TOP ten legendary creatures (cryptids)
Liam Rushfirth
1. Ahool Giant unknown bats are reported to reside in a region of western Java, plus similar reports under different names from Vietnam and the Philippines; possibly known as Orang-bati in Seram, Indonesia. 2. Almas Huge hairy Neanderthaloid or Homo erectus-like hominids sighted in various parts of Euroasia. 3. Agogwe The Agogwe are little, human-like, hairy, bipeds reported consistently from the forests of Eastern Africa. 4. Andean Wolf These unrecognized mountain dogs are seen in South America. 5. Arabhar These unconfirmed flying snakes are located in the Arabian Sea region. 6. Barmanu Reportedly strong, muscular, and hairy humanoids reported from the Shishi-kuh valley in Pakistan. 7. Beast of Bodmin (or Bodmin Moor) Locally named mystery felids found in the United Kingdom. 8. Bergman's Bear Possible unknown species of giant bear once roamed Eastern Asia, and still may. 9. Bili Ape Giant chimpanzees appear to live in remote east Africa, where much evidence points to their existence, including photos, footprints and ground nests. 10. Birds-of-Paradise Six species from New Guinea and surrounding islands, and a distinctive Long-Tailed Black Bird-of-Paradise from Goodenough Island are of interest to cryptozoology. 11. Black Panthers and Maned Mystery Cats Sighting of large Black Panthers and seemingly "African Lions" with manes in the Midwest USA have law enforcement officials on the alert. 12. Blue Mountain panthers These unknown cats reportedly live in the Blue Mountains of the east coast of Australia in the state of New South Wales. 13. Blue Tiger These mystery felids are spotted in the Fujian Province, China, and are also filed under the name Black Tiger. 14. Bobo Sea monsters of the North Pacific Ocean are frequently reported off Monterey Bay since the 1940s, and have been given this local name. 15. Buffalo Lion East African maneless lions are said to be man-eaters, and may reflect some new genetic alignments, akin to the King Cheetah discoveries among cheetahs. 16. Buru Fifteen foot long bluish ÂŹblack giant lizards were seen often in the swamps, lakes and foothills of the Himalayas, up through the 1940s, although they may be extinct now. 17. Caddy These unknown Sea Serpents living off the coast of British Columbia are a popular figure in Canadian cryptozoology.
18. Champ Giant prehistoric-looking creatures lurk in Lake Champlain, a 109 mile lake that borders New York, Vermont, and Ontario. 19. Chupacabras Also called "Goatsuckers," these bizarre Caribbean and South American cryptids are five feet tall biped creatures with short grey hair that have spiked hair and reported drain the blood through throat punctures of the livestock they kill. 20. Ebu Gogo Three feet tall, hairy little people with pot bellies and long arms sighted on the island of Flores, Indonesia. Tiny females are said to have long, pendulous breasts. 21. Giant Anaconda Reports have been made of 100 feet long snakes on the Rio Negro of the Amazon River basin. 22. Giant Octopus The Blue Holes of Bimini, offer many sightings of these unknown huge, many-tentacled animals. 23. Giant Sloth Weighing up to 3 tons, these supposedly extinct animals have been reported in South America in contemporary times. 24. Globsters Strange looking giant creatures (also called blobs) wash up on the beaches of the world, get the media and scientists excited, and sometimes turn out to be "unknowns." 25. Honey Island Swamp Monster Reportedly these "Swamp Thing" monsters are seen in the Louisiana swamps. 26. Jersey Devil This regionalized name hides these creatures that have been haunting the New Jersey Pineland forest for over 260 years. 27. Kongamato The natives of the Jiundu region of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) have firsthand encounters with these strange flying bat-like creatures. 28. Lake Storsjon Monster Lake Seljord in the Telemark region of Norway has its own Lake Monsters swimming the waters here for centuries. 29. Lau Are certain African lakes the home to 40 feet long unknown catfishes or lungfishes? 30. Loch Ness Monster Nessie is the most famous Lake Monster in the world; they are said to inhabit this loch, an extremely deep Scottish lake. 31. MacFarlane's Bear The carcass is at the Smithsonian, believed to be a possible hybrid between a grizzly and polar bear. Or an new unknown species. 32. Mngwa The Mngwa are cats described as being as large as donkeys, with marks like a tabby and living in Africa - but not a known species. 33. Mokele-Mbembe For over two hundred years there have been reports of living Sauropods (dinosaur) in the remote Congo area of Africa. They may being confused with accounts of other local cryptids, aquatic rhinos. 34. Mongolian Death Worm Locals in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia talk of these giant snakes, worms, or long thin lizards (also called Olgoi-khorkhoi
