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Middle Aged And Creeped Out podcast: Middle Aged Mini #162 - North Carolina Cryptids

Nate, Harrison, and Shawn discuss the dark creatures of "The Tarheel State"...North Carolina Cryptids (Guest Co-Host, Harrison Layman)!!!

https://www.uncorkedasheville.com/north-carolina-cryptids-urban-legends/

https://northcarolinaghosts.com/piedmont/little-red-man/

https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/strange-creatures/wampus-cat.htm

https://weirdlyawesomenc.wordpress.com/tag/mothman/

https://dogmanencounters.com/north-carolina-encounters/

Duration:: 26m
Broadcast on:: 27 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Hey creepies, welcome to middle aged mini-aged mini-episode on the middle aged and creep down podcasts. Enjoy the show. Hey creepies, welcome to middle aged mini-162. Today is your tech engineer, we are your host Todd and Shawn, and we are middle aged and creeped out. We still middle aged creeped out? Some days. Some days not. Some days we're just middle aged, some days we're just creeped out. Middle aged and creepy. Not creepers though, right? No, not creepers. No. That's good. I'm glad we got all that straightened out. Oh yeah. You doing okay tonight? Doing fantastic. How about yourself? I'm doing okay. You feeling lonely tonight? No. Are you loaning tonight? I won't start singing that song. I got Harrison here to keep me comfortable. Oh, Harrison's still here. Oh man. I thought he left. Oh man, I thought he left. I thought he left us for Brooklyn. Not the bourbon in New York City either. So welcome again, or still, or thank you for bringing me back. No problem at all. Another episode. We appreciate it, man. Yeah. It's just weird to look over across the hall if it's not the hall, but the table here and see you. You puppy dog, guys. Sorry. But normally I see Todd in a scallop and be like, "Sean, please shut up." No, you're going to scallop me and do that, right? So anyway, we are very happy to have you. We're having a good night tonight. Yeah. Thank you for bringing me on. No problem. It's never going to happen again. No. No more zeros. Nobskin. No. It's a lot of fun. And it's addictive too, right? We tried to explain that to you. And lots of fun. Yep. Well, let's get right to it since this is a mini. This is my night, apparently, right? This is my pick. It's actually my pick with Harrison's help as well, right? We did just recently take inspiration with some perspiration. So this is something we had just gone to North Carolina on a vacation. And so it was something that I actually brought up when we were driving over there that we should do something North Carolina based. So did you want to introduce our topic? Our topic is North Carolina Cryptids. You don't say. As you moonlighted about that, it's your pick. Yes. So and if you're interested, please go check out the show notes for the source links we used for this topic. That's right. Thank you very much for saying that. I appreciate it. I had to say it really slow because for whatever reason, my eyes went blurry. No motion for you. Yeah. That's OK. I do that a lot. That is just what happens naturally in my head. Time slows way down. My eyeballs decide they didn't want to work. That's right. Well, here's the deal. There are a lot of cryptids across, you know, coast to coast here in the, these United States, right? Every state, principality, whatever has its own cryptids, right? So we're going to cover the ones in North Carolina. There are quite a few. So we'll hit the highlights. I'm going to, so this says North Carolina has a rich folklore of cryptids with stories and legends spanning centuries. So here are some of the most notable. So I'll go over some of the highlights and then we're going to, you know, cover a little more than depth. But a lizard man of a scape or swamp, the moon eyed people, which makes me think of moon pines. I told you that. Beast of Bladenboro, mermaids of Cape Fear River, Wampus Cat, and of course, Bigfoot Sasquatch and so on and so forth, right? I love the Wampus Cat. He's a wampus. That sounds very, all the sounds made up. Let's be honest, right? Navi. Navi. Navi. How do you get a name like Navi, right? Skunk ape. You hit him in the head. That's right. A lot of times. All right, well, if you want to hear the definition of a crypt. Oh, cryptid. Are you going to educate our creepies? Is that what you're going to do? Yes. A creature that is found in stories and that some people believe exist or say they have seen, but that has never been proven to exist. Two sayings science can't figure it out, huh? Yep. Science. They're liars. It's so behind the times, right? So since I said I like the Wampus Cat, you're starting to start with the Wampus Cat. The Cherokee death cat, more commonly known as the Wampus Cat, is a strange animal