Elk Mound Bigfoot Research Center
Cryptids
Here's a list of just some of the types of Cryptids that have been reported.
There's a few more than this list!!!
Ahool
The Ahool or the Athol is a winged cryptid. Some portray the creature as a giant bat while others claim it is a flying primate. The name Ahool comes from its loud distinct cry, "ahool!"
Description
It is said to live in the deepest parts of the jungles of Java, and can be found across most of Indonesia. Sub-species can be found on the nearby island of New Guinea in the form of the Ropen, a presumed cousin to the Ahool. The Ropen has a long snout, large wings and a long thin crest. The Ahool though, has a distinct face that has features of both a chimpanzee's and a bat's, large dark eyes, red skinned wings, large claws on its forearms, and is covered in grey fur. It is said to have a wingspan of 18 to 28 feet, or 6 to 9 meters. That is 3 to 4.5 times the size of the largest bat known to man, the flying fox. Although it mainly eats local fauna, such as large fish, it will, opportunistically, occasionally attack humans. Most likely because the creature/animal is extremely territorial and an opportunist, meaning it will attack larger prey when the conditions present themselves. One scientist theorized that the creature may be related to another cryptid, the Kongamato. However, it's described as more of a bat-like creature than a reptile-like one. It may be closely related to the Orang Bati.
Sightings
In 1925, naturalist Dr. Ernest Bartels, son of noted ornithologist M.E.G. Bartels, was exploring a waterfall on the slopes of the Salek Mountains when a giant unknown bat, the Ahool, flew directly over his head.
In 1927, around 11:30 pm, Dr. Ernest Bartels encountered the Ahool again. Bartels was laying in bed, inside his thatched house close to the Tjidjenkol River in western Java, listening to the sounds of the jungle. Bartels suddenly heard a very different sound coming from almost directly over his hut, this loud and clear cry seemed to utter "A Hool!"
Almasty
The Almas or Alma (Mongolian: Алмас/Almas, Bulgarian: Алмас, Chechen: Алмазы, Turkish: Albıs), Mongolian for "wild man", is a purported hominid cryptozoological species reputed to inhabit the Caucasus and Pamir Mountains of central Asia, and the Altai Mountains of southern Mongolia. The creature is not currently recognized or cataloged by science. Furthermore, scientists generally reject the possibility that such megafauna cryptids exist, because of the improbably large numbers necessary to maintain a breeding population.
Description
Almas is a singular word in Mongolian; the properly formed Turkic plural would b'almaslar'. As is typical of similar legendary creatures throughout Central Asia, Russia, Pakistan and the Caucasus, the Almas is generally considered to be more akin to "wild people" in appearance and habits than to apes (in contrast to the Yeti of the Himalayas).
Almases are typically described as human-like bipedal animals, between five and six and a half feet tall, their bodies covered with reddish-brown hair, with anthropomorphic facial features including a pronounced browridge, flat nose, and a weak chin. Many cryptozoologists believe there is a similarity between these descriptions and modern reconstructions of how Neanderthals might have appeared.
Evidence
Speculation that Almases may be something other than legendary creatures is based on purported eyewitness accounts, alleged footprint finds, and interpretations of long-standing native traditions that have been anthropologically collected.
Folk tales
Almases appear in the legends of local people, who tell stories of sightings and human-Almas interactions dating back several hundred years.
Drawings interpreted as Almas also appear in a Tibetan medicinal book. British anthropologist Myra Shackley noted that "The book contains thousands of illustrations of various classes of animals (reptiles, mammals and amphibia), but not one single mythological animal such as are known from similar medieval European books. All the creatures are living and observable today."
Famous sightings
Sightings recorded in writing go as far back as the 15th century.
In 1420, Hans Schiltberger recorded his personal observation of these creatures in the journal of his trip to Mongolia as a prisoner of the Mongol Khan. Schiltberger also recorded one of the first European sightings of Przewalski horses. (Manuscript in the Munich Municipal Library. He noted that Almasty are part of the Mongolian and Tibetan apothecary's materia medica, along with thousands of other animals and plants that live today.
British anthropologist Myra Shackley in Still Living? describes Ivan Ivlov's 1963 observation of a family group of Almas. Ivlov, a pediatrician, decided to interview some of the Mongolian children who were his patients, and discovered that many of them had also said that they had seen Almases and that neither the Mongol children nor the young Almas were afraid of each other. Ivlov's driver also claimed to have seen them.
Alleged captive Almas
A wildwoman named Zana is said to have lived in the isolated mountain village of T'khina fifty miles from Sukhumi in Abkhazia in the Caucasus; some have speculated she may have been an Almas, but the evidence indicates that she was a human.
Captured in the mountains in 1850, she was at first violent towards her captors but soon became domesticated and assisted with simple household chores. Zana is said to have had sexual relations with a man of the village named Edgi Genaba, and gave birth to a number of children of apparently normal human appearance. Several of these children, however, died in infancy.
The father, meanwhile, gave away four of the surviving children to local families. The two boys, Dzhanda and Khwit Genaba (born 1878 and 1884), and the two girls, Kodzhanar and Gamasa Genaba (born 1880 and 1882), were assimilated into normal society, married, and had families of their own. Zana herself died in 1890. The skull of Khwit (also spelled Kvit) is still extant, and was examined by Grover Krantz in the early 1990s. He pronounced it to be entirely modern, with no Neanderthal features at all. Another account by Russian anthropologist M.A.Kolodieva described the skull as significantly different from the normal males from Abkhazia: the skull "approaches closest the Neolithic Vovnigi II skulls of the fossil series".
In the 2013 Channel 4 documentary, Bigfoot Files, Bryan Sykes of the University of Oxford showed that Zana's DNA was 100% Sub-Saharan African in origin and she could have been a slave brought to Abkhazia by the Ottoman Empire Sykes however raised questions as to whether Zana could have been from a population of Africans who left the continent tens of thousands of years earlier as her son, Khwit's skull had some unique and archaic characteristics. It should be noted that Sykes only looked at the mtDNA, that is only the DNA from the maternal side. He did not look at the nuDNA from her paternal lineage so the often stated claim that Zana was 100% Sub-Saharan African is an inaccurate conclusion because the DNA tests were limited.
In 2015, Sykes reported that he had undertaken DNA tests on saliva samples of six of Zana's living relatives and a tooth of her deceased son Khwit and concluded that Zana was 100% African but not of any known group, refuting the theory that she was a runaway Ottoman slave. Rather, he believes her ancestors left Africa approximately 100,000 years ago and lived in the remote Caucasus for many generations.
Another case is said to date from around 1941, shortly after the German invasion of the USSR. A "wild man" was captured somewhere in the Caucasus by a detachment of the Red Army. He appeared human, but was covered in fine, dark hair. Interrogation revealed his apparent inability (or unwillingness) to speak, and the unfortunate creature is said to have been shot as a German spy. There are various versions of this legend in the cryptozoological literature and hard proof is absent.
From Wikipedia
Altie
In Georgia folklore, the Altamaha-ha (or Altie) is a legendary creature, alleged to inhabit the myriad small streams and abandoned rice fields near the mouth of the Altamaha River (after which it is named) in southeastern Georgia. Sightings are particularly reported around Darien and elsewhere in McIntosh County.
