ᗰOTᕼᗰᗩᑎ TOOK TᕼE ᒪIᑎᗪᗷEᖇGᕼ ᗷᗩᗷY

A blog about cryptids and creatures

[homunculus-argument]

A professional exorcist, but with the attitude of a professional pet handler. A demon whisperer, if you will. Just showing up to places that have a ghost problem, figuring out what the creature's problem is, and then just... give them chew toys, usually. The girl whose soul is trapped in your cellar is scared and bored in there, of course she'll rush at you and shriek every time you try to go in there. Ease her into human interaction, leave the door open sometimes and talk to her until she gets used to you.

Yeah the thing clawing on your walls is a bear spirit. Yeah a bear was slaughtered on the spot of this house incorrectly in the 1800s or something. Yeah performing the proper rites now won't make it go away, it's already used to your trash - bears are creatures of habit. Just do these little rituals to appease it every once in a while. In the good news, the ghost bear will keep the living bears off your trash. Yeah bears have a lot of reverence to their dead.

Oh, "poltergeist" is an outdated term, we don't use it anymore. It was used as a kind of a blanket explanation for a whole bunch of different phenomena that couldn't be explained otherwise. What you have here is an undiagnosed autistic child who's also on psychic spectrum. Yeah no there's actually significant overlap between the two. Here's where to find resources on how to better accomodate your kid, the furniture should stop exploding on its own once you've figured out a better way to communicate so they don't get overstimulated.

This house right here is just build on a demon area. No yeah the mysterious scripts you found carved in the stone that your house's foundation was built on literally just say "DEMON AREA DO NOT BUILD". They don't live here, it's just like an ant road. Except the ants are the size of a truck and immaterial. No you can't redirect the demon highway, you gotta move. You built a house on top of a stone that literally says "DO NOT BUILD". I get that you didn't know it at the time, but you do know now, so if you choose to stay, that's a you problem.

[neuronary]

‘redditors need to know this’, ‘twitterinas need to know that’… no. you need to know one thing and that is that you are not allowed to complain about werewolf fuckers. this is the werewolf fucking website. grow up and go fuck a werewolf.

[once-a-polecat]

[were--ralph]

What does this gif have to do with werewolves?

[flizaa]

if you have to ask you’re not ready

[were--ralph]

can you explain? i don’t get it

[thefirstanomally]

This is like someone just informed the newcomers about the devils sacrament taking place every full moon and the devil itself popped up asking “what sacrament?” with a cheshire grin.

[themonsterblog]

The Beast of Bray Road

Dating back to 1936, citizens of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, in Walworth county as well as Racine and Jefferson counties have been witnessing a beast.

Reported to be 6ft tall, with grey and brown fur, the Beast is said to have a wolf-like face, shiny yellow eyes, pointed ears, and run and walk on all fours or hind legs as well as kneel like a man. I am reticent to call it a werewolf as shapeshifters are rather outrageous even for the cryptozoology community, but that is the imagery that comes to mind.

The first reported sighting was in 1936. 30-something Mark Shackleman was the night watchman for the St Coletta School For Exceptional Children outside Jefferson. The school had extensive grounds that included wide, open fields that held several preserved Native American burial mounds. Crossing the fields one night when doing his rounds, Shackleman saw a shadow digging into one of the mounds, much like a canine would. The Beast then stood to six feet tall and looked at him, it’s large body covered in dark fur and smelled of rotting meet. Shackleman took a step back, startled, and the beast abruptly turned and ran off into the woods. Shackleman reported seeing it again the next night, but never again.

Due to some what conflicting descriptions of the beast, some cryptozoology enthusiasts believe the beast to be a misidentification of some other cryptid, such as “Eddy” or “The Bluff Monster,” a Bigfoot like creature in Wisconsin. Others suggest a Waheela, or “bear dog;” as well as a Shunka Warakin. Some have even suggested due to the similarities and proximity that The Beast Of Bray Road and The Michigan Dogman are the same animal.

The Beast has been reported to act aggressively, but not outright violent and hasn’t reported to have physically harmed anyone. It had also been reported to charge vehicles, even chase people, but breaking off the chase before catching anyone, suggesting the theory that some have that it is territorial or guarding something, which could also explain the reason that many sightings are concentrated on a 2 mile stretch of farm road.

