The Bauk is a creature from Serbian mythology. It is said to hide in dark places, holes, or abandoned houses, waiting to grab, and devour its victim. Legend says that the Bauk is easily scared by lights and noises.
The appearance of the Bauk is not well known, due to the face that it hides in the darkest and most secluded of places. However, stories say it can be identified though the sounds of fingernails against wood.
So what inspired this menacing creature?
The name “Bauk” comes from the anomatopeaia BAU! The word “Bau” is the Serbian work used to scare someone, similar to the English “boo.”
Stories say that Bauk is a stealthy stalker with glowing eyes. It is easily scared by noise and lights. The story is often used to scare disobedient and restless kids.
Considering the Bauk’s habits and known attributes, most historians believe the creature was most likely inspired by the cultural memory of bears. Brown Bears once existed in Serbia but went extinct for a significant amount of time and were mostly only known by legends.
The story of the Bauk is an exaggeration for the animals that disappeared from the region as told by people who had never seen the animal before.
Aside from the large body and sharp claws, the Bauk is also said to have glowing eyes. Like most animals with night vision, bears have an tapetum lucidum. This is the structure in the eyes that allows for better vision in the dark. It is also the structure that “glows” when you shine light on them.
Bears eyes take on a bright yellow glow when exposed to light in the dark. This could explain the “glowing eyes” that were sometimes reported.
The Bauk is a strange creature. Some people say that it has been used to describe any boogeyman-like creature in Serbian mythology. Most theories however, point to the creature being a bear. Wherever it came from, this is an interesting story.
The minhocão is a legendary creature from Brazilian folklore. It is described as a subterranean serpentine creature with scales and horns. It causes significant destruction through its tunneling. People have claimed that it grows up to 80 m long.
The name “minhocão” means giant earthworm in Brazilian Portuguese. The creature calls the forests of South America its home. It supposedly moves by burrowing through the earth. Many people were said to spot it throughout the 19th century, as it stole livestock and smashed trees. Sitings are no longer reported by those in the area.
That leaves the question: What inspired the myth of the minhocão?
It has been thought that the Minhocão is a fictional creature invented to explain otherwise-mysterious earthquake damage. Charles Darwin suggested the appearance was inspired by the discoveries of fossilized bones such as the Titanoboa. However, other naturalists of the time state that the sitings could not be explained.
Scientist Auguste de Saint Hilaire theorized it could be a giant species of Lepidosiren. This lungfish is an elongated animal resembling an eel or worm. It has slender pectoral fins that could possibly be misconstrued as horns. It has teeth adapted for seizing and tearing at prey. The muscles of their jaw are strong.
While known species of the South American lungfish typically grow only to around 1.5 m, a more extensive form could exist. Researchers are reportedly discovering new species every two days across South America, including 93 new fish species in 2017. A more robust lungfish could account for reports of livestock being dragged away.
Another thing that connects the Lepidosiren to the Minhocão is the lungfish’s ability to cocoon itself during the dry season. it buries itself in the mud at the bottom of rivers and waits until it rains again. This would account for the trenches of the minhocão.
Other researchers believe that the Caecilian is responsible for the myth’s origin. Karl Shuker proposed the theory that a large species of caecilian had evolved in South America and led the people there to come up with the idea of the minhocão.
Caecilians are segmented, legless amphibians. They look superficially like earthworms but have visible mouths and some have a pair of sensory tentacles on their head that resemble horns. These animals inhabit rivers and lakes in South America. Terrestrial species are known to emerge from their burrows after heavy rainstorms and most have a habit of grabbing their prey from below.
While most caecilians today only grow to around 1.5 m, it is possible one had grown larger and went extinct. This would account for the lack of sitings later in the 19th century.
The Minhocão has appeared in the Final Fantasy games and Zoo Tycoon 2. It is possibly even an inspiration for the sandworms in Dune. This legend has endured no matter how it started.