According to The Brunswick News, the legend has its roots in Muscogee tradition. An alligator gar has been proposed as being a possible identity for recent sightings attributed to the creature.
In 2018, decomposing remains were found on a beach in the Wolf Island National Wildlife Refuge, causing speculation that it may be the body of an Altamaha-ha; however, performance artist Zardulu later claimed responsibility for the remains, which were created out of a stuffed shark and papier-mâché.
From Wikipedia
Beast of Bodmin Moor
The Beast of Bodmin Moor, also known as the Beast of Bodmin (Cornish: Best Goon Brenn) is a phantom wild catpurported to live in Cornwall, England. Bodmin Moor became a centre of purported sightings after 1978, with occasional reports of mutilated slain livestock; the alleged panther-like cats of the same region came to be popularly known as the Beast of Bodmin Moor.
In general, scientists reject such claims because of the improbably large numbers necessary to maintain a breeding population and because climate and food supply issues would make such purported creatures' survival in reported habitats unlikely.
Investigation
A long-held hypothesis suggests the possibility that alien big cats at large in the United Kingdom could have been imported as part of private collections or zoos, later escaped or set free. An escaped big cat would not be reported to the authorities due to the illegality of owning and importing the animals. It has been claimed that animal trainer Mary Chipperfield released three pumas into the wild following the closure of her Plymouth zoo in 1978, and that subsequent sightings of the animals gave rise to rumours of the Beast.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food conducted an official investigation in 1995. The study found that there was "no verifiable evidence" of exotic felines loose in Britain, and that the mauled farm animals could have been attacked by common indigenous species. The report stated that, "No verifiable evidence for the presence of a 'big cat' was found ... There is no significant threat to livestock from a 'big cat' in Bodmin Moor."
Skull
Less than a week after the government report, a boy was walking by the River Fowey when he discovered a large cat skull. Measuring about 4 inches (10 cm) long by 7 inches (18 cm) wide, the skull was lacking its lower jaw but possessed two sharp, prominent canines that suggested that it might have been a leopard. The story hit the national press at about the same time of the official denial of alien big cat evidence on Bodmin Moor.
The skull was sent to the Natural History Museum in London for verification. They determined that it was a genuine skull from a young male leopard, but also found that the cat had not died in Britain and that the skull had been imported as part of a leopard-skin rug. The back of the skull was cleanly cut off in a way that is commonly used to mount the head on a rug. There was an egg case inside the skull that had been laid by a tropical cockroach that could not possibly be found in Britain. There were also cut marks on the skull indicating the flesh had been scraped off with a knife, and the skull had begun to decompose only after a recent immersion in water.
From Wikipedia
Beast of Dean
The Beast of Dean, also given the colloquial Moose-Pig is reportedly a cryptid said to resemble a wild boar, Sus scrofa,with an abnormally large size. It is commonly sighted in Gloucestershire, in the south-west of the United Kingdom. The royal Forest of Dean became a a hot-spot for sightings beginning in 1802, with reports from locals of an exceptionally large wild boar, with occasional reports of felled trees, crushed hedges and fences, and a supposed 'unearthly roar'. Eventually local hunters, from the village of Parkend, Gloucestershire managed to capture and kill the creature. The hunters, upon examination, all agreed their prey was no boar they had encountered before nor even any familiar indigenous species. After this revelation in March 1807, sightings stopped entirely for almost two centuries. Over this period locals frequently heard a low guttural noise in the woods between Parkend and the nearby village of Bream, Gloucestershire.
Speculation had been made between locals to whether there was another Beast roaming the woodland of the Forest of Dean. This would not be apparent until 1998 in which a report had been made by two locals (James Nash, Marshall Davies), that had been passing through the woodland between Parkend and Bream. They had claimed the woods seemed eerily quiet, suddenly a low sound could be heard, slowly raising in intensity. Then a sound of rustling leaves was heard and the two saw a large sized shape come towards them in the darkness, at this time the men could not comprehend the size of the animal. They then ran frantically from the beast towards the village of Parkend as it pursued them through the woodland, the men then emerged onto a well-lit road near the centre of the village. As they came to a halt they heard an 'un-earthly' roar come from the woods behind them, the men where both mortified as they could not comprehend what had just happened.
In the science-fiction television series Primeval the Beast of Dean turns out to be a gorgonopsid that arrived in the present day through a wormhole leading to the Permian period.
From cryptidz.wikia.com
Beast of Exmoor
The Beast of Exmoor is a cryptozoological felid that is reported to roam the fields of Exmoor in Devon and Somerset in the United Kingdom.
History
There have been numerous reports of eyewitness sightings, however the official Exmoor National Park website lists the beast under "Traditions, Folklore, and Legends", and the BBC calls it "the famous-yet-elusive beast of Exmoor." Sightings were first reported in the 1970s, although it became notorious in 1983, when a South Moltonfarmer claimed to have lost over 100 sheep in the space of three months, all of them apparently killed by violent throat injuries. Descriptions of its coloration range from black to tan or dark grey. It is possibly a cougar or black leopard which was released sometime in the 1960s or 1970s after a law was passed making it illegal for them to be kept in captivity outside zoos. However, considering that cougar and leopard life spans are 12–15 years, this is unlikely. In 2006 the British Big Cats Society reported that a skull found by a Devon farmer was that of a puma, however the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) states that "Based on the evidence, Defra does not believe that there are big cats living in the wild in England."
Characteristics
Eyewitness testimony has produced a number of different descriptions. Most accounts report the animal as being a large cat either resembling a puma or a panther. It is recorded as being somewhere between four and eight feet from nose to tail, standing very low to the ground, and as having the ability to leap over 6-foot-tall fences with ease. Descriptions of its coloration range from black to tan or dark grey.
No such cat is native to England, and the variations in description have led some cryptozoologists to believe that there might be more than one creature.
First Sightings
Sightings of the Beast of Exmoor were first reported in the 1970s, although the period of its notoriety began in 1983, when a South Molton farmer named Eric Ley claimed to have lost over a hundred sheep in the space of three months, all of them apparently killed by violent throat injuries. There was even a report of the Beast seen "fishing" with its paw into the River Barle at Simonsbath, whilst some locals theorised that its lair might be in old mine workings on the Moor. The Daily Express offered a reward for the capture or slaying of the Beast. Farm animal deaths in the area have been sporadically blamed on the Beast ever since.
Photographic evidence
Photographs have been produced on at least three occasions, one of which appeared in the West Somerset Free Press in 1989, taken by the Lewis Family of Blue Anchor, and all appear to show a big cat with the features of both a puma and a panther.
Explanations
Misidentification
Most observers and scientists believe that the sightings are merely of escaped domestic cats whose size has been greatly exaggerated, or else of large dogs that have been misidentified. The livestock deaths have often been attributed to these large dogs, although human attacks on the sheep have also been suspected.
Escaped pets
Although large cats are not native to England, some people have kept exotic animals, and in the mid 1970s this became something of a fad. It is inevitable that some have escaped over the years, and conceivable that they created a small group of big cats living hidden in the Exmoor area's countryside. In particular, the 1976 Dangerous Wild Animals Act, which controlled the keeping of big cats (among other things) led to the mass release of many privately owned wild cats.
