From mysterious beasts in the moors to real sightings of Bigfoot, here are 8 unreal creatures explained!
8.
Mermaids
Mermaids have been both romanticized and villainized in fiction.
We have our lovable Little Mermaid, Ariel, who just wants to be connected with the human
world.
But then again, we also have the evil but beautiful sirens who would sooner lead humans
to their death while making them fall in love with their music.
There are many records of explorers who have claimed to see mermaids throughout history,
including Christopher Columbus who stated that he had seen a mermaid on his travels.
Alternatively to the beautiful visions that we have of them with long flowing hair and
seashell bras, Columbus said that they weren’t as beautiful as they were said to be and that
they looked quite masculine.
Columbus’ statement was obviously before the world of Youtube and CGI so his encounter
could have been the effect of drinking too much sea water.
There’s many explanations for why people think they’ve seen mermaids but the most
popular is that people haven’t seen mermaids but they’ve actually seen manatees.
Their faces look nothing like human faces, but they move their heads in a human-like
manner.
From afar and among a bunch of sea spray, perhaps you could think you were seeing a
mermaid.
Although, to be fair it still doesn’t explain their siren songs, and why humans would fall
in love with them so easily...
7.
The Beast of Dartmoor
In the southwest of England, a cluster of moors called Dartmoor is home to a lot of
creepy stories and sightings.
A lot of people claim that certain areas of Dartmoor are haunted which can easily be shrugged
off.
However, many people have not only seen this next creature, but they’ve taken pictures
of it.
Maybe you have!!!
The Beast of Dartmoor has been described in many different ways and from the pixelated
photos, it looks like a mixture between a wolf, a bear and a big cat.
While no human harm has ever been recorded due to this Beast, there have been numerous
farm animals - mainly sheep - that have been found with their throats torn out and large
paw prints leading away from the scene of the crime.
There have even been fictional adaptations of this creature - BBC’s Sherlock went to
Dartmoor to investigate the mysterious hound.
(Remember the Hound of the Baskervilles?)
I’ll leave you to find out what he discovered on your own, but the most likely theory is
that the Beast of Dartmoor is actually an escaped big cat from Dartmoor Zoo.
In recent years, there have been numerous escapees that have survived by prowling through
the moors.
Might be better than facing their caged lives right?
The Beast is said to be a puma and many reports matches the size and description.
Mary Chipperfield, the famous circus owner from the 70’s was forced to close down her
zoo in 1978.
She was supposed to send 5 pumas to a new wildlife park but when the box was opened,
there were 5 tags but only 2 pumas inside.
Mary said she had broken down and they had escaped but people believe she did it on purpose
so they could live free in the wild.
Just in 2016, a lynx escaped its enclosure and is now probably also wandering around
the moors.
So in any case, if you feel like something is stalking you in Dartmoor, watch out because
it might just be a wild cat ready to pounce!!
Still not a comforting thought...
And now for number 6!
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6.
Zombies
Many people actually believe that zombies are real.14% of Americans believe there is
a small chance of a zombie apocalypse coming.
All the zombie shows and movies aren’t helping so maybe these unreal creatures don’t need
that much of an explanation...
But I’ll tell you anyway!
The general idea of zombies is that they are the bodies of the dead that have come back
somehow so that they are literally the walking dead - they are normally depicted as very
slow moving because of some parasite and all they want to do bite you and feast on your
brains, something along those lines.
While some people worry about the zombie apocalypse, others are actively preparing for it.
Also in the States, there are courses you can take to prepare you on how to survive
a zombie apocalypse.
But where did the idea come from?
In the early twentieth century, Haitian witch doctors were said to have the power to bring
people back to life using voodoo.
However, they were normally brought back feeling mindless and easy to control which was why
they were used in sugar cane fields.
Sounds crazy?
Well, one of the ‘zombies’ that the witch doctors brought back to life had actually
spoken out about it.
Clairvius Narcisse was pronounced dead in 1962 but was found again 18 years later claiming
that he was brought back to life by one of the witch doctors and was forced to work as
a slave.
It was later discovered that the doctors were using medicines that simulated death.
To create the mindless nature of the ‘risen’, the doctors would then administer a drug to
keep the people under their influence, in a way making them zombies for years!!
I mean brain parasites do exist and in the past people used to get buried alive by mistake
so there are all kinds of ways a zombie apocalypse could happen!
Especially with voodoo priests and other evil geniuses wandering around...
5.
Loch Ness Monster
Supposedly, the Loch Ness Monster inhabits Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands.
Last year, 2017, was a great year for Nessie sightings!!
Many people have snapped pictures of what they believed to be the fabled sea serpent
but they’ve always been on pixelated phones or the image moved too quickly to be able
to clarify for certain whether or not it is the creature.
For those of you that don’t know, the Loch Ness Monster is described as a kind of sea
serpent, with a long neck and possibly several humps.
There’s never been any malice associated with it, just fascination as to whether it
exists or not.
While this may not explain any recent sightings, there is a definite and somewhat sad explanation
about the early sightings of this creature.
One word - elephants.
Hear me out, hear me out.
Ever seen an elephant’s trunk pop out of the water?
From afar, wouldn’t that look like a head?
I know what you’re thinking - elephants aren’t exactly indigenous to Scotland but
around the time that the sightings first began, there were many travelling circuses roaming
the Highlands of Northern Scotland.
In the middle of performances, the travellers would let the elephants play in the lakes
- elephants are very strong swimmers and would easily be able to duck beneath the water.
