The one pre-modern report of the Loch Ness Monster was in the "Life of St. Columba" by Adomnán (7th century CE). Supposedly, St. Columba was attacked by a huge beast in the River Ness, but he drove it off by ordering the beast to leave while St. Columba made the sign of the Cross.

#WyrdWednesday #Mythology #Folklore #Scotland #Celtic #Monster #Cryptozoology #Cryptid #LochNessMonster

#LegendaryWednesday #DailySpookLore #BookChatWeekly #AncientSky #MythologySky #FolkloreSky #ScottishSky #CelticSky #BookSky #MonsterSky #Mythology #ScottishMythology #CelticMythology #Folklore #ScottishFolklore #CelticFolklore #Scotland #Celtic #Book #Monster #Cryptozoology #Cryptid #LochNessMonster

Native American communities in British Columbia told myths of woolly mammoths, inspired by the discovery of mammoth fossils and other remains. As those people had never met a living mammoth, the legendary ones were savage predators, man-eaters only a great hero could defeat.

#WyrdWednesday #Mythology #Folklore #Monster #Cryptid #BC #BritishColumbia #Canada

#Asemic Snapshot - The #Cryptid

#AsemicText #AsemicArt #Surreal
#AsemicWriting #EOS #EOS90D #Collage #CollageArt #DigitalArt #Photography #SCryptids #Folklore #UrbanLegend #HighStrangness #Phantasmagoria #DeconstructedText #Art #MastoArt

Creature #characterdesign #cryptid

The iconic series Monster Quest has rebooted for its 5th season in 2026. I’ve watched the first three episodes, so I can give you my opinion on the new framing. Unsurprisingly, the AI sequences are the least misleading part of the presentation.

As a scientist, researcher of cryptid history, and lifelong consumer of monster TV, I can confidently say that very few TV shows about mysterious phenomena will hit a high bar for quality. Monster Quest in its original form was cringey. The new version is different, but also cringey in the usual ways. Just to be clear, the original producer Doug Hajicek is not involved, and the format is changed. Fans of the original show might hate this new one, or they might eat it right up because it tastes like the usual paranormal fare.

Format is similar to typical paranormal shows

This new series features episodes that are not about a subject “monster”. The themes are grouped by categories of people. The first two episodes – about policeman and military servicemen (no women) – are transparently designed to highlight courageous individuals who were faced with unexplainable situations that scared them out of their wits. The other episodes are themed by those who are seemingly “trespassing” (such as campers or hunters).

From Executive Producer Jared McGilliard:

Each episode of MonsterQuest is themed, not by the type of creature, but by who the witness is (such as police officers or former military) or the type of encounter they had.

Each episode is made up of reenactments and interviews with people who have had experiences. The encounter is always dramatically described as terrifying, with the creature being menacing, even life-threatening. Yet, somehow, the stories are hollow and shallow, missing detail and coherence. Scenes and camera shots are repeated and don’t match with the narration.

The tropes come fast and furious:

• The wilderness is vast and must still contain unknown monsters (with glowing eyes).
• Police or military persons are trained to deal with danger, so the incident in question must have been something extraordinary to scare them so much.
• Memories can be carried for decades without changing.
• Burial grounds are haunted.
• “I’ve never heard/seen anything like that”.
• Night time incidents where the person feels oppressed are paranormal (no mention that these are textbook cases of sleep paralysis).

The first episode on “cops vs cryptids” was mildly entertaining if you like the typical paranormal witness shows. However, “cryptids” is used in the broadest meaning. The season is heavy on ghosts, shadow people, and general evil entities, even bringing in UFO encounters. Physical evidence is poorly presented. The viewer is left with a hundred questions about what happened, as things just aren’t coherent. As the episodes continue, I’m getting more and more annoyed.

It’s probably just me, but I detest the commonly used format of random spokespeople filmed in rented event space reading copy in an exaggerated manner as if they have researched this material. They are not given credit for writing, so it feels like they are being told what to say. The faces are familiar – Micah Hanks, Holly Frey, M.J. Banias, Hakeem Oluseyi, Don Wildman. While some of these people are actual researchers on these topics, the rest are not. Sorry, but I don’t appreciate an “astrophysicist” telling me that Native Americans have a centuries old tradition of giants in the woods. These talking heads over-gesticulate and enunciate and often sound ridiculous. But, as I usually note with this popular material, I am not the audience for this show. Your mileage may vary, etc.

The audience must suspend critical thinking

The audience would be Millennials nostalgic for The Lost Tapes, and Fact or Faked Paranormal Files, looking to be entertained. There is no science or rationality here, just stories. Stories retold in this manner are unimpressive to me, but I can see why some viewers would be captivated. The witnesses are real people and with believable tales of experiences that they interpreted as paranormal. However, I lost my patience in episode 3 that features cultural/medical anthropologist Kenneth Joholske. He concluded that Bigfoots are living in a park adjacent to the heavily populated area of Gaithersburg, Maryland (a suburb of Washington, DC). He dwells on the explanation that they are unknown hominids, but, dude, this makes zero sense.

He displays natural rocks (which appear to be common quartzite) that he and the narrator refer to as “handcrafted tools” supposedly associated with a Bigfoot feeding site. This is absurd and misleading BS. I can unequivocally tell you that Joholske’s claims are ludicrous; I do not consider him to be credible – he is a true believer, regardless of MQ framing him as a scientific person. I took some screenshots, because, damn, this is stupid.

As I’m watching, I’m picking up other stunningly wrong “facts” that are presented by the narrator or scripted spokespeople. This is a given for paranormal TV, which is for people who don’t know much about history, science and nature. It works on viewers who eat it up unquestioningly. These shows can make you dumber.

Yes, of course I would not like this show. I didn’t particularly care for the original MQ even though I love the subject matter. Yet, I can’t be harsh towards those who find this entertaining. We will always have monster and ghost stories. Harping about the lack of rationality and skepticism does little good. My point, instead, is that it doesn’t take that much to do a better job, but these producers are uncreative and uninformed. They hardly try.

