#mothman — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #mothman, aggregated by home.social.
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#ScribesAndMakers May 23: If you were going to tell a story about a cryptid, which would you choose?
I am actually working on a story about a cryptid. But to avoid spoilers, I won’t be revealing any details just yet.
Ever since I was a child, however, I’ve found the legends surrounding the Mothman fascinating. So I could well imagine writing a story inspired by this creature.
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Still good Union boys left in West Virginia! PRAISE MOTHMAN!
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Stream results from tonight~
#furryart #cryptids #jerseydevil #kelpie #fresnonightcrawler #mothman #chupacabra #alien
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Stream results from tonight~
#furryart #cryptids #jerseydevil #kelpie #fresnonightcrawler #mothman #chupacabra #alien
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Stream results from tonight~
#furryart #cryptids #jerseydevil #kelpie #fresnonightcrawler #mothman #chupacabra #alien
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Stream results from tonight~
#furryart #cryptids #jerseydevil #kelpie #fresnonightcrawler #mothman #chupacabra #alien
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Stream results from tonight~
#furryart #cryptids #jerseydevil #kelpie #fresnonightcrawler #mothman #chupacabra #alien
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My original artwork featuring the enigmatic #Mothman from Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Created using Pentel brush pens, Sakura Microns and Posca paint pens.
Personally signed 11x17" prints available now at shawnlangley.myshopify.com -
Let's go #Cryptid crazy!! Check out my huge selection of cryptid artwork, featuring all your favorite creepy beasties on personally signed 11x17" prints! All available now at shawnlangley.myshopify.com .
Find art of #mothman, #bigfoot, #chupacabra, #flatwoodsmonster, the #hodag, #fresnonightcrawler, #skinwalker and MORE! Some even in 3D!
This particular piece might still be my favorite Mothman illustration I've ever done, originally created using Pentel brush pens, Copic markers & Posca pens. -
The Mothman legend began in West Virginia in the 1960s, linked to the Silver Bridge collapse. Sightings surged in Chicago in 2017, where over fifty encounters were reported. #mothman #chicago https://connectparanormal.net/2026/02/14/mothman-sightings-exploring-chicagos-cryptid-phenomenon/
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Let's go #Cryptid crazy!! Check out my huge selection of #cryptid artwork, featuring all your favorite creepy beasties on personally signed 11x17" prints! All available now at shawnlangley.myshopify.com
Find art of #mothman, #bigfoot, #chupacabra, #flatwoodsmonster, the #hodag, #fresnonightcrawler, #skinwalker and MORE! Some even in 3D! -
CRYPTID MINI PLUSH Has now LAUNCHED! Love #cryptids? want cute #plush well help us fund a small collection of plush and pins! www.backerkit.com/c/projects/b...
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Finally, the official portrait for Mircea Clendenin! Isn't he adorable? Mircea is practically impossible to kill, whether he wants to or not: his body automatically responds to attacks, forming energy shields or passing through solid objects, like a ghost.
https://fantasydiario.blogspot.com/2024/06/personaggi-mircea-clendenin.html
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Some sketches of expressions and possible hairstyles for our mothman, Mircea Clendenin. On the top row he's on second stage, on the bottom row he's on the third (or last) stage, when he finally has the complete mane.
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The Tragedy of the Cryptids
Why are many cryptid tales associated with tragedy? Or, why are certain tragedies linked to cryptids? Some might say a cryptid is a curse, but it more likely is a symbol of the things we fear or about which we are anxious or guilty. There are plenty of examples.
Blaming the cryptid
It was Christmas, 2024. Two Oregon men “failed to return from a trip to look for Sasquatch” in the Gifford Pinchot Forest in Washington, authorities said. Rescuers spent Christmas facing dangerous conditions during the search until the men were found deceased. From the news reports, the two apparently were not equipped for the cold and wet weather.
It was never made clear if they were on a Bigfoot hunting excursion or just out for a short Holiday hike. The Bigfoot connection may have just been a flippant comment they made regarding their trip, or perhaps they were cryptid enthusiasts who hoped to glimpse the creature in an area with reported encounters. The unfortunate outcome was subsequently linked with the cryptid, often in headlines, which seemed to be out of proportion, as if belief in Bigfoot was the cause of death. Several commenters on the news stories, unsurprisingly, were cruel, mocking the men based on speculation about their behavior. Worse than that, some people took the tragedy even farther by saying that the men didn’t die from exposure, but from some other cause that officials are covering up. This is one of several examples of cryptids connected to tragedy.
There are various examples of cryptids associated with curses, death or destruction. This is unsurprising considering that cryptids are legends, and legends often have morbid twists as part of the drama. But the more surprising cryptid connections occur when the creature is celebrated in spite of or as part of the tragedy. The primary examples of these are stark: Mothman and the Pope Lick Monster. As noted in previous posts in this series, Mothman is the enigmatic, winged humanoid and the Pope Lick Monster is a Goatman. Let’s start with the cursed, evil, but maybe useful, highly-celebrated, harbinger of doom: Mothman.
AI art screengrabbed from a bad TikTok. (Not sorry.)Mothman and the Silver Bridge
On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge across the Ohio River, connecting Point Pleasant, WV to Gallipolis, OH collapsed. Most people know this terrible story: rush hour, forty-six people perished as their cars plunged into the icy water. The official investigation pegged the eye-bar failure. Lack of engineering redundancy meant the structure failed with it. However, the legend evolved to either blame the Mothman or its curse, or credit the creature as a warning of approaching doom.
Many people also know that the Mothman Festival is a big deal, drawing over 10,000 vistors to the small town every year to celebrate the big bird-moth-like being. How did we get from such heart-breaking tragedy to a giant town party with cosplayers and a shiny fantastical statue in the center square?
In 2008, Joseph Laycock, a scholar of religious studies, and sometimes of monsters, wrote about the weird acceptance by Point Pleasant of a legend that caused the town such pain and gave it a dark reputation. (Cite: Fieldwork in Religion, 3.1, 2008) To start, we must consider the context of the town of Point Pleasant.
So frequently, cryptid tales are backdated to the time when white settlers encountered the indigenous peoples. (That’s it’s own tragic tale – the lands haunted by Mothman and many other cryptids belonged to indigenous people who often were misappropriated by a manufactured legend, or erased entirely.) During the Revolutionary War times, a battle between the Virginians and the natives resulted in the death of the Shawnee Chief Cornstalk, who was murdered as a result of a diplomatic mission to Fort Randolph. Legend is that he cursed the land. Eventually, Cornstalk and Mothman legends were associated.
Prior to the bridge tragedy, the town suffered an economic downturn, flooding events, and a nearby mining disaster.
In the “Year of the Garuda” as labeled by The Mothman Prophecies author John Keel, the town was plagued by not only the monster, but by UFO sightings and the appearance of strangers, dubbed Men In Black by Keel. The MIB reportedly intimidated, threatened, robbed and assaulted the locals. If you lived in Point Pleasant at this time, you may have been threatened more by the UFO reports than the “monster”. Newspaper reporting leans much less on the “Big Bird” and more on the rash of UFO claims during this time. Keel’s book, from 1972, reframed the Mothman-UFO flap as a time and place of “high strangeness” with the Mothman as the star. (Cite: Dr. Jeb Card, personal comm.) [Addition: Corroborated by Richard Estep who said locals did not connect the bridge disaster to the “Big Black Bird” at the time, either. See MonsterTalk.]
With the collapse of the Bridge, the Mothman essentially disappeared from sight. The community, left in shock, tried to make sense of the disaster. Laycock notes that Mothman would have remained “a local demon” if the bridge collapse didn’t happen. But the association propelled Mothman from a mysterious menace to a supernatural death messenger – like that of the Irish Banshee. Mothman perhaps helped to fill in the vacuum of meaning felt by the residents as they struggled to move past the disaster.