Hybrids
Some descriptions of the Beast attribute it the features of both a puma and a leopard. Although these animals have been hybridized by Carl Hagenbeck in captivity, the offspring were always found to be dwarfed and short-lived; one such hybrid is preserved in the Zoological Museum at Tring. The name for such a hybrid is a Pumapard. Because male big cat hybrids are always sterile, a self-perpetuating race of puma-leopard hybrids is not possible. The apparent mix of features is probably due to inexpert witnesses rather than hybrid origin.
Government involvement
Soon after 1983, in response to increased reports of livestock death and sightings of the Beast, the Ministry of Agriculture ordered the Royal Marines to send snipers into the Exmoor hills—although some Marines claimed to have seen the Beast fleetingly, no shots were fired, partially because of the risk of the Marines' high-powered sniper rifle bullets passing straight through the creature's body and then causing injury to humans or livestock etc., and the number of attacks on livestock dwindled. As an amusing side note, the Marines' commanding officer was quoted as saying that their quarry behaved with high, almost human, intelligence and "always moved with surrounding cover amongst hedges and woods" Ultimately, the Marines were recalled from the field, after which the attacks on the local sheep allegedly increased. By 1987, the creature was connected to over 200 farm animal deaths. More recent attacks were reported in 1995 and 2001. The Ministry continued to study the reported sightings into the mid-1990s, before concluding that the Beast was either a hoax or myth and that the alleged sightings had been mistaken identifications of creatures native to the Exmoor area. In January 2009 a carcass of an animal that has washed up on a beach in North Devon has left many of the locals speculating that it is the body of the infamous Beast of Exmoor. Later it was revealed that it was a decomposed grey seal.
From Wikipedia
Champ
In American folklore, Champ or Champy is the name of a lake monster said to live in Lake Champlain, a 125-mile (201 km)-long body of fresh water shared by New York and Vermont, with a portion extending into Quebec, Canada. The legend of the monster is considered a draw for tourism in the Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York areas.
Over the years, there have been over 300 reported sightings of Champ.
French cartographer Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Québec and the lake's namesake, is often claimed to be the first European to have sighted Champ, in 1609. However, this legend dates back to a fake quote published in the Summer 1970 issue of Vermont Life. In the Vermont Life article, Champlain is alleged to have documented a "20-foot serpent thick as a barrel, and a head like a horse." This quote has often been repeated, but is in fact apocryphal. Champlain did document large fish:
There is also a great abundance of fish, of many varieties: among others, one called by the savages of the country Chaoufarou, "which varies in length, the largest being, as the people told me, eight or ten feet long. I saw some five feet long, which were as large as my thigh; the head being as big as my two fists, with a snout two feet and half long, and a double row of very sharp and dangerous teeth. Its body is, in shape, very much like that of a pike; but it is armed with scales so strong and a poniard could not pierce them. Its color is silver-gray.
The 1878 translation of his journals clarifies that Chaoufaou refers to gar (or gar pike), specifically Lepisosteus osseus (the longnose gar).
An 1819 report in the Plattsburgh Republican, entitled "Cape Ann Serpent on Lake Champlain", reports a "Capt. Crum" sighting an enormous serpentine monster. Crum estimated the monster to have been about 187-feet long and approximately two hundred yards away from him. Despite the great distance, he claimed to have witnessed it being followed by "two large Sturgeon and a Bill-fish" and was able to see that it had three teeth and eyes the color of peeled onions. He also described the monster as having "a belt of red" around its neck and a white star on its forehead.
In 1883, Sheriff Nathan H. Mooney claimed that he had seen a water serpent about "20 rods" (the equivalent of 110 yards in length) from where he was on the shore. He claimed that he was so close that he could see "round white spots inside its mouth" and that "the creature appeared to be about 25 to 30 feet in length". Mooney's sighting led to many more alleged eyewitnesses coming forward with their own accounts of Champ.
The legend of Champ captured the interest of P. T. Barnum, and in 1873 and 1887, the famous showman offered rewards for anyone who could bring him the monster.
From Wikipedia
Chupacabra
The chupacabra or chupacabras (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃupaˈkaβɾas], literally "goat-sucker"; from chupar, "to suck", and cabra, "goat") is a legendary creature in the folklore of parts of the Americas, with its first purported sightings reported in Puerto Rico. The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats.
Physical descriptions of the creature vary. It is purportedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail.
Eyewitness sightings have been claimed as early as 1995 in Puerto Rico, and have since been reported as far north as Maine, and as far south as Chile, and even being spotted outside the Americas in countries like Russia and the Philippines, but many of the reports have been disregarded as uncorroborated or lacking evidence. Sightings in northern Mexico and the southern United States have been verified as canids afflicted by mange. According to biologists and wildlife management officials, the chupacabra is an urban legend.
Name
Chupacabras can be literally translated as "goat-sucker", from chupar ("to suck") and cabra ("goat"). It is known as both chupacabras and chupacabra throughout the Americas, with the former being the original word, and the latter a regularization of it. The name in Spanish can be preceded by a singular masculine article (el chupacabras), or the plural masculine article (los chupacabras).
History
The first reported attack occurred in March 1995 in Puerto Rico. Eight sheep were discovered dead, each with three puncture wounds in the chest area and completely drained of blood. A few months later, in August, an eyewitness, Madelyne Tolentino, reported seeing the creature in the Puerto Rican town of Canóvanas, when as many as 150 farm animals and pets were reportedly killed. In 1975, similar killings in the small town of Moca were attributed to El Vampiro de Moca ("The Vampire of Moca"). Initially, it was suspected that the killings were committed by a Satanic cult; later more killings were reported around the island, and many farms reported loss of animal life. Each of the animals was reported to have had its body bled dry through a series of small circular incisions.
Puerto Rican comedian and entrepreneur Silverio Pérez is credited with coining the term chupacabras soon after the first incidents were reported in the press. Shortly after the first reported incidents in Puerto Rico, other animal deaths were reported in other countries, such as the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Brazil, United States, and Mexico.
Reputed Origin
A five-year investigation by Benjamin Radford, documented in his 2011 book Tracking the Chupacabra, concluded that the description given by the original eyewitness in Puerto Rico, Madelyne Tolentino, was based on the creature Sil in the science-fiction horror film Species. The alien creature Sil is nearly identical to Tolentino’s chupacabra eyewitness account and she had seen the movie before her report: "It was a creature that looked like the chupacabra, with spines on its back and all... The resemblance to the chupacabra was really impressive," Tolentino reported. Radford revealed that Tolentino "believed that the creatures and events she saw in Species were happening in reality in Puerto Rico at the time," and therefore concludes that "the most important chupacabra description cannot be trusted." This, Radford believes, seriously undermines the credibility of the chupacabra as a real animal.
In addition, the reports of blood-sucking by the chupacabra were never confirmed by a necropsy, the only way to conclude that the animal was drained of blood. An analysis by a veterinarian of 300 reported victims of the chupacabra found that they had not been bled dry.
Radford divided the chupacabra reports into two categories: the reports from Puerto Rico and Latin America where animals were attacked and it is supposed their blood was extracted, and the reports in the United States of mammals, mostly dogs and coyotes with mange, that people call "chupacabra" due to their unusual appearance.
