Doubts about Bigfoot in Saltville

ABINGDON, Va. -The news spread like the proverbial wildfire recently. There allegedly had been a sighting of a Bigfoot near Saltville and some of the pros were coming to hunt the critter and film a TV program about it. The beast was the buzz of local gossip.

For anyone unaware of what a Bigfoot is let me set the record straight. No, I am not talking about my youngest brother, Ron, nor either of my cousins Buzz or Wayne Smith. Nor am I referring to either Gregg or Tim Sholes, all five of whom take about a whole steer hide to make them a pair of shoes. I am referring to the mysterious man-like beast referred to by numerous names in numerous cultures throughout much of North America and in the rest of the world as well. In the mountainous regions of Asia a similar creature supposedly exists in the Himalayan mountains where it is called the Yeti or Abominable Snowman.

The folks coming to hunt the critter were from Animal Planet. Generally I enjoy Animal Planet programs. They normally are professionally produced and scientifically backed. They tend to be well done educational programs about various types of animals inhabiting our planet. For that reason alone I was looking forward to the Animal Planet crew coming to Saltville to investigate a supposed "Bigfoot" sighting in the Saltville area. I had not really heard much about it, just that someone, somewhere in the Saltville area had allegedly seen what they believed to be a Bigfoot, the mysterious ape-like animal that turns up here and there. I had heard from someone that the critter was seen on Flat Top Mountain near what is called Aistrop Hollow. Flat Top Mountain has (I believe) 50,000 plus acres of wilderness. So it would perhaps be a suitable hiding place.

Read on:  http://www2.swvatoday.com/news/2012/feb/17/doubts-about-bigfoot-saltville-ar-1697601/

Alien Bryozoan Blob

Mysterious Lake Blob Identified as Alien Bryozoan A bizarre brown and yellow blob discovered in a man-made lake in Newport News, Va., last week set off wild speculation.

Some people thought the 4-foot blob was a leftover Halloween prank, perhaps a fake lake monster. Others thought it might be an alien cocoon pod, such as those seen in films like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Still others guessed that it might be the bloated corpse of a large snake or other animal.

One of the men who found it, Charlie Schmuck, was immediately intrigued: "We took a stick and poked at it, and it was spongy and squishy. And that's kind of weird... The texture appears to be that of a rock with algae spots on it — it is brown and yellow, with a pattern of some type.”

Zoologists from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science were asked to examine the unidentified floating object, and quickly concluded that it was a stellar specimen of Pectinatella magnifica. That is, a bryozoan — a creature (actually a colony of tiny creatures) that filters and consumes algae from the water.

The talk of aliens, as it turned out, was actually fairly accurate. The bryozoan is indeed alien — to that freshwater lake anyway. Bryozoans are common in salt water, but relatively rare in freshwater. Scientists speculated that the animal had been introduced to the lake from mud on a migrating bird's foot.

http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/mysterious-lake-blob-identified-101108.html

Alien Bryozoan Blob

Mysterious Lake Blob Identified as Alien Bryozoan A bizarre brown and yellow blob discovered in a man-made lake in Newport News, Va., last week set off wild speculation.

Some people thought the 4-foot blob was a leftover Halloween prank, perhaps a fake lake monster. Others thought it might be an alien cocoon pod, such as those seen in films like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Still others guessed that it might be the bloated corpse of a large snake or other animal.

One of the men who found it, Charlie Schmuck, was immediately intrigued: "We took a stick and poked at it, and it was spongy and squishy. And that's kind of weird... The texture appears to be that of a rock with algae spots on it — it is brown and yellow, with a pattern of some type.”

Zoologists from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science were asked to examine the unidentified floating object, and quickly concluded that it was a stellar specimen of Pectinatella magnifica. That is, a bryozoan — a creature (actually a colony of tiny creatures) that filters and consumes algae from the water.

The talk of aliens, as it turned out, was actually fairly accurate. The bryozoan is indeed alien — to that freshwater lake anyway. Bryozoans are common in salt water, but relatively rare in freshwater. Scientists speculated that the animal had been introduced to the lake from mud on a migrating bird's foot.

http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/mysterious-lake-blob-identified-101108.html

Strange, blobaceous 'alien pod' lifeform found in Virginian lake

Baffled passers-by have discovered a large, bizarre, blob-like lifeform floating in an artificial lake in Virginia. As there appeared no way in which the slow-moving, four-foot "mysterious blob" could have got into the lake naturally, the thing's discoverers - theorising that it must have come from above - have dubbed it the "alien pod".

