Native American Cryptids

[dragonlady_mothman]

Okay, i know Wendigo, Burr Woman (possibly), Skinwalker, Thunderbird, and Thunderbeing. I beleive there are also Native American legends aobut what might be bigfoot.

What else? Are there any critters I'm forgetting or dont know about? Can you tell me about them?

[Conspiracy]

those are the only ones i know about

[Shaftsbury]

There are a number of lake monsters, Ogopogo being one of the better known ones.

[Hans Dolbrook]

i believe the native americans are the ones who hung the name sasquatch on what we call bigfoot.i think it means"wildman of the forrest".there are drawings of sasquatch on wicker baskets dating back 3 or 4 hundred years.they are on the ancient mysteries show that came on a/e.

Edited May 16, 2005 by openmind1963

[Falco Rex]

I remember something about the "Piasu" or some similar name..It was supposed to be a giant owl-like monster..

[DB Cooper]

According to Delaware Indian legend the Puk-wud-ies are a race of Little People that lived (live?) along the White River in Mounds State Park in Anderson Indiana.

There are also legends of the plains Indians of a race of red hair giants with double rows of teeth that were so evil that the tribes united and killed them. I'm not sure what name they used for them....

[Falco Rex]

DB Cooper!! You've turned up at last!! Now where's the money?

[DB Cooper]

DB Cooper!! You've turned up at last!! Now where's the money? 

624909[/snapback]

Sasquatch took most of it helpin me out of the tree

[dragonlady_mothman]

baad Sassy!

these are great. ^.^ Keep 'em comming. thanks for y'all's help.

[Commander CMG]

There are a number of lake monsters, Ogopogo being one of the better known ones.

624597[/snapback]

CR is pretty up to speed with Ogopogo has he has seen her a few times but I think h eis on vacation at the moment.

[DJ_Quinn]

According to Delaware Indian legend the Puk-wud-ies are a race of Little People that lived (live?) along the White River in Mounds State Park in Anderson Indiana.

There are also legends of the plains Indians of a race of red hair giants with double rows of teeth that were so evil that the tribes united and killed them. I'm not sure what name they used for them....

624908[/snapback]

They were Viking.

[DB Cooper]

According to Delaware Indian legend the Puk-wud-ies are a race of Little People that lived (live?) along the White River in Mounds State Park in Anderson Indiana.

There are also legends of the plains Indians of a race of red hair giants with double rows of teeth that were so evil that the tribes united and killed them. I'm not sure what name they used for them....

624908[/snapback]

They were Viking.

625423[/snapback]

Who were Viking?

[DB Cooper]

Legends of the Paiute Indians tell of a race of red-haired giants who were their mortal enemies centuries ago. They were called the Si-Te-Cahs, driven from Nevada by a previously unheard of alliance of tribes. Grave mounds have been forund containing bones of peoples 7-10 feet tall. you might want to read about the Kossuth Giants at http://www.burlingtonnews.net/giantkossuth.html

Edited May 17, 2005 by DB Cooper

[Conspiracy]

According to Delaware Indian legend the Puk-wud-ies are a race of Little People that lived (live?) along the White River in Mounds State Park in Anderson Indiana.

There are also legends of the plains Indians of a race of red hair giants with double rows of teeth that were so evil that the tribes united and killed them. I'm not sure what name they used for them....

624908[/snapback]

They were Viking.

625423[/snapback]

vikings never were in the plains region of North america, and plus vikings dont got double rows of teeth, vikings were normal humans just killed and plundered for sport, also vikings were only believed to be on the east coast of north america, like new foundland, canada

[dragonlady_mothman]

they were a warrior race. not indiscriminantly greedy or cruel.

[TooFarGone]

vikings were only believed to be on the east coast of north america, like new foundland, canada

626573[/snapback]

Yes they where. In L'anse aux Meadows (french for Land of Meadows) large mounds where found. They where always thier, and the people of the town (only about 40 people) always knew about it. Then, when the the Norwegian couple (im not sure where they where from) canme, and excavated theme. The mounds where found to be the area where a viking settlement once was. This is the only confermined place in north america where a Viking settlement was found.

Im from Newfoundland, and live about a half hour away from the site.

[LordBailey]

Okay, i know Wendigo, Burr Woman (possibly), Skinwalker, Thunderbird, and Thunderbeing.  I beleive there are also Native American legends aobut what might be bigfoot.

