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Cryptids, or animals that have been claimed to exist without proof of their existence, span the globe. From world-famous sea beasts like the Loch Ness Monster to more obscure creatures like the Mongolian Death Worm, these stories have popped up over the years in many cultures.
Why are there so many questionable claims about the existence of apemen around the world? How do stories of cryptids spread and mutate over time? And if you're a disobedient kid, how do you make sure you don't get eaten by a rougarou?
Erin (@erinccmarthy) explains 22 cryptids, from the Pope Lick Monster to chupacabras.
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22 Cryptids Explained | Mental Floss
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0:00
Did you know that, according to legend, there is a giant, red, poison-spitting, worm-like
0:04
creature that lives in the sands of the Gobi Desert? Hi, I'm Erin McCarthy, editor-in-chief of mentalfloss.com, and welcome to the List Show
0:11
from my living room. The Mongolian death worm is also known as the Olgoye Korkoe, which translates to something
0:17
like large intestine worm. Based on a description taken down by Roy Chapman Andrews, the explorer who may have indirectly
0:23
inspired Indiana Jones, and who, it feels important to point out, was skeptical of this
0:28
creature's existence, it lives up to that name. In his 1926 book On the Trail of Ancient Man
0:34
Chapman wrote that the Mongolian prime minister had described the beast as, quote, shaped like a sausage, about two feet long, has no head nor legs, and is so poisonous that merely
0:43
to touch it means instant death. If you're picturing a blood-red version of the graboids
0:48
from Tremors, well, you're not alone. The Olgoi Korkowi is said to be active during the months of
0:53
June and July, and reportedly you don't even need to touch it to be taken down by the death worm
0:57
It can kill by spitting its toxic, corrosive venom at you, or by hitting you with a bolt
1:02
of electricity. No one has ever photographed the creature, and many reports seem to be of the I-have-a-friend-of-a-friend-who-saw-it variety
1:10
But many people believe that it's real, and continue to search for it to this day
1:14
And the Mongolian death worm is just the first of many creepy but cool cryptids that I'm
1:18
going to share with you today. Before we get into any more cryptids, let's talk a little bit about what a cryptid actually
1:31
is. Merriam-Webster defines a cryptid as quote, an animal that has been claimed to exist but
1:37
never proven to exist. And this feels like a good place to note that from here on out
1:41
when I refer to a creature that lives in a place, understand that I'm really saying that creature
1:45
is said to live in that place. Dubious veracity is an essential part of cryptid storytelling
1:50
but it might get exhausting reminding you that basically all of the facts we know about
1:54
cryptids are only alleged. Besides, it's more fun to proceed as if these creatures
1:58
are real, for the next ten minutes at least. Anyway, the study of cryptids is cryptozoology. What creatures actually qualify as cryptids
2:06
kind of depends on who you talk to. But in general, mythical creatures like unicorns and
2:10
dragons don't count because we know they don't exist. Anthosologist George M. Eberhard has broken cryptids down into ten categories, including
2:18
seemingly paranormal or supernatural entities with some animal-like characteristics, survivals of species known only from the fossil record into modern times
2:26
and animals not known from the fossil record nor related to any known species
2:31
One creature that belongs in the latter category is North America's Bigfoot, aka Sasquatch
2:36
a bipedal ape-like creature most closely associated with the Pacific Northwest. Plenty of people claim to have seen Bigfoot or captured evidence of the creature
2:43
from video evidence to casts of huge footprints, and Sasquatch is a part of many of the traditions
2:48
of indigenous people. There's even one village in British Columbia where members of the Kittasue
2:53
Hi-Hi First Nation live alongside Sasquatch, which they call Buckwiss. They're just a part
2:58
of life. Across the Pacific is the Yeti, a creature native to Asia that first appeared in folktales
