Ningen
Region of origin: Antarctica
A cryptid said to be living on ice floes and in the ocean near Antarctica by Japanese sailors on whale research vessels, the features attributed to the ningen vary but all largely describe a large white whale-like creature with human characteristics, usually a simple face and a pair of either arms or legs. Various sightings claim to have been encountering versions of the creature since the 1990s, with anonymous posts from the sailors on Japanese message boards in the mid-2000s seemingly being the first mention of them. With a lack of any concrete evidence and little consensus on details, many argue these are simply a hoax but if the stories are from people who genuinely saw something, possible explanations have ranged from the extraterrestrial to
animals thought to be extinct (including a giant marine sloth) to simply misidentifying whales in the darkness of the night waters.
Tag: monsters
This photograph of a proposed Yeti footprint was taken by Eric Shipton on
November 8, 1951. It was Shipton’s fifth expedition to Mount Everest when he discovered the print. To show the size of the print, Shipton carefully lay down his pickaxe beside it in the snow. The print is 12 inches in length and 5 inches across.
In 2014, the original photograph sold at auction for close to $5,000.
Quick Cryptid Snippet: Ashuaps
Lac Saint-Jean is a large lake near Quebec, Canada that spans nearly 410 square miles and has a depth of nearly 210 feet at its deepest point. The water is a reddish yellow color, is fed by at least six notable rivers within Quebec, and was named after Jean de Quen, the first European to step foot on its shores in 1647. The lake is known to be full of Northern Pike, Speckled Trout, Quananiche, Sea Trout, and a nearly 60ft dragon-like serpent known as the Ashuaps. The creature gets its name from the nearby Ashuapmushuan River that drains into the lake.
The Ahool is giant bat-like creature that lives in the forests of Indonesia. The Ahool has ape-like features which leads some to believe that the Ahool is a flying fox which are indigenous to Indonesia. The Ahool is rarely seen but very commonly heard with its call “AHOOOOOOOOL!” hence how it got its name. This also leads some to believe that is an indigenous owl species since its callis are heard at night.
Monster of the Day: Hodag
“The hodag is a folkloric animal of the American state of Wisconsin. Its history is focused mainly around the city of Rhinelander in northern Wisconsin, where it was said to have been discovered. It is also mentioned in several Paul Bunyan stories…[It had] ‘the head of a frog, the grinning face of a giant elephant, thick short legs set off by huge claws, the back of a dinosaur, and a long tail with spears at the end’. The reports were instigated by well-known Wisconsin land surveyor, timber cruiser and prankster Eugene Shepard.”
The Hodag was essentially a hoax cryptid designed to drum up publicity for the town of Rhinelander, WI. It remains popular in the town today, as many of the local businesses portray the beast on their signs, the local school uses it as their mascot, and there is a prominent statue of the Hodag in front of the Chamber of Commerce.
The Tote-Road Shagamaw is a fearsome critter from the folklore of North American lumberjacks. It is said to be the size of a horse, with the front paws of a bear and the hind legs of a moose. It will sometimes walk on its back legs, and sometimes on its front paws, to leave two confusing sets of tracks on the ground. Some tales give a specific number – four-hundred-and-forty-four steps on each set of legs.
The Shagamaw is not an aggressive creature, and uses stealth, along with its misleading tracks, to avoid hunters. It does, however, have a taste for cotton and cloth, and will often eat washing left out by people to dry.
Day 01: Flatwoods Monster
Braxton County, West Virginia, United States.
In 1952, when it was first sighted, a local newspaper featured this headline: “Braxton County Residents Faint, Become Ill After Run-In with Weird 10-Foot Monster.”
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