Cryptozoology: Mysterious Monster Creatures of the Unknown: Real or Fake

According to Loren Coleman, the director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, “cryptozoology… literally means the study of hidden or unknown animals.” According to the International Society of Cryptozoology, the coelacanth is considered a cryptid even though the fossil record proved its previous existence because “what makes an animal of interest to cryptology is that it is unexpected."

"Cryptozoology is the study of animals that are rumored to exist. Such creatures are called "cryptids." Some, like the gorilla, giant squid, and okapi, are no longer hearsay and legend but real creatures recognized by science. Others, like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster, continue to tempt the hopeful and the adventurous with the possibility of their existence according to Live Science."

Hairy humanoids are largely or wholly covered in fur or hair that is somewhat human in form.

List of hairy humanoids:

Normal bigfoots and mystery primates:

• Bigfoot
• Bondegezou (or "Man of the Forest")
• Maero (or New Zealand Wildman)
• Mainland Orangutan
• Marked Hominid
• Napes
• Neanderthals and Neanderthaloids
• Old Yellow Top
• Orang-pendek (or Sedapa)
• Proto-Pygmies
• Sasquatch
• Sisemite
• Ufiti (or Malawi Chimpanzee)
• Wild Men (Europe)
• Wild Men (America and elsewhere)
• Yeren (or Chinese Wildman)
• Yeti

Hairy bipeds or big hairy monsters:

• Big Gray Man
• Beast of Bray Road
• Chupacabras (they are only sometimes hairy)
• Feline Bipeds
• Giant Monkeys
• Hairy Dwarfs
• Honey Island Swamp Monster
• Lake Worth Monster
• Mapinguary
• Momo
• Pongo
• Satyrs (or Fauns)
• Shug Monkey
• Skunk-Apes
• True Giant
• Werewolves
• Windigo (also spelled "Wendigo")
• Yowie (or Yahoo)

The winged humanoids have been reported for thousands of years and only a few of these cryptids have been subjected to serious investigations by cryptozoologists. Other humanoids "that have drawn a great deal of interest from mainstream scientists, namely aliens, along with cryptids that are seldom taken very seriously even in the field of cryptozoology, namely mermaids," according to The Cryptid Zoo.

Winged humanoids list:

• Chupacabras (only some are winged)
• Gargoyles
• Mothman
• Orang-Bati
• Owlman
• Tengu
• Winged Me

Other humanoids list:

• Aliens
• Angels
• Chupacabra
• Cynocephali
• Dover Demon
• Fairies
• Gourd Head
• Loveland Frogs
• Mermaids and Mermen
• Reptilian Bipeds (or Reptoids)
• Shapeshifters
• Vampires
• Werewolves

Almost every lake on this earth water monsters have been reported and the oceans have had many sightings/reports of these monsters. It has been reported that people say they remind them of dragons. The flying monsters of the skies have been reported for thousands of years including UFO. According to John Philip Bessor, UFOs are not spaceships from another planet. Instead, they are creatures that are called atmospheric beasts (or, misleadingly, they are called "space animals" even though they are not supposed to come from outer space). These creatures are life forms that are native to Earth. They supposedly live in the clouds and have bodies so lightweight and fragile that one has never remained intact after the death of the animal." Giant lizards or possible living dinosaurs these land-bound creatures how they are usually interpreted by cryptozoologists.

Water monsters list:

• Buru, Giant Lizards and Giant Crocodiles
• Caddy
• Champ
• Con Rit (or Giant Millipede)
• Emela-ntouka (or "Killer of Elephants")
• Globsters
• Kraken (or Giant Squid)
• Lake Monsters
• Nessie (or Loch Ness Monster)
• Ogopogo (or Naitaka)
• Plesiosaurs
• Sea Serpents
• Zeuglodons

Flying monsters list:

• Atmospheric Beasts
• Classic Dragons (Western Cultures)
• Classic Dragons (Non-Western Cultures)
• Jersey Devil
• Piasa
• Pterosaurs and Pterodactyls
• Sky Serpents
• Thunderbirds
• Wyvern

