Wars bring more than just violence and death, they also bring out the monsters in humans. However, it is inconvenient to realize that your biggest enemy is yourself, and thus the human mind created fantasy monsters, based on various sightings. Whether these stories have a drop of truth in them, that’s up for you to decide. Here are the most popular top 10 monster stories during wars, which used to cripple people in fear.
10. The Giant Sea Crocodile
During World War I, near the coast of Ireland, the German submarine named the U-28 fired upon the Iberian, a British steamer. The Germans managed to damage the steamer really badly, and as the ship sunk, there was a tremendous explosion. According to the U-28’s captain, Baron von Forstner, he witnessed a large sea creature, very similar to a crocodile being propelled out the water. Later investigations of the account supposed that the creature might have been a last survivor of Thalattosuchia, a huge crocodile from dinosaur times. However, the captain was the only witness to survive the war, and thus the sighting may not have been real.
9. The Morbach Monster
The urban legend of the Morbach Monster is very well known in the town of Wittlich, Germany. It seems that while Napoleon’s army was in the region, a deserter from his army killed a farmer from Wittlich and his wife. With her last dying breath, the woman cursed the deserter, thus turning him into a hideous wolf. Later in time, during the Cold War, many American soldiers who were stationed near the Hahn Air Base reported sightings of the monster. However, many of these have been debunked as pranks from fellow servicemen.
8. The Mons Hound
During the First World War in Canada, captain F.J. Newhouse reported several attacks on his soldiers at Mons. After some patrols disappeared, they were later found badly mauled, seemingly by a beast or a hound. At first, the story seemed to be linked to a German scientist who wanted to transfer the brain of a madman to a Siberian wolfhound in order to help Germany to win the war. However, no one could find later on any accounts of the German scientist or a British captain who as also at Mons, and the story was marked as fake.
7. The Small Bigfoot
Zoologist John McKinnon was the first to spot the footprints which were very similar to the human ones in Sabah, a state in Malaysia. However, it was clear to him that they were definitely not human, but decided against investigating further as the locals told him about the legend of the forest people or the “Batatut”, which is like a smaller version of Bigfoot. The creature was spotted later on by American Soldiers during the Vietnam War, but they believed it was an orangutan.
6. The Dragon from Brosno
The dragon of lake Brosno is the Russian equivalent of the Loch Ness monster. There are some ancient legends about it, but also newer sightings. During World War II, the dragon apparently swallowed whole a German plane. In 2002 an UFO group investigated a curious mass that looked like jelly and was lying above the lake. They didn’t discover anything, but it is believed that there might be a volcanic fracture on the lake’s bottom which is causing small eruptions of bubbles.
5. The Congo Snake
Remy Van Lierde was a Colonel from Belgium during the Second World War. Sometime after the war, while on a mission in Congo, he was flying with a helicopter. It was then he spotted a huge giant snake of about 50 ft (15 meters) beneath him in the jungle. According to the colonel, the reptile was dark green with a white belly, and it even attempted to jump and attack the helicopter. Van Lierde managed to take a photo of the snake, but because of its bad quality we cannot know for sure if the snake was truly that big.
4. The Kraken
There are many legends about the squid-like monster dating from hundreds of years ago from sailors as well as pirates. During the First World War, a British trawler was apparently attacked by a Kraken near the Maldives. According to A.G. Starkey, a crewman on the ship, he spotted the creature’s tentacles folded on either end of the ship and its eyes. In this case the monster was bigger than any squid ever recorded, measuring an astounding 175 ft (53 meters). However, since Starkey was the only witness, the story is hardly credible.
3. The Mist
A strange occurrence happened during the War in Vietnam on the board of a cargo aircraft. Robert L. Pollock, a crew member recounted a weird type of cloud forming near one of the rear doors. The mist spun clockwise and soon filled the whole aircraft. The people on board tested it, but it only seemed to drastically limit their vision. After some time, the mist retreated to the back of the plane where is spun counter-clockwise and disappeared.
2. The Russian Bigfoot
It seems Russia has its very own Bigfoot who lives in the Pamir Mountains. Named the Almas, they were first spotted by some rebels in 1925. They were questioned by General Mikhail Topilski, and thus he found a very unusual body in a nearby cave. It looked like a very hairy man. Unfortunately, the general ordered his men to bury the body, and so the story ended.
1. The Scarecrow Monster
During the Second World War, the British hired Jasper Maskelyne, a magician, in order to confuse the Germans with his skills. In his memoirs, Maskelyne also recounted an episode when he built a giant scarecrow who could walk and emit frightful effects, like bangs and flashes. It only managed to scare the villagers though, who ran off to the next settlement.
