BLOG TOUR Guest Post: Real creatures that were once believed to be myth or hoaxes

Hello everyone! Today I’m delighted to host a guest post by Vanessa Finaughty as part of the virtual book tour for her Wizard of Ends fantasy adventure e-book series. For today’s stop, Vanessa will be sharing a few real creatures that were once believed to be a myth or a hoax.

Big thanks to Vanessa for inviting me to join the tour! And be sure to check out the other stops as well for more great posts.

Real creatures that were once believed to be myth or hoaxes

Humans are constantly discovering new and magical things about the world in which we live, many of which seem quite fantastical! So don’t give up on dragons, mermaids or magic just yet… Here are a few creatures that are very real, but that humans once believed to be myths or hoaxes.

Black swans

For centuries – and still today – we use the term ‘black swan’ to describe something that is impossible. Up until 1697, all historical records portrayed swans as white, so it was believed that there was no such thing as a black swan.

That is, until the Dutch sea captain Willem de Vlamingh discovered black swans in Western Australia in 1697.

It does look rather magical, doesn’t it?

Haast’s eagle

Early Maori folklore tells of the pouākai, a massive bird that hunted humans.

It’s believed that tales of the pouākai were actually in reference to the now-extinct Haast’s eagle, discovered in 1871. The eagle is the biggest known eagle species worldwide and is considered to have been New Zealand’s South Island’s top predator. It would have been quite an intimidating bird, with a wingspan of approximately three metres and talons that were perfect for disembowelling. Although it’s believed to have hunted giant moa birds, it seems it would indeed have been powerful enough to carry off an adult human.

Komodo dragon

At first, Westerners were quite cynical about the existence of a giant venomous lizard that grew up to three metres long on what we now know as Komodo Island. Locals believed that the lizard protected the land and had magical powers that could bring good luck and ward off evil, and that it connected the spiritual and physical worlds.

The world’s largest lizard was finally documented by Western explorers in 1910.

Okapi

Early Europeans believed that the deer-like okapi, said to inhabit the forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, was probably just a myth. Not surprising, considering its elusiveness and strange physical characteristics – horn-like protrusions on the males, and a mix of zebra, antelope and giraffe features.

The first Europeans only saw the okapi in the late 19^th century. Also known as the African unicorn, the okapi possibly did inspire some mythology – from a distance, they look like horses and, seen from the side, the males’ horn-like protrusions look like one horn, which might have inspired some unicorn tales (although, officially, it’s believed that narwhale tusks inspired unicorn myths).

Spot-bellied eagle owl

Until as recent as 2001, the Sri Lankan folktales of a horned bird with chilling screams that were believed to foretell death, known as the ulama, were written off as superstition.

In 2001, the spot-bellied eagle owl was finally identified as the ulama. The owl is the biggest in Sri Lanka and exactly matches everything told about the ulama in tales – including its ‘horns’ and terrifying calls.

I can see why people thought they foretold death – they do look kinda Grim Reapery!

Platypus

Europeans were initially convinced that the platypus was a hoax, and that the preserved specimens that were brought back to England from Australia in 1799 were a result of crafty taxidermy. Only after a good few specimens had been studied did people begin to believe it was indeed real.

This amphibious mammal’s weird combination of traits does make it seem fantastical. Besides its beaver-like tail, ‘duck’s bill’ and webbed feet, it’s the only known mammal that lays eggs, and the males are venomous! They can also detect prey by being able to identify the electric fields generated by their prey’s heartbeats and movements (like a shark).

Kangaroo

When the first reports of kangaroos were made by early explorers to Australia in around 1770, many Europeans were sceptical. Just imagine – ‘a deer-like animal that hops around like a frog and stands on two legs like a human, and some have two heads’.

As we know today, the ‘second head’ is the joey (baby kangaroo) in the mother’s pouch.

Looking at the picture, I think early Europeans could be forgiven for their scepticism.

Gorilla

In around 500 BC, a Carthaginian explorer, Hanno the Navigator, came across what he thought were rude hairy people, which he called the gorillai, along the coast of West Africa. He reported that these ‘rude people’ threw rocks at him, and were fast runners and good climbers. He said that his team captured three of the ‘hairy people’, but they were so aggressive that they were ‘forced to kill them’.

Although he took their skins home, they became myth, because no European saw one again until 1847, when TS Savage, an American missionary, and other explorers confirmed that they were, in fact, real. However, they were not rude hairy people – but apes!

Note: It could actually have been any of the great apes that were first believed to be hairy people.

Dingiso

Ancient Moni folklore in Western Indonesia told of a forest spirit that walked on two legs like a person. According to the tales, the creature was black and white, and sometimes brown and white, or reddish brown and white.

In 1994, Tim Flannery went into the Sudirman mountains with local guides in search of the mysterious creature… and discovered the dingiso, a previously unknown tree kangaroo species that fits the folktale descriptions to a T.

Giant squid

This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the giant squid! The subject of many tales worldwide, this deep-sea giant was said to attack ships and feast on sailors. It was believed to be a myth due to the lack of any physical evidence of its existence.

Then, in the late 19^th century, specimens were discovered washed up on shore, and body parts such as beaks were found in sperm whales’ stomachs. Even today, it’s extremely rare to find a specimen, dead or alive, and the first living giant squid was only spotted in 2004. This year, 2025, saw the first footage captured of a living giant squid, a juvenile, near the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic.

If you enjoyed this post, follow the Wizard of Ends virtual book tour for more!

About the author

Vanessa Finaughty is a multi-genre author who has published more than 20 books, including school books published by Oxford University Press Southern Africa. Vanessa grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, and still lives there with her husband and their four children (two human and two furry, four-legged).

Vanessa has always been passionate about books, and knew from a young age that she wanted to write them one day. She loves animals, coffee and the smell of wet grass, and hates excessive weather, long queues and liars. Her interests include reading, photography, the supernatural, mythology, aliens and outer space, ancient history, life’s mysteries and martial arts, in which she has five years’ experience in Ki Aikido.