Lmst

#AICryptids #cryptids #cryptidtiktok #folklore #hoax #LochNessMonster #Nessie #nightmarefuel #TheSasqualogist #VeggieMan #WestVirginia

https://sharonahill.com/?p=9679

Pop Cryptid Spectator 17 – Sharon A. Hill

Bear Lake monster marker
Join the cryptid crawl
Cryptids as sports icons
New York Times Monster Quest Strands puzzle
Blue Ridge Hunting game features Appalachian cryptids
Seeking Mothgirl
Another fake Bigfoot promo video
Nessie Quest 2025 is a bust
#cryptid #popcryptid #folklore

https://sharonahill.com/pop-cryptid-spectator-17/

Today’s NYT strands puzzle is a #popcryptid theme!
Pop #cryptid is a modern model of cryptozoology where scientifically documenting a mystery animal is secondary to the celebration of lore and consumerism.

The mythical world of Safari Ltd cryptids

Listen, I am not a toy collector, I don’t buy toys. But these Jersey Devil and Mothman cryptid models from Safari, Ltd, Mythical Realms creatures line are wicked and delightful. Let me show you.

Firstly, and importantly for my Pop Cryptid framework, the Mythical Realms line has four of the world’s most popular cryptids (Bigfoot, Yeti, Mothman, and the Jersey Devil) in a collection with unicorns/pegasus, armored dinosaurs, gnomes, mermaids and even a “Halfling”. It is perfectly and culturally acceptable to lump these entities together as “mythical”.

I’m not going to talk about the Bigfoot model because it’s straight-up dull. Bigfoot’s aim is to blend into the woods. And so does the monster model. If you drop it in the dirt, you will not find it again. The Yeti is better because it looks like a video game Yeti, all blue-white and ripped. But I’m not much of a fan of this look because it is so entirely off the mark from the origin stories, which, in my view, tell of a rare bear.

The Mothman, however, was born wildly scary. Eyewitness accounts don’t include reliable specific details. The original accounts, however, aren’t actually moth-like, but the idea of a “mothman” is what really counts. It’s not thought of as a zoological creature (though it could have been a case of mistaken ID, as with most cryptids). It carries significant fantastical baggage thanks to John Keel. Therefore, extreme versions of Mothman are fair game. Safari has a black version and a bizarre but fascinating glow-in-the dark version. I like them both. Safari’s take on Mothman includes book-like abs, which make no biological sense, the characteristic red eyes, and moth-y antennae (used for catching scents in the air). Two-toed feet and three-fingered “hands” plus the fantasy-based ribbed wings (dragon- or demon-like, with no analog in nature as they are not formed from phalanges, flaps, or feathers) give it a totally “mythical” quality.

Let’s be clear: when people still say they see “mothman” anywhere from West Virginia to Chicago, they aren’t seeing a creature as depicted here. This Mothman is concocted to be ultimately and sensationally spooky.

The Safari, Ltd. object that really caught me and reeled me in, however, was the Jersey Devil. Everything I said about Mothman doubly applies to this creature. It’s depicted with a hairy but ripped human torso, and similar dragon wings unconnected to human arms with three clawed fingers and an opposable clawed thumb. The ridiculously implausible legs begin with a human thigh, knee, and calf, that then develop into horse ankles, extra long pastern bones, and ends in cloven hooves. The back is ridged, extending into a scaly tail, ending in a tuft of fur. Crazy! The head is the best part, however – extra thick and horse-like with ribbed curved goat horns, and horse nose/lips, but straight blunt, perfectly occluded teeth revealed by a masterful snarl (my favorite detail). It’s an entirely unnatural devilish mashup of, like, four different animals plus our idea of a stylized dragon. It’s glorious. Someone buy this for my birthday!

The Jersey Devil is probably my favorite cryptid. I’m not sure why, but I think the monstrous and incredible mixture of features along with its sheer unreality have much to do with it. The JD is so fun; the traditional origin story of the monstrous birth and subsequent forest haunting lacks grounding in reality. Without any restrictions on biology, the tall tale aspect allowed creativity to run wild. Perhaps that’s why I love this toy’s depiction so much, too – it’s absurd. And who would argue!? There is no question that this not a real animal; it’s a supernatural story. There is no zoology involved. The “mystery” will remain forever. We shall never see one IRL, so it gleefully lives on in our imagination.

Thanks to the Monster Toy Blog who reviewed the JD model. Check it out here.

#collectables #cryptid #JerseyDevil #Mothman #popCryptid #toys #Yeti

https://sharonahill.com/?p=9852

New Harold the Abominable Snowman Sipper Available for Disneyland 70th Celebration #popcryptid

https://wdwnt.com/2025/05/new-harold-the-abominable-snowman-sipper-available-for-disneyland-70th-celebration/

Pop Cryptid Spectator 15

Hello and welcome to the 15 edition of Pop Cryptid Spectator – a newsletter solely meant to indulge my interest in the subject of cryptids in popular culture. If you’re reading it, that’s awesome; I appreciate it. It’s important to me to document changes in the thinking about mysterious animals over modern times. It’s not just some weird fringe subject, it’s mainstream now. The modern stories and events associated with mysterious animals reflect societal views and the different agendas of subgroups involved in the topic. This edition does go a bit heavy on the traditional view of cryptozoology, where people are interested in finding a real animal behind the rumors of existence. But, things will go off the rails, as everything has in this wacky 21st century. Thanks for joining me on this kooky trip.

In this edition:

Florida Bigfoot Conference review
Sasquatch heads around town
AI cryptids: Faked Nessie sightings
AI cryptids: Fake Yeti photo circulating
AI Fake Coelacanth News
Mokele-mbembe and Creationists’ corruption
Cryptid media: The Cryptid Factor podcast

Florida Bigfoot Conference review

Amanda from Swell Entertainment attended the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference in Ocala a few weeks ago and posted a video review. I found several parts interesting but also, there was a lot of the same old thing that always happens with cryptid conferences (vs conventions which are more fan oriented). However, conferences usually suggest a more serious audience but cryptid events in general seem to be leaning more towards merchandise sales and para-celebrity attractions, with almost no scholarly presenters (maybe because there are so few).

For example, Amanda says there was considerable time given to the audience to supply content. That is, there was a panel discussion that was mostly audience questions, and there was a big session of testimonials where people were encouraged to tell their (sometimes long and rambling stories). Often, these events get one or two big name speakers from TV shows to draw fans. The quality of content is hit or miss.

Amanda didn’t have a strong background in Bigfoot information. This can be an advantage or disadvantage for a fair review. The advantage is that she had fresh eyes on the content and was unimpressed by the quality of much of the evidence presented, the over-reliance on eyewitness testimony, and poorly documented physical traces (like footprints). Additionally, she noted the drama that took place regarding a certain skunk ape researcher (if you know, you know – I know), who felt he should have been the main draw at this and previous events. Not only do these events not invite scholars (who are mostly going to be skeptics), they also have much ado about internal squabbles re: claiming areas, ideas, and even evidence, for themselves. All of this shows how “zoology” based cryptid research is unscientific. She even noted that very few presenters had a scientific background, and there was considerable fringe talk regarding conspiracies, government coverups, and even obvious nonsense about pseudoarchaeology and Roswell’s alien bodies. None of this is at all surprising.

From her comments, and from my past experience from such events, it seems that this event really leans into an agenda that transcends Bigfoot as simply a mystery to be solved. Going by the popularity of UAPs and eccentric ideas about nature, a portion of Bigfoot audiences will buy into scary concepts without foundation, where belief and personal testimony outweigh scientific evidence and critical evaluation. That’s not rational, that’s religion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTiOZXToRk8

Sasquatch heads around town

Moving on to a more lighthearted, and very “pop cryptid” story, Seattle artist Henry is on a mission to paint 1000 Sasquatch faces across the city. He loves to create his cartoon, friendly-fanged version of the big guy and thinks it’s a nice way to connect the community with a common theme. He is still taking requests for locations on his website https://www.henry.art/1000-murals.html, if you have a spare space that needs a furry face.

AI cryptids: Faked Nessie sightings

I really didn’t anticipate that so many cryptid stories in the news would roll back around to AI. But with this slop taking over the internet and making that technology less useful every day, this is the way it’s going. The Loch Ness Centre has to consider that every photo they get purportedly of Nessie might be AI generated. In past decades, photo editing and hoaxes was a likely possibility, but now, the photos can be not only heavily manipulated through AI, but created entirely from prompts, not even needing some real event as a basis. The Centre has had to employ a team of consultants to examine the visual evidence for this kind of humbuggery.

Actually, the easier route is to not accept this kind of evidence at all. The odds are overwhelming that any image is not going to show anything worthwhile. Evidence needs to be far better than that.

AI cryptids: Fake Yeti photo circulating

For this story, I’m trying not to despair because the content is so blatantly fake that it should be obvious to anyone. But people still are circulating it as evidence of the Yeti. It’s so popular that Snopes.com had to put up a debunk of it. It began with an AI generated photo appearing on X (which I always call Xitter, pronounced “shi-ter”) showing a weird bear-like creature next to a man. It got over a million views. Within a few weeks, the image was being circulated on TikTok as evidence of the Yeti. This is not the first time that AI has been used to fool people with photo evidence of a hairy giant and other cryptids. The internet is making us stupid. I just hope most people see this as a form of modern art/commentary, and not real.

AI Fake Coelacanth News

And, finally, on the AI front, is the fake news circulated this week that a coelacanth (a cryptozoologist’s favorite red herring for mystery monsters that may still exist) was found off the coast of California. I wrote a separate post about this which you received if you are subscriber. It’s a depressing state of affairs when news media will simply regurgitate fiction as fact without checking. But this is a warning that it’s happening all the time and we need to be aware. Be SKEPTICAL! Check the sources.

Mokele-mbembe and Creationists’ corruption

In the past few PCS editions, I’ve mentioned the growing popularity of neodinosaurs (a term that was coined by Fortean and OG cryptozoology commentator Ivan Sanderson). In particular, the mokele-mbembe stories are showing up on media sites documenting the resurgence of belief by locals that a brontosaurus-like creature still exists in the Congo basin in Africa. A new piece from New Lines mag continues the story by emphasizing the connection of this tale to those trying to disprove evolution. The article packs a punch. I have to share a quote:

Mokele-mbembe is the Congo Basin’s bigfoot. Or that’s what it’s become, anyway — a cryptid. Nobody is sure when the myth originated, but it was born among the basin’s communities, who passed it down as an oral tradition. Locals tell me the myth was spiritual at first — a metaphor, perhaps, for humankind’s delicate relationship with the land. But today, nobody can say with certainty what exactly it meant because foreigners long ago twisted it well beyond recognition.
“Congolese people originally believed mokele-mbembe was a spiritual being, not a real dinosaur,” Oyange told me last year. “But that all changed when the white man came to Africa.” A confluence of European colonial expansion into Africa and the birth of paleontology gave rise to a version of mokele-mbembe that was a literal, flesh-and-blood, swamp-dwelling reptilian beast. Tales passed around by explorers, missionaries and colonial functionaries became warped by notions from Victorian literature and emerging science.

