Other Cryptids: Monsters...with evidence



Any creature that is known to cryptozoologists and unclassified is called a 'Cryptid".

The study of unclassified creatures has grown so large that there are several sudivisions of Cryptozoology:

Dracontology: Study of lake, sea and river cryptids.

Hominology: Study of cryptid primates.

Marine Cryptozoology: study of oceanic cryptids.

Cryptofelidology: Study of cryptid cats (Alien Big Cats/ABC's).

Cryptophytology: study of hidden plants.

Paleocryptozoology: Study of hidden animals in ancient records that are not sighted today.

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ACARUS CROSSII

Andrew Crosse, an English country gentleman, in 1837 made the following experiment, which excited much publicity:

He mixed two ounces of powdered flint with six ounces carbonate of potassa, fused them with heat, reduced the compound to powder and dissolved it in boiling water, obtaining silicate of potassa. This he diluted in boiling water, slowly saturating with hydrochloric acid. This he then subjected to "a long-continued electric action, through the intervention of a porous stone" in an effort to form crystals of silica. This did not happen, but on the fourteenth day of the experiment, he observed a few minute whitish lumps on the middle of the electrified stone.

By the eighteenth day, these had grown and stuck out seven or eight filaments. On the twenty-sixth day, they had become perfect insects, standing erect on a few bristles, which were their tails. On the twenty-eighth day they moved their legs, detached themselves from the stone, and began to move about. Perhaps a hundred insects were thus generated, the smaller having six legs and the larger eight; they were pronounced as belonging to the genus Acarus. Mr Crosse repeated his experiment many times with the same result, as did others, creating countless acari which came unerringly to life, fed, multiplied, and died only (but that without exception) upon exposure to frost. The insects were called Acarus Crossii.

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Ahool

Reported by the Sundnese people of western Java is a giant bat known as the Ahool, after it's triple call.

Described as having a monkey-like head with large dark eyes, grey furry body, and around the size of a one year old child. Perhaps it's most impressive feature is it's massive wing span of nearly 12 feet. This is nearly twice as long as the worlds largest bat the common flying fox.

As for it's habits, it's said to spend it's days inhabiting waterfall caves, while it spends nights skimmng across the jungle waterways scooping up fish with large claws located on the top of it's forearms.

The most well documented sightings of the Ahool were both made by naturalist Dr. Ernest Bartels. Once in 1925 when he spied an Ahool near a waterfall on the slopes of the Salek Mountains and again when he heard it's distinctive triple cry in 1927.

The renouned cryptozoologist Ivan T. Sanderson feels the Ahool may be an oriental relative to Africa's Kongamato, both of which he feels may be giant unknown bats belonging to the suborder Microchiroptrea.

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Alma

The Almas are purportedly a race of wild men said to haunt the forrests of the Siberian wastelands of northern Russia. Unlike the more notable Yeti and Meteh of the Himalayan mountains, the Almas are more closely matched to humans in stature and are regarded with little more than indifference by the local natives. Perhaps the most plausible and well documented sighting of an Alma was reported in August of 1957 by a Russian scientist and hydrologist, Alexander G. Pronin. Pronin described the creature as “... a being of unusual aspect – reminiscent of a man’s figure, but with a strongly hunched back – his arms are longer than in the ordinary man (and) covered in with reddish gray hair.”

N.M. Pzewalski and the noted zoologist Khaklov both came across tales of the Almas from the Kazakh herdsmen in the Dzungaria, a region bordered by the Altai Mountains to the north and the Tien Shan Mountains to the south. Even though there are occasional reports of Almas having raided farms in search of food, the beings are treated with tolerance, beign considered an inferior form of humans and therefore more pitied than feared.

Several expeditions into Alma territory has been fielded by Professor Jeanne J. Kofman, resulting in numerous stories but no tangible proof of the creatures existence.

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Altamaha-ha



The South Georgia coast is riddled with tiny islands, canals, waterways, deep rivers, abandoned rice fields, and a plethora of inter-crossing creeks and streams. This is the region which supports the Altamaha-ha. The first recent sighting took place in 1969, and after that the creature has appeared more and more, right up to the present day. Similar animals have also been observed in Florida.

The Altamaha-ha has always been described as having a horizontal tail, like that of a porpoise, and moving with up-and-down undulations of the body, like a porpoise. It is always said to be around 20 feet long, except for some smaller individuals which are presumed to be juveniles, and to be as big around as a man’s body. In appearance the creature is said to look somewhere between an alligator, an eel, and a dolphin. It is said to have large, protruding eyes and a pronounced alligator-like snout armed with large conical teeth. It has a serrated ridge across the back, like a series of small dorsal fins next to each other, and a true dorsal fin which is rather low. It is very elongated. It is said to be metal grey on top and pearly white on the bottom.

The Altamaha-ha dwells in the Altamaha River and the surrounding waterways and marshes. This creature has often been seen stranded on the banks of the river, trying to free itself franticly, and has also been observed cavorting on the surface in the manner of a dolphin or porpoise. There have been times when people have been approached in a menacing way, and there is one report of the Altamaha-ha attempting to enter a boat, with no avail.

The horizontal tail, dolphin-type dorsal fin and the fact that it only has front flippers suggests the Altamaha-ha may be some kind of cetacean; either an archaeocete such as a zeuglodon or a freshwater dolphin of the family Platanistidae.

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ATAKA CARCASS



The Ataka animal has provided us with one of the most fascinating images in the annals of cryptozoology. The now famous photograph showing a tremendous beached animal with two gigantic tusks - set against a backdrop of curious spectators - has intrigued both scientists and fortean researchers alike for over half a century.

The story of this mysterious carcass begins in January of 1950, following a horrific seventy-two hour gale, which ravaged the banks of the Gulf of Suez. On the day after the storm, Egyptian authorities discovered a humongous carcass decomposing on the beach. Almost immediately a team of scientists were dispatched to reveal the creature’s identity.

Described as being "whale-like" in size, probably the most intriguing aspect of this beast - from a zoological standpoint - were its two, huge, walrus-like tusks, which protruded from either side of its large mouth. The animal also seemed to have blow hole atop its head, similar in structure to that of more traditional cetaceans.

This has led some researchers to speculate that the animal may have been an unknown species of marine mammal. Some accounts even include eyewitness reports of a large, whale-like creature swimming in the gulf just ten days before the remains washed ashore.

Although experts of the era could not positively identify this animal, it is common practice among modern skeptics to dismiss the creature as nothing more than a deteriorating whale corpse with its lower jaw bones splayed, creating the illusion of tusks. However, those who are willing to take the time and look at the additional evidence are forced to reevaluate that assumption.

It seems both foolish and arrogant to assume that amateur (or professional) marine biologists can ascertain from a single, grainy, black and white photo what top Egyptian scientists were not able to while studying samples of the carcass in question; namely that the Ataka specimen is nothing more than a slightly decayed example of a common whale with its baleen exposed.

When researching this case one must take into consideration the other identifying factors detailed in the photograph, such as the animal's apparent lack of eyes and the row of cilia like appendages circling its maw.

These and other unseen attributes are what likely led those initial scientists away from the more socially acceptable verdict that this creature was just an ordinary whale and forced them to the conclusion that - at least by current zoological standards - the animal in question was simply unidentifiable.