or Allghoi-khorkhoi) as killing livestock and people with their breath. 35. Mothman A local name for giant owls (also called Bighoot) which has been sighted for over 100 years in West Virginia-Ohio area, and elsewhere in North America. 36. Ogopogo This is Canada's most famous type of water monsters, inhabitants of Lake Okanagan in the south central interior of British Columbia. 37. Orang-Pendak These reportedly small biped small apes (also called Sedapa) live in the jungles of Sumatra and Borneo. 38. Peruvian Mystery Jaguar Unknown large cats with white background covered in solid irregular spots are seen in the rainforests of Peru. 39. Skunk Ape Also known by the label Myakka "Ape" and other local names (Booger, Swamp Ape), these chimpanzee- or orang-utanlike primates have been sighted throughout central and south Florida. 40. Steller's Sea Cow A once thought extinct species, these totally marine animals, looking like huge, wrinkled manatees, and are still being seen by Russian fisherman. 41. Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine Thought extinct, these wolf-like marsupials are still sighted on a regular basis in Western Australia, and perhaps New Guinea too. 42. Tazelwurm Classic small log-shaped reptilian cryptids from the European Alps are enigmatic animals, but have they gone extinct in historical times? 43. Thunderbird Large condor-like birds, perhaps Teratorns, roam the skies of North America, along regular migration routes. 44. Tzuchinoko Unknown species of snake sighted in the upper elevations of Korea and Japan. 45. Ucu The South American Bigfoot live mainly in the Andean foothills. 46. Waitoreke These strange unknown otter-like beasts are seen in New Zealand, and as yet undiscovered. 47. Xing-Xing This is a specific regional name, from southern China, for small unknown apes. 48. Yeren The Chinese Wildmen are reddish, semi-bipedal, and often encountered by locals and government officials along rural roads. 49. Yeti Yeti, unknown rock apes, are creatures reported as crossing the Himalayan plateaus and living in the valley forests. There is not just "one" Abominable Snowman, and they are no "white." 50.
Yowie These tall hairy unknown hominoids are sighted throughout several remote areas of Australia.
Chupacabra
chupacabra The chupacabra ("goat sucker") is an animal said to be unknown to science and systemically killing animals in places like Puerto Rico, Miami, Nicaragua, Chile, and Mexico. The creature's name originated with the discovery of some dead goats in Puerto Rico with puncture wounds in their necks and their blood allegedly drained. According to UFO Magazine (March/April 1996) there have been more than 2,000 reported cases of animal mutilations in Puerto Rico attributed to the chupacabra. According to Ben Radford, the chupacabra is modeled after the creature in the 1995 movie Species. The �irst eyewitness account of the creature was given by Madelyne Tolentino in a Puerto Rican newspaper. Radford interviewed Tolentino and asked her if her account could have been in�luenced by the alien/human hybrid creature in Species. She had seen the movie in the weeks prior to making her description. The two images below can be used for comparison. The strangest thing about this creature is that it is known to stand up like a human standing at a stand up desk.
Other reports in Puerto Rico and Latin America can be dismissed, says Radford, because they’re all based on Tolentino’s Hollywood-inspired monster.*
Puerto Rican authorities maintained that the deaths were due to attacks from groups of stray dogs or other exotic animals, such as the panther, illegally introduced in the island's territory. The director of Puerto Rico's Department of Agriculture Veterinary Services Division, Hector Garcia, stated that there is nothing unusual or extraordinary about the cases they've observed. One veterinarian said "it could be a human being who belongs to a religious sect, even another animal. It could also be someone who wants to make fun out of the Puerto Rican people."
