Ep.69: Beasts From Beyond: Cryptids Too Strange To Believe

The world's wilderness harbors more than just the cryptids we've come to know. Beyond Bigfoot and Nessie lies a shadowy realm of bizarre creatures that defy explanation—winged monstrosities and forest phantoms that few have encountered and lived to tell about.

Dustin and Luke venture into uncharted territory, examining some of cryptozoology's most obscure entries. The Batsquatch—a purple-furred Sasquatch with 30-foot bat wings that first appeared after Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980. Africa's Kongomoto, a pterosaur-like creature that Western explorers spotted emerging from swamps in the early 20th century. The Pope Lick Monster, a goat-human hybrid allegedly responsible for luring curious seekers to their deaths on a dangerous railway trestle.

The conversation takes even stranger turns as they discuss Maryland's Snallygaster—a blood-drinking flying monster with tentacles and metal claws that worried even Theodore Roosevelt—and the mechanical-looking Flatwoods Monster that blurs the line between cryptid and alien visitor. Throughout their exploration, they weigh the possibility of misidentification against eyewitness accounts, questioning what might truly lurk in the shadows of our world.

The episode culminates with Dustin sharing his own recent paranormal experience, where he heard someone enter his home when no one was there—a chilling reminder that the unexplained sometimes finds us even in familiar surroundings. Whether you're a seasoned cryptid hunter or new to these obscure legends, this journey through the lesser-known corners of cryptozoology will leave you wondering what might be watching from the darkness.

Have you encountered something strange in the woods or skies? Share your story by emailing exploringtheunknownpod@outlook.com or leaving a voicemail at 412-533-3483. Subscribe to hear next week's episode on haunted asylums and sanitariums!

Have you had an encounter with the paranormal? Have you seen Bigfoot!? Call our Hotline 

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Transcript

Strange Encounters Introduction

Speaker 1 0:08

Something crosses the road.

Speaker 2 0:10

It's skeletal light fleshy and it stands up, and then it kind of just almost leaps.

Speaker 1 0:19

They look back and they see one Clear day. It walks five feet away from my audio recorder.

Speaker 2 0:29

He just saw a big bug. Holy crap.

Speaker 1 0:33

I've been pinched, I've been tapped on the shoulder, I've had my name hollered. A hand came up underneath my left arm. I said little son of a bitch tried to get me.

Exploring the Unknown Podcast Begins

Speaker 2 0:43

That was the time that I decided you don't sleep inside that building. Did you see that? The calquer? It's big, it's white and it runs faster than any man could ever run, and it would lean out behind the tree, and that's why we never go out, because the booger will get you. What's going on, everybody? And welcome back to another episode of Exploring the Unknown. I'm Dustin. I'm Dustin. I'm Luke. There must be some lag or something, because I felt like I was waiting a long time for you to answer. Hold on, I have a visitor. Oh, okay, all right, she wants a snack. Give me one second while I open this snack.

Speaker 1 1:43

Open the snacks for the kids.

Speaker 2 1:44

There you go. All right, Cool yeah. So tonight, you know, we're diving into some strange and obscure cryptids. I think a lot of the ones that I found have wings. So a lot of the creatures that we're going to talk about on my end are going to be flying. But you know, you're probably going to hear about some that you've never heard of. But once you do, you'll never unhear them.

Speaker 1 2:10

Yes, you're going to be like are these real things? Yeah. The one we're talking about the one we both picked. I find very interesting. It's unusual. I had a bit and I was like this can't be real, it can't be. I've had a couple other ones that we have on the list, but this one is very strange.

Speaker 2 2:51

Are you talking about the Snallygaster?

Speaker 1 2:55

no, I'm talking about the Batsquatch oh, the Batsquatch.

Batsquatch: The Flying Bigfoot

Speaker 2 3:00

Yeah, I'm very interested to talk about that one. So you know what. I'll leave it up to you. What do you want to start? Do you want to start Snallycaster or Batsquatch?