In later decades, Mothman moved from being a threat to being a symbol of the town’s identity – its “monstrous patron”. While the Mothman now has a gleaming anthropomorphic statue in a prominent location in town, and its own museum, festival, and traditions, the people who died at the Silver Bridge are less commemorated. The bridge event was situated in service to the Mothman, who became the spirit of the town. With a boost from the 2002 film that rejuvenated the tale, and the growing embrace of Pop Cryptids nationwide, Point Pleasant treated the winged monster much like a religious icon that was viewed with sacred meaning. Mothman symbolized events that shook their town beyond their control.
I would gladly become a monstrous patron of a capable scholar who could write the definitive bio of Mothman and his impact – it’s crazy stuff.
Pope Lick Monster
The Fisherville area of Louisville, Kentucky, location of the train trestle associated with the Pope Lick monster, has a love/hate relationship with the infamous goatman. Legend tripping teens and tourists bypass the fences and warnings in an attempting to traverse the active train trestle bridge (which is 90 feet high and 772 long) to have their own experience. I could not get an accurate count of the dead, but, since 1968, it appears that at least 10 people have been killed by trains crossing the bridge or falling from the bridge to avoid a train. Several more were injured or nearly killed.
As with Mothman, a film boosted the legend. The 1988 short film The Legend of the Pope Lick Monster by local Ron Schildknecht put it into an easily relatable package, introducing the idea that the goatman can hypnotize you, and suggesting that you can hang from the bridge while the train passed (few people have the strength to do this). Thanks to worldwide connectivity networks, the legend spread beyond the town, becoming an attraction for thrill seekers.
Some sources say that Schildknecht regrets that the film added to the lore and that he didn’t intend to make dangerous trespassing a fad. But I’m getting mixed messages. In what seems like a brazen affront to those that have been hurt or killed, the filmmaker’s website features quotes by the Norfolk Southern Railroad about the film,
“It undermines our efforts on behalf of safety when movies like this are made.”
— spokesman for Norfolk Southern Corp.The festival to celebrate the Pope Lick Monster legend is fairly new. There is also a Halloween attraction (that mentions the Schildknecht name associated with the sensationalized origin story). This all feels disrespectful to the memory of those who died and perhaps increases the odds that more people visit and venture into harm’s way. Supporters of the events say they don’t celebrate the darkness. I’m not sold. Imagine if you were part of an affected family witnessing a yearly entertainment event centered on the legend and location where your child met their demise. This controversy seems to be dividing the community. Sadly, cryptid capitalism will likely win out.
Because of its location, the area around the creek is said to be cursed land because of the bloodshed that occurred from removal of the native people. Do these communities still struggle with the guilt of history, past and current? Does the heavy weight of industrialism and depression help create the “monster” that haunts the town? By using monstrous symbols, communities try to find a way to compartmentalize, process, and move on.
The Pope Lick Monster appears to be the cryptid with the highest death count. Of course, no one was really killed by the goatman. It is a choice to make the effort to put oneself in harms way.
I recommend checking out Episode 3 of Out There: Crimes of the Paranormal, a recent series that covered the despair of those left to deal with the Pope Lick reputation.
Linking cryptids
Cryptid legends, when examined in depth, can reveal tragic connections that the casually interested person would not typically notice. I’ve collected more examples.
- People who disappear in rugged areas, particularly in National Parks of the US have been exploited by Bigfoot writer David Paulides under the umbrella of his book series “Missing 411”. Paulides doesn’t explicitly say that the people may have been taken by Bigfoot, serial killers, aliens, or something even more outrageous. He misleads the reader and lets your imagination fill in the gaps by mystery mongering, playing fast and loose with facts, and framing the incidents as cover-ups. It’s non-credible, mean-spirited, and ghoulish, and should be dismissed as such.
- It’s not uncommon to see news stories about people who do heinous things linked to their seemingly outlandish beliefs about aliens, conspiracies, demons, or their interest in cryptids. Sometimes the media makes spurious connections that the audience latches onto. The Christmas 2020 suicide bomber of Nashville, Tennessee supposedly believed that “Reptilians” or “Lizard People” were in charge of the government – an idea made popular by David Icke. I’d recommend, again, the Out There: Crimes of the Paranormal episode that linked the paranoid idea of Reptilians to the legend of Lizard Man of Bishopville/Scape Ore Swamp.
- The Not Deer legend of Appalachia is the relatively recent tale of deer that behave weirdly with the speculation that they are not actually normal deer but shapeshifters trying to lure you into the woods. The legend has been influenced by the spread of a prion disease or other typical deer illnesses that cause the animal to suffer and eventually die. The supernatural explanation is far more popular than than natural one.
- Ol’ Greeneyes, while a debatable “cryptid”, has its own festival now in the town where the Battle of Chickamauga took place. The creature is said to be a ghoul or a ghost of a dead soldier who haunts the battlefield. It seems a strange mascot for a cryptid celebration but the event has been successful. As with other cryptid festivals – the cryptid is the excuse to gather round the town center and re-experience the historical past.
- The legend of Zana, the wildwoman, has been completely misconstrued by those who believe that she was not a modern human but possibly an Almas (a cryptid hominid) captured in the late 1800s. It is far more likely that she was of African decent, captured, kept in slavery in Abkhazia. White male cryptozoologists treated this story of her life as a mystery for them to solve and show that relict races existed.
- The Beast of the Land Between the Lakes is a story based on fiction. But the truth of the project that formed the park lands was tragic to many families. Starting in 1964, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began to condemn the 170,000 acres that would later be flooded. Some 800 families were forcibly removed by eminent domain. They sacrificed their land and livelihoods, their communities were ruined, and their ancestors’ graves abandoned. The consequences of that destruction still reverberates. Is the “beast” a manifestation of revenge for this callous treatment?
- The eruption of Mt. St Helens in 1980 is one of the first national disasters I recall as a child watching the news. It resulted in the death of a USGS geologist, Harry Truman, a resident to refused to leave his homestead, and 55 others who perished from the mudflows, hot ash and gas. Tales were told of Bigfoot around the mountain. After the eruption, someone started the story that the Bigfoot population had been decimated, an entirely baseless story. In the late 90s, the story of the Batsquatch encounter apparently prompted another piece of creative fiction – that the Batsquatches were let loose from their underground abodes via the volcanic eruption.
- The tale of the Wendigo (and its many variations) from Algonquin-speaking first nations in Canada and US, has been heavily appropriated in fiction, films, and as a cryptid. The brutal association with murder and cannibalism has been changed drastically for use in various media and commercial purposes. I’m not qualified to speak about its traditional use but the Wendigo wasn’t a Bigfoot, it didn’t have antlers, it doesn’t imitate human voices or shapeshift and it’s not part of Appalachian folklore. It is a spirit creature that embodies the threat of starvation for northern peoples who faced this circumstance. Yet, the creatures has become so popularized and commodified, an offensive stench rises from the fictionalized garbage content of awful fan art, horror flicks, and AI generated TikTok shorts.
Capitalizing on tragedy
There are not unreasonable arguments on both sides of the debate regarding capitalizing on past tragedies via cryptid festivals. Are cryptid festivals like those in Point Pleasant, WV and Fisherville, KY capitalizing on the deaths of others? Or are they serving as complex social means of moving beyond the haunted town histories? There likely are some instances where the intent was positive, to memorialize the tragedy in a respectful way, that later got out of control. And I have inklings that this conflict also occurs in other cultures, where monsters represent real tragedies.
The list above certainly has additional examples. Ghost stories are frequently a means of remembering a death or an unresolved tragedy or crime. Another example of banking on dark history is the commercialization of the town of Salem, where 25 people suffered and died in the witch trials that became the basis of a tourism branding as the tasteless and tacky “witch city”.
It’s difficult and often entirely inappropriate to police or suppress art (including books, films, etc.) and social responses to trauma. People will attempt to rationalize a disaster even via seemingly irrational scapegoats.
It can be difficult to reject participating in an interesting modern event because it is tainted by the events of the past. Culture evolves where we recreate or reenvision the past with a new framing. I don’t know that there is a right answer here – each person will have their own response. It’s imperative, however, that we not let the history of the tragedies be ignored, forgotten, or overtaken entirely by cryptid legends.
This is post 8 of the 12 Days of Cryptids.
#12DaysOfCryptids #Bigfoot #cryptidFestival #LandBetweenTheLakesBeast #Missing411 #mothman #PopeLickMonster #tragicCryptids #wendigo
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The Tragedy of the Cryptids
Why are many cryptid tales associated with tragedy? Or, why are certain tragedies linked to cryptids? Some might say a cryptid is a curse, but it more likely is a symbol of the things we fear or about which we are anxious or guilty. There are plenty of examples.
Blaming the cryptid
It was Christmas, 2024. Two Oregon men “failed to return from a trip to look for Sasquatch” in the Gifford Pinchot Forest in Washington, authorities said. Rescuers spent Christmas facing dangerous conditions during the search until the men were found deceased. From the news reports, the two apparently were not equipped for the cold and wet weather.
It was never made clear if they were on a Bigfoot hunting excursion or just out for a short Holiday hike. The Bigfoot connection may have just been a flippant comment they made regarding their trip, or perhaps they were cryptid enthusiasts who hoped to glimpse the creature in an area with reported encounters. The unfortunate outcome was subsequently linked with the cryptid, often in headlines, which seemed to be out of proportion, as if belief in Bigfoot was the cause of death. Several commenters on the news stories, unsurprisingly, were cruel, mocking the men based on speculation about their behavior. Worse than that, some people took the tragedy even farther by saying that the men didn’t die from exposure, but from some other cause that officials are covering up. This is one of several examples of cryptids connected to tragedy.
There are various examples of cryptids associated with curses, death or destruction. This is unsurprising considering that cryptids are legends, and legends often have morbid twists as part of the drama. But the more surprising cryptid connections occur when the creature is celebrated in spite of or as part of the tragedy. The primary examples of these are stark: Mothman and the Pope Lick Monster. As noted in previous posts in this series, Mothman is the enigmatic, winged humanoid and the Pope Lick Monster is a Goatman. Let’s start with the cursed, evil, but maybe useful, highly-celebrated, harbinger of doom: Mothman.
AI art screengrabbed from a bad TikTok. (Not sorry.)Mothman and the Silver Bridge
On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge across the Ohio River, connecting Point Pleasant, WV to Gallipolis, OH collapsed. Most people know this terrible story: rush hour, forty-six people perished as their cars plunged into the icy water. The official investigation pegged the eye-bar failure. Lack of engineering redundancy meant the structure failed with it. However, the legend evolved to either blame the Mothman or its curse, or credit the creature as a warning of approaching doom.
Many people also know that the Mothman Festival is a big deal, drawing over 10,000 vistors to the small town every year to celebrate the big bird-moth-like being. How did we get from such heart-breaking tragedy to a giant town party with cosplayers and a shiny fantastical statue in the center square?
In 2008, Joseph Laycock, a scholar of religious studies, and sometimes of monsters, wrote about the weird acceptance by Point Pleasant of a legend that caused the town such pain and gave it a dark reputation. (Cite: Fieldwork in Religion, 3.1, 2008) To start, we must consider the context of the town of Point Pleasant.
So frequently, cryptid tales are backdated to the time when white settlers encountered the indigenous peoples. (That’s it’s own tragic tale – the lands haunted by Mothman and many other cryptids belonged to indigenous people who often were misappropriated by a manufactured legend, or erased entirely.) During the Revolutionary War times, a battle between the Virginians and the natives resulted in the death of the Shawnee Chief Cornstalk, who was murdered as a result of a diplomatic mission to Fort Randolph. Legend is that he cursed the land. Eventually, Cornstalk and Mothman legends were associated.
Prior to the bridge tragedy, the town suffered an economic downturn, flooding events, and a nearby mining disaster.
In the “Year of the Garuda” as labeled by The Mothman Prophecies author John Keel, the town was plagued by not only the monster, but by UFO sightings and the appearance of strangers, dubbed Men In Black by Keel. The MIB reportedly intimidated, threatened, robbed and assaulted the locals. If you lived in Point Pleasant at this time, you may have been threatened more by the UFO reports than the “monster”. Newspaper reporting leans much less on the “Big Bird” and more on the rash of UFO claims during this time. Keel’s book, from 1972, reframed the Mothman-UFO flap as a time and place of “high strangeness” with the Mothman as the star. (Cite: Dr. Jeb Card, personal comm.) [Addition: Corroborated by Richard Estep who said locals did not connect the bridge disaster to the “Big Black Bird” at the time, either. See MonsterTalk.]
With the collapse of the Bridge, the Mothman essentially disappeared from sight. The community, left in shock, tried to make sense of the disaster. Laycock notes that Mothman would have remained “a local demon” if the bridge collapse didn’t happen. But the association propelled Mothman from a mysterious menace to a supernatural death messenger – like that of the Irish Banshee. Mothman perhaps helped to fill in the vacuum of meaning felt by the residents as they struggled to move past the disaster.
In later decades, Mothman moved from being a threat to being a symbol of the town’s identity – its “monstrous patron”. While the Mothman now has a gleaming anthropomorphic statue in a prominent location in town, and its own museum, festival, and traditions, the people who died at the Silver Bridge are less commemorated. The bridge event was situated in service to the Mothman, who became the spirit of the town. With a boost from the 2002 film that rejuvenated the tale, and the growing embrace of Pop Cryptids nationwide, Point Pleasant treated the winged monster much like a religious icon that was viewed with sacred meaning. Mothman symbolized events that shook their town beyond their control.
I would gladly become a monstrous patron of a capable scholar who could write the definitive bio of Mothman and his impact – it’s crazy stuff.
Pope Lick Monster
The Fisherville area of Louisville, Kentucky, location of the train trestle associated with the Pope Lick monster, has a love/hate relationship with the infamous goatman. Legend tripping teens and tourists bypass the fences and warnings in an attempting to traverse the active train trestle bridge (which is 90 feet high and 772 long) to have their own experience. I could not get an accurate count of the dead, but, since 1968, it appears that at least 10 people have been killed by trains crossing the bridge or falling from the bridge to avoid a train. Several more were injured or nearly killed.
As with Mothman, a film boosted the legend. The 1988 short film The Legend of the Pope Lick Monster by local Ron Schildknecht put it into an easily relatable package, introducing the idea that the goatman can hypnotize you, and suggesting that you can hang from the bridge while the train passed (few people have the strength to do this). Thanks to worldwide connectivity networks, the legend spread beyond the town, becoming an attraction for thrill seekers.
Some sources say that Schildknecht regrets that the film added to the lore and that he didn’t intend to make dangerous trespassing a fad. But I’m getting mixed messages. In what seems like a brazen affront to those that have been hurt or killed, the filmmaker’s website features quotes by the Norfolk Southern Railroad about the film,
“It undermines our efforts on behalf of safety when movies like this are made.”
— spokesman for Norfolk Southern Corp.The festival to celebrate the Pope Lick Monster legend is fairly new. There is also a Halloween attraction (that mentions the Schildknecht name associated with the sensationalized origin story). This all feels disrespectful to the memory of those who died and perhaps increases the odds that more people visit and venture into harm’s way. Supporters of the events say they don’t celebrate the darkness. I’m not sold. Imagine if you were part of an affected family witnessing a yearly entertainment event centered on the legend and location where your child met their demise. This controversy seems to be dividing the community. Sadly, cryptid capitalism will likely win out.
Because of its location, the area around the creek is said to be cursed land because of the bloodshed that occurred from removal of the native people. Do these communities still struggle with the guilt of history, past and current? Does the heavy weight of industrialism and depression help create the “monster” that haunts the town? By using monstrous symbols, communities try to find a way to compartmentalize, process, and move on.
The Pope Lick Monster appears to be the cryptid with the highest death count. Of course, no one was really killed by the goatman. It is a choice to make the effort to put oneself in harms way.
I recommend checking out Episode 3 of Out There: Crimes of the Paranormal, a recent series that covered the despair of those left to deal with the Pope Lick reputation.
Linking cryptids
Cryptid legends, when examined in depth, can reveal tragic connections that the casually interested person would not typically notice. I’ve collected more examples.
- People who disappear in rugged areas, particularly in National Parks of the US have been exploited by Bigfoot writer David Paulides under the umbrella of his book series “Missing 411”. Paulides doesn’t explicitly say that the people may have been taken by Bigfoot, serial killers, aliens, or something even more outrageous. He misleads the reader and lets your imagination fill in the gaps by mystery mongering, playing fast and loose with facts, and framing the incidents as cover-ups. It’s non-credible, mean-spirited, and ghoulish, and should be dismissed as such.
- It’s not uncommon to see news stories about people who do heinous things linked to their seemingly outlandish beliefs about aliens, conspiracies, demons, or their interest in cryptids. Sometimes the media makes spurious connections that the audience latches onto. The Christmas 2020 suicide bomber of Nashville, Tennessee supposedly believed that “Reptilians” or “Lizard People” were in charge of the government – an idea made popular by David Icke. I’d recommend, again, the Out There: Crimes of the Paranormal episode that linked the paranoid idea of Reptilians to the legend of Lizard Man of Bishopville/Scape Ore Swamp.
- The Not Deer legend of Appalachia is the relatively recent tale of deer that behave weirdly with the speculation that they are not actually normal deer but shapeshifters trying to lure you into the woods. The legend has been influenced by the spread of a prion disease or other typical deer illnesses that cause the animal to suffer and eventually die. The supernatural explanation is far more popular than than natural one.
- Ol’ Greeneyes, while a debatable “cryptid”, has its own festival now in the town where the Battle of Chickamauga took place. The creature is said to be a ghoul or a ghost of a dead soldier who haunts the battlefield. It seems a strange mascot for a cryptid celebration but the event has been successful. As with other cryptid festivals – the cryptid is the excuse to gather round the town center and re-experience the historical past.
- The legend of Zana, the wildwoman, has been completely misconstrued by those who believe that she was not a modern human but possibly an Almas (a cryptid hominid) captured in the late 1800s. It is far more likely that she was of African decent, captured, kept in slavery in Abkhazia. White male cryptozoologists treated this story of her life as a mystery for them to solve and show that relict races existed.
- The Beast of the Land Between the Lakes is a story based on fiction. But the truth of the project that formed the park lands was tragic to many families. Starting in 1964, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began to condemn the 170,000 acres that would later be flooded. Some 800 families were forcibly removed by eminent domain. They sacrificed their land and livelihoods, their communities were ruined, and their ancestors’ graves abandoned. The consequences of that destruction still reverberates. Is the “beast” a manifestation of revenge for this callous treatment?
- The eruption of Mt. St Helens in 1980 is one of the first national disasters I recall as a child watching the news. It resulted in the death of a USGS geologist, Harry Truman, a resident to refused to leave his homestead, and 55 others who perished from the mudflows, hot ash and gas. Tales were told of Bigfoot around the mountain. After the eruption, someone started the story that the Bigfoot population had been decimated, an entirely baseless story. In the late 90s, the story of the Batsquatch encounter apparently prompted another piece of creative fiction – that the Batsquatches were let loose from their underground abodes via the volcanic eruption.
- The tale of the Wendigo (and its many variations) from Algonquin-speaking first nations in Canada and US, has been heavily appropriated in fiction, films, and as a cryptid. The brutal association with murder and cannibalism has been changed drastically for use in various media and commercial purposes. I’m not qualified to speak about its traditional use but the Wendigo wasn’t a Bigfoot, it didn’t have antlers, it doesn’t imitate human voices or shapeshift and it’s not part of Appalachian folklore. It is a spirit creature that embodies the threat of starvation for northern peoples who faced this circumstance. Yet, the creatures has become so popularized and commodified, an offensive stench rises from the fictionalized garbage content of awful fan art, horror flicks, and AI generated TikTok shorts.
Capitalizing on tragedy
There are not unreasonable arguments on both sides of the debate regarding capitalizing on past tragedies via cryptid festivals. Are cryptid festivals like those in Point Pleasant, WV and Fisherville, KY capitalizing on the deaths of others? Or are they serving as complex social means of moving beyond the haunted town histories? There likely are some instances where the intent was positive, to memorialize the tragedy in a respectful way, that later got out of control. And I have inklings that this conflict also occurs in other cultures, where monsters represent real tragedies.
The list above certainly has additional examples. Ghost stories are frequently a means of remembering a death or an unresolved tragedy or crime. Another example of banking on dark history is the commercialization of the town of Salem, where 25 people suffered and died in the witch trials that became the basis of a tourism branding as the tasteless and tacky “witch city”.
It’s difficult and often entirely inappropriate to police or suppress art (including books, films, etc.) and social responses to trauma. People will attempt to rationalize a disaster even via seemingly irrational scapegoats.
It can be difficult to reject participating in an interesting modern event because it is tainted by the events of the past. Culture evolves where we recreate or reenvision the past with a new framing. I don’t know that there is a right answer here – each person will have their own response. It’s imperative, however, that we not let the history of the tragedies be ignored, forgotten, or overtaken entirely by cryptid legends.
This is post 8 of the 12 Days of Cryptids.
#12DaysOfCryptids #Bigfoot #cryptidFestival #LandBetweenTheLakesBeast #Missing411 #mothman #PopeLickMonster #tragicCryptids #wendigo
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Winged Humanoids
It’s hard to see details of an object that is flying in the sky. It is difficult to determine if it is a typical crow-sized bird close by or a monstrously large thing far away. Yet, there exist many claims of winged humanoids. They are not birds, witnesses say, but man-birds, or man-bats. In this piece, I’m skimming the surface of the several infamous reports of large humanoid figures with wings.
In terms of zoological cryptids, there aren’t many options we can consider as explanations. Flying things can only get so big. Flying mammals get no larger than flying foxes, which are not close to human size. It takes an incredible amount of energy to get a body airborne, especially a muscular human form, as some have described these “winged weirdos”. Birds, and ancient pterosaurs which were the largest flying creatures ever, have a lighter skeletal structure, and used wind to give them lift.
The logical associated categories to this topic is that of giant birds or claims of prehistoric survivors. But I’m sticking to the human-like winged figures because it challenges the boundaries of zoology-based cryptozoology, and it has become incredibly popular in terms of culturally-relevant cryptids.
Mothman
What hasn’t been said about Mothman? Probably nothing new. But all of it hasn’t been distilled into one place. (Mothman could sure use a comprehensive biography!)
Mothman is an enigma that frightened the first witnesses in 1966. Disputed as a proper “cryptid” because it is so deeply associated with paranormal and “high strangeness” themes, only in the early days was it potentially explained as a crane or owl.
John Keel, the Fortean writer, transformed the Mothman of Point Pleasant, WV into the spooky superstar it eventually became, by publishing The Mothman Prophecies. The story woven around the emblematic winged humanoid included UFOs, otherworldly beings, unusual physical and mental phenomena, and eventually a tragedy in the collapse of the Silver bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia at the end of 1967.
Note: The Mothman was not originally described by witnesses as having moth features, but was clearly said to be bird-like.
The movie from 2002, loosely based on Keel’s book, not only re-popularized the legend, but also added manufactured pieces to it that people now accept as genuine. The Internet culture, particularly the LGBTQ and cosplay communities, have embraced Mothman as an icon. The town of Point Pleasant itself hosts a popular statue of a muscular, man-like, insectoid creature at a prominent place in town, a local museum for Mothman memorabilia, and an extremely popular town festival. The outrageous success of the festival was the impetus for dozens of other cryptid town festivals worldwide.
These photos appeared in local WV news in November 2016, close to the day of the 50th anniversary of the first Mothman witnesses coming forward. They appear to show a bird-sized creature possibly carrying something with its feet. But the media wanted to believe that it was the Mothman returning for a visit.In 2011, another Mothman flap, fueled by the media (and astoundingly uncritical paranormal websites), took off in the Chicago area. The incidents failed to carry the spooky seriousness of the original.
Mothman became the poster cryptid for the commodification of a town monster (no matter the associated tragedy). Its popularity translated to online forums, art/craft sites, and merchandise sales, making it the perfect Pop Cryptid. The question of what the Mothman phenomenon was is now secondary to its commercialization. No one currently seems to focus on a naturalistic explanation because the character of Mothman and the lore has blown past the bounds of mystery solving. The mystery is the sole point.
Owlman
In Cornwall, England, the Mawnan churchyard was the location for two sightings of an Owlman. In April 1976, two young sisters described a feathered birdman hovering around the church steeple. Three months later, a different pair of young girls, camping nearby, also saw a bird man, the size of a full-grown human. Similar to the Mothman accounts, the creature was said to rise “straight up”. These encounters were reported to the local press. Two years later, two other incidents were reported of bird-men around the Mawnan churchyard.
Janet and Colin Bord actively collected and wrote about these kinds of strange events, mostly in the UK. Their angle was to portray the incidents as related to earth energies or ancient sacred sites that somehow allowed the manifestation of strange creatures and happenings. They were helped along by others who injected ideas of magic and supernatural ideas into the tales.
When we are dealing with human-bird hybrid creatures, it’s difficult to continue serious discussion in a zoological sense. Thus, the winged humanoid themes have veered into the category of “zooform” phenomenon – supernatural entities in a superficially animal form.
A more folkloric version of a giant owl man comes from Canada, related over a century before that of Cornwall. The first written account of a winged man with tiny features, but huge luminous eyes appeared in Sault St. Marie, 1811. Newspapers reported farmers and girls encountering the creature. The stories of an owl man in Canada may have been influenced by Native tales of giant owls, or shamans that could change into owls.
Batsquatch
“While there are many tales of Batsquatch, they are all a bit hazy on the details,” says the website for Rogue’s Batsquatch Hazy IPA (beer). The Batsquatch is a hairy flying humanoid from the Pacific Northwest typically described as big and muscular with yellow eyes, sharp teeth, tufted ears, clawed feet and bright blue fur. So, yeah, we’ve definitely taken an extreme left turn out of zoology with this one that sounds more like a comic villain or cartoon character than anything else.
As many of these tales go, we begin with a teen driving at night in an isolated area. Brian Canfield, 18, had an encounter near Tacoma, Washington, in 1994. Reported in the News Tribune, it kicked off the Batsquatch legend. The engine in his pickup truck failed while driving around 9:30 PM. Illuminated in the headlights, he saw a monstrous figure land on the dusty road ahead. It didn’t approach and ultimately flapped away. Then the engine miraculously restarted. Upon reaching home and telling his parents, they could see he was upset. They drove back to the location but found nothing. According to researcher Linda Godfrey (American Monsters), Canfield said he coined the name Batsquatch, a drawing of which accompanied his initial newspaper interview.
After this, other people claimed they saw a similar or smaller creature in the west and even in the Midwestern US. I’ve seen it mentioned as showing up at Mt Shasta and Mt Rainier. These stories, however, aren’t coming from sources I can readily find. They seem to be showing up on monster TV shows, or websites without attribution. A particularly retro take seems entirely manufactured – that of the bat creatures being ejected from their home around Mt St Helens when the volcano erupted in 1980. From the Pacific Sentinel:
…with ash clouds still drifting through the air, stories began to emerge of a strange winged beast seen flying around the eruption site. Witnesses described an apelike body with large, leathery wings and a pair of glowing red eyes.
The above is an unsourced claim. And non-credible. I cannot find any document that tells of this legend. It appears to have been manufactured after Canfield’s incident. (If anyone has a source that exists prior to the 1994 coining of the term, please let me know.) Later reports claimed Batsquatch looked like winged vampires from modern movies. Batsquatch is now a darling of the Pop Cryptid world – right where he belongs.
Conclusion
Flying humanoid stories exist around the world. I can’t even begin to describe the numerous terrifying and gruesome ones that are known from Asia. So I’ll leave to your own research if so inclined.
Janet and Colin Bord logged some episodes that predated Mothman:
- 1877, Brooklyn and 1880 Long Island, New York
- A man with wings in Vladivostok, Russia, 1908
- A pair of human-like birds in Pelotas, Brazil in the early 1950s.
- A man with bat wings flying around Houston, Texas in 1953, called the Houston Batman
- A man-shaped thing sprouted wings and flew off after being sighted in West Virginia in 1960 or 1961.
And, one that postdated: Three US Marines saw a glowing, flying bird-woman in the summer of 1969 while stationed in Vietnam. There have since been many more. I doubt we will ever be free of them in some form. The idea of a flying magical human or animal hybrid seems innate to human cultures.
George Eberhart, cryptid librarian extraordinaire, deliberately excluded angels from his Mysterious Creatures double volume encyclopedia, so I didn’t include them here either. Yet, if some people are considering flying humanoids as demons, how can we exclude the angels? However, people who report winged humanoids are doing so in, at least, a semi-objective context. That is, in terms of weird encounters, not religious ones. But, really, we can’t know anything for sure about what people really saw.
Flying humanoids don’t make any sense. So, for believers, the only logically illogical turn is towards a non-natural explanation.
This post is part 4 of the 12 days of Cryptids.
#12DaysOfCryptids #Batsquatch #flyingHumanoids #mothman #mysteriousCreatures #owlman
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Mothman doodle inspired by chat last stream
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So, @blockforest , I had been saving your #MothMan block print card for a special occasion, and now that occasion is here. The International #Cryptozoology Museum is moving to #BangorME, so I am donating your lovely card as well as a Moth Man plush to the museum for their new digs! (They are currently in #PortlandME, but are moving next year). I'm sure they will find a nice spot in the Moth Man exhibit for these new items!
#MothManCards #BlockPrints #Art #MothManPlush #Squishables #InternationalCryptolozoologyMuseum
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So, @blockforest , I had been saving your #MothMan block print card for a special occasion, and now that occasion is here. The International #Cryptozoology Museum is moving to #BangorME, so I am donating your lovely card as well as a Moth Man plush to the museum for their new digs! (They are currently in #PortlandME, but are moving next year). I'm sure they will find a nice spot in the Moth Man exhibit for these new items!
