Today’s video has been made possible by Wondrium, an online learning platform with
thousands of courses, lectures and documentaries
stick around until the end to find out more.
Cryptids are undoubtedly some of my favourite creatures from folklore, having already covered
the likes of the Mothman, the Jersey Devil, the chupacabra and the loch ness monster it’s
about time we return to North America, home to hundreds hundreds of unique and strange creatures.
What better place to start than with none other than Bigfoot, a creature that is said
to roam the forests of the United states and Canada.
Bigfoot is also referred to as sasquatch and the most common description is a large hairy
ape-like or humanoid creature that stands anywhere between 6 to 10 feet tall.
The name bigfoot originates from a group of men working for a logging company out of California in 1958.
During several jobs they noticed heavy equipment and material being moved around, once they
established it was none of them they assumed it was some kind of prank.
A man called Jerry Crew came across a set of 16inch footprints that he thought were
human, the rest of the workers began to see these footprints and assumed they belonged to this mysterious prankster.
They started calling this mysterious figure Bigfoot, eventually their story as well as
a cast of the footprint would appear in a local newspaper and thus the legend of bigfoot was born.
Mentions and depictions of creatures similar to bigfoot go back centuries and can be traced
back to several native American tribes.
Those native to California carved images of wild and hairy men that are now compared to the modern idea of bigfoot.
Many Alleged sightings often occur in north west America but spread across the entirety
of North America especially in rocky and forest dense areas like the Great Lakes region.
Most of these claims are explained as hoaxes or animals such as large bears being mistaken for bigfoot.
Those who claim to have seen bigfoot describe a range of varying behaviour, from throwing
rocks and branches at people, Hanging the bones of animals from trees to mark said territory
and of course chasing those pesky trespassers away.
The majority of these sightings happen when it’s dark which naturally makes bigfoot
even harder to identify but have also led to the idea that bigfoot is a nocturnal creature.
Stories from indigenous tribes speak of these figures as something to be feared but also
respected, they aren’t malicious or malevolent.
We do see this with many stories surrounding bigfoot; it's often him defending his territory
as opposed to him going out of his way to attack someone.
Despite all the hysteria, the hoaxes.
the sceptics and alleged sightings, we are no closer to finding bigfoot, but one thing is for sure.
There is no shortage of people willing to continue this search and who knows maybe one day they may find what they’re looking for.
We find ourselves back in West Virginia this time taking a look at the devil dogs, also
known as the white things and Sheepsquatch.
Most reported sightings of these creatures happen around the southern counties of west virginia.
their appearance varies from Demonic dogs to something that is more akin to a Yeti or Sasquatch that crawls on all fours.
Commonly they are described as a creature the size of a bear with white fur, a long pointed head and saber-like teeth.
Much like the Mothman they are also thought to have come from the TNT area in mason county
Those who claim to have been attacked say that if felt as real as anything they had experienced before,
they felt the fangs and claws tearing into their flesh
but when the attack was over and they looked down there were no marks, no blood and nothing to even suggest they have been attacked in the first place.
The first reported sighting of the white things came in 1973 with a family were driving by
point pleasant, the seven year old boy in the back told his parents he saw something
with thick shaggy white hair that was about three feet wide.
The family then said the creature appeared right beside their car floating in the air
following them for several minutes before disappearing.
Sightings continued over the years along the roadside but mostly in heavily wooded areas.
The last recorded encounter was in 2015 when six campers came across something on top of a hill at around midnight.
Shining their torches in its direction they revealed a creature over nine feet tall that
was charging down the hill, the only thing separating them was a small river.
The creature stalked around for several minutes looking for a way across but when it couldn’t
find one it jumped in and began to swim across.
The group ran back to their camp, gathered their belongings and fled.
They reported it to the locals but not the authorities for fear of not being believed,
it does just sound like a story made up by kids high on shrooms in the forest.
For the next creature we head to Maumee Valley in Northern Indiana where we find the Beast
of Busco, an enormous snapping turtle.
This story begins in 1898 in a small Indiana town known as Churubusco or Busco for short.
A farmer named Oscar Fulk came across a giant turtle living in a lake on his farm, he told
others in the town but no one would take him seriously and so he decided against pursuing the turtle any further.
50 years later two locals reported seeing a turtle that must have weighed close to 500
pounds whilst they were out fishing in what had become known as Fulk lake.
The owner of the farm at the time had also reported seeing the giant turtle and as word
began to spread sightings became more common.