Sources:
Evans, Susan E.; Sigogneau-Russell, Denise (2001). “A stem-group caecilian (Lissamphibia: Gymnophiona) from the Lower Cretaceous of North Africa”. Palaeontology. 44 (2): 259–273.
Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2014). “Lepidosiren paradoxa” in FishBase. April 2014 version.
In Medieval folklore, the Ziphius was a monstrous nautical creature said to attack ships in the northern seas. It possessed the body of the fish and the face of an owl, complete with large eyes and a beak. It is said to be able to cleave the hull of a ship like a blade.
This creature sounds terrifying, but what could have inspired it?
In the 16th Century, Swedish writer Olaus Magnus illustrated the animal on his Carta Marina and described the Ziphius as:
“Because this Beast is conversant in the Northern Waters, it is deservedly to be joined with other monstrous Creatures. The Sword-fish is like no other but in something, it is like a Whale. He hath as ugly a head as an Owl: His mouth is wondrous deep, as a vast pit, whereby he terrifies and drives away those that look into it. His Eyes are horrible, his Back Wedge-fashion, or elevated like a sword; his Snout is pointed. These often enter upon the Northern Coasts, as Thieves, and hurtful Guests that are always doing mischief to ships they meet, by boaring [sic] holes in them, and sinking them.”
To Magnus, mythical creatures were just as real as the familiar land animals. He included an assortment on his maps, furthering their stories and instilling fear in sailors.
The name Ziphius gets its name from the Greek word xiphias meaning sword. The creature was named for the large dorsal fin seen on the back of the creature, and its “ability to cut ships in two and sink them.”
But what is behind these stories?
Historians tend to believe that what Magnus and others saw in the ocean were Cuvier’s Beaked Whales. They are found in oceans worldwide and can reach up to 7 m long and weigh up to 3 tons!
The head is long and slopes into the body with an upturned jaw that makes it appear to be smiling. Beaked whales are often seen with linear scratches and oval scars. These are thought to be caused by the sharks and parasitic lampreys that attach to the animal.
As they grow older, the face develops a whitish coloration with dark-colored patches around the eyes. This happens especially in males.
Cuvier’s Beaked Whales rarely breach. As they swim, their head and body will roll high out of the water. preparing for a deep, vertical dive, they may arch their back more than normal and usually display their flukes.
Cuvier’s beaked whales are capable of diving up to at least 3,300 feet for 20 to 40 minutes to opportunistically feed on mostly cephalopods and sometimes fish and crustaceans. The deepest known dive for a Cuvier’s beaked whale was almost 3000 m and the longest known dive lasted 222 minutes!
Today these animals are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. While their population is stable, their main threats are ocean pollution. They have been found with plastic in their bodies. They have also become entangled in fishing gear in the Caribbean and near Indonesia.
This species is also sensitive to underwater sounds and anthropogenic noise. Strandings of this species in the Bahamas, Canary Islands, and in the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas have been associated with active naval sonar. These deep-diving animals become confused and are no longer able to feed, communicate, or navigate in the ocean.
The Cuvier’s Beaked Whale is most likely what inspired the myth of the Ziphius, with its pale face and dark eye patches. This would invoke the imagery of owls across Europe with their white facial disks and dark eyes. Their deep-diving habits make them rare sites for humans, especially during the early days of exploration.
The link between the Ziphius and Cuvier’s Beaked Whale is so established that the scientific name of the whale is Ziphius cavirostris.
Sources:
Grzimek, Bernhard (2003). Hutchins, Michael; Kleiman, Devra G.; Geist, Valerius; et al. (eds.). Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, Vol 15, Mammals IV (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group.
“Cuvier’s Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris)”. NOAA. 15 January 2015.
The Phoenix in classical mythology is a fabulous bird associated with the worship of the sun. It is known for its cyclical regeneration. The phoenix obtained new life from the ashes of its predecessor.
But where did this firey creature come from?
