Local stories from the few villagers that inhabit Russia’s Siberian wasteland tell of a “lake devil” not unlike the Loch Ness Monster or many other similar creatures. Unlike the Loch Ness Monster the creature more modernly known as the Labynkyr Monster was found, examined, and proven real. Welcome to Oymyakon Siberia…One could barely call Oymyakon a village, its population has never exceeded 450 people, mostly fishermen, and the only other place on Earth with a lower wintertime temperature is Antarctica. It’s surprising then that anybody had even heard of the Siberian Lake Devil, yet tales of the creature on numerous occasions drew researchers from as far as Western Europe. This attention was due to the fact that the creature was not in any way shy, most (if not all) Oymyakon residents who ventured to Lake Labynkyr had spotted it at one point or another.The creature came to be called the Labynkyr Monster by cryptid enthusiasts internationally and was said to have a body shape more resembling an elongated lizard than a fish. It was described as having short legs, and an exceptionally long tail. Eventually somebody called it a giant monitor lizard and the description gave way to speculation that the Siberian Lake Devil was in fact a long extinct prehistoric monster of a lizard known as the Mosasaur. Aside from the fact that Mosasaurs went extinct seventy million years ago, there was one other major problem with this connection, Mosasaurs were warm water creatures. The idea that this dinosaur was still alive was as impossible as it having ever existed in this part of the world, except that Lake Labynkyr is itself an anomaly. It is a lake in a frozen wasteland that never freezes and has been the subject of muerous scientific examinations for this reason as well. Despite the impossibility of it, sightings continued and the creature gained even more notoriety as “Russia’s Loch Ness Monster”. More notable than the sightings were the physical encounters – researchers and fishermen alike were reporting that even on days with clear skies and calm waters unexplained waves would grow around their boat and suddenly the boat would be “bumped” by something large moving under the water. These reports date back as far as the 1920’s with Gennady Borodulin recounting a tale from Labynkyr in his book ‘A Trip to the Cold Pole’. The account tells of a local family out hunting deer when they rested at the lake and their son was attacked by the creature. In it, he recounts that the family “saw the child being carried away by an unknown animal to the centre of the lake. It was a dark creature, with a mouth looking like a birds beak. It held the child and moved away with quick rushes, then it dived leaving huge waves and dragged the child under the water.” This same account tells that the grandfather of the child returned to the lake and managed to kill the creature with set traps and bait.In 2006 researchers using a Humminbird Piranha MAX 215 Portable fish-finder registered a large six and a half meter sonar shadow moving under their boat. Many other researchers visited Lake Labynkyr to find “Russia’s Loch Ness Monster”, but in 2013 a research team not at all interested in the Siberian Lake Devil made the most startling discovery of them all. While the team was studying the isolated wildlife of the lake, divers were recording footage of the bottom and taking samples. In the footage they later discovered the unmistakeable and unexplainable form of a giant skeleton which to a large degree matched the description of the Labynkyr Monster. The details were specific enough that the team was able to isolate a large set of jaws. The head of the Russian Georgraphical Society Underwater Research Team responsible for the find was reluctant to give-way to stories of the creature deep within Lake Labynkyr, but when asked could only say We didnt manage to prove or to disprove these versions... we managed to find remains of jaws and skeleton of some animal. Other speculations as to the origins of the skeleton found include a seven meter long pike, which is not that much less terrifying.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 04:00:01 +0000
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