Speaker 1 3:09

Hold on, we're talking about the Bat Squad. Okay, because I find this creature very obsessed. I can't even think of a word Obscure. Yeah, so it's a flying Bigfoot. How is that possible? Who came up with a flying Bigfoot? This bat is exactly what it sounds. It's a Sasquatch that has giant bat wings. How do you feel about that?

Speaker 2 4:02

I don't know how I feel about that. I've never heard of anything like that before. When you brought it up the other day, I was like there's such a thing Even in the cryptid world? I've never heard of it.

Speaker 1 4:16

Yeah no, it's so bizarre it's hard for me to believe it's real.

Speaker 2 4:24

When was it first reported?

Speaker 1 4:28

or whatever. The first reported was in 1980 near Mount St Helens in Washington State, which 1980s is a long time ago if you really think about it. But they come up with this creature with big foot, with wings, and it's crazy. It's between seven to nine feet tall. It's between 7 to 9 feet tall, bluish or dark purple fur and a wingspan up to 30 feet.

Speaker 2 5:18

Holy crap, yeah, where was this thing? Seen East to North, mostly hell thing seen?

Speaker 1 5:23

No, it has clogged hands and wolf legs and sometimes described with a tail. So it's. If I seen this thing, I'd be gone To me.

Speaker 2 5:45

It sounds more like a bat. It sounds, you know, more bat features right yeah, I say so.

Speaker 1 5:54

So like a batman type of thing batman like a literal batman.

Speaker 2 5:59

He's not out there. Fighting crime, though yeah, um, is this like a widely yeah? Is this like a widely reported thing, or is this like a one-off, like mothman or something?

Speaker 1 6:14

well, I guess mothman wasn't a one-off, but um, it doesn't really say um, but the firsting was surfaced after the volcano erupted in Mount St Helens. So after the Mount St Helens volcano erupted in 1980, that's when the first sighting of this thing happened. Witnesses claimed strange flying creatures were seeing in the smoke and ash. Some people may have feared this creature, so what it sounds like to me is they see this thing flying around in the smoke Sounds to me like it could possibly be like a misidentification of something.

Speaker 2 7:22

I don't know what's out there in Mount St Helenaens that's got a 30-foot wingspan, though yeah, An airplane maybe.

Speaker 1 7:32

That's English myth, so it's really. They could have just seen something. And in 1994, in Buckley, washington, a student named Brandon Canfield claimed his truck starting to start out near the woods. A huge wind creature landing nearby said it had eventually flew off. Afterward His truck started right back up without any issue. So to me this more sounds like a Mothman-type creature than a Bat-Squatch. I mean A Bat-Squatch. This sounds like Mothman 20-foot wingspan, glaring red eyes. It's just sounds like.

Speaker 2 8:30

Mothman. Yeah yeah, I guess you know the descriptions are.

Speaker 1 8:39

And they say Mothman comes around when tragedies happen. So Mount St Helens erupting is pretty, pretty like devastating if it kills a whole bunch of people. So I mean, is it an omen? Then the latest report it doesn't say when it is. Hikers and campers and pilots have reported winged humanoids over the Cascades. Description varies slightly, varies slightly, varies slightly, I'm sorry, but all agree the same size and balance. So this thing sounds like Mothman to me. I think it's Mothman when I think of this creature.

Speaker 2 9:33

Yeah. So I did a little bit of digging on Reddit and I found an encounter with something that was bat winged in Oregon. So this redditor posts on our paranormal says. About 10 years ago I was camping with friends near the base of mount hood. We saw what we thought was a big bird flying overhead around dusk. But it didn't excuse me, it didn't flap its wings, it glided totally still. The shape was all wrong thick torso, long legs, dangling and wide wings like a bat, no feathers, no sound. It flew right over us and we all saw it. Um, I swear on my life, that thing wasn't natural, is what it says. So what do you think is that they saw? Do you think maybe just you know, not being able to judge how far away it is, maybe it just looks bigger than maybe they misidentified something?

