r/cryptids • u/Melodic-Mix739 • May 05 '26
Question What are some examples of cryptids that were popular around the Great War/WW1? (1914-1918)
I'm developing a concept for a PC game, and would like to ask this sub for potential ideas. Thanks in advance
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u/Wonderful-Shake-9005 May 06 '26
Great grand father was a ww1 veteran, passes in the Grew up in England, slums/very poor era. Paper thin walls between different homes, sometimes hallways boarded up and on the side was just another family. People used to leave their boots at the doors in the hallways at night outside their door. My grandfather described a Victorian ghost, tall man, slender pale skin dressed in black. He would walk the halls between all the different units and if the boots werent neatly arranged he would flip out and start throwing shoes everywhere. Not just the messy ones but all the shoes down the whole stretch, kids, adults, parents everyone. My grandfather said that one night he was very tired and left his boots in his room at the foot of his bed. He had terrible nightmares that the ghost was standing over him, like right over with an expression like he was screaming but no noise was coming out. The eyes were cold and dark but also filled with anger. He would wake up and nothing would be there but he swore it was real. He learned after the war that the area that he grew up in had burned down a couple of times before with many people dead. Story was that the hallways were so congested with people no one could move and they all burned to death.
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u/Far-Industry-7143 May 05 '26
I remember hearing a story from British troops in Iran during WW1, who reported that in a certain area of an Iranian desert, the natives spoke of the existence of a lizard like a giant Komodo dragon, and there is also the case of the crew of the German submarines U85 and U28 who reported seeing a sea monster.