The Aitvaras is a Lithuanian household spirit that resembles objects while indoors, but outdoors appears as a dragon about two feet long, with a serpentine body and four legs. In some districts is has wings and flies through the air trailing fire. It may hatch from an egg of a 9- to 12 year old rooter, and if it dies it becomes a spark. An Aitvaras will lodge itself in a house, refusing to leave. Its presence brings riches into the household, but the wealth is usually stolen from neighbors. An Aitvaras can be purchased from the Devil, but the price is the buyers soul. Once bought, it is nearly impossible to get rid of. If injured, it can be healed just by touching the ground.
Cadborosaurus willsi, nicknamed Caddy, is an alleged sea monster from British Colombian coast of Cadboro Bay. It was described as a long, serpent-like beast with flippers, hair on the neck, and a camel-like head. It could be anywhere from 40 to 70 feet long in length. There have been more than 300 claimed sightings during the past 200 years. The first reported sighting of Caddy was in 1933 by a Victoria lawyer and his wife on a cruise in their yacht. They described a "horrible serpent with the head of a camel." The creature showed itself again in 1934 when two members of the Provincial Government reported seeing the creature, the same description as the first. Later that same year two fishermen saw two monsters in the bay, one about 60 feet long, the other half that size. A rather interesting sighting was made by two hunters as they tried to recover their wounded duck. The monster rose out of the water, swallowed the duck, snapped at some gulls then submerged. They noted the six-foot long head with saw-like teeth. A photograph of Caddy was obtained in 1937. A whaling station in Vancouver just caught and killed a sperm whale in October of 1937. While removing the stomach contents at the Naden Harbor whaling station they came across a twenty-foot long carcass of an unidentified creature. It had the head of a horse, a snake-like body and a finned, spiny tail. A photograph was taken, but no one knows exactly what happened to its remains. No scientist can properly identify the creature in the photograph. It seems to have mammalian and reptilian traits, but which it is, no one is sure of. It is suggested that the creature is a Zeuglodon, but that explanation isn't 100% satisfactory seeing that it is much slimmer and the head is shaped improperly. Perhaps the closest sighting of Caddy was taken in 1939 by Captain Paul Sowerby. "We were headin' North, and, about thirty miles offshore, and saw this thing standing about four feet out of the water. So, I headed over towards it and took a look at it. At first, I thought it looked like a polar bear with its ruffles of hair. When we got right up alongside of it-and the water was crystal clear-there was just this column of this thing going at least forty feet and huge eyes. I had an old Newfoundlander as a mate and he said 'Do you see eyes on him?' Mouth and nose I have no recollection of at all, just those great big eyes. And the eyes seemed to open from top to bottom." On February 13, 1953, ten people also reported saw this creature, all of them watched it from different points of view and not one of the descriptions contradicted each other. In August, 1968. W. Hagelund claims to have caught a baby Caddy near De Courcy Island. In July, 1991. Phyllis Harsh claims to have caught a small 2 foot baby Caddy and returned it to the water on Johns Island (San Juan Islands). The descriptions place Caddy as some sort of a mammal, long, slender, and with a bifurcated tail. This suggests that it is a Zeuglodon, an ancient whale thought to be extinct. The only problem is that the head of the creature is described as a camels or a horses, while a Zeuglodon, or Basilosaurus, head is more like that of a snakes. The monster of Lake Okanagon, known as Ogopogo, is believed to be a Zeuglodon, but the sightings are different of that of Caddy. It never raises its neck, nor does it have hair, nor is the head camel-like, it is more like that of a snake. In 1943 two police officers, Inspector Robert Owens and Staff Sergent Jack Russell saw a “huge sea serpent with a horse like head” in Georgia Strait. Later “with a pair of binoculars Sgt. Russell saw that the strange apparition was a huge bull sea lion leading a herd of six sea lions…Their undulations as they swam appeared to form a continuous body, with parts showing at intervals as they surfaced and dived. To the naked eye, the sight perfectly impersonated a sea monster.” There have been suggestions that Caddy could be an example of the king of herrings or giant oarfish (Regalecus glesne). This species can reach 17 m in length and weigh up to 300 kg; some think the red mane on the head and back of the giant oarfish resembles a horse head with mane. A modern illustration by David John, "based on LeBlond/Bousfield composite and eyewitness accounts" shows Caddy with a red mane. "They're long and silvery and they undulate like a serpent would as they swim through the water," said H.J. Walker, a senior museum scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which has several oarfish in its collection. The carcass of a decomposing basking shark is often mistaken for Caddy and has fooled experts and laymen. A rotting basking shark may resemble a decomposing plesiosaur. The Plesiosaur shape is mistaken for Caddy. Darren Naish and colleagues have proposed that the baby "Cadborosaurus" captured in 1968 by William Hagelund was really a pipefish. Cadborosaurus featured on the television documentary series Northern Mysteries. "Caddy" was a mysterious element featured in the ninth Nancy Drew computer game produced by Her Interactive, Danger on Deception Island, set on the west coast of the United States. Caddy was mentioned on an episode of Is It Real? called "Monsters Of The Deep".
In Zoroastrian literature, Dahag, also known as Azi Dahaka, is one of the Azi (serpents, or dragons) that hold a reign of terror over the world. He is a snake-like monster with three heads, three mouths, and six eyes, who apparently lived in an impassable fortress somewhere in Mesopotamia, where he regularly asked the more powerful divinities of water and wind for help with his hobbies, namely, depopulating the earth of humans, stealing cattle, sorcery, and collecting all the possible sins in the world (his name means “having ten sins”). He was created by the “father of lies”, Angra Mainyu, who created him to counter Truth. With his paternal influence, and at least in part due to the traits he inherited from his mother, Odag (who was so wooed by Dahag’s good looks that she felt compelled to have an incestual sexual relationship with him) he managed to become one of the most influential and feared evil forces in Zoroastrianism. He ruled the world with sorcery and the help of daevas (demons) for 1000 years, following the death of the good King Jam. His reign was abruptly brought to an end when he was nearly beaten to death and imprisoned in a magic mountain by his nine year old successor, Fredon. He was not merely killed because he was filled with venomous creatures that would be let loose if Fredon were to kill him. Near the end of time/ judgment, he will be let loose, but will eventually be killed in the fiery river Ayohsust.
Gryttie is a mythical serpentine creature which is reputed to dwell in the depths of Gryttjen, in Hälsingland, Sweden. Gryttjen Lake is located fairly deep in the forest between the towns of Ljusdal and Hudiksvall. Gryttie is a local legend in the province of Hälsingland and unconfirmed sightings has been made at the lake since the 1800's but none were fully documented. The lake is stated to have a depth of about 118 feet but local attempts with sounding lines have found deep holes measuring over 300 feet down. The rumors of the lake monster was that it was some kind of sea serpent. However in 1985 a group calling themselves the Gryttie-group formed and started to make more systematic examinations of the lake including underwater cameras and side sonar scanning. Their current theory today is that it is not a monster but actually some form of isolated population of seacow that actually lives in the lake but no conclusive evidence has been discovered of neither the existence of the monster nor of any animals that can explain the sightings.
Hydrargos, Hydargos, Hydragos, and several other spellings, is a hoax created by Albert Koch. Made from several skeletons of the zeuglodon, a prehistoric whale, Koch was enthralled to exhibit the "sea serpent" to the public in the Apollo Saloon for 25 cents. The 114 foot long skeleton could not have been a real sea serpent because the teeth were cetacean, which had double roots, in the corresponding double sockets. Some teeth were immature, some very old, which has never been heard of in fossilization. It was even thought by some to be the biblical "Leviathan". Koch proclaimed that he found the skeleton in Alabama. Hydrarchos is not the only sea serpent proven to be a hoax, and lots of other sightings have also been debunked over the years, including the world's most famous proof of the Loch Ness Monster.
The Lambton Worm is a legend from North East England in the UK. The story takes place around the River Wear, and is one of the area's most famous pieces of folklore, having been adapted from written and oral tradition into pantomime and song formats. The story states that the young John Lambton was a rebellious character who missed his duties to go fishing in the River Wear. John Lambton does not catch anything until the time the church service finishes, at which point he fishes out a small eel- or lamprey-like creature with nine holes on each side of its salamander-like head. Depending on the version of the story the worm is no bigger than a thumb, or about 3 feet long. In some renditions it has legs, while in others it is said to more closely resemble a snake. At this point the old man returns, although in some versions it is a different character. John declares that he has caught a demon and decides to dispose of his catch by discarding it down a nearby well. The old man then issues further warnings about the nature of the beast. John then forgets about the creature and eventually grows up. As a penance for his rebellious early years he joins the crusades. Eventually the worm grows extremely large and the well becomes poisonous. The villagers start to notice livestock going missing and discover that the fully-grown worm has emerged from the well and coiled itself around a local hill. In some versions of the story the hill is Penshaw Hill, that on which the Penshaw Monument now stands, but locally the credit goes to the nearby Worm Hill, in Fatfield. In most versions of the story the worm is large enough to wrap itself around the hill 7 times. It is said that one can still see the marks of the worm on Worm Hill. The worm terrorizes the nearby villages, eating sheep, preventing cows from producing milk and snatching away small children. It then heads towards Lambton Castle where the Lord (John Lambton's aged father) manages to sedate the creature in what becomes a daily ritual of offering the worm milk of nine good cows, twenty gallons, or a filled wooden/stone trough. A number of brave villagers try to kill the beast but are quickly dispatched. When a chunk is cut off the worm it simply reattaches the missing piece. Visiting knights also try to assault the beast but none survive. When annoyed the worm would uproot trees by coiling its tail around them. It then created devastation by waving around the uprooted trees like a club. The story is set (apparently) in AD 1200-1300. This curse affect to nine generation of Lambton. This curse seems to have held true for at least three generations, possibly helping to contribute to the popularity of the story. 1st generation: Robert Lambton, drowned at Newrig. 2nd: Sir William Lambton, a Colonel of Foot, killed at Marston Moor. 3rd: William Lambton, died in battle at Wakefield. 9th: Henry Lambton, died in his carriage crossing Lambton Bridge on June 26, 1761. According to a study known as "Dragonology" the Lambton Worm is actually a sub-species of dragon that is serpent-like.
Nāga is the Sanskrit and Pāli word for a deity or class of entity or being, taking the form of a very great snake specifically the King Cobra, found in Hinduism and Buddhism. The use of the term nāga is often ambiguous, as the word may also refer, in similar contexts, to one of several human tribes known as or nicknamed "Nāgas"; to elephants; and to ordinary snakes, particularly the King Cobra and the Indian Cobra, the latter of which is still called nāg in Hindi and other languages of India. A female nāga is a nāgī or nāginī. Naga appears in the video game "The Ocean Hunter", as a giant oarfish that lives on the deep sea, along with Charybdis, an angler fish and Scylla, a Giant Squid. In the great epic Mahabharata, the depiction of Nagas tends toward the negative, and they are portrayed as the Naga deserving victims of the snake sacrifice and of predation by the eagle-king Garuda. The epic calls them "persecutors of all creatures", and tells us "the snakes were of virulent poison, great prowess and excess of strength, and ever bent on biting other creatures" (Book I: Adi Parva, Section 20). At the same time, nagas are important players in many of the events narrated in the epic, frequently no more evil nor deceitful than the other protagonists, and sometimes on the side of good. The epic frequently characterizes Nagas as having a mixture of human and serpent-like traits. Sometimes it characterizes them as having human traits at one time, and as having serpent-like traits at another. For example, the story of how the Naga prince Sesha came to hold the world on his head begins with a scene in which he appears as a dedicated human ascetic, "with knotted hair, clad in rags, and his flesh, skin, and sinews dried up of wing to the hard penances he was practicing." Brahma is pleased with Shesha, and entrusts him with the duty of carrying the world. At that point in the story, Shesha begins to exhibit the attributes of a serpent. He enters into a hole in the Earth and slithers all the way to bottom, where he then loads the Earth onto his head.
Qaxdascidi is a term used to describe a mysterious and frightening sea monster reported by the Tanaina tribe of Alaska. The Qaxdascidi is rarely seen, but its roar can be heard from underneath icey water. Like most sea monsters this cryptid is said to be a plesiosaur. It has sharp teeth to puncture fish and make deep wounds in them before it eats them whole. Natives fear that this monster will grow bigger and start eating them. The Qaxdascidi is a gigantic malicious monster in the traditions and beliefs of the Tanaina Native American people of the subarctic regions of Alaska in the United States. The is rarely seen, for it inhabits the depths of the frozen waters, but it can be heard as it roars from under the ice. It is similar to the serpents of European and Asian lore, and many such similar creatures have been reported throughout the oceans and seas of the world.
Selijordsormen, or Selma is a lake monster that is said to live in the lake Seljordsvatnet in Seljord, Telemark, Norway. According to most who have seen the supposed creature, Selma resembles a giant eel. The first eyewitness accounts date back to the 18th century. The Swedish explorer and cryptozoologist Jan Ove Sundberg has been trying to capture Selma for a number of years, but has not succeeded.
Sirrush (formerly known as Sirrušu or Mušḫuššu) is legendary creature depicted on reconstructed Ishtar Gate of the city of Babylon. Mušḫuššu is dragon owned by sun god Marduk. It gave rise to the Lernaean Hydra of Greek mythology and ultimately the modern Hydra Constellation. Bel and the Dragon, a deuterocanonical Biblical text, relates a story that Koldewey thought involved a sirrush. In a temple dedicated to Bel (Nebuchadnezzar's god), priests had a "great dragon or serpent, which they of Babylon worshiped." Daniel, the protagonist of the Book of Daniel, was confronted with this creature by the priests in the apocryphal text. They challenged him to match his invisible God against their living god. Eventually, Daniel poisoned the creature. German archeologist Robert Koldewey, who discovered the Ishtar Gate in 1902, seriously considered the notion that the sirrush was a portrayal of a real animal. He argued that its depiction in Babylonian art was consistent over many centuries, while those of mythological creatures changed, sometimes drastically, over the years. He also noted that the sirrush is shown on the Ishtar Gate alongside real animals, the lion and the rimi (aurochs), leading him to speculate the sirrush was a creature the Babylonians were familiar with. The creature's distinctly feline front paws seemed incongruous, and gave Koldewey some doubt. However, In 1918 he proposed that Iguanodon (a dinosaur with birdlike hindfeet) was the closest match to the sirrush (Sjögren, 1980). Cryptozoological speculation regarding sirrush was also presented by Adrienne Mayor and Bernard Heuvelmans.
Storsjöodjuret (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈstuːʂøːuˈjʉːrɛ], literally "The Great-Lake Monster") is a lake monster reported to live in the 300-foot-deep (91 m) lake Storsjön in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. The lake monster was first reported in 1635 and is the most famous lake monster in Sweden. When the only city located by Storsjön, Östersund, celebrated its 200 year anniversary in 1986 Storsjöodjuret along with its offspring and nest became protected by law, a law which was revoked in 2005. Storsjöodjuret and Östersund It is popularly referred to as Storsjöodjuret whereas odjur is a Swedish word for "monster", literally "unanimal" (a name first recorded in 1899), and storsjö is a compound of the Swedish words stor (big, or great) and sjö (lake) which would closest translate to "great-lake". Sometimes it's simply called Storsjödjuret, which translates to "The great-lake animal" instead of an animal. In the local dialect, Jamtish, it has been named Storgläffs'n "the great yelper" by a locally known poet, this is however not a popularly used name. In the English language Storsjöodjuret is usually called Storsie, similarly to Nessie, though the names Storsjö Monster (also spelled Storsjoe where the character ö is unavailable) and the literal translation The Great-Lake Monster are used. Its Latin name is Hydogiganta Monstruidae Jemtlandicum roughly meaning "The Gigantic Jamtlandic Water Monster". It has also been called Storsjöormen "The Great-Lake Serpent". Storsjöodjuret is described as a serpentine or aquatic reptile with fins across its back and the head of a dog. It is reported to measure approximately six meters long, and some accounts describe it as having several humps. The Frösö Runestone from the mid 11th century. In the legend from 1635 Storsjöodjuret is said to be the serpent depicted on the stone. The first description of a sea creature in Storsjön was made in a folklorist tale by vicar Morgens Pedersen in 1635. "A long, long time ago two trolls, Jata and Kata, stood on the shores of the Great-Lake brewing a concoction in their cauldrons. They brewed and mixed and added to the liquid for days and weeks and years. They knew not what would result from their brew but they wondered about it a great deal. One evening there was heard a strange sound from one of their cauldrons. There was a wailing, a groaning and a crying, then suddenly came a loud bang. A strange animal with a black serpentine body and a cat-like head jumped out of the cauldron and disappeared into the lake. The monster enjoyed living in the lake, grew unbelievably larger and awakened terror among the people whenever it appeared. Finally, it extended all the way round the island of Frösön, and could even bite its own tail. Ketil Runske bound the mighty monster with a strong spell which was carved on a stone and raised on the island of Frösön. The serpent was pictured on the stone. Thus was the spell to be tied till the day someone came who could read and understand the inscription on the stone." Another legend was written down by the prosecutor Andreas Plantin in an inquiry in 1685. "It is said that beneath this [rune]stone lies a dreadfully large head of a serpent and that the body stretches over Storsjön to Knytta by and Hille Sand where the tail is buried. The serpent was called a rå and therefore shall this stone be risen. Since no one peacefully could cross [Storsjön], the ferryman and his wife states, along with many others, that in the last turbulent time this stone was tore down and broken in two. As long as this stone laid on the ground many strange things occurred in the water, until the stone was risen and assembled anew." The runestone both texts refer to is the Frösö Runestone, the northern-most raised runestone in the World. However while a large serpent is indeed pictured on the stone there is no reference about it nor "Ketil Runske" in the text itself, which instead tells about Austmaðr, Guðfastr's son's christening of Jämtland. Though it has indeed been broken in two pieces. Capture Common interest in the creature was sparked first in the 1890s. After several sightings, an enterprise of locals was founded to catch the monster, even drawing the support from king Oscar II. Since then hundreds of monster sightings have been made. No scientific results have been made, but the supporters have never lost their faith. In August 2008 a group of filmers claimed to have captured Storsjöodjuret on film. The cameras showed red so it was something warm that was filmed.Protected status In 1986, the Jämtland county administrative board declared the Storsjöodjuret to be an endangered species and granted it protected status. However, it was removed from the list in November 2005. Folkloric perspective Norway in the 14th century. Jämtland lost its independence in 1178 to Norway and was ceded in 1645 to Sweden. Due to the absence of definite proof of its existence, Storsjöodjuret has been examined as a folkloric phenomenon. The rest of Sweden lack the lake monster tradition present in Jämtland, making Storsjöodjuret the only one of its kind in the country. It has instead been noted that Jämtland in this folkloric and ethnological perspective is closer to Norway, the Scottish Highlands and Ireland than Sweden, with the exception of the previously Norwegian province of Bohuslän and the border regions of Dalsland and Värmland. As Jämtland was originally populated from the west and was a part of Norway for 450 years before it was ceded to Sweden in 1645 (as a result of the Brömsebro treaty) this lake monster perception is seen as an indicator of this historical legacy. Thus from a folkloric perspective Storsjöodjuret is placed as one of several common Norwegian-Gaelic beings seen as a result of ancient relations across the North Sea, with lake monster siblings such as Selma, Nessie, Morag and the Connemara Monster, Storsjöodjuret being located in the eastern-most lake of these.
The Zmeu is a fantastic creature of Romanian folklore and Romanian mythology. Sometimes compared to other fantastic creatures, such as the balaur or the vârcolac, the zmeu is nevertheless distinct, because it usually has clear anthropomorphic traits: it is humanoid and has legs, arms, the ability to create and use artifacts such as weapons, or the desire to marry young girls. In some stories, Zmeu appears in the sky and spits fire. In other stories, it has a magical precious stone on its head that shines like the sun. It likes beautiful young girls, whom it kidnaps, usually for the purpose of marrying them. It is almost always defeated by a daring prince or knight-errant. Its natural form is that of a dragon or balaur. The Zmeu has a plethora of magical, destructive powers at his disposal. He can fly, shapeshift, and has tremendous supernatural strength. Ultimately, the abilities of the zmeu are of no avail, as Făt-Frumos defeats him through martial skill and daring. Some English translations refer to the "zmeu" as the ogre or giant from western European mythologies. Like the ogre, the zmeu likes to kidnap a maiden to be his wife in his otherworldly realm. After Făt-Frumos slays the zmeu, he takes the maiden as his bride-to-be. Similarly, like the giant in the popular British stories of Jack and the Beanstalk, the zmeu returns home to his fortress from his raids into human lands sensing that a human (Făt-Frumos) is lying in ambush somewhere nearby. A Zmeu is also sometimes pictured as a flame who goes in the room of a young girl or widow and once inside, becomes a man and seduces her. In some stories, Zmeu appears in the sky and spits fire. In other stories, it has a magical precious stone on its head that shines like the sun. It likes beautiful young girls, whom it kidnaps, usually for the purpose of marrying them. It is almost always defeated by a daring prince or knight-errant. Its natural form is that of a dragon or balaur.
