July 6, 2007

I Don’t Believe in Sasquatch

Loren and I have both talked here on Cryptomundo about belief in Bigfoot/Sasquatch.

Here’s an interesting take on this topic by a college student.

I don’t believe in Sasquatch

But I kinda wish I did

Despite compelling evidence to the contrary, mainly consisting of footprint casts, grainy videotape of a guy in a gorilla suit, and various sketchy reports, I cannot and do not seriously believe that Sasquatch exists.

Nor do I believe in the Loch Ness Monster, Mokele-Mbembe, or kongamato, for the very same reason.

Everybody knows the tales of the plesiosaur-like sea monster that supposedly inhabits Loch Ness, and the eight-foot hairy ape-man who purportedly roams the Pacific Northwest.

The two other critters don’t get nearly as much hype. Mokele-Mbembe is supposedly a giant dinosaur, a sauropod, living in the deepest jungles of Congo in Africa. Kongamato, an African word meaning “overwhelmer of boats,” refers to an unidentified species of pterodactyl reportedly living in the swamps of Zambia.

I don’t seriously believe in any of this. But I really wish I did.

These beasts fall under the blanket term of “cryptid,” which means “hidden animal.” Cryptozoologists can spend their entire lives looking for these creatures and never see hide or hair of them, but often run into very mystifying and compelling reports about them nonetheless.

Despite the sizable lack of credence I give cryptozoology, I find it fascinating. The idea that there might still be strange, ferocious animals, holdovers from prehistory or new undiscovered species, living out there in the unfathomed wilds gives me the willies. And I mean the good kind of willies.

I don’t care if it sounds like nonsense. I don’t care if not a single report of these critters has ever been confirmed. I don’t care if sightings took place decades ago and there haven’t been any since. I still think every cryptid I’ve ever heard of (and the mythos surrounding it) is just plain awesome. Whether it’s the bunyip, the feathery, furry and scaly water monster of the Aboriginal Dreamtime, or the marozi, the elusive spotted lion of Africa, I’m hooked.

Imagine you’re hanging out in your backyard one night. You look up at the night sky and suddenly see a giant bird-like shape coming toward you. Before you can react, it snatches you up. Its claws dig into your shoulders like knives and you can barely see from the wind kicked up by the flapping of its wings. You scream and yell and dig at the bird’s feet with your fingernails, until it suddenly drops you and swoops away.

Supposedly, this is just what happened to Marlon Lowe, of Lawndale, Ill., on the night of July 25, 1977. He and three friends were playing in his backyard at 9:00 p.m. when suddenly two of these huge birds swooped down from nowhere. One of them snatched Marlon by the shoulders and carried him 30 yards before dropping him.

This is one of the very few sightings of a mysterious creature dubbed the “Thunderbird” after the huge mythical beast of Native American lore. Marlon and his parents described a huge, black bird, with a white ring around its neck, generally condor-like in appearance.

Think of all the stuff we don’t know about this planet. Think of all that remains to be discovered: the wild, the wacky, the totally amazing. Then tell me you wouldn’t want to get out there and find it. Because if you don’t, it might find you first.

Andrew is a senior studying mass communication. Andrew Post
Columnist, The Spectrum
North Dakota State University

Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Cryptozoology, Living Dinosaurs, Loch Ness Monster, Pop Culture, Sasquatch, Thunderbirds