As anyone who reads my blog will have surmised by now, I’m a cat owner. Not only do I own two cats, I’m actually pretty enamored with the whole Felidae family.

The cats are an amazing species of animal. They are the epitome of the natural hunting machine and they’re one of the most adaptable species on the planet.

There are cats that live in mountains, deserts, jungles, tundra, and plains. They range in size from that of the modern house cat to the huge tigers of Siberia.

Yet there are some places that cats don’t live. Or are there?

(Note that the picture below is not a picture of the Beast of Exmoor — it is a stock picture of a black panther)

The Beast of Exmoor is really no beast at all.

Although the name would have you believe it was a hulking monster from the annals of the Brothers Grimm, the Beast of Exmoor is actually more commonly described as a puma or panther.

This fascinating cryptid has been reported since the 1970s in the areas of Somerset and Devon of the United Kingdom where there are no official populations of large cats. Numerous witnesses have claimed to see these cats in the area, with many farmers blaming them for a loss of livestock.

Largely, the UK government maintains that there is no Beast of Exmoor and any sightings are merely exaggerated reports of house cats or dogs.

There have been a few pictures that have shown up over the years but skeptics maintain that these pictures are of common house cats since there are no other objects in the picture to indicate the size of the animal being photgraphed.

Cats have definitely shown their ability to survive almost anywhere, however, so is it possible that a few escaped big cats could lead to a sustainable population in the hills of Exmoor?

Or is it a breeding population of big cats that have escaped human detection for centuries?

Until such an animal is captured or more accurately photographed there is nothing to do but speculate on what exactly the Beast of Exmoor is.

I graduated from high school in 1997. My 10 year high school reunion is on the horizon, and that’s got me thinking about Texas and my youth.

Somehow, that led my twisted mind to land on the Lake Worth Monster for Cryptid Corner this week.

Lake Worth is a Texas town about 10 miles from the Dallas/Forth Worth metroplex. It’s not really known for much, and I only encountered it when we played against them in Football.

In 1969, however, Lake Worth was put on the map for a rash of sightings of a creature not unlike Bigfoot. Initial reaction by law enforcement was that it was a hoax, but even they changed their mind after a particular sighting in which 30 people witnessed the creature.

The Lake Worth Monster sightings are very compressed in history, but I’ve always found the reports interesting in their detail.

For example, the Lake Worth Monster was reported to have hurled a spare tire some 500 feet towards curious onlookers. There are descriptions of his cry, reports of him breaking limbs off of trees, and even one report in which he jumped up onto the hood of a car.

Numerous tracks were found as well as many reports of hearing and smelling the creature around the area. In one incident, the creature was shot, leaving a blood trail that was followed for some time before yielding no monster.

Whatever this white bigfoot-like creature was, it seemed to disappear by 1970. Whether it died, moved on, or was killed by the gunshot wounds it received we may never know.

The Lake Worth Monster, however, has always been a story to me as to how close these cryptids can really be. My hometown is a mere hour’s drive from Lake Worth. So keep your eyes open — you never know when you’ll find a cryptid in your own backyard!

Okay, so this isn’t really a cryptid at all. It’s actually an entry in a contest to touch up photos of Washington DC over at Dcist.com.

But I’ve been busy this week and don’t have anything better for you, so I’ll just post this picture. I know that makes the 3rd Friday in a row with no meaningful Cryptid posts, and I promise to do better. Honest!

Thanks to Hemisphire for the link.

Not quite a centaur, but not quite a satyr either.

The Ashburn Goatman is a cryptid that haunts only my dreams. My recent research of all things crypto have caused me to start inventing my own cryptids in my nightmares.

I’ve now had two dreams about the Ashburn Goatman, which as far as I can tell has never been reported.

Ashburn — a small Northern Virginia community — is about as void of wild animals as anywhere in the concrete metroplexes of the country.

Take that as a disclaimer: none of this is real. It’s just my cryptid charged imagination going into overdrive while I sleep.

As the story goes, my neighbor came over to tell us that she had seen something very strange. It was the size of a goat, with a goat body, but a centaur-like man half. In my dream, I was completely non-skeptical and hoped to see it for myself.

A few hours later (dream-time), one of my cats was meowing at the window. Curious, I looked out to see not only the Goatman, but a baby goatman as well. Although you would think the feeling would be one of awe, I remember feeling extremely creeped out and scared.

Despite my fear, I went outside with a camera to catch at least a photo of the Ashburn Goatman, only to have it run away before I could get its picture.

Then there was a rustle in a nearby bush. I could barely make out what appeared to be the baby. Upon closer inspection, however, it was merely a small baby deer who had hid in the bush (presumably to escape the Goatman).

Dream 2: The Ashburn Goatman had been spotted around Ashburn multiple times. Law enforcement had tried to catch it, and zoologist were en route to find it. It was in all the papers — a national event.

Although the Goatman had never harmed anyone, there was a state of fear surrounding my neighborhood. Children weren’t allowed to go outside. People rushed in from work and only went out in groups.

Weird dreams. I’m not a dream analysis expert, but certainly there is a part of me that longs to see something unexplained and abnormal like a cryptid or a UFO. Perhaps it is that desire that led to these strange dreams about the legendary Ashburn Goatman.

When I started Cryptid Corner I knew that eventually I would have to go there. You can’t talk about cryptids without getting swept away into the most outrageous and improbable of them all — the Chupacabra Chupacabras.

Not only does it have an awesome name, it also has an awesome M.O. It sucks the blood out of goats and other livestock. Now that’s just cool.

The interesting thing about the Chupacabras is that it’s an extremely new cryptid.

Unlike old standbys like Bigfoot and Nessie, the Chupacabras isn’t recorded in modern lore until the 1970s.

Originally, our little fanged friend was known as El Vampiro de Moca but after the phenomenon spread far and wide, it took on the name Chupacabras which literally means “goat sucker” “sucker of goats.”

Interestingly, the Chupacabras originated in Spanish speaking countries and stayed there for most of its sightings (and killings), but in the current decade it has been reported as far north as Maine in the US, and even as far away as Russia.

As recently as May 2007, there was a report of 300 dead sheep in Boyaca and sketchy rumors that a specimen of the culprit was captured and sent to Universidad Nacional of Colombia for further study.

For me, I think the biggest question of the Chupacabras phenomenon is what exactly is killing these animals?

Is it some sort of deranged behavior of a wild animal, or is it a more gruesome version of the crop circle hoaxes?

Whether the world ever identifies Chupacabras, I hope it lives on. It’s just too cool to disappear from human lore.

EDIT: Loren Coleman of cryptomundo.com has responded to correctly point out that the term “Chupacabra” to refer to this cryptid is technically incorrect. Instead, the correct spelling for even a singular creature would be “Chupacabras” which actually means “sucker of goats.”

Sorry for the mistake and thanks for the lesson! Seems like its a common mistake in the reporting of the Chupacabras.