There are thousands of recognized Cryptids or "hidden-animals". There is also infinite amount of potential for discovery of new species. In other words, this list will be ongoing and vast. Therefore, there is some necessity to categorize these subjects. Like our excellent Paranormal Glossary (which we encourage you to visit as well) we intend to not only list but define and elaborate on these subjects. This system provides a fairly solid foundation for us to do this. The sources for this information are numerous and the knowledge is public.   A ADJULE LOCATION: North Africa DESCRIPTION: The Adjule, also known as Kelb-el-khela, is a canine said to inhabit North Africa, particularly the areas in and around the Sahara Desert in Mauritania. It is said to be a totally unknown canine that resembles a dog or wolf, but today is described as an isolated population of the African wild dog. Some alternative names are kelb el khela ("bush dog") for the male and tarhsît for the female. SIGHTINGS: Reported primarily by the nomadic Tuaregs, and Théodore Monod in 1928. There is one unconfirmed sighting of a canid-like animal from the coastal area of Mauritania in 1992; hunters living in the coastal areas of the Western Sahara, to the north of Mauritania, described an animal resembling a wild dog, which hunted in packs. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: However, despite a continuing firm belief the existence of the canine has since been debunked and its sightings attributed to wild canines mistaken for the Adjule, such as the African wild dog which is now extinct in certain areas of the Sahara. AFANC  LOCATION: Wales. The lake in which it dwells also varies; it is variously said to live in Llyn Llion, Llyn Barfog, near Brynberian Bridge or in Llyn yr Afanc, a lake near Betws-y-Coed that was named after the creature.  DESCRIPTION: Its exact description varies; it is described variously as resembling a crocodile, beaver or dwarf-like creature, and is sometimes said to be a demon. The afanc was a monstrous creature that, like most lake monsters, was said to prey upon any foolish enough to fall into or swim in its lake. SIGHTINGS: One of the earliest descriptions of it is given by the 15th-century poet Lewys Glyn Cothi, who described it as living in Llyn Syfaddon, now Llangorse Lake in Powys. One tale relates that it was rendered helpless by a maiden who let it sleep upon her lap; while it slept, the maiden's fellow villagers bound the creature in chains. The creature was awakened and made furious; its enraged thrashings crushed the maiden, in whose lap it still lay. It was finally dragged away to the lake Cwm Ffynnon, or killed by Peredur (Percival, Peredur's name in Chrétien de Troyes' telling of the Arthurian cycle). AGOGWE  LOCATION: East Africa. DESCRIPTION: It was reported to be 4 to 5 ft tall with brown or russet hair. SIGHTINGS: The first recorded sighting was by Captain William Hichens who reported his experience in the December 1937 edition of the journal Discovery: Some years ago I was sent on an official lion-hunt in this area (the Ussure and Simibit forests on the western side of the Wembare plains) and, while waiting in a forest glade for a man-eater, I saw two small, brown, furry creatures come from dense forest on one side of the glade and disappear into the thickets on the other. They were like little men, about 4 feet high, walking upright, but clad in russet hair. The native hunter with me gazed in mingled fear and amazement. They were, he said, Agogwe, the little furry men whom one does not see once in a lifetime. AHOOL LOCATION: Java and Indonesia. DESCRIPTION: The Ahool, or Ropen, has a long snout, large wings and a long thin crest. It has a chimp's/bat's face, large dark eyes, red skinned wings, large claws on its forearms, and is covered in gray fur. It is said to have a wingspan of 18 to 28 feet, or 6 to 9 meters. That is 3 to 4.5 times the size of the largest bat known to man, the flying fox. Although it mainly eats fish, it will occasionally attack humans. Most likely because that the creature/animal is extremely territorial. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: One scientist theorized that the creature may be related to another cryptid, the Kongamato. But its description describes more of a bat-like creature than a reptile-like one. It may be closer related to Orang Bati. It was first reported by Dr. Ernest Bartels in 1925. AHUITZOTL  LOCATION: Aztec and Mayan Mythology, though similar creatures are known to the Hopi and Shasta tribes of North America. DESCRIPTION: Said to look like a small dog, the Ahuitzotl had streaks on its head, small ears, and a hand at the tip of its tail, with waterproof fur that often clumped up into what resembled spikes. According to legend, it would submerge itself in a lake or stream and begin to wail like a small child or a frightened woman. A passerby would hear the sound and would rush to the rescue of the "helpless victim". Upon approaching the water the victim would be strangled by the creature's infamous tail-hand and then the creature would tear out the victim's eyes, nails and teeth and eat them. It would then toss the lifeless body onto the riverbank and restart its wailing. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: Scientists believe that the Ahuitzotl may have actually existed and was a type of otter or ferret, which is also a relative of the otter. AKKOROKAMUI  LOCATION: Funka Bay (Uchiura Bay) in Hokkaido. DESCRIPTION: It is said that its enormous body can reach sizes of up to 390 feet in length. While Akkorokamui is often presented as a benevolent kami with powers to heal and bestow knowledge, it is fickle and has the propensity to do harm. Akkorokamui's nature as an octopus means that it is persistent and it is near impossible to escape its grasp without permission. It is believed among followers that giving offerings to Akkorokamui will heal ailments of the body, in particular, disfigurements and broken limbs. ALICANTO  LOCATION: Chile DESCRIPTION: Alicanto or Allicanto are nocturnal, luminescent birds. At night, their feathers shine with metallic color, and their eyes emit strange lights. Alicanto are often depicted as large birds, but the size and shape usually vary depending on the sighting or tale. There are two types of Alicanto; one which feeds on silver, and one which feeds on gold, sometimes eating so much that they weigh too much to fly. The color and glow of their feathers depend on their diet (i.e if an Alicanto only eats gold, its feathers have a golden glow). They nest near hills that contain the precious stones that they eat. Spotting an Alicanto is said to bring good luck. If a miner can find and follow an Alicanto for a while without being caught, the miner will find silver and/or gold. However, if the Alicanto discovers them, it will push the person off of a cliff or lure them into a deep ravine where they fall to their death. Although, it's also said that Alicanto will help humans that they favor to find gold and silver, as long as the human shares what they find with the bird. ALIEN BIG CATS  LOCATION: Britain DESCRIPTION: Large cats that look something like black panthers, leopards, African lions, or cougars. They are "alien" in the sense that they are not thought to be native to the area. SIGHTINGS: Most sightings are confined to the wildest places, especially swamps. A number of the more famous cases have received unique, local names, such as the Beast of Bodmin Moor or the Fiskerton Phantoms. Some cryptozoologists believe that Britain has secretly supported a population of leopards, European lynxes, or some other species of wild feline for thousands of years with a total population of about 30. There has also be a recent substantiation when in August 2000, a boy in South Wales was attacked by a creature resembling a panther. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: Several dead bodies of the smaller type of ABC have turned out to be hybrids between the Scottish wildcat and domestic house cats. The larger varieties that look like a specific species such as leopards are generally presumed to be escaped exotic pets. These are often kept illegally by their owners, so the authorities never know how many of these might be around. However, the hardest skeptics, including the British government, tend to reject even the exotic pet hypothesis in favor of hoaxes and killings done by Scottish wildcats. A number of leopard skulls found on the moors have turned out to be from leopard-skin rugs, adding to the controversy.  