0 The Mongolian Deathworm

By Unknown | At 07.30 | Label : strangest mystery | 0 Comments

UNDER THE BURNING sand dunes of the Gobi desert there lurks a creature that is so feared by the Mongolian people they are scared even to speak its name. When they do, they call it the ‘Allghoi khorkhoi’, which means ‘the intestine worm’, because this fat, red, deadly snakelike monster looks similar to a cow’s innards. This giant worm, measuring up to four feet long, can kill people instantly. How it does it, no one knows. Some believe it spits a lethal toxin, others say it emits a massive electrical charge. However it kills, it does so quickly and can do it from a distance. We in the West have come to call this monster the ‘Mongolian Deathworm’.

Artist’s impression of a Mongol Deathworm, based on eyewitness reports.

Mongolian Nomads believe the giant worm covers its prey with an acidic substance that turns everything a corroded yellow colour. Legend says that as the creature begins to attack it raises half its body out of the sand and starts to inflate until it explodes, releasing the lethal poison all over the unfortunate victim. The poison is so venomous that the prey dies instantly.

Because Mongolia had been under Soviet control until 1990, very little was known about the Deathworm in the West. In recent years, investigators have been able to look for evidence of the creature’s existence. Ivan Mackerle, one of the leading Loch Ness Monster detectives, studied the region and interviewed many Mongolian people about the worm. Due to the sheer volume of sightings and strange deaths, he came to the conclusion that the Deathworm was more than just legend. Nobody is entirely sure what the worm actually is. Experts are certain it is not a real worm because the Gobi desert is too hot an area for annelids to survive. Some have suggested it might be a skink, but they have little legs and scaly skin whereas witness accounts specify the worm is limb-less and smooth bodied. The most probable explanation is that it is a type of venomous snake. Although the native Mongolian people are convinced of the Deathworm’s nature, it will take more years of research to satisfy the rest of the world’s scientific community.

0 The Lusca & St Augustine Phenomena

By Unknown | At 07.26 | Label : World Best Keep Secret | 0 Comments

WE KNOW MORE ABOUT the surface of the moon than we do about the bottom of our deepest oceans,’ so the old saying goes. It is an adage that, over time, is proving more and more relevant. What creatures actually do lurk at the bottom of the sea? Around the Bahamas and the southeast American coast there are tales of a giant octopus that captures unwary swimmers and small boats. The people of the islands call it the ‘Lusca’ and believe it lives in deep underwater caves. However, no one has ever seen the creature in it natural environment and lived to tell the tale.

One evening in November 1896 two men were cycling along the coast just outside their hometown of St Augustine, Florida. As they looked over the beach, they noticed a huge carcass. It was 23 feet long, 18 feet wide, four feet high, and it seemed to have multiple legs. The two men decided to tell Dr Dewitt Webb, the founder of the St Augustine Historical Society and Institute of Science, who came to examine the corpse.

Webb photographed the body, noting it was a silvery pink colour, and took samples. Webb recorded that the skin was axe-proof, being three and a half inches thick. He also estimated that the body weighed around six or seven tonnes. It needed four horses and a whole team of people from the local community to drag it the painstaking 40 feet up the beach in order to keep it away from the rolling waves.

 

  The immense body of an octopus, washed up on the Florida shore. Is this the real Kraken?

Webb was convinced it was not part of a whale, and must have been some kind of unknown giant octopus, so he sent letters describing the carcass to many eminent scientists. One such expert was Professor Verrill at the National Museum (now called the Smithsonian) in Washington DC. Verrill stated that the creature was actually a squid. When Webb sent him more information, he changed his mind and said it was an octopus. Verrill suggested it probably had tentacles around 100 feet long.

Verrill refused to see the dead creature in person, or indeed to provide any funds or resources to help preserve the sea monster. Even so, the professor decided this new species should be named after himself, calling it ‘Octopus Giganteous Verrill’. Finally, he changed his mind again after receiving tissue samples, and said the body was probably just the head of a sperm whale. Webb was disappointed and preserved as many samples of the creature as he could. Eventually the corpse was retaken by the sea.

Over fifty years later, two marine biologists, Dr F.G. Wood and Dr J.F. Gennaro Jr., discovered stories of the St Augustine sea monster in old newspaper clippings. They applied to the Smithsonian and took samples from the original specimens Webb had sent Verrill. Wood had worked in the Bahamas and knew of the famous ‘Lusca’. The legend said that it was a giant octopus, with arms seventy-five feet long, that lived in great deep blue holes in the sea floor. By looking at the samples, Wood and Gennaro were able to deduce that the body was indeed that of an enormous octopus. At long last, Webb had been proved right.

In recent years other examples of huge, previously unknown, sea creatures have been discovered. Tales of giant squid have been told through the ages, but it is only in the last century that accurate and scientific details have been truly kept. Even in this day and age, some bizarre stories still have crop up. French fishermen have recently been attacked by one multi-legged sea creature, and marine biologists are constantly finding remains of squid which out-size the previously known largest.

At the moment, the biggest giant squid find happened in April 2003 when a colossal squid was found in Antarctic waters. The example found was still immature, but had an overall length of around 50 feet. Octopi by comparison, are small fry, and the biggest, caught in March 2002, only measured 13 feet. So the beast at St. Augustine is still a truly unexplained phenomenon.

0 NASCA LINES

By Unknown | At 07.08 | Label : World Best Keep Secret | 0 Comments

Stretching across Peru’s Nazca desert are gigantic drawings, or geoglyphs, only visible from the sky. Known as the “Nazca Lines,” they were rediscovered in the 1920s when aircraft flew over the area. We now know that they were created by the ancient Nazca people, between 200 BCE and 700 CE, by taking away strips of the dark oxide-coated pebbles that litter the desert to reveal the light dirt beneath. The mystery is, why did they do it?
Runway
Length 180 ft (55 m)

Long bands like this fan out across the desert in a pattern that looks like the runways of a modern airport. Hardly surprising, then, that some people came up with the theory that aliens visited the area Mlong ago, and built these long strips as landingareas for their spaceships!
Monkey
Length 180 ft (55 m)

The Nazca people didn’t worry about accuracy in their drawings of animals. The Monkey has three   toes on each foot, four fingers on one hand, and five on the other. As a result, some historians wonder whether the numbers had a special meaning.

0 FLAG IT UP

By Unknown | At 07.02 | Label : World Best Keep Secret | 0 Comments

Every country has a national flag, each with a unique design. Often, the colors and symbols on a flag are significant. Flag experts, known as vexillologists, research the hidden meanings and stories behind the iconic banners.

1. Ireland

There is no official story to the meaning of the colors on the Irish flag, but many believe the green stripe symbolizes the Catholics of Ireland and the orange stripe the Protestants who fought for William of Orange in the 1600s. The flag may have been an attempt to reconcile these two sides.

2. China

When the Communist Party seized control of China in 1949, a competition took place to design a new flag. In the winning design, the red symbolizes the revolution, the large star represents the Communist Party, and the small stars are the Chinese people.

3. Australia

The five small stars are the Southern Cross, the brightest constellation visible from Australia. The seven-pointed star is the Federation Star. This has one point for each of the six states, and a seventh for Australia’s other territories.

4. India

The saffron (orange) color on the Indian flag stands for spirituality, white for peace, green for fertility, and the wheel for change.

5. USA

The 50 stars on the flag are for the 50 US states and the 13 stripes are for the 13 colonies that formed the original United States.

6. Switzerland

The white cross on the red base of the squareshaped Swiss flag represents Christianity. The Red Cross humanitarian organization reversed the colors to create the Red Cross flag in honor of its Swiss founder, Henri Dunant.

7. Canada

The red represents the red cross of England’s patron saint and the white comes from the French royal emblem, reflecting the country’s English and French heritage. In the center is a leaf of Canada’s national tree, the maple.

8. Spain

The four shields in the center of  the Spanish flag commemorate the four ancient kingdoms of Spain—Castile (the castle), Léon (the lion), Aragon (stripes), and Navarre (chains).

9. Denmark

According to legend, the Danish flag (the “Dannebrog”) fell from the sky during a battle with the Estonian army in 1219, helping the Danes to victory. Vexillologists, however, believe the flag was derived from the battle banners of crusaders (Christian warriors).

