My daughter Sophie sent an article, a book review really, about the legend of Bigfoot. The Secret History of Bigfoot. I love bigfoot, I suppose we all do in my family. Many of us (well mostly me) have bigfoot stickers on our phone cases and cars. I BELIEVE! Or at least I badly want to believe that a man-like primate roams the forested areas of our country craftily hiding from his would-be human captors. What is life without mystery, and what’s more mysterious than Bigfoot.
In the article Sophie sent, the author reveals that as a child he became obsessed with cryptids and cryptozoology. As an adult, I never heard of these topics and googled the terms for some quick education. From Merriam-Webster: Cryptid – an animal that has been claimed to exist but never proven to exist. Ah, Bigfoot.
When Sophie first left for college, I asked her to send me a sticker for my car. I envisioned one of those white ovals with green letters that read UVM, or a sticker to go across the bottom of my back windshield reading University of Vermont, or even a Go Green bumper sticker. What she sent me was the Loch Ness Monster with the caption The important thing is I believe in myself. Not quite what I envisioned, but I love it all the same, and I slapped it on the back window of my pickup truck alongside Kokopelli riding a mountain bike and, of course, Bigfoot. Interestingly, four years later, still none of our family cars sport a UVM sticker.
When I asked about the significance of the Loch Ness Monster, Sophie said “No, it’s Champ, the Lake Champlain monster.” Champ lurks in the depths of the massive lake adjacent to Burlington Vermont. Did you know there was more than one famous Lake Monster? I guess I did. My college friend Mike grew up on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. He often told stories about his fear of Chessie, the bay monster, whom he could sense skulking beneath his dingy when he got stuck on the water after dark.
As I searched for a definition of Cryptids, I saw Wikipedia has a comprehensive list. Some cryptids through history have been verified. Seafarers have for centuries told stories of seeing mermaids and giant squids. Mermaids remain elusive, but we now have scientific proof of the existence of giant squids—maybe not big enough to pull under a sixty-foot schooner, but pretty darn huge. I won’t get too detailed with what’s in the cryptid list (you should read it, if for no other reason except to learn about the Bukit Timah Monkey Man), but since we’re already talking about lake monsters, here is a rundown of the aquatic serpent critters Wikipedia listed.
Champ – Vermont/New York
Gloucester Sea Serpent – Cape Ann
Igopogo – Ontario
Isshii – Japan
Labynkyr Devil – Russia
Loch Ness Monster – Scotland
Mamlambo – South Africa
Manipogo – Canada
Mokele-mbembe – Republic of Congo
Ogopogo – Canada
Selma – Norway
Lots of Cryptids. I notice that Chessie isn’t on the list, so possibly not even comprehensive. Also missing is Millie, the Old Mill Creek Monster. When my children were young, as we crossed the Old Mill bridge on our way to their grandparents’ house, I always told them the legend of Millie (which I shamelessly made up). I suspect the world is rife with sea serpents, if not incarnate, they certainly live in our tall tales.
No one ever comments about Champ or Bigfoot on the back of my pickup or even Bigfoot on my phone case. Perhaps people think it’s odd or immature, or maybe they just don’t care. I always ask about such things—bumper stickers, band shirts, tattoos. And if the image is Bigfoot, all the better. That guy’s an American legend.
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Previously Published on jefftcann.com and is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock