Library of Cryptozoology

In the Congo I heard of what appeared to be a dinosaur which inhabited the depths of the Ituri forest. He was variously described to me by both natives and whites, and several of the accounts were so circumstantial that to my mind it seemed quite possible that some enormous, odd creature did live in those forest depths, in the swamps. In spite of the fact that many of the stories had about them just that something which suggested that imagination or exaggeration was at work, I should be very pleased if the opportunity came my way to make an expedition in search of him .

 ... the natives in many parts of Central Africa believe in the existence of a gigantic water animal which has been described to me by the Buanga natives inhabiting the swamps of the south of Lake Bangweulu, as a water rhinoceros; they had even a name for it, which was chimpelwi, and described it as able to kill a hippopotamus with which it was in the habit of fighting; the bones of one of these animals, they averred, were to be found in the swamps. An authenticated case of a white man having seen such an animal was told me by the man himself, an acquaintance of mine named Defries [sic]. It is, of course, necessary to state he is an extremely abstemious man, besides being a good sportsman, a trained naturalist, and for a considerable period rubber conservator for North-western Rhodesia. When carrying out his duties in the latter capacity he had reason to pass by a small lake between Lakes Chaa and Kapopo on the upper Kafue River. This lake or rather lakelet is so deep as to be unfa...

 ... many natives in North-Eastern Rhodesia speak of the existence of an animal named the "chimpakwe," which they say resembles the hippo in its amphibian habits, but possesses a horn like the rhinoceros. I chatted with one or two old chiefs on the subject of this strange animal, a beast quite unknown to science, and gathered that the "chimpakwe" existed many years ago in North-Eastern Rhodesia, but at the present day he is probably to be found only in the Luapula River and some deep pools around the borders of the Congo Free State and North-Western Rhodesia. According to the natives, he is an extremely wary creature, and no white man has ever shot him, although it is stated that one or two white hunters have been so impressed with native assertions regarding the "chimpakwe" that they have spent some time in looking for the beast. I have never been told by natives that the "chimpakwe" killed the hippo, and the stories of its existence that I have...

An Englishman saw a ... monster on the Losa river, in the Ituri Forest, which is Pygmy country. It was on rocks in the centre of the river. The description is 12 feet long, about 4 feet six inches in height, with a bear-shaped head, a body covered with dark fur with place-colored spots, and a tail 6 feet long with a large tuft at the end.

[A missionary at Mpala] informed me that Tanganyika owns a private sea-serpent some thirty feet long, and that he had seen it twice; on one occasion swimming in the water, and on the second sleeping on the shore.

January 7th [1888, Yambuya] [...] Assad Farran [a Syrian interpreter] came to me this morning, and told me that a curious beast, which he was sure was a whale, habitually came out of the water near our two canoes, and fed on the grass on the bank, but disappeared back into the water on the approach of any one. He said the sentry over the canoes constantly saw it, and on my inquiring if he was certain it was a whale, said, "Oh yes! it is something like the shape of a crocodile; I am sure it is a whale." I imagine the animal to be an iguana [monitor]; however, he is to let me know the next time it is visible, for me to shoot it.

For the establishment of the soko’s individuality, however, there are teeth, skin, and skulls in existence, and the last have been declared by Professor Huxley to be human. They were brought from Africa as the fragments of a great ape which certain natives had lately eaten, and which they themselves called "meat of the forest." Nevertheless, the Professor declares that they are the vestiges of defunct humanity, male and female. After, such a verdict the soko at once takes rank as one of the most interesting mysteries of nature. Is it human or not? ls it the chief of monkeys or the lowest of men? Dr Livingstone was not quite certain, and Mr H. M. Stanley was only half-convinced. In reviewing the work of the latter explorer for a London journal I drew special attention to the soko, for though actually known only by report, the repeated references to it make this ape-man one of the features of the book. It is true that on one occasion Mr Stanley actually startled to its feet a g...

The most singular feature of Kampunzu village were two rows of skulls ten feet apart, running along the entire length of the village, imbedded about two inches deep in the ground, the "cerebral hemispheres" uppermost, bleached, and glistening white from weather. The skulls were 186 in number in this one village. To me they appeared to be human, though many had an extraordinary projection of the posterior lobes, others of the parietal bones, and the frontal bones were unusually low and retreating; yet the sutures and the general aspect of the greatest number of them were so similar to what I believed to be human, that it was almost with an indifferent air that I asked my chiefs and Arabs what these skulls were. They replied, "sokos"–chimpanzees (?). "Sokos from the forest?" "Certainly," they all replied. "Bring the chief of Kampunzu to me immediately," I said, much interested because of the wonderful reports of them that Livingstone had ...

There is a similar looking animal [to a tapir] in the lagoons of West Africa, below the Congo. I saw one or two, but failed to bag them.

The natives speak of it in the Great Lakes region, to Katanga, in the Ueles, in Bangala, and even to Kasai. In this last region, they call it the "sanki"; when they describe it, the blacks tell you: "It exceeds the tallest trees, the body is like that of a formidable ox, with a large tail; its neck is immense and ends in a rather small head on which it has a large crest like a coxcomb; it dwells in the swamps and swims at a very great speed" ... In Kasai, I even heard of a native chief who jealously guarded the tail of a brontosaur... One of our old colonials, who has died recently, a pensive minded man not in the habit of raconteuring, firmly believed in the existence of a fabulous animal and claimed to have seen it twice, once at Lake Tanganyika, and once again at Bangala, where the Congo is at its widest! "I was able to follow it through binoculars. The animal swam with a rapidity which is not characteristic of any other animal; it threw up large sprays. At ...

Kayeke (legendary primate) Legendary primate, which would exist in Zaire, and which, so the natives say, would be an anthropoid, similar in everything to man, since it also has a language of its own. Tambwe ya meia (water lion) Legendary animal, of great dimensions, whose snout is read, like a mukiche mask. It is so big that it can be mistaken for the trunk of a leafy tree. Zuje (legendary animal) Legendary animal, like a saurian, of monstrous dimensions. It is so long that, if it crosses a river, where it generally lives, it can serve as a bridge and be mistaken for the trunk of a large, leafy tree. Memories of prehistoric animals like the brontosaur, perhaps.