November 7, 2014
They’re in, they’re hip, and suddenly (after thousands of years) they rule pop culture. Up until recently, telling someone you were into monsters and cryptozoology was not a shortcut to popularity. But things are changing. Monsters are taking over TV, starring in more movies, as well as appearing on beer labels and hipster T-shirts. And since monsters are now cool, that means the people who look for them are cool, too. Right?
Vampires are so last week. We’ve now entered the era of Bigfoot and all his furry, scaly buddies. Not everyone is convinced Bigfoot and other creatures are real. But apparently everyone really, really wants them to be real.
Why is this happening? According to this CNN article:
Monster stories have been around for millennia, and just about every state has its own creature. Now monster hunters are hot on the trail, armed with cameras, drones and night-vision goggles. Can they catch one?
America may be divided by red and blue states, but virtually every state is a “monster” state. Just as each has its own flag, most have an unusual creature people have been claiming to see for years. Bigfoot is the most well-known, but thousands of people say they’ve seen all kinds of wolfmen, prehistoric birds, giant bats and bizarre creatures living among us.
In this United States of Monsters, some creatures have been sighted so often that they’ve become virtual celebrities. There’s the Jersey Devil, a creature so real that police with bloodhounds reportedly once tried to corner it; the Dover Demon, a Massachusetts monster that climbs walls like an insect and has an egg-shaped head; and the Mothman, a huge winged creature with red eyes that has supposedly chased terrified drivers in West Virginia.
Monsters are so hot that they’ve spawned their own subculture. Cable shows such as “Mountain Monsters” and “Monsters & Mysteries in America” draw big audiences; monster investigators hold national conventions and Sasquatch festivals; and eyewitnesses meet online to swap shaky, blurry videos of monster sightings and swap monster-hunting tips.
Monsters have become so popular that they’ve even become sex symbols. “Monster erotica” is a new book genre. People are self-publishing stories about creatures kidnapping and ravishing women with titles such as “Moan for Bigfoot” and “The Horny Werewolf.” Serious. No hoax.
It all may sound new and bizarre, but people have been swapping stories about monsters since prehistoric man drew pictures of them on cave walls. Greek mythology gave us the fierce Medusa, whose frightening visage turned men into stone; the Bible gave us the massive sea creature called the Leviathan in Job, and the beast with seven heads and 10 horns in the Book of Revelation. Hinduism gave us the Makara, a legendary sea monster — the list goes on.
But why are so many Americans getting into monsters now? Some suggest it’s a rebellion against modern life.
There are no more uncharted regions of the globe marked by the declaration, “Here there be monsters.” In the sprawling sameness of the global village, everything looks the same: People go to the same chain restaurants, listen to the same pop music and wear the same jeans.
Monster hunters are some of the last romantics; they believe there’s still magic and mystery out there…
Read the rest of the article here: Why Bigfoot is getting nervous
About Chalupacabra
Chalupacabra (a.k.a. Howard Goldthwaite) loves a good mystery. The scarier the better. You can hear him on the world famous Cryptocast with Craig and Monica. He has seven books available on Amazon. You can follow his ideological propaganda on Twitter.
Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Cryptid Canids, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Cryptozoology Conferences, Dover Demon, Eyewitness Accounts, Festivals, Flying Humanoids, Folklore, Jersey Devil, Mothman, Pop Culture, Sasquatch, Television, Thunderbirds, Winged Weirdies