Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

deep-sea group. In the Phyl um Cnidaria (coral s
and jel l yfish) are the Giant Jellyfish and the
Cuero (which may al so be an octopus). The
Phyl um Arthropoda (animal s with jointed l egs)
incl udes the sea spiders (Deep -Sea Sp ider), myriapods
(Giant Centip ede), arachnids (Giant
Spider), insects (Golden Antand giant Madagascan
Hawk Moth), and crustaceans (Maggot
and Specs). The Phyl um Annel ida (segmented
worms) may be appropriate for the
Mongolian Death Worm (more l ikel y a snake
or l izard) and THE Thing (a pol ychaete worm).
Mystery Invertebrates
Acorn Worms (Giant); Cuero; Deep-Sea Spider;
Giant Centip ede; Giant Jellyfish;
Giant Sp ider; Golden Ant; Lop henteropneust;
Madagascan Hawk Moth (Giant);
Maggot; Mongolian Death Worm; Specs;
The Thing
Ipupiara
Merbeing of South America.
Etymology: Guarani (Tupí), “water dwel l er.”
Variant names: Hipupiara, Iara (for the fema
l e), Igpupiara, Oyara, Uiara.
Physical description: Covered in short brown
hair. Femal es have l ong, beautiful head-hair.
Deep, sunken eyes. Whiskers. Bl owhol e is at the
back of the head. Tail fins.
Behavior: Moans. Kil l s victims by constriction.
Eats onl y the eyes, nose, tips of toes and
fingers, and genital s.
Distribution: Coast of Brazil .
Significant sightings: In 1554, Bal tasar Ferreira
encountered an Ipupiara moving al ong the
beach near São Vicente, Brazil . He kil l ed it with
his sword, al though it put up some resistance. It
was compl etel y covered with hair and had
whiskers and tail fins.
Anatomist Pieter Pauw (1564–1617) dissected
a merman brought to him by merchants
of the Dutch East Indies Company, who had al -
l egedl y captured it off the coast of Brazil . The
corpse had a human head and torso, but the
l ower extremity was a shapel ess, tail l ess mass of
fl esh. One hand and some ribs wound up in
Danish physician Thomas Barthol in’s “cabinet
248 IPUPIARA
of curiosities,” an earl y museum of anatomical
and zool ogical oddities. The hand’s fingers were
webbed, and the knuckl ebones were robust.
Possible explanations:
(1) The Boto dol phin (Inia geoffrensis) is
found in the Amazon and Orinoco River
basins. Its fl ipper might be mistaken for a
human hand, according to Michel Meurger.
In Amazonian myth, the Boto is said to be
able to interbreed with humans, producing
hybrids.
(2) The merman corpse may have been a
genetical l y mal formed human suffering
from sirenomel ia, in which the l imbs are
fused throughout their l ength and no
separate feet are present.
Sources: Pero de Magal hães de Gandavo,
Historia da provincia sacta Cruz a que “vulgar
mete” chamamos Brasil (Lisbon: Antonio
Gonsal ves, 1576); Jean de Léry, Histoire d’un
voyage fait en la terre du Bresil (La Rochel l e,
France: Antoine Chuppin, 1578); Fernão
Cardim, Tratados da terra e gente do Brasil
[1585] (Lisbon: Commissão Nacional para as
Comemorações dos Descobrimentos
Portugueses, 1997); Joannes de Laet, Novus
orbis, seu, Descriptionis Indiae Occidentalis, libri
XVIII (Leiden, the Netherl ands: El zevirios,
1633), p. 508; Thomas Barthol in, Historiarum
anatomicarum rariorum centuria I et II
(Copenhagen: Academicis Martzani, 1654), pp.
186–191; Luis da Camara-Cascudo, “Los mitos
de las aguas del Brasil ,” Annuario de la Sociedad
Folklorica de Mexico 5 (1945): 14–15; Michel
Meurger and Cl aude Gagnon, Lake Monster
Traditions: A Cross-Cultural Analysis (London:
Fortean Tomes, 1988), pp. 199–205.
Irish Deer
Mystery deerl ike Hoofed Mammal of Irel and.
Physical description: Large, bl ack deer.
Distribution: Irel and.
Significant sighting: A bl ack deer was hunted by
ancient Irish tribes who used its skin for cl othing
and its meat and mil k for food. Centuries ago, a
human body was found in gravel under 11 feet of
peat and compl etel y cl othed in antique garments
of hair, said to be that of the l egendary deer.