#MothManCards #BlockPrints #Art #MothManPlush #Squishables #InternationalCryptolozoologyMuseum
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So, @blockforest , I had been saving your #MothMan block print card for a special occasion, and now that occasion is here. The International #Cryptozoology Museum is moving to #BangorME, so I am donating your lovely card as well as a Moth Man plush to the museum for their new digs! (They are currently in #PortlandME, but are moving next year). I'm sure they will find a nice spot in the Moth Man exhibit for these new items!
#MothManCards #BlockPrints #Art #MothManPlush #Squishables #InternationalCryptolozoologyMuseum
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So, @blockforest , I had been saving your #MothMan block print card for a special occasion, and now that occasion is here. The International #Cryptozoology Museum is moving to #BangorME, so I am donating your lovely card as well as a Moth Man plush to the museum for their new digs! (They are currently in #PortlandME, but are moving next year). I'm sure they will find a nice spot in the Moth Man exhibit for these new items!
#MothManCards #BlockPrints #Art #MothManPlush #Squishables #InternationalCryptolozoologyMuseum
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So, @blockforest , I had been saving your #MothMan block print card for a special occasion, and now that occasion is here. The International #Cryptozoology Museum is moving to #BangorME, so I am donating your lovely card as well as a Moth Man plush to the museum for their new digs! (They are currently in #PortlandME, but are moving next year). I'm sure they will find a nice spot in the Moth Man exhibit for these new items!
#MothManCards #BlockPrints #Art #MothManPlush #Squishables #InternationalCryptolozoologyMuseum
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One of my series of "Mothman: Blood Moon" paintings depicting Point Pleasant, West Virginia's legendary #Mothman, each created using Pentel brush pens, Yasutomo inks and acrylic paints.
Now you can get personally signed 11x17" prints at shawnlangley.myshopify.com -
I finally went to the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Here are some thoughts about cryptids. Why the heck am I so enamored by him? #mothman #cryptids #amblogging
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Starting up The Mothman Prophecies (2002) because as much as I dig Mothman related stuff and don't mind Richard Gere, I've never seen this flick. Apparently it's based on a book from 1975.
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Starting up The Mothman Prophecies (2002) because as much as I dig Mothman related stuff and don't mind Richard Gere, I've never seen this flick. Apparently it's based on a book from 1975.
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Starting up The Mothman Prophecies (2002) because as much as I dig Mothman related stuff and don't mind Richard Gere, I've never seen this flick. Apparently it's based on a book from 1975.
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Starting up The Mothman Prophecies (2002) because as much as I dig Mothman related stuff and don't mind Richard Gere, I've never seen this flick. Apparently it's based on a book from 1975.
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Dark, but make it fabulous ✨💅🏻
#mothman #crossstitch# claws #fabulous #nails -
Goth Moth!
I do have a little soft spot for mothman, I mean who doesn't. Here's my first little linocut of the cryptid in sticker form!
https://www.blockforest.co.uk/products/mothman-vinyl-sticker
#mothman #sticker #mabsdrawlloweenclub #mdwc25d30 #moth #cryptid #monster #folklore #legend #goth #gothic #linocut -
Finished project. Do you believe in mothman? #mothman#crossstich
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They're dating. :3
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Mothman is from West Virginia, and therefore would sing "Take Me Home, Country Roads" at Cryptid Karaoke Night.
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Behold - Dara's brand new Mothman plush toy! 🖤
My cats might be a bit spoiled...#caturday #photography #blackandwhitephotography #blackandwhite #photo #cats #fedicats #mastocats #mothman #catsofmastodon #CatsOfFediverse #catober #catphotography #catlife #猫 #katze #kmac #macnessa #konaamacnessa
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Pop Cryptid Spectator 20
Hi and welcome to the 20th, and last, edition of PCS. In nine months, this idea has run its course because, frankly, I can’t keep up. Everything is Pop Cryptid. I’ve certainly proven my point – the term “cryptid” now means “any weird and hidden creature”. In popular culture, it is rarely referred to in the context of a scientific effort to discover new species. I mean, when the President is referred to in this context, it’s game over.
That’s not to say that I won’t be writing about such topics in the future. I’ll certainly post more and on Modern Cryptozoology. But this PCS project is tapped; I’m moving on. Before I do, there are a few more things to $ay. So here goes.
In this final edition:
- Nessie, Jr. Another cute cryptid movie
- Faking Bigfoot
- Champ at the Museum
- Mothman says, “You Matter”
- Cryptids overexposed
Nessie, Jr – Another cute cryptid movie
There’s a new movie on the way that will influence how small children think about lakes and the Loch Ness Monster. It’s called Nessie, Jr. and it appears to be another cutified cryptid depiction in the same family-friendly vein as several other past movies – Harry and the Hendersons, Smallfoot, Abominable, Pete’s Dragon, The Water Horse, Baby: Secret of a Lost Legend, etc. It’s fine. I don’t have a problem with it. It’s just so… meh.
But speaking of fiction…
Faking Bigfoot
I wrote a piece on the performance art dude who displayed a fake Bigfoot at the NY state fair as real. It really didn’t go over well with serious Bigfooters, who said this guy was “ruining” Bigfoot research. Nah, the ‘footers do that part on their own – with their awful TV shows, in-fighting, and efforts to gain attention for terrible evidence. Bigfoot hoaxes have been around since the very beginning. In fact, cryptid tales are chock-full of hoaxes to the point where you are hard-pressed to sift through the chaff to find any wheat. Yet, the hoaxes themselves are quite interesting and very much a pop cryptid phenomenon. It’s not about finding the creature, it’s mostly about hope of finding it in what we like to imagine is a world that still holds mystery. And, unfortunately, it is an awful lot about people thinking you found it and usually making bank from that. Check out this short review of a book on how the media created Nessie. By the way, I don’t know how much money this Bigfoot Remains joker pocketed from the gaff, but the gimmick has already been mostly forgotten. We’re so used to such hoaxers.
Champ at the Museum
The monster of Lake Champlain now has its own exhibit. Both Port Henry, NY and Burlington, VT have tributes to Champ as they vie for the official place of the creature. Now Burlington has another attraction besides the Champ memorial and the Lake Monsters team mascot. They have a dedicated spot in the museum. The shore-side Echo Leahy Center at Lake Champlain is perfectly situated to promote the beast. The kiddie-themed gift shop was already full of toys depicting Champ as a cute cryptid. It’s logical they would capitalize even more as well as offering an opportunity to draw kids into learning about the lake’s natural history. I haven’t seen the exhibit because it just opened, and I was there last year. But the museum follows the template of Loch Ness, and other cryptid-themed real and pop-up “museums” that draw in those interested in the topic. And they sell merch.
Do you sense a theme? I’m afraid that I’m pretty jaded on the pop cryptid theme as it relates to cashing in. But that’s the American way these days. Gosh, it’s all so predictable and boring…
Mothman says, “You Matter”
In more rather misappropriate uses of pop cryptids, Mothman is pictured on informational material regarding mental health distributed by a West Virginia police department. This seems cool but using an imaginary creature that was also known as an omen of doom seems slightly clueless. While the project director says that distributing the material at the WV State Fair has let them connect to average people, the “friendly cryptids letting them connect with kids and create conversations”. Ok, sure. But, if people know the story about how Mothman was related to one of the most tragic events in WV history, the collapse of the Silver Bridge, they might struggle with the message “You matter”. Maybe I’m overthinking it…
West Virginia leads all states in the in commodification of their town mascots, like Mothman, Sheepsquatch, Veggie Man, and the Flatwoods Monster.
Cryptids overexposed
I don’t know… it seems to me the mystery is all gone. Cryptids are everywhere. They aren’t hidden anymore. They are losing their mystique. As I’ve noted in other places, cryptids, being copyright-free, are easily adapted for use in consumer products and logos. As the pop cryptid model spreads, where cryptids are seen as fun emblems or symbols, you can bet you’ll see their use increasing.
New Mexico indoor football team reveals new name: New Mexico Chupacabras
For more on the crossover between cryptids and sports teams, see here.
Here are more cryptid related stories from the past month from my main blog:
- If I don’t believe in cryptids, why am I here? – I answer why “skeptics” (those who question claims of cryptids), are bothering with participating if they don’t think there is any truth to the claims.
- Not a mystery beast, just a dog – Two photos on social media reveal that people can’t call a dog “a dog”.
- Pop cryptid in the News: Jackalope – I updated a section from a past Pop Cryptid Spectator to address the recent news of Frankenbunnies.
- Spooky seismic lakes – Loch Ness and its monster – In a crossover of spooky geology and cryptids, I dive into the idea that some people love: that Nessie is related to seismic activity.
The pop cryptid trend would not be icky if it wasn’t for the blatant overexposure and twisting of the concepts so that the original ideas behind them are now totally lost. In a way, this is what the Bigfooters hated about the NY State fake Bigfoot. It was disconnected from their vision and version of what a cryptid is. It mocked their view. Such things disregard the impact of the rich folklore and history by appealing to the casual fan and consumer who just know the stories from comics, games, mass distribution movies and Reddit groups. I can’t help but feel these depictions for the mass market are shallow and pathetic. Many people agree. I’m not sure it’s all that different from depicting other animals in anthropomorphic, cute, or exaggerated ways. This has also always been the way of things. It just took a longer time for beloved cryptids to become familiar enough to use in this way.
Another Bigfoot action figure, this one more pointy and menacing than usual Bigfoots. The Skookum.I’ve learned a lot in the few years that I’ve been examining cryptids in this new frame. I think it’s been highly useful, even if many cryptozoology-minded viewers thought it was dumb or reacted indignantly to what seemed like a cheapening of their belief system. I apologize if you felt aggrieved but, let’s face it, it’s NOT reasonable to view traditional cryptozoology as a useful field of study. You are not going to have success finding new species that correspond to Bigfoot, Nessie, Yeti, etc. However, you have a good chance of success in marketing these creatures’ images and talking about them in cultural terms.
A current wrap-up of trends
Some of the other trends I’ve seen lately:
- The #CryptidTok trend is far quieter than it was 2 years ago. It’s still a lot of AI and people performing knowledge (which isn’t knowledge, but stuff they got from other bad videos). I’m not sure how influential this is except for low-value content creators. Maybe people are tired of hearing the same wikipedia-derived info over and over again.
- Weird Appalachia – This genre continues to grow as we see with the prevalence of West Virginia/Pennsylvania/Ohio/Kentucky cryptid content and the marketing of their location-specific monsters. The popular idea now is that the land is haunted and the eldritch creatures or spirits take the form of not-deer, dogmen, shapeshifters and such that are called “cryptids”. It’s a fun and useful idea.
- Town festivals feature speakers who spread new stories as “lore” making it sound more credible than it is. But they aren’t asking any actual folklore or cultural experts, just popular content creators, personalities or artists. This is disappointing and a missed opportunity – I hope it changes.
- The continued gap between original cryptozoology concepts and the current state of things. There is very little solid work being done that produces credible knowledge worthy to be published. Instead, self-styled cryptozoology is still self-published books, YouTube, websites, and facebook posts. This is low value stuff that gets a short bump in interest but does not last.
- Increased use in all forms of merchandising and commercial representation. This means more fiction, movies, promotion, branding, etc. using cryptids.
- Growing popularity of “fearsome creatures” (fictional beings made up as old lumberjack tales such as the squonk, slide-rock bolter, hodag, snallygaster, etc. or indigenous/native stories such as the wendigo, skinwalker, La Llorona, etc.), “creepypasta” creatures (invented monsters from digital storytelling such as Slenderman and the rake), and AI generated monsters. These manufactured beings have nothing in common with traditional cryptozoology but are becoming the best known “cryptids”.
- Overhyping of bad evidence. The “sightings” are just as bad as ever. They are either nothing, obvious hoaxes, or AI generated. There is nothing worth paying attention to here. Yet, people click because it’s fun and they really want to believe.
All those trends say something important about cryptids. I’ve gotten the message – fun cryptid are great but serious interest in the complex folklore, the socio-economic and cultural effects, and the overall phenomena of cryptid encounters is unimportant to the masses. They want the scary, cute, funny, neatly packaged and easily digested popular fluff. But there are still several followers of “scientific” cryptozoology that only want a serious zoological (or supernatural) take on this subject and get angry with a lesser, “fluffier” treatment.
My view is the same as before – there is no value in an effort to search for mystery creatures as new species. It has not been successful and it CAN’T be, considering the modern times in which we exist. New species discovered by zoologists aren’t cryptids, even if they have the occasional help of citizen scientists. The contrived methodology of Heuvelman’s cryptozoology isn’t relevant. However, I’m all for expanding the field into relevant areas of anthropology, cultural studies – folklore, art, media, socio-economic, etc., psychology, wildlife biology, data science, etc. that will provide endless opportunities to research and analyze interest in cryptids. This was my position when I first envisioned the pop cryptid model and it applies just as much as ever. It’s likely to happen on its own.
For more, content and a fuller explanation of Pop goes the Cryptid, visit the subpage.
This has been the Pop Cryptid Spectator. My work here is done. Thanks for indulging me. Keep sending links and messages.
Now back to my regular blog.
Peace out, Bigfoots#Bigfoot #cryptids #cryptidtok #Cryptozoology #Mothman #Nessie #popCryptid #PopCryptidSpectator #popCryptids #popCulture #WeirdAppalachia
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Pop Cryptid Spectator 20
Hi and welcome to the 20th, and last, edition of PCS. In nine months, this idea has run its course because, frankly, I can’t keep up. Everything is Pop Cryptid. I’ve certainly proven my point – the term “cryptid” now means “any weird and hidden creature”. In popular culture, it is rarely referred to in the context of a scientific effort to discover new species. I mean, when the President is referred to in this context, it’s game over.
That’s not to say that I won’t be writing about such topics in the future. I’ll certainly post more and on Modern Cryptozoology. But this PCS project is tapped; I’m moving on. Before I do, there are a few more things to $ay. So here goes.
In this final edition:
- Nessie, Jr. Another cute cryptid movie
- Faking Bigfoot
- Champ at the Museum
- Mothman says, “You Matter”
- Cryptids overexposed
Nessie, Jr – Another cute cryptid movie
There’s a new movie on the way that will influence how small children think about lakes and the Loch Ness Monster. It’s called Nessie, Jr. and it appears to be another cutified cryptid depiction in the same family-friendly vein as several other past movies – Harry and the Hendersons, Smallfoot, Abominable, Pete’s Dragon, The Water Horse, Baby: Secret of a Lost Legend, etc. It’s fine. I don’t have a problem with it. It’s just so… meh.
But speaking of fiction…
Faking Bigfoot
I wrote a piece on the performance art dude who displayed a fake Bigfoot at the NY state fair as real. It really didn’t go over well with serious Bigfooters, who said this guy was “ruining” Bigfoot research. Nah, the ‘footers do that part on their own – with their awful TV shows, in-fighting, and efforts to gain attention for terrible evidence. Bigfoot hoaxes have been around since the very beginning. In fact, cryptid tales are chock-full of hoaxes to the point where you are hard-pressed to sift through the chaff to find any wheat. Yet, the hoaxes themselves are quite interesting and very much a pop cryptid phenomenon. It’s not about finding the creature, it’s mostly about hope of finding it in what we like to imagine is a world that still holds mystery. And, unfortunately, it is an awful lot about people thinking you found it and usually making bank from that. Check out this short review of a book on how the media created Nessie. By the way, I don’t know how much money this Bigfoot Remains joker pocketed from the gaff, but the gimmick has already been mostly forgotten. We’re so used to such hoaxers.