The story became national news and groups of curious people visited the town in hopes of seeing the monster turtle.
For a town of just over a thousand people this had a pretty big impact, the amount of
people driving to the farm caused so much traffic the state police were called in to offer assistance.
Those who came to see the turtle were extremely disappointed and questioned whether it was
just a clever ploy by the then owner Gale Harris to drive tourism to the town and his farm.
In an effort to clear his name Harris had most of the lake drained but the turtle nicknamed
Oscar after the original farm owner was nowhere to be seen.
Several attempts to find him may have also been unsuccessful but the town still likes
to remember Oscar as every June they hold a festival in his memory.
A giant turtle in all honesty isn’t that weird but the same can’t be said for Ohio
frogman also known as the Loveland frog and the Loveland lizard.
This cryptid is described as a 4ft tall frog that has been seen all around Loveland Ohio.
This legend began in 1955 when a man walking by the road reported seeing three frog-like men with webbed feet and hands.
This could have been easily brushed off as just another drunk but reported sightings continued.
Whilst driving at 3,30 am a man noticed three reptilian creatures by the side of the road.
At first he thought they were humans in costumes but then he noticed they had leathery skin like a frog.
It gets stranger because one of them held up what he called a wand and when sparks began
to shoot out he quickly drove away.
Could this wand have been a firework being held by someone in a costume?
Possibly but I’d like to believe this man saw three giant frog wizards practicing magic on the roadside at 3 in morning.
Interest in the Frogmen peaked once again when the Loveland police, themselves almost
killed an animal that matched its description.
In 1972 officer Ray Shockey was driving when an animal ran across his vehicle, ahead of
him he described a creature that was between 3 to 4 feet tall and between 50 to 75 pounds.
He said it was crouched like a frog and eventually stood up on two feet to climb over the guard rail and head back down to the river.
Two weeks later officer Mark Mathews reported seeing the same unidentified animal along the same roadside.
Mathews pulled out his rifle and shot the animal dead.
Upon examining the corpses he identified it as a large Iguana that had a missing tail
which is why both men struggled to recognize it in the first place.
We’re going back to West Virginia and the town of flatwoods in Braxton county for our
next cryptid, the flatwoods monster also known as the Braxton county monster.
This cryptid is said to be 10feet tall and 4 feet wide, it has a red face, a pointed hood and a dark metallic body.
It was first seen in 1952 by three young boys who witnessed a bright object fly across the
sky and crash on the land of a local farmer.
They told a woman named Kathleen May what they had seen, she and three of the local boys visited the farm to see if the story was true.
They reached the top of the hill where the boys said the object had landed and ahead of them was a pulsating red light.
When they pointed their flashlights in it’s direction they saw a tall man with a round face and a pointed hood.
Kathleen describes the monster as having small claw or toy-like hands, a pointed hood and a head that resembles the ace of spades.
One of the boys said its eyes emitted a green light and had a dark green body.
After looking for a few seconds the creature began to move, it made a hissing noise as it glided towards them.
As it got closer all of them recalled an extremely pungent smell, a thick mist that burnt their eyes and nose.
They panicked and ran away before they could see the creature up close.
The sheriff and his deputy had been investigating reports of an aircraft that had crashed but
when they visited the area the morning after they couldn’t see or smell anything.
There were several investigations carried out and what happened that night has been
explained in numerous ways, the bright light in the sky was most likely a meteor.
The pulsating red light could have been an aircraft hazard beacon and the creature with
the glowing eyes and small claws could have just been an owl.
This still hasn’t stopped people from claiming they’ve seen the flatwoods monster as well experiencing the smell for themselves.
If you have enjoyed this video and you’d like to see more videos on cryptids from North America then let me know in the comments below.
As we mentioned earlier today's video has been sponsored by Wondrium, you may have heard
me mention the great course plus, they’ve now teamed up to create Wondrium an even bigger, better and immersive educational experience.
Wondrium aims to answer questions you never even knew needed asking, they have all the
same great courses plus content but with even more of a selection to choose from now.
Along with Lectures and courses there are long and short form videos, tutorial, how
tos, travelogues and all sorts of interesting and engaging documentaries.
With Halloween rapidly approaching I found myself watching the three part series Monsters
Within, which covers the psychology behind why horror films are so popular.
It also takes a look at Victorian horror novels such as Dorian Grey and Dr Jekyll and their influences on the genre.
It is a great watch for anyone who enjoys horror.
If you’d like try Wondrium for yourself then visit wondrium.com/Mythology to start your free trial today.