Cadborosaurus willsi, nicknamed Caddy, is an alleged sea monster from British Colombian coast of Cadboro Bay. It was described as a long, serpent-like beast with flippers, hair on the neck, and a camel-like head. It could be anywhere from 40 to 70 feet long in length. There have been more than 300 claimed sightings during the past 200 years. The first reported sighting of Caddy was in 1933 by a Victoria lawyer and his wife on a cruise in their yacht. They described a "horrible serpent with the head of a camel." The creature showed itself again in 1934 when two members of the Provincial Government reported seeing the creature, the same description as the first. Later that same year two fishermen saw two monsters in the bay, one about 60 feet long, the other half that size. A rather interesting sighting was made by two hunters as they tried to recover their wounded duck. The monster rose out of the water, swallowed the duck, snapped at some gulls then submerged. They noted the six-foot long head with saw-like teeth. A photograph of Caddy was obtained in 1937. A whaling station in Vancouver just caught and killed a sperm whale in October of 1937. While removing the stomach contents at the Naden Harbor whaling station they came across a twenty-foot long carcass of an unidentified creature. It had the head of a horse, a snake-like body and a finned, spiny tail. A photograph was taken, but no one knows exactly what happened to its remains. No scientist can properly identify the creature in the photograph. It seems to have mammalian and reptilian traits, but which it is, no one is sure of. It is suggested that the creature is a Zeuglodon, but that explanation isn't 100% satisfactory seeing that it is much slimmer and the head is shaped improperly. Perhaps the closest sighting of Caddy was taken in 1939 by Captain Paul Sowerby. "We were headin' North, and, about thirty miles offshore, and saw this thing standing about four feet out of the water. So, I headed over towards it and took a look at it. At first, I thought it looked like a polar bear with its ruffles of hair. When we got right up alongside of it-and the water was crystal clear-there was just this column of this thing going at least forty feet and huge eyes. I had an old Newfoundlander as a mate and he said 'Do you see eyes on him?' Mouth and nose I have no recollection of at all, just those great big eyes. And the eyes seemed to open from top to bottom." On February 13, 1953, ten people also reported saw this creature, all of them watched it from different points of view and not one of the descriptions contradicted each other. In August, 1968. W. Hagelund claims to have caught a baby Caddy near De Courcy Island. In July, 1991. Phyllis Harsh claims to have caught a small 2 foot baby Caddy and returned it to the water on Johns Island (San Juan Islands). The descriptions place Caddy as some sort of a mammal, long, slender, and with a bifurcated tail. This suggests that it is a Zeuglodon, an ancient whale thought to be extinct. The only problem is that the head of the creature is described as a camels or a horses, while a Zeuglodon, or Basilosaurus, head is more like that of a snakes. The monster of Lake Okanagon, known as Ogopogo, is believed to be a Zeuglodon, but the sightings are different of that of Caddy. It never raises its neck, nor does it have hair, nor is the head camel-like, it is more like that of a snake. In 1943 two police officers, Inspector Robert Owens and Staff Sergent Jack Russell saw a “huge sea serpent with a horse like head” in Georgia Strait. Later “with a pair of binoculars Sgt. Russell saw that the strange apparition was a huge bull sea lion leading a herd of six sea lions…Their undulations as they swam appeared to form a continuous body, with parts showing at intervals as they surfaced and dived. To the naked eye, the sight perfectly impersonated a sea monster.” There have been suggestions that Caddy could be an example of the king of herrings or giant oarfish (Regalecus glesne). This species can reach 17 m in length and weigh up to 300 kg; some think the red mane on the head and back of the giant oarfish resembles a horse head with mane. A modern illustration by David John, "based on LeBlond/Bousfield composite and eyewitness accounts" shows Caddy with a red mane. "They're long and silvery and they undulate like a serpent would as they swim through the water," said H.J. Walker, a senior museum scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which has several oarfish in its collection. The carcass of a decomposing basking shark is often mistaken for Caddy and has fooled experts and laymen. A rotting basking shark may resemble a decomposing plesiosaur. The Plesiosaur shape is mistaken for Caddy. Darren Naish and colleagues have proposed that the baby "Cadborosaurus" captured in 1968 by William Hagelund was really a pipefish. Cadborosaurus featured on the television documentary series Northern Mysteries. "Caddy" was a mysterious element featured in the ninth Nancy Drew computer game produced by Her Interactive, Danger on Deception Island, set on the west coast of the United States. Caddy was mentioned on an episode of Is It Real? called "Monsters Of The Deep".
