What was your first cryptid experience?

reply to post by Doc Holiday


I think foxes are the animals that sound like woman screaming... I can't quite remember what it was... You could use Yahoo! Answers for stuff like that.

one of my first experiences was when i was heading down to a pow with some friends it was up north ontario serpent river we were driving the water was like brownish/kind of clear but anyways i was lookin into the river i saw a giant snake or sea serpent had to have been 3-4 wide 30-40 feet long and we were going 80 km it was keeping up for about 2-3 mins and than it jus dove into the deep some people belive there are giant sea serpents there dogs,children and the occasional person go missing near the river couple times a year i know i saw it . ill stick strictly to swimming pools now

reply to post by reptilianslayer


Mybe thats the reason for the name serpents river?

I grew up in northcentral Idaho, on a (still) wild and nearly unpolluted river. When I was 11, my Mom, Dad, cousin and I took a pack trip into the Selway-Biterroot Wilderness Area. Everyone was on horseback, and a fifth horse laden with saddlepacks of goods -- about 150 lbs. We knew we'd have a source of fresh water all the way, and this was before an awareness of giardia.

On the third night, we were camped above the three Mirror lakes, and we'd put our sodas in a creek with a large rock atop them. We had set up the Forest Service-style closed canvas tent, had made dinner and consumed it, and were all bedded down for the night, the four of us in one tent, and the horses front-hobbled, but otherwise free to range. We'd suspended the supplies via a long 3/4" braided nylon rope over a branch, and they hung about 15 feet in the air.

We heard this frightening (to me, at least) prolonged howl. It was like nothing any of us have ever heard. I can't begin to type out how it sounded..... but I'll try....... it was like someone screaming "AHHHHH!" and gradually closing their mouth, so it tended over time to be more like, "ahhhhhhhooooo", but not "ooo", more like long "O", and very breathy ..... It seemed to last forever, and I was scared squirtless. My Dad took a powerful flashlight and his revolver and said to me, "(my name), c'mon with me." I didn't want to. I did.

We walked around the camp, inspecting the supplies, looked at the sodas in the creek. The horses (Appaloosas, except for one) were showing their wild white eyes, and I knew they were scared too. My mare in particular was rarely frightened of anything that I could tell, and she was nodding her chin upward with the whites of her eyes flashing. I figured a big bear.

Dad did something odd then. He took the hobbles off the horses. They all had a hackamore on, but without the hobbles, they could wander miles away overnight. I looked up and asked him if I should put a line on the hackamores, and Dad just shook his head and said, "leave 'em. I'd rather have them alive and have to go look for them. They'll be allright."

We didn't sleep much that night. I swear I could hear branches breaking and little sticks breaking and probably a lot of stuff that existed only within my own mind. I know that Dad slept -- if he slept at all -- with his rifle and revolver right next to him. I think he depended upon the horses to sound an alarm.

The next morning we got up around daybreak, and the horses were down the hill quite a ways, but in sight -- maybe 1/2 mile away or so. I could only see two of them. Our supplies were shredded, and bits of food and stuff lay on the ground. The rope was still intact and I remember white rice being all over the place. The soda cans were punctured, and one of them was shredded, and I guess that it was a bear. Dad nodded and said, "I hope so." I thought that was an odd thing to say.

We fished Mirror Lake, and then were headed home. I'd thought we planned to be out for ten days. My cousin was having a hard time of roughing it, so perhaps that played into their decision -- he complained a bit.

When I grew older and would take off for days at a time, just myself and my mare, my Dad wanted me to carry the .44 mag Winchester rifle. He'd allowed me to shoot it, but I had to take a shot from 150 yards at a carboard box with a piece of typing paper on it. If I hit the box, I got to shoot the next day. If I hit the paper, I got to take two shots. If I missed the box, I had to skip a day. Dad always warned me.... "stay with Suzy (my mare)...... she runs, you hang on. If you ever get hurt, get to her, she'll always come home..... and son....... if that mare looks wild, you go where she wants to go."

And I did.

I'll never forget that sound. I don't know what it was. It was prolonged and very powerful sounding. I think it was a bigfoot/sasquatch. Certainly a large bear could've gone on hind legs and snagged our supplies. Would've had to have been a VERY large bear. Soda cans.... the shredded one definately looked like bear, although I don't know how they'd perceive something under a rock in a stream.

the end?

Easter 2003 - Worked for a courier, got a job to run an engine from our dock here in San Antonio to Fort Collins, CO. I loaded it in my personal vehicle as it was cheaper gas than the work van, and took my dad along.

The run is a little over a thousand miles, we went there and back in 30 hours. We were going along 270 when I saw a strange figure on the side of the road. I saw another one a few miles along, and another some five miles later, angling toward the Jeep.

Needless to say, I floored it. I ran about fifteen minutes near 90 miles an hour and then decided I drank too much coffee. We pulled over, and got out to pee (Dad was sleeping for most of this, but had to pee, too)

We left the engine on, the lights blazing, and were just outside the doors. I was zipping up when he starts yelling to get in and go now now now!

He told me he could see in the tall grass something big and dark angling toward us pretty fast as he finished going.

Needless to say, we didn't stop anymore til we hit Sonora, and got back on I-10 to San Antonio.

At first, I connected to the Donkey Lady images of a local legend here. As I think back, I think we saw some aggressive Sasquatch...

reply to post by MagoSA


I would not have gotten out to pee, I would have been to scared.

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head was when I was a very young child visiting my grandparents in Penticton, B.C. I saw what I didn't find out until years later, after seeing pictures of them, was a praying mantis, but man I was freaked out :p I had no idea what I was looking at, and it looked really creepy to a seven year old, or whatever age I was.

I'm not sure if that counts, though, because it was a recognized species, but at the time it felt like a cryptid experience (if I had known the term then) because it was like nothing I'd ever seen. I thought at the time that it was the world's biggest grasshopper. It's probably memory playing tricks on me, but I seem to recall it being bigger than praying mantises are supposed to be, too, by twice or three times the size.

reply to post by Phlynx


you know, after more than 24 hours with no sleep, we were prone to being a bit fanciful, and in the dark of night, with nothing to see for hours, you tend to get a little imaginative.

My dad and I stopped cause we'd been chugging coffee since hour 20, so unfortunately nature calls at bad times sometimes.

After 15 minutes since we'd seen anything, I stopped cause I was squirming in my seat and couldn't make the hour longer to Sonora, TX.

I peed at the edge of my door, facing the street, watching my half of the world while my dad peed at the edge of the other door. I was ready to tuck, zip, and take off in a moment if I needed to.

It was a pretty frightening experience.