Hundreds of tourists claim to have seen the Chinese Nessie while visiting a lake there.

The legend of the monster of Tianchi Lake has been around for a century but this is thought to be one of the best mass sightings.

Witnesses say the black creature has the head of a horse and was around 30 feet away from the bank when spotted.

Two separate groups of tourists, one of them on a nearby mountain, are reported to have seen it leaping from the water.

Meng Fanying, director of a Songjiang District Tourism Bureau, said: "That lasted for about 10 minutes, and some 200 sightseers on Changbai's western peak said they saw it."

Xue Junlin, a local photographer, said it looked just like a model of the Tianchi Lake monster on display at a nearby museum.

He told the China Daily: "They both have horse-like heads."

Tianchi Lake is 373 metres deep and volcanic. Scientists say it would be impossible for any large creature to survive in its waters. The lake is in the Changbai Mountains in Jilin Province, Northeast China.

Story filed: 09:48 Wednesday 31st July 2002

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'Dinosaur' captured on film off the coast of Cornwall

A former Natural History Museum employee claims to have captured a dinosaur on film swimming off the coast of Cornwall.

John Holmes claims he filmed the legendary Cornish beast Morgawr three years ago in Gerrans Bay, off the Roseland Peninsula.

But he says he has only just released the footage for fear of being ridiculed.

The 49-year-old believes the creature is a plesiosaur - a long necked, marine reptile with four paddle-like limbs thought to have died 65 million years ago.

Mr Holmes, of Sticker near St Austell, told the Western Morning News: "My pet theory is that it was a living fossil. I think that there is a group of plesiosaurs going around in the oceans of the world. All around Britain there have been sightings of sea serpents."

The footage apparently shows the head of a 2.2-metre long creature, rising about one metre above the water.

Mr Holmes worked as a higher scientific officer at the Natural History Museum for 19 years and says he has shown the footage to experts over the past year and they are all baffled by the creature's identity.

He added: "What caught my attention was the bizarre movement out to sea. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It wasn't gargantuan, but big enough to rule out marine birds."

Sightings of Morgawr, Cornish for 'Sea Giant', have been reported since the early 1970s, and some say for more than 100 years.

In May, a Falmouth fisherman and St Piran patrol boatman, claimed to have seen the creature in separate incidents on the same day.

Story filed: 11:38 Wednesday 3rd July 2002

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Hunt begins for Norwegian 'Nessie'

An underwater search team is aiming to discover whether Norway has its own version of the Loch Ness Monster.

The Global Underwater Search Team will be investigating sightings of a serpent in the Roemsjoeen lake near the border with Sweden.

Reported sightings of some sort of sea monster in the lake date back to the 1700s.

Locals have passed on stories of strange incidents, from huge dark figures to sudden waves and turbulence in the water that disappear just as suddenly.

Espen Samuelsen, who's 20, is leading the search team.

Aftenposten reports he told Oslo's Dagsavisen newspaper: "We believe there is something in the lake that should be investigated.

"There's a lot of skepticism about our work but we're not paying attention to that."

A sighting in September 1976 involved a busload of people being driven along the shore. Driver Asbjørn Holmedahl said he saw something unusual swimming in the water and thought it was a moose. He stopped the bus so his passengers could watch it come up on land.

Nothing emerged from the water so he started driving again, until several passengers started shouting and telling him to stop. "I saw big waves, maybe 50 centimetres high, and something dark swimming, maybe 10 metres long," Mr Holmedahl said. "It looked like it had humps."

Mr Samuelsen says his group will use "advanced search methods", including an underwater microphone once used to track Soviet submarines.

Story filed: 13:25 Monday 10th June 2002

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Jubilee baton searching for Nessie 'detects something weird'

Organisers of the Queen's Jubilee baton relay claim to have seen "something pretty weird" in Loch Ness.

The baton was used to search for Nessie on the second day of its five-day tour north of the border.

It contains a device that can detect a pulse rate and was lowered 220 metres to the bottom of the loch on a cable from a deep scan vessel.

Pictures from it were beamed onto a screen on a boat which was carrying about 100 guests.

Event director Di Henry said: "As the baton got near the top of the water there was a strange interruption. There was a thing in front of the camera. It looked pretty wooden. It could have been wood or sea weed or it could have been Nessie.

"It definitely looked brown and it almost looked organic. Anyway, it slipped by and then the pictures cut out and soon after the baton broke the surface."

She said: "I'm not so sure we didn't see something. It was pretty weird what we saw but I wouldn't want to overstate it, but it wasn't something I expected myself."

Organisers had decided to use the baton to hunt for Nessie in a bid to stimulate interest in the forthcoming Commonwealth Games.

The relay is due to conclude next month when it enters Manchester for the opening ceremony of the games.

Story filed: 10:01 Monday 10th June 2002

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Nessie fans announce International Loch Ness Monster Day

Fans of Nessie are gearing up for the first ever International Loch Ness Monster Day.

The Inverness-based Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club has named May 2 as the official day to celebrate the mystery.

Club President Gary Campbell says the first major Nessie newspaper story appeared on that date in 1933.

He's written to the UN in New York asking for it to formally recognise the day.

The club is co-ordinating a webcam watch at the loch on May 2 which can be accessed on its site.

Mr Campbell said: "We thought it was only fair that an internationally recognised icon such as Nessie had her own day set aside. May 2 was the obvious choice as it was this day that the first real Nessie story appeared in the Inverness Courier in 1933.

"The purpose of the day is to bring to the world's attention that even though scientific research has moved on significantly in recent years, some mysteries that many would

have thought explainable still have no answers."

