Cryptid Festivals

Uniquely American folk events occur around the country, primarily in late summer to fall, to celebrate the town’s local cryptid legend. The community day festivals always involve speakers, media coverage, vendors, themed food and drink items, tours and explanation of the legend, vendors, and often music or film screenings. Sometimes, there is even a parade. Often, the crowd includes some cosplayers or a person dressed as the creature for photo opportunities. Typically, the events are family-friendly. Often, proceeds are used to support the community or local causes.

The growth of hometown creature festivals

How many festivals exist that are focused on local cryptids? Here’s a list. The oldest of these festivals are those in Churubusco, Indiana, and Perry, New York, which both began in the 1950s when the community was keen to capitalize on their special creature to bring attention and some tourist dollars to their small towns. The current oldest still running festival is Bigfoot Daze in Willow Creek, CA that has been mostly active since 1960.

For more on the Turtle Days of Churubusco and hometown monster “protofestivals”, see J.A. Gutowski’s “The Protofestival: Local Guide to American Folk Behavior” in J. of Folklore Institute, 15:2, 1978, and hear him talk about the history of the Beast of Busco on Monster Talk episode 260.

Still the most famous festival is that dedicated to Mothman, in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. This event brings people from all over the world to the town where strange events took place and were subsequently made famous by writer John Keel.

The success of the Mothman festival spawned others using the same template, such as the Lizard Man Stomp in Bishopville, South Carolina, and the Albatwitch Day in Columbia, Pennsylvania. These events become more popular every year.

A mixed blessing

Outsiders gladly flock to towns to see something out of the ordinary, whether it be a tragedy or festivities. The forerunner to these annual events might have been a one-time call for hunters to capture the monster. Brave seekers descended on the town to find the creature. The short-lived benefit to the local businesses was expanded to yearly coordinated events.

Most residents are proud of their local monster. The events are important for community identity. But some residents may have mixed feelings about the event. In the case of Mothman, the town is overrun with visitors for several days causing traffic congestion and interrupting daily life. Certainly, not everyone in town is keen on having outsiders (some of whom look pretty strange) invading their town. Others might not like the association with paranormal beliefs. Businesses, however, count on the influx of tourists to account for significant profits for the festival days. With the advent of social media, towns make a larger effort and are more successful in capitalizing on their community creature. The suspension of some events during Covid was particularly tough on merchants who count on the increased attention and cash flow. Town chambers of commerce will often heartily support expenditures on signage or statues to draw additional attention to the specialness of their towns.

Folklore traditions

Cryptid festivals are an understudied folklore tradition. With people now coming from a wider area to the small town for the day, we see a blending of local and national cultures. The event themes and the vendors cater to not just the local folklore tradition but also popular traditions. For example, while the festival may be dedicated to a locally significant legend, the themes will likely include wider New Age healers, psychics, paranormal subjects like ghosts and UFOs, and cryptids of all kinds.

With regards to the cryptids-of-honor at such events, the attention given to the subject not only helps to define and popularize the legend, but also can redefine the legends. The locals in charge may choose to present a sanitized or embellished version that veers ever more distant from the original witness accounts. Visitors who are learning the tale for the first time may come away with a very different impression of the creature than the original witness accounts or lore documents.

Several towns across the U.S. vie for the use of Bigfoot as a town mascot. As of this original posting, 19 towns feature Bigfoot-themed festivals – with Willow Creek, California’s Bigfoot Daze still the reigning champion. This doesn’t count the various Bigfoot-related monsters who have their special localized monikers, like the Boggy Creek/Fouke Monster or Minerva Monster.

Inclusiveness

Some festivals have expanded to include more general cryptid themes encompassing all monsters. Five events in the list are for general “cryptid” interest but still retain the feeling of a festival or convention. I’ve left out of the listings the “conferences” which tend to be more structured indoor events that are not geared toward families but for researchers to share their knowledge. Small themed conferences like these are also growing as it’s not too difficult to organize and publicize a gathering of speakers who volunteer their services for a day.

