The creature known as the Tagua Tagua Monster, or the monster of Lake Fagua, was claimed to have been captured in Santa Fe, Peru in the 18th century.
This creature was described as being approximately 20 feet (6.1 meters) long and had a unique combination of features. It had a human face, bull-like horns, huge donkey-like ears, lion-like teeth, bat-like wings, and the lower body of a dragon with two long pointed tails that it used to sting and attack its enemies. It was also said to have rings or suckers to grab its prey.
According to the description provided by José Celestino Mutis, a Spanish botanist, the Tagua Tagua Monster had a tail that was three varas (*1 vara = 32.87 inches) and three-fourths longer than its body. Its horns were a vara and a half long and well-shaped. The ears were three-fourths long, and the neck of the head got caught on the foot when walking. The wings were proportioned to the body, and the mouth was as wide as the face. The shell of the creature was green, and the lower tail, although larger than the upper one, was entangled and used to grip.
Mutis’s sources claimed that the creature was found in Tagua Tagua Lake, which is located in the Los Lagos region in southern Chile. The monster was said to have devoured the cattle of Don Próspero Elso who owned an estancia in the area. However, the monster was eventually flushed out and “burnt alive,” eliminating the threat it posed to the local inhabitants and their livestock.
The description of the Tagua Tagua Monster by Mutis is not an isolated case. Similar representations of the creature circulated between America and Europe from 1784, along with fascinating iconography that appeared in Chile, New Granada, Spain, and France. An article published in the Courier de L’Europe in France on October 16, 1784, claimed that the monster had been captured and was going to be displayed in Europe.
Additionally, the manuscript from the 18th century also mentions a similar monster being killed in Palestine.
