SIGNAL: SIGHTING REPORTED

WHAT LURKS NEAR YOU?

The field guide to cryptids — 177 creatures across all 50 states and 53 countries, with sightings, history, hotspots, videos and the latest news.

Explore the USA
177cryptids on file, every one sourced
50US states with their own cryptid file
53countries around the world
695dated sightings and events recorded

YOUR REGION · UNITED STATES

Cryptids near you

Tap your state to see its cryptids, hotspots and local news. The brighter the state, the more there is to explore.

AK3 ME5 WI7 VT5 NH3 WA5 ID5 MT3 ND3 MN6 IL6 MI6 NY4 MA4 OR3 NV4 WY3 SD5 IA3 IN3 OH5 PA6 NJ2 CT3 RI2 CA5 UT2 CO3 NE4 MO2 KY5 WV4 VA3 MD5 DE3 AZ4 NM4 KS2 AR3 TN2 NC3 SC3 OK3 LA4 MS4 AL3 GA3 HI2 TX7 FL4

The USA’s most famous

Frame 352 of the 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film: a dark, hairy upright figure walking across a creek bed and looking toward the camera HOMINID · 1958

Bigfoot

Pacific Northwest forests, reported across North America

North America’s most famous cryptid: a huge, hairy, upright ape-like being reported from the Pacific Northwest to Florida since the 1958 “Bigfoot” tracks.

WIDELY REPORTED The stainless-steel Mothman statue with spread wings on a street in Point Pleasant, West Virginia FLYING · 1966

Mothman

Point Pleasant and the “TNT area”, Mason County, West Virginia

A man-sized winged figure with glowing red eyes reported around Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in 1966–67 – now a festival, museum and steel statue.

REGIONAL LEGEND Artist’s drawing of the classic Puerto Rican chupacabra: an upright gray creature with big eyes and spines along its back OTHER · 1995

Chupacabra

Canóvanas, Puerto Rico

The “goat-sucker” of 1990s Puerto Rico: a spiny, bloodsucking beast blamed for livestock deaths that spread across Latin America and Texas.

WIDELY REPORTED A 1909 Philadelphia newspaper drawing of the Jersey Devil as a winged, horned creature FLYING · 1735

Jersey Devil

Pine Barrens, southern New Jersey

A winged, hoofed devil said to have been born to “Mother Leeds” in the Pine Barrens, and the star of a week of panic across South Jersey in January 1909.

REGIONAL LEGEND Rows of tall red pines in Michigan’s Manistee National Forest, the heart of Dogman country DOGMAN & CANINE · 1987

Michigan Dogman

Northwestern Lower Peninsula, Michigan

A seven-foot, dog-headed creature said to walk upright through northern Michigan’s forests – a legend born from a 1987 April Fools’ radio song.

REGIONAL LEGEND A roadside statue depicting the Florida Skunk Ape HOMINID · 1818

Skunk Ape

Big Cypress Swamp and the Everglades, Florida

Florida’s answer to Bigfoot: a shaggy, foul-smelling ape-man said to roam the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp, reported since the 1970s and before.

WIDELY REPORTED An illustration recreating Sandra Mansi’s 1977 photo of a long-necked shape rising from Lake Champlain LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1819

Champ

Lake Champlain, New York–Vermont border

A long-necked monster said to live in Lake Champlain, made famous by Sandra Mansi’s 1977 photo and protected by local and state resolutions in the 1980s.

REGIONAL LEGEND An Andean condor soaring with wings fully spread, the kind of large bird sometimes proposed to explain thunderbird sightings FLYING · Pre-colonial

Thunderbird

Northern Pennsylvania mountains and central Illinois

A giant bird with a wingspan said to rival a small plane, reported over Pennsylvania’s Black Forest and blamed for lifting an Illinois boy in 1977.

REGIONAL LEGEND

All 50 states →

NEWS DESK · UPDATED DAILY

Latest cryptid news

All news →

The news desk is warming up — headlines will appear here after the first daily update.

THE FILES

The world’s most famous cryptids

All 177 →
Frame 352 of the 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film: a dark, hairy upright figure walking across a creek bed and looking toward the camera HOMINID · 1958

Bigfoot

Pacific Northwest forests, reported across North America

North America’s most famous cryptid: a huge, hairy, upright ape-like being reported from the Pacific Northwest to Florida since the 1958 “Bigfoot” tracks.

WIDELY REPORTED The 1934 “Surgeon’s Photograph”: a dark head and neck rising from rippled water – a hoax later shown to be a model on a toy submarine. LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1933

Loch Ness Monster

Loch Ness, near Inverness, Scottish Highlands

Scotland’s long-necked lake monster, reported in Loch Ness since 1933 – the world’s most famous cryptid, most searched-for loch and best-known hoax.

