cryptid-science

[cryptid-science]

Again, this is actually a segment of a Radiohead Instagram post located here: https://instagram.com/p/BG6QmFmP1w1/ as stated in the comments "I costumed this vignette for Radiohead's 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Thief' Directed by Richard Ayoade. ... A Moon Shaped Pool is out today in shops" so as you see it's not anything strange just part of a video, though it is weird.

I would be terrified

[cryptid-science]

Shadow People

They usually come at night. Maybe you're reading or watching TV or just lying in bed. He's most often a man, and may be wearing a hat or a hood. A lot of times you'll only catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of your eye, as he flits across the wall or disappears through a doorway. Sometimes he's just a shadow, a flat projection sliding across the wall or ceiling; but other times, especially in the dark when you least expect it, shadow people appear as a full-bodied black apparition, jet black like a void in the darkness itself, featureless but for their piercing empty eyes.

The foggy Santa Lucia Mountains run along the central coast of California, and for hundreds of years, the Chumash Indians and later residents have told of the Dark Watchers, shadowy hatted, caped figures who appear on ridges at twilight, only to fade away before your very eyes. A visit to the Internet reveals hundreds and hundreds of stories from people who saw shadow people in their homes, on websites such as shadowpeople.org, from-the-shadows.blogspot.com, and ghostweb.com:

I opened my eyes and looked towards the middle of the room. I saw a large shadow in the shape of a person. It had no facial features that I could see and it wasn't moving. It was just standing there looking at me... I blinked and then it was gone.

I felt like someone was watching me so I turned to look toward the hallway and there it was in the doorway... It was a black figure. I could only see from the torso up. I felt it was a male and could feel that it was looking at me... I started to walk towards it and it disappeared back into the room.

There, at the foot of my bed, was a tall dark figure like a shadow. It appeared to be almost 7 feet tall with broad shoulders and was wearing what seemed to be an old fashioned top hat and some sort of cape... I watched as it glided past me and out the door of my room.

Correction: Further research suggests that the Chumash did not necessarily have any legend that reasonably corresponds to the Dark Watchers, and thus this link is probably the invention of 20th century ghost story tellers. - BD

It goes without saying that skeptics have long-standing explanations that, from the comfort of your armchair, adequately rationalize all the stories of shadow people. These explanations run the gamut, all the way from mistaken identification of a real shadow from an actual person or object, to various causes of optical illusions or hallucinations like drugs or hypnogogic sleeping states, even simply lying and making up the story. I think that probably everyone would agree that these have all happened, and therefore they do explain some people's experiences. But here's a fact: Try to offer any of those explanations to someone telling you about a specific sighting, and it will likely be immediately shot down. "I was not asleep." "I know the difference between a regular shadow and what I saw." "What about my friend who saw it with me?"

The truth is that it's probably not possible to explain most sightings. If it was some mysterious supernatural noncorporeal being who flitted through the room, no evidence would remain, and thus there's nothing to test or study. It's so trivial to fake photos or video of something as vague as a shadow person that when these exist, they're interesting but practically worthless as far as empiricism goes. Only in the rare case where an actual physical cause can be found, and you're able to consistently reproduce the effect at the right location and the right time of day and in the right lighting conditions, are you able to provide a convincing explanation. Most of the rest of the time, all you have is conjecture and hypothesis, and the eyewitness is likely to reject these.

When I was a kid we once lived in a house where if you walked up the stairs and one of the upstairs bedroom doors was open a crack, you might see a flash of movement inside the room from the corner of your eye. I saw it a number of times, and other people in my family did too. I thought it looked like someone threw a colored sweatshirt across the room. But: I never saw it whenever I walked carefully up the stairs and kept my eyes on that crack; it only happened if you weren't looking right at it and weren't thinking about it. The more you learn about how the brain fills in data in your peripheral vision and blind spots, the less unexpected and strange this particular experience becomes. I have no useful evidence that anything unusual happened, and I have good information that can adequately explain what was perceived. I personally am not impressed enough to deem it worthy of further investigation, but others might be, and that's a supportable perspective. But unless and until some substantial discovery is made, the determination that it must have been a shadow person or ghost is ridiculous. Nothing supports that conclusion. And yet my story is at least as reliable as 99% of the shadow people stories out there. I was not on drugs, I know the difference between a shadow and what I saw, and other people saw it too.

Enthusiasts of the paranormal offer their own set of additional hypotheses about shadow people. One proposes that shadow people are the embodiments of actual people who are elsewhere but engaged in astral projection. This is not an acceptable hypothesis. Like shadow people themselves, astral projection is an untestable, undetectable, unprovable conjecture. Explaining one unknown with another unknown doesn't explain anything, and the match itself cannot be made, since neither phenomenon has any known properties that you could look at and say "What we know of shadow people is consistent with what we know of astral projection." We know nothing about either, so there's no logical basis for any connection.