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BEHEMOTH



Job, verse 40:15-19, of the Old Testament. In that text the Behemoth (also referred to as ENOCH) is the name given to a gargantuan, land dwelling animal, which is described thusly:

"Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron."

To many investigators, the Job text seems to be less like an exaggerated account of a large, land dwelling, African herbivore, and more in line with what an eyewitness description of a brachiosaurus diplodocusor Apatosaurus (once named the Brontasaurus) might have been. In fact, one can easily draw comparisons between the depiction of the Behemoth in biblical texts and present day eyewitness testimony regarding MOKELE-MBEMBE.



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Blue Tiger



Sporadic sightings of Blue Tigers have been coming out of the Fujian Province of China since the early 1900s. The most famous sighting of such an animal occurred in 1910 when Methodist missionary Harry R. Caldwell spied one at close range, which he first mistook for a man in blue clothing. After realizing what he was looking at he attempted to shoot the animal in order to verify it?s existence to the world, but noticed two children nearby. Not wanting to harm the children he repositioned himself, but by that time the tiger was gone. He described the tiger as having a deep maltese blue fur, instead of a tigers usual orange, with black strips in his book Blue Tiger.

Unsuccessful searches were carried out by Caldwell in search of the Blue Tigers, on which his son, John C. Caldwell, accompanied him. On several occasions John noted seeing maltese colored hairs along the mountain trails they were searching. It is thought that the blue in the tigers fur comes from the combined expression of two mutant gene forms ? dilute and non-agouti. The combination occasionally produces blue furred lynxes and bobcats, so why not tigers as well? To date the Blue Tiger remain one of the mystery cats of the world.

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BUNYIP



A bellowing water monster from Aboriginal legend, believed to bring diseases. It lives at the bottom of the water holes, swamps, lakes and rivers of the Australian outback. The creature is roughly the size of a calf and requires calm water to live in. Unless its food sources are interfered with, the bunyip usually leaves human beings alone. However, if necessary it has the strength to pull a person down into the water and drown him. The name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning "devil" or "spirit".

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Buru



In 1947, Professor Christopher von Furer-Haimendorf -- an anthropologist -- wrote about a tribe known as the Apu Tanis, who lived in a very isolated, and near unknown valley in the Himalayas. The valley was said to cover twenty square miles, and despite the altitude, was swampy and thickly forested. Van Furer-Haimendorf's article included the following intriguing comment: "The bottom of the valley -- according to local tradition -- was once a marshy swamp inhabited by lizard-like monsters..."

A more detailed account of the buru was given to Charles Stonor, while visiting the valley with an Indian official. According to the Apu Tanis, the buru was a reptile about fifteen feet long, including neck and tail. It had a triangular shaped head, and its teeth were flat, except for four fang like teeth -- two in the upper jaw and two in the lower. It had stumpy legs with heavily clawed feet, and a long and powerful tail that was said to have a row of armoured plates along its length. Colouration was a mottled blue-black, with a whitish underbelly. Though there were one or two stories of buru attacking humans, the large reptiles generally kept to themselves, out of the way of man. It was said that the best time to actually see a buru was during hot summer months when the buru would sun themselves on the shore of their lake habitat, as they stayed in the muddy lake bottom in the colder months.

Unfortunately, as the human population in the valley expanded, the swamp was drained and the buru's habitat was reduced to a few deep pools. Eventually the animals were simply hunted and killed when they became a pain, and the pools were filled in. The buru had become extinct several generations before Mr. Stonor's visit to the valley.

In 1948, however, and expedition to the valley in search of buru evidence heard another interesting rumour -- the buru may have been extinct in the Apu Tanis valley, but was alive and well in the nearby Rilo valley. Understandably, the group switched its focus to the Rilo, but they came up empty -- they didn't see a buru, nor did they see any evidence of the buru's existence.

The Apu Tanis continue to insist that the buru did live in their valley, and still does live in the Rilo.

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Canvey Island Monster

The discovery of the Canvey Island monster remains one of cryptozoology's most bizarre unsolved mysteries.

In November, 1954, several residents on Canvey Island in the UK found the most unusual carcass they had ever seen washed up on the shore. They dragged the body up onto the sand and ran to tell the authorities who, in turn, brought in two zoologist to study the body. The corpse, which was in pretty bad condition, had hind legs which appeared to be adapted to walking bipedaly, and when standing upright the creature would have been two and a half feet tall. It had five toes which were arranged in a curious U-shape and the foot had a concave arch, adding to the strange appearance of its feet. Its eyes were bulging and its head was soft and pulpy, probably due to decay, or possibly to a lack of a skull. Its skin was brownish red and quite thick. After initial examination however, the scientists cremated the body and, after assuring the public there was nothing out of the ordinary, made no more mention of it.

That was until August of the following year, when Reverend Joseph Overs found another dead creature floating in a tide pool. This body was in much better condition and was much larger, being four feet tall when standing. The carcass weighed roughly 25 pounds. The better condition of the body allowed for details such as the eyes, nostrils and teeth to be studied, and it also possessed very prominent gills. However, there is no mention anywhere of what happened to this body, and no more corpses have been officially examined.

To this date, researchers haven’t got a clue as to what the Canvey Island monsters are; crazy theories abound, but no reasonable conclusions can be reached. These creatures have, however, been connected with the rash of U-shaped footprints found in the snow in nearby English counties during the 1850’s.

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CERASTES

a serpent with four pairs of little horns, which show when the rest of its body is buried in the sand; thus it uses them for bait to draw prey to itself. It is more flexible than other serpents, and seems to have no spine.

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Chupacabra



Chupacabra -- which means "goat sucker" -- got it's name from the first reports of mutilated goats. In September 1995 Madeleine Tolentino and other eyewitnesses claimed to have seen a creature "three or four feet tall, with skin like that of a dinosaur, it had bright eyes the size of hens eggs, long fangs and multicolored spikes down its head and back.” Other eyewitnesses have also said that it looks part bat, part kangaroo, and part alien Grey.

Another eyewitness sad "...it's height was about four feet tall with a large head, a lip-less mouth, fangs and lid-less red eyes... ...it's body was small and it had scrawny clawed arms and webbed bat wings and muscular hind legs that appeared to be for leaping."

The predatory habits of the Chupacabra have always been directed toward livestock such as chickens, rabbits, goats and other small animals. It kills its prey by draining all the animal's blood from its body, through a single hole. To date no humans have been killed by this creature even though many have attempted to trap the creature over the years.

The majority of the sightings have taken place in Puerto Rico, but it has also been seen in Florida, Mexico, New Mexico, and Texas.

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Dobhar-Chu


*Supposed remains of a Dobhar-Chu*

There are many strange creatures in Ireland, one of the strangest is the Dobhar-chu, which is roughly translated into "water hound". This odd and dangerous creature supposedly lurks, or lurked beneath the depths of some of the Irish lakes.

The creatures' length is not quite known, but believed to be from 6 to 8 feet from head to tail. It is White with short fur, and has features quite like an otter and has a black or dark brown "cross-like" mark that runs down its neck and back.

This creature is supposedly very hostile, and will attack without warning. The creatures have been recorded to have killed several people -- one such record is written on a stone tablet in Glenade, County Leitrim:

On September 27, 1722, a woman named Grace was killed by a Dobhar-chu, while washing clothes in Glenade Lake. When her husband came to find her, he found instead a Dobhar-chu sitting on her bloody clothes and mutilated body. He killed the beast, stabbing it in the heart. As it died, it made a noise like a whistle. It's supposed mate rose from the water and chased the man and his friend. They killed it before it got the chance to hurt either man.

Other stories show the beasts' taste for human flesh. One in particular tells how people mistook one for an otter. It attacked one man, but did not succeed in killing him.

Dobhar-chu haven't been seen for a long time, and are believed to be extinct, if they existed at all.

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Dover Demon



On April 21, 1977, three 17-year-old boys were driving through the Boston suburb of Dover, Massachusetts, at about 10:30 p.m. The driver, Bill Bartlett, saw in his headlights an animal creeping along a low stone wall by the roadside. At first he thought it was a cat or dog, but as he came closer he saw that it was like no earthly creature he'd ever seen.

Bartlett said it had a large head the size and shape of a watermelon, with no visible features except for two round, orange eyes. The rest of its body was thin and spindly, with long, extended fingers and toes that wrapped around the rocks of the stone wall as it walked. It was between three and four feet tall, with peach-colored, hairless skin.

After his quick glimpse, Bartlett asked his two friends if they saw what they'd just driven past. As it turned out, they had been talking to each other at the moment, and didn't see the creature. They persuaded Bartlett go back for another look, even though he was so frightened he didn't want to turn around. They found nothing when they went back. Bartlett then headed home and made drawings of what he had seen (one of which is shown here).

That report alone would make for a pretty good monster story, but then something else happened. About two hours after Bartlett's sighting and a little over a mile away, 15-year-old John Baxter was walking home from his girlfriend's house when he saw a small figure walking towards him on the same side of the road. Baxter thought it was a neighborhood boy he knew, and called out the boy's name. He got no answer. The two walked closer together until Baxter saw the other figure suddenly stop. It then ran off down a gully and climbed up to the opposite bank. Baxter followed and got his first good look at the creature, which he said had a large, round head, a thin body and long, grasping fingers and toes. Baxter watched the creature for a moment, then became scared and ran away from it.

Baxter also drew pictures of what he had seen. Soon word spread of his and Bartlett's sightings, and when their stories and drawings were compared, it seemed that the two had seen exactly the same creature. By all accounts, Bartlett and Baxter had never met before, and there was no reason to suspect that they had conspired together on a monster hoax.

The day after the sightings, Bartlett told his 18-year-old friend Will Taintor about what he had seen. That night, Taintor was driving 15-year-old Abby Brabham home around midnight. Brabham claimed to see a creature matching the same description crouching by the side of the road as they drove past -- even though she had reportedly not heard about what Taintor's friend had seen. Taintor also caught a fleeting glimpse of the creature.

Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman happened to be living in the Dover area at the time of these sightings, and was among the first investigators to tackle the case. It was he who named the creature the Dover Demon, a name that was picked up by the press and has stuck with the creature ever since.

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Dragon of the Ishtar Gate



In 1902, archaeologists unearthed the remains of the infamous city of Babylon, including its fabled Ishtar Gate. The Gate's most intruiging feature is a relief carved in the stone, depicting two creatures. The first -- called the Re'em -- was easily identified as the now extinct type of cattle called the urus, but the second creature -- the Sirrush -- wasn't so easily identified. With a long scaled body and tail, a long neck and lizard- or snake-like head, the Sirrush also claimed a rather unique feature -- bird-like feet on its hind legs. It was an odd looking creature by the standards of its 1902 discoverers, however we now know that several species of dinosaurs did indeed have bird-like feet.

Was the Dragon of the Ishtar Gate a relic dinosaur? Some think so, some don't. Did it even exist anywhere but in the minds Babylonian artists? As with all cryptids, this too is a point of contention.

In the late 1930s, a science writer by the name of Willie Ley began research the Sirrush in Babylonian art history, and found that not only does it appear in other works, but was actually a common feature of art spanning thousands of years. With the rumours of dinosaur-like creatures stalking the dark corners of Africa, Ley believed that it was possible the Babylonians had not only heard of such a creature, but have seen one -- or even had one living in captivity within their city walls, behind the Ishtar Gate.

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EMELA-NTOUKA



Reputed to live near the lakes and riverbeds, which saturate the dense rainforests of the Congo’s Likouala swamp region, the Emela-Ntouka is a semi-aquatic herbivore, which has often been confused with its supposedly saurian, Lake Tele neighbor, the MOKELE-M’BEMBE, and has also been compared to the CHIPEKWE, which may actually be an alternate name for the creature.

Described as being a squat, short necked, thick tailed, smooth skinned animal of elephantine proportions, perhaps the Emela-Ntouka’s most intriguing characteristic is the single, ivory white horn, which was said to adorn its snout. According to native reports, this creature has been known to utilize this razor-sharp appendage to disembowel its natural enemies. In fact, this animal was said to have gained its appellation due to its notoriously violent disposition, as the words “Emela-Ntouka” allegedly translate from the native language Lingala into: “Killer of Elephants.”

It was the aforementioned description of this beast which has encouraged such preeminent cryptozoological figures as Dr. ROY P. MACKAL and BERNARD HEUVELMANS to suggest that these creatures may in fact be a relic species of the horned saurian known as Ceratopians, specifically the single horned Monoclonius . These animals evolved late in the Cretaceous Period were the last group of ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs to evolve before succumbing to a mass extinction after a mere 20 million years of existence. During their short reign, these great horned dinosaurs developed into a variety of fascinating species, some of which may have survived in the jungles of west-central Africa to this day.

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FEAR LIATH MORE

Fear Liath More, or the Grey Man, is a creature said to have inhabited the vicinity of the summit cairn of Ben MacDhui, one of the six great peaks of the Scottish Cairngorm Mountains, for generations. The Grey Man is identified as a presence encountered both physically and psychically. In its physical form, the Grey Man is most often described as quite large and broad shouldered, standing fully erect and being in excess of 10 feet in height, with long waving arms. He is also reportedly olive complected or, alternatively, covered with short brown hair. Because of this, some tend to associate him with the Bigfoot or Sasquatch of North American fame, or the Yeti of the Himalayas. Footprints found on the summit of Ben MacDhui do closely resemble the "typical" Bigfoot imprint. However, this association is misleading, as the Grey Man has far more interesting identifying characteristics than his physical description alone.

More frequently, the Grey Man is encountered in physical sensation, but without a true physical form. Sensations of this type include vast, dark blurs which obscure the sky, strange crunching noises, echoing footsteps which pursue the listener, an icy feeling in the surrounding atmosphere, as well as a physical feeling of a cold grip on, or brush against, the observer's flesh. There is also a high pitched humming sound, or the Singing as it is sometimes called, which is associated with Ben MacDhui and the Grey Man.

Additionally, the Grey Man has an extremely powerful psychic effect. Visitors to Ben MacDhui report a feeling of overwhelming negative energy. Occasionally this is described as extreme lethargy and despondency. More often, it is typified by acute fear, apprehension and an overwhelming panic, leading to suicidal thoughts or physical flight from the area. Generally, this fear is accompanied by the physical sound of echoing footsteps chasing the observer, and sometimes the sound of a resonant and yet completely incomprehensible voice which seems to be faintly Gaelic in nature.

