Giant Anaconda

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A living, reptilian nightmare, the anaconda dwells in the dim jungles and sluggish rivers of the Amazon Basin. Anacondas are the apex predators of apex predators; they gorge on jaguars and crocodiles. Yet, according to legend, there might be a serpent even mightier than the anaconda hidden in the Amazon.

What is a Giant Anaconda?

The Giant Anaconda is an exaggerated version of the already monstrous anacondas living in South America. The legendary serpents are often reported as being two or three times the size of the largest anaconda to be scientifically documented.

Characteristics

Physical Description

Giant Anacondas are quite similar to regular anacondas; in fact, people who report seeing Giant Anacondas usually claim that the snake was a terrifically large specimen of the known species.

Pound for pound, the largest snake species in the world is the green anaconda. The largest green anaconda on record is 29 feet (8.8 meters) long and weighs 550 lbs. (227 kilograms) — a true gargantuan measuring a full 14 feet (4 meters) more than the average length. Still, Giant Anacondas dwarf even the largest green anaconda on record. Giants top the scales at 165 feet (50 meters) long.

Like regular anacondas, Giant Anacondas have dark green-grey skin and egg-shaped black spots. They may also have yellowish spots near their underbelly and orange bars that run from their eyes to their nightmarish jaws. Both their jaws and their skin can expand, allowing them to swallow meals of a ghastly size.

A terrible stench is sometimes associated with Giant Anacondas. Percy Fawcett, a famous explorer who reported encountering a 62-foot anaconda in Bolivia, described the stench as

“a penetrating foetid odor […] probably its breath.”

Other explorers reported a similarly unbearable smell, usually caused by the anaconda’s breath.

The Giant Anacondas of native legend are even more terrifying. They may be pitch black, have horns, or have large, fiery eyes.

Behavior

Most Giant Anaconda reports come out of South America, where vast swamps and marshes allow these monsters to lie hidden under the lilies. Giants have also been reported lurking in the dense jungle vegetation of the Amazon Rainforest and in some African rainforests.

Giant Anacondas are often spotted right after they’ve eaten. Crocodiles, jaguars, humans, and boats are said to be common prey, and the etymology of the word anaconda (which means “having killed an elephant” in Tamil) suggests that Giant Anacondas might be capable of tackling even larger prey.

Giant Anacondas are constrictors, just like their smaller relatives. They first attack their prey, pinning it between the inward-curving teeth of their massive jaws, then wrap coil upon mighty coil around their prey and squeeze until the heart stops beating. By some accounts, they might have breath so terrible or a gaze so fearsome that it can paralyze their prey before they attack.

According to native South American legends, Giant Anacondas may be shape-shifters that spend part of their lives in human form. Giant Anacondas are often depicted as guardians as well, sometimes barring the way to a hidden treasure, sometimes acting as protectors of nature itself.

Related Creatures

Although Giant Anacondas probably don’t slither the Earth today, the ancestors of today’s anacondas did reach giant proportions. Titanoboa is the largest snake species the world has seen. This prehistoric, Columbian monster is estimated to have reached lengths of 42 feet (13 meters) or more. Gigantophis, who held the title of the world’s largest snake before remains of Titanoboa were unearthed, lived in the Middle East and was capable of growing to 36 feet (11 meters) or more. Both snakes were constrictors, like the Giant Anaconda.

Beyond the fossil record, South American folklore is populated with numerous anaconda-esque monsters.

Yacumama is a Goddess who takes the form of a giant sea-serpent, believed by the indigenous people of Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina to inhabit the mouth of the Amazon River. Yacumama is also referred to as “the mother of the water” and is believed to have given life to all the animals in the sea.

Boitata is a river-serpent with fiery powers. According to Brazilian folklore, the Boitata was a cave-dwelling anaconda who developed an appetite for eating the eyes of his prey. After eating hundreds of eyes, his own eyes became filled with a furious fire, which he can now use to set fire to forests and fields. Fortunately, the serpent has a protective spirit and uses his power over fire to protect the forest and villages from errant flames, rather than setting the world ablaze himself.

Boiuna is a colossal, shape-shifting snake. He spends most of his time in the depths of lakes and slow-moving rivers, but when he does emerge from the water to travel through the jungle, he is so large that he fells trees and carves new rivers along his way.

M’boi is a serpent-god who lives in rivers. In a fit of rage, he broke the Earth and created the magnificent Iguazu falls, which can be seen at the border between Brazil and Argentina.

