Outcast Earth: Encyclopedia of Creatures, Monsters and Strange Beings

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A: ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN THRU ALMAS
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ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN:	See Yeti.
AGOGWE:	These small wooly-haired “men” have been spotted a number of times during the early and mid-twentieth century in East Africa. Stories between areas are remarkably similar, especially in the agogwe’s ability to walk upright like human beings. As such, cryptozoologists have theorized that agogwe may be proto-pygmys.
ALMAS:	A race of nocturnal “wild people” said to live in the Tien Shan mountain range which runs along the western border of China and into the northern areas of Pakistan. The written history of the Almas is long and wide-ranging. The first western account of the creatures came from Hans Schiltberger, a Bavarian nobleman who encountered the creatures when he was captured by a tribe of Mongols. According to Schiltberger’s account, the Mongol warlord who held him prisoner also possessed two Almas, a male and a female. The indigenous people of this vast area all had stories and legends about the Almas, but few seemed to consider the beast to be supernatural. In fact, the Almas is recorded in several scientific documents from the region, listed as simply another, albeit unusual animal of that ecosystem. Schiltberger’s story of Almas being captured and imprisoned is not unusual either. One very intriguing story centers around a female Almas named “Zana” who was reportedly used as slave labor on a farm in the Caucasus in the late Nineteenth century. In 1964, a Soviet researcher named Boris Porshnev visited the village where “Zana” was said to have lived out her adult life. He was able to gather numerous firsthand accounts about her from some of the older villagers and even met two individuals who was said to be her grandchildren. Her physical description matched that of other “wild people” from all over the world – a body covered in hair except for the face and hands, a heavy brow and jaw, and a powerful, ape-like body. Apparently “Zana” had been raped repeatedly by the men of the village and had subsequently produced several Almas-human hybrid children. Unlike their mother who never mastered language beyond grunts and muttering, the four children who survived all went on to live relatively normal lives among the villagers. Their major differences appeared to be in their exceptionally dark complexions, physical strength and unruly natures. Porshnev spent years gathering additional information on “Zana” and her offspring, even apparently recovering the skeletal remains of a son that he described as being similar to that of a Neanderthal. He finally became convinced that the Almas were a relict population of hominids, possibly Neanderthals or Homo erectus.
ANGEL:	A common feature in religions all over the world, angels can be generally classified as supernatural beings that are often messengers or servants to the god(s). There may be literally thousands of angels or classifications of angels in Christianity alone. The Dictionary of Angels by Gustav Davidson lists hundreds by name, including the fallen angels (demons). Angels generally appear as radiant human beings who deliver heavenly information or defend humanity against evil. Curiously, the modern image of winged angels appears to have been created during the Middle Ages as a spontaneous artistic conceit. There are no references in the Bible to angels having wings.
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B: BANSHEE THRU BUNYIP
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BANSHEE:	This term is derived from two Celtic words that mean "woman fairy." In essence, a banshee is the Irish version of a ghost. She is usually described as wearing tattered clothing and having disheveled hair. Generally, a banshee appears as a precursor to a death in the family, and announces herself by wailing, banging on walls and making similar disruptions.
BEAST OF BODMIN MOOR:	Perhaps the most famous of the so-called “Alien Big Cats,” or large predatory felines that exist in locations where they are not indigenous. The Beast of Bodmin Moor has reportedly prowled the hills and meadows of southwestern England since the early 1990s. There have been hundreds maulings of livestock and eyewitness reports of the big black cat. It was even captured on film in 1998. The Beast is theorized to be a puma, or a family of pumas, that may have been introduced to the island as “exotic pets” but were later released into the wild.