What else?  Are there any critters I'm forgetting or dont know about?  Can you tell me about them?

624402[/snapback]

Bigfoot = Sasquach (Indian Name)

[dragonlady_mothman]

hmm...anything feline? or could be feline? Something similar to tatzlewurm, maybe? something were-beast-like, maybe?

i saw an Unsovled Mysteries think on Champ once. based on eyewitness reports, they animated what they think he looks like. it was very beautiful, undulated up and down, looked at the camera as it went by. i think it had flippers or small hands...

it was a great segment, actually.

Edited May 17, 2005 by dragonlady_mothman

[dragonlady_mothman]

I remember something about the "Piasu" or some similar name..It was supposed to be a giant owl-like monster..

624900[/snapback]

all i seem to get on Piasu is Japanese...

[dragonlady_mothman]

When the world of the Ani Yunwiya was new all living things were great in size and strength. Two of the many creatures that had been created and placed upon Ani Daksi Amayeli by Unethlana the Apportioner were the Tlanuhwa and the Uhktena.

The Tlanuhwa were very large birds with markings much like the red-tail hawk of today. The markings or symbols of the great Tlanuhwa could only be worn by the ancient Ani Kituhwah warriors when they went into war. Some people say the Tlanuhwa were the original parents, Ani Tawodi, of the great hawks that live today.

The Uhktena are enormous creatures that live in the rivers and lakes of the great Ouascioto valleys and mountains (the Ohio Valley and Appalachians). The Uhktena come and go from this world to the underworld. They enter the underworld through caves that are found under the waters of rivers and lakes and also through certain entrances into the earth where there are springs.

The Uhktena have the body of a snake with very pretty and colorful circles all around their torsos. They also have wings like the great buzzard and horns upon their head like the great deer. Upon their forehead there is a special crystal which people prize because it has very special power over light and dark. This crystal is also a window into the future and the past.

The crystal is called an Ulunsuti stone; it is the most powerful thing a person can possess. The stone is carried in a circular buckskin pouch along with a little red pigment and must never be kept in the house but in a safe dry place outside the house away from people.

When one gazes into an Ulunsuti stone, one will see either a white or a red blood-like streak appear. Only certain priests of the Ani Kuhtahni of the Ani Yunwiya know how to use these Ulunsuti stones and can invoke certain formulas or prayers which are aides to humans when used properly. One such protection prayer (Igowesdi) that calls upon a great Uhktena is:

"Now! Nearby here the Great Red Uhktena now winds his way. Now! Now the glare of the purple lightening will dazzle the Red Uhktena. Also, this ancient tobacco will be as much of a thorough-going wizard. Now! The Seven Reversers (priests of the mounds) looking at me will be dazzled by the Great Red Uhktena. Udohiyuh!"

At a certain place the Ani Yunwiya call Hogahega Uweyu i which lies alongside the Wanegas (now known as the Tennessee River), there remains one of the ancient cave homes of the Tlanuhwa. Located high up in the cliffs by the river, it is at this place that an ancient fight took place between the Tlanuhwa and the Uhktena. Near the caves of the Tlanuhwa was one of the towns of the Ani Yunwiya.

The people living in the town never had any problems with the Tlanuhwa until one day, the Tlanuhwa began to swoop down out of the sky, grabbing young children in their talons and taking them away to their caves by the Hogahega Uweyu i. The people of the town became very upset and all the mothers started crying and shouting at the men to bring back the children stolen by the Tlanuhwa.

So the men made a plan; they went very near the Tlanuhwa caves and took vines growing there from some trees and made ropes to climb down over the cliffs to the caves. The men waited until they were certain that the Tlanuhwa were out of the caves. Then down the ropes some of the men went, into the caves of the Tlanuhwa.

All of the children that had been taken from the Ani Yunwiya town were there in the caves and, were very anxious to get back to their homes. Also in those caves were many eggs of the Tlanuhwa.

The men had gotten the children out just in time because as they started back up the vine ropes they heard the great screams of the Tlanuhwa returning to their caves with more children in their talons. So very quickly the men began throwing the unhatched eggs of the Tlanuhwa down into the Hogahega Uweyu i far below.

