A long serpentine lake creature is hanging out with a red salmon.

My Top 5 Favorite North American Cryptids to Find

Cryptids & Mythology by Shelbi Pierce

With summer approaching, we are provided more opportunities to go outside and explore. As the sun’s rays extend to 9pm on balmy summer evenings and the kiddos are out of school, we are given more time to discover the great outdoors. Well, how else are you going to find a cryptid or beastie if you don’t get outside and look? This got me thinking about my top 5 North American cryptids I’d love to find.

Some of these mysterious critters you may have heard of:

  1. Jersey Devil – gotta love a chimera creature. A horse-faced winged creature that haunts a wide swath of forest? Sign me up. I can always use another excuse to go camping.
  2. Fresno Nightcrawler – I’ve (ridiculously) drawn too many of these dudes to count, plus the video footage is so spooky.
  3. Thunderbird – I love birds in general, why wouldn’t I want to spot a giant thunderous bird? It would be a birders dream!
  4. Ogopogo – another reason I can say why I’m afraid of water in which I can’t see the bottom. From what I’ve read, the Ogopogo (or N’ha-a-itk in the Syilx tongue) is more of a ‘spirit of the lake’ rather than a straight up serpentine monster as its commonly portrayed in British Columbia.
  5. Loveland Frogman – close enough to me that I could go investigate and make friends with, but far enough away that I don’t have to worry about it hanging out roadside, on my daily commute.

So that’s my top five North American cryptids, I encourage you to delve further into these beasties if I’ve peaked your interest. There are tons of related stories and images out there. I will say, I gained my interest in cryptids thanks to my local libraries! They’re always a good place to start!

This next book project is taking up what sparse free time I have, so cryptid-hunting has taken a backseat for the time being. However, I can’t wait to show you what I have planned next! I guess you could say the subject of my next children’s book is roughly adjacent to Thunderbird mentioned above. Stay tuned to find out!

Let me know in the comments below which beastie you’d love to encounter.

In Case You Missed Them: