Cryptozoology: the Esoterium bestiary

Legendary creatures, monsters and beings that science has yet to catch

Some creatures have spent centuries slipping off the edges of the map. They have been seen on lonely roads, in lakes of black water, on mountains where the air burns the lungs. Thousands of witnesses swear they have met them; no museum case has ever managed to hold one. Cryptozoology lives on that border between legend and case file.

In this bestiary we gather the most sought-after cryptids and monsters in the world: what is told about them, who claims to have seen them, and what explanations have been offered. Turn the page with the light on.

The Fresno Nightcrawler, a creature caught on cameraThe Fresno Nightcrawler, a creature caught on cameraFresno, California, USATwo pale figures crossed a yard and turned a blurry recording into a legend.Read the legend → The Ningen, Antarctica’s white humanoidThe Ningen, Antarctica’s white humanoidSouthern Ocean and Antarctica in the storyA pale shape beneath the ice that turned an anonymous claim into a polar monster.Read the legend → The Loveland FrogmanThe Loveland FrogmanLoveland and Little Miami River, Ohio, USAA small riverside creature that became the symbol of an Ohio community.Read the legend → The Michigan DogmanThe Michigan DogmanNorthern Michigan; later other statesA 1987 radio joke that prompted callers to report impossible earlier encounters.Read the legend → The Flatwoods MonsterThe Flatwoods MonsterFlatwoods, West Virginia, USAA falling light and an impossible figure waiting in the West Virginia mist.Read the legend → Orang Pendek, Sumatra’s little personOrang Pendek, Sumatra’s little personCentral Sumatra, especially Kerinci SeblatA small upright figure said to vanish into Sumatra’s mountain rainforest.Read the legend → The Thylacine: did the Tasmanian tiger survive?The Thylacine: did the Tasmanian tiger survive?Tasmania; disputed reports from mainland AustraliaThe last confirmed animal died in 1936, but reported sightings never stopped.Read the legend → The Beast of GévaudanThe Beast of GévaudanFormer province of Gévaudan, FranceAn unusual large predator terrorised the mountains of central France for three years.Read the legend → The Mongolian Death WormThe Mongolian Death WormGobi Desert, southern MongoliaA thick, eyeless burrowing animal said to kill at a distance in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.Read the legend → The BunyipThe BunyipWetlands, rivers and billabongs of AustraliaA shape-shifting aquatic presence whose call is said to echo across Australian swamps, rivers and billabongs.Read the legend → The MapinguariThe MapinguariAmazon regions of Brazil, Peru and BoliviaA huge shaggy creature with curved claws and an unbearable smell, said to walk upright through the Amazon.Read the legend → The Jersey DevilThe Jersey DevilPine Barrens, New Jersey, United StatesA winged, horse-headed creature said to haunt the wetlands and pine forests of southern New Jersey.Read the legend → La LloronaLa LloronaMexico, Central America and much of Latin AmericaA woman dressed in white whose weeping is heard beside rivers, canals and lonely roads across Latin America.Read the legend → The ChupacabraThe ChupacabraPuerto Rico, Mexico, the southern US and South AmericaIt appeared in Puerto Rico in 1995, and ever since it has left drained animals all across the Americas.Read the legend → MothmanMothmanPoint Pleasant, West Virginia (USA)A winged being with red eyes that many believe to be a herald of catastrophe.Read the legend → The Loch Ness MonsterThe Loch Ness MonsterLoch Ness, the Highlands (Scotland)The long-necked shadow that patrols the deepest, darkest waters in Scotland.Read the legend → Bigfoot, the SasquatchBigfoot, the SasquatchForests of northwestern North AmericaFootprints half a metre long and an impossible silhouette among the pines of the American Northwest.Read the legend → The YetiThe YetiThe Himalayas (Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan)Enormous footprints at 6,000 metres, where no known animal should be walking.Read the legend → The KrakenThe KrakenThe seas of Norway, Iceland and GreenlandNorse sailors swore its tentacles could wrap around an entire ship and carry it down to the bottom.Read the legend → El SilbónEl SilbónThe Llanos (Venezuela and Colombia)A towering spectre of the Llanos who announces death with a whistle that deceives the ear.Read the legend → The WendigoThe WendigoBoreal forests of Canada and the Great LakesThe spirit of winter and insatiable hunger that stalks the frozen forests of North America.Read the legend →

New creatures will keep joining the bestiary. If one of them crosses your path first, you know where to ask us.

Dare to ask about it?Ask the ouija boardConsult the tarot