Ozark Howler

 

There is nothing like a mysterious cryptid whose legend lasts over time. Southern Missouri to Northern Arkansas (and sometimes Eastern Oklahoma and south into Texas) has such a legend.

Kushtaka: Half Man/Half Otter

Native legends are amazing vehicles to carry truths. What the Native People encountered, they incorporated into their legends to be passed down by generations to remember real events, real places, and real encounters, sometimes to teach important lesson for survival. 

Thunderbird Sightings

Thunderbird is a term adopted from Native American culture. It has become a popular catch-all term for all giant flying birds seen by people that are of unexplained origins.  In the Native culture, this was a symbol of a supernatural bird with special powers. 

Which Cryptid Would You Want To Face?

art by cryptid and fantasy artist, Thomas Finley (Thanks Thomas!) 

Few of the population have actually encountered a cryptid and most of them wish they could see one just to go from believing to knowing. But, what cryptid would you most like to encounter? Here's five cryptids and five scenarios. You decide!

Bear Dog: Not Really Extinct?

Bear dog: A carnivorous creature that existed millions of years ago and thought to be extinct. There are stories of man's encounters with these and for a creature thought to have gone extinct before we were on the continent of the Americas, that is very interesting. Do they still exist? Some witnesses think so.

Hybridized Cryptids

Many legends of cryptids around the world involve man and an animal, such as a dogman, mothman, lizardman, and such. There are also interesting cobbled together descriptions of mismatched parts one creature, such as the Jersey Devil. Let's have a look at these hybridized legends and enjoy the shivers they produce - 

Shocking Photo of a Skinwalker or Kushtaka?

It is a mask or is it real? Is is a cryptid or is it a skinwalker? These questions when through my mind when my research colleague, Don Monroe, shared this photo with me. 

Amazing Dogman and Other Encounters: Cryptid Witness and Archivist: Kirk Stokes

Repeated themes in history through legends and popular drama, writings and movies, has to make one wonder about a kernel of truth. Cynocephaly (dog-shaped heads) have been reported for thousands of years, whole tribes of these people. Yet, today, we seem surprised to hear they ever existed.

One man, Kirk Stokes, is perhaps one of the most prolific witnesses and archivists of these beings. And his forays into the Kentucky wilderness and his ability to accurately and clearly account for his encounters, makes what he has to say all the more riveting.

New Zealand's Hairy Man

Lots of locations around the world have legends of hairy men in the wild, but not many people know that New Zealand has their own hairy man called Moehau.

America's Crazy Cryptids

I'm sharing just some of the amazing array of cryptids reported in the United States. Local areas have many of their own that have grown over time, such as my hometown's Bunnyman that was at one time a man who ate bunnies, then a man in a bunny suit, and over time has been thrown into the cryptid pile. 

Lizardman:  In Tucson, Arizona during a bike race, a rider saw a Lizardman standing in the desert. “We had been riding for about… I don’t know maybe nine hours, taking breaks every now and then. Then Michael says he needs to stop for a minute. We are waiting for him to finish when all of a sudden we see this long figure walking across the trail. He is maybe about 6-foot tall, very very skinny, and it had an awkward gait, like a monkey…or a man with a disease, almost robotic, kind of,” he told Cryptozoology News.

Horned demon creature of Felton?

Goatman

Jersey Devil

Sheepsquatch

Thunderbirds

Altamaha ha

Dogman

Ozark Howler

Alaska Lake Monster

Pope Lick Monster

Skunk Ape

Sasquatch

Lizard man of Scape Ore Swamp

Was it really any wonder that the Native People have repeated legends of man/animal forms, dance in costumes that portray them? 

Then, there are also the campy cryptids - 

Batboy

Jackalope

Man has been pretty arrogant about ruling the earth and knowing all of its inhabitants and yet every year, even large creatures are discovered "officially" for the first time (thought Native people knew of these creatures). It's a fascinating land, America. We are not such a new continent. Technically, all continents were from a master continent and broke apart. We are as old as any other continent and what happened her had isolation for millions of years before humans arrived in a place that might have already harbored humanoids. 

Do Tasmanian Tigers Still Exist?

This is one of my favorites and one thought-extinct creature that I think has a very excellent chance of still existing.

The Tasmanian Tiger is categorized as a "thylacine." The Tasmanian Tiger actually existed in Australia, the island of Tasmania and New Guinea. This was the largest marsupial (pouched creature).

