The Galapagos Monster (Monstro de Archipiélago de Colón) is an animal that was first spotted on the Galapagos Islands in 1992 and was last spotted in 2005. It is seven feet tall and it's appearance resembles that of a griffin. It has the head of an oversized bald eagle, piercing, golden eyes, two gigantic, pearl white wings, a razor sharp beak, golden talons, webbed feet, a crimson scale body, a long spiked tail, gills, and a white fur coat. It's current whereabouts are unknown.
The Galapagos Monster emits a strong aroma of Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) when it feels in danger which causes it's observer to hallucinate for a short period of time allowing for the monster to flee. The last reported sighting of the monster was on March 15, 2005 near the coast of Española Island.
Due to the creature's psychedelic, hallucinogenic nature, there have been many distorted perceptions of the creature. There has been a total of seven reported sightings of the behemoth; each time around the coast of Española Island and San Cristóbal Island. The first reported sighting was in 1992, two sightings in 1997, one in 1999, one in 2002 by artist Alex Pierce, and one in 2008 by Dr. Robert Ballard. The following is an excerpt from Robert Ballard's interview with Discover magazine in early 2009.
- "It was perched on a cliff near the eastern coast of San Cristóbal Island. I was eating lunch and watching the sea lions when all of a sudden this beautiful creature presented itself. I watched it for a while until it turned it's head and glared at me with it's menacing, golden eyes; almost like a deer in the headlights...I started to feel strange and I watched the creature's body started to warp. I started seeing green and black patterns. It was almost like when I drank ayahuasca in Peru two years ago. It was some sort of DMT trip. I passed out and when I awoke it was gone. All I remember thinking was, 'I wish I could've gotten a picture of it!'"
- -Dr. Robert Ballard
This was illustrated by Italian artist Allesandro (Alex) Pierce in 2002. He was sketching Marine Iguanas on Espanola Island until he spotted the Galapagos Monster. It is one of the only depictions of the monster in existence.
by Nathan Pizano