Hezhi

Hezhi or Xizi (席子; Chinese: "mat") or xixuetan (吸血毯; "blood-sucking blanket"), dipizhuan (地;; "rolled up from the ground") — this is the cryptid that was reported from China, described as a blood-sucking creature resembling a mat or blanket, but covered with suckers.

It is a flattened creature, usually resembling a woolen blanket or mat, although other forms are sometimes described. Descriptions of its size range from 13 inches wide to about 6 feet 6 inches square, and it is described as reddish in color or covered with soft, fluffy, greenish fur, which may be a cover of moss.

A 2000 observation describes small eyes and "wing appendages." Its abdominal surface is covered with sharp suction cups, and it is assumed that it sucks the blood of humans and animals.

It is found near rivers, estuaries, water-filled depressions and crevices and can move overland.

It was first mentioned in Duan Chengshi's work "Different Pieces from Yuyang" (酉阳)) of the 9th century, which describes the attack of an animal resembling Xizi. According to this report, a fisherman in Jiangzhou (now Jiangxi Province) was attacked by a large leaf-shaped animal 13 inches wide, covered with round sharp suckers. The fisherman died, apparently from blood loss, shortly after the attack.

Cryptozoologists have suggested that freshwater stingrays or possibly freshwater cephalopods could have been the source of the myth.