Ganesha

Ganesha

none

Type

Threat Level

Active Status

Other Names

Grootslang, Elephant-Snake, Ears

Description: Elephant head on a snake. Ugly. Big ears. Beady, yellow-gem eyes. Sharp teeth. Big ears. Scaly. Shits gemstones. Mostly shit though. Half-corporeal. Leaves behind big single tracks. No slithering. Straight tracks. Sounds like rumbling. Hundred rattles at once. - Turtle-1

There’s no way just that will be good enough of a description! And you don’t need to tag your name after everything you write either. - Turtle-2

Ganesha is a large grey serpent with an elephant head. Ganesha's tracks are at least twenty (20) feet¹ in width. The length is unknown.

The aberrant has two massive tusks that point downward. Ganesha uses these appendages to gore prey and bring them back to its nest.

When not in contact with corporeal prey, Ganesha is intangible. Aberrant becomes corporeal when striking and retrieving prey, thus generally leaving only one set of tracks. Ability to carry prey as heavy as a three (3) tons² indicates exceptional strength. Aberrant has been observed splintering trees simply by coiling around them.

Ganesha has large topaz gemstones inset around its eyes as well as clear gemstones scattered around the main body. Mouth is capable of unhinging and swallowing a elephant whole. Does not make trumpeting sounds, unfortunately. I'm sad about that.

Background: Warders first sighted Ganesha forty (40) years ago in Adirondack State Park near Albany, NY. Society members have nicknamed the aberrant a Hindu god due to its appearance and the prevalent Indian population in the New York area. Volunteers of the Society knowledgeable in Hindu folklore have speculated that the aberration’s presence in the state is a direct result of the Hindu/Buddhist population. Unsubstantiated rumors have also drawn a connection between Ganesha and a large serpentine cryptid that reportedly disappeared at the same time as the aberrant’s first sighting.

Warders tracking Ganesha have recently (within the last decade) reported that the aberrant has markedly changed in both appearance and behavior. In the past, Ganesha was described as a creature dressed in extravagant gilded robes, bearing four arms, a crown, and capable of speech in an unknown language³. In addition, Ganesha was never observed hunting, drinking, or eating. Recent observations have reported that the aberrant’s remaining robes are now filthy and torn. All arms have disappeared through unknown means. Starting in 2008, Ganesha has begun hunting for prey and has gradually increased the frequency of such hunts. Prey has escalated from rabbits and birds to deer and finally to elephants from the New York zoo. In addition, Ganesha is suspected to be behind several Norman disappearances.

Ganesha matches the description for a fabled South African cryptid said to also be the combination of an elephant and a snake. I don’t know anything about the connection between the two, but I’m sure it doesn’t matter that much. No clear connection has been drawn between the two, but keep an eye out for it.

Location and Population: Ganesha lives in an unmarked cave within the forested area of Adirondack State Park in New York. Access to the cave is restricted to a single blocked-off deer trail. Ganesha’s trails can generally be used to track the aberrant back to its nest within the cave. Nest contains bits and pieces of its old robe and is constructed of boulders. Nest is partially submerged and has a spire in the middle that Ganesha coils around while resting. Stalagmites have mostly been knocked over and strewn off to the sides of the cave. Droppings within the cave potentially do contain precious gems. Ganesha is likely the only entity of its kind in the area.

Straight cave. Slight downhill. Water-carved. Little stream flows though. Could maybe poison. Alternate entrance up hill. Dug in. Little ledge. Really bad light. Can’t see after sundown. Nest. Middle of cave. Good place to take a shot. It knows about spot. Tolerates watching. When not hungry, at least. Entrance to cave, soft soil. Can dig a pit. Weak rocks on top. Good explosion could cave in. Lotsa bats. Outside of a cave clearing. Aberrant could rampage there. Best to put not too far out. Too much movement to dispel. Could easily knock trees over around. Don’t trust ‘em.

Hunting or Procurement Methods: Clever fucker. Recognizes guns. Fast. Strong. Don’t know about scent. Sensitive to light. Can’t shoot incorporeal. Can’t hit you either. Need to wait. Once it’s gored something. Keeps its tusks out of commission. Takes too long to pull anything off. Makes a sound. Rattles. Becomes tangible. Doesn’t hit first. Thick skull. Could ram a car. Flatten it. It’s eating. Hit it hard. Fast. Two outfits. At least.

Update as of August

Based on the info we received from the pandits in the New York area, Ganesha has been reclassified as a metaph. We have also received info on a ritual that would likely dispel the aberrant. The steps are as follows:

+ Ritual

Om
Break the right tusk of the deity as he once did to extoll his father’s gifts to Vishnu
Om
Behead Ganesha as Shiva the Destroyer, the he-who-begetted, once did
Om
Draw the head into a circle of salt with the sacred syllable “Om” inscribed within

(Note: it looks like the body might still be active here, but hopefully not. From what I hear, it might recover if you don’t drag the head into the circle fast enough.)

Encounter Records:

+ Ganesha Recon - Turtle Outfit

Video. Snuck in cave. Watched it. Pointed out some things. Could have died.

Begin Recording

[Video opens up to sounds of wind whistling through the microphone and crunching of gravel. Light blooms for a moment, then settles to reveal a deep hole in side of a grassy hill. It appears freshly dug and there is a pile of dirt with a shovel stuck in beside the tunnel.]

