10 Monsters from Cryptozoology and Folklore That Need to Make it to the Big Screen
Kevin D. Clark
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Bored with Bigfoot? Zombies giving you the ZZZ’s? It’s a shame that with an entire world full of monsters from cryptozoology and folklore that Hollywood keeps going to the same old well for their big bads. Don’t get me wrong I love a good Bigfoot movie as much as the next guy, but I also like variety. So I dug deep into the realms of folklore and monster sightings to find the monsters I think would benefit from a movie.
10. Octo-Squatch
One night back in the summer of 1961, two truckers were driving through the Basque mountains in Northern Spain when they saw something on the side of the road. In the truck’s headlights was a rust-colored hairy octopus with glowing eyes. After several minutes of the two staring at each other, another truck would pass and it was then that the truckers took off into the night.
“The Octo-Squatch,” as it has been named, has not been seen again.
9. Real life Gill-Men
It seems that The Creature from the Black Lagoon may have a few real-life counterparts. The most famous being the Loveland Frog-men. First seen in 1955 on the outskirts of Loveland, Ohio, a businessman driving home claimed to have seen three large frog-like creatures at the side of the road. That same year in Indiana, a woman was attacked by The Green Clawed Beast while swimming in the Ohio River. Over August of 1972 in Canada, several people were attacked by a Fin-headed Gillmen.
8. Devil Monkeys
Devil Monkeys are said to roam across North America. Standing at around five feet, and looking like a cross between a baboon and a dog with the jumping ability of a kangaroo, Devil Monkeys are extremely aggressive and are strong enough to tear through steel.
7. The Gorbals Vampire
In September of 1954, a Glasgow cemetery known as the Southern Necropolis was invaded by hundreds of children. A local police officer was called to the area by people who lived by the Victorian cemetery. Only expecting a few children partaking in minor vandalism, the officer was shocked by the hundreds of kids running around. Armed with sticks and knives, the children claimed they were hunting a vampire with iron teeth that killed two boys.
Despite the officer’s best efforts, the story spread like wildfire, the newspapers got wind of it and added fuel to a fire already burning strongly. Comic books were blamed for the hysteria and as a result, parliament passed a law banning comics. This law is still on the books but has never been enforced.
6. The Flatwoods Monster
The Flatwoods Monster is possibly the best-known monster on the list. The story goes that a group of kids and one of their mothers went into the woods looking for what they say was a UFO that landed as a fireball. They then ran screaming from the woods claiming to have seen a monster.
5. Goatmen
According to urban legend, satyrs are hiding out in the backwoods of the U.S. and they will attack and kill anyone who gets too close to their territory. The best known of these creatures is the Goat-man of Maryland, the first reported sightings happened in 1957 and then nothing until 1962 where it’s claimed that the Goat-man killed fourteen people with an axe. The Goat-man’s cousin in Louisville, Kentucky known as the Pop-lake Monster is said to live under an old railroad bridge. It is also said the Pop-lake Monster used hypnosis to lure people out onto the bridge to be hit by oncoming trains.
4. The Enfield Horror
In 1973, the Illinois town of Enfield was sent into a frenzy by the strange events that happened one night. It started when a child claimed to have been attacked by a “smiley gray three-legged beast with red eyes” while playing in his back garden. Half-an-hour later the being attacked a house. It was driven off by the home owner with a shotgun. Afterwards, the man whipped the town into a frenzy, with news reporters and monster hunters descending on the location in great numbers. The furor quickly died down and the Enfield Horror was never seen again.
3. Fearsome Critters
A collection of oddball beasties, the Fearsome Critters come from old lumberjack stories. Whilst on their own the critters aren’t really that impressive, however, in a group, they would be the weirdest petting zoo ever! In the ranks of the Fearsome Critters are the Fur- Bearing Trout, The Squonk, The Hugag and the Hodag. I smell a Syfy anthology film somewhere in here!
2. Popobawa
The Popobawa is nothing sort of a nightmare. Terrorizing Tanzania this is one of the most horrific monsters to stalk the night. The Popobawa is a shape-shifter resembling a one-eyed bat, but it is said that it can also take on human form. The beast breaks into people’s homes at night and sexually assaults anyone in there. After it’s done, the Popobawa will tale its victim that it will come back every night unless they tell others what happened to them.
1. The Nuckelavee
The Nuckelavee is a demon from Scottish folklore, believed to live in the sea around Stornaway in the Orkney Islands. It’s described as looking like a large horse with a man’s torso in the middle of its back. The creepiest thing about it is the legend that it has no skin. The Nuckelavee’s breath is a deadly poison that can kill humans and animals. The smell of burning kelp is believed to make the Nuckelavee go on rampages and the only thing that is known to harm it is freshwater. The Nuckelavee was defeated by the Mother of the Sea, the Scottish pagan Goddess of the sea.
