Cryptid Creature Names Explained

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SOURCES & FURTHER READING

[NameExplain]

Does anyone have any personal experiences with sighting a cryptid? I swear I saw Nessie when I was at Loch Ness, but I was also like 5 so maybe not lol.

[FrameRage]

Australian here :) In regards to the Bunyip, it's surprisingly probable that it is in fact real, or rather, was. Aboriginal's coexisted with marsupial megafauna for thousands of years, one of which being the Diprotodon (basically a giant wombat). It's believed that the Diprotodon was the inspiration for the Bunyip, as it stuck to creeks and billabongs and could easily kill a human.

[PkmnBreeder]

About Chupacabras, here in Chile in the early 90's there was a big scare because animals started to apear to be killed by a vampire-like creature that swept the nation. Many years later, as a Veterinarian, I came to realize that it wasn't the chupacabras the ones to blame, but an introduced species of ferret (neovison vison), that was brought by the pelting industry, and when it failed just released carnivores to the wild. They are to this day a big problem to farmers.

[DarwinskiYT]

Fun fact: Jackalopes were a joke cryptic created by lumberjacks to scare newbies by the campfire

[rileyzanatta]

In Australia we have our own Bigfoot type creature called a Yowie. It’s so popular, there are children’s books and even a brand of chocolate based on it.

[lanthenat]

Ogopogo, is a lake monster that is said to live in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia Canada.

[zack]

In my town there's a sort of cryptid, it's called "la roca del queso", cheese rock in spanish, it says that a man was walking down a path to another town and close to a rock saw a sheep, he took it to eat it, while he was walking down the sheep turned around to look at the man and said, "if you don't let me go I'll bite you" and showed it's teeth, the man run scared and when he turned to see the sheep he saw that it transformed into a demon

[albertojurado]

In Monterrey, México, theres a legend that speaks of a bird man which is called “El hombre pájaro” meaning “The man bird” or The birdman. There is also an ongoing joke that this ‘birdman’ is the secret identity of local newsman Architec Benavides

[ShawnRavenfire]

In Pennsylvania, there's supposedly a creature called a "squonk, " which sits in the woods and cries, and if you try to capture it, it turns into water.

[TheSuperMagnesium]

In switzerland we have the "Tatzelwurm" witch translates to "paw worm" Its a dragon/lizard like creature, roaming trough the alps and scaring hikers.

[Mimiheart]

About Wendigo, there's a place in Oregon named Windigo Pass, and as far as I can tell, it's related to Wendigo, but the term "Wendigo" is from pretty far from Oregon, and I'm not sure how it came to Oregon at all. (I can't find any other usage of Windigo or Wendigo in the Pacific Northwest. The closest is a wechuge.)

[mortimersnead]

The jackalope is an old taxidermy trick. a good technician can graft antlers onto a rabbit and pose it in a meadow such that it looks just like a living animal.

[phs]

In my childhood, whenever us kids went on a trip somewhere with adults, they would always warm us about Beru.
An animal which violent and likes stealing things and food. Including children.
They would tell us to lock the doors and windows, and not to go out because a beru might steal us.
We ofcourse 100% believed in it.

As I grew up, I figured it's a made up animal to just keep us behaved.

Until,
Last month I (28m) went somewhere and shared a room with some old grandpa I never met before.
He told me to lock the doors and windows before sleeping, or else Beru might steal the coconuts he brought.

So I quickly Googled it, and turns out Beru is infact a real animal. It's the local name for Palm Civet (according to Wikipedia) but I don't know if Civets can really lift children, let alone steal them.

Also fun fact, Civets eat coffee berries and poop out the seeds. The coffee made from such civet shit is extremely valuable and is a whole industry with lots of scams and animal cruelty.

[HalfEye]

Germany has a famous cryptid linked to christmas. Its the Krampus. While Santa rewards the good kids, the Krampus punishes the bad kids. This is mostly a regional thing at the south of Germany and Austria. There even is the Krampus-Run, where some people dress like a Krampus and hunt other people through the streets.

[djt]

Not sure if this qualifies as a cryptid as it's based on an existing creature, but there have been rumours for decades surrounding western Sydney's Penrith Panther, so much so that a professional team named themselves after it. It is also known as the Bylong Panther outside of Sydney.
The rumour goes that a circus had panthers escape and they're still roaming the mountains to the west and north of Sydney, and every few years reports of sightings are published.

[williamvaux]

The wendigo having a deer head is an invention of European-Americans, it most likely isn't native

[generalZee]

Australia has a more famous cryptid: The Drop Bear.

[purplealice]

I live in New Jersey, so I'm familiar with the legends of the Jersey Devil. It lives in the Pine Barrens - not "barren" land, but so overgrown with scrub pines that they're useless for farming. There is something about the Pines that feels spooky and encourages mystical misinterpretation of the surroundings. The description of the critter fit the idea of teenagers taking long pine branches in their hands and waving them like menacing claws. And regular American black bears live in the area (They are not much taller than a human, and large and furry and often fierce.) But driving through the Pine Barrens at twilight feels so weird that there might be any kind of strange being wandering around out there.

[bbqsauce]

Australia also has their version of a 'Sasquatch' which is commonly referred to as the 'Yowie' which derives from aboriginal folklore.

[purplealice]

When talking about Nessie-like creatures, you left out "Champ" the creature in Lake Champlain, NY.