While many online fans of the previous MQ are apoplectic about the use of AI in this new series, I’m not fazed by it. It’s fairly unobtrusive (there is a symbol that appears in the lower left when AI generated content is shown). I expected worse. People are in such a tizzy about the use of transparent AI (to replace the old-timey CGI of the past seasons); shouldn’t they be more irritated by the obvious absurdity of some of the claims and misleading “facts” presented as real?

Season 5 Episode 3 narration described Florida’s Skunk Ape as having a stripe down its back, like a skunk. This is completely made up and may indicate that they use AI for cryptid descriptions. In no legitimate cryptid reference can I find this description. Just bonkers.

The “real monsters” genre is super-popular

The new MQ is banking on the explosion of interest in cryptids and monsters. [See Pop Goes the Cryptid]. This proliferation of monster media will continue. A+E just announced a spin-off of MonsterQuest on YouTube called MonsterQuest: Origins. The digital series starting January 27, 2026 is hosted by “occultist” Sapphire Sandalo, and aims to “tackle the real histories behind the nation’s most chilling cryptid legends,” such as the Rougarou, Wendigo, Jersey Devil, La Llorona, and Dark Watchers.

I bet you can tell that I’m making this face.

Again, not appreciating an “occultist” narrating history for me. Get some actual experts already! Actual folklorists and historians have written about these topics. That’s whose voices deserve to be heard. Histories of folklore monsters are socially complex and nuanced. I have no confidence that we are going to see a useful treatment that does them justice. But, I will check it out to see if my guess is wrong:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6IsxNxn2QA

MQ’s new season is only available on History Channel, so the audience is not widespread right now.

I want a GOOD monster show. Monsters deserve better than Monster Quest.

Pixel art illustration of the infamous Pine Barrens' cryptid, the Jersey Devil.
Less frequently known as the "Leeds Devil", his mythology is inextricably linked to a wealthy South Jersey family that fell out of favor with their fellow Quakers for some unusual beliefs… #pixelart #cryptid

CRYPTID - THE CREAKING GAZE [SINGLE] (2025) SW EXCLUSIVE

https://peertube.gravitywell.xyz/w/iKRXiwjZEkDF6XBtwfN2XC

CRYPTID "THE CREAKING GAZE" OUT NOW!

https://peertube.gravitywell.xyz/w/hbxA2ww2kkkbNyTZd8zBXD

I'll see you in your algorithms 👾 ✨️ #vr #torchmantis #cryptid

LET'S GO, PEOPLE! It's the final push to emtpy my stock of my own 2026 #Cryptid Calendars! I only have 7 LEFT at shawnlangley.myshopify.com , so let's get the rest of them in happy homes today. These are each filled with exclusive art created by yours truly. Each comes with a free pair of 3D glasses, and each is personally signed! You can also order yours with an original sketch added in! Once these are gone, they're gone forever, so let's get them gone!

First page of a 1924 article in 'Wide World Magazine' on an old perennial of #cryptozoology. 'Wide World' came from the same publishers as 'The Strand', George Newnes, and in 1942 Pound was appointed its (final) editor. #seaserpent #cryptid #legends #Fortean #Foteana

21st Century Cryptozoology

We’ve come to the end of this experiment I called the 12 Days of Cryptids. There is still much left to be said about folklore, belief, and today’s cryptid scene. I’d like to use this post to note some observations on why I’m convinced that the traditional idea of cryptozoology is dead, but a vibrant new life exists for a modern version of cryptid research.

First, the reaction to these posts and my model of Pop Cryptids has been decidedly mixed. A few scholarly researchers (who understand that cryptids are just as much a social phenomenon as a zoological one (and usually more so)) got what I was trying to do: distill current information into understandable essays on the topics for curious readers. The rest of the cryptozoology audience thought these were pointless efforts, or they exist within a 40-year-old+ mindset of cryptozoology as a legitimate zoological effort. Remember that the ISC, the official society, folded in 1996. It’s been downhill from there.

Argument for a ‘modern’ view of cryptozoology

I still insist that Heuvelmans’ concept of cryptozoology was ultimately unsuccessful or non-useful. Here are some of the reasons why:

• Zoologists already use credible data from local observers – that’s not unique.
• The past examples often cited for the success of cryptozoology, such as the giant squid, okapi, the mountain gorilla, Komodo dragon, etc. were all discovered well before 1920. The world is far more explored and known now. Large animals, that are ethnoknown, can’t hide anymore.
• While new species are found every year, they are not cryptids in the sense that we know of them before discovery, and they are found by zoologists.
• We have not found any of the cryptids that we do know well. The evidence has not increased, even with technology improvements, but has mostly dissipated in value.
• Framing cryptozoology as a subfield of zoology with a strictly scientific methodology, creates such a narrow and niche research area, that the opportunities would be so limited as to be nonexistent.

The uniqueness of cryptozoology as a specialty area, however, comes from the recognition of folklore and social aspects about an animal that continues far past the reasonable time necessary to locate and describe that animal. This is what makes a cryptid a mysterious thing in the first place – when the social reputation does not match the zoological data. The folklore and social aspects allow for amateurs to be involved and for enthusiasts (including “‘skeptics”) to indulge in their interests based on history, art, eyewitness accounts, conservation, etc. Alternatively, moving past a singular goal of “finding a cryptid” can and often does result in gaining useful knowledge. Example: Adrian Shine’s work at Loch Ness.

Acknowledging the factions of cryptozoology

A shift to a “modern” cryptozoology encounters furious opposition. As part of this experiment, I posted some of the content to two related subreddits. This online forum is second to perhaps TV or YouTube viewing for the greatest audience interest exhibited in the topic. It is where you can clearly view the split(s) in viewpoints. The particular lightning rod post was “We need to talk about Dogman“.

