GLOCK Ness Monster

The Black Dogs of England are said to be violent predictors of death and doom, but that is not always the case. The Gurt Dog (“Great Dog”) is said to wander around Quantock Hills in Somerset, England, and it is different compared to its fellows. The Gurt Dog is said to be a kind and gentle protector of those that wander the moors. It is specifically a protector to small children and legend says that the Gurt Dog watches over children that play alone and will even help guide lonely travelers. 

84 years ago today the last known thylacine died. It died of exposure after being locked outside in its bare concrete pen overnight. 

(The body was reportedly thrown out in the garbage shortly after)

Gef, sometimes referred to as the Talking Mongoose or the Dalby Spook, was a talking mongoose reported to inhabit a farmhouse known as Cashen’s Gap on the Isle of Man.

In September 1931, the Irving family, consisting of James, Margaret and 13 year old daughter Voirrey, heard scratching and rustling noises behind their farmhouse’s wooden wall panels. Initially they thought it was a rat, but then the unseen creature began making different sounds. At times it spat like a ferret, growled like a dog or gurgled like a baby.

The entity soon revealed an ability to speak and introduced itself as Gef, a mongoose. It claimed to have been born in New Delhi India, in 1852. According to Voirrey, the only person to see him properly, Gef was the size of a small rat with yellowish fur and a large bushy tail. (The Indian mongoose is in reality much larger than a rat and does not have a bushy tail). He would never allow anyone but Voirrey to see him, however, and if he didn’t like you, you could count on being insulted, or pelted with pebbles. 

Many researchers suspected that Gef was a poltergeist, and the Irving’s daughter Voirrey was at the right age for that sort of thing. If a poltergeist, Gef was rather a nice one. He often talked and joked with the family, and would occasionally leave small game, mostly rabbits, on their doorstep for dinner.

Gef claimed at times to be “an extra extra clever mongoose”, an “Earthbound spirit” and “a ghost in the form of a mongoose”. He once said: “I am a freak. I have hands and I have feet, and if you saw me you’d faint, you’d be petrified, mummified, turned into stone or a pillar of salt!”

The only physical evidence cited in support of Gef’s existence would appear to be a series of footprints,none of which were identified as those of a mongoose, stains on the wall, supposed hair samples which were identified as having belonged to the Irving’s sheepdog, and several photos which were claimed by the Irvings to depict Gef, (such as the one above).

James Irving kept diaries about Gef between 1932 and 1935. These diaries, along with reports about the case, are in Harry Price’s archives in the Senate House Library, University of London.

Colourised footage of Benjamin, the last know Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine).

Benjamin died on September 7th, 1936 in Hobart zoo. It is believed that he died out of neglect, as he was locked out of his shelter and was exposed to the searing hot sun and freezing cold night of Tasmania.

The Thylacine was one of the last large marsupials left on Australia (the other being the Kangaroo) after a great extinction event occurred around 40 thousand years ago. This extinction event, caused mainly by the arrival of humans, wiped out 90% of Australia’s terrestrial vertebrates, including the famous Megafauna.

The Thylacine was around 15-30kg (33-66lbs), were carnivorous, and had numerous similarities to other species like dogs, despite not being related and purely by chance, in a phenomenon known as convergent evolution (just like the ability to fly of bats and birds, despite following different evolutionary paths). Not only that, they could open their jaws up to 120 degrees, could hop around on two legs like a kangaroo, and both males and females had pouches.

Lastly in a cruel twist, the Tasmanian government decided to protect the Thylacine - just 59 days before the last one died, in a very notable case case of “Too little too late”. To date, many biologists believe that there are still Thylacine roaming the wild plains of Australia. 

Thylacine from Arthur Mee’s Children’s Encyclopedia, 1930s. Tiny little illustration.

Rods

A much overlooked cryptid, rods are believed to be extradimensional creatures. Some believe these undulating, serpent-like creatures move at a rate that is faster than the “framerate” of the human eye, but are sometimes captured on film. Rods have been known to measure from just a few centimetres, to over a mile in length. The largest of rods are believed to be connected to UFOs and alien life. 

Rods are widely discredited as being regular flying insects that appear strange on-camera due to motionblur. However, some sightings are not so easily explained. 

“A thylacine painted on the ceiling of a rock shelter in Kakadu NP. They have been extinct on the mainland for >3000 years, but the artist obviously knew them in life.” - Sam Sweet

Source: Sam Sweet

some more images of the thylacine you have probably never seen before