What does 2006 hold for Cryptozoology?
Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 3rd, 2006
What are your cryptozoological predictions for 2006?
Where will new expeditions search?
What cryptids will dominate the news this year?
What cryptozoological wonder will be filmed?
Will someone use a cellphone camera to "capture" an image of a cryptid this year?
Who will win the $5000 top prize for a cryptid-related photo in February, and what will it show?
Can the opening of Disney World’s new ride and mini-exhibition on the Yeti renew interest in the pursuit of the Abominable Snowmen of the Himalayas?
Does the Malaysian hominoid flap have any staying power?
What lakes have expeditions planned to search for their resident monsters? Is Nessie on the media radar any longer?
What new books on the subject will appear in 2006?
What do you see for cryptids in 2006?
The reason almost no one has submitted a cell phone picture of a cryptid is because so many cryptid sightings are hoaxes. They are too well-planned to leave to chance the idea that the cell phone photo would be blurry and unviewable. My suspicion is that we’ll see cell phone pictures of mangy, hairless foxes, large birds, salamanders and other more recognizable animals that people stumble upon. I also hope the proliferation of photo cell phones across the world means that species in the devleoping world may be better catalogged. My belief is that the “camera traps” will yield the most useful land cryptid information.
My prediction for 2006 is that 3-4 new species of animals will be discovered on the ocean floor. The discovery of the fissure worms was pretty monumental, but after that came the truly cool Dumbo Octopus. More humans have been in outer space than have been at the floor of the deep ocean. My prediction is that we’ll see an interesting shrimp and small fish.
Another prediction is that we will get a photo of a sperm whale eating a giant squid. Hopefully we will get a photo of a sperm whale hunting and attacking a giant squid, but my prediction is that we’ll see something like that.
My prediction for Lake Monsters is that seismologists will come up with a new theory for seiche waves based on computer models. Perhaps in 2006, but more likely later they will create seiche waves in a controlled environment and then later show through a monitoring of lake temperatures at different levels the power of the seiche waves and their effects.
The Disney exhibit on the Yeti will provide much fodder for poorly-produced cable documentaries for years to come.
Don
Great comments, predictions, and points.
More, more, more…
Ooops. One exception to Don’s comments: While a high number of sightings may certainly be misidentifications of mundane animals, I don’t find hoaxing occurring at such a high rate that a statement like “so many cryptid sightings are hoaxes” can be supported by the data.
I agree with Loren; in my estimation the misidentifications greatly outnumber the hoaxes. Yet hoaxes may seem more prominent because they are only known to be hoaxes once revealed, while most misidentifications are never confirmed (and the ones that are confirmed are rarely publicized). I discuss this reasearch bias in an appendix to our upcoming lake monster book.
As for 2006: I predict that the hunt for the ivory-billed woodpecker will not reveal any evidence whatsoever of Bigfoot in the Arkansas forest. I hope and predict that cryptozoology will gain legitimacy as more science is brought to bear on the issues.
I will also make the following prediction for this new year and all following new years: I predict that the quality of photographic evidence for any and all major cryptids will remain exactly the same. The 1967 P/G film will remain the “best” Bigfoot footage; the 1977 Mansi photo of Champ will remain the “best” photographic evidence. All this despite vastly increased technology, better and cheaper cameras in many more people’s hands.
If my prediction comes true, cryptozoologists might do well to consider why exactly that is.
I predict more evidence will mount for the existence of living pterosaurs, leading to an eventual successful track-and-capture expedition perhaps just a couple years from now which will fuel many serious expeditions into the Congo & Amazon to confirm or refute the legends of much larger dinosaurs.
I think the “Sonoma” Bigfoot footage will continue to lose support and so much so that by the end of next year it will be thoroughly rejected by most crypto-enthusiasts.
I predict a continued increase of lake cryptid sightings in the U.S. as more and more people access the major lakes for recreational activities. Expect some more blurry photos, perhaps from cell phones as suggested above.
Over the next year Bigfoot encounters will continue, but I predict one will get hit by a car and limp off far into the woods where nobody can find it, to die before anyone can help it.
I predict several wild cryptid stories will appear on the internet involving a mixture of: aliens, Elvis, a former top-secret military commander involved in a major conspiracy, El Chupacabras, and Elmo (El Chupacabras’ brother.)
I predict an A&E biography of a famous, deceased cryptozoologist.
I predict that the number of armchair experts on cryptozoology will continue to increase by exponents as internet access becomes more available.
I predict that I will finally see and get a photo of the wash-tub sized alligator snapping turtle at my workplace. (Also I predict that I will poke at it with a stick, it bites the stick in half, and I run away.)
