#20 The Monkey Dog

Goisagis Nisya’do;deh (you look like a monkey) or “Monkey Dog” is a contemporary Native American reservation legend, usually talked about among the Iroquois Confederacy. As the name suggests, it acts like a mixture of dog and monkey, jumping and scampering around from ground to treetops while flitting in and out of your vision. Most people who see it claim it looks like a flying squirrel with large red-orange eyes, and shadowed black, brown, and grey coloring, the ears of a German Shepherd, and pointy poodle-like teeth. It stands around 3′ to 4′ tall and has a 3′ to 4′ long tail of an oppossom (which it uses to grab and or throw things). It is a creature that moves on the periphery of the night, on the edge of a woods, lurking in dark corners, living in the mist and thriving by popping out when you least expect it to scare the crap out of you, as it feeds on your fright. For those who are not startled by it, the monkey-dog gets more bold in it’s attempts to frighten by playing pranks that have been known to result in injuries and death.

~The Monkey Dog myth was told to me by a friend; credit for the myth itself has to be given to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people.

Tags: jane wankmiller, myth

Category: 2010, Fantasy, Horror, Uncategorized