Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Yeti, the chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, or the Mokele-mbembe. Cryptozoologists refer to these entities as cryptids, a term coined by the subculture. Because it does not follow the scientific method, cryptozoology is considered a pseudoscience by mainstream science: it is neither a branch of zoology nor of folklore studies. It was originally founded in the 1950s by zoologists Bernard Heuvelmans and Ivan T. Sanderson.
The Yeti is an ape-like creature purported to inhabit the Himalayan mountain range in Asia. In Western popular culture, the creature is commonly referred to as the Abominable Snowman. Many dubious articles have been offered in an attempt to prove the existence of the Yeti, including anecdotal visual sightings, disputed video recordings, photographs, and plaster casts of large footprints. Some of these are speculated or known to be hoaxes.
The Mongolian death worm is a creature alleged to exist in the Gobi Desert. Investigations into the legendary creature have been pursued by amateur cryptozoologists and credited academics alike, but there has been little evidence found to support its existence. It can be considered a Cryptid or a mythological animal.
Karl Shuker is a British zoologist, cryptozoologist and author. He lives in the Midlands, England, where he works as a zoological consultant and writer. A columnist in Fortean Times and contributor to various magazines, Shuker is also the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cryptozoology, which began in November 2012.
Loren Coleman is an American cryptozoologist, author and television personality who has written over 40 books on a number of topics, including cryptozoology. He is also the President, Founder and leading Director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Ivan Terence Sanderson was a British biologist and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland, who became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Sanderson wrote on nature and travel, and was a frequent guest on television talk shows and variety shows of the 1950s and '60s, displaying and discussing exotic animals.
Yowie is one of several names for an Australian folklore entity that is reputed to live in the Outback. The creature has its roots in Aboriginal oral history. In parts of Queensland, they are known as quinkin, and as joogabinna, in parts of New South Wales, they are called Ghindaring, jurrawarra, myngawin, puttikan, doolaga, gulaga and thoolagal. Other names include yahweh, noocoonah, wawee, pangkarlangu, jimbra and tjangara. Yowie-type creatures are common in Aboriginal Australian legends, particularly in the eastern Australian states.
In Pahang Malay folklore, the Seri Gumum Dragon is a legendary giant serpent locally called Nāga and commonly described as taking the form of an Asian dragon, that inhabit the Chini Lake in Pahang, Malaysia. There have been a variety of legends associated with the creature in the oral literature. The notable one is related to the origin myth of the lake itself, while another legend narrates about a love story between female Seri Gumum and a male Nāga called Seri Kemboja that leads to the origin myth of Tioman and Lingga Islands.
Darren William Naish is a British vertebrate palaeontologist, author and science communicator.
Nicholas Redfern is a British best-selling author, journalist, cryptozoologist and ufologist.
A Ninki Nanka is a legendary creature in West African folklore.
On the Track of Unknown Animals is a cryptozoological book by the Belgian-French zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans that was first published in 1955 under the title Sur la Piste des Bêtes Ignorées. The English translation by Richard Garnett was published in 1958 with some updating by the author and with a foreword by Gerald Durrell. A revised and abridged edition was published in 1965, and a further edition in 1995. It is credited with introducing the term cryptozoology and established its author as the "Father of Cryptozoology."
The Bukit Timah Monkey Man, commonly abbreviated as BTM or BTMM, is a legendary creature said to inhabit Singapore, chiefly in the forested Bukit Timah region. The creature is often cited as a forest-dwelling hominid or primate, and is also accounted for as being immortal; however, its exact identity remains unknown, and its existence disputed. Documentation of the BTM is sparse and scattered; the creature is largely considered a product of local folklore.
Ing. Jaroslav Mareš was a Czech biologist, traveller and writer.
Boris Fyodorovich Porshnev was a Soviet historian known for his works on popular revolts in Ancien Régime France and a doctor of social sciences working on psychology, prehistory, and neurolinguistics as relating to the origins of man.
Sam Shearon, also known under the pseudonym and credited / published also as Mister Sam Shearon is a British dark artist born in Liverpool, England. Specialising in horror and science-fiction, his work often includes elements inspired by vintage tales of monsters and madmen, dark futures, post apocalyptic genres including cyberpunk and industrial wastelands and classic literature including H.P.Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and the modern classics Clive Barker's Hellraiser and the Books of Blood all of which he has fully illustrated.
Anthony Nicol "Doc" Shiels was an English-born artist, magician and writer. After attending the Heatherley School of Fine Art in London, and briefly studying at the Andre Lhote Academie in Paris, he moved to St Ives, Cornwall. He arrived in 1958 and stayed in the area until 1963 taking full part in that key period of British Modern Art. In 1961, following the resignation of Barbara Hepworth, he was made a member of the committee of the influential Penwith Society of Arts. In St Ives he ran the progressive 'Steps Gallery', where he showed artists like Brian Wall and Bob Law. He had several solo exhibitions in London mainly at the Rawinsky gallery just off Carnaby Street.
