“Cryptid town” gets shut down

A new Wikipedia entry called “Cryptid Town” was deleted on April 20, about a week after it was created. The effort probably had good intentions but it was poorly planned, considering that humorless and folklore-averse cadre of “rationalist” Wikipedia editors will police any cryptid content and delete it whenever they can. Also, the hammer of “Not notable” is heavily and brutally wielded when it comes to any paranormal or fringe content.

However, the effort to recognize the explosion of cryptid town festivals is notable. It’s difficult to ignore with more festivals showing up each year.

One of the Wiki commentators revealed their lack of knowledge on this niche subject by saying the following:

Alleged cryptids are not specific to towns. They are associated with unicorporated [sic] areas of counties, waterways, bodies of water, state and national forests, and even the sky.

While it’s generally true that cryptids can have large ranges, the idea of “cryptid towns” refers to specific towns embracing a creature legend associated with the town, and using that creature as the symbol for a community celebration of local culture. Or, in a few more popular cases, the cryptid association is employed as a tourist draw.

See Cryptid Town Festivals.

Another editor made this cogent point, however:

Looks like it’s more or less a neologism with no significant presence in the literature, albeit an interesting one that could be interesting to write about.

The title choice was poor and the subject matter is not yet culturally cohesive to stand out on its own. Whether the idea of cryptid festivals rises to the level of being culturally relevant to Wikipedia remains to be seen. It makes more sense to note the cultural importance, including town festivals, under the entry for each cryptid.

If you know of any additional cryptid festivals to add to the list, please drop me a message at popcryptid(at)proton(dot)me.

#cryptid #cryptidFestival #cryptidTown #Wikipedia