It was believed to be extinct or nearly extinct on the continent of Australia by the time Europeans settled there. On the Island of Tasmania; however, it lasted much longer. Bounties on their dead bodies, as well as domestic dogs might have helped to obliterate this population.

The supposed last thylacine died in 1936, officially extinct in 1986.

Even to this day, people often report seeing them. It's seen so often, that there has to be something to it. A breeding population would have learned to hide from man who was pursuing him and thylacine had bred extensively before the citizens began killing off their population to get rid of the "troublemakers." If a cryptid does walk this earth, this is the one I would put all my money into. It is the most likely and the most witnessed. It has going for it that they definitely did exist and they had a large habitat to hide in. In fact, there are plenty of videos on YouTube people have taken of potential thylacines. They're pretty badass and seriously, I hope the marsupials survived the slaughter because they are just magnificent wild creatures.

Here's one such film taken of potential thylacine:





Here's an interesting article about nowadays attempts to find the thylacines - 

A team of investigators from the Centre for Fortean Zoology, which operates from a small farmhouse in north Devon, is currently in Tasmania hunting down clues to prove the thylacine, commonly known as the Tassie tiger, still exists.

The group claims to have gathered compelling evidence of the thylacine’s presence in remote parts of Tasmania’s north-west, despite the last known animal dying in Hobart Zoo on 7 September 1936.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology said it has talked to several “highly credible” witnesses of the thylacine and has found animal faeces that could belong to the beast. The droppings have been preserved in alcohol and are being sent awayfor DNA analysis.

Source:  "The animal stood still as the startled ranger counted the stripes, then it nonchalantly gave an enormous jaw-stretching yawn. But when the ranger reached for his camera, the creature faded into the undergrowth, leaving nothing but a rank smell. It also left a trail of excitement, for the bizarre beast looked exactly like a Tasmanian tiger -- also called a thylacine or Tasmanian wolf -- an animal thought to have been extinct nearly 50 years ago.""In March 1982, a park ranger in northwestern Tasmania awoke in the dead of night. From force of habit, he scanned the woods, his spotlight punching through black walls of rain. And there in the beam was one of the strangest creatures he had ever seen. About the size and shape of a dog, it was covered with stripes that ran from its shoulders across its back to its thick, rigid, tail.

Another compelling witness report - 

I was walking through selectively cleared area at the rear of the property which backs on to wood forests of eucalypt which meets onto Dularcha National Park= . I had been at my garden which is on the ridge and had gone down through a track id cleared down the hill. As i was coming back up and about to leave that area I thought a goanna was coming through the bush of consistently sarsaparilla vine, so got a bit out of the way so it wouldn't run right into me. As I watched it from side angle i saw its head appear and thought, oh its a wallaby, but as it emerged I saw it was on four legs so thought it was a wild dog, but as it went away into the next thick bush, I noticed light coloured stripes at the rear near its tail when I realised that what I had  seen was not anything I had seen before, like half dog, half wallaby but not a dingo. I kept away from the area for a few minutes to think about what had happened and decided to go look for it to check on what I had seen as  i had never before heard of thylacine sightings this far north. As i searched for it, I noticed I could still hear slight movements in thick lantana = infested bush, where there were big logs laying, a perfect hiding place. At this point I decided to let it be and I went to tell others what a strange thing I had seen in disbelief it was a thylacine. I researched on the computer all afternoon for a dog-like marsupial but could find no other explanation. My Girlfriend had seen this same animal running awkwardly down our road and into the bush 4 months prior.

- More witness reports here -

Conclusion

I believe thylacines still exist. Just because we know about the ones that were captured, killed or died, doesn't account for the ones we didn't capture or kill. How many possums do you run into?   

We have a creature that definitely did exist and not all that long ago in a setting that offers enormous cover and food supply. Considering large apes and the like are still being found in places like the Congo today, finding a feral marsupial would take a bit more of a stretch. Apes might take on a certain territory, but a thylacine would likely scavenge large areas looking for mates and moving on like a vagabond. Finding a thylacine in a large country that is greatly uninhabited would be a really difficult task, but upon occasion, a person in the wild or in a remote living situation could certainly come upon them and from the numerous accounts, it would seem so.

  

Review: Encounters With Flying Humanoids by Ken Gerhard

I loved the movie "Jeepers Creepers," rushed to Point Pleasant to Mothman territory on my vacation -

I live in the desert southwest and have seen lots of things in the air that defy any explanation I could give them, but when my co-author, Julie, and I ride out to abandoned mining towns and such, in the back of our mind as we run into "swarms" of vultures, is the concept of a thunderbird or a Creeper. Nothing can give you more chills than something that could fly after you.

