I: Background
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| Reconstruction of Oreopithecus. Image from shantiulfsbjorninn.webs.com. |
In 1999, Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe proposed a hypothesis to explain sightings both of Merbeings at sea and Lizardmen and Chupacabras on land. They identified these animals as primates adapted for aquatic life, and considered them to be relatives or descendants of Oreopithecus, which lived in Italian swamps during the Miocene Epoch, 9 to 7 million years ago.
Back in the 1970s, Dale Drinnon formulated a similar, independent hypothesis to explain Merbeing sightings. However, his candidate of choice is a macaque monkey. This article combines an amended version of Coleman and Huyghe's "Freshwater Merbeings" with elements of Drinnon's Merbeing hypothesis into a new hypothesis, entitled the Freshwater Monkey Hypothesis. The hypothetical animals described here will be called Freshwater Monkeys.
II. Physical Description and Behavior
Sketches of Freshwater Monkeys by the author. Top image represents smaller Eurasion form; bottom represents larger North American form. Images may not be used without the permission of Tyler Stone.
Freshwater Monkeys vary from just a few feet tall to man-sized, although they usually fall between four and five feet. They have muscular, hairy bodies and the ability to stand fully erect when attempting to look threatening. Hair color is variously described as black, brown, red, or cinnamon in color; reports of green individuals may be due to algae buildup on the fur (the same thing is seen in sloths). The fur is occasionally said to be reflective in artificial light. The back is sometimes covered in a "cape" of thick hair. When walking, they tend to move in an awkward, hunched-over fashion, or simply drop to all fours. Besides being strong swimmers and divers, they are also excellent climbers, and are said to spy on people from the tops of trees.
The face of a Freshwater Monkey features a long, projecting snout. Males will often open their mouths in a threat display, revealing large canines often described as "fangs" or "tusks." Their eyes are large, round, and luminous; this is likely an adaptation to a nocturnal life, as most sightings take place at night. Eye color is described as red, yellow, or amber in color. In males, the head is framed by a large mane and beard. Because of its extreme length, the mane at times obscures the face; occasionally, only the eyes are visible, with the mouth, ears, and nose being obscured by hair. The top of the head generally features a patch of much shorter hair, usually of a different color to the rest of the body; however, some individuals may also have bald patches on the tops of their heads.
The arms are generally longer than the legs and have fingers with short claws. The fingers and toes have short webs between them. Tracks of Freswhater Monkeys are triangular in shape and show three large digits. They actually possess five toes; however, the big toe and little to are vestigial, and only appear as small stumps on tracks, if they even mark at all.
Freshwater Monkeys are extremely mischievous and appear to take great delight in pulling pranks on people. They are known to invade homes and steal food and small objects, and are prone to being destructive. However, most of the time they avoid people, and will usually flee if spotted. While generally appearing to be piscivorous, they have been known to eat food left out by humans and to kill domestic dogs and, at least according to folklore, livestock. They communicate with screams and whoops in a similar fashion to monkeys, but at a much lower pitch.
III: Range and Habitat
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| World range of Freshwater map courtesy of Dale Drinnon, frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com. |
Freshwater Monkeys are seen primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. Historically, they have been sighted in Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America; modern sightings, however, are primarily concentrated in the Eastern United States.
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| Areas with native traditions of Freshwater Monkeys. Map courtesy of Dale Drinnon, frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com. |
Freshwater Monkeys are found in well-watered forests in a variety of climates. They are most often seen in or near a source of water, although they are known to retreat farther inland in times of flooding. They often take refuge under bridges or in abandoned buildings, and have even been known to invade homes occupied by people.
IV: North American Traditions
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| Native American Bukwus mask. Image from coastalpeoples.com. |
Freshwater Monkeys have a celebrated history in North America. Natives of Washington State's Puget Sound tell of Bukwus (also spelled Pukwis or Pugwis), a giant spirit of the dead who collected the souls of drowning victims. He was very shy and could often be seen foraging for "cookies" (shellfish?) near shore. On the other hand, the Haidas of the Queen Charlotte Islands describe a similar creature with a face like a man and two tails. He often wears a hat (probably a reference to the area of short hair on the head) and is feared by Haida canoeists. Thetis Lake on Vancouver Island was the sight of a hoaxed monster sighting, but other sightings of the type have been reported across Canada.
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| Sightings of unexplained "Frogmen" in North America. Map courtesy of Dale Drinnon, frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com. |
Down south in the United States, there are many native traditions and contemporary sightings of Freshwater Monkeys. Many Native American tribes have traditions of small, hairy dwarfs who liked to play tricks on the "big people." One good example of this is the Mannegishi, a race of spindly-armed, big-headed tricksters from Cree folkore who lived in-between the rocks of fast-flowing rivers. Their favorite pastime was to capsize canoes and drown their occupants.
This tradition continues today with sightings of similar creatures throughout the Southern U.S. On August 14, 1955, Darwin Johnson was swimming with friends in the Ohio River near Evansville, Indiana, when a furry, clawed hand grabbed her from beneath the water and attempted to pull her under. A week later, a family in Kelly-Hopkinsville, Kentucky, was harassed for several hours by a group of large-headed creatures with glowing eyes and clawed hands. This happened shortly after one of the witnesses saw an unidentified object streaking through the sky. While many people believe the creatures were UFO occupants, they were never actually seen exiting the UFO. Likewise, their monkey-like appearance and inquisitive behavior (and apparent attempts to enter the home) sound very much like a Freshwater Monkey. It is notable that the house was near a creek which connected to a major water source.
