The Mysterious Black Mountain of Queensland, Australia
Dec 6, 2014 18:40:18 GMT -6
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Post by Mystic Wanderer on Dec 6, 2014 18:40:18 GMT -6
The Kuku Nyungkal people have avoided the mountain, calling it “The Mountain of Death.” Aboriginal tales say the mountain is haunted, and home to different types of evil spirits and demons. According to some stories, people unfortunate enough to approach the mountain are dragged to their deaths within its bowels, and shadowy ghosts have been reported to be seen here.
The brutal massacre of Aboriginal people at the hands of early European settlers adds to the atmosphere of darkness here; their ghosts are said to still lurk here screaming for revenge.
Indeed, well into modern times Black Mountain has been ground zero for a wide variety of high strangeness. It is said that animals are spooked by the mountain, and that it exudes some evil force that has been reported to disrupt the navigational equipment of airplanes flying nearby. In fact, planes mostly avoid flying near the mountain due to these unexplained anomalies as well as the strange air turbulence that is experienced within the vicinity. A 1991 aerial survey conducted by the Bureau of Mineral Resources to test for magnetic disturbances and radiation levels on the mountain turned up nothing unusual, yet the reports of these phenomena from pilots persist. It may not be so surprising that Black Mountain is also home to a good amount of UFO activity and reports of strange lights.
Other bizarre tales revolve around the strange beasts said to inhabit the mountain. Although it is true that the area is home to many unique and endemic species, there are tales of creatures lurking here that are far weirder than one might imagine. Within the craggy maze of intertwined boulders are said to lurk enormous pythons that are not shy about attacking human beings. There is also an enigmatic large, cat-like predator known as the Queensland tiger that is thought to prowl the area and has been blamed for cattle mauling and mutilations that have occurred in the surrounding area. Occasional reports of large, reptilian humanoids emerging from the underground tunnels and crevices have also surfaced from the mountain. Additionally, there are numerous stories of fleeting, shadowy shapes that stalk the mountain, but it is unclear whether these represent some type of real animal, a more supernatural phenomenon, or merely a trick of shadow and light upon the black boulders.
While Aborigines have stories of their people vanishing at the mountain since long before Europeans arrived, the first modern account of an unexplained disappearance here dates to 1877, when a courier by the name of Grayner went out on horseback looking for a stray calf only for the man, the horse, and the calf to never return. Widespread searches of the mountain turned up no trace of the animals or the courier, and it was assumed that they had fallen into one of the many jagged chasms between the boulders. A few years after this, a notorious criminal known as Sugarfoot Jack and a couple of his accomplices fled to Black Mountain following a shootout. They were never seen again, and despite the exhaustive police search that followed there was no evidence at all to hint at where they had gone. They had simply vanished.
The disappearances have increased and gotten weirder over the years. One of the more well-known tales allegedly occurred 13 years after the disappearance of Sugarfoot Jack.
A constable Ryan, who was stationed in nearby Cooktown, tracked a fugitive to Black Mountain along with other trackers only for the trail to abruptly end at the mouth of one of the caves as if the criminal had just stepped off the face of the earth. Ryan entered the cave to see if the fugitive might be hiding inside, but according to those present he never came back out and no one else was willing to risk going in after him. Neither the criminal nor constable Ryan was ever seen again.
When Hawkins did not return either, the police launched a search of the mountain for the two missing men. According to the account, two police officers ventured into one of the caves and only one of them emerged. When the lone officer came out from the darkness, he was reportedly completely unhinged and so terrified of whatever he had seen that he could not give a coherent report of what had happened. In the 1920s, two professional cave explorers who journeyed to the mountain to try and solve the enigma of these disappearances went missing themselves, as well as some trackers who went looking for them. More recently, in 1932, a backpacker named Harry Page went missing while hiking on Black Mountain and was later found dead from unknown causes. The list goes on.
