Monster Legend: Yara-Ma-Yha-Who

The yara-ma-yha-who is a monster from Aboriginal mythology in Australia and has become quite legendary. The creatures look like a human frog hybrid with red fur, huge head, and a wide massive mouth that goes from one side of its face to the other in a wide rictus grin. But strangely, the monsters have no teeth. Instead, the yara-ma-yha-who have suction type membranes on their hands like an octopus they use to feed and also granting them extremely proficient climbing abilities.

The monster’s preferred hunting method is to climb high into trees and simply wait for a victim. As soon as a man, woman, or child walk underneath the tree, then the monster swoops down in a violent ambush, overpowering prey and sucking out their blood. When the corpse is thoroughly emptied, the creature will shove the victim’s whole body down its gaping mouth like a snake. Then after a quick drink of water, the yara-ma-yha-who will nap to rest from the recent murder meal.

[the_ad_placement id=”manuel”]

As a means of reproduction, upon awakening, the monster will sometimes vomit out the body of its recent meal. The former human corpse appears mutated and once again moving with life, though, not fully transformed into a yara-ma-yha-who. The puked out victim is then re-devoured, and the process repeated again and again until eventually, what is vomited out is a fully-fledged newborn yara-ma-yha-who.

These things are hungry for blood

These monsters only hunt during the day. So if you find yourself under a tree for shelter from the elements, it’s best to play dead until nightfall. It is one way to avoid an attack, though it does not always work. But the creatures only enjoy devouring the blood of a human they kill, so if one looks genuinely dead, the creature will most likely move on.

[the_ad_placement id=”manuel”]

In Aboriginal legend, they looked at the yara-ma-yha-who as a supernatural monster almost undefeatable. Only shamans could confront them, and any common man would quickly find himself outmatched in strength and dexterity if it came to a physical fight. The battle had to take place on the spiritual planes for any human to stand a chance against them. In Aboriginal culture, these tales of the yara-ma-yha-who propagated the wisdom to always check in the trees for dangerous wildlife when resting in the Australian Outback.

Liked it? Take a second to support Cryptic Chronicles on Patreon!