Legends of swamp creatures, passed on from generation to generation, are usually bound to a specific swamp. Some swamp monsters resemble aquatic creatures while other swamp monsters resemble aquatic plants and moss. Below is a list of the known swamp monsters in folklore and different media appearances.
Swamp monsters in folklore, legends, and mythology
The Will-o'-the-wisp appears in swamps, and in some areas there are legends of it being an evil spirit.
From the 1940s to the present many swamp monsters have been used in comics, an early example being Hillman Publications' the Heap. Afterwards, both DC Comics and Marvel created similar characters:
The debuts of the two characters were so close that it is impossible to say which came first. Alan Moore, who worked on Swamp Thing for a period, later described the character's original incarnation as "a regurgitation of Hillman Comics' The Heap", adding that "When I took over that character at Len Wein's suggestion, I did my best to make it an original character that didn't owe a huge debt to previously existing swamp monsters." Other swamp monsters in comics include:
In the anime and mangaPrincess Resurrection, the characters are attacked by a tribe of monsters resembling the creature while vacationing by a lagoon, who desire Hime's blood to make them immortal and keep their kind from dying out. In a possible reference to the novel version of the movie, one of the creatures is roughly 30 feet tall.
In the anime and manga One Piece, the Straw Hat Pirates are attacked by Caribou who has eaten the Swamp Swamp Fruit.
Examples in other media
The title creature in Theodore Sturgeon's 1940 short story "It!" is the earliest example of a plant-based swamp monster.
The Gill-man from the 1954 film Creature from the Black Lagoon appears as a fish-like humanoid.
An episode of entitled "The Spanish Moss Murders" features a young man, subject of a study in sleep research, whose nightmares of a Spanish moss-covered swamp-dwelling monster called Pèremalfait from stories heard in his youth in the Louisiana Bayou come to life.
In the 1986 novel It by Stephen King, It takes the form of a swamp monster to kill Eddie Corcoran.
The 1996 Goosebumps book "How to Kill a Monster" featured a Swamp Monster. It was depicted as a green-furred monster with the head of an alligator and a gorilla-like body.
* The Swamp Monster makes an appearance in the 2015 Goosebumps movie performed by Nate Andrade. He is one of Slappy the Dummy's monster and villain henchmen and is referred to as the "Bog Monster" during the 2014 Comic Con appearance. Its appearance is different where it looks like a large creature made of moss.
The TV series Family Guy featured some swamp monsters. In the episode "I Never Met the Dead Man", the Griffin family catches a creature strongly resembling a "Swamp Monster" while fishing. In the episode "Business Guy", Carter Pewterschmidt and Lois Griffin trick Peter Griffin into surrendering Pewterschmidt Industries by scaring him into believing a local swamp monster will eat him if he does not. A seemingly real swamp monster scares Peter out of the office and then chases Lois and a disguised Carter before being trapped and unmasked to be Gregory House.
Victor Crowley is a deformed killer and main character in Adam Green's 2006 film, Hatchet.
David Winning's 2008 film Swamp Devil stars Bruce Dern as a retired sheriff trying to prove the existence of a swamp monster.
In Animal Planet's Lost Tapes, the episode "Swamp Creature" is about the Louisiana Swamp Monster, which is said to be an abandoned Native American child who was raised by alligators.
While criticizing a movie featuring a swamp monster, one of the hosts of the 2010 series This Movie Sucks! tells the legend of Lake Erie Pete about a man who becomes a crime-fighting swamp monster after his parents are killed by one.
In the video game Infamous 2, the Swamp Monsters are the least mutated type of the Corrupted that have scythes instead of forearms and are the more common of the Corrupted.
In Season Two of Scream Queens, the Green Meanie is described to be a swamp monster that lives in a toxic swamp near the C.U.R.E. Institute Hospital.