In 1991, 18 year old, Doris Gibson, reported driving down Bray Road during a storm when she felt her tire hit something. Thinking she had hit a small animal, she got out of her car to investigate only to find nothing. She looked to the side of the road, saw the form of the Beast and rushed back to her car. As she sped away, she said the Beast jumped on the trunk of her car but slid off in the heavy rain.

In the fall of 1989, Lori Endrizzi was driving down Bray Road on her way home from her job as a bar manager, when she saw a hunched figure in the road eating road kill. She flipped on her high beams to see it clearer and realized that whatever it was, knelt like a man and held the carcass in its hands like it had human-like elbows. The creature then stood and started towards her vehicle that had stalled out as Lori panicked and struggled to get it to start. When the engine successfully rolled over, she floored it to her mother’s house. “I didn’t sleep that night very well,” she said in her interview with Monsters and Mysteries in America.

The town of Elkhorn has supposedly had so many sightings of the Beast from the 80’s and 90’s that the Elkhorn Animal Control is rumored to have a file on the creature. The vast uptick in sightings is what had the now defunct Walworth Week assign junior reporter, Linda Godfrey, to investigate and report on the sightings. Linda published her article “Tracking down ‘The Beast of Bray Road’” on December 29th, 1991 and would then go on to write “The Beast Of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin’s Werewolf” and become the foremost expert on the subject.

One story Godfrey tells regarding the Beast is about a group of boys heading home from sledding, that was told to her by a friend of her son’s that experienced it first-hand. On their way home, the boys saw a large furry creature drinking water from a creek, thinking that it was a dog, they decided to go pet it. When they approached the creature, it stood, snarled, and took chase after the boys, breaking off after they cleared the tree line. Which, while terrifying, is in line with many reports.

Steve Krueger has told a consistent story on both Monster Quest and Monsters and Mysteries in America. Myself being a natural skeptic, once recognizing him on M&M from Monster Quest, made sure to track down his MQ episode, initially thinking that I could rule him out as a credible eye witness if his story changed. It hadn’t in the 4 years between episode airings, which lent more to his credibility in my eyes, albeit the story being more sensational on M&M due to the nature of that show. In November 2006, Krueger, a DNR worker had removed a the carcass of an 85lb doe from a road in Holy Hill, Wisconsin. As Krueger sat in the cab of his truck filling out the required paper work for the removal, he felt his truck shake, thinking it was simply the wind, he ignored it. A second harder shake caught his attention and he looked out the back window of his truck to see a shadowy figure standing at the tailgate of his truck. Krueger shined his flashlight through the back window to get a better look and saw a 6ft tall animal with a wolf-like face, reaching into the bed for the deer carcass he had just removed from the road. Startled, Krueger threw the truck in drive and sped away allowing the Beast to drag the doe off the back of his truck.

Wolf Biologist Peggy Callahan believes all of these sightings can be explained as simple misidentification. “People could definitely misidentify a wolf jumping up on its hind legs,” she tells Monster Quest, in a 2010 interview. Callahan believes that folklore and superstition combined with misidentification has created the tale of the Beast and influenced sightings. “As for the traditional werewolf, I’m going to tell you it doesn’t exist.”

Linda Godfrey on the other hand, does not believe this is a simple case of misidentification and advocates for witnesses saying “I really believe that all of these witnesses have seen what they say they saw. [...] Anybody who drives around much in Wisconsin has seen so many deer, and so many bear, and these other creatures that they would have a hard time mistaking something like that for a completely unknown animal.”

Sightings over the years have dwindled in frequency but recent sightings have been reported to MyRacineCounty.com with Danny Morgan’s January 2018 account of seeing the Beast while driving home from Lake Geneva, accompanied with the cell phone photo that heads this post; and Ron Rice’s 2020 account of seeing the Beast in the town of Lyons while delivering fertilizer.

If you are interested in learning more about upright, Wolf-like hominids, I highly recommend sifting through Linda Godfreys blog at Lindagodfrey.com. She has compiled sightings on there since 2009, but has been inactive since May of 2020.