I was thrilled that Ken Gerhard, a respected crypto research, decided to write a book about encounters with flying humanoids. They are not just a modern day issue and not just the Mothman and Jersey Devil.

The book overall is a great compendium of recorded flying humanoid sightings of all kinds, over all periods of time and locations. It is a great reference book for those who want to keep a flying cryptid book on their shelf.

I can't begin to explain how many flying humanoids were captured in this book, but I learned about ones I never heard a hint about, obscure ones, ones that were kept more secret by locals, and historic ones never spoken of again.

Mexico is covered extensively, as well, where many of the flying humanoids hit the news from being filmed. Gerhard also takes us to other countries and more recent sightings.

I was pleased that in the end of the book, Gerhard tied it together by discussing what may be the explanation for these oddities in the sky. After taking us through such a wide variety of stories over time and location and description, it was good to hear him bring us back down to earth for a moment. Although we have no absolute explanation for each occurrence, we can start listing the possibilities and going down the systematically.

I recommend this book for anyone who is curious about the unexplained flying beings reported in the sky. It's part of my reference library now and really, admittedly, has me watching the sky more than usual. After all, the desert has 180 degrees of it and clear skies almost every day.

Note: I will be reviewing lots of researcher's books this month and one thing I do not like to affiliate with in any way in the Bigfoot field of research is anyone who is pro-kill and has no qualms about shooting a Bigfoot. That being said, when I review books, it is based purely on the content of the book and not the character of the person who wrote it. I cannot keep tabs on everyone in the industry and their stand on Bigfootery, as I am in my own research and not other-oriented. So, if it comes to light that any author I have given favorable review of has unfavorable character, that was not my intention to support them, simply to support the worth of their book. This disclaimer will be after ever review and is important to me because I work hard to dissociate from such types but cannot always know what is in the hearts of other researchers.

Humanoids Among Us: Red-Haired Giants Everywhere?

Pyramid Lake, California (above)

Lake Titicaca, Peru/Bolivia border (above)

A popular legend in the US is the legend of the red-haired giants, a people the Paiute tribe ancestors called "Si-Te-Cah" (Tule Eaters).  Apparently, according to the legends, about 9000 years ago their ancestors dealt with "outsiders" who were extremely tall, had reddish hair and Caucasian features, some described as having elongated skulls. In some stories of the people, these giants made boats out of reeds and lived on hand-made islands upon the lake where the local natives kept a watch on their coming and going. The giants were described as not friendly and even cannibals. At one point, the legend tells of the Natives driving the giants into a cave (now referred to as Lovelock Cave) and filling the mouth of the cave with brush and killing the whole lot of them off.

It would have just been a legend, except around 1911, guana hunters found the cave and decided to harvest the bat guano and ended up digging up exceptionally tall mummies and artifacts. They tossed them outside the cave with the rocks and other debris to do what they came to do. They didn't know anything of natives and relics and they were busy producing tons of guano for profit. Eventually, through a series of mishaps and questionable practices, almost all of the items are unaccounted for, but it did seem to support the legend with eerie clarity.

And, in studying the area around that giant lake bed region of the Great Basin, some other strange correlations come to the forefront-ones involving far-away Peru.

But, first, let me tell you more about this Great Basin Area - a 9400-year-old mummy giant with reddish hair was uncovered hidden under tule there. And, he was the oldest mummy found in North America. Another one of 9200 years was found near what is now Pyramid Lake, a remnant of the giant Lake Lahontan that took up that region. Many thousands of years ago, that region in Nevada/California was very wet, and cultures could easily exist happily in an abundant lake-based lifestyle.

It was apparent there was a culture of reddish haired giants some with elongated skulls, who built boats of reeds and lived on lakes, as well as were vilified by the local tribes.

But, this scenario didn't just occur in the Great Basin of North America.

Going south to the Peru/Bolivia border and Lake Titicaca, we find something else interesting. Elongated skulls were found around that lake and they were from giant-sized beings with reddish hair and elongated skulls. The legends tell of the Uros indians making reed boats and living on islands on Lake Titicaca - (see video below). The Incas apparently drove them to live this way much like the Paiutes' ancestors apparently kept the giants aside at Lake Lahontan.

