August 16, 2010

15 Cadborosauruses? Maybe a few less.

My erstwhile colleague Loren Coleman posted about the television program that is said to contain footage of 15 Cadborosauruses. This was in response to comments about the footage made by my good friend and colleague Jason Walton.

So as to clarify things and end speculation, allow me to tell the readership about this footage. I have seen it and examined it repeatedly for three hours in May last year and am satisfied that what is in the footage is not a known animal.

The footage was obtained by a Washington state fishing boat captain (his name is known to myself and other cryptozoological investigators who have looked at the footage) who fishes in Alaskan waters in the summer. He and his two sons were on the deck of their boat when they noticed a herd of dark coloured creatures with serrated backs being chased down a channel by a pod of beluga whales.  They were stunned to see these animals as they resembled no known animal they had ever seen in their years of fishing.

One of the sons had the presence of mind to go below deck and grab a video camera to film the spectacle before them. When he returned to the deck the creatures – and there are between ten to fifteen of them including juveniles – had reversed direction and were bearing back up the channel to open water with the belugas in hot pursuit. A fair amount of this action is caught on videotape.

As the creatures pull level with the boat one is able to see two larger ones protecting what looks like a juvenile from the pursuing belugas. The serrated backs are clearly visible at times. Then one the creatures turns to look in the general direction of the camera and I must say I was stunned because it looked like a living breathing version of the famed Naden Harbour carcass obtained in 1937.

I had the opportunity to examine the footage in its raw state and also the isolations, close-ups and slow motion versions for three hours straight. Prior to my examination of the contents of the footage, my colleague Dr. Paul H. Leblond, FRSC, also spent hours examining the footage.  I arrived an hour after Dr. Leblond and so had no contact with him and no discussion before I saw the footage.

That evening Paul and I exchanged emails. I wanted to hear his impressions of what he had seen and I was not at all surprised that he had noticed the same features of the creatures I had noted and which had convinced me that this was an unknown creature and very like the north Pacific Megaserpent known as Cadborosaurus. In fact Paul actually described the head of the creature that looked in the direction of the camera as being very akin to the Naden Harbour carcass.

The owner of the footage is not a scientist, but he was acutely aware of the monetary value of the footage that he and his sons had obtained. Paul and I asked that he allow the film to be further studied, but he felt that selling it to a television company would allow him to have better magnifications and slow mo done so that the footage could be better viewed. He sold the footage to the producers of  a TV program many readers will be familiar with.  So as not to steal their thunder, I will refrain from saying what program it is until the producers make their announcement. At that time I will gladly share the airdate and time with the readers of Cryptomundo.

I can fairly confidently say that readers will find this footage fascinating and I hope that the producers of the program the creatures will be seen in, will have used all their electronic tools to show clearly the remarkable animals that the Washington state boat skipper and his sons have captured.

If these are whales, moose, otters or other known creatures then they are subtypes that no one has ever seen before. I do not think that they are a known animal and I look forward to readers’ comments after they have seen the footage.

John Kirk About John Kirk
One of the founders of the BCSCC, John Kirk has enjoyed a varied and exciting career path. Both a print and broadcast journalist, John Kirk has in recent years been at the forefront of much of the BCSCC’s expeditions, investigations and publishing. John has been particularly interested in the phenomenon of unknown aquatic cryptids around the world and is the author of In the Domain of the Lake Monsters (Key Porter Books, 1998). In addition to his interest in freshwater cryptids, John has been keenly interested in investigating the possible existence of sasquatch and other bipedal hominids of the world, and in particular, the Yeren of China. John is also chairman of the Crypto Safari organization, which specializes in sending teams of investigators to remote parts of the world to search for animals as yet unidentified by science. John travelled with a Crypto Safari team to Cameroon and northern Republic of Congo to interview witnesses among the Baka pygmies and Bantu bushmen who have sighted a large unknown animal that bears more than a superficial resemblance to a dinosaur. Since 1996, John Kirk has been editor and publisher of the BCSCC Quarterly which is the flagship publication of the BCSCC. In demand at conferences, seminars, lectures and on television and radio programs, John has spoken all over North America and has appeared in programs on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, TLC, Discovery, CBC, CTV and the BBC. In his personal life John spends much time studying the histories of Scottish Clans and is himself the president of the Clan Kirk Society. John is also an avid soccer enthusiast and player.

Filed under Champ/Lake Champlain Monster, Cryptid Universe, Loch Ness Monster, Ogopogo, Sea Serpents, Television