Land-bound list:

• Buru, Giant Lizards and Giant Crocodiles
• Classic Dragons (Western Cultures)
• Classic Dragons (Non-Western Cultures)
• Dinosaurs
• Lindorm
• Reptoids
• Sirrush
• Tatzelwurm

According to the Cryptid Zoo, "the idea that some animals may have been prematurely declared extinct is a common one in cryptozoology. Even mainstream scientists acknowledge that this has happened, and a few animals have even experienced a comeback from "extinction" several times. Some of the "extinct" creatures that cryptozoologists are interested in were declared extinct just a few years ago, while others are prehistoric beasts that supposedly died out thousands or even millions of years ago.The most controversial idea is that some dinosaurs may have survived until recently, or may even still be alive. It has often been suggested that the Loch Ness Monster is a surviving dinosaur, or that reports of dragons mean that people have seen dinosaurs. Cryptozoologists are primarily interested in explanations that do not involve aliens, teleportation or the supernatural. Cryptozoologists mainly look for clues that an "out of place" animal was native to the area all along, or that a breeding population has been established in the area. First, they try to prove that at least one individual is present by capturing or killing an example. If that can be accomplished, they try to capture or kill additional specimens (because one animal will never convince mainstream scientists of the existence of a local breeding population). Sometimes multiple animals will do the trick, but sometimes even then the issue remains in doubt, which requires extensive observation in the field, such as video of denning animals or of mothers caring for obviously wild-birthed young. This last requirement is difficult and expensive to do. In-field observation with accompanying video proof is difficult and expensive even in the case of real wild animals that aren't in dispute, let alone the expense and challenges of doing it with elusive cryptids which may or may not exist. Therefore, in many cases, this last step never gets done."

Extinct list:

• American Hyena
• Bear-dogs
• Coelacanth (Living Fossil Fish)
• Dinosaurs
• Dodo
• Eastern Cougar
• Giant Vampire Bat
• Giant Sloth (see Mapinguary)
• Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
• Japanese Dwarf Wolf
• Mesonychids (Hoofed Predators)
• Missing Link
• Mokele-Mbembe (African Living Dinosaur)
• Moas and Other Giant Flightless Birds
• Neanderthals
• Panthera Atrox (American Lions)
• Passenger Pigeon
• Plesiosaurs
• Pterosaurs and Pterodactyls
• Smilodon (or Saber-Toothed Cats)
• Teratorns
• Thylacine and Queensland Tiger
• Zeuglodons

List of out of place animals:

• African Peacocks
• Alien Big Cats
• American Lions
• Black Panthers
• Eastern Cougar
• Kangaroos
• Mainland Orangutan
• Nandi Bear
• Napes

Once these creatures are proven to be real then they must be protected so they don't become extinct.

• Air Rods
• Beast of Gevaudan
• Bunyip
• Doyarchu (or Irish Crocodile)
• Emela-ntouka (or "Killer of Elephants")

Felines:

• Blue and Black Tigers
• Eastern Cougar
• King Cheetahs
• Marozi (or Spotted Lion)
• Mexican Ruffed Cat
• Mngwa (or Gray Cat)
• Onza
• Sumatran Lion (or Cigau)

Gigantic Animals:

• Ahool, Olitiau and Giant Bats
• Buru, Giant Lizards and Giant Crocodiles
• Giant Hogs
• Giant Monkey
• Giant Octopus
• Giant Salamanders
• Giant Sharks
• Giant Snakes
• Giant Turtles
• Kraken (or Giant Squid)
• Thunderbird
• Roc
• Golden Moon Bear
• Helena Manatee

Horned Animals:

• Horned Cats
• Horned Snakes
• Jackalope
• Howler Monkey Snake
• Inflatable Hedgehog
• Kouprey (or Cambodian Wild Ox)
• Mainland Orangutan
• Mirapinna and other Hairy Fish
• Mongolian Death Worm (or Olgoi-Khorkhoi)
• Nandi Bear
• Okapi
• Pygmy Elephant
• Tapire-iauara (a Semi-aquatic Hoofed Carnivore)
• Ufiti (or Malawi Chimpanzee)
• Unicorn
• Vu Quang Ox (or Saola)
• Waitoreke (or Maori Otter)

This Cambodian Wild Ox has been proven to be real as it actually exists in lower rolling hills, where they dwell in the patchy dry forests that are found near the denser monsoon type forestation and live in herds.

