What are some scariest cryptids you have heard about? Cryptozoology is described as a pseudoscience responsible for categorizing and researching animals and plants not recognized by standard science due to a lack of evidence.
Evidently, a zoological study of the strange and unimaginable, so it’s no surprise then that it has our full attention. While some cryptids may be harmless, there are those you’ll want to remain figments of your overactive imagination.
So we have categorized the 10 scariest cryptids around the world that will be stalking your dreams.
10. Flatwoods Monster
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It was a chilled night in September of 1952 in the quiet town of Flatwoods, West Virginia. The town wasn’t anything remarkable, just a small slice of Braxton County so few knew about, but that all changed when an inhuman creature visited residents of the tiny town.
It towered over even the tallest denizen, its 7’ (2.1m) frame, spindly arms, clawed fingers, and pleated exoskeleton forever burned into their minds.
However, the close encounter came shortly after an illuminated object scarred the blackened sky, drawing the attention of local children. After the creature departed, many witnesses complained of convulsions and vomiting, an alleged side effect of the mysterious traveler.
9. Megalodon
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That the megalodon was once a real predator of the murky waters of Earth is undeniable, but the oversized shark went from extinct prehistoric beast to aquatic cryptid when impossible sightings started to emerge.
The megalodon once glided the waters of the Cenozoic Era, but some believe the near 60’ (18 m) Carcharocles still stalks the hidden depths of the ocean.
Sightings of megalodon date back to 1875, when teeth of the oversized shark were thought to be found in the HMS Challenger. In 2012, the show Shark Wranglers covered the tale of a 40’ (12 m) shark found off the coast of a South African village.
8. Dover Demon
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April 21st, 1977, 17-year-old William Bartlett is driving down Farm Street in the Massachusetts town of Dover when his eyes spot an irregularity on a nearby broken wall.
Perched atop the cracked stone was a humanoid creature sporting tendril-like fingers and large eyes that glowed in the night. Within 24 hours, 15-year-old John Baxter and Abby Brabham stepped forward with their own account of the strange abnormality.
The Dover Demon, a phrase coined by cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, started as a local legend but gained national recognition. Even almost 30 years later, Bartlett stands by his account, denouncing suggestions that it was a moose or a foal.
7. Mahaha
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The Inuit people of northern Canada once feared the Arctic – not for the very real possibility that they could freeze to death – but because of a gaunt, icy humanoid with white eyes and stringy hair.
Before White Walkers were written as the true slayers of the north, there was the Mahaha, a terror that could dig into flesh with its razor-sharp, foot-long claws, but instead used them to tickle its victims to death.
Like an inhuman version of The Joker, the Mahaha was said to leave its victims with a motionless heart and a large smile frozen on their faces.
6. Popobawa
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You hear it howling outside and are drawn to the last pup’s saddened cries. The moment you open the door, the intense odor of sulfur hits you, trailing through the air and leading you directly to the dog.
It’s at that moment you recall the legends of a shapeshifting winged monstrosity recognizable by a sulfurous smell. The unusual cryptid originated in Pemba, a Tanzanian island, and was responsible for an outbreak of hysteria in 1995.
Locals believe Popobawa, or “Bat Wing,” attacks households at night, sometimes violently abusing residents. Enhancing the legend, local hospitals report that they often treat victims of the mysterious cryptid.
5. Jersey Devil
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The Pine Barrens of New Jersey are a beautiful expanse of forestry, but locals for centuries have feared what lives within the dense greenery that so closely borders their homes.
Exactly what the Jersey Devil is remains a mystery, despite the many years it’s spent terrorizing the East Coast state, but the lore starts in 1735 with Mother Leeds.
Pregnant for the 13th time, the exasperated mother inadvertently cursed herself, exclaiming “Let this one be a devil!” Immediately after birth, the newborn transformed into a ghastly creature that killed much of the Leeds family before vanishing into the Pine Barrens.
Large and winged are two characteristics often attributed to Jersey devil, one of the most popular and scariest cryptids around.
4. J’ba Fofi
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An eight-legged terror that can stand up to 6’ tall and a monstrosity of the Congolese forests, the J’ba Fofi sounds like some sort of extinct prehistoric critter or something dreamed up by a twisted mind.
The people of the Congo, however, are adamant that the oversized arachnid actually exists. Its sightings have been recorded as early as the 1890s expedition of Missionary Arthur Simes.
Baka natives claim that the J’ba Fofi lives within abodes made of leaves and will spin large, circular webs to snare smaller animals and birds.
3. Snallygaster
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The Snallygaster is coming for you. The Snallygaster will steal your children and devour all that you hold dear. This is one of the scariest cryptids around.
A flying monstrosity of the Washington D.C. and Frederick County, Maryland areas of the United States, this half-avian, half-reptilian dragon was said to suck the blood of its victims and could only be thwarted by seven-pointed stars.
During the 1730s, German immigrants told of the Schneller Geist, or quick ghost, which gave way to the legend of the Snallygaster.
2. Ya-Te-Veo
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Ya-Te-Veo “The forest is alive,” he says, but you don’t heed his warning. Clearly, the branches swaying in the moonlight have him spooked, and you press on through the Central American forestry.
Not long into your bad decision, you start to see what he means. In the distance, a tree that towers over the rest, its branches moving impossibly, like a frantic squid.
Taking a curious step forward, you see them much clearer now – they’re not branches at all. They’re the deadly serpentine extensions of the most unusual cryptid, a large carnivorous, man-eating tree known as Ya-Te-Veo.
1. Wendigo
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One of the scariest cryptids and told by the Algonquin, Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa tribes, the tale of the Windigo is a chilling one.
These icy beasts were depicted in different tribal mythologies, the most popular of which share the general concept of stories of the modern bogeyman.
To the Chippewa, tribal members that committed sin were turned into Wendigo as a form of punishment. The person suffering the Windigo punishment would be frozen within the hulking beast’s chest cavity, where its heart would be.
