Bilk - no 082 - 1998 03

Magazine Overview

This is BILK Nr. 82, a bi-monthly magazine published by Ulrich Magin in Rastatt, Germany, for March 1998. The subscription cost is 15 DM for Europe and 20 DM for the rest of the world. The issue's cover headline proclaims a "Special 'mutilation issue'," suggesting a focus on unusual events involving large marine creatures and their alleged mutilation across the globe.

BEHEMOTH

Loch Ness

Andreas Trottmann's "Loch Ness Newsclipping Service" (vol. 3, nr. 4) is featured, highlighting twelve reported sightings of Nessie in 1972. It also includes older reports from the Inverness Courier dating back to 1822 and 1897, discussing a mermaid hoax and "unsolved riddles" that hinted at prehistoric creatures. The service also covers recent puma activity in the Scottish Highlands. A pre-1900 sighting of Nessie is recounted from a 1948 edition of the Inverness Courier, where a boy described a large, serpent-like form swimming at great speed in Loch Ness near Castle Urquhart. Another account from August 1997 suggests a sighting might have been "exited ducks and an exited witness."

Bibliography

Several entries are listed: "INFO Journal 78" on lake monsters in South Africa and Russia, Pend Oreille, dinosaur on American artifacts, dragons, and sky monsters. Lake Poso in Sulawesi is identified as an Indonesian monster lake and a mythical pivot of the earth. Chet Van Duzer's "At the Edge 9" discusses lake monsters and the possibility of them being guardian spirits, referencing explorers' accounts of a monster in Lake Manasarovar, Tibet.

Anti mermaid aggression

Early 1998 was marked by negative events concerning mermaids. In January, a mermaid at a South African aquarium caused a riot when visitors discovered it was a person in a fish costume, leading to the show's cancellation. Shortly after, the statue of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen was beheaded, an act initially claimed by a militant feminist group that later withdrew their confession. The head was eventually returned and reattached. During this period, a NATO marine maneuver named "Responsible Mermaid" took place in the eastern Mediterranean.

Italy

In June 1962, Colmaro Orsini was fishing near Bocca di Magra when he encountered a siren. He heard a melody and saw a green-haired woman with a blue fish-like tail.

LEVIATHAN

Bibliography

Entries include "Fortean Times 105" on a sea monster at Masbate, Philippines, and "Fortean Times 104" on a mysterious whale. Another entry mentions a "whale-tailed human with 'shamans rattles'" in Finno-Ugrian rock art from the White Sea region of Russia (3500 BC), a creation myth from Papua New Guinea involving a crocodile-headed human swimming in the primal ocean, and a folk memory of a Celtic god at a sea lough in Ireland.

Tasmania

The 1962 "globster" of Tasmania is recalled. A new report from the tabloid "Bild" describes a "seven-meter, three-ton, six-legged animal with two fins" washed ashore at Granville Harbour, Tasmania. Fishermen found it buried in sand. Maurice Linfoot described it as a "disgusting, stinking blob of meat." Navy biologists are investigating the find, which appears to be a cross between a squid and a whale. The accompanying picture resembles the 1962 find. The article speculates if this new carcass and the old one are the same, or if it represents a previously unknown monster.

CRYPTOZOOLOGY

Review's of Ellis' book

Reviews of an Ellis book are noted as regularly appearing in the media, with it being elected "science book of the year" by several newspapers. A review also appeared in "Die Rheinpfalz" in November 1997. A new book on German woodcuts from the 17th century, "Von den unmenschlichen Taten des Totengräbers Heinrich Krahle zu Frankenstein und andere wahrhaftige 'Neue Zeitungen' aus der Frühzeit der Sensationspresse" by Nicoline Hortzitz, is mentioned.

Owlman

Reports of an "owlman" in Cornwall and the Philippines are noted, citing "Fortean Times."

NEW ANIMAL DISCOVERIES

• A new panda colony of about 30 animals has been discovered in southwest China.
• Italian biologists have identified a new race of mice near Seveso, Italy, possibly affected by chromosome changes from a chemical catastrophe in 1976.
• Hans Hermann Schleich discovered a new species of lizard in Nepal, resembling a gecko with yellow-brown bands, measuring 15 cm.

EXTINCT ANIMALS REDISCOVERED?

• A new megamouth shark is mentioned.
• The "discovery" of tylacines in Irian Jaya is noted.
• An owl species, "Athene blewitt," thought extinct for 113 years, has been discovered in the Indian jungle northeast of Bombay by scientists from the Washington National Museum of Natural History. Two birds were found, one with traces of blood on its beak, suggesting it hunts prey slightly smaller than itself.

OUT OF PLACE ANIMALS

• A 15-year-old angler caught a 34 cm piranha in a park pond in Madrid, Spain. The same Madrid park has gardeners observing a crocodile in an artificial pond.

USO

Bibliography

Reports of a UFO over Bariloche, Argentinia, and strange lights and booms over the Moray Firth are cited from "Cenap Report." A South Korean fishing boat sank after colliding with a US submarine. In Sweden, soldiers were reported to have used high-power tele lenses to videotape young women bathing off Karlskrona, ostensibly to observe USOs in the 1980s, leading to an official inquiry into "abuse of trust."

MARINE LIFE

Whales

• Off Argentina, seagulls are attacking southern right whales, leaving scars on over a third of the 157 whales spotted. The cause is believed to be parasites.
• 140 dead dolphins washed ashore at La Turtuga in the Caribbean, with red bellies suggesting parasites as the cause.
• A mass stranding of 5 sperm whales occurred at St. Peter-Ording, Germany, on January 23, 1998, with three more waiting offshore. Local authorities faced difficulties disposing of the carcasses, which were sent to an animal meal factory. Authorities warned that the dead whales could explode.
• 65 sperm whales stranded at Tasmania on February 3, 1998, with 61 dead by February 5. The carcasses were sent to an animal meal factory.
• A habitat for Southern right whales has been discovered at Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand; these whales were thought extinct for 150 years.
• The oldest known remains of an orca, estimated to be 15 million years old, were found in Sleswig-Holstein, Germany.

Sharks

• At Capetown Beach, bathers clubbed a white shark to death after it became stranded and wounded. Experts could not identify the cause of stranding due to mutilation. White sharks are protected and endangered.
• A white shark attacked a bather at the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Pinnipedia

• A male walrus with two tusks was spotted off Sylt, Germany, on January 29, 1998.
• Lake Ladoga in Russia is to become a tourist resort, home to about 1500 freshwater seals.
• A mass death of sea lions was reported from the Auckland Islands, with 1000 adult females and 1400 infants found dead, the cause unidentified.

LOST LANDS

Submarine Ruins

Strange submarine ruins were discovered off the Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa, Japan, in spring 1995. Buildings were found at five sites, appearing similar to Inca quarries. An article by Frank Joseph in "Efodon Synesis" and "Magazin 2000" is mentioned, which is described as speculative and Atlantis-type.

Larsen B

The "Larsen B" ice island, 160 km long, is expected to break off the Antarctic ice cap and drift into the Atlantic Ocean, potentially impacting ocean streams and water temperatures.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The magazine consistently reports on unexplained phenomena, including lake monsters, sea creatures, and unusual animal sightings, often drawing from a wide range of international sources and historical accounts. The editorial stance appears to be one of presenting intriguing reports and mysteries, encouraging reader engagement, and exploring the fringes of scientific understanding. There's a clear interest in cryptozoology, unexplained aerial phenomena (UFOs/USOs), and unusual events in the natural world, often highlighting cases that challenge conventional explanations.