Sources:

Milwaukeemag.com

Legendsofamerica.com

Lindagodfrey.com

MyRacineCounty.com

History Channel’s Monster Quest

Travel Channel’s Monsters and Mysteries in America

Cryptidz.fandom.com

[labete-du-gevaudan]

[generaljenobi-deactivated202411]

[moviequotes3]

the logic of this is making me laugh a lot 

[toskarin]

[doesn't really understand conspiracy theories but wants to be involved] jfk didn't kill himself

[themonsterblog]

Guys, I’ve reached the “watching Bo Burnham’s Inside to validate and calm the thoughts in my mind and quell my desire to yeet myself out of this existence” era of this depression cycle so HOPEFULLY I’ll finally start posting things again??? Maybe I’ll finally post the Momo research I’ve been sitting on for a year and a half. Love you nerds, stay weird!

[kittykatninja321]

My hypothesis is that in like 10 years gen z is gonna have a big cult boom the way the boomers did in the 70s

[chazymandias]

It’s already happening on tik tok. There’s a fun new thing going round that’s citing common symptoms of depression and anxiety as signs you’re about to have your awakening and that you are actually an alien and the reason you don’t feel right is because you’re home sick for your own galaxy. So that’s fun.

[aleatoryw]

agreed, and i don’t mean this in a “haha gen z is so dumb they’re gonna join a tiktok cult lmao” i mean that conditions are perfect for the formation of cults right now.

high unemployment and a lot of underpaying, pointless jobs = people are looking for things to do with their life, a purpose

skyrocketing cost of living = most young people will not be able to live on their own, meaning some will end up in a group living situation with people interested in recruiting them

it’s a time of great cultural and political upheaval, nothing feels real, people are desperate for meaning and human connection. cults promise that

there is a new wave of acceptance and understanding for ways of life outside the norm, which is great! …except for when cult leaders tell you abusive and controlling practices are just their culture, their religion, their lifestyle, their beliefs, their tradition, and if you disrespect it you are the problem

social media influencers have already shown us how easy it is to build a cult of personality and attract people from anywhere in the world who are interested in the exact brand you are selling

spirtuality is having a boom, as are things like astrology, crystals, tarot, meditation, energy… those things aren’t bad on their own but they are often used as tools of cult spaces

wellness. i think a lot of people are already in wellness cults. you can make people do a lot of things in the name of “wellness” and a big factor of maintaining a cult is keeping members in a state of decreased cognition….. like say, with regular fasting

i think people are just unaware in general of how cults function, especially because the satanic panic was a big stupid false alarm that convinced the youths that dungeons and dragons or doom were gateways to cults, which are scary evil child murdering, satan-worshipping gangs. people don’t know how to spot them in real life.

So if that’s the case everyone remember with me the cardinal rules of not getting cult’d

SOCIAL BUFFER: Learn what healthy social boundaries are and develop relationships which are within those boundaries.

Be wary of those who step on your or others’ boundaries. Be there for your friends, but don’t be their therapists or parents. Go get coffee or juice or snacks & chat casually with a friendly crew on a regular basis.

ESTEEM BUFFER. Recognize that you and every other person on this planet are owed a baseline of respect.

Respect means that what you wear, what/who you take interest in, and who/what you are are things which you decide on based on your own reasoning. If anyone is trying to change your mind, make sure to think critically about their side and decide for yourself whether you want to change. Ask: Why do they want you to change? Is that valid to your situation? Who / what would benefit from this change? Do you want them / it to benefit? Then decide for yourself.

RELAXATION BUFFER. Take time exclusively for yourself.

Take care of your body and mind when it needs to be fed, watered, washed, or nurtured. Have a couple hobbies that are just for you. Have more than one interest. Think about more than just one topic. Cults keep you focused on them to the exclusion of all else, so don’t allow yourself to be blocked in.

BUBBLE POP BUFFER: Learn from multiple sources, even ones you don’t like or respect.

Read multiple sources’ versions of events before you decide what you feel about something. Recognize that not all sources are valid, but understand what those invalid sources are trying to do. Are they misguided or malicious? Who are THEIR sources? What is the agenda? Who benefits? Why would they want to say what they’re saying? Do they have a point? Who pays them? What do they care about? Then make your decision.

BEWARE THE B.I.T.E.: Cults control people via Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotion control. BITE

Look up the BITE model and consider it against groups you wish to join / have joined.

Remember. You are the arbiter of your mind.

You have the blessing and burden of making your own decisions. Other people who will love and care about you throughout your life will want you to think for yourself and will think for themselves.

You are not alone. You are worthwhile. Your thoughts are your own and you have every right to control them yourself.