10. Sweeden

The cross of the Swedish flag may just be a variation on the Danish flag, but according to one legend, 12th-century Swedish king Eric the Holy saw a yellow cross in the blue sky and made this the design for his flag.

11. Japan

The big red circle in the middle represents the rising Sun. This is to symbolize the emperors of Japan who were regarded as descendants of the Sun goddess Amaterasu.

12. Rwanda

Rwanda introduced a new flag in 2002. The green symbolizes hopes of prosperity; yellow stands for economic development; blue is for peace; and the Sun represents light and enlightenment.

13. Norway

Norway became an independent nation in 1814. The cross comes from the flags of Sweden and Denmark with which it had been  united. The red, white, and blue were inspired by the colors of the French Revolution, and symbolized liberty.

14. United Kingdom

The UK flag dates from 1606, three years after Scotland and England were united as a single kingdom. The flag combines the red and white crossof England’s patron saint, George, and the blue and white cross of Scotland’s patron saint, Andrew.

15. Germany

The black, red, and gold on the German flag can be traced back to the uniform of soldiers in the early 1800s. The soldiers wore black coats with red braid and gold buttons.

16. Italy

The green in the flag is said to represent the land; the white is the Alps; and the red is blood spilled in Italy’s wars.

17. Greece

Some say the nine stripes on the Greek flag represent the muses (goddesses mof art) in Greek mythology. The color blue may represent the sea.

0 The Loch Ness Monster

By Unknown | At 06.27 | Label : strangest mystery | 0 Comments

OF ALL THE MYTHICAL BEASTS in the world, the most famous, most hunted for, and most talked about must be ‘Nessie’ the Loch Ness Monster. She, for the Scottish monster is always seen as a not-so-wee lassie, is often the first phenomenon thought about when the subject of unexplained mysteries is raised. She is an internationally-known celebrity, who has probably done more for her native tourist industry than any other famous Scot. There have been Nessie documentaries, programmes, films and even cartoons. But although she appears each year to a select few, she has been too shy to debut in a major scientific investigation. So is Nessie really a strange creature, lost in time, and lurking at the bottom of Loch Ness?

Loch Ness is a 24-mile-long freshwater lake found in the Great Glenn, a massive crevice that cuts the Scottish Highlands in two. The loch is up to a thousand feet deep and, at some points, a mile-and-a-half wide. The first tale of a monster living in the water originates in AD 565 and features Saint Columba, who rescued a swimmer from the beast’s advances. Experts now generally feel that Saint Columba actually encountered a known, normal, marine animal that had ended up outside its natural environment. Although the loch continued to be the focus of strange sightings, it was not until the 20th century that the phenomenon really flourished.

In 1933 the Loch Ness Lakeshore road was built. This initiated a flood of sightings and created the Nessie legend. In April that year, a local couple spotted an enormous animal rolling and playing in the water. They reported what they had seen to the man in charge of salmon stocks in the loch who then saw the monster himself, describing it as having a six-feet-long neck, a serpentine head and a huge hump. He suggested the creature was a total of 30 feet in length. In the July a family from London were driving along when they almost crashed into a massive dark, long-necked animal  that strolled across their path and then disappeared into the water. Similarly, early the next year a young veterinary student was riding his motorcycle along the road when he almost struck a creature. He said what he saw had a large bulky body, with flippers, a long neck and a small head.

Over the years, many people have tried to capture the creature on film. One Nessie witness managed to take a rather inconclusive photograph of something appearing from the water in 1933. In 1934 a London doctor released a most mysterious photograph of the monster to the public. It showed a strange head and neck appearing from the water; 60 years later it was revealed to be a fake. In April 1960 an aeronautical engineer used a 16mm movie camera to film something moving through the loch’s waves. Although it has never been established exactly what is captured on the film, experts at the Royal Air Force’s photographic department have verified that the footage is not a fake and has not been tampered with. Dinsdale himself devoted the rest of his life to finding Nessie.

Recent years have also provided new sightings. In June 1993, a couple were on the bank of the loch when they saw a huge, strange creature lolling about in the water. They said it must have been about 40-feetlong, with a giraffe-like neck and very light brown flesh. Later that same evening, a father and son were on their way home when they spotted something odd in the water. They later told reporters they saw an animal with a neck like a giraffe swimming swiftly away from the shore. Because of the evidence accrued during these two episodes, bookmakers William Hill slashed the odds of there really being a Loch Ness Monster from 500-1 to 100-1.