When the eggs splashed into the waters far below the Tlanuhwa caves, the great Uhktena came up from below the waters and began eating the eggs as fast as the men could throw them into the water. This made the Tlanuhwa very angry and they dropped the children and swooped down upon the Uhktena. The men waiting below the caves caught the children as they fell. Thus began a long fight between the Tlanuhwa and the Uhktena.

The Tlanuhwa destroyed the Uhktena and tore it into four pieces. Afterwards, the pieces of the Uhktena were thrown all around the country along with the great crystal, the Ulunsuti stone. Many people are still searching for that Ulunsuti stone in the mountains along the Hogahega uweyu I.

After that terrible fight the Tlanuhwa were so angry at what the humans had done with their eggs that they flew far away, up above the sky vault and have never been seen since. However, one can see the pictures that the ancient Ani Yunwiya made of the Tlanuhwa and Uhktena, on the walls of the many caves among the Ouascito (Central Fire) Mountains, the ancient home of the Ani Yunwiya.

It is said that today, far below the cave of the Tlanuhwa on the banks of the Hogahega Uweyu i, one can still see the rocks that were stained from the blood of the Uhktena and the Tlanuhwa from the fight they had that day.

Awanisgi (I am done)

Aya Wahya

http://www.powersource.com/cocinc/articles/tlanuhwa.htm

the Uhktena sound like lake monsters to me...

[dragonlady_mothman]

A long time ago in ancient time, while the Choctaw Indians were living in

Mississippi, the Choctaw legends say that certain supernatural beings or

spirits lived near them. These spirits, or "Little People," were known as

Kowi Anukasha or "Forest Dwellers." They were about two or three feet tall.

These pygmy beings lived deep in the thick forest, their homes were in caves

hidden under large rocks.

When a boy child is two, three, or even four years old, he will often wander

off into the woods, playing or chasing a small animal. When the little one

is well out of sight from his home, "Kwanokasha", who is always on watch,

seizes the boy and takes him away to his cave, his dwelling place. Many times his cave is far away and Kwanokasha and the little boy must travel a

very long way, climbing many hills and crossing many streams. When they finally reach the cave Kwanokasha takes him inside where he is met by three

other spirits, all very old with long white hair. The first one offers the

boy a knife; the second one offers him, a bunch of poisonous herbs; the third

offers a bunch of herbs yielding good medicine.

If the child accepts the knife, he is certain to become a bad man and may

even kill his friends. If he accepts the poisonous herbs he will never be

able to cure or help his people. But, if he accepts the good herbs, he is

destined to become a great doctor and an important and influential man of

his tribe and win the confidence of all his people.

When he accepts the good herbs the three old spirits will tell him the secrets of making medicines from herbs, roots and barks of certain trees,

and of treating and curing various fevers, pains and other sickness. That is

the reason the "'Little People" take the boy child to their home in the wilderness, in order to train Indian doctors, transmitting to them their

special curative powers and to train them in the manufacture of their medicines. The child will remain with the spirits for three days after which

he is returned. He does not tell where he has been or what he has seen or

heard. Not until he becomes a man will he make use of the knowledge gained

from the spirits, and never will he reveal to others how it was acquired.

It is said among the Choctaws that few children wait to accept the offering

of the good herbs from the third spirit, and that is why there are so few

great doctors and other men of influence among the Choctaws.

It is also said the the "Little People" are never seen by the common Choctaws. The Choctaw prophets and herb doctors, however, claim the power of

seeing them and of holding communication with them.

During the darkest nights in all kinds of weather you can see a strange light wandering around in the woods. This light is the Indian doctor and his

little helper looking for that special herb to treat and cure a very sick tribesman.

http://www.zicahota.com/Lores/The_Little_People.html

[dragonlady_mothman]

The Indian tribes of North America have a mythology particularly rich in legends of gods, deified heroes, and immensely powerful monsters. The fantastic nature of this mythology is lessened in some regards and increased in others as one travels further south, into Mexico and the countries of Central America.

The Maya, the first inhabitants of the region, told of alternating cycles of creation and destruction of worlds, hidden races of men, and demons in animal form. One of these animal-demons was called Camazotz, and he supposedly took the form of a gigantic bat. The camazotz ("snatch bat") has been, for the most part, ignored by cryptozoologists. However, based on reports of bat-like creatures from throughout the area, and the palaentological record, I surmise that, living in Mesoamerica, is not a pterosaur, as some cryptozoologists believe, but an as-of-yet unrecognized type of bat.