Speaker 1 10:41

I think I have to go with a misidentification. I mean, sasquatch that does. I don't think it's a real thing, honestly, yeah.

Africa's Sky Demon: Kongomoto

Speaker 2 10:51

I don't Think so either. It's an interesting concept, though, and to think that maybe, you know, maybe there's something out there Like Sasquatch flying around. I doubt it, though. I don't think so I don't think, so I think this one goes under the book of not real yeah, yeah, um, so I have one.

Speaker 2 11:23

hold, I got something in my eye. I have one. So we don't really venture too far outside of the US whenever it comes to cryptid stuff. This one comes from Africa. It's called the oh my, I'm going to butcher this name the Konga Mato. It's Africa's sky demon. So people have been reporting a terrified or a terrifying winged creature called the kongomoto. It resembles a pterosaur. I don't know what a pterosaur is, unless it looks like a pterodactyl, but it has giant leathery wings, no feathers, a sharp beak and and it habits uh, or it has a habit of attacking anyone who gets too close to rivers or caves interesting interesting.

Speaker 2 12:18

It's often been called africa's thunderbird um. Western explorers in the 1920s and 1930s reported seeing something huge and winged take off from the swamp.

Speaker 1 12:30

See.

Speaker 2 12:36

There are big birds. You know what I mean, yeah.

Speaker 1 12:44

The thing that caught my interest was you said they call it African Thunderbird. What if it is a Thunderbird?

Speaker 2 12:54

I mean, maybe, maybe I don't know whenever it comes to flying cryptids and things like that, I have a harder time believing it because I feel like we would see more of it. Whenever it comes to flying cryptids and things like that, I have a harder time believing it because I feel like we would see more of it. Uh-huh how often do you really look up?

Speaker 1 14:01

I mean, yeah, I guess Did we do an episode on atmospheric beasts, or did we just kind of touch?

Speaker 2 14:09

on it? I think we should too, but I think that that's more of a possibility than more birds, more bird-like creatures maybe, I don't know, I could be wrong.

Speaker 2 14:24

I could be wrong, um, but I came across uh, another reddit encounter of a giant bird in the marsh. Uh, they said I saw something in the everglades when I was fishing late one evening. It was massive uh, wingspan, easily wider than a truck. It was sitting on a stump and it took off when I cast too close. It didn't fly like a bird, it flapped twice and just glided over the water silent. I don't know what I saw, but it sure was an egret. I don't know what that means. Sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh, sigh means I don't know.

Speaker 1 15:07

Again.

Speaker 2 15:11

Birds, just weird birds, just people misidentifying birds. I think is what is the biggest thing here.

The Pope Lick Monster & Goatman

Speaker 1 15:18

I agree. So so I dig, so I did a. I found this creature. It's called the Pope Lick Monster. It's like a Goatman type creature and this creature is pretty intense when you have encounters with it intense when you have encounters with it. They say this creature is a goat-human hybrid, about six to seven feet tall, reappearance goat legs with clove twigs and a human torso and arms, and a goat with like head with horns, um, pale skin or fire with glowing eyes. Um, this is weird too, because it often describes as like a filthy and rotten animal stench when you come across it. Um, because Bigfoot has the same thing like rotten animal stench. Um, and this is the fascinating thing about Bigfoot Sometimes seen holding a bloody axe.

Speaker 2 17:06

No, I don't know. I don't know. I'm having a very hard time believing in any of these.

Speaker 1 17:19

to be honest with you, Well, I've heard of Goatman before. Goatman's a pretty interesting thing. We might want to do an episode on that too.

Speaker 2 17:33

Yeah, I've heard of Goatman before.

