ヒバゴン

Translation: named for the mountain on which it was spotted
Alternate names: yamagon
Habitat: mountains in the Chūgoku region of West Japan
Diet: unknown

Appearance: Hibagon are anthropoid apes which supposedly live in the vicinity of Mount Hiba in the Chūgoku Mountains. They walk upright on two legs, standing about 1.5 meters tall and very stout. Their bodies are entirely covered in black, gray, or dark brown hair. Their faces resemble an inverted triangle, and they have bulging eyes that slant upwards. Their voices resemble a dolphin’s call.

Behavior: Little is known about what hibagon do in the wild, and their behavior–as well as their true identity–remains a mystery.

Origin: The first reported hibagon sightings took place in what is now Shōbara City, Hiroshima Prefecture in July of 1970. The following year, the local government set up a special office to handle reports of these mysterious creatures. Sightings continued to be reported for the next several years, but the office shut down in 1975 after the number of sightings dwindled.

Several years later, in the neighboring village of Yamano, sightings of similar creatures were reported. The creature was dubbed yamagon, after hibagon, and speculations began that the hibagon had migrated. However, these sightings dwindled and no yamagon sighting has been reported since 1980.

In May 2003, witnesses claimed that they saw strange eggs in the mountains. When people investigated, they were determined to be hibagon eggs; thus it was discovered that hibagon are oviparous.

Although the creatures were never conclusively identified, several theories have been proposed suggesting that the hibagon were actually large Japanese macaques, black bears, humans, or even aliens. Hibagon have also been suggested to be Japanese relatives of the Himalayan yeti or the North American sasquatch.