Champ at the Museum
The monster of Lake Champlain now has its own exhibit. Both Port Henry, NY and Burlington, VT have tributes to Champ as they vie for the official place of the creature. Now Burlington has another attraction besides the Champ memorial and the Lake Monsters team mascot. They have a dedicated spot in the museum. The shore-side Echo Leahy Center at Lake Champlain is perfectly situated to promote the beast. The kiddie-themed gift shop was already full of toys depicting Champ as a cute cryptid. It’s logical they would capitalize even more as well as offering an opportunity to draw kids into learning about the lake’s natural history. I haven’t seen the exhibit because it just opened, and I was there last year. But the museum follows the template of Loch Ness, and other cryptid-themed real and pop-up “museums” that draw in those interested in the topic. And they sell merch.
Do you sense a theme? I’m afraid that I’m pretty jaded on the pop cryptid theme as it relates to cashing in. But that’s the American way these days. Gosh, it’s all so predictable and boring…
Mothman says, “You Matter”
In more rather misappropriate uses of pop cryptids, Mothman is pictured on informational material regarding mental health distributed by a West Virginia police department. This seems cool but using an imaginary creature that was also known as an omen of doom seems slightly clueless. While the project director says that distributing the material at the WV State Fair has let them connect to average people, the “friendly cryptids letting them connect with kids and create conversations”. Ok, sure. But, if people know the story about how Mothman was related to one of the most tragic events in WV history, the collapse of the Silver Bridge, they might struggle with the message “You matter”. Maybe I’m overthinking it…
West Virginia leads all states in the in commodification of their town mascots, like Mothman, Sheepsquatch, Veggie Man, and the Flatwoods Monster.
Cryptids overexposed
I don’t know… it seems to me the mystery is all gone. Cryptids are everywhere. They aren’t hidden anymore. They are losing their mystique. As I’ve noted in other places, cryptids, being copyright-free, are easily adapted for use in consumer products and logos. As the pop cryptid model spreads, where cryptids are seen as fun emblems or symbols, you can bet you’ll see their use increasing.
New Mexico indoor football team reveals new name: New Mexico Chupacabras
For more on the crossover between cryptids and sports teams, see here.
Here are more cryptid related stories from the past month from my main blog:
- If I don’t believe in cryptids, why am I here? – I answer why “skeptics” (those who question claims of cryptids), are bothering with participating if they don’t think there is any truth to the claims.
- Not a mystery beast, just a dog – Two photos on social media reveal that people can’t call a dog “a dog”.
- Pop cryptid in the News: Jackalope – I updated a section from a past Pop Cryptid Spectator to address the recent news of Frankenbunnies.
- Spooky seismic lakes – Loch Ness and its monster – In a crossover of spooky geology and cryptids, I dive into the idea that some people love: that Nessie is related to seismic activity.
The pop cryptid trend would not be icky if it wasn’t for the blatant overexposure and twisting of the concepts so that the original ideas behind them are now totally lost. In a way, this is what the Bigfooters hated about the NY State fake Bigfoot. It was disconnected from their vision and version of what a cryptid is. It mocked their view. Such things disregard the impact of the rich folklore and history by appealing to the casual fan and consumer who just know the stories from comics, games, mass distribution movies and Reddit groups. I can’t help but feel these depictions for the mass market are shallow and pathetic. Many people agree. I’m not sure it’s all that different from depicting other animals in anthropomorphic, cute, or exaggerated ways. This has also always been the way of things. It just took a longer time for beloved cryptids to become familiar enough to use in this way.
Another Bigfoot action figure, this one more pointy and menacing than usual Bigfoots. The Skookum.I’ve learned a lot in the few years that I’ve been examining cryptids in this new frame. I think it’s been highly useful, even if many cryptozoology-minded viewers thought it was dumb or reacted indignantly to what seemed like a cheapening of their belief system. I apologize if you felt aggrieved but, let’s face it, it’s NOT reasonable to view traditional cryptozoology as a useful field of study. You are not going to have success finding new species that correspond to Bigfoot, Nessie, Yeti, etc. However, you have a good chance of success in marketing these creatures’ images and talking about them in cultural terms.
A current wrap-up of trends
Some of the other trends I’ve seen lately:
- The #CryptidTok trend is far quieter than it was 2 years ago. It’s still a lot of AI and people performing knowledge (which isn’t knowledge, but stuff they got from other bad videos). I’m not sure how influential this is except for low-value content creators. Maybe people are tired of hearing the same wikipedia-derived info over and over again.
- Weird Appalachia – This genre continues to grow as we see with the prevalence of West Virginia/Pennsylvania/Ohio/Kentucky cryptid content and the marketing of their location-specific monsters. The popular idea now is that the land is haunted and the eldritch creatures or spirits take the form of not-deer, dogmen, shapeshifters and such that are called “cryptids”. It’s a fun and useful idea.
- Town festivals feature speakers who spread new stories as “lore” making it sound more credible than it is. But they aren’t asking any actual folklore or cultural experts, just popular content creators, personalities or artists. This is disappointing and a missed opportunity – I hope it changes.
- The continued gap between original cryptozoology concepts and the current state of things. There is very little solid work being done that produces credible knowledge worthy to be published. Instead, self-styled cryptozoology is still self-published books, YouTube, websites, and facebook posts. This is low value stuff that gets a short bump in interest but does not last.
- Increased use in all forms of merchandising and commercial representation. This means more fiction, movies, promotion, branding, etc. using cryptids.
- Growing popularity of “fearsome creatures” (fictional beings made up as old lumberjack tales such as the squonk, slide-rock bolter, hodag, snallygaster, etc. or indigenous/native stories such as the wendigo, skinwalker, La Llorona, etc.), “creepypasta” creatures (invented monsters from digital storytelling such as Slenderman and the rake), and AI generated monsters. These manufactured beings have nothing in common with traditional cryptozoology but are becoming the best known “cryptids”.
- Overhyping of bad evidence. The “sightings” are just as bad as ever. They are either nothing, obvious hoaxes, or AI generated. There is nothing worth paying attention to here. Yet, people click because it’s fun and they really want to believe.
All those trends say something important about cryptids. I’ve gotten the message – fun cryptid are great but serious interest in the complex folklore, the socio-economic and cultural effects, and the overall phenomena of cryptid encounters is unimportant to the masses. They want the scary, cute, funny, neatly packaged and easily digested popular fluff. But there are still several followers of “scientific” cryptozoology that only want a serious zoological (or supernatural) take on this subject and get angry with a lesser, “fluffier” treatment.
My view is the same as before – there is no value in an effort to search for mystery creatures as new species. It has not been successful and it CAN’T be, considering the modern times in which we exist. New species discovered by zoologists aren’t cryptids, even if they have the occasional help of citizen scientists. The contrived methodology of Heuvelman’s cryptozoology isn’t relevant. However, I’m all for expanding the field into relevant areas of anthropology, cultural studies – folklore, art, media, socio-economic, etc., psychology, wildlife biology, data science, etc. that will provide endless opportunities to research and analyze interest in cryptids. This was my position when I first envisioned the pop cryptid model and it applies just as much as ever. It’s likely to happen on its own.
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This has been the Pop Cryptid Spectator. My work here is done. Thanks for indulging me. Keep sending links and messages.
Now back to my regular blog.
Peace out, Bigfoots#Bigfoot #cryptids #cryptidtok #Cryptozoology #Mothman #Nessie #popCryptid #PopCryptidSpectator #popCryptids #popCulture #WeirdAppalachia
