The Mermaid of Finnmark

"The Land Baby" Oil Painting on canvas by John Collier 1899 

courtesy of wikimedia commons

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/John_Collier_-_The_Land_Baby.jpg

My Aunt Hanna once told me about the time she and her husband encountered a mermaid while out fishing.

This all happened years ago but my Aunt Hanna remembers it perfectly, it happened of the coast of Vardø in Finmark Norway, were Aunt Hanna and her husband Gunnar was out for one of their usual jig fishing trips in a small open boat, this was one of several fishing spots over a natural underwater cave known for it's rich schools of fish. As they started hauling up their jig, Gunnar noticed there was something swimming just under the surface of the water, at first he thought it was a harbor porpoise which is a small whale common in this part of Norway. 

He altered Hanna of the whale, and they watched it swimming around the boat before surfacing, it was then they realized this was not a whale at all but what seemed to be a female, with blue gray skin and long hair, she also wore sea weeds around her neck as if it was ornamental. She stood still in the water watching them before returning back to the deep, hair fish tail was the last thing Hanna and Gunnar saw before the mermaid disappeared down into the depths of the ocean.  

To this day Aunt Hanna still swears that mermaids are indeed real, my uncle Gunnar passed away years ago so I never got to hear his version of their mermaid encounter. 

I have always been fascinated with mermaids and other merfolks, and also a adamant supporter of the water ape theory as part of our own human evolution. This is why when I recently I came across a program that in the best ways I so far have seen described the water ape theory and merged this with the mermaid mythos I was especially thrilled. 

The documentary below is fictional in nature but still sums up all the mermaid mythos and looks at the water ape theory as part of the human evolutionary tree like no other program I have seen before.

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Unicorns, Camelopardalis and other Cryptids

Photo of Rhinoceros by PJ at Honolulu Zoo 2009

Unicorns (meaning one horned) or as they are described horses with one horn in their forehead might all be rooted in a real animal that back thousands of years ago was considered a myth in Europe because of it being so hard to come by and the only source of information was from travelers and ancient scrolls that described them to be white and black one horned horses, but in the translation it was lost that what they were referring to as the rhinoceros and the other horse was the hippopotamus or river horse which is what it is called in most languages including English which uses the ancient greek work for river horse (ἱπποπόταμος). The Unicorn is also mentioned in the bible among them in Job 39:9-12 (King James Version) 

 "⁹Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?

 ¹⁰Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

 ¹¹Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?

 ¹²Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?"

Compared to the river horse or hippopotamus the one horned horse makes sense as the rhinoceros and hippos have similar build and there indeed are two main types of rhinos the white rhino and the black rhino. Also when one compared the stories of the healing and magical powers of the unicorns horn, again one find striking similarities, as powdered rhino horns are supposed to be able to cure or improve health just like the unicorns horn was thought to do. One reason why unicorns were thought to be as depicted with a long spiral horn was because of the animal thought to be the oceanic equivalent the narwhal with the males having a long ivory spiral tooth often sold as unicorn horns to gullible and willing buyers of mythical rare goods like the horns of unicorns.

Male Narwhals Battling by Paul Nicklen/Getty Images

Camelopardalis AKA Camelopard

Photo of Giraffes Giraffa camelopardalis, Honolulu Zoo PJ 2009

This would not be the first time early explorers described animals only to have them enter our world as mythological beasts since their description seemed so fantastical and unrealistic that one thought them to be fairy tales, one example of this is the camelopard (camel-leopard) which first was described around 14th century as an African animal like a camel in shape but with the horns of an antelope, tail of a lion, coloring and spots like a leopard. much later it was proven to be real as traders managed to transport live giraffes which was the animal earlier referred to as the mythological beast camelopardis.

Especially strange animals like the Australian platypus were long assumed to be a fake animal put together by the taxidermists and brought back to England, or when the western civilization realized that there actually exists black swans in Australia, which until then had been considered to be creatures of myths. Other beasts that fairly recently became acknowledged as real was the gorilla which until explorers actually captured one and brought it with them had been considered African superstitious stories about large dark haired apes living high up in the Deep unaccessible African mountain jungles.