I knew this would happen. Dogman is probably the third most popular cryptid in all media these days, behind Bigfoot and Mothman. Yet, cryptozoo-purists HATE it. They say it does not deserve to be mentioned as a cryptid because it’s an absurd creature that cannot exist. Claims of sightings and pleas from believers to hear their evidence is ridiculed and sometimes deleted. Many of the commenters who spewed negative opinions, obviously didn’t even click on the post to read it. They did not bother to recognize that the piece also stated that the Dogman phenomenon was troubling in many ways and, ultimately, absurd. (Sure, that’s Reddit, but some of these commenters are serious about their cryptid interests.)

Yet, it is still important to understand why so many are accepting of and obsessed with a supernatural creature roaming the US. It’s weird and the curious among us want to know why! The increased interest and attention to claims of impossible creatures (moth-man, dog-man, and goat-man) is worthy of inquiry.

Old school cryptozoology types seem closed to these lines of inquiry – where the shift is away from zoology, leaning heavily on folklore and contemporary legends. Their interest is dependent on if they personally perceive the cryptid to be zoologically plausible. That subjective opinion closes down most opportunities to discovery what, if anything, is really going on with cryptid sightings. It’s basically a form of hard Skepticism that dismisses claims out of hand because they sound nonsensical.

Then there are the active cryptid enthusiasts. They collect and propagate the past accounts and promote the constant stream of new ones. I demonstrated in the various posts that cryptid/monster stories are spreading readily, maybe more so than ever before, and reaching the mainstream. These creatures have become important to communities that now embrace and celebrate them.

This may seem new, but such tales have always been part of human civilization. Cryptid content creators/researchers would benefit from examining concepts within monster studies. But they mostly don’t go there, perhaps because it’s difficult going, and they would rather be doing more “boots on the ground” stuff or sharing sensational stories for their media channels. The context is important. To be taken seriously, a researcher must include it.

I, and others, have provided more than adequate evidence of how incredibly socially useful cryptids are. However, every effort bumps up against those that hold a narrow outlook about cryptozoology. Those that didn’t consider or outright rejected the post on Fearsome cryptid creatures likely subscribe to the sharp line fallacy mentioned in that post – that these tales do not correspond to potentially real animals so they are unimportant.

It’s interesting that these same people, some of whom are well known researchers and authors, accuse skeptics of being closed-minded when they are the ones closed to the evolution of the field of cryptozoology itself. I’m sure they missed this point:

If we consider all the sub-categories of cryptids, this would allow for unrestricted study into the entire history of each creature, fiction and nonfiction, which is important for understanding. Maybe they represent real animals, spiritual beliefs, cultural fears, or all of them together. Those who are well-versed in cryptozoology should consider how indigenous lore about Cannibal giants, water cats, and little people have been used to justify the possibility of real cryptids. Are the antecedents of today’s purported zoo-cryptids cryptids themselves? It’s complex. Recognizing that complexity opens up new areas of research and understanding.

Broad horizons

I am advocating for the application of various lenses to the subject of cryptozoology. This is already happening, despise the resistance of traditionalists that they only accept “scientific cryptozoology”. More will certainly be forthcoming as cryptids flourish in popularity.

It is not a zero-sum game; it does not benefit anyone to limit the subject to only the small niche of scholarship defined and defended by the “Heuvelmans bros” (a [pejorative] term coined by Floe Foxon, personal communication). If you want to focus on obscure animals still remaining to be zoologically unclassified, that’s excellent. If you want to research explanations for historical accounts of anomalous creatures, that’s fantastic and interesting. If you want to investigate claims of Bigfoot, it’s all good. If you want to find out about the economics that drive cryptid town festivals and cryptid tourism, that’s valuable! The scope of cryptozoology must be wide. It can help us understand human nature and wild nature. We need that.

Thanks to those who commented that they enjoyed this series of posts. And to those that didn’t, well, I hope I at least gave you some choice bits to ponder. Long live the cryptids, no matter how you define them.

This is post 12 of 12 Days of Cryptids. See all posts here.

If you liked this series and want to follow the trends in Modern Cryptozoology, please subscribe to the (always free) website.

#12DaysOfCryptids #cryptid #Cryptozoology #dogman

Effects of AI on cryptozoology

The world of cryptids is lousy with hoaxes, and will always be. It’s enticing, and now very easy, for creative content producers to pass off fake eyewitness accounts, photos, and videos as “real”. Countless creators do it for the purpose of attention and notoriety, ad revenue, or to promote a particular view using a fraudulent piece of “evidence” with the excuse that the real evidence is out there (aka, a pious fraud). Controversial images and stories are more likely to be shared and commented upon.

In the last 20 years, we’ve seen the mainstreaming of photoshopped images, computer generated graphics, and artificial intelligence applications that can generate realistic images and video. But more importantly, the platform for freely distributing and promoting content immediately and worldwide with no filtering or vetting is a key factor. The creator of the cryptid image or story is no longer subject to fact-checking and can even be anonymous (and still profit).

We ought to know better by now than to accept visual evidence at face value. A singular instance captured by photo and video evidence was never sufficient to claim an extraordinary animal was real because of the potential for error or fakery. But now, it is blatantly obvious that the majority of cryptid media is manufactured.

Digitally manufactured cryptid content falls into two general baskets: 1. fictional/fantasy art and entertainment content, and 2. factual info intended for education. The problem is the very ambiguous and liminal area in between, where you might not be able to tell fact from fiction.

Faking evidence

Early in the flood of content generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI), blatantly fake images showing “historical” evidence of Bigfoot and Yeti were making the rounds on social media. One image was so popular that Snopes.com had to debunk it. Soon after, the image was being circulated on video platforms as evidence of the Yeti. While for some, they can immediately recognize that the AI-generated images are a rather uncreative form of modern art/commentary, there will always be the gullible who think it’s real.

In Fortean Times 452 (2024), Dr. Karl Shuker pointed out the growing problem of AI generated videos and images circulated as real cryptids. Correspondents sent him images that were said to depict real animals. Any semi-expert eye could spot the flaws in these “too good to be true” images. But, remember that people thought mermaids were real when fooled by a deceptive “documentary” in 2012. Never underestimate public gullibility.