Speaker 1 17:35

Yeah, go ahead, go ahead, yeah, go ahead the public monster is said to lure people into train chasels where they struck by oncoming train that falls to near death see that sounds like something more paranormal. Well, they say there's some satanic rituals that go along with this thing too. The Bridge of Death is where this thing is mostly found. The Perplic Chassel Bridge is an active railroad bridge, over 90 feet high and nearly 600 feet long. Multiple people have accidentally died trying to climb or walk on a trestle looking for this creature.

Speaker 2 18:35

So it has to be something if there's people going out looking for it yeah, you would think that yeah, I mean, we go looking for bigfoot and whatnot, but nobody's found him yet now, yeah, very true.

Speaker 1 18:53

Um, they believe this was a satanic ritual. God wrong, a man was turned into get men through occult rituals, which I that's uh, it's hard to say. I mean, how can you turn half goat in a? But I mean, I guess anything's possible.

Speaker 2 19:24

I don't know. I mean maybe not in a physical sense, but maybe in a spiritual sense. Yeah.

Speaker 1 19:34

They also believe this is like a demonic entity which I've heard like Goatman and stuff like that being a demonic creature.

Speaker 2 19:46

Yeah. So, yeah, I've heard of Goatman like Goatman Bridge or something like that, right, yeah, yeah, we should definitely do a little deep dive on that at some point. We didn't go over the Snallygaster yet, though, did we?

Speaker 1 20:06

No, we haven't.

Speaker 2 20:12

Let's see the Snallygaster. So just throwing this out there. Snallygaster sounds like a Pokemon, but this cryptid comes out of Maryland. Maryland folklore, especially around the Frederick County area, folklore, especially around the frederick county area. Uh, it's described as having a bird-like body, leathery wings, a single eye, metal claws and even tentacles, so basically like someone mashed up a dragon, an octopus and a horror movie prop all in one yeah, um it, the Snallygaster.

Speaker 1 21:01

You told me about it a while back and I looked it up and that is some type of creature. It's weird because I remember watching Melt Monsters back in the day and they came up. They had a Snallygaster on their show, but it doesn't look like the Snallygaster that you described. It's more like a dinosaur-looking creature. So when they came up with that idea, compared to what it actually is, this description is completely different.

Speaker 2 21:42

Yeah, what is the description of?

Speaker 1 21:47

it. I would have to look it up. I'm not sure exactly, but it doesn't look like.

Speaker 2 21:56

Was it on Mountain Monsters? Yeah, oh yeah, I don't get into politics.

Speaker 1 22:19

Yeah, it doesn't look nearly at all what that thing looks like. They're more like a dinosaur with giant wings yeah, with sharp teeth now, compared to what you said no, not even close, but that's a very interesting creature as well. Compared to what you said, you know, not even close, but that's a very interesting feature as well.

Speaker 2 22:47

Yeah, We'll get this. Back in the 1700s and the 1800s the Snallygaster was actually. There were actual newspaper articles about it Teddy Roosevelt supposedly. Some say the government even. Oh no, can you hear me okay?

Speaker 1 23:13

Yeah.

Speaker 2 23:16

Some say that the government even covered up a body back in the day Of the Snallygaster.

Speaker 1 23:28

Yeah.

Speaker 2 23:32

Yeah, yeah, I don't know how true it is. Just like anything else that you find on the internet, you gotta take it with a grain of salt.

Speaker 1 23:44

Yeah, apparently this creature's a blood-drinking creature. It swoops down and drinks livestock or people of the blood. I can see people, but I've talked about people that's kind of hard to catch. So apparently there's mountains and caves of mountains which I can see, something like that living in a cave yeah, I would agree this is also a fear tactic with kids.

Speaker 1 24:33

Stories say they can snatch up kids and kill them off. So could you imagine being told as a kid are you not going to be careful outside of the snappy, so they'll come and pick you up and take you away?

