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Cryptids. And why we create them By Damian Palmer for monsters and misfits

To the reader:

Before we dive into the world of cryptozoology and mythology, you should first understand the basics of both. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience that tries to prove the existence of folklore, such as Bigfoot or Nessie. While mythology is the study of myths belonging typically to a religion or tradition, such as Greek mythology or Norse mythology. These two topics are important as they both are stories humans have made to understand the unknown of our world. Greek mythology believed that the sun was a God named Helios and that Poseidon was the God of the sea. The personification of these two Gods was us trying to make sense of our world. Zeus banished Poseidon from Mount Olympus so he began flooding the world. This story is humanity trying to make sense of floods before we had the tools to do so. Cryptozoology is important as it teaches us of unknown creatures that may possibly exist. Some cryptids that are confirmed to exist are Platypus, Manatee, and Okapi. I choose these topics because ever since I was a child, I was always fascinated with the unknown. I would get all the alien, cryptids, and myths books at the library and read every single one of them in a mere hour or two. My fascination hasn't gone anywhere in my 18 years of life and I still wade through the waters of the unknown. Before you begin reading my work I’d like to say one last thing. Don’t forget to look around sometimes as the unknown is everywhere and the fascination with it must never fade. To help understand our world, humanity has created stories and Gods since the dawn of time.

Short Story

Damian Palmer

Ms. Barklow

Monsters and Misfits

May 1st, 2018

The Beckoning Passage

There it was. The passage my grandfather had told me to never venture down. I’ve always loved sailing, and the passage was the only uncharted section of my map. I had inherited my grandfather's boat, Juniper Soul, from him when he retired from the sea long ago. The boat had history, history my grandfather wouldn’t even tell me about. I found the passage to be calling to me, not a sound i could hear, but a sound I could feel pulsating through my bones.

This day was different than the others, I was trimming the jib of the boat when I could feel the pulsating begin. The passage was calling me yet again, but this time I could hear a faint singing. It was angelic and filled my bones with euphoria, I needed to see what goddess made the sweet tones I could feel invading my ears. I looked back at the shack my grandfather lived in as I half expected him to be in the window nodding his head in some assenting way. I hoisted the sails and began slowly creeping into the passage.

It was foggy, cold, and smelled pure here. I could feel the water droplets brushing against my exposed face, the feeling calm and smooth. The passage was ungodly smooth, I felt as if I was sailing on glass. I began hearing the angelic voice again, but this time it was closer and sounded more mellifluous. As I glided along the water, listening to the sweet angel sing, I couldn’t help but feel as if the open ocean was calling me back in some final plea.

I finally saw it, the body of someone sitting on a rock with their legs swaying in the water elegantly. I noticed the singing had merely become a light humming now. The figure, who I realized was a beautiful, black haired woman, now slipped into the water and disappeared into the void that was below me. I peered over the edge, peeking into the void, when I felt something grab me by the head and drag me under. The woman who I had saw earlier was now whispering in my ear “If you stare into the void, sometimes it stares back”. The siren had called for me.

Endnotes:

This short story I wrote is how a Siren encounter could possibly go. I enjoyed writing the piece as writing short stories is really fun to me. Making your own world, characters, and plot is really enjoyable to me. I don’t have any sources or citations for this as the story is completely written by me and knowledge of Greek mythos. I hope my story helped you understand more of the Siren and intrigues you to read more about Greek mythos.

Autopsy Report

End notes:

Writing this medical report was a lot fun. I had to do some research into human anatomy and learned some new words while working on this. My favorite part was making all the signatures as I signed each one about 15 times before I got the right one for each. I was originally going to write a medical report on someone injured in an attack, but decided an autopsy report was going to be more fun. This autopsy report is on someone attacked by an unknown, clawed monster who the coroner just writes it off as a homicide due to blunt force. For the area the body was found, I just went on google maps and zoomed in on Montana as Montana as some pretty freaky cryptids

Poems to the Gods of Olympus

Zeus, supreme leader of Olympus Gods

Exterminated Cronus the father

Underworld, Tartarus where Titans remain

Sports the almighty bolt

Apollo, God of the Sun

Prophecy, he was granted

Olympian intermediary to mortals

Laurel, tree of Apollo

Lover of many mortals and Gods

Olympus enlightened by his lyre

Athena, Goddess of war

The favorite daughter of Zeus

Held the aegis and thunderbolt

Embodied wisdom and intellect

Never born, sprang from Zeus

Athens sworn protector

Hera, Queen of Olympus Gods

Earth and the heavens she ruled

Revengeful to trickster mortals

Aphrodite chosen more beautiful

End notes: I struggled to create some type of poetry with the gods and goddesses, but I prevailed. My favorite poem write was Athena or Zeus because they had such rich stories. I wasn’t originally going to write poetry for the gods, instead I was going to write an advertisement for Bigfoot hunting. However, I decided to write poetry because I really enjoy reading it, but have never been good at writing it.

Obituary

Max "JoJo” Williams died unexpectedly in Red Shale Campground on August 10, 2010 in Powder River County, Montana at the age of 17.