Curiously, the Grey Man has a distinct area of influence. At a certain point in their downward flight all observers report that the negative energies and feelings of fear end as abruptly as they began. The Grey Man has most often been encountered within this century by mountaineers climbing in the Cairngorms. He has also been described in several books, including Affleck Gray's The Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui and F.W. Holiday's, The Goblin Universe.

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FOUR MILE BLOBSTER



Tasmania has become the unofficial home for a unique variety of ocean born carcasses, which are commonly referred to as GLOBSTERS. Although details concerning the so-called Four Mile Blobster are sparse - as is so often the case - what we were able to dig up are some of the key facts involving this intriguing discovery.

Found in 1997, on a stretch of Tasmanian coast known as Four Mile Beach, this creature has produced at least one intriguing photograph and a flurry of speculation. Described by locals as a cross between a walrus and a GIANT SQUID, this creature was also reported as having paddle shaped flippers, spaghetti-like strands of white hair and six, long fleshy lobes running along its sides.

Like it's more famous counter parts - the BERMUDA BLOB and the TASMANIAN GLOBSTERS - this creature was said to have been made up primarily of fibrous collagen. The corpse was measured to be 15-feet in length, with a width of 6-feet, and was said to weigh approximately four tons. Purportedly some local biologists conducted a DNA test - some say the first ever to be performed on a globster - but the results were apparently inconclusive, leaving the experts as perplexed as the eyewitnesses.

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GLACIER ISLAND CARCASS

On November 26, 1930, the world was stunned by a report that found its way into the New York Times with a headline which read: "ICE BARES STRANGE ANIMAL." Below the headline a sub-heading continued: "ALASKANS SUGGEST PREHISTORIC ORIGIN."

According to the accounts - which were printed not only in this prestigious New York Times, but also the New York Sun - the carcass of a huge, fur bearing, reptilian-featured animal had been discovered on Alaska's barren Glacier Island. The creature was described as being as being 42-feet in length, with a 6-foot head, a 20-foot body, and a 16-foot tail.

It was also reported that the carcass was in excellent condition. This was credited to its preservation in this arctic environment. For those who first encountered the cadaver, the consensus was almost unanimous; lying before them, embedded in a block of ice, lay a monster from another age. As quoted from the November 26, New York Times article:

"The theory has been advanced, that the carcass is that of a prehistoric animal or reptile that has been preserved in the upper reaches of the Columbia glacier."

Most Alaskans - as well as many other individuals worldwide - were understandably skeptical regarding these reports. Their skepticism soon dissipated though, when the supervisor of the Chugach National Forest - one W. J. McDonald - assembled a six man team to mount an expedition for the purpose of finding and identifying the carcass.

Upon their arrival at Glacier Island, McDonald was as shocked as anyone to find a corpse, which he described as a being shaped unlike any other creature known to have existed anywhere in the region, said McDonald:

"The (creature) had a long tail and tapering head, much like a dinosaur."

Measurements taken by the McDonald expedition were much more thorough then those previously reported. According to McDonald the head - which he described as being, much like that of an elephant - was just over 59-inches long. The snout, from the center of the forehead to the tip, was 39-inches in length and the width of the trunk-like appendage was 11-inches at midsection, with a 29-inch circumference.

The widest part of the beast's carcass was 38-inches and the bizarre animal's length was 24 feet, with a 14-foot tail that started at the rib section. McDonald estimated the corpse's weight to be approximately 1,000 pounds and described its flesh has being horse-like.

The description of the creature's "trunk", fur covered flesh and elephant-like skull, have led many scholars to believe that the animal which McDonald’s team so thoroughly examined was probably the badly decomposed carcass of a WOOLY MAMMOTH.

There are other accounts, however, which emphatically state that the cadaver found on Glacier Island had no discernable head, just a trunk-like appendage jutting out where the head should have been. This account, along with the reports of the beast’s hair covered torso, seem amazingly similar to the descriptions of the so-called Natal carcass, more commonly referred to as TRUNKO, as well as the mysterious cases of HOADE'S MONSTER and the QUEENSLAND CARCASS.

These observations, along with the creature's purportedly "dinosaur-like" tail would seem to rule out the theory espoused by so many modern scholars that the animal was nothing more than a preserved mastodon. It was McDonald's belief that the creature was not indigenous to Glacier Island, but that the animal had become encased in the Columbia glacier and carried off to sea, at which point it was deposited on the Alaskan Island.

Whatever this creature was, it washed back out to sea soon after its discovery, and all scientific interest - much to the shame of zoologists worldwide - vanished along with the carcass.

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LAKE ERIE CHOMPER

Since August of 2001, terror has gripped Lake Erie's coastline communities, as an unknown, aquatic predator has been savagely attacking swimmers - especially those unlucky enough to have taken a dip off the Pump House beach, near Port Dover, Ontario. In a span of less that 24 hours - no less than three people (including 47 year-old Brenda McCormack) were bitten by a large, unseen animal.

The creature's first victim, McCormack, had slipped into the water for a sunset swim when she felt what she described as a large "chomp" on the side of her right calf. The horrified McCormack hastily thrashed through the murky Lake Erie waters toward the shore. Once on dry land she discovered a six-inch series of circular puncture wounds - in the shape of a jaw - imbedded in her calf muscle.

The following morning an unnamed man and his son were assailed in the same location - presumably by the same animal - after which they were swiftly rushed to the nearest medical facility. The child required hospitalization for his injuries.

It wasn't long before a plethora of rumors began to spread through Port Dover and its neighboring communities, regarding the source of these vicious attacks. Wildly speculative theories ran the gambit from a rogue school of piranhas, which may have been released into the wild after they grew too big for their owner's aquarium, to a juvenile BESSIE which may have been swimming closer to shore in search of prey. Other researchers have suggest that the animals may be similar to the eel-like cryptids known as CRESSIE, which allegedly haunt Newfoundland's Crescent Lake. Patricia Hall, the nurse who treated McCormack, had this to say:

"It's the Lake Erie monster. That's what people are joking about."

On August 13, 2001, the Ottawa Citizen published one of the first reports regarding these events. In that account the doctor who treated the victims of this creature admitted that he was at a loss as to the identity of this mystery attacker:

"PORT DOVER - Dr. Harold Hynscht has a medical mystery on his hands. He treated three patients recently who suffered major bites on their legs after swimming in Lake Erie beside the Port Dover pump house. All were in about a meter of water when the attacks occurred. Hynscht, a diver with extensive knowledge of aquatic life, is at a loss to identify the animal that caused them. The bites were not minor. Six inches separated the wounds inflicted by the top and bottom teeth, suggesting the animal has a large mouth.

"That's a big, honking fish," Hynscht said.

"The doctor has ruled out round gobies, lamprey eels, snapping turtles, walleye and other muskellunge-type fish as well as piranhas. The only species that seems plausible, Hynscht said, is the bowfin, a primitive, aggressive fish that protect their nests up to nine weeks after spawning.

"One of the consistent elements of the stories I've heard is that it happened so fast they hardly had time to react," Hynscht said. "Whatever is doing this is doing so because of territory. It's not doing this because it's hungry.

"Hynscht is trading information and theories with a wildlife biologist in Toronto in an effort to determine the attacker's identity."