Among the later civilizations in Central America is that of the Aztecs. Most members of the Aztec nobility had some animal or object that served as a spiritual advisor and protector. A ruler late in the Aztec Empire, Ahuízotl, had as his totem animal a small, unidentifiable, rodent-like creature. I have tentatively identified the animal as a type of otter, different from the common otter described as aitzcuintli, possibly an until-now unrecognized species which inhabited Mexico in the recent past.

These are not the only possible cryptids from ancient Mesoamerica. The Aztecs believed in a big cat called cuitlamiztli; after the Spaniards arrived, the animal was known as the onza. In 1986, a specimen of onza was shot in Sinaloa State, in northwestern Mexico, and sent to a laboratory for examination. However, scientific identification of the cat is still pending.

A series of controversial petroglyphs depicting "elephants" appear in the writing of the Maya. Some cryptozoologists say that these glyphs are evidence for survival of prehistoric elephant species, although most archaeologists declare that they clearly depict stylized macaws. Looking at known macaw glyphs and then the supposed elephant glyphs, I believe that the glyphs are, indeed, of macaws.

Other animals from the tales of the Aztecs which may or may not be merely mythical beings include the tlaltecuhtli, the toad-like "earth monster"; the cipactli, a crocodile-like monster which lived in the sea; and even the "feathered serpent" Quetzalcoatl, which supposedly dwelt in northern Mexico. 

The camazotz

Around 100 B.C., a peculiar religious cult grew up among the Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico. The cult venerated an anthropomorphic monster with the head of a bat, an animal associated with night, death, and sacrifice (1). This monster soon found its way into the pantheon of the Quiché, a tribe of Maya who made their home in the jungles of what is now Guatemala. The Quiché identified the bat-deity with their god Zotzilaha Chamalcan, the god of fire.

Popol Vuh, a Mayan sacred book, identifies Zotzilaha as not a god, but as a cavern, "The House of Bats" (2). Zotzilaha was home to a type of bat called camazotz; one of these monsters decapitated the hero Hunahpú. Camazotz has been translated as "death bat" (3) and "snatch bat" (4). It is recorded in chapter 10 of this book that the Camazotz's call was similar to eek, eek (5). A vastly different story appears in Chapter 3. Here a demon called Camalotz, or "Sudden Bloodletter", clearly a single entity, is identified as one of four animal demons which slew the impious first race of men (6).

In the Latin American region, it seems that the ancient belief in the "death bat" survives even to the present day. Several cultures have traditions of bat-demons or winged monsters; for example, legends of the h?ik'al, or Black-man, still circulate among the Zotzil people of Chiapas, Mexico. Perhaps revealingly, the H?ik'al is sometimes referred to as a "neckcutter" (7). Other bat-demons include the soucouyant of Trinidad and the tin tin of Ecuador (8).

Yet another similar creature in folklore appears in the folklore of rural Peru and Chile. The chonchon is a vampire-type monster; and it is truly bizarre, even for a legendary creature. It is said that after a person's death, the head will sometimes sprout enormous ears and lift off from the shoulders. This flying head is the Chonchon; its sound, as recorded by Jorge Luis Borges, was like tui-tui-tui (9). Could the legends of the Chonchon have sprung from the same source as the Camazotz legends?

But what exactly was the basis for the Camazotz legend? Most archaeologists believe that the monster was based on the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), a bat traditionally associated with bloodletting and sacrifice (10). Another suspect is the false vampire bat (Vampyrum spectrum), due to its large size and habit of attacking prey around the head or neck (11).

One of the most prominent and commonly mentioned features of the Camazotz is "a nose the shape of a flint knife" (12), which could be an exaggerated interpretation of the nose-leaf possessed by members of the Phyllostomidae, or leaf-nosed bats. The vampire bat is a relative or member of this group; thus we are once more forced to look at D. rotundus, or its relatives, as suspects (13).

In 1988, a species of fossil bat related to Desmodus rotundus, but 25 percent larger than it, was described as D. draculae. It was described on the basis of two specimens from Monagas State, Venezuela, and a third from São Paulo State, Brazil, was described in a 1991 article by E. Trajano and M. de Vivo. The Brazilian specimen had not yet been dated when the article was written, but the two biologists suggest a "relatively recent age" for the skeleton. They refer to reports circulating among local natives of large bats which attack cattle and horses; these reports may suggest that the bat still lives (14).

