Rare Monsters

 The hagg worm was a type of flying serpent found in Cumbria, in England. It’s considered a dragon, but most acknowledge it’s quite different from the typical idea of a dragon. They didn’t breath fire like a normal dragon, and they may have been venomous, but it’s never mentioned. These creatures were large hairy, flying snakes. It’s never said whether they flew on feathered or bat like wings, but the more ghoulish option the better. The exact size of these flying serpents is never stated, but they are large enough to swallow magpies in one quick gulp like a swallow catching flies. And large enough to be a threat to people. You might hear the name hagg and immediately think of hags, those hideous old crones from Scottish legend who would eat children. Although the word hagg is from old English, meaning swamp, and was later applied to both hags and the hagg worms, because that’s where they lived. Specifically, the hagg worms lived in the forested swamps outside of the town of Ar...

  The Stratford Lyon is a local legend from New Forest, an area in the southwest of England. It rests somewhere between folklore and cryptid, with people reportedly seeing the beast in modern times, but it’s hard to tell how serious these encounters are. Legend has it that in the early 1500’s a local aristocrat named John Stratford was walking the land he had newly inherited. While travelling his land he spotted some antlers sticking out of the ground. They were magnificent, huge antlers. So John Stratford tried to pull them out of the ground. As he pulled he saw that the antlers were attached to fur, then a lion’s head and finally the whole lion’s body emerged. The lion was furious and lunged at Stratford. He hung onto the antlers for dear life, narrowly dodging the lion’s swipes at him. As the lion struggled Stratford jumped on its back. The lion bucked and fought back but Stratford hung on and refused to be removed. With Stratford on its back, the lion ran around New ...

  I would just like to acknowledge the Benchends Blog https://benchends.wordpress.com/ They did all the research into the origin of the Gurt worm, without them I would have stopped at the legend as written and never realized something was off. This time we look into a mystery, exactly what is the Gurt Worm, and why does its legend not line up with how the beast is depicted in art? Specifically the Gurt worm is a rather odd wyvern, depicted with a second face in its chest, yet no such thing appears in the written accounts of its story. In the town of Crowcomb, Somerset there is a legend about a dragon who used to terrorize the near by Shervage Woods. It would eat livestock and attack anyone who entered the forest. Unfortunately for the people of Crowcombe, the Shervage Woods were the source of much needed firewood, as well as bilberries, the town’s claim to fame. The bilberries were so important that every year they would hold a festival when the berries ripen, and bake ...

  The yale was a goat or antelope from medieval bestiaries and heraldry. Its name might comes from the Hebrew word yael, meaning ibex, or the Greek word eilo, meaning to roll or swing. It’s also known as the eale and the centicore The Yale’s most notable feature is its large horns, which it can swing around to point forward or back at will. It was believed the forward pointing horns were used as an offensive attack, while the horns pointing backwards were better for defence. Being able to switch between the two made the yale unparalleled in combat. In addition to this the yale also had boar like tusks. It was also huge, being comparable in size to a hippopotamus. The yale first appeared in the writings of Pliny the Elder. Here, and in medieval bestiaries the yale is described as a stocky bull like animals with black fur. It was likely based on misinterpretations of a cape buffalo. Over time the yale morphed into a more goat or antelope like animal. It also gained a yell...

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...

  The knucker dragon was a water dragon who lived in a pond in Sussex England during the medieval and renaissance periods. It was a water dragon, but didn't have many water like features to its appearance. It looked like a stretched out western dragon with a long serpent like body. It is consistently depicted as red in color. The dragon was also considered unusually clever and conniving, and was capable of talking, which usually wasn't something dragons were capable of doing until modern fantasy. The name knucker is derived from words like nix or nacken, showing a connection back to malicious water fae. The pond the dragon inhabited is known as the knucker hole, and still exists on the Somptings Estate. Legend goes that the knucker dragon was quite a threat to the surrounding communities, coming out of its pond at night and eating livestock and people. The people begged an authority figure, in some version the local mayor of Lyminster, in other version they went all the way t...

  The bat beast of Kent was a vaguely mothman like cryptid seen in the English county of Kent. The bat beast was seen in 1963, three years before the infamous events that took place in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The incident took place near the Saltwood forest, which are known for paranormal strangeness before the incident. The incident being alternately known as the Saltwood ghost and the Hythe mothman, after the nearby village of Hythe. The bat beast overall resembles mothman, but completely lacks a head, eyes or any facial features. It's body is egg shaped and covered in black fur. The wings emerge from the shoulders in place of arms. Oddly the creature also has webbed feet at the end of human like legs. The creature was approximately five feet tall. On November 16 th , four teens identified as John Flaxton, Mervyn Hutchinson and their girlfriends, who remained unnamed through the follow investigation, were walking home along Sandling Road, from a party. On their journey ...

  The Filey Brigg is a low, rocky peninsula off the coast of North Yorkshire, right outside the village of Filey. There are many myth of supernatural things happening at Filey Brigg and it's the location of legends and monsters. One such legend is of a fierce dragon living in the waters around the peninsula. The exact time frame of this legend varies, some put it in the medieval era, while others say it only happened a few centuries ago. There was a massive dragon living in the waters off the shores of Filey. It was said said to be a wide range of sizes, up to a mile long in some cases. The dragon was a menace to the area, sinking ships and sweeping people out to sea. No one could approach the shore without risking their lives. The dragon had one weakness however, a love of the local sticky cakes known as parkins. The locals tried to appease the dragon with its favourite sticky cakes, but its apatite could never be satiated. There are multiple different stories about how the drag...

  The nameless horror of Berkeley Square is the most Lovecraftian thing I've heard of that wasn't written by Lovecraft himself or his circle of writers. The name of the thing even sounds Lovecraftian. Yet these events predate Lovecraft's writing. Most of them happen before he was even born. The nameless horror is intrinsically tied to it's location, 50 Berkeley Square in London England. It is known as one of the most haunted buildings in all of London. The building itself has a long history being built in 1740. Not long after it already was reported to be haunted. The first stories about specific spirits started in 1789. Adeline, a woman who had lived in the house, was found dead outside on the pavement. She had jumped from the upper floors to escape abuse from her uncle. After her untimely death people started seeing her apparition as a ghostly woman in white wandering the hallways, and disconnected crying from an unseen woman. Another early ghost from the 18 th cen...