When you stare into the shadows... do the shadows stare back?
Sasquatch! Mothman! Nessie! The Jackalope! Many cryptids are famous, but which ones are real? Search beyond blurry photos and sketchy eye-witness accounts to examine physical evidence of cryptids that shows... how we know they are real.
Sample passages:
From Chapter 1
"Studying cryptids sharpens the mental tools needed to cut through the thickets of misleading and incomplete evidence. The skills you'll practice as you judge the existence of Bigfoot can be used to analyze any number of scientific, commercial, political, or philosophical claims. The study of cryptids can lead the open-minded explorer into a better understanding and appreciation of our world."
From Chapter 6
"When preserved specimens of the platypus first started showing up in Europe, skeptics assumed they were taxidermy hoaxes. Here was a creature that seemed to be half duck. It had a bill and laid eggs. But, it also had fur, and a beaver's tail. Unlike either birds or mammals, it also possessed venomous spikes on its ankles!
To accept the creature as genuine would require rewriting the laws of biology. On the other hand, a clever taxidermist could slap together the body parts of different animals to produce all sorts of fantastic critters. Genetic testing wasn't a possibility in the late 18th century. A respectable naturalist of the era no doubt felt he was on firm footing to pronounce that the creature was a hoax before he ever examined a specimen."
From Chapter 16
"The giant squid swims through deep, dark seas surrounded by things we'll never see, and can't imagine.
In this light, the fact that anyone would state that we've already discovered every large creature in the wild is a foolish claim. Just because something is unknown isn't proof that it's unreal. If someone tells you a certain cryptid doesn't exist, there's no reason to accept that as the final word. There can be no final word. Reality is still being discovered and understood, and there's an infinite supply of the unknown to transform into the knowable."
