Could ‘Monsters’ Exist in the Modern World? Cryptozoologist Says…
Could ‘Monsters’ Exist in the Modern World?
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Cryptozoologist Richard Freeman on why we should still believe in unseen animals.
ACCORDING TO INDONESIAN FOLKLORE, DEEP in the Sumatra highlands, among the monster flowers and sun bears, a 4-foot-tall primate known as the orang pendek, “tiny man,” walks on two legs. And beneath the calm waters of an almost circular lake, Congolese legend says an enormous, 50-foot crocodile, known as mahamba, devours entire canoes—passengers and all. Scientists have found no proof that these creatures or other storied cryptids like them exist, but cryptozoologist Richard Freeman believes these mysterious animals are out there. As the zoological director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, a professional cryptozoology organization based in England, he’s traveled around the globe hunting for monsters—from the Gobi Desert in search of the Mongolian death worm to the Brazilian rainforest looking for giant anacondas. “Some people don’t like to use the word monster,” Freeman says, “but it’s derived from the word ‘monstrous’ meaning ‘a revelation,’ which I think is quite an appropriate term for a cryptid.”
Atlas Obscura talked with Freeman, who just published a new book, In Search of Real Monsters, about how cryptid stories develop, the Victorian obsession with the unknown, and why he believes the great days of zoology are not over.
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https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...rview-monsters
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