Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

Rodent cryptids are few and far between. A
GIANT BEAVER surviving into historical times is
the most straightforward. Others involve mice
masquerading as the Devil, an underground
Scottish rat, marmots confused with ants, and a
rodentlike British animal that may actually have
been a coati.
Mystery Rodents
DEVIL’S HOOFMARKS; EARTH HOUND; GIANT
BEAVER; GOLDEN ANT; PEEL STREET MONSTER
Rømmie
FRESHWATER MONSTER of Norway.
Etymology: After Lake Rømsjøen.
Physical description: Body is thick as a log.
Grayish-black. Head like a calf’s. Protruding
ears. Two to five humps, about 5 feet apart. Finlike
tail.
Behavior: Swims with a serpentine motion.
Occasionally seen on land.
Distribution: Rømsjøen, Østfold County,
Norway.
Significant sightings: In 1929, Astrid Myrvold
watched a large, black animal move from the
shore through some vegetation into the lake. It
had protruding ears and a finlike tail, and it left
a large wake behind it.
On September 20, 1976, school bus driver Asbjørn
Holmedal and fifteen children saw an animal
about 23–33 feet long splashing water in the
lake between the mainland and Bjørnøya Island.
Sources: Elizabeth Skjelsvik, “Norwegian
Lake and Sea Monsters,” Norveg 7 (1960):
29–48; Peter Costello, In Search of Lake
Monsters (New York: Coward, McCann and
Geoghegan, 1974), p. 195; Espen Samuelsen,
“In Search of the Norwegian Nessie,” Fortean
Times, no. 154 (February 2002): 42–44; Jan-
Ove Sundberg and Espen Samuelsen, The Sea
Serpent of Lake Rømsjøen, http://www.
bahnhof.se/~wizard/cryptoworld/index16a.
html.
Ropen
FLYING REPTILE of Australasia.
Etymology: An Austronesian word said to
mean “demon flyer.”
Variant name: Duah.
Physical description: Bony crest on the head.
Long jaws. Sharp teeth. Long neck. Leathery
wings. Wingspan, 3–20 feet. Glowing underparts.
Long tail with diamond-shaped fringe.
Behavior: Nocturnal. Attracted to decaying
flesh. Said to attack funeral gatherings and fishing
vessels in search of fishes.
Habitat: Caverns.
Distribution: Rambutyo Island, Bismarck
Archipelago, Papua New Guinea; Goodenough
and Umboi Islands, Papua New Guinea; the Solomon
Islands; the Papua New Guinea mainland.
Significant sightings: About 1989, a man was
fishing with a companion at night on the eastern
side of Rambutyo Island when one of these
creatures swooped down from the sky and attacked
their boat. They jumped into the water
to avoid it, and the animal hit the boat, splashed
around in the water for a while, then flew away.
Villagers of Gumalong, Umboi Island, saw a
Duah fly from Mount Bel and out to sea in
1995.
A missionary on the Papuan mainland saw a
Ropen as it flew by a lake in 1995.
Sources: Karl Shuker, “Roping in the
Ropen,” Fortean Times, no. 133 (April 2000):
20; Karl Shuker, “Roping in Another Ropen,”
Fortean Times, no. 142 (February 2001): 21;
Pterodactyl Society: More News, Letter from
Brian Irwin, September 20, 2001, http://
www.pterodactyl.tv/society/morenews.html;
Karl Shuker, “Flying Graverobbers,” Fortean
Times, no. 154 (February 2002): 48–49.
Row
Fanciful DINOSAUR of Australasia.
Etymology: From the hiss it makes, “roooow.”
Physical description: Length, 30–40 feet. Light
brown-yellow in color. Small head with a bony
collar like a ceratopsian dinosaur’s. No horns.
Beak like a snapping turtle’s. Extended neck and
tail like a diplodocid dinosaur’s. Large, bony
plates on its back like a stegosaurian dinosaur’s
but in a single row. A single defensive spike at
the end of its tail.
Behavior: Can rear up on its hind legs. Hisses
angrily.
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