Woman Says She Was Visited by Yowies, The Bigfoot of the Outback
Legends of Yowies have been told for centuries in Australia, including one woman who says she was visited by Yowies who left her gifts of flowers and macadamia nuts.
Like the American Bigfoot, the Yowie has become a popular campfire tale, prodded into mainstream lore with home videos taken by camping families and outdoor enthusiasts. And it’s from this alleged evidence that many have based their opinions as to whether or not Yowies exist. But it may be a bit hasty to dismiss the existence of this creature as outlandish, as the Yowie, unbeknownst to most, actually has prominence among the Aborigines, who say they’ve coexisted with them for centuries.
What is a Yowie? The Australian Bigfoot…
Many cultures have their versions of the Yowie, including the American Sasquatch (or Bigfoot), the Yeti (or Abominable Snowman) of the Himalayas, and the Brazilian Mapinguari. These are all creatures described as bipedal, larger than the average human, and covered in hair like an ape.
Interestingly enough, those who do believe these creatures exist also say that they’re likely to be close relatives of one another.
As with many entities that mystify modern civilizations, the existence of such creatures is widely accepted as fact among indigenous cultures who’ve lived on the land and have intimately known of their existence since ancient times.
The Kuku Yalanji tribe of North Queensland Australia have identified two tribes of Yowies, and point to long, detailed records of Yowie attacks in their legends. One group is described as between six- and 10-feet tall, about 1,000 pounds, and covered in thick hair. They’re also said to have talons for fingers.
This type is referred to as the “Yahoo.” The other Yowie group, known as the “Junjudees,” are believed to be smaller, around three- to four feet tall.
Both types have been documented on cave walls…
Though Aborigines claim these creatures are real, they also regard them as mystical, referring to their magical powers. They’ve equated the Yowies with a figure from their own mythology, the Doolagahl (or “hairy man”), which they believe has existed since the dawn of time.
A statue of a Yowie in Brisbane
Yowie Sightings — Is the Australian Sasquatch Credible?
It is said that Yowies don’t appear to skeptics, which seems like a rather convenient excuse for not being able to encounter one if you are, in fact, a skeptic. And so, while skeptics haven’t found any evidence solid enough to change their minds, including expeditions they’ve taken to hunt for these creatures in the wilderness, there are nevertheless hundreds of Yowie sightings on record.
When the First Fleet of eleven British ships arrived in Sydney Cove in 1788 filled with convicts to be deposited on Australian soil and left to settle there, the Aborigines warned them of the Yowies. Only a year later, the new arrivals had their first encounter when returning from a hunting trip. They reported that a large, ape-like figure twice the size of a man was watching them from the trees at the top of a nearby hill.
The next significant sighting was made by several people in Southern Australia — the first in that region — in 1849. They described an ape-like creature between six and seven feet tall who was spotted sitting at the edge of a lake.
And then there’s the 1936 photograph, taken by Rich Jones in New South Wales, that remains highly contested. It is a depiction of two men sitting on a wooden log, and behind them a gigantic figure is sitting with its hands in its lap, chin to chest, looking downward.
Recent sightings have been made as well, though they’re subjected to even greater scrutiny and skepticism. One woman claims she developed a sort-of relationship with a family of Yowies who would visit her property. What began with her standing guard over her porch all night, brandishing a plank of wood with a screw sticking out of it, became almost friendly after she began leaving offerings of meat and vegetables outside for them. Eventually, the gesture was reciprocated, and they began leaving her gifts of macadamia nuts, flowers, and even a dead rat on her back porch.
There are countless tales all over the world telling of legendary creatures visiting our civilizations, living among us, interacting with us, and finding a way to escape extinction in the face of human intrusion. Who’s to say such creatures don’t exist? The claim that they may live in another realm of existence, such as Aborigines have said, is not strictly held by those whose cultures accept these claims. The Epoch Times reported, “Modern physicists recognize the possible existence of several other dimensions, and how those dimensions may interact with our own is still far from understood. Some say the yowie may exist in another dimension or realm.”
The Ningen; Japanese Mermaid or Arctic Cryptid?
Cryptozoologists have been on the hunt for prehistoric maritime creatures like Nessie, Champy, and Tessie for decades, if not centuries. And a recent discovery of an 80 million-year-old shark species has likely fueled the interest of seekers still hoping to make a discovery. But there is one creature that has recently joined the ranks of these elusive cryptids, that remains unbeknownst to many: the Ningen.
The Ningen, A Japanese Mermaid?
What started off as an anecdote posted in a popular Japanese online forum, has now led to a multitude of sightings and alleged video evidence of an aquatic, humanoid fish, said to be roughly the size of a whale. The Ningen, which translates literally to ‘human,’ is a 20-30 meter-long, bulbous creature that was originally spotted by a Japanese research vessel, off the coast of Antarctica.
The creature is described as having a pale white, human-like figure with a torso, appendages, and fingers like ours, but with a mermaid-esque tail. It is also described as having minimal facial features with a small slitted mouth and two vacuous eyes.
The Ningen sea creature has been spotted primarily at night and in colder waters, leading some to believe that it has been hiding in the Arctic, beneath the ice. Some say that it may be a previously undiscovered species of albino ray, though the description of those who have encountered it is distinctly different.
There are several lackluster videos and questionable photos circulating the internet that purport to show the Ningen sea creature in its natural environment, but like most cryptids, none provide definitive proof. Though that hasn’t warranted an abandonment of the search for this amphibious wraith. Why would it? Scientists continue to discover multitudes of new marine species in the depths of the ocean on a regular basis.
Over the past decade, a number of hydrothermal vents have been discovered in the arctic depths. In these frigid waters, new and bizarre lifeforms, like the Yeti crab, have been discovered clustering around these vents. Some scientists have theorized that hydrothermal vents are where life originated on Earth in its nascent phases some 4.6 billion years ago.
While the Ningen sea creature remains an anecdotal tale among Japanese sailors and fisherman, there is rumor that the Japanese government is taking reports of the Ningen seriously, amassing a trove of putative accounts. It has also been rumored that photographic evidence of the Ningen was captured by the sailors of the original story, but the Japanese government destroyed the evidence so as not to draw attention and controversy.
Some have speculated that the Japanese government may be involved in a cover-up of the Ningen, due to a rare chemical compound it may produce that is either medicinal or highly venomous and able to be weaponized. Stories have been told of men in black threatening anyone who purports to have seen the Ningen sea creature or anyone attempting to expose its existence; though this is all unconfirmed hearsay. And while the story of the Ningen didn’t necessarily attract significant international attention, Mu Magazine,a Japanese publication specializing in the paranormal, created a serious buzz in Japan. Soon a plethora of stories, sightings, and alleged photographic evidence was made public
The original sighting by Japanese fishermen notes that the crew saw what they at first believed to be a foreign submarine, but upon further examination was clearly a living, breathing entity.
It’s unclear whether there are any cryptozoologists currently pursuing the Ningen, as its location would require a well-funded expedition with crew members knowledgeable of arctic territory. And though the Ningen cryptid might seem like another contrived hoax, told amongst sailors with too much free time, one mustn’t forget the maritime tale of the Kraken, that turned out to be based on a real creature: the giant squid.
