Ahool — Cryptid Encyclopedia

In 1925, naturalist Dr. Ernest Bartels was exploring a waterfall deep in the volcanic mountains of western Java when an enormous flying creature passed directly over his head. Its wingspan was at least ten feet — far larger than any known bat species. Its body was covered in dark gray fur. Its face was distinctly simian, like a monkey's, with large dark eyes. And as it flew, it let out a deep, resonant cry: "A-hool! A-hool!" — the call that would give the creature its name.

Two years later, Bartels encountered the Ahool again while exploring the Salak Mountains. This time, the creature flew over his camp at night, close enough that he could see the details of its enormous wings and its flat, ape-like face in the moonlight. As a trained naturalist and the son of renowned ornithologist M.E.G. Bartels, he knew every bat species on Java. This was not one of them.

The Ahool is described as a giant bat with a wingspan exceeding ten feet, a body the size of a small child, dark gray fur, flat facial features resembling a primate, large clawed feet, and long forearms. It is nocturnal, inhabiting the dense jungle canopy in Java's most remote mountain regions.

Some researchers have suggested the Ahool could be a surviving pterosaur or an unknown species of giant bat. Java is home to the world's largest known bat, the large flying fox, which has a wingspan of nearly six feet — but the Ahool is described as significantly larger, with completely different facial features.

Java's volcanic mountains, dense rainforests, and extensive cave systems provide exactly the kind of habitat where a large, nocturnal flying creature could avoid detection. The Ahool's remote range and strictly nocturnal behavior make it one of the most tantalizingly plausible cryptids in Southeast Asia.