Mystery and wonder are still all around us in the animal kingdom,
and even though we have roughly 8.7 million species on record across the world. There are still new species being discovered
So it's no surprise that occasionally reports come in of animals that seem too unreal to be true.
The sort of beings spoke about it only in stories and legends that are commonly referred to as cryptids,
that can be found in nearly every culture on earth and have the ability to strike intrigue, fascination and,
occasionally, fear into those who believe they have seen them.
So here we look at five mythical cryptids that may actually exist.
Before we get into this check - out our newest ebook that we have just published on Amazon, called 'Mythical Creatures of Asia' by Tom McGlinn.
The book covers many different species of cryptids that have been reported all across the Asian continent,
and it's an incredible read for anyone wanting to find out more about this fascinating subject.
It's available for $2.99
on Amazon and Amazon UK and you can start reading your copy today by following the link in the description.
We hope you enjoy your read and you will not be disappointed.
Now sit back and enjoy this video.
-The butterfly people-
On the 22nd of March 2011, at around quarter past six in the evening,
a devastating tornado swept through Joplin, Missouri.
It only lasted for around 38 minutes, but in that time
2.8 billion dollars worth of damage was done,
and 158 people tragically lost their lives.
While international news teams broadcast the story all over the world.
Separate reports began to surface from survivors who relayed bizarre and strange encounters with what they called "Butterfly People".
The most prominent and well-documented of these tales come from two young cousins, from the Joplin area, who survived the tornado.
Mason Lillard and Lage Grigsby.
The pair were in their grandparent's truck at the time the tornado struck
and the winds managed to hurl the vehicle some 300 feet away from where it was parked.
Lage was rescued from the debris of a nearby building and Mason was still sat in the wrecked vehicle when she was found.
The two of them were extremely lucky to be alive.
When they came around and were given the opportunity to recall the day's events,
reporters immediately noted one strange detail in both their stories.
The presence of little humanoids, with functioning butterfly wings, they both witnessed at the time the disaster struck.
Mason told the globe that when the truck hit the ground again
she felt a hand touch her on the shoulder. As she turned, expecting to see Lage,
she realized she'd been approached by two butterfly people; a blonde haired one, and a brunette.
They helped her survive the terrifying ordeal and it was clear to her that they meant no harm,
as surprisingly she said she felt relaxed upon seeing them.
However, Lage and Mason weren't the only children to see the butterfly people.
Other reports of humans with butterfly wings began to pour in from the
survivors of the disaster, all saying they helped save them from the tornado.
The butterfly people were observed shielding people from debris tending to the wounded and catching small children caught up in the 200 miles per hour wind.
To this day. It's still unclear
just what the butterfly people actually were, as they were only sighted in this one place on this one occasion.
It's been suggested that in heat of all the terror and carnage of the tornado, the imaginative mind to the children may have misinterpreted
the paramedics and flashing ambulance lights that took them to hospital as something more mysterious .Or perhaps
hallucinations played a part in what they thought they saw.
In reality, it seems unlikely that we're sharing parts of the world with a brand-new species of airborne humanoid creature.
But until it can be proved otherwise, there is always a possibility and in the minds of the children caught up in the Joplin tornado
They were very much real.
-Gazeka-
In the forested plains and mountains of Papua New Guinea,
a truly bizarre creature has been spotted on multiple occasions.
The Gazeka, whose description is said to match something between an oversized
tapir, and the giant prehistoric ground sloth, has been witnessed several times.
But the first account was in 1870 by British traveller C. Monckton.
What he described was a giant mammalian herbivore, roughly six-foot at the shoulder when walking on all fours
that could also rear up and walk on two legs.
It had a tapir like trunk for a nose, walked on its knuckles, and had long sharp claws like a sloth.
The creature was named by Papua New Guinea's natives as "The Pig Devil".
It was first suggested that the animal might be a new species of rhinoceros,
But this is since been ruled out as there's no evidence that rhinoceros ever lived in Papua New Guinea
Following the encounter,
Monckton sends a team out to track the animal deep into the mountains near the North River and, sure enough, there
it stood. It's said to have returned to look at the travellers as it promptly reared up and took off into the heavy snow
and that was the last time the Gazeka was seen.
However, newspapers at the time told a slightly different tale: claiming
the Gazeka was initially witnessed brutally attacking a small settlement of natives and
Monckton fired a shot at the Beast before it reared up standing at around 25 feet before fleeing into the night.
Whatever the truth there are signs that Gazeka did exist.
This is reinforced by ancient stone artifacts that have been found in Papua, New Guinea,
featuring creatures that resemble the Gazeka.
Another train of thought is that it's a misplaced Palorchestes. A large
marsupial mammal resembling a giant Tapir that once lived in ancient Australia and
fits the Gazeka's bizarre description almost perfectly.
Could it be that the Gazeka is an ancient ancestor of the giant prehistoric Palorchestes
and is still living in the mountains of Papua, New Guinea?
What do you think?
-Mahamba-
According to 'The Bobangi aboriginals' of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Something truly monstrous currently resides in the swamps and jungles that cover vast areas of the country. The Mahamba is a creature
reported to be responsible for the violent deaths of
multiple natives and travellers over the years, and those who have been lucky enough to survive an encounter with one seem extremely sure
it's a new species, completely unidentified to science.
The Mahamba is described as an enormous reptilian creature - not too dissimilar to a crocodile.
With elongated legs that give it the ability to ruthlessly chase down large prey.
