Changes: The Woods Creature (GTA San Andreas)

Revision as of 20:58, 10 February 2017

For the myth in GTA Liberty City Stories, see The Woods Creature.

The Woods Creature is a possible myth in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Description

"The Woods Creature" is a vague term that encapsulates a large number of mythical creatures. It was originally coined this way as to describe phenomenon in the woods, including Bigfoot, Piggsy, and the Bear. As time progressed, the Woods Creature became it's own unique entity rather than a catch all term. Later, the dominant view in the myth hunting community switched to two creatures, the Shady Creeks Creature and the Back o' Beyond Creature, as is the belief that two unique monsters inhabit the different regions.

The identity of the Woods Creature can never fully be described accurately. As one of the most controversial topics in the Grand Theft Auto myth hunting community, each individual sighting and eyewitness has their own idea of what the creature actually looks like. Despite this, there are a few common traits that can be used to give a basic understanding of these creatures.

Shady Creeks Creature

As the name implies, this beast can only be found within the region of Shady Creeks. The creature stands at about the same height as the player, and has yellow or beige skin with blood stains over it's entire body. The monster is quite hairy, with chest and leg hair resembling a human's, and some reports showing the creature with a beard or a full head of hair. Believers point to the encounters filmed by DarthDementous^[1] and DaviDustin^[2] to support their claims. This interpretation remains the most widely believed depiction of the Shady Creeks Creature even after DarthDementous' video was disproved, and DaviDustin himself showed the mysterious creature in his video to just be a rock^[3].

Back o' Beyond Creature

The region of Back O' Beyond has historically been tied to sightings of the legendary Sasquatch. As such, the Back o' Beyond Creature borrows elements from that myth. The beast is a primate, similar to a gorilla, with broad shoulders that is much taller than the player. The monster has either black or brown hair covering it's entire body. It is uncommonly said that the beast has a lack of hair on it's chest, face, and the palms of it's hands. Most famously, a creature of this description was captured by DarkMythHunter.

History

Origins (2004 - 2008)

Terrydonovanmagazine — Terry Donovan's interview.

The origin of this mystery lies in another: Bigfoot. Bigfoot originated shortly after the release of the game, as players reported seeing the hairy beast in almost any wooded area. Bigfoot remained the most popular myth in the game's community for a long time until interest wained thanks to a lack of credible sightings. The final death blow of the Bigfoot myth came along thanks to various statements by game developer Rockstar Games denying the existence of the creature. Relevant to the Woods Creature is a statement by Terry Donovan, in an article titled "Sasquatch Watch."

“	There is no Bigfoot, just like in real life.	”
–Terry Donovan^[4]

While this statement caused the Bigfoot hunting movement to decline, it spurred on the creation of a new mystery. A fabricated version of the interview changed Donovan's statement:

“	There is no Bigfoot, just in real life, but there is something in the woods.	”
–A hoax

The modified statement was spread across the internet, and was a firestorm in the myth hunting community. This is the start of the Woods Creature - the statement was intentionally vague and allowed players to run wild with their imagination.

Rise in popularity (2009 - 2013)

After the debunking of the Bigfoot myth, the community was in shambles. Nevertheless, myth hunters still ventured out into the woods to formulate ideas for a new cryptid. Some people switched to beasts like Piggsy and the Bear. Around 2009 and 2010 was when the Woods Creature came into fruition. The earliest video that uses the name of the Woods Creature (that has not been deleted) appears to be a video by YouTuber ronaldsgra^[5]. From this point, the Woods Creature experienced some mild success. The beast experienced it's big break a year later when popular user DarkMythHunter published his video on the monster^[6]. Dark's video is also notable for being one of the few videos to showcase an encounter with the Woods Creature, as well as coining some of the terminology and being the basis of the Woods Creature mythos. This video continues to inspire debate and analysis in the myth hunting community.

This era was when a majority of myth hunters began actively searching for the Woods Creature rather than alternatives. However, during these years, credible sightings of the beast were slim at best.

New Evidence (2014 - Present)

In the following years, a new era began where the Woods Creature reached it's peak. A menagerie of new sightings started appearing on the internet. While many of these encounters were later debunked as being simple errors in draw distance or mis-identifications of bushes and rocks, there remains an elusive few that cannot be disproved.

The first major encounter of the era was captured by renown myth hunter StrangeThingsGonnaHappen in a September 2014 forum post titled "The Woods Creature Caught on tape?"^[7] It's a simple thread, a handful of sentences, and the image claiming to show a male hiding behind a tree. While the image can easily be explained as simple part of the tree, StrangeThingsGonnaHappen's fame encouraged myth hunters to find the truth behind the beast.

A month later, another major sighting was documented when a bizarre photograph was uploaded to the GTA Myths Wikia. In a forum post titled "What is this?,"^[8] myth hunter SolarKiller3r tells his tale of adventure in the countryside with his friends, when they spotted a tall black figure in the foreground. Again, the photo was acclaimed, but later discovered to be a hoax as the so-called creature greatly resembles the model used in a myriad of Bigfoot CLEO mods.

Throughout 2013 and 2014, famous myth hunter DaviDustin also made a series of videos about the monster. These videos showed the YouTuber wandering about the countrysides under different weather conditions. He later complied a montage of scenes from the series, all of them showing what he believed to be occurrences of the monster caught on camera^[9]. Many months later, however, the truth was revealed when he released another video debunking his previous findings, as well as showing possible new ones^[10]. These videos remain to be his most well known, and have inspired countless myth hunters to continue their investigations.

GTA San Andreas - The Truth Behind The Truth About The Woods Creature

Over a year later, Wikia user OpForSoldier uploaded a YouTube video in July 2015, which is believed to show the monster^[11]. In the video, the uploader is wandering around the wilderness until a figure can be seen in the distance sprinting in the opposite direction. Skeptics often say that the beast is simply part of the leaf texture of the tree OpFor is standing in front of, but it's animation also seems to suggest otherwise. This video is widely accepted to indeed be the creature.

GTA San Andreas-Shady Creek Creature Found?

The DarkMythHunter Debate

As mentioned previously, the sighting recorded by DarkMythHunter remains the most controversial piece of evidence for the Woods Creature. As it currently stands, it is most likely that the creature captured was just a mis-identification of a bush. Despite this, the argument over this particular piece continues on.

Evidence	Analysis
	The creature.
	A bush of similar figure appears in the location where the beast was photographed.
	This comparison photo shows that the monster and the bush are in different locations.

Notable Videos


	GTA San Andreas Myths . Woods Creature SHADY CABIN - PARANORMAL PROJECT 45
GTA SA M&L The Woods Creature SHADY CREEKS Clear Weather	GTA SA M&L The Woods Creature BACK O' BEYOND Clear Weather
GTA SA Myths & Legends SHADY CREEK CREATURE	SHADY CREEK CREATURE FOUND!