[nothorses]

Just a quick addition: look for BITE stuff in regular individuals and friend groups, not just groups you’re formally joining. Look for it in roommates. Look for it in anyone you start getting close to. Look for it in groups that people you care about are getting into, and people they’re getting close to.

Sometimes people are just flawed, sometimes they’re well-intentioned but still growing, but that’s the point of red flags: they aren’t a sure sign of trouble, but they’re still worth taking note of & keep an eye on in case patterns emerge.

The reason I say this is worth learning and looking out for in more casual relationships is that these are mostly just abuse tactics carried out in a large-scale, more organized way. And because if someone is interested in recruiting you, they may employ these tactics on an individual, casual-seeming level as well.

(Information on BITE methods)

As someone who’s really interested in cults and cult tactics, I really recommend “The Vow”, too! NXIVM is a cult that essentially set itself up as a self-improvement business tool for white collar folks, and it used “wellness” culture as a major recruitment tool. There was nothing remotely religious or spiritual about it, which is part of why so many people fell into it. “Seduced” is good as well, and shorter.

[coldglasspane]

This is such a good and informed thread. If anyone is interested in the language/linguistics of cults and cult leaders, I recommend Cultish by Amanda Montell.

Cultish

The author of the widely praised Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology t

[forwantofwit]

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elrondhubbardapothecary

The only thing I would add is an

EGO BUFFER: Try to be at peace with your limitations, failures, and accept the impossibility of some of your dreams and desires.

I think this is the most important buffer for “smart, high achieving” people, especially if they were “gifted children”. There are a large number of cults and exploitative groups that collect ambitious and motivated people. From NXIVM to MLMs, these groups prey on your desire to succeed at your goals. Many of us create these goals at a young age, and they are often in response to some sort of emotional or psychological drive rather than a practical plan. The drive is usually for appreciation, admiration, and recognition from other people.

Cults can draw you in by saying that you are amazing and you just need some help reaching your potential. THIS IS A DANGEROUS TRAP. It is just as likely that your goals are not reasonable, or not possible given your situation and the overall conditions in society. In my job everyone wants to be a famous animator, beloved by peers and audiences, but if the economy is downturning and the industry is contracting, your opportunities to achieve that dream become much, much harder in ways that are beyond your control.

We are currently in a moment of social upheaval and economic precarity. This will likely get much much worse in the next 20 years due to climate change. In combination with the hyper achieving parenting trends of the last 20 years, I’m very concerned for GenZ on this front.

People often have grand plans for their life, and precarity can create insurmountable barriers to achieving these plans. Then people feel lost, angry, embarrassed, afraid, and desperate. They feel they have already put too much effort in to their life plans to quit (known as the sunk cost fallacy) and start searching for more and more fringe support that continues to motivate them towards an impossible goal. Their friends and family may even ask them to try something else, or become less enthusiastic in their support, leading the person to cutting those people off for others who “support them” and “push them to be better people”. This makes the isolation tactics of cults very easy, as they don’t have to do a lot of convincing.

I once heard someone say “never have a plan B, or you won’t fully commit to your dreams” and it was the stupidest possible advice to ever grace the written language. This was a common refrain for millennials during the great recession. We were the canary in the coal mine for this, and there were a significant number of people who bought into it. It will be much worse for Gen Z because now it isn’t about jobs or buying a house like it was for us. It’s hard to suck someone into a house buying cult, and yet it definitely happened. MLMs boomed under millennials. Every single one of my high-school friends ended up selling essential oils, let me tell you.

HAVE A PLAN B. And a plan C. And a plan D. Better yet, work to love yourself and believe in the value of your life even if you never succeed at all. It’s okay to just vibe, do a job because it pays the bills, do art because its fun, and get educated in a subject just because you like it. You do not have to be rich, or successful, or famous, or powerful to be happy. You do not need to reach your imaginary relationship goals. Instead of cutting out people who don’t support you in impossible dreams, cut out or set boundaries with people who demand success in exchange for loving you. If your parents only love you when you get an A+, they are devaluing you and being total garbage. Most likely they are trying to be successful vicariously through you or maintain the reputation they built for themselves in easier times. Millennials had to face the disappointment of our parents when we never reached the milestones they did like home ownership and stable careers. You know all those articles about how terrible millennials were? Those were written by our parents. The reason why people feel comfortable hating boomers is because millennials turned on them first. We had to tell our parents to go fuck themselves or they would die alone without their kids.

