Here Be Monsers Revisit

 So let's take another look at at the "Here Be Monster" category. The only published article is the Jackalope, itself an easter egg looking at the Nomadic Herdsmen page. You can see the map here, with five overall locations, each a monster, some kind of American Cryptid or folktale creature: Bigfoot, Mothman, The Jersey Devil, and "Roswell", which is what the picture is labelled, it's what the reserved url is, and obviously supposed to be a Space Alien. (It is interesting the location, not the creature is named, and the style of our little Green Man is quite different) When I first started the blog, the younger me was certainly of the "more is more" mindset, posting an article suggesting even more monsters to cover. I haven't walked back on that necessarily, but I do constantly wander back and forth on what America's "Haunted Mythology Canon" should be. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the Bell Witch, the Amityville House and perhaps an Edgar Allen Poe story or two should be prioritzed in crafting a core haunted lore for Medieval America.

Now the "big three" of Cryptids are Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster and the Yeti. Two of these are not American, though presumably a Medieval American has probably heard of them. There are actually "Lake Monsters" around the world, in fact many of their sigthting pre-dating the Nessie craze. In Medieval America it's possible people believe all these Lake Creatures or Sea Serpents are one species--maybe the more whimsical even believe it's the same being (or family of beings) that traverse the world's lakes through magic or underground tunnels. And as for the Yeti, something interesting to note is that the actual mythical Yeti is 1) Supposed to be red or brown, not white as is often depicted in media, and 2) Some works even depict them as living in the Arctic, not the Himalayas. This is likely because it's a very striking visual (especially contrasted with Bigfoot) and because of the "Abominable Snowman" name. Funny enough, the Wendigo is sometimes depiced as a shaggy white Bigfoot creature (notably the Marvel Comics version), which is of course, also a drift from the Algonquin myth. But after 900 years we could probably expect some kind of "Albino Sasquatch" to be in the canon.

I've also talked about the "Universal Monster" type monsters and the back and forth in influence of vampires, werewolves, Frankensein, and even the Mummy.  (I've since learned about cases like Elmer McCurdy, the Wild West Outlaw who also became a travelling Mummy, therefore strengthening a Mummy that combines Egyptian and Peruvian aspects into a New Mexico creature). And I don't want to discount the possibility of "Slasher villains" like Jason Voorhes and Michael Meyers slipping into Country lore. And then there's the Zombie, probably the closest to  "homegrown" classic monster.

And on a somewhat silly but provocative note, there is the franchise Pokemon or "Pocket Monsters". As it is many of its myriad of creatures are drawn from genuine myth, usually from Japan (like the Vulpix and Mawile) but some also evoke Western myths as well (Like Chamander). Now I'm largely of the opinion that, if popular culture were to be implimented into the Mediaval American tapestry, video games and anime should definitely be at the lower end. However, I seem more and more to come across hobby shops, even in fairly rural or small town "main streets", with Pikachu imagery on the storefront window. Pikachu could very well be displacing the old man on the porch in the rocking chair. So what this means in the Medieval America setting is folklore about elemental type creatures summoned--maybe through the "bag of holding physics" or maybe they just do fit in people's pocket, catching on as companions, or perhaps more likely, (and fitting in with the "spooky" and "monstrous" theme, the unexplained cause for ruined crops and rusty nails.