The Inhumanoids

by Barton M Nunnelly

  It is said that in Northern Ireland in 558 A.D., many locals heard the peculiar sound of a woman singing beneath the waves of Belfast Lough. A crew of fishermen, armed with nets, was dispatched to attempt to capture the siren, which they were successful in doing. Although details of the creature’s appearance were scanty, it was learned that she had once been a human child who was plunged into the waters, along with her entire family, during a catastrophic flood.

  She was taken to civilization, duly baptized and named Murgen, or “born of the sea.” For her home the townspeople prepared for her a water tank and in this she supposedly lived for a time. She was said to have

  performed many miracles and was later worshiped locally as a saint.

  Another ‘siren’ was allegedly found stranded on a beach in the Netherlands in 1403. She had apparently slipped through a breach in a dike. She was covered in ‘sea-moss,’ according to the account, and could not speak. They brought her back with them to the village of Haarlem, where she was taken in by a kindly woman who cleaned her up and took care of her. She was taught to weave, it was said, and worshiped the cross instinctively.

  She reportedly lived thus for 15 years, until her death in 1418. She was buried there in Haarlem on holy ground. One sixteenth century chronicler argued that she was not a fish because she could weave, and she was not a woman because she was able to live in water.

  Sixteenth-century Tudor historian, John Stowe, recorded the following:

  “In the reign of King John, thunder and lightning killed many men and women and children, burnt corn-fields and fishes of strange shape, armed with helmets and shields, like armed men, were caught, only they were much bigger.”

  In Italy, on August 22nd, 1608, another aquatic inhumanoid was seen by a passing ship as it swam in the waters off the coast of Genoa. It was later described as being both man-like and reptilian, covered in scales with what looked like snakes growing from its hands. The Captain is said to have broken out the cannon, and fired on the evil-looking beast; to no avail. At about the same time, strange ‘vessels’ were seen in the sky over the area and odd-looking humanoids with big heads and red scales were observed coming ashore.

  The merfolk, while not entirely uncommon, are nevertheless some of the rarest inhumanoids despite their long tradition of reported human interaction, making only sporadic appearances in modern times. Perhaps this is partly due to the fact that, as a rule, humans do not traffic the oceans and waterways of the world out of necessity as they once did.

  The body of a merbeing supposedly washed up on a shore in the Outer Hebrides in 1830, after being struck with a stone a few days earlier as it frolicked about the waves. It was described as like a small child from the waist up, but having the tail of a fish without scales. According to legend, a tiny coffin was made by a local carpenter and the aquatic unknown was given a proper burial.

  According to a Pennsylvania newspaper, the Columbia Spy, March 7th, 1863 edition, a traveler named Hernando Grijalva had spotted a very strange creature off the coast of southern California in 1823. The creature, which he described as half-monkey, half-fish, easily dove, leapt and otherwise cavorted around the boat and was even able to float in a “sitting” position.

  According to world-renowned cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, writing on his popular Cryptomundo website, the aquatic anomaly was said to have “a dog’s head and eyes, arms like a man, breast and body like a woman, with a long tail like a fish and divided at the end like a swallow’s tail.” It was the color of a porpoise, Coleman wrote, and may have had scales on the tail. Grijalva and others were able to observe the entity for more than an hour and compared its size to that of a sea-otter. This description brings to mind the reported features of the merman of Japanese folklore called the Ningyo.

  According to Japanese tradition, the scales of the Ningyo shine like gold. In spite of this, the beings are extremely ugly with their monkey-like faces and arms, and to find one washed ashore is considered a sign of imminent war.

  There seem to be hirsute merfolk as well. According to legend, the Woadd-el-uma are water dwelling inhumanoids covered with hair that inhabit the waterways of Sudan, namely the Nile Valley region. Reported sightings of these creatures date as far back as the early 1800s and they were said to leave huge footprints on the muddy banks. Native fishermen in British Colombia fear the appearances of the Tchimose, hair-covered merbeings said to attack small boats and canoes. Here we have two widely dispersed but oddly similar beliefs in a hirsute aquatic inhumanoid, which begs the question, are the Bigfoot creatures of today really aquatic in nature? We may never know.

