Legendary Creatures of South America - Documentary

In this video, we review the stories behind some of South America's most fascinating cryptids, legends, and folklore, and consider if there is, in fact, some truth to them.

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The following music performed by Kevin Macleod Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Dreams become real
Phantasm
Lightless Dawn
Comfortable Mystery
Come play with me
Night of Chaos
Laid back Guitars
Cryptic Sorrow
Anxiety
Atlantean Twilight

These songs provided by the YouTube audio library

Pink Flamenco
No.8 Requiem
Maestro Tlakaelel
Falling Rain

Sources and further reading

[1] Burchell, Simon and Ian Brown. "Phantom Black Dogs in Latin America." Heart of Albion Press, 2007.

[2] "Cadejo." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.

[3] "El Cadejo." Cryptid Wiki, Fandom.

[4] Bressan, David. "De Loys' Ape Was A Well Played Anthropological Fraud." Forbes, Jan 31, 2016,

[6] "Ameranthropoides loysi." Biology Online.

[8] Cellania, Miss. "7 More Mysterious Ape-men." Mental Floss, Aug 3, 2009.

[9] "Percy Fawcett." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.

[10] "Spider Monkey." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.

[11] Oren, David C. "Did Ground Sloths Survive To Recent Times in the Amazon Region?" Geoldiana Zoologia, Belem,PA O Museu, number 19, 20 Aug, 1993.

[12] Oren, David C. "Does the Endangered Xenarthran Fauna of Amazonia Include Remnant Ground Sloths?", Edentata (June 2001) p. 2-5

[14] Brewer, Pip. "What Was Megatherium?" Natural History Museum, 22 Nov 2018.

[15] Harris, Rachel. "EL CALEUCHE: THE GHOST SHIP OF CHILOÉ." Vaya, Nov 1st, 2017.

[16] "Caleuche." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.

[17] "El Caballo Marino." Chiloé Mitológico, Wordpress, Translated with Google Translate.

[18] M. Auguste de Saint-Hilaire (1847) On the Minhocâo of the Goyanese, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 19:124, 140-141, DOI: 10.1080/037454809496469

[19] "A New Underground Monster." Nature, vol. 17, 21 Feb, 1878, pp. 325-326.

[20] "A Gigantic Earthworm." British Newspaper Archive, 2 Mar. 1878,

[21] "Minhocão." Cryptid Wiki, Fandom.

[22] Ramos, Daniel. "Strong, Deep Quake Rocks Bolivia, Shakes Buildings in Brazil." Reuters, Apr 2, 2018.

Picture attributions

[NorwaysGreatestSon]

I really appreciate that this isn't clickbait like one of those "TOP 10 MYTHICAL CREATURES FROM HALLOW EARTH" it actually shows the them and doesn't use clickbait thumbnails and red circles

[glennmorganfan]

I LOVE Cryptid videos that are informative and NOT full of garbage sightings and obviously faked pictures and video.
PLEASE do more of these in the future.

[jourcontre-jour]

Fun fact about the lobisomem: Here in Argentina there actually is a law, that if someone is to be born the seventh cosecutive son of a seventh cosecutive son, they are to be formally declared the current president's godson; in other words, the president at the time of their birth becomes their Godfather. I've actually met one lucky (or unlucky) enough to have been so, although it is extremely rare.

[coltinglovich]

Here i thought i was going to bed but no, my main man fire of learning has to post a late night video preventing me much needed rest. Well played fire of learning... Well played.

[TheMoosePad]

The deep jungle almost scares me as much as the deep ocean. It's the same vibe as being way too out of your depth in a place you have no business being in and being at the total mercy of the Earth. Animals that you've never encountered before at every corner, the fear of not knowing what is going on around you because it's just too dense to see anything properly for more than a few feet. I can't tell which is worse, On one hand, you drown in the water and there could be Sharks or Krakens or some shit down there in the ocean, but on the other hand spiders, lots and lots of spiders.

[jacobkohr]

Not all Ground sloths were elephant size like Megatherium.
Mylodon is a "small" species of ground sloth that lived in South America as recently as ten thousand years ago. It was ten feet long and when standing up wouldn't be that much taller than a man. It also had a relatively longer skull than other ground sloths giving it an almost horse like face. Mummified remains have been found showing that it had yellowish to reddish brown fur.

