Late at night on a desolate stretch of mountainous road, a pair of truckers had a confrontation with one of the most bizarre beasts ever to ever to emerge from the annals of cryptozoology.
During the summer of 1961, at approximately 11:00 pm., a 29 year-old truck driver by the name of Arquimedes Sanchez was negotiating the steep roads that wound their way over the treacherous Basque mountains, which are nestled in the northern Spanish province of Vizcaya. It’s a route that he’d likely traveled many times before, but on this fateful eve he’s encounter something that he could never have imagined.
Sanchez and his riding partner (who chose not to reveal his name) were nearing Puerto de Barazar — no doubt eager to unload the goods in truck and call it a night — when their high beams illuminated a fantastic creature perched at the base of a sharp embankment on the opposite side of the road.
Sanchez instantly slammed on the brakes and he and his co-worker stared in what must have been stunned silence at the inexplicable entity frozen before them. Sanchez would later described this UNCLASSIFIED anomaly of nature as a “hairy octopus” that was approximately 3 to 4-feet tall and covered with a shaggy coat of “rust-colored hair.”
The creature hastily covered its “round glowing eyes” with one of its four “tentacle-like arms,” but remained immobile; seemingly caught in the glare of the truck’s headlights. It seems probable that — much like in the notable 1977, DOVER DEMON case — the thing’s eyes were likely not aglow with self-luminescence, but merely reflecting the lights from the truck.
Neither the truckers nor the creature moved for what the men estimated to be several minutes. Fear finally got the best of Sanchez and he ordered his comrade to take the jackhammer out of the back of the truck and assault the hirsute critter. His associate sagaciously refused to get out of the vehicle.
It was then that Sanchez made his move. He threw the truck into reverse, creating some space between them and the creature, then drove straight towards the bushy beast; stopping mere feet away from this enigmatic and potentially extraterrestrial entity.
The (presumably frightened) creature was evidently unable to climb up the nearly vertical embankment behind it, so all it could do was shuffle back slightly as the truck advanced. For reasons one can only speculate, Sanchez proceeded to back up, then charge the unidentified animal a few more times, but refused to exit the vehicle.
At that moment another truck barreled past the Octo-squatch and company, but whether or not driver even saw this seemingly HYBRID BEAST remains a mystery as he didn‘t even slow down for a second glance.
Sanchez and his anonymous partner at last reached an impasse. Understandably, neither man was willing to get out of the truck to confront this furry freak of nature and it — whatever it may have been — was either unwilling or unable to escape.
As the clock crawled closer to midnight, Sanchez and his colleague realized that there was nothing more they could do. The men decided to finish their run and left the beast behind them, never to be seen again. Unfortunately, it would be some time before Arquimedes Sanchez revealed this weird encounter to the world and by then any trace of the varmint was long gone.
With the incredible biodiversity of Earth it seems, sometimes, as if almost any organic combination is possible… at least in theory. But how can one rationally explain this peculiar combination of “Sigmund the Sea Monster” and “Cousin It”?
Was it an alien from OUT OF THIS WORLD? A biological experiment gone unspeakably awry? An amphibious oddity that crawled out of the SEA? A rogue explorer from another dimension? The product of an unnatural coupling between a lusty cephalopod and a lonely HAIRY HOMINID?
Sadly, unless the Octo-squatch decides to rear its furry head again, all we can do is speculate… and keep our cameras ready, our jackhammers handy and our eyes peeled.
© Copyright Rob Morphy 2002 — 2015
Rob Morphy is an artist / journalist / filmmaker / designer / crypto chronicler / pod host / cult movie lover and co-founder of American Monsters.