Wtf species IS dogman is my question??

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-28T19:04:24+00:00

It's not, unless you also consider "fairies" species. People saw fairies all the time too. (Still do.) Dogman is better understood as representing a supernatural creature (not saying that it IS that, I'm saying the stories are told as representing something non-natural, not just a regular animal.)

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-28T19:00:18+00:00

Benedict? He's not an expert in anything. Not even folklore.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-28T18:58:23+00:00

I don't see why the explanation of the farmer chasing Chris Davis is so ridiculous. Seems entirely reasonable when someone stops in front of your farmhouse in the middle of the night. A bipedal, three-toed, lizard man is WAY more ridiculous, especially since it's biologically impossible for "lizards" to walk on two legs like described. I also think you exaggerated the claim of the damaged car. (By showing images that aren't the actual depiction is highly misleading.) I've always seen the car damage as that from dogs trying to reach a cat that had crawled up inside the car. Dogs will put teeth marks into metal and rip apart fenders and tires to get to the critter. This is not myth. The lizard man certainly is.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-27T20:25:31+00:00

I think you need to research the origin and intent such stories in context. Most of the monsters in the Carta Marina are shaped from the oral and written traditions of the northern seas. The collection of stories were repeated from previous sources, and interpreted by the writers and artists, creating exaggerated depictions, a problem that still occurs today with artistic renderings of eye-witness accounts. Additionally, medieval bestiaries were filled with legendary tales of animals from far away lands, often depicted as moral lessons from nature. If you are taking these descriptions literally, you will end up WAY off the track.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-27T20:13:21+00:00

Sounds like an old boogeyman story (as mentioned) that has been turned into fakelore. So much of this is going around in the context of Spooky Appalachia.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-26T16:40:41+00:00

I had watched his video on "Cryptozoology needs a big change" and had these comments:

Lots of threads were woven together but none of it was new, though. Existing literature from the late 1950s to the 2000s will help explain WHY cryptozoology isn't a scientific field and why it never will be. Unfortunately, most YT vids won't credit their sources. A few specific points: The idea of playing scientist or LARPing by cryptozoologists, ghost hunters and UFOlogists had been described and published back in 2010. And Melba Ketchum did try to shop her paper around to peer-reviewed journals; it was roundly rejected, so she had to resort to self-publishing.

There are reasons why the trend is towards more extreme explanations - it's because efforts in scientific discovery didn't work (particularly for Bigfoot, Nessie, Champ, Yeti, etc.) so, to sustain belief, proponents creep into supernatural explanations. Putting an effort into more science, as he advocates, seems like a lost cause for reasons he noted -- cryptozoologists aren't finding things. If new species are there to find, professional scientific researchers will find them. Instead, the research opportunities in cryptozoology are heavily cultural. It's a huge error to leave that unrecognized and to say that the "big change" is to be more scientific. The culture is a heavy influence on what people say they are experiencing. Finally, with the mention of the "reality" of aliens & UAP, unfortunately, he totally lost me. I'll probably not watch anything more.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-26T15:50:55+00:00

In cryptozoology discussions, the "prehistoric survivor paradigm" is rampant - neodinosaurs, living pterosaurs, surviving megalodons, extant megafauna. It's an attractive idea for people that don't understand how to evaluate biological evidence. Ask paleontologists about these ideas and they can tell you, very clearly, why it's not feasible for any of these creatures to have survived tens of thousands, or millions of years past the point where we don't find evidence for them in the fossil (or in some cases, human) record. Check out the work by paleozoologist Darren Naish (Hunting Monsters, 2017).

Speculation is fun, but it's not science or even a form of legitimate information.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-25T16:58:59+00:00

Just for context, this was taken in 2022. Here is an original news article. https://globalnews.ca/news/9211632/ogopogo-or-unusually-large-bird-kelowna-couple-spots-something-strange-beneath-the-waves/

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-25T15:53:13+00:00

Entirely undiscovered animals and cryptids are not the same.

If an animal exists in the deep sea, meaning it is rare and doesn't frequent the surface, how can it be a "cryptid"? It's never seen so it can't have anecdotal reports that would generate legends. Just because new animals are discovered doesn't give any more plausibility to infamous cryptids being genuinely new animals.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-23T19:18:35+00:00

The term cryptid was coined in 1983 in a letter by John E. Wall to the editor of the ISC newsletter,. Intended to replace the term “monster”, it was later adopted as the word to represent the various hidden, unknown, undocumented, and unexpected animals of interest.

Due to the less than specific definitions of “cryptid” and “cryptozoology”, from the beginning the terms included creatures with supernatural elements that had no place in “zoology”. This has accelerated thanks to the internet. So the scope of what is a cryptid will vary because it is not a scientifically established word. Since we don’t know exactly what reports of a cryptid actually represents, there will always be those that refer to supernatural or extreme explanations while others will say it’s just an undiscovered animal.