So, what if there was a race of ancient giants with elongated skulls, reddish hair, who learned reed boat making techniques and perhaps were more nomadic than village-oriented? Could they go up and down the Americas? Did they do so in reed boats to waterways that fed into where Lake Pyramid is now? Did they teach the Uros about living on lakes? What other cultural "shares" do they have with these people that still exist today?

How is it possible that both cultures had such similar situations; lakes, giants, tule boats, and warring amongst the natives for these tall outsiders?

An even better question - if the ancient Denosovans were from one area and spread out through the South Pacific, and Neanderthal spread across Europe, then could the Americas have had a red-haired giant native who was usurped by the coming of Paleo Indians across the Land Bridge?  This giant being the original Native?

Might this be a race that didn't make it...or did they make it in some other form we know of today as the feral hair-covered giants in our woodlands today?

What if the 9000+ year old giants in Nevada are related to the 8000-year-old ones in South America? What if these were America's true indigenous people? Or, what if they were the true indigneous people of the entire earth? Their skeletons are found around the globe...

What if they developed skills of reed boat building and islands on the lake, and moved on to other places, further south through Mexico and South America, followed soon by the Paleo Indians, always having issues living together. Perhaps they gave the people of Lake Titicaca the knowledge of floating islands and reed boats.

Interestingly, an episode of America Unearthed (go to the 5:25 mark) on H2 channel was about a farmer in the Upper Midwest who uncovered a giant in his field. At the giant's feet on each side were two women on their sides, fetal position, hands over their faces.

This (above) is how the elongated skull people were found in Peru - hands covering face in fetal position.

Were there other stories of Natives dealing with these giants? Oh yes!

Indian mounds found in Utah have some very interesting finds, such as these described about the first unearthing of them:

When time will allow more work will be done in the ruins of what is known by the native Indians Cublick. This name was first heard by the writer while conversing with a Piede Indian who, when asked if he knew anything about the builders of the mounds, pointed at them and said: "Cublick," "Cublick;" at the same time showing a spirit or expression that indicated that he looked upon the spot as a place accursed or marked for evil destiny. We learned from other Indians, that it is shunned by them as though some curse or awful crime rests upon the land around it. When asked about the people who built the mounds and made the stone implements, they either pointed to the South or say they do not know, but positively assert that the 'Ingens no make em.'

Inquiries made to Indians of the valleys as to when did their ancestors carve the markings on the rocks elicited the reply most usually made by the Indian. Injun no manik, maybe so Shinob manik. Shinob is their name for the inferior deity. Neither could the Utes, Paiutes, or Paiedes account for the rock pictures so frequently found scattered on rock surfaces over most of Utah, far into southern Nevada, and extending into Arizona, southern Colorado, and New Mexico.

Several score or more of stone mills or metates of the Toltec or Aztec pattern were found, as well as the mano, or hand stone to each mill…These discoveries have brought to light near Ogden what are without doubt some of the very oldest human remains on the face of the earth. The writer believes them to be older than anything we find in Mexico or Central America, inasmuch as the stone mills and pottery are of the self-same designs and quality of those found in the great valleys of Mexico and Yucatan.

At a depth of almost seven feet the base of the first mound was reached and on its ancient floor was found a disjointed human skeleton. The shape of the skull was long and narrow, the jaws heavy and wide, the teeth were large and well preserved. In the skull what is known as the bump of veneration was very prominent, combativeness small, philoprogenitiveness very full. The frontal bones of the forehead projected very much.”

 

My Conclusion:  We're finding some interesting correlations between the giants of North America and those of South America - that there were these giant people and the Natives did not seem to like them and even feared them. They build burial mounds, had some unusual technical skills, and appear to have spread out everywhere from the Ohio Valley to Georgia, Mexico to the Great Basin, and onward to Peru. As well, nearly every other continent reports giant skeletons. I will take this even further - reports of an Egyptian tomb in the Grand Canyon and Egyptian looking hieroglyphs in the tombs of the burial mounds of giants in Ohio Valley and pyramids in the Middle East and in North and South American makes one wonder - were the pictographs, technology, art, building, and influences not of origins of those regions, i.e. Egypt, Peru, the United States, but perhaps all the "Original People," the Giants, who influenced those cultures budding language, metal work, worship, building - in fact, being the basis for all our own priorities of building, technology, communication, art, and spirituality. Perhaps it wasn't that the Egyptians were here, but it was that they got their knowledge from the same source as the Americas.

In other words, in my assessment, the Giants taught the world all these arts and the commonalities found in Peru with Egypt and North America are not unusual when they had the origins from one single culture that was the first greatest culture and taught our crude modern humans technology of art, living, and spirituality.