Its recent age and large range suggest that the bat could have co-existed with the Quiché, giving rise to the legends of the Camazotz. Trajano and de Vivo also speculate that D. draculae may have fed on larger prey than did normal-sized vampire bats (15); possibly even humans?

Several other stories supporting the idea of a large bat-like creature have come out of out of Latin America in the last century. A report from 1947 of a creature presumed to have been a living pterosaur may in fact have been of a large bat. J. Harrison saw five "birds" with a wingspan of about 12 feet. Harrison's birds were brown, featherless, and beaked (16).

The next report of a bat-like monster from the area is a story told by a Brazilian couple, the Reals. One night in the early 1950s, they were walking through a forest outside of Pelotas, Brazil, when they saw two large "birds" in a tree, both of which alighted on the ground (17). Although reported as winged humanoids, the proximity of the sighting area to the Ribeira Valley, where the Brazilian specimen of D. draculae was found, forces one to wonder whether the Reals' "birds" were actually bats.

In March, 1975, a series of animal mutilations swept the countryside near the Puerto Rican town of Moca, and during the "flap" a man named Juan Muñiz Feliciano claimed that he was attacked by a large, gray-feathered creature. These bird-like creatures were seen numerous times during the outbreak (18).

But these reports didn't gain real notoriety until the mid-1970s, when a number of reports surfaced in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, of large birds or bats. The first report came from the town of San Benito, where three people reported encounters with a bald-headed creature (19). But rumors had long circulated among the Mexican inhabitants of the town about a large bird-like creature, believed to make tch-tch-tch sounds (20).

On New Year's Day, 1976, two girls near Harlingen watched a large, birdlike creature with a "gorillalike" face, a bald head, and a short beak. The next day, a number of three- toed tracks were found in the field where the creature had stood (21). On January 14, Armando Grimaldo said he was attacked by the creature at Raymondville. He said it was black, with a monkey's face and large eyes (22). Further reports surfaced from Laredo and Olmito, with a final sighting reported from Eagle Pass on January 21 (23).

The reports cited above, as well as the countless others which await careful researchers, support a conclusion that a mysterious winged creature exists in the deserts and jungles of Mesoamerica. The prominence of the bat in Latin American mythology and the discovery of the recently-extinct Desmodus draculae in South America point to the possible identity of the creature as a large, as-of-yet unknown bat, rather than a living pterosaur, as is generally supposed. 

The ahuízotl: an Aztec enigma

One of the strangest and most confusing of all Mesoamerican mythological figures was the water-beast ahuízotl, or "water-dog," a small animal that was depicted as something like a rodent or dog.

Some confusion seems to have arisen about the Ahuízotl, due to the fact that Ahuízotl was also the name of an Aztec ruler, the predecessor of Motecuhzoma (Montezuma) (24). It is well-known that the water-monster was the symbol of the king (25). However, it seems that the Aztecs thought the water-monster was a creature in its own right, not merely a mythical beast created as the symbol of the king; the creature has its own entry in Book 11 of the Florentine Codex (a description of the plants and animals of Mexico). Here it is described as:

...very like the teui, the small teui dog; small and smooth, shiny. It has small, pointed ears, just like a small dog. It is black, like rubber; smooth, slippery, very smooth, longtailed. And its tail is provided with a hand at the end; just like a human hand is the point of its tail. And its hands are like a raccoon's hands or like a monkey's hands. It lives, it is a dweller in watery caverns, in watery depths. And if anyone arrives there at its entrance, or there in the water where it is, it then grabs him there. It is said that it sinks him, it plunges him into the water; it carries him to its home, it introduces him to the depths; so its tail goes holding him, so it goes seizing him ... [When the body is retrieved] the one it has drowned no longer has his eyes, his teeth, and his nails; it has taken them all from him. But his body is completely unblemished, his skin uninjured. Only his body comes out all slippery-wet; as if one had pounded it with a stone; as if it had inflicted small bruises ... When it was annoyed - had caught no one, had drowned none of us commoners - then was heard as if a small child wept. And he who heard it thought perhaps a child wept, perhaps a baby, perhaps an abandoned one. Moved by this, he went there to look for it. So there he fell into the hands of the auítzotl [sic], there it drowned him...

