Case file · Cryptid
Grootslang
A giant serpent of South African legend, 12 to 15 metres long, said to guard a deep cave of diamonds in the Richtersveld.
1917 CE · -28.52, 17.09 · status: legend
The account
When English businessman Peter Grayson vanished while hunting treasure there in 1917, after lions attacked his party, rumour blamed the Grootslang. Modern depictions with elephant features come from a later writer's comparison.
The sceptical view
The 1917 disappearance has a mundane setting (lions, harsh desert), and there is no evidence of a giant snake.