Updated! Originally posted 1-Aug-2024
Several cryptids have been spawned via creepypasta – made-up horror stories or images that are spread online by copying and pasting (copy-paste -> creepy pasta). The most famous example is Slender Man. The folkloreque stories can become so widespread that they enter into our lived culture and become folklore.
Another creepypasta example is an Appalachian critter called a “not-deer” (or “Not-a-Deer”). The not-deer appeared on Tumblr in 2019 and eventually became a popular subject on cryptid-tok (TikTok). The creature is said to mostly look like a deer until you REALLY look and find that it’s not. The creature displays unsettling characteristics that scare the heck out of people today. They have odd features, or make robotic movements or unnatural sounds, and often are said to exhibit predator-like qualities. Modern stories of “not-deer” frequently include reports of them walking on their hind legs – an atypical sight that is particularly unnerving to see, apparently.
The overdramatic modern take on not-deer is that they are supernatural shapeshifters. Their growing popularity, mostly via content creators sharing stories and repeating (and embellishing) tales of the not-deer, is running parallel to the rise of the Appalachian folk horror genre. However, an unexpected find in a decades old magazine revealed that the fear of strange deer has been around for a long time.
Historical not-deer sighting
Last summer, I began reading through my bound editions of early Fortean Times magazine, starting with issue #1. It’s the only way to see these, which are long out of print (as are these bound volumes). It was tough to get this collection, but my intent was to see what stories surfaced long ago (starting in November 1973) and how they were presented.
The text is tough to read with old typed print and the pages bound so close to the edge. But, pushing through the eye strain, I found some interesting items, as I expected.
Good ol’ Jerome Clark came through with some zingers in Issue 8.
Clark describes two encounters with strange deer he collected when he was Editor for Fate magazine around 1971. First, he discovered an account from Mrs. Laub of Calumet, Oklahoma who saw a creature in her farm field that superficially resembled a deer that “stood on four thin deer-like legs, with huge pads for feet”, had long hair, pointed ears and a bushy tail, that resembled “a cross between a wolf and deer.” This supposedly occurred in 1951.
Later in 1971, before Mrs. Laub’s account appeared in the magazine, Clark’s father told him of a weird animal he had encountered along a road in Canby, Minnesota that looked like a small deer but with a horse-like tail. He shot at the animal to scare it but, astoundingly, it didn’t react.
Neither of the animals were afraid of humans. Upon reflection, the witnesses said they were not like any other deer they’d ever seen. My interest perked right up at these tales that precede the “not-deer” concept by decades.
My current knowledge of pop cryptids provided a way to frame this historic contribution. A cryptid made internet-famous in the past few years on TikTok was apparently around back in 1971 and then fell out of popular knowledge for a while.
Enchanted forests
Some non-sourced web pages, videos, and podcasts claim the idea of a supernatural deer is rooted in the legends of forest spirits of North America, Europe and Asia. I suggest, dear reader, that you not get your information from unsourced content creators who are looking for clicks. Deer, however, have logged a long, varied, and almost entirely benign, association with the supernatural and magical concepts worldwide. The “not-deer” stories have an uncanny tinge of danger and evil.
Unfortunately, the stories also fit very neatly into the popularity of “spooky Appalachia” – the promoted concept that the forests of the mountainous eastern US are enchanted, haunted, and dangerous. As often seen with cryptids, descriptions morph and merge with other creatures through time. Thanks to creative license, we now have the wendigo modernly depicted with antlers, and a strong popular interest (and belief) in skinwalkers and shape-shifters, feeding into the myth of the “not deer.”
The hard life of a deer
Current encounters with “not-deer” are at least somewhat attributable to wildlife diseases that are rampant in white tail deer populations, resulting in their distressing appearance and bizarre behaviors. Disease is associated with coughing and labored breathing, uncoordination, swollen body parts, skin lesions or growths, hair loss, overgrown or misshapen hooves or antlers. And, disease also manifests as secondary unusual behaviors such as approaching humans, repetitive or unusual motion, and desperate seeking of water or food.
Chronic wasting disease is likely a major cause of people reporting anomalous deer behavior and appearance. CWD is a disease related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, AKA mad cow disease. Abnormal proteins called prions are produced in a chain reaction, affecting the brain and damaging the nervous system. It’s spread through the population through direct contact and is always fatal. First discovered in Colorado in 1967, it spread east of the Mississippi in 2002 and now has spread across North America. Prions can persist in the environment for years. CWD causes emaciation, drooling, and desensitization to threats like people and cars. It can cause tremors, stumbling and repetitive movements. CWD-infected deer are sometimes referred to as zombie deer – an unfortunate and inaccurate label. The deer do not normally attack or bite people.