  In a 1992 issue of Strange Magazine, writer Ulrich Magin reports that an entity which appeared to be half-woman, half-fish was seen off an island in the South Atlantic in the 1920s, and a similar creature, this one green-haired, was discovered by a Norwegian hunter near Africa’s Cape Horn in 1936.

  In 1935, crewmen aboard a fishing vessel claimed they saw such an aquatic anomaly just three miles offshore from Redondo Beach, California. They described it as a human-faced beast with a fishy tail. A scuba diver was reportedly attacked by a ferocious ‘mermaid’ while he was searching for underwater formations off the coast of Florida in 1988. There was a sudden and unexpected churning in the water, he claimed, after which he noticed a dark form thrashing towards him, reaching out to him with some type of appendages rather than arms. It was female, he said, with large breasts, long, flowing hair and a very fearsome look on its face. It was scaled from the waist down with the tail of a fish.

  It undulated through the water toward him but he was able to make it to the safety of his boat which was, fortunately, close by. Also from 1988, this time in Biloxi, Mississippi, another scuba diver claimed to have an encounter with a half-fish, half-woman creature with human breasts and long, flowing hair.

  In 2004 and 2005, various witnesses; mostly fishermen, claimed to encounter a ‘Merman’ while plying their trade near the coastal areas of the southern Caspian Sea. Captain Gafar Gasanof claimed that he’d seen the creature several times swimming alongside his boat, the Azeri trawler, Baku, as he fished the waters near the shore. More sightings followed and soon the local newspapers were running descriptions of the bizarre aquatic anomaly given by eyewitnesses.

  “A gilled humanoid, roughly 168cm in length, with a muscular frame, a scaly ctenoid (comb-like) stomach, and human-like arms and legs with four webbed fingers and toes.” The head was described as having long, black hair streaked with dark green. The face had a large mouth, large eyes and, bizarrely; even for a merman sighting, a “dolphin-like” beak. Legends of aquatic humanoids abound in the area and one names the beasts the Runan-shah, which means ‘the master of the sea and rivers.’

  The Serpent Men

  Reams of material have already been written on the Serpent People, also called the Reptilians. Some believe that they are a race which predates mankind, perhaps even the natural ‘evolution’ of certain dinosaurs into a more practical humanoid form. Others believe that they are evil entities from outer-space who once inhabited the Earth, waiting in the wings to do so again once the human ‘virus’ is removed. They are, according to some believers in the extraterrestrial hypothesis, the ancestors of the diminutive alien ‘greys’ who constantly engage themselves in an ongoing subversive agenda to abduct, genetically manipulate and subjugate the human race.

  Even some Christian fundamentalists firmly believe that a race of serpent men existed during the time of Adam and Eve, and that the fallen angel, Lucifer, or Satan, possessed one of these creatures in order to ‘beguile,’ or sexually seduce, Eve. Eve found lust very pleasing, it is believed, and imparted the knowledge of the act to Adam. As a result, they were both cursed and thrown out of the Garden of Eden. The serpent was cursed as well, to forevermore, from that moment forth, go about on his belly, his head bruising men’s heels and men’s heels bruising the serpent’s head. Thus, the snake was created.

  The notion, although controversial, does have some bas
is for reality. God told Adam that Eve carried “two seeds” in her womb which she was to bring forth. And, indeed, she did bring forth two sons, Cain and Abel. Only one of the seeds, Abel, belonged to Adam. Who then was Cain’s father? Cain never found favor in the eyes of the Lord, as we all know, and eventually slew his brother Abel, committing the world’s first act of murder.

  According to some ancient Hebrew texts, Adam’s first wife was a serpent woman named Lilith, “For before Eve there was Lilith...” and it was she, not Satan, who later seduced Eve into tasting the “forbidden fruit” out of revenge for being spurned by Adam.

