Local Cryptids

[Raiden]

Hello,

I've been interested in cryptozoology for as long as I can remember. However, I've never been fortunate enough (of perhaps I am fortunate to some people) to have resided anywhere that was reported to have one or more mysterious creatures (known as cryptids) roaming around.

How about the rest of you? Does anyone here have their very own bigfoot in their backyard? How about their own nessie in the swimming pool? If so, spill it!

Shane

[WhiteHowlerGalliard]

Well, here in Omaha, it's rumored that werewolves, as well as evil albinos and other such "abominations" run freely in Hummel Park.

I believe it to be false, however. I've spent about ten years trying to find them, and I've only come across a coyote.:shrug:

It is fun to scare the pot smokers by howling in one area and having your friend do the high pitched cheerleader scream about ten yards to the right of you!

[Raiden]

Well, here in Omaha, it's rumored that werewolves, as well as evil albinos and other such "abominations" run freely in Hummel Park.

I believe it to be false, however. I've spent about ten years trying to find them, and I've only come across a coyote.:shrug:

It is fun to scare the pot smokers by howling in one area and having your friend do the high pitched cheerleader scream about ten yards to the right of you!

Haha, quality. Now, when you say werewolf, do you mean Native American Skinwalkers?

Shane

[LV426]

I live in Seattle, Sasquatch is sort of the mandatory cryptid around here.

[Xavious]

I live close to an area that is known by a few of the locals Area 52. At one point there was even a sign up proclaiming such (although strangely enough the night it was put up there was a terrible storm and the only damage was destruction of the sign). However its not named such merely for lights in the sky, strange creatures are sighted around the woods as well. Before I start I'm just going to state that all of what I'm sharing here may have a rational explanation, however after factoring everything in I can't find one.

I live in an area that's a mix of primarily forest with a few bogs and swamps scattered about. In the past several years there have been reports of large, panther-esque creatures roaming the woods. The two most common identifying traits for these creatures is if they are pitch black and have tails as long as their body. A brief listing of creatures claimed to have been seen: Big Foot, a serpentine creature in the river, phantom kangaroos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_kangaroo), and likely some more I've forgotten about over the years.

Aside from these cat-creatures that have been spotted, there are times when I can be walking about in the yard and hear unearthly and unexplainable sounds from the woods. I'm fairly good at identifying sounds that animals make and I know animals that are be common in these parts. However I can't explain the sounds I've heard. Some are like low yowls, others have been sharp bitter sounds, but the scariest of them all are the ones like that of some creature yelling and moaning as though it were dying. If I had the ability to, I would love to set up a 24/7 audio recorder on the edge of the woods to document this stuff. To this day I refuse to go outside at night unless I'm driving somewhere. This brings me to my next two stories.

In my younger days (I believe I was 14 at the time) I often stayed at my grandparents house-which is closer to the epicenter of this supposed 'hot bed' of activity-any chance I could. Every night I stayed over there I would take a walk around their yard to the edge of their property, walk the edge of the neighboring field, and then walk around the edge of their barn back to the house. During one of these walks in Autumn I noticed it was quieter than usual, much quieter with only the wind through the branches making a sound. It was as I was walking back to the house that I heard a sound that chilled me to the core. I heard a howl and judging by its loudness I figured it to be directly behind me, no less than ten feet away. Needless to say I ran back to the house as quickly as I could without looking back to see exactly what it was I had heard. Considering it was fall there was dead grass all around and a it was at least two hundred feet to the edge of the woods and I had neither heard nor seen anything. I can't explain what made the sound and haven't walked at night since.

Next story is much more recent, about a year or two ago and occurred in the woods behind my house. It was the summer and I had gotten into the habit of taking Sarah, my wolf-husky, on afternoon walks in the woods behind my house. One afternoon I was late for taking her on a walk and didn't start until about thirty-forty minutes to nightfall. Our typical path is across an empty field, down a dirt road, and circle back through a path in the woods that leads back to the empty field. While going through this path in the woods we both heard something moving around. This wasn't something small like a squirrel or other small animal, by the sound it was making it was much larger. Most of the time if Sarah hears something she'll bark and move on. This time however she was silent and I was putting all my strength into not having her pull me along. She began leading me down one of the off-paths for a bit before finally stopping and just staying ahead in silence. I finally managed to get her to come back and we got back to the house just as night set in. Much like the last time, I saw nothing however based on how Sarah was acting, I think something was out there. This event pretty much nixed the idea of me doing anything outside close to night time.

I would go into detail about the more 'paranormal' events but I'll stop here since they doesn't quite apply to the contents of this thread.

[Raiden]

Xavious, wow. Now that was an interesting read. I would actually love to hear some of those sounds that you are talking about. Personally, I love stories of such happenings.

Now something that intrigued me, Phantom Kangaroos? Are there actually documenting misplaced Kangaroos, or just the prints?

Area 52...I'll have to look that up!

Shane

PS...

I actually did some googling and remembered that an episode of Monster Quest showcased a cryptid that was known be seen in my state of North Carolina. Normally, we get sightings of big cats from time to time like panthers and whatnot, but cryptid is called "The Beast of Bladenboro". Apparently, it's a cat-like animal with vampiric qualities.

[Xavious]

Xavious, wow. Now that was an interesting read. I would actually love to hear some of those sounds that you are talking about. Personally, I love stories of such happenings.

