"Charlie Sheen was my Gateway to Cryptozoology" / Lija Fisher / Bigfoot Society Classic

0:00 Either you're listening to the Big Fust Society podcast and I'm Jeremiah Byron. Every week I talk to individuals who have experienced sasquats in some way or another, so you won't want to miss an episode. Make sure you're subscribed on the platform that you're listening to, and share this episode where the friend does not cost a thing, and it helps the show continue to grow. If you'd like to hear Bigfoot Society episodes early an ad free, you can do so by becoming a Patreon supporter or a YouTube channel member. Links to those are in the show notes in Bigfoot Society. I've taken far too much of your time so far, so let's get on with the show. Morning. You're listening to an episode of Bigfoot Society recorded more than three years ago. Interviewing skills in audio quality have improved since then. Please don't judge the podcast on this one episode. We'll see you next week. So thanks for joining us for another episode of big Foot Society podcast. This time we have author Leah Fisher with us from Colorado, and she writes books on a subject that everyone listening to this podcast will probably enjoy. So Leah, good to have you on. I'm going to have you go ahead and kind of introduce yourself.

1:19 Yeah, well, thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. Yes, I write humorous adventure novels for eight to twelve year olds and they are on the subject of cryptozoology, and it currently it's a duology. My first book is The Cryptid Catcher and then the follow up novel is The Cryptid Keeper, And these are just fun adventure novels about a boy who discovers that cryptids are real and his father was a cryptid catcher known for traveling the world finding and protecting these cryptids because there's one very special cryptid that if the bad guys find it, it could mean the end of the world as we know it. Oh that's really cool. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, that's a cool idea. I like it. Yeah, we had so. Leah was doing a presentation with a local bookstore online earlier.

2:20 I believe it was a bookstore, right, yes, Nan, So I jumped on that. My four year old son and I we were watching it and he hasn't stopped talking about the nice lady that was talking to him from the phone. And so, yeah, thanks for putting that on. We're actually going to put that presentation at the end of this podcast, so you notice this podcast will be a little longer than the others, but you're really going to want to listen and also watch this one, especially as there's going to be a lot of visual aids along with this. So that I worked very hard on. Yeah, it's really it's a good presentation. And I noticed something. So we were noticing the blue tiger from your presentation.

3:14 I forget the actual name of it's terrible, but the blue tiger, right, Yes, that's what we focused on. And I noticed on one of your books there's a blue tiger as well. Yes, So could I infer that maybe the animals that you have in this presentation are present in your novels. Many of the cryptids that are in my presentation are in my books. I'm trying to think if there are any that are. I think pretty much every cryptod that I talk about hasn't mentioned in my book. There are just so many cryptids out there that I lose track of which ones I've written about and which ones I've just researched and studied. Very cool, and what was it? Of course I already know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask you, so, what is it that drew you, of all things, to the subject of cryptozoology. Was it watching in search of was it reading another book? There's all sorts of things that draws us draws in, right, Yeah, I think I had a very interesting gateway into cryptozoology, and it was actually through Charlie Sheen, where usually you don't want to use the words gateway in Charlie. This is true, they do actually do go very well together. But he, Charlie Sheen, was my gateway to

4:46 cryptozoology because many years ago, when he was in his heyday, we'll call it, I read an article about him in the paper about how we put together a hunting party to go to Alaska to find the Otterman. And I thought, I read that article, and the thing that stood out to me apart from that Charlie Sheen was hunting the Ottoman, was who is the Otterman? What is the Ottoman? Yeah? What does Charlie Sheen want with him? And so I started researching the Otterman and it opened up this whole world of cryptids. And you know, I knew about myths, I knew what myths and mythology was and I was really into it when I was a kid, but I had never heard about cryptids or cryptozoology. And once I started researching it, it just I went down the rabbit hole and it just blew my mind and I just had to learn everything I could about it. And I thought this would make a really interesting adventure novel. Yeah, no, that that's that's I agree with that one hundred percent. Like, uh, definitely get a lot of good adventure themes just from your synopsis there. I mean it's probably got a little Indiana Jones in it, maybe a little uh maybe Pokemon catch all the cryptids. I mean there's yes, I'll be honest, it's on the list of books we're going to buy from Amazon wonderful.

