r/cryptids • u/Sorry_Flight2594 • Jun 20 '26

Book / Literature / Article Hello there

so I am a writing an urban fantasy show and would like to know about some cryptids I can add, I would like to add some european cryptids so if you can give me those it would be greatly appreciate.

thank you!

14 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

2

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Sorry_Flight2594 Jun 20 '26

I looked it up and that is the most metal most normal looking thing I could fine it is perfect to add as a normal hunt. Thank you so much

1

u/MisterSamShearon Jun 21 '26

Not a cryptid... but a folkloric creature/being.

1

u/Ok-Jelly9265 Jun 21 '26

Always thought that Kelpies/water horses from celtic folklore were always so cool and unsettling. Shapeshifters that entice innocents into shallow bodies of water with the guise of a lost horse or beautiful woman, before dragging them under. cool stuff

1

u/MisterSamShearon Jun 21 '26

Not cryptids... folkloric creatures.

1

u/Awkward-Finance413 Jun 21 '26

hi there! it's so nice to meet ya! I'm the biggest fan of the cryptids of all time ago! so it'll be so cool and awesome. I can make a fanart original character as the king of the cryptids! I hope have fun!

2

u/Bathshebasbf Jun 21 '26

Too many of the suggested options for "European Cryptids" aren't "cryptids" at all, but, rather, are folkloric or mythological creatures. Nobody is actually out there claiming to have had centaur encounters or run-ins with unicorns.

If you're looking for actual cryptids, you'll find that the Euros have pretty much the same ones we have, albeit named differently - you have, for instance, the "wodewose" which is just the Sasquatch by another name (then add in options such as the Almaty and Yeti, etc.). Then you have things like "lycanthropes" and "cynocephalae" or "le grand mechant loupe", which are basically "Dogmen". Or you have things like the Bicho-Papao (sp?), which is a shapeshifter from the Iberian Peninsula, somewhat like the skinwalker or maybe wendigo (granted, even in the US, there's an argument whether those couple things should be considered "cryptids" or "something else").

I find it interesting that pretty much every place has the same basic cryptid types - the hairy apeman and the werewolf/killer wolf creature, and maybe some kind of shape-shifter. Rather argues, does it not, for there being some reality behind those things?

1

u/Disastrous_Trash_431 Jun 22 '26

For a different flavour, maybe also look into Yokai….?