Cryptozoology is the field of study given to animals and other creatures that science has yet to prove actually exist. Like its older cousin zoology, cryptozoology has a methodology of classification. Cryptids are animals that are thought to have once existed and gone extinct, or animals whose existence can be hypothesized based on anecdotal evidence. The word to describe these animals, cryptids, was originated by John Wall in 1983. There are four distinct subdivisions into which cryptids can be classified.

1. Unidentified animals. These are animals that cannot be classified in conjunction with already existing methodologies. This is because they diverge so sharply from any animal that is already known to exist.(e.g. big foot, moth man)

2. Potentially extinct animals. Potentially extinct animals. This type of cryptids is an animal or organism that hasn't yet been proven to exist, but is thought to have gone extinct due to some evidence of its primal existence.

3. This category is reserved for cryptids that are almost exactly identical in characteristics to existing animals, but have a one or two significant differences. This is the location for cryptids that are the result of unexpected genetic mutations or a bizarre combination of interspecies dating.

4. Animals that are known to exist in one geographic region, but have never been spotted in a full population in another fall under this category. For instance, if an alligator is spotted crawling through the streets of New York, it can be safely assumed that there isn't some place where alligators are a natural occurrence. A very famous occurrence of this type of cryptids took place in a region of Germany where a panther was famously spotted.

1. El Chupa Cabra2. Big Foot3. Loch Ness monster4. Moth Man5. Jersey Devil6. Kraken7. Shadow people8. Goat Man9. Thunder bird10. Mongolian death worm

Key

< identified unidentified>

1.Chupa Cabra

The Chupa cabra is from Spanish Chupa meaning suck and cabra meaning goat. It’s a legendary cryptid said to roam parts of America and attack live stock especially goats. Sightings started in 1995 Puerto Rico. Witnesses describe it as a heavy creature the size of a small bear with a row of spikes going from the neck to the tail.Recently scientists have proved that the Chupa cabras are actually just coyotes with sever cases of mange

Sightings

Big footBigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is the name given to an ape like creature that some people believe inhabits forests, mainly in the pacific northwest region of north America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, muscular human.Most scientists discount the existence of Bigfoot and consider it to be a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax, rather than a living animal, because of the lack of physical evidence and the large numbers of creatures that would be necessary to maintain a breeding population.Bigfoot is described in reports as a large hairy ape-like creature, in a range of 6–10 feet (2–3 m) tall, weighing 230 kg, and covered in dark brown or dark reddish hair. Purported witnesses have described large eyes and a large, low-set forehead, the top of the head has been described as rounded and crested, similar to the sagittal crest of the male gorilla. Bigfoot is commonly reported to have a disgusting smell by those who claim to have encountered it. The enormous footprints for which it is named have been as large as 60 cm long and 20 cm wide. While most casts have five toes (like all known apes) some casts of Bigfoot tracks have had numbers ranging from two to six. Some have also contained claw marks, making it likely that a portion came from known animals such as bears, which have five toes and claws. Proponents claim that Bigfoot is omnivorous and mainly nocturnal.

Sightings

Loch ness monsterLoch Ness is a long, narrow lake southwest of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. It is the second largest loch in Scotland by surface area and the largest by volume. It is also the second deepest loch, at an astounding 230 meters at its deepest point. The water is dark and murky due to the high levels of peat in the surrounding soil. The depth and low visibility of this particular loch make a good environment for something to be hiding in.The first recorded sighting of Nessie was in 565 A.D. by Saint Columba. Saint Columba was an Irish missionary praised for spreading Christianity in Scotland. On one trip to the highlands, he ran across a group of people burying a man who had been bitten by the monster in the River Ness. The Saint supposedly asked another man present to swim across the river. When the man jumped in, saint Columbia saw a huge shadow in the water. The next recorded sighting happened over 1300 years later in 1933. George Spicer was out driving with his wife when they saw a large creature walk in front of their car near the loch. The creature supposedly had a huge body, long neck, and they couldn’t see any limbs before it lunged toward the Loch Ness. A few weeks later, a motorcyclist claimed to have nearly run into a similar creature, describing it as a type of plesiosaur—a prehistoric marine creature with four large fins and a long neck, fitting the Spicers’ description. Soon, with the building of a road along the loch’s coast, many more reports of sightings of the monster flooded in.