Like other creatures in the cryptozoologist's barnyard, the chupacabra has been variously described. Some witnesses have seen a small half-alien, half-dinosaur tailless vampire with quills running down its back; others have seen a panther like creature with a long snake-like tongue; still others have seen a hopping animal that leaves a trail of sulfuric stench. Some think it may be a type of dinosaur heretofore unknown. Some are convinced that the wounds on animals whose deaths have been attributed to the chupacabra indicate an alien presence. However, they do not attribute the "mutilations" to the aliens themselves, but to one of their pets or experiments gone awry. Such creatures are known as Anomalous Biological Entities [ABEs] in UFO circles.
Those who think the chupacabra is an ABE also believe that there is a massive government and mass media conspiracy to keep the truth hidden from the people, probably to prevent panic. This view is maintained despite the fact that the President of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives Agricultural Commission, Mr. Juan E. [Kike] Lopez, introduced a resolution asking for an of�icial investigation to clarify the situation. Inside Edition sent a crew to Puerto Rico to investigate the ABE story. They allegedly ridiculed the Mayor of Canavanas, a witness to the chupacabra, and basically made fun of the whole idea.
Sasquatch
An apelike creature reportedly sighted hundreds of times around the world since the mid-19th century. The creature is variously described as standing 7-10 ft (2-3 m) tall and weighing over 500 lb (225 kg), with footprints 17 in. (43 cm) long. The creature goes by many names, but in northern California it is known as “Bigfoot.” (It is also known as the Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas, Yeti or Meh-Teh [Asia], Mapinguari [the Amazon, where descriptions match that of a giant sloth thought to be extinct*], Sasquatch, and Yowie [Australia]). The creature is big business in the Paci�ic Northwest along a stretch of US-101 in southern Humboldt County known as the Redwood Highway. Numerous shops line the roadway, each with its own Bigfoot chainsaw-carved out of majestic redwood.
Most scientists discount the existence of Bigfoot because the evidence supporting belief in the survival of a prehistoric bipedal apelike creature of such dimensions is scant. One notable exception is Grover S. Krantz (1931-2002), an anthropologist at Washington State University. For nearly forty years, Krantz argued for the probable existence of Bigfoot,* but was unable to convince the majority of scientists. The evidence for Bigfoot’s existence consists mainly of testimony from Bigfoot enthusiasts, footprints of questionable origin, and pictures that could easily have been of apes or humans in ape suits. There are no bones, no scat, no artifacts, no dead bodies, no mothers with babies, no adolescents, no fur, no nothing. Not that there aren't "sightings" of such. There are "sightings" galore. Just check The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization's website for an uncritical list of sightings. However, there is no evidence that any individual or community of such creatures dwells anywhere near any of the “sightings.” In short, the evidence points more towards hoaxing and delusion than real discovery. Some believers dismiss all such criticism and claim that Bigfoot exists in another dimension and travels by astral projection. Such claims reinforce the skeptic’s view that the Bigfoot legend is a function of passionate fans of the paranormal, aided greatly by the mass media’s eagerness to cater to such enthusiasm. In addition to the eyewitness testimonials of enthusiastic fans, the bulk of the evidence provided by proponents of Bigfoot consists of footprints and �ilm. Of the few footprints available for examination in plaster casts, there is such great disparity in shape and con�iguration that the evidence “suggests many independent pranksters” (M. Dennett, 1996).
Probably the most well-known evidence for belief in Bigfoot’s existence is a �ilm shot by Bigfoot hunters Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin on Oct 20, 1967, at Bluff Creek in northern California. The �ilm depicts a walking apelike creature with pendulous and hairy breasts. Believers estimate its height at between 6' 6'' and 7' 4'' and its weight at nearly one ton. Non-believers make more human-sized estimates and consider the "beast" to be a costumed hoaxer. Over thirty years have passed, yet no cryptozoologist has found further evidence of the creature near the site except for one alleged footprint.
