Cryptozoology

Have we found all the large animals still living in the world? Probably not, since in the last decade some previously unknown species have surfaced in Southeast Asia, for example. This page is dedicated to such animals which might possibly exist in nature but whose existence has not yet been accepted by modern science. If you are interested in animals which have never existed in nature (although they may, in part, have been based upon real animals) such as gryphons and mermaids, please see my legendary animals page.

Encounters with hairy hominids or "wild men" like the Yeti, Sasquatch, and Nguoi Rung go back to antiquity and appear in legends throughout the world. The picture at the top of the page is from the famous Roger Patterson film of a purported Sasquatch, taken in 1968. One hypothesis is that some of these reports represent encounters with surviving representatives of Gigantopithecus blacki, a giant ape commonly assumed to have died out several hundred thousand years ago.

Another persistent type of encounter is with lake or sea serpents. The most famous lake monster is Nessie, supposed inhabitant of Loch Ness in Scotland.

• Bigfoot (Sasquatch), Yeti, and other unknown hominids

  • A Yeti Tale: Introduction by Lama Surya Das discusses the legendary creature of the Himalayan Mountains.
  • alt.bigfoot is a USENET newsgroup which used to be devoted to discussions of Bigfoot, Yeti, and similar creatures. Now it is filled with irrelevant material, and weeks can go by without any messages at all about Bigfoot.
  • Bigfoot Recordings offers a CD of purported Bigfoot sounds.
  • The Bigfoot Research Project is conducting a scientific investigation into the possible existence of Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest.
  • Don't Shoot That Bigfoot by Bob Ellison reports that King County, Washington officials have listed Bigfoot as a protected species and placed it on a wetlands inventory list.
  • Hairy Hominids Archives provides a list of news reports and articles about Sasquatch, Bigfoot, and similar creatures.
  • Hillhouse Investigations-Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti is a semi-humorous attempt to describe the activities associated with Bigfoot.
  • Is This Really Bigfoot? is a news feature about the 1995 photos of Bigfoot offered by Cliff Crook.
  • Kansas Bigfoot Center, a branch of the Western Bigfoot Society, gathers information on sightings of Bigfoot creatures in the state of Kansas. A list of such sightings dating back to 1869 is available at this site.
  • Larry Charbonneau's Bigfoot page provides a list of Web resources about the Sasquatch.
  • Matt Moneymaker's Sasquatch Gallery presents sketches and encounter reports for Bigfoot.
  • Neanderthals may live on as the yetis of the modern world is an article by Liz Tynan reporting the views of Dr. Helmut Loofs-Wissowa. He believes that the "wildman" of Vietnam exists.
  • Is the Nguoi Rung of Vietnam ("forest people") just legend or an unknown species of ape?
  • The Ohio Bigfoot Research and Study Group is a branch of the Western Bigfoot Society and is dedicated to the study of Sasquatch (Bigfoot).
  • Pacific Harbor - Secret Study offers several articles about the Western Bigfoot Society and its work by Greg Long.
  • Blair Rosser's Sasquatch Journal and Other Meta-furs is a series of poems about the Sasquatch in the form of a journal.
  • You can buy plaster casts of purported Sasquatch tracks here.
  • Shadowlands Bigfoot Page provides purported photos of Bigfoot and tracks.
  • You can buy books about Bigfoot/Sasquatch from the Strange Bookshop.
  • The Western Bigfoot Society Home Page directed by Ray Crowe provides access to the Virtual Internet Bigfoot Conference, recordings of possible Bigfoot calls, drawings of Bigfoot, and links to other Bigfoot resources.
  • Who's Afraid of the Yeti? has a nice poster of a Yeti.
  • Wildman in Vietnam by Dao Van Tien offers an edited installment of Professor Tien's series of articles on the Vietnamese "wildman."

• Chupacabra

  • Chupacabra Home Page by Tito Armstrong presents information on a legendary Puerto Rican creature which stalks goats and night and sucks their blood (and sometime internal organs).
  • Goat Sucker / Chupacabra by Ruben Medrano discusses Chupacabra, the mystery Goatsucker creature.

• General

  • Beast of Bodmin Moor tells how the The Natural History Museum tracked down a mysterious big cat on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England.
  • Ron Schaffner's Cryptozoology page discusses Bigfoot, the Loveland Ohio giant frog-like creature, and other strange encounters investigated by Schaffner.
  • Ben S. Roesch's Cryptozoology -- Searching for Hidden Animals presents information and links to all kinds of cryptozoology information.
  • In Search of Giant Squid presents an online version of a Smithsonian exhibit on the giant squid, possibly the inspiration for sea monsters like the Kraken.
  • Squid's Cabinet of Curiosities by John Shepard discusses sea and land monsters, weird humanoids, UFOs, and ancient mysteries. Also provides links to other "weird" sites.

• Jersey Devil

  • The Jersey Devil has supposedly been haunting the New Jersey pinelands for the past 260 years.

• Loch Ness Monster and friends

  • "Caddy": Cadborosaurus is the name given to an unidentified type of sea creature which has been spotted for centuries in the waters around Victoria, British Columbia.
  • The Enigma Project report on "Chessie" discusses sightings of a giant snake-like animal nicknamed "Chessie" in southern Maryland swamps.
  • Dragon's Pearl discusses "Tessie", a Nessie-like creature believed to reside in Lake Tahoe.
  • Encyclopedia Smithsonian: The Loch Ness Monster provides a brief summary of the Loch Ness monster legend along with a useful bibliography for further reading.
  • The Legend of Ogopogo discusses the lake monster said to dwell in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, Canada.
  • Loch Ness Monster presents lots of information on the most famous lake monster in the world.
  • Nessie on the Net! presents information about Nessie including purported photos (some quite recent).
  • Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, and other lake monsters by Mark Chorvinsky discusses lake monsters from around the world including Nessie, Ogopogo, Champ, Nahuelito, and Sweden's Lake Storsjon monster.
  • Ogopogo discusses the history of sightings of the legendary creature dwelling in Lake Okanagan.

• Tasmanian Tiger

  • Beast of Buderim collects reports of sightings of Thylacines over the last couple of years in the Buderim area (Sunshine Coast, Queensland).
  • The Tasmanian Tiger Bibliography discusses the Thylacinus cynocephalus or marsupial wolf. The last known specimen died in captivity in 1936. Tasmanians still report seeing specimens in the wild from time to time.

Last modified by pib on June 26, 1996.