Partially a thread bump coz i feel alot more people should be posting their views on Cryptids in general, and partly my response...

I dont believe or disbelieve in cryptids of any sort. I think anything is possible and humans have to step outside of the attitude of 'if we dont know about it, then it doesnt exsist'.

On the flip side, alot of the evidence is very sketchy and unverifiable (if there is any in the first place) and i think people like to believe. Humans need something unknown that they can explore and fantasize about, we have explored most of the planet, so other than space, we need to come up with unknown creatures to jog our imaginations.

Well when it comes to Loch Ness monster I think it existed just it might not be there any more. The Thunderbird I'm rather inclined to believe in probably just because I like the idea of super large birds. Bigfoot is probably the 1 criptid I think most possible to be real. Moklele-memble(sp?) I'm not too sure about. Possibly because of the surviving dinosaur in the middle of nowhere thing. It just seems kinda out landish. Also thats something that could easily be lied about because it would be really hard for someone else to go and find it.

Sea creatures are definately the most probable to exist. And lets remember, the megamouth shark is huge, and was unknown till rather recently, so is another mega shark really that impossible? After living in Alaska, bigfoot could easily be real as well. And Kodiak where I lived was a hotbed of sightings of the thunderbird. I just think there are a lot of hunters in the west and midwest watching the skies for birds, a thunderbird would be spotted.

There was one time I was flying a small piper, at about 9,500 feet with flight following, and the controller advised me of traffic without a transponder to my 3 o'clock at 60 knots. Lets review the facts, planes without transponders RARELY and I mean RARELY fly anywhere even approaching that high, and almost no planes that high maintain that LOW of a speed. I never saw the target, but I would like to believe that just mabey, I had an encounter with a thunderbird.

Nice post and links LordBucket. As an added note it may be possible that the Thunderbird and The Mothman could be the same thing.

Anyway, it would be much more difficult to find bones to a dead Thunderbird because a majority of it's "bones" would be cartilidge. Cartilidge would deteriorate.

Thunderbird and Megaladon Shark are my 2 favorite cryptids. We can't see what's under the water in the ocean at any given time and as humans we rarely ever look up to notice what my be flying over head.

Personally I find the Thunderbird the least likely to exist, mainly because it's the most "visible" of all Cryptids... Meaning if birds this size would soar the skies, a lot of people would see them.... Think for yourself... From what distance can you see even a small plane? Miles and miles, not? We've got other planes flying all over the skies, surely...? Not to mention all the satellites keeping an eye on us. But I like the idea from Faust that Thunderbird and Mothman might be the same thing...

Bigfoot, I do believe in.
Nessie (and other lake "monsters") I really want to believe in, but due to the lack of real evidence - even after years and years of scientists looking for them, I'll have to say that I can't believe in him/it/them...

Megaladon? Why not!? There are many mysteries in the ocean that remains to be discovered... At this stage we can only dive that deep... What lies beneath? Who knows...

Mokele-mbembe I don't know much about... I'll have to go do some reading...

Nessie and Champ - I think these are mistaken giant eels.

Bigfoot - Extremely probable. Possibly extinct now though.

Thunderbirds - I think these are now extinct, but might have lived as late as the 1800s. Large birds were all over the place after the ice age. Some could have survived I suppose.

Mokele-mbembe - Very likely. I doubt a bunch of African tribes just "imagined" a dinosaur.

Megalodon - If it does, it's likely a deeper water variant these days.

If the thunderbird flies mostly at night, or follows the midwestern thunderstorms and some claim, it would not be obvious to see, and might actually be the most difficult cryptid to spot. Geese migrate at night mostly, and how many geese at night have you seen?

The hump of hair on the leg is very interesting. What could that be? If this was a suit that could be where the leg zippers on.

Originally posted by Gemwolf
From what distance can you see even a small plane? Miles and miles, no?

Well, the only reason we see planes is because of the noise they make. A flying bird is silent as the grave and they could travel at night as well. I always thought that the only way it could travel is on the winds that drive a storm, as mxboy pointed out. Also, how many people look up now a days? How long has it been since you have been bird watching?

I like to think that if a cryptid of any kind exists, it will simply be another animal. Not anything supernatural, etc that has come out of exaggerated stories.

I think that sea monsters are unlikely but still quite possible. I don' t know why you gave different monsters their own catagories though. If there are plesiosaur-like creatures still undiscovered, I don't think they are monsters that each have a separate identity. If they exist, I think they will all be the same animal all over the world with slight variations due to separate evolutionary paths, etc at most.

I have never even heard of Thunderbirds. I suppose they are similar to Phoenixes or Griffons? Since I don't know anything about it and there wasn't really any description here I will just assume. I don't think any bird has the ability to burst into flames or live 1000 years so I will have to rule that one out.

Bigfoot seems the most reasonable one to me. From what I have seen, primate experts, doctors, kinesiologists, and so on have all examined "true" bigfoot casts, which contain things like dermal ridges (like individual fingerprints) that would be very hard or impossible to fake, as well as the overall similarity that i do not think a worldwide series of hoaxers could pull off. Bigfoot sightings tend to only appear in secluded, wooded (or just unreachable) areas.

As for what you say about Bigfoot having to bury their dead to not be found.. I don't think you understand how fast things like that break down. I have walked past a freshly dead deer carcass when I was camping. Later in the day towards dusk I went by again and the carcass was almost entirely picked clean by birds and scavenging animals. I am not sure how long bones take to break down, but it isn't too long. I will also bring up the much-used bear arguement. Bears obviously die all the time, but nobody ever finds bear carcasses. Most animals, when they feel/know that they are going to die, instinctively go into hiding. I challenge you to try and walk through a forest and find any large dead animal, let alone it's bones. It takes a trained hunter to even find shed deer antlers. I went hunting with my uncle when I was younger and we were purposefully looking for them, and I couldn't even find them then. You certainly aren't going to find bigfoot bones/come to the assumption that they are bigfoot bones if you either arent a hunter, or aren't purposefully looking for them and know what to look for.

However, I am surprised that a live bigfoot has never been seen (read: captured/photographed/filmed in such a way to provide at least near-undebatable proof). If they do exist, I believe it is only a matter of time before we do happen to stumble upon one in such a way. Especially since reliable people are now purposefully camping out for them with loaded guns, setting up motion capture cameras, etc.

My favourite bigfoot paradox: A bigfoot will have to be killed and brought in and studied by scientists before it is proven to the scientific community. But if it turns out that bigfoot is of the genus "Homo", you have committed Homocide, and can technically be sent to jail for life for it. I am sure someone is willing to take that risk in the name of science, though.

[edit on 5-8-2005 by Yarcofin]

I don't believe they will be supernatural fire birds. This is not about supernatural animals, it is about the possibility of real undiscovered large animals.

Originally posted by Voidmaster
Well, the only reason we see planes is because of the noise they make. A flying bird is silent as the grave and they could travel at night as well. I always thought that the only way it could travel is on the winds that drive a storm, as mxboy pointed out. Also, how many people look up now a days? How long has it been since you have been bird watching?

I understand what you're saying, but I would like to disagree with you. People are watching the skies all the time. From where the hundreds of UFO pics/sightings? People note a light/orb "the size of a pin head" (in perspective) and immediately cry wolf (or is it UFO?)... Personally I don't go bird watching myself, but this doesn't mean that I don't keep my eyes open towards the skies and the ground (as I'm sure you keep your eyes open as well)...

I was not aware of the "fact" that they only fly by night as pointed out by mxboy15u. If that is that case I can agree that they'll be less likely to spot, but even so, their sightings won't be this limited. Nocturnal birds (like owls) can be spotted at any time of the day, and the same goes for bats.

I have not seen any geese flying around at night, because, let's face it, humans' eyes tend to fail them in the dark. Yet, we know that geese migrate at night. (And we know Thunderbirds travel by night?) Birds' migration patterns can be tracked by radar. The pattern can be shown on a national scale, down to a few yards. And it’s done 24/7 somewhere… Huge birds would pop-up on the screen at some point.

Have you seen ostriches close-up? These birds are huge. (Still smaller than a thunderbird is supposed to be). Now, if ostriches were able to fly, you would know it... You would fear the moment one of them would land on the roof of your car, never mind that... fear the moment one would "make a dropping" ...

Why are Thunderbirds supposedly going extinct or just so scarce for that matter? Destruction of their natural habitat? Wouldn't humans notice these birds while they're destroying their habitat? Wouldn't a bird this size attack anyone that came close to its nest?

I bounced a bit on the subject, but I still stick to my opinion. "I find the Thunderbird the least likely to exist, mainly because it's the most "visible" of all Cryptids..." As much as I want to believe.

There are unidentified targets on radars all the time. They could be anything, so they are generally announced to local aircraft, or ignored. As far as droppings or nests, they could be anywhere. I have spent lots of time on the beach, and I cannot ever remember seeing a seagull nest. Never not once. But yet I know seagulls nest on the beach, and they would probably defend it if threatened. So something obviously there doesn't need to be in plain sight if you know what I mean.

well i beleive in most cryptids but mokele-mbembe i do not beleive in i just havent seen any evidence if someone could give me links it would be greatly appreciated

Lake Monster=I hope, seen some cool things, but not sure
Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti=Definately. Native American tales of the Sasquatch, also an old type of primate fitting the description. Remember the Gorilla was a myth...
Thunder Birds=Yes but extinct. Many Civil War Time photos were taken of giant birds shot down by hunters.
Mokele=Not sure. It was first "known" by the western world when Natives talked about the creature and the french dude showed them pictures of different animals and drawings of others, when he showed a drawing of a dinosaur they all screamed Mokele-Mbembe!
Chupacabra= No clue in hell, maybe it exists but sure as hell ain't no damn demon like some say.