604: Cryptids Vol. 4 | Bunyips, Yowie and Australian Nightmare Fuel

The Why Files: Operation Podcast

Science, Life Sciences, Fiction, Society & Culture, Documentary, Science Fiction

4.8 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Australia's Outback hides more than deadly snakes and crocodiles. Ancient creatures stalk the wilderness, leaving behind torn campsites, blood-stained trees, and terrified witnesses.

The Yowie towers eight feet tall, attacks isolated hikers, and left researcher Dean Harrison scarred for life. Water-dwelling Bunyips drag victims underwater while museums hide skull evidence that proves their existence.

Most disturbing are the Yara-ma-yha-who - red tree vampires that drink blood slowly, transforming humans into creatures like themselves. Aboriginal elders warned about these predators for centuries.

Police reports document modern encounters. Veterans and park rangers describe glowing amber eyes watching from shadows. Victims return from the wilderness changed, missing time and memories.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Beyond the bustling modern Australian cities is the outback.
0:05.0	It's a land that's ancient, remote, and deadly.
0:09.0	Animals here evolved in isolation.
0:12.0	Marsupials with pouches, mammals that lay eggs,
0:16.0	flightless birds that can kill with one kick.
0:19.0	And these are just the animals we know about.
0:21.8	People disappear here.
0:23.8	Camp sites torn apart.
0:25.6	Blood smeared across tree trunks.
0:27.8	Claw marks and footprints that don't belong to any known animal.
0:31.5	But the locals know what they are.
0:33.4	They have stories.
0:35.0	Warnings.
0:36.5	The land doesn't just hide these creatures.
0:39.2	It protects them.
0:40.5	And sometimes the land gets hungry, and those creatures have to hunt.
1:03.0	In the forests of Eastern Australia, you hear the typical sounds of any forest, wind rustling through the trees, birds, the chatter of small animals. But there's a sound that stands out, almost human, a deep growl that rattles with every breath.
1:10.0	Aboriginal people have several names for it.
1:13.3	Dulaga, Quinking, Yahoo! Yahoo! Why?
1:18.7	Sorry, sorry. All those names sound like websites from the 90s. Please, go on.
1:25.1	Well, the settlers gave it a name that stuck, the Yowie.
1:28.3	Yowie?
	...

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