What Is Cryptozoology and How Do You Become a Cryptozoologist?


Luther Urswick
With interests in science, nature, history and the paranormal, Luther explores topics from a unique and sometimes controversial perspective.

Updated on June 17, 2019
 
Legends of strange creatures have been with us since the beginning of time. Cryptozoologists study these animals, and sort of out fact from fiction. | Source

What Is Cryptozoology?


The word cryptozoology means literally the "study of hidden animals”, those which some people believe are out there but science has yet to officially acknowledge.

Think of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. You know, those creatures that make your friends smile, nod and slowly move away from you whenever you bring them up in conversation. These mystery creatures (the animals, not your friends) are known as cryptids.

Cryptozoology has unfortunately earned a reputation with the mainstream public as a kooky diversion, practiced by the same guys who contact UFOs using modified CB radios while wearing hats made from tin foil. However, the good cryptozoologists are more about science than silliness, and have hatched some compelling theories over the years to explain sightings of unusual animals.

But even the best cryptozoologists have a lot working against them. A serious biologist or zoologist who spends their time and money in the pursuit of some mythical creature is risking career suicide. There is little grant money to be had for a researcher who decides to take a year away from teaching at the University and treks off to the Himalayas in hopes of meeting a Yeti.

Along with financial struggles and losing the respect of your mainstream peers comes the frustration of limited results for your efforts. Progress moves slowly in cryptozoology, and new discoveries and evidence are hard to come by. A researcher may spend a lifetime searching in vain.

So why do they do it? What makes these people tick? And do they ever really come up with any evidence aside from footprints and blurry pictures?

What Do Cryptozoologists Study?


If cryptozoology is the study of unknown animals than one could argue that by going into your backyard and turning up rocks in the hopes of finding some undiscovered bug you are indeed a cryptozoologist. You’re searching for unknown animals, and it’s a lot less expensive and time consuming than a month-long trip to Africa.

In fact, there are likely thousands if not millions of undiscovered insect species in the world, most of them in deep jungles. So why aren’t more cryptozoologists creeping around in the rainforest with a magnifying glass?

It’s not so simple. There is no debate that there are countless undiscovered animals in the world. However, there is a great deal of debate regarding the remaining species of large fauna yet to be discovered.

Cryptozoology is about finding the big animals, those creatures that many of us believe can’t possibly have gone undiscovered for so long. Some are so bizarre that there must be a supernatural component to their existence. Some are believed to be real animals, yet to be discovered by science.

Others are creatures that we know once roamed the Earth, but science tells us they went extinct long ago. Some say there are fascinating prehistoric beasts still lurking in far corners of the world, even living dinosaurs.

This is the part that separates cryptozoology from mainstream science. Logically, it makes little sense for many of these creatures to have eluded human detection, and we often dismiss the idea of their existence as borderline absurd.

Still, many of us are intrigued. Wouldn’t it be interesting if some of these fantastic tales of bizarre animals proved to be true? And that’s what makes a cryptozoologist get out of bed in the morning. We’re all interested in the possibility of the unknown, but they get out there and look for it.


How to Become a Cryptozoologist


If you’re considering a career in cryptozoology it’s probably a good idea to take a step back and think things through. While there are a handful of researchers who make a living writing books, lecturing and even hosting TV shows or radio programs, for most cryptozoologists it is a labor of love.

That’s an artistic way of saying you probably aren’t going to make much money doing it. In fact, you’ll spend a lot of money in the process. That doesn't mean cryptozoology isn’t a worthwhile pursuit, but you do need to be realistic about it.

There are no real qualifications to becoming a cryptozoologist, no degree programs and no governing body. You simply need to have an interest, and get out and do it. However, it is important to note that earning the respect of your peers (other serious researchers) will serve as a kind of credentialing process.

There are all kinds of monster hunters out there, and those who give cryptozoology a bad name are no help to the emerging science.

If you believe you want to pursue cryptozoology in your spare time, or even see if you can somehow make a career out of it, it’s a good idea to look at comparable mainstream sciences as your main area of study.

You may go to school and earn a degree in anthropology, zoology, marine biology or some other natural science, with the eventual goal of become a professor. Teachers get lots of time off, and at least you’d have a glimmer of hope for snagging some grant money for your studies.

Or you may wish to pursue another totally unrelated field. Cryptozoolgists come from every profession, and have taken many diverse paths. You may wish to choose something where you can make tons of money to fund your yearly expeditions in search of the Megalodon shark!

