Brunei were investigating giant footprints found in a village near the jungle, with plaster casts taken by officers. An AFP report from Kuala Lumpur was also cited.

Discovery of a new species

A new species of monitor lizard was discovered in Yemen by a German zoologist, as reported in The ISC Newsletter Winter 1989. The article suggests that once a species is recognized, it becomes easier to find, even in remote areas.

Other Cryptozoology Items

Sightings of Alien Big Cats in Germany were reported by the editor in Fortean Times 51. Other cryptozoology items were noted in recent issues of FT, INFO, and Strange.

USOS

Trawler incident

A trawler was caught in the net of a British nuclear submarine in the Firth of Clyde, described as a "mystery sub" area. This was reported in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

UFOs

UFOs were reportedly observed repeatedly over the German Baltic, Rostock, and Usedom. These sightings were possibly aircraft lights, with reports in the BILD.

Marine Life

Whales

A sick dolphin off Santa Monica, Los Angeles, was protected by its companions to prevent it from being washed ashore. A humpback whale, nicknamed Humphrey, washed ashore for the second time in San Francisco Bay. The 9-meter animal could not be moved back into the sea and was found to be healthy. In 1985, it had swum into the Sacramento River delta. Reports also mentioned the slaughter of hundreds of dolphins in Japan, which Japanese authorities initially claimed was "mass suicide" after worldwide protests.

Sharks

A 3-meter shark was caught near Maria Pia beach in Sardinia, causing panic. A thresher shark was caught off the Dutch coast, marking the third such occurrence off Holland.

Crocodiles

An Australian woman was attacked by a 4.5-meter crocodile 200 km south of Darwin in October. Her son saved her from the reptile's mouth. Previous crocodile-related incidents were noted from May and October 1988.

Odds & Ends

Possible discovery of Columbus' ships off Jamaica was reported by the Observer. A 150-million-year-old fossil of a rare marine reptile, Liopleurodons, was discovered near Cambridge, England. The longest name of an American lake was mentioned, referencing a previous Bilk issue. A Boing 727 was reported missing over the sea off Newfoundland.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

This issue of BILK focuses on anomalous phenomena, including cryptozoology, unexplained aerial phenomena (UFOs), and unusual marine life. The editorial stance appears to be one of reporting on these phenomena, often citing various international news sources, while also including skeptical viewpoints or questioning the veracity of some reports (e.g., the French jellyfish story). The publication encourages reader participation and aims to provide a broad overview of news and views in these fields.