Comments on: Loren’s Top 50 Cryptids

by: Loren Coleman

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 12:46:30 +0000

It is alphabetical, so it is hard to put a “b”-cryptid before the “a”-cryptids.

:-)

by: julie

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 00:46:49 +0000

“Mngwa are mystery cats described as being as large as donkeys, with marks like a tabby and living in Africa” - possibly wild King Cheetah?

by: bigfoot11

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 23:53:19 +0000

bigfoot should be #1 but nice list

by: mystery_man

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 16:11:58 +0000

Very thorough list! I would have liked to have seen the aquatic cryptids of Lake Illiamna in Alaska on this list!

by: Loren Coleman

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 12:35:46 +0000

Re:
“Are these the top 50 in terms of likelihood of confirmation?”

This was answered in the previous day’s two lists:

Loren Coleman’s Top Cryptids

This top 50 is done in alphabetical order, on purpose, to get away from any weighed importance. It is an annotated list.

The other previous two “top” lists (in one posting) are related to the notion of “best bets” and “most popular.”

by: sasdave

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 00:10:15 +0000

It’s interesting you mentioned the little wild men Rillo777. I live on Vancouver Island and I think it was a year or two ago a friend of mine had mentioned someone she had met that had noticed her outside light had been triggered by someone to who she thought was a visitor. She went to the door to look through the window to her surprise there was a short (3.5 to 4′) creature at the bottom of the step looking up at her. Supposedly it had a wild hair look and had strong beady looking eyes. She told my friend it was like the thing was mentally wanting her to come outside. My understanding is native woman and children have more sightings of these creatures. Maybe the story of the seven dwarfs isn’t just a childrens story. It freaked her out so much that she refuses to leave her house at dark as she is in a rural area with lots of trees. Vancouver island is full of mines, caves and trees to hide. This place is a hot spot of strange and mysterious happenings including Ufo’s. Believe it or not.

by: Beowulf

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 19:08:27 +0000

Re #31: Since in May 06 genetic testing confimed that a bear shot in Canada the previous month was a grizzly/polar bear hybrid, seems like it would be possible to establish whether MacFarlane’s Bear was a pizzly, a grolar bear, or something else entirely, without waiting for another specimen to turn up… Loren, any idea as to whether the Smithsonian is testing its specimen?

Thanks for your lists - great food for thought.

by: DWA

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:54:40 +0000

Just wanted to clarify one thing.

Are these the top 50 in terms of likelihood of confirmation? Available evidence? Just-general-neato-ness? What are the criteria?

Just figured it would enhance the enjoyment is all.

by: hrybeast

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 20:19:18 +0000

Great list, Loren. Referring the puk-wud-jies, I have heard and read brief references to “the Unclean One”, a big biped along the Carolina section of the Green Path (roughly modern I-95) from Robeson to Johnston counties, NC.

by: MattBille

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 18:54:51 +0000

Loren,

Thanks for your usual good and thought-provoking work.

Random neural firings:

The anaconda record of 39 feet was accepted by Dr. George Zug of the Smithsonian, but has more recently been disputed.

I have only read of one specific sighting report of the blue tiger by a single witness (albeit a good witness). That seems a very slender thread on which to hang something in the top 50. You always read there are other reports, but no specifics, as far as I can locate, have ever been published.

It was my impression that the Andean maned wolf, aka Hagenbeck’s mountain dog, has not been reported since the 1950s.

If asked to nominate one other candidate, I would put forward the mystery fish of Lake Iliamna. These may not be new species. They may be, and most likely are, an undocumented population of sturgeon that runs to large though not unheard-of size. Still, they are, at this point, a mystery, and a well-attested one.

Regards,

Matt Bille