I know as a cryptid enthusiast, until the last five years or so, it was one of my hobbies I didn’t bother to bring up in conversation unless said conversation headed down that road itself. Not that I hid my passions, but too many times you bring up something like that and people, if they knew what cryptozoology even was (and probably didn’t) would nod, say “oh” and move on–there wasn’t much interest in discussing those things unless I really found someone that was kind of into the fringe anyway.

Nowadays though, talk of bigfoot and other cryptids is becoming water cooler talk. At my workplace there’s several people who watch the show. And even though they will never go hunting for Bigfoot, probably will never read a book about them, there is an interest, and perhaps these others will pay just that much more attention when traveling or when they’re out in the woods.

The show has added legitimacy to cryptids in the mainstream public–or at least made the subject accessible to talk about other than around a campfire in order to creep everyone else out. It means there’s more eyes trained on the side of the road, more cameras looking and more opportunity for sightings, photos, vids and information.

So for that, good work.