Over the years we have terrified ourselves and our children with tales of scary monsters and creepy creatures. Here are 5 said monsters that we puny humans have thought up over the years:
SLENDER MAN
The Myth: An impossibly tall, thin and faceless creature, the Slender Man stalks his victims in his trademark suit and necktie. Those who have encountered the Slender Man are said to experience memory loss and paranoia.
The Origin: Slender Man was originally created on the Something Awful forums by user Victor Surge, who posted two images of the Slender Man surrounded by children in the ‘Create Paranormal Images’ thread, accompanied by the following text:
“”we didn’t want to go, we didn’t want to kill them, but its persistent silence and outstretched arms horrified and comforted us at the same time…”
1983, photographer unknown, presumed dead.”
THE RAKE
The Myth: A hairless, humanoid creature that crawls along the ground, The Rake stalks its victims at night time. Reports on the creature were compiled by the media in 2003, but were mysteriously destroyed.
The Origin: The Rake was created by image board 4chan after an anonymous poster asked users to help him “create a new monster”. The Rake has since been said to have made an appearance on a local news station.
ASWANG
The Myth: The Aswang appear as normal humans by day, but transform into vampire-like creatures by night, sucking the blood out of its victims, the most frequently targeted of which are unborn babies. In order to hunt their prey, the upper half of their body detaches itself from the lower half, which is left standing, and their intestines are then used to strangle their victims. They also have a very unfortunate name.
The Origin: One of the most enduring mythical creatures in Filipino folklore, the Aswang were originally used to explain miscarriages, but are now used as nothing more than a fairy tale mothers tell to their children in order to dissuade them from venturing out at night.
BIGFOOT
The Myth: The most famous mythical creature in modern history, the Bigfoot (also known as the sasquatch) is a 6-10 foott tall ape-like creature who has reportedly been sighted on multiple occasions in North America. Bigfoot is a nocturnal omnivore and, despite its appearance, walks very similarly to a human, as shown in the infamous recorded “sighting” of the creature captured on video by James Patterson and Robert Gimlin in 1967. In 1957, retired prospector Albert Ostman claimed that he was abducted and held captive by sasquatch six days.
The Origin: Although stories of large “wildmen” have been circulated for many years, the term Bigfoot wasn’t coined until 1958, when bulldozer operator Gerald Crew found a set of large footprints in Del Norte County, California. The story caught the attention of the media, and over 60 years later we have Bigfoot. Supposed sightings of the creature have been vast but evidence has been thin, with almost all of them being discredited, but there are still many out there who insist upon its existence, some of whom build a career out of it as self-proclaimed “Bigfoot researchers”.
LOCH NESS MONSTER
The Myth: The Loch Ness Monster is said to be a plesiosaur, a marine reptile common in the Jurassic Period. Plesiosaurs were one of the largest marine predators of all time, measuring upto 15 metres long, and Nessie (the affectionate term with which people use to refer to the alleged sea beast) is believed to be a surviving member of the species.
The Origin: In 1933 Londoner George Spicer reported to the Inverness Courier that, while driving around the Loch, he witnessed the “nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that [he] had ever seen in [his] life” walking towards the Loch, carrying an animal in its mouth. From that moment on many claimed that they had seen the monster, with even the local police constable stating that the monster existed. However, all evidence given for the monster’s existence has been disproved.
