5 Cryptids of the Texas Hill Country Lurking in Your Neck of the Woods

3. The Beast of Bear Creek

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The Beast of Bear Creek originates in the small town of Cleo in Kimble County. The story goes that an old Native American shaman who lived in the area knew how to shape-shift.

As revenge or punishment towards the white settlers who slaughtered his tribe and stole his people’s land, at night the shaman would turn himself into a giant wolf-like creature and roam the countryside at night in a bloodlust, killing livestock and any unfortunate settler that happened to be outside after dark.

Cryptozoologists speculate that this creature could be also “sasquatch” or “big foot” or another undiscovered species, whereas biologists speculate this creature could have been a black bear or panther that had wandered outside of its normal home-range.

4. Black Panthers

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In Texas, both sightings and stories of roaming, wild black panthers abound. The Hill Country is no exception. Per biology, black panthers are not a known species. While Cryptozoologists are searching for specimens to verify if this is new species of big cat, biologists have a few other explanations.

One is that these could be jaguars that have migrated upwards from Central America. Another common explanation is that people are seeing jaguarundis, which are cats often dark in color and have been known to migrate from South Texas to the Hill Country. Are these black cats a new species, or simply just a case of misidentification? Until we know for sure, the sightings will continue.

5. Giant Alligators in Lake Travis

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Tales of giant gators in Texas are nothing new. In Southeast Texas, it is not uncommon for gator hunters to bag 13- foot lizards during the hunting season. But in Lake Travis?

It’s agreed that Lake Travis is not a native habitat for alligators. The story goes that a local man released hundreds of baby alligators into the lake once upon a time. Many people purport that theses babies have grown to monster sizes and have been lurking in an around the lake for years, now they are full-grown giants hungry for swimmers.

No specimens of giant proportions have ever been confirmed, although smaller gators have been captured or fished from the lake. Most of these have been confirmed as released pets no bigger than 5 feet in length.