#lochnessmonster — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #lochnessmonster, aggregated by home.social.
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The May M.T Almanac
Pull up a chair, grab an ice-cream and hold onto your sunhats, because May is never quite as innocent as it looks!
It all starts on 1st with Beltane. Yes ‘Beltane’. Don’t come for me with your alternative spellings and pronunciations, I call it Beltane and I pronounce it “Bell-tane”. You may spell and pronounce it differently. That is your right. Many people do. We are, after all, human and we all have our own, slightly different takes on these things. That’s ok. We are inclusive here at Mysterious times. Anyway, I digress…
Beltane is an ancient fire festival which marks the beginning of summer in the Gaelic and Pagan calendar and has it’s own May Day customs of greenery, dancing, flowers and thresholds. May 1st this year (2026) falls on a Friday, while the May Day Bank holiday follows on Monday 4th
“But why?” I hear you ask,
“Why do we celebrate the Bank Holiday on Monday and not on the actual date?”
The answer to that is probably very simple.. but I can’t remember it at the moment. I’ll look into it and get back to you later. Stop interrupting. There will be time for questions like that in the comments. Moving on… Where were we?
Ah yes! Thresholds…
So, May is all about thresholds, and if you haven’t swept yours already, you’d better get to it. We will cover all the ins and outs of thresholds in another article, but for now let’s just say it’s believed by many to be most beneficial if you make sure yours are all in order before Beltane. So get your broom out.
In Christian calendars, it’s all about saints and workers (and probably spring cleaning). In the first few days of May we have St Joseph the Worker (Jesus’s dad), St Philip and St James (apostles)and St Athanasius (The Black Dwarf).
The Bahá’í Twelfth day of Ridván falls on the 2nd May, marking the close of one of the faiths holiest festivals.
Judaism brings Lag Ba’Omer in early May.
Meanwhile, the Christian calendar marches onwards toward Ascension Day on the 14th and Pentacost on the 24th.
May 25th offers another chance for Brits to descend on beer gardens and garden centres – It’s Spring Bank Holiday Monday!
Shavuot falls on 22-23rd May, the Declaration of the Báb is observed on the 24th, Hajj is listed from 24-29th, Eid al Adha from 26-30th, the Ascension of Bahá’ u’lláh also on the 29th and Vesak, or Buddah Day on the 31st May. Dates for lunar observances may vary slightly between community and sighting of the moon, but May 2026 is unusually crowded with sacred times.
This month is also, quite delightfully, the month that gives us National Paranormal Day on the 3rd May. It is a modern, unofficial observance rather than an ancient holy day, but it feels very at home here, tucked between Beltane fires and a month of apparitions, monsters and strange lights.
Talking of which – Cryptozoology! Yay!
May begins with one of the great monsters of modern folklore. On 2nd May 1933, the Inverness Courier published the report that helped launch the modern Loch Ness Monster legend, after Aldie Mackay claimed to have seen an enormous creature rolling and plunging in Loch Ness. The actual sighting was said to have occurred in April, but it was the May newspaper report that turned a Highland water mystery into an international monster. From there, Nessie became not only a cryptid, but a cultural force, part beast, part tourism icon, part stubborn ripple in the rational world.
But May’s strangeness doesn’t just stay in the water – and I, for one am very grateful for this because if it did we wouldn’t have any UFO reports like this one from McMinnville, Oregon.
On 11th May 1950, Paul and Evelyn Trent took two photographs near their home which showed what they described as a metallic, disc shaped object in the sky. the McMinnville photographs became some of the most famous UFO images of the twentieth century, debated by believers and sceptics alike. What keeps them interesting is not just the object in the frame, but the sheer ordinariness of the setting: A farm, evening light, rabbits to be fed, supper probably waiting. The uncanny often arrives without a soundtrack.
For May 13th, we have a case that could fit comfortably into both paranormal and religious history studies. on this date in 1917, three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal reported the first of a series of Marian apparitions. The Catholic church later approved the devotion and the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima is now observed on May 13th. To the faithful it is sacred history. To historians of the paranormal, it is also one of the twentieth centuries most influential apparition narratives, complete with prophecy, crowds, controversy and a final public miracle claim in October of the same year. Me? I’m on the fence. The story has a lot of similarities to the kind of Fae encounters you find in folklore or Alien encounters in UFOlogy. Talking of UFOlogy (again)…
On the 19th May 1986, one of UFOlogys strongest radar visual cases occurred. In Brazil’s ‘Official UFO Night’, no less than 21 unidentified objects were reportedly seen by civilian and military witnesses across Sáo Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Goiás. Brazilian Air Force radar detected the objects, and five fighter jets were scrambled to intercept them. Whatever you think of the case, it remains significant because this wasn’t just a lone witness in a field somewhere. It was radar, air traffic control, military pilots and an official archive all staring at the same impossible sky.
On 20th May 1967, industrial mechanic Stefen Michalak reported seeing two strange craft near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Canada, one of which landed nearby. He later sought medical help for burns and the Falcon Lake Incident became one of Canada’s most discussed UFO encounters. CBC called it Canada’s best documented UFO case, although sceptical questions remain around several details, but that’s often the way with the best cases. They refuse to behave for either side.