6:19 Yeah, we're gonna check it out. So yeah, and yes, there is a you know, I grew up in the eighties, so I definitely was a child of Spielberg and up with all the Indiana Jones films. And somebody who reviewed my book said, oh, these read like an Indiana Jones novel or Indiana Jones movie, and I was like, well, seeing as how I stole everything from Indie, that's a fair assessment. That's awesome. Well that's thing's going to be stolen from Indie but yeah, no it. I gotta feeling it would be a movie series someday. Well cross Yeah, good stuff. I am curious, So I would imagine there's not many other authors that are focusing on cryptozoology. Has doing this duology? Has that led to any cool encounters or experiences in the field of cryptozology for yourself? Yes, very much so. Through writing these books, I got introduced to Lauren Coleman, and for anybody who's into cryptozoology knows him as one of the greatest workers in the field right now. He's been doing it for about sixty years and and I actually went to the International Cryptozoology Conference last year and spoke to

7:53 meet him, which is amazing, and I have a lot of stories about that. But before that, what was so interesting is that, you know, I started writing the books before I knew a lot about cryptozoology. I just kind of had a based knowledge of it. And I asked Lauren if he would read my book, the first book, and you know, just kind of vet it for me, like, hey, is this you know, can will you vet my book? And he read it, and he actually had me make changes because he said there were parts that were factually incorrect, and I thought, how can there be factually incorrect things about animals that don't exist? But what he taught me is the importance of legend the importance of tales that are already in existence, and the importance of that This is Cryptozoology is a field of study. It's not just things that people make up.

8:56 So it gave me a great respect, a deeper respect for the search for these legendary animals. Very cool, And I'll just say, Bigfoot society believes that Bigfoot Israel and all cryptids are reel. Oh I apologize, Yes, yes, they I believe that. I noticed you've got a really cool mask behind your right shoulder. What's the story behind that mask? So that mask is my Bigfoot mask that is actually part of a whole Bigfoot costume. I live in Colorado, and when I got my book deal, one of my friends was like, you do know that there's somebody in Colorado who makes Hollywood quality Bigfoot costumes? Right? Wow? And it's like I must get one, and so I would. I've used the costume to for promoting my book, although Circling back to Lauren Coleman, he did get mad at me when he saw a photo of me dressed as Bigfoot in the forest. He said, Leah, you cannot go trapesing around the forest during hunting season.

10:05 Yeah, I know you can't. You can't know you've you've heard the story about the filming of Return of the Jedi where they wouldn't let the actor who was Peter Mayhew dressed up you know, he was Chewbacca and they wouldn't let him in the Redwood forest by himself because yeah, hunting season right, absolutely, absolutely totally agree with Lauren on that one. Yeah. That museum up there in Portland, Maine is you know, it's very very cool. I've visited myself, our family went up there. But the conference that would have been a cool experience, so very very cool, really fascinating, and I learned so much about about cryptids in the field of cryptozoology. I one of my fondest memories of attending the conference is that I was walking back to my hotel room and somebody popped their head up from the bar and said, Leah, we're talking sea serpents. Want to come over, grab a drink and talk to sence do I Ever? I sat down with these folks and and this guy was talking about how he and I wish I could remember his name so I could give him credit. But he had put together a database of every sea serpent sighting that he researched that he could get a hold of, with all sorts of different categories, you know, was it freshwater, saltwater, time of day, time of year, geography, And he had over

11:35 forty three hundred different sea serpent sightings. And I asked him, I said, why do you do this? Are you a skeptic? Are you a believer? And he said, I'm a researcher. And the way that you proved existence of things is to research. And I thought, wow, this is this is serious stuff, and I just got really into it, very cool. And I will say so listening to you read your book, I mean I have to say it's well written, Like I was getting flashbacks to the kind of way that like a book like you know, Harry Potter's written, like you have a very good vocabulary about you. But uh yeah, at first, when I first heard about you, I thought I was a little skeptical, skeptical, and I was like I don't know about this, but then listening to you here as well here later, like it's good, Like, yeah, definitely check it out. But what would you say, why is it important for the younger generation to be exposed to to things like cryptozoology or you know, cryptids, monsters, things like that. What would be have you ever you know, thought it maybe why there would be important reasons they'd be exposed to that. Oh. Absolutely. What they're discovering with cryptoso all is that it's acting as a gateway science for kids. You know, back when I was a kid, dinosaurs got kids really interested in archaeology.