The same can be said of another paranormal explanation for shadow people, that they are "interdimensional beings". Let's make an outrageous leap of logic and allow for the possibility that interdimensional beings exist. What characteristics would they have? How would we detect their presence? What level of interaction would they have? How would they affect visible light? Since these questions don't have answers, you can't correlate interdimensional beings to the known properties of shadow people. Neither one has any.

But there are phenomena to which we can correlate these stories. We know the details in the eyewitness accounts, and we know the psychological manifestations of conditions like hypnogogia and sleep paralysis. A hypnogogic hallucination is a vivid, lucid hallucination you experience while you're still falling asleep. You're susceptible again eight hours later when you're waking up, only now it's called hypnopompia. But this seems such a cynical, closed-minded reaction. When you suggest hypnogogia as a possible explanation to a person who has witnessed shadow people, many times their reaction will be understandably negative, if not outright hostile. "You're saying I'm crazy" or "You're saying I imagined it" are common replies. Hypnogogia is neither a mental illness nor imagination, and to dismiss it as either is to underestimate the incredible power of your own healthy brain. Too many people don't give their brains enough credit.

I had a dramatic demonstration of the power of hypnopompia — the waking up version — when I was about 10 years old. Early one morning, the characters from Sesame Street put on a show for me in the tree outside my bedroom window. It had music, theme songs, lighting cues and costume changes: A full elaborate production, and it lasted a good hour. To this day, I have clear memories of some of the acts. I even went and woke my parents to get them to watch, but by then the show had gone away. I knew for a fact that I hadn't been asleep. I'd been sitting up in bed and writing down some of the songs they sang. Those writings were real, on real paper, and even made sense when viewed in the light of day. It had been a completely lucid, physical experience for me. But it only existed inside my own brain in a hypnopompic state. My brain had composed music, performed the music, written lyrics, and sang them in silly voices for some director who must also have come from within me. The skits were good. The actors were rough-sewn muppets, independently moving and climbing about, even swinging through the swashbuckling number, on tree branches representing the lines of a great pirate ship. Yet through it all, I'd been conscious and upright enough to actively transcribe the lyrics. That's the power of a brain.

But many believers reject the idea that their brain has such capabilities, and instead conclude that any such perceptions can only be explained as visitations from supernatural entities. One such believer, Heidi Hollis, has gone on Coast to Coast AM radio a number of times with suggestions to defend yourself from shadow people:

Learn to let go of your fear.Stand your ground and deny them access to your person.Focus on positive thoughts.Use the name of Jesus to repel them.Keep a light on or envision light surrounding you.Bless your room with bottled spring water.

Interestingly enough, such actions may actually work (although it's not the techniques themselves that are responsible — plucking a chicken or beating a drum could work just as well, if you think it will). Sleep disorders in the form of disruptive episodes such as these are called parasomnias, and the primary treatments for parasomnias are relaxation techniques, counseling, proper exercise, and the basic lifestyle changes that contribute to better sleeping habits. True believers who reject any notion suggesting their experience was anything but a genuine visit from a supernatural being, but who apply any such remedies as Hollis suggests, do indeed have a good chance of finding relief, when the process of applying the remedy brings them some peace of mind. Even though these remedies are rarely going to be as effective as professionally guided treatment, the fact that they can sometimes work only reinforces the true believers' notion that the shadow person was in fact an interdimensional demon, and that sprinkling holy water around the room did in fact scare it away.

These experiences are weird, and can be scary. But they're also fascinating, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to experience the true power of your brain. To conclude that it's a supernatural being is to rob yourself of the real wonder of what's probably happening. Fa

[cryptid-science]

This new “Dogman” sighting from Argentina looks exactly like Remus Lupin’s werewolf form in Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban. If it’s not a photoshopped copy of Remus, I don’t know what I’ll do. 

[cryptid-science]

True, insisting it is a likely phenomena isn't the correct course of action and there are many competing natural explanations.

Mothman is a very interesting and fun cryptid, from November 15, 1966 - December 15, 1967 it appeared in the Point Pleasant area, but little people know that it was known by a different name, a different shape, and perhaps a more simple explanation, first called The Flatswoods Moster, and originally spearing as a giant creature with burning red eyes, no arms, and large wings, it changed to fit a more humanoid form including arms, a head, and a new name. Mothman.

