Not to be outdone though, here in Cornwall we have our very own monster, the mysterious Morgawr!
Here's such a tale, taken from A Memorable Night At Sea:
"... suddenly the black sea parted some ten to twelve feet in front of Percy's face, off the starboard side. A three to four foot diameter object with a ball like head came straight out of the water and rose to a height of some twelve feet above the water's surface. The deck that I was standing on was four feet off the water, I was about five and a half feet and was looking slightly up at it.
'Cor, hell!' exclaimed Percy as he reeled back from the rail throwing his hands in front of his face, "what is it ?" I looked back at the others by the wheelhouse, they were staring at this thing with their mouths open. That vision still remains with me. Three seasoned seamen staring at this thing with their mouths open! I turned to look at this "thing", momentarily poised on the sea. It gave a breathing sound, "Aaggh, Haaggh", before slipping vertically down the way it had come. A stunned silence for a few seconds before excited conversation broke out as the four fishermen compared sightings. A tubular form with globular head seen from the bow and the stern. Not a whale nor a submarine periscope or snorkel. Whatever it was, they had never seen nor read about anything like this. I remained holding onto the foremast feeling cold, clammy and decidedly scared. I do not remember what we did after that, I think the idea of looking for more pilchard was abandoned and we returned to harbour."
Not convinced? Well what about if I show you a photo which was published in a local paper, the Falmouth Packet:
Okay, not the clearest of pictures but this is what the lady, Mary, who sent in the photo said of the sighting:
"... it looked like an elephant waving its trunk, but the trunk was a long neck with a small head at the end, like a snake's head. It had humps on its back which moved in a funny way... the animal frightened me. I would not like to see it any closer. I do not like the way it moved when swimming."
A Mr. Holmes purports to have taken a video of Morgawr, see the BBC website - which states that a forensic scientist has viewed the video and "'has confirmed that it is 100% genuine.'" Only trouble with this is that the actual video isn't anywhere on the Internet.
But there have been many other sightings.
Examples
July 1976: 25 miles south of Lizard Point. Fishermen John Cock and George Vinnicombe claim to have seen a creature whose neck reared 4 feet up in the water. They estimated the animal's length at 22 feet.
August 1985: Gerran's Bay. Christopher and Susan Waldron of King's Stanley, Gloucestershire spotted the creature whilst on holiday. Susan was watching her husband swimming in the sea, when she noticed a large silhouette under the surface behind him. The shape was described to be that of a large, long necked creature.
But sightings go back to 1876 when fisherman, again at Gerran's Bay, supposedly caught a serpent in their fishing nets. There are dozens of other sightings of Morgawr but, as with the Loch Ness Monster, and some would say with UFOs as well, there are no clear photos.
When I walk the cliffs of Cornwall I have may camera at the ready but nothing seen other than harmless basking sharks, seals and dolphins in the distance - one day, perhaps.
FURTHER READING:
The Cornish Mystery Of The Men-an-Tol Stones
Reference: ufoproofs.blogspot.com