BEAST OF GEVAUDEN:	Reported by some to be one of the worst rampages of a werewolf in European history, the Beast of Gevauden made international news between the years of 1764 and 1767. The large ferocious canid was described as “much higher than a wolf, low before, and his feet are armed with talons. His hair is reddish, his head large, and the muzzle of it is shaped like that of a greyhound; his ears are small and straight; his breast is wide and gray, his back streaked with black, his large mouth is provided with sharp teeth.” During the beast’s three year reign of terror, over sixty people – many of them children – were said to have been killed and devoured in south-central France. The panic became so widespread that King Louis XV dispatched a cavalry troop to route the animal out and kill it. Although the royal troops were not successful in this endeavor, a hermit named Jean Chastel was finally able to destroy the beast on June 19, 1767. The werewolf rumor was heightened by Chastel’s own account that he had used silver bullets to kill the beast as normal ammunition had no effect. Modern scientists began to reexamine the historical account in 1960 and several new theories were postulated. It is now widely accepted that the animal killed by Chastel was a hyena, an exotic species his son kept as part of a private menagerie. If this is true, then doubt has to be thrown on whether the slain animal was actually responsible for the numerous deaths or some kind of “red herring.” Chastel’s own account of how he killed the beast throws doubt on its authenticity as the almost-indestructible killer. He claimed that he was in the middle of prayer when the Beast happened upon him. When Chastel finished his prayers he raised his pistol and shot the animal to death, accomplishing with relative ease what hundreds of hunters and a cavalry troop had been unable to do. It has since been postulated that Chastel created produced the dead “werewolf” body to cover up a more sinister truth: his son was a serial killer who preyed on children and women. Although now impossible to prove, there is some indication from contemporary reports that the werewolf killings were not typical of a canine such as a hyena or wolf. For example, the Beast appeared to prefer young human victims, often bypassing flocks of sheep to kill the shepherd; and the preferred method of slaughter was crushing the skull which is not typical of canines.
BIGFOOT:	A large, powerful, hairy man-like creature said to reside primarily in the Pacific northwest part of the United States and Canada. Tales of creatures like these extend back generations through Native American tradition, but the modern idea of the creature began in 1958 when a Canadian reporter assembled and published them in the Associate Press. Once the creature became part of popular culture, Bigfoot hunters began to work in earnest to gather evidence of the monster including footprints, hair and scat samples, and photographs. One of the best known, and to this day most controversial sightings, occurred on October 20, 1967. Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin claimed that while riding their horses in search of the creature in the Six Rivers National Forest in California when a female Bigfoot appeared before them and walked quickly away in the forest. Patterson was able to capture the animal on 16 mm film. A frame of that film appears to the left. The footage has been studied and analyzed for years, but without a definitive explanation for what (or who) the creature is. Cryptozoologist still debate if Bigfoot is an unknown species of ape, a surviving hominid from prehistoric times, or a series of elaborate hoaxes. See also Almas, Yeti. Additional information: Video: Bigfoot Hunt in Northern California \| California's Back Roads
BROXA:	A medieval witch or demon. Very similar to a vampire, the broxa could fly, change shape at will and drank human blood. This is also the name of a bird that, according to Jewish legend, would suck milk from goats at night.
BUNYIP:	According to Australian legend, this hairy monster would hide in water holes and jump out to terrify aborigines. Descriptions of the monster vary, but it is generally described as having a hairy body, a horse-like head and a ferocious roar. Some scholars believe that the bunyip might be a "cultural memory" of a marsupial called a diprotodon that inhabited Australia about 15 thousand years ago. Archaeologists know that early aborigines and the diprotodon lived side-by-side, because they have unearthed bones of the butchered animal at early human settlements. The bunyip is also known as a yaa-loo and wowee-wowee.
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C: CAMBION THRU COTTINGLY FAIRIES
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CAMBION:	The offspring produced by a human-succubus or human-incubus coupling. According to legend, cambion appeared to be human, but often with physical deformities or advanced intellect. They grew at an accelerated rate and were generally larger and stronger than human children. Like their demonic parents, cambion also possessed an insatiable sexual appetite.
"CHAMP:"	The moniker provided to a monster said to be living in the dark waters of Lake Champlain in North America. The lake is located in Vermont, New York and the Canadian province of Quebec and is the largest fresh water body outside of the Great Lakes. Like other habitats of aquatic monsters such as Loch Ness, the lake is a former inland sea with extremely deep, cold waters. Stories of the slithering creature started in earnest in the early 1800s when settlers began to pour into the area and have continued up to the present day. A huge number of these sightings were made by groups of people and were reported in reputable newspapers. Serious inquiry into the existence of “Champ” began in the 1970s under respected cryptozoologist Joseph Zarzynski. Zarzynski and his team were responsible for the investigation into what is considered the best photographic evidence of the creature’s existence – a color photograph taken by Sandra Mansi on July 5, 1977. Detailed analysis of the photo was conducted by a variety of scientific institutions which found no evidence of forgery. Zoologists Roy Mackal and J. Richard Greenwell were both convinced that the photo showed a plesiosaur or zeuglodon, both prehistoric and presumed extinct creatures. Research continues on Champ to this day.
