Mythbusters: Mothman.

There should really be a sequel to this week. Too many cryptids exist for us to cover in one week. It was a tossup between black-eyed kids and Mothman for this final entry...and look at who pulled out on top!

Standing a little over the height of a man,  Mothman is known worldwide as a flying, red-eyed harbinger of doom. He - it, we're not sure about this thing's junk, thank you - has been sighted in West Virginia, the last place in which one would expect a legendary beast. Forget Clover - Mothman is the American monster. 

Reports of this weird creature began in the 1960's. Now, before you start making hippie jokes, there were several eyewitnesses to these accounts. The first event on November 12, 1966, happened when five men preparing a grave suddenly saw a giant flying creature take flight from the trees. They said it resembled a "man with wings." That was only the beginning.



The most famous sighting occurred shortly after that. On November 15th of that same year, two married couples were driving by an abandoned TNT plant near Point Pleasant, West Virginia. They saw a winged creature a little bigger than a man with glowing red eyes going into the plant as they were driving past. They shrugged it off, probably wondering what it was and not saying anymore, and drove right on by. The same creature was soon found on a hillside along the road...and it could keep right up with a 100 m.p.h car. Yes, this creature was flying right alongside the newlyweds, who had their pedal to the metal.


Sightings of Mothman remained steady for a year. At least 100 people witnessed Mothman in that time. Its home base was the TNT plant and the forested area around it. Many other stories can be found here. You'll get the gist: the Mothman comes, scares the living crap out of people, and may kill a dog or two. There may even be a chance that he can take human form, or that UFOs and men in black are involved. Creepy.



Just as Point Pleasant was over Mothman, another strange incident occurred. On December 17th, 1967, the Silver Bridge connecting Point Pleasant to Ohio collapsed. Dozens of people caught in rush-hour traffic fell to their doom. Witnesses near the TNT plant saw the red lights en masse that night. A few people had even dreamt of that bridge collapsing after seeing Mothman. I'm not going to dive too deeply into The Mothman Prophecies, but things like doomsday prophecies tend to inspire movies.

Since then, disasters have been associated with Mothman's appearance.  Natural and manmade events alike have been linked to seeing giant, flying creatures in the sky. Some have even seen flying beasts far too large to be any bird in shots of 9/11. Nobody is sure what Mothman is, but it is definitely not a hoax.

If I say any more, the men in black might come for me. Peace.

Mythbusters: Alien Big Cats.

Now, here's a question: When does a cryptid stop being a cryptid? By definition, a cryptid's existence has to be disputed by science. Science disputes a lot of things; hell, take a look at quantum physics and String Theory sometime. Nitpicking is super-common in scientific circles, and cryptozoology is no exception.



Within the (unrecognized) discipline of cryptozoology, sightings of big cats outside of their native ranges qualify as cryptids. They are called "Alien Big Cats" (ABCs) or "Phantom Cats." ABC's have been found in most areas of the world. They often generate local legends, given enough time. Some are considered Ice Age "living fossils," but most of them can be traced to extant species. I know what you're thinking: Extraterrestrial cats would be pretty awesome, too.

Although found throughout the world, Great Britain seems like a real hotspot for ABC's. They are usually pumas, panthers, or general large black cats. The first sighting of a 'weird' big cat in Britain was a report of a North American lynx in 1760. The sightings really hit a boom in the 1960's, and then again after a law made in 1976 banned the keeping of several wild animals, including most big cats. This could easily have led to a mass-release of a genetically-diverse population.

According to the ten definitions of a cryptid by a man named Eberhart, Alien Big Cats fall under the "distribution anomaly" type of cryptid. Bless this man for trying to make a method to the madness that is cryptozoology. Note, however, one of the disqualifiers: "Erratics. "The out-of-place alligator […] that turns up in an odd spot, undoubtedly through human agency, is not a zoological mystery […]" The recent sightings in the 20th century speak of human release. The Scottish wildcat hybridizing with normal cats is also a common source of ABC's.



When it comes to ABCs, we know what we're dealing with. These aren't mythical creatures. These aren't even extinct creatures. These are mostly non-native species with full documentation. The only mystery is how the cats got there. Human intervention can easily be assumed, especially since many big cats wind up with irresponsible owners. Is every invasive species and escaped exotic pet on par with Nessie and Bigfoot, now?