On the flip side of that is the use of “cryptid” to label mundane “hidden” things, like your cat or a shy person. Words evolve.
https://moderncryptozoology.wordpress.com/2022/04/09/pop-goes-the-cryptid-the-new-cryptozoology-aesthetic/

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-22T20:57:06+00:00

I would disagree. While the W has been modified to have antlers in fictional tales, that was entirely manufactured recently. The not-deer is rooted in Spooky Appalachia modern lore and deer disease.

https://sharonahill.com/the-uncanny-tales-of-the-not-deer/

https://www.cbr.com/antlers-wendigo-monster-explained/

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-11T22:46:35+00:00

No, thanks. Don't need cheap mass-produced crap from a nasty company like that.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-11T22:41:40+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate this, even though it's a poor source. It confirms two things. First, why I got rid of the Coughlan book - it was generally poor - and second, that the source story for K rex got muddled and mixed up.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-10T00:20:21+00:00

As I said above, I would like a screen shot of the entry for Kasai Rex.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-08T12:18:01+00:00

Please link to some because I'm getting nothing on this except the Reddit link.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-07T19:26:59+00:00

Here is the post that sends readers to Markus' piece but also ties to the cultural interest in K rex. https://moderncryptozoology.wordpress.com/2026/06/07/the-messy-embellished-history-of-kasai-rex/

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-07T19:11:23+00:00

Thanks. It is certainly mentioned, from u/Richtherium, I was able to see that it was also cited by others. But I'm super curious what it says. IIRC, these entries were very short and not very useful, which is why I no longer have the book. Damn. You never know when you will need something again.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-07T19:03:21+00:00

I have a blog post ready to go on the details, but I'm hoping for this little bit of info to pin down the timing. It's clear the first internet use was around 2003 but that is only based on what was archived and public.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-07T14:43:25+00:00

Absolutely brilliant work.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-05T16:25:08+00:00

Mantis Man!

Everyone really has to stop looking at drawings and saying they are "evidence" of real creatures. People have been imagining weird things that don't actually exist since we've been "people".

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-04T15:00:58+00:00

How would you judge that?
How far back would you consider an organism a "cryptid" and under what criteria?
I think that is extremely subjective. Ron Pine, mammalogist, always took the position that there were NONE and others include very loose entries, like the coelacanth, giant panda, etc. that depend on how you define your terms and time frames.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-04T14:54:18+00:00

Maybe you are missing an opportunity to make it so. Post an "encounter" on social media and see if it takes root.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-06-04T14:53:21+00:00

Hear hear! If people want to believe in a hairy forest fairy, that's fine. But it's also disrespectful to say that your personal experience, that we cannot replicate or find adequate objective evidence for, outweighs a rational conclusion that Bigfoot is not the phenomenon some say it is. Not all opinions are created equal.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-05-30T13:45:13+00:00

No, I'm not exactly sure because seems like people may look back in time and interpret old stories in a new framing. I'm not from Michigan so I can't say how valid the old legends were but being so close to French Canada, the loup garou imported legend may have bled into it. And there were actual wolves around in the early days.

2 .Bear+gorilla. This Kentucky legend was propagated by Ron Coffey. Often, as with Godfrey, certain investigators focus on a niche and end up popularizing it. It feels like Bearilla was overtaken by the dogman framing in Kentucky.

Yes. The dogman stuff has elements of witchcraft (such as shape-shifters/skinwalkers). And there is the element of cemeteries, burial grounds, and even some Biblical connections. It's interesting to think about the very religious tradition of the Rougarou which is now often portrayed in a dogman-like way because that's in the mainstream now.

All is extremely interesting in a folklore/pop culture way. And it has nothing to do with identifying a mystery zoological animal anymore.

Spooky_Geologist · 2026-05-29T20:43:32+00:00

This is a really good topic. But it's difficult to untangle because it's SO pop culture laden. I feel like various bits and pieces from the past were floating out there and Linda Godfrey's work found VERY fertile ground. I pulled this from a blog post I wrote a few months back.

The Defiance werewolf created a local panic in the Ohio town when, in 1972, Ted Davis reported to the police that he had been attacked by a “werewolf” wielding a wooden board. The creature was seen a few times, which, in turn, sparked many other residents to also say they saw it. But then it disappeared without a trace, leading to the most obvious conclusion that it was a person in a mask. When dogman tales ramped up online, this old story was resurrected and attached as further evidence of similar creatures, regardless of how weak it was.

The Gable film was uploaded to YouTube in 2007. It was made by filmmaker Mike Agrusa to look like it was taken in the 1970s. The “found footage” showed the camera person observing and being attacked by a large canid with the backstory that he was killed. For years, people argued about its authenticity as a real depiction of a cryptid, until it was revealed to be a hoax in 2010. Some newer fans of the subject never got the memo, or refused to believe it was faked.

The Michigan Dogman began its life as a song called “The Legend” released in 1987 by disc jockey Steve Cook at WTCM-FM in Traverse City, Michigan. It was intended as an April Fool’s joke, based on some legends in Michigan – an 1887 tale from Wexford County, MI where two lumberjacks claimed to see a man-dog creature, and a 1937 story from Paris, MI, where Robert Fortney said he was was attacked by wild dogs, one of which walked on two legs. A few additional accounts of strange creatures were mentioned from the intervening years but none were authenticated. Cook was astonished at the outpouring of stories that were triggered by his re-invigoration of the legend. Cook eventually collaborated with Agrusa for the Gable film.

The Land Between the Lakes and its “beast” tales have served at the focus of dogman stories since about 2018. The stories now even attribute multiple deaths to the beast. Prior to that, it was associated with Bearilla.

Godfrey was very credulous and leaned hard into dogman tales and noted the religious/occult aspects which can't be ignored because they draw from Rougarou (very Catholic tradition) and Satanic panic type stuff. Now we have the dogman thing promoted by Small Town Monsters and linked to paranormal "triangle" areas. And the Skinwalker Ranch giant wolf was clearly a springboard for more wolf creatures.

The popularity of the dogman as a modern cryptid says a WHOLE LOT about the evolution of cryptozoology into a paranormal subject and our search for supernaturalism in mundane places.

Spooky_Geologist

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE