Monsters in America: A Cryptozoological Map of the United States

Hello ATSers!

Saw this post on disinfo.com (my new favourite site, except ATS of course) and thought it had a place on our Crypto Forum.

Philly based Hog Island Press has created this awesome map of various monsters allegedly found across the continental US.
Monsters in America: A Cryptozoological Map of the United States is possibly the first of its kind – a snapshot of American cryptozoology that brings together the Jersey Devil, Bigfoot, Mothman, Chupacabra, Shunka Warakin, Caddy, the Honey Island Swamp Monster and many more cryptids on one hand-drawn, hand-screened map.

Loren Coleman, the Director of the International Cryptozoology Museum, had this to say: “The cryptid-filled, cartographically accurate Monsters in America: A Cryptozoological Map of the United States should be on the walls of every museum, library, and researcher’s office interested in the science of as-yet-to-be-discovered animals. Hog Island Press has produced an informative, affordable, high quality collectible, which also serves as an educational tool useful for your next road trip, a future research trek, or everyday bibliographic study. There is not a fake on the map. I love the heavy paper stock. Discover and obtain yours today!”

I've always been fascinated by Cryptids for their mythological origins and the role these myths play in our distant and current cultural narrative. There are some I've never heard of (Pope Lick Monster!?) so it seems more research is needed! It would be cool to see one for each region of the planet so we could compare, at a glance, the different types of creatures and where it is they pop up. Oh, and they also offer t-shirts featuring your favourite Cryptids, you know, for the less discerning Crypto fans out there.

Enjoy!

I live a few miles from "the beast of busco"
Also known as turtle town.
Somebody saw a big turtle once, way before I was born. Most of us look at it like a bad joke.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

You must mean Oscar. It would have been cool if they'd found something when the went looking but then again they probably would've killed him.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

It is evident that as a myth travels it becomes more and more elaborate and this is borne out by the fact that those who live closest to the Cryptid, at ground zero, are the ones who believe it the least. Someone once said something about "the bigger the lie..." that seems to be true wherever and whenever it is applied.

The bigger the turtle...

a reply to: Skid Mark

And that's just the sad irony of the situation. If ever we cornered one of these fantastical creatures we would in all likelihood shoot the thing to death, pose for pictures and then put it on the BBQ.

It reminds me of the Bill Hicks bit about people turning up to UFO sightings with shotguns.

a reply to: LiveForever8

I saw that Bill Hicks one. It's true.

Bumping for the late nighters

cool map

check out this if you get time



After watching this i am left finding it hard to believe how they could fake all this.

By far it is the best i have seen.

No. 6 big foot should be more on the Wa Or border than in Ca...IMHO

Disclaimer: I consider myself a pretty level headed person but I loves me some monsters!

...but $25 for a poster? Nah. I can watch the monster channel....er....Discovery America all I want for free.

a reply to: deadeyedick

Video not available in my country (UK), care to explain what it was about?

Thanks.

Is it just me, or does every monster silhouetted on that map ... look like something from the old 1960's Ultraman TV show?
related Google Images search

a reply to: LiveForever8

To bad Alaska is not on that map, they have several "monsters" lurking out there.

s&f

Surprised MN doesn't seem to have any.

originally posted by: Darkblade71
a reply to: LiveForever8

To bad Alaska is not on that map, they have several "monsters" lurking out there.

You beat me to it. We've got at least 4 different bigfoot-esque native legend cryptids, thunderbirds (rumored to be a Japanese Sea Eagle), Lake Iliamna monster, living mammoths written about in the late 1800s, big cats on the Kenai, and the long theorized Sabre Tooth Wolf.

originally posted by: LiveForever8
a reply to: deadeyedick



Video not available in my country (UK), care to explain what it was about?



Thanks.

I will try
Basically a group of hillbillies go around trying to trap cryptids.

This episode caught my eye because of a couple events that if faked should be regarded as some of the greatest work ever.

At one point there were three of the men surrounding a metal building with two doors.

they split each way and two entered the building that a creature was inside. The third had a camera man behind him also and was just about to put a hand on the door knob when the creature supposedly went through the door. The metal door came off the hinges flying and knocked him out cold and took out the camera man too. It was fresh snow on the ground and still snowing they had giant foot prints tracking away from the scene. The guy was bloody as hell and spent 3 or 4 days in the hospitol.

Another scene they are in the mountains that are supposedly gaurded by moonshiners for yrs but they gain permission to try to catch a creature. The shiners state that they have been trading mash used to make the booze to the monster so they can have peace in the area. The monster over the yrs just wants more and more. lol

They set foot traps that are all connected by crane cables used on heavy wenches. The monster breaks one of the 10,000lb cable in a fashion that looks like it would have ben done by connecting the cable to two tanks going in the opposite direction. The foot trap is loose from the cables and it is actually a tractor tire rim modified to be a foot trap. When the rednecks roll up on the scene the hundred lb rim is hurled from out of the woods like a football and lodges in their windshield.

i think now there are some other clips up on youtube that may be avaidable to you if you search. mountain monsters

To me, just my opinion, the map is a little b.s. I live in MN, and we have Bigfoot, Wendigo, Werewolf, and plenty of lake monster stories, we're the land of ten thousand lakes for cripes sake, with one of the biggest national forests in the U.S.

a reply to: Darkblade71

Such as?

a reply to: Pitou

The Kooshdakhaa

The Tlingit and Tsimshian peoples, indigenous inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest Coast of the United States and Southeastern Alaska, have a robust folklore surrounding a mythical and maniacal trickster race called the Kushtaka, which roughly translates as “land otter people”, a shape-shifting species of otter that is rumored to spend a lot of its time trying to lure unsuspecting humans away from their homes in order to turn them into more Kushtaka (which in Tlingit folklore basically amounts to preventing us from achieving reincarnation and consequent everlasting life). Sometimes they don’t bother, and simply tear a victim to shreds. Not cool. Bad otter.

The Kushtaka has been treated in some literature as a boogeyman or hobgoblin. This is inaccurate and does not honor how seriously the Tlingit feel the threat of the Land Otter People. In a sense, the Kushtaka deprived the victim of everlasting life, for his soul could not be reincarnated. The Land Otter lurked to “save”, that is, to capture, those who drowned or who became lost in the woods. The unfortunate captives were taken by the Land Otter People to their homes or dens and, unless rescued by a shaman, were themselves turned into Land Otters. Kushtaka often appeared in the form of relatives or friends to confuse the victim. Dogs were protection against Land Otter People, for not only were the animals afraid of dogs, but the dog’s barking forced the Land Otter People to reveal themselves. Small children were thought to be the most in danger of being captures by the Land Otter People and were warned not to wander off from parents or to venture away from home alone (Pelton & DiGennaro, 1992, p20)

esoterx.com...



That is the one that comes to mind right away with me. Growing up in Southeast Alaska, I would hear stories about people seeing or experiencing the sounds of the Kooshdakhaa in the woods. Even had my own experience as a child with what I think could of been part of the legend. It stood in the corner of my room, staring at me with huge eyeballs, daring me to get out of my crib so it could take me away.

I put it on the Has anyone had more than one paranormal experience thread here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
(there is a little more information on what it is on that page)

a reply to: Darkblade71

Fascinating! Thanks for that. I like to read about 'local' monsters and legends all over the world from time to time but didn't know this one yet. It seems to be a common theme worldwide, the idea of trickster beings trying to lure people and especially children away for whatever malicious purpose.