WIDELY REPORTED The stainless-steel Mothman statue with spread wings on a street in Point Pleasant, West Virginia FLYING · 1966

Mothman

Point Pleasant and the “TNT area”, Mason County, West Virginia

A man-sized winged figure with glowing red eyes reported around Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in 1966–67 – now a festival, museum and steel statue.

REGIONAL LEGEND Artist’s drawing of the classic Puerto Rican chupacabra: an upright gray creature with big eyes and spines along its back OTHER · 1995

Chupacabra

Canóvanas, Puerto Rico

The “goat-sucker” of 1990s Puerto Rico: a spiny, bloodsucking beast blamed for livestock deaths that spread across Latin America and Texas.

WIDELY REPORTED Black-and-white photograph of a large footprint in snow beside an ice axe, taken by Eric Shipton on the Menlung Glacier in 1951 HOMINID · 1921

Yeti

Khumbu and the high Himalaya, Nepal

The Himalaya’s “Abominable Snowman”: a Sherpa legend made global by footprint photos, monastery relics and DNA studies that kept finding bears.

WIDELY REPORTED A 1909 Philadelphia newspaper drawing of the Jersey Devil as a winged, horned creature FLYING · 1735

Jersey Devil

Pine Barrens, southern New Jersey

A winged, hoofed devil said to have been born to “Mother Leeds” in the Pine Barrens, and the star of a week of panic across South Jersey in January 1909.

REGIONAL LEGEND Rows of tall red pines in Michigan’s Manistee National Forest, the heart of Dogman country DOGMAN & CANINE · 1987

Michigan Dogman

Northwestern Lower Peninsula, Michigan

A seven-foot, dog-headed creature said to walk upright through northern Michigan’s forests – a legend born from a 1987 April Fools’ radio song.

REGIONAL LEGEND A roadside statue depicting the Florida Skunk Ape HOMINID · 1818

Skunk Ape

Big Cypress Swamp and the Everglades, Florida

Florida’s answer to Bigfoot: a shaggy, foul-smelling ape-man said to roam the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp, reported since the 1970s and before.

WIDELY REPORTED An illustration recreating Sandra Mansi’s 1977 photo of a long-necked shape rising from Lake Champlain LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1819

Champ

Lake Champlain, New York–Vermont border

A long-necked monster said to live in Lake Champlain, made famous by Sandra Mansi’s 1977 photo and protected by local and state resolutions in the 1980s.

REGIONAL LEGEND An Andean condor soaring with wings fully spread, the kind of large bird sometimes proposed to explain thunderbird sightings FLYING · Pre-colonial

Thunderbird

Northern Pennsylvania mountains and central Illinois

A giant bird with a wingspan said to rival a small plane, reported over Pennsylvania’s Black Forest and blamed for lifting an Illinois boy in 1977.

REGIONAL LEGEND SPECTRAL · Pre-colonial

Wendigo

Boreal forests of Canada and the northern Great Lakes

A being of winter, hunger and greed from Algonquian traditions – Ojibwe, Cree, Innu and others – whose teachings warn against selfish excess.

FOLKLORE Green fibreglass Ogopogo statue with humped coils on the Kelowna waterfront LAKE & SEA MONSTER · Pre-colonial

Ogopogo

Okanagan Lake, British Columbia

Canada’s most famous lake monster: a long, humped serpent said to swim Okanagan Lake, rooted in the Syilx being nx̌aʔx̌ʔitkʷ, spirit of the lake.

WIDELY REPORTED DOGMAN & CANINE · 1991

Beast of Bray Road

Bray Road, Elkhorn, Walworth County, Wisconsin

A wolf-headed creature that walks on two legs, reported along a farm road outside Elkhorn, Wisconsin, and made famous by reporter Linda Godfrey in 1991.

REGIONAL LEGEND A giant chair shaped like the Flatwoods Monster on the lawn by the town hall in Flatwoods, West Virginia HUMANOID · 1952

Flatwoods Monster

Fisher farm hillside, Flatwoods, Braxton County, West Virginia

A ten-foot figure with a glowing face and spade-shaped hood that seven witnesses met on a West Virginia hillside after a light fell from the sky in 1952.

