CONTINENT FILE

Cryptids of North America

From the Pacific Northwest’s forests to the lakes of Canada and the deserts of Mexico.

Choose a country

United States103 cryptidsCanada11 cryptidsMexico5 cryptids

Cryptids of North America

Frame 352 of the 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film: a dark, hairy upright figure walking across a creek bed and looking toward the camera HOMINID · 1958

Bigfoot

Pacific Northwest forests, reported across North America

North America’s most famous cryptid: a huge, hairy, upright ape-like being reported from the Pacific Northwest to Florida since the 1958 “Bigfoot” tracks.

WIDELY REPORTED The stainless-steel Mothman statue with spread wings on a street in Point Pleasant, West Virginia FLYING · 1966

Mothman

Point Pleasant and the “TNT area”, Mason County, West Virginia

A man-sized winged figure with glowing red eyes reported around Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in 1966–67 – now a festival, museum and steel statue.

REGIONAL LEGEND Artist’s drawing of the classic Puerto Rican chupacabra: an upright gray creature with big eyes and spines along its back OTHER · 1995

Chupacabra

Canóvanas, Puerto Rico

The “goat-sucker” of 1990s Puerto Rico: a spiny, bloodsucking beast blamed for livestock deaths that spread across Latin America and Texas.

WIDELY REPORTED A 1909 Philadelphia newspaper drawing of the Jersey Devil as a winged, horned creature FLYING · 1735

Jersey Devil

Pine Barrens, southern New Jersey

A winged, hoofed devil said to have been born to “Mother Leeds” in the Pine Barrens, and the star of a week of panic across South Jersey in January 1909.

REGIONAL LEGEND Rows of tall red pines in Michigan’s Manistee National Forest, the heart of Dogman country DOGMAN & CANINE · 1987

Michigan Dogman

Northwestern Lower Peninsula, Michigan

A seven-foot, dog-headed creature said to walk upright through northern Michigan’s forests – a legend born from a 1987 April Fools’ radio song.

REGIONAL LEGEND A roadside statue depicting the Florida Skunk Ape HOMINID · 1818

Skunk Ape

Big Cypress Swamp and the Everglades, Florida

Florida’s answer to Bigfoot: a shaggy, foul-smelling ape-man said to roam the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp, reported since the 1970s and before.

WIDELY REPORTED An illustration recreating Sandra Mansi’s 1977 photo of a long-necked shape rising from Lake Champlain LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1819

Champ

Lake Champlain, New York–Vermont border

A long-necked monster said to live in Lake Champlain, made famous by Sandra Mansi’s 1977 photo and protected by local and state resolutions in the 1980s.

REGIONAL LEGEND An Andean condor soaring with wings fully spread, the kind of large bird sometimes proposed to explain thunderbird sightings FLYING · Pre-colonial

Thunderbird

Northern Pennsylvania mountains and central Illinois

A giant bird with a wingspan said to rival a small plane, reported over Pennsylvania’s Black Forest and blamed for lifting an Illinois boy in 1977.

REGIONAL LEGEND SPECTRAL · Pre-colonial

Wendigo

Boreal forests of Canada and the northern Great Lakes

A being of winter, hunger and greed from Algonquian traditions – Ojibwe, Cree, Innu and others – whose teachings warn against selfish excess.

FOLKLORE Green fibreglass Ogopogo statue with humped coils on the Kelowna waterfront LAKE & SEA MONSTER · Pre-colonial

Ogopogo

Okanagan Lake, British Columbia

Canada’s most famous lake monster: a long, humped serpent said to swim Okanagan Lake, rooted in the Syilx being nx̌aʔx̌ʔitkʷ, spirit of the lake.

WIDELY REPORTED DOGMAN & CANINE · 1991

Beast of Bray Road

Bray Road, Elkhorn, Walworth County, Wisconsin

A wolf-headed creature that walks on two legs, reported along a farm road outside Elkhorn, Wisconsin, and made famous by reporter Linda Godfrey in 1991.

REGIONAL LEGEND A giant chair shaped like the Flatwoods Monster on the lawn by the town hall in Flatwoods, West Virginia HUMANOID · 1952

Flatwoods Monster

Fisher farm hillside, Flatwoods, Braxton County, West Virginia

A ten-foot figure with a glowing face and spade-shaped hood that seven witnesses met on a West Virginia hillside after a light fell from the sky in 1952.