Speaker 2 24:51

I mean, some birds could probably pick up little kids and take them away. I think I've seen some videos Of birds swooping down and picking up little kids and carrying them off a little bit. But I came across this Post on Reddit From Maryland Called strange screeching in the sky. This Redditor shares. I was hiking In western Maryland last fall Near Catoctin Mountain. This Redditor shares. I didn't see anything at first, but later that night I heard that same sound again outside my cabin, followed by a thud on my roof. I waited till morning to check and then found deep scratches near the edge of the shingles.

Speaker 1 25:50

But it could just be a bug or it's really a smelly monster.

Speaker 2 25:55

Again Could have been a tree that fell. That too, again could have been a tree that fell. That too.

Speaker 1 26:00

I would think if there was a tree that fell, it would be pretty noticeable you would think but people don't think the obvious yeah, you want to hear some crazy stuff, do you have?

Speaker 2 26:16

well, first off, do you have more about any of these cryptids or creatures?

Speaker 1 26:22

Well, I find this very interesting. So this Naligaster appears in Fallout 76, the video game. Which, why would that be in a video game?

Speaker 2 26:43

I don't know. I mean creator's choice. I don't know. I've never played the game, neither have I.

Speaker 1 26:54

I know I don't have anything else on these creatures so far? So get this.

Speaker 2 26:57

I know I don't have anything else on these creatures so far so get this what's up? I was sitting out in the living room the other night and it was just me and the two little ones and I thought that I heard one of the doors in the hallway open up or close One of the two. Then I was back here and Renee was on her way home, so I knew she was getting close. I thought, I heard her come in and I thought I heard Asa, because she had the little ones at this point and I thought I heard her come in and I thought I heard Asa out in the living room.

Speaker 2 27:46

I got up to go out there and when I got out there nobody was here interesting how shortly after yeah, how shortly after that happened, did they get home not long, because I called renee or no.

Speaker 2 28:05

Renee called me. Renee called me and she's like oh yeah, I'm on my way home from wherever. And I was like so, so since you left, you haven't been home at all. And she's like no, I'm like. I heard Rocky was even reacting to it. He jumped up like you know somebody's pulling into the driveway. Nobody was here, it was just me.

Speaker 1 28:32

That's interesting because we talked to somebody that happened there.

Speaker 2 28:36

Yeah, that's what I told Renee. I was like do you remember that spirit, that kind of mimics, what you do before you get here?

Speaker 1 28:46

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 28:48

Interesting. I don't know. I don't know, but I don't have any more for any.

Speaker 1 29:00

I feel like this was more of a laid-back episode.

Speaker 2 29:03

Yeah.

Speaker 1 29:05

I have one more crypto we can talk about. That's that one, okay.

Speaker 2 29:12

Yeah, you know what? I don't really know that story story.

Speaker 1 29:24

I find this cryptic to be very strange. It's in Braxton County. It's known as the Braxton County Monster as well. The Phantom of the Fat Works is also the name of this creature. Um, this is a kidding of Fat Works. Rastajink, it's the other name, fat Works Monster. The first saying of this thing was September 12th 1952. Which is crazy because that is a long time ago. So it's 7 to 10 foot tall creature and it's a human wing, but not entirely human. The head is shaped as a spade and the helmet it's actually like a helmet type of thing, which is weird. And it has glowing red or green eyes, so they say it changes color eyes. Some say it was like a metal suit or a flowing green robe or dress. The hands are like a mechanical, robot-like arm and hands, which is very interesting. How can it be robotic? Which is very interesting. How can it?

Speaker 2 31:02

be robotic. Yeah, I'm thinking more alien than cryptid, I'm thinking alien too.

Speaker 1 31:10

So it has a foul sulfur smell to it, which makes me think something demonic, because they say demonic things have a sulfur smell to them. But it's weird because, looking at this list of information I got on ChatGBT, everything has a UFO or alien like icon with it, like the first encounter thing in 1952 has a UFO next to it, which is making me think this thing is something extraterrestrial. A lot of people were believing it could be an alien in like a robot suit, which makes sense. But why would aliens be wearing robot suits?