Do they still exist? Well, consider this report of giants with reddish hair in Peru now -

The giants have only been reported in San Juan Province, an area of rain forests and wooded foothills east of the Andes. Its 200,000 residents have no telephone service or paved roads. Rumors of giant tribesmen have circulated frequently in the past. They received fresh momentum early this month when an explorer said he had stumbled across such a tribe.  Carlos Tarrealza, discoverer of the ruins of a lost Indian city in San Martin Province said he had found the giants when he was lost for two weeks in the jungle.  He said they were clad only in animal skins with reddish hair and spoke a dialect he had never heard. He said they fled at his approach.  Days later, two Lima newspapers, Ultima Hora and La Prensa quoted an Indian guide Encarnacion Napuri as saying on April 25th, a group of about 15 giant aborigines armed with thick wooden clubs, stone-headed axes and hard wood lances attached attacked a camp of professional hunters.

What if - ancient giants were forced out of territories held by "Second" Natives. They were driven underground or perhaps of their own volition, they gave us the knowledge and walked away. Now, perhaps their ancestors have retreated into the wilds around the world and over time developed the hairy bodies that we now associate with a breed of humans popularly called "Bigfoot." They had an obvious jump on us in intelligence and technology, they gave us the tools to work with and walked away, adapting over time to a life in nature, a life as sentinels of the wilds, perhaps even witnesses of man's development.

For those who believe in the Nephilim theory (giants from Heaven who came to Earth to mate with human women), this has an interesting twist. What if these beings descended to earth, mated with human women, created offspring that are now called Bigfoot? What if these Bigfoot are possessing half supernatural abilities of their ancestors from Heaven and half human traits? This might account for both their ability to hide from us and their skills to do so well and reports of their psychic skills and sometimes not-so-human superpowers.

Well, I've given you a good deal of things to consider, but it's worth researching, so here's some books I highly recommend -

Sacred Places: North America by Brad Olsen

Stone Age in the Great Basin by Emory Strong

What Is the Dog Man?

Dogman is something fairly new to popular culture's dialogue, but these mysterious figures have been reported as far as back as man had written language and cave art. Said to walk on its hind legs, have the snout of a dog and the ears, as well as long canines and fur covering its body, most would call them werewolves, but there are many possible explanations and theories as to what Dogman is.

Werewolf:  Early on in explanations of Dogman, werewolf was one of two explanations on the table including misunderstood natural animal. It's interesting because the concept of a man turning to wolf, although very romantically appealing, is a highly illogical conclusion. But, if put into the category of fairies and trolls, it could be enjoyed with a sense of adventure without any threat in the "real world." It could be appreciated like the Jackals of old portrayed in ancient art; a mythical being, a symbol of how close man is from being a beast versus civilized.

Shapeshifter:  A shapeshifter would have a spiritual origin. This would involve a form of magic that allows the sorcerer/magician/shaman to change physical form and represent himself as another creature. The fact that it walks on two legs but has chimera aspects of a dog and that it is very rarely seen even though there would need to be a breeding population, makes shapeshifter high on the differential.

Variation of Bigfoot:  I have heard this concept from a few people in the Bigfoot community who have interviewed enough witnesses to wonder if perhaps there are variations of Bigfoot that involve longer foreface, more prominent jaw, that creates an almost bear-like snout appearance. The only part of this explanation that isn't quite right are the descriptions of dog-like ears and leaving paw prints behind, as well as a generally shorter height around the 6-foot range.

Misunderstood explainable:  People in the woods? A bear? A shape in the shadows?  A glimpse of something out of the corner of one's eye? These can explain a good deal of sightings of both Bigfoot and Dogman, but not ALL of them. Some sightings are so up close and personal as to be able to describe the stance, facial features, behavior and walking ability.

Spirit/Demon:  Something with long fangs, dog ears and snout, angry and, according to some accounts, able to control your thoughts? That sounds like something evil, right? There are almost no accounts of beneficial encounters with Dogman and with them working so hard NOT to be seen, it would seem that they are antisocial, perhaps even aggressive. Some reports have them attacking farm animals and tearing them to shreds and there are a few legends like the story of Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky that include people being murdered.

Alternate Universe:  Where does he go? We're almost never running into him. At some point, we should be coming across their lairs, right? So, why do they appear to leave no traces of their existence in the woods other than the random footprint? Strange lights seen in the woods, odd feelings, memory lapses, and other issues have made people conjecture that these beings coming and go from some kind of portal between worlds.