For a year this creature was sighted in the area, first appearing to five men digging a grave in Clendenin West Virginia, but it gained more notoriety Gray Baker with the book The Mothman Prophesies. CSICOP member, and investigator Joe Nickell has studied the creature to an large extent, and in the episode “Bringing light to a Moth” talks about his thoughts on what he believes Mothman really was. Linda Scarberry saw the figure on November 15, 1966, she described the beast as having no head, large wings and reflective red eyes, now what’s important in her description is the “reflective” part. Many people say Mothman has glowing or burning red eyes, but the original sightings state reflective. What has reflective red eyes? The Barred Owl. These owls are the only species in North America to have brown eyes, all others have yellow, and a mother will defend her nest viciously and without holding back. This may explain many of the early sightings, a mother owl defending her nest, reflective light from cars headlights or flashlights, the fear and dark making it unclear what you’re seeing. Many factors play into this. Especially the bird sanctuary near Point Pleasant which had many Barred Owls at the time.

After the word got out about the Mothman is when the power of suggestion and the cultural phenomenon started, people started seeing the creature, if they where miss identifying the Owls or just seeing things due to Pareidolia is unknown, what is know is the collapse of the Silver Bridge is what finally stopped the sightings, some people think Mothman was the cause others think Mothman was a warning. Perhaps it was a tragedy, and after such an event maybe people didn’t care much for stories of Mothman. In the end the phenomenon started with an owl defending her nest, and it takes very little to start a flap, or a series of events that runs its course, and pecs use people were programmed to see “shining red eyes and wings” will see any owl as Mothman, but it isn’t supernatural it is natural, and it is an owl.

Image: http://s799.photobucket.com/user/kitsa_for_imockery2/media/owleyeflash.jpg.html

[cryptid-science]

Nice addition!

“It’s now been three years since the Gévaudan werewolf began its bloody rampage and the peasants wondered if the horror will ever stop. A local farmer decides to take matters into his own hands. Before he goes out on the hunt he makes several bullets out of silver and has them blessed by a priest. Then he heads off into the woods. According to the farmer’s version of events, within minutes of entering the forest, a large wolf-like creature appears in a clearing. He takes aim…and fires a single shot into the beast’s heart.” - audio transcript from “the real wolf man”

My subject today is The Beast of Gévaudan, but I’d also like to talk about silver bullets as well, The beast was most likely more than one single individual wolf, and was multiple wolves. In America most people view wolves as harmless beautiful creatures, a view of natures savagery and beauty, but the truth is, wolves are apex predictors that hunt animals, people are animals, and where humans and wolves meet, there are bound to be problems.

At this time in Gévaudan, the population of wolves were high, and the food source low, wolves will look to people as a food source. “its first recorded attack in the early summer of 1764. A young woman, who was tending cattle in the Mercoire forest near Langogne in the eastern part of Gévaudan, saw the beast come at her. However the bulls in the herd charged the beast, keeping it at bay, they then drove it off after it attacked a second time. Shortly afterwards the first official victim of the beast was recorded; 14-year-old Janne Boulet was killed near the village of Les Hubacs near the town of Langogne.” -via Monsters of the Gévaudan: The Making of a Beast.

After more attacks royalty intervened, a lot of manpower, not only local farmers, but merchants, solders, noblemen, all headed out to find and kill the beast. “On September 20, 1765, Antoine had killed his third large grey wolf measuring 80 cm (31 in) high, 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) long, and weighing 60 kilograms (130 lb). The wolf, which was named Le Loup de Chazes after the nearby Abbaye des Chazes, was said to have been quite large for a wolf. Antoine officially stated: “We declare by the present report signed from our hand, we never saw a big wolf that could be compared to this one. Which is why we estimate this could be the fearsome beast that caused so much damage.” The animal was further identified as the culprit by attack survivors who recognised the scars on its body inflicted by victims defending themselves.“ -from the book “The Fear of Wolves: a Review of Wolf Attacks on Humans.”

Accounts very but the legend seemed to twist at some point to morph a normal wolf, albeit large, to a strange wolf-man hybrid, and the bullet that killed it, silver, in no historical account has it been found that a silver bullet, or silver was used in hunting Le Bete, this seems to be a product of American cinema, and silver was never used to hunt wolves or “werewolves”. Silver has had links to mystical healing and alternate medication, but it doesn’t go as far as using silver bullets. The legend also formed into a single animal causing all this, but the royal crown had also enacted a rule on killing wolves, any wolf that had been spotted was to be killed. With this the wolf population dwindled back down to manageable levels, and attacks stopped. The beast was not a single creature. It was multiple wolves, attacking humans, out of hunger.

