China's 'Loch Ness Monster' Resurfaces
Tue Jul 15, 7:04 AM ET
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's legendary "Lake Tianchi Monster" has
surfaced anew, with local officials reporting sightings of as many
as 20 of the mysterious and unidentified creatures in a lake near
North Korea (news - web sites).
Sightings of the strange beast -- China's version of the "Loch Ness
Monster" -- date back more than a century, but like Scotland's
famed "Nessie" reports vary and remain unconfirmed.
On the morning of July 11, several local government cadres caught
sight of a school of mysterious creatures swimming through the lake
in the Changbai mountains, in northeastern Jilin province, the
Beijing Youth Daily said on Tuesday.
"Within about 50 minutes, the monsters appeared five times," it
quoted one of the officials, provincial forestry bureau
vice-director Zhang Lufeng, as saying. "At times there was one, at
times there were several. The last time, there was as many as about
20."
He said the creatures, two to three kilometers (1.25-2 miles) in
the distance, appeared only as white or black spots. But from the
ripples in the water, he and others determined the spots were
"living beings."
Officials were not reachable for comment.
In 1903, according to local records, a creature resembling a huge
buffalo with a deafening roar sprang out of the water and attempted
to attack three people before one them shot it in the belly six
times. The beast roared and disappeared back into the water.
A more recently documented sighting compared the head of the
monster to that of a human -- except with big round eyes, a
protruding mouth and a neck 1.2 to 1.5 meters long. It also had a
white ring separating its neck and torso and smooth, gray
skin.
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