I’m back with some more of my takes on stories around the world. Today, I wanted to focus on two cryptids that I included in Heroes & Harbingers that got my readers asking questions!
However, before I jump into that, I want to celebrate! My newest book, Heroes & Harbingers, is here! Paperbacks are anywhere books are sold. Ebooks are exclusive to Amazon at this time, and therefore, they’re available for free to those with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.
The book being out also meant that it actually made it to Ireland! If you read my post about Finn MacCool (Irish legend and one of the main characters of Heroes & Harbingers), you’ll know that one of the many myths about him involved him accidentally building the Giant’s Causeway.
Well, thanks to a friend of mine in Northern Ireland, Heroes & Harbingers got its own little photoshoot at the legendary UNESCO World Heritage Site! Pics below! (I appreciate your patience as I show off my book baby pictures).
Okay, okay. I’ll put the rest away for now.
ANYWAY, on to cryptids!
The Glawackus
As readers have come to me with questions about my books, they often mention how interesting the little tidbits about the glawackuses (or glawacki? I don’t know) are, but I’m always certain that they think I made it up.
I didn’t!
Surprising, I know.
Stories about the glawackus originated amongst lumberjacks in the 19th and 20th centuries. According to radio broadcasts in the 1940s, “some scientist” named it. Glawackus is “gla” for Glastonbury, CT (where many allege to have seen it), “wack” for wacky, and “us” as a Latin ending for various species.
For a period, people in that area of Connecticut were in a frenzy to find the sucker because he was apparently killing livestock. No one ever found him, though, which seems like a stretch when you have a creature that looks like a combination of a badger, bear, lion, and panther.
One explanation as to why no one could find him was because many said that looking into a glawackus’s eyes would erase your memories. That seems a little convenient to me, but I couldn’t resist adding him into the book. After all, what says “dark academia with frequent humor breaks” better than a “wacky” creature who can erase your memory?
The J’ba Fofi
No, you don’t have to worry about how to pronounce that. No one will ever test you on it. But also, this is another one that I totally didn’t make up.
J’ba fofis are spiders (sometimes known as Congolese Giant Spiders) roughly the size of toddlers. Before you set fire to your house in an effort to avoid meeting one of these 8-legged creatures, they are reported to live in the Congo (thus Congolese).
A British missionary named Arthur John Simes was the first westerner to spot one, and it didn’t turn out to be a great experience. Two of these spiders attacked Simes, and he was only able to escape by shooting one of them. Unfortunately, this only meant that his death was long, drawn out, and agonizing. He spent his last few days in this world dealing with swelling, fever, and chills.
I’d prefer to take my chances with the glawackus. Which would you choose?
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