By the final week, the calendar has got it all going on. Shavuot, Pentacost, the Declaration of the Báb, Hajj, Eid al-Adha, the Ascension of Bahá’ u’ lláh and Vesack crowd together in a few, supercharged days. And that matters because folklore, faith, ghosts, UFOs and monsters all grow from the same human habit – we mark the year, we watch the skies, we tell each other what we saw and we argue about what it meant.
So May isn’t merely a month of Bank Holidays, blossom and bluebells. It’s Beltane smoke and Marian light. It’s Nessie breaking the surface of the public imagination. It’s flying discs over Oregon, radar ghosts over Brazil, burns and mystery beside a Canadian lake. It is saints days, sacred festivals, monster lore and strange skies all arriving under lengthening evenings when people are outside again and the world feels a little bigger, a little more… mysterious. That, perhaps is why May feels so magical. It opens the door and shows you the threshold.
References and Further Reading:
The UK Bank Holiday calendar, The University of Leeds 2025-2026 faith calendar, the Bahá’í calendar, the Catholic Liturgy calendar for May 2026, the Inverness Courier and later histories of the Loch Ness Monster, the McMinnville UFO Festival history, the Brazilian government archive on Official UFO Night, Library and Archives Canada material on Falcon Lake and reporting on the Fátima Apparitions.
#Beltane #Brazil #FalconLakeIncident #FátimaApparitions #LochNessMonster #MarianApparitions #MayDay #McMinville #MysteriousTimesAlmanac #OfficialUFONight #OurLadyOfFatima #Paranormal #UFO -
The intertwining legends of the Loch Ness Monster and UFOs in the Scottish Highlands have intrigued people for decades. #ufo #nessie #lochnessmonster https://connectparanormal.net/2026/03/10/nessie-and-ufos-myths-of-the-scottish-highlands/
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The intertwining legends of the Loch Ness Monster and UFOs in the Scottish Highlands have intrigued people for decades. #ufo #nessie #lochnessmonster https://connectparanormal.net/2026/03/10/nessie-and-ufos-myths-of-the-scottish-highlands/
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The intertwining legends of the Loch Ness Monster and UFOs in the Scottish Highlands have intrigued people for decades. #ufo #nessie #lochnessmonster https://connectparanormal.net/2026/03/10/nessie-and-ufos-myths-of-the-scottish-highlands/
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'Top #LochNessMonster hunter gives final verdict after 52 years of searching'... https://www.ladbible.com/news/uk-news/loch-ness-monster-expert-adrian-shine-mythical-creature-isnt-real-740552-20260112 #cryptozoology
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False Nessie advertising. #nessie #lochnessmonster
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False Nessie advertising. #nessie #lochnessmonster
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False Nessie advertising. #nessie #lochnessmonster
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Ciao Mondo.
Cioé in passato ho fatto anche cose come questa! Uanama!#clay #claymonster #monster #mostro #scultura #fluo #homedecor #handmade #unrealtoys #lochnessmonster #lochness
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You remember Monster In My Pocket from the 1990s, right. But did you know they rebooted in the 2000s? To mark a year of the Monster Toy Blog, I take a look at the 'rebooted' Loch Ness Monster...
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You remember Monster In My Pocket from the 1990s, right. But did you know they rebooted in the 2000s? To mark a year of the Monster Toy Blog, I take a look at the 'rebooted' Loch Ness Monster...
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You remember Monster In My Pocket from the 1990s, right. But did you know they rebooted in the 2000s? To mark a year of the Monster Toy Blog, I take a look at the 'rebooted' Loch Ness Monster...
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You remember Monster In My Pocket from the 1990s, right. But did you know they rebooted in the 2000s? To mark a year of the Monster Toy Blog, I take a look at the 'rebooted' Loch Ness Monster...
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You remember Monster In My Pocket from the 1990s, right. But did you know they rebooted in the 2000s? To mark a year of the Monster Toy Blog, I take a look at the 'rebooted' Loch Ness Monster...
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Loch Ness Monster, Monster In My Pocket (2006), by Corinthian Marketing PLC / MEG
It has been exactly one year to the day since the launch of the Monster Toy Blog. My first review to kick things off back then was the AAA Loch Ness Monster, so to mark this annual milestone, I’ve picked out another Nessie to take a look at, this time from Monster In My Pocket.
But wait… you’re correct to note that we’ve already reviewed the MIMP Loch Ness Monster! But did you know there was […]
Read more... https://monstertoyblog.com/loch-ness-monster-monster-in-my-pocket-2006-by-corinthian-marketing-plc-meg/
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@paulbowler
Currently watching Terror of the Zygons.