Not much else is to be said about the Ahuízotl, as the creature has apparently become extinct - in Mexico, anyway. A similar creature was described by Christopher Columbus, in a letter sent from Jamaica to the King and Queen of Spain on July 7, 1503:

A cross-bowman slew a beast that resembled a large cat, but was much bigger and had a face like a man. He transfixed it with an arrow from the breast to the tail. Nevertheless it was so fierce that he had to cut off an arm and a leg. When a wild boar, which had been given to me as a present, caught sight of this beast its bristles stood on end and it fled with all speed ... [the animal] immediately attacked the wild boar, encircled its mouth with its tail and squeezed vigorously. With the one arm it had left, it throttled the wild boar's throat as one strangles a foe (27).

The folklore and traditions of the Aztec people has its roots in that of the American Indians of the southwestern states and the Great Plains. We would expect to find relatives of the Ahuizotl here, if it was a widespread animal. And indeed we do.

The Hopi Indians of Arizona and New Mexico tell of creatures called pavawkyaiva (water-dogs). These creatures figured prominently in the Hopi creation myth; originally, so the story goes, the Hopis were a nomadic tribe. In a striking parallel to a famous Aztec myth in which the sun-god Huitzilopochtli tells the Aztecs to wander until they found an eagle eating a snake, the Hopis were told by a god to wander until they found "the lake where the Pavawkyaivas played," and then to settle there (28).

The Shasta Indians of northern California also have legends of a "water-dog," although this creature seems to have been larger than the Ahuízotl:

They live in dangerous whirlpools in the river, and appear like huge spotted dogs. They cause the death of persons by drowning. The bodies of those drowned thus are, it is thought, always found covered with spots similar to those of the "water-dog" itself (29).

Similar creatures are found in the folklore of lands south of Mexico. The Sumu Indians of Nicaragua tell of a "water-tiger" which dwelt among the rocks of large rivers. The animal will "devour anyone swimming in the neighborhood or falling into the water" (30).

So what was this creature? It is nearly impossible to reconcile all the attributes of the Ahuízotl with any known animal. The coyote, proposed as a candidate for the ahuizotl's identity by Ferdinand Anders (31) is not a viable explanation, given its decidedly nonaquatic habits. Another candidate, the porcupine, suggested by Eduard Seler (32), is likewise unlikely to be the true culprit, given its nonaquatic habits and the fact that the Ahuízotl is described by the Florentine Codex as being smooth (and therefore spineless). Charles Dibble and Arthur Anderson identify the Ahuizotl as Lutra felina (33), the sea cat or marine otter, which inhabits the coast of southwestern South America; however, as its common name implies, L. felina is a mainly marine animal (34), whereas the Ahuízotl was described as living "either in a river or somewhere in a spring" (35). Furthermore, Mexico is beyond the northern boundary of the range of L. felina, which historically reached (and presently reaches) only to Peru (36). Nor could the Ahuízotl have been the sea otter (Enhydra lutris) of the Pacific coast of North America, which is also marine in habitat, and which ranges from Alaska to California. Another possibility is the river otter (Lutra canadensis), which is found in Mexico (37); however, this creature was known to the Aztecs as aitzcuintli, and has its own entry in the Florentine Codex. Clearly the Ahuízotl was some animal sufficiently different from other known animals for the Aztecs to identify it as a seperate creature. Perhaps it could have been another, unknown, species of otter? Listed below are short excerpts from the Codex entry which support an otter identification.

1. It has small, pointed ears, just like a small dog. Most otters do, indeed, have small ears. They seem to me to be rather more rounded than pointed, but they could be described as "like a small dog" (38).

2. It is black, like rubber; smooth, slippery... Most, if not all, otters appear dark, shiny, and hairless (39).

3. ...very smooth, long-tailed. Most otters have long and flat tails, most notably Pteronura brasiliensis (the giant otter), a member of the aonychine family (40).

4. ...its hands are like a raccoon's hands or like a monkey's hands. Most types of otter have rather man-like hands with which they can grasp shellfish and other food items (41).