from American folklore. It begins, its beginnings can be followed all the way back to the stories told by American lumberjacks. And even further back to Cherokee legends, most sightings of the beast depict it as being a jaguar-sized feline with the ability to walk on its rear legs. Luckily for us, the Wampus Cat doesn't really care about people and prefers to focus its attention on fish for the vast majority of its meals. It doesn't sound like anything I want to meet up with. Is that fair? I wonder how tall it is. I mean, size of a jack wire. That's pretty big. That's pretty big. How about when it's standing on tiny legs? It's probably a five foot. Innocent. Oh, yeah. That's terrible. You want to take the next one? Yeah, I'll do the knobby because... Oh, knobby. Why not? Knobby's an ape like creature believed to roam around the wooded areas of North Carolina. It is said to be covered in yellowish gray fur and stand roughly 8 to 10 feet tall. All stories of knobby describe it as a gentle creature with one going as far as saying allowed itself to be poked by a stick without attacking. One of the biggest drawbacks to the knobby is its strong resemblance of the legendary cryptid Bigfoot. But despite the similarities, the stories of the knobby have been growing in popularity since the early 1900s. There's even a movie released in 1979 called the knobby the bellwood wampus cap based on the story or the monster of a creature. I heard it also described... I think this was also described as the hairy man, which sounds real. That's like... That's real scary. Well, and it also sounds super made up and kind of lame, but they said that the hairy man or knobby it sounds like was very closely related to Bigfoot. How in the world would you tell the difference? So I have to laugh because Bigfoot was the one I was going to start with, and that is the worst Bigfoot I've ever seen in this article, like the most ridiculous thing. So Bigfoot, it says, although Bigfoot did not originate in North Carolina, we know that he came from what, you know, sescastro, and he said you will definitely run into him there. If you're not going to talk about North Carolina cryptid, you're almost obligated to start with the one and only Bigfoot. Of course, it would be disingenuous to say the Bigfoot has its roots on the east coast of the United States. There have been over a hundred reported sightings in North Carolina, so perhaps it vacations here frequently. Now, a hundred sightings doesn't sound that exciting, like that sounds... It's like saying you can hold your breath for 30 seconds, that's not that impressive. I must hold that for a second when we... It says, in any case, that is not an insignificant amount of cases, so I stand corrected and near misses. It probably goes without saying that Bigfoot is reported to be a large, ape-like creature that roams the forest of northern America. Bigfoot is one of the world's most famous creatures, with debates as to its existence still ranging on today. Adding field to his fire is the fact that there is just so much evidence that supposedly proves Bigfoot is real, including almost one minute of notoriously blurred video taken by civilians in 1967. We know that footage, right? So, is it real? Is it not real? Who knows, but I would say Betsy Kolakowski is a definite yes, right? I always forget that. What's the name of that? Gimli Bulba-Baw Patterson? Patterson Gimli, right? Something like that. I always... I hate that when I do that. So what you're saying is Bigfoot's well-traveled? Yes. Okay. Yeah. And he didn't start in North Carolina, but he liked the vacation there. I will lead off... Here it is. This next round. Just so I don't forget. Patterson Gimlin. I always said Gimli is what I was getting. Yeah. I was like, I know I'm saying that not quite right, but anyway, we talked about that before. Well, take off on this next round with the Beast of Bladenborough. The Beast of Bladenborough is a violent North Carolina cryptid responsible for a string of gruesome animal deaths in the 1950s. Not only did the monster kill its victims, but it also left most of them crushed or decapitated. People that saw the creature claim it was around two feet tall and had dark fur. It was said to look like a wild cat, but larger than any known cat in the area. What makes this case weird is that some of the animals were found without any blood left inside them. Hmm. That sounds awful. That's important. The Empire. The Empire. The Empire. The Empire. The Empire. Cat. I'll do the next one. Go for it. The Cape. Fear River mermaids, mermaids in the river. Stories of mermaids in North Carolina today, all the way back to the 1700s during the Revolutionary War, the legends claim that half fish creatures would swim upriver from the ocean and hang out on the sandbars to comb the salt from their hair. This area