“I think the human mind isn’t comfortable with mysteries. We’re always looking for answers to the unexplained. And if an answer can’t come from facts, we’ll try to cobble one together from old stories.”
-- Max Brooks, Excerpt from Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre
In the forests...the skies...below the depths. Strange creatures have always been in the tales of humankind since the beginning of time. Creatures of enormous proportions, creatures with claws and wings, some that move without the fear of man, and those who race towards us with fire in their eyes. Many so-called “cryptids” keep us all intrigued.
Below the depths we hear tales of fantastical creatures that bear resemblance to ancient water-dwelling creatures, such as the world-renowned Loch Ness Monster and the infamous Kraken.
Others reside in the skies, predicting misfortune and terrifying the local populations such as the Jersey Devil, the Mothman, and the Snallygaster.
However it is the land-based cryptids that are often some of the most recognizable around the world. The Chupacabra, a bizarre land creature that is said to feast on the blood of it’s livestock victims.
But in truth the most well-known land cryptid would have to be the large bipedal primate-like creature: Bigfoot. Going by various names, it is said to be located on almost every continent. From the Yeti in the Himalayas to the Yeren in China. The Yowie in Australia to the bizarre Mapinguari of Brazil, that is said to be a giant cyclops with a mouth on its abdomen. The cryptid known as Sasquatch has been immortalized in the video and camera footage that have been “caught” over the decades.
Legends from all over the world tell of creatures that are beyond the scope of humans, they are believed to be something that can only come out of the imagination. Yet it is because of this simple fact...that cryptids are still one of the most interesting subjects that we have to this day.
“The inclination to believe in the fantastic may strike some as a failure in logic, or gullibility, but it’s really a gift. A world that might have Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster is clearly superior to one that definitely does not.”
-- Chris Van Allsburg, Caldecott and National Book Award-winning children's author and illustrator