Images: Artist’s conception of one of the Beasts of Gévaudan, 18th-century engraving by A.F. of Alençon, and An 18th-century print showing a woman defending herself from the Beast of Gévaudan

[cryptid-science]

[cryptid-science]

while I’m here:

aspartame does not give you cancer

gluten is not bad for you if you’re not allergic/don’t have celiac disease

superfoods aren’t real, they’re just healthy things with maybe some nicer levels of certain vitamins

vaccines do not cause autism or really anything else and the chemicals present in them that typically scare you are in such minute amounts that they do precisely fuck-all in your body (we’re talking scales of one part per million)

you cannot do a cleanse or diet to “rid your body of toxins,” your kidneys and liver have that covered

GMO foods will not kill you; most genetic crop modification just makes our crops hardier and produce more food (and genetic modification doesn’t inject more chemicals into your food, it’s just minor altering of DNA that is made of the exact same stuff your DNA is made from)

if you feed your cat a vegan diet I will personally come to your home with the skull of a long-dead predator, point out the shape of its jaw and teeth as indicators of predatory feeding habits, and then beat you with it

[cryptid-science]

The Intruder

Not seeing the hallucination does not always help.

[cryptid-science]

THIS IS WHY I DON’T TRUST THE OCEAN 

[cryptid-science]

Ohio Science Professor Explains Why Bigfoot Likely Isn’t Real.  

Bigfoot believers and skeptics alike packed Loudonville’s Ohio Theatre on Monday night for a scientific discussion of the legendary ape-human hybrid said to roam the North American continent.

Mark Wilson, a geology and natural sciences professor at the College of Wooster, led the presentation, titled “A Scientific Perspective on Bigfoot,” to explain scientists do not believe it’s likely the creature truly exists. Full Article: http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/ohio/ohio-science-professor-explains-why-bigfoot-likely-isnt-real/432412701

[cryptid-science]

This photo went viral in 2016 being dubbed as “The most convincing Loch Ness Monster photo ever!” before being laughed at as “Absolutely not seals playing together”. 58 year old Ian Bremner took the photo while observing the scenery at Loch Ness like he enjoyed doing. Bremner is quoted as saying “I’m normally a bit of a skeptic when it comes to Nessie and I think it’s just something for the tourists but I’m starting to think there is something out there. When I saw it on my screen I said ‘what the hell is that?’”

However when one zooms in on this newly famous photo, it merely looks like a group of playful seals. Seals often take visits into Loch Ness and can live there for months at a time, studies show. 

[cryptid-science]

Hi everyone. I made a forum board for scientific conversations about Cryptozoology. Anyone is welcome to join, I just ask that things are kept on topic of conversation. I’m still playing around with the website and making changes but please feel free to join and enjoy yourselves and talk to others that share your interest in the science behind Cryptozoology!

If you are interested in becoming a moderator for the site, send me a message!

http://cryptozoology.freeforums.net/

[cryptid-science]

As a cryptozoologist, I accept or deny evidence based on an examination and investigation of the data. If a pattern of credible, good evidence exists, I begin to accept the possible reality of a cryptid. If it does not, I reject it, and move on.

Loren Coleman (via cryptid-wendigo)

[cryptid-science]

Hey you want to go climb a chimney and hang out on the roof? Because Jersey is totally down to climb a chimney and hang out on the roof.

#the art watch queue

[cryptid-science]

I've started making videos based on my articles.

#cryptids #cryptozoology #bigfoot #loch ness monster #jersey devil #chupacabra #video #youtube

[cryptid-science]

“Around 1905-1909, they decide to put something in a cage, and put it in the museum, they get a guy from Albany, New York who has a kangaroo, the rent the kangaroo they paint strips on it, put little wings on its back and put it on display, they put a kid with a stick behind it to poke it and make it yelp. Now you have a real Devil, stories are posted about it as far away as Origen, and what also starts to happen instead of people using the term Leeds devil they start using Jersey Devil, it begins to snowball from there. Anything that happens is attributed to the Jersey Devil, doors left open, things moved, etc. it continues on to the point that it is now where people think it’s a real creature and try and hunt it.”

Source: http://cryptid-science.tumblr.com/post/150031750305/the-jersey-devil-is-a-legendary-creature-or

I call the Jersey Devil a kangaroo jokingly but the more I think about it the more I realize that Kangaroos really are the closest thing to the  Jersey Devil 

Goat/horse face

Biped with “hooved” feet

Serpent tail

“Fly” around 

Dangerous and demonic

#jersey #devil #cryptozoology #cryptids #jersey devil #kangaroo

[cryptid-science]

good concept for a video game: a pvp game where one person (or perhaps a group of players) play as wildlife photographers

and another person (or group of players) play as a sasquatch(es)

and its basically hide n seek with the wildlife photographers having to take candid photos of these sasquatches

players are awarded points for how good the photos are / how long they’ve hidden from photographers 

the name of the game is Sasquatchenating but theres always room for better titles

#nice