| Ahool | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Ahool |
|
First Sighting |
Salek Mountains (1925) |
|
Created by |
Javan Folklore |
Origin[]
The Ahool, named after its call, a long ahOOOooool, is said to be a bat like creature, and is described as the size of a one year old child with a gigantic wing span of roughly 12 feet. It is reported to be covered in short, dark grey fur, have large, black eyes, flattened forearms supporting its leathery wings and a monkey like head, with a flattish, man like face. It has been seen squatting on the forest floor, at which times its wings are closed, pressed against the Ahool’s body, its feet appearing to point backwards. It is thought that the Ahool is a nocturnal creature, spending its days concealed in caves located behind or beneath waterfalls; its nights spent skimming across rivers in search of large fish upon which it feeds.
It is said to live in the deepest parts of the jungles of Java, and can be found across most of Indonesia. Sub-species can be found on the nearby island of New Guinea in the form of the Ropen, a presumed cousin to the Ahool. The Ropen has a long snout, large wings and a long thin crest. The Ahool though, has a distinct face that has features of both a chimpanzee's and a bat's, large dark eyes, red skinned wings, large claws on its forearms, and is covered in grey fur.
It is said to have a wingspan of 18 to 28 feet, or 6 to 9 meters. That is 3 to 4.5 times the size of the largest bat known to man, the flying fox. Although it mainly eats local fauna, such as large fish, it will, opportunistically, occasionally attack humans. Most likely because the creature/animal is extremely territorial and an opportunist, meaning it will attack larger prey when the conditions present themselves.
One account of the Ahool occurred in 1925 when naturalist Dr. Ernest Bartels, son of noted ornithologist M.E.G. Bartels, was exploring a waterfall on the slopes of the Salek Mountains when a giant unknown bat, the Ahool, flew directly over his head. Two years later in 1927, around 11:30 pm, Dr. Ernest Bartels encountered the Ahool again, this time he was laying in bed, inside his thatched house close to the Tjidjenkol River in western Java, listening to the sounds of the jungle when he suddenly heard a very different sound coming from almost directly over his hut, this loud and clear cry seemed to utter, A Hool! Grabbing his torch Dr. Bartels ran out of his hut in the direction the sound seemed to be heading. Less than 20 seconds later he heard it again, a final A Hool! which floated back towards him from a considerable distance downstream. As he would recall many years later, he was transfixed on the sound, not because he did not know what produced it but rather because he did, the Ahool.