April 22, 2013

Cryptomundian Q & A

Nick Redfern started it off with his post A Crypto Q and A.

Cryptomundian springheeledjack offered the following:

Very nice. I think we’ve all got our stories of what got us into this stuff… perhaps this should be a post: get the cryptomundians to answer these questions to get a better idea of the community who frequents this site.

Fair enough. 🙂 I can start.

1) How did I first get involved in crypto? It was watching In Search Of with Leonard Nimoy on the Loch Ness Monster. I’d always thought it was checking out the book, Monsters, Giants and Little Men From Mars by Daniel Cohen–but that was just the first book that I ever read on the subject. But it was In Search Of that got me hooked.

2) Early influences were In Search Of, Dinsdale, Mackal, Cohen and references to Bernard Heuvelmans (I was all a slobber when I finally heard they were translating and publishing his book as an adult). Influences also included members of my family. I live in Iowa and in the early 70′s there were several reports of bigfoot in our immediate area. My aunt had a sighting and there were stories everywhere.

3) Have I seen a cryptid yet? I do not believe so. I’ve had a couple of weird encounters, but nothing concrete. I’m just starting to get out into the field to really look for cryptids. I’ve had friends and relatives that have had sightings, which only encourages me.

4) What creatures have my interest? The water cryptids of course–anyone who knows me on here is well aware of my passions. 🙂 Loch Ness was my first love, but all lake, ocean and sea critters will get my attention. I’ve got my “hit list” of places I’m planning adventures too and Scotland tops them all.

5) Which ones most likely exist? “Sea monsters” in the oceans. The environment is vast enough with plenty of food and we’ve only really scratched the surface of what’s in it. What forms they take, only time will tell. I also think there’s enough evidence for lake critters–there’s too many accounts in too many places and consistent enough over time for it to all be bunk. As for Bigfoot, yes, there’s plenty of evidence and accounts to support the existence of a large bipedal critter in the wide expanses of country in the U.S. and other places. Plenty of places to hide.

6) Favorite Australian cryptid? I’m with Nick–the megalania. I think it would be cool to hunt that one too.

7) Theories? As for Bigfoot, it’s bipedal and hairy so it’s some sort of primate, either related to mankind or along another evolutionary path. I think it’s flesh and blood–I just don’t believe humanity is as good as we think we are when it comes to hunting for things and finding them. Concerning the water critters–I think we’re looking at evolved descendants of other creatures now extinct–whether they’re mammalian, reptilian or what, I’m not sure. It could be something as yet uncovered in the fossil record (there’s an awful lot not discovered) or something that’s evolved from something we know of. With the weird things like the death worm or the lusca? I have no idea until I see one. 🙂

8) Written articles? I have not written articles other than here–oh, I take that back. I once got into a string of conversations on the Fortean Times a while back on the subject of Mansi’s photo of Champ with none other than Ben Radford. 🙂 They published several of our tete-a-tete’s in the letters section over several issues.

9) Website(s)? I do not have a website. I’m content to hunt on my own for the time being.

10) What’s the closest I’ve come to finding something? A friend showed me a pic of a footprint he found in Ohio via his phone. Other than that, nothing yet… yet, I said.

11) Looked for a cryptid? I’ve gone to West Virginia to hunt for the big guy. Heard lots of stories and walked a lot of wilderness and kayaked a lot of water, but no evidence so far.

How was that? You should condense this down and invite cryptomundians to participate. I’d love to hear how all of us got into this business…

About Craig Woolheater
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005. I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films: OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.

Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Cryptomundo Exclusive, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Lake Monsters, Loch Ness Monster, Pop Culture, River Monsters, Sasquatch, Sea Monsters, Sea Serpents, Swamp Monsters