In the past 10 years, there has been a markedly different feeling of inclusiveness to these festivals. Thanks to cryptids becoming popular icons in the LGBTQ communities, cryptid events almost always are welcoming to those of alternative lifestyles. While the crowd still consists of families, retiree couples, and the guys in camo gear looking like they are ready for the hunt, the audiences for these events have diversified to include teens and young adults of various ethnic backgrounds. Cryptid festivals are a wonderful people-watching opportunity where you can view unique fashion choices and forms of personal expression.

Watch for more towns to pick up on the opportunities available by showcasing their local monster legends.

If you know of other festivals not included in the Modern Cryptozoology Cryptid Town Festivals list, please contact popcryptid(at)proton.me or leave a comment.

#Albatwitch #Bigfoot #BigfootDaze #cryptidFestival #cryptids #legends #MothmanFestival #popularCryptids #TurtleDays

Mothman Festival organizers say it was the biggest crowd yet

Organizers of the Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia stated that thanks to a combination of nice weather and cryptid popularity, the 2025 event this past weekend drew the biggest crowd ever. One news site reported that the average attendance is 10-15 thousand people. If this was the biggest crowd (for the entire weekend), then that must be over 15K. Just note that there are no tickets sold, so the crowd is estimated. And, event organizers have a habit of exaggerating their counts for publicity. But there is no doubt that the Mothman Festival is the top cryptid town festival that served as the model for a dozen others. Expanding to a long weekend, the event is known worldwide and draws people from international destinations to hit West Virginia just to be at the Festival.

When it began back in 2002, the Mothman Festival was only one of a few town festivals that existed to celebrate a local monster. Other longer-running festivals include Bigfoot Daze in Willow Creek, California which is decades old (since the 1960s!!!), but I’m not sure if it was continuous. The success of the Mothman Festival, which draws a plethora of paying customers to a small town with few other means to attract dollars, has acted as a template for other small town festivals such as Albatwitch Day and Squonkapalooza in Pennsylvania, the Van Meter Visitor Festival in Iowa, and the Ol’ Green Eyes Festival in Georgia. Popular cryptids promoted as the mascot of a small town is a winning formula.

Why are cryptid festivals drawing big crowd?

Many factors come together to explain the growing popularity of these cryptid festivals. Here are the big ones:

• The internet has made cryptids incredibly popular. It’s a unique draw for all ages and genders.
• People crave a sense of enchantment or mystery in the world, or they enjoy the paranormal themes and spooky tones of these events.
• Free family events are desirable – people want to get out and have some weekend fun.
• Small-town sentiment is high because it feels anti-corporate, home-grown, and wholesome. Customers like spending money to support local businesses. They want small towns to thrive.

I expect these festivals will continue to expand to other towns and grow in attraction for a few more years. Paranormal topics consistently wax and wane in interest over decades. Right now, cryptids are money-makers. As the population (that is paying attention right now) ages out, the festivals may diminish. The saving grace for these particular events, however, is that they provide the town with long-term value. There will always be those interested in visiting places with an enduring legend – if that legend is skillfully marketed.

#CryptidTownFestivals #Mothman #MothmanFestival #popCryptid #popCulture #smallTownMonsters #WestVirginia

https://sharonahill.com/?p=10381

The list of Cryptid Town Festivals keeps growing! More towns are celebrating their local monsters or cryptid creeps in a very public way. Summer and Fall 2024 brought us several new events to serve as evidence of the Pop Cryptid phenomenon across the US. Building on the success of the Mothman Festival, in particular, communities recognize the value of a monster mascot in their town. Cryptid-themed festivals often follow the general layout and activities made famous by Point Pleasant, with food trucks, vendors, music and speakers, attracting visitors and dollars to the town. Some cryptid attractions are more adult oriented with their beer gardens and grown-up cosplay. Others are family friendly with lots of kids events – because kids LOVE cryptids!