Other images and videos are designed to be vague so you cannot immediately spot a “too good to be true” cryptid. Replicating the ambiguous and far away versions that have always been available as controversial cryptid evidence, these examples are often shared just for the public to argue about them. Controversial topics, particularly with visuals, will generate more sharing, clicks, and audience participation, as commenters feel compelled to add their positive or negative opinions.

The typical excuse of “why would people lie/hoax” is pointless now – they will do it simple because they can. The Loch Ness Centre, that tracks sightings, has to consider that every photo they get purportedly of Nessie might be AI generated. The Centre announced in 2025 that they were employing a team of consultants to examine the visual evidence for hoaxing. Actually, the direct 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. However, supposed sightings, no matter how blurry, are good for tourism.

By default, if the visual is clear, we should assume it is hoaxed, manipulated, or created outright, as that is so simple to do. While people are still using costumes and makeup to fake sightings, now you don’t even need that. You simply put a description in a prompt and it’s done.

Short form video platforms were flooded with AI generated content as the software and apps become easier to use. You can quickly find many YouTube videos that purport to have collected “Real cryptids caught on video – NOT AI” that are, indeed, all AI. These often feature pale crawlers, dogmen, “skinwalkers”, goatmen, or generally giant creepy monstrous things.

Some of the AI footage (like the “Yeti” photo) are made to look old in order to hide the flaws. These are sometimes dubbed “lost media” possibly hearkening back to the TV series The Lost Tapes (2008) that introduced fictional storylines and fake visuals of cryptids and paranormal events. Viewers, usually young people, often assumed it was real content.

Besides images and video, people posting AI generated fake news is on the rise. The news consumer has to be ultra-diligent and cross check information. A blatant example of fake cryptid news was about a coelacanth was found off the coast of California. On April 23, 2025, the website “Animals Around the Globe” published an article by “Esther Evangeline” claiming an “extraordinary find” by researchers in a remote-operated vehicle probing the deep areas 80 miles offshore of San Diego, California. They found a coelacanth! This was easily fact-checked as complete fiction. After trying to contact the author and website, this article still is up on the web site that identifies itself as educational.

Lifelike and imaginary

Far less harmful, and falling into the art/entertainment category are lifelike but imaginary AI content. In June 2025, video blog shorts (vlogs) materialized that featured cryptids rendered with amazing realism. These cryptid vlogs were stunning and humorous, with the cryptids pointing the video cam at themselves and their friends, making jokes, and showing the viewer what it’s like to be them being their best selves. They talk, sing, demonstrate life skills, discover cool things, and even interact with people. The first channel that kicked it off was @bigfootvlogs on TikTok on May 28, 2025. Driven by the availability of Google’s video generator Veo 3 AI software, the scene exploded with additional Bigfoot vlogs, Yeti, Mothman, Yowie, Rougarou, Nessie, Wendigo, etc. However, the novelty seems to be wearing off quickly.

The AI generated creatures are rendered from a giant database of what the collective culture has decided it looks like. While Bigfoot’s depiction was usually consistent, the Mothman creature looks different in each clip because Mothman is not as well-defined as Bigfoot. Therefore, the face, physique and wing descriptions can be more flexible.

Another type of content is made by horror creators who use cryptid themes to produce warped and extreme versions of bizarre creatures. They exaggerate features of real animals or humans – giant size and terrifying teeth are typical examples. Assuming the viewer doesn’t take this seriously, these function as an entertaining creepy short. Mostly, the commenters play along with silly jokes about it. They get it.

Reality-adjacent vids

Videos that look more real might grab a lot more people’s attention outside of the “Nightmarefuel” crowd. Many of these videos appear to come from Central and South America and feature what is said to depict a local folklore creature come to life. You can find the most popular of these videos being promoted by paranormal sites, like Coast to Coast AM. Such sites sometimes include an entirely uncritical summary about the location and background of the stated creatures which serves to prime, reinforce, and share the legend to a wider audience. These shorts almost never have appropriate details for investigation. That’s not their purpose. They are meant to be consumed and shared, not researched.

In March 2025, a short video of what is called a Chaneque, a goblin creature of Veracruz, Mexico, was promoted as real by a local TV network. It was a manipulated real video of a rock hyrax. The reveal was never widely publicized.

Inevitably, some English-speaking commenters are either childishly gullible (or actually are children) or they are playing along with alternative reality-shifting where it’s fun to believe these creatures exist. The popularity of these creature videos, and the willingness of paranormal sites to feature them show that cryptid content now cannot be taken seriously. Cryptids are becoming even more associated with fakes.

Digital-original cryptids

An entirely new phenomena arose from text to image software: all new cryptids. There were two labeled as the “first AI cryptid”, both appeared in 2022.

Loab was created by a text to image software in April 2022 where the command was to “create the opposite” of “Brando”. Wikipedia commentary lumped Loab in with the other “terrible risks” of AI but it was simply an innocuous thing people found scary. A few over-dramatic observers went overboard, referring to Loab as an AI demon or suggesting that the images are cursed. Essentially, Loab was Creepypasta – a fictional creation that the audience played along with as “real”.

Crungus was also called the first digital cryptid but it was probably the second, with its origin in June 2022. The grumpy goatman-orc-like being was likely derived using words that sounded like “crungus”. It was created by comedian Guy Kelly using the nonsense word prompt in DALL-E app. The more probable derivation of Crungus is via a previously named character in online games.

Erosion bird was created by user drevfx in 2023. The creature was striking and became a popular meme, also called the Opium bird. The created backstory indicated that the creature represented the god of decay, and could be found in Antarctica. A current meme pushes the warning that 2027 will be the year of the Erosion Opium bird.

The Hellkite was a digital art hoax with the same template as the infamous Thunderbird photo. On November 22, 2021 the Cryptid Creation Project indicated that the creature was “created by the community.” But there were no details on how it was created. It was an unreasonable blend of a pterosaur and bird. The descriptions as “a lost avian ancestor” made no sense. It was said to have the ability to camouflage and change color. The post include manipulated photos of game cam shots, an egg, a carcass, and descriptive artwork. A site exists for people to manufacture their own evidence of the Hellkite.