Max is survived by his parents Lois and Derick, of Powder River County . He is preceded in death by his grandfather Reggie Williams, of Wyoming, Michigan.

Max was born on November 12, 1999 in Wyoming, Michigan to Lois and Derick Williams. After moving to Montana, Max began working for J.B Hunt Transport, Inc. Max was not only a bright student, but one of the brightest in Montana. He began writing short stories at a young age and having his father, who was a New York Times best seller author, proofread his stories. He was always curious with the unknown and his fascination brought him to hunt the unknown in his late teens.

A funeral is scheduled for 12:00 pm, August 20th at Powder River Congregational, with a reception to follow. Pastor Jon will officiate the ceremony. All are welcome to attend and celebrate Max's life. Flowers and condolences may be sent to Powder River Congregational.

End notes: This obituary is a follow up of my autopsy I wrote. I recently went to a funeral, so I had the obituary to follow on how to write one. It was shorter than most obituaries as they usually have more than what I wrote. Obituaries aren’t easy to write, especially for real people who have died, but it was still difficult to write even for an imaginary person.

News Article on Yeti sighting

‘Yeti’ roams free in Alaskan wilderness while viewers claim the creature REAL

A short video supposedly showing the Yeti wading through deep snow in an Alaskan forest is being hailed as the best video of the creature to date.

The clip, which was shot on December 14, was captured by an Alaskan man who titled the video as “Incredible footage of Yeti stalking through forest”.

It appears to show the viewer the Yeti hiding amongst the thick treeline of the Alaskan Wilderness.

He uploaded it the YouTube channel Yeti Chasers and since then it has been viewed 178,000 times, with plenty of viewers claiming the sighting to be valid and authentic.

One commented: “The Yeti is freaking huge. You can see the light reflecting off the fur just right, so editing isn’t a possibility. The natural movement doesn’t suggest a suit or costume.”

“The creature is clearly in a crouching video at the beginning. Then it appears to stand up and move toward the forest before pausing. Very interesting video, but I just wish they gave a location or zoomed in a little bit”

Another commented added: “No clue what it is...could be the usual bear, but it’s distinctly white as shown. Wish the video zoomed in more” while a third commented: “It look like a darn bigfoot to me dude.”

Last year saw a rash of sightings of Yeti, which is also known as the Abominable Snowman or Bigfoot in the West.

In 2017, a farmer in Michigan claimed to have seen a whole family of bigfoot, adding that one of them had stolen his pig while running from his Michigan ranch, also in Michigan, a video appeared to show a Bigfoot like creature swaying it’s arms in the distance in an open field.

And Hollywood actor Rob Lowe said an encounter with a “wood ape” while filming a paranormal reality show in Missouri left him in fear of his life.

Tales of the mythical Yeti and Bigfoot predate colonisation of the Americas. Many Native American folklore speaking of the tall, hairy creatures roaming the woods.

Filmmakers Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin filmed what is the most popular video of a Bigfoot in 1967 when they unveiled a minute film in Bluff Creek, California showing an ape like creature strolling through a clearing in the forest where the two had been riding their horses.

The footage is without a doubt the most famous video of a Bigfoot sighting. Many skeptics today still aren’t sure if it was all an elaborate hoax.

Patterson, who died in 1977 of cancer, brought the truth to the grave. However, up until his death, he claimed the footage was, and always will be, real. Grimlin, who refused to be publicly seen has always insisted the video was real and that he and Patterson had captured genuine footage. Grimlin refused to publicly discuss the day the footage was recorded from the mid 70’s to early 2005. He appeared three times to talk about during that time, but it wasn’t until after 2005 when he began taking on more interviews and attending Bigfoot conferences.

The most common explanation for a Yeti or Bigfoot sighting is typically a black bear standing on its hind legs. Many bears have been documented to be able to walk bipedal for short distances, which has become the common explanation for all those bigfoot videos. Or perhaps could there be something lurking out there in the swamps, forests, and mountain range of the Americas? Could there be a Yeti stalking the tundra wasteland of the Himalayan Mountains? Perhaps we just need to accept that there is no Yeti or Bigfoot. I for one wil l continue to stalk the treeline wondering, hoping that I catch a glimpse of the legend.

ENDNOTES:

I enjoyed writing the article. It wasn’t my favorite thing to write as I prefer to write creative pieces such as my short story. I however did enjoy researching the Patterson-Grimlin footage, especially since the last time I did any research was when I was 13. I watched a few Yeti and Bigfoot videos before writing this to immerse myself in the comments and the way people were describing the videos in their comments. It was especially fun to watch people argue over details in the comments and watching all the clear fake videos. I personally believe in Bigfoot because there really isn’t any harm in believing in the unbelievable.

WORK CITED:

Buh, Mihaela. “Greek Monsters.” HubPages, HubPages, 7 May 2011, hubpages.com/education/Greek-Monsters.

“Greek Gods and Goddesses • Facts and Information.” Greek Gods & Goddesses, greekgodsandgoddesses.net/.

Credits:

Created with images by John Jackson - "untitled image" • Boboshow - "goodness athena europe" • geralt - "mourning candle obituary"

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