From an epic bird with a supposedly 80-foot wingspan to the monster blamed for draining
the vitality of over 150 farm animals, today we look at Strange Mythical Creatures.
Number 10.
The Black Dog The legends surrounding the foreboding Black
Dog are prevalent among the British Isles.
Throughout English, Scottish and Welsh history, tales of spectral hounds appearing as ghostly
harbingers of impending doom have haunted roads, villages, and forests for centuries.
Depending on the locality, myths surrounding these allegedly demonic entities will vary,
as will their names.
Sometimes referred to as Barghest, Padfoot, Shuck, or Grim among other names, the legend
of this dark canine has persisted throughout time, inspiring everything from The Hound
of the Baskervilles to Harry Potter.
Stories regarding this beast aren't exclusive to the United Kingdom, however, as regions
in Latin America, the United States, and even India have reported sightings of a similar
creature.
Number 9.
Thunderbirds Since the 19th century, Americans have reportedly
sighted enormous birds with wingspans ranging from 16 to 160 feet looming overhead.
Often referred to as Thunderbirds for their supposed likeness to the Native American,
encounters with the titanic beast have been recorded everywhere from Illinois to Alaska
in the U.S.
The earliest report telling of the great Thunderbird came in 1890 when a pair of ranchers told
the Arizona-based Tombstone Epitaph that they had slayed an 80-foot-long, smooth-skinned
winged monster more resemblant of an alligator than a bird.
However, no other article or evidence has ever surfaced to corroborate this original
tale.
Still, many sightings have occurred since.
In the 1940s, a series of reports came out of Illinois telling of something that appeared
to be a plane before flapping its enormous wings.
Citizens in St. Louis told of similar observations around the same period, with concern in the
region becoming so dire that the mayor was forced to respond by enlisting an administrative
assistant to try capturing the creature.
Reports have persisted into the 21st century in places like Alaska, Texas, and New Mexico.
While sightings occur regularly, Thunderbirds are thought by most experts to have either
been the result of seeing large birds such as the blue heron or various condors, or developing
from the discovery pteranodon fossils.
Number 8.
Yeti The mysterious legend of the Yeti has been
a staple of the Himalayan region for centuries, however it wasn't until the 19th century that
it gained prominence as a folkloric beast in the Western world.
Anthropologists have said that tales surrounding the Yeti can be tracked to pre-Buddhist beliefs
in the area as the native Lepcha people would worship a "Glacier Being" as a hunting deity,
while followers of the Tibetan Bon religion thought blood from the creature could be used
in mystical rituals.
These tribal and religious depictions framed the Yeti as being an ape-esque behemoth that
carried a large stone as its weapon of choice.
Word of this frigid, hairy monstrosity spread broadly in the 1800s as accounts were published
of a trekker and his guides spotting what appeared to be a shaggy, bipedal creature
fleeing their presence in northern Nepal.
This was backed somewhat by massive, ape-like footprints being recorded in the 1899 work
"Among the Himalayas" by Laurence Waddell.
But sightings of the Abominable Snowman, as the creature was soon called, really started
to flood in with the turn of the 20th century, as more western climbers, explorers and anthropologists
braved the snowy mountain range.
As researchers have attempted to track down this mythical monster, the popular consensus
has been that travelers most likely witnessed a known animal such as the Tibetan blue bear
or the langur monkey.
Number 7.
Jersey Devil In the Pine Barrens of New England, there
is said to a flying, bipedal abomination that fleets through the woods with phenomenal swiftness
and a blood-curdling screech.
Called the Jersey Devil for its proximity to Southern New Jersey, this creature has
been a popular recurring legend since it was first reported in 1735.
The age-old tale of its origin explains that the monstrosity was born a human child, the
13th of its siblings, to a woman known as Mother Leeds.
Upon discovering she was pregnant for the 13th time, Leeds was said to have cursed the
unborn child and stating that it would be the devil.
Once the newborn entered the world, it transformed into a creature with hooves, bat wings, a
forked tail and the head of a goat before battering all in attendance and flying out
of the home through the chimney.
Since word of this legend spread, there have been many supposed encounters from unassuming
bystanders, including a sighting by Joseph Bonaparte, the elder brother to Napoleon,
in 1820.
Strange events in the Pine Barrens, such as the mysterious slaying of livestock, unexplained
footprints and wild animal attacks have all been blamed on the Jersey Devil in the last
2 to 3 centuries.
But the origin of this legend is thought by historians to have spawned from the amalgamated
gossip surrounding the Leeds family in the 18th century, who had a wyvern on its crest...an
ancient myth that fits the Jersey Devil's description.
Number 6.
Mothman The first observation of the mythic being
known as the Mothman occurred on November 12, 1966.
As five men were hard at work in a cemetery in West Virginia, they claimed a figure came
swooping in low over the heads from nearby treetops before flying off.
Within a week of this claim, many more came to follow, adding details to the mythos as
word spread of a man-like creature with glowing red eyes and 10-foot wings.
As reports came in from firemen, young couples and contractors, blaming everything from jump
scares to the disappearance of pets on the fabled being.
But authorities like the Mason County sheriff and West Virginia University wildlife biologist
claimed these encounters were most likely a large heron or the sandhill crane.