In late October 2010, University of Michigan biologist Barry O'Connor concluded that all the chupacabra reports in the United States were simply coyotes infected with the parasite Sarcoptes scabiei, whose symptoms would explain most of the features of the chupacabra: they would be left with little fur, thickened skin, and rank odor. O'Connor theorized that the attacks on goats occurred "because these animals are greatly weakened, they're going to have a hard time hunting. So they may be forced into attacking livestock because it's easier than running down a rabbit or a deer."
Although several witnesses came to the conclusion that the attacks could not be the work of dogs or coyotes because they had not eaten the victim, this conclusion is incorrect. Both dogs and coyotes can kill and not consume the prey, either because they are inexperienced, or due to injury or difficulty in killing the prey. The prey can survive the attack and die afterwards from internal bleeding or circulatory shock. The presence of two holes in the neck, corresponding with the canine teeth, are to be expected since this is the only way that most land carnivores have to catch their prey.
There are reports of stray Mexican Hairless Dogs being mistaken for chupacabras.
Appearance
The most common description of the chupacabra is that of a reptile-like creature, said to have leathery or scaly greenish-gray skin and sharp spines or quills running down its back. It is said to be approximately 3 to 4 feet (0.9 to 1.2 m) high, and stands and hops in a fashion similar to that of a kangaroo.
Another common description of the chupacabra is of a strange breed of wild dog. This form is mostly hairless and has a pronounced spinal ridge, unusually pronounced eye sockets, fangs, and claws. Unlike conventional predators, the chupacabra is said to drain all of the animal's blood (and sometimes organs) usually through three holes in the shape of a downwards-pointing triangle or through one or two holes.
Related Legends
A popular legend in New Orleans concerns a popular lovers' lane called Grunch Road, which was said to be inhabited by "grunches", creatures similar in appearance to the Chupacabra.
The Peuchens of Chile also share similarities in their supposed habits, but instead of being dog-like they are described as winged snakes. This legend may have originated from the vampire bat, an animal endemic to the region.
In the Philippines, another legendary creature called the Sigbin shares many of chupacabra's descriptions. The recent discovery of the cat-fox in Southeast Asia suggests that it could also have been simply sightings of this once unknown animal.
From Wikipedia
Dover Demon
The Dover Demon is a small humanoid reported from Dover, Massachusetts. It was the subject of an intensive scare during the 1970's, when multiple witnesses came forward with their sightings. The Dover Demon is described as looking sort of like the "gray" variety of alien, except that it has skin of a rosy orange instead of sickly gray. The Dover Demon has a large head on a small, stick-like body. It can be bipedal, but it often travels on all fours or switches back and forth between the two modes of locomotion. It has eyes that glow, sometimes orange, sometimes green. It does not seem to wear any clothing, unless the clothing fits tightly and is the same color as its body. Unlike the grays, the Dover Demon does not seem to be associated with UFOs. It just wanders around on its own.
Cryptozoologists seldom show interest in the Dover Demon. Mainstream cryptozoologists are rarely willing to seriously investigate humanoids other than hairy humanoids. It seems that sightings only happened during a short time period, with most claiming that sightings have now ceased, so the Dover Demon does not seem to be a pressing matter.
Sighting
The bizarre tale begins at 10:32 p.m. on April 21 as three 17-year-olds, Bill Bartlett, Mike Mazzocca and Andy Brodie, are driving north on Farm Street. Bartlett, who's behind the wheel of a Volkswagen, spots something creeping along a low wall of loose stones on the left side of the road. At first he thinks the image is a dog or a cat until his headlights shine on it and he realizes it's nothing he's ever seen before. The figure slowly turns its head and stares into the light, its two large, round, glassy, lidless eyes shining brightly "like two orange marbles." Its watermelon-shaped head, resting at the top of a thin neck, is the size of the rest of its body. Except for its over sized head, the creature is thin, with long spindly arms and legs, and large hands and feet. The skin is hairless and peach-colored and appears to have a rough texture. "Like wet sandpaper," Bartlett subsequently tells cryptozoologist Loren Coleman. Standing no more than 3 1/2 to 4 feet tall, the figure is shaped like "a baby's body with long arms and legs." It had been making its way along the wall, its long fingers curling around the rocks, when the car lights surprised it. Unfortunately, neither of Bartlett's companions sees the creature. The sighting lasts only a few seconds and, before Bartlett can speak, the car leaves the scene. Then the creature is gone. Bartlett drops his friends off and goes to his Walpole Street home. Visibly upset, he walks through the door and his father asks him what's wrong. Bartlett relates the story and later sketches what he's seen.
Around midnight, 15-year-old John Baxter leaves his girlfriend Cathy Cronin's house at the south end of Miller High Road. Then, Baxter starts walking up the street on his way home. Half an hour later, after he has walked about a mile, he observes someone approaching him. Because the figure is short, Baxter assumes it's an acquaintance of his, M.G. Bouchard, who lives on the street. John calls out and no response. Baxter and the figure continue to approach each other until finally the latter stops. Baxter then halts as well and asks, "Who is that?" The sky is dark and overcast and he can only see a shadowy form. Trying to get a better look, Baxter takes one step forward and the figure scurries off to the left, running down a shallow wooded gully and up the opposite bank. As the figure runs, Baxter hears its footsteps on the dry leaves. He follows the figure down the slope, then stops and looks across the gully. There, he sees the creature, standing in silhouette about 30 feet away, its feet "molded" around the top of a rock several feet from a tree. The creature's body reminds Baxter of a monkey's, except for its dark "figure-eight"-shaped head. Its eyes, two lighter spots in the middle of the head, are looking straight at Baxter, who after a few minutes begins to feel uneasy. Realizing he has never seen such a creature before and fearing what it might do next, he backs carefully up the slope, his heart pounding. He then "walks very fast" down the road to the intersection at Farm Street. There, a couple passing in a car pick him up and drive him home.
Possible Explanation
Skeptics usually claim that the Dover Demon was simply a lost baby moose glimpsed under unusual conditions that made it seem like a bizarre humanoid that sometimes went on four legs. People who don't believe that explanation point out that all sightings happened during the wrong time of year for a moose that small to exist, and they also point out that Massachusetts is far from normal moose habitat. Even if such an orphan moose had been wandering around so close to populated areas, it seems as if it would have been easily captured. If the explanatory power of the baby moose explanation appeals to you, then you could get around the worst objection by substituting a creature that does actually exist in the area and can be born any time of year: a baby calf. An orange-furred orphan calf would be a more likely candidate for such a proposal than a baby moose. Other suggested explanations include a monkey, a dog, an alien, mutation, or simply a hoax.
From cryptidz.wikia.com
Jersey Devil
In New Jersey folklore, the Jersey Devil is a legendary creature said to inhabit the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey, United States. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many variations. The common description is that of a kangaroo-like creature with the head of a goat, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, cloven hooves and a forked tail. It has been reported to move quickly and often is described as emitting a "blood-curdling scream".
Origin of the Legend
Mother Leeds's thirteenth child
According to popular folklore, the Jersey Devil originated with a Pine Barrens resident known as Mother Leeds. The legend states that Mother Leeds had 12 children and, after finding she was pregnant for the 13th time, cursed the child in frustration, crying that the child would be the Devil. During 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night while her friends gathered around her. Born as a normal child, the 13th child changed to a creature with hooves, a goat's head, bat wings, and a forked tail. Growling and screaming, it killed the midwife before flying up the chimney and heading into the pines. In some versions of the tale, Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the Devil himself. Some versions of the legend also state that there was subsequently an attempt by local clergymen to exorcise the creature from the Pine Barrens, or that the creature proceeded to kill local children.