where the deep and how rivers meet has since been named a mermaid point due to sightings. Sadly, the mermaids have been seen less and less over the years as more and more dams have been built along the Cape Fear River. It is thought that these dams either discouraged or prevented the mermaids from returning to their preferred location. Hmm. Interesting. See, you always think about mermaids as being these beautiful, you know, sea creatures with tails and whatever, and it is not necessarily the case, right? We've even heard of them in Indiana, like the river mermaids or whatever the mud mermaids are. It's like, I don't think that's something that's going to be that exciting to me. Hittiest. There is something on here, and I don't know if it's on any of the lists that you guys are looking at, but this is the Little Red Man. We've heard of those before, kind of, are little different variations of them, but these are, have been seen and spotted in North Carolina, but these go out throughout history. So the Little Red Man is a ghostly figure with a rich history appearing in various contexts and cultures. It is, it talks about this creature being, number one, he wears a red jacket, of course, and they're the short little guys, and that's why they're the Little Red Man, right? But they are supposed to be like a harbinger of death or tragedy or something that's about to happen bad, and they show up throughout history. So it's funny because they've shown up in Napoleon's time. They've shown up throughout the, this says the 18th century. This actually says in the 18th century, Andreas Kremzure, a short man wearing a red jacket died in a cellar excavation accident in Salem, North Carolina. His spirit known as the Little Red Man was said to haunt the single brother's house where he would appear to residents often mischievishly, if I could say it, but it's funny how these little things have showed up throughout history. It says in Russia and it says in the Medicis orders and all these kind of different things, but it says that it's often, you know, like I said, it's a precursor for something bad going to happen or bringing some kind of tragedy or unhind happiness to people or families. So I think that's kind of interesting. So it's probably a problem if I see one right now? Yeah. Yeah, do you see, I'm not wearing red, am I? Oh my god. So that's the Little Red Man. All right. Let's see. I have the moon-eyed people. That's a good one. The moon-eyed people, or as the Cherokee call them, and I'm not up on my Cherokee very well, but I will attempt this uni- soon-de- are a mysterious race of little people believed to secretly live in North Carolina. These little people are said to grow up about three or grow two about three feet tall and have extremely pale skin. The Cherokee thought the moon-eyed people were unable to see during the day because of their large, round eyes. They were thought to have lived in underground cave systems with little to no sunlight. Unlike most other North Carolina cryptids, these people were known to interact with humans on several occasions. I would not like to interact- I'll be one of those humans interact with them, to be honest. Pretty creepy. Yeah, and I saw pictures of them, they're pretty, pretty weird. I will put pictures of all this kind of stuff on there, but yeah, it's- yeah, no thank you. We did not run into these cryptids, by the way, when we were in North Carolina, just for the record. Definitely. Thank God. No. Mer- people. No, mermaids? No, mermaids? No. No, I did have something running to my back, and I'm sure it was just a fish, but it kind of like bit me at the back, and the kids thought I was joking. We were just off the shore, and I was- it was getting close to when the fireworks were going to start, and so we were- and they were like, "How long can we be in the lake?" And I'm like, "Yeah, as long as we want." And then that when that thing kind of nudged me, and it wasn't a kid, it wasn't anybody around me, and it was- I've had fish nibble at me, and they just normally kind of brush up against you. This is whatever the heck it was. It was- it didn't feel like that. And it kind of creeped me out, and I was like, "I'm out. It's getting a little too dark, and a little too, like, you know, the water gets darker and darker, and you're like, "I don't know what's in here, but I think I'm good." So I'm not saying it was a cryptid or a merperson, but it's possible it was a merperson. Maybe the wamp is kind. But you guys that you're like, "Oh, whatever," and there were tons of people, but nobody else even reacted. So whatever it was. His jaws. It just poked me. Yeah, I know. Exactly right. Probably. It was a small, tiny little jaws then. Fresh water jaws. That's right. All right. I'll do the cross ferries. How about that? Ooh. The cross ferries are one of the only