The main points of the article Cryptozoology in the Medieval and Modern Worlds

I wanted to read this article since I am interested in just how long cryptids have been presumed to exist and what importance they had at particular times in history. I'll list some of the main points of the article and add my own comments.

The whole thing about looking for cryptids means that the people doing the looking '...they are participating ina very ancient and socially important ritual in which communal space is defined and in which the boundaries of civilisation are constructed.'

(In other words, the whole thing about cryptids goes back a very, very long way in human history.) This type of thing includes medieval stories about elves, fairies 7th century encounter with a lake monster.

'Why does humanity, as a whole, so consistently and ubiquistously populate its border spaces with fascinating and sometimes threatening creatures?'

There was an International Society of Cryptozoology but it only ran from 1982 to 1998.

There is a Guide to Cryptozoology (but I looked it up and it's kind of expensive.)

The belief in cryptids goes back for thouands of years.

Some ancient writers writing about cryptids sometimes felt that they were just pretty big exaggerations.

Contemporary cryptzoology '...serves as a marker of how weary many people are with a world over-explored, over-tamed and over-understood.'

I think what he's saying here is that the mystery of life in our world has pretty much been removed.

There is a 13th century work by Albertus Magnus on cryptids. It covers over 500 examples.

The Phoenix has become a symbol on its own for resurrection.

'Bestiaries articulated tensions among social groups..'

The books also expressed some theological and ideological concerns.

(By the nature of the beasts and by their interactions things could be seen in human behavior and be judged that way.)

One thing that is important about the old Bestiaries is that there was really no way to actually prove the existence of the cryptids since there was a lack of scientific instruments and scientists who, in our day, could (sometimes) be consulted about whether this or that cryptid might be real.

An example of how things have changed can be seen on the television show The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch where various odd things have been seen such as UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), cattle mutiliations, some creature attacking a llama, portals and various other creatures. The people working on the problem have a multitude of scientific instruments at their use including things that can look into the ground and see what's there, things that can go into tunnels and see what's there, cameras and other devices that can keep track of what is on the ground and instruments and rockets that can see what is happening above theground.

'There is undoubtedly a continuum behind the psychological need for folklore monsters running from the ancient world to the modern world.' In other words, there is something within us that still wants some mystery in our lives.

'...Bigfoot has been read as a reflection of ourselves...'

Another thing I want to point out is this. In the Medieval world there was no actual scientific method, no way to go about studying something strange, coming up with an educated guess about what it might be, capturing it, examining it and coming to a conclusion that you either can explain it as something common seen under maybe some unusual circumstances or it could be something that is actually real and needs to be studied.

We also have another difference. In the Medieval period someone could write a book about the monsters and it might be the only book about that topic for a long time. In today's science world, though, you would have a variety of scientific papers in various scientific journals which would be read and commented upn by other scientients. This would continue until there was a general acceptance by the scientists that such-and-such a thing was actually real.

There is a Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society that 'prides itself on being a non-kill organization.'

(I want to point out here that some things that are talked about like cryptozoology.com no longer exist.)

The world of the paranormal stands apart from the world of 'accepted' science and this can result in various arguments and, at times, arrogance on the part of some in the scientific community that their way is the only accepted way and if something doesn't fit into their world (like giants, for example) then they cannot exist, never did exist and anyone finding anything like a very tall human skeleton is lying about it or is faking it.

The article also has 30 notations and various references cited.