What Would You Do?

You're looking out your kitchen window into your backyard one morning and you spot Bigfoot! You get a clear view, and you're sure it is him. You even snap a couple of pictures. What do you do next?
Find a buyer for the pictures and cash in. Cha ching!
Get on the phone and tell everyone I know. This is so cool!
Tell only a few people I can trust to keep a secret.
Tell nobody and keep the pictures safe. It's a private experience between me and nature.
Check myself into the hospital. Hopefully this delusion was just caused by something I ate.See results


Where It All Began


No doubt humans have been telling tall tales about strange animals since the invention of language, but what we think of as modern cryptozoology is likely only a bit older than a century. In 1892 a Dutch zoologist named Anthonie Cornelis Oudemans published the manuscript called The Great Sea Serpent.

Here, Oudemans contends that sighting of sea serpents may be attributed to an as-yet-unknown species of giant, elongated seal. Oudemans was a respected scientist, the director of the Dutch Royal Zoological Gardens, but few took his book seriously. And they still haven’t found the giant seal.

Explorer and researcher Bernard Heuvelmans is another notable figure in early cryptozoology. In 1955 Heuvelmans published On theTrack of Unknown Animals, a book that earned him the title of Father of Cryptozoology . Heuvelmans’s book laid out a detailed account of cryptids from around the world, and inspired many a young mind to take up their pursuit.

Nowadays, you can hardly click on the television without coming across a show on cryptozoology. Finding Bigfoot, which airs on Animal Planet, is perhaps the most noteworthy. Destination Truth (Syfy Channel), and Beast Hunter (National Geographic Channel) are other shows which have delved heavily into the search for unknown creatures.

So if all these people are out there looking why don’t we have crystal-clear photos of a smiling Sasquatch with his arm around a researcher by now? What exactly are these people looking for, and what are the chances of finding it?

  
Oudemans's search for the legendary sea serpent led him to suggest sightings were due to a strange, rare seal. | Source

Strange and Elusive Creatures


Below you'll read about a few of the more famous creatures in the world of cryptozoology. None of these animals have been proven my mainstream science, but nevertheless there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest they are out there. As a cryptozoologist you may specialize in the study of one or more of these creatures.

Bigfoot


He’s the star of the cryptozoology world, known to deftly elude researchers but then reveal himself to anyone with a camera incapable of shooting a clear picture.

Called Sasquatch in the Pacific Northwest, Skunk Ape in the South and Yeti in the Himalayas, Bigfoot is believed to be a species of undiscovered ape, possibly evolved from the extinct Gigantopithecus Blacki.

Sightings date back to Native American times, and in modern days Bigfoot is spotted in just about every inch of the United States and Canada, so it seems your chances of spotting him are better than they are for most creatures on this list.

Amazing Evidence from the Show "Finding Bigfoot"


Loch Ness Monster


Second only to the big, hairy guy listed above, Nessie is said to inhabit Loch Ness of Scotland.

It’s a huge lake and extremely deep. The lake is connected to the ocean by waterways, leading some to believe Nessie could be a sea creature of some kind, or at least travel that route to and from the ocean.

Furthering that theory is the debate of whether or not Loch Ness contains the food necessary to support a population of such large creatures. Like other lake monsters such as Ogo Pogo and Champ, Nessie is thought by some to be a Plesiosaur, a species of aquatic reptile long gone extinct.

Orang Pendek


Translated to “Short Person” in Indonesian, Orang Pendek is a small, hairy, bipedal humanoid creature spotted in the jungles of Sumatra.

Like a tiny Bigfoot, Orang Pendek may be an undiscovered species of ape or other primitive hominid. But it may also share a much closer relation to humans.

The discovery of the bones of a species of small, prehistoric human dubbed Homo floresiensis on the Indonesian island of Flores sparked the theory that Orang Pendek may be a related species, hidden in the jungles and rarely seen.

Mapinguari


It’s a giant beast that terrorizes locals in the South American jungles, with a mouth on its stomach, backward-facing feet, huge claws and a horrible stench.

It might sounds crazy, but some researchers think the Mapinguari may be a species of giant ground sloth thought to have gone extinct thousands of years ago.

Megatherium was a species of massive sloth that some researchers think may have existed as recently as 15,000 years ago. Could it be that this beasty that terrorizes natives in the jungle is actually a living Megatherium? Until somebody finds one, we just don’t know.