CHUCHUNAA:	One of multiple types of hairy hominids, or “wild men,” reported across the world. The Chuchunaa are said to inhabit western Siberia and are commonly known as “Siberian Snowmen.” The creatures are said to be approximately seven feet tall, have broad shoulders and exhibited mixed hair colors or albino members which are generally oddities among hairy hominids. Like other creatures of this type, cryptozoologists debate on whether the Chuchunaa is a surviving Neanderthal or some other kind of prehistoric hominid. See also Almas and Yeti.
CHUPACABRA:	One of the most recent and bizarre monsters is the Chupacabra, which first made headlines in 1995 in Puerto Rico. The creature’s name means “goatsucker,” a reference to its alleged tendency to hunt livestock and drain its victims of all their blood. Stories of the creature, which was described as being a hairy reptilian animal with fangs and red eyes, was rapidly disseminated over the internet and through Hispanic media. By 1996, sightings of the creature were being reported in Mexico and Hispanic communities in the American southwest, usually without any credible evidence. Unlike other “monster stories,” such as the Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot, there have been no credible photos or other evidence that the Chupacabra exists. Most cryptozoologist believe that the creature is an urban myth stemming from ancient folklore traditions.
COTTINGLEY FAIRIES:	In 1917, two girls from Bradford, England, created a small number of paper fairy models, posed them around a forested area called Cottingley Glen, and preceded to inform the entire village that the area was infested with supernatural beings. The girls were named Elsie Wright and Frances Giffiths. As proof of their claim, the girls had posed five photographs in which the diminutive winged sprites were whispering secrets or dancing in the grass. The spiritualist movement, which was widespread during that time in England, immediately seized upon the case as proof of the supernatural. The photographs were given to and widely distributed by the Theosophical Society. The girls, who were certain that their fraud would be quickly revealed, were astonished by how many prominent investigators believed the fairy story, chief among them being Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. They were equally astonished – and just a little put out – by the millions of pounds raised by the Theosophy Society through their promotion of the fraud. Elsie wrote years later: "Surely you know that there can not be more than one grown up person in every five million who would take our fairies seriously?" As time went on, the joke became more obvious. Aside from the admission of the hoaxers, careful scientific analysis of the photos, and the discovery of the artwork used to create the fairies in a popular children’s book, helped to seal the case. In 1945, the Society for Psychical Research finally took a position on the case, stating that they were skeptical "of the reality of fairies in general and of the Cottingly Fairies in particular." [For related information, see Enewsletter "Sir Arthur's Great American Ghost Hunt."]
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D: DAEMON THRU DOPPELGANGER
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DAEMON:	In Greek myth, a lesser god who acted as an intermediary between the higher divinities and humankind.
DEMON:	An evil being, devil or force.
DJINN:	(Pronounced jinn) Also known as "the children of fire," these are supernatural spirits from Moslem mysticism. According to myth, they are able to transform themselves into various animal shapes. They are invariably evil and should be avoided. The name is often written as genii, from which our modern word genie originates.
DOPPELGANGER:	Also known as a fetch or a wraith. This German word means "double walker" and refers to an exact, usual malevolent double of a human being. In these cases, his double is a twin unrelated through biology. Many prominent figures have claimed to see their doppelgangers, including Catherine the Great, Elizabeth I and poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Curiously, many of the historical reports about doppelgangers stated that the double vanished into thin air, making parapsychologists wonder if the doppelganger effect is something more closely related to a crisis apparition or out-of-body experience. Sometimes the doppelganger will appear just prior to a death.
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E: ELEMENTAL SPIRITS THRU EMELA-NTOUKA
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ELEMENTAL SPIRITS:

Animals or supernatural entities, who, during the Middle Ages, were thought to represent the four elements. Salamanders were associated with fire, sylphs with air, gnomes with earth and nymphs with water.

EMELA-NTOUKA:

This creature’s name translates to “Killer of Elephants” due to its ability to disembowel large animals. It is said to prowl the rivers in the Congo and is semi-aquatic. Cryptozoologists have theorized that Emela-Ntouka may be either a surviving dinosaur species or an unknown type of aquatic rhinoceros.