Over a year after the Mothman's first sighting, the Silver Bridge connecting Point Pleasant,
West Virginia to Gallipolis, Ohio collapsed, resulting in the loss of 46 lives.
Since then, the Mothman's appearance has been allegedly tied to major disasters.
A major motion picture about the mythic creature was made in 2002 called "The Mothman Prophecy"
and the people of Point Pleasant host an annual Mothman Festival as well the only Mothman
Museum and Research Center.
Number 5.
Loch Ness Monster One of the most popular legendary beasts of
this list is the Scottish leviathan known as the Loch Ness Monster.
Said to have populated Loch Ness of the Scottish Highlands, this water-dwelling creature is
thought to have inhabited the lake for anywhere from multiple decades to multiple millenia!
The first published report of a creature roaming these waters came in 1933 from the lake's
water bailiff and journalist Alex Campbell who recounted a story of a local citizen named
Aldie Mackay.
She and her husband apparently spotted a large, whale-like creature breaching and causing
the water to boil around it before it plunged back into the depths.
Shortly after this article spread, many more locals reported similar sightings, with one
citizen stating he saw something similar as long ago as the early 1870s.
Some Loch Ness Monster enthusiasts have even pointed to the writings of the medieval abbot
Admonan who wrote of a "water beast" in the nearby River Ness in the year 565.
Investigations continue for the aquatic behemoth, often yielding wishful photographs and sonar
readings, but expeditions have yet to turn up any concrete evidence of the Loch Ness
Monster's existence.
Number 4.
Chupacabra Though often written off by biologists and
wildlife authorities as little more than urban legend, the story of the Chupacabra has become
ingrained in cultures around the world.
The name chupacabra translates to "goat-sucker" in Spanish, spawning from its famously rumored
behavior of drinking the blood of livestock.
Sightings of this elusive herd hunter originated from Puerto Rico in 1995 following the demise
of 8 sheep said to be drained of their blood and featuring a trio of puncture wounds in
each of their chests.
More reports followed months later with up to 150 more farm animals supposedly featuring
similar wounds.
These incidents mimicked an earlier report from 1975 in which the animal victims of Moca,
Puerto Rico were also found bloodless, however these fatalities were attributed to what locals
called The Vampire of Moca.
Since the 1995 occurrence, though, tales of the Chupacabra began sprouting up in other
countries throughout North, Central, and South America.
The creature, which is said to be similar in size to a small bear, is often described
as being somewhere between a reptile-esque creature with behavior resembling a predatory
kangaroo and a hairless wild dog with a sharp, ridged spine.
In recent years chupacabras have been sighted in new locations such as Russia, India, Pakistan
and the Philippines.
Number 3.
Wendigo In the frigid woods of Canada and the United
States, a legend initiated by Algonquian folklore persists today in the form of the Wendigo
. The traditional beliefs of the Algonquin -speaking tribes, including the Ojibwe , the
Cree [cree], and the Innu among others, was that the Wendigo was the result of a human
being tainted with either greed or the consumption of human flesh.
Once afflicted, a person was said to transform into the supernaturally evil and insatiably
cannibalistic creature.
Since the 17th century, reports have surfaced concerning encounters with individuals afflicted
with "Wendigo psychosis", a term used for people thought to be possessed by a Wendigo
spirit and forced into cannibalism.
One of the most famous cases of this involved a Cree trapper from Alberta, Canada named
Swift Runner.
In the winter of 1878, he was convicted of slaying and consuming his own family just
25 miles away from an outpost with emergency food rations.
Because of this, he was believed to have been overcome by Wendigo psychosis rather than
acting this way out of desperation and received capital punishment for the crime.
Other cases have been reported throughout history, but many treat the legend as simply
a means to warn against taboo behavior.
Number 2.
Kraken Cemented into the superstitions of sailors
for centuries, the Scandinavian legend of the Kraken has haunted sea captains and their
crews since the monstrous beast was supposedly first sighted near the year 1250.
An old Norwegian natural history text titled Konungs skuggsja detailed an encounter with
the ocean-dwelling beast upon returning from Greenland.
Very little of this monster was described, aside from its vast size and immense appetite,
however it was only the first of many more reports to come.
Accounts of the Kraken's appearance have varied from whale and crab-like descriptions to more
closely resembling an enormous octopus or squid.
The latter, tentacled incarnation stuck in the minds of sailors, though, and shipmates
continued to fear the beast they thought to be lurking in the abyss as society moved into
the 19th century.
Today, most researchers attribute the legend of the Kraken to have derived from what we
now know as giant squids, which can grow to be 40 to 50 feet in length.
Number 1.
Bigfoot Wandering the forests of North America, particularly
the Pacific Northwest, is said to be a monstrous bipedal creature towering over the woodland
at a height ranging between six and nine feet tall.
This fur-covered legend is known as Sasquatch, or more commonly "Bigfoot" due to supposed
24-inch footprints, and is typically depicted as the missing link between humans and their
ape-like ancestors.
For decades, Researchers, scientists, and interested citizens have investigated the
existence of this fabled beast, but most all supposed evidence has either turned up inconclusive
or was found to be a hoax.
Mainstream scientists for the most part have written off Bigfoot as little more than folklore,
however many individuals and entire organizations remain dedicated to tracking down this hairy
enigma.