by Devin Davis

Created on: April 26, 2008   Last Updated: April 10, 2010

My invention of the Mandagora is my way of personality typing the interesting people I see every day. This is the first post.

Mandagora: n. Newly discovered creature by Doctor Charlie Lixton. From the species Mandagoras mimikus, they are found to have the biology of a plant but the behavior (i.e. motility, social patterns, etc.) of animals. Recent findings on these creatures have shown them to have a defense mechanism that allows them to copy the structure of any plant, fungus, mold, or other, providing an unusual camouflage that hides their ubiquitousness. Scientists have yet to categorize the Mandagora into a kingdom of species, considering they are a hybrid of plant and animal.

Post One: The Marijuana/Mushroom Phenomenon

My most recent discovery of Mandagora led me to downtown Salt Lake City. It had rained the previous evening, and along the side of the streets was fine mud that had washed away from the road during the downpour. It was there I found the telltale footprints of root-feet, a path appearing as normal erosion marks to the untrained eye, but as unmistakable tracks of the Mandagora to a person as experienced as myself. I trailed the lines up a hillside to an old house that appeared to be abandoned, unfit to keep anything or anyone. As I circled around to the back, the pathway led to a cellar door. I opened it and climbed down the chipped cement stairs, turned on my flashlight, and found a bundle of mushrooms growing in the soil of rotting stuff between the ground and crawlspace of the old building.

I removed a metal spatula from my satchel to separate a mushroom from the rest, and as I moved the instrument nearer, a mushroom's eyes opened, and the Mandagorum backed away timidly, scared of the apparent weapon I wielded. At the movement of the first, the others followed suit, squealing as they fled along the crawlspace.

Sacrificing my tidy demeanor to the slew, I leapt into the crawlspace, groping around to nab the critters. I caught three and placed them in a Tupperware I carried with me, but the remaining four were more difficult to seize. With the use of a butterfly net, I attained the remaining four and brought them into a lab to be scrutinized.

It required several hours for the Mandagora to calm down, their behavior uncharacteristic of what I had previously encountered with others. These seven kept yelling how I was a monster, maintaining the shape of mushrooms as they dashed aimlessly about the inside of the plastic box. After a few hours,

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