Megalodon Shark


Thousands of years ago a massive shark over 50 feet in length stalked the world’s oceans and some say it is still around.

Like a monstrous great white it fed on marine mammals, in this case enormous whales and other large creatures. It was called Carcharodon Megalodon, and it was the apex predator of its day and the largest carnivore ever to exist on this planet.

While modern science says it went extinct thousands of years in the past, some say Meg is still around today, lurking deep in the ocean. Strange creatures once thought extinct have resurfaced before, and we still have a huge percentage of the ocean left to explore. Could Megalodon still be out there?

Mokele Mbembe


Is it possible that there are isolated places in the world where dinosaurs still exist, undocumented by modern science and lost to history?

Mokele Mbembe is a beast known to local tribes in the African Congo. It is described as having the body of an elephant with a long neck and small head. To some brave researchers, this sounds like a sauropod dinosaur.

But Mokele Mbeme isn’t the only dino still plodding around in Africa. Several different types of creatures have been spotted in and around the Congo River basin, leading some researchers to think a small remnant population of dinosaurs may well exist in Africa.

It makes absolutely no sense based on what we know of the history of the planet, but there is no denying that people are spotting strange things in Africa, and they describe them as dinosaurs.


 
Could some dinosaurs have survived extinction and still live today? | Source

Do You Believe in Strange Creatures?

“Do you believe” is really the wrong question to ask in cryptozoology. Because we’re talking about animals that may be real, belief is irrelevant. Science can and should bear out the existence of these creatures over time, if they exist. Any interest in exploring unknown cryptids should spur from the facts available, not some mystical belief in the wonders of the universe.

Most of these creatures, by way of sightings and other evidence, merit at least some level of scientific investigation. We’ve all heard the old cliché about the remaining unexplored parts of our globe, and what a shame it would be to ignore our curiosity for amazing discoveries. It would be an incredible thing to validate a legend.

Or would it? What if a population of Bigfoot were discovered and documented by mainstream science? True, it would amaze and shock the world, and the name of the researcher who found them would go down in history.

But what next? Do we put them in a zoo? Dissect and analyze them? While we all would like to see the mysteries of the world revealed? Would the final result of such a discovery be worth it? Perhaps some mysteries are better left alone.

No matter what is eventually discovered, it’s hard to imagine that mankind’s of the unknown will ever be satisfied. There will never be a shortage of stories of strange creatures or people willing to go out and look for them. There will always be a place in the world for Cryptozoology .

Is Finding Bigfoot a Good Idea?

What would happen if a population of Sasquatch were discovered?
They'd be tagged, bagged and carted off to some research facility.
On the surface it would seem like a good thing, but they'd be exploited soon enough.
Laws would be passed and they would be protected.
It would be awesome, and we're evolved enough to treat them right.See results

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Crazy for cryptids: The International Cryptozoology Museum blurs the line between fact and fiction
Founder Loren Coleman has been searching for Bigfoot and other legendary creatures for almost six decades

Sep 2nd 2019
EXTRAORDINARY PLACES, ROAD CULTURE
By Alexandra Charitan


In March 1960, Loren Coleman watched a film on the Yetis of the Himalayas. When he inquired about the creature (also known as the Abominable Snowman) in school, his teachers were less than helpful. They told him to “get back to work” because “[Yetis] don’t exist.” Coleman decided to conduct his own research, and a lifelong interest in cryptozoology—the study of legendary or unknown creatures—was born.

Over the past six decades, Coleman has written letters, articles, and books about cryptozoology, he has taught at universities around New England, and has conducted investigations in 48 states. As he searched for cryptids (alleged animals such as lake monsters, hairy bipeds, or swamp creatures), Coleman collected more than 10,000 objects.

A Bigfoot photo-op. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

The museum’s entrance. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

“People would give me, donate, or sell me cryptozoology items from the beginning and my home became a museum of sorts,” Coleman says. The first item was a flag from Sir Edmund Hillary’s 1960 expedition to collect evidence of the Yeti. In 2009, Coleman’s collection of native art, foot casts, hair samples, models, and other memorabilia opened to the public as the International Cryptozoology Museum (ICM)—the first of its kind in the world.

ICM is located in a strip of shops and restaurants on Thompson’s Point along the banks of the Fore River in Portland, Maine. To reach the entrance of the small museum, I have to walk through a restaurant, Locally Sauced, which serves burritos, nachos, and pulled pork sandwiches.