#TerrorOfTheZygons #DoctorWho #1975 #OTD #Zygons #LochNess #LochNessMonster #OchAyeTheNooJimmy -
Loch Ness Uncovered – R. Siegel
Loch Ness Uncovered: Media, Misinformation, and the Greatest Monster Hoax of All Time
Rebecca Siegel
2024, Penguin Random House
192 ppAn award-winning book aimed at teens, this engrossing and unique take on the Nessie story follows the thread of the media coverage of the monster from its origins in 1933. Meticulously researched, the reader is presented with an astounding timeline of events early on, that laid the foundation of belief in the creature that barely wavered. Nessie became an icon through weak evidence, failed studies, and several hoaxes. Siegel’s book was entertaining and enlightening even to the seasoned cryptid researcher, except for Henry Bauer, Nessie true believer. He left an embarrassingly out of touch review of the book on Amazon, seemingly because it skipped over Constance Whyte and Tim Dinsdale as well as ignoring Bauer’s personal opinion on Nessie. I think that shows how powerful the narrative really is when it’s laid out. As noted, the book is focused on a specific through-line and meant for teens who already know the legend, so it’s not comprehensive. It works well in achieving the goal as well as showing all the pieces that fit together to propel a creature into the world’s first pop cryptid.
#CryptozoologyAnnotatedBibliography #LochNessMonster #Nessie
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Loch Ness Uncovered – R. Siegel
Loch Ness Uncovered: Media, Misinformation, and the Greatest Monster Hoax of All Time
Rebecca Siegel
2024, Penguin Random House
192 ppAn award-winning book aimed at teens, this engrossing and unique take on the Nessie story follows the thread of the media coverage of the monster from its origins in 1933. Meticulously researched, the reader is presented with an astounding timeline of events early on, that laid the foundation of belief in the creature that barely wavered. Nessie became an icon through weak evidence, failed studies, and several hoaxes. Siegel’s book was entertaining and enlightening even to the seasoned cryptid researcher, except for Henry Bauer, Nessie true believer. He left an embarrassingly out of touch review of the book on Amazon, seemingly because it skipped over Constance Whyte and Tim Dinsdale as well as ignoring Bauer’s personal opinion on Nessie. I think that shows how powerful the narrative really is when it’s laid out. As noted, the book is focused on a specific through-line and meant for teens who already know the legend, so it’s not comprehensive. It works well in achieving the goal as well as showing all the pieces that fit together to propel a creature into the world’s first pop cryptid.
#CryptozoologyAnnotatedBibliography #LochNessMonster #Nessie
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Loch Ness Uncovered – R. Siegel
Loch Ness Uncovered: Media, Misinformation, and the Greatest Monster Hoax of All Time
Rebecca Siegel
2024, Penguin Random House
192 ppAn award-winning book aimed at teens, this engrossing and unique take on the Nessie story follows the thread of the media coverage of the monster from its origins in 1933. Meticulously researched, the reader is presented with an astounding timeline of events early on, that laid the foundation of belief in the creature that barely wavered. Nessie became an icon through weak evidence, failed studies, and several hoaxes. Siegel’s book was entertaining and enlightening even to the seasoned cryptid researcher, except for Henry Bauer, Nessie true believer. He left an embarrassingly out of touch review of the book on Amazon, seemingly because it skipped over Constance Whyte and Tim Dinsdale as well as ignoring Bauer’s personal opinion on Nessie. I think that shows how powerful the narrative really is when it’s laid out. As noted, the book is focused on a specific through-line and meant for teens who already know the legend, so it’s not comprehensive. It works well in achieving the goal as well as showing all the pieces that fit together to propel a creature into the world’s first pop cryptid.
#CryptozoologyAnnotatedBibliography #LochNessMonster #Nessie
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Loch Ness Uncovered – R. Siegel
Loch Ness Uncovered: Media, Misinformation, and the Greatest Monster Hoax of All Time
Rebecca Siegel
2024, Penguin Random House
192 ppAn award-winning book aimed at teens, this engrossing and unique take on the Nessie story follows the thread of the media coverage of the monster from its origins in 1933. Meticulously researched, the reader is presented with an astounding timeline of events early on, that laid the foundation of belief in the creature that barely wavered. Nessie became an icon through weak evidence, failed studies, and several hoaxes. Siegel’s book was entertaining and enlightening even to the seasoned cryptid researcher, except for Henry Bauer, Nessie true believer. He left an embarrassingly out of touch review of the book on Amazon, seemingly because it skipped over Constance Whyte and Tim Dinsdale as well as ignoring Bauer’s personal opinion on Nessie. I think that shows how powerful the narrative really is when it’s laid out. As noted, the book is focused on a specific through-line and meant for teens who already know the legend, so it’s not comprehensive. It works well in achieving the goal as well as showing all the pieces that fit together to propel a creature into the world’s first pop cryptid.
#CryptozoologyAnnotatedBibliography #LochNessMonster #Nessie
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Loch Ness Uncovered – R. Siegel
Loch Ness Uncovered: Media, Misinformation, and the Greatest Monster Hoax of All Time
Rebecca Siegel
2024, Penguin Random House
192 ppAn award-winning book aimed at teens, this engrossing and unique take on the Nessie story follows the thread of the media coverage of the monster from its origins in 1933. Meticulously researched, the reader is presented with an astounding timeline of events early on, that laid the foundation of belief in the creature that barely wavered. Nessie became an icon through weak evidence, failed studies, and several hoaxes. Siegel’s book was entertaining and enlightening even to the seasoned cryptid researcher, except for Henry Bauer, Nessie true believer. He left an embarrassingly out of touch review of the book on Amazon, seemingly because it skipped over Constance Whyte and Tim Dinsdale as well as ignoring Bauer’s personal opinion on Nessie. I think that shows how powerful the narrative really is when it’s laid out. As noted, the book is focused on a specific through-line and meant for teens who already know the legend, so it’s not comprehensive. It works well in achieving the goal as well as showing all the pieces that fit together to propel a creature into the world’s first pop cryptid.
