Ningen: The Mysterious Cryptid Of Antarctica
Wikimedia CommonsThe Ningen is said to be a whale-like humanoid, living in the cold waters of Antarctica.
One of the most modern cryptids on this list, the first mention of the Ningen appeared online in 2002, on the 2channel online message board:
“I heard that the research whaling surrounding the Antarctic Sea, conducted by the Japanese government, is not only conducting research on the whales they catch but also researching and recording whales they do not catch… In the last few years of research, it is said that ‘some objects’ that cannot be officially announced have been witnessed. This information is gained directly from a person involved. These are what is called, among people related to research whaling, hitogata buttai (‘human-shaped objects’).”
The post goes on to explain that researchers had allegedly come upon several different creatures near Antarctica. One was said to look like a human — a head and four limbs — and another like two human upper bodies joined together. These creatures were reportedly large, measuring “a few tens of meters long” and stark white in color. Not much more information is given in the original post, other than that these creatures were allegedly being kept secret so as not to discredit the authenticity of other research that was gained during the whaling expedition.
Wikimedia CommonsAn artist’s interpretation of one form of the Ningen, a modern cryptid on this list.
In online circles, these human-shaped creatures came to be known as the Ningen, and the story quickly spread throughout Japan. As Felicity Greenland of Doshisha University, Kyoto and Philip Hayward of the University of Technology Sydney explored in a study published in the journal Shima, the story of the Ningen was unique for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the deep, icy waters of the Antarctic are shockingly sparse with cryptozoological inquiries, and the Ningen filled an opening. Secondly, it was among the first cryptids to surface online in the age of the internet and spread to a captivated audience. Its connection to Japan’s whaling industry likewise touched on “political and environmental discourse and related aspects of the Japanese social imaginary in the post-World War Two era.”
The Ningen even worked its way into Japanese pop culture, emerging as a subject of J-pop songs and making appearances in manga series. While it may not have the same widespread popularity in the West, the Ningen is truly a cryptid on the same level as Bigfoot in Japanese culture.