ALMAS LOCATION: Caucasus and Pamir Mountains of Central Asia, and the Altai Mountains of western Mongolia. DESCRIPTION: Almases are typically described as human-like bipedal animals, between five and six and a half feet tall, their bodies covered with reddish-brown hair, with anthropomorphic facial features including a pronounced browridge, flat nose, and a weak chin. Many cryptozoologists believe there is a similarity between these descriptions and modern reconstructions of how Neanderthals might have appeared. SIGHTINGS: British anthropologist Myra Shackley in Still Living? describes Ivan Ivlov's 1963 observation of a family group of Almas. Ivlov, a pediatrician, decided to interview some of the Mongolian children who were his patients, and discovered that many of them had also said that they had seen Almases and that neither the Mongol children nor the young Almas were afraid of each other. Ivlov's driver also claimed to have seen them. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: The creature is not currently recognized or cataloged by science. Furthermore, scientists generally reject the possibility that such megafauna cryptids exist, because of the improbably large numbers necessary to maintain a breeding population. ALTAMAHA-HA  LOCATION: Altamaha River in Southern Georgia of North America. DESCRIPTION: The Altamaha-ha is described as having a sturgeon like body including the bony ridge on its top. Front flippers and no back limbs, swimming like a dolphin or porpoise and having the snout of a crocodile. The coloring is said to be gray with a whitish-yellow underbelly. SIGHTINGS: In addition to sightings, it has been the subject of many myths and lore during the time of its "discovery" by the local Tama Native American Tribe in the state of Georgia, which predates British-English colonization. So far, no physical evidence of the Atlamaha-ha has been found. It is sometimes shown to be green, so it can camouflage. AMERICAN HYENA  LOCATION: Great Plains of the American West, from at least Montana to Nebraska. DESCRIPTION: With a sloping back and hyena-like features, the animal was generally described as having dark fur, often black and sometimes red. The shaggy areas were distributed in a different way than on wolves. SIGHTINGS: This beast was known to the Ioway Indians as the Shunka Warakin. Similar creatures with different names were reported from the lands of other tribes. White settlers also thought they had seen this creature, and some were even mounted as trophies. As wild America was despoiled, sightings of the animal almost died out. Today, there are still a few, but they are complicated by confusions due to folklore, apparent supernatural characteristics, and likely confusion with other reports of wolves, wild dogs, and dog-like cryptids of several sorts. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: Although the present whereabouts of these trophies is now unknown, one famous trophy had a picture taken of it, although it might have been a strange-looking wolf mounted by an incompetent taxidermist, only DNA testing could settle the question. It is possible that this creature is a remnant that survived all the way up to a hundred years ago, only for the last pockets of survivors to be exterminated before being officially recognized by science. AMERICAN LIONS  LOCATION: North & South America DESCRIPTION: North America's prehistoric lion was known as Panthera leo atrox. Although it was probably a subspecies of the African lion (Panthera leo). It was approximately one-third larger than today's African lions, and it was black in color, according to some researchers. Males might have lacked manes. Obviously, unless there were also tan-colored specimens, these creatures could not explain sightings of normal-looking African style lions, though they could explain huge black panthers that keep getting sighted in the Americas. SIGHTINGS: South America also has mystery lions. The "jungle lion" of Peru is a red-furred lion that is regularly sighted in the Yanachaga National Park. ANDEAN WOLF LOCATION: Andes DESCRIPTION: The Andean Wolf, or Hagenbeck's Wolf is an unsubstantiated wolf-like canid, reportedly from the Andes. In 1927, Lorenz Hagenbeck bought one of three pelts from a dealer in Buenos Aires who claimed that they had come from a wild dog of the Andes. ALTERNATE EXPLANATION: When Dr. Ingo Krumbiegel studied the skin in Germany in 1940, he concluded that it belonged to a new and still undescribed species. Scientists in the 1960s discovered that the pelt belonged to a domestic dog. A 2000 attempt at DNA analysis of the remaining pelt at Munich’s zoological museum failed because it was contaminated with human, dog, wolf, and pig DNA, and had been chemically treated. In 1947, Krumbiegel connected the pelt with a skull he had discovered about ten years earlier. He claimed the skull was 31 centimeters long and belonged to an omnivorous canid substantially larger than a Maned wolf, as Maned wolf skulls are smaller, about 24 cm. He published a paper describing the animal and suggesting a scientific name for it: Dasycyon Hagenbecki, though the skull had allegedly been lost in 1945 during World War II and was not available for peer review. ARABHAR LOCATION: Arabian Sea. DESCRIPTION: The Arabhar, literally "arab snake". The thing that makes this creature special is its alleged ability to fly.  There’s a lot of debate about how the Arabhar actually takes flight. Some reports say it flies using bat-like, leathery wings. Others think it may use some sort of flap or specialized spine that allows it to glide through the air. ALTERNATE EXPLANATION: There are also known snakes belonging to the genus Chrysopelea that "fly" through the air by jumping from branch to branch, so it is possible this snake has adapted that ability as well. It is more likely that many reported sightings of the Arabhar are simply these flying snakes ARAGANAQLTA’A LOCATION: Argentina DESCRIPTION: The Araganaqlta’a is known as the father or owners of all snakes in Argentinian Toba folklore. This creature is said to have control over every snake in the world. It is also commonly associated with rainbows, water, and storms. The creature is said to dwell near lakes and rivers or in deep caves that have access to water. The Araanaqlta’a appears as a large, multi-colored serpent usually said to be around 10 meters in length. It is said to resemble a bushmaster and has a large red crest atop of it's head. It is also believed to have a saw-like structure around it's body that helps it move. Its tail is said to end in two hooks, which it uses to capture prey. ARTRELLIA LOCATION: Papa New Guinea DESCRIPTION: Described by locals as being a nearly 30ft long crocodile/dragon-like creature that has the ability to climb trees and breath fire. It is a strict carnivore that devours anything unlucky enough to enter its territory and it will consume the entire body of its victim, bones and all. SIGHTINGS: In 1933, Richard Archbold (an American zoologist and philanthropist) led one of the first scientific expeditions into the heart of New Guinea. The expeditions became known as The Archbold Expeditions and it was during these expeditions (which lasted from 1933-1939) that the team was told/warned about giant man-eating dragons from the locals. They were warned that if a team member happened to come across the Artrellia, that they would never be found again. The dragon would devour every last bit of them and leave nothing for the scavengers. During WW2 (1939- 1945), American, British, and Australian soldiers were stationed in Papua New Guinea as part of the New Guinea campaign. It was during this time that allied troops began reporting that they were seeing giant lizard-like creatures within the rain forests. These giant lizards were reported as being between 15-20ft in length and very agile. While no direct contact was ever made with these lizards, the sightings continued regularly until all allied troops eventually left the island after the end of the war. Nearly 40yrs after the Archbold Expeditions, another expedition team would arrive within Papua New Guinea, this time known as the Operation Drake Expedition. Sightings of the Artrellia continue sporadically to this day. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: Could it actually be an undiscovered species of gigantic monitor lizard? ASWANG  LOCATION: Philippines DESCRIPTION: An Aswang (or Asuwang) is an umbrella term referring to a shape shifting evil spirit in Filipino folklore, vampire, a ghoul, a warlock/witch, or different species of werebeast. It is the subject of a wide variety of myths and stories. Aswangs are typically described as shape- shifters. Stories recount aswangs living as regular townspeople that are quiet, shy and elusive. At night, they transform into creatures such as a bat, bird (usually a crow), wild boar, black cat, or most often, a big black dog. They love to eat unborn fetuses and small children, favoring livers and hearts. Some have long proboscises, which they use to suck the children out of their mothers' wombs when they are sleeping in their homes. Some are so thin that they can hide themselves behind a bamboo post. They are fast and silent. Unlike vampires and other similar creatures, they are not harmed by sunlight. Aswangs can also be befriended, they can talk to you like any normal human: they laugh and/or cry, get angry/sad, get hurt/humiliated and feel shy and envious. These creatures do not harm their friends and neighbors, and were said to be exempted from their target victims for food. Like vampires, Aswangs are repelled or killed by using garlic, salt and religious artifacts/weapons (e.g. Holy water, crucifix, rosary, prayers and religious verses). They are also killed using a whip made entirely of a stingray's tail (buntot pagi), which may also be used to repel the creature.  