A revitalized, industrial waterfront featuring craft breweries, an outdoor concert venue, and an ice-skating rink may not seem like the most natural place to find a museum dedicated to a fringe pseudoscience, but that’s the thing with mythical creatures—they pop up where you least expect. 

To get to the museum, visitors walk through a restaurant. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
Bigfoot and the Dover Demon

Probably the best-known cryptid in North America is Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch), and he has an appropriately-big presence at the ICM. I encounter at least three versions of the upright, ape-like creature before I even pay my admission. A carved, wooden totem-style statue sits outside of the museum, and wooden cutouts line the otherwise-sterile hallway that connects ICM to Locally Sauced.

The museum includes several “Bigfoot Parking Only” signs, casts of the creature’s namesake big feet, and numerous dolls and other artwork devoted to Bigfoot. The infamous 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film plays on a loop, and visitors are encouraged to take a selfie with an eight-foot-tall replica. Although Bigfoot is traditionally associated with the Pacific Northwest, a sign urging people to “visit Squatchachusetts” proves that all over the country, people want to believe.

Posters in the museum. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

A cast of Bigfoot’s big foot. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

It’s hard to pick favorites, but Coleman has a soft spot for a creature closer to home: the Dover Demon. The small, orange, hairless being was reported by four different people over the course of one week, in Dover, Massachusetts in 1977. It was spotted both sitting on a wall and leaning against a tree. Eyewitnesses described it as having large, glowing eyes and tendril-like fingers. Although skeptics have dismissed the Dover Demon as a foal or a moose calf, “the whole idea of cryptozoology is to be open-minded about the possible discovery of new animals or species,” Coleman says.

While some people are quick to dismiss cryptozoology as a silly pseudoscience, Coleman urges people to not only open their minds, but their eyes and ears as well. Most cryptids had been appearing in folklore and local legends for thousands of years before Coleman brought them to Portland. “Listening to Indigenous people is key,” he says. “Ethno-known information is important, and then you can look for physical evidence.”

Loren Coleman, founder of the International Cryptozoology Museum. | Photo courtesy of Loren Coleman.

Fact is fiction

ICM is billed as “the world’s only cryptozoology museum,” but that’s no longer true. In fact, “truth” is a loose concept within the confines of a museum dedicated to cryptids, the very existence of which haven’t yet been verified by traditional science. A lot of the “evidence” presented in the museum may seem suspect, but the roots of cryptozoology are planted firmly within the realm of provable science.

“Hidden animals with which cryptozoology is concerned, are by definition very incompletely known,” Bernard Heuvelmans wrote in the 1988 journal Cryptozoology. ”To gain more credence, they have to be documented as carefully and exhaustively as possible by a search through the most diverse fields of knowledge. Cryptozoological research thus requires not only a thorough grasp of most of the zoological sciences, including, of course, physical anthropology, but also a certain training in such extraneous branches of knowledge as mythology, linguistics, archaeology, and history.”

A handpainted banner. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

A mythical beast. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

You can’t break the rules without first learning what they are, and according to ICM’s website, “cryptozoology is a ‘gateway science’ for many young people’s future interest in biology, zoology, wildlife studies, paleoanthropology, paleontology, anthropology, ecology, marine sciences, and conservation.” As such, the museum also features exhibits on creatures that were once thought to be too fantastical to be real or long since extinct—until actual, live specimens were discovered.

In 1938, fishermen off the coast of Africa discovered a coelacanth, a fish that was thought to have become extinct around 66 million years ago. Between 1938 and 1975, 84 more specimens were caught and recorded, and Coleman’s collection includes the only life-size model of the rediscovered fish displayed in North America. The two-floor museum also includes alleged Yeti hair samples and a FeeJee Mermaid—half monkey, half fish—created for a film about P. T. Barnum, who notoriously loved a hoax.
I want to believe

I have a feeling that P.T. Barnum would have loved ICM—the longer I browse the exhibits, the harder it becomes to distinguish fact from fiction. Since actual artifacts are understandably hard to come by, the museum has several full-sized art sculptures including a Tatzelwurm (a mythical, cat-headed serpent) and a lifesize thylacine (a real-life dog-kangaroo hybrid that is now thought to be extinct).

A mermaid creature. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

One of many Bigfoot depictions. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

I try to keep an open mind, but after a few hours spent browsing Coleman’s collection, I wouldn’t exactly consider myself a cryptozoology convert. However, everything known was once unknown, which seems to also suggest the opposite: With enough time and evidence, anything unknown can presumably become known.

