What local mythical or legendary critters do you hear of or have had experiences with?Up north in the Adirondacks there is a reportedly Sasqatch like critter and south of here in Jersey is the Jersey Devil,when I have camped in the deep woods I have heard and smelled stange things but I ain't namin' names[yet]
we got the "grassman" around here-same as bigfoot...until I see one kilt and skinned out I ain't believin' it!
Down in the tri-state area of Missouri-Kansas-Oklahoma we have the spook light. Just a ball of light that sort of floats around at night. Some folks say it's just a myth. Well I've seen it, sober even. Other legends site Indian lovers from warring tribes. The Army Corps of Engineers didn't know what to say about it. It never seems to be malevolent in fact at times almost seems curious. Strange sort of an event.
We have the usual big foot/sasquatch, and other assorted beasties here but among the worst is the Argopelter--a Finnish legend around here. This creature is supposed to be similar to bigfoot but smaller, and lives in trees where it watches for unsuspecting victims to walk to close to be attacked by them. As for having contact--lets just say I have encountered some strange things in these here woods and about a year ago there was even a show on I think Animal Planet or one of them cable channels that had a show about bigfoot or some other unknown creature that was doing damage within 100 miles of my home and the DNA tests on some blood and hair samples was not able to say what it was. Bear researcher Lynn Rogers of the North American Bear Center was involved in the research and claimed it definately was not a bear.
But the absolute worst and this is all to real a terrifying is the dreaded and feared LIBERAL!!! These horrifying creatures are extremely common here and are striking total fear in all rational people.
Voy
cuch bunkr strpot Sometime i'll have to tell yas the tale of The Red Badger.Have to make sure no younguns can hear......too scary...
[hmm] Okay as much as it pains me to be serious,i think ive watched every show about bigfoot thats ever been on History or Discovery.There's been sightings of a sasquatch like creature in this area of Va.Cant say i beleive in it.But would like to if that makes sense.Whats llife without mystery.....dull.
hear in kentucky we have tales of these swamp people, a greenish haired booger that is smaller than the bigfoot, and live in the marshy and swampy bottoms of ohio muhlenburg counties and surrounding areas. also we have tales of wendigos, i belive are a native american legend. now heres the kicker, ive lived my whole life in the area and saw some wierd stuff but here at home there is something that lives in the woods that we dont know what it is. my brother has seen it, a grayish critter like a small ape that walks on its hind feet. we have heard weird crys at night, and we have found hair left on old barbed wire strands that wreaked of something odd, the feel was not like anything ive ever seen or smelled, and ive skint out about every kind of critter around. personally ive had two encounters, the first i was followed at night a long way during the summer some years back, it followed me into the woods then took to the trees and made this high pitched cry unlike everything ive ever heard in my whole life, a few years later i was out scouting and found tracks that really stumped me. they were ALMOST human but the wieght of this critter would have to be bigger than me ( im about 200 lbs and didnt make near the track deapth this thing did) it was 7 inch long single print in dec. ( noone around here would be out barefooted in the area in dec. believe me) but the wierdest thing was it had no heal and wealked on its toes. like i said it stumped me, and im a fair to decent tracker. there is something here, other locals and farmers have seen something strange from time to time, but noone can really explain what it is. the native people told tales of creatures of the woods and i believe they knew what they was talking about. it hasent become aggresive, but when i was being followed it felt more like being stalked than anything, i felt like a piece of meat and knew something was watching me. so needless to say noone in this family enters the woods around our house without some kind of weapon especially at night.
ps. just so you know there has never been any jug involved.
[hmm] I've read or heard that native americans had stories of such creatures as sasquatch,the firebird and such.Maybe Oldsalt could chime in on this.
Yes the Native Americans had many stories and legends, most of which that I am familiar with were told as lessons to explain why certain customs and social behavior was or was not accepted.
A lot of the oldest legends deal how and why The Great Spirit placed them were they were. Some of the old legends even deal with the creation of the earth. Some of the large creatures or so called monsters were sent by The Great Spirit ether as protectors or as punishment. The Thunder Bird is one that [depending on the nation telling the story] was a punishment for a wrong committed by the people. To another nation it was a protector form a larger warring tribe to save them.
These legends can take a person years to read and try to understand just from one nation. Some where in my stack of books is one called Myths and Legends of the Lakota. This book is 8 by 11 in and has over 1000 pages in what I like to call Bible print, yes the printing is that small.
If any one is truly interested, I will see what I can find on the internet and list where you can find them. Some of them are all ready listed it the Native American Mythology section
http://traditionalmuzzleloadingcheap.com/forum/index.php?board=157.0 (http://traditionalmuzzleloadingcheap.com/forum/index.php?board=157.0)
Kentucky backwoodsman,
What your describing closely resembles what we call an argopelter. As for native legends, yes they have many such beings and some are protectors while others are bad news. Here most of them are protectors and I personally have seen them on a couple occasions.
Voy
Quote from: voyageur1688 on December 17, 2010
But the absolute worst and this is all to real a terrifying is the dreaded and feared LIBERAL!!! These horrifying creatures are extremely common here and are striking total fear in all rational people.
Voy
I've known a couple of people from Minnesota. One was a college roomie when I was in CO and the other a recent co-worker. They were both flaming liberals. Thoughts that was all ya'll had up there. You know, 10,000 lakes and a few weirdos. (Old Roomie had a shirt that said that. :o)
A few wierdos? We gots more than just a few of em. Rather have a LARGE population of bigfoots, argopelters, jersey devils and many other beasties than them wacked out tree huggin liberals we got so many of.
The beasties aint as scary as the wierdos/libs.
Voy
yeah after i got to thinking about it, i did some more research and what im describing doesnt really fit a wendigo, i really dont know what it is, but all i know is you know when its around, it never had become violent and we havent encountered any sign since the big ice storm last year. i dont consider myself a nut or headcase ( although some may beg to differ) but i believe in the lord and heaven and hell and the beings from those places.. i also believe that there are somethings that the native peoples know about ( and this is all over the world to all indigenous peoples) that modern science cant explain, there are some things that you dont do and you must have respect for other beliefs. i know the biggest no-no a man can do is disturb a sacred burial ground, they are protected, and when the native people say the ground is sour or bad, they mean it literally!
The green hand of happy gulch.
I have seen it.
KY, your right about that.
One of the loggers up here bought a piece of land with the intentions of doing a clearcut and making big profits on the timber from it. He brought his equipment out there and started getting the road and landing put in only to get back out there the next morning just about daybreak. But when he was almost all the way to where he was going to start doing his cutting he saw a native in old time clothing with war paint riding a horse right next to his truck, and then he just vanished. He thought it was his imagination until; the other 2 guys in the truck finally spoke up and asked if either of the others saw anything strange. Bruce asked the Kim what he meant and the Kim told him what he saw and both Brian and Bruce went pale turned the truck around and stopped at the end of the road, went and got the equipment trailer hooked up to the trruck and went back to load the feller buncher and the skidder was driven back out to the road. Bruce never did cut that land--he just blocked off the road and walked away from it. He has kept the takes paid on it which is not like him as he had always just turned the land over to the county after he cut it. This time he says he wont do that because he doesnt want to get anything upset with him by allowing anyone else to do anything to the land. Until this incident, he always just said those stories were just silly old superstitions.--But not anymore.
As for the one you saw that hasnt done any harm and then just disappearded--I would say that one was a protector that had done his job and has gone on to rest until he is needed again--or to be near the person or people he was sent to protect if they left or if the danger left the area. Has anyone you know of moved from that area at the time it left? If so it was either protecting that person from someone/something, or was protecting others from that person.
Voy