As shown in the examples below, the trend is very much about the storytelling and fun, and has little to do with the original aim of finding mystery animals new to science. We also see the term “cryptid” used ever more broadly and loosely to cover a wide array of weird beings.

Here are some of the latest Pop Cryptid events in small-town USA for 2024:

Green Eyes Festival

New this year is an event in honor of a Civil War era ghoul called “Green Eyes”. After being inspired by the local legend of a glow-eyed creature – more of a ghost than a mystery animal who reportedly prowls the Chickamauga, Georgia battlefield – the organizers used the template set by the world-famous Mothman Festival in West Virginia. The event caught the attention of community leaders. Very much in line with the phenomenon of Pop Cryptids, Chickamauga’s Economic Development and Events Director, Eric Pullen said, “I feel like this is going to create a new image for Chickamauga to a younger generation that primarily sees it as based on civil war history.” The first Green Eyes Festival, that honors the folklore and culture of Northwest Georgia/Southeast Tennessee, is Oct 5, 2024 and includes Green Eyes being awarded the keys to the city of Chickamauga.

Squonkapalooza

Johnstown, Pennsylvania hosted the second annual Squonkapalooza event to celebrate cryptids, particularly the ever-more popular Squonk. The squonk is a made-up creature first noted in the 1910 book Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods by William T. Cox. The squonk is dog-sized and excessively wrinkly, warty and so ugly that it cries constantly and, if caught, will dissolve into a pool of tears. The squonk has been unofficially noted as the “state cryptid of Pennsylvania”, an accolade that would be up for vigorous debate! According to the news report, visitors to the festival this year did seem to consider the squonk as some kind of mystery animal, more akin to the traditional view of cryptids. Maybe they didn’t know the silly backstory. But, more likely, they are just experiencing the Pop Cryptid wave of interest in weird creature tales just for fun.

Bigfoot and the Gateway to the Mysterious

The previous month, some 40 miles or so west of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Derry Borough mayor Grant Nicely issued a proclamation in August, 2024 to declare Bigfoot as the official cryptid of the borough. Bigfoot is a big deal to folks around Greensburg, Uniontown, and the Chestnut Ridge area. Cryptid sightings, and associated high strangeness, have been reported in the region for decades. In the past few years, thanks to social media and the increasing popularity of strange stories propagating online, the area has become a “a hub for those fascinated by the unexplained.” The proclamation now designates Derry Borough as “The Gateway to the Mysterious Chestnut Ridge” encouraging residents and visitors to explore its mysteries and drop some dough.

Flathead Lake monster sculpture

A sculpture of the Flathead Lake Monster was revealed at the Sacajawea Park in Polson, Montana in September 2024. The Polson Mayor, Eric Huffine, opened the ceremony to unveil the bronze statue, saying there are more than 100 years of stories and legends of the monster from Flathead Lake in Kalispell, also known as Flossie. They are very proud of their own beastie.

Have news of a cryptid festival or monument in your town? Contact [email protected]

https://moderncryptozoology.wordpress.com/2024/10/02/parade-of-cryptids-in-small-town-usa/

#Bigfoot #cryptidFestival #cryptids #Georgia #GreenEyes #lakeMonsters #mascots #monsterLegends #monsters #Montana #MothmanFestival #Pennsylvania #Squonk

My recent artwork of the #Mothyman, with with the state outline of wild, wonderful #WestVirginia , created with various pens an Copic markers with a little digital smoothing.
Purchase a personally signed print at https://shawnlangley.myshopify.com, and even purchase a ticket for full permission to have this tattooed at https://shawnlangleyart.etsy.com !

#mothmanart #WestVirginiaLiving #mothmanfestival #tattoo #cryptid #creepy #fallout #fallout76 #Fallout4