Welcome back to another addition of the paranormal alphabet where I go A-Z and pick a topic from the unexplained world of the paranormal and in today’s addition I am going to be talking about the Hibagon, an ape-like creature that is said to be found on the Japanese mountain called Hiba in the Hiroshima Prefecture, practically the Japanese Bigfoot. Sightings of the creature have been reported since the 1970s but have most likely been going on for much longer than that, specifically kept between locals before picking up wider attention.
Apemen are a very common cryptid creature with many countries around the world having their own, from the Yeti or Abominable Snowman in the Himalayan Mountains across countries such as China, India and Russia, the Yowie from Australia and of course one of the most famous, the Sasquatch from the United States of America. Out of those three mentioned the Hibagon is likely the lesser known most likely as it doesn’t inhabit as big of an area as the Yowie, Yeti or Sasquatch and the sightings of the Hibagon are much more scarce and likely many sightings go undocumented as well as having less attention from cryptid and paranormal investigative/research teams.
So, it is nice to do a blogpost on one of the lesser known cryptid apemen out there, in hopes of perhaps bringing more light on to it and bringing up further peoples interest in cryptids and the world of the paranormal.
The Hibagon appears to be much shorter than the average apeman such as the Yeti and Sasquatch with some reports saying the Hibagon is as short as 5ft tall, which is hardly comparable to the apparent monstrous height of up to 8-10ft that the Sasquatch has been reported as. But the Hibagon has been reported as still having very large feet despite its short height as well as having a wide stature and would still likely be stronger than a human, as many apes are. I can say at least there is one thing me and the Hibagon have in common, is the shorter height but big feet. Like many apemen the Hibagon is also described as having a terrible stench, such as that of rotten fish.
The Hibagon has been described as having reddish-brown to black fur and a protruding face. It has also been described as moving around more like a common Gorrila or Monkey on all fours rather than the description of walking bipedally on two legs like many of the other apemen. This has some believing that the Hibagon could be some kind of undiscovered Primate species in Japan or perhaps a Gorrila or Monkey released into the wild by someone or that has perhaps escaped that has been mis-identified by locals who would naturally be unfamiliar with such an animal.
Whatever it may be if anything remains a mystery. The Hibagon is also reported to be a fairly silent creature without much or any vocalization and it is also said to have little fear of humans and isn’t described as aggressive in many of the alleged sightings. These first recorded sightings’ begun in early 1970 when a group of elementary school children out in the forests of Mt. Hiba were apparently surprised by an ape-like creature crashing through the brush nearby. Further sightings happened in July of that year, one report by a utility truck driver claimed to see a gorilla-like creature walking bipedally across a field, over a road and vanish into a forest and another sighting by a farmer who reported it as having black-fur, being as tall as an average human and with piercing intelligent eyes.
After a number of sightings tracks also begun to be found in December of 1970 on Mt Hiba., measuring as large as 21 centimeters, many more track discoveries were made over the coming years. Could the tracks have been genuine? Or could it just have been practical jokers making the tracks, who had been inspired by the previous sightings?
Residents of the area begun getting so uneasy at the reports of sightings and tracks from a strange ape-like creature that a county now known as Saijo Shobara actually set up a department to deal with whatever was going on related to the supposed creature. From 1972 to 1974 sightings of the creature still continued on with a large spike in 1974 of sightings of the creature. The sightings tended to almost all be during the Summer months, after the spike of sightings in 1974 the creature seemed to vanish with hardly any further sightings being reported.
That was until 1980 when sightings of the Hibagon or possibly a new unidentified creature some dubbed the “yamagon” begun being reported, due to the sightings of it being near and around Yamano. The 1982 sighting in Mitsugi gave it a much bigger size of 2 meters in height making it more similar to other apemen and described it also holding a stone tool, its difference in size and behavior could mean it was a different species to the Hibagon – therefore – the Yamagon. After 1982 sightings once again stagnated to almost zero and since then there have been very little reliable reports of either a Hibagon or Yamagon. Could it be that the creature or creatures have since died and been yet undiscovered? Or was it all a bunch of hysteria started off by a bunch of elementary students wanting a laugh? Maybe the creature did end up being captured and removed but was never disclosed to the public? Or maybe it was just a bunch of hysteria from a mis-identification. I guess we may never know.
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Next up will be I – where we will be talking about something rather strange… Indrid Cold – The Smilling Man.