Muscat: The 'Monster of Rustaq' is probably a dog, insisted official sources in Oman, but mystery remains as to where the horrifying sounds come from as no dog has been found.
The sounds that had haunted residents of the Qasra area of the northern Omani town of Rustaq, and attracted visitors from all over northern Oman, and the UAE, "probably came from a dog or a fox", sergeant Ahmad Al Wasaibi of the Royal Oman Police (ROP) told Gulf News.
Snowballing rumours had led some to believe that an alleged wizard had died in a small hut and left it haunted.
Residents of the area claimed that loud cries of torture could be heard most nights between midnight and dawn.
The stories and sounds, which spread rapidly via mobile phones and video sharing websites, attracted scores of visitors wanting to hear the sounds for themselves.
Al Wasaibi said that claims of an evil spirit or jinn were only being treated as rumours by the ROP.
A village elder who heard the noises told Gulf News that the matter had been resolved and residents of the town were no longer scared "knowing that it was a dog". However, he added that nobody had seen the dog.
An official from the Ministry of Awqaf's Fatwa department told Gulf News that source of the noise was unlikely to be a dog and is "probably a joke intended to frighten people", denying reports that the ministry had "officially" sent a group of scholars to assess the situation.
"We did however send a representative from the ministry to reassure residents, and give lectures on the dangers of believing rumours," he said.