Granted, there are some truly mysterious Alien Big Cats. India has a gray phantom cat, the Pogeyan,  that we really do not know much about. One ABC even turned out to be a canine. Some mythology buffs like to think that the sightings of black cats are a modern variation on Britain's legendary black dogs (which should be familiar to Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes fans). I'm not doubting whether these Alien Big Cats exist or not; I'm questioning how science classifies them.

Mythbusters: The Loch Ness Monster.

Now this blog finally gets to live up to its once-relevant URL: tracking mythological monsters and seeing how they could be possible in real life.  Luckily for this week, a lot of cryptoids are quite possible. That is what makes them cryptoids as opposed to acid nightmares. Cryptoids are simply animals whose existence has not yet been proven. Plausible animals, mind.

We're starting this week off with one of the best-known cryptids in existence: A lake monster. There are lake-dwelling leviathans found all over the world. It all probably loops back to our instinctive fear of the unknown and things dwelling in the icy cold depths in which the human eye cannot see. For those of us interested in sea monsters of more questionable existence than the dwellers of the lightless sea trenches, we have the Loch Ness Monster:

The Surgeon's Photograph: a confirmed fake, yet people still say it's real.

Nessie, for those of you living beneath rocks, is a lake monster native to Loch Ness, Scotland. The main evidence for its existence comes from numerous photographs and video footage. It is generally agreed that Nessie is a very long, semi-amphibious creature that spends most of its time in the lake. It is always described with a very long, slender neck and a body with anywhere from 1-3 humps.

Nessie as we know it was first spotted in the 1930's, although reports of water monsters in the River Ness date back to the 6th century.  The first semi-reliable account of Nessie comes from the Spicers in 1933. The husband and wife were driving along the loch one night when they saw a creature with a neck as long as a Burmese Python and a body a little over a meter in height crossing in front of their vehicle.

Aside from photographs, eyewitness reports, and odd ripples, sonar hunts have been done in search of Nessie. One search in the December of 1954 yielded results 146 meters beneath the surface, keeping up with the boat. The other, a more formal study done by the Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau in 1968, picked up large creatures moving at approximately 12 mph. Another study done a year later came back with huge echoes. These are not fish, whatever they are.



The most obvious candidate for Nessie's true identity is some form of plesiosaur. Although plesiosaurs were not true dinosaurs, they did live around the same time, and describing them as "brontosaurus with flippers and sharp teeth" tends to simplify things. That said, they ate fish and other animals, not kelp, so if you do encounter a prehistoric beast in Loch Ness, approach with caution. They also had live babies, thus the lack of Nessie eggs.

To this day, we are not certain if there is anything in Loch Ness.  There are even some people theorizing that Nessie died a while back. Before you get on my case about how the government likes to cover things up, bear in mind that lakes are enclosed bodies of water. It is generally easier to find things that live in such a small range. Granted, Loch Ness is fairly deep and there are a bunch of unexplored areas, including underwater caverns. If Nessie does exist, it is doing a decent job at hiding.



Whether it exists or not, Nessie remains very popular in media. The Simpsons and South Park both had episodes mentioning Nessie. The Pokemon Lapras supposedly had the name "Ness" before the dubbers went with "Lapras." Then, of course, there is the CGI-fest called Water Horse - Legend of the Deep - a story which combines the legend of Nessie with that of the kelpie,  a magical Celtic creature. (J.K. Rowling suggested that, too.). Even if it isn't real, Nessie has made its mark.

Creature Feature: Black "Panthers."

The black panther is one of those animals that, if one sees it ANYWHERE in literature except as a symbol of black power, it is easy to tell if the author has done his or her research.

Why? Black panthers are not their own species. They are one morph, melanism (in varying types), spread throughout several big cats. The most common specimens in zoos and personal collections are either jaguars (Panthera onca) or leopards. You can still see the spots if you squint.



There have been few reports of actual black cougars; the melanistic morph has never been confirmed in Puma concolor. Most U.S.-based 'black panthers' are either melanistic bobcats or the far more obscure jaguarundi. Then, of course, you have the exotic animal trade to thank for escaped black leopards and jaguars, which are more irritable than usual due to severe inbreeding. It's like the white tiger thing, only...black.


Can't we all just get along?