Guiafairo (Wölöf word for fear that flies by night) is a winged cryptid reported from Senegal.
Description
It is said to have large wings, a gray body color, a human-like head, and three-fingered claws. This cryptid always emits a strong stench. It is believed to hide in hollow trees and rock crevices during the day and begin flying at night.
According to local lore, Guiafairo are said to be light balls that fly in the sky in multiples, or phantom-like beings that have no body and can slip through doors, but these characteristics are not known in Guiafairo as cryptids.
Sightings
Because the Guiafairo is more of a legendary creature than as a cryptid, there have been very few reported sightings.
On the evening of October 9, 1995, a person named Lloyd Gmeiner was walking from his uncle's house to his home when he passed a strange creature flying ahead of him. He almost fell to the ground due to the foul odor emitted by the creature, but managed to reach his home. Over the next few days, Gmeiner suffered headaches, nausea, and diarrhea, so he went to the hospital. Upon examination, doctors told him that these symptoms resembled radiation exposure. Gmeiner was hospitalized for the next year and suffered some residual effects, but managed to return to his daily life.
Explanations
There are multiple theories as to what the creature Lloyd Gmeiner saw was and why he became ill the way he did.
Some thought it was a biological weapon that emitted radiation, but this seems unlikely.
The most likely theory is that the creature encountered was merely a bat or owl, and that the physical illness was merely a bacterial, viral, or parasitic disease that he himself was already infected with without his knowledge and that developed after the encounter.