I stepped into the opening, like other Black Mountain caves it dipped steeply downwards, narrowing as it went. Suddenly I found myself facing a solid wall of rock, but to the right there was a passageway just large enough for me to enter in a stooping position. I moved along it carefully for several yards. The floor was fairly level, the walls of very smooth granite. The passage twisted and turned this way and that, always sloping deeper into the earth.
Presently I began to feel uneasy. A huge bat beat its wings against me as it passed, however I forced myself on, to push further. Soon my nostrils were filled with a sickly musty stench. Then my torch went out. I was in total darkness.
From somewhere, that seemed the bowels of the earth I could hear a faint moaning which was then followed by the flapping of wings of thousands of bats. I began to panic as I groped and floundered back the way I thought I had come. My arms and legs were bleeding from bumps with unseen rocks. My outstretched hands clawed at space, I expected solid walls and floors, but could not find it.
At one stage where I had wandered into a side passage, I came to the brink of what was undoubtedly a precipice-judging by the echoes. The air was foul and I felt increasing dizziness. Terrifying thoughts were racing through my mind about giant rock-pythons I have seen around this mountain.
As I crawled along, getting weaker and loosing hope of ever coming out alive, I saw a tiny streak of light. It gave me super strength to worm my way towards a small cave mouth half a mile from the one I had entered.
Reaching the open air I gulped in lungfuls of it and fell down exhausted. I later found that I had been underground for five hours, most of the time on my hands and knees. A King’s ransom would not induce me to enter those caves again.
Presently I began to feel uneasy. A huge bat beat its wings against me as it passed, however I forced myself on, to push further. Soon my nostrils were filled with a sickly musty stench. Then my torch went out. I was in total darkness.
From somewhere, that seemed the bowels of the earth I could hear a faint moaning which was then followed by the flapping of wings of thousands of bats. I began to panic as I groped and floundered back the way I thought I had come. My arms and legs were bleeding from bumps with unseen rocks. My outstretched hands clawed at space, I expected solid walls and floors, but could not find it.
At one stage where I had wandered into a side passage, I came to the brink of what was undoubtedly a precipice-judging by the echoes. The air was foul and I felt increasing dizziness. Terrifying thoughts were racing through my mind about giant rock-pythons I have seen around this mountain.
As I crawled along, getting weaker and loosing hope of ever coming out alive, I saw a tiny streak of light. It gave me super strength to worm my way towards a small cave mouth half a mile from the one I had entered.
Reaching the open air I gulped in lungfuls of it and fell down exhausted. I later found that I had been underground for five hours, most of the time on my hands and knees. A King’s ransom would not induce me to enter those caves again.
The caves have been described as being complex and highly unpredictable, full of treacherous sudden drops, yawning chasms, shifting, dropping or even exploding rocks and boulders, unsteady footing, and jagged, sharp walls.
The brutal heat pervading the confines of the passages, as well as an intermittent foul stench, the wailing and moaning emanating from the darkness, and the hundreds of fluttering bats everywhere only further enhance the sense of danger and disorientation inherit to this place.
Many cave explorers have described exploring the caves of Black Mountain as being a singularly unpleasant experience that none wish to ever try again. Most tourists who visit Black Mountain National Park are content to view the foreboding mountain from a safe distance away.
The brutal heat pervading the confines of the passages, as well as an intermittent foul stench, the wailing and moaning emanating from the darkness, and the hundreds of fluttering bats everywhere only further enhance the sense of danger and disorientation inherit to this place.
Many cave explorers have described exploring the caves of Black Mountain as being a singularly unpleasant experience that none wish to ever try again. Most tourists who visit Black Mountain National Park are content to view the foreboding mountain from a safe distance away.
Demons, vengeful ghosts, giant snakes, UFOs, aliens, reptilian slave masters, undiscovered predatory cats, or just one's fearful imagination at play?
This area sounds very similar to the stories of the Missing 411 incidents in the U.S.A. Are these events connected somehow?
Perhaps underground tunnels that connect the entire earth are being populated by Reptilian slave masters that snatch unsuspecting victims, never to be seen again.
What do you think?
mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/12/the-mysterious-black-mountain-of-queensland/
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