Turtle-2: Shit, Maurice, did you do that all by yourself?

[Camera pans to Maurice Trapper, who looks rather proud, then irritated at being video-taped. Camera quickly turns back to tunnel entrance.]

Turtle-2: Er, sorry about that Maur-

Turtle-1: Trapper. Idiot.

Turtle-2: Right, right - the video. Also, if we're making up names now, then I'll be Professor.

Turtle-1: Idiot.

[The outfit begins to move through the tunnel, the light slowly fading as they walk deeper in. After around thirty (30) feet⁴, camera switches to low-light mode and the cave slowly comes into view. Roof of the cave reveals several tiny creatures, presumably bats, clinging to the slightly concave, stalactite-coated ceiling. View dips downward to get a good view of the platform that Turtle outfit is standing on, which is a small rocky ledge, jutting out around forty (40) feet⁵ off the ground. The ledge is small and would likely only fit a group of six (6) people or less. Professor pulls out her handgun at this point.]

Turtle-1: [Hissing] Down.

[View lowers even further as Turtle outfit goes prone. Ganesha finally comes into view.]

Turtle-2: [Whispering] Look at him. Isn't he beautiful?

[Ganesha is curled around the central pillar in the cave. Its ears are flattened against its body. The small amount of light coming through Turtle-1's tunnel catches and refracts across the gemstones embedded in Ganesha's hide. Strangely, there's no sound, even as Ganesha tightens around the pillar.]

Turtle-1: Incorporeal. Look.

[Camera zooms in where Turtle-1 is pointing. A bat flies right through Ganesha's body, causing the aberrant's body to become slightly transparent.]

Turtle-2: See that pool of water he's nesting in? There's a couple of lily pads and lotuses there. Less than we saw last time, but still neat. Stream trickles in from the entrance. Trapper, should we go out and show them the entrance now? Wha-

[Trapper claps a hand over Professor's mouth. He slowly puts a finger to his lips to shush Professor and points back towards Ganesha.]

[Camera slowly turns to reveal Ganesha has gored a struggling bat on the tip of its tusks. It is fully corporeal and staring directly at the camera. The topazes around its eyes sparkle dully and its ears are flared out in full display. The aberrant tightens its coil on the rock, producing a loud rattling sound. A low rumbling fills the cave as Ganesha unhinges its jaw impossibly wide, revealing a mixture of serrated teeth and flat molars.]

[Professor is heard hyperventilating and the sounds of scrabbling in the dirt are heard. Professor appears to be attempting to backtrack as fast as possible while prone. Trapper's arm appears and wrestles something out of Professor's hand. He then tosses her handgun off the ledge.]

Turtle-2: [Panicked and attempting to scrabble up to her feet] What the hell was that for?!

[Trapper grabs Professor's arm and drags her back down. He then points back at Ganesha.]

Turtle-1: Gun.

[Camera, now visibly shaky, returns to Ganesha. The aberrant looks at something below, presumably the handgun. Seemingly satisfied, Ganesha looks away from Turtle outfit. Aberrant then begins to violently shake its head up and down. After several seconds of doing this, the bat flies off of its tusks into the air, landing into Ganesha's open mouth. Aberrant returns to its previous resting position, curled around the pillar, now eyeing the pair cautiously.]

[Professor gets up, along with Trapper, and the two cautiously back into the tunnel. Halfway through, the pair turn around and run out the tunnel, their heavy breathing echoing throughout.]

End of Recording.

Additional Notes:
Background update - August 2018

Hindu contacts within the Society have offered a much clearer view of the metaph’s history. Once a sufficient amount of Hindus had immigrated into the state of New York, the temples were given sanction to perform a ritual to summon a divine aspect of the Hindu god Ganesha, god of knowledge and overcoming obstacles. They performed this ritual forty (40) years ago. The aspect possessed the body of an existing serpent cryptid during the ritual. For three decades, the aspect of Ganesha was a benevolent entity offering wisdom, prophecies, and divine assistance to the Hindu community in New York and the United States as a whole. However, due to the lack of believers and the proximity to New York City - a so-called “den of iniquity” - Ganesha gradually became corrupted by the vices. Eventually, Ganesha became almost completely stripped of its divinity and devolved into a semi-corporeal aberrant with an insatiable hunger. The temples maintain that while vicious, it has barely enough sense to avoid eating normans en masse, only eating normans or warders when they are unlucky enough to stumble across it accidentally.

Due to how dicey the situation was getting, the Hindu temples contacted us. It might slip further and finally just transform into a town-eating monster. Believe me - me and the pandits are doing the god a mercy.

They actually gave us some stuff to work with though, which is nice. We received the necessary information for rituals and some useful artifacts. Email me to get them; the goodies are six (6) blessed Lotus Charms that should prevent it from outright crushing you and some incense to mask your scent. The charms are apparently anathema to the metaph and burn Ganesha's skin if it gets too close, so maybe there are some offensive capabilities. Happy hunting!

16

Footnotes

1. six (6) meters

2. 2.72 metric tonnes

3. Probably a language from the Indian subcontinent

4. 9.14 meters

5. 12.19 meters