1981
expedition, which was organized by the International
Society for Cryptozoology. Herman Regusters, an American
adventurer, had travelled with them but split away. He did go
with some natives to Lake Tele, the source of the most dramatic reports and just 100 miles north of the equator.
After flying a low-level survey from their Epena bound STOL (short take-off and landing aircraft), on 9 October 1981, Regusters, his psychologist wife, Congolese scientists, and some natives, tracked the best route to the lake. In his exciting report the American describes how they traversed the water-sodden forests by boat until about 40 miles from the lake, then set off through the swamp on foot. This took five days and they were often waist deep in wateJ: Around them were panthers, snakes, killer bees and innumerable crocodiles. It was no easy passage.
Finally, reaching the lake, they surveyed it thoroughly for both flora and fauna, making interesting non-supernatural discover
ies. The other mission (which did not get there) later criticized stories of monsters in the water on the basis of an estimated depth of only a few feet. But Regusters and his team said that the centre depth was around 500 feet, clearly adequate given the abundant vegetation and shoals of edible fish.
Several sighting; were made on their stay during October and November The best was on 29 October when 'every member of the scientific team, except the photographer' witnessed a long neck swimming through the lake for about five minutes, before submerging. Terrible unidentified cries - 'a low windy rom;
then increasing to a deep-throated trumpeting growl' - were heard on several occasions by the team, usually followed by sounds of a large animal moving through the trees or an enormous water splash.
Unfortunately the few photographs they obtained were dim, distant and fuzzy or of only parts of what might have been a large animal. Regusters tried to explain that when they saw the creature it was for a short time and they usually had to 'get over the awe' before they could do anything at all. It is fair to say that the American scientists in the other expedition rejected this 'evidence' as totally inadequate.
However, Regusters came away convinced that what they saw was a sauropod. He says it looks not unlike a brontosaurus (the most famous of all plant-eating dinosaurs), only far smaller He suggests an adantosaurus, based on the geological evidence.
This particular species survived in local fossil records much longer than any known dinosaur.
40
66 MIND MONSTERS
When I met Professor Mackal in Nebraska in November 1983 he was still attempting to arrange another expedition to find the real animal he remained certain was out there. His problems in raising funds and �ining Congolese permission were made all the more urgent by some amazing news he had to share with me. Earlier that year a new expedition, from the Congo auth
orities itself had reached Lake Tele, where they had a close encounter with the animal and took movie film of it!
The team was led by Dr Marcellin Agnagna, from the zoologi
cal gardens in Brazzaville. He had been with Mackal on the 1981 voyage, so was considered reliable. He described what hap
pened in early May 1983 as they camped by the lake.
It is known to have been mid afternoon (berween 1 May and 3 May). One of the natives was washing in the lake when he yelled to Agnagna. The scientist was taking pictures of monkeys with the movie camera, but there was a little film left. Respond
ing to the call he went to the lake edge, and there it was, the
mokele-mbembe,
just a few hundred feet away and plain as day.Trembling with fright and wonder, he walked into the water, wading out towards the basking dinosaur despite fearful yells from the native that his best course of action was to run.
Pointing his movie camera at the creature he let the last few minutes of film roll away, convinced he now had all the proof the world would ever need. He also knew that he was creating history.
The thing was reddish-brown, but the neck glistened black in the sun. He could see how it was stretched like a giraffe's neck so that it could reach from the water surface and eat the plants from the tree tops. The small head had crocodile-like eyes, but he could see no teeth. He estimated from the back, which was largely visible above the surface, that the creature was not as huge as some of the reports, although at 15 feet still quite large enough.
He reached within
200
feet of the monster before the water�t too deep. It was moving its head and neck from side to side as if listening. But he kept it in view long after the film ran out.
All told he was standing less than a hundred yards from a living fossil for over
20
minutes, he said. Then it slowly sank beneath the water, as if bored by the proceedings and having had quite enough sun for one day.Mackal described the first -hand reports from Agnagna with calm assurance. The Congolese scientist had no doubts: 'It can be said with certainty that the animal we saw was
mokele
mbembe,
that it was quite alive . . .mokele-mbembe
is a species of sauropod living in the Likouala swamps and rivers:However; there was a terrible disappointment in store for the zoologist and the world. The movie camera had been on macro setting to record the monkeys. In his excitement Agnagna had simply forgotten to reset it. The dinosaur was too far away for macro. The result was a blurred mess.
But still photos had been taken whilst Agnagna was in the water There had been time for those on land to get prepared.
Only one still camera had survived the heat and humidity of the expedition and sadly, as the Congolese man sheepishly admitted, this flopped because 'we left the lens cap on'.
Roy Mackal was still hoping to get some worthwhile results from this disaster when I met him. But this proved impossible.
Agnagna had written to him, pledging a return, saying, 'it may be hard to convince people because I didn't get pictures'. He was
certainly right about that.
Many sceptics argued that having been out there in those terrible conditions and failing to either see or prove anything, wishful thinking and the temptation to fabricate became too powerful to resist Nevertheless, most of those who had been to Likouala - such as Mackal - were themselves convinced the
dinosaur was real, so they judged Agnagna more kindly.
Whatever the truth, May 1983 provided the greatest ever story of the one that got away!
The following year Agnagna faced attack from other crypto
zoologists, predictably infuriated that he had left them open to rebuke by their critics. If he was being truthful, then his mistake had let a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity come to nothing.
Others told him he had only seen a large snake, or turtle and mistaken it for a monster But he stuck firmly to his story and convictions about the dinosaur
Soon after I returned from the USA I told this story to Scots
man Bill Gibbons, an ex-army survival expert with whom I had worked on some UFO investigations. It was destined to have quite an effect, because not long afterwards a friend of his inherited some money and wanted to use it on some exciting
68 MIND MONSTERS
adventure. What better, Bill proposed, than a British hunt for the