Mokele-mbembe Expedition Update
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 3rd, 2006
Cryptomundo CryptoZoo News Exclusive
The exploratory Milt Marcy Mokele-mbembe Expedition has returned. The trek to the Cameroon was made in preparation for a longer, full-scale effort in search of Mokele-mbembe, at the beginning of 2007.
Drawings of Mokele-mbembe by Bill Rebsamen, used with permission.
Here’s Bill Gibbons’ first report from the group just returned from Africa:
Milt Marcy is in good shape given all the travel time and tough conditions (the insect problem was awful and his feet are swollen up from all the bites). But he sounded encouraged and in good spirits.
He took a boat with him (11ft with 24 hp outboard) that performed flawlessly and took them far up the Dja for 110 miles. They interviewed three fishermen and acquired three independent eyewitness accounts of Mokele-mbembe observed merely days before they got there.
Missionary Paul Ohlin saw a Mokele-mbembe on the Sangha River on January 10, 2006!
This incident reportedly occurred on the Congo side, as Ohlin works there among the Aka pygmies. This is the area also bordered by the Ngoko River, which in west-central Africa forms part of the Cameroon-Congo (Brazzaville) boundary. The Dja Faunal Reserve (Cameroon) lies along its upper course.
Photo: Paul Ohlin and the Aka Pygmies with whom he works. Credit: Ohlin family.
Bill Gibbons continues:
Peter Beach did a great job with the satellite maps and has marked a number of places (including caves) in the general target area. According to Pierre Sima, new information on the animals confirms that they were in the Forbidden Zone from 1984 to 2003/4, so the Mokele-mbembe sometimes stay in one area long-term if the conditions are right. This explains why the villagers in Langoue saw them with such frequency in that area throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
More hunts for Mokele-mbembe are definitely in the futures of Marcy, Gibbons, and others who are searching for these cryptids; many good wishes and safety for their quests.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I must say that I’m a bit disappointed with the results. I was expecting more after the report from earlier this week. This update doesn’t really provide us with any more information. That said, I’m still intrigued by the rumors/sightings of Mokele-mbembe.
As I said in my posts in the previous thread, I still think it’s mandatory that someone capture this creature on film before it attains any level of acceptance as “real,” though. Why is it always that these villagers sightings are just days before an expedition shows up?
No one here seems to be aware that video footage of the creature actually exists. And it is closer to being conclusive than any other cryptid videos I have seen. If I am not mistaken the name of the TV series which featured it was, You Asked For It, and it was being aired during the 1980’s. The footage showed a brontosaurus like neck emerging from a river or swamp somewhere in central Africa, making a few sideways movements, and then submerging. I did several google searches to check if the video is installed on some website but could not find even written references to the video. Perhaps someone else recalls having seen that program and footage.
I’m aware of the program you mentioned. Rich Little was the host, correct? It was a revival of an old ’50s TV show of the same name (actually, I think the ’80s version might have been called “The New You Asked For It” or something like that). I don’t remember seeing a Mokele-mbembe video on it, though.
Maybe this can become the next “Thunderbird photo!” 🙂
Michael, I found a Fortean Times article that seems to talk about the video you mentioned–but it was taken by a Japanese crew in 1992.
If someone finds a link to this video, PLEASE post it, as I still think this could be some kind of mammal.
jjames1,
Although I am not one hundred percent certain that I saw it in The New You Asked For It, or that the host’s name at the time was Rich Little, I can assure you that that video was NOT the Japanese one! I am certain I had seen it in the 1980’s, before 1992. Also, it depicted the animal as being about 150 feet away, not from the altitude of an airplane. It is common for old things to get forgotten. This video must exist in some archive. It would cause a lot of excitement if it became available online. Although I am no good film critic in terms of quality it is probably better than the Patterson film!
I remember the video, it was on a show called “That’s Incredible” and was hosted by John Davidson, Kathy Lee Crosby and Fran Tarkington. It is definitely different than the Japanese one.
I couldn’t find any video of the mokele mbembe anywhere. I did find some stills of the video but nothing special. Unless you get lucky or you know right where to look I think you are going to have a hard time finding the video.
That Japanese Video turned out to be Elephants, the trunk was mistaken for a neck. I suppose that can happen when you look from above. I know nothing about any other video and i have been following this since the early 90’s. I honestly dont thing there is anything there.