Whatever this creature turns out to be, the aggressive nature of the animal in question puts it into direct conflict with the human race... and that can only mean trouble ahead.

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LEVIATHAN



Literally, "coiled". In the Bible, and especially the Old Testament, the Leviathan is some sort of chaos animal in the shape of a crocodile or a serpent. In other bible texts it is taken to mean a whale or dolphin, because the animal is there described as living in the sea. Later the Leviathan became a symbol of evil, an anti-divine power (some sort of devil) which will be destroyed on Judgement Day. The Leviathan appears in more than one religion. In Canaanite mythology and literature, it is a monster called Lotan, 'the fleeing serpent, the coiling serpent, the powerful with the seven heads'. It was eventually killed by Baal. The Leviathan is also the Ugaritic god of evil.

"This great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein."
-- Ps. civ, 25-26

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LUSCA

The island of Andros in the Bahamas is the home to a spectacular array of what the natives refer to as blue holes. Formed during the ice ages of the last million years or so, modern researchers have discovered that these blue holes are a vast network of underwater cave systems, which link the Andros's small, freshwater lakes with the Atlantic ocean. Ironically, the confirmation of this oceanic passage has lent some backdoor credence to a Bahamian legend which has endured for hundreds of years... the legend of a vicious man-eater known as the Lusca.

Often believed to be a FRESHWATER OCTOPI or a species of Octopus Giganteus, the Lusca has inspired terror in the hearts of generations of Bahamian fishermen, and has been described as being a large, sub-aquatic animal, which synthesizes the incredible speed and carnivorous jaws of a shark, with the unique, tentacle propelled locomotion of the octopus.

Although the few eyewitnesses who have survived Lusca attacks seem to agree that the above description is accurate, ther are others who insist that this animal's appearance incorporates more of a "squid-eel" combination. Either way, the result is a terrifyingly voracious predator, which one can only assume is equally horrifying in appearance.

Legend has it that any encounter with this extraordinary beast almost always results in the death of whoever was unfortunate enough to wander too close to its watery lair. This extends not only to intrepid divers who have dared to brave the labyrinthine depths of the blue holes, but also to those unwary souls who stand too close to the shoreline, as the Lusca - much like the AHUIZOTL - has been known to use its tentacles to drag even earthbound victims to their watery graves.

Onlookers have even described seeing fishermens' boats suddenly being yanked below the surface of the blue holes, only to watch in horror as the indigestible flotsam of these broken vessels slowly raises to the surface, their captains no where to be seen.

This description of a purported Lusca attack has led some oceanographers to suggest that what people are mistaking for this legendary creature's voracious appetite, may, in fact, be a natural, oceanic phenomenon caused by swift tidal changes which suck the water back in through the blue holes, resulting in a spontaneous whirlpool. These sudden whirlpools roll and boil, and almost certainly hold the potential to pull unwary swimmers, or even entire boats, into its churning depths. When the currents reverse, a frigid, mushroom cloud-like surge of water is gushed back into the small lake, which could force the wreckage to the surface.

While this theory may apply to some cases of mysterious blue hole disappearances, it in no way accounts for the large tentacles and shark-like visage described by so many eyewitnesses.

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Mamlambo



The mamlambo is a carnivorous cryptid from the Mzintlava River near Mount Ayliff that claimed up to 9 human victims in 1997 alone.

The grisly feeding habits of the mamlambo have earned it a certain amount of fear and hatred amongst the people of Mount Ayliff, and there have been several campaigns to eradicate the creatures. They are always solitary, dragging animals into the water and drowning them before eating their facial tissues and sucking out their blood and brain. One mamlambo took up residence beneath a bridge over the Mzintlava River and killed at least 7, possibly 9 people in this way. According to the regional mythology, mamlambos can be tamed and used as attack animals by those who are skilled enough to capture them.

In the tribal mythology of South Africa's Xhosa people, the mamlambo is a giant river snake which brings good fortune to he who owns it, and is used by witch doctors to get revenge on their enemies. The tribal stories describe mamlambo as a big snake with a large bulky head, while modern sightings describe it as being "half horse and half fish", having the head and neck of a horse and the body of a fish, with four short stumpy legs. They are said to be able to come out of the water, using that ability to capture prey that isn't close to the water's edge.

There are two major theories as to what this creature could be. The first is that it is an elasmosaur-like animal, the supporting evidence being it's long neck, it's aquatic habitat, and the fact that it is described as a "big snake" in the tribal lore. The second theory is that mamlambo is some kind of very primitive archaeocete, occupying a place in cetacean evolution before the legs turned into flippers and the neck disappeared, but after the typical cetacean tail had evolved -- which would explain the horse-like head, the short legs and the "fish-like" body.

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MAMMOTHS (yes, mammoths, just read!)

these became extinct about seven to ten thousand years ago, but a population of survivors persisted (according to the fossil record) on Russia's Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean up to 3,700 years ago. Wrangel Island once belonged to the Siberian-Alaskan land mass, but became detached about twelve thousand years ago; the surviving mammoths may have persisted because the island provided a suitable plant diet which had elsewhere vanished. The fossils, found in 1991, included twenty-nine teeth and tooth fragments and also tusk and bone fragments; the researchers who found them said these relict mammoths were smaller than the Siberian breed, being about two meters tall at the shoulder as opposed to three meters.

Mammoths were described by the Chinese as early as the fourth century BC, as a living species of huge creatures with curved necks and small eyes, very stupid and inert; named the fyn shu, or "self-concealing mouse". The name stems from the finding of frozen mammoth carcases heaved out of the Siberian tundra, preserved in permafrost; these carcases would melt out from time to time, their meat quite edible and their ivory forming a valuable trade good - and giving rise to the widespread belief that the interior of the earth was inhabited by gigantic animals - dark brown and emitting a great stench - which moved around with ease underground, but died the instant they saw the light of day.

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Minhocão

One of the most extraordinary mystery beasts of the world is the Minhocão. Relatively unknown to the rest of the world, the Minhocão has been reported from the forests of South America since the 19th century. The Minhocão is commonly described as a giant worm-like animal up to 75 feet long, with black scaly skin and two tentacle-like structures protruding from it?s head. Known best as being a burrowing animal, the Minhocão is commonly blamed for houses and roads collapsing into the earth. It is also said to frequently visit the local lakes and rivers of the areas in which it?s reported.

The first published reference to the Minhocão appeared in the American Journal of Science in an article written by Auguste de Saint-Hilaire. In the article Saint-Hilaire stated several instances where a Minhocão was seen near fords of rivers in the Brazilian province of Goyaz. Saint-Hilaire also stated his belief that the name Minhocão is derived from the Portugese word meaning earthworm, Minhoca.

Publications of the Minhocão ceased until 1877, when zoologist Fritz Müller wrote an article on the beast for a German publication Zoologische Garten. Müller's article included new information on the Minhocão, including reports of huge mysterious trenches that were so big they'd divert rivers and destroy orchards. Unlike Sanit-Hilaire?s article, Müller's included actually sightings of the Minhocão including a story told by Lebino José dos Santos who had heard tales of a dead Minhocão being found near Arapehy, Uruguay. According to the tale the creature was found lodged between two rocks, the reputed skin was said to be as thick as the bark of a pine-tree and armored with scales like those of an armadillo.

