Cryptid - Not-Deer (Promptober 2025 #25)

Artist Rendering of Not-Deer

Appalachia holds a whole host of mysteries, but I find stories about the Not-Deer most disturbing.

It has no fear of humans and will approach them. It moves strangely, as if it's still learning to walk on its deer legs. Its eyes point forward like a predator and not to the sides like an actual deer. Its limbs stretch longer than a deer's should. Its body rounds out in a barrel shape. It has the air of intelligence about it.

True to form for cryptids, sightings usually occur at night in solitary situations by people too freaked out to open the camera on their phone. Some report being chased up a tree after they tried to scare the Not-Deer away. It stood on its hind legs attempting to gore the person in the tree, but couldn't quite reach.

So what is this creature?

Some say it's a kangaroo with antlers, or a deer with a disease or double joints, but those explanations feel far too mundane. I have it on good authority that it's actually a transformed person.

The sentient intelligence remains locked within a form that can't speak. Deer legs remain a mystery after years as a biped. Waiting for the ignorant humans to act aggressively before threatening to attack means the Not-Deer either tries to communicate and finally gives up after the human gets scared, or the Not-Deer at least understands the Tit-For-Tat strategy from game theory. Either way, it exhibits human-like behavior.

How did this person become the Not-Deer? Maybe someone else placed a transformative curse on them. Maybe a druid or shaman assumes that form to scare off people from sacred sites. Maybe lycanthropy runs rampant in the mountains and foothills, and a whole herd of Not-Deer run wild through the underbrush.

It's up to your plucky band of investigators to get to the bottom of this mystery. Maybe one of them can speak with animals and get the story directly from the Not-Deer. Or maybe they'll end up gored in a ditch, transforming into Not-Deer themselves after they recover.

Part of the Promptober project for 2025.