The first photo of the Loch Ness Monster, which sparked the current ‘Nessiemania’.

Despite over 3,000 similar sightings by private individuals, Nessie has always been coy about exposing herself to dedicated, scientific research teams. The Academy of Applied Science from Boston, Massachusetts operated the first extensive expedition in the early 1970s. Using underwater cameras and sonar equipment, the project captured images of what looked like an eight-foot-long flipper, an unusual 20-foot-long aquatic body, and even a hazy photo of a creature’s face. However, an organised, structured sonar sweep of the loch in 1987, named ‘Operation Deepscan’, revealed the earlier portrait picture of Nessie was actually a tree stump. That said, Deepscan did report various, unaccounted-for, large sonar echoes moving about in the extreme depths of the loch. 

Monster hunters: the search for Nessie goes on.

Although these hunts have proved inconclusive, other recent scientific evidence has been more hopeful. In March 2000, a team of Norwegian scientists, the Global Underwater Search Team, picked up bizarre noises in the loch’s water. At one point whatever was making the sounds even crashed into the team’s underwater microphone. This group had already recorded unusual sounds from another mythically monster-infested lake in Norway. The strange noises found in Loch Ness are described as a cross between a snorting horse and a pig eating, closely matching the experiences in Norway. Not only does this suggest there are unknown creatures in both lakes, but they mightactually be related. In  recent years, sonar equipment has also discovered huge underwater caverns opening onto the bottom  of the loch. These structures have been termed ‘Nessie’s Lair’, and may well be large enough to house and hide a whole family of monsters.

It is agreed that a breeding colony of beasts would be needed to continue its existence, and some witness accounts have reported more than one Nessie appearing on the water’s surface. Nessie’s actual species is still unknown although experts have suggested it may be a manatee or type of primitive whale. It my also be a large otter, a long-necked seal, a huge eel, or even a giant walrus. However, Nessie seems to bear a much stronger resemblance to a creature now thought to be extinct. This is called the plesiosaur, a marine dinosaur that has not been found on Earth for over 60 million years. It had large flippers, a small head and a large body, and some experts believe a few of these animals were stranded in the loch after the last Ice Age.

None of these suggestions are completely plausible. Even if the plesiosaur did survive
the disaster that wiped out the rest of its fellow prehistoric creatures, it is generally  believed to be a cold-blooded animal, and would find the chilly environment of a Scottish lake too cold to survive. If Nessie is really a modern day aquatic mammal like a whale or a seal, then it would constantly have to come to the surface for air, resulting in many more sightings. One cannot help but feel there might actually be something in the murky depths of Loch Ness. With a continued interest that actually grows with each unsuccessful scientific study, this loch remains the home of the world’s most mysterious, unexplainable monster.

0 The Grey Man of Ben MacDhui

By Unknown | At 06.17 | Label : strangest mystery | 0 Comments

Tarn in the foothills of the mountain of Ben MacDhui.

IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS lies a mountain where many have felt a dread quite unlike anything else they have ever experienced. As the fogs and mists roll across the cairns, they say there lurks a creature huge and terrifying. They call it ‘Am Fear Liath Mor’, or the ‘Big Grey Man’. Some see him as an old figure in robes, a giant, or even a devil. The creature does not just threaten with a force of physical power, this beast also causes an almost suicidal sense of depression and panic in all who come near it.

Ben MacDhui is the second highest mountain in Scotland, standing at over 4,000 feet. It is an imposing sight and a substantial test for experienced climbers. Many of the witnesses who see, or feel the presence of, the Grey Man are serious, hardened mountaineers, not prone to flights of fancy. The first person to reveal he had met the mountain’s strange tenant was Professor Norman Collie. Collie was a respected and well known climber, but when he gave his speech to the Cairngorm Club in 1925, the audience was truly stunned.
Collie explained that he had been coming down from the peak of Ben MacDhui in 1891 when he heard footsteps behind him. At first, shrouded in mist, he rationalised that it must just have been an echo of his own footfalls. But eventually he realised the noises he heard were not corresponding to the movements he was making. It sounded like a giant was following him. He said it was
‘as if someone was walking after me, but taking steps three or four times the length of my own.’

