Cryptid Aesthetics [4/?]: The Loch Ness Monster

Cryptid Aesthetics  [4/?]: The Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness Monster, affectionately referred to as Nessie since the 1940s, is an aquatic being which reputedly inhabits Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands.  It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere.

The earliest report of a monster in the vicinity of Loch Ness appears in the “Life of St.Columba” by Adomnán, written in the sixth century AD.

Modern interest in the monster was sparked by a sighting on 22 July 1933, when George Spicer and his wife saw “a most extraordinary form of animal” cross the road in front of their car. They described the creature as having a large body (about 4 feet high and 25 feet long) and a long, wavy, narrow neck, slightly thicker than an elephant’s trunk and as long as the width of the road. They saw no limbs.  It lurched across the road towards the loch 20 yards away, leaving a trail of broken undergrowth in its wake.

In December 1933, the first purported photograph of the monster taken by Hugh Gray was published; the Secretary of State for Scotland soon ordered police to prevent any attacks on the creature.  In 1934, interest was further piqued by another image known as "surgeon’s photograph" revealing the creature’s head and neck.  Further purported sightings of the creature as well as investigations via sonar and submarine have occurred over the years, and Nessie has become somewhat of a cultural icon in Scotland.

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Cryptid Aesthetics [3/?]: The Jersey Devil

According to popular folklore, the Jersey Devil originated with a Pine Barrens resident known as Mother Leeds. The legend states she had 12 children and, after finding she was pregnant for the 13th time, claimed that the child would be the Devil.  During 1735, the child was born normal but changed into a creature with hooves, a goat’s head, bat wings, and a forked tail. Growling and screaming, it killed the midwife before flying up the chimney and heading into the pines.

According to legend, while visiting the Hanover Mill Works to inspect his cannonballs being forged, Commodore Stephen Decatur sighted a flying creature flapping its wings and fired a cannonball directly upon it, to no effect.  Joseph Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoleon, is also claimed to have witnessed the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Bordentown estate in 1820.  During 1840, the devil was blamed for several livestock killings.  Similar attacks were reported during 1841, accompanied by tracks and screams.

During the week of January 16 through 23, 1909, newspapers of the time published hundreds of claimed encounters with the Jersey Devil from all over the state. Among alleged encounters publicized that week were claims the creature “attacked” a trolley car in Haddon Heights and a social club in Camden.  Police in Camden and Bristol, Pennsylvania supposedly fired on the creature to no effect.  Other reports initially concerned unidentified footprints in the snow, but soon sightings of creatures resembling the Jersey Devil were being reported throughout South Jersey and as far away as Delaware and Western Maryland.  The widespread newspaper coverage created fear throughout the Delaware Valley, prompting a number of schools to close and workers to stay home. Vigilante groups and groups of hunters roamed the pines and countrysides in search of the devil.  During this period, it is rumored that the Philadelphia Zoo posted a $10,000 reward for the creature.

In Greenwich during December 1925 a local farmer shot an unidentified animal as it attempted to steal his chickens, and then photographed the corpse. Afterward, he claimed that none of 100 people he showed it to could identify it.  On July 27, 1937, an unknown animal “with red eyes” seen by residents of Downingtown, Pennsylvania was compared to the Jersey Devil by a reporter for the Pennsylvania Bulletin of July 28, 1937.  In 1951, a group of Gibbstown, New Jersey boys claimed to have seen a ‘monster’ matching the Devil’s description and claims of a corpse matching the Jersey Devil’s description arose in 1957.  During 1960, tracks and noises heard near Mays Landing were claimed to be from the Jersey Devil.  During the same year the merchants around Camden offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the Jersey Devil, even offering to build a private zoo to house the creature if captured.

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Cryptid Aesthetics [6/?]: Giant Octopi

Tales of giant octopi appear in seafaring cultures worldwide, with similar accounts found in Māori, Caribbean, European, and Japanese folklore. 

The kraken is first described as a creature dwelling of the coasts of Norway and Greenland by Erik Pontoppidan around 1752, though an account of a beast similar to the kraken appear in Icelandic poetry as early as the 13th century.  Carl Linnaeus mentions the creature in his 1735 taxonomy. In 1802, Pierre Dénys de Montfort recognized the existence of the kraken in an encyclopedia of mollusks.

The Akkorokamui is a gigantic octopus which supposedly lurks in Funka Bay in Hokkaidō.  In 1901, John Batchelor describes the account given to him of Ainu fisherman attacked by the creature.  Described as being 120 meters long, emitting an ink-like substance, and having the ability to regenerate amputated limbs, the creature has become a revered part of Shinto tradition.

The St. Augustine Monster is the name given to a large carcass, thought to be the remains of a gigantic octopus, that washed ashore on the Florida coast in 1896.

Similarities may be drawn to Giant Squids and Colossal Squids, both of which are confirmed extant species.

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