Welcome to The Lycaeus Frequency’s Cryptid of the Day, a month-long series detailing a cryptid one day at a time for the month of October—by Redwood Voice’s Sebastian Monroe.
Today’s cryptid is the Stamoy, also known as House Bats. Arguably one of the cutest and most dangerous cryptids in my grimoire, the Stamoy can live lives that are extremely similar to that of most North American Bat species, but thrive in the homes of humans. That’s us (very convincing, Sebastian), and they feed on us should they dwell in our homes.
The typical house-bat, cute and cuddly little guys. Hard to believe one, or maybe all, could be a Stamoy feeding off your adoration. Photo courtesy of Cory Holliday.
In the early 18th century there was a family of seven found dead and drained of blood, lying on their cabin floor. They were devoid of wounds aside from several insect like bites on the neck, arms, legs, and abdomen. The home was empty of food and valuables, but was also coated in a thick layer of guano. A nearby cave was deemed the culprit of some beastly plague. This is the story of a family who were consumed by the Stamoy.
They act as any normal bat would unless they see an entrance into a home where they will switch their mindset from a scavenger lifestyle to a parasitic one. They start by releasing pheromones into the air that calm and cause affectionate emotions to wash over the inhabitants of the house, combined with their generally cute faces this makes them extremely effective at joining in to the household. The humans often keep them as pets, not noticing that the bat is feeding on their blood and weakening them over time.
The Samoy is a deceptive creature, with few illustrations of differences from the typical housebat. If you see a creature like this—the Ahool, or Athol, a flying primate type creature, is an entirely different problem. Best of luck if you spot one of these… Photo courtesy of the Cryptid Wiki.
They will reproduce and feed on their human hosts until either they are evicted by pest control, or the humans are dead. Otherwise they’re functionally the same as any other bat in North America. So far there haven’t been sightings in the area, which I am grateful for.
This has been the Lycaeus Frequency’s Cryptid of the Day.
Edited with Pictures & Context by Persephone Rose (thankfully, no longer transcribing by audio.) Thumbnail by Sebastian Monroe.