The North American Science Institute claims it has spent over $100,000 to prove the �ilm is of a genuine Bigfoot. However, according to veteran Hollywood director John Landis, “that famous piece of �ilm of Bigfoot walking in the woods that was touted as the real thing was just a suit made by John Chambers,” who helped create the ape suits in Planet of the Apes (1968). Howard Berger, of Hollywood’s KNB Effects Group, also has claimed that it was common knowledge within the �ilm industry that Chambers was
responsible for a hoax that turned Bigfoot into a worldwide cult. According to Mark Chorvinsky, Chambers was also involved in another Bigfoot hoax (the so-called “Burbank Bigfoot”). According to Loren Coleman, however, Chambers denied the allegations about the Patterson hoax in an interview with Bobbie Short and claimed that Landis had in fact started the rumour about him (i.e., Chambers) making the suit. Apparently, Short did not ask Chambers about the “Burbank Bigfoot” incident, nor did he interview Landis for his version of the story (Chorvinsky 1996). Short and Coleman remain convinced that the �ilm is not of a man in an ape suit but is footage of a genuine Bigfoot. In 2004, Greg Long claimed that the Bigfoot in the Patterson �ilm is indeed a man in a gorilla suit, but the man is Bob Heironimus, a retired Pepsi bottler from Yakima, Washington, and the suit was made in North Carolina for Patterson by a man named Philip Morris.* Bob Gimlin, Patterson's associate, issued an ambiguous statement through his lawyer in Minneapolis: "I'm authorized to tell you that nobody wore a gorilla suit or monkey suit and that Mr. Gimlin's position is that it's absolutely false and untrue." What's absolutely false and untrue?
According to David J. Daegling and Daniel O. Schmitt, “it is not possible to evaluate the identity of the �ilm subject with any con�idence” (Daegling 1999). Their argument centres on uncertainties in subject and camera positions, and the reproducibility of the compliant gait by humans matching the speed and stride of the �ilm subject.
According to Michael Wallace, Bigfoot is a hoax that was launched in August 1958 by his father Ray L. Wallace (1918-2002), an inveterate prankster. Shortly after Ray’s death, Michael revealed the details of the hoax, which were reported widely in the press. Ray had a friend carve him 16-inch-long feet that he could strap on and make prints with. Wallace owned a construction company that built logging roads at the time and he set the prints around one of his bulldozers in Humboldt County. Jerry Crew, a bulldozer operator, reported the prints and The Humboldt Times ran a front-page story about “Bigfoot.” The legend was born. However, a former logger, 71-year-old John Auman, claims Wallace left the giant footprints to scare away thieves and vandals who'd been targeting his vehicles. His hoaxes didn't begin until after he'd seen what a stir he'd created.
Gnomes
A gnome is a diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, �irst introduced by Paracelsus and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characteristics have been reinterpreted to suit the needs of various storytellers, but it is typically said to be a small, humanoid creature that lives underground
The word comes from Renaissance Latin gnomus, which �irst appears in the works of 16th Century Swiss alchemist Paracelsus. He is perhaps deriving the term from Latin gēnomos (itself representing a Greek γη-νομος, literally "earth-dweller"). In this case, the omission of the ē is, as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) calls it, a blunder. Alternatively, the term may be an original invention of Paracelsus.
Paracelsus uses Gnomi as a synonym of Pygmæi, and classi�ies them as earth elementals. He describes them as two spans high, very reluctant to interact with humans, and able to move through solid earth as easily as humans move through air. The chthonic spirit has precedents in numerous ancient and medieval mythologies, often guarding mines and precious underground treasures, notably in the Germanic dwarves and the Greek Chalybes, Telchines or Dactyls.
The English word is attested from the early 18th century but remains obscure until the early 19th century, when it is taken up by authors of Romanticist collections of fairy tales and becomes mostly synonymous with the older word goblin.
In 19th century �iction, the chthonic gnome became a sort of antithesis to the more airy or luminous fairy. Nathaniel Hawthorne in Twice-Told Tales (1837) contrasts the two in "Small enough to be king of the fairies, and ugly enough to be king of the gnomes" (cited after OED). Similarly, gnomes are contrasted to elves, as in William Cullen Bryant's Little People of the Snow (1877), which has "let us have a tale of elves that ride by night, with jingling reins, or gnomes of the mine" (cited after OED). One of the �irst movements in Mussorgsky's 1874 work Pictures at an Exhibition, named "Gnomus" (Latin for "The Gnome"), is written to sound as if a gnome is moving about, his movements constantly changing in speed.