The best way to avoid these cults of ambition is to be a happy slacker. Do the level of effort that allows you to enjoy your life in the moment. Don’t hinge your self love and happiness on crossing the finish line, it’s better to just enjoy the journey.

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purplehawke

as a cult survivor who’s spent a half-decade diving into academic research on how these groups work, here are some quality, public-friendly educational resources to help you learn what high control groups look like, how they work, and the methods they use to influence, draw in, and control/coerce literally anyone.

education about this subject is SO important—high control environments and their methods for influencing and controlling people often go totally unnoticed unless you’ve learned about them, and there’s a long history of mainstream misinformation on what thought reform and cults are, what they look like, and how they work. there’s also a huge misconception that “no way that could be me!” when unfortunately, because of how high control influence works, it’s possible for anyone to get drawn into a high control group or relationship without realizing that’s what it actually is.

Cults/High Control Groups and Influence 101:

BITE Model by Steven Hassan: useful criteria for identifying undue influence and high control groups/cults. A good starting point.

Cult Research & Information Center website by Dr. Janja Lalich: comprehensive resource center for cult education AND cult survivor healing. For cult survivors, Janja Lalich’s books “Take Back Your Life” and “Escaping Utopia” are very highly recommended.

Dr. Janja Lalich “How Online Conspiracy Groups Compare to Cults” Interview. Dr. Lalich is back at it again with easily accessible but highly informed information about cult groups, especially online-based groups and nonreligious cults.

“Is Trump a Cult Leader? A Scientific Perspective” by Telltale. This video has a catchy title, but the creator does a great job on 1) knowing his stuff, and 2) explaining what’s required to be a cult, and what does/doesn’t qualify as a cult. The video also has really interesting insight/analysis on the current conspiracy theory cult movements we have today (QAnon, flat earthers, anti-vaxxers). The channel is a good source on both those subjects, as well as groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

TV Series/Films:

Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath (Emmy award-winning TV series, it’s on US Netflix now). Really digs into the specifics of Scientology, but they do a great job portraying to the general public how cults operate, and how even a destructive cult can recruit people, cover up abuses, evade the law, and keep members within the group.

Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult (2020 Docuseries, available on Amazon Prime Video)

The Last Stop: The True Story of the Elan School (Warning: All of the TWs.) Film on the Troubled Teen Industry, aka what happened when the War on Drugs combined with the 1960s anti-drug cult Synanon and LGAT seminars to create a still-active billion dollar industry of cult-based institutional child abuse in the name of teen rehabilitation. There is actual footage, use the trailer to gauge your limits. Spoiler: fuck Nancy Reagan.

If The Last Stop is too triggering, try the video “The Elan School: Death by Misinformation” by iiluminaughtii. It’s shorter and based off of The Last Stop, and gives you some of the information from The Last Stop in a less harrowing/triggering delivery format.

Wellness/Self-Help Cults, including Corporate Cult Seminars/Workshops:

LuLaRich (2021 Docuseries, available on Amazon Prime Video). Highly recommended, uses LuLaRoe as a case study on MLMs. Also covers how MLMs can develop into abusive cults.

“What is the Landmark Forum?” by iiluminaughtii. A 101 on the cult corporate seminar industry. Landmark is one of the most well-known examples of a corporate seminar/workshop cult.

Also check out Lifespring and Large-Group Awareness Training (LGAT) seminars. These are 1000% endemic, and yes, they’re high control groups. Their seminar methods are all various implementations of abusive high control tactics. Not good :(

Cult Origins of and Ongoing Destructive Cult Presence in the Modern US Drug Rehabilitation, Residential Treatment, and Troubled Teen Industries (including anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy camps):

“Help at Any Cost” by Maia Szalavitz (can’t recommend enough)

“Running My Anger: The Legacy of the CEDU Cult” by Medium Anonymous

The Awareness and Investigate sections of the Unsilenced Project website.

Current Survivor Activism/Support: Unsilenced; r/troubledteens; WWASP Survivors

Podcasts!:

Scientology: Fair Game Podcast with Leah Remini and Mike Rinder

Mormon Stories Podcast (very good resource re: Mormonism, as well as other experiences of fundamentalist religions)

Leaving Eden Podcast (focuses on US fundamentalist Christianity, but does branch out a bit)

A Little Bit Culty podcast. This podcast is hosted by former NXIVM members Sarah and Nippy, who are now cult education and survivor healing advocates. Episode 2 (titled “Cults 101”) introduces what cults are and why humans are universally vulnerable to cult abuse.

This list seems really long, but I actually cut a lot out. These links are meant to be easy-access for a general audience, but there are many more great resources besides these ones I’ve mentioned above :)

LAST UPDATED: Jan 26, 2022

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claudiagray

Also suggested viewing: “The Deep End,” on Hulu, about an online “spiritual teacher” who may be helpful to some in small doses (all cults offer SOMETHING, nobody ever joins a cult for the cult!) but gets increasingly scary the closer you get to the center.

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sashibunbun

So the bigger part is to not slavishly focus on B.I.T.E., which, while great back in the day is definitely going to cause problems. Already see a lot from the notes, calling fandom things cults, the focus on tik tok being a big source while using things from there that wouldn’t have been out of place here up to a decade ago. The big part of BITE and cults in general is that it’s always seeking to isolate you from anybody who might try to extricate you. NXIVM is actually a good reference here, because cults are basically just MLMs with a semi-spiritual side.

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psycheterminal

Search up the Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Form if you are unsure if the group you are in is coercive. It is more specific than BITE, which can be useful to neurodivergents or twig people onto “oh, this is actually not okay.”

Sometimes people don’t know that something is abusive! Especially if they’re being manipulated! Having specifics before you can really help pop the unreality bubble these asshats build up. ——————————————————————————————

wowbright

Podcasts that are helpful:

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and the Abuse of Power

The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steven Hassan

IndoctriNation

Free Your Inner Guru

Decoding the Gurus

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hexavonne04

GenZ here, I feel our generation is seeing an evolution of what counts as a Cult.

I guess it’s best described as a cult obsessed with the aesthetics of science and intelligentsia as the old ways of spirits and religion go.

I feel a great example of this would be Canadian Psychology Jordan Peterson and his fans (from experience talking to fans through YouTube comments, and other stuff I’ve learned about the guy and his audience. It’s not really that Peterson says anything Brave (his teachings when scrubbed of their overly flowery language are very basic and usually fall into conservative talking points), but rather because he provides a greater purpose to the problems of masculinity a lot of his fans have. They will fight you to the death to prove him right on everything because if he is wrong, then maybe the sense of purpose he gives them is also wrong.

This is what I feel separates the Cults of my generation from the cults previous (though these elements were definitely there) , it’s that the aesthetics of science and intellectualism are now dominant. Creator gods have been replaced with “Simulation theory”, Pascals Wager has been given a Skynet sheen to form “Roko’s Basilisk”, Magic and Spirits have been replaced with “Quantum Mysticism”, Pandora’s box and the eating of the Apple by Eve has been replaced with Alpha wolf dynamics and Lobster Heirarchies, and Armageddon and Battle of Good and Evil has been replaced with Qanon’s variation of the Day of the Rope. It’s What brings people to Elon Musk and his hair-brained sci-fi projects. Its the motivation for religious people to deny science like with Flat Earth and Anti Evolution. It’s everywhere.

The environment I am describing is based right now in ego though. The people flocking to this kind of stuff see religion as done and stupid but still lack a sense of purpose. This smart look provides the sense that the leader is smart and you are smart for agreeing with him, which plays into their wants to fight bro prove the leader a god amongst man.

Currently though, these have not formed into traditional cult hierarchies, and I feel the internet makes this a lot harder to achieve. But I feel this is a trend that should be looked out for as much as the spread of Alien and Wicca based faiths through Tiktok, Wellness cults, and Modern Spirituality. Because if the rise in Facism motivated terrorist attacks in recent years have shown, riling people into an apocalyptic fervour and waiting for them to act on that fervour, is very powerful.

P.S. I am not religious, It’s actually a major reason why I find this a bad thing. It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing in all senses of the term, and like Aum Shinrikyo and Heaven’s gate before us, it’s the ones that prey on peoples desire to feel smart that hurt people the most.

