InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "don't mess with a valkyrie"

dr_hermes (dr_hermes) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-04-03 20:33:00

Jackalopes stole my lunch!
Let's see if this works with that div class jive.

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A lot of these legendary critters seem amusing at first, but there's always something about them that is genuinely creepy. In the case of the Jackalope (also known as "the Fighting Rabbit") it's their ability to mimic human voices. I've seen first-hand an African Grey call a dog into the room, imitating the owner's voice, and I've watched the same parrot imitating the "ding!" sound so well that his owner went over to check the microwave. So mimicry is not impossible. What really gives me a shiver is the story about how cowboys way out in the wilderness would be singing around their fire late at night... and hear voices from the darkness singing back at them! It was them damn jackalopes. Think about it and see if it doesn't make your hair stand up a bit.

Here's two pages from 1989's THE NATURAL ENQUIRER, one-shot from Fantagraphic Books. It was written and drawn by "R.L. Crabb" and credited to "Professor Von Crabman," and casts light on such legendary varmints as the hoop snakes, cactus cats, fur-bearing trouts, dingbats and more. I am always glad to see scientific research bringing some of these beasts to the public eye, if only for the safety of campers and travelers. Remember, Bigfoot was here before we were, we should be good visitors. ("Take only pictures and leave only footprints.")"> body text

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psychop_rex
2009-04-04 12:54 am UTC (link)

It's always fun to speculate - just how much of this stuff is made up, and how much of it is fact or based on fact? I mean, there are fish that can breathe air, and salamanders the size of a small crocodile, and animals like the Platypus that almost defy classification - surely a jackrabbit with antelope horns and powers of natural mimicry is not all that farfetched compared to those? I like to think so, anyway.

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	dr_hermes 2009-04-04 01:10 am UTC (link)
	It would be a sad world without some mystery and unexplained goings-on in it. I hope there will always be reports and blurry photographs of weird animals wandering around. And, if there is a Sasquatch or a tatzelwurm or Mothman or anything like that, I hope they never get caught, measured, classified and put in a zoo. Leave something to wonder about. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	psychop_rex 2009-04-04 02:30 am UTC (link)
	What's a Tatzelwurm? I've heard of the Sasquatch and Mothman, but Tatzelwurms are new to me. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-04-04 06:59 am UTC (link)
	It's a sort of lizard maybe two or three feet long. There were sightings of it in the Alps every now and then, and some taverns had statues of the Tatzelwurm made. As I recall, it could exhale a puff of venomous to blind anyone trying to catch it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	psychop_rex 2009-04-04 03:22 pm UTC (link)
	That's not all THAT far-fetched - I could see there being a creature like that. After all, it's basically just a large lizard version of the spitting cobra. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	halloweenjack 2009-04-04 01:36 pm UTC (link)
	Real-life jackalopes (warning: disturbing pics). (Reply to this) (Thread)

	psychop_rex 2009-04-04 03:25 pm UTC (link)
	Yeech. I prefer the more fanciful kind, thank you very much. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-04-04 04:02 pm UTC (link)
	Wait, are those pictures of rabbits with the diseased growths that look sort of like horns. Pass. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ashtoreth 2009-04-04 10:27 pm UTC (link)
	Reminds me of Leocrotta. Classic Dungeons and Dragons monster. Fur like a badger's, legs of a goat, bony mouth instead of teeth, and an uncanny ability to mimic human voices. They were noted to roam deserted areas, calling in baby cries or women's voices to people in camps, luring them into the dark to eat them. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-04-05 03:58 pm UTC (link)
	That trait seems to turn up in creatures from folklore around the world. It's pretty frightening if you think about it, because who wouldn't go to investigate a baby crying or a woman calling for help? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	strangething.livejournal.com 2009-04-06 02:37 am UTC (link)
	Not just a D&D monster. I think it first appears in Pliny. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	kaileighblue 2009-04-04 10:57 pm UTC (link)
	<.shows age.> Fast as fast can be, you'll never catch me!<./oldness.> (Reply to this)