Other sightings in North America include Louisiana's Honey Island Swamp Monster, seen in 1974 and described as a large, maned, monkey-like primate; and the Dover Demon, a large-eyed, monkey-like being seen several times on April 21 and 22, 1977, near a creek in Dover, Massachusetts.
V. European Traditions
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| European Water-Nixes. Image from polarbearstale.blogspot.com. |
European folklore abounds with stories of water-sprites, nymphs, and nixes. These were spirits that took the forms of young women and lived in ponds and rivers. Their counter-parts were water-goblins and water-brownies, which were described as being like very ugly old men, with long, tangled hair and beards. A Slavic version of this is Vodyanoy, an ugly old water-sprite from Slavic mythology. Another version of this sort of creature is the troll that lives under a bridge in the style of Three Billy Goats Gruff. These were small, hairy beings who hid under bridges, the folkloric explanation being that coming out would cause them to turn to stone. In many stories, these water-spirits had legs like goats or frogs, complete with webbed digits.
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| Image of Vodyanoy from Wikipedia. |
Further inland were stories of boggarts, puks, hobbits, etc. which all describe creatures that were short and hairy and liked to cause mischief. They would roam the Moors and then invade homes, especially during times of flooding, and cause havoc. A kinder version was the brownie, which would live inside the home and do chores for the family, but only if scraps of food were left out for it. If this was not done it would become violent and destructive, stealing food and trinkets and making a general mess of things in the house. Thus, the brownie fits in rather well with the general idea of small, mischievous hairy hobbits who lived in or near water normally, but would occasionally make their homes in buildings or under bridges and steal from people nearby.
VI: Asian Traditions
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| Kijimuna painting by Matthew Meyer. Image from matthewmeyer.net. |
Freshwater Monkey traditions abound in Southeast Asia, but the best-documented ones come from Japan. According to legend, the island of Okinawa was home to a race of creatures called the Kijimuna, which were said to be child-sized and covered with red hair. They lived in the trees, but would come down to the water to eat fish.
Perhaps the most famous Japanese Freshwater Monkey, though, is the Kappa. The Kappa is described as being an impish being with scaly skin, long hair on its head, webbed feet and hands, and a turtle's shell on its back. The Kapp is also a mischievous trickster whose pranks range from passing gas and looking up women's kimonos to drowning people and stealing children and livestock. It is said to have a dish on its head that holds water, again a reference to the short hair or bald patch on a Freshwater Monkey's head. Today, the Kappa is a large part of Japanese popular culture. However, sightings do still occur on occasion. Indeed, several Kappa mummies are on display around Japan. Their validity, however, is questionable.
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| Kappa drawing from Wikipedia. |
VII: Candidate
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| Stump-tailed macaque. Image from putribirutravel.com |
After studying these stories of Freshwater Monkeys, the most likely candidate becomes a macaque monkey. Macaques have many features that match well with Freshwater Monkeys and their Merbeing counterparts. First of all, they have acute sexual dimorphism; males of several species have very long manes and beards. Likewise, their behavior is a very good match. Macaques are well-known for being very mischievous, and seem to love pulling pranks on people and stealing from them. Oftentimes they will invade farmers' fields to steal crops and have even been daring enough to enter homes. Macaques have also been known to walk bipedally.
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| Lion-tailed macaque showing distinct mane. Image from Wikipedia. |
Perhaps the best factor linking Freshwater Monkeys and Merbeings to macaques, however, is their habit of swimming. Macaques are excellent swimmers and frequently enter the water in search of food; indeed, there is a species called the crab-eater macaque that is named exactly for this reason. Dale Drinnon theorizes that dolphin-tailed Merbeings are actually descended from long-tailed macaques which took to life in the sea and eventually evolved a dolphin-like tail. The Freshwater Monkey Hypothesis is a variation on this idea.
I propose that Freshwater Monkeys are actually a species of short-tailed macaque adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle. Because they are descended from a short-tailed species, Freshwater Monkeys have evolved webbed hands and feet instead of a muscular tail, as well as thick hair on their backs to prevent sunburn. Otherwise they still retain basic macaque traits, including long manes and beards, long snouts, and generally mischievous behavior.
There is a fossil macaque that could be ancestral to, or at least a relative of, Freshwater Monkeys. It's called Paradolichopithecus. Paradolichopithecus has been found Pliocene and early Pleistocene deposits in Spain, France, Romania, Greece, and China. It was about the size of a large baboon, and the features of its feet suggests it was more terrestrial than other macaques, and that it may have been able to walk bipedally. This represents a good starting point for Freshwater Monkey evolution; you have a man-sized, terrestrial, bipedal macaque which, if it behaved like modern macaques, would frequently enter the water in such of food and thus be predisposed to evolving into a semi-aquatic form.
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| Reconstruction of Paradolichopithecus by A. Vlachos Image from users.uoa.gr. |
It should be noted that this hypothesis is entirely independent from the outdated "aquatic ape" theory of human evolution.
And just in case there are any doubters, I leave you now with a few photos of swimming macaques.
My Comments
This is the work of Tyler Stone, whose work on cryptozoology I find to be fascinating. I am only borrowing this article, and with his gracious permission. His work may be found here: The New Zoology - A Global Study of Mystery Animals. At first, I was skeptical of this theory. I still am, in some ways. I do not believe that the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp is some sort of primate. Same deal with the Loveland Frogman. I think that some of the creatures that Tyler deals with in this essay are supernatural in origin (like the Dover Demon, the Kappa, the Mannegishi, Water-Nixes, and the Vodyanoy), rather than being unknown natural animals. Science can't explain everything that people see, you know. -Kyle Van Helsing.