3:04
told by the Sherpa people. The Yeti and the Abominable Snowman are actually one and the
3:08
same. The name Abominable Snowman came from a translation error that appeared in a newspaper
3:12
in 1921. Some believe that the yeti and sasquatch are actually a species of animal that went extinct
3:18
hundreds of thousands of years ago—Gigantopithecus, a polar bear-sized ape native to Southern Asia
3:23
But genetic ysis of hair hasn yet turned up evidence of either animal ysis of yeti fur for example revealed that the sample wasn from an ape but from a Himalayan bear Okay so you obviously heard of yeti and sasquatch But there are plenty of apemen
3:37
and other hairy humanoid cryptids you probably haven't heard of. There's al-mesti, which
3:42
apparently shares some characteristics of Neanderthals, and roams Central Asia. The amamungo is an ape man that hails from the Philippines and apparently likes to disembowel
3:50
goats with its long fingernails. Amferliachmoor, aka the Big Grey Man, inhabits the summit of
3:56
Ben MacDewie, the second highest mountain in Scotland. Supposedly, you can hear its disembodied
4:01
footsteps in the gravel of the mountain, and when the fog thins, you see a hairy humanoid
4:06
three times taller than a man. Yawis, which live in the Australian outback, originated in indigenous Australian tails
4:13
These creatures are said to be extremely hairy and between 7 and 12 feet tall. They've been
4:18
described both as Australia's version of Bigfoot and a spirit that roams over the earth at night
4:23
a phrase that sends a shiver up my spine. There's also the Hibagon, which lives in the mountains
4:28
around Hiroshima in Japan. And there are many others. Experts say these ape-men legends occurred
4:33
independently across cultures. Benjamin Radford, deputy editor of Skeptical Enquirer magazine, told Live Science, quote, The idea of a wild, man-like other creature existing with us
4:44
but just beyond our understanding, is heavily rooted in mythology. The Honey Island Swamp Monster is a 7-foot tall, 400-pound, stinky, gray-haired beast
4:53
first spotted by two hunters in Louisiana's Honey Island Swamp in 1963. Casts of its footprints
4:58
have shown it to have four toes—one off to the side and three thin, webbed toes on
5:02
the front of the foot. Some say it's the product of mating between escaped circus chimpanzees
5:07
and alligators, which doesn't seem scientifically sound, but what do I know
5:11
We can't do a list of cryptids without talking about the Loch Ness Monster
5:15
Sightings of a beast in the area of Loch Ness go back 1,500 years, but the modern obsession
5:20
began in 1933, after a new road was built that offered a better view of the Loch
5:24
A loch is basically a Scottish word for a lake or other inland body of water, by the
5:28
way, and it's more properly pronounced loch. Please let me know how I did on that pronunciation in the comments
5:34
Anyway, the most famous photo of Nessie, dubbed the surgeon's photo, was taken the year after that
5:40
What's interesting about that photo is that, according to some, it was an elaborate attempt
5:44
at revenge. In 1933, the Daily Mail sent Marmaduke Wetherell to Loch Ness to find the creature. Wetherell
5:51
discovered some four-toed footprints near the water, took casts of the prints, and sent
5:55
them off to a museum for ysis. And, of course, he wrote about them. But it all blew
5:59
up in his face when the museum revealed that the prints didn't belong to Nessie but to
6:04
a hippo. Someone, possibly Wetherell himself, had likely used the foot of some kind of stand
6:09
to put the prints in the mud. The Daily Mail, who had sent Wetherell to find proof the monster
6:13
decided to attack and humiliate him. If you think that sounds rude, you're not alone
6:18
Wetherell apparently didn't appreciate it either. He and his stepson used a wood plastic
6:23
composite and a toy submarine to create their version of the Loch Ness Monster, then took
6:28
it to the lake, photographed it, and the film wound up in the hands of a doctor. That doctor
6:32
developed the film and sent the photo to the Daily Mail, which published it. But when the
6:37
the photos started generating a ton of publicity, the hoaxters apparently decided not to reveal
6:41