REGIONAL LEGEND An artist’s illustration of the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp REPTILIAN · 1988

Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp

Scape Ore Swamp, near Bishopville, Lee County, South Carolina

A seven-foot, green-scaled, red-eyed creature that a teenager said attacked his car beside a South Carolina swamp in 1988, sparking a summer-long craze.

REGIONAL LEGEND The Monster Mart store in Fouke, Arkansas, a convenience store and souvenir shop named after the Fouke Monster HOMINID · 1946

Fouke Monster

Fouke and Boggy Creek, Miller County, Arkansas

The hairy, red-eyed swamp beast of Fouke, Arkansas, whose 1971 “attack” on a farmhouse inspired the 1972 cult film “The Legend of Boggy Creek.”

REGIONAL LEGEND HOMINID · 1869

Ohio Grassman

Eastern and southeastern Ohio woodlands

Ohio’s own Bigfoot, a tall hairy biped said to build grass nests, linked to the 1978 Minerva scare and the Bigfoot conference at Salt Fork State Park.

REGIONAL LEGEND Artist’s impression of the Loveland Frog standing at the side of a road REPTILIAN · 1955

Loveland Frog

Little Miami River, Loveland, Ohio

A four-foot frog-faced humanoid said to haunt the Little Miami River at Loveland, Ohio, reported in 1955 and by two police officers in 1972.

LOCAL LEGEND Black-and-white line drawing of a classical faun, a goat-legged figure from mythology like the one Goatman legends echo – not a depiction of any sighting HUMANOID · 1971

Goatman

Fletchertown Road, Bowie, Prince George’s County, Maryland

A half-man, half-goat said to stalk the back roads of Prince George’s County, Maryland – a 1970s legend fed by teenagers, folklore archives and the press.

REGIONAL LEGEND An artist’s illustration of the Dover Demon, a thin, big-headed figure with large eyes HUMANOID · 1977

Dover Demon

Farm Street and Springdale Avenue, Dover, Massachusetts

A small, hairless figure with a melon-shaped head and glowing eyes that three teenagers reported in Dover, Massachusetts, over two nights in April 1977.

LOCAL LEGEND The turquoise waters of Bear Lake on the Utah–Idaho border, ringed by mountains LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1868

Bear Lake Monster

Bear Lake, on the Utah–Idaho border

A serpent-like monster said to swim Bear Lake on the Utah–Idaho line, born of an 1868 newspaper story its own author later called a lie.

REGIONAL LEGEND Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe, California, at golden hour – one of the lake’s best-known viewpoints LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1865

Tahoe Tessie

Lake Tahoe, California–Nevada border

A humped, serpent-like monster said to glide through the deep, cold water of Lake Tahoe – the Sierra Nevada’s friendly answer to Nessie.

REGIONAL LEGEND The large hodag statue in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, a horned, spiny, grinning green creature OTHER · 1893

Hodag

Rhinelander, Oneida County, Wisconsin

A horned, spiny, grinning beast of Wisconsin logging-camp lore that prankster Eugene Shepard ‘captured’ in 1893 – now Rhinelander’s beloved mascot.

HOAX / DEBUNKED FLYING · 1994

Batsquatch

Foothills of Mount Rainier, Pierce County, Washington

A winged, ape-like creature with blue-tinged fur said to have landed in front of a stalled pickup near Mount Rainier in 1994 – part bat, part Sasquatch.

LOCAL LEGEND DOGMAN & CANINE · 1700s (French colonial era)

Rougarou

Bayous and cane fields of south Louisiana

South Louisiana’s Cajun werewolf: a cursed shape-shifter of the bayous, born of French loup-garou tales and now the mascot of Houma’s Rougarou Fest.

FOLKLORE The tall steel railroad trestle over Pope Lick Creek in Louisville, Kentucky, seen from below HUMANOID · 1980s

Pope Lick Monster

Pope Lick trestle, Fisherville area of Louisville, Kentucky

A goat-legged figure said to haunt a towering railroad trestle east of Louisville – a legend that has drawn people onto a deadly, active train line.

LOCAL LEGEND A modern drawing of the snallygaster as a winged, beaked dragon-like creature FLYING · 1730s

Snallygaster

South Mountain and the Middletown Valley, Frederick County, Maryland

A winged, beaked dragon of Maryland’s Blue Ridge: born of German settlers’ folklore and made famous by a 1909 newspaper hoax in the Middletown Valley.

REGIONAL LEGEND The modern painting of the Piasa Bird on the limestone bluffs above the Mississippi River at Alton, Illinois FLYING · 1673

Piasa Bird

Mississippi River bluffs, Alton, Illinois

A winged, horned, man-faced monster painted on the Mississippi bluffs at Alton – first seen by Marquette in 1673 and reinvented by a storyteller in 1836.