5. ...then was heard as if a small child wept. Many otters do, indeed, make a sound likened to "Hah!" when startled. This could be interpreted as sounding like a child weeping (42).

Furthermore, on a depiction of the ahuízotl reproduced by Eduard Seler, a blade-like structure is seen projecting from under the tail (43). The lower pelvis, pubic bone (baculum) and penis of otters would, indeed, project outward, accounting for this feature (44)--although the size of the projection is doubtless exaggerated.

How, though, do we account for the prehensile or hand-tipped tail given so often in accounts of the creature and which is the most problematic of all the Ahuízotl's attributes to reconcile with any known animal? Very easily, in fact--in On the Track of Unknown Animals, in the chapter discussing the iemisch of southern Argentina, Bernard Heuvelmans quotes Dr. Robert Lehmann-Nitsche. Lehmann-Nitsche says:

The Araucan Indians have similar traditions of a prehensile tailed monster called nurufilu, or zorro-vibora (viper-fox) in Spanish. Since the otter's claws are small, its tail is held to be the object of fear(45).

Could a similar legend have arisen around the Ahuízotl? It seems as though it did not actually have a hand-tipped tail, but just interpreted as having such.

In conclusion, it appears very likely that the Ahuízotl was a type of otter, possibly one of some unknown species.

http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/siren/5...esoamerica.html

[Killer Carott]

well i no ogopogo cuz i live in kelowna WHITCH IS SWEET!!!! but i also think boogfoot is too cuz the name sasquatch was a native name and thers lots of diff names more him or her or it

[Lord_Kazius]

this seems to be a promising thread, i dont have time now, but will look up some native legends later...

[Lord_Kazius]

hmm, i just found something very interesting and thought i would share it with you, it seems to be a native american version of the story of Noah's Ark.....

This tale is from the lore of the Native Americans known as the Ottawas. It is a flood story.

Long ago there was a boy whose name was Kwi-wi-sens Nenaw-bo-zhoo ("The greatest clown-boy in the world".). He grew to manhood and became a prophet among his people. Clown-boy also had great strength; he could use his war club to shatter the tallest pine trees to pieces.

Clown-boy (or the "seer clown") owned a hunting dog which was really a huge black wolf. The dog was as large as a bison. It had long soft hair and eyes that shone like the moon at night. The sea-deity was jealous of the dog and decided to kill him. The slaying occurred in a treacherous way. After taking the form of a deer, the sea deity lured the dog toward him. The dog grabbed the sea deity, thinking he had caught a deer. Then the sea-deity switched to his true form and killed the dog.

Soon afterwards, the sea-deity held a banquet to celebrate what he had done. He invited whales, sea-serpents, and various monsters of the deep to the feast.

The seer-clown found out about the killing. He learned about it from Waw-goosh (the fox). The seer-clown was determined to take revenge. He hid in the bushes by the sea and waited for the sea-deity and his monsters to come onto the beach and bathe in the sunshine. Soon they came onto the shore and fell asleep. The seer-clown shot an arrow into the heart of the sea-deity. Just before he died, the sea-deity shouted, "Revenge! Revenge!"

The sea monsters pursued the seer-clown. They sent enormous waves of water after him. As a result the land was flooded. The seer-clown saw that his position was getting desperate. He called upon the God of Heaven to save him. He soon saw a giant canoe approaching. It had pairs of animals and birds of each kind. A beautiful maiden was rowing the canoe. She lowered a rope and the seer-clown used it to climb into the vessel.

The canoe floated for days. The seer-clown asked Aw-milk, the beaver to dive to the bottom and bring him some earth, so he could cause the land to become dry again. The beaver dived into the water and went all the way to the bottom.

However, when he came up, he was dead. The seer-clown breathed life back into the beaver. Then the seer-clown asked Waw-jashk, the musk rat, to dive to the bottom and get some earth. The musk rat obeyed and went all the way down. When he rose to the surface he was dead. The seer-clown breathed life back into him. However, the musk rat had managed to get some earth. The seer-clown rolled it into a ball and tied it around the neck of Ka-ke-gi, the raven. He ordered the raven to fly over the waters so that land would reappear. The raven flew over the sea and dry land appeared. The waters rolled away and the earth took its former shape. Eventually the seer-clown and the maiden were married. Their children and descendants repopulated the world.

Edited May 18, 2005 by Lord_Kazius