Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

Sheffield came across the tracks of a large animal
west of Esquel, Argentina, and followed them to
an unnamed mountain lake where he saw a plesiosaur-like
animal swimming.
Onelli organized an expedition, led by José
Cihagi and Emilio Frey, that set out to investigate
these reports on March 23, 1922. On April
18, despite some bureaucratic problems with
permits, the group reached the lake where
Sheffield had seen the animal but did not find
anything (despite setting off some dynamite in
the lake); the group was forced to return to
Buenos Aires on April 26 before the southern
winter set in.
Possible explanation: The Giant otter
(Pteronura brasiliensis) is found much farther
north, though there is a historical record of its
existence from Uruguay. It grows to a length of
6 feet, including the tail.
Sources: “Sees Monster of the Reptile Age
Swimming in Patagonian Lake,” New York
Herald, March 7, 1922; “Not Worried about
Mesozoic Monsters,” New York Herald, March
8, 1922; “Protests Capture of Andean
Monster,” New York Herald, March 13, 1922;
“En busca de la ejemplar vivo de la Epoca
Secundaría: El Plesiosaurio,” La Prensa
(Buenos Aires), March 13, 1922; “Argentines
Start to Catch Monster,” New York Herald,
March 24, 1922; “Was It a Hoax? End of
Plesiosaurus Hunt,” River Plate Observer
(Buenos Aires), May 12, 1922; Leonard
Matters, “An Antediluvian Monster,” Scientific
American 127 (July 1922): 21; Peter Costello,
In Search of Lake Monsters (New York:
Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1974), pp.
237–244.
Patagonian Unicorn
UNICORN-like animal of South America.
Distribution: Southern Argentina.
Significant sighting: A single-horned, horselike
animal is said to be depicted in two cave
paintings in the Lago Posadas area, Santa Cruz
Province, Argentina. Manuel Palacios told
Bruce Chatwin that these animals were hunted
to extinction in the fifth or sixth millennium
B.C.
Source: Bruce Chatwin, In Patagonia (New
York: Summit, 1977), p. 73.
Patty
Female BIGFOOT caught on film by Roger Patterson
and Robert Gimlin in 1967 near Bluff
Creek, California.
Etymology: Nicknamed by Dmitri Bayanov
after cameraman Roger Patterson.
Scientific name: Homo troglodytes pattersoni,
given in 1997 by Bayanov.
Physical description: Height estimates range
from 6 feet 2 inches (Gimlin’s) to 7 feet 4 inches
(Patterson’s). Based on the size of the tracks
found, a chest width has been estimated at 22
inches, with a depth of 16 inches. Weight estimates
based on the film range from 280 to
2,030 pounds, but if the chest measurements
are accurate, the weight would be roughly 540
pounds. Massive upper body. Covered with
short, shiny black hair. Head set low below
shoulders. Sagittal crest (usually a male primate
characteristic). Bare, grayish skin on parts of the
face. Heavy browridge. Deep-set eyes. Wide
nose. Short neck. Prominent, hair-covered
breasts. Soles of feet are bare and light in color.
Behavior: Humanlike gait, with arms swinging.
Foul odor.
Tracks: Ten prints of both feet, 14.5 inches
long by 6 inches wide, were found in the creek
bed. Stride, 40–42 inches.
Location: Bluff Creek, just north of its confluence
with Notice Creek, in the Six Rivers National
Forest, southeastern Del Norte County,
California.
Significant sighting: Around 1:20 P.M. on October
20, 1967, retired rodeo rider and horse
breeder Roger Patterson and his friend Robert
Gimlin were riding along Bluff Creek in northern
California looking for BIGFOOT tracks. As
they rode around a bend, they saw a female
crouching by the creek. Their horses reared up,
and Patterson’s pony fell on its side. He scrambled
clear and managed to pull his leased 16millimeter
Cine-Kodak K-100 home-movie
camera out of the saddlebag. Gimlin covered
the animal with his 30.06 rifle in case it tried to
attack. The creature watched them briefly be-
PATTY 421