North Carolina cryptids on the list that no one claims to have seen. Their existence is only known due to strange cross-shaped rocks. They lift. They leave behind. That's weird. These shots of shapes have only been found in five areas of the world, making them extremely rare. The Cherokee people believe the shapes to be a result of the ferries crying due to the march of tears. But European settlers claim the ferries to have cried as a result of the death of Jesus. Hence their shape, whichever story is true, I would keep my eyes open if hiking in the mountains of North Carolina. That's interesting. I've never heard. I don't think I actually ran across that either. That's really cool. I've never heard that either. I like that one. I have to cover a couple. I'm going to lump these together too because these are ones that we've heard of. Actually, we keep talking about covering one of these when we haven't done it yet. Actually, we have covered his bottom, but member Mothman. So Mothman originates in West Virginia, right? There's festivals and all kind of stuff, and we were talking about his statue having a really toy, but people put quarters and money in it and whatever. But Mothman has been sighted in North Carolina, so that's interesting. It's the winged dark black creature with the red eyes that gets spotted, and it's normally a harbinger of bad things too, negative things, death, whatever. So you do not want to see the Mothman. People see a lot of times running across them when they're in traffic or whatever, and then they have an accident or whatever. So it's these things that, like I said, if you see it, probably not a good thing. The other one is Dog Man. We did a whole episode on Dog Man, and there have been a lot of Dog Man sightings in North Carolina. And Dog Man, just little wolf creatures running around, they look like it, but they're huge. They're very tall. They stand up on two legs, and they go very fast, and a lot of people have... We describe that as people saying they're working on their truck or their semi or whatever, and something came across them, and very quickly, and it was like as tall as the cab, and one of the semis, and it's like, that's a pretty tall creature, and that they're scratch marks and all kind of stuff, and they leave, and they can be big, nasty things. They also have red eyes, and they're humanoid looking. But there's tons of stories I saw in North Carolina about both Mothman and Dog Man. And neither one do I want to meet, but these are some of the big-header cryptids that you hear about, and I like that they originate, or maybe not originate, but they are spotted in North Carolina. The next one I'm going to jump into is the Boo Jump. The Boo Jump is a weird creature known to live in the mountains of North Carolina, as has been said to be a humanoid-like beast covered in dirty, gray hair. Maybe that's the hairy man. That might be the hairy man. Maybe. So that's what it looks like. Oh, yeah. Which also looks to me. That looks like the beast off of Beauty and the Beast. Right. Yeah, it really does. Despite its reclusive nature, the Boo Jump has been cited a number of times over the years by everyone from hikers to local business owners. The southern term Hooten Annie is believed to have originated in the area, pain, homage to the noise made by the creature and his bride Annie when they would become separated in the woods. The Boo Jump is said to be harmless despite its fearsome appearance and size. So I guess there's never been any attacks. That's good. That's always a good thing. I didn't get a name like Boo Jump. That's Cherokee probably. Everything. It's been a lot of centering around Cherokee. Hooten Annie. Hooten Annie is right. Yeah. Now that's definitely not Cherokee though. This one is of the reptilian race here. The Wilmington Sea Serpent. Did you guys see anything about that? Hm. It says if you see a great snake, it might just be Willy, right? Not your brother, William. The city of Wilmington has a rich history, but one of the oldest parts of it concerns the legend of Willy, the Wilmington Sea Serpent. Way back before the USA was born, 1524, the Italian explorer Giovanni de Verazano, that sounds made up also, was exploring the Cape Fear region of the east coast. In his journal, he wrote a great snake that one of his men reportedly saw resting on the waves near the shore. There was further recorded instances including those by the Earl of Wilmington in 1732 as well as by Union soldier and naturalist James Calvin in 1865. Calvin told of locals who reported a great creature 40 feet long and 4 feet wide, which they named after the town. If Willy is still around today, he would be around 500 years old. Making it one of the oldest North Carolina cryptids on this list, Wilmington is not only famous for its massive North Carolina monsters, it's also