Cryptids that are attributed with vampire-like habits are numerous. Most of these animals are so bizarre or obviously supernatural that they either don't get much attention from the cryptozoology community or, if they do, the bloodsucking aspects of these reports are thrown out as obviously mythical. But there are plenty of slightly more normal bloodsucking cryptids left over for cryptozoologists to study.
One vampire animal is the "death bird" of Ethiopia. Actually described as bats by those who report them, these creatures are much larger than the three known species of vampire bat, which all reside in North or South America. There are not supposed to be any vampire bats in Africa, Asia or Europe, thus if this animal were confirmed it would be a new species.
Ethiopian "death birds" are described as having wingspans of about a foot, twice as big as the common vampire bat. It has been suggested that their blood-drinking habits are folklore, and that the bats are actually contaminating the water supply with their excrement, spreading an infection called Weil's disease. This illness causes hemmorages to break out on the skin, which look like bites to those who don't know the facts about this disease.
Another reputed vampire creature is the mamba mutu, a kind of blood-sucking, brain-eating mermaid or reptoid from Lake Tanganyika in Africa. Cryptozoologists think these reports could represent freshwater manatees or even some kind of otter-beast like the doyarchu.
Mamba Mutu
Mamba Mutu is a very dangerous creature native form the lake Tanganyka located in the Democratic Republic of the
Mamba Muto
Congo. It’s said to have arms similar to those of the lobster, a fish-like tail and its head has a very humanoid appearance. Natives from the Congo stated that the Mamba Mutu likes to feed from the blood of children. It seems that the beast is much worse than the descriptions before affirmed by Dr. Sullivan, expert in this kind of monster. Daniela Arcos a young lady from Ecuador saw the Mamba Mutu face to face and she is alive to tell us all the details about her confrontation. Daniela is 15 years old and is an adventurous girl, last Monday s
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he was at the Cuyabeno Reserve with all her family and she decided to go for a walk by herself in the open jungle. All the guides had warned her that is was dangerous for her to go on her own but she said she was going to be alright.
The Cuyabeno Reserve, located in the province of Sucumbios, is known for the variety it possesses in both plant and animal life. The climate of the Cuyabeno Reserve is characteristic of those of the tropical jungle, with lots of rain during, almost, all year long. Typical temperature reaches 25°C. Present day the reserve has 655,781 acres and includes the area of Cuyabeno River that runs from east to west in an extension of 140km between Aguarico and San Miguel Rivers. To get access to this area you need to arrive primarily to Lago Agrio, there you can choose your way in, its either by land or water. If you decide to go by land you should take the road Lago Agrio-Tarapoa-Tipishca. If you decide to go by water you should take the river Agurico’s fluent.
Description
In Central Africa, there are legends of a creature called the mamba mutu. Legends say that the creature looks like a half
human half lobster– very similar to what we know as a mermaid . That is where the similarity however ends, in that the mamba mutu is considered a very dangerous creature – it is said that it survives by sucking human blood (just as a vampire would) and eats brains. The creature is said to
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specifically inhabit Lake Tanganyika and the Lukuga River in the Congo. Moving out of legend and into fact, Lake Tanganyika is also home to some ferocious fish such as the tigerfish – a huge fish (the largest reaching as big as 5 feet) with daggerlike teeth.
There is considerable debate as to whether or not the stories about the mama mutu are true. Disbelievers in the mamba mutu rationalize the stories by claiming that perhaps the legends are based on manatees or even some type of giant otter.
Etymology
Mamba Mutu originates from the Swahili (Bantu) mamba mtu (“crocodile man”).
Mosquito Variants in North America
- Main article: Arkansas Snipe
The Arkansas Snipe is fearsome critter in form of giant insect. The legend tells that a lumberjack was lost in
Arkansas. He went up a hill to orient himself. When he came back, the horse wasn't there; two Arkansas Snipes ate the horse, chomped the saddle and spat the horseshoes. In another version, the giant insects devour a cow and brush their teeth with the cow's horns. An American salesman and searched a man named Danial. The two men started walking around the swamp. Soon, they heard the bell of a cow and walked to see the cow. When they arrived, they saw a dead cow with a mosquito standing on two feet on it shaking the bell to call the other cows and make them arrive to their fate. The mosquitos looked more like raccoons, because they had claws that if they kicked a cow, they would pierce the heart of the cow. And there's also the story of Bill Jenkins, the largest man from Arkansas, who got up a night and two mosquitoes grabbed him and carried him with them. The mosquitoes started to talk if they should hide him in the swamp, but decided to not to hide him in the swamp because bigger mosquitoes would steal their prey. There's also a story that tells that a man hide two mosquitoes under a caldron, so they started to make holes in the caldron to escape. The man pulled away their prickles so they won't escape, but the mosquitoes flied away with the caldron and the human.
Vampire in European Mythology
The notion of vampirism has existed for millennia; cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks, and
Traditional European Vampire
Romans had tales of demons and spirits which are considered precursors to modern vampires. However, despite the occurrence of vampire-like creatures in these ancient civilizations, the folklore for the entity we know today as the vampire originates almost exclusively from early-18th-century southeastern Europe,[1] when verbal traditions of many ethnic groups of the region were recorded and published. In most cases, vampires are revenants of evil beings, suicide victims, or witches, but they can also be created by a malevolent spirit possessing a corpse or by being bitten by a vampire. Belief in such legends became so pervasive that in some areas it caused mass hysteria and even public executions of people believed to be vampires.
Vampire Grave Discovered in Poland
Archaeologists in Poland believe they've made a startling discovery: a group of vampire graves.
The remains of a female "vampire grave" from 16th-century Venice
The graves were discovered during the construction of a roadway near the Polish town of Gliwice, where archaeologists are more accustomed to finding the remains of World War II soldiers, according to The Telegraph.
But instead of soldiers, the graves contained skeletons whose heads had been severed and placed on their legs. This indicated to the archaeologists that the bodies had been subject to a ritualized execution designed to ensure the dead stayed dead, The Telegraph reports.
By keeping the head separated from the body, according to ancient superstition, the "undead" wouldn't be able to rise from the grave to terrorize the living. Decapitation was one way of achieving that;
another way was hanging the person by a rope attached to the neck until, over time, the decaying body simply separated from the head.
There were other, equally bizarre ways of dealing with vampire burials, according to research published by forensic anthropologist Matteo Borrini. He cites the case of a woman who died during a 16th-century plague in Venice, Italy. The woman was apparently buried with a brick wedged tightly in her open mouth, a popular medieval method of keeping suspected vampires from returning to feed on the blood of the living. The woman's grave might be the earliest known vampire burial ever found.
Hers was a typical case of an accusation of vampirism following some calamity, such as a plague or a devastating crop failure. Accusing an individual of being a vampire was a not-uncommon way of finding a scapegoat for an otherwise unexplained disaster.
In other cases, the body of a suspected vampire might be staked to the ground, pinning the corpse into place with a stake made of metal or wood. In 2012, archaeologists in Bulgaria found two skeletons with iron rods piercing their chests, indicating they may have been considered vampires.
The practice of decapitating the bodies of suspected vampires before burial was common in Slavic countries during the early Christian era, when pagan beliefs were still widespread.