Many of the reports could be explained by a long trunk sticking out of the icy lake.
Unless you were on the shore near the elephants, you would never think this in a million years!
Like I said, this doesn’t really explain recent sightings but people go to that loch
expecting to see Nessie - and now since everyone has such good cameras, anything that you see
that is remotely similar is definitely going to get recorded.
4.
Dracula
While I could delve into the vast world of vampires throughout history, I’ll just focus
on the most famous vampire that there is - Count Dracula.
While Bram Stoker’s novel is entirely fictional, he was inspired by someone who is probably
the closest historical evidence that we have of a real vampire.
Vlad the Impaler - or Vlad Dracul III was Stoker’s muse when creating the terrifying
character of Dracula, as he had some very strange habits which lead people to question
whether he was even human.
There’s only one way that he got his name - through impaling people.
He would invite guests to dinner - normally enemies or people that he had a feeling would
overpower him in some way or another - and would have them impaled publicly and put on
display.
But what was worse?
He used to then dip his bread in their blood and eat it.
While it wasn’t directly drinking someone’s blood from their neck like the classic vampire,
it’s still pretty gross.
After his death, he was buried just outside of Bucharest.
However, this hasn’t been fully confirmed as there were reports that stated his body
was never buried there and some that said it disappeared.
While we all know that Dracula per se wasn’t real, there is an explanation for why people
think vampires exist: Rabies.
Rabies has the tendency to spark a need within some of the affected to bite other people
and to share the disease.
It also creates a bloody foam at their mouth which could look like you’ve just been drinking
someone’s blood.
Vampires are also closely linked with bats who are notorious for carrying rabies and
garlic is supposed to act as a deterrent for them which is likely as when someone has rabies,
they are hypersensitive to any type of stimulation, especially intense odours.
Put it all together and it explains why many sick people were thought to be vampires.
There is no clear excuse for Vlad Dracul, however.
I think he was just a psychopath.
3.
Unicorns
Now you have unicorn everything!!
You can’t step into a clothing store anywhere without seeing something with a unicorn on
it.
Unicorn makeup, glitter, tears...Starbucks even created a unicorn inspired frappuccino.
But where did the idea of unicorns come from?
Do people still think they can see them?
Even though they are recognised as magical creatures, there is a theory about where someone
could have possibly gotten the idea from about a white horse with a horn attached to their
head.
Ever played the game Telephone, also known as Chinese Whispers?
Even in the same language, when whispered among a group of people, something is going
to get lost in the translation.
That is what is likely to have created the unicorn myth - a Greek physician called Ctesias
met with a group of Indian travellers.
In his works, he wrote about an ‘Indian ass’ which was a four-legged beast that
had a horn protruding from its head.
While we now know that the travellers were talking about a rhino, you could see where
Ctesias was confused - an ass is another word for a donkey and I don’t know what rhinos
you guys have seen recently, but they definitely don’t look like donkeys to me.
They also don’t look like unicorns.
The elusive, white, unicorn later took on a religious significance and was also known
to have healing powers.
In Asian medicine you can still find ground up unicorn horn to help cure you of any illness.
Who knows what you are actually buying…
North Korea reported that it found a real Unicorn Lair!
Too bad no one can go visit it in person...
2.
Bigfoot
This list would be incomplete without Big Foot.
The sasquatch creature has been an unexplained phenomena for many years.
Many people have claimed to have seen him themselves, there’s multiple pictures and
videos but none of them are definitive evidence.
Like any film taken on an old camera phone, they’re not entirely clear and could be
anything - similarly to the Beast of Dartmoor.
What may look like a bear from afar could turn out to be a large cat.
There’s also the opportunity for hoaxes and fakery - what could look like a very convincing
video where someone who ‘just stumbled upon’ the famous creature could have actually taken
hours to set up with a good costume and believable acting.
But a recent theory is that Big Foot is real - and that he’s actually not a humanoid
like some people believe but an extinct giant ape.
A woman in California claims she saw Saquatch hanging out in a tree last year and is now
suing the state for not believing her and for failing to protect bigfoot.
The Gigantopithecus used to live thousands of years ago and matches the description of
Big Foot almost exactly - they were ten feet tall and would have weighed a massive 1200
pounds.
Nobody knows for sure why they went extinct and now many are thinking that perhaps they
didn’t and that they actually just went into hiding.
This would account for the numerous sightings of Big Foot in different locations - perhaps
there’s an entire species of ape living among us that we thought were long gone.
1.
Mummies
The idea of mummies has been scaring children - and some adults - for years.
Especially if you’ve seen Scooby Doo, you know that the zombie-like Egyptians can be
quite terrifying.
Of course, mummification was very real, which is perhaps what makes them so creepy.
So, where did people get the idea that these mummies were going to reanimate themselves
and begin chasing you with both arms outstretched?
Well, there was a lot of superstition between archaeologists that if you disturbed the wrong
tomb, bad things would happen to you that could even lead to death.
This may seem just superstitious but they weren’t entirely wrong.
During the excavation of King Tut’s tomb, several members of the excavation team died
under suspicious and abnormal circumstances.
The curse to them, felt very real!!
You would be right to think that perhaps the superstition wasn’t unfounded but think
about what would be in that tomb - mountains of bacteria, toxins and fungi which would
be dangerous to breathe in and could kill you instantly.
Did you know that even a rotten potato has the power to make a human drop dead?
Think about what a rotting, mummified King could do.
Archaeology is no joke people!!
Thanks for watching!!
Do you have any other explanations for these unreal creatures?
Let us know in the comments!
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