Cultural Representation

Origin

Legends about a great, water-dwelling serpent stretch far back into the murky depths of Amazonian culture, but “Giant Anaconda” lore wasn’t popularized until European colonists brought the influence of the more scientific western world to South America. Colonists may not have believed in the mystical powers that indigenous people assigned to their god-like snakes, but they were very ready to believe, and contribute to, reports of mammoth snakes hiding in the river.

Famous Reports

One of the most interesting aspects of Giant Anaconda mythology is its ability to capture the attention of both cryptozoologists (scientists who specialize in studying mythological or fringe species) and zoologists (who usually stand firmly in the skeptic’s camp about legendary creatures). Indeed, some of the most famous Giant Anaconda reports have come from mainstream zoologists.

In 1906, a famous British explorer named Percy Fawcett claimed that he shot a 62.3-foot (19 meter) anaconda while prowling along the Brazil-Bolivia border. The claim, however, did not stand up among his fellow naturalists back home. He was widely ridiculed for his Giant Anaconda story.

On the heels of Fawcett’s flop, Vincent Roth, a famous arachnologist who spent many years surveying the wildlife in Guyana, made a more plausible claim of having shot an anaconda that measured 33.8 feet (10.3 meters). Unfortunately, he was unable to produce evidence to support his claim.

Historian Mike Dash also published photos of Giant Anacondas, although his photos didn’t include objects which could be used as guides for scale.

Art and Literature

Although the Giant Anaconda is incredibly elusive in the real world, he is no stranger to the spotlight of fictional worlds.

One of Uruguay’s most beloved writers, Horacio Quiroga, wove Giant Anacondas into many of his jungle tales. Eventually, in 1921, he even named one of his books Anaconda, in honor of the powerful beast.

The Giant Anaconda is also a darling of Hollywood’s horror movie industry. The Anaconda movie series has grossed well over $200,000,000 and has seen crossovers with another popular horror movie franchise, Lake Placid.

Explanations of the Myth

There’s no question that the Giant Anaconda is inspired by real anacondas, which can grow to sizes that make them worthy of horror movie stardom even without embellishment.

So why does the idea of a bigger and badder anaconda persist?

Easy: people truly believe they’ve seen Giant Anacondas.

Estimating an anaconda’s size in the wild is extremely difficult. The animals are rarely stretched straight, ready to be measured. Their bulk is usually curved, coiled, or even submerged under water—so it’s easy for a person to imagine a few extra meters tacked onto these truly monstrous snakes.

Of course, some brave (and destructive) souls turn their anaconda sightings into anaconda killings, but even after an anaconda is killed, documenting its size in a credible way is difficult. Photographs can be edited, and snake skins can be stretched, so neither one is considered to be reliable evidence of a Giant Anaconda in the scientific community.

Myths thrive on uncertainty, and in the case of the Giant Anaconda, uncertainty has allowed for myth to grow to an incredible size.

Giant Anaconda

Aswang

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The terrifying Aswang is the most feared creature of Philippine folklore—and with good reason. Stalking its prey in the small, rural towns of the Philippines, the Aswang nocturnally hunts for a meal of human flesh and blood.

What is an Aswang?

The Aswang (æ·swang) is a flesh-eating, shapeshifting monster. During the day, they appear as regular townspeople, though they may be observed by others to have reclusive habits or magical abilities. At night, they shift into eerie predatory forms and go hunting for human prey, preferring to feast on children and pregnant women above all else.

Characteristics

Physical Description

Varying horrible descriptions have been given of the this monster’s appearance, but some recurrent traits stand out among all the different descriptions. Usually, they are women during the day. At night, however, they may appear as birds, pigs, or dogs.

No matter which animal form it takes, an Aswang will differ from a regular animal in various disturbing ways. Most have long, proboscis-like tongues, and are frequently described as walking with their feet backward. They have also been depicted as being so thin that they can hide behind bamboo posts.

Special Abilities

The Aswang’s most fearsome ability is its knack for blending in with its victims. During the day, they look and act just like regular people. Although they are generally shy and somewhat reclusive, they can have jobs, friends, and even families.

During the night, Aswangs shift into a form that is better suited to hunting. Different regional versions are said to take different forms. The tik-tik and wak-wak become large birds, while the zegben (sometimes described merely as a companion of the Aswang) takes on the form of a Tasmanian devil. They have also been reported shifting into pigs and dogs.

In addition to shapeshifting, Aswangs also have the ability to transform the appearance of other objects. It’s common for these flesh-eaters to transform plant material into doppelgangers of victims, in order to hide the evidence of their feeding habits from locals. These doppelgangers might replace corpses, which the monsters often consume, or they might replace living people. If the doppelganger replaces a living person, it will return to the person’s home, get sick, and quickly die.