what they'd done. Of course, not everyone believes this story is true, not the least
6:45
because it didn't come to light for decades. In the world of cryptids, nothing is simple
6:51
Nessie isn the only aquatic cryptid out there Another is Tahoe Tessie which supposedly lives in California and Nevada Lake Tahoe Yet another is Ogopogo which lives in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia This creature appears in Siach and Shehet McTales as Inhotka an evil entity that required natives to make a sacrifice to cross the lake
7:10
White people reportedly started seeing the creature in the 1870s. The name Ogopogo is
7:15
thought to derive from a popular mid-20s nonsense song that included the lyrics
7:19
His mother was an earwig, his father was a whale. I'm going to put a little bit of salt on his tail
7:25
I want to find the Ogopogo. Ogopogo caught on, and unfortunately, as with so many things
7:31
the original native name for the creature was wiped out. Thanks to YouTube commenter Carlin
7:35
C for pointing us towards the Ogopogo. Our next episode is all about English language mistakes
7:41
Comment below with the common English language error that makes your skin crawl the most
7:44
For what it's worth, Dr. Charles Goldman, an expert on inland aquatic systems
7:48
believes that sightings of lake monsters like Nessie, Tessie, and Ogopogo are actually mirages
7:53
caused by temperature changes in the deep, cold lakes. Another possible explanation is very big
7:59
fish like sturgeons that live in the lakes. The Congo's Mkelebebe is a different water monster
8:04
altogether. This 35-foot-long herbivore lives in rivers and is said to resemble a sauropod dinosaur
8:09
down to its long tail and neck. Tales about a mysterious giant animal in the area date back
8:13
to the 1700s, but the creature first popped up in modern literature in the 1909 book Beasts and Men
8:19
There have been a number of searches over the years, including an expedition funded on Kickstarter
8:24
but the M'kelebebe, a name that means one who stops the flow of rivers, still hasn't been found
8:30
The Dara Rhu is an otter-like Irish cryptid that's said to be half fish, half hound. The aggressive
8:35
seven-foot-long creatures supposedly live in lakes around Ireland and are known as Irish Crocodiles
8:41
Sightings date back to the late 1600s. And there's even a depiction of a Dara Rhu on a gravestone of
8:46
of a woman who is said to have been killed by one of the creatures in 1722
8:50
I have a request. No matter how I go, please put an elaborate description of the cryptid who killed me on
8:55
my gravestone. I want to pop up in a YouTube video in 300 Years in a footnote about the woman who was
8:59
mauled by a half-lion, half-pig. What a claim to fame. According to indigenous Australian folklore, the bunyip is a creature found in lakes and
9:08
swamps in Australia that is fond of eating people, especially women and kids
9:13
Descriptions of the bunyip are all over the place. many describe it as looking something like a seal. Also, it supposedly lays its eggs in
9:19
platypus nests, and as a person whose dream is to see a platypus with her own two eyes
9:23
I have to say, that is very not cool. Okay, let's move on to the half-creepy creature
9:28
half-man cryptid section of the video. The Loveland Frogman is exactly what it sounds like
9:33
A humanoid frog. The creature was first spotted swimming in Ohio's Little Miami River in 1955
9:40
Then, in March 1972, it was seen by Loveland, Ohio police officers on two separate occasions
9:45
The first officer described a 3-4 foot tall creature that weighed 60 pounds with leathery
9:50
skin and a face like a frog or lizard. The second officer even shot the creature
9:54
In 2016, the Loveland frogman was supposedly spotted again by two people playing Pokemon Go
10:00
One of them emailed a video of the creature to the local news, saying, quote
10:04
We saw a huge frog near the water. Not in the game. This was an actual giant frog
10:09
I took a couple of pictures and a video, because I'd never seen one that big
10:13
Then the thing stood up and walked on its hind legs. He added, quote, I swear on my grandmother's grave that this is the truth
10:21
After that article came out, however, the second officer from the 1972 sightings came
10:25