With the end of the 19th century also came the end of Minhocão sightings. There are still large mysterious trenches from time to time, but no actual sightings. Some researchers believe that the Minhocão, sadly, went extinct. While others think it is more likely that Minhocãos are still seen, but are thought to be giant anacondas and are reported as such.

There is still the question of what the Minhocãos could possibly be. Some researchers take into account that it is said to be a giant earthworm, but known species of giant earthworm do not grow over 12 feet and are only native to Australia. Also despite their large sizes, these giant earthworms are only about an inch thick. Some researchers believe the Minhocão to be surviving glyptodont -- large armadillo-like animals believed to have gone extinct in the Pleistocene. Researchers say that the glyptodont would be capable of digging the mysterious trenches and burrowing underground, it also had and armored shell over it?s back. What is normally not mentioned about the glyptodont is that it was not a borrowing animal and it was probably not capable of doing so. There is also the fact that they do not fit any descriptions of the Minhocão.

Yet another theory goes on to say that the Minhocão is a lepidosiren (serpentine South American lungfish). If a lepidosiren were to grow to a large enough size it could explain the sightings of Minhocão near waterways. The large trenches could also be caused by a lepidosiren when it unborrows itself from the ground and returns to the rivers. One of the most likely theories of the Minhocãos identity was proposed by cryptozoologist Karl Shuker. He believes that the Minhocão may be a form of caecilian, a worm-like burrowing amphibian. Caecilians are native to South America and some fit the description and lifestyle of Minhocão perfectly, only in a smaller form. The largest of the caecilians only gets up to 5 feet.

If the creature existed at all, it may now be extinct -- there has not been a sighting in 130 years. Hopefully this is not the case and some day soon a living Minhocão will be discovered in the rainforests of South America.

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Moehau



New Zealand is perhaps the last place one would expect to find stories of unknown hairy bipeds due to its geographic isolation. Yet, from these islands come the stories of a hairy creature, very man-like in appearances, a creature called the Moehau, Maeroero, or Maero. The Maoris, the natives of New Zealand, tell of canoes arriving in what is now called New Zealand in a time before history. These canoes were named Waka-orurea and Waka-atua, and they each landed in a different are. A third canoe is mentioned at times and is known as Waka-huruhuru-manu, and on this canoe the Maeroero were brought.

The Maeroero or Maero were the wild men of the woods. These creatures were described as hairy people with bony fingers that would stab their prey with the fingers. They were a solitary people, but would kidnap people if given the chance. They lived throughout the South Island, in the mountain areas they were known as the Maeroero, whilst in the interior of the island Maero was the name. To complicated matters even more there is a distinct lack of reports fromprior to the early twentieth century. More so, the matter in the mid-twentieth century further becomes complicated by a mixing of stories of red haired people found in a cave on Mount Moehau, the Coromandel Man (direct evidence for the bodies is lacking). From this incident arose the current name of "Hairy Moehau".

Mixed in as well is an escaped gorilla from a ship moored off the coast of Wai Aro in the 1920's. Since that time the upsurge of Hairy Moehau stories has begun. Problematic as well are the reports from New Zealand's North Island, not traditionally part of the Maeroero habitat according to the Maori people.

A pattern does appear to show in the accounts stretching the twentieth century. The creature reported, if actually a creature and not a creation ofthe imagination or public foolhardy, is of a passive being (except for a Fiordland report from the 1850's in which a man was attacked). It seems to run from people as if to avoid contact altogether. This contradicts the Maori story.

If such a creature is still present in New Zealand it would be an interesting discovery due to New Zealand's long geographic isolation. How would such a creature get there? How did it survive for so long? If the creature was, or is, a member of a breeding population of escaped gorillas, how then did the gorillas in enough numbers escape?

Perhaps the answers to this mystery lie in the stories of the Maori. The Maori used symbolism and naturalism as part of their stories and histories. As such one must ask the question, what then was the Maeroero? And then likewise one must ask the modern New Zealander's are the stories of a "Hairy Moehau" simply tales to scare the children with at night and increase the pocket books of the parents?

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MONSTER OF LOCH NESS, THE



A legendary animal which lives in the depths of Loch Ness, a lake in the Highlands of northern Scotland. The size of this monster, Nessie as it is fondly called, is 12-15 m (40-50 ft) and it has a long, snake-like neck. It is popularly believed to be female.

The sightings date back to 565 CE when the Irish Saint Columba claimed he saw the Niseag (the Celtic name for Nessie) when he attended a burial for a man who had been bitten to death by the monster. While it has been sighted in the subsequent centuries, it was not until the 19th century that the sightings become more frequent. The most famous encounter was perhaps in the summer of 1933. On that day Mr. and Mrs. Spicer, returning from a trip to London, saw a monster cross the road, with an animal in his jaws, and submerge in the lake. This incident drew the attention of the world press and Nessie became an international phenomena. There have been many expeditions since, but none as successful as to prove its existence. Also the many sightings, photos and films have been inconclusive.

Other lakes and monsters:

Loch Ness is not the only lake reputed to be inhabited by a monster. In Scotland there is also Loch Morar, where there have been sightings of such a creature. In Ireland there are two Loughs ("lakes"), Lough Ree and Lough Fedda, where there have been glimpses of a peista (meremonster). Also in the Scandinavian countries are many tales about monsters in lakes. In Iceland there is the Skrimsl, also called Lagerfljótsskrímslið, which has been seen in the Lagerfljót Lake and in many other lakes besides. In Norway, in Lake Sudal, lives an animal of great size; the head is as big as a small rowboat. The first encounter with the monster of the Storsjö Lake in Sweden took place in 1839. The farmers who saw it claimed it resembled a great sea-horse: red, with white manes. Faster than other monsters, this one can reach speeds up to 70 km (43 mi.) per hour. Another famous monster is that of Lake Okanagan, Canada. This creature, called Ogopogo or Naitaka, has been regularly sighted since 1854.

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Olgoi-Khorkhoi (Mongolian Death Worm)



The Gobi desert of Southern Mongolia is said to conceal the deadly Olgoi-Khorkhoi.

Commonly called the Mongolian death worm, the Olgoi-Khorkhoi reportedly can reach up to lengths of 4 feet, is dark red in color, and spends much of its time buried beneath the desert sands. Yet, its most notorious attribute is it's apparent ability to kill at a distance. When threatened, the Olgoi-Khorkhoi spits a highly corrosive poison at its attacker, which is said to kill almost instantly. It is also said that the Olgoi-Khorkhoi can deliver an electric shock capable of killing animals as large as a camel! It's obvious why locals avoid one when it's encountered.

It has been speculated that the Olgoi-Khorkhoi may be an undiscovered type of amphibian, a type of specialized burrowing reptile, or possibly even an undiscovered form of spitting cobra. Additionally, while the ability to generate electricity is known in several forms of marine life, it's wholly unknown in terrestrial animals, which suggests that Olgoi-Khorkhoi may in fact be a truly unique animal. Yet, it seems more likely that its ability to electrocute may simply be an exaggerated attribute based on fear for the creature.