It is also said that they cannot step on holy consecrated ground (i.e. churches, mosques, temples, etc.). Decapitation is also a way to destroy an Aswang. It is said that to spot an Aswang at daytime, look straight at their eyes. The person in front of you is an Aswang if your reflection is upside-down. SIGHTINGS: Spanish colonists noted that the Aswang was the most feared among the mythical creatures of the Philippines, even in the 16th century. The myth of the Aswang is well known throughout the Philippines. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: Anthropologists postulate that the Aswang belief came from the myth-making of the Spaniards intent on keeping the population under control. Through the Encomienda System, a town was arranged into easy-to-manage layers, and those who lived too far away were labeled Tulisans (dissenters). To frighten the Filipinos and discourage mobility, stories of Aswangs living on the outskirts of the forests were spread in towns to keep everyone in groups and maintain control. AULI / AYIA NAPA SEA MONSTER  LOCATION: Cyprus, claimed to inhabit the coast off of Ayia Napa in Cyprus, a popular tourist resort on the Mediterranean. DESCRIPTION: There have been no reports of it causing any harm, although it has been reported at times to rip and drag away fishing nets. It is known by the local fishermen as "To Filiko Teras", which translates as "The Friendly Monster". It has been speculated to be something like a crocodile or serpent. Many ancient authorities describe it as a monstrous form of a giant maiden in torso, with a serpent for its lower body, having six snarling dog-heads issuing from its midriff, including their twelve forelimbs. This is the form described by Hyginus, the Bibliotheca and the Suda, among so many others, and it is this form most often depicted on vase paintings. According to a description from Gaius Julius Hyginus, a Latin author, it actually possessed “more heads than the vase-painters could paint”, and whoever encountered it was killed almost instantaneously. SIGHTINGS: Most sightings occur around Cape Greco (Cavo Greko). There have been countless sightings of the "Creature from the Depths", with some local newspapers calling the mystery the "Cyprus Loch Ness". Government officials have started a search for the monster and its existence. The hope of spotting the Ayia Napa Sea Monster remains a highlight for many tourists on boating day-trips. Many hotels boast to being close to sightings. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: There is no evidence that the monster actually exists, except in folklore and through various sightings by tourists and locals alike. There exists little photographic evidence, except unverified short-films and pictures. A search for the monster was recently featured in a Destination Truth episode on the SyFy channel series. There is no link to any such sea monster or any monster said to be living in Kouris Dam, which according to reports are more likely to be crocodile-type creatures that had been kept as pets but unlawfully released. AUSTRALIAN RAPTOR LOCATION: Australia SIGHTINGS: There have been accounts of living dinosaurs, specifically in the Darling Downs (a farming region in Southeast Queensland) Farmers have reported strange noises, which some cryptozoologists tie to the Ornithopod dinosaur Muttaburrasaurus. It lived in what is now northeastern Australia sometime between 112 and 99.6 million years ago. Other dinosaur-like cryptids in Australia include the Burrunjor and Megalania both said to be living prehistoric beings ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: A more realistic explanation for these sounds could be that people are hearing other animals native to Australia (Wallabies and crocodiles, for example).   B   BARMANOU LOCATION: Western Pakistan DESCRIPTION: A purported bipedal humanoid primate and the Pakistani equivalent of the Bigfoot. The Barmanou allegedly possesses both human and apelike characteristics and has a reputation for abducting women and attempting to mate with them. It is also reported to wear animal skins upon its back and head. The Barmanou appears in the folklore of the Northern Regions of Pakistan and depending on where the stories come from it tends to be either described as an ape or a wild man. SIGHTINGS: The first search in Pakistan for Bipedal Humanoid man was carried out by a Spanish zoologist living in France, Jordi Magraner, from 1987 to 1990. He wrote a paper, Les Hominidés reliques d'Asie Centrale, on the Pakistani wild man. He later researched the Barmanou extensively in the 1990s. He was murdered in Afghanistan in 2002. Loren Coleman wrote that he "collected more than fifty firsthand sighting accounts, and all eyewitnesses recognized the reconstruction of Heuvelman's homo pongoides ["apelike man"]. They picked out homo pongoides as their match to Barmanu from Magraner's ID kit of drawings of apes, fossil men, aboriginals, monkeys, and the Minnesota Iceman." In May 1992, during a search in Shishi Kuh valley, Chitral, Dr. Anne Mallasseand reported that once during a late evening she heard unusual guttural sounds which only a primitive voice-box could have produced. No further progress could be made. In addition to this, Dr. Mallasseand was not able to record the sound. BATSQUATCH LOCATION: Mt. St. Helens DESCRIPTION: It resembles a flying primate, similar to the Ahool and the Orang Bati of Southeast Asia, and its name is a portmanteau derived from the words "bat" and "Sasquatch." This creature was said to have yellow eyes, a wolf-like muzzle, blue or fur, sharp teeth, bird-like feet and leathery bat-like wings that span up to fifty feet. In addition, Batsquatch is said to be 9 feet tall and has the ability to affect car engines. SIGHTINGS: Allegedly sighted near Mount St. Helens in the 1980s. A witness allegedly took several pictures of the creature. However, these pictures have not been yet analyzed, and thus cannot prove the creature's existence.  On April 1994, Brian Canfield was driving in Washington's Pierce County when his truck suddenly died. Canfield said a large creature landed in front of him. He said it was human-like, 9 ft tall with batlike wings and also sported a coat of blue fur. Ever since then it has not been seen and skeptics dismiss it as a hoax. A possible second sighting was reported in 2009 near Mt. Shasta in California. Several hikers witnessed a "huge" creature with leathery wings (spanning 50 ft.) fly out of a crevice in the mountain. At first, an eye-witness described the creature as having a head similar to a pterodactyl, however upon reconsideration the witness claimed it was more akin to a bat or a fox. On June 2011 a man was in his yard walking his dog. He went to pick up the dog when he saw something in the sky. He said the following:"I saw something flying the the sky. It had bat wings, blue fur and had a face similar to eyes glowing red. It was about 9 feet tall at the least, after I watched it just flew away " On April 14, 2014 at Archbishop Hoban High School in Akron OH, a second period Spanish class spotted a giant black mass zip by the window of the classroom at incredible speed. The class claims it was about 9 feet tall with a 20-30 foot wingspan. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: This is possibly a misunderstood sighting of Mothman considering it also affected man-made things, like Mothman can. BATUTUT LOCATION: The Vũ Quang nature reserve and other wilderness areas of Vietnam, Laos and northern Borneo. SIGHTINGS: A 1947 sighting by a French colonist refers to the animal as a L'Homme Sauvage (wild man). Two Người Rừngs were reportedly captured by tribesmen near Đắk Lắk Province in 1971. In 1974 a North Vietnamese general, Hoang Minh Thao, requested an expedition to find evidence of the creatures, but it was unsuccessful. A professor Tran Hong Viet of Pedagogic University of Hanoi, a researcher of Người Rừng, reported in 1982 finding footprints in 1970, measuring 28x16 cm., of which he made casts. A photo of the cast of the print was later published by Fortean News of the World  (Japan Fortean Information Society). On the 5th season premier of Syfy's Destination Truth, host Josh Gates and team go to Vietnam in search of the Batutut. Gates interviews a local primatologist, Vu Ngoc Thanh, and examines his casting of a footprint. Later in Ke Bang National Park, Gates's team find several large human-like footprints and make a casting of their own which is taken back to the U.S. and examined by noted Bigfoot researcher, anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum. Meldrum called the print "a significant discovery" and one of the best pieces of evidence he has seen. BEAMAN LOCATION: Kansas City, Mo. SIGHTINGS: There is no proof, however, that such a creature exists. The common tale goes that in 1904, a circus train derailed. During the crash its animals escaped, but were quickly retrieved. Unfortunately, one of the biggest and most-feared animals, a "12-foot-tall gorilla" had eluded capture. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: The tales claim that the Beaman Monster was the offspring of the circus animal escapee. BEAR DOGS LOCATION: North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa DESCRIPTION: Amphicyonids are often colloquially referred to as "bear-dogs". They are closely related to true dogs (Canidae) and a little less related to bears (Ursidae). Amphicyonids ranged in size from as small as 11 lb and as large as 220 to 1,704 lb and evolved from wolf-like to bear-like body forms. Early amphicyonids, such as Daphoenodon, possessed a digitigrade posture and locomotion (walking on their toes), while many of the later and larger species were plantigrade or semiplantigrade. The amphicyonids were obligate carnivores, unlike the Canidae, which are hypercarnivores or mesocarnivores. There is often some confusion with the similar looking (and similarly named) "dog-bears", which are members of the family Hemicyonidae. With estimated weights of 110 to 440 lb, these were the largest terrestrial carnivorans to have evolved on the North American continent up to this time. Amphicyonids began to decline in the late Miocene, and largely disappeared in the Pliocene. The reasons for this are unclear: possibly it was due to competition with other carnivorans, but no direct evidence for this has been found. SIGHTINGS: The most recent known amphicyonid remains are teeth known from the Dhok Pathan horizon, northern Pakistan, dating to the late Pliocene, classically named Arctamphicyon lydekkeri, which may actually be synonymous with a species of Amphicyon. BEAST OF BLADENBORO LOCATION: North Carolina DESCRIPTION: The creature responsible for a string of deaths amongst Bladenboro, North Carolina animals in the winter of 1953-54. It was known to most commonly crush or decapitate its victims, which were mostly dogs. Many reported accounts describe the Beast of Bladenboro as feline, but do not agree on any one species. Malcolm Frank described the animal as "...resembling either a bear or a panther." Wilmington hunter S.W. Garrett claimed to have heard the creature scream while hunting, and likened it to that of a panther. SIGHTINGS: Possibly related to the Bladenboro incidents, a dog was found dead in Clarkton, North Carolina (about eight miles from Bladenboro), killed by what Police Chief Roy Fores reported witnesses as describing as "sleek, black, about 5 feet long...." on December 29, 1953. On December 31, two dogs belonging to a Bladenboro man named Johnny Vause were found dead. There was reportedly a significant amount of blood at the scene near their kennels. The two dogs were "torn into ribbons and crushed," according to Vause. ALTERNATE EXPLANATION: According to witnesses and trackers it was likely a wildcat, but the uncertain nature of its identity lends itself to cryptozoology. Harry Davis, curator at the Raleigh State Museum, has said that a panther "...never occurs in this country...We've checked on panther stories before. One turned out to be a big house cat." He was of the opinion that it might have actually been a coyote: "...they've been traded around quite a bit, brought East as pets and released after owners got tired of them." BEAST OF BODMIN LOCATION: Cornwall, England.  SIGHTINGS: Bodmin Moor became a centre of purported sightings after 1978, with occasional reports of mutilated slain livestock; the alleged panther-like cats of the same region came to be popularly known as the Beast of Bodmin Moor. Less than a week after a government report (see below), a boy was walking by the River Fowey when he discovered a large cat skull. Measuring about 4 inches long by 7 inches wide, the skull was lacking its lower jaw but possessed two sharp, prominent canines that suggested that it might have been a leopard. The story hit the national press at about the same time of the official denial of alien big cat evidence on Bodmin Moor. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: In general, scientists reject such claims because of the improbably large numbers necessary to maintain a breeding population and because climate and food supply issues would make such purported creatures' survival in reported habitats unlikely. A long-held hypothesis suggests the possibility that alien big cats at large in the United Kingdom could have been imported as part of private collections or zoos, later escaped or set free. An escaped big cat would not be reported to the authorities due to the illegality of owning and importing the animals. It has been claimed that animal trainer Mary Chipperfield released three pumas into the wild following the closure of her Plymouth zoo in 1978, and that subsequent sightings of the animals gave rise to rumours of the Beast. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food conducted an official investigation in 1995. The study found that there was "no verifiable evidence" of exotic felines loose in Britain, and that the mauled farm animals could have been attacked by common indigenous species. The report stated that, "No verifiable evidence for the presence of a 'big cat' was found ... There is no significant threat to livestock from a 'big cat' in Bodmin Moor."  The skull found by the boy was sent to the Natural History Museum in London for verification. They determined that it was a genuine skull from a young male leopard, but also found that the cat had not died in Britain and that the skull had been imported as part of a leopard-skin rug. The back of the skull was cleanly cut off in a way that is commonly used to mount the head on a rug. BEAST OF DARTMOOR LOCATION: Dartmoor England SIGHTINGS: tales of a dog like creature have gained popularity with a photo and video taken of a giant, black canine or feline. It has been compared to lions, ponies, dogs and even sheep, but no conclusive evidence has been found. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: Explanations for the beast vary from a fox to wild boar and wolf. A possible explanation is an invasive Alien Big Cat, most likely a puma, which is the most adaptable feline in the Americas. A puma that was in a zoo or illegally kept as a pet could have escaped and adapted to its European home. Pumas normally prey on deer, but also eat smaller mammals such as those native to its new habitat. BEAR LAKE MONSTER LOCATION: Bear Lake, on the Utah–Idaho border. SIGHTINGS: Articles about the Bear Lake Monster continued to appear over the next several years, either reciting new sightings of the Bear Lake Monster as well as similar creatures in other rivers and lakes in the Utah Territory or calling the sightings into question. The number of alleged appearances of lake monsters all across northern Utah caused some people to speculate that there was an underground channel connecting the Great Salt Lake and other waterways to Bear Lake. Sighting of the Bear Lake Monster continued even after Rich admitted that he fabricated the original sightings as a hoax. A 1907 letter published in a Logan, Utah newspaper claimed that two men had seen the Bear Lake behemoth attack their camp and kill one of their horses, a four-year-old claimed to see it in 1937, and a Boy Scout leader spoke of seeing it in 1946. The last reported sighting of the monster was in June 2002, when Bear Lake business owner Brian Hirschi claims to have seen the monster. DESCRIPTION: Not all descriptions of the Bear Lake Monster agree, but one team of folklorists stated that it “is reported to resemble a serpent, but with legs about eighteen inches long on which it marauds along the shoreline.” One article reported that the creature had “a large undulating body, with about 30 feet of exposed surface, of a light cream color, moving swiftly through the water, at a distance of three miles from the point of observation.” Others reported seeing a monster-like animal which went faster than a locomotive and had a head variously described as being similar to that of a cow, otter, crocodile or a walrus (minus the tusks). Its size was reported to be at least fifty feet long, and certainly not less than forty. Some sightings even spoke of a second member of the species and smaller monsters as well. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: The myth originally grew from articles written in the 19th century by Joseph C. Rich, a Mormon colonizer in the area, purporting to report second-hand accounts of sightings of the creature. However, he later recanted the stories. In recent years the monster is considered to be a tourist attraction.  