The Science of Cryptozoology
Posted by: John Kirk on September 3rd, 2014
Bernard Heuvelmans used to always remind me to keep it scientific and stick to facts. Rene Dahinden said virtually the same thing.
In cryptozoology and sasquatchology in particular, there is sometimes a tendency to drift into the realm of the unscientific because people want so badly to believe.
This field is not based on beliefs. It is founded on facts and REASONABLE hypotheses.
Science is the anchor which holds the S.S. Cryptozoology in place in the midst of the storms created by the wannabelievers.
Science has and always will help us to stay the factual course on our exhilirating voyage of discovery.
All cryptids are, of necessity and factuality, biological entities. There is not one shred of evidence to the contrary.
They don’t communicate telepathically with “chosen ones”, cannot dematerialize or change shape, do not shift between dimensions and do not have disciples as some have claimed. No evidence that these things occur has EVER been adduced.
The facts are so little is known about these cryptids that anyone claiming insider knowledge or having “the truth” really doesn’t.
It’s going to take a massive scientific collaboration amongst us all to get to the answers that still elude us.
We do not need the superfluos woooo theories and suppositions that merely inhibit our path to progress.
With science we shall march on to the truth.
About John Kirk
One of the founders of the BCSCC, John Kirk has enjoyed a varied and exciting career path. Both a print and broadcast journalist, John Kirk has in recent years been at the forefront of much of the BCSCC’s expeditions, investigations and publishing. John has been particularly interested in the phenomenon of unknown aquatic cryptids around the world and is the author of In the Domain of the Lake Monsters (Key Porter Books, 1998).
In addition to his interest in freshwater cryptids, John has been keenly interested in investigating the possible existence of sasquatch and other bipedal hominids of the world, and in particular, the Yeren of China. John is also chairman of the Crypto Safari organization, which specializes in sending teams of investigators to remote parts of the world to search for animals as yet unidentified by science. John travelled with a Crypto Safari team to Cameroon and northern Republic of Congo to interview witnesses among the Baka pygmies and Bantu bushmen who have sighted a large unknown animal that bears more than a superficial resemblance to a dinosaur.
Since 1996, John Kirk has been editor and publisher of the BCSCC Quarterly which is the flagship publication of the BCSCC. In demand at conferences, seminars, lectures and on television and radio programs, John has spoken all over North America and has appeared in programs on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, TLC, Discovery, CBC, CTV and the BBC.
In his personal life John spends much time studying the histories of Scottish Clans and is himself the president of the Clan Kirk Society. John is also an avid soccer enthusiast and player.
Well, pretty much.
Sometimes the science folks take it to extremes. (People: atheism is just as indefensible as any religion. Say you’re an agnostic, now me too.)
But cryptids are a strictly zoological question; they are not going to be confirmed until the tools of zoology are broken out and used in the place of whack theories and True Belief.
It would be useful, now, if mainstream scientists paid more attention to that little poster up there, and stopped substituting I’m-an-expert! for a serious consideration of the evidence.
I fully agree. Nice to see a substantive post here, too, that isn’t just posting a link to another website. I miss that about CZ.