I can only say that I hope I’m wrong

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gatorfisch

And here’s an easy, but BIG tip:  You can have your own opinion.  The minute that anyone starts to tell you that you’re wrong because you don’t think like them-walk the fuck away.  And this is something that Gen Z tends to have trouble with.  Most likely because they have only known the “us vs them” partisan mindset.  But, you can disagree on many things and still be friends.  Just because someone thinks cancel culture has gotten out of control, because we are all human, doesn’t mean they are advocating for pedophilia or an anything goes agenda.  And someone who believes in marriage equality isn’t trying to force you to marry someone who is your same sex.  Respectfully disagreeing is total good, in my opinion.  If you aren’t allowed to question things, how do you really know what you believe?  

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lycalpha

Also please remember that no one is immune! The first mistake you can make is thinking this can never happen to you. That’s when you let your guard down and lose awareness. Stay vigilant!

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teamkrissy

Learn from multiple sources, even ones you don’t like or respect

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oatmealcoloured

I mean this with all the love in my heart:

EVERYONE is susceptible to cults when the circumstances are right. No matter how smart or educated or critical or whatever you are, if the tactics are meant to draw you in, they can and will!

People who join cults aren’t stupid. Thinking you are too smart to join a cult can, in fact, put you at risk as you are not looking out for signs.

Please keep a balance between educating yourself and moral panics, but keep your critical thinking skills sharp.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I didn’t see it in the comments, so this is a link to the Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Form.

[themonsterblog]

Sasquatch of the Sierra Nevada

The Shoshone tell of a Jarbidge, or hairy devil; a large hairy, man-eating beast that was thought to prey on those who wandered away from the tribe. Large foot prints have shown up in Shoshone petroglyphs along side deer and other wildlife tracks on rocks along the Sierra Nevada range.

October 1985 in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, 19 year old marine, Butch Young was training at the Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center near Mono Lake, California. His squad was sent into the mountains one night for a training exercise. Butch remarks that that night was cold, there was snow on the ground, and they were patrolling at an elevation around 7,000 to 8,000 ft. The full moon illuminated 2 figures in the trees that, at first, was assumed to be the enemy squad. Upon further observation, Young noted that the figures were acting contrary to how a trained marine would act, giving no effort to conceal themselves, nor could he see evidence of a weapon or uniform. Young’s squad continued to watch the figures from a distance of 25-35 yards. Young states that from that distance he could clearly make out individual fingers of the hand of one of the figures in the moonlight. After a quiet stand off, the figures disappeared into the woods. The next morning, the squad reported to the center, only to find out that the aggressor squad was no where in the vicinity of Young’s squad. They were in fact 2 clicks away. Young said in an interview with the Ohio Bigfoot Hunters: “I saw something that haunted me for over 20 years. After doing some research and after talking to Bigfoot Researchers and some soul searching, I could only deduce and come to the conclusion that what I saw were 2 Sasquatches during a Mountain Warfare Training Operation with the USMC.”

Jaime Avalos is a man who has claimed to have tracked a family unit of the same 3 Sasquatch for over 2 years and across 400 miles. His story began in June of 2006 while driving about 30 miles southwest of Mono Lake in California. He claims that a creature that stood about 7 foot tall crossed the road in front of him. Avalos stated that his first thought was “What the heck is a guy in a gorilla suit doing up at this elevation?” The creature continued into the brush line out of sight and Avalos began to pull forward again when the creature doubled back across the road blocking his path once again. Avalos said then that he could see the details of muscle moving underneath the creature’s dark fur. Avalos felt that had the creature wanted to, it could have easily ripped him from his vehicle and Jaime would be helpless to do anything to prevent it from doing so. Since then, Avalos has found tracks consistently measuring 11, 10, and 8 inches on both the east and west side of the Sierras. In an episode of History Channel’s Monster Quest, Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology at Idaho State University and Bigfoot Authority, compared his own extensive collection of supposed Sasquatch track castings to those that Avalos had collected over the 2 1/2 years he had been tracking the group. Meldrum noted the much smaller size of Avalos’ prints, as the average Bigfoot track measures around 16 inches and is relatively flat, unlike Avalos’ prints that have a pronounced arch, similar to human foot prints. Despite the arch and smaller proportions, Avalos maintained that these could not be the prints of a human based on the terrain and circumstances they were found. Dr. Meldrum suggested that since there are almost no records of juvenile Sasquatch tracks, that it is very possible that when young, Sasquatch exhibit more human foot features that flatten and broaden as they mature.

