Cryptid History Update 2025
WOAH. It has been a minute. 2024 was a big year, but not for the cryptid history blog. The biggest thing I did related to this blog last year was go to the Florida Bigfoot Conference in the spring. It was a great experience and I was even joined by a friend, Mike, a like minded individual who lives in the academic world, but enjoys dipping his toes into this wide weird world. I have been writing in my own project off and on, but work is slow going. I am hoping to have that more dialed in this year and maybe come up with a solid manuscript, but who knows?
Lets talk about last years Bigfoot Conference, unlike the year previous where Dr. Meldrum was the sole inhabitant of an island of science in a sea of paranormality laden presentations and speakers, the 2024 conference was fairly grounded in reality. Speakers in 2024 included Ranae Holland of finding Bigfoot fame. Matt Pruitt, an author, investigator and podcast producer in Cliff Barackman’s orbit, which is a good thing. Ken Gerhard, Noted cryptozoology author as well as Adam Davies, cryptozoologist were also present.
For me, the best presentations were definitely Holland, whose science grounded approach is greatly appreciated. Her presentation was filled with heart, the idea that Bigfoot is something that brings people together, whether it is a father with his children, or a community like the kind found at the conference. She also spoke at length about partnerships with native American groups. She struck the balance pretty well between advocating for a science based approach without alienating believers or people with more unconventional ideas. I met with her after the presentation and she was very kind and appreciative of all of us, she was gracious to take photos with us and spoke with us at length about her thoughts and ideas. A theme this year was the presenters being kind and gracious, and exactly the type of folks you hoped they would be.
Matt Pruitt also offered a great discussion, based in part on his book, “The Phenomenal Sasquatch’ which is highly recommended by me. He has a great approach to the topic and I have seen others describe his approach as meticulous, and that is the word for it. It is a dense, but rewarding read, but not for people who are married to the idea of Bigfoot being something paranormal. Pruitt was also a delight to speak with, he even recognized me from an instagram post, which made me feel pretty cool, ha ha. He was kind, answered some questions and is exactly the kind of person you would hope he is after listening to him on the Bigfoot and beyond Podcast and reading his book.
So what is up for 2025? I am hoping to write some more book reviews, included is a pictures of the books I have stacked up that need to be reviewed, what do you want to see reviewed first? In addition to book reviews, I want to write some articles about other Florida centric cryptids and real world conservation as well. And the biggest goal this year? Finish a manuscript for my Florida Skunkape project and start shopping it around for publishing or self publishing.
Lastly, I will be visiting the 2025 Florida Bigfoot Conference, the guest slate for this year is group that I am unfamiliar with, but the guest I am most excited about is ‘Herbert Jim’ A member of the Seminole Tribe who will be sharing some Bigfoot and Skunkape stories. This is something I am especially excited for, since I was not aware of any legitimate Skunkape stories, and I always think back to this quote describing Betty Mae Jumper’s take on some 1970s Skunkape Stories “Betty Mae Jumper, the first female leader of the Seminole tribe, who says “I’ve never heard of anything like it in any of our legend”. She continued “I have lived out there along time and I never heard of any Indian talking about any Apemen” (Sun Sentinel,Aug 1971) (I quoted this in an earlier Blog Post here are Cryptid History “Native Legend or Modern Nonsense?”).
In any case, I am excited for what 2025 is going to bring, is there something you want to hear about? Let me know! These days you can find me on blueskye, @jakeh1565.bsky.social, instagram @cryptidhistory.
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