REGIONAL LEGEND HOMINID · 1972

Momo (the Missouri Monster)

Louisiana, Missouri (Pike County)

A foul-smelling, seven-foot hairy beast reportedly seen clutching a dead dog in Louisiana, Missouri, in July 1972 – sparking posses and a festival.

REGIONAL LEGEND HUMANOID · Mid-20th century

Melon Heads

Back roads of southwestern Connecticut; Kirtland, Ohio; Saugatuck, Michigan

Small, big-headed figures said to lurk along wooded back roads in Connecticut, Ohio and Michigan – a teen legend with no real asylum behind it.

REGIONAL LEGEND Cover of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service coloring book “Chessie: A Chesapeake Bay Story,” showing a friendly cartoon sea serpent LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1943

Chessie

Chesapeake Bay and its tidal rivers, Maryland and Virginia

A long, dark, serpent-like animal reported in the Chesapeake Bay since the mid-20th century, famously caught on a blurry 1982 home video off Kent Island.

REGIONAL LEGEND HOMINID · 1963

Honey Island Swamp Monster

Honey Island Swamp, Pearl River, near Slidell

A gray-haired, amber-eyed swamp ape said to roam the Pearl River’s Honey Island Swamp – launched by a 1974 report of webbed footprints near Slidell.

REGIONAL LEGEND HUMANOID · 1973

Pascagoula River Creatures

Pascagoula River, Pascagoula, Mississippi

Gray, clawed, legless beings that two Pascagoula shipyard workers said floated from a glowing craft and seized them by the river on October 11, 1973.

REGIONAL LEGEND Actors in costume during the theatrical performance of La Llorona on the water at Xochimilco, Mexico City SPECTRAL · 16th century

La Llorona

Canals of Xochimilco, Mexico City

A weeping ghost in white who wanders rivers and canals at night crying for the children she lost – Mexico’s most famous and most widely told legend.

FOLKLORE The Detroit Masonic Temple seen from Cass Park, where the Marche du Nain Rouge traditionally ends HUMANOID · 1883

Nain Rouge

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit’s red-faced imp, said to have cursed founder Cadillac and to appear before disasters – now chased out of town each spring by a costumed parade.

FOLKLORE SPECTRAL · 1800s (recorded 1888)

Feu Follet

Marshes and swamps of south Louisiana

Louisiana’s will-o’-the-wisp: a dancing marsh light that Cajun and Creole lore says leads travelers astray – a lost soul, a sorcerer or swamp gas.

FOLKLORE The White River at sunset, seen from near the boat launch at Jacksonport State Park, Arkansas LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1915

White River Monster

White River near Newport, Arkansas

“Whitey,” a gray, elephant-skinned giant of the White River near Newport, Arkansas – so famous that the state legislature gave it a legal refuge in 1973.

REGIONAL LEGEND Illustration of the Minnesota Iceman as seen frozen in ice, beside a reconstruction based on Heuvelmans’ and Sanderson’s descriptions HOMINID · 1968

Minnesota Iceman

Traveling carnival exhibit; later stored in Cottage Grove, Minnesota

A hairy “ape-man” frozen in a block of ice, toured at 1960s fairs by showman Frank Hansen – hailed as a new species, then exposed as a latex model.

HOAX / DEBUNKED A lobster boat emerging from fog on Casco Bay, Maine – the kind of foggy water where Cassie sightings were reported (no image of the creature exists). LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1779

Cassie

Casco Bay, off Portland and Cape Elizabeth, Maine

Maine’s great sea serpent: a long, snakelike animal reported in and around Casco Bay since the 18th century, last famously seen off Cape Elizabeth in 1958.

REGIONAL LEGEND Artist’s impression of a Hopkinsville goblin based on witness descriptions: a small figure with huge ears, big eyes and long clawed arms HUMANOID · 1955

Kelly–Hopkinsville Goblins

Sutton farm, Kelly, near Hopkinsville, Kentucky

Small, glowing-eyed beings that a rural Kentucky family said besieged their farmhouse for hours in August 1955 – the case behind “little green men.”

REGIONAL LEGEND Early-1900s postcard of the Rock Island railroad depot in Van Meter, Iowa, with two railroad employees on the platform FLYING · 1903

Van Meter Visitor

Van Meter, Iowa

A winged creature with a glowing horn said to have terrorized the small town of Van Meter, Iowa, for several nights in the autumn of 1903.

