8 Crazy Cryptids That Could Exist

The Mapinguari (ma-ping-gu-aray) is a monster from Brazilian folklore that is said to live in the Amazon Rainforest. Its name means “a thing that has a bent foot”. According to the stories, the creature was once a shaman that discovered the secrets of immortality and so angered the gods. He was punished by being transformed into a cycloptic monkey creature, cursed to wander the forest for all eternity.

Early descriptions of the beast from the 1930s described its appearance as a hairy, humanoid with one central eye and a large gaping mouth in its abdomen. It is said to be incredibly agile and strong, often killing humans within a single blow with its huge claws. The large mouth in the torso is also meant to give off a horrendous odour that should alert you to its presence. However, many more contemporary descriptions of the creature liken it to a giant sloth, a creature thought to have gone extinct in the last ice age.

Although largely thought to be herbivorous, many livestock mutilations in Brazil have been attributed to Mapinguari. For instance, many sheep and cows have been found with their tongues ripped out, which is believed to be part of a shamanic ritual.

Several eyewitness testimonies of similar beasts have been found across several countries and unconnected peoples throughout the Amazon. This, alongside its stunning likeness to the giant sloth, means that many people think that it may actually be a surviving subspecies of giant sloth that has remained undiscovered by science, resulting from the remote nature of the rainforest it inhabits.