Rare Monsters

  The beithir is a Scottish dragon. It inhabits mountainous regions, near water. Hiding out in caves and steep mountain valleys. Unlike other European dragons the beithir lacks wings or fire breath. Instead it’s highly venomous and has a poisoned sting. It’s also associated with ice and lightning. The beithir was considered the largest and most deadly of serpents. In addition to its other abilities the Beithir was cunning and had the ability to shape shift. The beithir would lurk in high mountain valleys near water and wait for passing victims. When an unlucky person would enter the territory of the beithir the dragon would sting their victim. If the stung person then had to run to the nearest water and wash off the sting. If they made it to the water before the beithir then they were saved. If the beithir reached the water first then the victim would be devoured. It was believed that if a snake was killed then its head and body had to be separated from each other by quite a distan...

  The Salt Lake Fire Drake is a flying cryptid seen near the Great Salt Lake in Utah. It was seen once in 1903, and again just under a hundred years later, in 2001. This cryptid is often touted as a living pterosaur, however in my research I found this cryptid to be something far stranger. On September 3rd, 1903, a flying creature was seen by multiple witnesses on Stansbury Island, in the south end of the Great Salt Lake. Two hunters, John Barry and Martin Gilbert, gave the most detailed report of the creature. They described it as equal mixes of bat, fish and alligator, having the head of an alligator, the wings of a bat and the tail of a fish. In addition the creature was covered in either thick, rough scales, or salt accretions from the lake. The creature got its name from the fiery rainbow iridescence of its wings, shining with reflected sunlight. The two men described the monster as being prehistoric in nature, although they didn’t specifically say it was a pterosaur. Othniel ...

  The Alber is a demon or dragon from the legends of the Ziller Valley in Tyrol. It’s said to live on Teufelseck mountain, the mountain’s name meaning ‘devil’s corner’. At times the Alber would descend from the mountain, towards Ziller Valley as a giant fiery dragon, flying through a hole in the cliffs called the Bleiarzkar and down to the valley, spreading plagues, war and famine. It was thought the Alber was the devil himself in dragon form. Legend tells of two men from the village of Meran who witnessed the flight of the Alber and were lucky enough to survive such sights. One was the tailor Hanser, who was a wicked and dishonest man. He partook in every sort of sinful activity, lying, scamming, idleness and debauchery. The other was Loaserer Sepps, a good and honest villager. One night Hanser made a bet with his equally loathsome friends to steal cherries from the cherry tree in the yard of the Mission Cross of Algund. But Hanser was a coward and wouldn’t travel out there at nig...

  While most people know panthers as a jungle cat today in medieval bestiaries it was a very strange beast indeed. Just like other ‘mythical’ creatures like the calopus and the crocatta, the panther in medieval bestiaries is an example of a real animal from far off lands gaining a mythical status, to the point where it barely resembled it’s real life counterpart. The panther was first known to the ancient Greeks. To them it was still very cat like, being almost identical to a normal leopard, but with a multicolored coat. It was considered the mount of Dionysus. The panther was handed down from Greek records to medieval bestiaries, but by this time Europe was cut off from areas of the world where leopards actually lived, and the details of panther’s nature was largely forgotten. Instead the panther was made into an allegory about Christ gathering the people of the world. The panther would feast and then sleep for three days in a cave. On the third day the panther emerges and emits a...