In early times, people did not know much about how nature worked. Therefore, we explained natural processes through the actions of supernatural gods and beings. Gradually, as we used science to establish a body of reliable knowledge about the world, we eliminated the need for gods and other supernatural creatures as explanations for the objects and processes of nature.

In our popular culture, monsters are mostly considered myths, not real. However, many people still believe that science has limits in its explanation powers. They believe that there are supernatural causes and that there are things that exist beyond our knowledge. They may also believe that some phenomenon are paranormal. There is a difference between paranormal and supernatural. Let’s make talk about the difference between the two.

SUPERNATURAL

Supernatural means outside of natural laws. If some observation or entity (an individual, distinct being of some sort) is supernatural, it is outside the boundaries of natural laws. Since the processes of science relies on the objects of study to follow natural laws, we can’t use science to describe supernatural things. They are not physical; they can break natural laws. A god would be a supernatural concept.

The brain goes a bit loopy when trying to imagine a being beyond known natural laws. Science breaks down when a supernatural concept is introduced. We can’t test it. Therefore, science has nothing to say about the supernatural. It is excluded as an explanation. In other words, when you use a supernatural explanation (“God did it”), all science and inquiry stops.

PARANORMAL

The paranormal is outside the range of what we know or perceive in current science. It would be extrasensory (beyond our senses), like imagining a color we’ve never seen. Weird, isn’t it? It may be that we have not developed the tools or technology to detect some paranormal phenomenon. So, someday we might. Examples of paranormal activity are psi, extrasensory perception (ESP), hauntings and extradimensional travel. If a so-called paranormal activity could be explained in a scientific context, with evidence and a testable theory, then it would no longer be paranormal. It moves out of that realm, into the realm of the known. There is no scientific evidence for them and it is unlikely that paranormal theories are real breakthroughs in science. It’s possible but not likely.

This gets a little confusing, doesn’t it? It’s actually pretty hard to label ideas about our world as one category or another. On top of that, many people don’t care if something is scientific or not. They will believe it regardless of what the scientific community thinks. That leads us to the question: why use science?

If you see something interesting mentioned in a TV show, follow up with other sources and see if it sounds true. One source isn’t enough to make a well-informed decision on a topic. I enjoy watching Monster Quest and Mystery Quest, for example. Sometimes, they interview real investigators. Real investigators and scientists should always be skeptical of the paranormal explanation. Science and the paranormal don’t play nice together. Science can typically find that a cool paranormal explanation doesn’t hold up to increased questioning and checking. It just isn’t a strong, sound explanation. But, lots of people believe it is.

I can honestly say, none of the ghost investigations shows are any good except for showing you what ISN’T science. No matter how much they say they do science, or how many blinking lights and thermal images they find, it’s just not real science. But, they can be really entertaining. Shows like Celebrity Ghost Stories and Haunted History are also just stories.

Better TV shows are:

Is it Real? (Nat Geo)

Naked Science (Nat Geo)

Mythbusters (Discovery Channel)

and NOVA.

and even South Park is a skeptically-themed show (but probably not suitable for those under age 13).

Online, check out Here be Dragons, the Science of Scams and Captain Disillusion. For fun with magic and perception tricks, check out the Quirkology channel on YouTube.

If you see a good show, let me know!

The field of cryptozoology is not considered by the scientific community to be a legitimate branch of zoology – the scientific study of animals. While many self-proclaimed cryptozoologists have a scientific background or claim to conduct their research scientifically, they must rely on another person’s description of an encounter with an unknown creature or on rare and questionable traces (like footprints) or photographs to support their theory. This weak evidence (without a real living or dead body to study) is not enough to conclude that such strange animals truly exist.

The “science” of cryptozoology has been further tarnished by its association with UFO encounters and supernatural explanations. For example, Bigfoot & friends sightings are sometimes associated with UFO sightings. Or, it might be suggested that a bizarre animal that mysteriously vanishes without a trace may be traveling through time or other dimensions and so is beyond our physical reach. Those are supernatural explanations so science can’t even go there. It’s science fiction.

There are no official training, schooling or college degrees in cryptozoology. The label “cryptozoologist” is one you give yourself or have others pronounce upon you. There are a few professional scientists who investigate cryptids but most are just part-time hobbyists – hunting for clues and documenting sightings in whatever time they can spare.