October 2005 in Brown Cone, Sierra National Forest, Joe Walls was deer hunting around 8:30am. After hiking for a few hours he stopped to rest before heading back to his camp. At approximately 11:15, he stood up from his resting spot and picked up his rifle. At that time, a large fur-covered creature with red eyes walked out from behind a tree, they had a moment of prolonged eye contact before the creature swiftly disappeared further into the forest. As he watched the creature run off, he caught sight of movement to his left, he turned to see another two creatures, one large and one small, possibly an adult and a juvenile, quickly follow the first creature into the woods. Walls defends the claim that they were not humans dressed in costumes stating that it was hunting season and would be far too dangerous to be dressed like that in the woods at that time.

Mono Lake 1991, a man records his wife and children playing on the lakeside, as he pans across the horizon, something can be seen walking between rock formations on the beach. The figure wasn’t noticed until 17 years later when another family member watched the film. Stutchman Forensics Lab in Napa Valley, California took the film back to Mono Lake, and despite the shoreline rising 7 feet since 1991, managed to match the site of the film to the current horizon. After taking measurements and further analysis of the film, Video Forensics Analysts Steve Buller and Gregg Stutchmen determined the figure to be under the current waterline and measuring at a height of 6-8 feet.

Despite evidence inconsistent with other Bigfoot research across the country, Biologist John Mionczynski, although a skeptic, does state that the environment of the Sierra Nevadas would be able to sustain a large primate due to sufficient sources of protein with lake trout, deer, and pine nuts as well as proper cover and foliage. The smaller size could be explained as a regional difference and the corridors of movement discovered by Jaime Avalos could be evidence of a omnivorous primate following the ripening of pine cones.

Is there a small breeding family unit of Sasquatch in the Sierra Nevada Mountains? People have been seeing something in the mountains bordering California and Nevada for centuries, but definitive evidence to support their claims has yet to be found. Unfortunately eye witness testimony and physical evidence seem to contradict one another. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization or BFRO continues to record sightings in the Sierras, the most recent being in July of 2020 at Mono Lake. After all of the craziness this year in 2020, there is no telling if 2021 could bring solid evidence of Sasquatch in the Sierras.

[indragonsaur]

Cryptober day 14: Goatman

The Goatman is a humanoid cryptid most commonly associated with Louisiana, Maryland and Texas. It is described as a seven foot tall hybrid creature; part man and part goat. Some claim it is a relative of the New Orleans evil chupacabra-like cryptid the Grunch. The urban legends of them often tells of it killing young couples in parked cars or scouring neighbourhoods killing family pets. There are also tales of them breaking into peoples' houses and raping its victims. And many attest from the areas that he haunts, it does not matter if you're a man or woman, he will overtake you and rape you none the less. When scared teenagers whisper about Goatman, not all agree on the form he takes. Some say he was a man who kept goats and went mad after teenagers killed his flock, driven to seek revenge against any youngster. But perhaps the most titillating version traces the origin of Goatman to the Beltsville Agricultural Research Centre, a sprawling USDA facility anchored by a big brick building appointed with white columns. In this version, a mad scientist is conducting experiments on a goat when something goes horribly wrong, turning him into a half man-half goat beast that is, naturally, hungry for blood.

[richpotter]

Dover Demon Dover Demon is described as looking sort of like the "gray" variety of alien,The Dover Demon has a large head on a small, stick-like body.

[uncanny-aesthetic]

[dsmsix]

this place sucks I’m going home

[wayward-delver]

Real Footage of 4 Extinct Animals: 

Thylacine, Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, Baiji River Dolphin, and the Heath Hen.

[everydaygothic]

late night gothic

You can go outside past midnight and, for the first minutes, be assured that you are safe. It takes the night creatures some time to realize you are out. When you start to hear the tree leaves rustling and a noise on the other side of the fence, it is time to go back inside. They are coming. If you notice the old tire swing start to move though there is no breeze, you are too late.

[punk-in-metal-detector]

Look what a beautiful bitch I found on our pavement, my good sir Mothman is comming

[themonsterblog]

I could never be on one of those shows where they investigate someone’s haunted house and try to help them get rid of the ghosts because the first time someone would say they have a poltergeist I’d go “ok, well have you tried therapy?”