LOCAL LEGEND Lake Manitou in Rochester, Indiana, on a summer day – the lake where the 1838 monster was reported LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1838

Lake Manitou Monster

Lake Manitou, Rochester, Indiana

A spotted, serpent-necked lake creature reported at Rochester, Indiana, in 1838 – a story mixing Potawatomi tradition with frontier newspaper humor.

LOCAL LEGEND The wide Altamaha River between McIntosh and Glynn counties, Georgia, looking toward the Atlantic – the waters where Altie is said to swim LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1830

Altamaha-ha

Mouth of the Altamaha River, near Darien, Georgia

“Altie,” the sea serpent of coastal Georgia, said to swim the marshes and old rice canals at the mouth of the Altamaha River near Darien.

REGIONAL LEGEND Downtown Westbrook, Maine, along the Presumpscot River looking toward Bridge Street and Sacarappa Falls in winter. REPTILIAN · 2016

Wessie

Presumpscot River, Westbrook, Maine

A giant snake seen by police along the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, Maine, in 2016 – an escaped pet, a hoax or the state’s newest cryptid?

LOCAL LEGEND A 1902 postcard photo of Profile Rock, a craggy outcrop in the Freetown–Fall River State Forest HUMANOID · Pre-colonial

Pukwudgie

Southeastern Massachusetts, especially Freetown–Fall River State Forest

Small, gray-skinned forest people of Algonquian tradition – foes of the Wampanoag giant Maushop – said to linger in southeastern Massachusetts woods.

FOLKLORE DOGMAN & CANINE · 1886

Shunka Warak’in

Madison Valley, southwestern Montana

A hyena-like wolf shot in Montana’s Madison Valley in 1886, whose mounted body – the “Ringdocus” – now draws visitors to a small museum in Ennis.

REGIONAL LEGEND LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1816

Memphré

Lake Memphremagog, Magog (Quebec) to Newport (Vermont)

The horse-headed serpent of Lake Memphremagog, a border lake shared by Quebec and Vermont, reported since 1816 and adopted as Magog’s friendly mascot.

REGIONAL LEGEND HOMINID · 1973

Murphysboro Mud Monster

Big Muddy River, Murphysboro, Illinois

A 7-foot, mud-caked, whitish creature reported along the Big Muddy River in Murphysboro, Illinois, in 1973 – a case local police say is still open.

LOCAL LEGEND Carlos Loarca’s 2011 acrylic painting “La Línea,” inspired by the mythical dog El Cadejo DOGMAN & CANINE · Pre-colonial roots; recorded 19th century

El Cadejo

Night roads of Guatemala and El Salvador

A spectral dog with burning eyes that follows night travelers in Central America – the white one protects them, the black one leads them to ruin.

FOLKLORE SPECTRAL · 1904

Witch of Yazoo

Glenwood Cemetery, Yazoo City, Mississippi

A river-swamp witch who, legend says, swore as she sank in quicksand to burn Yazoo City in 20 years – and the 1904 fire that seemed to keep her promise.

LOCAL LEGEND Lake Pend Oreille in North Idaho, surrounded by forested mountains LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1944

Pend Oreille Paddler

Lake Pend Oreille, North Idaho

A dark, wake-making shape in Idaho’s deepest lake – a monster often blamed on giant fish, hoaxers, and the Navy’s secret submarine tests.

LOCAL LEGEND A group of North American river otters – the “land otters” of Southeast Alaska – along Ward Creek in the Tongass National Forest HUMANOID · Pre-colonial

Kushtaka

Southeast Alaska (Tlingit homelands)

The Land Otter Man of Tlingit tradition in Southeast Alaska – a shape-shifting being linked to people lost at sea, later recast by outsiders as a cryptid.

FOLKLORE The ʻAlekoko or “Menehune” Fishpond near Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi, with its long stone wall separating the pond from the river HUMANOID · Pre-colonial

Menehune

Kauaʻi and Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi

The legendary master builders of Hawaiian tradition, said to raise fishponds and stone walls in a single night – still debated by Hawaiian scholars today.

FOLKLORE The wide blue waters of Flathead Lake, Montana, with forested shores and mountains LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1889

Flathead Lake Monster

Flathead Lake, northwestern Montana

An eel-like giant said to swim in Flathead Lake, the West’s largest natural freshwater lake, reported since a steamboat sighting in 1889.