Zoologists and amateur naturalists discover new species all the time. They may have clues about where to look – areas that have not been well explored (remote rainforests) or even common places that have not been thoroughly cataloged (museum sample cabinets). In these cases, we have samples to examine and compare to other samples. With cryptids, there are no bodies. Too often, reports of strange creatures turn out to be mistaken identifications or hoaxes.

Categories of mystery animals

• Out of place (OOP) animals : Animals that show up where they are not expected. (Examples: alligators in the sewers, big cats in populated areas)
• Totally unknown to science – not officially recognized and described (Examples: Bigfoot, Yeti, sea serpents)
• Related to a known species but of unusual size, features, etc. (Examples: Giants – snakes, sharks, salamanders, spiders)
• Presumed extinct – recently or from the fossil record (Examples: dinosaurs, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs)
• Mythical animals (likely based on real animals) (Examples: mermaids, unicorns, kraken)
• Animal with supernatural characteristics (Examples: Black dogs, werewolves)

Some cryptids fit in to multiple categories depending on the suspected origin. (Example: Loch Ness Monster – some explanations suggested are giant eel, plesiosaur, extinct whale, unknown species or a myth based on a sturgeon or other large fish).

MORE INFORMATION:

Monster Science

Mysterious Creatures (book – in 2 volumes) by George Eberhart

Cryptozoology A to Z (book) by Loren Coleman

Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology (book) by Michael Newton

Center for Fortean Zoology

Lake Monster Mysteries (book) by B. Radford and J. Nickell

On the Track of Unknown Animals (book) by B. Heuvelmans

In the 1800′s “sea serpent” sightings were rather common especially in New England during the summer of 1817. Newspapers printed elaborate accounts of sea serpent sightings by ship captains. Reports were so common, in fact, that several real scientists assumed there was really an unidentified serpent-like animal cruising along the shores of the world.  It was “…the most interesting problem in the science of Natural History” (1820, from Oudemans).

The descriptions varied a bit. Sailors would come upon a huge elongated dark-skinned animal resting on the surface or they would see a head with a hairy wet main rise above the waters. Their size was given as extraordinary dimensions, hundreds of feet long. Typically, they were not considered dangerous unless provoked.
They never found the body of a real animal to know for sure. There were some carcasses found on shore. They were not identified at the time due to lack of laboratory testing and preservation. Yet, it is fairly certain that some sightings of oarfish, a long ribbon-like animal seen here was mistaken for a sea snake. Real sea snakes are small, only a few feet long.

The history of sea serpents is full of interesting sailors’ yarns, tall tales and misidentification. But, perhaps the mysterious creatures are still out there. Today, you can try to spot “Caddy” in Cadboro Bay, British Columbia, a famous sea serpent-like animal. We may yet discover surprises in the deep.

REALITY CHECK: While all we have are anecdotes from the hundreds of sightings in the 18th and 19th centuries and prior, there stands a very good chance that sailors were seeing large fish or squid or even perhaps genuine sea snakes. Eels, some elongated sharks (like the frilled shark) and deep sea fish like the oarfish are good candidates. It is a strong possibility that we have not discovered all the unusual creatures in the sea.

MORE INFORMATION
Monsters of the Sea (book) by Richard Ellis

In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents (book) by Bernard Heuvelmans

The Great Sea Serpent: An Historical and Critical Treatise (book) by A.C. Oudemans

The Great New England Sea Serpent (book) by J.P. O’Neill

Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents and other Denizens of the Deep (book) by L. Coleman and P. Huyghe

The Unmuseum: Sea Serpents and The Monstrous Sea Serpent of Gloucester

Video of a live oarfish

YOUR TURN:

• What do you think ancient sailors saw and reported as monsters from the sea?
• We’ve found deep sea fish and giant squid, why haven’t we found any sea serpent bodies and what does that say about it’s reality?

In historic and modern times, there exist many strange reports of lights apparently unrelated to meteors, lightning or other common or obvious sources. There are different types of anomalous light phenomena — glows, balls or flashes — that are reported on land and even under water. Fast moving or flashing lights in the sky, often labeled UFOs, could actually be aircraft, satellites, light reflections, refraction or electrical activity. Spook lights (or ghost lights) are described as playful orbs that disappear and reappear.

Often assocated with a specific location, the place is usually promoted as a tourist attraction. Several explanations may account for these events including reflection of distant car lights or optical illusions perhaps under specific atmospheric conditions.