Take. Note. It is perfectly clear that the idea of a living dinosaur in the Congo was a manufactured myth. Unfortunately, it is still heavily promoted by a few backwards thinkers who insist that the Bible is a science book. And, worse than that, the locals now believe the modern myth. Similarly, the ideas of lake monsters and many other cryptids, especially Bigfoot, were linked to native stories by white people even where there was originally no strong similarity to the creature in the folklore. In time, the oral traditions merged with modern media depictions and the distinction between the two is lost, even to the point where modern Natives will equate their ancient tales to the manufactured media version of the creature. There have been several studies showing that when you go back to the original native tales of supernatural creatures, they do not resemble the exaggerated named cryptid of today. This article is worth a read.

Cryptid media: Cryptid Factor podcast

And now for something completely comedic. I have been listening to The Cryptid Factor when it was a radio show that turned into a podcast. I can’t remember the year I first heard it but I think it was 2008 or 2009. It was one of the earliest cryptid-related podcasts, though I use that term “cryptid-related” loosely. It’s more “cryptid-themed”. It wasn’t always easy to keep up. There were long breaks between episodes. For example, they are officially up to episode #106 in the 17 years that the show has been in existence. That’s 6.23 episodes per year. However, I forgive them because it’s hosted by TV and movie actor Rhys Darby, whom I first knew from one of my favorite shows, Flight of Conchords. Rhys is a busy guy, even appearing on the special X Files series event in 2016 as a cryptid himself. So the podcast crew couldn’t always manage a regular schedule. In the past 5 years, I gave up listening because I figured it was defunct. Instead, interest was surging on the pop cryptid wave! When I resubscribed a few months back, I realized that their fandom had expanded. Rhys and his cohosts now regularly promote the show, it’s on YouTube and they have a Shopify merch site! Clearly, hanging on to the brand through the lean times paid off. If you search for “cryptid” on BlueSky or Instagram social media feeds today, you’ll get Rhys as part of the results!

Like I said, the show is more comedic than anything. It’s all about having fun and being very silly. After all this time, I’m still not sure what the crew really believe or disbelieve but it doesn’t matter (since I have a liking for New Zealand accents). They have a genuine interest, but still not too much in depth knowledge, about cryptids and related subjects. I do credit Rhys for introducing me to the concept of the Taniwha (a mysterious creature of New Zealand that sort of serves as the catch-all monster, like the Bunyip of Australia). Even though the main purpose of the podcast appears to be an excuse for a trio of zany friends to make jokes and humorous sound effects, talk about their international travel, and “weekly” weird news stories, occasionally, some cryptid content is included. I love it. The Cryptid Factor was totally part of the Pop Cryptid scene before it even began!

For more, click on Pop goes the Cryptid landing page. Make sure you subscribe to all the posts – it’s always free and I don’t send annoying spam.

Pop Cryptid Spectator is also available on Substack. Please share this with cryptid fans you know!

Pop Cryptid Spectator Pop Cryptid Spectator 14

Pop Cryptid Spectator 14

Pop Cryptid Spectator 13

#1 #2 #AICryptids #Bigfoot #BigfootHuntersDie #cryptid #cryptidFake #cryptidTVShow #giantOwls #GodzillaSighting #GoogleEarth #HoodCryptids #OutThereCrimesOfTheParanormal #popCryptids #scryptids #Skinwalker #TheCryptidFactor #Wendigo

https://sharonahill.com/?p=9171

Pop Cryptid Spectator 13

Hello and welcome to the Pop Cryptid Spectator no. 13.

In this edition:

The crypt-illogical slip into the irrational
News people don’t know their animals
AI cryptid articles – It’s how stuff works
Cryptid merch: Squishables Mothman series
The Hebridean Mermaid
Ogopogo float may sink
Cryptid Media: More podcasts

The crypt-illogical slip into the irrational

I focus very much on the present, popular, news and views of cryptozoology, but when I look at traditional cryptozoology, I find that the most cogent writing clearly points in the direction of today’s Pop Cryptids. For example, Adrian Shine appeared on the latest episode of Monster Talk to discuss his lifelong research into sea serpents, and lake monsters claims in Scotland in his new book A Natural History of Sea Serpents. In this interview, Shine shares his wisdom gained from synthesizing decades of careful observation, and this is enlightening.

Among the wise things he said so eloquently, he noted that cryptozoology was a way to rationalize monsters. At its time of inception, that made sense: cryptozoology attempted to remove the magical aspects about mystery creatures, and apply science to the process of discovering amazing new animals. But, as he also says, hidden animals require lost worlds. We have very few of these “lost worlds” left, and people aren’t exploring them due to our natural limits (such as the ability to spend time in the deep ocean). If there are animals, there, they aren’t cryptids, they are just new to us. Therefore, that negates the formation of lore about them that defines a cryptid.

We aren’t going to find a Yeti or Nessie because it is clear after all these centuries that the stories were not reflecting real animals as collectively described, but a monstrous interpretation fed by cultural factors and confirmation bias. Current monster hunters will disagree but I’m being logical, here. The scientific evidence for real cryptids has not improved.

Today’s shift back to seeing cryptids as less zoological is, in a way, rational – in a cultural sense. As people attempt to create an alternate world of magic and mystery, adding cryptids to the fantasy environment makes sense. The colorful world of pop cryptids is what we get from that reconstruction. The cryptids don’t make zoological sense, but they make cultural sense.

As I wrote in a review of Shine’s book in PCS 7, A Natural History of Sea Serpents is a fantastic book and I could listen to Adrian Shine talk all day long, he’s astute and articulate. I deeply appreciate his careful research that helps me see old cases in a new light, find the through-lines of this complex subject, and understand the wider view.

Meanwhile, I hate to admit, the cryptid content that mostly appears in media – made by amateur researchers, people seeking an alternative reality, or just jokers – is not high quality (with only a few rare exceptions). It’s not even very creative. But because cryptids are a mainstream thing now, anything goes. And anything, no matter how poorly done, how ridiculous, or how misleading, will get clicks. See the following two examples.

News people don’t know their animals

You can bet that the “mystery animal” videos that get shown on the local news reports are going to contain some cringeworthy comments by the reporters. TV news anchors read what’s been written for them and respond and ad lib based only on whatever background info them have. They usually don’t know anything about a natural subject. One sad side effect of Pop Cryptids is that many now know the names of local cryptids and throw them out there as “possibilities”. In the process, they reveal shallow knowledge of the lore and history of the creature, and ignorance of the local wildlife. These three news personnel from Pueblo, Colorado speculate on what this animal is from a dark and grainy video. At least they recognize the red eyes may be a camera artifact, but one suggests it’s a chupacabra. In a broadcast on another station, the pair of presenters also give ridiculous opinions (such as it’s a person dressed up). The Colorado wildlife officials said it might be a raccoon with mange.

Not a chupacabra.

My initial thought is that it’s a coati, an animal found as far north as Arizona and sometimes kept as a pet. It’s not unusual to see coati in unexpected places. It’s unclear what it’s doing in Colorado, but it’s only a “cryptid” is the loosest interpretation of the word. Meanwhile, mystery mongering sites like Coast to Coast AM promoted this story with a sensationalist headline. This kind of treatment is really disappointing and leads to the audience being misinformed or alarmed. There is no good excuse for such awful framing of an interesting animal story.

AI cryptid articles – It’s how stuff works

I have mentioned AI generated cryptids several times in this publication – videos, photos, and monsters that came from AI image-generation apps. But now I’m starting to notice that AI-written articles on cryptids are becoming a common thing. Several “infotainment” sites quickly generate pieces to capitalize on a trending news story or subject. Cryptids are one of those topics. The popular site How Stuff Works revealed just how their stuff works, by using AI to produce a recent article on the Loveland Frog. This article followsr news coverage for the frogman’s festival in March. The content is unoriginal, just more AI slop we have to wade through.

Squishables Mothman series

Squishables are sold in many toy and gift stores across the country. Their newest series of cuddly plushies is an array of fun Mothman critters. My favorite is the Rosy Maple mothman (genius!) – modeled after the stunning yellow and pink rosy maple moth (Dryocampa rubicunda). I remember the first time I saw a rosy maple moth and could not believe it was real! And now it’s a variety of mothman. Check out the other varieties.

The Hebridean Mermaid

A woman who pretends to be a mermaid landed a gig promoting a new BBC series about mermaid tales and folklore around the waters of northern Scotland. Looks like a cool topic for programming!

Many people “become” mermaids by donning tails and learning how to dance underwater. If you aren’t aware of how popular indulging in mermaid fantasy is these days is, you can check out a series on Netflix called MerPeople. It’s an eye-opener.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7hUc8HVSFk

Old-school cryptozoologist-types reject mermaids as cryptids, calling them “fantasy” creatures. But this take is proof of how the idea of ‘cryptids’ is selective and changes over time. There are undoubtedly cases in the centuries gone by, and even now in non-Western news reports, of people who say they have seen mermaids. It’s no joke. Although many faked videos attempt to capitalize on that belief, most are poorly done hoaxes.

Remember in 2012, there was a huge hubbub about Mermaids: A Body Found aired on the Discovery Network. There was NO doubt that more than a few people who knew nothing of nature accepted that Mermaids: A Body Found was a science show about real mermaids.

Are mermaids cryptids? Absolutely. They are legendary, culturally known, and we have plenty of documented claims asserting they really exist, and some that claim they had been captured. There is no line between cryptids and folklore/fantasy creatures now. It’s all the same concept.

Ogopogo float may sink

The City of Kelowna, B.C. has had a parade float for decades. The most popular design for the float has been that of the local Lake Okanagan monster, Ogopogo. According to The Kelowna Courier, for more than 50 years, the float has featured various representations of Ogopogo. Back in 2016, there was an idea to highlight other tourism opportunities of Kelowna with the float. That didn’t go over well, and after a public outcry, the town’s beloved cryptid was restored. Now the float requires repairs and the city council determined they just can’t afford the steep price tag. So, Canadian parades will be without Ogopogo for a time.

Cryptid Media: More podcasts

Here’s another podcast recommendation. Check out Squaring the Strange episode no 250 – Cryptids go Pop! where I was invited to discuss my interests, and this publication, with Ben and Celestia.

For some deep dives, check out the Bigfoot two-part episode and the Loch Ness Monster three-part treatment from the Mythillogical podcast – a well-researched tour through the folklore aspects of these two cryptids. If Charles and Crofty are reading, feel free to message me if you need help with North American pronunciations.