REGIONAL LEGEND Black-and-white 1937 photograph of a long, slender carcass laid out on boards at the Naden Harbour whaling station LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1933

Cadborosaurus

Cadboro Bay and the Salish Sea, off Victoria, British Columbia

“Caddy,” the horse-headed sea serpent of British Columbia’s coast, named in 1933 after Victoria’s Cadboro Bay and still reported in the Salish Sea.

WIDELY REPORTED Iliamna Lake (Nila Vena), Alaska’s largest lake, photographed for the Lake Clark Place Name Project LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1942

Iliamna Lake Monster

Iliamna Lake, southwest Alaska

“Illie,” a giant fish-like creature reported by bush pilots and villagers in Iliamna Lake, Alaska’s largest lake, since the 1940s.

REGIONAL LEGEND An honor guard presenting the colors at the 2019 Beast Festival in Bladenboro, North Carolina BIG CAT · 1953

Beast of Bladenboro

Bladenboro, Bladen County, North Carolina

A cat-like killer blamed for a string of dog deaths around Bladenboro, North Carolina, in winter 1953–54, which drew armed crowds of up to 1,000 hunters.

LOCAL LEGEND Payette Lake near McCall, Idaho, seen from a cruise boat LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1920

Sharlie

Payette Lake, McCall, Idaho

The humped “Twilight Dragon” of Payette Lake in McCall, Idaho – reported since 1920 and named Sharlie in a 1954 newspaper contest.

REGIONAL LEGEND A chainsaw wood carving of the Mogollon Monster, a tall, hairy ape-like figure HOMINID · 1903

Mogollon Monster

Mogollon Rim, central and eastern Arizona

Arizona’s own Bigfoot: a towering, red-eyed, foul-smelling ape-man said to stalk the pine forests of the Mogollon Rim and scare generations of campers.

REGIONAL LEGEND An 1817 illustration from the Linnaean Society of New England’s report on the sea serpent seen near Cape Ann LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1817

Gloucester Sea Serpent

Gloucester Harbor and Cape Ann, Massachusetts

A huge, humped serpent that hundreds said swam in Gloucester Harbor in August 1817 – so convincing that a scientific society named it a new species.

REGIONAL LEGEND The Tennessee Historical Commission roadside marker for the Bell Witch on U.S. Route 41 in Adams, Tennessee SPECTRAL · 1817

Bell Witch

Bell farm, Red River, Adams, Robertson County, Tennessee

An invisible, talking spirit said to have tormented the Bell family on their Tennessee farm from 1817 to 1821 – America’s most famous haunting legend.

FOLKLORE OTHER · 1973

Enfield Horror

Enfield, White County, Illinois

A gray, three-legged creature with pink eyes reported in Enfield, Illinois, in 1973 – later a sociology case study in how monster panics spread.

LOCAL LEGEND An alligator snapping turtle at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo – a real giant turtle species, not the Beast of Busco REPTILIAN · 1898

Beast of Busco

Fulk Lake, near Churubusco, Indiana

A giant snapping turtle said to lurk in a small farm lake near Churubusco, Indiana, whose 1949 hunt made national news and gave the town its nickname.

LOCAL LEGEND HUMANOID · 1820s

Tommyknockers

Gold and silver mines of Colorado’s Front Range, around Idaho Springs and Central City

Little mine spirits brought from Cornwall to the American West, said to knock in Colorado’s gold and silver mines – warning, teasing or guiding the miners.

FOLKLORE Historic photograph of the Leavitt family farm in Turner, Maine, around 1900 – the rural town where the 2006 carcass was found. DOGMAN & CANINE · 1991

Turner Beast

Turner, Androscoggin County, Maine

A dog-like “mutant” blamed for years of eerie cries in Androscoggin County, Maine; a roadkill carcass found in Turner in 2006 tested as 100% dog.

HOAX / DEBUNKED An ordinary dark-coated moose in Superior National Forest, Minnesota, for scale and comparison – not the legendary white Specter Moose. OTHER · 1891

Specter Moose

Lobster Lake and the North Maine Woods

A giant, ghostly white moose said to roam northern Maine since 1891, shrugging off hunters’ bullets and chasing sportsmen up trees, as old papers told it.

REGIONAL LEGEND HUMANOID · 1932

Pedro Mountain Mummy

Pedro Mountains near Pathfinder Reservoir, Carbon County, Wyoming

A tiny seated mummy found by Wyoming gold prospectors in the 1930s and promoted as proof of a race of little people – later identified as an infant.

