Mokele-Mbembe, African Congo Cryptid
Unidentified Mysterious Animal (UMA) Is in Cryptozoology’s Realm
Aug 29, 2009
Witnesses state Mokele-Mbembe is about the size of a hippopotamus or larger than an elephant. Its hairless body is brown, auburn or gray. Some say it has frills.
Conflicting reports are that the animal is silent or it makes a snorting, growling, or howling sound. Witnesses agree that it has a long neck and tail and three claws.
It’s an underwater creature that surfaces to eat or go to other areas of a river or lake. While it is an herbivore, it’s said to eat humans. Natives told missionary Pastor Thomas about killing a Mokele-Mbembe with spears in the late 1950s. Two witnesses mimicked the beast’s cries. Some people cooked and ate parts of the animal, but those who ingested its meat died mysteriously.
Quests for Mokele-Mbembe
There have been numerous attempts to gather irrefutable evidence of Mokele-Mbembe by killing or capturing one. Several credible people claimed to have seen or heard one.
Cryptozoologist and naturalist Ivan Sanderson was in Africa when he saw large hippo-like tracks in an area without hippos. Natives told him they were made by Mokele-Mbembe. Later, Sanderson saw a creature in the water that was too big to be a hippo, but it disappeared before he could see it more clearly.
Herpetologist James H. Powell led three expeditions searching for Mokele-Mbembe. He showed natives pictures of extinct and non-extinct animals. Witnesses agreed that the diplodocus most closely resembled what they had seen.
While biologist Roy F. Mackel and his expedition team were going around a bend in the Likouala River, they heard a loud splash, then saw a large wake that evidenced a very large animal had jumped into the water. They watched for the animal to surface for a significant amount of time, but it didn’t.
The most frequent sightings of Mokele-Mbembe are in river bends. Herman Regusters led an expedition and claimed some team members sighted the cryptid. He and his wife heard what sounded like a growl, starting low, then increasing in volume, which they believed was made by the cryptid.
Later researchers either received the same information as their predecessors did or found nothing to support claims that Mokele-Mbembe existed.
Problems Investigating Cryptids’ Existence
One is the reliability of witnesses. There are those who create stories about seeing unidentified mysteral animals (UMAs) or who are hallucinating.
Mistaken identity is another problem. People have identified large black cats, dogs and other animals as phantom panthers, Alien Big Cats. It’s possible people mistake what they see because they want to believe in the existence of an UMA or they’re scared and perceive something that’s not there.
People investigating these types of phenomena in foreign countries also have linguistic and cultural hurdles.
Is Mokele-Mbembe a Dinosaur Believed to be Extinct?
It’s possible witnesses saw an UMA in the Congo. New species of animals are continually being discovered, especially in relatively unpopulated regions. The Congo is a sparsely uninhabited jungle rain forest.
In the early 1900s, African natives told foreign visitors about two strange elusive animals. Initially, their existence was doubted, but the okapi and mountain gorilla were finally “discovered” in the early 1900s. The coelacanth was thought to be extinct until one was caught off of the African coast in 1938.
There have been many sightings of dinosaur-like creatures in lakes, rivers and oceans. Could it be that some types of dinosaurs have survived or could these cryptids resemble dinosaurs, but are a different species?
Paranormal African Articles Related to Mokele-Mbembe
Readers who enjoyed this articles might find these interesting: Africa's Cryptid Bear, along with Popobawa African Paranormal Mystery and Witch Doctor's Curse - Juju Snakes.
Source:
- Unexplained!, by Jerome Clark, (Visible Ink, 1993).
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