In Zoroastrian literature, Dahag, also known as Azi Dahaka, is one of the Azi (serpents, or dragons) that hold a reign of terror over the world. He is a snake-like monster with three heads, three mouths, and six eyes, who apparently lived in an impassable fortress somewhere in Mesopotamia, where he regularly asked the more powerful divinities of water and wind for help with his hobbies, namely, depopulating the earth of humans, stealing cattle, sorcery, and collecting all the possible sins in the world (his name means “having ten sins”). He was created by the “father of lies”, Angra Mainyu, who created him to counter Truth. With his paternal influence, and at least in part due to the traits he inherited from his mother, Odag (who was so wooed by Dahag’s good looks that she felt compelled to have an incestual sexual relationship with him) he managed to become one of the most influential and feared evil forces in Zoroastrianism. He ruled the world with sorcery and the help of daevas (demons) for 1000 years, following the death of the good King Jam. His reign was abruptly brought to an end when he was nearly beaten to death and imprisoned in a magic mountain by his nine year old successor, Fredon. He was not merely killed because he was filled with venomous creatures that would be let loose if Fredon were to kill him. Near the end of time/ judgment, he will be let loose, but will eventually be killed in the fiery river Ayohsust.
Gryttie is a mythical serpentine creature which is reputed to dwell in the depths of Gryttjen, in Hälsingland, Sweden. Gryttjen Lake is located fairly deep in the forest between the towns of Ljusdal and Hudiksvall. Gryttie is a local legend in the province of Hälsingland and unconfirmed sightings has been made at the lake since the 1800's but none were fully documented. The lake is stated to have a depth of about 118 feet but local attempts with sounding lines have found deep holes measuring over 300 feet down. The rumors of the lake monster was that it was some kind of sea serpent. However in 1985 a group calling themselves the Gryttie-group formed and started to make more systematic examinations of the lake including underwater cameras and side sonar scanning. Their current theory today is that it is not a monster but actually some form of isolated population of seacow that actually lives in the lake but no conclusive evidence has been discovered of neither the existence of the monster nor of any animals that can explain the sightings.
Hydrargos, Hydargos, Hydragos, and several other spellings, is a hoax created by Albert Koch. Made from several skeletons of the zeuglodon, a prehistoric whale, Koch was enthralled to exhibit the "sea serpent" to the public in the Apollo Saloon for 25 cents. The 114 foot long skeleton could not have been a real sea serpent because the teeth were cetacean, which had double roots, in the corresponding double sockets. Some teeth were immature, some very old, which has never been heard of in fossilization. It was even thought by some to be the biblical "Leviathan". Koch proclaimed that he found the skeleton in Alabama. Hydrarchos is not the only sea serpent proven to be a hoax, and lots of other sightings have also been debunked over the years, including the world's most famous proof of the Loch Ness Monster.
The Lambton Worm is a legend from North East England in the UK. The story takes place around the River Wear, and is one of the area's most famous pieces of folklore, having been adapted from written and oral tradition into pantomime and song formats. The story states that the young John Lambton was a rebellious character who missed his duties to go fishing in the River Wear. John Lambton does not catch anything until the time the church service finishes, at which point he fishes out a small eel- or lamprey-like creature with nine holes on each side of its salamander-like head. Depending on the version of the story the worm is no bigger than a thumb, or about 3 feet long. In some renditions it has legs, while in others it is said to more closely resemble a snake. At this point the old man returns, although in some versions it is a different character. John declares that he has caught a demon and decides to dispose of his catch by discarding it down a nearby well. The old man then issues further warnings about the nature of the beast. John then forgets about the creature and eventually grows up. As a penance for his rebellious early years he joins the crusades. Eventually the worm grows extremely large and the well becomes poisonous. The villagers start to notice livestock going missing and discover that the fully-grown worm has emerged from the well and coiled itself around a local hill. In some versions of the story the hill is Penshaw Hill, that on which the Penshaw Monument now stands, but locally the credit goes to the nearby Worm Hill, in Fatfield. In most versions of the story the worm is large enough to wrap itself around the hill 7 times. It is said that one can still see the marks of the worm on Worm Hill. The worm terrorizes the nearby villages, eating sheep, preventing cows from producing milk and snatching away small children. It then heads towards Lambton Castle where the Lord (John Lambton's aged father) manages to sedate the creature in what becomes a daily ritual of offering the worm milk of nine good cows, twenty gallons, or a filled wooden/stone trough. A number of brave villagers try to kill the beast but are quickly dispatched. When a chunk is cut off the worm it simply reattaches the missing piece. Visiting knights also try to assault the beast but none survive. When annoyed the worm would uproot trees by coiling its tail around them. It then created devastation by waving around the uprooted trees like a club. The story is set (apparently) in AD 1200-1300. This curse affect to nine generation of Lambton. This curse seems to have held true for at least three generations, possibly helping to contribute to the popularity of the story. 1st generation: Robert Lambton, drowned at Newrig. 2nd: Sir William Lambton, a Colonel of Foot, killed at Marston Moor. 3rd: William Lambton, died in battle at Wakefield. 9th: Henry Lambton, died in his carriage crossing Lambton Bridge on June 26, 1761. According to a study known as "Dragonology" the Lambton Worm is actually a sub-species of dragon that is serpent-like.
