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Wander into our forest of blood-chilling spring tales—if you dare.
cryptozoology

Spring Is for Monsters, Ancient Rituals, and Scary Stories

From haunting tales of the Bell Witch to child-eating swamp monsters, the season is full of frights.
Sarah Durn May 8, 2023
Miniwashitu is described as a frightening-looking creature with an important job: breaking up the ice on the Missouri River with its saw-like backbone.
cryptozoology

In North Dakota, the Hideous Miniwashitu Ushers in Spring

The Madan people knew the Missouri River could bring both salvation and destruction.
April White May 5, 2023
The fossegrim might just be the most diabolical violin teacher you’ll ever meet.
forests

This Norwegian Water Spirit Just Wants to Teach You How to Fiddle

But make sure you bring the fossegrim the proper offering—or else.
Diana Hubbell May 3, 2023
A long-necked, plesiosaur-like creature, known as Nahuelito, has been spotted from the banks of Nahuel Huapi Lake in Patagonia for millennia.
cryptozoology

Argentina’s Loch Ness Monster Lurks Beneath a Patagonia Lake

Nahuelito’s plesiosaur visage can be found all over the small town of Bariloche.
Juan Relmucao May 2, 2023
As Edinburgh's days lengthen and warm, the Beltane Fire Festival celebrates the shifting seasons in style.
monsters

Welcome to the Dark Side of Spring

The sun is out and the monsters are here.
Sarah Durn May 1, 2023
There are many depictions of the bunyip, but one common iteration is a cow-sized, aquatic wombat-like creature.
cryptozoology

The Child-Eating Bunyip Haunts Australia’s Wetlands

But its complex Aboriginal Australian origins have today been commodified and suppressed.
Sarah Durn May 1, 2023
A sculpture of the Dover Demon, a cryptid supposedly seen in Massachusetts in the 1970s, on display at the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
cryptozoology

Take a Podcast Tour of Some of the World's Most Unusual Museums

Visiting some of our favorite very specific collections from the last two years.
April White April 5, 2023
Entrance to the yokai tunnel.
List

11 Museums Dedicated to Monsters

A great way to feed your curiosity but not your fear.
Jonathan Carey October 28, 2022
forests

Podcast: Spooky Places

Our Places Team shares spooky legends from both Transylvania and Appalachia.
The Podcast Team October 27, 2022
Despite a wingspan of up to 70 feet and legends about them from coast to coast, thunderbirds are a particularly elusive cryptid in North America.
cryptozoology

Beware the Thunderbird, Badass Cryptid of the Skies

The source of storms and an (occasional) kidnapper, the massive ancient beast has inspired muscle cars and jet fighters.
J.W. Ocker October 26, 2022
The rougarou, the Cajun cryptid said to haunt Louisiana's wetlands, is the mascot of a conservation effort for its traditional habitat.
monsters

The Rougarou, Beast of the Louisiana Bayou, Gets a Makeover

One man hopes to turn the wolfish cryptid into a mascot for saving the state's imperiled wetlands.
Joel Balsam October 19, 2022
Whether you call it shunka warak'in, the Rocky Mountain hyena or simply the beast, a mysterious canid preyed upon livestock in Montana in the late 1880s.
cryptozoology

Beware Montana’s Shunka Warak’in, the 'Rocky Mountain Hyena'

Is one of these crafty cryptids on display in a small museum?
J.W. Ocker October 19, 2022
While details of its appearance vary over time and across geography, the Wendigo is always a symbol of hunger and desperation during the coldest season. And Winter is coming.
cryptozoology

Beware the Wendigo, the Frostbitten Flesheater of North America’s Chilly Heartland

This terrifying creature has evolved over millennia—but never lost the need to feed.
J.W. Ocker October 12, 2022
Mr Yakkerboo and Blue
Pakenham, Australia

Mr Yakkerboo and Blue

Dedicated to a strange, local cryptid beloved by all.
Skinwalkers are not hapless victims who fell prey to dark magic—they want to be monsters.
mythology

Beware the Skinwalkers, Werewolf Witches of the American Southwest

These canine-humanoid shapeshifters travel between worlds using magical doors.
J.W. Ocker October 5, 2022
The Flatwoods Monster
Sutton, West Virginia

Flatwoods Monster Museum

In 1952, a strange encounter in the woods of West Virginia led to the legend of a 10-foot-tall monster with glowing eyes and a distinctive style.
Donkey Lady Bridge
San Antonio, Texas

Old Applewhite Bridge

On the outskirts of San Antonio, a small bridge is said to be the home of a mysterious local legend known as the "Donkey Lady."
Cryptozoologist Richard Freeman says we "shouldn't be surprised" if hominids like Russia's yeti (known as the almasty) exist, given that other hominids, like <em>Homo floresiensis</em>, died out just 12,000 years ago. This sculpture of an almasty is at an alpine resort in Sochi, Russia.
cryptozoology

Could 'Monsters' Exist in the Modern World?

Cryptozoologist Richard Freeman on why we should still believe in unseen animals.
Sarah Durn February 28, 2022