Arkansan_88, where did you find the still of the video?
Michael,
I know exactly which clip you’re talking about. I’ve been trying to find the same clip for years now. It was also the clearest cryptozoological video clip that I’d ever seen taken.
I was only 8 or 9 when I saw it, so can’t remember for sure if it was on “You Asked for It” or “That’s Incredible” But, I DO remember that it wasn’t in Africa that the clip was filmed. It was of the purported, mythical Thai river serpent “Naga”.
That thing was long! And, it was swimming directly towards the camera for at least a full minute. Unfortunately, it didn’t raise its head, so you only saw its back, which had a fin-like ridge covering the entirety of its spine. The way it swam was in a serpentine “S” slither, forming several S’s overlapping one another because it was so long. Gosh! If we could find that clip!
I’m telling you, this is the new “Thunderbird photo!” 🙂 Already, we have a few people remembering what was shown and where it was shown differently. I love these kind of mysteries!
dragon
This is certainly not the clip I am describing however yours sounds incredibly interesting. It is reasonable to assume that TV stations have libraries with all the programs ever aired. Therefore, a good energy investment would be to contact the TV stations that aired the above two series and request transcripts with cryptozoological themes. Has this been attempted by anyone before for rare video clips? If so, were the results successful?
Michael
Toronto, ON
Michael!
It just clicked in my head which clip you’re talking about! And, you’re right, it’s totally different from the one I described. Yours was on “That’s Incredible!” I’m 98% sure of it! Some guy led an expedition and came back with a dark grainy (but clear enough), rather distant clip of this neck and head slowly rise out of the water, then back down again.
Sorry for the mistake, but, we’re on the same page now. I can’t believe I’ve finally encountered someone else who has seen and remembered this clip. You’re the first!
That was THE best and only reliable clip of evidence supporting a large dinosaur-like creature inhabiting that lake.
I am really excited to read that someone else remembers this important clip! Although grainy dark somewhat distant it is reliable enough for promoting this cryptid. As for the Thai serpent above can that not be easily debunked by a gigantic eel like fish that inhabits the lakes and rivers of SE Asia? They often keep smaller specimens in chinese restaurant fish tanks.
Someone find that clip!
I cannot help you find the film clip but here is a link to the page of a blog, at the bottom of which someone else describes the clip you seem to refere to.
I’d say Mokele rates near the top of the list of Cryptids that have solid, reliable evidence. Not only do you have numerous, consistent descriptions from the locals, but also several reputable researchers have seen a creature themselves. Too bad for us (but good for Mokele) that it’s in one of the most humanly inhospitable parts of the world.
Wow! This is great. Back in 1986 I was talking to a guy I knew at the time. I was talking about living dinosaurs and he mentioned seeing this episode of “You Asked for It”. I had seen the show many times but, never this episode. He claimed it showed a cave with many snakes and on the other side of the cave was a dinosaur-like creature that quickly moved by the camera. I was intrigued but, chalked it up as nonsense on his part. But, for years it has bugged me. Now I ran across this posting and I am convinced there is a basis to the story. I doubt it’s even remotely as lavish as the story I was told. Since I was told in 86 the episode had to have been a few years old at the most.
Newbie here. I too saw the episode of That’s Incredible which showed the head and neck of something prehistoric looking. It slowly rose out of the river and then submerged. I saw that vid years ago but ever since seeing it, it has stuck with me all these years. By the way the episode in question is episode# 26 from “That’s Incredible”. Now somebody help find that episode!!!
Newbie here. Here is some information on the episode that showed that dino footage.
Episode Detail: That’s Incredible! – That’s Incredible!
A stunt man maneuvers a giant wheel atop a Los Angeles skyscraper. Also: a dinosaur-like creature in Africa. Hosts: Cathy Lee Crosby, John Davidson and Fran Tarkenton.
I am currently looking for this lost episode. It’s almost as if somebody wanted it to disappear!!
hey i’m curious what hapened with the video? someone found it?
I have a lead, on this video, the RetroTelevisionNetwork network in the US is showing re-runs of That’s Incredible. I have contacted them, but as of yet there is no word on whether they have the episode in question, which by all accounts is episode 31, so one of the earlier ones (they made like 170) and more likely to have been lost. But fingers crossed, this is one of the best leads I have found so far. Here is the wiki link for the network, for any interested sleuths http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retro_Television_Network