Rare Monsters

  The wamp ( Caudasal lakeshorekearni ) is one of the fearsome critters of lumberjack lore. It was a small and peaceful creature. The wamp was about the size of a raccoon and has a salt bag shaped body. It had a long, hollow tail with a salt shaker at the end and it would use this tail to leave salt licks for deer over the winter. Hunters caught wise to this and started following the wamp around to more easily find deer. So the wamp's efforts to help deer ended up in them being hunted down instead. Because April Fools is tomorrow I wanted a feature a light hearted and silly creature this time.

  Everyone knows about python snakes, but fewer people know about the ancient Greek dragon the genus was named after. It does tend to get lost in search results, after all. Python is described by Hyginus as being a giant snake, not unlike it's real life counterparts. Although the dragon Python was said to be venomous. In later depictions from the medieval era onward Python is depicted as a more typical dragon, with legs and wings. Python first appeared when it was sent by Hera to torment Leto after Zeus took interest in her. Once Apollo was born he sought to avenge his mother's constant torment by slaying Python. In some versions of the myth Apollo accomplished this while he was still a child. Apollo pursued Python to Delphi, where he had to enter sacred ground to slay Python. In some versions of the myth it was Python's blood that gave the location of Delphi its prophetic qualities, in other versions Delphi's placement at the centre of the world already gave it thes

      The monoceros is an animal that is mentioned by many Greek and Roman authors. Many people assume the monoceros was just a rhinoceros, however its description differs quite a bit from a mere rhino, and it was probably a mythical amalgamation of different animals. The description was added to multiple times by subsequent authors, further elaborating on the monoceros's attributes.      The monoceros was first mentioned by  Megasthenes, who was a Greek explorer who travelled to India. It's likely out of all the authors who wrote about the monoceros, Megasthenes was the only one who actually saw a rhinoceros. Yet, his description still doesn't quite fit a rhino, as he said the creature had the head of a stag and a horn two cubits long, which would be nearly 3 feet. The monoceros was also said to live in the foothills of the Himalayas, rather than in the lowlands where rhinoceros are actually found. Still Megasthenes' description does have a fair bit in common with a rh

  There's not much information on this creature. The zheng is mentioned in The Classic Of Mountains And Seas, which is a compilation of mythic geography and beasts, similar to the medieval bestiaries from Europe. The zheng was described as a red leopard with a single horn and five tails. It was ferocious and brutal, as you would expect from a large cat. And it sounded like striking stones. It lived high up on Mount Zhang'e, above the tree and grass line, where there was only stone. In spite of it's fanciful appearance, the zheng was considered a natural animal.  

       The kludde was an evil spirit or boogeyman from the low countries, spanning Belgium and the Netherlands. The kludde was always associated with water and inhabited places like swamps, reed beds, ponds and under bridges. While the kludde was capable of travelling over land, it couldn't enter hallowed ground, such as church yards.      The kludde gets its name from the sounds it makes. Although it's known regionally as kleure, klerre, or waterkledde.      The kludde was a dangerous monster, luring anyone who travelled by night into its swamp. There it would kill its victim, either by strangling or drowning. The kludde was capable of causing confusion and fear in its victims just by proximity, even without being seen. The kludde was especially dangerous to children, which it would hunt down even when closer victims were available. Because of this the kludde was used a as boogeyman to scare children into not going outside at night.      In some versions of the myth the kludd