Another tactic Aswangs use to disguise themselves is to use sinister vocal tricks. As they gets closer to their victim, their calls get quieter and quieter, so the victim is tricked into thinking the predator is actually getting further away.

The Aswang’s hunting prowess is almost as frightening as its ability to hide itself in plain sight. They like to dine on corpses, fetuses, and small children, and They often appear at funeral wakes or at the bedside of pregnant women to eat, using theit proboscis like tongues to suck blood from their victims or suck a fetus from a pregnant woman’s womb. They also have superhuman strength during the nighttime.

A person transforms into an Aswang by tying a fertilized chicken egg to his or her stomach. After some time, the chick passes from the egg into the stomach. Once this has happened, the remaining eggshell is buried in a bamboo tube, along with coconut oil and chicken dung. The person now has the powers of an Aswang.

A dying Aswang can also pass its powers along to someone else if it wishes. The Aswang holds its mouth close to a chosen person, and the chick inside the monster’s stomach hops into the mouth of the chosen one.

Weaknesses

The first step towards ridding a town of an Aswang is identifying the monster. There are several ways in which you can do this. They generally have bloodshot eyes, since they have been awake hunting all night. In addition, it is said that if you look directly into their eyes, your reflection will appear upside-down. The most common method of detecting Aswangs, however, involves using albularyos oil, a special oil made of coconuts and holy plants. This oil is said to boil whenever an Aswang is near.

Aswangs are repelled by garlic and religious artifacts and are at their weakest during the day, when they are in human form. They can be killed by decapitation or by being struck with a whip made from a sting ray’s tail.

Related Creatures

The Aswang has a lot in common with western vampires, but there is no evidence to show that either creature inspired the creation of the other. Stories of the Aswang and of vampires probably evolved separately.

Other monsters in Philippine folklore are more likely to be related.

Both the wak-wak version of the Aswang and the manananggals, a different monster, leave behind half of their human torso when they transform into a predatory form during the night.

Aswangs also have connections to witchcraft in the Philippines. and They are generally described as women, and they are sometimes said to have magical powers during the day. While they are generally to be feared, they are sometimes said to provide healing potions or to cast spells for local people.

Cultural Representation

Origin

The Aswang was born out of Philippine folklore, with stories of this terrifying creature dating back to at least the 16th century, when Spanish explorers created the first written record of monster. The explorers noted that of all the monsters in their folklore, the Aswang was the most feared by native people.

The word Aswang comes from the Sanskrit word “asura,” which means demon. The monster is also sometimes called the tik-tik or the wak-wak. These names come from the sinister sounds the monster is said to make while hunting.

Famous Myths

Despite the fact that belief in this monstrous creature has spread throughout the Philippines, there aren’t many well-known individual stories about the Aswang.. Instead, the monster’s fame is built on a collection of firsthand encounters, and almost everyone who claims to have had an encounter has a slightly different report.

The creature’s mythology was formalized in the 1960s, when Maximo Ramos included a description of the terrifying flesh-eater in a book titled Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology.

Visual Arts

Drawings of the Aswang have populated Philippine folk art for centuries. Since its introduction to western culture, the monster has also begun to make appearances in western art.

The Aswang Inquiry, an illustrated book by Gilda Cordero-Fernando, contains many paintings of the monster. Stage plays have also brought Aswang mythology into the spotlight, with Luna: an Aswang Romance and Tiktik: the Aswang Chronicles both showcasing the monster.

Most recently, a documentary called The Aswang Phenomenon explored the evolution of the mythology and the culture behind the myths.

Explanations of the Myth

As fantastic as stories of the Aswang might seem, they may actually have been inspired by real life events.

One theory is that native wildlife was the inspiration for the legends. The “tik tik” and “wak wak” hunting calls the Aswang is said to make are probably the calls of nocturnal birds. Bats, Tasmanian devils, and kagwang, an endangered species of flying lemur, have all been killed because they have been suspected of being Aswang in a transformed state.

Another possible explanation is the presence of a rare genetic disease called XDP, which almost exclusively affects Filipino men. XDP causes patients to have Parkinsonian and dystonic symptoms; the patient is afflicted with uncontrollable muscle spasms, contortions, and tremors. Images of the Aswang during transformation are strikingly similar to photographs of a patient experiencing XDP symptoms. The highest concentration of XDP occurrences is in the Capiz region, which is rumored to be the original home of the Aswang.

Finally, the legend may be used to explain away horrendous, unsolved crimes in the Philippines. When a person disappears or is brutally murdered, it may be easier for local people to attribute the crime to a demon rather than to one of their fellow humans. Tabloids often attribute crimes to Aswangs, which adds fuel to the mythology.

Aswang