#CryptozoologyAnnotatedBibliography #LochNessMonster #Nessie
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Spooky seismic lakes – Loch Ness and its monster
Loch Ness is known for a monster and for its location in the Great Glen, the most obvious tectonic feature of Scotland. Fault lines are associated with several spooky themes. For this entry into the Spooky Geology canon, I’m going to touch on some of the popular, paranatural ideas about fault-associated lakes. In this part 1 of 2, I’m tackling the oft-repeated relation between seismic activity on the Great Glen Fault and the Nessie legend.
There are some water bodies that exist above (and because of) an existing fault underneath, which conjures some spooky folklore. While all water bodies may be considered liminal areas between worlds, or passageways for the dead, those over faults are extra spooky because of the exaggerated ideas people have about what tectonic faults look like and how they behave. So let’s begin by touching on these fault-y ideas.
Faults and spookiness
Fault zones, in general, are already associated with three major spooky ideas:
- Lights – Earthquake lights are probably a real thing, but not in the way most people think of them. If they exist in one or more forms, they occur very rarely. We do not understand the mechanism and there is not a large body of convincing, reliable evidence. I’ve done extensive piecing together of what does exist in this post. They are spooky and still mysterious.
- Tectonic Strain Theory – This is the idea by research scientist Michael Persinger who proposed that ghosts, poltergeists, UFO sightings, and general strangeness may be the result of localized and transient geophysical forces associated with seismic areas under tectonic stress. This theory is not credible, yet it persists as a “sciencey” idea, popular with paranormalists because Persinger was a scientist and they can cite his research, which appears credible. The details are too much to go into here so I’ll save it for another post someday.
- Breath of the gods – Faults in Greece and Turkey have characteristics that result in transmission of hydrocarbons to the surface. A few of these places were known to be ancient locations of temples or ritual spots which were undoubtedly constructed due to the geological activity that occurred there. Examples include the Oracle at Delphi and the Hieropolis’ Plutonium. Only a few faults have this exciting characteristic.
Geomythology of Loch Ness
It is such joy when two of my favorite subjects overlap. Here is my opportunity to talk about spooky geology + cryptozoology! I feel I am uniquely qualified for this. For this discussion, we reenter the familiar sphere of geomythology and head to Scotland.
An extreme version of Nessie, circa 1933, a plesiosaur type that came ashore to steal sheep. According to TetZoo, this depiction, made into desktop wallpaper and sensationalizing the Spicer sighting, is by Gino D’Achille.Geomythology is the study of legendary stories that appear to modern observers to be an attempt by a pre-modern culture to explain a natural geological event. The cultural story can have a kernel of truth that suggests people of that time and place recognized a geological cause in a creative sense.
Geomyths are subjective in their translation and application. In other words, interpreting facts and making assumptions are a necessary part of making geomythological connections. Therefore, the process is tricky and fraught with pitfalls, particularly for those with an over-eager propensity for correlation.
Luigi Piccardi, a geoscientist who researches and writes academically about geomythology, proposed in 2001 that sightings of the Loch Ness monster may be related to seismic activity. On its face, this was a sciencey idea that seemed plausible. Piccardi suggested that waves, bubbles, and noises created by the fault activity could be mistaken for unseen monsters in the water. He also connected the cultural idea of faults as sacred places, and lakes as having supernatural creatures, to the lore of Loch Ness.
The Great Glen Fault
Loch Ness is part of a chain of lakes along the Great Glen of Scotland. The glen is a trough that cuts an obvious track through the country from SW to NE from Fort William to Inverness. It is a surface expression of the underlying Great Glen fault (GGF) and subsequent glacial action. The fault is very old, over 400 million years old, representing a suture of two land masses into what we now call Great Britain. The GGF is a strike-slip fault, but because it is so old, the movement of the fault over these eras is not clear.
Note that England does not appear in this graphic but is connected at the southern boundary.Piccardi’s explanation, first proposed at a 2001 geological conference in Edinburgh, then followed by a paper in 2014 (see references below), was popular with the news media. He framed it as “a simple natural explanation” for sightings of the Loch Ness Monster. However, it fell flat with many who knew about the seismicity of this area and about the long and colorful history of Nessie sightings.
Significant quakes on the GGF are not that common. However, the consensus from geologists is that the GGF is likely still seismically active. Between 1768 and 1901 several earthquakes were felt around Inverness, including one of the largest recorded in Scotland at M=5.1 in 1816. But because there was no precise measuring equipment in place, it’s unclear where the epicenters were or if they were the result of movement on the GGF or on other faults outside the glen. Nothing much happened after 1901 until October 4, 2013 when an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.4 occurred close to the village of Drumnadrochit, near Loch Ness. Reports described “a loud rumble” or “explosion”.
