Does Anyone Know What The Japanese Bigfoot Is Called?

Hibagon, Japan’s version of Bigfoot, was first reported by a farmer near Mount Hiba. According to Dom Joly in his book Scary Monsters and Super Creeps: In Search of the World’s Most Hideous Beast, “The ape measured about two meters seventy centimeters, had dark reddish-brown hair, a big head like a cone and was walking on two feet.” Even though it’s much shorter than the American Bigfoot, the Hibagon is remarkably close to supposed Sasquatch sightings in the American northwest.

Over the next month, ten more sightings of the mysterious creature were reported to authorities. Police were even called in to escort school children to and from class because the reports caused such a stir in the community, reports Joly. The local government, who were being inundated with reports, were forced to make a special office called the Anthropoid Section specifically to handle the press coverage of the Hibagon.

In 1974, right when the Hibagon excitement was finally dying down, a local named Mr. Mitani snapped the only known picture of the ape-like animal. Like all photos of mythological creatures, it’s horribly blurry and grainy, but it sparked another round of people coming forward with their own Hibagon stories, according to Joly.