What is the Scariest Cryptid You’d Never Want to Meet?
This Week’s Cryptid Chronicles Poll!
Today’s question is, “What is the Scariest Cryptid You’d Never Want to Meet?”
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To participate, please select an answer from the poll and feel free to leave a brief or detailed comment to this post! If you select “Other”, please explain!
What is the most scariest cryptid creature you would be afraid would “come and get you”??
In addition, after voting, you may also “Ask” in this format, “I would never want to meet xcreature because…”
Thank you all for participating!! Have FUN and stay tuned for more!
Sydney C. Squidney Cryptid Chronicles Blogowner
The Groot slang (Afrikaans for “big snake”) is a legendary cryptid that is reputed to dwell in a deep cave in the Richtersveld, South Africa.
The cave is known as the “Wonder Hole” or the “Bottomless Pit.” Supposedly, it connects to the sea, which is 40 miles away. According to local legend, the cave is filled with diamonds.
Peter Grayson had diamonds on the brain.
For years, the Oxford-educated English businessman had trained himself to find the legendary treasure of the Richtersveld in South Africa.
It was there, legend had it, that a cavern filled with diamonds awaited the bold adventurer. The only problem was, the cavern was supposedly guarded by Grootslang, a fearsome 40-foot-long serpent with enormous gems in its eye sockets.
Similar to a large serpent, the creature is supposedly 12 m (40 ft) long and 1 m (3 ft) wide, according to witnesses. It is claimed to devour elephants by luring them into its cave. In Benin, it is known as an elephant with a serpent’s tail.
![Underwater, face to face with a peaceful anacondaPhoto: © Daniel De Granville, 2010Giant anacondaReports of giant anacondas date back as far as the discovery of South America when sightings of anacondas upwards of 50 meters (150 feet) began to circulate amongst colonists and the topic has been a subject of debate ever since among cryptozoologists and zoologists.Anacondas can grow to sizes of 6 metres (20 ft) and beyond, and 150 kilograms (23 stone or approx, 330 lbs.) in weight. Although some python species can grow longer, the anaconda, particularly the Green Anaconda, is the second heaviest and largest in terms of diameter of all snakes, and it is the second biggest extant snake in the world right behind the Reticulated Python. The lengthiest reputably-measured and confirmed anacondas are about 7.5 meters (25 feet) long. Lengths of 50-60 feet have been reported for this species but such extremes lack verification and too add lack of large prey to support a super-large snake. The two only real reliable claims that can be found describe measured anacondas ranging from 26-32 feet although these remain unverified.HistoryThe first recorded sightings of giant anacondas were from the time of the discovery of South America, when early European explorers entered the dense jungles there and claimed to have seen giant snakes measuring up to 18 metres (59 ft) long. Natives also reported seeing anacondas upwards of 10.5 metres (34 ft)[5] to 18 metres (59 ft). Anacondas above 7 metres (23 ft) in length are rare; the Wildlife Conservation Society has, since the early 20th century, offered a large cash reward (currently worth US$50,000) for live delivery of any snake of 9 metres (30 ft) or more in length, but the prize has never been claimed despite the numerous sightings of giant anacondas. In a survey of 780 wild anacondas in Venezuela, the largest captured was 5 metres (16 ft) long, far short of the length required. A specimen measured in 1944 exceeded this size when a petroleum expedition in Colombia claimed to have measured an anaconda which was 11.4 metres (37 ft) in length, but its claim has never been proven. Scientist Vincent Roth also claimed to have shot and killed a 10.3 metres (34 ft) specimen, but like most other claims it lacks sound evidence. Another claim of an extraordinarily large anaconda was made by adventurer Percy Fawcett. During his 1906 expedition, Fawcett wrote that he had shot an anaconda that measured some 19 metres (62 ft) from nose to tail. Once published, Fawcett’s account was widely ridiculed. Decades later, Belgian cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans came to Fawcett’s defence, arguing that Fawcett’s writing was generally honest and reliable.Historian Mike Dash writes of claims of still larger anacondas, alleged to be as long as 45 metres (148 ft), with some of the sightings supported with photos (although those photos lack scale). Dash notes that if reports of a 18 metres (59 ft) anaconda strains credulity, then a 120 feet (37 m) long specimen is generally regarded as an outright impossibility.In fictionPerhaps the most well-known and defining portrayal of giant anaconda in popular fiction is the 1997 film Anaconda, which featured a giant anaconda hunting and killing several crew members from National Geographic, and its sequel Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid. Another two sequels, Anaconda 3: Offspring and Anacondas: Trail of Blood, were produced as made-for-television movies in 2008.In documentariesIt was featured in an episode of Lost Tapes called “Megaconda”. This term was continually used in the official website. During an expedition in the Peruvian Amazon in 2009, a Belfast father and his son claim to have captured a giant Anaconda on camera. See also Titanoboa GigantophisFrom WikipediaFurther Reading:
Boss Snakes: Stories and Sightings of Giant Snakes in North America
Tales of Giant Snakes: A Historical Natural History of Anacondas and Pythons
Giant Anaconda and Other Cryptids: Fact or Fiction?](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_luxiyyhSnk1r6ti0go1_250.jpg)
![cemeterycreep:
A MONSTROUS SERPENT. DISCOVERED AND KILLED IN JANUARY, 1815, NEAR THE BANKS OF THE OHIO, IN KENTUCKY, BY THREE AMERICAN SOLDIERSA marvelous illustrated broadside containing the account of a massive serpent found and killed at Versailles, Kentucky, near Lexington. The broadside prints the text as an epistolary eyewitness narrative, addressed to the brother of the author in Philadelphia. The author, Samuel Hanson, was a member of an eastern army regiment on its way to join Andrew Jackson’s forces at New Orleans. Stopping in Versailles, Hanson and his fellow soldiers learned that just as the men of the town had themselves departed for New Orleans the previous week, a giant snake had appeared and begun to devour the local livestock and terrorize the women and children. Hanson and two other soldiers agreed to hunt down the beast with guns, tomahawks, and “two lusty dogs,” and discovered it at last on the “summit of a lofty hill”: “[W]e hastened to the spot, when lo! an object greeted our eyes, the horror of which I have it not in my power to describe, picture to your imagination, dear brother, a monster, of the serpent kind, full twenty-two feet in length, and the thickest part of his body of the size of the thigh of one of our largest men! his eyes sparkling like fire, and venomously shooting forth his forked tongue with his whole body drawn in a position to defend himself, or to dart upon any object that should venture within his reach! and you will have a pretty correct idea of this monster!” After a bloody battle involving the loss of one dog, the soldiers slayed the beast and cut off its head. The letter concludes with a detailed description of the corpse (including the contents of its stomach) and the following note: “As this is unquestionably one of the largest Serpents ever known to exist in this country, his skin will be forwarded and presented to your Museum for the satisfaction of the curious.” It may reasonably be concluded that the broadside served as an advertisement for an exhibit at the Peale Museum in Philadelphia. Given the date and Boston imprint, it may also have had some connection to David Bowen, a Philadelphia native, friend of Charles Willson Peale, and museum pioneer of Boston, who quit Boston to return to Philadelphia the same year this broadside was printed. Signed in print by Samuel Hanson. OCLC locates two copies, at the American Antiquarian Society (a tattered copy) and the Massachusetts Historical Society. Not in Shaw & Shoemaker. Rare](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lujiepWvJF1qdmc7so1_250.jpg)