Piccardi cited the large quakes around Inverness from 1816 (M=5.1 and M=4.7), and in 1890 (M=4.5 with several aftershocks around M=3) as evidence of the Nessie-tectonic connection. He also referred to a quake in Inverness in 1934, close to the time when the Loch Ness Monster legend was really taking off. (That quake was later relocated off the GGF.) He pointed out that the Inverness Courier reported on that quake in the same issue as a monster sighting. It’s unclear if it occurred at the same time as the quake. This is the closest we get to a correlation and it is not that impressive.
Saint Columba and the Monster
For his primary evidence, Piccardi referred to the account of Saint Columba banishing a “monster” in the Ness River in the 6th century (which wasn’t written until more than a century later). A translation says the monster appeared with an awful roar. Piccardi supposes that this noise could be the sound of an earthquake. The other bits cited from this account as evidence of monster=earthquake are even weaker – a door opening by itself and the saint’s loud voice (I could not see any reason to mention the latter one). We will never know if the monster tale was coincident with an actual earthquake, or if Columba’s monster story had any truth to it at all.
While cryptozoologists love to roll back in time to say that the Columba story is evidence of a monster of long ago, scholars consider the story of the Saint rebuking the monster as a typical story of Christianity conquering the pagan sentiment of the lands. Indeed, Columba met with the King of the Picts, the native people of the area in the Middle Ages. It’s highly probable he was there, but the monster story was far more likely to have been propaganda than evidence of an unknown creature.
A vaguely described, man-eating river monster is just not similar to the modern accounts of Nessie, no matter how much cryptozoologists would like it to be. The Columba story is not evidence for a 6th century encounter with the creature.
This mural in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery depicts the Picts being converted to Christianity by Saint Columba.Seismic activity as a source of Nessie sightings
It is certainly possible that even tiny seismic events can create upwelling, turbidity, or waves that people may interpret as a monster surfacing. However, this could reasonably account for only a handful of sightings in Loch Ness. The Highlands area now has a multitude of seismic sensors in place to catch quakes below M=1. The most obvious evidence for this claim – a time correlation between Nessie sightings and seismic activity – has not materialized.
Instead, we can be quite certain that most of the Nessie “sightings” can be attributed to a long list of mundane potential causes – boat wakes or wind waves, mistaken animal identification such as birds, fish, or deer (and the waves they create), or floating logs or vegetation.
2013 “Nessie sighting” by David ElderPiccardi kept giving media interviews about his tectonic Nessie geomyth even though robust evidence was lacking. I recall hearing about it in 2001 and thinking it was a weak idea then. It never got better. Piccardi wasn’t well versed in cryptid tales and how they evolve; they aren’t that simple, especially to dismiss. The seismic Nessie story got publicity, though. History of geology writer (for Scientific American and then Forbes), David Bressan, also didn’t put any stock into the idea either. In 2013, Bressan wrote that Piccardi was aiming to get more attention paid to geomythology as a field but knew little about Nessie/cryptids. I totally agree.
Conclusion
What is the verdict on Nessie and seismic activity? A resoundingly negative.
Piccardi attempted to show that there was 1.) a basis for the seismic activity at Loch Ness, 2.) that historic earthquakes could have been source of, or at least enhanced, the monster legend, and 3.) that seismic activity might account for monster sightings today. While 1 may be true to an extent, I reject 2 and 3. The GGF is not active enough now, nor in the past, to have had a substantive influence on the Nessie legend. Piccardi attempted to line up a few known quakes with locations of monster sightings but they didn’t correlate in time, which is critical to make a solid connection.
Using the Saint Columba story is really reaching in several ways. First, the monster=earthquake connection is flimsy. And, the story itself is fictionalized. Even though it’s beloved by cryptozoologists, the ancient description of the creature, even though vague, is substantially different from modern reports. Instead, the actions by Columba represents a morality tale of Christianity triumphing over “evil” Pagan belief. It is not credible evidence of a long-existing mystery animal in the loch.
Finally, there is no basis to state that a rumbling sound, a main feature of small earthquakes, is associated with the monster in the lake from its entry into popular culture in the 1930s to the present. Anomalous waves are the most common association with the monster. These are regularly generated by several other mundane sources in the loch, but not notably via earthquakes. A reasonable correlation between seismic events and Nessie is absent.
The geomythological idea of seismic activity as an explantion for Nessie is sunk. It’s a fun idea, though, that keeps getting repeated even by people who should know better. Of all the many causes for the development of the Nessie legend and it’s sustaining popularity, we cannot fault the fault.
References
Allen, M. (2019). The long and moving story of the Great Glen Fault. Mercian Geologist. 19(4), pp. 216-223.
Galloway, D.D. (2014). Bulletin of British Earthquakes 2013. British Geological Survey Internal Report, OR/14/062.
Musson, R. M. W. (2007). British Earthquakes. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 118(4), pp. 305-337.
Piccardi, L. (2014). Post-glacial activity and earthquakes of the Great Glen Fault (Scotland). Mem. Descr. Carta Geol. d’It. XCVI, pp. 431-446.