Alien:  Were dogmen sent to earth to terrorize? To control the Bigfoot population? To scavenge? To pilfer? To report back?  There are reports of Dogman being able to insert thoughts into a person's mind, remove memories, or put a human voice in their head to move them on to another area in the woods or to not look at them. These qualities would be considered exceptional, even otherworldly.

DNA manipulation:  With reports of lizardman, apeman, mothman, and dogman, it would seem an obvious conclusion is that man had been a some time manipulated and mixed with animal DNA to try variations of enhancing certain characteristics. This manipulation would have been done by an advanced culture, i.e. alien.


Unlike Bigfoot, I have not encountered a Dogman, but I have listened to descriptions by those who live in Dogman territory and who have encountered them. There is an understanding among many of them that Dogman is the only thing Bigfoot fears. If this were so, the relationship is an odd one; Dogman is shorter than Bigfoot and surely not as powerful, and yet Bigfoot consider them evil and bad. When I look at the amount of Dogman to the amount of Bigfoot and that they share the same territory, but Bigfoots steer clear of them, I have to say that their relationship would be a bit like a prison guard to Bigfoot on a penal colony. Either that, or Dogman is just an angry being compared to the more quiet and gentle Bigfoot.

Are we talking about a legend, a misunderstood creature, a variant of Bigfoot or something otherworldly, I can't say, but I must admit that Dogman intrigues me even more than Bigfoot because a hairy man is quite possible, but a Dogman is an abomination that seems quite impossible by natural means. 


Great resources to learn more about Dogman:
Linda Godfrey  Author and researcher who brought Dogman into the forefront of cryptid studies.
Ben Peveler
Barton Nunnelly
Nick Redfern
 

Oily Man: Orang Minyak

(1976 "The Oily Maniac")

A rural district in Malaysia has a legend of the oily man (aka Orang Minyak).

For some locals, he is considered a supernatural creature and for others he is a warlock who coats himself in oil to be impossible to catch.

He is said to leave an oily trail.

What does he do? Sometimes, he steals items from villagers, and he is most notably associated with the rape of village virgins.

The citizens actually take turns with machetes guarding their village and the virgins.

Kampung Laksamana has reported continual problems with orang minyaks. Citizens report, "one is tall, stocky and bald while the other is thin and curly haired."

"I saw the bald orang minyak hiding behind the water tank of a house at about two in the morning. It was breathing really loudly, like a cow." A resident, Aslam Khan reported. "It was black and shiny. When I shone my light on it, the thing stuck out its head to look back at me. Before I could do anything, it climbed up the roof and disappeared."

Khan reported they also found the possible spot where the orang minyak conducts its ritual of reciting jampi (mantra) and having an oil bath. The villagers stumbled across the spot after chasing the orang minyak into some bushes next to the flat [...] The residents have been carrying out patrols from midnight to dawn. Every now and then, a team of youngsters can be seen riding their motorbikes in a convoy around the neighborhood.

If this is an urban legend, it is really creative and creepy!

Cryptid Month: Jersey Devil

Wikipedia:

Most accounts of the Jersey Devil legend attribute the creature to a "Mother Leeds", a supposed witch, although the tale has many variations. According to one version, she invoked the devil by saying "let it be the devil" while giving birth to her 13th child, and when the baby was born it was named Lucas, it either immediately or soon afterward transformed into a devil-like creature and flew off into the surrounding pines.

The Jersey Devil remained an obscure regional legend through most of the 18th and 19th centuries until a series of purported sightings in 1909 gained it press coverage and wider notability. Today, the Jersey Devil is considered to be more in the realm of popular culture than folklore.

During the week of January 16 through 23, 1909, hundreds of people reported encounters with the Jersey Devil. Newspapers of the time named it "Phenomenal Week" and the public reaction has been called the Devil's "most infamous spree." Reports initially concerned unidentified footprints in the snow, but soon sightings of creatures resembling the Jersey Devil were being reported throughout South Jersey and as far away as Philadelphia and Delaware.[13] The widespread newspaper coverage led to a panic throughout the Delaware Valley prompting a number of schools to close and workers to stay home. Among alleged encounters publicized that week were an attack on a trolley-car full of passengers in Haddon Heights and an attack on a social club in Camden. Police in Camden and Bristol, Pennsylvania supposedly fired on the creature to no effect

So far as the Jersey Devil is concerned, of all the cryptids, there are a handful I wish were real. This is one of them. The urban legend is dark, spooky, and the Pine Barrens are one freaky-feeling place.