REGIONAL LEGEND

FIELD GUIDE

Browse by kind of creature

Frame 352 of the 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film: a dark, hairy upright figure walking across a creek bed and looking toward the camera29Wildmen & HominidsUpright, hair-covered giants and wildmen: Bigfoot, the Yeti, the Yowie, the Almas and their relatives. The 1934 “Surgeon’s Photograph”: a dark head and neck rising from rippled water – a hoax later shown to be a model on a toy submarine.59Lake & Sea MonstersLong necks, humps and serpents in deep lakes, rivers and coastal waters. The stainless-steel Mothman statue with spread wings on a street in Point Pleasant, West Virginia14Flying CryptidsGiant birds, winged humanoids and pterosaur-like creatures of the skies. Rows of tall red pines in Michigan’s Manistee National Forest, the heart of Dogman country11Dogmen & CaninesUpright dog-like beasts, phantom black dogs and mysterious wild canines. Brown Willy seen from Rough Tor – the highest point of Bodmin Moor and of Cornwall7Phantom Big CatsBlack panthers and out-of-place big cats seen where none should live. An artist’s illustration of the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp13Reptilian CryptidsLizard men, giant serpents and creatures said to be living dinosaurs. A giant chair shaped like the Flatwoods Monster on the lawn by the town hall in Flatwoods, West Virginia20Humanoids & Strange BeingsGoatmen, frogmen, little people and other strange two-legged beings.

SCREENING ROOM

Watch

All 128 videos →
ARCHIVE.ORG3:07
BIGFOOT

Patterson–Gimlin film (unedited)

Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin

The original 1967 Bluff Creek footage – the most famous and most debated minute in Bigfoot history. Marked public domain on archive.org.

ARCHIVE.ORG4:21
LOCH NESS MONSTER

Loch Ness Monster 1960 News Report (BBC Panorama, 13 June 1960)

BBC Panorama (archive.org upload)

The original television report from 1960, made in the wake of Tim Dinsdale’s famous film of a hump crossing the loch.

ARCHIVE.ORG59:41
MOTHMAN

Sojourners Along the Way: Mothman – The Investigation

ACTV (community television)

Talk by Jeff Wamsley, founder of the Mothman Museum and author of books on the sightings, about the witnesses and events of 1966–67.

ARCHIVE.ORG1:26
CHUPACABRA

Chupacabra Caught on Tape – 08/12/08

KFDA NewsChannel 10 (archived copy)

Local TV report on the August 2008 police dash-cam footage of a hairless animal in rural DeWitt County, Texas – the Cuero chupacabra case.

ARCHIVE.ORG3:14
YETI

Daily Mail Yeti Expedition Newsreel (1954)

Daily Mail

Period newsreel in which members of the 1954 Snowman Expedition present their findings to the press. License not stated on archive.org.

ARCHIVE.ORG11:09
JERSEY DEVIL

What Did The Newspapers Say About The Jersey Devil?

Dime Store Adventures

Walks through the original newspaper coverage of the Jersey Devil, including the January 1909 reports.

BEYOND THE USA

Explore the world

World map →
Frame 352 of the 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film: a dark, hairy upright figure walking across a creek bed and looking toward the camera108North AmericaBigfoot · Mothman · Chupacabra Artist’s drawing of the classic Puerto Rican chupacabra: an upright gray creature with big eyes and spines along its back5Central America & the CaribbeanChupacabra · La Llorona · El Cadejo Artist’s drawing of the classic Puerto Rican chupacabra: an upright gray creature with big eyes and spines along its back6South AmericaChupacabra · La Llorona · Nahuelito The 1934 “Surgeon’s Photograph”: a dark head and neck rising from rippled water – a hoax later shown to be a model on a toy submarine.24EuropeLoch Ness Monster · Black Shuck · Beast of Bodmin Moor Black-and-white photograph of a large footprint in snow beside an ice axe, taken by Eric Shipton on the Menlung Glacier in 195119Asia & the Middle EastYeti · Kappa · Mongolian Death Worm The Likouala-aux-Herbes River near Epena, in the swamp-forest region where Mokele-mbembe is said to live13AfricaMokele-mbembe · Nandi Bear · Kongamato Black-and-white photograph of a pair of thylacines in an enclosure at the Beaumaris Zoo, Hobart, around 19109OceaniaYowie · Bunyip · Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine)

WHAT IS A CRYPTID?

An animal science hasn’t confirmed — yet.

Cryptids are creatures reported by witnesses and passed down in folklore, but never proven to exist: Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Mothman. Some turned out to be real animals — the okapi, the giant squid, the coelacanth. Most are explained by misidentified wildlife, hoaxes and good storytelling. We collect the stories, the evidence and the explanations, so you can decide.

Read the FAQAll cryptids A–ZHow we research