Читать книгу Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside - Brad Steiger - Страница 74

For over 200 years, stories have emerged from the swamps, rivers, and lakes of African jungles that there is a brownish-gray, elephant-sized creature with a reptilian tail and a long, flexible neck. The native people call it “Mokele-mbembe” (“the one who stops the flow of rivers”) or “emela-ntuka” (“the one who eats the tops of trees”).

In 1980, Dr. Roy P. Mackal, a distinguished biochemist, engineer, and biologist, who has spent most of his academic career at the University of Chicago, led an expedition into African swamps that were said to be “Mokey’s” hangouts. After numerous interviews with the native inhabitants and with those who had seen the creature in the rivers, Dr. Mackal stated that the descriptions of the beast would fit that of a sauropod, the giant plant-eating reptile that supposedly became extinct about 60 million years ago. In 1987, Dr. Mackal’s A Living Dinosaur? In Search of Mokele-Mbembe was published, indicating his dedication to investigating reports of “impossible” creatures.

J. Richard Greenwell (1942–2005), an expedition member from Tucson, reported his discovery of huge tracks that led into the Likouala River. In his opinion, no animal smaller than an elephant could have left such a path through the thickets near the river, and, Greenwell noted, elephants always leave an exit trail when they leave a river. Whatever left these massive prints made no such sign of an exit, which may indicate that Mokey is a marine, as well as land, creature.

The Likouala swampland, Mokey’s hangout, is twice the size of Scotland, and thick with venomous snakes and disease-bearing insects. Even something as large as the Mokele-mbembe is said to be, it would not be easy to find it.

Although the beast was said most often to be herbivorous, it also used its great tail to assist in tipping over an elephant or a hippopotamus.

In September 1981, Herman Regusters (d. December 19, 2005) an aerospace engineer from South Pasadena, and his wife, Kia, became the first Westerners to reach Lake Tele, Congo. On November 28, they claimed to have seen and to have photographed a dinosaur-like animal in a remote African lake. Mrs. Regusters said that the gigantic reptile was dark red with a long, thick neck, and longer than two hippopotamuses. Unfortunately, the photograph taken by the Regusters was judged by others as being rather fuzzy, and their tape recording of the “roaring trumpeting noise” heard frequently around Lake Tele, was impossible to identify.

In 1986, Rory Nugent was in the Likouala Swamp near Lake Tele when he saw a long, thin neck come up out of the water. The creature gave every appearance of being a dinosaur. Nugent immediately took two photographs of the monster before it submerged.

Nugent’s moment of triumph was dashed when he was stopped from re-entering his canoe by the rifles of his guides. They ordered him to destroy the film or they would take the camera from him. Angrily, they made their point perfectly clear that if he did not do so at once, the great creature would pursue them and kill all of them before they could leave the lake.

Reluctantly, Nugent yielded to their demands. He was well aware that the Mokele-mbembe was extremely aggressive and had been known to flip over canoes with its tail, then chomp down on the occupants with its huge teeth. Although the beast was said most often to be herbivorous, it also used its great tail to assist in tipping over an elephant or a hippopotamus.

Dr. Bill Gibbons, a zoologist who specializes in attempting to track down new species and has tracked the Mokele-mbembe, told the (London) Sunday Times [June 3, 1999] that he is certain that Mokele-mbembe exists. According to Dr. Gibbons, cryptozoologists had heard reports that hunters from the Kabonga tribe had killed a Mokele-mbembe and had tried to eat it. Its flesh proved inedible and the carcass was left to rot and be gnawed and pecked at by scavengers.

In 1996, zoologist Professor Michelle Gupton told the British press that she was attacked by a huge water monster as she investigated the shoreline of Lake Tele. According to Ms. Gupton, the brownish-gray creature about the size of an elephant suddenly rose out of the waters of the lake right in front of her. Awestruck, she reached out to touch its smooth skin.

That was a nearly fatal mistake on the part of the zoologist. The monster snapped at her with its huge teeth, slashing out a foot-long slice of skin on the side of her stomach.

Ms. Gupton said that she passed out from the pain and was later rescued by members of her party who had been searching the surrounding jungle for signs of Mokele-mbembe. She was rushed to a hospital where her wound was treated. In her considered opinion, her experience proves that dinosaurs are far from extinct.