Terrified, Collie blindly ran for four or five miles down the mountainside until he could no longer hear the noise. Collie never returned to the mountain, and to his dying day resolutely believed there was, ‘something very queer about Ben MacDhui.’

During the Second World War, Peter Densham was a mountain rescue worker, locating and saving pilots who had crashed in the Cairngorms. One day he was at the top of Ben MacDhui when a heavy mist started to fall. He sat and waited for conditions to improve. After a while he began to hear strange crunching noises and suddenly felt a presence close by. He stood up to investigate, but was immediately seized by a feeling of panic. Before he realised what was happening, he was running down the mountain, dangerously close to the sheer cliff edge. He said afterwards ‘I tried to stop myself and found this extremely difficult to do. It was as if someone was pushing me. I managed to deflect my course, but with a great deal of difficulty.’

Since then, many people have spotted a strange being, or felt an overpowering sense of impending doom in the area. One of the most recent encounters occurred in the early 1990s. Three men were walking in a forest just outside Aberdeen. One of the party spotted a human-shaped figure running across the track a little way ahead of them. He told his friends, and when they all looked in the same direction they saw a strange, not-quite-human face. A few weeks later, the same group were driving in the area when they realised they were being followed by the same tall, dark being. The creature kept pace, even at speeds of 45 miles an hour, but eventually tired and stopped. Again, these men felt a distinct sense of terror and foreboding.

Monster enthusiasts have plenty of ideas about the beast’s origin. Some say he could be an alien, or the ghost of an old Highland race, or even a mystical, wise religious figure. One interesting theory is that atop Ben MacDhui there is a gateway to another dimension, and this creature is the gatekeeper. If this really is his role, then he is doing a good job. After an experience with the Big Grey Man, very few people have dared to venture up Ben MacDhui again. length of my own.’

0 Bigfoot

By Unknown | At 06.15 | Label : strangest mystery | 0 Comments

A larger-than-life – we hope! – model of Bigfoot on display outside a US museum.

IN THE WILDS OF NORTH AMERICA a mystical ape-like creature hides in the shadows. Standing over seven feet tall and having an immense, muscled body, it should be hard to stay concealed. Many that see him say he just disappears into the background. Like a man, he walks upright, but the short black hair covering his entire body indicates he is no homo-sapien. No bodies, bones or remains have ever been found despite more than two centuries of searching. The only evidence we have of this mythical beast is its huge tracks. That is why the creature is named ‘Bigfoot’.

Like many legendary Native American monsters, Bigfoot is a central part of indigenous traditional tales. They call him ‘Sasquatch’, the ‘hairy giant of the woods’. But it was his early personal introduction to European settlers that sparked off real interest. In 1811, David Thompson, a white trader, was in the north Rocky Mountains when he spotted a set of massive 14 by 8-inch footprints. Over many years, the tales of Sasquatch spread and on 4th July 1884, the Daily Colonist newspaper in British Columbia was proud to announce that a train crew had caught a strange beast. In reality, the stocky, black-haired primate that they trapped was probably just a chimpanzee.

The American and Canadian mountains gradually grew awash with stories of Sasquatch appearances; there were even reports of gangs of strange creatures attacking people in the forests. The Sasquatch phenomenon was never solely focused on the idea of a single creature, and people have always considered there might be a breeding colony. At that time, the mystical beasts were primarily of interest to lumberjacks, miners and those who lived or worked in areas where it had been sighted.

That changed in 1958 when Jerry Crew, a bulldozer operator working in Humboldt County, California, made casts of the bizarre footprints he had found. A local newspaper photographed Crew, and his picture was syndicated across the United States. The sight of a man holding a plaster cast record of the tracks of a mysterious beast started the modern Bigfoot legend. But if Crew’s discovery helped to launch the myth, it was an episode nine years later that sealed Bigfoot’s place in the American consciousness.

