# What Cryptids do you think may exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 4, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510 "2014-09-04T18:51:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/21 "2014-09-05T13:37:41Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > What I’m remembering was a camera set up in the woods somewhere that clearly recorded an ivory-billed woodpecker, and it made a bit of a splash in the news. I could be misremembering, though. Maybe this? [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2005/06/02/1114103.DC1/1114103S1.mov](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2005/06/02/1114103.DC1/1114103S1.mov) It’s from this page: [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/308/5727/1460/suppl/DC1](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/308/5727/1460/suppl/DC1) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/22 "2014-09-05T14:28:29Z")
I have a theory about the various “lake monsters” around the world. Perhaps, like salmon returning to spawn, they actually live in the ocean, but return to lakes to spawn. Efforts to locate them fail because the creatures actually spend very little time in the lakes. ---
**Author:** ![TheSeaOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/23 "2014-09-05T14:53:31Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I have a theory about the various “lake monsters” around the world. Perhaps, like salmon returning to spawn, they actually live in the ocean, but return to lakes to spawn. Efforts to locate them fail because the creatures actually spend very little time in the lakes. Wouldn’t there then be frequent sightings of them in rivers? I would think a great honking sea serpent making her way upriver would be pretty noticeable. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/24 "2014-09-05T15:02:21Z")
Ah, but they shrink down to the size of small fish when in rivers, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/25 "2014-09-05T15:14:03Z")
I started to make a parody film about a lake monster years back. I found you could find almost anyone and ask them about the Lake Anylake Monster and they would react just like people in the pseudo-science documentaries. The believers would tell you about their sightings, or their sister saw it once, etc. The non-believers would say they think the believers just saw a log in the water or you can’t trust anything that Mr. X tells you. It didn’t matter that I made up the alleged monster on the spot, everyone thinks there must be a legend of a monster for every lake. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/26 "2014-09-05T15:16:58Z")
I think a breeding population large enough to sustain such a species would be noticed in the rivers. With Loch Ness in particular, I think such creatures would have also been reported in the other bodies of water between it and the ocean. https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=57.4431006,-4.3343067&z=10&output=embed&dg=ntvb ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/27 "2014-09-05T15:39:00Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I think a breeding population large enough to sustain such a species would be noticed in the rivers. With Loch Ness in particular, I think such creatures would have also been reported in the other bodies of water between it and the ocean. > > [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/@57.4431006,-4.3343067,10z) If I were Google, I don’t think I could resist photoshopping a Nessie image into one or more Streetview frames along A82 there. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/28 "2014-09-05T22:05:56Z")
Of local fame. > **[Imaginary Monsters Of US Cities--Plus Bosda's Local Myth](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=646885)** > > Here’s a link– http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2012/03/imaginary-monsters-us-cities/1621/#slide1 Skunk Apes, Goat Men, & monsters abound (allegedly). Murfreesboro has a local legend: The Mink Slide Monster. We had a hide &... I make no claims. But, weren’t there fossil remains of a Giant Otter for in North America? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/29 "2014-09-05T22:56:53Z")
[Eastern Cougar.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_cougar) Last fall while driving eastbound on Rt 2 from Glastonbury towards Colchester I saw a huge cougar looking cat [as seen in a zoo in the Science Center in Hartford in the early 1990s] go from the north side of the road to the south side of the road in front of the car. It was loping rather than running full out. As it was afternoon but not yet commute time, there was only light traffic on either side. As up until recently we had one of the released eagle breeding pairs nesting on the farm, the idea that something other than a housecat can be lurking in the woods is perfectly understandable to me. I simply figured out that they wandered back or were released and changing hunting areas. [one of the storms knocked down their nesting tree, so they moved. Haven’t found them yet though we were seeing them over the summer in the air.][URL=“[http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/](http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/)”] ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/30 "2014-09-05T23:07:34Z")