Its appearance has also been likened to that of a Mosasaurus,
the gigantic aquatic apex predators of the Cretaceous,
depicted in Jurassic world.
The creature is said to be roughly 5 feet in length and spends the majority of its time
crouching just below the murky surface of the Congo River.
Where it's been known to smash through canoes and rafts devouring anyone on board.
The Bobangi natives are no strangers to crocodiles.
Nile crocodiles are both a dangerous and common sight in the Congo River Basin.
But multiple accounts have specifically stated that the Mahamba is something clearly different and much more deadly.
Sightings of the Mahamba first started to rise around the 19th century, along with further
exploration of Africa where European explorers not only heard tales from the natives, but supposedly encountered the creature firsthand.
It's hard to tell whether or not the reports of the Mahamba are accurate or not.
There is always the chance that it could be a genuine undiscovered species of large crocodile.
But as always with the more dangerous cryptids, a surprise attack from a large Nile crocodile can be easily
exaggerated in the heat at the moment and
stories do spread fast. What do you think the Mahamba could be?
-Steller's Sea Ape-
Now if this one is real, it's quite possibly one of the most bizarre creatures to have ever lived on our planet.
On the 10th of August 1741, famed explorer George Wilhelm Steller was sailing in the icy waters off the coast of Alaska
when something caught his eye.
An aquatic mammal, roughly 5 feet long, with a long tapered body
ending in dolphin-like flukes,
two short flippers like arms with webbed digits, and the human-like face of an ape.
It had large piercing eyes and whiskers that appear to resemble facial hair.
Steller allegedly observed the creature from just a few meters away for around 2 hours and attempted to fire several shots at it,
missing the target as the creature swam away.
It wasn't sighted again after this and the information on this encounter is limited,
but to date, Steller's sea ape remains one of the most intriguing cryptids out there.
If Steller is to be believed, the creatures discovery could reshuffle so much of what we know about primates and their evolution.
A completely new species of aquatic ape living in secret, right under our noses would raise many questions.
Where did it come from? How does it survive and perhaps most importantly how intelligent is it?
Could sightings of the supposed ape even account for historical glimpses of what sailors and explorers claimed to be mermaids?
After all, Steller was a reputable naturalist and has put his name to many real discoveries in the past:
Such as Steller's sea lion, sea eagle, and now extinct sea cow, all who definitely exist.
So, who are we to question what he saw?
However on the other hand
He could just have been mistaken on this occasion as the general form and shape of the Steller sea ape isn't
too dissimilar to a dolphin or seal,
both of which could have popped up at any point during Steller's travels across the ocean.
But when you think, only around 5% of the world's oceans have been fully explored.
Is it inconceivable that a colony of aquatic Apes live happily in the depths of the sea?
What do you think?
-Umibōzu-
Sticking with the nautical theme,
the Umibōzu is a bizarre Japanese sea monster that has terrorized coastal fishing villages for centuries,
and is also featured in the e-book we mentioned at the start of this video.
Japanese fishermen have long told tales of a terrifying humanoid presence that lurks just beneath the waves of the Pacific Ocean.
The Umibōzu or Sea-monk is a huge jet-black void of a creature.
Human in shape with two colossal white eyes brightly visible against the rest of its body.
They are often depicted with a wide grin plastered across their faces and can range in size
from just a few feet to a few hundred feet
They are said to be visible only on dark stormy nights when the sea is battered with storms and
have been known to capsize whole vessels as they slowly rise up from the waves,
crashing their bodies down on ships that sail too close.
They get their name from how they initially appeared to the first sailors that encountered them, who claims they looked like gigantic
monstrous versions of Buddhist monks.
(Some suggesting they are in fact the spirits of those who drowned at sea.)
It's also said that Umibōzu capsized ships for fun and have no intention of actually feeding on humans.
In some reports, Umibōzu have even allegedly been heard speaking to one another. In the past
these giants have imposed a huge threat to small coastal villages that depend on fishing for trade and food.
Superstitious fishermen, who refuse to work, if an Umibōzu has been sighted and this could lead to disaster for the hungry village.
The Umibōzu allegedly came on to the nearby beaches once a year to breed,
where their tiny offspring have been sighted running along the sand before heading back into the water to begin life.
As time has passed, there have been plenty of recorded Umibōzu sightings.
They range from harmless encounters, where huge individuals have been seen wading through the shallow coastal waters for days at a time,
to an instant in 1971.
When an enormous aquatic creature became caught in a Japanese trawler's net. The fishermen raised the net to reveal a giant creature,
black in color with one visible white eye staring at them. As the net's mechanism snapped under the weight of the creature, a
colossal silhouette was allegedly sighted diving under the water before swimming away.
What is remarkable about the sighting of the Umibōzu is they do all appear to follow a common theme and there are few known creatures
that may have been mistaken for an Umibōzu, the main one being a killer whale.
It can certainly match for its size and its striking black and white skin kind of matches the description.
Other smaller creatures that may be in the running are the now extinct Japanese sea lion, a
mammal that was common around the coasts and shallow waters where the smaller Umibōzu were sighted.
Or perhaps even the Japanese angel shark.
However, those who have encountered the Umibōzu would probably disagree,
believing the creature is an as yet undiscovered sea monster.
So that's five very much believed mythical creatures from around the world who many think are real.
I hope you've enjoyed and if you're into mythical creatures,
then check out our mythical creatures of Asia eBook by clicking on the link in the description. If there's enough demand for it
I might even narrate the e-book.
Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video.