Team-building Crypto Pickles in the U.K.???

As someone who grew up in a magical era that seemed populated by Sasquatch, the Loch Ness Monster and UFOs, it warmed the cockles of my cryptozoological heart to hear the tale of Tom Pickles and his galpal Sarah Harrington, off on a team building work outing in the wilds of Cumbria.

The pair was kayaking across 11 mile long Lake Windermere when abruptly a creature the size of three automobiles rose up from the depths of the water. "Each hump moved in a rippling movement and it appeared to have a huge shadow around it, suggesting it was much bigger underwater," exclaimed Pickles. "We watched for about 20 seconds before it plunged out of sight. It was petrifying." Quick-thinking Pickles managed to snap the picture seen here with his phone camera.

This is actually believed to be the eighth sighting in the last five years of what's been dubbed "Bow-Nessie," after the nearby town of Bowness. Windermere is England's largest lake, located in the North. The photo matches descriptions of earlier sightings.

A relative of The Loch Ness Monster? Some theorize that the British Isles are teaming with subterranean caves and a Swiss cheese labyrinth of aquatic tunnels, which could allow a large beast to hide or migrate in search of a fresh food supply.

The boy in me (who runs practically everything) prays this doesn't turn out to be a hoax. The idea of a prehistoric creature that never became extinct, a Plesiousaur perhaps, can't help but capture the imagination of anyone who's ever picked up a little Edgar Rice Burroughs or Arthur Conan Doyle.

Ah, Cumbria! What secrets do you hold? And is there a pub there called the Pickled Hump? I suspect there soon will be.