Will AI ruin cryptozoology?

This is already a long post but there are two more items to address: First, there are a slew of AI written books on cryptids now. They are awful. The general quality of cryptid-themed books is low, with only 1 or 2 scholarly books on the subject each year (if we’re lucky). The second problem is AI algorithms that are intended to amplify cultural trends. With the trends for cryptids already leaning heavily towards the paranormal and away from the serious zoological aspects, this will continue and get worse. There is no stopping it. The world will turn away from zoo-cryptids and towards the controversial para-cryptids. The boundaries of the word “cryptid” will continue to weaken and include more non-animals.

Circling back to the field itself, the effort to prove cryptids real is already a heavily tainted subject. After decades of looking for infamous cryptids – that are often seen but never captured – the evidence has gotten no better, even though the technology has. This is telling. Belief is propped up by a swing towards paranormal explanations, but also by hoaxes and ambiguous images.

AI is another tool to play with belief, imagination, and reality. A philosophical take is that AI itself is revealing creatures that were hidden. Where they came from is unknown, but what if they always existed in the digital ether and now we have the tools to discover them. If you declare your imagery is a cryptid, no one can prove you wrong, right? If enough people believe in it, the creature can manifest in our world, can’t it? (That’s the view of some over-enthusiastic cryptid fans.)

These manufactured creatures are products of our collective cultural views all mashed together to reveal something new. Audiences ponder over their realness or their possibility. The creatures acquire backstories that sound plausible. They feel real in our imagination and they certainly exist and proliferate online.

Fact or fiction, real or imaginary – cryptids have always existed in liminal spaces. AI is the latest tool used to spread ideas of mysterious creatures to everyone. It is on track to entirely ruin the serious efforts of cryptozoologists, but it has greatly expanded and spread the concepts of modern popular cryptids.

This is part 10 of the 12 Days of Cryptids.

#12DaysOfCryptids #AI #AICryptids #Crungus #cryptid #ErosionBird #Hellkite #Loab

Whether by Ebay, Amazon or my Shopify store, let's get the last of my 2026 #cryptid calendars into some happy homes to start off this new year right!
https://a.co/d/1unaWBu

Whether by Ebay, Amazon or my Shopify store, let's get the last of my 2026 #cryptid calendars into some happy homes to start off this new year right!
https://shawnlangley.myshopify.com/en-ca/products/2026-official-signed-cryptidcalendar-langley-illustration?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web

The Spottsville Monster, a cryptid from Henderson County, Kentucky, terrorized the Nunnelly family in 1975, described as an eight-foot tall, hairy creature with glowing red eyes. #bigfoot #cryptid https://connectparanormal.net/2025/12/30/spottsville-monster-the-unsolved-cryptid-mystery-of-kentucky/

Chud, Chuchunaa, and Hidden Others

I am not a fan of modern monster horror. But even I have heard of C.H.U.D. – Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller, a 1984 movie. In modern slang, ‘chud’ has become a derisive insult for persons with less than redeemable qualities, such as incels and online extremist groups. Why is this topic included in this cryptid context? Because the term “chud” is part of a collection of words that has a long history and refers to the idea of “the other”. Tales circulate that these secret people still appear on occasion. Partly because of the lack of written records, the real mystery of the chud has not been unravelled.

Those who have seen the horror movie likely have no idea that this was a real term referring to an “underground” people of the Russian Arctic. I didn’t dig into the origin of that film, but I would bet the writers knew this term.

I came across the term while looking up legends of legendary creatures of the mines (Kobolds, Knockers, etc.). I found a chapter in the Darnell and Gleach (editors) volume Recovering ancestors in Anthropological Traditions called “Rooting in the Subterranean” by Dmitry V. Arzyutov. I was shocked that I hadn’t heard of the connection between C.H.U.D. and “chud” before. But, clearly, there is a language barrier, and the context gets very complicated fast.

Cultural barriers are a known hazard for researching folklore topics. Not only do we miss or misunderstand the translations, we lack the important context to make sense out of why the stories arose and how they were used. Context is critical. Many a cryptid has been appropriated and in media in ways that are misleading and insulting to the original peoples. Actually, I’m a bit hesitant to attempt to present information from a foreign culture because I know I can’t do it justice. So I’m doing this one with a disclaimer that this is a difficult subject to distill into a general info post – a lot gets left out. Apologies if I mess up or overstep.

Hidden people

I have always struggled with the term “hidden” as applied to cryptozoology. To be hidden implies that the hiding is deliberate and for a reason. It suggests purpose (as opposed to “unknown”, which implies blameless ignorance). Animals may be hiding because they are afraid; they are not hiding because they don’t want to be identified as new species. Adrian Shine, famed Loch Ness research, once noted that “hidden” animals require “hidden” worlds. (Monster Talk podcast S04E26). People have the intelligence to deliberately hide because others DO know about them and intend for their existence to remain secret.

The chud story, in this context, takes two forms. The first refers to an enigmatic tribe of people that was listed as an ethnic group in early Russian historical documents (11th century). The consensus seems to be that these people were historical Finnic people of the Baltic area. The term may have been applied to many different tribes, representing “the others”, all who weren’t those of the dominant culture. Linguists suggest the word was derived from a Proto-Germanic word meaning people. Over time, it developed connotations of the other. It’s a short step between “othering” and mythologizing the other.

The second discussion of chud is about the cultural legends about mystery underground dwellers common to peoples of the Arctic islands and circumpolar regions. This is where things get weird.

Legendary Underground People

These tales of underground people evolved to depict them as a mythic and magical race that vanished into the earth. Remnants of past activities were attributed to the chud. Earthworks and mine shafts discovered by explorers were seen as evidence of the chud. Siberian metal ore mines were known among the Russian colonizers as chudski kopi – mines of the chud. The mounds they found were said to be “graves of the chud”.