Nāga is the Sanskrit and Pāli word for a deity or class of entity or being, taking the form of a very great snake specifically the King Cobra, found in Hinduism and Buddhism. The use of the term nāga is often ambiguous, as the word may also refer, in similar contexts, to one of several human tribes known as or nicknamed "Nāgas"; to elephants; and to ordinary snakes, particularly the King Cobra and the Indian Cobra, the latter of which is still called nāg in Hindi and other languages of India. A female nāga is a nāgī or nāginī. Naga appears in the video game "The Ocean Hunter", as a giant oarfish that lives on the deep sea, along with Charybdis, an angler fish and Scylla, a Giant Squid. In the great epic Mahabharata, the depiction of Nagas tends toward the negative, and they are portrayed as the Naga deserving victims of the snake sacrifice and of predation by the eagle-king Garuda. The epic calls them "persecutors of all creatures", and tells us "the snakes were of virulent poison, great prowess and excess of strength, and ever bent on biting other creatures" (Book I: Adi Parva, Section 20). At the same time, nagas are important players in many of the events narrated in the epic, frequently no more evil nor deceitful than the other protagonists, and sometimes on the side of good. The epic frequently characterizes Nagas as having a mixture of human and serpent-like traits. Sometimes it characterizes them as having human traits at one time, and as having serpent-like traits at another. For example, the story of how the Naga prince Sesha came to hold the world on his head begins with a scene in which he appears as a dedicated human ascetic, "with knotted hair, clad in rags, and his flesh, skin, and sinews dried up of wing to the hard penances he was practicing." Brahma is pleased with Shesha, and entrusts him with the duty of carrying the world. At that point in the story, Shesha begins to exhibit the attributes of a serpent. He enters into a hole in the Earth and slithers all the way to bottom, where he then loads the Earth onto his head.
Qaxdascidi is a term used to describe a mysterious and frightening sea monster reported by the Tanaina tribe of Alaska. The Qaxdascidi is rarely seen, but its roar can be heard from underneath icey water. Like most sea monsters this cryptid is said to be a plesiosaur. It has sharp teeth to puncture fish and make deep wounds in them before it eats them whole. Natives fear that this monster will grow bigger and start eating them. The Qaxdascidi is a gigantic malicious monster in the traditions and beliefs of the Tanaina Native American people of the subarctic regions of Alaska in the United States. The is rarely seen, for it inhabits the depths of the frozen waters, but it can be heard as it roars from under the ice. It is similar to the serpents of European and Asian lore, and many such similar creatures have been reported throughout the oceans and seas of the world.
Selijordsormen, or Selma is a lake monster that is said to live in the lake Seljordsvatnet in Seljord, Telemark, Norway. According to most who have seen the supposed creature, Selma resembles a giant eel. The first eyewitness accounts date back to the 18th century. The Swedish explorer and cryptozoologist Jan Ove Sundberg has been trying to capture Selma for a number of years, but has not succeeded.
Sirrush (formerly known as Sirrušu or Mušḫuššu) is legendary creature depicted on reconstructed Ishtar Gate of the city of Babylon. Mušḫuššu is dragon owned by sun god Marduk. It gave rise to the Lernaean Hydra of Greek mythology and ultimately the modern Hydra Constellation. Bel and the Dragon, a deuterocanonical Biblical text, relates a story that Koldewey thought involved a sirrush. In a temple dedicated to Bel (Nebuchadnezzar's god), priests had a "great dragon or serpent, which they of Babylon worshiped." Daniel, the protagonist of the Book of Daniel, was confronted with this creature by the priests in the apocryphal text. They challenged him to match his invisible God against their living god. Eventually, Daniel poisoned the creature. German archeologist Robert Koldewey, who discovered the Ishtar Gate in 1902, seriously considered the notion that the sirrush was a portrayal of a real animal. He argued that its depiction in Babylonian art was consistent over many centuries, while those of mythological creatures changed, sometimes drastically, over the years. He also noted that the sirrush is shown on the Ishtar Gate alongside real animals, the lion and the rimi (aurochs), leading him to speculate the sirrush was a creature the Babylonians were familiar with. The creature's distinctly feline front paws seemed incongruous, and gave Koldewey some doubt. However, In 1918 he proposed that Iguanodon (a dinosaur with birdlike hindfeet) was the closest match to the sirrush (Sjögren, 1980). Cryptozoological speculation regarding sirrush was also presented by Adrienne Mayor and Bernard Heuvelmans.