The Leeds family
Prior to the early 1900's, and before the series of reported sightings of the creature during 1909, the Jersey Devil was referred to as the Leeds Devil or the "Devil of Leeds," either in connection with the local Leeds family or the eponymous southern New Jersey town, Leeds Point.
"Mother Leeds" has been identified by some as Deborah Leeds, on grounds that Deborah Leeds' husband, Japhet Leeds, named twelve children in the will he wrote during 1736, which is compatible with the legend. Deborah and Japhet Leeds also lived in the Leeds Point section of what is now Atlantic County, New Jersey, which is commonly the location of the Jersey Devil story.
Brian Regal, a historian of science at Kean University, theorizes that the story of Mother Leeds, rather than being based on a single historical person, originated from colonial southern New Jersey religio-political disputes that became the subject of folklore and gossip among the local population. According to Regal, folk legends concerning these historical disputes evolved through the years and ultimately resulted in the modern popular legend of the Jersey Devil during the early 20th century. Regal contends that "colonial-era political intrigue" involving early New Jersey politicians, Benjamin Franklin, and Franklin's rival almanac publisher Daniel Leeds (1651–1720) resulted in the Leeds family being described as "monsters", and it was Daniel Leeds's negative description as the "Leeds Devil", rather than any actual creature, that created the later legend of the Jersey Devil.
Much like the Mother Leeds of the Jersey Devil myth, Daniel Leeds's third wife had given birth to nine children, a large number of children even for the time. Leeds's second wife and first daughter had both died during childbirth. As a royal surveyor with strong allegiance to the British crown, Leeds had also surveyed and acquired land in the Egg Harbor area, located within the Pine Barrens. The land was inherited by Leeds's sons and family and is now known as Leeds Point, one of the areas in the Pine Barrens currently most associated with the Jersey Devil legend and alleged Jersey Devil sightings.
Starting during the 17th century, English Quakers established settlements in southern New Jersey, the region in which the Pine Barrens are located. Daniel Leeds, a Quaker and a prominent person of pre-Revolution colonial southern New Jersey, became ostracized by his Quaker congregation after his 1687 publication of almanacs containing astrological symbols and writings. Leeds's fellow Quakers deemed the astrology in these almanac as too "pagan" or blasphemous, and the almanacs were censored and destroyed by the local Quaker community.
In response to and in spite of this censorship, Leeds continued to publish even more esoteric astrological Christian writings and became increasingly fascinated with Christian occultism, Christian mysticism, cosmology, demonology and angelology, and natural magic. By the 1690s, after his almanacs and writings were further censored as blasphemous or heretical by the Philadelphia Quaker Meeting, Leeds continued to dispute with the Quaker community, converting to Anglicanism and publishing anti-Quaker tracts criticizing Quaker theology and accusing Quakers of being anti-monarchists. In the ensuing dispute between Leeds and the southern New Jersey Quakers over Leeds's accusations, Leeds was endorsed by the much maligned British royal governor of New Jersey, Lord Cornbury, despised among the Quaker communities. Leeds also worked as a councilor to Lord Cornbury about this time. Considering Leeds as a traitor for aiding the Crown and rejecting Quaker beliefs, the Quaker Burlington Meeting of southern New Jersey subsequently dismissed Leeds as "evil".
During 1716, Daniel Leeds's son, Titan Leeds, inherited his father's almanac business, which continued to use astrological content and eventually competed with Benjamin Franklin's popular Poor Richard's Almanac. The competition between the two men intensified when, during 1733, Franklin satirically used astrology in his almanac to predict Titan Leeds's death on October of that same year. Though Franklin's prediction was intended as a joke at his competitor's expense and a means to boost almanac sales, Titan Leeds was apparently offended at the death prediction, publishing a public admonition of Franklin as a "fool" and "liar". In a published response, Franklin mocked Titan Leeds's outrage and humorously suggested that, in fact, Titan Leeds had died in accordance with the earlier prediction and was thus writing his almanacs as a ghost, resurrected from the grave to haunt and torment Franklin. Franklin would continue jokingly to refer to Titan Leeds as a "ghost" even after Titan Leeds's actual death during 1738. Daniel Leeds's blasphemous and occultist reputation and his pro-monarchy stance in the largely anti-monarchist colonial south of New Jersey, combined with Benjamin Franklin's later ongoing depiction of Titan Leeds as a ghost, may have originated or contributed to the local folk legend of a so-called "Leeds Devil" lurking in the Pine Barrens.
During 1728, Titan Leeds began to include the Leeds family crest on the masthead of his almanacs. The Leeds family crest depicted a wyvern, a bat-winged dragon-like legendary creature that stands upright on two clawed feet. Regal notes that the wyvern on the Leeds family crest is reminiscent of the popular descriptions of the Jersey Devil. The inclusion of this family crest on Leeds's almanacs may have further contributed to the Leeds family's poor reputation among locals and possibly influenced the popular descriptions of the Leeds Devil or Jersey Devil. The fearsome appearance of the crest's wyvern and the increasing animosity among local South Jersey residents towards royalty, aristocracy, and nobility (with whom family crests were associated) may have helped facilitate the legend of the Leeds Devil and the association of the Leeds family with "devils" and "monsters."
The Leeds Devil
Regal notes that, by the late 1700s and early 1800s, the "Leeds Devil" had become a legendary monster or ghost story in the southern New Jersey area. Into the early to mid 19th century, stories continued to circulate in southern New Jersey of the Leeds Devil, a "monster wandering the Pine Barrens." An oral tradition of "Leeds Devil" monster/ghost stories subsequently became established in the Pine Barrens area.
Although the "Leeds Devil" legend has apparently existed since the 18th century, Regal states that the more modern depiction of the Jersey Devil, as well as the now pervasive "Jersey Devil" name, first became truly standardized in current form during the early 20th century:
During the pre-Revolutionary period, the Leeds family, who called the Pine Barrens home, soured its relationship with the Quaker majority [...] The Quakers saw no hurry to give their former fellow religionist an easy time in circles of gossip. His wives had all died, as had several children. His son Titan stood accused by Benjamin Franklin of being a ghost [...] The family crest had winged dragons on it. In a time when thoughts of independence were being born, these issues made the Leeds family political and religious monsters. From all this over time the legend of the Leeds Devil was born. References to the Jersey Devil do not appear in newspapers or other printed material until the twentieth century. The first major flap came in 1909. It is from these sightings that the popular image of the creature—batlike wings, horse head, claws, and general air of a dragon—became standardized.
However, references to a "Leeds Devil" or "Devil of Leeds" appear in earlier printed material prior to the widespread usage of the "Jersey Devil" name. During 1856, the Atlantic Monthly published an article detailing the Leeds Devil folk tales popular among Pine Barren residents (or "pine rats.") A newspaper from 1887 describes sightings of a winged creature, referred to as "the Devil of Leeds," allegedly spotted near the Pine Barrens and well-known among the local populace of Burlington County, New Jersey:
Whenever he went near it, it would give a most unearthly yell that frightened the dogs. It whipped at every dog on the place. "That thing," said the colonel, "is not a bird nor an animal, but it is the Leeds devil, according to the description, and it was born over in Evasham, Burlington county, a hundred years ago. There is no mistake about it. I never saw the horrible critter myself, but I can remember well when it was roaming around in Evasham woods fifty years ago, and when it was hunted by men and dogs and shot at by the best marksmen there were in all South Jersey, but could not be killed. There isn't a family in Burlington or any of the adjoining counties that does not know of the Leeds devil, and it was the bugaboo to frighten children with when I was a boy."
