What I think about "Cryptozoology"

The way I have always conceived of cryptozoology is as a grab bag of questions about "hidden animals"...what have people said they've seen? What evidence is there?
(which makes me ask, is there also cryptobotany?)

As long as it is a question about an animal people say they've seen but there is not yet proof either way, I think of any of it as cryptozoology and the creatures as cryptids.

My own involvement has been with the Shunka Warak'in, which I first brought to Loren Coleman's attention as a legend from my tribe back in the 90s, and its connection to a stuffed mounted hyena-like animal that was shot in Montana in the 1880s. A real live hide-and-fur thing. We never thought of it as a spirit, but a regular but very rare animal.

After its inclusion in the cryptozoology oevre, if an animal is proven to exist as a biological species, like the coelacanth or okapi, then it is no longer a cryptid, but is a full-fledged object of zoology. If it is a physical animal, even if it proves to be a case of error in perception or mistaken identity, like most of the so-called "chupacabras" which are really mangy coyotes, dogs or raccoons, or that rotted carcass that washed up on the beach that proved to be a bulldog, then it is still zoology that takes over at that point.

FOR ME, and speaking only for myself, ANYthing that is an animal, or possible animal, can be considered literally within the (remember) -informal- field of inquiry people call "cryptozoology." Hidden animals. Mysteries. Loch Ness monster. Bigfoot. The jury is still out. There are things about these creatures that seem biological sometimes and apparitional or folkloristic at other times. The only reason I haven't rejected Nessie and Bigfoot as creatures of folklore, is because some very believable people swear they have not only seen them, but had close experiences with them. Dr. Jeff Meldrum still is open to the possibility of Bigfoot as an anthropoid biological creature.

However, when you are talking about things that don't act anything like an animal, and seem not to likely be one, like the Mothman or the Jersey Devil, I don't consider those to be part of cryptozoology at all. Very very unlikely. I think a lot of the answers lie not in zoology but in "high strangeness" (another term people argue about and no one can agree on just what it means). I think the answers lie more in the direction of Harpur's Daimonic Reality or Hansen's Paranormal Trickster or Holiday's Goblin Universe or Mangonia, ...whatever those are.

So, as long as an "animal" is apparently biological and the jury is still out on it, I consider it a topic for cryptozoology, which to me, is really a place-holder concept. Once it is proved to be biological, it is no longer cryptozoology, but plain old zoology. If it doesn't seem to be a biological (zoological), REAL, creature, I push it to the folklore end of the spectrum of cyptozoology, which some would reject, and some include. It's not a formal field. It's not zoology. It's just an area of inquiry.

Christmas Ghosts

The classic post from 2008 on Christmas Ghosts...what the connection is between Christmas and ghosts is, that could have helped Scrooge out if he had been into folklore.

John Denn's Ghost: A True Story from Helena, Montana

Checking out Haunted Places

You know how people go to National Parks? That's kind of how I see going to haunted places.

Some people go to just enjoy the scenery, hike, enjoy the sunsets and wander around and learn stuff, whatever comes to you. If you see a bear or a buffalo, cool, way cool, but you don't expect it or get disappointed if you don't see one. And if you do, don't bug them or get too close. That's how I go to haunted sites, no expectations, just instinct, learning.

Some people go to National Parks, and race around to take photos of the famous sites: Old Faithful, etc., ...more interested in taking photos to mark off a checklist or show off to other people, than sitting back and actually enjoying watching the eruption. Same with birdwatchers. Some people also go to National Parks and expect to see a bear by the side of the road every time that will not only show up on schedule, but pose for their camera. And when it doesn't happen, they are disappointed and say National Parks are ripoffs. Even worse, if it does, they get out of the car and get too close to the bear or buffalo, and we know how that tends to turn out!

Now if you are doing a formal investigation, fine, be structured. But the phenomena you are looking for tend not to show up on schedule. Be more instinctive and open, and you might have more happen.

Hauntings, Time, Space, God

Hauntings, Time, Space, God

A few things I have learned that were revelatory:

1. Every place is haunted, in some sense of the term, because everything is alive, in some sense of the term. It's just that some places have more power and thus are more evident, some people are more sensitive, and certain times (tides) are "thinner" (seasons, weather, time of day).

