The weird and wonderful things spotted on Google Street View.
1. The mysterious 'Buckshaw Beast
This picture shows the mysterious creature known as the 'Buckshaw Beast', a hyena-meets-wolf-meets-wild boar that is thought to have mauled several deer to death and left a pack of guard dogs quivering with fear.
Residents of Buckshaw, Lancashire, have reported sightings of the savage looking beast for months. Locals report spotting it scavaging through bins and 'standing rigid' on its hind legs.
2. Is this Bigfoot?
When a family in Kentucky, US, set up a CCTV camera to discover who was stealing their vegetables, they were shocked to discover a hairy beast with a striking resemblance to Bigfoot was the culprit.
The family, whos brother-in-law is convinced the 'animal' is in fact a rubbish bag, sent the footage to a wildlife expert - who said it definately wasn't a bear, or a bin bag either.
"She said in her opinion it looked like fur, but she could not confirm it was a bear," said Mrs Mahony, mother of the family. She also added that bears do not live in Kentucky.
The family's garden has now become a sacred ground for Bigfoot hunters. A team from the History Channel have also filmed segments for their show Monster Quest there.
3. The Beast of Gevaudan
The Beast of Gévaudan was a huge blood-thirsty wolf-like monster that is said to have ravaged its way through France from 1764-1767.
It is said to have been comparable in size to a cow, but with a broader chest and a longer flowing tail.
4. The Bunyip
An Australian legend discovered by the Aboriginals, the Bunyip is a mythical creature from Aussie folklore.
According to Aboriginal history, the Bunyip is a lake monster with a dog-like face, dark fur, a horse-like tail, flippers, and walrus-like tusks.
5. The Beast of Bodmin
The Beast of Bodmin is a phantom wild cat which roams the moors of Cornwall. Bodmin Moor became synonymous with these sightings, with numerous reports of mutilated slain livestock. While some claim to have spotted a vicious, panther-like cat, others say the Best of Bodmin is no more than a large black moggy.
6. The Minnesota Iceman
A man-like creature, frozen in a block of ice with large hairy hands and feet, very dark brown hair and a flatterned nose became popular in America during the late sixties after a its owner began displaying it at fairs.
Frank Hansen reportedly claimed he had a real frozen creature and a replica, but that he only exhibited the replica due to the original's value and fragility. The Iceman was eventually withdrawn from public viewing and labelled a hoax.
7. UFOs
Perhaps the most famous unusual sightings in history are those that involve unidentified flying objects, more commonly known as UFOs.
From reports of unidentified aerial phenomena in the mid-nineteenth century to highly-elaborate stories of flying saucers being responsible for the atrocities of 9/11, UFO stories just won't go away.
8. Question mark in the sky
This image of a group of galaxies looking suspiciously like a giant question mark in the sky was taken at a distance of more than 100,000 light years by the Hubble space telescope.
The formation of stars, gas and dust has been named the Arp 194 system by Nasa.
It consists of an upper orange area believed to be a jumble of galaxies that are in the process of merging.
Below that are bright blue patches of light called 'super' star clusters.
Completing the question mark is the lower 'dot' shape - said to be a single spiral galaxy.
9. The hand of God
Is this the hand of God?
The stunning image was captured by NASA's Chandra observatory, which is orbiting 360 miles above the earth.
It shows a spinning pulsar, just 12 miles in diameter, in the centre of the 'hand'. The pulsar is releasing massive ammounts of electromagnetic energy, creating the dust-and-gas cloud that makes up the hand.
The red disc is another massive gas cloud, and it is believed that its gravitational drew the pulsar's cloud towards it creating the 'fingers'.
The cloud, or nebula, is 150 light years across, meaning that light takes 150 years to get from one side to the other.
10. Rods/Skyfish
Rods, sometimes known as Skyfish, are rod-shaped objects that move quickly through the air or underwater and only ever appear on film and video.
Believers say Rods are the leftovers of previous species which existed on earth, while cynics say they are just a celluloid optical illusion.
11. The Loch Ness monster
The infamous creature that appears on rare occasions from the Loch Ness lake in Scotland has become a mythical legend.
'Nessie' first came to the public's attention in 1933 and was last spotted in 2007 when a man captured a video of what he said was "this jet black thing, about 45 feet long, moving fairly fast in the water." Experts later rubbished the man's claims and said his spot was no more than an otter.
The final Curious © phrase:
“Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is”
(Albert Camus)