He added: "We also decided to make it international not just because Nessie is so well known around the world but also to include similar phenomena such as America's Bigfoot and Canada's own Nessie, Ogopogo. In many respects Nessie is the best known representative of such creatures."

Businessman Ian Miller, who runs the Loch Ness Nessie Shop on the shores of the loch, said: "As someone who has seen Nessie I agree that she should have her own special day.

"This now means that each year people all over the world will be reminded that Nessie is not just some ancient myth but that she is still there to be seen to this day."

Story filed: 21:06 Tuesday 30th April 2002

'Monkey Men'

Monkey man scare grips eastern India

Agence France-Presse Patna, July 21

Almost a year after residents of  Delhi were terrorised by the alleged attacks of an elusive monkey-like creature, the eastern city of Patna says it too is facing similar attacks from an ape-like animal. Local newspapers here are full of reports of "mysterious monkey attacks" but police have scotched the stories and warned of strict action against those spreading rumours. "There are rumours of a monkey-like machine, referred to as monkey-man that attacks those sleeping on rooftops and in open places at night," ON Bhaskar, Patna's police chief said. "But it is a pure rumour as no one has actually lodged a case in any police station. There has not been any recognized case of injury. We have warned the public at large to be on guard against any rumour and help cops arrest those who spread such rumours." Residents of Patna however were not reassured, with local newspapers headlining quotes from eyewitnesses and victims of the "monkey man". "The monkey-man attacked and injured my son-in-law Joginder Singh Friday night when he was sleeping on the rooftop of my house," a newspaper quoted Bhagwat Sharan Singh of Patna's Mainpura colony as saying. "He (the attacker) looked like a monkey." Some even alleged the creature "jumps and sparkles red and blue lights". Others described it as resembling a machine, operated by a remote control and "handled by anti-social elements to terrorise people". Police chief Bhaskar said hospitals and doctors had been asked to report any case of injury attributed to the mysterious creature. Meanwhile, fear of the "monkey man" took an ugly turn when a group of people beat up a Hindu Sadhu (saint) with a flowing beard, on suspicion that he was the creature. The incidents reported in Patna seemed almost identical to the attacks reported in the Indian capital last May, when for more than a month, a "mysterious monkey-like creature" besieged New Delhi. Descriptions agreed the creature was "black" and "ape-like" with "sharp claws," but varied on its height, with some reporting it was over six feet tall with red eyes, while others said it was about two feet tall.

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Child dies as 'monkey man' sparks panic

PATNA, India:

A child was killed in a stampede by panic-stricken residents of an eastern Indian village trying to escape an elusive monkey-like creature which has been terrorising them for days, media reports said yesterday.

The six-year-old boy was fatally injured on Monday when he fell off a roof during the panic, sparked by reports that the "monkey man" was near, the reports said.

A woman fractured her arm in the stampede, which occurred in Lahlan village, 90km from Bihar state's capital Patna.

Police could not confirm the incident but said they had received numerous reports from various parts of the state of a mysterious "ape-like creature" attacking people, a year after a similar scare gripped New Delhi.

Some alleged the Bihar creature "jumps and sparkles with red and blue lights," while others described it as resembling a machine, operated by remote control.

Residents of Khupri village, 40km west of Patna, reported sighting the "monkey-man" in the form of "a shining object" falling from the sky, a police spokesman said.

The local police have issued a stern warning to people not to spread rumours about the "monkey-man."

"We will take strict action against anyone trying to spread rumours and causing panic among the people," the police spokesman said.

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'Monkey man' reports spread fear in Indian state

Reports of a 'monkey man' in India have reappeared a year after panic over the mystery creature hit the capital, Delhi.

The current reports are from the northern state of Bihar's Jehanabad, Rohatas, Ara and Patna districts.

The Dainik Ujala newspaper says several residents claim they've been bitten or scratched by a "black monkey with coloured lights flashing from its eyes."

Patna's superintendent of police O N Bhaskar is dismissing the reports, saying they are down to someone's overactive imagination.

Prabhakar Mishra, a priest at a Shiva temple, said: "It looks like Hanuman (the Hindu monkey god) is angry."

He added: "I have asked visitors to offer prayers to him seven times a day to protect themselves."

But Mr Bhaskar said: "There is no real evidence of any monkey being involved in the attacks. We will not hesitate to take tough action against people who are spreading baseless rumours"

Resident Pawan Kumar Niyogi who was sleeping on the terrace of his house claims he was attacked by "a 5ft-tall monkey-like animal."

He said: "I was terrified and thought my life was going to end but it merely scratched me on the shoulder before jumping off the roof."

People who normally sleep in the open are now staying in their homes while groups of residents carrying torches are keeping night-time vigils on the streets.

Story filed: 14:52 Sunday 21st July 2002

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Police hunt 'monster man'

People are fleeing Indian villages to escape a man who allegedly plucks flesh from his victims with long claws.

Around 50 villages in the Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh are in fear of the so-called monster man who is reported to have attacked 36 people.

One of the man's victims claims to have seen red and green lights coming from his body before he struck.

He is also rumoured to have long hair, blood-shot eyes and claws like a tiger.

Weddings have been cancelled and people have stopped sleeping outside their homes at night despite the summer heat, reports Sify News. People have fled Loharpur, Balua Tarao, Dharam Purwa, Jagatpur and many other villages.

Director general of Police RK Pandit has launched an investigation into the alleged attacks by the man, known as Mooh Nochva.

Inspector General of Police in the Varanasi zone, S N Singh, said a team of officers is trying to identify the man.

Sify reports his victims have included a woman called Pikkhi who had flesh ripped off her face, neck and arms, and student Jai Prakash Paswan whose face and arms were badly scratched.

Story filed: 12:25 Tuesday 9th July 2002