Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

eported that a woman of San Carlos in the
Llanos region of Venezuela lived with a Vasitri
for several years and gave birth to hairy children
by it.
Possible explanations:
(1) Humboldt thought it might be a bear,
but the only species in South America is the
Spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), known
from the Andes.
(2) One of a number of Indian groups of
the interior noted for their aggressiveness
and who used to abduct women belonging
to neighboring tribes.
Sources: Alexander von Humboldt, Personal
Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions
of the New Continent, during the Years
1799–1804 [1825] (London: George Bell,
1900), vol. 2, pp. 270–271; Philip Henry
Gosse, The Romance of Natural History
(Boston: Gould and Lincoln, 1861), pp.
280–281; Pino Turolla, Beyond the Andes: My
Search for the Origins of Pre-Inca Civilization
(New York: Harper and Row, 1980).
Vasstrollet
FRESHWATER MONSTER of Norway.
Etymology: Norwegian, “water troll.”
Physical description: Length, 15–18 feet.
Hump resembling an overturned boat.
Behavior: Causes unusual waves.
Tracks: Round prints and drag marks. One
report mentions cloven hooves.
Distribution: Sandnesvatnet, on Hamarøy Island,
Nordland County, Norway.
Significant sighting: Oline Sandnes was rowing
on the lake in the summer of 1910 when her
boat collided with an animal 15–20 feet long.
Sources: Peter Costello, In Search of Lake
Monsters (New York: Coward, McCann and
Geoghegan, 1974), p. 196; John Kirk, In the
Domain of Lake Monsters (Toronto, Canada:
Key Porter Books, 1998), pp. 218–222.
Ved
WILDMAN of Eastern Europe.
Etymology: Possibly from the Slavonic vedeti
(“to know, wise”). Also said to mean “forest
man” in Croatian. Plural, Vedi.
572 VASSTROLLET
Variant name: Ved’ma (“witch”).
Physical description: Covered with hair. Tall.
Behavior: Lives in houses in the woods. Wears
ragged clothing. Often forms relationships with
people or families and helps them around the
house.
Distribution: Bilogora Mountains, between
Bjelovar and Kalinovac, Croatia.
Present status: Stories about the Ved died out
after World War I.
Source: Zvonko Lovrencevic, “Creatures
from the Bilogora in Northern Croatia,” in
Vladimir Markotic and Grover Krantz, eds.,
The Sasquatch and Other Unknown Hominoids
(Calgary, Alta., Canada: Western Publishers,
1984), pp. 266–273.
Vélé
LITTLE PEOPLE of Oceania.
Etymology: Fijian (Austronesian) word.
Physical description: Height, 2 feet. Covered
with black hair. High, conical head.
Behavior: Throws small hand-clubs at people.
Habitat: Pine forests.
Distribution: Viti Levu, Fiji; Lelepa, Samoa.
Significant sighting: In July 1975, students at
the Lautoka Methodist Mission School on Viti
Levu, Fiji, saw eight miniature figures that
moved away into the bushes when approached.
Sources: Constance Frederica Gordon-
Cumming, At Home in Fiji (Edinburgh:
William Blackwood, 1882), p. 143; Felix
Speiser, Two Years with the Natives in the
Western Pacific (London: Mills and Boon,
1913); Fiji Times, July 19, 1975.
Venezuelan Monitor
Unknown LIZARD of South America.
Physical description: Large monitor lizard.
Distribution: Galeras de El Pao, in Guárico and
Cojedes States, Venezuela; near Angel Falls, Bolívar
State, Venezuela; the Cerro Santa Ana, Peninsula
de Paraguana, Falcón State, Venezuela.
Significant sightings: A prospector from Caracas
told ecologist Léon Croizat in 1972 that a
large lizard resembling a Komodo dragon lived
in the Galeras de El Pao.