Some legendary cryptids are absolutely real. But here are some of the greatest mythical animals and monsters from the world of fantasy.
The Wolpertinger in the Bavarian forests in Germany
This freaky animal has a body composed of various animal parts, but in most cases it's only a horned squirrel or a rabbit.
(via Rainer Zenz and MonsterWiki)
The Sea Bishop or Bishop-fish and the Sea Monk, reported in the 1530s and 1540s
The angry bishop fish could find the location of the seamans' daughter on a boat, warp her to his lair, absorb her energy and send the dead body back.
The Sea Bishop and The Sea Monk was caught in 1546. The Bishop was taken to the King of Poland.
(via Cryptid Wiki and Mgiganteus1)
The lizard and snake-like Tatzelwurm from the Alps
A Swiss photographer named Balkin saw the creature in 1934 and photographed it.
The creature has a head and two legs of a cat in many drawings.
(via Drachen Wiki)
The Beast of Gévaduan, the man-eating wolf, in the 1760s
The beasts killed their victims by tearing at their throats with their teeth. There were about 210 attacks against men. Only 113 of them were dead, and 98 were only partly eaten.
A stuffed giant wolf, displayed at the court of Louis XV, 1765
In 1765 King Louis XV sent professional wolf-hunters and his harquebus bearer to kill the beasts. They've killed some giant wolves, a 31 in (80 cm) high and 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) long in 1767, among others, but the attacks continued. The beasts came back in 1769.
(via Bearerofthecup, Wikimedia Commons and Frank T. Zumbach's Mysterious World)
The Canvey Island Monster, England
The first creature was washed up in November 1953. It was 2.4 ft (76 cm) long had legs with five-toed feet. The second specimen found in 1954 was much bigger (3.9 ft or 120 cm).
(via Canvey Island and Kryptid)
Sea serpents
From Bishop Erik Pontoppidan's 1755 work Natural History of Norway
1817 Gloucester sea serpent
(via Mgiganteus 1 - 2)
The Nandi Bear or Ngoloko from Kenya
These powerful, hyena-like animals were reported in Kenya in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but no proofs were found to their existence.
(via Animals Zone)
The scorpion-tailed and saber-toothed Dingonek, the Jungle Walrus from Western Africa
The explorer John Alfred Jordan said he shot at the Dingonek in 1907 in Kenya, that was at least 18 feet long and had reptilian claws:
"Gory wonder, was that fellow; a .303, where placed, should have killed anything, for he was less than ten yards from me when I shot, but though we watched waters and shores over a range of several miles for two days, no sight did we get of him or his tracks."
(via StrangeArk and Frontiers Of Zoology)
The Emela-ntouka (means killer of the elephants in the Lingala language), Congo River basin
The elephant-sized creature with a big horn or tusk lives in the lakes and swamps of the Congo River basin in Congo, Cameroon and maybe in Zambia. Some cryptozoologists says it's might be a living dinosaur.
(via Cryptomundo)
The Mokèlé-mbèmbé (means "one who stops the flow of rivers" in the Lingala language), Congo River basin
Dozens of expeditions have failed since the late 1700s to finding any evidence of the giant long-neck monster. Is this a small Sauropod?
(via Junglekey)
The Dobhar-chú (or Doyarchu, "water hound"), Ireland
A half-dog, half-fish furry creature that lives in water.
(via Amayodruid, Bango Art)
Am Fear Liath Mòr (The Big Grey Man of Ben Macdui), on and around the Ben Macdui, the second highest peak in Scotland
The tall and hairy man could be three or four times higher than an average man.
(via Warriors of Myth)
J'ba Fofi or the Congolese Giant Spider, Congo
The brownish spider with a legspan of five or six feet (1.5-1.8 m) could be really terrifying.
(via Modern Survival Online)
Trunko, first reported in 1924 in Margate, South Africa
From a letter sent to a newspaper by Mr. H.C Ballance:
“On the morning of October 25 I saw what I took to be two whales fighting with some sea monster about 1,300 yards from the shore. I got my glasses, and was surprised to see an animal which resembled a Polar bear, but in size was equal to an elephant. This object I observed to back out of the water fully 20ft and strike repeatedly at the two whales, but with seemingly no effect. After an hour the whales made off and the incoming tide brought the monster within sight, and I saw that the body was covered with hair 8in. long, exactly like a polar bear’s, and snow white.”
Next morning, Mr Ballance found the carcase lying high on the beach. He measured it and found it was 47ft [14 m] from tip to tail. The tail was 10ft long and 2ft wide [3m by 60cm], and where the head should have been the creature had a sort of trunk 14 inches in diameter and about 5ft long, the end being like the snout of a pig. The backbone was very prominent, and the whole body covered with snow-white hair."
(via Forteantimes and Mgiganteus1)