Piccardi, L. (2001). Seismotectonic Origins of the Monster of Loch Ness (abstract). Earth System Processes – Global Meeting (June 24-28, 2001).
#cryptids #earthquakes #geomythology #GreatGlenFault #LochNess #LochNessMonster #Nessie
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https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
Explore the full 'Myth Meets Merriment' collection of apparel and lifestyle at https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
Explore the full 'Myth Meets Merriment' collection of apparel and lifestyle at https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
Explore the full 'Myth Meets Merriment' collection of apparel and lifestyle at https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
https://hanksquatch.com and embrace your inner calm, cryptid style!"
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#Bigfoot #Sasquatch #Cryptid #Cryptids #MythicalCreature #Folklore #LegendaryCreatures #Cryptozoology #BigfootIsReal #FindingBigfoot #Yeti #LochNessMonster -
“Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed.”
The first recorded sighting of a monster connected to Loch Ness is given in Adomnán’s VITA COLUMBÆ (“Life of St Columba”, c.7th/8th century). St Columba sends it packing
(The story is too long for the ALT text but the whole transcript can be found via the link)
3/4
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/columba-e.asp
#Scottish #literature #history #medieval #Saints #StColumba #monster #lochnessmonster
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First I thought I'd found the Loch Ness Monster...turns out to be Nessie instead. 🦕
Project Nessie: Transactional Catalog for Data Lakes with Git-like semantics
"Nessie is to Data Lakes what Git is to source code repositories..." -
"I gave him a dollar."
"Well of course he's not gonna go away if you give him a dollar, he's gonna assume you got more!"
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I’m such a cryptid enjoyer that I did this lil bookmark of my girl Nessie. I’d like to let you know that you can get one of these bookmarks for yourself if you like her too!
http://ko-fi.com/samikelsh/shop
#cryptid #nessie #lochnessmonster #art #watercolour #bookmarks
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An underwater camera set up 55 years ago to try and photograph the Loch Ness Monster has been found by accident by a robot submarine. #LochNessMonster #Photography #UnderwaterPhotography #History #BBCNews #Legends
Camera set up to catch Loch Ne... -
The Everlasting Hunt For The Loch Ness Monster - When a Loch Ness Monster story appears at the start of April, it pays to check the... - https://hackaday.com/2025/04/01/the-everlasting-hunt-for-the-loch-ness-monster/ #underwaterphotography #lochnessmonster #currentevents #cryptozoology #featured #interest
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The Everlasting Hunt For The Loch Ness Monster https://hackaday.com/2025/04/01/the-everlasting-hunt-for-the-loch-ness-monster/ #underwaterphotography #LochNessMonster #CurrentEvents #cryptozoology #Featured #Interest
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55-Year-Old Underwater Camera Trap Set for Loch Ness Monster is Found https://petapixel.com/2025/04/01/55-year-old-underwater-camera-trap-set-for-loch-ness-monster-is-found/ #underwatercamera #lochnessmonster #cameratrap #lostfilm #Analog #News
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University of St Andrews: Nessie loves a sunny summer’s day – how anecdotes become data. “New research from the University of St Andrews has used a database of Loch Ness Monster reports to translate anecdotes into data, shedding light on statistical biases and the important of defining the right information for analysis. While anecdotes are often dismissed in scientific research this […]
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Pop Cryptid Spectator 11
Welcome to the Pop Cryptid Spectator, the newsletter that goes to 11. So far. I am never short of examples to share that illustrate the Pop Cryptid model – where cryptids have moved into the mainstream for several social and economic uses but away from the zoological idea of discovery of new animals.
In this edition:
- Digital hoaxes flooding social media
- Questioning the assumptions we make about supernatural cryptids
- Cryptid media – The Sasqualogist
- Blurry feral Florida cat causes a stir
- Loch Ness Quest 3
- Royal Mail mythical stamps
- Cryptids are “hot”, particularly in WV
Digital hoaxes flooding social media
If you can create digitally enhanced or AI-manufactured videos, you are in business these days. I don’t know how to do this but I suspect all it takes is some tech know-how, some raw material to start with, and a creative imagination. Digitally manufactured creature shorts make up about half of a TikTok #cryptids feed. Shorts are easily shared and also show up in Facebook feeds and on YouTube.
There are two general categories of these videos. First is the obvious artistic, fun hoax. Only the pathologically gullible viewers will think these depict real creatures (that’s usually around 20% but that depends, read on). The second kind is content that seems fake in the context of all the other fakes, but it’s not obvious because it looks like the typical cryptid video – blurry, too far away, and leaving room to imagine what you are seeing. Or, it shows just enough of a strange creature to convince you that it’s a legit but weird.
The fun hoax
The majority of “cryptid” short videos are obviously fictional. Frightening and bizarre creatures are shown oddly well lit in a cave or underground workings, or in a house or backyard setting accompanied by creepy music. The creatures may not be immediately identifiable because they are derived from exaggerated or extra features of real animals or people – giant size and terrifying teeth are typical examples. Made by accounts with names like “NightmareCanvas”, “CreatureCapture” or “CursedContent”, they carry hashtags like #cryptidtiktok and #nightmarefuel. These are pretty fun. 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.