I guess my belief is that the oceans offer the best chance to yield up the large cryptids. I know many urchin divers and lobstermen in the Downeast Maine area that tell stories of 4 and 5 foot long lobsters in the estuaries around the area. If that kind of animal can live under the pressures of heavy fishing, there’s no telling what is deeper out to sea.
If I were pressed to name my favorite choice for a carcass to wash up it would be some kind of sea serpent; the horseheaded, serpentlike, 30 foot long variety. Many of that type have been seen in the cold northern waters of this area dating back 350 years. If you get some of these fishermen in the right mood, they can tell you stories that will make you shudder. There’s more going on in these waters today than anyone will admit. Trouble is that reporting a sea serpent sighting is tantamount to claiming you were abducted by aliens. Many of these guys refuse to speak openly about what they have seen.
My true desire is for a bigfoot to be found. I grew up in the western Pa. Westmoreland County area and clearly remember the 1972 - 1973 bigfoot outbreak. What a great time that was. A local Latrobe, Pa. talk radio show had a Pennsylvania Game Commisioner on to talk about the upcoming deer season for the fall of 1972. After about 45 boring minutes dealing with regulations and tips for stalking deer a local hunter got through and claimed he saw bigfoot on Chestnut Ridge. That opened the flood gates for the next 2 hours. I was amazed at how many folks had an encounter with a 6 - 8 foot tall shaggy entity. Even the Commision Officer had to admit he was aware of such claims and had been investigating same for months. It was an amazing time to live through. Many of us spent long sleepless nights camping the thick forests of Western Pa. I think a man named Stan Gordon was the point man for much of the investigation of that outbreak. Ever since then I have held a desire for bigfoot to be found and become a documented reality. Western Pa. in the fall of 1972 was alot of fun.
I predict that the sightings and evidence of the more accessible land cryptids - namely the primate ones - will increase in number and quality. The improvement in the sophistication and availibility of technology, the increase in organization, the increase in information and methodology sharing, the erosion of some of the social stigma in reporting sightings and observations, the introduction of more scientific discipline and professionalism, and other factors make the increase in the number and quality of contacts and evidence gathered almost inevitable.
The process of how chimpanzee pheremones are used as attractors is an example of several of these factors. First the process was used during a Russian expedition with some positive results. The original methodology and the results were shared with interested parties around the world, and then North American researchers with BFRO used similar methodology with possibly some positive results on one of their expeditions. Advances through information and methodology sharing like this will continue.
As far as the more inaccessible or rare land cryptids are concerned, there is always the chance that more sightings and evidence gathering will occur for the same reasons mentioned above.
Air, lake, and sea cryptids will always be more difficult to gather information on, as they are less accessible and it is very easy for them to escape or evade detection. Researchers are basically at the mercy of chance in those situations, although improvements in information sharing and technology steadily improve the odds.
So as far as 2006 is concerned, I believe that the number of sightings and the quality of evidence gathered in the case of cryptid primates will increase, with the number of sightings of all other cryptids staying basically the same, always with the small chance of a big breakthrough.
Although possible in 2006, I believe that more likely sometime in the next 3-5 years evidence of a cryptid primate will be produced that is superior in quality to the 1967 P/G film somewhere in the world. Most likely this will occur in North America, but there are strong chances for other hot spots as well.
I predict that more species will go extinct in 2006 than any year in human history.
As a member of the Pennsylvannia Bigfoot Society , each year I hope we get that great piece of footage or audio recording or bone or body part that will forever change the world!
I predict that the Orang pendek will be close to being discovered in 2006. The catlike animal caught in the camera trap recently in the jungle will be studied more closely.
Cougars will be proven to exist in states that say they don’t!
A Mongolian deathworm will finally be found!
A new picture or video of a lake monster will come out.
I agree with one of the first posters that new deep sea creatures will be discovered. I rented Aliens of the Deep and its an excellent documentary on the deep oceans. James Cameron made it. Its on DirectTV PPV. Worth the rent.
I think the next cryptid will come from South America, you can’t cut down 1000 acres of rain forest a day and not expect to drive some ‘’unknown'’ creatures out into the open looking to survive.
I predict that some new species will be found in stagnant swimming pools during winter. I found some odd worm-like creature with a segmented body, vise-like jaws, a pale body, and a total length of 1″.
More sightings will be made of a large, dog-like animal in northern SC.
*I SAW IT MYSELF*
It is nocturnal.
The number of aquatic cryptids will increase, and living fossils will appear rapidly.