For more, click on Pop goes the Cryptid landing page. Make sure you subscribe to all the posts – it’s always free and I don’t send annoying spam.

Pop Cryptid Spectator is also available on Substack. Please share this with cryptid fans you know!

Pop Cryptid Spectator Pop Cryptid Spectator 12

#1 #chupacabra #cryptid #Cryptozoology #deathOfAUnicorn #popCryptid #reddit #rollerCoaster #scientific #seaSerpents #Skinwalker #Wendigo

Pop Cryptid Spectator 10

Welcome to PCS number 10. Spring is nearly here. I can tell because I’ve been noticing a number of media reports ramping up for cryptid spotting. A key feature of pop cryptids is the idea that they are in your neighborhood and should be celebrated and marketed. So, I’m sharing some examples of these observations in this Spectator, as well as past and future ones. If you spot one from your area, drop me a message!

In this edition:

California’s Bigfoot law – Spot the Sasquatch
The British Bigfoot
Wisconsin’s New Cryptid and Paranormal Convention
Mothman-flavored chips
First Nessie sighting of the year

California’s Bigfoot law – Spot the Sasquatch

Here is an update to PCS #8 issue that covered the proposed bill to make Bigfoot the official cryptid of California. While I explained that it makes sense to market your local famous monster for tourism dollars, the truth about this proposal appears to be much more… umm, shallow and dumb. In an article for a local CA paper, the assemblyman who introduced the bill admits that it was supposed to be a bit of a joke in terms of a “spot” or placeholder bill:

“…[W]e thought that it would be especially funny to introduce a spot bill regarding Bigfoot because typically spot bills disappear. We thought we would go over-the-top with AB 666 and that down the road if we needed to, we could amend the bill and tell people, ‘Bigfoot disappears; Bigfoot’s elusive.’”

Yeah, funny – wasting time with phony legislation. Hilarious, except the bill got a lot of attention. Now it’s not much of a joke.

The article goes on to note how deeply ingrained the Bigfoot belief is in the county. A volunteer for the Willow Creek China Flat Museum said that they had visitors from all ages and from around the world, noting the boost gained from TV shows:

“I think it’s generational. Every generation it seems to get legs again,” Nelson said. “A friend of mine who has a shop in Willow Creek that has some Bigfoot memorabilia was noticing that he was having grown adult (visitors), parents that were influenced by ‘In Search of …’ with Leonard Nimoy, and their children were motivated by or inspired by ‘Finding Bigfoot.’
“We have so many YouTube creators that come through. There are maybe four or five individual YouTube creators that filmed Bluff Creek content over the summer. It’s continual.”

So the Gen Xers had In Search Of… and the Millennials had Finding Bigfoot! The beat goes on with YouTubers and TikTokkers.

Wisconsin’s New Cryptid and Paranormal Convention

One new event this year is the Wisconsin Cryptids, Anomalies, and Paranormal Convention. This is organized by a local paranormal society: Cryptids, Anomalies and the Paranormal Society (CAPS). From a media report:

“Cryptids, Anomalies and the Paranormal Society is a research-based group out of Wisconsin,” said Barnaby Jones, founder and lead researcher for CAPS. “We research all aspects of the paranormal — UFOs, Bigfoot, the Beast of Bray Road, Mothman — any kind of creatures that are currently unidentified by modern science.”
“I’ve always been interested in the paranormal, ever since I was young,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in cryptids as well — the undiscovered animals. When I was younger, I always thought that Bigfoot was out in the Pacific Northwest. I never realized that he had been sighted in all 49 states aside from Hawaii.

There are a few notable items in these quotes. First, “I’ve always been interested in the paranormal” is a phrase uttered countless times. I could say it for myself, and if you are reading this, there is a good chance you too can also attest to it. Once the itch to read more about the mysterious and unexplained gets to you, it forever needs to be scratched. For Gen Xers and later, we were provided with plenty of paranormal media in books, on TV, and then on the internet, to stoke interest. This is a primary reason why paranormal events are so popular and making money! It’s nostalgic for many and feeds into the chosen identity for others.

Next, it’s important to note, once again, the association of cryptids with paranormal topics. More than ever, there is little to reference regarding the zoology of cryptids. The idea of it rings hollow even though it’s mentioned quite a bit by speakers invited to these conventions. Even though the phrase “modern science” is used in terms of investigating a cryptid, this is lip service only, as nothing in these town festivals is scientific; it is entirely cultural.

Finally, “Bigfoot was out in the Pacific Northwest” until suddenly, it was in every state. This is something I have heard verbatim from those not interested in cryptids but just living their lives and finding cryptids were in their backyard. They were shocked to learn that Bigfoot research was taking place in their state – Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio. In the 1970s, Bigfoot’s relations were noted nationwide and if you had what you considered to be a Bigfoot experience, it would not be considered that weird.

These points are essential to the framing of Pop Goes the Cryptid. The creatures became part of every small town and you knew of it. Then, everyone else knew of it too. Cryptid festivals capitalize on this knowledge and a pride in the local monster that reflects what it means to live in this state or town.

An updated list of cryptid festivals is kept at Modern Cryptozoology where I continue to update it as new events are publicized.

The British Bigfoot

Not only has Bigfoot spread to every US state and much of Canada, but it also made its way across the ocean to Britain. With England being a very unlikely place for a forest-dwelling wilderness creature to live, this great article from Esquire explains that you can pinpoint the surge in popularity of the British Bigfoot to 2015, associated with the arrival of the Finding Bigfoot crew.

“By the late 2010s, everywhere in the UK seemed to have a Bigfoot. Cryptid enthusiast Andy McGrath’s 2017 book Beasts of Britain is full of tales of people’s experiences and most sightings are reported as happening after 2010. Among these eyewitness accounts are the Box Hill Ape, the Haslingden Chewbacca and the Ape-Man of Scotland’s Abernethy Forest.”

Not to burst anyone’s balloon, but this is obviously a cultural phenomenon that has been easily adapted to fill the “wildman” niche for this part of the world.

“There’s a specific bucolic undercurrent in all these sightings, a notion that Bigfoot is a link back to a lost Britain — Edenic, gentle and free of urban sprawl. Believing that Bigfoot is happily sloping through forests and across hillsides makes our country feel like a more beautiful, rural place; at the same time, the improbability of his existence makes us mourn a landscape that is long lost. He’s a ghost of who we were before all the dark satanic mills and whatnot sprang up….He makes mundane surroundings seem vivid with possibility.”

The article keys in on the internet, particularly YouTube, that has aided in populating Britain with Bigfoots. The proponents argue among themselves, disputing the legitimacy of tales and the reality of the creature. As is typical, when the zoology doesn’t make sense, the fallback is to the paranormal explanations, or what I call Supernatural Creep. People are insistent on what they saw, but because that doesn’t make natural sense, they drift to the para-natural to explain it rather than give up the belief. What are people seeing? It’s impossible to say except to note they are seeing what they believe in. Back in the day, they might have said they saw fairies and, not too long ago, ghosts or aliens. Today, it’s Bigfoot, because he’s reported to be literally everywhere, but found nowhere.

Mothman flavored chips

I don’t know if I can keep up with all the Mothman inspired products these days. The iconic creature is constantly featured in so many products including clothing, candles, and cocktails. Might as well capitalize on the popularity, right? Mister Bee’s, a snack company from West Virginia has introduced a potato chip flavor inspired by the cryptid legend. The spice blend is undisclosed but available locally in the Parkersburg area of WV. It will be statewide in time for Point Pleasant’s Mothman Festival in September, where I’m sure it will be a hit.

First Nessie sighting of the year

Scottish media outlets report the exciting news that Nessie has been seen for the first time in 2025. It seems the news brings with it hope that it will be a banner year for the creature. It doesn’t take much. The evidence for Nessie is found in ambiguous photos and dramatic eyewitness accounts, which is plenty to keep attention on one of the world’s most famous and beloved cryptids. This new account comes from the Loch Ness Centre, a key tourist destination that offers a museum of history and boat trips. An unnamed witness observed what appeared to be a dark form beneath the calm, still waters of the loch. The account leaves many questions, though. A photo accompanied the story, showing a dark blob under the water that is not exactly “calm”.

The object actually does not look particularly large considering the size of the waves (which are probably 10-12 inches, at most). The pixellation suggested the photo was greately zoomed and cropped. With the witness remaining unnamed, the photo is credited to the Centre, not the photographer. Hmm…. Off to a good start for tourist season, though! To the critical viewer, however, the image is entirely unimpressive.

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Pop Cryptid Spectator 9

Welcome to the PCS 9th edition. The appetite for cryptid-tourism is on the rise. Today’s cryptid fan is all about the experience. Not only are people eager to check out the supposed hangouts of mysterious monsters, but they also want to put their travels and beliefs on display via social media. Getting a cool pic in a monster stop is guaranteed to get likes. This edition of the Pop Cryptid Spectator is heavy on tourism and how towns love their local beasts (even if they used to hate them).

In this edition:

Cryptid media: Creating the Loch Ness Monster
Ogopogo statue updated
The Big Muddy Murphysboro monster file
Continuing the tradition of paranormal lore in West Virginia
Wild Fictions comic is great intro to Fortean topics
Snallygaster vs Snoligoster

Cryptid media: Creating the Loch Ness Monster

Loch Ness is inseparable from its monster legend. The towns around the lake seem to have adjusted to the outsider interest over the past 50 years.

In the 2023 documentary, Loch Ness: They Created a Monster, by Hopscotch films, now available for viewing, we have a veritable Who’s Who of the people involved in the investigations at Loch Ness at the height of it all – the late 1960s to the early 80s. At that time, the idea that there could be some mysterious unknown creature in the lake was at its peak. Monster hunters from all over the world tried their new gadgets and courage over and under the water, hoping to be the one who nabbed the prize.

The location supported multiple dedicated loch watchers including Frank Searle, Tim Dinsdale, and those volunteering with the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau. The documentary mostly concentrates on Searle, his highly questionable “evidence”, and dubious reputation. Searle exited the scene under equally dramatic circumstances, which is built into the context of the presentation. If I list all the well-known people in this production, I’m afraid I’ll miss someone. Tune in to enjoy the images and activities of a younger Adrian Shine, Youshio Kuo, Lee Frank, Robert Rines, and many more! From the Hopscotch website:

The darkly comic story of the Nessie hunters who camped out on the shores of Loch Ness throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Featuring an international cast of dedicated scientists and extraordinary eccentrics who chased, but never found, the dinosaur-like creature who may live in the depths of the loch. The film shows how the absence of concrete evidence and the allure of fame gradually tainted the once-serene Loch with frustration, egos, and broken dreams.

At the dawn of the 21st century, the possibility of Nessie as a single zoological entity waiting to be found had diminished to near 0. But the appeal remains, as the parade of tourists attests. And people will forever be “seeing” what they believe.