HOAX / DEBUNKED Lake Simcoe seen from the waterfront in Barrie, Ontario, the bay where Igopogo is said to swim. LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1823

Igopogo

Lake Simcoe, Ontario

Ontario’s answer to Ogopogo: a grey, dog-faced creature reported in Lake Simcoe since settler days, honoured by a sea-serpent sculpture in Barrie.

LOCAL LEGEND LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1894

Devils Lake Serpent

Devils Lake, northeastern North Dakota

A horned, alligator-jawed serpent said to rise from Devils Lake, North Dakota, rooted in Dakota tradition and promoted by 1890s–1910s newspapers.

LOCAL LEGEND Walker Lake, Nevada, a broad desert lake beneath bare mountains LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1868

Walker Lake Serpent

Walker Lake, near Hawthorne, Nevada

A giant serpent said to live in Walker Lake, Nevada, rooted in Paiute tradition and frontier tall tales, now beloved as “Cecil” in Hawthorne parades.

LOCAL LEGEND SPECTRAL · Pre-colonial

Night Marchers

Throughout the Hawaiian Islands

Huakaʻi pō – ghostly processions of chiefs, warriors and gods in Hawaiian tradition, heralded by drums, chants and torchlight on sacred nights.

FOLKLORE Lake Thunderbird, Oklahoma, on a summer day LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1987

Oklahoma Octopus

Lakes Thunderbird, Tenkiller and Oologah, Oklahoma

A horse-sized freshwater octopus said to drag swimmers to their deaths in Oklahoma’s reservoirs – a legend largely built by books and a 2009 TV show.

HOAX / DEBUNKED Amédée Forestier’s 1922 illustration of Nebraska Man as a pair of hairy, primitive ape-people HOMINID · 1922

Nebraska Man

Snake Creek fossil beds, western Nebraska

A supposed American ape-man announced in 1922 from a single fossil tooth found in western Nebraska – which turned out to belong to an extinct peccary.

HOAX / DEBUNKED The beach at Pawleys Island, South Carolina, with sea grass in the foreground SPECTRAL · 1822

Gray Man of Pawleys Island

Pawleys Island, Georgetown County, South Carolina

A ghostly figure in gray said to walk the beach at Pawleys Island before hurricanes, warning residents to flee – and sparing the homes of those who listen.

LOCAL LEGEND LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1934

Colossal Claude

Mouth of the Columbia River, near Astoria, Oregon

A long-necked sea serpent reported by lightship and fishing crews at the mouth of the Columbia River between 1934 and 1939, nicknamed Colossal Claude.

LOCAL LEGEND Lake Norman, North Carolina, seen from Cornelius Road in Iredell County LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1963

Lake Norman Monster

Lake Norman, north of Charlotte, North Carolina

“Normie,” a whiskered, finned serpent-fish said to swim in Lake Norman, the huge reservoir north of Charlotte created by Cowans Ford Dam in 1963.

LOCAL LEGEND Spirit Mound, a lone grassy hill rising above the prairie north of Vermillion, South Dakota HUMANOID · Pre-colonial

Little People of Spirit Mound

Spirit Mound Historic Prairie, near Vermillion, Clay County, South Dakota

Small beings of Lakota, Otoe and Missouria tradition said to guard a lone South Dakota prairie hill – the ‘little devils’ Lewis and Clark sought in 1804.

FOLKLORE The large fiberglass jackalope statue in Jackalope Square, Douglas, Wyoming OTHER · 1932

Jackalope

Douglas, Converse County, Wyoming

A jackrabbit with antelope antlers, born of a Douglas, Wyoming, taxidermy joke in the 1930s and now the West’s favorite tall-tale animal.

FOLKLORE The Dutch-style Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes, Delaware, home of the merman LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1941

Zwaanendael Merman

Zwaanendael Museum, Lewes, Delaware

A shriveled, foot-long “merman” brought to Lewes by a sea captain – a 19th-century Asian sideshow curiosity the town loved too much to let go.

HOAX / DEBUNKED LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1899

Seneca Lake Serpent

Seneca Lake, Finger Lakes, New York

A toothy serpent said to have been rammed and killed by a Finger Lakes steamboat in July 1899, only for its body to slip away into 600 feet of water.

LOCAL LEGEND BIG CAT · 1939

Glawackus

Glastonbury, Connecticut

A screaming, part-panther, part-bear beast blamed for missing livestock around Glastonbury, Connecticut, in a 1939 newspaper-fueled panic.

LOCAL LEGEND HUMANOID · 1971

Pigman of Northfield

Devil’s Washbowl and Paine Mountain, Northfield, Vermont

A white-haired, pig-snouted figure that frightened teens at a 1971 high-school dance in Northfield, Vermont, said to lurk in the Devil’s Washbowl.

