Understanding Cryptozoology

Bernard Heuvelmans founded the International Society of Cryptozoology (ISC) in 1982. As a philosopher of science, he never questioned whether Cryptozoology was properly a ParaScience or a pseudoscience.

Heuvelmans was a Belgian/French scientist, explorer, researcher and writer. He was born in Le Havre in northwestern France in 1916 and was raised in Belgium. He earned a doctorate in Zoology from the Free University of Brussels at the age of 23. Heuvelmans had been interested in zoological oddities for some time but he credits a 1948 Saturday Evening Post article by Ivan T. Sanderson with inspiring him to become deeply determined to explore more fully his interest in unknown animals. He wrote a book "On the track of Unidentified Animals" in 1955, published in two volumes. It has been translated into over 20 languages. Heuvelmans wrote many other books and articles, only a few of which have been translated into English. His works sold well among general audiences but saw little attention from mainstream scientists and experts.

Wendigo - Not Bigfoot or Sasquatch

A popular theory and common misconception among some in the bigfoot community is that another name for bigfoot or sasquatch is Wendigo. Let's throw that idea away and put the Wendigo back where he belongs in his own category.

The Wendigo is a man-eating monster or evil spirit in the legends of the Algonquin people who live along the Atlantic Coast and the Great Lakes in both Canada and the United States. The creature may appear either as a monster with some characteristics of a human, or as an evil spirit who has possessed a human being.

Descriptions of the monster may vary, but common traits to all is that it is a "malevolent, cannibalistic, supernatural being".  It is not described as a hair covered giant.

Tsiatko by mechmorphDAZ

Legend of the Seeahtik

Some Native tribes say that during evolution when the peoples were changing from animal to man, the Seeahtik did not fully absorb the soul power [the tamanaweis] and they became an anomaly in the evolutionary process.

According to the mythology, there are said to be two types of this large, hairy Wildman of the forest. One is a powerful, but benign forest spirit. They are sometimes called Night People and are considered similar to sasquatch. The other is a more fearsome creature; a malevolent man-eater. They are sometimes referred to as Stick Indians.

The two are often mistaken for the other in folklore and tales told by the Native peoples. Each tribe has their name for them and their stories of encounters with them. They are not to be confused with sasquatch.

The Loveland Frog

The Loveland Frog [or Loveland Lizard] is one of those creatures that hovers between cryptid and urban legend. And what I thought would be an easy post turned more complicated than I thought.

You see, there are not only the multiple alleged sightings of this creature, but there are multiple versions of the multiple alleged sightings. But let's see if I can make some sense of it all.

The Loveland Frog is listed as one of the cryptids that the state of Ohio is known for. That and the Ohio Grassman [which is a regional name for bigfoot and not one that the rest of the state necessarily uses] and the Minerva Monster [which is another regional name for bigfoot]. Cedar Bog Monster [bigfoot]. Orange Eyes [either bigfoot or an alien]. We share Mothman with West Virginia, who is better known for the creature. We have dogman and the Crosswick Monster [humanoid snake]. And we have the Charles Mills Lake Monster and our own Lake Erie Monster, Bessie.

But back to the Loveland Frog.

Was it a Thunderbird?

I recently got in this report of a very large bird sighting. I'm not sure what kind of bird the witness saw and described but many might say it was a possible thunderbird. Thunderbirds are a cryptid large bird believed to be a predatory bird, larger and perhaps stronger than known species.

Here is the report