The phoenix can be traced back to ancient Egypt. The Egyptian phoenix was said to be the size of an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry. Only one phoenix existed, as it continued to be born again. As it approached the end of its life, the phoenix fashioned a nest of boughs and spices, set it on fire, and was consumed in the flames. From the pyre, spang the new creature which flew to Heliopolis- the City of the Sun – to the temple of the sun god Re.
The Egyptians associated the phoenix with immortality, and that symbolism had a widespread appeal. It was adopted into other religions, including Islam and Christianity.
In Christianity, the phoenix was compared to undying Rome, and it appeared on the coins as a symbol of the Eternal City. It was also interpreted as an allegory of the resurrection.
In Islamic stories, the phoenix was identified as the “anqā,” a mysterious bird that was originally created by God with all perfections, but thereafter became a plague and was killed.
It is in these stories that we start to see where the stories of the phoenix were inspired.
The word “anqā” is the feminine form of ʾaʿnaq meaning “long-necked. This implies the animal had a long neck such as a heron or crane.
The anqā was described as very beautiful and colorful with a long neck and four pairs of wings. It was also known for the whiteness in its neck. It is said the animal eats nothing except elephants and large fish.
Goliath HeronGrey Heron
It is likely the phoenix is based on a combination of the Goliath Heron and the Grey Heron. Both animals are native throughout Europe and Asia and into parts of Africa. Birds of the wetlands, they can be seen mainly around lakes, rivers, ponds, and on the sea coast. They feed on aquatic animals, such as fish and frogs.
The Goliath Heron, also known as the giant heron, is the world’s largest living heron. This animal stands 1.5 meters and weighs up to 5 kg. The animal is covered mainly in grey feathers. The head and chest are chestnut. The chin, throat, foreneck, and upper-breast are white with black streaking.
The Grey Heron stands up to a meter tall and weighs up to 2 kgs. They have a white head and neck with a broad black strike extending above the eye into a feathered crest. The body and wings are blue-grey with black underneath. The beak is a sharp pink.
In Egyptian tradition, herons were considered a manifestation of the resurrected Osiris. The bird is often shown perched in his sacred willow tree. The heron hieroglyph was used to Re directly. It has always had close ties to the sun.
The heron was also closely associated with Nile and the creation. It was often seen on isolated rocks of the islands and the chaos that flooding could cause. This association could be where Islamic tradition associated the phoenix with plague.
The word phoenix originates from the Greek word phoinīx. The word was borrowed from the West Semitic word for madder, a red dye made from the rubia plant. The word Phoenician (modern day Lebanon) appeared to be from the same root, meaning “those who work with red dies.” Therefore, it is believed that phoenix means “The Pheonician bird” or “The red bird.”
The legend of the phoenix has gone through several iterations as it passed through several cultures. It started out as herons in the Egyptian culture symbolically representing rebirth and the sun god Re. As it has moved to modern culture, we lost the original source turning them into mythical creatures born from flames.
Sources:
Van der Broek, R (1972), The Myth of the Phoenix.
Barnhart, Robert K (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, HarperCollins.
“Grey heron (Ardea cinerea)”. ARKive.
Ali, S. (1993). The Book of Indian Birds. Bombay: Bombay Natural History Society.
According to Brazilian stories, the Mapinguari was once an Amazonian shaman who discovered the key to immortality. He angered the gods and was punished, forcing him to wander as a hairy beast for the rest of his long days. But what is this strange creature?
This creature has been described as a primate with a thick body. It would walk on two legs, had a flat snout and robust claws. When it would rear up to its full height, it would emit an extremely foul odor.
It sometimes is described to have a single eye in the center of its forehead – like a Cyclops and a mouth in its abdomen. Historians note that the single eye appears predominantly in older legends and has been lost as time progressed.
The creature is said to walk bipedally, but it is often unsteady. While it looks large and intimidating, the animal feeds on the vegetation of the forest it lives in – such as bacaba and babassu palms.
The animal is known to scream and shriek. Its name is actually derived from this. Mapinguari is usually translated as “the roaring animal.”
