Oh my...
Cryptozoologists and their myth twisting and cherry picking....
I said, the less fanciful, and the Wikipedia entry was not about cryptozoologists. There's been a serious effort to investigate possible living Giant Sloths.
Who's cherry picking now?
I said somewhere I don't think we need to look for Griffins, but some mythical creatures may have a basis in reality.
North Americans really aren't into mythmaking much. Even our Indians have cable TV.
This:
Became this:
And this:
Is like this:
That's scientific, I suppose?
Ah yeah... Sighting reports... Soooo reliable...
Yep.
"YEAR: 1952-53
SEASON: Summer
MONTH: July
DATE: unkown
STATE: Washington
COUNTY: Cowlitz County
NEAREST TOWN: Longview
This observation lasted perhaps 1-2 minutes when from directly behind meI heard a heeh heeh hee sound with a whistle sound at the end. The drinking animal immediately stood up. It was 6-61/2 feet tall, covered in dark brown to cinnamon colored hair about 3-4 inches long, dark skin on its face and hands, dark eyes set close together, flat nose, large mouth with thin lips with what I would describe an alarmed look on its face.As I turned to see what had made the noise behind me I found my self looking at two huge legs of a larger animal perhaps 8-9 feet in height. I remember I had to look way up to see his face as he was on higher ground and besides I was just a kid. Keep in mind that this all happened at once: the sound behind me;the drinking animal standing up; discovering another animal not 15-20 feet behind me."
http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=4353
"Charleston, S.C. May 17, 1793
A Gentleman on the South Fork of the Saluda river in a letter of the 23rd sends his correspondent in this city the following description on the Bald Mountains in the Western Territories. This animal is between twelve and fifteen feet high, and in shape resembling a human being, except the head, which is in equal proportion to its body and drawn in somewhat like a tarapin; its feet are like those of a negroe, and about two feet long, and hairy, which is of a dark dun colour; its eyes are exceedingly large, and open and shut up and down its face; the hair of its head is about six inches long, stands straight like a negroe's; its nose is what is called Roman."
http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_article.asp?id=293
"YEAR: 2004
SEASON: Summer
MONTH: June
DATE: Friday, 18th
STATE: Alaska
COUNTY: Southeast Fairbanks County
I saw something from the waist up reaching to a higher part of a white bark tree. I did a double take and slammed on the brakes and came to a complete stop. Whatever it was had its back to us and still was reaching up with its right arm. The animal was a beautiful blond/auburn coloration and appeared well groomed as I could see the waist and well developed shoulders that blended into the head. I didn't see a real neck. I made a mental note using the tree as a height measuring device. I reached for the camera and my daughter but when we left our truck the animal was gone. We returned to our truck and continued driving until we pulled into the rest stop mentioned above. I took a tape measure from the tool box and measured a similar looking white bark tree using my mental notes....The animal I saw stood at better than 9 ft with an overhead reach greater than 12 ft."
http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=9317
YEAR: 1984
"SEASON: Summer
MONTH: July
STATE: Washington
COUNTY: Cowlitz County
LOCATION DETAILS: On State Rt. 4, approx. 5 miles west of Longview WA.
NEAREST TOWN: Longview
NEAREST ROAD: State Route 4
OBSERVED: In July 1984 at about 11:00 p.m. my friend Will and I were traveling westbound on state route 4, when I noticed movement on the south side of the road. What I saw was a large black head and shoulders coming over the guardrail on the south side of the road. As I came to a stop, I turned on the highbeams and saw the creature step easily over the guardrail. It was about 8 feet tall with a kind of shiney black hair covering most of its body.
As the creature walked, I noticed it never quite straightened its legs, yet it had a graceful stride. Its arms hung fairly low, coming to just above the knees. It was very powerfully built with massive chest and arms. Even though it was covered with hair, I could see its muscles flexing in its legs and arms.
Most of the hair was an inch or two long with some maybe 4 inches on the back and shoulders. This thing was big. In my estimation it had to have weighed 800 pounds or more. As it neared the center of the road it actually turned and looked right at us. Doing so required it to turn its upper body as its head sat low between its shoulders. When it looked at us its brow furrowed in what I believe to be a look of anger. It looked really p.o'd. I could see its palms as it swung its arms and noticed it had either no or very little hair in the palm area. Also the "soles" of its feet appeared to be devoid of hair. there was almost a hairline at the sides of its feet.
Also noticed was what appeared to be male genitalia , though the genitalia would have to be considered quite small when taking into account the size of the creature. It turned its head back to the forward position and continued across the road and out of my headlights."
http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=940
Elkanah Walker, 1840:
"Bear with me if I trouble you with a little of their superstitions. They believe in a race of giants, which inhabit a certain mountain off to the west of us. This mountain is covered with perpetual snow. They (the creatures) inhabit the snow peaks. They hunt and do all their work at night. They are men stealers.
They come to the people's lodges at night when the people are asleep and take them and put them under their skins and to their place of abode without even waking. Their track is a foot and a half long. They steal salmon from Indian nets and eat then raw as the bears do. If the people are awake, they always know when they are coming very near by their strong smell that is most intolerable. It is not uncommon for them to come in the night and give three whistles and then the stones will begin to hit their houses." (Drury 1976, pp. 122-123)
http://www.bigfootencounters.com/classics/walker.htm
And so on.............Not an eyeball in the abdomen among them.
Melissa is apparently not too busy to discuss her ideas here so when she's got the time I'm sure she'll answer any questions. The simpler the better, IMO.