Now something that intrigued me, Phantom Kangaroos? Are there actually documenting misplaced Kangaroos, or just the prints?

Area 52...I'll have to look that up!

Shane

Heh, its not 'officially' known as Area 52, its just something a few of the locals call it. As for the Phantom Kangaroos, the linked wiki-page pretty much sums that up. Technically, they are considered cryptids but I wasn't entirely sure at first as to whether or not to include them. Every so often there will be a series of Kangaroo sightings.

Edit: Just saw your edit :p

I think I've seen that episode of Monster Quest although I don't recall any specific name they used. Locally, these panther creatures are just called 'Long Tail Black Cats' (I can't help it if we lack creativity :p )

I also forgot to mention that there have been instances of animals going missing and its believed that these Black Cats are the culprit. The most common story I've heard is that of a man with two dogs and a chain link fence surrounding his yard. Every night he would go sit on his front porch for a smoke and let his two dogs go out to play and relieve themselves. It was during the winter however and the guy decided he'd just leave the door open a crack for the smoke to go through and let the dogs go out. That night, only one dog returned. The guy had a chain link fence around his yard so he wasn't worried and went back inside and went to bed. The next morning he looked for his dog but never found a trace of the dog nor a trace of what had happened to him.

A few weeks later he had his other dog outside and he was inside the house when he heard a terrible sound and something thud against his house. He ran outside with a gun to see whatever it was. The guy found his dog curled up slashed badly and a panther-like creature leaping over his fence.

[WhiteHowlerGalliard]

Depending on where you are, you may have panther, or jaguar like creatures running around.

As per the howling, do you think it may have been a coyote?

[WhiteHowlerGalliard]

Haha, quality. Now, when you say werewolf, do you mean Native American Skinwalkers?

Shane

Sorry for the double... but no, I mean your standard werewolves.

[Xavious]

Depending on where you are, you may have panther, or jaguar like creatures running around.

As per the howling, do you think it may have been a coyote?

I like to call where I live 'about the farthest south you can get in North Carolina'. There was some logging in the woods behind my house going on several years ago that drove many of the big predators away. The big predators are finally beginning to return now that the woods are growing again, however big cats such as Jaguars and Panthers are foreign to the area. Although if anything Panther does fit the bill more than any other Felid I've read about.

As for the howl, this event occurred when all the logging was going on. All but a handful of the predators were driven away. The native population of foxes, bears, bobcats, coyotes, etc were all driven away from the area. I admit that previously in my nightly walks I would hear the occasional serenade of howling far away but I could tell it wasn't close. This howl I heard was different. Besides, being the fall of the year the fields between my grandparents yard and the woods had been clear allowing a direct line of sight. Not once in my walks did see anything and I have decent vision in the dark. Whatever this was could move swift and silent.

[JoshtheWolf]

I've always been fascinated with Cryptozoology. I believe in Werewolves/Skinwalkers, Vampires, Sasquatch and other related creatures, Mothman, the Jersey Devil, Dragons, Lake Monsters, Living Dinosaurs, Thunderbirds, etc.

I could go on forever.

[Severen]

I've got a few within traveling distance. The first of which is the Fouke Monster made famous by the classic B-movie "The Legend of Boggey Creek". Basically, the monster is a 3-toed Bigfoot.

The second better known one is the "White River Monster" which is just some lake monster like creature.

Finally, there is one very close to home, literally like 5 miles away. Its not as grand as a lake monster or bigfoot but the creature is a "panther". Apparently there is a small colony of melinistic cougar living in my area. They've been here for some time because the school across the river which was founded forever ago uses them as a mascot. A couple of my own family members have seen and heard them and Ive actually did a little studying and found out that there are more sightings of the cats around November-March which is mating season for cougars. The reason this is odd is the fact that other than a small amount of cougars in the everglades, cougars arent supposed to be in the eastern part of America.

[Vendetta]

This isn't local to me, but the Giant Palouse Earthworm (http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12817024?source=most_viewed), which is reputed to be 3 feet long and spits at predators, I find fascinating.

[Raiden]

This isn't local to me, but the Giant Palouse Earthworm (http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12817024?source=most_viewed), which is reputed to be 3 feet long and spits at predators, I find fascinating.

Ven,

I just happened to run across this response, and checked out the link that you left. This seems to be somewhat like the Mongolian Death Worm. Did you happen to hear of any correlation between the two as far as the stories go?

Shane

[jckrussll89]

I have an uncle who claims to have seen the Honey Island Swamp monster. It's just a couple hours drive from where I live. Apparently it's an amphibious version of big foot. Then again, my uncle is very close friends with "Mary Jane".

[Lord Talon]

We have a local legend around town about the Goatman of Old Foamy. Half-man, half-goat and roams around this old creek and low water bridge just outside of town. Old Foamy is a really creepy place with huge trees that overhang the road, and supposedly whenever it's night and you cross over the low water bridge that goes over the creek, cars mysterously die. People swear they see a pair of red glowing eyes out in the nearby fields as well a large, bipedal, horned creature that tries to attack them. It doesn't help much that several dead bodies have been found there over the past several decades.

[Vaultdweller]

There is rumored to be a lake-monster in Champlaigne over by McCall, which is about four hours from my house.