I want to know if france or germany
have any sort of bizzare or cryptids
i have some foriegn exchange students in my class
and it has sparked my curiosity
any one out there know any thing of interest??

The Beast of Guvadan (please excuss my spelling) it was said to be a large wolf like creature that killed many people during the middle ages. But I think it might have been similar to an andewsarchus

Lindwurms in Germany. Something akin to dragons. And the tatzelwurm from the Bavarian region. Also somewhat dragon-like. And the legend of the dragons of Mt. Pilatus in Switzerland. But that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

I have never actually heard of anything being at either one.

I haven't either, it's something to look into.
BUT I did some looking and found about Le Bete the Beat of Gevaudan and this is what I found and if anyone finds out anything more please pass it on...


http://labete.7hunters.net/

Never heard of this rapper before, he any good? lol.

But the only ones I've heard are various were stories and of course the worm dragon things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolpertinger and this thing, it's so cute.

In France there are the Beast Of Gevaudan. In Germany they got the Lindwurms. But wait, where exactly your exchange student came from? France or Germany? Cause they're like sooo different. Rosenrot here is from Luxembourg, I believe there they speak both French and Germans, just like Switzerland right?

Oh yeah, big difference between Germany and France. And I lived in Luxembourg for something in the area of two years. I was still living there when I first joined UM, but now I'm back in the US for college. Anyway, ya, Luxembourg has three official languages: German, French, and Luxembourgish (not kidding, it's like a weird combination of French and German). And Switzerland speaks Swiss German (big difference), French, Italian, and in some areas Romansh.

France home to the cheese-eating surrender monkeys.

Try the Wolpertinger for Germany

Yeah, like Flemsch and Friesch (The language of the Frisian people in northern Holland). Can I consider Catalonian too? Haha...no offense tho! And rosenrot, spriechen sie auch deutsch? Oder spriechen sie frans?

And well, I used to have an exchange student in my class from Australia. I searched and learned all things Australian so that I can talk to him and well, "get connected" in conversation. Fun things to do that, tho!

Oh ya, Catalan defiantly falls under that category. Languages from out of nowhere.

And, nien. Hablo espanol, pero no es necesario en Aleman.

werewolves in germany, way back i believe

Oh man, that thing was a mean one, wasn't it! I didn't ever hear of it before, that's interesting, I wonder if they got some type of control on it now, never hear anything from over there about things like that.

Oh ok, yeah, it seems like there would be, I'm just use to going by the details of movies when it comes to who has what hahaha.

haha us australians aren't THAT different that you need to research us before sparking up a convo with us just make sure you don't get those fingers too close to our mouthes

Ah si, porque en Aleman te nunca hablar Espanol. Comprendo!

I'm currently learning Portuguese, sometimes I'm having problem being mixed-up languages coz you know, both Portuguese and Spanish isn't that very very far in difference.

Dragons at Mt. Pilatus? They'd stick out like a sore thumb against the white cliffs. And then you have to take into account the constant stream of tourists and the towns surrounding them.

I was going to say "Eiffel tower"... but then you said "cryptids"..... so yeah....... I am not helping here

Catalan is actually very similar to Castellano / Castillian juat pronunciation and spellings that really differ (plus a few "choice" local words!!) Euskara (spoken in the Pais Vasco however IS a true languge from out of nowhere. Fascinating to learn, but at the same time incredibly difficult - well it is for me, must be an age thing

I went to both places, and theyre great

The Black Forest region of Germany has the Erl König, a elf/goblin creature that lives deep in the forests and eats children (basically a cautionary tale). The legend of salamanders being born from fires also originated there, from salamanders that were hibernating in logs scurrying out when the log was set alight.

You are a worldly man. English, Spanish, German, and I'm assuming another language for Indonesia. I was once watching an online video in French but it had Portuguese subtitles; and I was able to get a general idea of what was being said. And by any chance do you also speak French or Italian, capo?


I believe the last recorded sighting was in the 1800's and possibly the early 1900's. Too many people there now. The legend itself goes back to the times of the Roman Empire.

There's a good movie about the Beast of Gevoudan (sp?). It's a French action movie called 'Le Pact des Loupes'. It's not too serious, of course, with the details, but you'll get the general gist of it.

Thank you for the praise. I'm truly flattered. But I wasn't aim for anything. I just love travelling and learning languages. I think of the world as a single great city with many people in it? But, sorry, I tried to learned Italian, but didn't get farther from "Ti Amo" . And I tried to learn French, which I consdier a very difficult language. I can't speak the language, but I can understand when I read (not hear) anything in French.

Just a trivia, while we're talking about language, do you know that in Indonesia alone, we have more than 600 languages? And every single languages have their own numbers of dialects?

I am such a dumb ass, I completely forgot about the elves and such over there. Didn't they also believe in Red Caps there to?



Why in the hell are people putting their fingers near your mouth during a conversation, unless it's to point out a huge pimple or smudge? 0_o Maybe you should stay away from those people, lol.

Don't worry, I can't speak French or Italian either. I don't really have a knack for languages. I was just curious because people say that Spanish, French, and Italian are similar (the romance languages). I can sometimes pick out what certain words might be because they sound/look similar to Spanish words.

But anyway, back on topic.... I'm pretty sure that Europe also has stories of wild men of the forest, too. And then there's also to cases of feral children.

And out of curiosity, does anyone have more information of elves. Because I've heard of them (movies, faerie tales, ect), but not the traditional stories from Europe.

My friend was traveling in Germany as a kid, and went down to the Black Forest region. The people there wouldn't let him stay out at night...even on the porch. He said they also lit lamps at the edge of the woods...kinda creepy.

Does anyone know of any other rumored cryptids/monsters/legends of the Black Forest? Trolls, Goblins, Elves?

I believe Redcaps are from the British Isles, particularly Scotland. I think there are still the occasional sightings of them. I sure wouldn't want to meet one!

I know a few stories about Elves either from England or Iceland where they're cradle-robbers. They take a human baby out and replace it with one of their own, a sort of halfling child. It's been ages, however, since I heard those stories so I remember no more than the basic outlines of it. Most old tales, however, seem to have rather naughty elves as opposed to the noble wise kind that we hear of today in stories like Tolkien's.

I Holland, you know, being betwen Germany and French, they have the Kabouters, a gnome like creature that can be bad or good. I was once being wrongfully accused as a kabouter for coming home too soon and cleaning up the whole house and quickly leave to town, leaving my host family wondering what happened . And they also have the stories of creatures like Gremlins, Elven and Fairies.




And just one more, in French, in real old French, they have....the SMURFS!

There have been a few threads on tatzelwurms and la bete du gevaudan.


A search for tatzelwurm pops up this thread which.. if it's the one I think it is, had pretty good info (there have been a lot though =X)
Here's a thread on the beast, though I think that was pretty much a single creature - as opposed to the tatzelwurms which make more of a species.

And rosenrot.. gotta watch out for some french / spanish ... never mistake a gateau for a gato .. even though they sound almost the same