How can I conceal the presence of magical beasts from humans for a few weeks?

Question

I am in the process of fleshing out an alternate world where, following an unnatural super-storm (think cold snaps down to -30°C and heavy snowfall in the 4ft range [1.2 m] inside of 8 hours) in the middle of June, a large number of people are cut-off in the Cold Zone. This zone reaches to the Northern end of Kansas, USA, while its origin point is centered over Hudson Bay in Canada.

The event takes place during high tourist season and as a result a lot of people unfamiliar with the cold northern winter climate will be present. The return of magic is occurring but is not immediately obvious. The unnatural winter is being caused by a magical tear leading to a hellish world of ice and snow. Due to the weakening of the fabric between our world and other worlds bordering it, various entities, structures, and monsters begin to appear in the Cold Zone. Especially during blizzards and other periods of extremely heavy snowfall.

I need a plausible way for this creature in particular to go largely unnoticed for 2-3 weeks.

Monster I Need Help Hiding

Snow Kraken: These great monstrosities are made up of snow and ice bound together into a semi-rigid shape anchored by runes lining its solid skull and the solid bases of its 10 tentacles which branch out from it. They are around the size of a school bus typically, but like an octopus can squeeze their body and compress themselves very easily. They hunt by feeling/hearing tremors through the ground as well as eyesight when peeking above-ground. They burrow through the frozen turf at roughly 15mph [24 km/h], but cannot burrow through solid stone and rarely go deeper than 40ft underground [12 m]. Fear fire and are usually encountered in dense forests and open plains. Although at least one has climbed up a mountainside so it could create avalanches and ride the waves of snow down. They can regrow tentacles if they lose one, but it requires them to have a source of ice and snow as well as 2-4 days.

Their rigid skull and tentacle bases are only the size of a smart car with ten golf club bag sized bases bristling off the back end around the creepily human-like mouth. It can contract its skeletal structure to roughly 1/4 the presented size here. So where could it hide in a modern world wracked by super blizzards where 4-6ft [1.2-1.8 m] of snow falls each day?

Answer 1

It's really cold outside with mountains of snow!

All those tourists are huddled indoors. Even if they were familiar with Northern winters, they didn't bring clothes for them. Especially not shoes you can wear outside in those conditions without getting frostbite.

Only a few locals, who have the gear and the vehicles, are venturing out to find food and wood/fuel for everyone. Or in some cases, taking tourists down south.

No one is going to go out on the lake, which is where the tear between the worlds happened. The monsters have come through there, steady for now on the solid ice the lake has become.

Like humans, the monsters will venture out for food and supplies. Or plain old curiosity. They are probably worried and scared because they have been transported to a place they don't recognize. When they see humans, they'll stay away.

The supernatural element is obvious from the weather. But occasionally a monster will be in a position where a human can see it. Maybe from very far away, maybe in the dark, maybe even a full on encounter.

Will the other humans believe the one who saw the monster? At first, no way. But as the stories pile up like the snow around them, they start to wonder. Eventually, they're convinced something horrible is happening.

Having this process take a few weeks works well.

This will also be the time period when the humans have depleted the food and wood available to them within a few miles. If the roads are open to cars and the cars all work, everyone would have evacuated after the first few days. If they're around it's because they're stuck there to serve your story. Or perhaps most evacuated and a few stayed behind and they're the ones experiencing the monsters (and stuck because now the roads are impassible).

Even if there is electricity and communication with the outside world, there may be no way to get to them. What happens next is up to you.

Answer 2

They can cloak but only for a number of hours or perhaps they camouflage with the snow. Perhaps the supernatural beings use their magical abilities but because magic is still returning, they cannot utilise their full powers yet - there is not enough "mana." People eventually realise this because they inadvertently begin to harness magical powers too... and tap into their five senses in ways they couldn't before.

Interesting premise, keep it up!

Answer 3

So for the most people if they actually survive seeing your example Creatures they will think the cold either destroyed their brain and they have gone crazy or think that the cold has caused them selves to see things that aren't there. Also when anyone will witness something strange from some of your creatures rather than investigate most people will flee. So those who actually investigate are most likely alone or in a small group up to three. With the size of these groups most creatures you mentioned will easily deal with them and if one escapes nobody will really believe them and instead believe the cold caused them to get crazy or another normal wild animal killed the other people from the group.

Of course when these accounts of survivors increase and when considering the abnormal weather at some point people will get behind it but this will probably take months or even a year (when the cold stayed for all four seasons) but even then Governments and other institutions will rather tell lives in order to keep stability instead of admitting that they have no clue whats going on.

Answer 4

The rift isnt instantly passable. At first the monsters appear for a short moment (say an hour) then are gone again. Even if they leave trails or are seen their sudden disappearance will make people doubt themselves but still que them that something strange is happening.

From "burglaries" where a monster appeared in a house (usually empty during the day) and wrecked stuff to grisly murders with survivors not being believed by the wider public (the local detective who sees the bodies and some camera footage will probably believe). Segregation due to the weather and intermittend communication with the rest of the world make it hard to know what's real or not until the monsters manage to be permanent and start a rampage within city limits.