[coisudo]

Just a fun fact
In portuguese, “minhocão” can be translate to “big worm” because “minhoca” is worm, and the end “ão” means “big”
So, many words with the end “ao” is just the “big” version, like:
Carro = car Carrão = big car

Anyway, great video, I’m a brazilian and I didn’t know many of the creatures you say in the video

[rafaelalodio]

12:25 This picture made me so happy, this statute of the Mapinguari is located in the Chico Mendes Park in Rio Branco, Brazil, my hometown, I have a picture of me as a kid by the side of this statue, it still exists. In the same area of the park there are some plaques and other statues about the local Amazonian folklore.

[fnamelname]

Tree sloths can have a terrible smell for several reasons: 1, the leaves they eat actually rot/ferment inside them, 2, their low body temperature and slow movement allows mold to grow in their fur, 3, they are coprophagic.
So, the foul odor is very possible, if ground sloths acted similarly.

[mariadocarmosobreira]

Here in Brazil, some legends say the lobisomem is the seventh son conceived on a crossroads and, when standing at a crossroads where a horse rolled on the ground, will transform into a wolf, but with the flesh outside and the fur on the inside, and from midnight until dawn, go around killing every animal and person he finds along the way. He can be killed by a bullet dunk in wax made from candles that burned on midnight masses. There are other variants, but this one is the most horrible for me.

[paranormalparatrooper.]

These videos are great. Not just a short video with a few cryptids but an in-depth one. 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺

[velocirapper]

I love your cryptid videos, i think its so cool to see what different cultures fear and have come up with. Please do one for every continent or major region. Great work.

[riograndedosulball]

I actually have a Lobisomem story in my family - or almost
My grandmother had seven brothers, that were all born in a row and indeed, out of fear uncle Benedict, the seventh and youngest, would become a lobisomem, he was baptised by uncle Deomar, who was the oldest of them. That was said to break the curse and grant a normal life to the boy.

What is funniest about it is that the entire family is German in origin and mostly didn't speak Portuguese at home at the time, but anyways the fear of a son becoming a blood drinking monster was enough lmao

[matthewmagda]

I love this. Please do one for cryptids in Germany and/or continental Europe.

[harald]

Woah thanks, dude! I am currently learning the history of South America for a project, this will bring up my points quite a bit!
Also while I'm at it, Great content my guy! you're like the way clearer Tierzoo, He's fun and informative but you're even more information I'd say. Can't wait for the 500.000 mark!

[marangatu]

Paraguayan here, I'll add my two cents in.
I have a cousin who has a black Great Dane and it's funny seeing people's reactions on the street when he takes it for walks at night.
The headless Dog isn't associated with Luison (at least I've never heard of it)
But it is associated with "Plata Yvyguy" or buried treasure, Which are said to be hidden by people during the war in 1870s, often they're supposed to be cursed, Some people have on occasion found some gold and such.
The backwards feet is a feature of many myths as the idea is that you cannot tract these being's footprints, we have "Pombero" a hairy, wild man with backward feet who comes out at night and is a bit of a Puck character.
can give some more Paraguayan folklore here for folks asking

[cofeetime]

Hey, I'm here from Brazil, watching the vídeo right now, loved the way you showed part of our culture, great vídeo

[THATGuy]

Love the cryptid videos. As for the ghost ship- it's both a fun afterlife and a malevolent ghost trap. The captain was a real introvert, so he designed his evil ghost ship to just be a neverending party. But it's got really chill vibes, so everybody else is having a good time.
"Hey, great party! But it looks like we're out of chips."
"YOU WANT CHIPS, DO YOU? WELL THEN, CHIPS YOU SHALL HAVE! MUHAHAHAHA!!"
"Hey, thanks!"
"...sigh."

[hpd]

Like many others who have said, I'm so glad this isn't clickbait filled with those eyesore-causing red circles with 144p videos of "sightings" that look very much fake. I know you've done plenty, as I have watched the North American & British cyptids. Tbh, listening to other country's cryprids is very interesting to me, as I know the majority of the Northern American cyptids. Please keep doing these videos. I love them.

[wyvernmg]

I can't believe this video flew under my radar for over a week. I've been enjoying this series since I saw Mythical Creatures of North America, as it feeds into my love of folklore and legends. I'm glad you're still making these; thank you.