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Onza



The story of the Onza, as it has come to be known, started centuries ago in the Sierra Madre Occidental range of northwest Mexico. The Aztecs referred to this mystery cat as cutlamiztli, and believed it to be a third species of jungle cat, separate from the big-cats that were known to them, the puma and the jaguar. The cutlamiztli was described as being thinner and having longer ears than other cats.

Spaniards, who were witness to the fierceness of this cat, even against armed men, gave it the name Onza, which referred to the Latin Unica (cheetah).

Although known to the local people, zoologists and the outside world did not recognize the existence of this animal. At a point in the 1930's an American hunting party, hunting jaguars, treed and killed and Onza. Unfortunately, the hunters did not keep any of the remains of the animal, and later were met with disbelief when they relayed the insodent to zoologists. Later, in the 1950's, Robert Marshall conducted his own investigation into the insodent, while gathering information on a book about the Onza. Robert Marshall's book, entitled "The Onza," was released in 1961 and remained unnoticed for many years.

Richard Greenwell, the secretary of the International Society of Cryptozoology, contacted Marshall in the 1980's, who gave him a partial skull of an Onza. Ledell Cockrum, a zoologist at the University of Arizona, directed Marshall and Greenwell to two Sinaloa, Mexico, ranchers who presented the men with yet another skull. A third was then recovered from the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

On the evening of January 1st, 1986, the search for the Onza took on a new life. Two deer hunters killed and recovered one of these elusive cats from the Sinaloa's San Ignacio District, and Greenwell was soon alerted. Soon afterward, he and Troy Best, a mammalogist from the University of New Mexico, photographed and later dissected the animal at the Regional Diagnostic Laboratory of Animal Pathology in Mazatlan. Greenwell later wrote "...the cat, a female, appeared to be as described by the native people." This was in reference to the earlier reports of the cat being "long, thin, and large eared." In 1998, final test results were made public in the journal Cryptozoology: tissue samples were found not to be of a distinct species, but were indistinguishable from those of the North American puma.

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QUESTING BEAST



One day, when King Arthur stopped to rest by a spring, he was surprised by a sound like thirty baying hounds. A strange animal with a snakes head the body of a leopard the back legs of a lion and the hooves of a deer burst through the underbrush, pursued by king Pellinore. Pellinore had hunted the Questing Beast, as the creature was called, all his life but never managed to capture it. Malory describes it as "the strongeste beste that ever he [Arthur] saw or herde of."

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RE'EM (article by Ilil Arbel, Ph.D.)

Many monsters were created on the Sixth Day, some destroyed during the Flood, some still with us. The re'em is described as a giant even among these strange animals. At any given time, only two exist, one male and one female, because had more of them existed, the world could not support them. No one is certain what the re'em looks like. The sources describe him as fierce, fast, and indomitable. Scholars argue about the number of his horns, some say he has one, like a unicorn or a rhinoceros. Some say two, and he could be related to the giant aurochs (Bos primigenius), a species of a wild ox that became extinct during the sixteenth century. On the other hand, he may be a purely mythological creature, based on the bas-reliefs of the huge Mesopotamian and Egyptian beasts that were unquestionably familiar to the Jews of the Talmudic era.

The re'ems live at the opposite ends of the earth, one in the east, the other in the west, and for seventy years never see each other -- until the day of their mating. Finally they meet, mate once, and then the female kills the male with one bite.

The female becomes pregnant, and her pregnancy lasts for twelve years. During the last year she cannot walk, only role from side to side, and she survives only because her saliva waters the earth around her sufficiently to produce enough vegetation for her support. Instead of giving birth, her stomach bursts open and she dies instantly. However, twins are born, one male and one female. They get up immediately and wander away, one to the east, one to the west.

During the flood, when Noah collected all the animals into the arc, the re'ems came to join the procession. However, because of their giant size, they could not fit into the arc. Yet Noah saved them. One version claims he tied them behind the arc, and they followed it by running and later by swimming. Another version tells that the flood happened just as the young re'ems were born, so they were small enough to fit in the arc.

King David had an encounter with a re'em. When David was still a simple shepherd, he saw a sleeping re'em and thought it was a mountain. He started climbing it, and the re'em woke up and lifted David on his gigantic horns. David vowed that if God saved his life, he would build Him a temple, a building as high as the re'em himself. God heard him and sent a lion. As the lion is the king of the beasts, the re'em bowed to him by prostrating himself on the ground, and David could descend from the horns. Then God sent a deer, and the lion started chasing her. So David was saved from both the lion and the re'em.

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SASQUATCH



North American version of the Abominable Snowman, the Yeti, in the Himalayas. In Canada it is called 'Sasquatch', while in the United States they popularly refer to it as Bigfoot.

The word Sasquatch closely resembles and is derived from several native names for the creature used by tribes in the coastal area of the Pacific north west. The creature is supposed to be at least 2,1 m (6,9 ft) tall, but adults can be as tall as 3,5 m (11,5 ft). Its footprints measure somewhere between 40-55 cm (16-20 in). It has long arms, an ape-like face with a flat nose, and thick hairy fur. Sasquatch lives in the caves and hidden valleys of Canada and North America.

It was first seen (by white men) in 1811 and since then there have been hundreds of reports on sightings and encounters. There are several photos and films of the creature, besides casts taken from its footprints, but many of these turned out to be forgeries. There are numerous people who claim they have either seen the creature itself or its tracks. Expeditions set out to search for Bigfoot have never found it, nor is there scientific evidence for its existence.

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SEA MONSTERS (AND VAST FISH)



in the writings of one Olaus Magnus, archbishop of Upsal, are the following tales:

In August 1532, cast upon the shores of Tinmouth was a dead beast of vast magnitude, roughly ninety feet long and twenty-five feet in thickness. It had thirty ribs on a side, most of them twenty feet long; three bellies like caves and "thirty throats, whereof five were very great" - two fifteen-foot fins; no teeth, but growing to his palate about 1000 plates of horns; hairy on one side ; the head from crown to chaps being twenty-one feet. It had eyes and nostrils like an ox's, far too small for the proportions of its head - which had also two great holes like blowholes. The meat of this beast, cut up and shared out amongst the neighborhood, filled one hundred great wagons.

About whales (descriptions of whales from the same man as above):

some are hairy, and of four acres in size (ie 4 times 240 feet by 120 feet in the archbishop's estimation). Some have eyes so big that fifteen or twenty men may sit upon each, and upon each eye 250 flexible horns each six or seven feet long. The backs of whales are pebbled like gravel, so that mariners fix their anchors to them, disembark and light fires to have a picnic, whereupon the whale wakes and drags sailors and ship under.

There are horrible fish off the coast of Norway, with very black square heads of ten or twelve cubits, with huge eyes eight or ten cubits around; the apple of the eye being of one cubit and fiery red, so that in the dark of night they appear to fishermen like burning lamps. On the head there is hair like long goose-feathers hanging in a beard. The body is small in proportion, fourteen or fifteen cubits long. These monsters destroy many ships. This account is confirmed by an epistle of Ericus Falchendorf, metropolitan archbishop of Norway to Leo X, written about 1520. The head of one such creature was preserved in salt.

The whirlpool, or prister, is a kind of whale, 200 cubits long and very cruel. It has a large round mouth like a lamprey, with which it sucks in its meat or water, and will cast forth such floods as drown ships and sink them. It will sometimes raise itself above the ship-yards of a vessel and twist its forked tail around the ship, but is frightened away by a trumpet of war or the mere sound of cannonfire.

