A slimy, glob-like creature dubbed Gollum has terrified children after it slithered out of a lake and clambered over the rocks towards them.

The young teenagers were playing by the waterfront in a Panama lake near Cerro Azul when the bald beast emerged from a cave behind a waterfall. They started screaming as it shuffled out “as if to attack them”. [...]

But in a “desperate bid to defend themselves” four children grabbed rocks from the beach and hurled them at the beast.

Having killed it they picked up the body and tossed it back into the lake, before fleeing.

Metro: ‘Gollum-like’ monster emerges from lake

Sad.

(Thanks Trevor)

A lost world populated by fanged frogs, grunting fish and tiny bear-like creatures has been discovered in a remote volcanic crater on the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea.

A team of scientists from Britain, the United States and Papua New Guinea found more than 40 previously unidentified species when they climbed into the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi and explored a pristine jungle habitat teeming with life that has evolved in isolation since the volcano last erupted 200,000 years ago. In a remarkably rich haul from just five weeks of exploration, the biologists discovered 16 frogs which have never before been recorded by science, at least three new fish, a new bat and a giant rat, which may turn out to be the biggest in the world.

Guardian: Lost world of fanged frogs and giant rats discovered in Papua New Guinea

(via Disinfo)

mongolian death worm

ARMED with explosives, two men are heading to Mongolia’s Gobi Desert to find the fabled acid-spitting and lightning-throwing Mongolian death worm.
The worm has never been documented but some Mongolians are convinced it exists. They call it Allghoi Khorkhoi, or “intestine worm” because it resembles a cow’s intestine and is about 1.5m long.

The worm apparently jumps out of the sand and kills people by spitting concentrated acid or shooting lightning from its rectum over long distances, NZPA reports. (Seriously.)

New Zealand TV entertainment journalist David Farrier, who is organising the expedition, and cameraman Christie Douglas, leave this week to spend two weeks in the Gobi, trying to verify the worm’s existence and making a documentary about it.

news.com.au: Journalist hunts for acid-spitting Mongolian death worm

(via Post Atomic)

More Pics: Pink Tentacle

These remind me of the work of Alex CF

Pink Tentacle has a round-up of seven mysterious Japanese creatures. Above are some drawings of Kappa:

Kappa (river imps) have appeared in countless stories and folk legends for centuries, and they rank among Japan’s most well-known cryptids. While most people nowadays regard the amphibious child-sized troublemakers as pure myth, stories of kappa encounters still crop up from time to time, such as the following two reports from Japan’s southern island of Kyushu.

Full Story: Pink Tentacle