Reported Encounters
There have been many claims of sightings and occurrences involving the Jersey Devil.
According to legend, while visiting the Hanover Mill Works to inspect his cannonballs being forged, Commodore Stephen Decatur sighted a flying creature flapping its wings and fired a cannonball directly upon it to no effect.
Joseph Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoleon, is also claimed to have witnessed the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Bordentown estate about 1820. During 1840, the devil was blamed for several livestock killings. Similar attacks were reported during 1841, accompanied by tracks and screams.
In Greenwich during December 1925 a local farmer shot an unidentified animal as it attempted to steal his chickens, and then photographed the corpse. Afterward, he claimed that none of 100 people he showed it to could identify it. On July 27, 1937, an unknown animal "with red eyes" seen by residents of Downingtown, Pennsylvania was compared to the Jersey Devil by a reporter for the Pennsylvania Bulletin of July 28, 1937. In 1951, a group of Gibbstown, New Jersey boys claimed to have seen a 'monster' matching the Devil's description and claims of a corpse matching the Jersey Devil's description arose in 1957. During 1960, tracks and noises heard near Mays Landing were claimed to be from the Jersey Devil. During the same year the merchants around Camden offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the Jersey Devil, even offering to build a private zoo to house the creature if captured.
Sightings of 1909
During the week of January 16 through 23, 1909, newspapers of the time published hundreds of claimed encounters with the Jersey Devil from all over the state. Among alleged encounters publicized that week were claims the creature "attacked" a trolley car in Haddon Heights and a social club in Camden. Police in Camden and Bristol, Pennsylvania supposedly fired on the creature to no effect. Other reports initially concerned unidentified footprints in the snow, but soon sightings of creatures resembling the Jersey Devil were being reported throughout South Jersey and as far away as Delaware and Western Maryland. The widespread newspaper coverage created fear throughout the Delaware Valley prompting a number of schools to close and workers to stay home. Vigilante groups and groups of hunters roamed the pines and countrysides in search of the devil. During this period, it is rumored that the Philadelphia Zoo posted a $10,000 reward for the creature. The offer prompted a variety of hoaxes, including a kangaroo with artificial wings.
From Wikipedia
Lizard Man
of Scape Ore Swamp
The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp (also known as the Lizard Man of Lee County) is allegedly a reptilian humanoid cryptid which is said to inhabit areas of swampland in and around Lee County, South Carolina along with the sewers in towns near the swamp.
Description
The Lizard Man is generally described as being 7 feet (2.1 m) tall, bipedal, and bulky, covered in dark green scaly lizard-like skin. It is said to have three toes on each foot and three fingers on each hand. The creature has an incredible degree of strength, more than capable of ripping into a car. A few witnesses have reported seeing a tail, although in the majority of cases, a tail was not seen.
From Wikipedia
Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie, is an aquatic being which reputedly inhabits Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, and is often described as being large in size, with a long neck and one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with a few disputed photographs and sonar readings.
The creature commonly appears in Western media where it manifests in a variety of ways. The scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a being from folklore without biological basis, explaining sightings as hoaxes, wishful thinking, and the misidentification of mundane objects.
Name
The creature has been affectionately called Nessie (Scottish Gaelic: Niseag) since the 1940s
Origins
The word "monster" was reportedly applied for the first time to the creature on 2 May 1933 by Alex Campbell, water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist, in an Inverness Courier report. On 4 August 1933 the Courier published a report by Londoner George Spicer that several weeks earlier, while they were driving around the loch, he and his wife saw "the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life" trundling across the road toward the loch with "an animal" in its mouth. Letters began appearing in the Courier, often anonymously, claiming land or water sightings by the writer, their family or acquaintances or remembered stories. The accounts reached the media, which described a "monster fish", "sea serpent", or "dragon" and eventually settled on "Loch Ness monster".
On 6 December 1933 the first purported photograph of the monster, taken by Hugh Gray, was published in the Daily Express; the Secretary of State for Scotland soon ordered police to prevent any attacks on it. In 1934, interest was further piqued by the "surgeon's photograph". That year, R. T. Gould published an account of the author's investigation and a record of reports predating 1933. Other authors have claimed sightings of the monster dating to the sixth century AD.
From Wikipedia
Loveland Frog
In Ohio folklore, the Loveland frog (also known as the Loveland frogman or Loveland lizard) is a legendary humanoid frog described as standing roughly 4 feet (1.2 m) tall, allegedly spotted in Loveland, Ohio. In 1972, the Loveland frog legend gained renewed attention when a Loveland police officer reported to a colleague that he had seen an animal consistent with descriptions of the frogman. After a reported sighting in 2016, the second officer called a news station to report that he had shot and killed the same creature some weeks after the 1972 incident and had identified it as a large iguana that was missing its tail.
University of Cincinnati folklore professor Edgar Slotkin compared the Loveland frog to Paul Bunyan, saying that stories about it have been passed down for "several decades" and that sighting reports seem to come in predictable cycles.
Legends
According to various legends, the creature was first sighted by a businessman or a traveling salesman driving along an unnamed road late at night in 1955, with some versions of the story specifying the month of May. In one story, the driver was heading out of the Branch Hill neighborhood when he spotted three figures standing on their hind legs along the side of the road, each 3 to 4 feet (0.91 to 1.22 m) in height, with leathery skin and frog faces. In other versions of the story, the creatures were spotted under or over a poorly lit bridge, and one held a wand over its head that fired a spray of sparks.
Loveland police reports
On March 3, 1972, at 1:00 am, Loveland police officer Ray Shockey was driving on Riverside Drive near the Totes boot factory and the Little Miami River when an unidentified animal scurried across the road in front of his vehicle. The animal was fully illuminated in his vehicle's headlights, and he described it as 3 to 4 feet (0.9 to 1.2 m) long and about 50 to 75 pounds (25 to 35 kg), with leathery skin. He reported spotting the animal "crouched like a frog" before it momentarily stood erect to climb over the guardrail and back down towards the river.
Two weeks after the incident, a second Loveland police officer, Mark Matthews, reported seeing an unidentified animal crouched along the road in the same vicinity as Shockey's sighting. Matthews shot the animal, recovered the body, and put it in his trunk to show officer Shockey. According to Matthews, it was "a large iguana about 3 or 3.5 feet [0.9 or 1.1 m] long", and he didn't immediately recognize it because it was missing its tail. Matthews speculated the iguana had been someone's pet that "either got loose or was released when it grew too large". According to Matthews, Shockey was shown the dead iguana and confirmed it was the animal he had seen two weeks previously. Matthews recounted the incident to an author of a book about urban legends, but says the author "omitted the part that confirmed that the creature was an iguana rather than a Frogman". Mathews also recounted the frogman story in 2016 again on WCPO-TV.