Biotech-based interstellar transport blob podule?

Reportedly the "pod" was discovered by office worker Tracy Collier while out walking her boss's dog by the manmade lake in City Center at Oyster Point, a development in Newport News, Virginia.


“The lake is behind our office," says Collier's excellently-named colleague Charles Schmuck. "Tracy was walking by the lake, saw the object, and asked everyone else to come out and take a look.”

It was another colleague, Dale Leonart, who came up with the extra-terrestrial angle on seeing the lifeform.

"It has to be an alien pod," he stated authoritatively - though later reportedly adding that alternatively the thing might be "some type of sponge".

The puzzled office workers decided to call in expert help from boffins at the local Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences (VIMS). They sent an email with photos attached (see above) which read in part:

The object is about 4 feet in diameter. It has moved about 6 feet down the shoreline in the last 24 hours. It 'jiggles' when the waves in the lake hit it… when we prod it, it seems to be spongy feeling… The texture appears to be that of a rock with algae spots on it — it is brown and yellow, with a pattern of some type.

Sadly the VIMS experts pooh-poohed the alien landing theory. After a heated internal debate, they identified the blobaceous lakeside intruder as a very large colony of Pectinatella magnifica — aka the "magnificent bryozoan".

According to the boffins' description:

Colonies of Pectinatella magnifica feature a surface layer of adjoining "rosettes" — each with 12-18 animals or "zooids" — around a central jelly-like mass that is 99% water. The colonies can be free floating or attached to a piling or other submerged object. One study even showed that young colonies of P magnifica can actually move on their own by coordinated pulsing of the individual animals.

VIMS prof Carl Hershner says that the blobby hive-jelly creature eats algae and thus is “actually a good thing to have around, despite its looks. It's not a sign of bad water quality, and it doesn't hurt fish. It can clog pipes, though, and it will be smelly if it’s removed from the water.”

The VIMS boffins add that they are always glad to receive reports of UFOs ("unidentified fishy objects") on their patch - Chesapeake Bay and surrounding waters.
By Lewis Page

Strange, blobaceous 'alien pod' lifeform found in Virginian lake

Baffled passers-by have discovered a large, bizarre, blob-like lifeform floating in an artificial lake in Virginia. As there appeared no way in which the slow-moving, four-foot "mysterious blob" could have got into the lake naturally, the thing's discoverers - theorising that it must have come from above - have dubbed it the "alien pod".

Biotech-based interstellar transport blob podule?

Reportedly the "pod" was discovered by office worker Tracy Collier while out walking her boss's dog by the manmade lake in City Center at Oyster Point, a development in Newport News, Virginia.


“The lake is behind our office," says Collier's excellently-named colleague Charles Schmuck. "Tracy was walking by the lake, saw the object, and asked everyone else to come out and take a look.”

It was another colleague, Dale Leonart, who came up with the extra-terrestrial angle on seeing the lifeform.

"It has to be an alien pod," he stated authoritatively - though later reportedly adding that alternatively the thing might be "some type of sponge".

The puzzled office workers decided to call in expert help from boffins at the local Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences (VIMS). They sent an email with photos attached (see above) which read in part:

The object is about 4 feet in diameter. It has moved about 6 feet down the shoreline in the last 24 hours. It 'jiggles' when the waves in the lake hit it… when we prod it, it seems to be spongy feeling… The texture appears to be that of a rock with algae spots on it — it is brown and yellow, with a pattern of some type.

Sadly the VIMS experts pooh-poohed the alien landing theory. After a heated internal debate, they identified the blobaceous lakeside intruder as a very large colony of Pectinatella magnifica — aka the "magnificent bryozoan".

According to the boffins' description:

Colonies of Pectinatella magnifica feature a surface layer of adjoining "rosettes" — each with 12-18 animals or "zooids" — around a central jelly-like mass that is 99% water. The colonies can be free floating or attached to a piling or other submerged object. One study even showed that young colonies of P magnifica can actually move on their own by coordinated pulsing of the individual animals.

VIMS prof Carl Hershner says that the blobby hive-jelly creature eats algae and thus is “actually a good thing to have around, despite its looks. It's not a sign of bad water quality, and it doesn't hurt fish. It can clog pipes, though, and it will be smelly if it’s removed from the water.”

The VIMS boffins add that they are always glad to receive reports of UFOs ("unidentified fishy objects") on their patch - Chesapeake Bay and surrounding waters.
By Lewis Page