Storsjöodjuret (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈstuːʂøːuˈjʉːrɛ], literally "The Great-Lake Monster") is a lake monster reported to live in the 300-foot-deep (91 m) lake Storsjön in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. The lake monster was first reported in 1635 and is the most famous lake monster in Sweden. When the only city located by Storsjön, Östersund, celebrated its 200 year anniversary in 1986 Storsjöodjuret along with its offspring and nest became protected by law, a law which was revoked in 2005. Storsjöodjuret and Östersund It is popularly referred to as Storsjöodjuret whereas odjur is a Swedish word for "monster", literally "unanimal" (a name first recorded in 1899), and storsjö is a compound of the Swedish words stor (big, or great) and sjö (lake) which would closest translate to "great-lake". Sometimes it's simply called Storsjödjuret, which translates to "The great-lake animal" instead of an animal. In the local dialect, Jamtish, it has been named Storgläffs'n "the great yelper" by a locally known poet, this is however not a popularly used name. In the English language Storsjöodjuret is usually called Storsie, similarly to Nessie, though the names Storsjö Monster (also spelled Storsjoe where the character ö is unavailable) and the literal translation The Great-Lake Monster are used. Its Latin name is Hydogiganta Monstruidae Jemtlandicum roughly meaning "The Gigantic Jamtlandic Water Monster". It has also been called Storsjöormen "The Great-Lake Serpent". Storsjöodjuret is described as a serpentine or aquatic reptile with fins across its back and the head of a dog. It is reported to measure approximately six meters long, and some accounts describe it as having several humps. The Frösö Runestone from the mid 11th century. In the legend from 1635 Storsjöodjuret is said to be the serpent depicted on the stone. The first description of a sea creature in Storsjön was made in a folklorist tale by vicar Morgens Pedersen in 1635. "A long, long time ago two trolls, Jata and Kata, stood on the shores of the Great-Lake brewing a concoction in their cauldrons. They brewed and mixed and added to the liquid for days and weeks and years. They knew not what would result from their brew but they wondered about it a great deal. One evening there was heard a strange sound from one of their cauldrons. There was a wailing, a groaning and a crying, then suddenly came a loud bang. A strange animal with a black serpentine body and a cat-like head jumped out of the cauldron and disappeared into the lake. The monster enjoyed living in the lake, grew unbelievably larger and awakened terror among the people whenever it appeared. Finally, it extended all the way round the island of Frösön, and could even bite its own tail. Ketil Runske bound the mighty monster with a strong spell which was carved on a stone and raised on the island of Frösön. The serpent was pictured on the stone. Thus was the spell to be tied till the day someone came who could read and understand the inscription on the stone." Another legend was written down by the prosecutor Andreas Plantin in an inquiry in 1685. "It is said that beneath this [rune]stone lies a dreadfully large head of a serpent and that the body stretches over Storsjön to Knytta by and Hille Sand where the tail is buried. The serpent was called a rå and therefore shall this stone be risen. Since no one peacefully could cross [Storsjön], the ferryman and his wife states, along with many others, that in the last turbulent time this stone was tore down and broken in two. As long as this stone laid on the ground many strange things occurred in the water, until the stone was risen and assembled anew." The runestone both texts refer to is the Frösö Runestone, the northern-most raised runestone in the World. However while a large serpent is indeed pictured on the stone there is no reference about it nor "Ketil Runske" in the text itself, which instead tells about Austmaðr, Guðfastr's son's christening of Jämtland. Though it has indeed been broken in two pieces. Capture Common interest in the creature was sparked first in the 1890s. After several sightings, an enterprise of locals was founded to catch the monster, even drawing the support from king Oscar II. Since then hundreds of monster sightings have been made. No scientific results have been made, but the supporters have never lost their faith. In August 2008 a group of filmers claimed to have captured Storsjöodjuret on film. The cameras showed red so it was something warm that was filmed.Protected status In 1986, the Jämtland county administrative board declared the Storsjöodjuret to be an endangered species and granted it protected status. However, it was removed from the list in November 2005. Folkloric perspective Norway in the 14th century. Jämtland lost its independence in 1178 to Norway and was ceded in 1645 to Sweden. Due to the absence of definite proof of its existence, Storsjöodjuret has been examined as a folkloric phenomenon. The rest of Sweden lack the lake monster tradition present in Jämtland, making Storsjöodjuret the only one of its kind in the country. It has instead been noted that Jämtland in this folkloric and ethnological perspective is closer to Norway, the Scottish Highlands and Ireland than Sweden, with the exception of the previously Norwegian province of Bohuslän and the border regions of Dalsland and Värmland. As Jämtland was originally populated from the west and was a part of Norway for 450 years before it was ceded to Sweden in 1645 (as a result of the Brömsebro treaty) this lake monster perception is seen as an indicator of this historical legacy. Thus from a folkloric perspective Storsjöodjuret is placed as one of several common Norwegian-Gaelic beings seen as a result of ancient relations across the North Sea, with lake monster siblings such as Selma, Nessie, Morag and the Connemara Monster, Storsjöodjuret being located in the eastern-most lake of these.
The Zmeu is a fantastic creature of Romanian folklore and Romanian mythology. Sometimes compared to other fantastic creatures, such as the balaur or the vârcolac, the zmeu is nevertheless distinct, because it usually has clear anthropomorphic traits: it is humanoid and has legs, arms, the ability to create and use artifacts such as weapons, or the desire to marry young girls. In some stories, Zmeu appears in the sky and spits fire. In other stories, it has a magical precious stone on its head that shines like the sun. It likes beautiful young girls, whom it kidnaps, usually for the purpose of marrying them. It is almost always defeated by a daring prince or knight-errant. Its natural form is that of a dragon or balaur. The Zmeu has a plethora of magical, destructive powers at his disposal. He can fly, shapeshift, and has tremendous supernatural strength. Ultimately, the abilities of the zmeu are of no avail, as Făt-Frumos defeats him through martial skill and daring. Some English translations refer to the "zmeu" as the ogre or giant from western European mythologies. Like the ogre, the zmeu likes to kidnap a maiden to be his wife in his otherworldly realm. After Făt-Frumos slays the zmeu, he takes the maiden as his bride-to-be. Similarly, like the giant in the popular British stories of Jack and the Beanstalk, the zmeu returns home to his fortress from his raids into human lands sensing that a human (Făt-Frumos) is lying in ambush somewhere nearby. A Zmeu is also sometimes pictured as a flame who goes in the room of a young girl or widow and once inside, becomes a man and seduces her. In some stories, Zmeu appears in the sky and spits fire. In other stories, it has a magical precious stone on its head that shines like the sun. It likes beautiful young girls, whom it kidnaps, usually for the purpose of marrying them. It is almost always defeated by a daring prince or knight-errant. Its natural form is that of a dragon or balaur.