Page 31 - 201205 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - May 2012

The Center of the Labyrinth The Center of the Labyrinth Continued from Page 30 Until the early part of the 20th century, many Scandinavian fisherman would walk the labyrinth before putting out to sea to ensure good catches and favorable winds. It was believed that unwelcome winds might be trapped and neutralized in the coils of the labyrinth. Trapping the souls of the dead Some stone circles are found far inland high in the hills near ancient grave sites, often dating from the Bronze Age. The stone labyrinth known as the Rosaring at Lassa, Uppland, Sweden, is situated at the end of an ancient road built c. A.D. 815, along which it is probable that the dead were pulled on carts to their burial. The souls of the dead ancestors may have been through to reside here. Since spirits were believed to be able to travel only in straight lines, the turns of the maze kept them from escaping and causing trouble. terrific rush, and settled. The huge wake was It is not known if there is any connection The labyrinths were also believed t slowing down, and the water was calming - and between the Florida and Bermuda carcasses and protect the living from the perils of the suddenly there he was, swimming in the water three mysterious organic masses that in the supernatural world. The shepherds and hunters G:D9 9:C 9625 :? D96 2:B )@ K>2B<65 9:> 3I D92D 1960’s were washed ashore on beaches in of Lapland would walk along the labyrinths to tree, rushed straight off and got my husband, Tasmania and New Zealand. Dubbed globsters escape from trolls and other forms of evil and we sat from 12 to 15 minutes watching the by zoologist Ivan T. Sanderson, these ranged in spirits, who they believed would follow them in. animal... length from 8 to 30 feet and were all described Once inside the maze, however, the theory was as tough, rubbery, and odorless, with a hairy or that the underworld spirits would eb trapped, Hefty tail “stringy” outer covering. Naturalists were unable to find their way out of its center. [] “The head wasn’t big in comparison, but the unable to relate them to any known animals. [] length of neck was frightening. But then, my The Patagonian Lake word! The creature suddenly decided, “I’ve had Tentacles of Death Monster enough of sunshine, I’ll go down below again.” Continued from Page 20 So, it switched all the way round. Every bit f water was in motion - all round as far as you “Then the water-skiers...started could see. It disturbed the whole lake. And how Massachusetts jellyfish The largest scientifically observed jellyfish is a can a tail rock the whole of a lake unless it’s skiing this side of the monster. And something pretty hefty?...” specimen of Cyanea arctica, examined in the monster still looked magnificent, “ ‘So it was a very active sort of Massachusetts in 1865, which had 120-foot- and high above them by a long way. >@?CD6B M KCE886CD65 long tentacles. The lion’s mane jellyfish draped “Oh, terribly fast - I’ve never seen anything quicker. But it went down slowly just over the Kuranda, however, was estimated by the second officer of the ship to have tentacles tremble.” =:<6 D96 A6B:C4@A6 @7 2 CE3>2B:?6 2?5 K5:5?MD 200 feet long. It may be that even larger see another thing.” [] specimens also exist. In November 1969 two A monster called Nahuelito is reputed to dwell skin divers, Richard Winer and Pat Boatwright, in Nahuel Haupi, a lake in Patagonia, Argentina. Blobs and Globsters were 30-40 feet deep in the ocean off Bermuda When Tom Vernon, a British traveler, writer and when they saw an enormous, round, pulsating, filmmaker, was cycling through Patagonia in Continued from Page 6 pink-edged, purple creature beneath them. 1989, making a television program, he met a Winer thought that it was a monstrous jellyfish. woman who claimed to have seen the monster Bermuda Blob The two men estimated its body to be in all its awesome grandeur. What follows is his Since then, another large, mysterious organic somewhere between to and 100 feet across. account of his interview with her, taken from his mass bas been washed ashore. In May 1988, Since the Massachusetts jellyfish had a body book Fat Man in Argentina (1990). fisherman Teddy Tucker discovered the remains only 7.5 feet across, the Bermuda specimen’s “Nahuelito..is said only to appear in a of a creature on his beach in Mangrove Bay, tentacles would presumably have been of flat calm...I went to see Mrs/ Hilda Rumboll, Bermuda. The object was about eight feet long extraordinary proportions. [] who had [seen it], 14 years before...her family and “very rubbery”. Tucker took color was noted for its interest in natural history: and photographs of ti and before it was washed out her eldest son was a well-known professional in to sea, cut off a sample and sent it to Dr. Eugene the field...From the window in her house I could Clark, a marine biologist at the University of see across the lake. It was 17 kilometres wide Maryland. Analysis of the sample indicated that there, she said, and 450 metres deep. it consisted of collagen (a tough, fibrous protein that is the main component of connective tissue) Enormous wash and that it originated from a large, cold-blooded “It was a day with no wind [said Mrs. Rumboll]. vertebrae such as a fish or reptile. Some Over there, at the beginning of the lake, more or zoologists have suggested that the Bermuda less, an enormous wash took place. I’ve never Blob, as it is popularly called, may be similar to seen anything like it - it must have bee the the Florida carcass and may also be the remains height of this wall. The monster came in with a of a giant octopus. But this is only speculation, and the blob’s identity remains a mystery.