Franz Hartmann in 1895 satirized materialism in an allegorical tale entitled Unter den Gnomen im Untersberg. The English translation appeared in 1896 as Among the Gnomes: An Occult Tale of Adventure in the Untersberg. In this story, the Gnomes are still clearly subterranean creatures, guarding treasures of gold within the Untersberg mountain.
As a �igure of 19th century fairy tales, the term gnome by the 20th century became largely synonymous with other terms for the "little people", such as goblin, brownie, kobold, leprechaun, Heinzelmännchen and other instances of the "domestic spirit" type, losing its strict association with earth or the underground world.
Jackalope
The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore (a so-called "fearsome critter") described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns or deer antlers and sometimes a pheasant's tail (and often hind legs). The word "jackalope" is a portmanteau of "jackrabbit" and "antalope", an archaic spelling of "antelope". It is also known as Lepus temperamentalus. It is possible that the tales of jackalopes were inspired by sightings of rabbits infected with the Shope papilloma virus, which causes the growth of horn- and antler-like tumors in various places on the rabbit's head and body. This can occur in cottontail rabbits under natural conditions and in domestic rabbits under experimental conditions. Systemic regression of warts occurs in a variable proportion of rabbits as a consequence of a specific cell-mediated immune response. Persistent warts may progress into invasive carcinomas. Progression into carcinomas is observed in approximately 25% of cottontail rabbits and in up to 75% of domestic rabbits with persistent warts. However, the concept of an animal hybrid occurs in many cultures, for example as the griffin and the chimera. Indeed, the term chimera has become the categorical term for such composites within the English language.
The jackalope has bred the rise of many outlandish (and largely tongue-in-cheek) claims as to the creature's habits. For example, it is said to be a hybrid of the pygmy-deer and a species of "killer rabbit". Reportedly, jackalopes are extremely shy unless approached. Legend also has it that female jackalopes can be milked as they sleep belly up and that the milk can be used for a variety of medicinal purposes. It has also been said that the jackalope can convincingly imitate any sound, including the human voice. It uses this ability to elude pursuers, chiefly by using phrases such as "There he goes! That way!" During days of the Old West, when cowboys gathered by the campfires singing at night, jackalopes could often be heard mimicking their voices. It is said that a jackalope may be caught by putting a flask of whiskey out at night. The jackalope will drink its fill of whiskey and its intoxication will make it easier to hunt. In some parts of the United States it is said that jackalope meat has a taste similar to lobster. However, legend has it that they are dangerous if approached. It has also been said that jackalopes will only breed during electrical storms including hail, explaining its rarity. The Jackalope was first encountered by John Colter, one of the first white men to enter what would one day be the State of Wyoming. The first Jackolope spotting was said to be in Douglas, Wyoming, according to legend, in 1829. In this town, due to the discovery, there is a statue of the Jackolope, and they celebrate Jackalope Day every year. Jackalopes are legendary in the U.S. – attributed by the New York Times to a 1932 hunting outing involving Douglas Herrick (1920–2003) of Douglas, Wyoming, and thus the town was named the "Home of the Jackalope" by the state of Wyoming in 1985. The state of Wyoming trademarked the name in 1965. According to the Douglas Chamber of Commerce, a 1930s hunting trip for jackrabbits led to the idea of a Jackalope. Herrick and his brother had studied taxidermy by mail order as teenagers. When the brothers returned from a hunting trip, Herrick tossed a jackrabbit carcass into the taxidermy store, where it came to rest beside a pair of deer antlers. The accidental combination of animal forms sparked Douglas Herrick's idea for a jackalope. The first jackalope the brothers put together was sold for $10 to Roy Ball, who displayed it in Douglas' La Bonte Hotel. The mounted head was stolen in 1977. The Douglas Chamber of Commerce has issued thousands of Jackalope Hunting Licenses to tourists. The tags are good for hunting only during official Jackalope season, which occurs for only one day: June 31 (a nonexistent date as June has 30 days), from midnight to 2 AM. The hunter may not have an IQ greater than 72. In 2005, the House of the Wyoming state
legislature passed a bill to declare the jackalope the "official mythological creature" of Wyoming, by a vote of 45-12 and referred it to the state Senate, where the bill was indefinitely postponed on March 2, 2005. More mythologic references can be found in the Huichol legends of the deer and the horned rabbit. The Huichol oral tradition has passed down tales of the sharing of horns between the two animals. This folklore may be due to the papilloma viral infection of the Western United States and Mexico from the 1880s - 1930's. The rabbit and deer have also been paired up as far back as the Mesoamerican period of the Aztecs as twins, brothers, even the sun and moon.