  Whatever the origins of these creatures, it is clear that they are still making appearances, in one form or another, to frightened witnesses throughout the world.

  The Lamias

  Another ancient example of the existence of “serpent people” is the Lamiae, whom, according to one tradition, the ancient Greeks and Romans believed dwelled in Africa. From the waist up the Lamia’s form was that of a beautiful woman while, from the waist down, she had the body of a serpent. Many considered them to be human witches who transformed themselves by some supernatural means into these wretched creatures. Others considered them to be evil monsters of no kinship at all to normal human beings.

  These beings, according to ancient beliefs, lacked the ability to speak but they made a strange musical whistling sound which, like the siren’s song, was quite enchanting to human ears. In the lonely places of the desert, it was said, they used this sound to lure in hapless travelers in order to devour them. The Lamias allegedly sprung from one of the many wives of Zeus and, therefore, their origin was considered divine.

  Seventeenth century author Robert Burton discourses in 1621 on a curious story concerning an early encounter with one such creature, but one with the ability to speak. Burton writes;

  “Philostratus, in his fourth book de vita Apolloni hath a memorable instance of this kind, which I may not omit, of one Menippus Lycius, a young man 25 years of age, that going betwixt Cenchreoe and Corinth, met such a phantom in the habit of a fair gentlewoman, which, taking him by the hand, carried him home to her house in the suburbs of Corinth, and told him she was a Phoenician by birth, and if he would tarry with her, “he should hear her sing and play, and drink such wine as never any drank, and no man should molest him; but she, being fair and lovely, would live and die with him, that was fair and lovely to behold.

  The young man, a philosopher, otherwise staid and discreet, able to moderate his passions, though not this of love, tarried with her a while to his great content, and at last married her, to whose wedding, among other guests, came Apollonius, who by some probable conjectures found her out to be a serpent, a Lamia, and that all her furniture was like Tantalus’ gold described by Homer, no substance, but mere illusions. When she saw herself descried, she wept, and desired Apollonius to be silent, but he would not be moved, and thereupon she, plate, house and all that was in it, vanished in an instant: many thousands took notice of this fact, for it was done in the midst of Greece.”

  The identity of the Lamia as half woman/half snake was popularized in John Keats’ 1819 poem, ‘The Lamia.’

  The mythology of India also contains such creatures. The Nagas, it is said, were ancient serpents who could assume human form whenever they so wished. Similar creatures, it would seem, are also to be found in Africa. The source of the following undated newspaper clipping is unclear, but it deserves to be mentioned nonetheless:

  The Snakeman

  Acornhoek; (Republic of South Africa)

  “A widow fears for her life following rumours that her late husband, a sangoma (witch doctor), has returned from the dead in the form of a huge snake with a human head. Glory Nyathi, 42, of Cottondale near Acornhoek in Limpopo is also accused of feeding the human-headed snake in the middle of the night.

  “My four children and I are treated like witches now,” she said. “People are threatening to burn my house down and don’t want my children to attend school.”

  Rumors are that the snake has the head of the late Lazarus Maboko and, like him, wears spectacles. It’s said that the snake terrorizes villagers at night. Nyathi has challenged anyone with evidence to come forward.

  “My husband is dead and I want his spirit to rest in peace, but if he can be returned, let someone help me,” she said. Someone also started a rumor that Nyathi has a boyfriend who saw her feeding the snake at her house and alerted police, who confiscated the snake. Afraid for her family’s life, Nyathis went to police herself for help, but said the officers laughed at her and said they couldn’t do anything to help her.

  “They said my son started everything and there was nothing they could do unless my family was attacked,” Nyathi said. She then hired a sangoma, who made matters worse by saying her late husband had been turned into a zombie, and that she should hire a sangoma who specialises in spirits of the dead. “I am now willing to pay anyone who can raise my husband from the dead,” she said. She is offering three cows.”

  In the autumn of 1938, two witnesses allegedly observed a bizarre little creature in the Juminda area of the Estonian coast. It was about three feet tall, they said, and seemed to walk rather “elegantly,” almost on tiptoe. It was brownish-green in color and had slits for eyes and mouth. When the witnesses pursued the thing, it ran away at a “great pace” and vanished.