("The 13th Child")



So, what's your vote on the Devil--does it exist?

Join Some Crypto Blogs!

I love following crypto-themed blogs and following interesting crypto websites. It's a thrill to hear what the gossip is in the close-knit community of eager adventurers and explorers. Plus, I like men in olive and khaki, not necessarily camo, though. To me, camo's are like what blue eyeshadow is to women--instantly trashy.

Fashion statements aside, here's the community I follow and why I do.

1. Bigfoot Evidence. Love this blog. Shawn does an amazing job putting up a few posts a day on BF-related info. He gets awesome interviews and I am not kidding when I say, I read EVERY SINGLE POST! Basically, if you follow him, put him on your Blog List so you see the news posts as they pop up. With his blog alone, you know everything you ever need to know in the BF community. In fact, I will be doing a cryptid-themed giveaway in conjunction with this blog on the 15th--so don't miss that!

2. North American Bigfoot. I love this one for a couple of reasons--cute Cliff Barackman from Travel Channel's "Finding Bigfoot" and the fact that he puts up videos explaining things from behind the scenes you didn't know from the episodes. Wow! I love transparent researchers. He also has a sense of humor like mine and doesn't seem to mind me occasionally doing a LAUGH episode about his fun-loving enthusiastic group.

3. Cryptomundo. Loren Coleman is sort of the Stephen King of Bigfoot in that he has more books out on the subject than anyone I know. He knows everyone, has been everywhere, has asked big questions, has sought interesting answers, and every single day, his site keeps you up on all things crypto. It's probably the most quoted site I know on the subject. Smart guy. Honestly a big kid at heart about the subject of cryptids.

4. Bigfoot Lunch Club. This one is fun. I like to go here and see what he's knocking around. It's inquisitive, playful, and informative. I feel like I'm part of a BF happening when I jump on and check out the posts and comments.

5. The Lost Coast Tapes. This is purely self-indulgent, but it's a BF movie coming out that sounds like it's going to be a winner and after seeing that godawful "Boggy Creek," I seriously need something to give me new images in my head. I'm looking forward to this one and I check out the progress from time to time to be sure it's coming out to the theaters and when!

Let's List Cryptids

To start off this month of cryptid-themed posts, let's begin with a fantastic list of countries and cryptids! We hear a lot about Bigfoot, Yeti, and Nessie, but the amount of cryptids reported around the world are vast and terribly intriguing. Let's just take a dive into the big pool of unknown critters waiting to be found or proved figments of local's imaginations.

Tasmania: Thylacine "Tamanian Tiger" (a creature that did exist and is thought to be extinct)

Iceland: Lagarfljots Worm. Supposedly occupies a fresh water lake.

Java: Ahool--a giant bat.

Puerto Rico: Chupcabra--goat sucker creature.

Congo Region/Africa: Mokele-Mbembe. Supposed Sauropod dinosaur.

Sumatra: Orang-Pendak. An ape-like creature.

British Columbia: Caddy--a sea serpent.

North America: Thunderbird.

Pakistan: Barmanu is a reportedly hair humanoid.

Andes Mountains: Ucu--Bigfoot-like creature.

Australia: Yowie--Bigfoot-like creature.

Worldwide: "Globsters" are giant globs that wash up on shores.

Indonesia: Ebu Gogo, 3-foot tall hairy people with pot bellies and long arms.

Pakistan: Barmanu--Bigfoot-like creature.

Africa: Mngwa--a tabby marked cat but as large as a donkey.

As you can see, this is quite a variety!

**Please help me win the contest--button on the top right for the steampunk costume. You can vote once a day until Saturday**

Chuppies Everywhere!

There's been a spat of chupacabra captures/dead carcasses. Well, supposed chuppies.


Wikipedia: The chupacabras[1] (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃupaˈkaβɾas], from chupar "to suck" and cabra "goat", literally "goat sucker") is a legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas. It is associated more recently with sightings of an allegedly unknown animal in Puerto Rico (where these sightings were first reported), Mexico, and the United States, especially in the latter's Latin American communities.[2] The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats.

Physical descriptions of the creature vary. Eyewitness sightings have been claimed as early as 1995 in Puerto Rico, and have since been reported as far north as Maine, and as far south as Chile, and even being spotted outside the Americas in countries like Russia and The Philippines. It is supposedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail.

Biologists and wildlife management officials view the chupacabras as a contemporary legend.


