Cryptids (Monsters)

Cryptids is another name of unknown animals, which science has not verified. This term was coined after the term Cryptozoology gained notary. For those who don’t know what Cryptozoology is? It is the study and research of legendary creatures not proven by science. It is not the science of unknown creatures. That is zoology. This is the science of animals, that are rumored to exist, but scientists refuse to acknowledge. These animals in question are called cryptids. Some animals are no longer considered cryptids like the giant squid, which is now proven by science to exist.  It’s funny, but when they are still a legend they belong to cryptozoology, when they are proven to exist, they then belong to zoology and biology.

There are different categories of cryptids. Some books categorize them differently them me, but I want to keep it as simple as can for those who are new to Cryptozoology. You’ve got large hairy humanoids, lake monsters, large birds/flying humanoids, alien animals and missed placed animals.   

            
The first cryptid is the large hairy humanoids. The most popular being Bigfoot, the skunk ape, and the yeti. They are described as large (between 10-6 feet tall) bipedal human like creatures that are covered in reddish brown hair. They are reported to look like a Neanderthal man covered in hair and are reported in almost every part of the world. Even Europe has reports of large hairy animals roaming the forests. Stories and legends about these animals go back for centuries. They are reported to roam around mostly at night. Their size is often been associated with their location. These animals on the west coast are reported to be about ten feet tall. The ones located on the east side in Florida are reported to be about 8 to 6 feet fall.  There has been some controversy if these animals are violent or not. The ones located in Texas and Arkansas are known to have a mean strike in them and have grabbed at humans or thrown rocks at them. In my opinion, if somebody was shooting at me, I’d get mean as well. Out of all the cryptids, these have gained the most popularity due partly to books and publications and the other part is television shows. They are located in nearly every state in the union except Kansas and Hawaii.

There are the three toed hairy humanoids that I’m not quite sure what category they fall into. Maybe it’s the same category as Bigfoot. These large hairy animals are largely seen in the southern states and seem to like the swamps. You have the Honey Island Swamp monster and the Fouke monster. There were some three toed tracks found in Port Richey, Florida in 1967. I’m almost of the opinion that these tracks are fakes. Some of the tracks recovered in the Honey Island Swamp were found to be faked. It just seems odd to me that every animal that is bipedal has five toes. Why do these animals only have three? It might be possible that they are not anthropoid in nature and might be something else. Unfortunately we’re not going to know until we find one of these animals and examine it.

I don’t know what category to put werewolves.  I guess it will have to be its own category.  Believe it or not, they have been seen in the United States. Author Linda Godfrey has written extensively on the subject and one such man beast seen in Wisconsin. Her best-selling book “The Beast of Bray Road “offers the most complete investigation done the cryptid. I wonder is this isn’t just a really angry Bigfoot. 

The next cryptid is lake monsters. The most famous is of course the Loch Ness monster. This creature has been seen for centuries and still nobody has got a good picture of it. The famous Surgeon’s photo was later reported to be a fake. Descriptions of these animals very. It has been described as a large snake to a prehistoric serpent from the Jurassic period. There is lake monsters located in the North America as well. There is Champ which is said to reside in the depths of Lake Champlain in Essex and Clinton County in New York. In Canada you OgooPogoo in Lake Okanagan. There is even supposed to be a large aquatic beast in Georgia called Altie which is reported to leave in Altamaha River. There is supposed to be a large fresh water octopus like creature that lurks in Lake Thunderbird in Oklahoma. Also a strange creature named Tessie has been seen in Lake Tahoe in Nevada. A large snake-like beast has been seen numerous times and even photographed at the White River in Arkansas.  There is a large creature seen in Bear Lake at Idaho and a creature called Bessie in Lake Erie in Ohio. The list goes on. Most of these lakes have nearby camping areas so it not too hard to plan a trip to one these lakes and walk around it looking for the monster.

The next cryptid is large birds or flying humanoids. Probably the most famous one is the Jersey Devil (or Leeds Devil) that has been seen for over a hundred years in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Another popular flying figure is the Moth-man of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Even though it was only seen in a short time period, it gained a reputation of appearing before a major disaster. There are also reports of large birds, which are reported to be big enough to carry off a small child. This happen in 1977, when a ten year old boy was picked up by a large bird and almost carried off.

The next cryptid is alien animals. These are animals that appear to have come out of now where and might be in fact extraterrestrial in nature. The first one that comes to mind is the Dover Demon. It was a small white in color being with a large head, large eyes, no mouth and three long fingers in each hand. It was sighted in Dover, Massachusetts in 1977. I remember when the sighting made all the newspapers. The thing in the picture above was taken with a game camera and was all over the internet in 2011. Later it was revealed to be a viral marketing stunt for the upcoming PS3 exclusive Resistance 3. I can't confirm it, but a few gaming websites have said it was, and it does look like the enemies in the game. Another alien animal is the Flatwoods monster that was seen in 1952 at Braxton County in West Virginia. This strange hovering figure was seen my some kids right at a UFO sighting in the same area. It like the Dover demon was only sighted once. A common occurrence with alien animals.

Also another possible alien animal is the South Carolina lizard man. This strange creature was sighted at Lee County by a young kid on a lonely country road during 1988. There were three toed footprints found later in the area. Tracks were found, which later turned out to be fakes. The Lizardman has not been seen in quite a while, which leads me to think that this was all a big hoax. There is legend of a race of lizard people called the Reptilians, also called the Anunnaki, which are said to be aliens from another planet, that live in an underground base in Mount Shasta, located in California, and kidnap humans and eat them. Some people have theorized that all the people that have come up missing in national forests are victims of the Reptilians. Author/Cryptozoologist recently published an excellent book on the subject of the Lizardman. 

The last category under cryptids is missed placed animals.  These are animals that appear in areas of the United States that they shouldn’t be. The most famous is the alligator in the sewers stories. Though thought to be an urban legend, there are documented stories of alligators being found alive in sewers in the upper part of the United States like New York and Chicago. These are documented stories that have appeared in newspapers with accompanying pictures of the dead alligator. There have been Nile monitor lizards that have been seen in Cape Coral in Florida. Kangaroos and even mongooses have been seen wandering around the continental United States. There are mongooses in Hawaii, but they were let loose by the military to take care of the snake problem in the 52^nd state.

For a complete list of all types of cryptids, I recommend “A Dictionary of Cryptozoology” by Ronan Coghlan. He has listed every kind of cryptids from all over the world. It is without a doubt the most complete of hidden animals I’ve read. The only thing I don’t like is that there are no pictures or illustrations in it.