In October 1967, Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin were riding on horseback through Bluff Creek, north California. They were in the area specifically looking for Bigfoot. Suddenly one appeared in their path, and Patterson was thrown from his horse. Whilst Gimlin kept a rifle trained on the beast, Patterson quickly regained his footing and ran towards the creature, filming all the time with a cine camera they had taken with them. The result is perhaps the most enigmatic evidence yet. The footage shows a large hairy biped slowly strolling into the undergrowth. Experts who have closely studied the film suggest it is a female Bigfoot, as two mammary glands are just discernible on its front.

Although the evidence is startling, many have questioned its authenticity. Some experts believe, if the film is played at a slightly faster speed, it could easily be a human in a costume. However, aspects of the footage are quite amazing. For example, biotechnology scientists have said that for a creature like Bigfoot to walk upright it would need an extended heel. The creature on the film has an extended heel.

Experts in the industry initially expected the film merely to be special effects, but they have been unable to find any tell-tale signs that it is a hoax. Similarly, a group of Russian scientists who attempted to determine the correct speed of the film came to the conclusion that the creature really did have a long, lumbering gait. However, Gimlin himself has entertained the possibility that he might have been an unwitting participant in a hoax orchestrated by his friend. This we shall never know as Patterson died of cancer in 1972.

Still taken from Roger Patterson’s film of Bigfoot.

More recent sightings of the ape-man have taken on a new and bizarre twist. People have reported seeing UFOs in the regions of Bigfoot appearances. Also, the creatures are now said to have bright red eyes and be carrying glowing orbs. This may seem a strange development, but Sasquatches were always reported as having a quality beyond the physical, and it has always been suggested that when they die, Bigfoot bodies vanish into the ether. This is a shame, because to really accept Bigfoot’s presence, the world needs to see some hard, physical evidence.

0 The Beast of Bodmin

By Unknown | At 06.06 | Label : strangest mystery | 0 Comments

THE BEAST OF BODMIN: whether it is a native cat, previously thought extinct, or an escaped exotic pet, the Beast of Bodmin is a creature that refuses to disappear. Indeed, sightings of the panther-like creature continue apace and, unlike other mysterious beasts, modern technology is actually helping to prove its existence. Bodmin Moor is an area of National Park land in Cornwall, southwest England. Since 1983 there have been over sixty sightings of big cats in the area, and some experts suggest there may be a whole breeding population on the moors. In fact, one recent sighting was of a mother cat and her cub together. Despite wide-ranging testimonials from reliable witnesses, a British government report in 1995 concluded that there was no evidence of big cats on the moors.

However, since 1995 some quite startling, tangible evidence has been produced. A 20-second video released in July 1998 clearly shows a large black animal roaming the moor. Experts believe the footage is the best evidence yet to support the idea that big cats are living in the area. Many also suggest the beasts may be a native species of cat which was thought to have become extinct over a hundred years ago. Around the time of the video release, Maurice Jenkins, a quarry weighbridge worker was driving near Exmoor, near Bodmin, when he spotted an odd beast at the side of the road. He trained his car headlights on the creature.

Jenkins said afterwards: ‘It was a big black pussycat. His eyes reflected in my headlights and I slowed down so I could get a better look and it sat watching me. It was the size of a collie dog with jet-black head and tail. He leapt away and made off into the fields.’

Real biological evidence has also been found in recent years. A large skull with huge fangs was found near the River Fowey on Bodmin Moor. The bones were sent to mammal specialists at the British Natural History Museum who, when they examined it, quickly realised that the skull did not belong to a creature normally found in the English countryside. Because of the size and position of the teeth, they also deduced that it was the head of a large cat.

In November 1999 a spate of farm animal mutilations on Bodmin Moor caused a high-tech option to be introduced in finding the beast. When a calf and two sheep were attacked and torn apart by an unknown creature, a motion-activated infrared video camera was installed on the moor. Similarly, in January 2001, reserve volunteers from a nearby Royal Air Force base used state-ofthe- art night-vision military equipment to hunt for the creature. Rather than practice exercises against an imaginary foe, RAF commanders thought that it would be more interesting for the troops to look for the fabled Beast of Bodmin. Whether the RAF found any trace of the Beast is not known.

Certainly, the idea of strange big cats roaming Britain is not totally bizarre. In May 2001, a peculiar, vicious-looking wild animal was found in the garden of a house in Barnet, north London. A huge team of armed police, RSPCA inspectors and vets were needed to capture what turned out to be a lynx. A similar event happened in September 1998 when people living close by, in Potters Bar and South Mimms, were told to stay indoors whilst police looked for a large cat sighted there. Generally, however, such animals pose little threat to the human population.

