Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

Archangel Gabriel. An alternate explanation is
that the word is derived from an ancient word,
gabbara (“dead body”).
Variant names: Gabble ratchet, Gabriel
ratchet, Sky yelper.
Physical description: Huge dog with a human
head. Sometimes described as a spectral bird
with glowing eyes.
Behavior: Makes eerie howls. Said to travel
high in the air and hover over a house when
misfortune is about to occur.
Distribution: Lancashire, Derbyshire, and
Cleveland, England.
Possible explanation: It is said that the sound
of migrating Bean geese (Anser fabalis) flapping
their wings can be mistaken for the baying of a
pack of these hounds. The howling or “gabbling”
sounds might also be produced by a
Curlew (Numenius arquata), Eurasian wigeon
(Anas penelope), or Eurasian teal (Anas crecca).
Sources: Lewis Spence, The Fairy Tradition
in Britain (London: Rider, 1948); Katharine
M. Briggs, A Dictionary of Fairies (London:
Allen Lane, 1976), p. 183; Jacqueline Simpson
and Steve Roud, A Dictionary of English
Folklore (New York: Oxford University Press,
2000), p. 139.
Gally-Trot
Black Dog of southern England.
Etymology: Possibly from the French gardez le
tresor (“guard the treasure”); from gally
(“frighten”) + the German Trötsch (“spirit”); or
from the Frisian glay or gley (“shining”) + Trötsch.
Variant names: Galley trot, Hound of the hill,
White hound of Cator.
Physical description: Size of a bullock. White,
shaggy coat. Red ears.
Behavior: Chases people who try to run away
from it.
Habitat: Lives in hollow hills.
Distribution: Norfolk and Suffolk; Leek
Brook, Staffordshire; Pluckley, Kent; Wellington,
Somerset; Bunbury, Cheshire; Dartmoor,
Devon.
Sources: Alasdair Alpin MacGregor, The
Ghost Book (London: Robert Hale, 1955), pp.
55–81; Ruth L. Tongue, “Traces of Fairy
184 GALLY-TROT
Hounds in Somerset,” Folklore 67 (1956):
233–234; Ruth E. Saint Leger-Gordon, The
Witchcraft and Folklore of Dartmoor (London:
Robert Hale, 1965), p. 188; Katharine M.
Briggs, A Dictionary of Fairies (London: Allen
Lane, 1976), pp. 183, 225–226; Karl Shuker,
“White Dogs and Fairy Hounds,” Strange
Magazine, no. 19 (Spring 1998): 12–13.
Gambo
Sea Monsterof West Africa.
Etymology: Coined by Karl Shuker after the
name of the country, The Gambia.
Variant name: Kunthum belein (Mandinka
word for dolphin, literally “cutting jaws”).
Physical description: Smooth, scaleless skin.
Length, 15 feet. Width, 5 feet. Dark brown on
top, white below. Dolphinlike head. Small,
brown eyes. Jaws, 18 inches in length, with
eighty sharp, conical, uniform teeth. No blowhole.
Nostrils are at the tip of the jaws. Short
neck. No dorsal fin. Four paddle-shaped flippers,
each 18 inches long. Pointed tail, 5 feet
long. No flukes.
Distribution: Kotu, The Gambia.
Significant sighting: On June 12, 1983, Owen
Burnham discovered the carcass of an odd sea
creature washed up on the beach near the Bungalow
Beach Hotel at Kotu. Local people were
in the process of cutting off the head to sell
when he found it.
Possible explanations:
(1) The combination of four paddles, eighty
teeth, lack of scales and blowhole, and long
tail rules out seals, known cetaceans,
sirenians, modern reptiles, and fishes.
(2) Fossil archaic basilosaurid whales only
had forty teeth.
(3) Shepherd’s beaked whale (Tasmacetus
shepherdi) matches somewhat in coloration,
but it has a blowhole, tail flukes, a dorsal
fin, a much shorter beak, no nostrils, and
no pelvic flippers. In addition, this rare
cetacean prefers the cold water of New
Zealand and the South Atlantic.
(4) A surviving pliosaur, a member of a
group of short-necked plesiosaurs with large
heads, elongated jaws with massive teeth,