Creature Feature by
Sweeping readers from the legendary talons of the Big Bird to the harrowing wail of la Llorona, this collection retells some of the most memorable creepy tales of ghosts, ghouls and cucuys from deep South Texas, each featuring spine-tingling illustrations by a variety of regional artists
Creepy Creatures and Other Cucuys by
Have you ever been too scared to sleep with the lights off? Were you frightened by a scratching sound inside of your walls or the beady red eyes and knotted green fingers of a duende? In his first collection of scary stories, Xavier Garza asks these questions. The stories in this collection curdle with the creepy and crawling characters of traditional folklore. These stories brim with the supernatural: the mysterious disappearance of children who made deals with duendes, evil trolls who live inside the walls of our houses; the ghostly specter of La Llorona who floats along the creek bed, howling, Ay, mis hijos ; witches that turn into great white owls; a severed hand that hurtles across floors and catches a death grip; and even the Devil himself harvesting wayward souls. These are all cucuys, supernatural beings who have come to haunt the imagination in these tales of wonder and warning. These delicious and frightful stories come down through generations of grandmas teaching children to respect the laws of nature and the All Powerful. These particular spooky cucuys are recounted and illustrated by master storyteller Xavier Garza, just the way he heard them at the knees of other masters when he was growing up in South Texas. Garza has preserved just the right gory detail and startling surprise to frighten the socks off you. And he always insists that you learn your lesson and take heed, or else...
Mysterious Creatures: Big Bird by
A comprehensive guide to cryptozoology--the quest to identify animals that have not been officially catalogued by science and to place these unknown animals into their proper zoological categories. In this fascinating two-volume encyclopedia, author George M. Eberhart provides a comprehensive catalog of nearly 1,000 cryptids--unknown animals usually reported through eyewitness accounts and not yet described by science. Cryptids are the stuff of folklore, hoaxes, and genuine scientific breakthroughs. There are 400 now-classified cryptids once considered either extinct or pure fantasy. The cryptozoologist's job is to strip away the myth, misidentification, and mystery--and separate fact from fiction. Mysterious Creatures covers everything from dinosaurs and the emala-ntouka, an elephant-killing dinosaur-like animal of central Africa, to searches for the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, and other cryptozoological hoaxes. Entries about specific animals include the derivation or meaning of each cryptid's name, its scientific name, variant names, a physical description, behavior, description of tracks, habitat, significant sightings, present status, and possible explanations. Illustrations and photographs accompany many entries. The book also includes resources and references for further information. Over 1,000 A-Z entries ranging from a few paragraphs to several pages, each with bibliography Over 60 photographs, illustrations, and drawings A graphic depiction of the geologic time scale for the last 545 million years of Earth's history, including when different types of animals first appeared An annotated list of over 400 animals discovered since l900
The legend of the Big Bird of South Texas was front-page news in January of 1976. Several Valley residents independently reported seeing an unusually large bird standing 5' tall with a wingspan of 10'. Two teenage girls saw the bird standing near a resaca, two sheriff deputies reported it flying overhead, and a few others claimed to have been attacked. Some offered rewards for capturing the big bird, while others offered rewards for its protection. Wildlife experts theorized it could be a large stork. However, a video of the giant creature revealed the "Big Bird" to be a Great Blue Heron.
