Mythical Creatures

UT professor Pamela Owen can add one more title to her resume: educator, scientist and supernatural investigator. The producers of "Mystery Hunters," an educational TV program for kids, asked Owen to help identify bones reported to belong to the mythical chupacabra. The chupacabra, whose name means goat-sucker in Spanish, is a fabled creature which attacks and mutilates live-stock, sucking the blood of its prey.The bones belong to rancher Devin Macanally who shot the animal while it was attacking chickens on his ranch in Elmendorf. Photos of the animal, which later became known as the "Elmendorf Beast" show a small, hairless,dog-like creature.Owen, who holds a doctorate in mammalogy with a specialization in carnivores, said that when she first heard about the "Elmendorf Beast," she agreed with biologists' initial findings that it was some kind of coyote with severe mange.Owen's suspicions were later confirmed when the show's producers e-mailed her a photo of the creature's exhumed skull.

Owen, who has been identifying bones for the Texas Memorial Museum for six years, was able to recognize the skull almost instantly."I wrote back and said, 'Nice coyote.'" she said.Owen said she could understand how an average person could mistake the creature for a new species."What [Macanally] described was certainly not like any coyote," shesaid. "It was this hairless blue-skinned thing with disfigured teeth. This was a sick animal."What is called supernatural phenomena can often be explained within the context of a natural world, Owen said."I still think the stories are great, but they are based on interesting natural phenomena," she said.

View: Full Article | Source: Daily Texan Online

From the dark recesses of history comes a legend so amazing and terrifying, it’s astonishing that more people don’t know of its existence. If you live in the St. Louis area, chances are you are familiar with the legend; or may have heard bits and pieces of it here and there.As historians and scientists dig deeper into this legend, more becomes known about a monster from the past that called the St. Louis region its home, and may still call it home today.Upon exploring the Mississippi River in 1673, Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette noticed the strangelikeness of a creature painted and sculpted on the side of the bluffs.

The creature was described as “a large creature with horns like a deer, red eyes, a beard like a tiger, a face like a man, body covered with green, red, and black scales and a tail so long it passed around the body, over the head, and between the legs.” The painting depicted a dark secret that, up until now, only the Illinois Indians had known. The Illini lived on the banks of the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, surrounded by forests and tall bluffs. The location is now home to the city of Alton, IL. The Chief of this village met with Joliet and Marquette and, when asked, reluctantly told the explorers the two hundred year old tale of the beast they now called the “Piasa Bird” which meant “bird that devoursmen”. One night, several braves had returned to the village with a terrifying tale of a monstrous beast that had attacked their scouting party. They explained that the flying monster had swooped from the sky and picked up men and carried them off into the night. Their arrows had merely deflected off of its tough scales as they tried to defend themselves. For several weeks the village suffered as the creature they were now calling “Piasa” attacked at night, carrying off a victim each time to an unseen fate. The Illini turned to their chief, Ouatoga, to rid them of this menace. After conversing with the Great Spirits, Ouatoga devised a plan. He believed that the creature would be vulnerable under its wings, where the scales did not protect. He had his warriors hide in the forest with poison-tipped arrows, while he offered himself as bait.The Piasa Bird appeared and......

The rainbow serpent, a mythical creature widespread throughout the continent of Australia, is said to live in water. A closer look at it reveals that these great serpent-like creatures, usually associated with the rainbow, seem to bear the closest resemblance to the Chinese mythical dragon. The rainbow serpent is commonly depicted in its terrifying animal form, with a serpent-like body, kangaroo or horse-like head, crocodile teeth, ears or crown of feathers, long, spiked body and fish tail. Similarly, the form of the Chinese dragon is also a compound of species: the body of a serpent with the scales of a fish, the claws of an eagle, and the horns of a deer. There are also much deeper connotations ofthe two figures which suggest the links between myths in Australia and China.

The Aborigines have inhabited the continent of Australia for at least 40,000 years. Human evolution could not have taken place separately in Australia because there is no evidence of the existence of the ape-like predecessors of Homo sapiens. Therefore, the first Aborigines must have come from elsewhere. No authority disputes that the Australians came from Southeast Asia, arriving somewhere on the northwest of the continent. It is even argued that the ancestors of the Australian Aborigines could have arrived in Australia from mainland Asia, especially China, as the Australian Encyclopaedia described in its fifth edition. This hypothesis that there must be close historical connections between these two peoples is strengthened by someparallels between the myths from the Australian Aborigines and those of the ancient Chinese people. The rainbow serpent, for example, is strongly associated with water, life, and of course the arching rainbow in the sky. The connection of rainbow and serpents in China is also recorded in the character of "rainbow" on bones and tortoise shells, taking the shape of two serpents. (The inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells are ancestor of modern Chinese script, dating back to 15th-12th century BC.) The current Chinese character of "rainbow" (hong) takes the radical of "worm" (chong), which etymologically means "serpents." In addition, the Aboriginal people believe that the rainbow serpent is the creator of human beings. The counterpart in Chinese myth could be the godde...

Submitted by Pendekar Timur: Is the toyol – long regarded as a mythical supernatural creature – for real? Hundreds of visitors who thronged the state museum here think so as they scrutinised a figurine kept in a bottle that was on display there. A curious fisherman had found the bottle on Tuesday on the shores of a coastal village, believing that what he saw in it was a toyol. In Malay folklore, a toyol is a goblin-like creature that steals money and commits other mischief or evil at the instruction of its guardian.Not wanting to have anything to do with it,the unidentified fisherman from Kampung Kuala Pahang rushed to nearby Kampung Siong, about a kilometre away, and passed it to a bomoh.

The bomoh, in turn, handed it to the state museum. Word of its discovery spread like wildfire and hundreds of people waited at the doorstep of the museum before it opened at 8am, eager for a chance to see the strange item. They came in buses, cars, and bicycles and on foot. Museum director Mohd Farid Abdul Jalal said the large number of people who had come to see the figurine surprised him. He said it looked like a puppet or marionette and was about 20cm tall. The figurine, kept in a wide-mouthed bottle, is cloaked in black and hasred eyes and mouth. “The bottle also contains some sand, a yellow string and slices of onions,” he said. “We believe it was used in some kind of spiritual rite or medication and thrown by someone into the sea several days before the waves washed it ashore.” He said the object would be displayed in the museum until he discusses with his officers on the next course of action.

View: Full Article | Source: The Star