Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

Henry Gosse, The Romance of Natural
History, Second Series (London: James Nisbet,
1862); Henry Lee, Sea Fables Explained
(London: William Clowes and Sons, 1883);
Fletcher S. Bassett, Legends and Superstitions
of the Sea and Sailors (Chicago: Belford,
Clarke, 1885), pp. 148–201, 445, 451;
Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the
Middle Ages (London: Longmans, Green,
1892), pp. 471–523; Alexander Carmichael,
Carmina Gadelica (Edinburgh: T. and A.
Constable, 1900); John Livingston Lowes,
The Road to Xanadu (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1927); J. M. McPherson, Primitive
Beliefs in the North-East of Scotland (London:
Longmans, Green, 1929), pp. 72–73; W.
Walter Gill, A Manx Scrapbook (London:
Arrowsmith, 1929), p. 241; Cherry Kearton,
The Island of Penguins (New York: R. M.
McBride, 1931); Hakon Mielche, Journey to
the World’s End (New York: Doubleday,
Doran, 1941); R. MacDonald Robertson,
Wade the River, Drift the Loch (Edinburgh:
Oliver and Boyd, 1948); R. MacDonald
Robertson, Selected Highland Folktales (Isle of
Colonsay, Scotland: House of Lochar, 1961),
pp. 148–170; Gwen Benwell and Arthur
Waugh, Sea Enchantress (London:
Hutchinson, 1961); Dublin Evening Press,
August 4, 1962, p. 5a; Tim Dinsdale, The
Leviathans (London: Routledge and Kegan
Paul, 1966), pp. 138–146; Ernest W.
Marwick, The Folklore of Orkney and Shetland
(London: B. T. Batsford, 1975), pp. 24–25;
A. H. Saxon, P. T. Barnum: The Legend and
the Man (New York: Columbia University
Press, 1989); Richard Ellis, Monsters of the Sea
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994), pp.
75–112; Jim Higgins, Irish Mermaids: Sirens,
Temptresses and Their Symbolism in Art,
Architecture and Folklore (Galway, Ireland:
Crow’s Rock Press, 1995); John M.
MacAulay, Seal Folk and Ocean Paddlers
(Cambridge: White Horse, 1998); Meri Lao,
Sirens: Symbols of Seduction (Rochester, Vt.:
Park Street Press, 1999); Jan Bondeson, The
Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays in Natural
and Unnatural History (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell
University Press, 1999); Marc Potts, The
Mythology of the Mermaid and Her Kin
(Chieveley, England: Capall Bann, 2000).
Mesingw
Cannib al G iantof the eastern United States.
Etymology: Unami (Algonquian), “mask
being.”
Variant names: Mee sing, Misinghalikun,
Wsinkhoalican.
Physical description: Covered with hair. Face is
part red, part black.
Behavior: Cry is “ho ho ho.” Rides a deer.
Guards forest animals.
Distribution: New Jersey; eastern Pennsylvania.
Sources: Mark Raymond Harrington,
Religion and Ceremonies of the Lenape (New
York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, 1921); Mark Raymond
Harrington, Dickon among the Lenape
(Philadelphia: John C. Winston, 1938).
Messie
Freshwater Monster of South Carolina.
Variant name: Loch Murray monster.
Physical description: A large fish or humped
animal. Length, 30 feet.
Distribution: Lake Murray, South Carolina.
Significant sightings: In 1973, Buddy and
Shirley Browning and a friend were fishing
when a large fish attacked their boat. It did not
look like a sturgeon to them.
In late April 2000, Mary S. Shealey saw a
large lump resembling an overturned boat near
the Lake Murray Dam. She estimated it was 30
feet long and 10 feet high.
Possible explanation: The Atlantic sturgeon
(Acipenser oxyrhynchus) grows to 14 feet in
length and ascends coastal rivers to spawn. It is
found in some South Carolina rivers, including
the Santee and Edisto, but none have been confirmed
in Lake Murray.
Sources: John Kirk, In the Domain of Lake
Monsters (Toronto, Canada: Key Porter Books,
1998), pp. 172–173; Lexington (S.C.) News,
May 14, 2000; Loch Murray Monster, http://
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1171/irmo019.
html.
MESSIE 333