home of the largest production studio east of California, where many terrific films are made, I did not know that, right? Yeah, it says maybe Willy will make it to the big screen. Yeah, that's a big movie making town. I think one of the Iron Man's was, oh is that right, maybe I should know that, but I guess I don't know. Doesn't Willy sound like a friendly creature? Willy. Willy. Willy. It's like free Willy. Yeah, that's usually the beach that we go to when we go visit Rachel's brother and his wife. Yeah, it's interesting, I see Willy. Okay, well I learned something and then a lot of people out there probably like, ugh, like you. Let's see, let's talk about Normie, the Lake Monster of Lake Norman. Normie. There are many strange things lurking beneath the surface of the man-made Lake Norman. The strangest of these is a mysterious sea monster known to the locals as Normie. Normie is said to look like an extremely large and malformed alligator with a brownish-gray skin tone. As of now, Normie has not been reported to attack anyone but has scared the life out of several dozen fishermen over the years. These exploits have made it famous enough to gain the attention of the TV show Boogie Men. Unfortunately, at the bottom of Lake Norman lies the remains of an old town. This provides the beast plenty of places to hide and makes it nearly impossible to prove its existence. Mmm. So the mystery continues, right? Mm-hmm. So do you think Normie and Nabi like hang out together? Probably. Probably. Normie and Nabi. And the mermaid. And the mermaid? Maybe. They all get together for some kind of a... They play crazy aches. That's right. They play crazy something, right? Oh my gosh. You got another one? Uh, sure. The skunk ape. Ooh! The skunk ape is a small humanoid that is known to live throughout the southern eastern United States including North Carolina. The first appearance of this bipedal ape took place in Florida back in 1818 but it wasn't until the 1970s that the National Park Service of United States officially commented on its existence. At that time the organization claimed it to be either a case of mistaken identity or a well carried out hoax despite these reports residents of North Carolina still fear running into the creature when camping in the woods or stopping on the side of the road in rural areas of the state. I think that guy stinks. Yeah, I do. We've heard a lot about him in Florida but it's just funny that, like, did it take that long for him to travel from Florida or like procreate and get up to North Carolina? Or maybe they were better hiders on the east coast, right? I have one that is, it is B or yellow jacket based and it is called the U-Log U. Mm. Do you guys see that one? No. I don't know. You've heard the North Carolina legend of the yellow jacket. The North Carolina folklore is part of, you guessed it, Cherokee legend. There was once a great yellow jacket that roamed the skies of, oh my gosh, here we go, Nantahala River in modern day Macoon or Macon County. The creature was named U-Log U. It was, that sounds totally made up, it was as large as a house, of course it was, and could snatch children up and carry them away? Of course it did. In order to trap U-Log U, I'm all fun and games until this happens to me, right? U-Log U, the local people tried to lure it with food. First with a squirrel, with a turkey, then with a deer ham, but U-Log U simply carried them all away. Eventually, they used a yearling deer, which was heavy enough to slow U-Log U down. The people tracked it to a cave filled with thousands of other smaller yellow jackets. Here they set fire and engulfed U-Log U in smoke, but the smaller yellow jackets outside the cave escaped and spread around the world. Today the cave is still known as, I have no idea how to say this one, but it's a gagun-y meaning where the yellow jacket was. So supposedly he is dead, but you know, if it's any kind of other like horror themed- They're never dead. They're never really dead. Yeah, there's got to be a sequel to that, right? U-Log U too. Duces. Well, unfortunately, we could probably go all night. Oh, that's right. Talking about these. I'm talking about these. But you want to go to bed, right? And this is just a mini, so. Oh, that's right. We do have to cap it off at some point. So yeah, this has been fun. Oh, yeah, it's a good one. I like these too. So I'm glad we went to North Carolina and had this idea, right? As good as we didn't see any of this. That's right. All right. Well, yeah. Nate, what do you got for us? The little guy dressed in red is telling me, uh, that's a wrap. That's a little mischievous burger. Well, we want to thank you creepies for listening to middle-aged mini 162 and our discussion on North Carolina cryptids. Later. See you. Keep it creepy. Thank you. a lot. a lot. a lot. a lot. a lot. a lot. (wind blowing)