Arzyutov’s work, mentioned above, describes the shared idea among the Russian Arctic indigenous peoples of a lost underground nation, with similar legends but different names.

The Nenets, a Samoyedic indigenous group, who are shorter in stature, have a legend that their arrival in the Russian Arctic drove the preceding dwarf people underground, where they still reside. Occasionally, this lost tribe, known as siirtja (I cannot reproduce the proper Cyrillic lettering) make their presence known with above ground traces or encounters. The people joke that some in the community have similar physical features as these dwarfs.

These legends tell of the tribe as afraid of sunlight, who produced and wore knives and other metal items. In the ancient past, they harnessed mammoths.

Anthropologists realized the similarity between the siirtja and chud, and similar legends from different peoples, and concluded that such legends must be deeply rooted in the human history of the circumpolar regions, but there was no written evidence to find a common origin.

The Komi people of northeastern Russia tell of chud as short and white-eyed with an uncanny appearance. They were miners that lived primitively but hoarded great wealth. In this version of their disappearance, they hid to avoid being taxed.

In other areas of Russian, the chud either buried themselves alive or entombed themselves underground to avoid being overtaken by Slavic invaders and converted to Christianity.

I’ve seen a more modern mention of the rumors that the treasures of the chud still remain hidden underground, possibly behind a secret gate. This version has a very dubious “Mines of Moria” Tolkien vibe. Modern ideas of the chud seemed to blend with concepts of nefarious forest spirits, where the hidden people became more like ghosts that people claimed to encounter.

Trying to unravel and explain the varieties of myths in this category is best left to experts. The most important thing I’ve learned in this attempt to find out more is that seeking to understand the nuanced and highly complex history of legends and how they have been translated to modern times, is not for the amateur.

Chuchunaa – the Siberian Wildman Legend

Chuchunaa of modern cryptid lore is a version of the wildman from northeastern Siberia. The word, from the Yakut dialect, means “outcast” or “fugitive” and is related to “chud”. Russian researchers who took cryptozoology seriously were inspired by stories of the chuchunaa from ethnographers. Some of these researchers speculated that the chuchunaa is a relict human, possibly Neanderthal.

Encounters with the chuchunaa clearly described them as humans, as they are noted as using fire, wearing clothes, and interacting with people. But their reputation is typically negative; they are seen as dangerous “man-eaters”. Often considered one of the collection of worldwide “hairy hominids”, they connect to this idea of a hidden tribe of “others”. Perhaps cryptid writers should be more careful in presenting the idea that the chuchunaa represents a Bigfoot-like cryptid.

To conclude, cryptids are frequently linked to folklore or indigenous legends, with amateur “cryptozoologists” making leaps of logic and using facts too loosely to push their own preferred narrative. When fact and fiction mesh and evolve into something new, relevant complexities get overlooked. The result is often a hopelessly messed up interpretation of a modern cryptid with a weak basis in reality. This piece was my small effort to illuminate some of the those problems and discourage them.

This was post 5 of the 12 Days of Cryptids.

#12DaysOfCryptids #chuchunaa #Chud #cryptid #UndergroundPeople

Goatman – Tripping on a Legend

Believe it, or not, the idea of a “goat man” is very widespread, even though it has just emerged from folklore and myth to become a Popular Cryptid. In this short orientation on the goatman as a cryptid, I’ll touch upon several better known goatman legends, and other up-and-coming ones.

Let’s first dispatch with the mention of satyrs, fauns, Pan, images of the devil/Baphomet, and even Krampus. I didn’t delve too deep into why the poor goat had a reputation for sexuality because I’m not sure I want to know that much. In Biblical lore, the goats represent the “damned”, while the sheep are the “saved” – quite the unfortunate association.

The various goatmen that follow are unrelated to each other in time, space and origin. Many began as contemporary legends or folklore.

In the Internet age, the definition of “cryptid” became squishy, and all sorts of legendary creatures and supernatural figures were labled as cryptids by those who found the word useful to encompass any weird thing people claimed to encounter. For most of what follows (but not quite all), the creatures in question are not assumed to be a real animal in need of scientific classification. In some examples, the goatman is more associated with the murderous monster spawned from a curse. But, like I said, other than the upright stance, the ungulate legs (walking on toes or tips of toes/hoofs – the extended metatarsals and a “hock” make the leg look like it is bent backwards), the horns, and the hairiness, each of the goatman (or sheepman) creatures of contemporary lore are very much their own being.

The Goatman of Prince George’s County, Maryland

Maryland’s version of the Goatman was made of the same spooky ingredients as the infamous Lover’s Lane legends of The Hookman and the Boyfriend’s Death. The story of the “goat man” has countless variations to which I can’t possibly do justice here. But this goatman was a popular contemporary (“urban”) legend of Prince George’s County, east of Washington, D.C.

According to The Washingtonian, the first media mention of the Goatman was around Halloween time, 1971 , in a county newspaper. The folklore of the area included the legend of the hideous creature threatening people around Fletchertown Road. The local teens would do what we now call “legend tripping” – seeking out places and facing their fears. The earliest Fortean writer on the Maryland goatman was Mark Opsasnick, who claimed he and his friends would “go Goatman hunting” for fun. In 1984, Opsasnick wrote up his Goatman research in Strange Magazine. (If anyone has this saved, please send me a copy!) The Goatman’s popularity rose.

Folklorist David Puglia has done modern work on the legend. He admits that the “earliest formation of the legend is beyond scholarly reach”, but the oral tradition was extended and enhanced by the media interest, especially newspapers. Thus, the legend “flourish[ed] in a way it could not with just oral telling.” And then came the internet – it made the Goatman even more than a legend. It became a potentially real cryptid.

An image showing a humanoid-goat monster with a carcass became the iconic image of the PG Goatman in 2011.

Created by “Viergacht” using “Photoshop Elements, stock photos, and a lot of free time”, they state that it was made for the ‘fake cryptid’ contest for the website io9. As with countless other manufactured images, there remain some gullible people who accept it as real without asking the obvious questions.

