Weird beast photographed in NC looks like a unicorn, but there’s a simple explanation

A camera trap in central North Carolina just captured a photo of something so strange that experts joke it could be proof of mythical creatures.

“And who said unicorns don’t exist?,” N.C. Candid Critters asked with the post.

Social media wasn’t easily convinced, though some said the creature is “at least from the same gene pool.”

The photo is actually a deformed white-tailed deer, experts say, with one horn pointed straight up. Closer inspection reveals it has a second horn, too, pointed out like a bull.

Unicorns are mythological creatures that appear as horses with a single horn. It is believed they had “magical abilities,” with some ancient cultures suggesting they were “the incarnation of purity and grace,” according to Mythology.net.

Proof they existed has yet to be found, however.

Commenters on the Candid Critters post note the deer in the photo is actually known in the Asheboro area of Randolph County, where the photo was taken in August.

Locals have even given it a name: Cleo.

The deer is the latest in a series of oddities caught on camera by N.C. Candid Critters, which has camera traps set up on private and public land across all 100 of North Carolina’s counties.

Among the stranger photos have been creatures that can’t be easily identified due to illness or disease, and others that only appear as a mysterious blur or frightening closeup of their eyes.

On Nov. 22, the program posted another mystery on Facebook, when it released a photo of what appeared to be an albino raccoon spotted in Nash County.

This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 7:58 AM with the headline "Weird beast photographed in NC looks like a unicorn, but there’s a simple explanation."