Speaker 2 32:12

I mean aliens. It's just a weird. Maybe they're robots, maybe it's AI that has evolved and is now like trying to come back to speed up the process very possible.

Speaker 1 32:34

Have you ever seen the picture of the flatworks monster? Yeah, it's a very weird-looking creature. It is weird-looking. It looks more like an alien to me yeah.

Speaker 1 32:47

So I think it has something to do with an alien and there's some theories that this thing is a government cover-up with links to the Cold War and UFOs, which I mean it could be very possible, and there's another theory it was an alien, a pilot that crashed here, which I could see that being something as well. But I mean, I think that's everything on the flatwood marks there. Some of these marks just doesn't seem real.

Speaker 2 33:40

No, they don't, no, they don't, no, they don't. Yeah, well, in that case, do we want to wrap it up from here then?

Speaker 1 33:53

Yeah, before we take off with this us, how do you feel about buying the music?

Closing Thoughts & Next Episode Preview

Speaker 2 34:04

oh, um, I find that interesting. I mean I've seen him ghost hunting and stuff before, so I think that he has an interest in it. So it's isn't just for you know the money or anything like that. It could be. You know it could be, for you know, you know business related things. But yeah, I don't know. I think that's pretty cool. I think they they're allowing you to stay there now. I think that you can like book a night there and stay the night with annabelle. Let's do it. Let's do it.

Speaker 1 34:42

Yeah, I seen that come across my tech talk the other day, like two days ago.

Speaker 2 34:48

I was like right, but like the Warren museum.

Speaker 1 34:53

Yeah, and it's strange Cause like that dude just passed away and I think about like two weeks ago, three weeks ago.

Speaker 2 35:00

I feel like it might have been in the works already.

Speaker 1 35:05

Possibly it's just coincidental how he dies. Then Matt Rage buys the music shortly after yeah.

Speaker 2 35:16

That's why Very interesting, very interesting, yeah. That's why Very interesting, very interesting, yeah. So if you've seen anything, you know, strange and obscure glowing eyes in the sky or even just weird noises in the woods, you know we would love to hear your story. To hear your story, you can email us at exploringtheunknownpod, at outlookcom, or you can leave us a voicemail at 412-533 3483. And you know what? If you're too shy to talk, you can just send us a message. We'll read it for you.

Speaker 1 35:56

And if we got enough of them, maybe we'll do a whole episode on just the voicemails.

Speaker 2 36:02

We'll play them live and we'll see how that goes I would love for people to call in and leave some voicemail messages of their stories and encounters. I think that would be really cool. So let's do this real quick.

Speaker 1 36:25

You know what we forgot last episode, what we forgot the. Would you rather question last episode?

Speaker 2 36:30

We did. Do you have one? I do not know. Well, guess what I do, so let me take that down for a second.

Speaker 1 36:56

Would you rather camp alone in the woods where Batsquatch was seen, or sleep in an abandoned barn under the flight path of the Snallygaster Gaster? Both creatures are terrifying. I'm going to go with the second one because at least I'm in a building. Yeah, camping in the woods.

Speaker 2 37:18

Yeah, I guess I would probably take the second one too. I don't want to be out there without cover. Yeah.

Speaker 1 37:26

At least if you're in the building, you have some type of cover.

Speaker 2 37:29

Yeah, yeah, that one was kind of easy, I feel.

Speaker 1 37:35

So we're going to start doing this thing on every end of the episode. We're going to spin the wheel to tell you what our next week topic is going to be.

Speaker 2 37:49

Yes.

Speaker 1 37:53

Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 2 37:53

Yes, alright, are we ready to spin the wheel? Let's do it. Here we go. Oh man, that's hard to watch. Looks like it's haunted asylums and sanitariums. That should be fun, haunted asylums. And sanitariums yes, I agree me too, me too, but I think that's about all we have for this episode. Thank you guys for watching or listening. Don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel and yeah, next time see you guys.