Megatherium is a genus of extinct ground slots that lived in South America from the Pleistocene to the Holocene (400,000 to 8,000 years ago). These animals grew up to 4 m and coexisted with the first human colonists in the Americas.
Megatherium was a giant ground sloth with a long thick coat that was used as protection in the colder climates of the last glacial period. This animal had a large barrel-like body and would be able to switch between quadrupedal and bipedal movement.
Much like the Mapinguari, Megatherium has a long, shaggy coat. It has a robust body and can move between two and four legs. The face of both creatures is squat, with Megatherium ending a large nose. The long claws on its hands are another clue that these animals are linked.
The large scythe-like claws found within the family are sloths are fairly unique. Yet they appear in almost every description of the Mapinguari. These large claws were used in ground sloths to pull branches toward the creature for feeding. Most likely the same could be said for the Mapinguari.
Often the Mapinguari is depicted with a second mouth on its stomach. This could have been mistaken for the large muscles that help make up the body. Giant sloths would have had giant pectoral and abdominal muscles. These may have been seen through the shaggy fur.
When the first humans encountered these large animals, it could have been mistaken for a close maw on the stomach.
However the legend of the Mapinguari came about, these creatures are fascinating. If you would like to learn more about fossil sloths, check out @slothgirlmel on Twitter!
H. Gregory McDonald, Gerardo de Iuliis: Fossil history of sloths. In: Sergio F. Vizcaíno, WJ Loughry (Ed.): The Biology of the Xenarthra. University Press of Florida, 2008, pp. 39-55.
Bell, C. M. (March 2002). “Did elephants hang from trees? – the giant sloths of South America”. Geology Today. 18 (2): 63–66.
Fiedel, Stuart (2009). “Sudden Deaths: The Chronology of Terminal Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction”. American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. pp. 21–37.
This creature was first spotted in November 1966 in Clendenin, West Virginia. A group of gravediggers looked up and noticed a massive figure moving rapidly from tree to tree. They described the creature as a “brown human being.”
A few days later, in Point Pleasant, WV, two couples noticed a white-winged creature about six or seven feet tall standing in front of a car they were sitting in. They say the beast had bright red eyes and a wingspan of ten feet. It appeared to be trying to hide from the lights of the car. They said it screeched at them and flew quickly but was clumsy on the ground.
Sitings continued in West Virginia until the collapse of the Silver Bridge that connected Pleasant Point, WV to Kanauga, OH. It was the first eye-bar suspension bridge of its type in the US. It collapsed at rush hour on December 15, 1967, resulting in 31 vehicles falling into the river. 46 people were killed.
Many people take the Mothman sitings as a warning of the imminent disaster. After the bridge collapsed, Mothman disappeared.
So, is Mothman a local legend or is it a case of mistaken identity?
Dr. Robert L. Smith, an associate professor of wildlife biology at West Virginia University, was the first to connect Mothman to the less mystical – the Sandhill Crane.
Sandhill Cranes live commonly along the Nebraska Sandhills on the American Great Plains. They average about five feet in height with red foreheads, white cheeks, and long dark, pointed bills. Their wingspan can average up to 6.5 ft.
These cranes frequently give loud, trumpeting calls and can be heard from a long distance. Their large wingspan makes them very skilled soaring birds, similar to eagles and hawks. They are migratory birds, flying south each winter. They typically flock in groups of over 10 thousand birds.
So, how did a Sandhill Crane become mistaken as Mothman in West Virginia?
The explanation is compelling, given the number of early reports describing the creature as “bird-like.”
It was theorized this crane was deformed- possibly residing in the “TNT area.” This area was given to a series of nearby bunkers that were used to manufacture munitions during WWII. The bunkers leaked toxic materials into neighboring wildlife and affected their health.
This particular bird also would have been off its regular migratory path. Such a large animal with deformed features would have further confused locals. It is no wonder legends sprung up around it!
Whether Mothman is a legend or a Sandhill Crane, Mothman can still be seen today in Point Pleasant at the historical museum and in the form of a 12-foot chrome statue with massive steel wings and red eyes.