2. Everything that is a "place" can be (or perhaps already is) haunted/occupied/possessed. And every location is "a place" (three-dimensional, width, breadth, length= 3D) but there are different scales of place in the physical: universe, world, region, landscape, site, a being/a person/an animal, object, and probably even smaller.

3. The fourth dimension (beyond 3D) is time, and time also is a physical dimension just as the first three, and applies to the physical and only the physical in the same way. Thus the "time-space continuum" truly is a continuum, the same thing. Eternity isn't really "forever," it just means outside time, time doesn't apply because eternity isn't physical. That's why God has no beginning and no end, because God is not physical and therefore time, as a dimension of the physical, does not apply to God.

Lance Foster

Ghost Story: Garnet, Montana

Ghost Story: Garnet, Montana, a haunted ghost town. Produced, written and directed by David Francis Curran, 1986. His site is http://www.dfcurran.com/Hauntings/Ghosts.html
He sells a new updated 2011 e-version of his Ghost stories; true Hauntings in Montana book too, and you can read a free sample story at his site. This is his info:

"Introduction-after seeing a ghost himself the author searched and found a scientific proof of why something you only thought you saw may actually be there.

A Ghost in Billings-the repercussions of a horrible accidental death.

A Ghostly Desire to be Known-Is this a poltergeist experience or a mean prank.

Visions and Missoula Witches-Were they putting him on or did they really have a connection to the dead?

Above The Kelly Saloon In Garnet Montana - you can actually visit this ghost town and explore Kelly Saloon, hear the story behind the legend.

Philipsburg-Would you stay in this house?

Butte-No one has stayed in this house for long.

Drawer-How can a long dead flashlight, with corroded batteries cast light?

Old Hag-ever wake and find you can't move and see a horrible face hovering over your bed?

Fort Benton-a mysterious story of an unidentified flying object chasing a horse and rider.

Violet-A helped saves from old pressed flowers and his thanked by a ghost.

A Final Old Hag Story-Did you know that once you learn about old hag stories the experience can happen to you?

The Mailbox-Can you fall in love with the dead?

Our Lady of the Mountains A photo of a strange creature high up in the mountains.

The Lost Boy-Did the boy out hunting elk run away or did something else happen.

The Hideaway-history can be scary if you don't study it.

The California Street Bridge-Can a place be evil?
Why are there so many violent deaths near this bridge?"

You can watch another of Curran's ghost stories, a longer film based on a short story, about 15 minutes long, here:

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v473430nkdemEJF

Plains Indian Ghostology Pt. 3

Various Hereafter Beliefs and Ghostology of Selected Plains Tribes (pt. 3)

Lance Foster; April 1980 (Updated June 2012)

GHOSTOLOGY

The physical misfortunes and peculiarities which one had in this life remained with one in eternity. Time was no more, and everyone continued forever at the age at which he entered the new life. This explains why often one might wish a courageous and early death in battle.

This who died quickly by wound or disease took with them no reminders of the injury, but some thought a body which had been emaciated and distorted by chronic disease released a soul which always suffered in the same way.

The soul of a warrior killed in battle but not mutilated further retained no sign of the wound that actually killed him, but every mutilation inflicted on the body after death was thought to disfigure the soul. This accounts for scalping and the reasonably common habit of shooting arrows into an unscalped body. It was a vindictive desire to torment the enemy’s soul forever. Even though a head may already have been scalped and the worst damage inflicted, additional shooting or mutilation was done on occasion in sheer wantonness, and out of a desire to put one’s enemies “in their place.”

Some of it can also be explained by the fact that a few of the Plains tribes believed that slaying an enemy affected the release from torment of the friends or relatives they were avenging.

Colonel Richard Dodge of the U.S. Cavalry was a biased observer of the Indian, but he did spend a great deal of time trying to discover how the Indians reconciled their “odd beliefs” with the idea of happiness in the future state. He concluded that the Indian did so to his personal satisfaction by his abundance of faith. “His belief as to the effect on the soul of certain previous conditions of life and death are, according to his ideas, solidly founded  on reason. His belief in the perfect happiness of his Paradise is purely a matter of faith.”

Again, I would like to divide ghost beliefs by tribe.

(to be continued in pt. 4)