There really aren’t any cryptids that I’ll defend with anything but a maybe. Those that earn \*maybe \*status are almost all like the Thylacine - we have no doubt that they once existed, but aren’t sure about current status. I’m willing to buy isolated packs of wild African dogs, because at least we know of non-isolated packs of wild dogs. Could megalodon be out there? Well, at least we know that it _used to be_. With those kinds of things, I’m still 95% certain that they’re not real, but statistically, I’d expect a couple to pan out eventually. One red flag I look for are cryptids that appear to spread culturally and not geographically. For example, chupacabra sightings largely follow Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants. Bigfoot I could almost give a maybe to (after all, we have fossils that could pass for Bigfoot) if we were told that they live in a narrow band of the Pacific Northwest, but shows like Finding Bigfoot want us to believe that they also spread to New Mexico, Kansas and Louisiana along with the news stories and book sales. :dubious: I also look for contradictions in what’s said about them. Using Finding Bigfoot as an example… apparently, Bigfoots are territorial enough that they throw rocks, howl and knock on trees to advertise their presence, but they’re so reclusive that you’ll never see them doing this. They’re so rare that we can’t find dead bodies or good photos, but they’re so common that virtually every night you can hear them howling. They’re big, except when they’re small. They’re brown, except when they’re green. :dubious: You can’t have it both ways, guys. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/31 "2014-09-05T23:25:07Z")
None, sadly. List the ones I WISH were real… now there I could talk for hours. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/32 "2014-09-05T23:30:25Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > There have been on SDMB over the years, quite a number of threads about, or touching on, the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker – type in “woodpecker” on the Search function. I happened on one very recently, in which a poster was asserting that he knew – did not just suspect – that he’d had a good sighting of an ivory-bill, not many years ago (was not photographically equipped when it occurred). This is post #20 on the thread “Rarest animal you’ve seen in the wild?”, IMHO sub-forum, commences 04-13-2007. [If you’re referring to this post, I’d take it with a grain of salt.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17077581&postcount=2) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/33 "2014-09-05T23:46:39Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > [Eastern Cougar.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_cougar) Last fall while driving eastbound on Rt 2 from Glastonbury towards Colchester I saw a huge cougar looking cat [as seen in a zoo in the Science Center in Hartford in the early 1990s] go from the north side of the road to the south side of the road in front of the car. It was loping rather than running full out. As it was afternoon but not yet commute time, there was only light traffic on either side. I think any “eastern cougars” that turn up are going to be “western cougars” that migrated east, rather than descendants of an actual eastern population. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/34 "2014-09-06T12:17:28Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > What I’m remembering was a camera set up in the woods somewhere that clearly recorded an ivory-billed woodpecker, and it made a bit of a splash in the news. I could be misremembering, though. > [@davidm](#): > > Maybe this? > [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2005/06/02/1114103.DC1/1114103S1.mov](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2005/06/02/1114103.DC1/1114103S1.mov) > It’s from this page: [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/308/5727/1460/suppl/DC1](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/308/5727/1460/suppl/DC1) Links given, wouldn’t work for me. > [@Penfeather](#): > > [If you’re referring to this post, I’d take it with a grain of salt.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17077581&postcount=2) [This re my mention of post from thread “Rarest animal seen in the wild?”] No; the post I was referring to (my computer skills are poor – don’t know how to do direct links to other SDMB items – sorry) was by a gentleman who claimed a clear sighting of an IBW in the Big Cypress Swamp, Florida. He mentioned in his post, that he was familiar with pileated woodpeckers, and was certain that what he had seen was not one of those, but an ivorybill. Of course, people say all kinds of things… > [@dracoi](#): > > Bigfoot I could almost give a maybe to (after all, we have fossils that could pass for Bigfoot) if we were told that they live in a narrow band of the Pacific Northwest, but shows like Finding Bigfoot want us to believe that they also spread to New Mexico, Kansas and Louisiana along with the news stories and book sales. :dubious: > > I also look for contradictions in what’s said about them. Using Finding Bigfoot as an example… apparently, Bigfoots are territorial enough that they throw rocks, howl and knock on trees to advertise their presence, but they’re so reclusive that you’ll never see them doing this. They’re so rare that we can’t find dead bodies or good photos, but they’re so common that virtually every night you can hear them howling. They’re big, except when they’re small. They’re brown, except when they’re green. :dubious: You can’t have it both ways, guys. I did some interested following of the Bigfoot saga for quite some time. Have recently concluded, with regret: that even the saner end of “Bigfootery” is indeed so crazily contradiction-full, that it’s impossible to swallow. Not as regards a fully-and-purely flesh-and-blood creature, anyway. I find myself open to the notion that these doings might involve stuff other than purely-flesh-and-blood; which hereabouts, is rather inviting crucifixion… ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/35 "2014-09-06T12:29:41Z")
There’s nothing wrong with those links. They both work for me. I’m not sure what could be wrong. I can understand that you might have difficulty with the first link, which is a direct link to a .mov video file, but the second is simply a link to a web page. Here are the links in plaintext. You could try copying them and pasting them into your browser. [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2005/06/02/1114103.DC1/1114103S1.mov](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2005/06/02/1114103.DC1/1114103S1.mov) [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/308/5727/1460/suppl/DC1](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/308/5727/1460/suppl/DC1) ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/36 "2014-09-06T13:54:18Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > There’s nothing wrong with those links. They both work for me. I’m not sure what could be wrong. I can understand that you might have difficulty with the first link, which is a direct link to a .mov video file, but the second is simply a link to a web page. > > Here are the links in plaintext. You could try copying them and pasting them into your browser. > > [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2005/06/02/1114103.DC1/1114103S1.mov](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2005/06/02/1114103.DC1/1114103S1.mov) > [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/308/5727/1460/suppl/DC1](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/308/5727/1460/suppl/DC1) As mentioned elsewhere, I’m a dimbulb computer-wise; and, my equipment does seem to have issues with anything link-related. I followed your suggestion above – for which thanks – but just got into stuff, navigating which was beyond me. “It’s not you, it’s me”, I’m quite sure. Will wait for a visit from a more computer-savvy relative, and request in-person help from them. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/37 "2014-09-06T14:08:26Z")
A problem with “anything link-related” is not an equipment problem, it’s a software problem (or I suppose, some sort of user error, though I can’t imagine what). You may have malware. Definitely get it looked at by someone who is very computer savvy. You could also start a thread here describing your exact problems. Someone here may have an answer. This board has a lot of smart computer people on it. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/38 "2014-09-07T08:29:32Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > A problem with “anything link-related” is not an equipment problem, it’s a software problem (or I suppose, some sort of user error, though I can’t imagine what). You may have malware. Definitely get it looked at by someone who is very computer savvy. You’d be amazed at the user errors that I can come up with ! I’ve come to computers fairly late in life, plus am the absolute reverse of a “natural” with them. > [@davidm](#): > > You could also start a thread here describing your exact problems. Someone here may have an answer. This board has a lot of smart computer people on it. Suggestion appreciated; but I should be able to discuss the issues face-to-face with my knowledgeable brother, in a few days’ time. For me, trying to address such things other than with another person truly physically present, tends to “go south” rapidly. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/39 "2014-09-07T10:19:38Z")
Alive now in 2014, almost none. At least nothing exciting like a living dinosaur just something like that woodpecker. But go back 200-500 years and definitely 1000 years and we see some interesting descriptions from native peoples or early explorers. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510/40 "2014-09-07T12:59:44Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Alive now in 2014, almost none. At least nothing exciting like a living dinosaur just something like that woodpecker. But go back 200-500 years and definitely 1000 years and we see some interesting descriptions from native peoples or early explorers. Must. . .not. . . Give . . .in . . .to . . .pedantry . . . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cryptids-do-you-think-may-exist/697510.md?page=3)