BERGMAN’S BEAR LOCATION: Kamchatka Peninsula. DESCRIPTION: The Bergman's bear is an alleged and probably extinct subspecies of the brown bear that was identified and named by Swedish zoologist Sten Bergman in 1920. Bergman determined that the bear was a separate subspecies after examining a hide (which had fur very different from other local bears) and series of footprints, measuring 14.5 x 10 inches, which he judged to be much larger than other bears on Kamchatka. nterest in the bear was revitalized in the 1960s. Hunter Rodion Sivolobov reported claims by Kamchatka natives of an unusually large bear they called either the Irkuiem (roughly meaning "trousers pulled down" due to the appearance of the bear's hind legs), or the "God bear" due to its large size. ALTERNATE DESCRIPTION: Some think that the Cold War may have helped the population to recover because the Soviet Military blocked access to the area in that time. Based on Sivobolov's description, biologist N.K. Vereshchagin suggested that the God bear might be a relict Arctodus simus, a massive extinct bear. This idea was coolly received by the scientific community; Arctodus has never been found outside the Americas, and more importantly, it belonged to the Tremarctinae which differ considerably in appearance from the "typical" bears (Ursinae). In particular, Arctodus had relatively long and slender legs which does not agree with the "trousers pulled down" moniker. BEAST OF BEARS LOCATION: Southern Texas, Florida, Virginia, and possibly Arkansas. DESCRIPTION: The creature resembles a large bear with many scars and missing patches of fur. It is commonly seen near swamps as well as various areas in deep woods. The creature is described as having a strong pungent smell of alcohol and rotten eggs. It has also been theorized that because it lives near swamps, that it has gills. It also has large red eyes like those of the Mothman. SIGHTINGS: The first sighting of the Beast of Bears was October 12, 1973, at a camping spot near the town of Alice, Texas. Since then, over 31 sightings have been made of the creature, the most recent of which was on the 1st of May, 2012 in a back yard out side of Crestview, Florida. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS:There is evidence to support that the Beast of Bears is not a hoax. There are Inuit stories about giant bears who drag people under the water, drown them and eat them. Though these have never been proven, people have been known to go missing around all these areas, some of the causes have been listed as bear attacks. BEAST OF BRAY ROAD LOCATION: Elkhorn, Wisconsin. The same label has been applied to other sightings from southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Bray Road is a quiet rural road near the community of Elkhorn. DESCRIPTION: The Beast of Bray Road is described by purported witnesses in several ways: as a bear-like creature, as a hairy biped resembling Bigfoot, and as an unusually large (2–4 feet tall on all fours, 7 feet tall standing up) intelligent werewolf-like creature able to walk on its hind legs and weighing 400-700 pounds. It also said that its fur is a brown gray color resembling a dog or bear. SIGHTINGS: The rash of claimed sightings in the late 1980s and early 1990s prompted a local newspaper, the Walworth County Week, to assign reporter Linda Godfrey to cover the story. Godfrey was initially skeptical, but later became convinced of the sincerity of the witnesses. Her series of articles later became a book titled The Beast of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin's Werewolf. Concurrently with the sightings in Wisconsin, there was a rash of similar encounters in the neighboring state of Michigan. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: A number of animal-based theories have been proposed. They include that the creature is an undiscovered variety of wild dog, a waheela (said to be a giant prehistoric wolf similar to Amarok), or a wolfdog or a coydog. It is also possible that hoaxes and mass hysteria have caused some falsehoods and sightings of normal creatures to all be artificially lumped under the same label.  Following the release of "The Legend", a popular song about the Michigan Dogman in 1987, author Steve Cook received dozens of reports, including photograph and film evidence of the creature. There is no known link between the sightings in adjoining states, other than the similarity of the creature described. In the documentary Legend Hunters, also known as Legend Hunter: Beast of Bray Road, it was pointed out that the beast may be a manged bear (a bear which loses most of its fur, also giving it the appearance of a werewolf ). It has not been confirmed but it is very possible. BEAST OF BUSCO LOCATION: Indiana DESCRIPTION: In Indiana folklore, the Beast of Busco is an enormous snapping turtle. SIGHTINGS: Sightings began in 1949. Despite a month-long hunt that briefly gained national attention, the "Beast of Busco" was never found. The story starts in 1898, when a farmer named Oscar Fulk supposedly saw a giant turtle living in the seven-acre lake on his farm near Churubusco. He told others about it, but eventually he decided to leave it alone. A half century later, in July 1948, two Churubusco citizens, Ora Blue and Charley Wilson, also reported seeing a huge turtle (weighing an estimated 500 pounds) while fishing on the same lake, which had come to be known as Fulk Lake. A farmer named Gale Harris owned the land at that time. Harris and others also reported seeing the creature. Word spread. In early 1949, a UPI reporter from Fort Wayne sent the story out on the wire services, and the turtle became nationally famous. Curious mobs of sightseers began to invade Harris’ land. Traffic got so bad that the state police had to be called in for traffic control. People questioned the existence of the turtle. To vindicate his good name, Harris made several attempts to catch the beast, including draining the lake by pumping the water into an area sealed off by a dam with the help of Orville Bright and Kenneth Leitch only for the dam to break when the lake had almost been entirely drained. But despite many attempts, "Oscar" (named after the original owner of the farm) was never captured. In March 1949, an attempt to send a deep-sea diver into the pond failed when the wrong equipment was delivered to the Harris farm. A photographer for Life Magazine, Mike Shea, took 299 photos at the site, but they were deemed unusable. BEAST OF GEVAUDEN LOCATION: Former province of Gévaudan (modern-day département of Lozère and part of Haute-Loire) DESCRIPTION: Descriptions of the time vary, but generally the beast was said to look like a wolf but be about as big as a calf. It had a large dog-like head with small straight ears, a wide chest, and a large mouth that exposed very large teeth. The beast's fur was said to be russet in color but its back was streaked with black. SIGHTINGS: In the Margeride Mountains in south-central France between 1764 and 1767. The attacks, which covered an area stretching 56 by 50 mi, were said to have been committed by a beast or beasts that had formidable teeth and immense tails according to contemporary eyewitnesses. Victims were often killed by having their throats torn out. The Kingdom of France used a considerable amount of manpower and money to hunt the animals, including the resources of several nobles, soldiers, civilians, and a number of royal huntsmen. The number of victims differs according to sources. In 1987, one study estimated there had been 210 attacks; resulting in 113 deaths and 49 injuries; 98 of the victims killed were partly eaten. However, other sources claim it killed between 60 and 100 adults and children, as well as injuring more than 30. The Beast of Gévaudan carried out its first recorded attack in the early summer of 1764. A young woman, who was tending cattle in the Mercoire forest near Langogne in the eastern part of Gévaudan, saw the beast come at her. However, the bulls in the herd charged the beast, keeping it at bay. They then drove it off after it attacked a second time. Shortly afterwards the first official victim of the beast was recorded; 14-year-old Janne Boulet was killed near the village of Les Hubacs near the town of Langogne. Over the later months of 1764, more attacks were reported throughout the region. Very soon terror had gripped the populace because the beast was repeatedly preying on lone men, women and children as they tended livestock in the forests around Gévaudan. Reports note that the beast seemed to only target the victim's head or neck regions. By late December 1764 rumors had begun circulating that there might be a pair of beasts behind the killings. This was because there had been such a high number of attacks in such a short space of time, many had appeared to have been recorded and reported at the same time. Some contemporary accounts suggest the creature had been seen with another such animal, while others thought the beast was with its young. On January 12, 1765, Jacques Portefaix and seven friends were attacked by the Beast. After several attacks, they drove it away by staying grouped together. The encounter eventually came to the attention of Louis XV, who awarded 300 livres to Portefaix and another 350 livres to be shared among his companions. The king also directed that Portefaix be educated at the state's expense. He then decreed that the French state would help find and kill the beast. ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: The account has had a profound cultural influence on depictions of werewolves. For example the idea that werewolves were vulnerable to silver bullets likely comes from Jean Chastel's claim that he slew the beast with bullets he had forged out of silver.   According to modern scholars, public hysteria at the time of the attacks contributed to widespread myths that supernatural beasts roamed Gévaudan, but deaths attributed to a beast were more likely the work of a number of wolves or packs of wolves. In 2001 the French naturalist Michel Louis proposed that the red-colored mastiff belonging to Jean Chastel sired the beast and its resistance to bullets may have been due to it wearing the armored hide of a young boar, thus also accounting for the unusual color. The problem of attacks by wolves in those years was very serious, not only in France but throughout Europe, with tens of thousands of deaths in the 18th century alone. In contrast to the latter assumption, the following assessments, based on the historical research of Pierre Pourcher and François Fabre, were published in 2016 by a mammalogist on the website of the National Geographic Society: (1) From 1764 to 1767, there were only a few wolf attacks on humans in Gévaudan. (2) The descriptions of several arbitrarily selected and killed wolves were adapted so that they corresponded to the descriptions provided by the victims and the hunters of the beast. (3) The numerous details about size, appearance, behavior, and strength of the beast, handed down by contemporary witnesses, allow one to identify the beast as a sub- adult male lion that had escaped from captivity. BEAVER EATER LOCATION: British Columbia SIGHTINGS: Dawn Charlie, a Canadian First Nation member, contacted the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club in 1989 with a sighting. BCSCC co-founder Paul LeBlond interviewed her, and in 1990 this account was published in issue #4 of the BCSCC's magazine: "The latest report was from Violet Johny, my husband’s sister, who was fishing with her husband and her mother at the head of Tatchun Lake 4 or 5 years ago.  An animal came out of the woods, 8 or 9 feet high, bigger than a grizzly bear.  It was a “saytoechin” and it was coming towards them.  They panicked, fired a few shots over its head and finally managed to get the motor going and took off.  There are other reports.  There is also a report that a white man shot one in a small lake in that area.  Beaver eaters are supposed to live in the mountainous area east of Frenchman Lake." ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS: Natives identified a picture of a giant ground sloth as the beaver eater. However, giant ground sloths were herbivores and all 5 genera that are currently known to have lived in North America went extinct. Could a giant ground sloth survive there by adapting into a beaver eater? Other explanations are an unusually large grizzly bear, a surviving short faced bear, Arctodus Simus, or, strangely enough, a giant beaver of the Castoroides genus. There was, interestingly, a species of giant ground sloth that was native to the Yukon area in particular (though it is believed to have been a herbivore, and is thought to have gone extinct along with the rest of the North American megafauna). A paper published in 1996 by the Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay, suggests that at least some giant ground sloths may have been omnivores. Dr. Richard Fariña and Dr. Ernesto Blanco propose that Megatherium could have scavenged meat, taken kills made by large carnivores, or even been an active hunter, using its long front claws and great strength to overturn glyptodonts (giant, extinct armadillos). This theory has not gained much traction in the wider scientific community, however. It may be worth noting, though, that a meat-eating ground sloth would not be the first instance of a member of an herbivorous family evolving to exploit resources or fill an ecological niche, and they may have simply gone extinct before evolving to the point of developing specialized meat-eating features that would be obvious from fossils. Modern herbivores - for example, hippos and deer - have been shown to sometimes eat carrion or bones to obtain necessary nutrients, and under the right circumstances this occasional behavior may become necessary or beneficial enough to encourage the evolution of a more omnivorous species. Another possible explanation, the giant beaver, were native to North America and could grow to more than 7' long and nearly 300lbs. The most recent fossil dates to around 60,000 years ago, but the genus is thought to have survived to perhaps as recently as 10,000 years ago, meaning they likely coexisted with early humans. BESSIE LOCATION: Lake Erie DESCRIPTION: Bessie is reported to be snake-like and 30 to 40 ft long, at least a foot in diameter, with a grayish color. It was described as as between 20 and 30 feet in length and shaped like a large sturgeon, except that it had arms. SIGHTINGS: The first recorded sighting of Bessie occurred in 1793, and more sightings have occurred intermittently and in greater frequency in the last three decades. While shooting at ducks north of Sandusky, Ohio, in 1793, the captain of the sloop Felicity startled a large creature (snake) described as "more than a rod (16 ½ ft.) in length" July 1817, the crew of a schooner reported a 30 to 40-foot long serpent, dark in color. Later that year, another boat crew spotted a similar animal, this time copper-colored and 60 feet in length. This time, they shot at it with muskets, which had no visible effect. A third 1817 incident took place near Toledo, when French settlers—two brothers named Dusseau—encountered a huge monster on the beach, writhing in what they took to be its death throes. The panicked brothers fled the scene, and when they returned later, the creature had disappeared, presumably carried off by waves after its death. All that was left of its presence were marks on the beach and a number of silver scales about the size of silver dollars. An extraordinary sighting which was carried by local newspapers took place by the entire crew of a ship bound from Buffalo, New York, to Toledo, Ohio, in July 1892. The crew (including captain) saw a large area of water about 0.5 miles ahead of them churned up and foaming. As they approached they saw "a huge sea serpent" that appeared to be "wrestling about in the waters, as if fighting with an unseen foe." They observed as the creature relaxed itself and stretched out full length—estimated at 50 feet long and 4 feet in circumference—with its head sticking up above the water an additional 4 feet. The brownish creature's eyes were described as "viciously sparkling" and large fins were also noted. Crystal Beach near Fort Erie was the scene of another sighting on May 5, 1896. This time there were four eyewitnesses who watched for 45 minutes as a 30- foot creature with a dog-shaped head and pointy tail churned up the water as it swam about until finally disappearing before nightfall. There were some sightings of the alleged monster in 1969, the 1980s and in 1993. Local marina owner Thomas Solberg offered a reward of $5,000 reward "for anyone who captures South Bay Bessie alive".   BIGFOOT For centuries, human beings have reported having encounters with giant man-like ape creatures within the forests of North America. They have been called hundreds of different names throughout history and have been seen in many different locations; dense woodland forests, high up in the mountains, and low within the swamps. Many of these encounters can easily be written off as hoaxes made by people looking for their fifteen minutes of fame, others though cannot as easily be written off. One of the many factors that makes a lot of these encounters and sightings credible is that a large majority of witnesses describe the creatures as possessing the same features. The witnesses reside all over the world, sometimes hundreds of miles from another witness who has had their own encounter (thus minimizing the possibility of a hoax between the two parties). Over time, researchers have collected and documented these features and built a base model of the creature known as Sasquatch. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization compiled the common shared description of the creatures. Skin color ranges from the deepest black or charcoal to deep brown, “sunburned” reddish brown, and gray. Some areas, like the nose, appear at times in a shiny, oily black color. The palms are lighter in color, and the soles of the feet quite light, presumably as a result of thick sole pads composed, as in other primates, of fat and connective tissue. A few albino Sasquatch have been seen, whose skin color was pink. The Sasquatch is covered with hair, not fur. Fur has guard hairs and an undercoat, while primate hair consists of one type of hair alone. The Sasquatch, being a primate, does not molt its hair, but it is replaced one hair at a time, hence is not found in woolly batches. The body can have various patches of different colored hair. Older animals have increasingly gray hair, though color does not appear to change from childhood to adulthood. Hair is variously glossy clean and shiny, fluffy, or dirty, matted and unkempt, probably a function of native curliness, age, or of recent immersion in water or lack thereof. Females have been reported to be cleaner than males. Hair length ranges from 3" to around 2’ (15" longest measured in hand, longer observed in the wild). Long hair covers the head and, almost invariably, the ears; very short hair on the face; occasional reports of heavy hairiness in male faces (“mustache” and “beard”) vs. no facial hair in females; long hair across the top of the shoulders; long hair on the forearms; different orientations of hair on back; breasts on females are hair covered; long hair on buttocks, sometimes overhanging them; groin is covered with enough hair to obscure genitalia; and long hair on the calves. About 10-15% of close encounters are connected with an intense, disagreeable stench, comparable to the odor of rotten meat. Gorillas, under conditions of distress, exude a gag inducing and overpowering aroma, the origin of which is the axillary organ (i.e., the armpit with its apocrine sweat glands). The same anatomy might also pertain to the Sasquatch. The head, though massive by direct comparison to that of man, has been described as “relatively” small for an animal of that size, indicative of a rather small brain. The head develops a sagittal crest in adult males as well as in females. Some animals, possibly younger, have a round head. Brain volume is probably close to or slightly above that of the gorilla. There is a conspicuous brow ridge with a receding forehead, giving the eyes a deep-set look. The face is rather flat with prominent cheekbones, a square jaw, and the mouth region is only slightly protuberant. Deep brown eye color predominates, with a “red” component common (probably a bloodshot sclera). A white Sasquatch was once reported and the witness described it as having blue eyes. Night reflection from eyes varies most commonly between red and yellow and is probably dependent on pupillary size rather than true reflectivity. The nose is almost human in shape, though “pug” or flat, sometimes with forward directed nostrils. The mouth is often reported to be thin-lipped, with yellowish, square teeth with a human-like appearance. When larger canines have been seen, they did not project substantially beyond the plane of the other teeth and would be subject to wear with time. Ears are almost invariably hidden under hair and have been reported to be either rounded or pointed. Muscles from the back of the head flare out to the shoulders to obscure the neck. A result is that, as in weight lifters, the body is usually turned with the head when a rearward view is desired. The trunk is generally carried at a forward angle of about 15° (“hunched over”). This means that the species has not achieved a full upright stance, a difference from human beings, although at times the animals do stand up straight. The shoulders are proportionately wider than those of man, measuring about 40% of the height in a Sasquatch compared to 25- 30% in man. Large Sasquatches have been described as having four to five foot wide shoulders. They are barrel-chested, with a large respiratory tidal volume. Females have breasts, small and conical near puberty, rather heavy and pendulous during reproductive years, and shrunken in old age. They are hair-covered except for the nipples and areola. The arms are massive and might exceed human length somewhat, frequently reported as hanging close to their knees, though accentuated by the slouching stance of the animals. They are particularly hairy along the forearms and end in very large and massive hands. The hand deviates in slight but significant ways from the human hand. Fingers are generally shorter, especially the thumb, and the latter is carried “farther toward the wrist” as compared to the position in man. The hand largely lacks the thenar pad (the mounded muscle at the base of the thumb), a corollary of the lowest opposability found in the higher primates. The hand is proportionately broader than that of man, palm width in adults measuring up to 8". Both finger and toe nails are deeply colored brownish yellow, presumably a combination of dirt and thick keratin, though fingernails are light colored in some. There are no claws. Young males have a V-shaped trunk, tapering from a wide chest to a narrower waist, whereas the female trunk has an overall barrel shape. Female hips seem to be broader than those of the male. Either sex rarely has a protruding abdomen (other than during pregnancy in the female). Genitalia in the female are hidden by hair, as are generally those of the male. The legs are massive, especially the thighs. The calves are also unusually muscular, the gastrocnemius (calf) muscle being particularly prominent during rear views. Feet are most amply recorded by way of innumerable measured footprints. They range in recorded length from barely walking infants at 4"-5" to known female prints and very large presumptive male footprints. The mean length of 702 prints (collected over nearly 50 years) is 15.6”  with a range of 4" to 27", and a mean width of about 0.45 times that of the length. This proportion remains about the same with increasing length of the feet. Feet grow in excess of gain in height of the animals to compensate for the exponential increase in weight with linear dimensions. The foot does not have an arch, but retains the primitive primate mid-sole flexure of apes, called a metatarsal hinge. During running, often only the anterior half of the foot (anterior to the metatarsal hinge) contacts the ground. The toes are capable of substantial splaying in slippery terrain, especially abduction of the big toe. The sole is very thick and indents deeply over uneven terrain without harm to the animal. The height average for the sampled population is 7’ 10", derived from a combination of eye witness estimates and scaling from footprints. Babies are small by human standards, but grow rapidly and evidently learn to walk at an early age. Aside from infants being carried, small walking Sasquatches, 3-4’ tall, have been seen. The animals reach maturity at a height of 6’-7’ and the largest, reliably estimated individuals exceed 10’. Males are taller than females, but seemingly by no more than about a foot at the median of the population. Weight is difficult to estimate on sight and seems to vary from animal to animal as much as in people, but a tight, established relationship exists in primates between chest circumference and weight. Applying this formula, the average Sasquatch can be estimated to weigh 650 lbs, and the maximum (for a 24" or larger footprint) probably to exceed 1,000 lbs. BLACK DEMON SHARK The Black Demon Shark (Spanish: El Demonio Negro) is an enormous black shark whose territory is said to be just off the coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula. In recent times, several local fishermen have reported seeing the black monstrosity. The Black Demon is said to be 20-60 feet long and weighing anywhere between 50-100,000 lbs! It is said to resemble a great white, but with very dark coloration and a truly monstrous tail. Some say it could be the Megalodon or a new species of shark, maybe even an over sized Great White. Many expeditions were launched to locate this monstrous creature, even on MonsterQuest in the chapter Mega-Jaws, but they didn't discover anything. Sadly, sightings are rare and the creature is elusive. Because of this, not much is known. It is possible since albinism is found in sharks that melanism could be too. BOWNESSIE Since 2006 there have been 8 reported sightings of a 'lake monster' in Lake Windermere in the Lakeland District of Cumbria county in northern England. The papers have dubbed the Lake Windermere monster "Bownessie", a play on "Nessie" the Loch Ness Monster and one of the towns on the lake shore, Bowness-on-Windermere. One recent sightings, of a "an enormous snake" or "humpbacked creature" "about the length of three cars" was captured on camera. Sadly, like so many photos at Loch Ness, Lake Champlain, and other reputed sea monster sites, the photos ended up kinda blurry and rather inconclusive. Prior to this recent 'wave' of monster activity, the first reported sighting of an unknown creature in the lake dates to 1955. BROSNO DRAGON In Russian folklore, Brosno Dragon, also known as Brosnya (Russian: Бросня), is the name given to a lake monster which is said to inhabit Lake Brosno, near