“Cryptozoology is all about patience and passion—and so is the museum,” Coleman says. “People enjoy themselves if they come visit to allow new ideas in. The museum teaches critical thinking but also open-mindedness.”Previous

The elusive Fur Bearing Trout. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

Another depiction of Bigfoot. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

Bigfoot signs. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

A collection of skulls. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

Bigfoot or giant ape? | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

Footprint casts. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

Various examples of scat. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

Cryptozoology-inspired labels. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

A Fiji Mermaid. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

SUCH CREATURES WERE POPULAR IN FOLKLORE MUSEUMS, 

WHEN I WAS A KID WE WOULD GO ANNUALLY THROUGH BANFF ON VACATION

AND I ALWAYS STOPPED AT THE FOLKLORE MUSEUM THERE WHERE SUCH A 

HALF CHIMP HALF TROUT MERMAN/MERMAID WAS ON DISPLAY

HOWEVER THE REAL THRILL WAS THE 12 FT KODIAK BEAR, LUCKILY STUFFED.
SEE BELOW

Swamp creature memorabilia. | Photo: Alexandra CharitanNext

From Labor Day until Memorial Day, the International Cryptozoology Museum is open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 pm. It is closed on Tuesdays.






Where to Find the World's Best Hometown Monsters
Where to Find the World’s Best Hometown Monsters
Here are 25 places to see yetis, sea monsters, Sasquatch, and other cryptids.

BY MOLLY MCBRIDE JACOBSON FEBRUARY 24, 2017

A "sea devil" from Icones animalium (1553). CONRAD GESSNER/PUBLIC DOMAIN
In This Story

PLACE
Mothman Statue

PLACE
Piasa Bird

PLACE
Pope Lick Trestle Bridge


A CRYPTID IS A CREATURE whose existence, diplomatically put, cannot be proved or disproved by science. Cryptid lore tends to be less fantastical than ghost stories or fairytales, but not altogether believable. For some though, an unusual rock, unexplained crop circles, a footprint, or some hair are all the evidence they need that there are creatures unknown to humanity, hiding in the woods.

In these places, tales of mysterious creatures have become so embroiled within local narrative that whether the beast actually exists or not doesn’t matter anymore. Can you imagine Loch Ness without its monster?

HAIRY HUMANOIDS

The Sasquatch, or as it’s colloquially known, Bigfoot, is America’s best known cryptid. It is typically depicted as a giant ape, standing around seven feet tall. Sasquatch lore extends back to American Indian mythology, which describes hairy wild men living in the woods. Anomalous sightings continued into the 20th century, but Sasquatch mania reached its peak following the famed Patterson-Gimlin tape.

Bigfoot is generally associated with the Pacific Northwest, with most sightings reported in Washington. Ape Canyon was the site in which a group of miners came under attack by a gang of wild “apemen” in 1924. According to the five miners, all of whom survived the incident and seemed convinced of its facts, they were asleep in their cabin when the assault started, and the beasts seemed out for blood. The event was widely publicized and no logical explanation was ever found.
Ape Canyon: Sasquatch Country
COUGAR, WASHINGTON  

 

Ape Canyon, where the miners were attacked by “apemen.” JORDAN/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The Sasquatch mythos has caught many in its spell. Refusing to accept claims that Bigfoot sightings are actually black bears or intentional hoaxes, believers continue their search for the hidden primate. California, Oregon, Washington and Canada are dotted with Sasquatch museums and research institutions for those who want to see footprints, photos, and other evidence.
Bigfoot Discovery Museum
FELTON, CALIFORNIA  

Bigfoot Discovery Museum in Felton. INFIDELIC/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
China Flat Museum Bigfoot Collection
WILLOW CREEK, CALIFORNIA 

Bigfoot Museum artifacts. ATLAS OBSCURA USER LADYLAURADEMAREST

Bipedal hairy beasts aren’t confined to the West Coast though. Illinois and Ohio have remarkably high rates of Bigfoot sightings, and Arkansas has its own permutation: the Boggy Creek monster.
The Boggy Creek Monster
FOUKE, ARKANSAS

  

A Boggy Creek monster mural. ATLAS OBSCURA USER NICHOLAS JACKSON

Florida has its own version of Bigfoot too. Its presence is announced by the foul odor that earned it its nickname: the Skunk Ape.
Skunk Ape Research Headquarters
OCHOPEE, FLORIDA 

A sign directs visitors to “SKUNK APE TERRITORY.” JOHN MOSBAUGH/CC BY 2.0
SEA MONSTERS

Ever since sailors first traversed the ocean they have returned with stories of unbelievable creatures emerging from the murky depths. Perhaps it’s because we didn’t (and still don’t) really know what lies beneath the ocean’s surface, a whale or squid could be mistaken for the Leviathan or a Kraken.