Other mythological beasts might have similar history being now branded as cryptids, and described in a side note in anecdotal paper on cryptozoology. If you liked this entry you would probably also like The Mermaid of Finnmark.

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Mythological Beasts: Nøkken

 

Asian White Water Lily (White Lotus) 

by PJ 2011 Honolulu, Hawaii

Nøkken was in norse mythology a creature of the inland waters much like Huldra was a creature of the deep forest. And like the female Huldra, that lures people into the forest and never let them go, the male Nøkken would try to lure people to the waters and drown them.

The Norse Nøkk seem to be similar to stories of water elves, also known as nymphs in other european cultures, and also carry similarities to the mermen of the seas and oceans.

The most common described way for Nøkken to lure gullible people to its watery depths is in the form of a stunningly beautiful white horse, which willingly would let especially young children climb up on its back, and then leap with them into the water.

In other legends Nøkken seeks out one person a year to drown in his fresh water ponds, where he lures using his power of invisibility, or the ability to shape-change into something unsuspecting like a floating log, a beautiful water lily or even other plant life that is making it look like the edge of the pond is farther in, so when you move over to the water to pick flowers you would fall into the deep cold, treacherous waters.

In other occasions Nøkken was said to appear as a handsome young man, playing music in the calm tranquil forest, luring young fair maidens into his watery embrace and their doom, playing the harp or fiddle he would spellbind them with his magical charm.

In order to protect yourself legends say, is by spitting and then tossing a steel needle or a steel cross into the water. Another way was to bind Nøkken to a Nøkkstein (Nøkken rock) and then let it drop into the water directly vertically from as high up as you could get it, if you have already been grabbed by Nøkken and is about to be pulled into the waters you can break free by saying his name, as in this norwegian phrase "Nøkken! Nøkken nål i vann. Jomfru Maria kastet stål i vann! Du synker, jeg flyter!" translated this becomes "Nøkken! Nøkken! needle in water. Virgin Mary tossed steel into the water! You are sinking I am floating!"

So the next time you see a floating tree stub or water lily, a beautiful white horse wandering by the outskirts of a small lake or pond or even a handsome young man fair-skinned and with blond long hair playing the harp or the fiddle next to a river or pond it just might be Nøkken himself trying to trap you as his once a year victim... beware.

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Water lilies are called Nøkkerose in Norwegian, PJ 2005 Honolulu, Hawaii

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Weekly Whisper #1: The UK Shadow Seekers

In short tell us about the UK Shadow Seekers

Managed by Steve and Susanne Taggart and assisted by Vinny Brindle, the UK Shadow Seekers (UKSS) are a Not-for-Profit, Volunteer-based team of experienced investigators, who invite the public to join them, as they investigate the history of strange occurrences reported at some of the UK’s most haunted locations and more importantly, at a reasonable price.

With a team of 16 experienced staff members, we are qualified to a high standard, including Officers covering Health and Safety, First Aid and Fire Safety.

We are also founders of KTPF (Keeping TheParanormal Friendly) Paranormal Community which also runs the events directory, Paranormal Events 4U.

What is the reason for your interest in the paranormal?

Personally to find proof of life after death, but like everyone, watching paranormal programs and films has peaked our interest and made us want to find out for ourselves.

How long have you been doing this?

The UKSS started back in 2007. Steve and I actively started to investigate the Paranormal and Spiritual field back in 2005 but collectively we have over 30 years experience within the Team.

Where are your located?

Tameside in Greater Manchester UK

Our readers would love to hear you share a key experience.

One such venue, the Roe Cross Inn in Mottram-In-Longdendale, where we had glasses being thrown. Until a census was found and we discovered that there was a landlord missing from the list of tenants mentioned on a plaque in the pub. We had picked up on a name previously and this name matched. After that, no more poltergeist activity happened, but there other things still happening there.

In your opinion what is the hot-spot of your region?

This is a very hard question to answer as any venue can be a hot-spot at any given time, but our favourite’s are Hyde Town Hall, Knottingley Town Hall and Morecambe Winter Gardens as there is always something happening.

Do you have a facebook group, website, email, or other means for those interested to reach you if they have any questions?