This well-used image put the idea of the Goatman into the weird mainstream. Now, the Maryland Goatman is associated with Beltsville, University of Maryland research facility and a nearby bridge called the Goatman bridge that draws people for a test of courage. The bridge idea has become essential to many other goatman stories, with the tales heavily promoted on social media.

The Pope Lick Monster

The most famous Goatman bridge is a railroad trestle in Kentucky, just outside of Louisville over Pope Lick (Floyd’s Fork) Creek. This is supposedly the domain of a monster – half man, half goat (or sheep). Ultimately, like the Maryland/Prince George’s Goatman, this one is also steeped in urban legend lore of the killer in the dark, and its origins (sometime in the 1930s) are in oral traditions that were not documented. The usual tropes are applied: the travelling circus freak show escapee, the insane hermit, the experiment gone wrong, the violent farmer seeking revenge, the native protector of the forest, or the manifestation of Satan himself. The truth is that the Pope Lick Monster is a manifestation of the danger of the train trestle that claimed the lives of so many over decades. The active train bridge is so high that a fall from it is fatal. The scary legends tell of the goatman luring or chasing people onto the bridge, blocking their escape or hypnotizing the victims. Then the train comes.

A 1988 film The Legend of the Pope Lick Monster promoted the legend and, unfortunately, brought new visitors to the site seeking an experience with the monster. The Norfolk Southern company who owns the tracks, struggles to keep people away but the lure is strong for people to test their bravery and have an experience. The legend continues to grow and encourages these potentially deadly efforts.

The Pope Lick monster is a dubious cryptid – no one has ever actually seen it though some claim they heard it or suspected they saw it. However, it is regularly included in “cryptid” content despite its improbability. There is also a festival that ghoulishly celebrates the infamous location and creature. I’ll circle back to the tragic consequences of this legend and the celebration related to tragedies in an upcoming post.

Lake Worth Monster

The Summer of ’69 was notable for the appearance of a goatman around Greer Island in Texas. Said to be huge, bipedal, hairy, and white, the monster reportedly scared teenagers who wanted some alone time near Lake Worth. The creature jumped on a car, attempted to assault a woman, and damaged the paint. The next night, as law enforcement and enthusiastic townsfolk looked for the beast, it threw a tire at them.

The beast was also characterized as Bigfoot-like, though the original report described it as a “fishy man goat”, having horns, thus the goat- or sheep- man association. And, there was eventually a photo.

The photo generates additional questions and no answers. Other than more eyewitness claims, no additional evidence came to light. Of course, there is also a festival that keeps the story from disappearing into the dark past. Check out this recent video on the topic from Lyle Blackburn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEb4dhLEGvA

Huay Chivo

Described as having a hairy body, red eyes, and an unmistakable stench, in Mexico’s Yucatecan territory, stories of the Huay Chivo are common. People say they hear it breathing nearby as it stalks the fields, and makes the dogs howl. More often, claims of sightings of the Huay Chivo are shared online and reported in the local press. The creature is said to be a sorcerer that transforms into a goat, dog or deer, in order to prey upon livestock. While it has become associated with the chupacabra, the literal meaning is sorcerer-goat, and represents a local variation of the Mesoamerican Nahual – a human that uses magic to shapeshift into a spirit-animal form.

Of folkloric origin, once again, we see legend crossing into reality as people claim to actually see the creatures. As with the chupacabra, the creature may represent concern about dead livestock or unusual circumstances or bad luck. According to a recent article on El Huay Chivo, the stories have been passed down from generation to generation to “keep alive the connection between people and the ancestral mysticism of the Yucatecan territory.” Of note, guess what image is used to represent Huay Chivo in that article? It’s Viergacht’s Goatman image.

Commodification? Check! Huay Chivo is now part of the tourist draw as it appears in festivals and cultural events that celebrate the Maya.

Sheepsquatch and Others

There are several other goat/sheep monsters that deserve mention. And some I probably don’t even know about.

The Sheepsquatch from West Virginia was also known as the “White Thing,” for its pale fur or “wool”. A later edition to the cryptid compendium, the 9′ tall, woolly, horned beast made its appearance in the mid-1990s. With sharp teeth and a musky odor, some speculated witnesses may have encountered a strange bear. The Sheepsquatch attained fame by association, being lumped in with other WV cryptids to emphasize the theme of Spooky Appalachia (the ancient mountains having their own genii loci, spirits of the land). The claims were featured on monster TV shows such as Monsters and Mysteries in America (the first episode) and Mountain Monsters. The Sheepsquatch appears in the infamous monster-laden Fallout 76 game. With the successful social spreading of the creature, it acquired a history that appropriated the past and was blamed for animal deaths and attacks. Acting in the local role of a Bigfoot-character, the Sheepsquatch is responsible for the growls and screams that people hear in the forest.

The Denton goatman is the story of Oscar Washburn, a successful farmer in Texas who was murdered by the KKK. He haunts the bridge, near where his body was dumped, in the form of a man-like goat. The bridge-goat tales harken to the famous fairy tale of Three Billy Goats Gruff where goats must outsmart a troll that lives under the bridge they must cross to reach fresh grass. The goatman is now the troll.

The Waterford Sheepman (also called a goatman, thanks to that cryptid label coming out in popularity ahead of “sheep”) is a legend from rural Waterford, Pennsylvania. Sticking with the same tropes, it also originated as a contemporary legend in the late 60s and early 70s, influenced by car culture, and it lives under a bridge and encourages teens to plan a legend trip to find it. Some online sources report the the Sheepman, fitting the usual description of tall, hairy, horned, and gruesome, killed livestock and even people, but there is no evidence of the latter. If there were any livestock deaths, they were eventually exaggerated into a taller tale. But facts hardly matter if the story is good.