The "traditional" Puerto Rican Chuppies were bad-ass. Described as a demon with wings, red eyes, sharp teeth, drinking blood, his description changed to a more canine-like creature here in America.


Here's a cool article about the Puerto Rican version.


So far, encounters in Texas and the Southwest with these creatures (when they're alive) have not been at all angry or threatening. Not like the reports one hears in Puerto Rico where livestock are found dead and drained of blood.



Mange in coyotes and dogs, as well as foxes are the explanation for chuppie sightings.


Mange: Tiny mites that burrowing the hair follicles of animals and resulting in hair loss. This is spread by animals. In areas where there is livestock and domestic dogs as well as wild canines like coyotes intermixing, the spread of the disease can be rampant. These animals that have been caught, especially the ones commonly found in Texas, seem to be very real animals with cases of mange. It might even be possible to backtrack and find outbreaks of mange on farms to determine where the origins of some of these creatures are. It would seem from recent reports mostly coming from Texas, that a simple check of the rates of mange in domestic pets and livestock would support the mange explanation. I find it very telling that so many are coming from Texas which says to me that this could very well be an outbreak of the mite there.

The Social Implications of Bigfoot's Existence

I wrote a past fictional post about what it might go down like when Bigfoot is found. It's something worth contemplating.

In writing a SciFi book about the social implications of talking to the dead, I wondered to myself about the Patterson-Gimlin film. Whether it's real or not, it does make us have to face the reality that if it were real, that would mean we have a creature out there waiting to be discovered, named, categorized.

How would we go about such a task?

The first step would likely be to tranquilize and transport him where we could get blood and hair samples, study him a bit, and then tag and release him into the wild again to hopefully meet up with his social grouping.

Not only would CNN and other news outlets be carrying this ongoing scientific find, but others would want to find BF for themselves. Laws would have to quickly be passed to make him an endangered species, but they wouldn't really be able to do that until they released him again and found out what sort of breeding population he's a part of.

So, for a time, he would be vulnerable to us and to crazy hunters who want publicity and fame. His DNA would provide some insights into just where on the tree of man this upright creature resides, but it will not answer for us that age old question:

What makes us human?

We could divide ourselves from apes because we exclusively walked erect. But, now another creature proves to be bipedal for quite some time on the time line beside man.

So, perhaps we see observe he seems to be trainable or has a conscious awareness as man does. After all, this huge creature has kept himself well hidden from us. That couldn't have been easy all of these centuries. Perhaps he is intelligent enough to know to hide, but not so intelligent that he has technology. Still, even apes use crude tools and one thing we know about man is that the moment he became upright, he had freed his hands to build tools to help make his job easier. He could not walk and carry a weapon or tool for the collecting of food or even for warring. When you are dexterous, your tool box grows rapidly. If this upright creature has been upright a long time, he must have an arsenal of tools he's designed along the way. Those tools should be the tell-tale signs that lead us to where BF is living and breeding, eating and sleeping.

We need to take him out of the category of "dumb ape" because he can hide from us and because he has been upright for many millennium which means his hands have been his tools and extension of those tool-like hands would be the obvious progression, in designing sharp things to kill and saw, heavy rocks to break open up trees for honey and termites.

This kind of investigation would involve keeping a Bigfoot and studying his habits. Would he do like apes and figure out which button to press to get the peanuts? Would this be too much like the scenes with Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes" when they lock him in the cage with the primitive human? Would we lock BF in a cage with a gorilla or orangutan?

Until we found another BF, we could never really study their use of language and how they might handle tools that we give them to work with. We would have to have more than one to know just how intelligent they are because they certainly could be vocal with us but unintelligible. If he were with another BF, would they "speak?" Would they utilize sticks and tools we give them to gather their own food in their caged environment? What would this tell us of their intelligence level?

Would we put them in zoos? Would we autopsy one? Would we release them into the wild and then go and sit amongst them like Jane Goodall and study their habits? Would the area of his "tribe" be considered a protected park? Would folks pile the kids up in cars to go to Sasquatch Canyon and camp and hope to see BF inside the chain linked area where they could take pictures of the elusive hermit like something out of "Jurassic Park"?

None of this is even considering what rights Bigfoot would have. Rights as an animal or as a human?

Nearly any scenario is a grave one. Can we as ego-driven human beings simply believe in something without "proving" its existence? Can we just back off and say "he's there," without pulling him out of his homeland to be "right." Perhaps we could relegate him once again to the murky categories of Loch Ness Monster and Mothman and enjoy just contemplating "what if?"