A festival is held every year for the enjoyment of locals and tourists. The September attraction is one of America’s strangest legends.
Sources:
Palma, Bethania. “Mothman About Town”. Snopes.com. Snopes.
Associated Press (December 1, 1966). “Monster Bird With Red Eyes May Be Crane”. Gettysburg Times.
“Couples See Man-Sized Bird…Creature…Something”. Point Pleasant Register. Point Pleasant, WV: WestVA.Net, Mark Turner. November 16, 1966.
The Loch Ness Monster or Nessie is a creature of Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as having a long neck and humped body. It was brought to popular interest in the 1930s. The famous “Surgeon’s Photograph” was taken in 1934 furthering the mystery. But where did this creature come from?
Reports of a monster inhabiting Loch Ness date back to ancient times. Local stone carvings by the ancient inhabitants of Scotland -the Picts – show a strange beast with flippers.
The first written account in the biography of St. Columba from 565 AD. According to the work, the monster bit a swimmer and was prepared to attack when Columba intervened. He ordered the beast away. It listened and was only seen occasionally from then on.
In 1933, the legend grew to a worldwide phenomenon. The road next to the Loch was finished. This offered an unobstructed view of the lake. Over time, reports of a dragon or beast were reported. People went sea serpent hunting. Footprints were reported from “a very powerful soft-footed animal about 6 meters long.”
Naturalists determined these to faked and made by umbrella stands with hippo feet on the end.
In 1934, English physician Robert Kenneth Wilson photographed the creature. This iconic image appeared in the Daily Mail sparking controversy. Many speculated that the creature was an animal that had been extinct for 65 million years.
This image was considered valid for 60 years. Though skeptics dismissed it as driftwood or an otter. The photo is often cropped in so that you cannot see the scale or surrounding environment.
In 1993, the photographed was analyzed. It was found that the object was being towed causing distortion in the ripples on the water. Also from the environment and ripples in the water, the object photographed was determined to only be about 2 to 3 ft long.
So what is this creature that many people believe the Loch Ness Monster is based on?
Plesiosaurs are a group of extinct, large marine reptile that can be found around the world. The Plesiosaurus lived in the early Jurassic period and is known from nearly complete skeletons found in chalk bluffs of England.
It is distinguished by its small head, long neck, broad turtle-like body, and pairs of paddles. These animals swam by flapping it paddles in the water in a style of underwater “flight.”
The flexible neck would have allowed the animal to swing its head from side to side through schools of fish to capture its prey using the sharp teeth in its jaws. With its long neck, it is also thought, the plesiosaur would hide its mass in the deep and reach into the schools with its small head to hunt, surprising its prey
Late in their evolution, plesiosaurs were marked by great increases in size. For example, the North American Elasmosaurus grew up to 13 meters in length. These creatures went extinct with the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period.
It is unlikely that “Nessie” lives today or that a lone plesiosaur survives in the Loch. It simply is not large enough to sustain a creature of that scale. There would also have to be multiple breeding pairs to have continuous sightings over the years. If this were the case, we would have confirmation that the creatures were in fact living in the Loch.
It is most likely that these stories were passed down over time and through cultures. The Pict drawings may have been inspired by finding the Plesiosaur skeletons before it was officially named.
Carroll, Robert Todd (2011) [2003], The Skeptic’s Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., pp. 200–201
The werewolf is a widespread concept in European and Slavic folklore. It is considered to be a human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or a hybrid creature. This is usually due to a curse or affliction associated with the full moon. But where did this idea come from?
The word werewolf comes from the Old English word werwulf, meaning man wolf. The word does not appear in the lexicon until around the 15th century.
The term lycanthropy, referring to the ability to transform into a wolf and the act of doing so, comes from Ancient Greek. The word originally was used to describe a patient with ravenous appetite and other wolf-like qualities. It was not used to describe shapeshifting until around 1830.