The film is currently being shown on BBC-2 but you might be able to catch it on Daily Motion if it doesn’t suddenly disappear into the depths of the internet.

Ogopogo statue updated

The statue of Ogopogo in Kelowna, British Columbia is a fixture in the town that loves its lake monster. As part of a waterfront renovation, it’s being moved to make more room for tourist interactions. The monster of Lake Okanagan will also have a misting station so people can cool off on hot days.

Ogopogo got much of council’s attention during a lengthy report of various city parks-related initiatives planned for this year. That reflects their awareness of the significance Kelowna residents place on Ogopogo, particularly the downtown sculpture which is probably the most photographed piece of public art in the city.
“I don’t know how many people have children in pictures sitting on Ogopogo’s head dating back decades and decades,” acting mayor Luke Stack said. “Really, it has become part of the heritage of our community and it’s really an important asset to protect and continue to promote.”

Don’t forget Frogman fest

As mentioned in the last PCS, the Loveland Ohio Frogman festival is coming up this weekend. The frogman officially becoming the city’s mascot in 2023. From this latest article, costumes are encouraged. The festival is more about fun than zoology, as pop cryptids go.

The Big Muddy Murphysboro monster file

Speaking of town monsters, Murphysboro, Illinois has their own creature, the Big Muddy Monster, which is clearly a Bigfoot relative. The town has developed a very slick website featuring a case file of the monster information. The file contains digital scans of the police reports from 1973 and 1976 and photos taken by the Murphysboro Police Department, artist sketches made from the eye witness reports, and news clippings and letters from around the world. Original sources like this are invaluable but often hard to come by. This is a little gold mine.

Continuing the tradition of paranormal lore in West Virginia

West Virginia never fails to capitalize on their spooky reputation. The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center at Fairmont State University are looking for your best ghost and monster tales for an upcoming publication. The small, independently published booklet called Traditions: The Ghost of Ruth Ann and Other Local West Virginia Lore will highlight the best stories with the intent to preserve local lore and tradition. The project is a collaboration with the podcast team who organized the Veggie Man Day. That’s a Veggie tale for another time…

Wild Fictions comic is great intro to Fortean topics

Justin Mullis reviews The Department of Truth: Wild Fictions comic on the AIPT web site. I had seen news about this series that features various paranormal and conspiracy subjects, including cryptids. But comics are not my thing. Justin notes that those who produced this series knew their stuff. This volume features 27 essays (with a fictional premise) where author James Tynion IV takes up the role as a Fortean historian and illustrated by some of best artists in comics today. Note that these are comics aimed at adults.

The Department of Truth: Wild Fictions is a beautifully illustrated, informative and fun, if not essential, companion piece for fans of the comic series. Alternatively, it could also serve as an introduction for anyone who’s interested in ghosts, UFOs, and cryptids but isn’t reading what’s easily one of the best comics to ever examine these phenomena.

I might have to give this one a whirl!

Snallygaster vs Snoligoster

Prior to a year ago, the Snallygaster/Snoligoster existed only in the forgotten corners of my mind as crazy stories about ridiculous creatures. Well, we’re in the era of Pop Cryptids so all the monsters, crazy or not, are stepping up to be re-noticed. The Snallygaster is a folklore creature from Maryland described as a one-eyed flying reptile with both a beak and teeth, as well as face tentacles. It was said to swoop down to carry off its victims, even children, and drain their blood. The accepted story is that the creature derived from tales from German immigrants to South Mountain, now Frederick, MD. The local newspaper kicked up their readership in 1909 when some colorful characters reported that the creature was back on the hunt.

It was only a few months ago that someone on social media brought up the “snoligoster” when I assumed that creature was a variant on the snallygaster and of the same origin. Interestingly, the snoli/snolly creature came from slightly more southern latitudes. This beast haunted Lake Okechobee in Florida and was said to resemble a furred crocodile with no legs but a propeller for a tail. It has a large spine on its back used to impale the victim it catches then tosses. Gruesome! Eventually, the propeller is used to pulverize the prey. The Snoligoster appears in Cox’s Fearsome Creatures volume from 1910.

Even though some online sources dispute these two creatures stem from the same distant origin, they undoubtedly have more in common than their wild descriptions suggest. Both are only very loosely based on real animals, ridiculously embellished. Both are likely based on the German words schnelle geeschter, meaning quick spirits. According to an explanation in Merriam-Webster dictionary, snollygoster comes well before snallygaster; the former dates to the 1840s, while our earliest use of the latter comes in 1900 (in what appears to be a misspelling of snollygoster). The term also was widely used in the 19th and early 20th century to mean “a shrewd, unprincipled person” particularly one intent on running for political office. (Consider that Maryland borders D.C.) Since the origins relating to monster tales may have grown from the immigrant communities, we may not have earlier popular records of its use. So the timelines remain murky – that’s work for folklorists and linguists.

The nastiest characteristic in common is the use of both creatures as a way to intimidate slaves who might have considered escaping into the forests or swamps. The snally or snolly stories were told with awful racial connotations in their time. It’s clear that the word, in whichever form, was intended to signify a monstrous and dangerous evil that was not much of a threat to wealthy white city folk.

The Snallygaster has been winning the popularity contest lately with its appearance in Fallout 76 and its own museum in Maryland. The Snally is leaving the Snoli back in the swamp, and attempting to leave behind it’s racist past. It’s also worth considering that the more northern Snally has similarities with the Jersey Devil, also a winged dragon-like monster of political origin who terrorized towns, coincidentally, in the 1730s and 1909, same as the Snally in MD. Some people might suggest they are the same cryptid. Hmm, what Jabberwocky is this?

Even with limited source material, there is a lot more to unpack about the snally/snolly. I have yet to sort it all out. Due to the overlap and evolution of various tales, disentangling the legends entirely isn’t realistic. What is clear is that the Snallygaster is now a pop cryptid of some renown with an unfortunately sinister, repugnant past.

For more, click on Pop goes the Cryptid landing page. Make sure you subscribe to all the posts – it’s always free and I don’t send annoying spam.

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Pop Cryptid Spectator 8

Welcome to the Pop Cryptid Spectator no. 8. This edition illustrates more examples of how cryptids are an integral part of culture, if you are in town, in the woods, on or offline.

In this edition:

Bigfoot proposed as California’s official cryptid
Monster Snap VR Game
What is a “cryptoid”?
Fakelore to folklore: The Rake

Bigfoot proposed as California’s official cryptid

The big(foot) news this week was the introduction of a bill in the California Assembly to name Bigfoot as an the official cryptid of California. On February 14, 2025, Chris Rogers (Democrat) proposed bill AB 666*:

Existing law establishes the state flag and the state’s emblems, including, among other things, the golden poppy as the official state flower and the California redwood as the official state tree.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would designate Bigfoot as the official state cryptid.

*Bigfoot could be the “mountain or wood devil” if you are predisposed to never seeing a coincidence.

Some people didn’t respond positively to the news, noticing that California has more important things to attend to right now and in the foreseeable future. But state legislators are overly fond of such memorial acts, and regularly waste time pushing them through. California already has 42 official state symbols. Why not another one? The symbolic gestures provide recognition and anchors the symbols to the state.

Rogers’ represents the Northern part of the state that is heavily associated with Bigfoot and benefits already from the link. Humboldt County includes Bluff Creek, the location of the infamous Patterson-Gimlin film from 1967, and nearby Willow Creek, home of the huge Bigfoot Daze festival. Willow Creek was the place where Bigfoot supposedly made its historic entrance into American popular culture when in 1958, loggers found giant footprints that were reported in the local Humboldt Times, giving the unknown creature the name “Bigfoot”.

Therefore, it does make sense that Rogers’ would like to cement this notoriety. The effort clearly is intended to encourage tourism from those people who believe, or just really want to believe, the forest still hides a mysterious creature that, like some supernatural being, has remained hidden and magical. Rogers’ noted that Bigfoot “generates buzz and interest from outdoor enthusiasts,” more so than other cryptids. He’s not wrong.

Washington and Oregon, however, may have a beef about it, but there is no reason why Bigfoot can’t also be their official cryptid. Heck, Bigfoot or its relations have been reported spotted in every US state with the possible exception of Hawaii. Bigfoot is the top US, for sure.

More from SF Gate and from the SF Chronicle.

Monster Snap VR game

A new virtual reality game coming in 2026 promises to give you a chance to collect photo evidence of cryptids. Monster Snap maroons you in the Bermuda Triangle where mysterious secrets are hidden. (Gosh, this is SO OLD. But I guess having a bunch of mysterious secrets existing in a single named location is convenient.) You can also encounter Bigfoot and spot Nessie. For PC-VR and Meta Quest 2 & 3.

What is a “cryptoid”?

If you peruse online cryptid content, you may sometimes see the term “cryptoid”. It struck me as a possibly useful term to distinguish between sci-cryptids (those viewed with a zoological lens) and the fantastical or folkloric version of cryptids (such as mermaids, dragons, shapeshifters, jackalopes, etc.). So I took a look into where the term might have come from and how it’s used.

The suffix “-oid” means “similar to” or “likeness”, giving us words like “planetoid”, “humanoid” and “factoid”. It can also be a way to make an interesting derogatory word sometimes referring to a particular ideology or group of people as in “schizoid” or “skeptoid“. Or just a fun suffix for made up things like “graboid“.

According to Loren Coleman, whom I found had addressed the question of the difference between a cryptid and a cryptoid back in 2011, he seems to think it’s mostly a mistaken attempt to mean “cryptid”. In a way, “cryptoid” works when someone is intending a humorous or monstrous description of a mystery creature. But it will be confusing if not consistently used that way.

“Cryptoid phenomena” was a term used by Emile Boirac beginning around 1918 to refer to hidden psychic abilities. Later, it also comes up as the term “cryptoID”, which can ruin your search results. But there are a few books in the 2000s that intentionally use “cryptoid” as a humorous term (as with comics or monster-related art) or simply as a strange error by self-published writers who didn’t have an editor. (Worse than that, some even more careless will use “crypoids” [sic].) Unless it’s used in a more deliberate sense, it seems to be an indicator that the user isn’t well versed on “cryptids”.

A graph of “cryptoid” use per decade. The 1920s represents the Boirac references. The use is also creeping up since the 2000s.

Finallly, “Cryptoid” is an official trademarked name of a pyrethroid insecticide. (There’s the -oid again, meaning similar to the natural pesticide pyrethrum.) The trademark makes me jettison the nub of an idea to use the word to mean cryptid-like.

Hope you enjoyed this rather strange etymology lesson.

P.S. Remember the “noid“? Um, on second thought, avoid the noid.

Fakelore to folklore: The Rake

Cryptid Wiki explicitly rejects discussion on “creepypasta monsters such as slenderman, herobrine, the rake”. This is understandable as there is a flood of new creatures invented all the time. To include them would dilute the idea of cryptids. Creepypasta is related to digital transmission of fictional tales. CW also rejects outright fictional characters from books and films as well. While it’s reasonable to mark, say, Cthulhu as an inappropriate cryptid, there are many examples where it’s not easy to draw an objective line.