That lore is celebrated in places like Skrímslasetrið, Iceland’s sea monster museum. Maritime history is inextricable from Icelandic identity, which includes many tales of ocean beasts lurking just off the edge of the map.
Skrímslasetrið
ICELAND

1590 map of Iceland with sea monsters, all of which are detailed at Iceland’s sea monster museum. AUSTRIAN NATIONAL LIBRARY/PUBLIC DOMAIN

Creature stories also provided a useful explanation for misunderstood natural phenomena. The geyser of Kauai’s Spouting Horn blowhole was originally attributed to a giant lizard monster trapped beneath the rock.
Spouting Horn Blowhole
KOLOA, HAWAII  

 

Spouting Horn Park. GARDEN STATE HIKER/CC BY 2.0

Lakes have their fair share of mystery too. The Loch Ness Monster is the most widely known, but prehistoric serpentine beasts have been reported on almost every continent.
Lake Tele: Home of the Legendary Mokèlé-mbèmbé Monster
EPENA, REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

A sketch of the Mokèlé-mbèmbé. JEAN-NO/FAL 1.3 

Lake Labynkyr: Home to a Siberian Sea Monster
RUSSIA 

Lake Labynkyr, purported home of ferocious lake monster. PAUKRUS/CC BY-SA 2.0

Monument to Lake Champlain’s Monster, “Champ”
BURLINGTON, VERMONT

A statue of “Champ.” COURTESY OF J.W. OCKER

That said, not all sea monsters take the form of slithering water snakes. The Kelpies of Scottish lore are massive demonic horses found in rivers and streams.
The Kelpies
GRANGEMOUTH, SCOTLAND

The Kelpies MICHEL CURI/CC BY 2.0

MERMAIDS

Mermaids are another sea beast, albeit a significantly more alluring version. Much of our modern mythos surrounding mermaids comes from Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, but before the 19th century, mermaids were thought of as the deceptive, even evil sprites, no doubt based on the sirens in Homer’s Odyssey.

Doxey Pool: Home to a Malicious Mermaid
STAFFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND 

 

Doxey Pool, where a mermaid named Jenny Greenteeth is said to seduce and drown young men. MICHAEL ELY/CC BY-SA 2.0

The myth of Feejee mermaids was transported to the West from Japan. Travelers saw mummified “mermaids” in shrines like the 1,400-year-old one at the Tenshou-Kyousha Shrine. Allegedly, this mermaid was once a fisherman who trespassed in protected waters and was transformed into a hideous creature as punishment. 

Tenshou-Kyousha Shrine Mermaid Mummy
FUJINOMIYA, JAPAN

The ancient mermaid mummy. ATLAS OBSCURA USER JUSTIN ARNOLD

These weird hybrids, crafted from the upper half of a monkey and the bottom half of a fish, may have been inspired by the Japanese kappa, a mischievous water spirit.

Despite the fact that they were nothing like the lovely fishtailed maidens of fairytales, Feejee mermaids (as they came to be called—allegedly brought back from Fiji, not Japan) captured the Western imagination. They were quickly disproved as fakes, yet after P.T. Barnum had one in his famous sideshow, no cabinet of curiosity was complete without one. 

WHEN I WAS A KID WE WOULD GO ANNUALLY THROUGH BANFF ON VACATION

AND I ALWAYS STOPPED AT THE FOLKLORE MUSEUM THERE WHERE SUCH A 

HALF CHIMP HALF TROUT MERMAN/MERMAID WAS ON DISPLAY

HOWEVER THE REAL THRILL WAS THE 12 FT KODIAK BEAR, LUCKILY STUFFED.

The Banff Mermaid
BANFF, ALBERTAThe Banff mermaid, one of the most famous Feejee mermaids. BANFF LAKE LOUISE/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The Hull Mermaid
HULL, ENGLAND

The Hull Mermaid, one of the oldest Western Feejee mermaids. 