  On October 20th, 1954, in Parravicino d’Erba Italian witness Renzo Pugina may have encountered such a creature. As he was putting his car in the garage one evening he noticed an unusual glow near a tree just a few meters away. He looked and, to his utter amazement, saw that the glow was given off by a tall, scaly, humanoid being standing beneath the tree. It then flashed a beam of light at him which partially paralyzed him.

  Pugina was able to break the paralysis after a few seconds and, scared but angry, he ran at the strange being which, most incredibly, rose into the air and flew off leaving only an oily spot and a stunned 37-year old witness behind.

  A six foot-tall, scaled, glowing inhumanoid allegedly appeared to international fashion model Eisa Medina during a visit to Bahia Blanca, Argentina in July 1974. It was, “...all covered with brilliant scales like a great iridescent fish,” she later claimed. It simply stood there watching her for a few seconds, then “faded away.” Its iridescence reportedly singed the woman’s eyelashes!

  A ‘reptile-man’ which resembled the ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ was allegedly caught up in the nets of a fishing boat in the waters of Parana, Argentina in 1996. Its cries were so pitiful, it was said, that despite the loss to science, it was thrown back into the sea and never seen there again.

  During the 1970s, a very curious creature was seen to emerge from the water by two men while visiting Thetis Lake in British Colombia. Although humanoid in appearance, it looked “aquatic” they said, and had six sharp points on its head. Terrified, the two witnesses immediately began to run away from the beast, which chased the men for a short distance before veering off and disappearing into the nearby woods. Understandably, the witnesses were extremely shaken by their experience and could offer no explanation as to what the thing might have been.

  Another reptilian inhumanoid was allegedly seen by multiple witnesses near Padova, Italy in the summer of 1986. Aside from being described as reptilian, it was also said to have been tall, greenish-colored and had red luminous eyes. Scaly inhumanoids were also allegedly observed by various motorists in Italy in 1988.

  North American Merfolk

  Although the amphibious inhumanoids have been observed all across the globe, it seems to be the rivers, swamps and bottomlands of North America that they prefer more than anywhere else. According to some biographers, even Christopher Columbus and his crew allegedly spotted a mermaid while traveling up the Hudson River at the end of the fifteenth century. It had the head and breasts of a female as it frolicked about their ship, it was said, and her appearance greatly excited the crewmen.

  St. Louis, Missouri Globe-Democrat Jan
uary 17, 1885 edition:

  A Horrible Monster

  Special Dispatch to the Globe-Democrat.

  “VINCENNES, IND., January 16. - Some hunters were startled a few days ago by the appearance of an uncouth, horrible-looking animal, south of the O. and M. Railroad bridge over Fox River, near Olney. They had killed but little game, and were consoling each other over their bad luck, when their attention was attracted by a noise to the top of a fallen tree, and looking up they beheld a monster such as they had never seen before.

  They describe the beast as the ugliest looking animal they ever saw. Its head and face resembled that of a dark-skinned human, with a very large mouth full of sharp, fang-like teeth. Its neck was two or three feet long and covered with short red colored hair; its body was five or six feet in length, and was covered with scales that looked bright like those of a sun-fish; its tail was three or four feet long and curved up over its back; its legs were short and the feet webbed, and the toes had long claws.

  One of the hunters, who got too near in trying to throw a rope over its head, was struck by the animal’s tail, and he tumbled headlong twenty feet away. The animal then made for the creek and disappeared. The beast had been devouring a hog. A party has been organized for the capture of this wild animal. The parties who describe it are good men and perfectly reliable.”

  In 1937, a horrified angler watched what he described as a green-colored, scaly humanoid emerge from a lake in Saginaw, Michigan where he was fishing. It stood for a moment on the shore in the shadow of a tree, he said, before it splashed back into the water. The witness wasted no time in exiting the area and allegedly suffered a nervous breakdown because of the experience.