The facts:

Also known as Cambodian forest ox, grey ox, Indo-Chinese forest ox, spiral-horned ox.FrenchBoeuf Gris Cambodgien.SpanishToro Cuprey.

• National animal of Cambodia in the 1960s, by Prince Sihanouk
• Shoulder height: 170 – 190 cm
• Head-body length: 210 – 223 cm
• Tail length: 100 cm
• Weight
• 680 – 910 kg
• Most valuable animals genetically in the entire world, due to clues it may hold to disease resistance and it's uncanny
• Incredibly elusive
• Classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List 2004 and is listed in Appendix I of CITES It is also listed in Appendix I of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS or Bonn Convention, according to Arkive org."
• Known to Western science since 1937
• "The only significant scientific observation of the kouprey was made in 1957 when zoologist Charles Wharton studied and filmed the animal in the wild, according to Information authenticated (18/06/07) by Elias Sadalla Filho, President, Kouprey Friends of Animal Sanctuaries."

The Thunderbird of Native American tradition is a large, bird-like creatures and reported as real, as opposed to mythological accounts. Reports of these huge birds date back more than two-hundred years.

Ken Gerhard, Famous Monster Hunter, stated that "Illinois’ Lawndale incident where ten-year-old Marlon Lowe was carried some distance by an enormous bird during July 25th, 1977. There were four adult eyewitnesses to the event. In my large database of Thunderbird accounts, the descriptions are relatively consistent – dark-colored raptors – black, gray or brown with a wingspan from 15′ to 20′ (the best that anyone can estimate). Many of the witnesses are experienced wildlife observers. The areas where the things are seen the most include – Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Alaska. Birds with 18′ wingspans did exist in North America until 10,000 years ago – the Teratornis," during an interview with Anthony Mathenia on June 25, 2015, for The Grind.

List of Thunderbird sightings (particle list as there are many)

1. 1972 - Asked to be kept anonymous, 55-year-old press operator, told Cryptozoology News that “I was getting something to eat. My brother lives next door and noticed the massive bird land in the tree,” he said. “Then he told me and my mother to look. The black feathered bird was reportedly perched on a 40-feet-tall tree and measured “about 5 feet from head to talons”.The weight of bird had branch bending very much. Had a beak that was close to eagles with the tip pointed down. When it took off from perch, the amount of air it displaced was incredible as he was trying to get airborne, with tree limbs moving violently. Wingspan tip to tip, approximately 12 foot. Conservative estimate and the unidentified bird was “absolutely not a turkey vulture”.
2. 1927 - The town of Fernvau an Austrian town witness a few sightings of the Thunderbird.

3. Columbia, Tenn.(Maury County) (. Oct. 28. - no year given) - L. Broyles told Cryptozoology News "he was driving when he saw the animal at about 1:30 p.m. Oct. 28. “It was light brown and the wingspan was 10-12 feet, the sighting lasted about one minute and that he has never seen anything like it before, was feathered."

   
   

   
   

   
   

June 1, 2007 by Jana Bommersbach (True West History of the American Frontier) original story published in The Tombstone Epitaphpublished this news article on April 26, 1890: Bommersbach states that "A winged monster, resembling a huge alligator with an extremely elongated tail and an immense pair of wings, was found on the desert between the Whetstone and Huachuca mountains last Sunday by two ranchers who were returning home from the Huachucas. After the first shock of wild amazement had passed the two men, who were on horseback and armed with Winchester rifles, regained sufficient courage to pursue the monster and after an exciting chase of several miles succeeded in getting near enough to open fire with their rifles and wounding it.