The Rake is the prime example of a creepypasta creature. The spark was set in motion on 4Chan and then the idea morphed from there. It was formalized, and given a fictional history, in a story from 2009 as a pale hairless humanoid, often spindly in appearance, with small sharp teeth, black voids as eyes, and an unnerving disjointed look, and highly agile way of moving on all fours.

The description and characteristics varied as the stories spread online. It was described similar to slenderman, without a defined face, watching in the background, often in suburban areas. Originally described as a “crawler”, it acquired the name “rake” a bit later and eventually was associated with shapeshifters and “fleshgaits”, as a generally unpleasant entity. It also is not that far from depictions of modern aliens. The lore has grown and evolved online and, as such, I currently can’t find a great resource for the Rake. As time goes on, you can see overlap and blending of creatures with similar features and stories (pale crawlers, skinwalker, wendigo, etc.), and these all diverge widely from the original tales. The rake continues to grow in popularity and is often listed as a cryptid.

A photo circulated widely in 2010 of a pale crawling creature framed as a “swamp monster” captured on a trail camera in Berwick, Louisiana. It was discussed (however seriously or not) as a real or hoaxed thing in the woods. At the time, my opinion was that it was a manipulated image using a digital model. In a short while, this picture became labeled as a rake and the story of the image in the swamp morphed into other tales as well.

The Berwick incident photo. A hoax that became linked to the rake.

A problem arises when creepypasta or “mythical” creatures are seen by people. Long ago, people swore to having real experiences with fairies and dragons. Today, we have many people attesting that they see werewolves (often in the form of dogmen). There is a popular suggestion that fictional beings are thought into existence; that is, since so many people hear about them and visualize them, they manifest themselves into our reality. This is also known as the tulpa origin of cryptids.

The fictional origins of creepypasta monsters can get lost if they are removed from their original context and are mistaken for genuine eyewitness stories. This video embedded below is a good rundown of the history of the rake, though I have not confirmed the details and dates. (They do sound right, but you might want to ignore most of the visuals.) Also, the title portrays the rake as the “first Internet cryptid” – eh, I’m not buying that as the chupacabra from 1992 and others since may more rightly deserves that title. It is a good explanation of why it’s can be difficult to differentiate the rake as a cryptid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x7k4hjDBwU

People claim to encounter the rake, even though it’s fiction. It is unclear if they are telling what they think is the truth or just playing along in a shared manufactured reality. The phenomenon of creepypasta creatures showing up in the real world seems similar to the true story of a made-up April Fools song on a Michigan radio station in 1987 that resulted in a wave of stories from the past and continuing today about the Dogman.

Where can we draw the line for when a fictional creature can exist under the “cryptid” label? Cryptids are liminal creatures, and they deftly pass between the realms of real and fiction. The label is a dependent on the moment in time when people report, and others believe, that the creature could exist in our reality.

Thanks for reading! Send comments, questions, or suggestions to popcryptid(at)proton.me. If you want to send some cryptid plushies or other merch, or books to review, email for my physical mailing address.

For more, click on Pop goes the Cryptid landing page. Make sure you subscribe to all the posts – it’s always free and I don’t send annoying spam.

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Pop Cryptid Spectator Pop Cryptid Spectator 7

Pop Cryptid Spectator Issue 6

Pop Cryptid Spectator Issue 6

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Pop Cryptid Spectator 7

Welcome to the Pop Cryptid Spectator no. 7. This edition is chock full of news, media, and pop cryptid information. Cryptid popularity is exploding. Even old cryptid ideas are resurfacing in new ways all the time, as we’ll see regarding sea serpents and living dinosaurs. Books, movies, internet content, and music work to spread the modern concepts of cryptids, leaving behind crusty old ideas of “unknown animals” and repackaging them as new and exciting entities that share whatever “reality” we wish to embrace.

In this edition:

Cryptozoology diploma
Saxsquatch in Rolling Stone
Past and future of Small Town Monsters
Modern resurgence of mokele-mbembe
Fresno Nightcrawler on Monstrum – Is it a cryptid?
Frogman Festival in March
Cryptid biographies
Book review: A Natural History of Sea Serpents

Cryptozoology Diploma

A participant on the Forteana Forums on the Pop Goes the Cryptid thread pointed me to a “Cryptozoology diploma” provided by the Centre for Excellence online shop. You can take a (paid) course that claims to teach you to able to “decide whether lake monsters, sea serpents, Thunderbirds and other mythical monsters are rumours or a reality”. That is, if your really need to pay for that! This tip was in response to the item in last PCS 6 exposing the ridiculous article on the Indeed job search site regarding “How to Become a Cryptozoologist”. This “diploma” is worthless as credentials but might be fun if you like learning new things you don’t known anything about. And, it shows just how mainstream the topic is. Unfortunately, as I discovered with a similar course, I can safely assume the instruction is terrible, the source material is low quality and full of errors, and the effort might make you more misinformed than educated in the topic.

Saxquatch in Rolling Stone

Regarding the Saxsquatch story from last week, he then appeared as a Creature Feature in Rolling Stone. He’s a very BIG deal!

Past and Future of STM

You really can’t talk about the spread of cryptids in popular culture in the US without recognizing Small Town Monsters, a production company founded by Seth Breedlove and friends, that has been making documentary films for 10 years now. They make little-known cryptids into icons, small towns into tourist attractions. I was a big fan of STM films starting with The Minerva Monster (Ohio) and Beast of Whitehall (New York). Since those early projects, it’s become increasingly difficult to keep track of, let alone watch, all the various monster and paranormal content that they put out. Every time I watch a new film or YouTube series episode, I see familiar faces from the field of high strangeness, and I learn new things. While STM prides themselves on being the only company who take an “objective” approach to their subjects, making an effort to let the witnesses and researchers do the talking, they have slanted more towards the extreme paranormal stuff as time has gone on. This tendency, however, is the normal trajectory of Pop Cryptids, so it’s altogether possible that STM isn’t just riding the wave, but also helping to steer the boat.

Seth has produced a new intro video for this year explaining some of the challenges to the small company, mainly distribution issues, that shed light on the seemingly chaotic release schedule. He also gives a preview of the movies for 2025.

The Kinderhook Creature is a story about a Bigfoot that terrorized families in the Catskills of New York in the 1980s. I am unfamiliar with this story which Breedlove calls “Minerva Monster writ large”. I fully expect the film treatment will launch this cryptid into the popular sphere.
Dawn of the Dogman promises to explore the origins of the Michigan dogman, which is known to have been popularized by a hoax story put into song. Breedlove says that Linda Godfrey was consulted on the project prior to her death in 2022. Again, really looking forward to this topic since Dogman is the current king of Pop Cryptids.
From the Beyond: The Bennington Triangle will take on the array of different phenomena reported in this area of southern Vermont. Window areas are of particular interest to me related to my Spooky Geology niche. I have written about the Bennington Triangle.

You can see Monster Chronicles: The Past and Future of STM on YouTube

Modern resurgence of mokele-mbembe

Syfy website put out an article regarding the claim of living dinosaurs in the African Congo River Basin. The most famous of these is mokele-mbembe, which cryptozoologists interpret as a potential sauropod dinosaur. The article is, as you will often find, clickbait promotion, in this case linked to the next upcoming Jurassic Park franchise movie. It piggy backs off a Nat Geo article from early February about deforestation. Due to this environmental condition, encounters between locals and wildlife are becoming more frequent. People aren’t all that used to being so close to elephants and gorillas and seem to be attributing sounds and experiences to the folklore creature instead.

“In bigger settlements where habitats are being pushed into and people aren’t used to seeing large animals, they’re suddenly encountering them all the time,” says Laura Vlachova, a Czech conservationist. “It’s these people who tell me they’ve seen mokele-mbembe. I think what it really shows is how folklore is starting to reflect the reality of a shrinking ecosystem.”

Fresno Nightcrawler on Monstrum – Is it a cryptid?

Monstrum is a very popular PBS produced series on folklore creatures. The latest episode is on Pop Cryptid star, the Fresno Nightcrawler – a creature known from a grainy video from 2007 that shows a pale entity made up almost entirely of billowy legs and maybe a really tiny head on top. Host Emily Zarka can’t decide whether this is a “cryptid” or not, first calling it that but then suggesting it’s something else. She defines a cryptid as a biological creature that people say exists but science hasn’t documented, which, as I have shown in previous issues of PCS, can be problematic. The old school idea of a cryptid is zoological, however, the nightcrawler doesn’t seem to be perambulating anywhere near the path of zoological discovery. Mostly perceived as a hoax, I have seen some attempts to recreate it – digitally and manually. But nothing quite works. So the Nightcrawler remains a fun and creepy mystery. But, is it a cryptid?

Yes. People claim to encounter the creature in other areas after the original Fresno incident came to light. If we consider cryptids as a mysterious and unrecognized creature that, supported by anecdotal (and bad video) evidence, then it’s a cryptid.
Yes. Even if the supposition is that it’s an alien or spirit being, it’s a usually hidden entity that sometimes walks through our physical space. This is boosted by poorly sourced claims that it resembles some creature of Native American lore.
No. In no way does it depict a plausible biological creature, and there is no indication it can be captured or has a typical organic existence; it looks like a pair of puppet pants; it’s a made-up creature.
Yes. The Fresno nightcrawler always ranks high on lists of favorite cryptids. People remain fascinated by it, and it is the subject of a crazy amount of merchandise because it is cute and easy to draw! Pop cryptid all the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrGcxeyIPx4

Frogman Festival in March

Coming up on March 1-2 in Loveland, Ohio is the Frogman Festival celebrating the sightings of a humanoid frog- or lizard-like entity reported in 1955, 1972 and 2016. The festival features the usual family fun and merch vendors riding the Pop Cryptid wave. But the speakers are always my main interest. Among the paranormal and metaphysical “researchers” speaking at the event is an academic who is the most knowledgeable of all these presenters put together, Dr. Jeb Card. Unfortunately, this location is a bit too far for a day drive for me. If you are within reach, give it a go and let me know what you think.