LOCAL LEGEND The cliffs of West Peak in the Hanging Hills above Meriden, Connecticut DOGMAN & CANINE · 1898

Black Dog of West Peak

West Peak, Hanging Hills, Meriden, Connecticut

A silent, trackless black dog of Meriden’s Hanging Hills: see it once for joy, twice for sorrow, and the third time you die – or so an 1898 story says.

LOCAL LEGEND LAKE & SEA MONSTER · Pre-colonial

Ahuizotl

Lakes of the Valley of Mexico

An Aztec water creature like a small black dog with a hand at the tip of its tail, said to cry like a baby and drag people into deep water.

FOLKLORE HOMINID · Early 1900s

Selbyville Swamp Monster

Great Cypress Swamp, near Selbyville, Delaware

A hairy, screaming creature of Delaware’s Great Cypress Swamp – a decades-old legend that peaked in 1964, when a local man in a fur coat played the part.

LOCAL LEGEND HUMANOID · Pre-colonial

Deer Woman

Oklahoma and many Native nations of the Plains and Eastern Woodlands

A spirit being of many Native nations who appears as a beautiful woman with deer’s feet, and who punishes men who harm women and children.

FOLKLORE Carbuncle Pond in Coventry, Rhode Island, ringed by woods REPTILIAN · 1890s

Carbuncle Pond Serpent

Carbuncle Pond and Carbuncle Hill, Coventry, Rhode Island

A giant serpent with a glowing red gem in its forehead, said to haunt the woods of Coventry, Rhode Island, until the jewel sank in Carbuncle Pond.

FOLKLORE HOMINID · 1920s

Wood Devils

Coös County, northern New Hampshire

Tall, thin, gray-furred figures said to slip between the trees of New Hampshire’s Coös County, a legend that grew out of North Country logging camps.

LOCAL LEGEND OTHER · 1998

Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

Olympic Peninsula rainforests near Hood Canal, Washington

A tree-climbing octopus said to live in the Olympic Peninsula rainforest – a famous 1998 internet hoax used to teach students to check sources.

HOAX / DEBUNKED A 1910 drawing of the squonk, a sorrowful warty creature weeping in the forest OTHER · 1910

Squonk

Hemlock forests of Pennsylvania, near Mont Alto

A warty, miserable creature of Pennsylvania’s hemlock woods that weeps constantly and, if caught, dissolves into tears – a lumberjack tall tale.

FOLKLORE The view over Norton, Virginia, from the Flag Rock Overlook in autumn HOMINID · 1890s

Woodbooger

Flag Rock and Powell Valley, Norton, Virginia

Southwest Virginia’s hairy, Bigfoot-like ‘Woodbooger’ – the Appalachian bogeyman that Norton turned into a trademarked mascot with a sanctuary and statue.

LOCAL LEGEND Lake Inman, a natural lake near Inman in McPherson County, Kansas – the wetland area around the Big Sinkhole. LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1952

Sinkhole Sam

Big Sinkhole near Inman, McPherson County, Kansas

A huge worm- or snakelike creature said to swim in the Big Sinkhole near Inman, Kansas, since 1952 – the state’s only homegrown lake monster.

LOCAL LEGEND View over the Middletown Valley from the overlook at Gambrill State Park on Catoctin Mountain, Maryland DOGMAN & CANINE · 1965

Dwayyo

Catoctin Mountain and Gambrill State Park, Frederick County, Maryland

An upright, wolf-like beast from Frederick County, Maryland – born in a 1965 newspaper story and remembered as the Snallygaster’s mortal enemy.

LOCAL LEGEND REPTILIAN · 1921

Alkali Lake Monster

Walgren (formerly Alkali) Lake, near Hay Springs, Nebraska

A 40-foot horned reptile said to lurk in a small Sandhills lake near Hay Springs, Nebraska – a 1920s newspaper sensation widely blamed on a famous hoaxer.

HOAX / DEBUNKED Lake Pepin on the Mississippi River seen from the pier at Lake City, Minnesota LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1867

Pepie

Lake Pepin, Mississippi River (Minnesota–Wisconsin border)

A serpent-like creature said to lurk in Lake Pepin, a broad stretch of the Mississippi River, reported in newspapers since the 1860s.

LOCAL LEGEND A basking shark, the species most experts think the Block Ness Monster was LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1996

Block Ness Monster

Old Harbor, Block Island (New Shoreham), Rhode Island

A 14-foot serpent-like skeleton netted off Block Island in 1996, put on show, then ‘kidnapped’ from a freezer – most likely a basking shark.