Earthquakes lights and ball lightning phenomena are both fairly well-documented but they are rare, unpredictable and how they occur is still not understood by scientists. Floating orbs or streaks caught on film are reported to represent spirit energy and psychic lights are supposedly manifestions of the human mind. There is no good scientific evidence for these claims.

Reports of strange lights are sometimes associated with seismic activity (earthquakes). The exact cause of these is not known but they are difficult to study due to the unpredictability of earthquakes. It’s possible these lights have been interpreted as UFOs or other paranormal phenomena.

REALITY CHECK: Spook lights definitely exist, it’s just that their cause is disputed. Is it paranormal or complete normal? Is it a known cause or some physical, electrical event we haven’t quite figured out yet? It’s OK to say we don’t know but it isn’t too wise to jump to a paranormal conclusion just yet.

MORE INFORMATION:

The Unmuseum: Spook Lights

Roadside America: Creatures: Spook Lights

Origin of the Brown Mountain Lights (USGS) Requires plugin

Astronomy Cafe: Marfa Lights

YOUR TURN:

• How would you investigate spook lights? What are some of the clues you would look for?
• What sounds like the best explanation for spook lights?
  

In other stories, it was a curse or a wolf bite that turned a man into a werewolf. In 13th century England, wolves were a menace to villagers and the people believed that some humans became wolves with the changes of the moon phases. In 16th century France, thousands of people were accused of being werewolves and put to death much like those accused of witchcraft. Werewolves were blamed for killing women and eating children. A story told by witnesses was considered proof of guilt -  a man might injure an attacking wolf only to find the blood trail led to a bleeding man with the same wounds.

Lycanthropy (“lie-can-throw-pee”) is the name for the apparent condition of a man becoming a wolf. The supernatural transformation was associated with magic ointments or drugs. These drugs created powerful effects that caused the participant to believe he actually became a wolf. In some cases, the so-called werewolves may have had real mental illnesses or perhaps rabies that caused them to act unnatural.

The popular media has spread and expanded the myth of the werewolf in horror movies and novels. The myth is so common in our modern culture that we automatically associate werewolves with the full moon, physical features such as hairiness, and death by a silver bullet.

Accused of killing livestock, wolves have been exterminated in England and many areas of North America. While humans may have an instinctive fear of the wolf, wolf attacks are extremely rare.

Within the past few years, sightings of a wolf-like creature that walks on two legs have been reported in Wisconsin and Michigan. The reports are similar to Bigfoot sightings. It is not clear what people might be seeing.

The gruesome deeds attributed to monstrous werewolves or dog-men in the night are chilling stories. However, only in myth and tales of magic (and perhaps in their own mind) can a person transform into a wolf.

REALITY CHECK: Complete myth. Any person who exhibits wolf-like behavior may have a psychological condition but can not really turn into a wolf. There is no evidence that a hair covered animal, with a dog like appearance, walking on two legs really exists. But the stories are pretty awesome. Watch for the internet to popularize these stories even more. But, be skeptical.

MORE INFORMATION:
Monster Talk podcast: Darwin vs the Wolfman

Beast of Bray Road – History

The Book of Werewolves (Baring-Gould)

History Channel: Monsterpedia (with video)

Crystalinks: Werewolf

How Stuff Works: Werewolf

YOUR TURN:

• Why do some people believe they see werewolves? Do you think more people will report werewolves if they become more popular in movies, books and games? Why?

Most squid are small, have a torpedo-shaped body, eight arms plus two longer tentacles. The arms and tentacles are lined with disc-shaped suckers. Squid are very numerous in the ocean and are eaten by whales.  There are several accounts of sperm whales battling giant squid. A fantastic photo of a whale with leftover squid pieces in its mouth can be seen here.

While we know that whales eat squid, the squid probably don’t eat anything larger than themselves – that is, squid do not eat whales.

The ultimate length of a giant squid is difficult to determine since the two tentacles extend much longer than the body or other arms. Some recovered specimens washed on shore or found in fishing nets are not complete enough to judge total size. The length of the main body (mantle) can exceed 6 feet with tentacles over 20 feet. There are specimens, body parts and eyewitness accounts that tell of giants far larger than that. Several expeditions to find and capture live giant squid on film have met with failure but a rare few have been successful, as shown in the picture on the left.

With their elusive lifestyle they remain mysterious monsters of the deep.

REALITY CHECK: Absolutely real and maybe even more common that we expected.