forward and called it a hoax claiming that the creature he spotted and shot was an iguana that had been missing its tail A blogger was also able to basically duplicate what the Pok Go player had captured in his video using a small statue of a frog with light eyes But even if the
10:39
Loveland Frogman isn't real, these totally awesome I Saw the Loveland Frogman t-shirts are. I really
10:45
need to get one of those. You might have heard about Marilyn's Goatman, which we discussed in
10:50
our episode about the true origins of urban legends. But he's not the only goat-based cryptid
10:54
Texas's Lake Worth Monster is also a goat man that is apparently 7 feet tall and 350 pounds
11:00
and the Popelik Monster is a half-goat, half-man creature that lives under a railroad trestle bridge
11:05
in Louisville, Kentucky. It reportedly uses hypnosis to lure people out onto the bridge
11:09
and to their deaths. Now let's go from creatures that are goats to a creature that eats goats
11:15
Chupacabra is Spanish for goat sucker. This creature, which first appeared in Puerto Rico
11:19
in the 1990s, has creepy red eyes, stands on two legs, is 4 to 5 feet tall, has spikes
11:25
on its back and very long claws on its hands, and oh yeah, it likes to drain livestock of
11:30
their blood. The legend spread all over Latin America, into the United States, and into
11:34
legend. But DNA ysis suggests that many of the so-called chupacabras are actually
11:39
canines with mange. Cajun legend has it that the swamps and bayous of Louisiana are haunted by the Rougarou
11:45
a werewolf-like creature that apparently hunts two types of prey, Catholics who don't observe
11:49
Lent and naughty kids. Unlike werewolf legends, however, you don't need to be bitten by a Rougarou
11:54
to become a Rougarou. According to Jonathan Foray, Executive Director of South Louisiana
12:00
Wetlands Discovery Center, quote, one of the ways that you could become a Rougarou is if you did
12:05
not observe Lent for seven years in a row. You can also become a Rougarou if someone curses you
12:10
but if you're a bad kid, make no mistake. Rougarou wants to eat you. To protect yourself
12:14
from the Rougarou, you need to place 13 objects, like pennies or rocks, on your threshold or
12:20
windowsill. It supposedly works because Rougarou can only count to 12. This I understand. I'm also
12:26
bad at math. The Ahul is a giant bat-like creature spotted by a scientist in the jungles of Java and
12:31
Indonesia in 1925. It's named after its call and is said to be twice as large as the large flying
12:37
fox bat, which, with a wingspan of 5 feet or just short of one errand, is among the largest bats in
12:43
the world. Some have said the creature might be a pterosaur, others believe it could be
12:47
an owl. Finally, let's finish up with a giant cat. The Beast of Exmoor prowls the fields near
12:52
Somerset and Devon in the UK, and has been spotted numerous times since the 1970s. This
12:58
is not the kind of cat you'd want to cuddle with. The killings of hundreds of sheep have
13:02
been pinned on the creature, which is said to be up to 6.5 feet long. One farmer whose
13:06
sheep was killed by the beast said his sheep's face and neck were stripped clean off. The
13:11
the corpse had also been sucked dry. The killing was apparently so quick that the sheep didn't
13:15
even struggle, and so quiet that none of the other animals near it were disturbed. Some
13:20
believe the creature is a big cat like a puma that either escaped or was released from a
13:24
private owner after it became illegal to own big cats in the 1970s. But given that big
13:28
cats like these only live for around 15 years, and that sightings persist to this day, it
13:33
seems like the mystery of the Beast of Exmoor remains unsolved. Now let's talk about a cryptid that's half bat, half cat, with razor-sharp talons and
13:41
huge yellow eyes. She's said to lurk around this apartment and show up whenever you say the word treat
13:47
That's the face of a cat who is 100% gonna murder me in my sleep tonight
13:52
Don't forget to drop an English language mistake in the comments for a chance to be featured in our next episode
13:56
And remember to check out Mental Floss every Wednesday for new videos. We'll see you soon
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