Andreapol in West Russia. It is described as resembling a dragon, and is the subject of a number of regional legends, some which are said to date back to the 13th century. Many people treat the existence of Brosnya skeptically and still say that the creature may be a mutant beaver or a giant pike of 100–150 years. Others conjecture that groups of wild boars and elks cross the lake from time to time. There are some more scientific hypotheses concerning Brosnya. One of them is a gas version saying that when hydrogen sulfide goes up from the lake bottom it makes water boil up; this boiling in its turn resembles a dragon head. But the amount of hydrogen sulfide must be considerable to produce this effect. Other version says that there is a volcano in Lake Brosno that makes ejections on the water surface from time to time. It is well known that there are several fractures at the bottom of the lake, the depth and the direction of the fractures cannot be defined. It is not ruled out that the volcano crater is inside of one of the fractures. This explains why the volcano, if it actually exists, has not been discovered yet. Fishermen say that the underwater world of Lake Brosno has a structure of several levels. From time to time, burbots and yellow perch can be found in the lake. For example, herring can be found in a lake in Peno District in the Tver Region. Some consider it strange that sea fish may live in the lake at all. Smelt shoals can be found in Lake Brosno as well. The phenomenon of Brosnya can be explained from the physical point of view: huge smelt shoals are reflected on the water surface through refraction of light and produces the effect of a huge reptile head. Physicists say that any mirage appears in hot weather. Indeed, witnesses say that they came across Brosnya in summer. However, the origin of the rumors of this strange monster remain a mystery. Rumors of a strange, giant creature living in Lake Brosno have existed for several centuries. One legend says that the lake monster scared to death the Tatar-Mongol army that headed for Novgorod in the 13th century. Batu Khan stopped the troops on the sides of Lake Brosno to rest. Horses were allowed to drink water from the lake. However, when the horses ventured down to the lake, a huge roaring creature emerged from the water and started devouring horses and soldiers. The Batu-khan troops were so terrified that they turned back, and Novgorod was saved. Old legends describe an "enormous mouth" devouring fishermen. Chronicles mention a "sand mountain" that appeared on the lake surface from time to time. According to another legend, some Varangians wanted to hide stolen treasure in the lake. When they approached the small island, a dragon came to the surface from the lake and swallowed the island up. It was rumored in the 18th and 19th centuries that the giant creature emerged on the lake surface in the evening, but immediately submerged when people approached. It is said that during World War II the beast swallowed up a German airplane. Today, there are lots of witnesses who say they chanced to see Brosnya walking in the water. Locals say that it turns boats upside-down and has to do with disappearance of people. BUNYIP The bunyip is a large mythical creature from Australian Aboriginal mythology, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. The origin of the word bunyip has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia language of Aboriginal people of Victoria, in South-Eastern Australia. But the figure of the bunyip was part of traditional Aboriginal beliefs and stories throughout Australia, while its name varied according to tribal nomenclature. In his 2001 book, writer Robert Holden identified at least nine regional variations of the creature known as the bunyip across Aboriginal Australia. Europeans recorded various written accounts of bunyips in the early and mid-19th century, as they began to settle across the country. The word bunyip is usually translated by Aboriginal Australians today as "devil" or "evil spirit". This contemporary translation may not accurately represent the role of the bunyip in pre-contact Aboriginal mythology or its possible origins before written accounts were made. Some modern sources allude to a linguistic connection between the bunyip and Bunjil, "a mythic 'Great Man' who made the mountains and rivers and man and all the animals." The word bunyip may have first appeared in print in English about the mid-1840s. Descriptions of bunyips vary widely. George French Angus may have collected a description of a bunyip in his account of a "water spirit" from the Moorundi people of the Murray River before 1847, stating it is "much dreaded by them ... It inhabits the Murray; but ... they have some difficulty describing it. Its most usual form ... is said to be that of an enormous starfish." Robert Brough Smyth's Aborigines of Victoria (1878) devoted ten pages to the bunyip, but concluded "in truth little is known among the blacks respecting its form, covering or habits; they appear to have been in such dread of it as to have been unable to take note of its characteristics." Common features as reported in many 19th-century newspaper accounts include a dog-like face, a crocodile-like head, dark fur, a horse-like tail, flippers, and walrus-like tusks or horns, or a duck-like bill. BURRUNJOR The Burrunjor is an Australian dinosaur cryptid that resembles the theropod dinosaur T. rex, but maybe a descendant of megaraptorids like Australovenator, Megaraptor, or Rapator, but it could also be a dinosaur that has so far not appeared in the fossil record. The Burrunjor is described as being a giant lizard according to aboriginal mythology. Based on sightings it is 20-25 feet long, has small clawed hands and is bipedal in nature. Throughout the 1950s, Australian cattle ranchers reported a large creature leaving bipedal tracks was eating their livestock. Also, earlier aboriginal accounts suggest that is it a reptilian animal (possibly with feathers) whose diet consisted of kangaroos and other large animals. If it was not for the bipedal footprint findings, the burrunjor could have been mistaken for a Megalania (Varanus priscus), a prehistoric giant monitor lizard that lived in the area more recently, based on the aboriginal description. The last sighting of the Burrunjor happened in 1985 when a family was traveling to Roper River and they reported see a 20 foot long monster covered in feathers. Another report tells of man named Bryan Clark who went into the woods and got lost sometime during 1978; after the alarm was raised, he was tracked by policemen and two aboriginal bushmen. The trackers woke up one night to a loud thunderous sound and the ground shaking. After finding the wayward traveller, policemen later told the man that if he ever went back into the woods and got lost that they would not come looking for him. Some think the sound was the stomping of the Burrunjor; however, a light-footed theropod dinosaur would not crash around the undergrowth in this manner, despite what certain Spielberg movies would have the public believe. BURU The Buru was an aquatic reptile said to have lived in Ziro valley, a small town in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India, at some undefined time in the past. In 1947, Professor Christopher von Furer-Haimendorf was the first westerner to be told about the Buru. By that time, the animals had reportedly already become extinct in the valley. According to the Apatani elders, when their forefathers migrated to Ziro valley, the valley was primarily a marsh which was populated by Burus. The Apatani people decided to settle in the valley because of its fertility and good climate. But every now and then they would have confrontations with burus. So they decided to drain the marsh of its water and thus eliminate the Burus. Most of the Burus died because of the drainage, and many supposedly went underground into the springs. The last Buru was said to be reported by a young woman, who sighted it in a spring one night while she was drawing water. The startled lady told her father about the incident. The next day the whole village helped fill the spring with stones and clay. Traditionally, there has been speculation that the Buru was an unidentified member of the order crocodilia. Tellingly, crocodiles or alligators are also called "Buru" by the Apatanis. There is large population of crocodiles which live in caves in North Africa, quite far from open water, so an underground existence is not improbable for persecuted Indian crocodiles. The mere fact that crocodilians are called "Buru" may not however be very significant, since the Buru is described with monitor-like characteristics such as an elongated neck and a forked tongue. The native name of the Komodo dragon is "Land Crocodile". Both Bernard Heuvelmans and Roy Mackal regard the Buru to be a large Komodo dragon-like monitor lizard, and there are fossils of such a creature to be found in the Indian subcontinent. A-B C-F G-k L-M