Java's Tjidjenkol river area is supposed to be inhabited by huge bats. In 1927, zoologist Ernst Bartels heard a loud "a-hool", louder than the other forest noises. He heard the sound twice again before it move away in the night.
Natives of the region call this creature ahool, or athol. They say that the size of the beast is about the same as the one of a small child, with a 11-12 feet wingspan. It is supposedly covered by grey fur and have a face that look like the one of a monkey or a man. Sometimes, it was seen sit on the forest floor, with the wings folded beside it. It's home during the day should be a cave near of a waterfall, from where it comes out at night in quest of fishes.
Natives are against the theorie of an owl. The animal seems to be in fact a giant member of the micro-chiroptera, the kind of bats that everyone's familiar with, that also include the brown bats and pipistrelles. What can help us to say this is the face, which is flat in the case of the athol. Another thing is the way they put their wings while sleeping. (Fruit bats wrap their wings around their bodies). It can also be bipedal for a short time span and it's feet point backward.
Athol have many other related all around the world, such as Madagascar's Fandalabolo, Congo's Olitio and maybe Kongamato, India's Vepala, Filipino's Berbalang.
SOURCES: http://come.to/the_cryptoweb/
Cryptozoologix 2001