The Slavic term vlko-dlak literally translates to “wolf-skin” paralleling the Norse term ulfhéðinn. These word may speak to the origins of the story of the werewolf, but was not used widely until the 1800’s.
“Lycaon turned into a wolf”
The earliest surviving example of a man-to-wolf transformation is in “The Epic of Gilgamesh” from around 2,100 BC. And in texts from ancient Greece and Rome. These stories spoke of nomadic men who changed shapes to survive the harsh weather. Current historians believe that these nomadic tribes were using wolf skins to protect against the elements and called this a “transformation.”
The common idea of a werewolf became popular during the medieval period. It grew concurrently with the idea of witches. Trials of werewolves emerged in Switzerland in the early 15th century much like the witch trials.
The Maid fighting the Beast of Gévaudan
One theory that popularized the idea of a werewolf was the attacks of Gévaudan in the mid 1700’s. A creature terrorized a small province in France. The attacks covered an area spanning 7,200 square kilometers. The monster was often described as a large wolf. Victims were killed by having their throats torn out.
By the time, the animal was killed there was an estimated 600 attacks, resulting in 500 deaths and 50 injuries. Many of the bodies were partially eaten.
Many modern scholars believe this to be the work of public hysteria combined with wolf attacks in the area. Wolf attack were common in the area especially as people pushed into their territory.
Other scholars have started to wonder if possibly there was a serial killer active in the area.
Many of the victims of the beast were young women and children. They were often found decapitated. Others were found with their clothing neatly folded next to their bodies. Hunters of this beast also reported that the beast was standing on its hind limbs and the bullets had no effect when they hit the creature.
The man who ended up killing the Beast of Gévaudan – Jean Chastel – is a prime suspect in the slayings. It is thought perhaps he trained packs of dogs to terrorize the countryside. The decapitation and clothing were a result of more nefarious purposes from the man.
These accounts in Gévaudan are still fairly modern for the origin of the werewolf. While it may have helped popularize the mythology across Europe, the start of the myth has a more mundane origin.
Rabies is a fatal viral disease that can spread between animals and to people if they are scratched or bitten. In the United States, rabies is mostly found in bats, raccoon, skunks, and foxes. However, in many other countries, dogs still carry rabies. Most rabies deaths in people are caused by dog bites.
The rabies virus infects the central nervous system, causing disease in the brain, and ultimately death.
Humans affected by this disease are often afflicted with fever, headaches, nausea, and changes in appetite. As the symptoms progress, they can become aggressive, confused, hallucinate, have seizures, and be extremely sensitive to sound and light. Those afflicted also produce excess saliva and have difficulty swallowing. This produces the foaming of the mouth effect. As well as the fear of water due to thoughts of choking.
Man afflicted with rabies
If we think about behaviors commonly associated with Werewolf mythos, we can see how these can fall in line with a person afflicted by rabies.
The curse of the werewolf is transferred through a scratch or bite. This is also true for rabies. Rabies is most commonly transmitted through bites but can also spread if saliva enters an open wound on a person. The association with biting and scratching was most likely associated with animal attacks – furthering the werewolf legend.
Werewolves are also described as animalistic and aggressive. They are seen as monsters not in control of themselves. In many stories, the human side becomes dormant. They are not conscious of what occurs during their transformation. This can be described by the neurological changes occurring within the afflicted. Aggression is common with rabies as well as confusion. The afflicted may feel out of control or even hallucinate a danger they are responding to. This can explain some of the erratic behavior described in werewolf lore.
Werewolves are said to shift during the full moon, but this is not always the case. If we look at the final symptom of rabies we may see a reasoning for this part of the lore. Rabies causes an acute sensitivity to light and sound. Those afflicted with the virus would have a difficult time adjusting to daylight brightness and sounds of cities. This would push them into an alternative lifestyle, living in isolated areas during the night.
