Australia's "Bunyip": Something Living in the Waterhole

Australian Aboriginal people have a warning for their children: don't get close to waterholes, swamps, or river bends at night, because there is a "Bunyip" inside.

The Bunyip lives at the bottom of the water and climbs up at night, making a very loud, low-pitched call that carries far; anyone who hears it goes numb all over. No two tribes agree on what it looks like: some say it looks like a giant seal, some say it looks like a bird with a dog's face, some say it has fins, teeth, and a ring of hair like a horse's mane around its neck, and others say it looks like a large swimming snake. The only thing everyone agrees on is that it eats people, especially solitary women and children.

In the nineteenth century, European settlers arrived in Australia and began recording these legends. In the 1840s, several settlers said they saw a strange creature in the swamps along the Murray River. In 1847, someone found a strange skull by the river that didn't look like any known animal; it was taken to Sydney and Melbourne for exhibition, many people went specifically to see it, and newspapers wrote "The Bunyip has been found."

Scientists later examined the skull carefully and concluded: it wasn't a monster, but the head of a deformed foal or calf.

After this, some colonists also said the Bunyip was made up by Aboriginal people to scare others. But the Aboriginal people's account never changed.

Later, the word "Bunyip" became a very common term in Australia. It can refer to any inexplicable strange thing, or to a fraud, someone with no real talent who loves to boast.

#Paranormal #网络转载 #未解动物