Billdad

 


The billdad is a fearsome critter from lumberjack lore. It's a hybrid of bird and beaver with a little kangaroo thrown in too. It has the head of a hawk or eagle. It's front legs are short and taloned like the back legs of an eagle. It has a fur covered mammalian body, long, jumping kangaroo legs that end in webbed beaver feet and a beaver tail.


The billdad is found only in Boundary pond, a small lake in Maine. There the billdad would hunt for fish. It did this by waiting on the shore for a fish to surface while hunting insects. Then the billdad would leap just past the fish and slam it's tail down onto the surface of the water, knocking the fish out. The billdad could then collect up the fish and eat it as its leisure. It was said that large billdads could cover a length of 60 yards in one leap.


Billdads were secretive animals and more often seen then heard. Their tail slaps making a distinct sounds like someone slapping the water with a oar. In spite of having a very distinct sound the legend of the billdad was often used to tease greenhorns. Whenever they would ask about any little sound made at the pond it would be blamed on the unseen billdad.


The billdad was said to taste delicious, yet they were never hunted for their meat as they were very reclusive and difficult to hunt, and furthermore eating their meat would cause a sort of madness. One unlucky lumberjack named Bill Murphy found a dead billdad washed up on shore and cooked it up. After finishing his meal he ran out of the mess hall screaming and jumped in Boundary Pond and began splashing about like a billdad. Unfortunately he couldn't swim and drowned as a result.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jimplecute

Image
  The jimplecute is a vampiric reptile from Ozark legend. It is a rarely heard of fearsome critter and shouldn't be confused with the gowrow, the more famous reptile from the region. There are two different descriptions of the jimplecute. The original appearance is of a long serpentine reptile, yet still baring short legs. It has skin the texture of dead leaves, which allows it to hide better in the forests. It even had the chameleon like ability to change color, so to blend in with leaves of different seasons. This jimplecute is able to wrap around its victims like a python to immobilize them while it feeds on their blood. The more modern version of the jimplecute is of a vampiric dinosaur, usually something similar to a raptor. This interpretation comes from the book We Always Lie to Strangers by Vance Randolph, which is a book about Ozarks folklore. There Mr Randolph describes the jimplecute as a prehistoric. Although I think he meant that all reptiles are primitive in his e
Read more

Nguruvilu

Image
  The nguruvilu is a monster from Mapuche legend in Chile. It looks like an elongated fox, which can coil around like a snake. It's still fur covered like a fox. It has long sharp claws. The name nguruvilu means fox snake in Mapuche. The nguruvilu lives an amphibious life in rivers and can hide itself in the form of common water creatures. It's a dangerous trickster who drags people underwater and drowns them. The nguruvilu can make the water deep or shallow. It can make the river look inviting to lure people in and can also make whirlpools and rapids at will. It delights in drowning lone victims and watches the village morn. The only way to get rid of an nguruvilu is through the efforts of a machi, the Mapuche version of a shaman. At the river's edge the machi will make offerings to the gods and good spirits to protect him. Then he will dive underwater and guided by good magic will capture the nguruvilu in the form of a fish, frog or snake. He then threatens the nguruvi
Read more

Ophiotaurus

Image
  The ophiotaurus was a monster who's front half was that of a bull, with a snake's tail replacing the back legs. It's only known appearance was from Fasti by Ovid. Although he's retelling a story from the lost Greek poem Titanomachia. The ophiotaurus was a primordial being existed at the beginning of time when the world was forming. At that time animals were not fully formed and so had miss matched parts from the wrong species. The ophiotaurus, as well as the other first animals, were born from the goddess Gaia without a mate. The bull was so toxic that its flesh could kill any being. If its entrails were burned (such as was done in ritual sacrifices) then the smoke would kill the gods. The bull was otherwise peaceful and not inclined to harm other creatures. Because of this the bull was trapped in a triple walled ring, within an endless dark forest, on the far side of the river Styx. During the Titanomachy one of the titans' allies, either Briareus the Hecatonch
Read more