The creature then turned on the men, but owing to its exhausted condition they were able to keep out of its way and after a few well-directed shots the monster partly rolled over and remained motionless. The men cautiously approached, their horses snorting with terror, and found that the creature was dead.

They then proceeded to make an examination and found that it measured about ninety-two feet in length and the greatest diameter was about fifty inches. The monster had only two feet, these being situated a short distance in front of where the wings were joined to the body. The head, as near as they could judge, was about eight feet long, the jaws being thickly set with strong, sharp teeth. Its eyes were as large as a dinner plate and protruded about halfway from the head.

They had some difficulty in measuring the wings as they were partly folded under the body but finally got one straightened out sufficiently to get a measurement of seventy-eight feet, making the total length from tip to tip about 160 feet. The wings were composed of a thick and nearly transparent membrane and were devoid of feathers or hair, as was the entire body. The skin of the body was comparatively smooth and easily penetrated by a bullet."

10 Jan 2018 by Peter Dockrill states that :

"A new study incorporating traditional Indigenous Australian ecological knowledge describes the largely unknown behaviour of so-called 'firehawk raptors' – birds that intentionally spread fire by wielding burning sticks in their talons and beaks.

These flying firestarters are spread across at least three known species – the Black Kite (Milvus migrans), Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus), and Brown Falcon (Falco berigora) – but while their hell-raising may be observed in Indigenous knowledge, that's not so elsewhere.

"Though Aboriginal rangers and others who deal with bushfires take into account the risks posed by raptors that cause controlled burns to jump across firebreaks, official skepticism about the reality of avian fire-spreading hampers effective planning for landscape management and restoration," the international team explains in their paper."

A bat like a creature, named after its call, a long ahOOOoooo, described as the size of a one-year-old child with a gigantic wingspan of roughly 12 feet. Dark grey fur, has large, black eyes, a monkey like head, with a flattish, man-like face, and flattened forearms supporting its leathery wings.

According to Unknown Explorers, they state, "One account of the Ahool occurred in 1925 when naturalist Dr. Ernest Bartels, son of noted ornithologist M.E.G. Bartels, was exploring a waterfall on the slopes of the Salek Mountains when a giant unknown bat, the Ahool, few directly over his head. Two years later in 1927, around 11:30 pm, Dr. Ernest Bartels encountered the Ahool again, this time he was laying in bed, inside his thatched house close to the Tjidjenkol River in western Java, listening to the sounds of the jungle when he suddenly heard a very different sound coming from almost directly over his hut, this loud and clear cry seemed to utter, A Hool! Grabbing his torch Dr. Bartels ran out of his hut in the direction the sound seemed to be heading. Less than 20 seconds later he heard it again, a final A Hool! which floated back towards him from a considerable distance downstream. As he would recall many years later, he was transfixed by the sound, not because he did not know what produced it but rather because he did, the Ahool."

• John Bindernagel, Bigfoot researcher; author of North America's Great Ape: the Sasquatch
• Carmine Thomas Biscardi a Bigfoot researcher - Biscardi writes, "I was watching John Carson in 1967 [sic], and I saw the first 8mm footage that Roger Patterson took of the Bluff Creek incident. I said to myself, 'How the hell can we send a man to the moon, but we can't find this creature'."
• Timothy Kay Dinsdale (1924 – 14 December 1987) - Loch Ness Monster researcher
• Richard Ellis, a marine life artist; author of The Search For The Giant Squid
• Rex Gilroy, Australian cryptozoologist focused on the Megalania and the Yowie.
• J. Richard Greenwell, secretary of the International Society for Cryptozoology - deceased
• Alexandr Mikhailovych Kondratov, Russian scientist, author of books about lake monsters, living dinosaurs and many more - deceased
• Scott Marlowe, Swamp Ape researcher and founder of Pangea Institute
• Darren Naish, University of Portsmouth, vertebrate palaeontologist, researcher on aquatic cryptids
• Ezekiel Stone Wiggins, theorized Plesiosaurus in Rice Lake, deceased

There are many Cryptozoologist researchers and some even have their own shows.