The questionable reality-adjacent vids
Videos that look more possibly 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. They often write up a summary featuring the location and background of the stated creatures which will reinforce and share the legend to a wider audience. That would be fine if the content wasn’t explicitly linked to a hoaxed video.
The latest of these is a short video of what is called a Chaneque said to have been found in Veracruz, Mexico. A translated version from a local TV network says the following:
The state of Veracruz is one of the regions with the most legends and myths about strangers in the country, and the appearance of a Chaneque in 2025 has made it clear.
The images show a humanoid figure with large eyes, wrinkled skin and pointed ears that emits indescribable sounds with a hoarse voice while trapped in a rocky area.
However, this clip quickly went viral on social media, where users questioned whether or not it was a {chaneque}, as this could have been made with artificial intelligence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFc7cmHSjtM
So, this was presented in a sober manner. I am, however, losing valuable details because of the language barrier. I can’t tell if this is like the clickbait we get in the US on certain media sites (particularly FM radio station websites) that are designed for attention and ad revenue, not as news.
The background of the chaneque and other examples like these have a strong supernatural connotation. Also in this past month, Coast to Coast featured a story and video of a “demonic humanoid” in Argentina. Any moderately critical thinking will flag this as fake right off.
These shorts almost never have appropriate details for investigation. That’s not their purpose. They are meant to be consumed and shared, not researched. I cannot tell how they are perceived in their local context and I would like to know. Is it like our reaction to the Bat Boy cover of the Weekly World News tabloids?
Experiencing the presence of folklore creatures is normal in other cultures. However, inevitably, some English-speaking commenters are either childishly gullible (or are children, which is a reasonable possibility) or they are playing along with the alternative reality where it’s fun to believe these creatures exist.
The popularity of these creature shorts, and the willingness of paranormal sites to feature them as potential cryptids lend support to the Pop Cryptid model, which asserts that we really aren’t interested in the zoology anymore, but in entertainment.
Questioning the assumptions we make about supernatural cryptids
Let’s explore a bit deeper into the concept that other cultures have different views on supernatural entities.
This week, a paper by Roy Ellen titled Visualizing Spirit Entities: Naming, Classification, and
Pictorial Representation of Pseudo-Natural Kinds in Nuaulu Cosmography, published in Folklore caught my attention due to its reference to the overlap between spirit entities and animals. The Nuaulu people are in Seram, Indonesia. The author notes that while studying Nuaulu ethnozoology, it was “difficult to enquire about knowledge of animal forms without yielding related data on spirits, or to enquire about spirits without yielding data on animals.”This topic has always interested me, but it fails to generate enough thought in the sci-cryptid researcher community. Cultures very different from our embedded culture interpret spirits and the supernatural very differently from our frame. There is a complication that arises via the translation since western audiences aren’t taking that difference into account.
Ellen writes that some of the native words can refer simultaneously to the animal and the spirit; spirits can inhabit animals and influence their behavior; animals may originate from spirits. The overlapping and multi-dimensionality is complex.
This is not uncommon. From the previous story about the chaneque, we are required to consider how accounts reporting encountering folklore creatures are received in the community. For comparison, there are certainly populations in the US where outright belief in ghosts, demons, angels and various other creatures are mainstream and not unusual. Context matters.
Cryptozoology researchers who claim a scientific framing in research will strip out the non-natural characteristics in the reported descriptions and assume a zoological animal is hiding in there somewhere. Such a process is prone to massive errors. They simply aren’t seeing important aspects of the bigger picture – that the “animal” can’t be discovered at all because it’s a spirit.
The most obvious example of use of native legends in this way is for Bigfoot itself. You can’t capture Bigfoot because he’s not an ape. He’s non-corporeal. Many cryptids suddenly seem to acquire a history related to native legends in order to boost its age and credibility. How do cryptozoologists know if the legend is realistically connected to the modern stories of encounters? They don’t. They assume it, giving the cryptid a much more colorful and credible history but misleading themselves. Or, has the inclusion of native legends greased the wheels for cryptids to become predominately non-zoological? I think that might have played a part, as well as the current practice of people exploring alternative spiritualities.
The Ellen paper can be found here.
Cryptid media – The Sasqualogist
The Sasqualogist is an independent drama/comedy staring Joseph Granda as a Bigfoot researcher and seeker. Website: https://www.thesasqualogist.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04-pMjZoaBo
The new film, out soon, has as one of its themes, two people with different views on the nature of Bigfoot. Is it an ape to be studied and maybe captured? Or is it an inter-dimensional being flitting in and out of our world? That’s a core item of the pop cryptid theme right there – the changing nature of cryptids. Old orthodox views using the fringe science framing, is put up against the wide-open anything-goes belief. The writer/director of the film refers to these two groups as the “Apers” and the “Woos”. He further explains why he tackled this topic:
Director Statement: Why Bigfoot?