Werewolf on Vase, 460 BCWoodcut of Werewolf attack, 1512
If we look at all of the writings that influenced the legends, we can see how the legend as we know it today came together. Animal attacks led to people being infected with rabies. The rabies rapidly altered the way the infected acted. Nomadic people wandered Europe, often using wolf skins for protection from the elements. These people would have been more susceptible to animal attacks as they were moving through animal territories and had no permanent fortifications.
Finally, let us look at one last part of the werewolf lore. When these creatures are killed, werewolves are said to revert back to their human form, exposing the beast as neighbors and friends. This further indicates that the creature that was being hunted was a man infected by rabies. Once the hunt was over, the people realized they had killed someone they knew and loved. It is easier to have a monster to blame it on.
Sources:
“Werwolf” in Grimm, Deutsches Wörterbuch. “online version”
Rose, C. (2000). Giants, Monsters & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend and Myth. New York: Norton. p. 230.
Eisler, Robert (1948). Man Into Wolf – An Anthropological Interpretation of Sadism, Masochism, and Lycanthropy.
If you travel to any Midwestern state, you will most likely see the bust of a Jackalope for sale. It has become a kitschy souvenir for tourists traveling through. While the busts for sale in the gift shop aren’t real, the animal that inspired it is.
The Jackalope is described as a jackrabbit with the antelope horns. Their popularity started in the 1930’s when taxidermist Douglas Herrick and his brother began selling the busts we still find today. To further their sales they told stories about the mythical creature.
Some of the outlandish tales that have gone along with the Jackalope include the need to wear stovepipe on their legs to prevent the animal from goring you.
Another states you can trap a Jackalope with whiskey, as it is the beverage of choice.
Jackalopes also have the ability to mimic human voices. When cowboys would gather round the campfire and sing, a lone tenor would often join in. This would be the wild Jackalope. It was also said to try to lure cowboys away from their group and leave them stranded in the wilderness.
All these tales notwithstanding, the origins of the Jackalope come from a very real jackrabbit.
The first Jackalopes were determined to be jackrabbits suffering from Shope papilloma virus (SPV). This virus affects rabbits creating keratinous carcinomas that resemble horns. The virus is fatal as the carcinomas affect the animals ability to eat.
The virus was first studied and named in 1933 by Dr. Richard E. Shope in rabbits across the Midwestern United States.
This time line falls exactly with the Herrick Brothers start of the taxidermy Jackalope. They most likely saw the afflicted animals and capitalized on the story.
The Chupacabra is a legendary creature in parts of the Americas. Its origins are actually quite recent – with sitings starting in Puerto Rico in 1995.
The creature purportedly has dog or lizard like features and is the size of a small bear. Spines run down the length of its back. The name “Chupacabra” means “goat sucker.” It comes from the creatures attacks and supposed vampirism of goats.
But what is this strange creature? And could its origins be something benign?
Artist rendition of the Chupacabra
After the reports of this creature in the mid 90’s, wildlife researchers began looking for an explanation. Eyewitness sitings have been claimed as far north as Maine and even in Sri Lanka. The creatures are most commonly seen in the desert Southwest of the US and Mexico.
Real life Chupacabra
Researchers found that these poor creatures were dogs and coyotes suffering from mange.
Coyotes in the area became affected with the parasite Sarcoptes scabiei. This parasite caused many of the features claimed to be seen on the new creature: little fur, thickened skin, and a rank odor.
The parasite was able to spread from the coyotes to dogs, further exacerbating the problem.
Parasite Sarcoptes scabiei
The attack on goats happened as well because of the affliction. These coyotes were weakened due to the parasite. They no longer were able to chase after their faster prey. It was easy to hunt caged livestock.
Even though many reports show that the killed animal was not eaten, this again is common with sick or injured predators. Both dogs and coyotes will not eat their prey due to inexperience or injury.
Mexican Hairless Dog
Mexican Hairless Dogs have also been mistaken for the Chupacabra due to its thin hair.
All in all it has been determined that the Chupacabra is an urban legend. The creature came from animals infected by a parasite.
Darrah Steffen 