Variations: Villosus sumptuosus (Tryon), Rumtifusel (Tryon)
There is a common misconception that “owl pellets” are left behind by owls. This belief, spread by highfalutin scientists, is a load of hooey. Any lumberjack can tell you that those pellets are wadded-up clumps of clothing, the only remains of unfortunate greenhorns who approached a Rumptifusel.
Rumptifusels are big, vicious animals covered in a fine pelt not unlike mink. They are flat and very flexible and not too fast. Much like the anglerfish and the alligator snapping turtle, the rumptifusel lures prey within reach by appealing to greed. A rumptifusel catches its prey by draping its thin body over a stump or log in plain sight, looking for all the world like an abandoned expensive fur coat. When a greedy tenderfoot approaches for a better look, the rumptifusel – moving with deceptive speed – engulfs its victim. The underside of the critter is lined with tiny sucking pores, and its prey is thoroughly drained off its bones.
References
Brown, C. E. (1935) Paul Bunyan Natural History. Madison, Wisconsin.
Tryon, H. H. (1939) Fearsome Critters. The Idlewild Press, Cornwall, NY.
I like how Manly Wade Wellman called it a Flat
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Someone put Aragog on a meat grinder
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I always pictured it a bit more squid-like, but I love this new illustration. I don’t recall the “sucking pores” though.
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Was trying for something slightly different.
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You did the right choice in putting your own spin on this coat-monster, it´s like a cute googly-eyed flatworm of doom.
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And that’s adorable
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Oh, i’m sorry! I didn’t mean to offend anyone! I think it’s adorable to.
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You didn’t 🙂
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Not to sound weird, but I wonder how they reproduce.
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Very carefully
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👀
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They interlock hairs then 2 to 5 days a whole cluster shoots out of the pores.
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I would pet it if I could.
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So there’s something that has been bugging me for a while after I read your Fearsome critter analysis entry (the one which talks about them overall). What were you referring to with the snoligoster and racism? I haven’t found anything related to that
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The entry itself in the Fearsome Creatures book is quite racist.
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Did some more research. Apparently it was a warning take against black slaves?
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It’s a land flounder.
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King of like the brain leeches in In the Vaults of Yoh-Vombis by Clark Ashton Smith: flat, creeping, SUCK their prey dry…
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