At the tender age of 10, my father walked away from our home, vanishing from my life forever. Years later, his lifeless body was discovered near the Sequoia National Forest. The absence of a father casts a haunting shadow over a young man, leaving behind a lingering void that never truly dissipates. It took me years to unravel the roots of my obsession with Bigfoot, tracing it back to the loss of my father amidst the wilderness of abandonment.
From childhood memories of the Six Million Dollar Man grappling with Sasquatch to my adulthood compulsion to collect Bigfoot memorabilia, each encounter served as a silent yearning for a surrogate guide through life’s dense forests. “THE SASQUALOGIST” is not merely a movie; it’s a journey into the depths of human longing, a quest for connection with something larger than ourselves.
Note that we have the 1970s depiction of cryptids, cryptid merch, symbolism regarding keeping the mystery alive, and shades of Missing 411 belief where people attempt to reframe an accident into something huge and mysterious. That’s a lot of interesting bits and pieces packed into a movie. The film was shown at film festivals last year but I can’t find it streaming yet. The website says it’s coming soon. Watch for it.
Blurry Florida feral cat causes a stir
On a regular basis, the news media will pick up on a Facebook post from an organization or person who has captured a strange thing on a game camera that is not readily identifiable. And the internet then embarks on what I call “mass opinionation” where everyone adds their uninformed two cents about what it is. Most often the comments are jokey, but many people play pretend wildlife experts. Frequently, when the animal has glowing eyes resulting from the image capture, some wild and crazy opinions are proposed. This happened last week when a (very) cat like creature was caught on the camera roll on public lands by the South Florida Wildlands Association. They posted the pic to Facebook and the story got picked up by the Miami Herald.
“Looks a little bit wrong and a little bit right for a number of different species,” the foundation wrote in the post. “Anyone want to venture a guess?” The post has racked up hundreds of reactions and comments, including references to legendary shape-shifters and the chupacabra, a vampire-like beast of legends said to have “glowing red eyes.”
Ugh. I’d bet on a feral house cat or some imported, escaped non-native cat. There is no need to invoke extreme explanations. I’m flummoxed by why a legitimate organization would do this kind of stunt other than it gets a ton of attention. I suppose it’s interesting data to find a feral cat in this area. But, in the end, it does promote misinformation.
Game cameras that take images in the dark will blur and distort the subject because it’s moving and the image capture speed is too slow. Instead of taking account of how that will happen, people will take the image literally and wildly speculate on what the blurry creature is. There is nothing confusing about the photo, just about the intent of its promotion.
Loch Ness Quest 3
The collective Loch Ness monster search, The Quest, is returning for the third year. The Loch Ness Centre has updated their Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to search the waters and are adding baited camera traps. The 4 day event in May brings people from all over the world to the Loch to participate in the search. Every year, someone finds some tantalizing bit that the media can chew on but the monster is myth, so it’s never going to fully appear. But the myth goes on…
Royal Mail mythical stamps
The British Royal Mail is releasing a set of eight new stamps from different regions across the UK that show the “rich mythological heritage”. Nessie is included along with Black Shuck (my favorite), selkies, Cornish piskies, (Welsh) Blodeuwedd, folklore figure Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool), the Grindylow and Beowulf & Grendel. The artwork is fabulous.
I wonder if they will get complaints about lumping in the “real” Nessie with the “myths”.
Cryptids are “hot”, particularly in WV
Linking back to PCS 9, regarding a new zine for West Virginia about folklore traditions, this article about the projects shows just how popular cryptids are, noticed by people who didn’t know what they were at first. Then they saw the public reaction. Now they are aware. Lydia Warren, the director of the Folklife center in West Virginia remarked at how impressed they were with the turnout for the Veggie Man festival in 2024:
While we were at Veggie Man Day, they had booked all these amazing vendors, all these really cool West Virginia artists to do cryptid and other paranormal themed artwork. So, there were vendors who had dolls made out of felt, that were little cryptid dolls. There were people doing amazing drawings of Mothman, and, obviously, Veggie Man because it was Veggie Man Day.
In discussion with the founding director, they realized “this cryptid thing is really, this is hot. This is a big deal.” And they decided to pursue the new publication. The pop cryptid model in action!
When asked why cryptids are big, she notes the interest in all things Appalachia which follows from the cryptid depictions in the game Fallout. Along with media, particularly the Mountain Monsters TV show, people have built connections around folklore creatures. She also comments that cryptids are a safe and fun topic in these divided times. They are copyright free, fun, and become cultural touchstones. Gee, it seems like someone has been reading my Pop Goes the Cryptid page!
Veggie Man is a lower-tier cryptid, derived from one story in the 1960s in Marion County where a man of good reputation saw an injured “human” that “looked very vegetable-ish”. The story, associated with UFOs, was promoted by renowned legend promoter Gray Barker. The Veggie Man Day festival takes place in July at the Folklife Center in Fairmont, WV.
Thanks for reading! Send comments, questions, or suggestions to sharon(at)sharonahill.com. If you want to send some cryptid plushies or other merch, or books to review, email for my physical mailing address.
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#1 #chupacabra #cryptid #Cryptozoology #deathOfAUnicorn #popCryptid #reddit #rollerCoaster #scientific #seaSerpents #Skinwalker #Wendigo