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Lore

Legends 85: Down Under

Duration
32m
Broadcast on
03 Aug 2026
Audio Format
other

The huge number of dangerous creatures in Australia is terrifying, for sure. But if the legends are true, there's a lot more to be afraid of than spiders and birds.

Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Alex Robinson and research by Jamie Vargas.

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©2026 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

This episode is sponsored by Wildwood. From Leica, the studio behind Coraline, comes a new epic fantasy adventure. And at the heart of Wildwood is a simple question. How far would you go for someone you love? Wildwood is a handcrafted epic fantasy adventure that transports audiences into a secret magical and dangerously alive world just beyond their doorstep. At its heart is the story of a courageous girl, Prue McKeel, on a desperate mission to rescue her baby brother from a forbidden forest filled with enchanted creatures, endearing allies, and formidable adversaries. Her journey unfolds in a spectacular high-stakes adventure where the fate of an entire hidden world hangs in the balance. The film features vocal performances from Carrie Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, and Angela Bassett. And I have to tell you folks, I have seen the trailer for this film so many times, and I cannot wait to park my button to seat and experience this adventure. Wildwood is now playing in theaters everywhere, so grab your tickets today. The history books are wrong. They tell us that Amelia Earhart vanished without a trace, but that isn't true. Over the past few years, investigators have uncovered more details about her disappearance. We now know onto which island she crash landed, we probably know what went wrong with her plane, and some people even think they know what happened to her body, although it's a pretty wild theory involving giant crabs, so take it with a grain of salt. Then in 2018, it was announced that Amelia wasn't silent in death, at least not at first. You see, after she crashed on Gardener Island, she sent out hundreds of distress signals, and while I'm sure she intended for those messages to be received by the Navy or the Air Force, most of them were picked up by completely normal folks. And what we've learned is that for six straight days, random housewives, teenagers, and radio hobbyists all over North America heard Amelia call out for rescue. Of course, that rescue never came. No matter how many times people reported hearing Amelia Earhart on their radios, the government didn't believe those reports to be credible. On July 7 of 1937, Amelia's last transmission went out into the wide, uncaring world, and then she was silent. And until now, nobody ever knew how hard she fought to be heard. It's a powerful lesson. For a very long time, we thought we knew everything, and then we learned more. And it's not the first time that we've done that, because the version of history we think we know isn't always the truth, and that applies to folklore as well. The stories we tell evolve and change. Just like a centuries-long game of telephone, the past has always slowly been edited and nudged in a particular direction. All because, as the saying goes, history is written by the victors. Usually, that version is loud and clear. But sometimes, it's expressed through silence. I'm Aaron Mankey, and this is Lore Legends. Australia is where the devil keeps his pets. It's a phrase that you've probably heard before. And looking at a list of some of the creatures there, it's hard to disagree. The cassowary, blue-ringed octopi, crocodiles, literally dozens of species of venomous snakes. Just about everywhere you turn, there is something that could kill you. When Europeans first landed on Australia's shores, they were equal parts horrified and fascinated by the local fauna. After a lifetime of never seeing anything more exotic than the occasional fox in their backyard, their minds were completely blown by these otherworldly creatures that kept trying to kill them. One of those baffling animals was the kangaroo. 17th-century Dutch explorer Francois Pelsar first described them as a strange species of cat, while Captain Cook thought they looked more like a greyhound. When the first sketch of a kangaroo reached Europe in 1772, it was published in just about every wildlife field guide imaginable for decades. Despite the fact that this depiction made it look more like a cross between a weasel and a gerbil than a real kangaroo. Then, in 1799, another of Australia's wacky animals actually made its way to England. The governor of Sydney sent a wombat corpse, igniting an honest-to-god wombat craze. People were obsessed. One lucky man, a poet by the name of Dante Gabriel Rosetti, was so enthralled that he actually managed to secure a live one as a pet. After his first day as England's only wombat owner, he wrote, and I quote, "The wombat is a joy, a triumph, a delight, a madness." So it shouldn't be a surprise that the discovery of the platypus sent the Western scientific community reeling. With one account claiming that, and I quote, "It rendered the latter half of Dr. Shaw's life miserable from his utter inability to determine whether it was a bird or a beast." The European fascination with the platypus lasted all the way through the 20th century. Winston Churchill actually wrote to Australia requesting that six of the odd little creatures be shipped to London. Some historians have claimed that this was a part of his larger diplomatic goal with Australia. Others say that he just really wanted a platypus. So all that being said, when the first peoples told the newly arrived settlers about the wild beasts that stalked the outback and devoured hapless humans, the Europeans accepted them out their word. And why would they not? After all, it all seemed to fit into the general Australian wildlife archetype. But here's the thing, not every creature the Europeans learned about was actually real. Take, for example, the Yara Mayahu. This was a small frog-like fellow who stood somewhere between three and four feet in height. He was sometimes referred to as a "queer little red man" most likely because his entire body was said to be covered in red fur. Add in his small limbs, a large belly, and a disproportionately giant head, and he would probably be cute if he couldn't also unhinge his jaw like a snake and swallow a fully grown man. If his mouth didn't get you, though, his fingers and toes just might. Each appendage was said to have small suckers attached, like an octopus tentacle. He would use these to suck his victim's blood, making him one of these strangest looking vampires in the entire world. It's said that these tiny red men lived in the forest, lying in wait for weary travelers. According to the Aboriginal writer David Unaipan, the Yara Mayahu would pounce on its victims like a cat, spreading its fingers and toes out so that the suckers could latch onto their flesh. Then, once he had his fill of blood, he would open his gigantic mouth and swallow them whole. And when he got hungry again, the Yara Mayahu would simply regurgitate his still-living victim, beginning the cycle all over again. He always tried to leave just enough blood in their system to keep them alive so that he could keep on snacking. But things didn't always go to plan, of course, and sometimes he would drink a little too much.

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