#gfsw

My cryptid is called the bone spider.

Living deep in the Appalachian mountains, they present themselves as a mixture of bones put together, held by fleshy strings. Typically having eight legs and a main body. BUT not all spiders are the same. The reason as to why is because they don’t actually have bones themselves, they are fleshy sacs that wriggle around on eight limbs. They steal the bones from certain dead animals and attach it onto themselves to give themselves better support, hence the name, bone spiders. Since they can pick and choose their bones, they can be up to 5 feet tall/wide (the largest recorded bone spider was the size of a large elk)

They aren’t completely dangerous, if you encounter one in the wild, just stay calm and don’t make sudden movements that might scare them, and you’ll be fine. If they are cornered, then they will defend themselves.

When threatened, they vibrate their bones together, sometimes to the point of cracking. Which mimics a noise similar to a rattle snake, just deeper and slower.

When defending itself, it oozes an acidic fluid that, when in contact with skin, can create second degree burns and rashes on the skin. Pair this with it slashing a particularly sharp bone, can lead the fluid to get into your blood stream. When this happens, death is imminent.

It is best to avoid this creature. Though it isn’t hard to, due to the fact that they live so far away from society, tucked into the oldest mountain range in the world. Maybe they came from a time before isopods and dinosaurs roamed the earth, they might be the key to a life unknown by earth’s earliest creatures. Or maybe they’re just little fleshy dudes who like bones, who knows.

That’s my creation!! I’ve always had a love for Appalachian based mountain creatures since the Appalachias are the oldest mountain range in the world, they were around when Pangea still existed!! (Can you tell I love geography?)

My thought process was basically, “what’s the freakiest animal you can make out of bones”