Cryptid biographies

Incidentally, the Frogman has no well-researched cryptid biography. Surprisingly, neither does Mothman. Here are some recommended books to explore the “true” stories behind some famous cryptids:

Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore – Benjamin Radford, 2011
The Secret History of the Jersey Devil: How Quakers, Hucksters, and Benjamin Franklin Created a Monster – Brian Regal and Frank Esposito, 2018
The Untold Story of Champ: A social history of America’s Loch Ness Monster – Robert Bartholomew, 2012
Ogopogo: The True Story of the Okanagan Lake Million Dollar Monster – Arlene Gaal, 1955
The Beast of Boggy Creek: The True Story of the Fouke Monster – Lyle Blackburn, 2012
Lizard Man: The True Story of the Bishopville Monster – Lyle Blackburn, 2013
The Great Sea Serpent: An Historical and Critical Treatise – A.C. Oudemans, 1892
The Great New England Sea Serpent: An Account of Unknown Creatures Sighted by Many Respectable Persons Between 1638 and the Present Day – June P. O’Neill, 1999
Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend – Joshua Blu Buhs, 2009
Bigfoot: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality – John Russell Napier, 1972

Might I suggest purchasing books from local or independent booksellers instead of Amazon. Try https://bookshop.org/ or https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/.

Book Review: A Natural History of Sea Serpents

A Natural History of Sea Serpents by Adrian Shine (Coming March 2025)
I am a tough book critic, particular regarding my favorite subject. No copy-paste, Wikipedia-sourced garbage passes muster with me. What I truly appreciate is a genuine expert, who has put in the time, presenting their well-reasoned arguments, supported by evidence. You can hardly get a better example of this than Adrian Shine’s new volume on sea serpents. Shine is the world’s foremost expert on the Loch Ness creature reports.

In this book, he guides us through the history of a long-bodied swimming creature that people have reported for centuries, how it changed, and what people probably saw. For example, early sea serpent sightings were of “loops” surfacing in the water with the suggestion of a flexible tubular animal. But around 1848, Shine explains the change to interpreting the same shape as “humps” connected to the back of an animal with a larger middle, like a plesiosaur. This version of the idea also continued into Loch Ness reports.

There are an array of historical sightings by sailors and other credible witnesses for which sensationalistic cryptid literature will label as representing mysterious creatures or unknown species. Shine declares what all reasonable people with some biology background already know – a hooping/looping animal is absurd. Maned water creatures, like cadborosaurus, make no sense. The volumes of eyewitness testimony, examined individually, is not compelling to suggest a mystery creature exists; there is a complete dearth of scientific evidence for these water cryptids.

Shine blasts a few worn tropes clear out of the water. First, locals and professionals don’t always know the animal they are seeing, if it’s an animal at all. Everyone can be fooled by viewing an unfamiliar or atypical situation. Second, there is no need to invent new animals to account for these sightings. Third, no single animal is going to account for all the various descriptions grouped under a single phenomenon, such as “Nessie” or “sea serpent”.

Shine provides convincing explanations for the most famous accounts cited by cryptid proponents, and he supports his conclusions with photographic examples. Even though no exotic cryptid is proposed as an explanation, his presentation is fascinating.

As with other cryptid-related books of outstanding scholarship, cryptozoological proponents will reject, ignore, or foolishly try to sink it. Back in 2012, a few big-mouthed and small-minded cryptid fans protested the book Abominable Science by Loxton and Prothero, probably because it spelled out cogent arguments against the zoological reality of famous cryptid creatures. The bottom line for sci-cryptozoologists is that they still lack substantive evidence for their extraordinary claims. I suspect they will dislike Shine’s book too. Their loss. Or, the accumulated wisdom he has will be acknowledged and respected.

For more, click on Pop goes the Cryptid landing page. Make sure you subscribe to all the posts – it’s always free and I don’t send annoying spam.

Pop Cryptid Spectator is also available on Substack. Please share this with cryptid fans you know!

Pop Cryptid Spectator Pop Cryptid Spectator 8

#1 #chupacabra #cryptid #Cryptozoology #deathOfAUnicorn #popCryptid #reddit #rollerCoaster #scientific #seaSerpents #Skinwalker #Wendigo

Pop Cryptid Spectator Issue 6

Pop Cryptid Spectator Issue 6

Pop Cryptid Spectator #5

Pop Cryptid Spectator #5

Pop Cryptid Spectator #4

Pop Cryptid Spectator #4

Pop Cryptid Spectator #3

Pop Cryptid Spectator #3

Pop Cryptid Spectator #2

Pop Cryptid Spectator #2

Pop Cryptid Spectator #1

Pop Cryptid Spectator #1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0X8C8WmCUM

Pop Cryptid Spectator 5

Hello and welcome to the 5th Pop Cryptid Spectator – my chronicle of observing the changing appearance of and attitudes towards “cryptids” in popular culture.

My interest is in exploring the expansion of cryptozoology into a mass cultural phenomenon. This edition provides more examples of how cryptids are part of our everyday lives. They are a way of framing the world in terms of mystery and wonder about monsters, and animals that may still be out there to find. Or, they are useful as liminal creatures formed from and existing only in our imaginations, or on the internet, but that we enjoy believing are real.

In this edition:

Bigfoot makes an appearance in a divorce case
Sidenote – Hunt for the Sasquatch race
The Times of London promotes growing belief in Bigfoot
E-DNA and the Enormous Eel Effect
Sidenote – Excited whale parts
The Utah Yetis dream dissolves
Reality Shifting and Cryptids
The Goosepig of Alexandria, Virginia

Bigfoot makes an appearance in a divorce case

A recent news story shows how important Bigfoot is to some peoples’ personal identity, so much so that it impacts their relationships and their work life. A man in British Columbia lost a claim for spousal support after a judge concluded that if he was capable of hunting Bigfoot, he was capable of getting a real job. The judge made multiple references to the unnamed man’s love for “camping, fishing, hunting, riding ‘quad’ motorcycles, and exploring remote areas of B.C. in search of sasquatch”. During a camping trip in 2020, the man was joined by an ex-girlfriend, who apparently shared his interest in cryptid hunting, without the wife’s knowledge. This led to the dissolution of the marriage. He claimed that a fall in 2016 while on a Sasquatch expedition caused him injuries and chronic pain that still prevented him from being able to work. The judge did not agree since evidence was provided that his still pursued his hobby and he had a capable brain for jobs that didn’t involve physical exertion. Sounds like he might do well as a Bigfoot reality TV star.

Sidenote – Hunt for the Sasquatch race

In a tangentially related side note, a Bigfoot “hunt” for the more physically fit occurs in Polk County, Florida on February 1 when Parks and Recreation will host its 9th annual The Hunt for Sasquatch trail race. Here’s hoping the winner finds a Sasquatch!

The Times of London promotes growing belief in Bigfoot

The Times (UK) has an article out this week, which highlights the continued interest in Bigfoot. Unfortunately, however, it features Matt Moneymaker of the Bigfoot Field Research Organization and Finding Bigfoot TV show, a person who is less than reasonable or cordial to anyone who doesn’t unquestionably accept his fringe claims. Just skip over his parts to see that the article states Bigfoot is “one of the most enduring myths in the United States has inspired a thriving subculture”. The writer cites a 2022 poll that shows 13% of American adults agreed with the statement that Sasquatch is a real, living creature, and suggests that percentage is growing. There is an unavoidable problem when polling people about beliefs, or anything else – they give you their opinion of the moment. This is heavily influenced by the media they consume and maybe the last person they talked to about it, or perhaps they answer “Sure, why not?” just because they are in a cheeky mood. We don’t know. But it is a reasonable estimate for interest in the subject for that particular population sampled.

E-DNA and the Enormous Eel Effect

In 2019, Professor Neil Gemmell, a geneticist from the University of Otago in New Zealand, used eDNA collection procedures and analysis at Loch Ness. The result was a bit of a bust since he found no mystery DNA that provided evidence of an unknown animal in the lake. But, he found lots of eel DNA, and then, inappropriately concluded that there may be giant eels which might be what people are seeing in that loch. Gemmell hit the jackpot by hooking his research to Nessie as it made headlines worldwide. The giant eel nonsense has reared its head out of the water again.

Prof Gemmell is once again planning to head back to the lake for Loch Ness 2.0 where he wants to use a different type of DNA sequencing to show the proportional change in a species’ population over time. The project has real world value regarding biodiversity, but Gemmell continues to use Nessie as the gimmick for attention even though he doesn’t expect to find a monster (eel or otherwise).

“[L]ast time around with Loch Ness 1.0, being able to capture that excitement and communicate it to the world was so much fun.”

He might still be pushing the big eel idea that no knowledgable Nessie researcher takes seriously. Of course there are eels in Loch Ness, but there is no evidence, not even DNA, that suggests a giant eel lives there. Gemmell erodes his cred by taking such a leap, previously saying, “Well, our data doesn’t reveal their size, but the sheer quantity of the material says that we can’t discount the possibility that there may be giant eels in Loch Ness. Therefore we can’t discount the possibility that what people see and believe is the Loch Ness Monster might be a giant eel.”

The enormous eel trope stuck with other DNA researchers too. When Prince William was visiting scientists at NatureMetrics, a research lab near London that also uses eDNA processes, he joked, “Does this mean you can find the Loch Ness Monster?” Firm founder Dr. Kat Bruce then claimed that the so-called creature was more likely a “very big eel” — at least according to testing done on one of the world’s most infamous lakes. Ugh! Silly ideas can be so sticky!

Sidenote – Excited whale parts

In the same Prince William article, the NY Post tabloid also printed that “A few years back, one daring academic proposed that the mythical beast is actually a “whale’s penis” — only to retract the whopper of a theory after being ridiculed mercilessly.” That’s incorrect. The whale penis suggestion is not ridiculous – the appearance of such a spectacle almost certainly happened in the past and threw observers for a loop – but it was in relation to sea serpents, not lake monsters like Nessie. For more on that story – see this compilation. (It’s SFW.)

The Utah Yetis Dream Dissolves

Here’s an update on the story from Pop Cryptid Spectator #4, there will be no new cryptid-named NHL team. You can thank your vacuum-sealed double-walled water bottles and coolers. The Utah hockey club stated the following: “An SEG executive shared that it explored every avenue to make Yeti work but that YETI Coolers, LLC was ultimately unwilling to agree to a co-existence agreement. SEG has confirmed it is no longer pursuing Yeti as a potential name for the team.” That’s a real shame. The next best name is the Mammoth, especially since mammoths did once roam the area now known as Utah.

Reality Shifting and Cryptids

There is an undeniable rift in the cryptozoology scene now. On one side is the idea that cryptids exist in our reality – that we can search for them, maybe find them, even if they have non-natural attributes. On the other side is that cryptids are made part of our reality because we put them there, we create them, and believe in them for strong personal reasons. For the latter, discovery is not the goal. The creatures exist in our defined reality because we allow them to and they serve a purpose that is not zoological.

If you are still following along and haven’t rolled your eyes and checked out, I thank you. I think the concept of reality shifting is important to why we are are experiencing the explosive growth of “cryptid” in its popular context, why cryptid cosplay and merchandise is so popular, and why cryptids are now incorporated into how some define their identity.