Our website is www.shadowseekers.co.uk where you can find out more about us, our events and other topics

Our group on Facebook at UK Shadow SeekersParanormal Group or follow us on Twitter @UKShadowSeekers.

Also at www.ktpf.co.uk where you will find a broader interest within the Paranormal including Cryptozoology and Ufology.

Any other comments, advice, words of wisdom or such you would like to share with the readers?

The trick is to always be prepared to look for an alternative reason for what is happening and if one can not be found then what you are left with must be the truth.

Warning: With Tameside’s Resident Paranormal Group your involvement during our investigations is important, as we aim to give you an insight to being a ParanormalInvestigator.

So When Booking With Us, Be Prepared.

UK Shadowseekers

www.shadowseekers.co.uk

Tameside's Resident Paranormal Group invites you to help investigate alleged haunted places, at prices you can afford. Go on... Do something hauntingly different!!!

Rogue Waves: The Serpents of the Open Seas?

An Ancient Viking Longboat "The Gokstad Ship"

Located in Oslo, Norway

I recall when I was about 9 years old I was in a discussion with one of my 60 year old friends, it was a discussion about the art of the viking ships, which had a serpents head and in the end a curled up serpents tail.

My reply to her was that I always though the art more resembled the breaking of humongous waves, and perhaps all the ancient maritime records spoke of ships destroyed by giant waves, and the ones that survived would in their explanations to people when returned home was that the waves caused by the serpents tails, caused their boats to be destroyed.

Offering a reasonable explanation to a ancient observation, from when our ancestors trying to describe something they did not understand. She did not like obviousness of my simple idea and how easily I would explain away the recorded stories of those of ancient times. Now in recent years I have learned about freak or rogue waves and they even started to talk about the same explanations I offered to my friend back a few decades ago.

Stories of the giant beasts of the sea being able to whip up a massive torrent of waves is a uncommon part of Norwegian maritime history. And only part of many dangerous things that could happen while navigating the open seas, with very little knowledge on how to anticipate storms other than the immediate observations, and how the same natural phenomena's would obscure the normal ways of navigation using the stars or the sun.

Tsunamis are as described in The Cause and Dangers of Tsunamis are another possible origin for some of the stories of the massive waves, as being already accepted as a fact, they could occur anywhere in the world, though tsunamis are not able to account for many of the freak waves since they would normally be present where the stored energy of the initial shock is able to build up in a wave, meaning on shallow waters.

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Deepfreezed: The Grendels of Area 51

Many think of Area 51 being a place with secret research into UFO's and aliens, but there are so much more going on in all fields of classified research projects, and among these, research into cryopreservation. This was brought to our attention by someone that has been in touch with those that work at Area 51, about a incident that happened in 2005.

According to the source, US researches found a few Grendels frozen in the ice of Antarctica. The Grendels are said to be dragon/frog like, their eyes are illuminating and reflects red, and I was even given help making the sketch depicted above. Grendels have the ability to be frozen solid, without tissue damage to it's cells, and therefore are the perfect research target for anyone that want to unlock the technology to get functional cryopreservation that could be used for space exploration.

In 2005 the scientists of Area 51 went ahead and thawed up three of their Grendels, but was surprised by the viciousness of the Grendels, and the fact that they seem to have psychic abilities, being able to communicate with each other telepathically and even read the minds of people. When the first one woke up it went on a rampage killing both scientists and guards in the laboratory, the alarm was sounded and all security, and military personnel was called in, even the perimeter guards which usually never are allowed to enter the core of Area 51. Unable to subdue the Grendels, they had to stop the Grendels by sealing them into one of their subterranean areas, under Groom Lake which the Grendels still are, thriving and increased in numbers laying egg-pods, living of small critters, and hibernating between meals to this day.

Could this be true? Does this story have a grain of truth in it, Are they actually Grendels in Area 51? and if so, could they actually have broke loose and settled a colony in the subterranean tunnels of Area 51, sealed off because they are still not able to remove this Grendel infestation. Could there really even exist a beast like the Grendel with the ability to be fully frozen in the ice of Antarctica and then come to life when thawed out? I found the topic interesting enough that I would share it and let the readers themselves come to a conclusion.

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