Mothman
In West Virginia folklore, the Mothman is a legendary creature reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area from November 12, 1966, to December 15, 1967. The first newspaper report was published in the Point Pleasant Register dated November 16, 1966, titled "Couples See Man-Sized Bird ... Creature ... Something". The national press soon picked up the reports and helped spread the story across the country.
The Mothman was introduced to a wider audience by Gray Barker in 1970, and later popularized by John Keel in his 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies, claiming that there were supernatural events related to the sightings, and a connection to the collapse of the Silver Bridge.
The Mothman is the subject of regional folklore and popular culture. The 2002 film The Mothman Prophecies, starring Richard Gere, was based on Keel's book. An annual festival in Point Pleasant is devoted to the Mothman legend.
History
On November 12, 1966, five men who were digging a grave at a cemetery near Clendenin, West Virginia, claimed to see a man-like figure fly low from the trees over their heads. This is often identified as the first known sighting of what became known as the Mothman.
Shortly thereafter, on November 15, 1966, two young couples from Point Pleasant, Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette, told police they saw a large black creature whose eyes "glowed red" when the car headlights picked it up. They described it as a "large flying man with ten-foot wings", following their car while they were driving in an area outside of town known as "the TNT area", the site of a former World War II munitions plant.
During the next few days, other people reported similar sightings. Two volunteer firemen who sighted it said it was a "large bird with red eyes". Mason County Sheriff George Johnson commented that he believed the sightings were due to an unusually large heron he termed a "shitepoke". Contractor Newell Partridge told Johnson that when he aimed a flashlight at a creature in a nearby field its eyes glowed "like bicycle reflectors", and blamed buzzing noises from his television set and the disappearance of his German Shepherd dog on the creature. Wildlife biologist Dr. Robert L. Smith at West Virginia University told reporters that descriptions and sightings all fit the sandhill crane, a large American crane almost as high as a man with a seven-foot wingspan featuring circles of reddish coloring around the eyes, and that the bird may have wandered out of its migration route. This particular crane was unrecognized at first because it was not native to this region.
After the December 15, 1967, collapse of the Silver Bridge and the death of 46 people, the incident gave rise to the legend and connected the Mothman sightings to the bridge collapse.
In 2016, WCHS-TV published a photo purported to be of Mothman taken by an anonymous man while driving on Route 2. Science writer Sharon A. Hill proposed that the photo showed "a bird, perhaps an owl, carrying a frog or snake away" and wrote that "there is zero reason to suspect it is the Mothman as described in legend. There are too many far more reasonable explanations."
From Wikipedia
Owlman
Owlman is the name given to a large owl-like creature similar to the mothman. It lives in Cornwall, England and has been sighted several times. The first sighting took place in 1976 in the village of Mawnan. The owlman is sometimes seen as the English equivalent of the mothman due to the similarities between the mothman and owlman.
Sightings
In the year of 1976, a paranormal researcher by the name of Tony "Doc" Shiels came forwards claiming that he had investigated a report of two young girls on holiday in Mawnan who saw a large winged creature hovering above the church tower on April 17, 1976. Some stories vary, but most are consistent when it comes to what the girls dubbed the creature - Owlman.
On July 3, 14-year-old Sally Chapman was camping with a friend, Barbara Perry, in woods near the church. According to her account, as she stood outside her tent, she heard a hissing sound and turned to see a figure that looked like an owl as big as a man, with pointed ears and red eyes. The girls reported that the creature flew up into the air, revealing black pincer-like claws. Sightings of this figure continued to be reported on the following day (when it was described as "silvery gray") and on two occasions two years later, in June and August 1978, all within the vicinity of the church.
Because both of the 1970s sightings involved "Doc" Shiels, an eccentric with a fondness for hoaxes, researcher Jonathan Downes acknowledges that Shiels could have invented the Owlman. However, Downes claims to have interviewed a young man, whom he calls "Gavin", who encountered the Owlman in 1989, independently of Shiels. "Gavin" and his "girlfriend" claimed to have seen a creature "about five feet tall... The legs had high ankles and the feet were large and black with two huge 'toes' on the visible side. The creature was gray with brown and the eyes definitely glowed."
In 1995, a female tourist from Chicago wrote to the Western Morning News in Truro, claiming to have seen a "man-bird... with a ghastly face, a wide mouth, glowing eyes and pointed ears" as well as "clawed wings".
From cryptidz.wikia.com
Pope Lick Monster
The Pope Lick Monster is a legendary part-man, part-goat and part-sheep creature reported to live beneath a railroad trestlebridge over Pope Lick Creek, in the Fisherville neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky
Urban legend
Numerous urban legends exist about the creature's origins and the methods it employs to claim its victims. According to some accounts, the creature uses either hypnosis or voice mimicry to lure trespassers onto the trestle to meet their death before an oncoming train. Other stories claim the monster jumps down from the trestle onto the roofs of cars passing beneath it. Yet other legends tell that it attacks its victims with a blood-stained axe and that the very sight of the creature is so unsettling that those who see it while walking across the high trestle are driven to leap off
Other legends hold that the monster is a human-goat hybrid, and that it was a circus freak who vowed revenge after being mistreated. In one version, it is said the monster escaped after a train derailed on the trestle. Another version commonly told by locals of the area claims that the monster is really the twisted reincarnated form of a farmer who sacrificed goats in exchange for Satanic powers.
The legends have turned the area into a site for legend tripping. There have been a number of deaths and accidents at the trestle since its construction, despite the presence of an 8-foot (2.4 m) fence to keep thrill-seekers out.
There is a common misconception among amateur paranormal investigators that the trestle is abandoned and no longer used; in reality, the bridge carries a major rail artery into Louisville. Heavy freight trains cross the bridge several times daily, so it is easy for someone to get caught atop it while an oncoming train barrels down on them. Norfolk Southern Railway urged citizens not climb the trestle, saying if caught they would be arrested.
From Wikipedia
Skin-walker
In Navajo (Navajo: Diné) culture, a skin-walker (yee naaldlooshii) is a type of harmful witch who has the ability to turn into an animal, or to disguise themselves as an animal, usually for the purposes of harming people.
Background
In the Navajo language, yee naaldlooshii translates to "by means of it, [he or she] goes on all fours". While perhaps the most common variety seen in horror fiction by non-Navajo people, the yee naaldlooshii is one of several varieties of Navajo witch, specifically a type of ’ánti’įhnii. The legend of the skin-walkers is uncertain, mostly due to reluctance to discuss the subject with outsiders (in part because strangers may be witches themselves), thus people are led to draw their own conclusions from the stories they hear.
Navajo people are reluctant to reveal skinwalker lore to non-Navajos, or to discuss it at all among those they do not trust.
From Wikipedia
Skunk Ape
The Skunk Ape or Myakka Ape is a bipedal humanoid, possibly a Bigfoot, reported in the south eastern United States including Texas, Georgia and Louisiana, but most notably in the Florida Everglades.
It has black fur and glowing red eyes, unusual for most primates because most primates lack a tapetum lucidum, a layer of tissue behind the retina that reflects light.
The Skunk Ape's most obvious character is its terrible odor, which gives it its name.
Sightings And Photographs
The first-ever sightings of the Skunk Ape were reported throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In the autumn of 1974, many reports were filed in Dade County, Florida.