Sightings

Moth man

Moth man is a legendary creature first reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area of West Virginia from 15 November 1966 to 15 December 1967. The first newspaper report was published in the Point Pleasant Register dated 16 November 1966, titled "Couples See Man-Sized Bird...Creature...Something".

Sightings

Jersey devil

The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature or cryptid said to inhabit the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey, United States. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many different versions. The most common description is that of a kangaroo-like creature with the head of a goat, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, cloven hooves and a forked tail. It has been reported to move quickly and often is described as emitting a "blood-curdling scream."

Sightings

Kraken

Kraken are legendary sea monsters of giant proportions said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland. The legend may have originated from sightings of giant squid that are estimated to grow to 13–15 m in length, including the tentacles. The sheer size and fearsome appearance attributed to the kraken have made it a common ocean-dwelling monster in various fictional works.

Sightings

Shadow people

Shadow people are reported worldwide and since the beginning of recorded history. Shadow people seem to be living shadows. They are usually seen out of the corner of peoples eyes. Some people see semi-transparent dark splotches. They vanish as soon as a person realizes what they saw. When people see shadow people a feeling of despair and fear overcome them. There have been some reports of being attacked or chased by these shadows. The shadows are usually larger than a normal shadow and doesn’t resemble the person’s silhouette.

Sightings

Goat man

The Maryland Goat man has been seen in Prince Georges County, Maryland, USA, since the 1970s. It is reported as having the lower body of a goat and the upper body of a man. He also has the horns of a goat. He’s about 2.1 meters tall and 136 kilograms. The Goat man was first sighted by a couple of lovers who were in their car. The Goat man had an axe in his hand, while staring at the couple. He then ran into the woods. A woman reported that she had seen the creature in her backyard while her dog was barking urgently. She was too scared to go outside and found that her dog had had it’s head chopped off, when she went outside the next morning.Goat man actually turned out to be a man in a goat suit.

Sightings

Thunder bird“Thunderbird” is a blanket term for impossibly huge birds that are frequently spotted across North America. Known as “Rocs” in Europe and Asia, these massive creatures are purported to have wingspans as big as 4.3 meters, and at least one story from the 1970s describes two Thunderbirds attacking a group of young boys and lifting one off the ground. Thunderbirds are frequently compared to the mythical Native American creature of the same name, a bird that was said to have the supernatural power to create thunder by flapping its wings. Perhaps the most famous story of the cryptid version of the creature dates back to 1890, when it is said two cowboys killed a lizard-like winged creature and dragged its corpse back to a town, but this story has been dismissed as an urban legend. For their part, ornithologists and other scientists say that such creatures could not survive in a modern ecosystem, and even if they could, they would be spotted and photographed by bird watchers. The picture is a fake

Sightings

Mongolian death wormSupposedly found in Asia’s massive Gobi Desert, the Mongolian Death Worm is said to be reddish in colour and measure anywhere from 0.6 to 1.5 meters in length. It is also known as the Allghoi khorkhoi, or intestine worm, because of its supposed resemblance to a cow intestine. The Death Worm is legendary among the nomadic tribes of the region, and it has even been blamed for several deaths. It is said that the worm moves beneath the desert sands, only surfacing to attack its unsuspecting victims by spitting some kind of venom or acid at them. The worm has also been said to possess the ability to emit an electric charge, and some have even credited it with psychic powers, saying that it can kill a person just by looking at them. In the early nineties, an expedition was mounted to interview locals and try to search for the Mongolian Death Worm, but it uncovered no evidence beyond stories, and even these were only said to arise after the nomads consumed hefty amounts of the local vodka.

Sightings

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