HOAX / DEBUNKED HOMINID · Pre-colonial

Sisimite

Mountain forests of Honduras, Belize and the Yucatán

Central America’s hairy wild man of the mountain caves, said to walk on backward feet, fear water and dogs, and carry off people who stray into the forest.

FOLKLORE HOMINID · Early 1800s

Bennington Monster

Glastenbury Mountain and the Bennington Triangle, southern Vermont

A huge, hairy creature said to have overturned a stagecoach on a mountain road near Bennington, Vermont, and still blamed for the woods’ eerie reputation.

LOCAL LEGEND Lizard Head, a sheer volcanic spire in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado OTHER · 1910

Slide-Rock Bolter

San Juan Mountains near Rico and Lizard Head, Colorado

A giant, whale-like beast that hooks its tail over Colorado ridges and toboggans down to swallow tourists – a tall tale from the 1910 Fearsome Creatures.

FOLKLORE SPECTRAL · Early 1900s

Huggin’ Molly

Abbeville, Henry County, Alabama

A 7-foot phantom woman in black who chases children out after dark in Abbeville, Alabama, hugs them tight and screams in their ears.

LOCAL LEGEND LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1855

Silver Lake Serpent

Silver Lake, near Perry, Wyoming County, New York

A “horrid” serpent reported by fishermen on Silver Lake, New York, in July 1855 – famously blamed on a hotel owner’s canvas-and-bellows hoax.

HOAX / DEBUNKED Turn-of-the-century illustration of East Okoboji Lake from Benjamin F. Gue’s History of Iowa (1903) LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1903

Okoboji Lake Monster

Okoboji Lakes, Iowa Great Lakes, Dickinson County, Iowa

Nicknamed Obojoki, a giant serpent or fish said to churn the waters of the Okoboji Lakes in northwest Iowa’s resort country since 1903.

LOCAL LEGEND HUMANOID · 1956

Derry Fairy

Woods of Derry, New Hampshire

A two-foot green creature with droopy ears and filmy eyes that a Derry, New Hampshire, man said he met while cutting Christmas trees in December 1956.

LOCAL LEGEND LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 2007

Elephant Butte Giant Catfish

Elephant Butte Dam, Rio Grande, New Mexico

Catfish “as big as a Volkswagen” said to lurk at the foot of Elephant Butte Dam – New Mexico’s take on a classic American divers’ legend.

LOCAL LEGEND The Ninnescah River near Murdock in Kingman County, Kansas – typical of the creeks and bottomland where the serpent was reported. REPTILIAN · 1963

Kingman Serpent

Kingman County, south-central Kansas

A giant snake up to 20 feet long reported around Kingman, Kansas, in the 1960s, inspiring a monster hunt in 1969 by hundreds of armed volunteers.

LOCAL LEGEND The Presque Isle River flowing over rock ledges in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1977

Pressie

Lake Superior, near the Presque Isle River, Michigan

A serpent-like monster said to swim Lake Superior, named for sightings near the Presque Isle River in Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains.

LOCAL LEGEND The Susquehanna River seen from an overlook in Chickies Rock County Park, north of Columbia, Pennsylvania HOMINID · 1890s

Albatwitch

Chickies Rock, Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

A small, apple-loving ‘little Bigfoot’ said to lurk in the treetops around Chickies Rock above the Susquehanna River in Columbia, Pennsylvania.

LOCAL LEGEND View of Herrington Lake in central Kentucky, photographed from a boat LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1920s

Herrington Lake Monster

Herrington Lake, Mercer, Garrard and Boyle counties, Kentucky

A fast, eel-bodied creature with a pig-like snout said to swim in Herrington Lake, Kentucky’s deepest lake, made famous by a professor in the 1970s.

LOCAL LEGEND A sailboat on Lake Kampeska seen from Memorial Park in Watertown, South Dakota LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1880s

Lake Kampeska Monster

Lake Kampeska, Watertown, Codington County, South Dakota

A 20-foot scaly serpent with a head the size of a calf that 1880s newspapers said interrupted a picnic on Lake Kampeska, outside Watertown, South Dakota.

LOCAL LEGEND LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1921

Miniwashitu

Missouri River, North Dakota

A one-eyed, red-haired river being said to break the Missouri River’s ice each spring, recorded in North Dakota by ethnobotanist Melvin Gilmore in 1921.

FOLKLORE