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Butler County Gargoyle

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  Butler county Gargoyle was a winged cryptid seen by several witnesses in Butler County, Pennsylvania during 2011. First witness was a businessman known only as RK. He saw the monster several different occasions. Rk described the monster has being overall humanoid in shape. It had brown or tan leathery skin. The face was small and punched in, with almond shaped eyes that were pointed at the ends. The head was swept back and came to a point at the back, similar to a performance bicycle helmet. The creature also had ears that were long and swept back to points which pointed to the back of the head. The body was very muscular. The arms were longer than a human’s and ended in hands with four fingers and sharp claws. It had very muscular legs, with knees that pointed back in the opposite direction from normal. Most notably were a set of large wings on the creature’s back. These were bat like, with their ends pointing back towards the creature’s head. The first known report of the...

Capelobo

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   The capelobo is a monster from the Par á and Maranh ã o regions of Brazil. It is mainly believed by the Christianized indigenous population. The name comes from the Guarani word cap ê , meaning bend legged or lame, and the Portuguese lobo, meaning wolf. The capelobo is a vampiric monster that drinks both blood and brain matter with its long snout. It starts out as an elderly indigenous man, if he dies without a Christian burial or becomes lost in the forest he will transform into the capelobo. This transformation is permanent and he can never return to his human form. The capelobo looks like a werewolf with an anteater’s head and clawed forelimbs. It also has perfectly round horse hooves, which look the same back to front. This makes it impossible to know what direction the capelobo was travelling when trying to track it. The capelobo is very large, being close to seven feet tall, even when hunched over in a bestial werewolf fashion. Some say the capelobo has a feral f...

Marool

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  The marool is a sea monster from the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It’s a mythological interpretation of a monk fish. In addition to the monk fish’s already strange appearance, the marool has a multitude of eyes on its head and a fiery crest in place of a back fin. The marool is about the size of a dolphin, which is larger than a real monk fish, but still not that big for a sea monster. The marool takes great pleasure in watching ships sink and sailors drown. It stirs up the sea and causes a glowing sea foam known as mareel. The marool also sings during storms and sea swells. It’s voice in haunting and causes fear. Sources https://britishfantasysociety.org/10-fearsome-foes-from-scottish-folklore/ https://abookofcreatures.com/2016/03/04/marool/

Lou Carcolh

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  The carcolh is possible the strangest ‘dragon’ in Europe. It’s described as either a giant snail, or a serpentine dragon with a snail’s shell. In addition to this it has several slimy and hairy tentacles on its face. I imagine the hair helps keep copious amounts of slime on the tentacles. The carcolh lives in a network of caverns under the city of Hastingues, in south France. No one knows how it got there or how long it’s lived. During the Spanish invasion of the region in 1635 the treasures of Hastingues were taken down into the caves to be guarded by the carcolh. However the carcolh was loyal to no particular country and would attack humans indiscriminately, so no one has ever been able to retrieve the treasure. After many attempts were made the caves were walled off. Unlike many other European dragons the carcolh has never been defeated. While belief in the existence of the carcolh has all but disappeared, legend has it that it still lurks in the walled off caves. ...

Pixiu

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  Tianlu Pixiu The pixiu is a mythical beast from China. It first appeared in the Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) and are still popular today, although both their appearance and role have changed greatly over the centuries. Today the pixiu are bringers of wealth and associated with the practice of feng shui. Bixie Pixiu There are two types of pixiu. The bixie, or female pixiu, has two horns or antlers. It was responsible for guarding its masters and protecting them from harm. The tianlu was the male and only had one horn or antler. The male was responsible for guarding and attracting wealth. Today the bixie pixiu has largely been forgotten about and pixius are almost always depicted with one horn. Likewise the pixiu has become more associated with wealth than protection. The pixiu comes in several colors. It is often gold, to represent its association with wealth. It can also be black to represent its protective aspects. The pixiu is often depicted as white or red as well. O...

Kamikiri

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  Kamikiri is a yokai from the Edo period of Japan. It sits on the edge between legendary creature and cryptid, with newspaper articles about encounters with the creature coming out at the time, yet being treated as folklore now. Although the line between yokai and cryptid isn’t always clear. The kamikiri is a yokai who’s all about cutting off people’s hair. In previous eras in Japan long hair was a symbol of age and status. Both men and women had long hair, men wearing their hair in top knots and women in various styles. There was a much greater need to conform in Japan’s past, people wore hairstyles based on status and role in society, rather than for fashion. So having your hair cut off was far worse for the person that it would be in modern times. The kamikiri would lurk around its victim in secret and wait for a time they were alone to attack. They would then quickly and silently cut off the victim’s hair. Often the kamikiri would never be seen and the victim would only kn...

Horned Dogmen

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This entry is going to indulge in some original research. Something I’ve noticed among dogman encounters is the occasional mention of horned dogmen. The cryptid community is usually pretty thorough in classifying subtypes of cryptids. For instance there’s standard, hyena and rottweiler types of dogmen, based on their head and muzzle shape. Yet I haven’t seen anyone else in the cryptid community discuss horned dogmen as a category, just scattered unrelated stories. It’s possible that’s because these creatures aren’t always considered dogmen, but demons, or goatment who happen to have a canine head, although I would think that quality is important enough to change what sort of cryptid they’re classified as. So I’ve gathered here all the horned dogmen stories I could find.  Caldwell’s beasts This first encounter happened to Roger Caldwell in October of 2005. He was on a hiking trip along the Appalachian Trail through North Carolina at the time. Mr Caldwell was an experienced hiker who...