MORE INFORMATION:
Monsters of the Sea, (book) by Richard Ellis

The Search for the Giant Squid (book) by Richard Ellis

Smithsonian: In Search of Giant Squid

TONMO: The Octopus News magazine

The Unmuseum: Giant Squid

Researchers film Giant Squid

KQED Giant Squid

YOUR TURN:

• People found giant squid washed up dead on the beach. How did that affect the historical story of a giant monster squid we tell now? What does that signify for other mythical sea creatures like mermaids and sea serpents?
• Do you think there is another mythical monster that will really be found? Which one and why?

In general, the logical explanations and the theme that there were really no such things as ghosts and monsters continued throughout. However, with the recent popularity of the classic show, new Scooby Doo “movies” were made. These modern version abandoned the skeptical view of the original cartoons since the monsters encountered by the gang are now revealed as genuine and not just some guy in a mask. Three live-action Scooby Doo movies were made and continued with the theme that spooks were real.

REALITY CHECK: Um, no way that a talking dog could be real. And, the situations encountered by the gang were pretty unrealistic. But, it sure is fun.

MORE INFORMATION:

Scooby Doo website
What’s New Scooby Doo?

Junior Skeptic Issue #34 (inside Skeptic magazine Vol 15, #1, 2009)

YOUR TURN:

• What lessons can you learn from watching Scooby Doo?
• Who was your favorite character and why?

Some investigators and historians of the creature like to call the creature “Sasquatch” because it sounds more exotic and it refers to the creature originally described in native stories.

“Sasquatch” is experiencing a new surge in popularity due to the “Messin’ with Sasquatch” themed commericals for beef jerky. In these ads, Sasquatch is a naive woodland resident that gets pranked by rather cruel folks. Sasquatch gets them back, usually by exerting his superhuman strength. The commercial star, Sasquatch, is shown in the photo above.

REALITY CHECK: With stories that are recorded from Native American tales centuries ago, we still have yet to find any physical being that corresponds to a Sasquatch. This fact strongly suggests that the huge hairy wildman was a myth and not real. Scientific status is “none”. Science doesn’t recognize the Sasquatch. As with Bigfoot, there is essentially no physical evidence that we can attribute to the creature.

MORE INFORMATION:

Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend by Joshua Blu Buhs (book)

Cryptozoology.com: Sasquatch

Sasquatch Information Society

Oregon Bigfoot

Science and Bigfoot, M. Dennett

* See Bigfoot entry for related links *

Messin’ with Sasquatch – (Sasquatch is a really popular advertiser)

YOUR TURN:

• Which name do you prefer to use – Bigfoot or Sasquatch? Why?

• Is there a connection between the wildman legends all over the world and our American Bigfoot legend? Do we have any evidence for that connection? What would good evidence be?

The reports bear a superficial resemblance to the legends of the Jersey Devil and the Flatwoods UFO Monster and caused a local panic at the time.  Mothman descriptions include bird-like characteristics. A viable theory is that witnesses saw a large, unusual bird, such as a crane or owl, in the dark. But, at the time, paranormal explanations abounded as the Mothman sightings were linked to UFO reports and the nearby collapse of a bridge soon after. Sightings in the area ceased after 1968, but, periodically around the world, sightings of similar creatures are reported.  Those who love mystery like to link Mothman sightings to an impending disaster, like another bridge collapse.

Mothman remains a cryptozoological mystery with colorful and strange elements. We will likely never know what the witnesses actually saw. Nothing is left to analyze except for the stories.

A movie based on the book, The Mothman Prophecies, was released at the end of 2001. The media attention added dramatic, but not necessarily factual, twists to the story and breathed new life into the 40+ year old legend. Every year, Point Pleasant has a Mothman festival. Pro-paranormal attendees gather to talk about the story and related phenomena around the world.

REALITY CHECK: The Mothman is complete fiction as an unknown creature. Good explanations exist that the Mothman was really a large bird that surprised the witnesses.

MORE INFORMATION:

Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend by Donnie Sergent, Jr. and Jeff Wamsley (book)

Mothman Lives

Paraview: Mothman Central

Roadside America: Mothman Statue

Skeptic’s Dictionary: Mothman

YOUR TURN:

• Have you ever been surprised by an animal outside in the dark? Tell us about it.
• Do you think it’s reasonable to think that eyewitnesses can be mistaken because they are scared?