Kraken
Kraken are legendary sea monsters of giant proportions said to have dwelt off the coasts of Norway and Iceland.
In modern German, Krake (plural and declined singular: Kraken) means octopus but can also refer to the legendary Kraken. In Norwegian, Kraken is the de�inite form of krake, a word that can refer to the legendary creature (can also mean "frail, poor being", or "crooked, withered tree"). Although possibly �ictional and the subject of myth, the legend of the Kraken continues to present day, with numerous references existing in popular culture, including �ilm, literature, television, video games and other miscellaneous examples (e.g. postage stamps, a rollercoaster ride and a rum product).
The Old Icelandic saga Örvar-Odds saga referenced the massive heather-backed seamonsters of the Greenland Sea named Hafgufa and Lyngbakr that fed on whales, ships and men. After returning from Iceland, the anonymous author of the Old Norwegian scienti�ic work Konungs skuggsjá (c. 1250) described in detail the physical characteristics and feeding behavior of these two beasts and suggested the pair may possibly be the same animal, regarded by the Norse as the Kraken. The narrator proposed there must only be two krakens in existence, stemming from the observation that the beasts have always been sighted in the same parts of the Greenland Sea, and that each seemed incapable of reproduction as there was no increase in their numbers. Carolus Linnaeus classi�ied Kraken as cephalopods (designating the scienti�ic name Microcosmus) in the �irst edition of his Systema Naturae (1735), a taxonomic classi�ication of living organisms. The creature was excluded from later editions.
Kraken were also extensively described by Erik Pontoppidan, bishop of Bergen, in his "Natural History of Norway" (Copenhagen, 1752–3).[9] Pontoppidan made several claims regarding Kraken, including the notion that the creature was sometimes mistaken for an island and the real danger to sailors was not the creature itself but rather the whirlpool left in its wake. Fishermen apparently also risked �ishing "over Kraken", since the catch was plentiful (hence the saying "You must have �ished on Kraken") and that a specimen of the monster, "perhaps a young and careless one", was washed ashore and died at Alstahaug in 1680. Pontoppidan described the destructive potential of the giant beast: "It is said that if [the creature's arms] were to lay hold of the largest man-of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom".
Loch�Ness� Monster
The Loch Ness "monster" -- affectionately known as "Nessie" -- is an alleged plesiosaurlike creature living in Loch Ness, a long, deep lake near Inverness, Scotland. Many sightings of the "monster" have been recorded, going back at least as far as St. Columba, the Irish monk who converted most of Scotland to Christianity in the 6th century. Columba apparently converted Nessie, too; for it is said that until he went out on the waters and soothed the beast, she had been a murderess.
The modern legend of Nessie begins in 1934 with Dr. Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London physician, who allegedly photographed a plesiosaur-like beast with a long neck emerging out of the murky waters. That photo created quite a fuss and is still at the center of controversy. Before the photo, Loch Ness was the stuff of legend and myth. The locals knew the ancient history of the sea serpent and a few months before the publication of the famous photo a couple claimed they had seen a large "monster' in the lake.. But people came to the lake more to relax than to go on expeditions looking for mythical beasts. After the photo, the scienti�ic experts were called in and cryptozoologists offered their opinions to any who would listen. Could be a plesiosaur. Yes, but it could be a tree trunk, too. Or an otter. In 1984, Stewart Campbell analyzed the photo in an article in the British Journal of Photography. He argued that whatever was in the photo could have been only two or three feet long. He guessed that it was probably an otter or a marine bird.* Later, there would be explorations by a submarine with high tech sensing devices. Today, we have a full-blown tourist industry said to have generated an estimated $37 million in 1993, complete with submarine rides (about one hundred bucks an hour in 1994) and a multi-media tourist center. Unfortunately, business has slowed down in recent years. In 2007, it was estimated that Nessie tourism brought in an estimated £6 million ($12.2 million) to the Highlands. Some are blaming skepticism and the fact that there have been only two sightings in the �irst nine months of 2007. There were only three sightings in 2006. A decade ago, ten to twenty sightings a year was common.* The decline in sightings should concern the true believers, given the ubiquity of digital cameras, camera-phones, and the presence of webcams at various places around the lake. Adrian Shine, head of the Loch Ness Project, believes that one reason for the decline in sightings is that people are more skeptical about what they see. “I think we live in a more pragmatic age, and that people are becoming more aware of the sort of illusions that can occur on water,” he said.* If so, there may be hope for our species, after all.