Reality shifting is a deliberate activity where a person, usually under the age of 30 (a generation known as Gen Z or Zoomers, born after 1996), decides to construct their own reality and live in that instead of the stressful, unrewarding, day-to-day grind of modern times. The world feels unreal and upside down to many people, so they go online. While the concept of reality shifting appeared in 2019, Covid lockdown created a surge of people constructing their alternate reality. People who create their own fantastical reality can include cryptids or even be cryptids themselves.

Internet folklorist, Gunseli Yalcinkaya, writes about reality shifting. And, she is also a huge fan of cryptids. I was introduced to her work via the Reality Studies vidcast from August 2024. Calling reality shifting an “ascendant form of zoomer spiritualism”, she talks about the development of shared fantasies online, where reality and fantasy merge. People take up a desired reality as a form of escapism and creative expression. The current internet landscape makes this very easy to do.

“To imagine the cryptid – a creature that is by definition unknowable – demands us to suspend real-world rules and immerse ourselves in the fantasy of what’s ‘out there’. […] The desire to uncover hidden truths extends across our post-truth landscape, from the tin-hat conspiracies we consume, to our ongoing fascination with creepypastas like Slenderman and Loab, and the UFOria sweeping across the mainstream. Similarly, we cannot fully comprehend the cryptid because it exists outside the human world.” – Gunseli Yalcinkaya

Gunseli talks about cryptids mostly in the pop cryptid framework, which is where she excels, but sometimes slips into the old timey cryptozoology tropes. She defines cryptids as creatures that may or may not exist under a Western scientific framework, in the sense that any undiscovered animal is a cryptid. She counts interesting animals, like the gorilla, as cryptids prior to them being discovered; I don’t agree with framing historical finds as cryptid prior to the establishment cryptozoology as a thing. But she has keen insight into the modern view of cryptids that sci-cryptozoology lacks. In one article, she noted that the appeal of Bigfoot may be that it manages to “exist” in reality, or as just an icon, but still manages to avoid being overtaken, tracked, and captured by technology. Her way of using cryptid, however, is often missing the concept of it being “ethnoknown” (a subject that exists in prior human knowledge, usually from local cultural tales). The minimizing, or total loss, of the historical, anecdotal basis for cryptids is evident with new AI cryptids that appear online – LOAB, crungus, and erosion bird. They are shared online in a form of “existing” but their origin is hidden; it remains unclear how or why they appeared. They might appear so often in your online environment that they begin to feel “real”. If any faked or fictional thing sticks around long enough, it can become real – like when fakelore turns into folklore and people tell the stories about encoutering the creatures that originated in Internet liminal space.

I talked about AI cryptids in the Pop Cryptid Spectator #2, but there far is more to be said on these creatures. I know that talking about very modern pop cryptids, from the view of the “extremely online” population of mostly young people, is so far from the original concept of cryptozoology that it makes many people uncomfortable. But fields of study evolve in response to changes in society and technology. That is certainly happening with cryptozoology.

Check out this talk by Gunseli called Cryptid: A Theory of Post-Digital Selfhood for some more brain stretching exercises. I really love the statement early on that the cryptid is defined by the “patchwork of stories” about it.

The Goosepig of Alexandria, Virginia

A fakelore cryptid is thriving at Spa Spring in Alexandria, Virginia. The “goosepig” legend gets a boost by appearing on signage designating historical areas. The creature, resulting from the cross-breeding of pigs and geese, derived from the town’s history of banning these two animals from the city via a local ordinance. Pushed to the fringes, they interbred creating an impossible four-legged animal with a beak. The source of the story on the historical marker is a book on local pets dated 1972. But the story derives from tales referenced from 1928. It might have circulated even earlier as a town historian says that swine and geese were banned from the town beginning at least around 1811.

The new Alexandria Historical Sign Finder map will certainly help boost the goosepig story as more people will find and popularize the sign celebrating the creature. Although the animal is fake, it represents a social event that pushed livestock, and a way of living, out of a city aiming to modernize. While the goosepig does not qualify as a “mysterious animal” in terms of the original intent of “cryptid”, it is set to become a pop cryptid similar to the Hodag of WI and the Squonk of PA. Next logical step is for a goosepig festival to appear!

For more, click on Pop goes the Cryptid landing page. Make sure you subscribe to all the posts – it’s always free and I don’t send annoying spam.

You can email me with comments, suggestions or questions at Popcryptid(at)proton.me

Pop Cryptid Spectator is also available on Substack. Please share this with cryptid fans you know!

#2 #4 #Bigfoot #cryptid #EDNA #GiantEel #Goosepig #LochNess #Nessie #popCryptid #PopCryptidSpectator #PopGoesTheCryptid #Sasquatch #utahYetis

https://sharonahill.com/?p=9257

Bigfoot makes an appearance in a divorce case, Times of London promotes growing belief in Bigfoot, E-DNA & the Enormous Eel Effect, Utah Yetis dream dissolves, Reality Shifting and Cryptids, Goosepig of Alexandria, VA #popcryptid #cryptids #cryptozoology sharonahill.com/pop-cryptid-...

Pop Cryptid Spectator #5

Pop Cryptid Spectator 3

In this edition:

Green Eyes and the explosion of cryptid festivals
Appalachian folk horror
Cryptid Media – Folk horror resurgence/British Cryptids
Pop Cryptid – Jackalope or nope?

Hello and welcome to the 3rd edition of the Pop Cryptid Spectator – my chronicle of observing the changing appearance of and attitudes towards “cryptids” in popular culture. My interest is in exploring the expansion of cryptozoology into a mass cultural phenomenon – a cornucopia of strange entities that are labeled as “cryptids”. We can see a proliferation of popular cryptids in American culture and worldwide, largely in part to newer media and communication platforms, allowing their stories to spread (and evolve) like never before. Cryptid stories can be viewed through different lenses – a point that I make with several illustrative examples.

Green Eyes and the Explosion of Cryptid Festivals

Winter is the slow season for town festivals. Now is the time where organizers are planning their summer and fall events. A new event, the Green Eyes Festival in Chickamauga, Georgia, premiered in 2024 and was a great success for the small town mostly known for its Civil War battlefield. Old Green Eyes most certainly falls into the category of Pop Cryptid, since it has no significant provenance and is more like a ghost story. The creature’s form varies widely, being a ghost or ghoul prowling the fields of the dead, or can be more like a big cat or hairy monster. The commonality is the glowing green eyes. In a recent interview on the Monster Talk podcast, the founders of the festival revealed that they knew little of “cryptids” beforehand. The two young marketing professionals had heard the spooky stories, of course, but didn’t see it as an opportunity until they visited another well-known festival. As with most modern cryptid town events, inspiration inevitably traces back to the world-renowned Mothman Festival of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. It’s the OG event that launched a hundred imitators (and growing).

Green Eyes has no established canonical legend and, as such, its story evolves as others tell it. While some may argue it’s not a cryptid at all because of the lack of a zoological lens through which to view it, as part of the Pop Cryptid model I argue that any mystery creature that people say may exist (in whatever corporeal or incorporeal form), but can’t be pinned down, falls under the popular idea of a “cryptid” and will be labeled as such.

More: About Cryptid Festivals, and a Parade of Cryptids in Small town USA. Check the list of cryptid festivals in the US and see if one is near you.

Appalachian Folk horror

Sheepsquatch

Possibly more than any other US location, small towns in Appalachia are embracing their local legends and sprucing up the image of their local creature. Appalachian folklore, often exaggerated, is packaged and sold on media platforms. The reasons for this surge in place legends is complex and somewhat disputed – likely in response to populism, a need for enchantment, and a fascination with magic and mystery in your own backyard. Some social commentators (i.e., podcasters and TikTokkers) are suggesting that the Appalachian mountains are so old that ancient eldritch beings still exist here. Ok, then…

It might just be my TikTok feed but cryptid content goes hand in hand with claims of uncanny animals and evil zooform entities that you will encounter if you venture off the trail in the eastern forests. Eh, whatev… People have totally lost touch with nature and, therefore, it’s fairly easy to freak them out. The Appalachians are culturally rich and diverse. Unfortunately, as with indigenous folklore, legends and tales from a previous time and place are being enhanced and monetized for podcasts and videos. You might consider it visual Creepypasta as creators are taking bits from old or new scary stories and manufacturing fakelore.

Cryptid Media

Folk horror resurgence – British Cryptids

It’s not just the Appalachians experiencing rising interest in the past several years with the likes of Mothman, goatman, “not deer“, and areas of high strangeness. The folk horror genre is seeing worldwide popularity. Folk horror focuses on a place, local behaviors, traditions, and history to create a sense of foreboding, particularly to the outsider who comes into the scene unaware. Aspect of folk horror include occult figures like witches, or threats from demons or Satan itself. Monstrous beings also play a big role.

In a blend of folk horror and satire (with the occasionally ancient nude), the YouTube channel British Cryptids manufactured several new cryptids under the guise of lost documentaries from 1974. The series provides a sense of nostalgia as well as unsettling confusion about what’s real and what’s imaginary. Check out their channel where the titles include ‘Yorkshire Yeti’, ‘The Hereford Twiggywitch’, ‘Stag Men’, ’The Souter Sea Wolf’, ‘The Cumbrian Dregpike’ and ‘The Woodwose of Cannock Chase’. It’s like a sophisticated version of Fearsome Creatures made famous as North American lumberjack tales – they sound plausible, if you are out alone in the dark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0-lAdhxX7U

Pop Cryptid: Jackalope

A major theme of the Pop Goes the Cryptid model is the never-ending dispute about calling something a “cryptid”. As an example, I’m going to jump right into the deep end and talk about the Jackalope, a creature that is well-associated with “cryptid” online but that almost everyone who knows some history of the topic will say is not a cryptid because it’s a mythical creature, a hoax. Not so fast…

The world was a different place centuries (or even decades) ago. Ideas and language change. If we go by the general cryptid definition of “an animal/entity that is believed to be real but not recognized by zoology” then the Jackalope has a chance to be an official cryptid. There certainly are some people who have seen so many Jackalope depictions, yet do not know their taxidermic history, that they may assume they were a real animal. And, in the early days of natural history, the “horned rabbit” was assumed to be a real, genuine, unique animal because witnesses said so.

My reference is On the Trail of the Jackalope (2022) by Michael Branch, a comprehensive book that mostly treats the creature as a cultural creation but also briefly explores the idea of its cryptidness.

“[T]he horned rabbit is unalloyed Americana—a genuine artifact of this country’s folk culture—the mythical beast has also made its way across the oceans and around the world.”

The true home of the American Jackalope is Douglas, Wyoming where, according to the locals, about half the visitors leave believing the animals are real. Do they believe, or are they just having fun believing? Hard to judge. The same might be said about most cryptids as people like to imagine that tall tales are true because it makes life seem magical. This remains a strong theme in the Jackalope biography.