Conclusion

Collectively looking at the goatman examples in this growing genre of cryptid creatures, we can make a few conclusions about why the goatman tales are so widespread and popular. Context is key. Many of the infamous goatman encounters were related to teens testing their boundaries and crossing a bridge (both physically and metaphorically). We can also suppose that the goat creatures perhaps reflect the connection to sexuality and the Satanic symbolism of the goat.

It seems obvious that the legends are spreading to other areas, shaping and boosting similar local lore. The story tellers are taking the common tropes from goatman stories and adding them to their tales with popular results. The media and, later, the Internet did wonders in propelling contemporary legends. Creation and propigation of images and ideas have been key in shaping and expanding the goatman stories. Some real tragedies and social forces also inspired and boosted the goatman legends. However, manufactured cryptid and monster tales are ubiquitous. These are provided to Internet forums or paranormal web sites as “true” stories when they are really more like creative writing exercises where others in the audience play along. Occasionally, the fictional boundaries are lost and the imaginary bogeyman intrudes into reality.

People “see” cryptids regardless if they make zoological sense or not. Contemporary legends, like those of mysterious creatures, are reflective of cultural trends. The expansion of the general ideas of “cryptids” now includes all kinds of mysterious creatures, even ones that are biological impossible (like man-animal hybrids). As a potential unclassified creature, goatmen simply do not work. Unless they really are supernatural.

This post is part 3 of the 12 days of Cryptids.

#12DaysOfCryptids #cryptid #DentonGoatman #LakeWorthMonster #MarylandGoatman #PopeLickMonster #sheepman #sheepsquatch #WaterfordSheepman

Black Panthers – Rare and Everywhere

Tales of black panthers are widespread and repeated from the US and Canada to Europe. A cryptid conundrum arises from the fact that there are no documented populations of these melanistic cats in those places. Yet people see them, report them, and insist that they are around. The black panther phenomenon is so entrenched in cryptid content that many suggest they are not regular animals but zooform phenomenon – paranormal beings in animal shape, unable to be tracked and caught.

Real big black cats

Melanistic variants of large cats include the jaguar and leopard, both of which produce a genetic combination that result in a black coat color. In both cases, the typical coat color is tan with spots or “rosettes”. The excess of dark pigment overwhelms the spotted pattern, even though the spots are visible on the black background in certain lighting up close.

A common assertion from witnesses or those repeating local accounts is that the animal seen was a black mountain lion/puma. Melanistic mountain lions are not recognized as biological possibilities. Hunted for centuries and rendered extinct in the northeastern states, there has never been an example of a black puma. A logical conclusion is that the species Puma concolor does not carry the mutation to account for melanism, so it cannot naturally appear. Therefore, it’s not reasonable to accept this explanation for a big black cat. Even if, one day, a black puma is found (or close to it), it will not be reasonable to conclude that this one-off individual could account for the extensive sightings. So what can account for sightings?

This recent video does a fine job of presenting all the possible explanations for reports. However, EVERY media post about the mystery inevitably includes comments cluttered with unverified (and unverifiable) stories from people who claim to have seen them, regardless of the impossible odds that such a creature exists, particularly in that area.

Black jaguars are a possibility in the southern US. While still a rare variation, individual jaguars can cross into Arizona and may range far enough for people to occasionally spot them. With the rarity of individuals and the additional rarity of the black coat color, the odds just don’t favor black jaguars.

With black leopards only native to Africa (Edit: and tropical Asia), the next reasonable guess is that imported, kept cats have escaped. Escaped kept cats are also a low-odds, but not impossible, option. However, missing animals usually are recovered fairly quickly or end up dead.

In the UK, where the idea of “alien big cats” has a long and exciting history from the early 1900s, certain areas were said to be home to their own named large cat, often described as black. These include the Beast of Exmoor, Surrey Puma, Beast of Bodmin, Norfolk Panther, Cotwolds Big Cat, Beast of Dartmoor, Galloway Puma, and Beast of Buchan. In 2020, Spain was the center of a black panther flap. Like in the U.S., there is a serious problem with no known animals upon which to pin the sightings. But the option of released or escaped animals remains a commonly suggested, though infrequently confirmed, solution.

Photos and hoaxes

Several photographic examples exist from people claiming to have encountered black panthers. The photos often lack scale, or a follow-up to determine scale isn’t done. The black coloration obscures details that allow us to accurately judge size and characteristics. Wildlife experts can tell if the animal is proportioned like a big cat or a regular house cat. In most cases, it’s obvious that the animal is Felis catus (domestic cat), which can get pretty hefty.

Black jaguars have been caught on game cameras in Panama. Even in remote areas, rare snow leopards have been caught on camera in Northern Pakistan. Yet, with the multitude of game cameras everywhere in the US, no black panthers have been discovered. The negative evidence suggests they really aren’t there.

Hoaxed photos abound. Every so often, a real photo of a black leopard or jaguar will be promoted as taken from a local camera. Or, as is more frequent, a photo has been manipulated or created. Some examples are used so often, reappearing every few years, commenters joke about how the same cat really gets around.

My favorite “hoaxes” are those involving stuffed animal toys that people mistake as real animals.

The black panther mascots

A curious observation I have made is the multitude of school and sports mascots that are black panthers. A big fearsome cat is a common icon to use, and often it is depicted as black even though the location can’t claim any large representative native cats. Pop culture images of black panthers are now so well-known that people have a frame of reference and may assume that the presence of a “black mountain lion” isn’t as far-fetched as it actually is.

The repeated imagery and stories of black panthers are influential in interpreting sightings. Witnesses may have no idea that such large cats are not plausible in their area. If they see a glimpse of a large, sleek dog in low light, or a bulky tom cat in the distance, they can easily jump to the wrong conclusions.

We are primed to see what our culture suggests we could see. The black panther image is ubiquitous. We will always fear the large, dangerous predator that might be in the forest, no matter how rare (or impossible) scientists say they are.

This post is part 2 of the 12 days of Cryptids.

#12DaysOfCryptids #alienBigCats #bigCats #BlackPanthers #blackPumas #cryptid #mysteryCats