As far as we know, CWD is not transmissible to humans. However, various precautions regarding contact with deer, reporting, and disposal of certain carcass parts (such as the head and spinal column) are employed in areas where the disease is known. Community feeding and watering of wild deer spreads this disease.
In some reports related to the not-deer, the animal is described as having a “bovine” or swollen face that makes its appearance unnatural. The National Deer Association published information on a chronic infection that causes facial swelling. The syndrome has been named “Bullwinkle deer”. Animals with this or other conditions can be startling and confusing to witnesses.
Proliferation of the Not-Deer tales
We can conclude that the modern legend of the not-deer was heavily influenced by an assemblage of factors that came together beginning around 2019 — the cultural appetite for weird Appalachia tales of magical places and their monsters; human encounters with deer, both usual and unusual; the expansion of terrible, behavior-altering diseases; and the prevalence of social media that encouraged the spread and embellishment of these stories.
I suppose the lesson here is that where ever there are people (and social media), we will have our monsters, even ones based on timid and graceful herbivores.
Check out my guest host episode on Skeptoid! (Read or Listen)
The Not-Deer and Weird Appalachian Lore
When ordinary deer turn grotesque, Appalachia’s forests whisper of the Not-Deer — unnatural predators lurking somewhere between folklore and nightmare
More:
Have a listen to Kate Shaw’s Strange Animals Podcast episode on “Not-Deer” from Halloween 2023.
Chronic Wasting Disease: Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
“Bullwinkle deer”: National Deer Association
@sharona Huh! This immediately brings to mind the Phantom Kangaroo! I've had two Phantom Kangaroo sightings myself, one hiking in Appalachia, and on that occasion I first thought it was a deer, then saw it was standing on its hind legs, forelegs in the air in a most undeerish manner. My other PK experience, and that of a friend who's also seen a PK, took place in more suburban Virginia, but definitely territory still roamed by many whitetail deer. Thanks!
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Definitely plausible for some of these accounts.
Britain has a very long history of ‘weird deer’ going back into antiquity, with things like pure white deer having a role as beasts of omen and vision.
Most of those odd behaviors are due, as you pointed out, to disease, specifically something known as Chronic Wasting Disease. CWD is becoming a huge problem. It is a prion disease, like Jacobs-Crutchfield disease. it attacks the central nervous system and the brain and causes peculiar behavior, muscular weakness, balance problems and eventually death. It is believed that it is not transmissible to humans but data in the last few years indicates that in some cases it might be. CWD has spread through almost the entire deer herd here in Wisconsin.
Oh my! I do not spook easily at all. But deer walking bi-pedaly would make me book it out of there! Wow! Thanks for opening up my eyes to yet another incident of high-strange! 🙂
CWD spread to Georgia this past year. It’s going to be a real problem if veterinary science cannot find a cure. I laughed at your trail cam photo. Deer stand up on their hind legs for two reasons that I know of, and I have pics on my trail cams for both contexts. First, they will stand up to get at the corn in a typical deer feeder. Most hunters put their trail cams near a feeder so they can see the type of deer that are on the property, so you can see a lot of pictures of this behavior. Bucks and does will both do it. Second, like the pic you have, does will do this when they are about to brawl. From the looks of it, the doe on the right in your photo is about to get her butt kicked by the one on the left. 😂
“Unfortunately, the stories also fit very neatly into the popularity of “spooky Appalachia” – the promoted concept that the forests of the mountainous eastern US are enchanted, haunted, and dangerous.”
For anyone interested in the “Spooky Appalachia” setting, I recommend you scare up and acquire a copy of the anthology “Who Fears the Devil?” by Manly Wade Wellman.
Though forgotten now, Wellman was a name to conjure with in “occult pulp fiction” from his debut in the 1920s to his death in the 1980s. “Who Fears the Devil?” is a compilation of all his “John the Balladeer” shorts and short-shorts, a series sometimes called “Silver John”. Told in first person by the main character John, a wandering minstrel through Post-ww2 Appalachia encountering and defeating supernatural threats through his knowledge of folk magic, his pure heart, and the sound of his silver-strung guitar. Wellman lived in Appalachia after the 1940s and wove local lore. magic,and monsters into the stories.
It’s now spread to Roblox and there is a 99 nights in the forest game.The main antagonist is a deer that kills you