Jackalope from the video game Red Dead Redemption

One can argue that a “horned rabbit” is a real thing. Cottontail rabbits with horn-like protuberances over various parts of their bodies, particularly their heads, were found to be infected with a type of papillomavirus. There can be little doubt that such stricken rabbits would be viewed as mysterious, then and now. Branch notes that the prevalence of the horned rabbit across cultures suggests that they were at least somewhat based on these natural anomalies. Branch explains that precursors to the American Jackalope are numerous. The specific Jackalope may be a Wyoming invention, but it was not the first depiction of the horned rabbit.

Early naturalists such as Conrad Gessner, Joris Hoefnagel (16th century) and others depicted the horned hare as a real animal. Later, other natural historians weren’t so sure, but this uncertainty about its existence and speculation on the cause of horned hares undoubtedly sounds like the modern idea of a “cryptid”.

But this is the 21st century. We know better now, right?

There is ample evidence to show that most people are entirely ignorant of wildlife in their own backyard, let alone the zoological catalog of known animals. As with everything else in the modern world, we get our information from popular culture, not too much directly from qualified scientific experts. Branch quotes Loren Coleman who runs the International Cryptozoology Museum regarding his inclusion of the Jackalope in the museum: “I would read visitors’ online comments… and they would say things like ‘I didn’t know that the jackalope really existed.’ ” Coleman continues by explaining he reorganized the exhibit to depict the Jackalope along with other hoaxes. To me, there is a lot to unpack in that anecdote. Do we really know which cryptid is a manufactured hoax, which are imaginary creatures that people wish to be real, which are mistaken IDs influenced by lore and campfire tales, and which are real animals? The line is very blurry and all the information is not in. (P-G film, anyone?)

I’ve greatly expanded my idea regarding what a cryptid is in the past few years. I recognize that different people are viewing cryptids through various lenses (zoological, artistic, historical, cultural, etc.) If people wish to believe horned rabbits (jackalopes, wolpertingers, or other variations) are real animals hopping around in an alternative reality, that’s OK by me, as long as they aren’t declaring that in biology class. It’s important to recognize that horned rabbits have a history that can be legitimately viewed with a zoological lens, making them not dissimilar to the history of the “Kraken” that many assume equates to the giant squid (I don’t, but that’s another complicated story), or the merfolk, which are assumed to be misidentified aquatic mammals like dugongs and manatees. The history is muddy and fraught with flips, twists, and turns. The modern “expert cryptozoologist” statements discounting any creatures as “mythological” and not worthy of the label “cryptid” don’t hold much weight. People will believe whatever they want.

There was not a common word for creatures of dubious existence, until “cryptid”. Cryptids as general “mysterious animals” has come into its own as a useful label. We know this because that is how it’s widely employed in popular culture today. It’s your point of view about reality that may vary.

For more, click on Pop goes the Cryptid landing page. While you’re there, make sure you subscribe to all the posts – it’s always free and I don’t send annoying spam.

You can email me with comments, suggestions or questions at Popcryptid(at)proton.me

Pop Cryptid Spectator Pop Cryptid Spectator 15

Pop Cryptid Spectator 15

Pop Cryptid Spectator 14

Pop Cryptid Spectator 14

Pop Cryptid Spectator 13

https://sharonahill.com/?p=9171

Pop Cryptid Spectator 1

In this edition:

What’s up with this project
Pop Goes the Cryptid explainer
r/cryptid aims to be inclusive
New cryptid media
Texas’ Chupacabra coaster
Cryptozoology.com shuttered

Hello! Welcome to the first edition of the Pop Cryptid Spectator, my regular (hopefully) posting of observations and commentary on my current favorite personal project – watching the parade of “cryptids” in popular culture.

I recently recalled that when I was a kid, like 9 years old, I used to collect interesting things about whatever I was interested in at the time and send to my friends or just pretend to be running a newspaper. Here I am, still doing that decades later. It seems to be what I do.

My intent with this regular posting is, roughly:

To highlight the fun ways legendary or dubious animals are showing up in modern media.
To explore the expansion of cryptozoology from what was originally framed as a “science-based” endeavor to what is now a mass cultural phenomenon – a profusion of strange entities that are labeled “cryptids”.
And, to share interesting news bits I find related to “hidden” or legendary creatures.

If you are looking for me to criticize Bigfoot believers, or to make fun of Hodag hunters, there will be none of that. I would suggest that might a.) lighten up because this is not a highly serious subject and, b.) stick around to just enjoy it, because the cryptid scene is crazy right now. It’s so diverse, creative, and complicated. It’s so much more than monster hunting or extinction guilt. Cryptids are a way to express personal and regional identity, attract tourism, inspire art, examine history, explore spiritual ideas, represent liminality and a sense of the “other”. I could go on and on. There is a lot to say. So I’m going to get started.

But, I feel I have to backtrack just a bit first.

Pop Goes the Cryptid

I put out an explainer presentation called Pop Goes the Cryptid a little while ago as part of the Virtual Folk Zoology conference hosted by researcher and data scientist, Floe Foxon. Check it out if you haven’t already. I reworked the presentation a little bit and put it up on my website, as well as re-recording it into a video for people who prefer that. The reaction has been interesting. I received comments by some respected colleagues that highlighted some hot button issues in the cryptozoo. My subsequent post noting these issues just fanned the flames. In short – there is a bifurcated view of the world of cryptozoology in more than one way. And each side can be broken into additional factions. It’s messy. The two opposing camps argue a lot.

First, there is the division between those with a scientific view of cryptozoology and those who embrace the paranormal and supernatural. Now, that is grossly oversimplifying it. I’ll may try to address that at some later time but I think you get the general idea.

There is also a more nuanced break between those who wish cryptozoology would return to a more scientific framework and those who say it never was scientific and might never be. And, that’s also is an oversimplification. You can take a look at my recent writings for more explanation on that dispute.

And, there is the evergreen argument about what does or doesn’t fit under the label of “cryptid”? What’s the definition? How should the word be used? The reasons for the bickering about labels and boundaries is very much under the umbrella of my Pop Cryptid framing. However, I’ll attempt to be neutral in this forum.

Alternative naming

Venturing into the latest goings-on, I begin with a specific dispute regarding the inclusion of two popular “cryptids”. The moderator of the cryptid subreddit has broached the sensitive topic of the use of two entity names that represent Native spiritual creatures. I’ll say them once, with apologies, to clarify. It is common to see Skinwalker and Wendigo referred to as “cryptids” in the broadest sense of being secretive or hidden creatures of dubious existence. They are in no way zoological animals to be named and collected, which is why many on the subreddit don’t think they should be mentioned at all. However, they are both extremely popular in media. The “what is a cryptid” question remains the core of contention. For now, the moderator is asking contributors to come up with alternative names for these two beings. The ’S’ word has already been substituted with options “flesh gait”, “flesh pedestrian” (which is objectively stupid) and “pale crawler” based on modern storytelling, not indigenous lore. The W creature doesn’t seem to have a ready substitution, and the floor is open to suggestions. If you are familiar with the legend of the cannibal monster with a heart of ice, you probably noticed how the modern depictions play fast and loose with the lore.

And they will continue to change because they are not physical things able to captured and measured, they can morph into whatever we need them to be.

New cryptid media

The venerable Adrian Shine has a new book out on sea creatures titled A Natural History of Sea Serpents. You certainly know him – he’s the exceptionally bearded scholar of Loch Ness legends. The book was out in the UK in October and is now available in US markets and looks like a worthy volume.

Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd are starring in a very bizarre-looking film featuring life-saving and life-threatening unicorns. In a setup that reminds me of Harry and the Henderson’s, they have a vehicular encounter with the magical creature. Death of a Unicorn is set to be released in the next few months.

Once again, we see how the line between cryptid and not-a-cryptid is more porous than a bad email spam filter. The title unicorn is labeled in at least in some media outlets as a cryptid even though it historically was not seen as such. However, in this case, it seems to literally be one.

Six Flags Fiesta Texas amusement park in San Antonio announced that it’s changing the branding of its Goliath roller coaster into that of the Chupacabra. The news release for the transformation includes mention of the chupa as a “Texas folklore legend”. Indeed! I was interested to see which version of the chupacabra they picked – the spiky alien kangaroo or the mangy vampire dog. Turns out they combined them both and added additional parts, embracing the chupacabra tradition of being a cultural shape-shifter representing any weird thing that looks scary.

Loss of an OG cryptid website

WordPress sent me a notice that I’ve been blogging for 18 years on that platform. But 25 years ago, there was cryptozoology.com. The site was registered in 1998, before some of you were even aware that the subject, or the internet, even existed. The site had articles about lots of popular creatures and stuck mostly to the zoological framing, as much as I can remember. I hadn’t visited in a while but, when looking for other cryptid forums online, I checked in. And it was gone. Shut down. This happened in (oops) November 2022! The domain name is still registered for the next several years. I have no clue as to what might happen to the site.

During those 25 years, the scene changed drastically. Most of the content on cryptids has shifted to Cryptid Wiki which includes more modern media and depiction of many new creatures that seem to appear or resurface from the past on a weekly basis.

Will the original .com site return all new and shiny? If it doesn’t, what a lost opportunity. However, the loss of this place on the web feeds into the Pop Cryptid trend very neatly. People don’t do an internet search for the word “cryptozoology” like they do for “cryptids”. The zoology part, while still guarded by the stalwart old-school gatekeepers, is completely overrun by the pop cryptid scene all over the web that deals in folk horror, AI and game-based creatures, cosplayers, DeviantArtists, and pokecryptids. Although a bit sad, it seems appropriate that cryptozoology.com would fade away at this time as a symbol of how things used to be.

For more on this trend from cryptozoology to cryptids, check out my post called “Cryptid” out-trends “cryptozoology”, which includes the Google trends data results comparing the two terms. There is a story being told there.

Pop Goes the Cryptid Facebook group

If you are still on Facebook, I have a page where I drop all the links I find to new cryptid content. Read them there first at facebook.com/Popcryptids {EDIT: I’m no longer posting to this group. Buh-bye, Meta}

Here are some recent posts:

Cryptid dogs subreddit r/cryptiddogs
A Russian creature called the Witkes that may have been inspired by buried frozen mammoth carcasses
A cryptid themed holiday bar that popped up in Wilmington, NC
A cryptid themed band called Beach Creeper. Their surf rock content is creative and cover art is hilarious. Check them out on BandCamp.

That’s a wrap for the first Pop Cryptid Spectator. I hope to be back soon to supply new observations from the world of mystery creatures.

Go to SharonAHill.com and click on Pop goes the Cryptid landing page. While you’re there, make sure you subscribe to all the posts – it’s always free and I don’t send annoying spam.

You can also email me with comments, suggestions or questions at Popcryptid(at)proton.me

Watch the video version of Pop Cryptid Spectator on my YouTube channel.

https://youtu.be/Q5MXw_uOd3k

Pop Cryptid Spectator Pop Cryptid Spectator 12