The Mokele-mbembe Legend

Thought I share this new article on this famous creature. Just published yesterday.

I first got interested in this mystery with books and articles by "Roy P. Mackal (August 1, 1925 – September 14, 2013)"

"In 1987, Mackal wrote a book about his adventures in the Likouala swamps called A Living Dinosaur? In Search of Mokele-Mbembe. He had tried to obtain funds for a third expedition to the region, but his plans were never realized." Also his classic "In search of hidden monsters", One can go here and read about him and his monster searches en.wikipedia.org...

A lot of researchers (lot of TV shows) have had a go looking for this legend. It is a nasty place full of nasty bugs and long hikes into the jungle. It just ain't easy and getting equipment into the area..well it is a pain.



a foot print?? Is this a Mokele-mbembe footprint? (Republic of the Congo 1966)

"I don't know what we saw, but the animal, the monster, burned itself into my retinas. It looked like something that ought to have been dead millions of years ago. As a scientist, I should have been happy, of course, but this encounter was so frightening, so nasty that I never want to see it again."

The history of this creature is long (like Loch Ness) It goes way back!!

For over 200 years, reports have circulated about a dinosaur-like beast inhabiting Africa's Congo River basin. In 1776, French missionaries passing through the forests reported finding huge footprints in the ground. The clawed prints were three feet in circumference and were spaced about seven feet apart. This would have made the animal as big as an elephant, but it was common knowledge to the locals that the tracks were not from an elephant, since elephants do not posses claws. One of the priests, amazingly, even gave claim to have seen several specimens chewing on vegetation while wading in the rivers. Regardless, it was certain that these were an entirely new group of animals. At that time, however, they were neither "dinosaurs" nor "prehistoric," the words waiting to be invented nearly one hundred years later.

In March 2009 an episode of the History Channel series MonsterQuest involved Bill Gibbons, Rob Mullin, local guide Pierre Sima and a two-man film crew from White Wolf Productions. It took place in Cameroon, in the region of Dja, Boumba, and Nkogo Rivers, near the border with the Republic of the Congo. The episode aired in the summer of 2009, and also featured an interview with Roy P. Mackal and Peter Beach of the Milt Marcy Expedition, 2006.[24][self-published source?] While no sightings were reported on the expedition, the team found evidence of a large underground cave with air vents. The team also received sonar readings of very long, serpentine shapes underwater.

MORE PICTURES and the whole article here www.phantomsandmonsters.com...

I'm not sure what this creature (s) is or are but I'd like to hear your take.

What do you all think

Sounds interesting but it's just like Loch Ness story,it will never be solved.

Wasnt there a movie made about this back in the 80s? Congo I think it was called.

originally posted by: Cinrad
Wasnt there a movie made about this back in the 80s? Congo I think it was called.

Yes

Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985)

link www.imdb.com...

I love these old legends and I do hope it is true, but I'm torn.
I would love to see real proof, like pictures or video, but if we did get it, someone would just go and kill them off.

There are so many places on earth that have yet to be explored! It's estimated that there are thousands of miles of caves that have never been explored, and 95% of the ocean remains a mystery. Who knows what could be hiding in these places?

originally posted by: chiefsmom
I love these old legends and I do hope it is true, but I'm torn.
I would love to see real proof, like pictures or video, but if we did get it, someone would just go and kill them off.

Yes I believe your right ..your post reminded me of this: Champ the Lake Monster

In the 1800s the famous circus owner PT Barnum offered a bounty for Champ-- dead or alive-- but it turned up nothing. Since then there have been dozens of supposed Champ sightings here.

link: www.wcax.com...

Looked these up : Beast Hunter - Swamp Monster of the Congo

Ever since the earliest missionaries and explorers returned from Africa, stories have been told of strange water-dwelling monsters living in the Congo Basin. The native Pygmy tribes speak of the Mokele-mbembe, an animal with a long, thin neck and a body the size of an elephant that seems to resemble a sauropod dinosaur.

link : www.youtube.com... cost $1.99

This one is free : MonsterQuest - The Last Dinosaur

This legend is what got me started on the whole Crypto trip. I was in elementary school and pulled an old book out the shelf in the library titled, "Bigfoot and other mystery creatures of the world". It was the coolest thing I had ever seen, eve since then, I was always open to the idea of undiscovered critters lurking about.

IMHO, I think mokele might be some off shoot of the hippo and elephant, big body, long neck. It could be one a species specific to that region only.

If I remember correcrly though, that area is strife with conflict an wars, kinda of hard to get in there and do some real research.

I think this is a legit find and one day it will be revealed just exactly what this critter is.

S&f, good find, good thread.

i believe it. hah. Who knows , perhaps there are plenty of things like this on our very world we know nothing about yet.

originally posted by: Sin011001
i believe it. hah. Who knows , perhaps there are plenty of things like this on our very world we know nothing about yet.

Yep!! There is a whole bunch of weird out there lol!!

Look at these : Monstro Bizarro: Top 10 Cryptids

www.rue-morgue.com...

# 7 ) MOKELE-MBEMBE

"Location: Congo River Basin, Africa
Class: living dinosaur
Description: 20-30 foot long creature resembling a Brontosaurus dinosaur

Mokele-mbembe, whose name means “One Who Stops the Flow of Rivers,” is described as a 20-30 foot animal resembling a Sauropod dinosaur (a.k.a. Brontosaurus/Apatosaurus). The creature, according to local natives, hangs out in the rivers, swamplands and lakes of the Congo, usually with its body submerged while extending its long neck upward to graze on low-hanging plants.

Sightings by westerners date back to 1932 when the notable cryptozoologist Ivan T. Sanderson claimed to see an enormous creature in the Mainyu River. Over the years, evidence besides anecdotal tales has been noted, including curious three-toed footprints and suspected cave dugouts. Many expeditions by outsiders have been launched in hopes of finding this living dinosaur, including a Japanese crew that captured what they believe is a Mokele-mbembe on video in 1987.

Skeptics point out that it would be extremely unlikely for a creature such as this to have escaped the mass dinosaur extinction, not to mention that there is no definitive physical evidence. Yet when a series of animal and dinosaur pictures is shown to eyewitnesses, they always identify the Sauropod while exclaiming: “Mokele-mbembe.” Some skeptics feel that these are actually large hippopotamus being mistaken for dinosaurs, but nonetheless, the natives are sticking to their belief that Mokele-mbembe is something far more monstrous."

a reply to: RUFFREADY

Leave it to scientists to tell people, "Oh you are wrong about what you saw, because I KNOW that it doesn't exist" lol...

Jaden

a reply to: Masterjaden

Scientists can't publicly claim they believe in something whose only proof is eyewitness accounts and maybe prints. They risk taking a hit to their reputation or worse if they did. So until a body of one of these cryptids is found and put in front of them for study most will continue to not only deny their existence but also the possibility of it.

Yeah but denying the possibility of something based on the current paradigm is SOOO anti science it's not even funny.

That's what I hate the most about it. I understand why they do it. They're afraid of being ostracized...They shouldn't HAVE to be afraid of being ostracized just for acknowledging the possibility of something though...

It's ridiculous how enamored people become with the current paradigm they've been taught in. It doesn't help that they continuously perpetuate the idea of certain paradigms being fact when they are the furthest thing from fact.

I also love it when people attempt to bring up flat earthists and heliocentric and geocentric as SUPPORT for the modern paradigms, which is the most asinine thing I've EVER seen and is SO hypocritical...

Jaden

a reply to: Masterjaden

Agreed but they also risk losing funding. I think that more than anything keeps the majority "in line."