Tyler Stone sent me an update on his Freshwater-monkey theory to account for Kappas and similar Cryptids. I said this was good material and I would run it for him here:
The first thing I want to share is an update to my freshwater monkey theory. After doing some reading, I realized that the Honey Island Swamp monster would be a perfect fit. Here's a description of the 1963 sighting by Harlan Ford and Billy Mills from http://jmichaelms.tripod.com/HIS/. I've highlighted the parts that I think are of special interest.
1.Appearances:
A. Long hair on the head. Shorter hair all over the body. Head hair forming bangs somewhat over the eyes. Hair color is dingy gray.
B. When Harlan Ford first saw it, it was on all fours, facing away from him. He said that it reminded him of an African lion from the rear.
C. When the creature heard the voices of Harlan and his companion, it turned and stood upright on two legs , and made eye contact with the two men. The two men and the creature stood staring at each other as if sizing up the situation.
D. The most outstanding thing the two men remember the most, was the size of the creature's eyes. He said they were disproportionally large, compared to the head and they were of an amber color.
E. He said that the face looked like something out of a horror movie. It had a sinister look.
F. Harlan described it as being about seven feet tall. It's loins were slender and it's chest and shoulders were tremendous.
G. Harlan and Billy Mills, on another occasion found a series of three wild boars that were killed by bites to the throat. The first two were a good ways away from water, and had been dead a day or two. The third was lying in the water, with warm blood coming from it's throat and the hog was still kicking. Around the dying hog were the distinctive tracks of the creature.
H. According to Perry Ford the creature makes a sound like a screech owl, except with more bass, and much more strength.
I. According to Perry Ford, dogs will pick up the scent and run the creature. The creature circled his camp for many hours one night and had squalled for a while. Towards daylight a pack of dogs picked up the scent and made their way to his camp and circled it many times before making their way on out through the woods.
M. According to Denny Crawford, a local with some knowledge of the creature, he knew a man who had lived in the swamp pretty deep and the man said that he believed that the animal migrated in and out of the area as it seemed to be more common at certain times of the year and gone at other times.
N. Scientists, who examined the tracks, all agreed they were not hoaxes. The webbed toe imprints appeared to be a cross between a Primate and a large alligator... an impossible mixture. The scientists estimated the creature's weight at about four hundred pounds.
O. When Harlan and Billy first encountered the creature and it ran, they got the impression that it would go down on all fours again any moment. As it disappeared into the brush they saw it appear to go down on all fours again.
P. They, at that time, gave chase into an island or isthmus with only one way in and they could not locate it. They circled the island and could not find tracks going into the water.
Conclusions: This creature seems to possess both primate and feline characteristics. It seems to have chosen the trees as opposed to the water when pursued. It killed by biting the throat, but did not immediately eat its prey. Dogs will pursue this animal.
A. Long hair on the head. Shorter hair all over the body. Head hair forming bangs somewhat over the eyes. Hair color is dingy gray.
B. When Harlan Ford first saw it, it was on all fours, facing away from him. He said that it reminded him of an African lion from the rear.
C. When the creature heard the voices of Harlan and his companion, it turned and stood upright on two legs , and made eye contact with the two men. The two men and the creature stood staring at each other as if sizing up the situation.
D. The most outstanding thing the two men remember the most, was the size of the creature's eyes. He said they were disproportionally large, compared to the head and they were of an amber color.
E. He said that the face looked like something out of a horror movie. It had a sinister look.
F. Harlan described it as being about seven feet tall. It's loins were slender and it's chest and shoulders were tremendous.
G. Harlan and Billy Mills, on another occasion found a series of three wild boars that were killed by bites to the throat. The first two were a good ways away from water, and had been dead a day or two. The third was lying in the water, with warm blood coming from it's throat and the hog was still kicking. Around the dying hog were the distinctive tracks of the creature.
H. According to Perry Ford the creature makes a sound like a screech owl, except with more bass, and much more strength.
I. According to Perry Ford, dogs will pick up the scent and run the creature. The creature circled his camp for many hours one night and had squalled for a while. Towards daylight a pack of dogs picked up the scent and made their way to his camp and circled it many times before making their way on out through the woods.
M. According to Denny Crawford, a local with some knowledge of the creature, he knew a man who had lived in the swamp pretty deep and the man said that he believed that the animal migrated in and out of the area as it seemed to be more common at certain times of the year and gone at other times.
N. Scientists, who examined the tracks, all agreed they were not hoaxes. The webbed toe imprints appeared to be a cross between a Primate and a large alligator... an impossible mixture. The scientists estimated the creature's weight at about four hundred pounds.
O. When Harlan and Billy first encountered the creature and it ran, they got the impression that it would go down on all fours again any moment. As it disappeared into the brush they saw it appear to go down on all fours again.
P. They, at that time, gave chase into an island or isthmus with only one way in and they could not locate it. They circled the island and could not find tracks going into the water.
Conclusions: This creature seems to possess both primate and feline characteristics. It seems to have chosen the trees as opposed to the water when pursued. It killed by biting the throat, but did not immediately eat its prey. Dogs will pursue this animal.
Comments:
A. The long "mane" with short body hair sounds very similar to that in some male macaques.
B. Macaques often move on all fours in the way described. The description of the creature as being like a lion reinforces the idea of a long "mane" of head hair with short body hair.
C. Macaques are capable of walking on two legs, as proven by this monkey from an Israeli zoo:
D. The description of amber eyes is extremely interesting. Most images I can find show macaques with similarly-colored eyes.
E. The "sinister look" may be a threat on the part of the macaque; many primates use eye-contact as a challenge (gorillas are rather well-known for this).
H. The "sound like a screech owl, except with more bass" basically brings to mind a very low-pitched monkey call:
O: The fact that the creature apparently walked awkwardly on two legs before dropping to all fours brings to mind an animal which CAN walk upright, but is more comfortable on all-fours.
Also, the note in the conclusion about the creature moving through the trees is interesting; if this is indeed what happened, then it sounds like the creature is arboreal, at least to some extent.
My reading of the Honey Island Swamp Monster case is that what we are basically dealing with is a large male macaque-type monkey, which would fit in to the general category of amphibious freshwater monkeys.
Best regards,
Tyler Stone
-I also pointed out to Tyler that I had mentioned independantly that the "Water Sprites" of Europe also corresponded to his description. He said he had noticed I had said that and he thought it was interesting.
Best Wishes, Dale D.
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