Farmers in southwest England do not agree that these creatures are so benign, and many sceptics believe the Beast of Bodmin is, if anything, an escaped foreign cat. A number go missing from zoos and wildlife parks each year, and Britain’s 1976 Dangerous Wild Animals Act made ownership of exotic big cats illegal. Some people believe that if such a pet were to escape from a private collection, its owner would be hesitant to report it missing. Whatever the truth about its origin, there is growing, indisputable evidence that a large, black, feral cat is stalking the land of Bodmin Moor.

0 World Best Keep Secret ( Leaks and Moles )

By Unknown | At 16.01 | Label : article , World Best Keep Secret | 0 Comments

Leaks And Moles

 

Top Secret	Confidential
Whistleblowers	Moles
When an employee discovers the company they work for is up to no good they may “blow the whistle” and reveal all to the press. In 1994, for example, American Jeff Wigand revealed that tobacco companies knew that cigarettes are addictive and include cancer-causing additiveslong before it became public knowledge. Another famous whistleblower was Ingvar Bratt. In the 1980s, Bratt released details of how Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi accepted payments from Bratt’s employer, Swedish gunmakers Bofors, in return for a government contract.	A mole is a spy who “burrows” his or her way into an enemy country’s spy network or government to get secrets. A famous case took place at the height of the Cold War (a period during the 20th century when relations between the US and western Europe and the communist countries of Russia and eastern Europe were particularlyfrosty). In 1965, Karel Koecher pretended to defect from (leave) communist Czechoslovakia to live in the US. A few years later he joined the CIA (US foreign intelligence agency) and started feeding back spy secrets to the Russian equivalent, the KGB. Koecher got away with it for almost 20 years until he was found out.
Leaks	Double agents
Sometimes secret information is released without authorization and without saying who let the secret out. In 1972, US president Richard Nixon’s involvement in the illegal break-in at the Democratic Party’s election headquarters in the Watergate office building was leaked to journalists by Mark Felt (who worked for the FBI—the US federal investigation agency—and went by the codename Deep Throat). Websites with special security features are being developed for people to leak secret and sensitive documents from governments and organizations without getting caught. Some conspiracy theorists, however, think the sites could actually be fronts for government intelligence agencies.	Spies who work for one country’s secret service while really working for an enemy in secret are known as double agents. In the 1930s, British student Guy Burgess was secretly recruited by the KGB while studying at Cambridge University. He then joined MI5, the British secret service, and passed on secrets to the KGB.
Off-the-record	Sleepers
When politicians tell journalists something “off-the record,” they do not want to be quoted. Sometimes the politicians are simply being friendly. More often, the idea is to influence the way journalists present things without the public knowing they are doing it. Off-the-record briefings happen all the time, but they only come to light when something goes wrong and the politician’s name gets out.	Sleeper agents enter a foreign country and try to blend in as ordinary people. At first they undertake no spying activities, but find jobs that will prove useful to them in the future. When the time is right—sometimes many years later—they are “activated” and begin their espionage activities. Günter Guillaume was a sleeper agent for communist East Germany during the Cold War. He was sent to West Germany in 1956, where he got a job working for one of the political parties. He eventually became a close aide of the leader of West Germany, Chancellor Willy Brandt, and was able to send back top-secret information to the East German secret service. Guillaume’s activities were uncovered in 1974. He was imprisoned, and Chancellor Brandt was forced to resign because of the scandal.
Spin	Undercover
Sometimes information and news stories are released at a particular time or in such a way that they influence the way the public reacts to things. This is called spin. The name comes from how a pitcher can give a ball spin so that it curves through the air in a way that confuses the batter. Government press officers are often criticized for using spin, and the most notorious practitioners are called “spin doctors.” In some countries, the media is state-controlled and spins the news by reporting only stories that are favorable to the government.	Police and intelligence agencies often go undercover to infiltrate criminal gangs. The officers assume new identities, complete with fake ID documents and background stories. To keep their cover, they must sometimes take part in criminal activities themselves.