ATLAS OBSCURA USER KELVIN1084

Feejee Mermaid at the Nature Museum
GRAFTON, VERMONT 

Closeup of the face of the Feejee Mermaid. COURTESY OF J.W. OCKER

CHIMERAS
The chimera, another creature of Greek mythology, was said to have the body of a lion, the head of a goat, and a snake for a tail, though today the term is applied to any creature with the body parts of various animals. Nobody does body horror like the Ancient Greeks, whose Minotaur myth (the half-man, half-bull trapped as the protector of the labyrinth) persists to this day.
Labyrinthos Caves: the Minotaur’s Home
GREECE 

A map drawn in 1812 depicts the network of tunnels and caves forming the labyrinth. FRANZ WILHELM SIEBER/PUBLIC DOMAIN

Chimera made their way into American folklore. The Texas Woofus in Dallas is a longhorned pig-legged sheep-bird. Its critics call it pagan, and they may not be so far off the mark.
The Texas Woofus
DALLAS, TEXAS

Re-creation of the Texas Woofus in Fair Park in Dallas. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/LC-DIG-HIGHSM- 29146 (ONLINE) [P&P]

Another American chimera is the Piasa bird, a mysterious feathered beast painted on a rock in Alton, Illinois. The painting has been there since at least the 1670s, though no one knows its origin.

Piasa Bird: Alton’s Mythical Monster
ALTON, ILLINOIS 

 

The elusive Piasa Bird. ATLAS OBSCURA USER MATTB

The chimera best known to Americans is the jackalope, a jackrabbit with the antlers of a buck. Mismatched animals like this abound around the world though, likely because hucksters could prove their existence through falsified taxidermy, or “gaffs.” Still, reports of bunnies with massive horns proliferate in the Southwest and elsewhere.

A “Wolpertinger” at the German Museum of Hunting and Fishing
MUNICH, GERMANY

 

A “wolpertinger.” ATLAS OBSCURA USER DINOBOY89
A “Skvader” at Biologiska Museet

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

  

The skvader, a rabbit with the wings of a grouse. ATLAS OBSCURA USER JIBLITE

Not all cryptids and chimera are leporine and sweet though. Some are more sinister, like the Pope Lick Monster, named after the Pope Lick Trestle Bridge it has been sighted beneath. It is said to be a monstrous man-goat hybrid that lures its victims onto the railway trestle.

Pope Lick Trestle Bridge
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY 

 

The Pope Lick Trestle Bridge, which the monster is said to live beneath. DAVID KIDD/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The Jersey Devil was another cryptid seen throughout New Jersey in the 19th and early 20th century. In 1909 alone, hundreds of people reported seeing an unknown creature flying over the Pine Barrens, a forested area on the Jersey coast. They described it as something like a kangaroo with hooves and leathery bat wings that would let out a terrifying shriek before disappearing from the sky. The Jersey Devil hasn’t been reported in recent years, though its memory is now thoroughly embedded in New Jersey folklore.

Jersey Devil Display at the Paranormal Museum
ASBURY PARK, NEW JERSEY

Jersey Devil artifacts at the Paranormal Museum. ATLAS OBSCURA USER JANE WEINHARDT

One of America’s more recent cryptids is the Mothman. In November of 1966, numerous people reported seeing a man-like figure with wings spanning upwards of ten feet. Those who saw the creature from their cars reported that its eyes shone red like bicycle reflectors when their headlights hit it. After a local bridge collapsed, killing dozens, Mothman sightings ceased. Conspiracies began to arise. The sightings had all been near the TNT area, a WWII munitions factory, leading some to surmise that the Mothman was a military experiment or an alien visitor.

The mystery was never solved, though skeptics claim it may have simply been an owl. Nevertheless, the story inspired a book and several films, and Point Pleasant commemorates its cryptid with a storefront museum as well as a downtown statue.
Mothman Statue

POINT PLEASANT, WEST VIRGINIAT

he Mothman Statue in Point Pleasant. OZINOH/CC BY-NC 2.0

Cryptids come from all kinds of sources—misunderstandings of natural phenomena, tall tales, and sometimes, sheer human ingenuity, as with Karachi’s very strange fortune-telling fox woman, Mumtaz Begum. They can become a mascot for the place that claims them, a weird source of pride for the people that live there.

Is there a cryptid lurking in your hometown we should know about? Have your own Feejee mermaid or creepy chimera? Add it to the Atlas!

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