Twenty-six years later, in the autumn of 2000, the police of Sarasota County, Florida received a letter from an anonymous woman. With the letter were two attached photographs of what the woman said was an escaped orangutan who had been stealing apples from her back porch for three nights. These photos were later found to be taken near the Myakka River. After the images were released to the public, cryptid enthusiasts dubbed the creature in the photograph the "Myakka Skunk Ape."
Most sightings of the Skunk Ape, like Bigfoot sightings, can be dismissed as black bear sightings. A black bear can stand upright, making it appear like another animal entirely. Bears are also known to rummage through garbage bins, which could explain the smell so associated with this creature.
The United States National Park Service considers the Skunk Ape to be a hoax.
On October 28, 2013, a video titled "I think I saw a skunk ape - please help" was uploaded to YouTube. It depicts a large, hairy humanoid creature crouching in the water and pulling bark off a tree with ease.
Explanations
An unknown species of ape.
A bear of some sort that rummages through trash. Although, this would mean that the original sighting was a hoax, as fingers are visible on the Skunk Ape in that photograph, not claws.
In Popular Media
In December 2007 an episode of MonsterQuest (season 1, episode 9), was made about the Skunk Ape. The episode was entitled Swamp Beast.
Fun Facts
The "Myakka Skunk Ape" photograph was primarily researched by renowned cryptozoologist Loren Coleman.
There is an official Skunk Ape headquarters in Ochopee, Florida.
In the autumn of 2012, Skunk Ape expert David Shealy appeared in a documentary about Skunk Apes on the Travel Channel.
The Skunk Ape's foul stench is theorized to be caused by methane released by the swamps it resides in. The fur absorbs the pungent methane and releases the odor.
Wendigo
In Algonquian folklore, the wendigo or windigo is a cannibal monster or evil spirit native to the northern forests of the Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes Region of both the United States and Canada. The wendigo may appear as a monster with some characteristics of a human, or as a spirit who has possessed a human being and made them become monstrous. It is historically associated with cannibalism, murder, insatiable greed, and the cultural taboos against such behaviours.
The legend lends its name to the controversial modern medical term Wendigo psychosis, described by psychiatrists as a culture-bound syndrome with symptoms such as an intense craving for human flesh and a fear of becoming a cannibal. In some Indigenous communities, environmental destruction and insatiable greed are also seen as a manifestation of Wendigo Psychosis.
Etymology
Alternative spellings: Wiindigoo (the source of the English word, from the Ojibwe language), Wendigo, Weendigo, Windego, Wiindgoo, Windgo, Weendigo, Wiindigoo, Windago, Windiga, Wendego, Windagoo, Widjigo, Wiijigoo, Wijigo, Weejigo, Wìdjigò (in the Algonquin language), Wintigo, Wentigo, Wehndigo, Wentiko, Windgoe, Windgo, Wintsigo and wīhtikōw (in the Cree language); the Proto-Algonquian term was *wi·nteko·wa, which probably meant "owl" in their original language. Windigoag is a plural form (also spelled Windegoag, Wiindigooag, or Windikouk)
Parallels
The Wechuge is a similar being that appears in the legends of the Athabaskan people of the Northwest Pacific Coast. It too was cannibalistic. However, it was not so much insane as enlightened with ancestral insights.
Description
The wendigo is part of the traditional belief system of a number of Algonquin-speaking peoples, most notably the Ojibwe and Saulteaux, the Cree, the Naskapi, and the Innu people. Although descriptions can vary somewhat, common to all these cultures is the view that the wendigo is a malevolent, cannibalistic, supernatural being. They were strongly associated with the winter, the north, and coldness, as well as with famine and starvation.
Basil Johnston, an Ojibwe teacher and scholar from Ontario, gives a description of a wendigo:
The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones. With its bones pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets, the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody [....] Unclean and suffering from suppurations of the flesh, the Wendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption.
In Ojibwe, Eastern Cree, Westmain Swampy Cree, Naskapi, and Innu lore, wendigos are often described as giants, many times larger than human beings (a characteristic absent from the myth in the other Algonquian cultures). Whenever a wendigo ate another person, it would grow in proportion to the meal it had just eaten, so that it could never be full. Therefore, wendigos are portrayed as simultaneously gluttonous and emaciated from starvation.
The Wendigo is seen as the embodiment of gluttony, greed, and excess: never satisfied after killing and consuming one person, they are constantly searching for new victims.
Human Wendigos (Cannibals)
In some traditions, humans who became overpowered by greed could turn into wendigos; the myth thus served as a method of encouraging cooperation and moderation. Also humans could turn into wendigos by being in contact with them for too long.
Wendigo Psychosis
In historical accounts of Wendigo psychosis, it has been reported that humans became possessed by the Wendigo spirit, after being in a situation of needing food and having no other choice besides cannibalism. In 1661, the Jesuit Relations reported:
What caused us greater concern was the intelligence that met us upon entering the Lake, namely, that the men deputed by our Conductor for the purpose of summoning the Nations to the North Sea, and assigning them a rendezvous, where they were to await our coming, had met their death the previous Winter in a very strange manner. Those poor men (according to the report given us) were seized with an ailment unknown to us, but not very unusual among the people we were seeking. They are afflicted with neither lunacy, hypochondria, nor frenzy; but have a combination of all these species of disease, which affects their imaginations and causes them a more than canine hunger. This makes them so ravenous for human flesh that they pounce upon women, children, and even upon men, like veritable werewolves, and devour them voraciously, without being able to appease or glut their appetite – ever seeking fresh prey, and the more greedily the more they eat. This ailment attacked our deputies; and, as death is the sole remedy among those simple people for checking such acts of murder, they were slain in order to stay the course of their madness.
One of the more famous cases of Wendigo psychosis reported involved a Plains Cree trapper from Alberta, named Swift Runner. During the winter of 1878, Swift Runner and his family were starving, and his eldest son died. Twenty-five miles away from emergency food supplies at a Hudson's Bay Company post, Swift Runner butchered and ate his wife and five remaining children. Given that he resorted to cannibalism so near to food supplies, and that he killed and consumed the remains of all those present, it was revealed that Swift Runner's was not a case of pure cannibalism as a last resort to avoid starvation, but rather of a man with Wendigo psychosis. He eventually confessed and was executed by authorities at Fort Saskatchewan.
Another well-known case involving Wendigo psychosis was that of Jack Fiddler, an Oji-Cree chief and medicine man known for his powers at defeating wendigos. In some cases this entailed killing people with Wendigo psychosis. As a result, in 1907, Fiddler and his brother Joseph were arrested by the Canadian authorities for homicide. Jack committed suicide, but Joseph was tried and sentenced to life in prison. He ultimately was granted a pardon, but died three days later in jail before receiving the news of this pardon.
Fascination with Wendigo psychosis among Western ethnographers, psychologists, and anthropologists led to a hotly debated controversy in the 1980s over the historicity of this phenomenon. Some researchers argued that essentially, wendigo psychosis was a fabrication, the result of naïve anthropologists taking stories related to them at face value without observation. Others have pointed to a number of credible eyewitness accounts, both by Algonquians and others, as evidence that wendigo psychosis was a factual historical phenomenon.
The frequency of Wendigo psychosis cases decreased sharply in the 20th century as Boreal Algonquian people came into greater and greater contact with Western ideologies and more sedentary, less rural, lifestyles.
From Wikipedia