The Beast of Bala
Posted by: Nick Redfern on April 1st, 2012
Nick Redfern, blogger on our sister site UFOMystic, joins us as a regular contributor here at Cryptomundo.
Loch Ness, Scotland is home to the legendary lake-monster called Nessie. Okanagan Lake, in British Columbia, Canada can boast of its own water-based beast, Ogopogo. In the depths of Lake Champlain, Vermont lurks Champ. And in Lake Bala, North Wales swims the less well known, but no less intriguing, Teggie.
So, what do we know for sure about this latter creature of the deep? Well, one of the most notable and provably things is that Lake Bala is home to the Gwyniad, a type of prehistoric fish that is not found anywhere else in the world. And with one ancient creature in residence at the lake, might there also be a second one; perhaps one far bigger and much more menacing than the relatively small Gwyniad?
That is a question I address in my latest Lair of the Beasts post…
About Nick Redfern
Punk music fan, Tennents Super and Carlsberg Special Brew beer fan, horror film fan, chocolate fan, like to wear black clothes, like to stay up late. Work as a writer.
On the posting to which this is linked, readers will find “Lake Okinawa, in British Columbia, Canada can boast of its own water-based beast, Ogopogo.”
It is Okanagan Lake, not Lake Okinawa. There are the wetlands of Okinawa in Japan, and Lake Okinawa in New Zealand, but no one is reported to have seen an Ogopogo in any Lake Okinawa. Ogopogos are in Okanagan Lake, British Columbia, Canada.
Weird…my original Word doc (in which the article was written) has it correct! Since I don’t format or upload the “Lair” articles, I can only think it was maybe spellchecked and got changed by mistake in that process. But, I’ll find out for sure anyway.
Hi Nick ! Have you noticed a lot of weird things happening since you wrote your latest Men in Black book ? Lake monsters is a much safer and fun topic. Welcome aboard.
Cool I love reading Nick’s stuff.
The Gwyniad is a leftover from the Ice age, a very intriguing fish. A skeptic might counter the use of the Gwyniad as an example of how a prehistoric animal might indeed roam lake Bala by saying that it’s one thing to hide a normal sized fish, another to hide a Nessie-sized beast. However, The size of the lake, murkiness factor, have to be considered when skeptics try to use size differences to brush Teggie off.
I find it possible that other prehistoric denizens might inhabit Lake Bala, both Teggie and perhaps others not sighted, still awaiting discovery in the ancient murky depths…
BTW: here is a website that talks about the Gwyniad, including pic.
As for the Illustration:
Is this representative of Teggie? Whether it is or not its an interesting pic I’ve seen before, and I think I saw it on the opening credits of the Movie “Sphere” (besides the murkey fallacies about giant squid in the movie and like many others not living up to the book by Michael Crichton, it was a good flick). The first things that come to mind are either a super-sized sea snake or an enormous Eel (the latter a possible canidate for Nessie). I believe that some eels will grow to enormous proportions if they do not get the chance to breed, putting all their extra calories into growth instead of reproduction (this occurs with other animals and humans, the latter when castrated at an early age).
Champ:
Life is always weird! LOL
Hapa:
As there aren’t any definitive pics of the beast of Bala, I chose that pic purely to represent a monster of the water.
Best, Nick