On the coasts of Norway are blue and gray worms, about forty cubits long but scarcely thicker than the arm of a child. They swim the sea in a straight line, scarcely to be seen where they go. These hurt no man, save that one touches him - then the skin that brushes his will swell up. Olaus saw these himself, but did not touch them, being warned by mariners.

Sailors in Norway say there is a serpent there, 200 feet long and twenty feet thick, which lives in rocks along the coast and will crawl inland to feed on calves, lambs and hogs. It is black, has hair hanging from its neck a cubit long, sharp scales and flaming eyes. It kills men.

Another sea monster in the Norway waters is described as "another serpent, of an incredible magnitude, that lifts himself high above the waters, and rolls himself round like a sphere".

For more information on mythical sea creatures, go to my page: Mythical Sea Monsters of the Middle Ages

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Trunko



On November 1, 1922 visitors to Margate, South Africa were witnesses to an extraordinary battle between two whales and a mysterious marine animal covered in snowy-white fur. Unfortunately for the mystery creature, the whales proved too much of a challenge, and the poor choice in adversaries cost the creature its life. Later that night the creatures body washed ashore, showing how truly strange this being proved to be.

Measuring a little over 47 feet the creature, dubbed Trunko, possessed a 10 foot tail and was covered in 8 inch fur. However it's most impressive features proved to be the lack of any head, which was replaced by a 5 foot long trunk like appendage. The creature's corpse spent 10 days on the Margate beach in which no scientist gave it the time of day. Finally the sea reclaimed Trunko's body, making a possible scientific treasure lost forever.

Furry sea-monster corpses like Trunko's usually prove to be the decomposed bodies of sharks in which the fur is really exposed tissue fibers. This however can't be said in the case of Trunko since the fur was seen by witnesses during it's battle with the whales. There is no known animal which resembles Trunko and since the 1922 sighting no sightings of a similar beast have occurred.

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YETI



The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas. In 1951, an expedition found a track on the Menlung Glacier between Tibet and Nepal, at an altitude of 6000 meters. The footprints they saw were 33 cm by 45 cm and were made by a foot which has 5 toes of which the inner toes were larger than the others. The heel was flat and exceptionally broad. The track itself appeared to be fresh so the footprints were not enlarged by melting snow. This was clearly shown by the many photographs they took. Although there were many doubts about these photographs, if they were believed to be true at all. But those who did belief were certain that was not made by any known animal.

Origin

The people of Nepal call it a "rakshasa" which is Sanskrit for "demon". According to them, stories of its existence date back to the 4th century BCE; references to the Yeti are found in a poem called 'Rama and Sita'. It has regularly been sighted since 1832. Yeti means "magical creature". The name 'The Abominable Snowman' however, was given to it by western newspapers who wanted to give their readers the feeling of terror which the creature supposedly causes in the valleys, crevices and glaciers of the Himalayas.

According to legends, there are three species: the Rimi (some 2,5 m), the Nyalmot (4,5 m) and the Raksi-Bombo (1,5 m). In spite of differences in size, the species have a general resemblance. The Yeti has reddish hair (although others claim it is gray), smells terrible and it is very strong (it throws boulders as if they were pebbles). It makes an ululating or whistling sound, and is sometimes heard roaring like a lion. The Yeti is rumored to be very fond of strong alcoholic drinks.

There are many uncertainties about its origin, whether it exists or not. Some say that the Yeti is a descendant of a race of giant apes, the 'gigantophitecus' who retreated into the Himalayas some 500.000 years ago. Another theory is that the Yetis are descendant of the A-o-re, an ancient people that fled into the mountains to escape their enemies. In the following millennia, they degraded to a race of monstrous creatures. Skeptics say that the tracks were made by ordinary animals like a bear or an ape.

Expeditions

Of the many expeditions set out to find it, was also that of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first ever to climb the Mount Everest. He funded this expedition himself, for he and his guide Tenzing Norgay had seen footprints of a Yeti on a previous expedition. Unfortunately, his expedition was as unsuccessful as those who had gone before. However, he brought back with him a borrowed artifact: the upper half of the skull of a Yeti. This scalp came from the Khumjung Gompa (monastery) in Nepal where it is kept as a relic. It is some 300 years old, 20 cm high and has a circumference of 65 cm. Scientists said it belonged to a serow (mountain goat) which lives in eastern Asia.

There have been many other expeditions, but on none of those they got so much as even a glimpse of the creature. However, just like the 1951 expedition, they found tracks of the Yeti, and made casts of its footprints. The lack of evidence did not keep the government of Nepal from officially declaring the Yeti to exist in 1961. It became their national symbol, and an important source of income. There are even stamps of the creature.

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Oceanic Cryptozoology:

Note: List only includes sea animals sighted regularly in one area, or unidentified carcasses washed ashore.

NAME// LOCATION// DESCRIPTION// OFT-GIVEN EXPLANATIONS

Altamaha-ha Darien//Georgia//Long neck, 2 humps//Long-Necked seal

Bermuda Blob//Bermuda//Blob of fibrous tissue//Giant Octopus

Cadborosaurus//Pacific Northwest//mane, horse head//Merhorse, new sp.

Chessie//Chesapeake Bay//Snakelike, football head//Anaconda, Giant Eel

Giant Basking Shark//Stronsay, Scotland//50-foot carcass washed ashore//Giant Basking Shark

Gloucester Sea Serp.//Gloucester, Mass.//Many humps, round head//Many-Humped Sea Serpent

Lord of the deep//Pacific Ocean//giant great white shark//surviving Megalodon.

Lusca//The Bahamas//Giant Octopus, lives in caves//Giant Octopus, legend

"Marine Elephants"//Ocean off West Africa//Trunked sea creature//see Trunko

Morgawr//Falmouth Bay,England//Long Neck, 2 humps//Long-Necked Seal

New Zealand Globster//New Zealand//Blob of stringy tissue//?

New Zealand Monster//Ocean off New Zealand//Rottting carcass//Plesiosaur, Basking Shark
Scuttle//The Bahamas//Giant Octopus, lives in open ocean//Giant Octopus

St. Augustine Giant Octopus//St. Augustine, Florida//Giant Octopus head//Giant Octopus

Tasmanian Globster//Tasmania//Blob of stringy tissue//?

Trunko//Durban, South Africa//47-foot animal with a trunk and white fur//new species

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SOLVED CASES!

NAME//WHAT IT WAS//SCIENTIFIC NAME//WHERE DISCOVERED

Mngwa*//King Cheetah*//Acionyx rex//Southern Africa 1873

Tratratratra//Giant Lemur*//?//Madagascar 1800's

Sao la//Vu Quang Ox*//Pseudoryx nghetinhensis//Vietnam 1993

Vorompatra//Elephant Bird*//Aepyornis sp.//Madagascar 1800's

Nepal "Mammoth"//Mutated Asian Elephants//--//Nepal 1990's

Onza//Cougar subspecies//Puma concolor spp.*//Mexico 1996

Ekurut Loedonkakini//Hoax//--//Turkana, Kenya 1970's

Beast of Gevaudan//Hyena//Hyaena hyaena//France 1996

(* New Species/subspecies discovered to be identity of cryptid. *)

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Mythical Creatures