Since the Loch Ness monster story has been around for more than 1500 years, if there is a monster it is not likely that it is the same monster seen by St. Columba. Or, are we to believe that not only is Nessie very big, she is very old as well, a veritable Methuselah among beasts? In short, there must be more than one monster. I'll leave it to the zoologists to calculate how many monsters are necessary to maintain the species over the years. One report I read claimed that a minimum population of ten creatures would be needed to sustain the population. The same report claims that Loch Ness is incapable of sustaining a predator weighing more than about 300 kg (about 660 pounds) [The Naturalist, winter 1993/94, reported in The Daily Telegraph]. Adrian Shine once said the monster could be a Baltic sturgeon, a primitive �ish with a snout and spines (actually ridges of horn-like skin) which can grow up to nine feet long and weigh in at around 450 pounds (actually they can grow much longer and weigh much more than 450 lbs.).
Mermaid
Werewolf
Yeti
The Himalayan Mountains. A mountain range located in the heart of southern Asia referred to as "the rooftop of the world". Home to about 40 million people. Also home to probably a shit ton of indigenous bugs and other things that need to be stepped on. However this scenic landscape is the breeding ground for something else. Something I like to call...a yeti. What do these yetis look like you ask. Well its simple; they're white and hairy and HUGE. Certainly not a creature to be taken lightly. We as the human race know very little about this so called yeti. For centuries the very existence of these creatures has been shrouded in mystery. Numerous home movies have caught these beasts in action, doing grossly unspeakable things. Such as walking, climbing and in a sitting position..... Naturally ready to strike at any moment. With so little knowledge about these animals maybe it’s time to sit down and share some facts that few people know about the yeti. Name: Yeti
Other alias': The Abominable Snowman Favourite number: 8
Typical fur colour: pure white, however in some cases it may vary. In the case of the yeti's retarded 3rd cousin, Bigfoot, the fur colour would be a more brown and black. Foods: That's easy, people....and berries Hierarchy:
The average day for a Common Yeti is very simple. It consists of a breakfast, lunch and dinner, like humans. It also consists of a lot of walking and evading human life. A common yeti's purpose is to gather food, farm, and weave rugs to be sold at local markets.
The Militant Yeti. At birth yeti babies are picked to become warriors. Their training methods are things of mystery as well as what these yetis looked like. Its rumoured that 33 baby yeti's were used during the �ilming of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. You may identify these creatures better as Ewoks. A militant Yeti has but 1 purpose. to protect the secrecy of the yeti populous.
The Intellectual Yeti. Sadly this is the reason that we must live in fear of the yeti. The intellectual Yeti's are the back bone to the yeti uprising. Though school and universities are not accessible to a yeti, they've learned out ways and knowledge through the raiding of Chinese and Indian factories at the foothills of the Himalayas. Consequently the yetis are master soccer players, are familiar with all your kids favorite toys, are immune to lead, and can help you with your computer problems.
The King of the Yetis. There is no creature more feared than the almighty King Yeti. Because the Yetis are not a religious being, they believe in no heaven or hell, no good vs. evil, and no God or Satan. They believe that when they die, they are reborn again as the same yeti they were before. You keep your same name and same ranking in class as you did in the previous life. To make sure that all reincarnated yetis maintain their same
Fairies