13:11 You know, we all wanted to be an archaeologist and dig up the bones. And now cryptids are getting kids interested in the life sciences. They're getting interested in zoology and DNA science and just every kind of science that they would need in order to prove the existence of these animals. And so not only is it exciting for kids to think that there are still mysteries out there to be discovered, because nowadays with the iPad and Google, it's like there's kids can ask any question and their computer just tells them immediately. But to teach them that space is not the next frontier. There are still so many frontiers on Earth. Yeah, it's it's not space, it's it's the woods and eastern Oklahoma right in area X. Like that just blows my mind.

14:07 It's crazy. So to teach kids that we still need scientists. There there's still more to learn, to discover, to encounter, and there are mysteries and stories and legends. Just the whole package of it I think is fascinating, and it's just so wonderful for kids, both from a stem educational standpoint and just from a pure imagination standpoint. That is awesome. That's a that's a very good way to put it. Actually, I haven't thought of it from that angle. Uh yeah, I agree with you on p you know, like right now, my kids in the dinosaurs and he's talking about paleontology and being a paleontologist. He's four years old, and yeah, you know, yeah, what kids are into that can change your whole life. So it's very cool. Yeah. I had a six year old girl come up to me at one point and and she said, you know, my dad's a scientist, my grandpa is a scientist, and they want me to be a scientist. And I don't think I want to be a scientist. And I told her about how scientists search for Bigfoot and crew and are trying to prove the existence of Bigfoot and all these other animals. We'll be back with more Bigfoot Society after these words from our sponsors, and she got so excited and then said, well, now I want to be a scientist. So that's awesome. That's awesome. To circle back around to something you mentioned before,

15:37 can you can you remember any specific things that like Lauren called out that He was like, I need to make sure that you get this accurate in your book. I think that would be very interesting if you call any of that out. Yes, he corrected my for a chupacabra. I had it, And forgive me if I'm pronouncing it incorrectly, but I had it chupacabra, and he had me add an S on the end of it for chupacabras, which I guess is the appropriate way in the actual in the language, whereas chupacabra is more the pop culture American americanized version of it. And then of course, I, you know, it is a fiction book, and I did need to have the cryptids do certain things that that they don't actually do, like, uh, the I have the erst Wilch and again I'm probably pronouncing it wrong, but it's the chicken with antlers from Germany. And in my book, Yeah, it's amazing. But in my book, I have it where it has a poisonous beak and you know, and he's like, it doesn't have a poisonous speak. And I'm like, but can I just have a poisonous speak And he's like, no, it doesn't have it.

17:07 There's no research, you know, and and so again, like you know, I couldn't take all of his suggestions because it is, at the end of the day, a fiction book, but it but I just loved how he was able to to he knew the parts that I made up. That was such a good story. Yeah, because he knows the legends of these cryptids so well that he knew the things that I made up that that had no research attached to them. Yeah, I mean, there would be no Dover Demon without Lauren Coleman. Like he's been so instrumental in the history of cryptozoology. It's crazy's amazing. Yeah, thank you for sharing that behind the scenes for your books. So, I mean it's not just that that Leah is researching is she's had the godfather crypto zoology, Lauren Coleman, look over the manuscripts and make the changes. So yeah, it's in good hands.

18:07 That's that's that's the solid Yes. Now, just know he doesn't put his full stamp of approval on it because it there's a lot of fiction. But I was honored to get his get his research feedback on it. Very cool. Yeah, would you mind maybe taking a few minutes to read a selection from one of the books just to kind of give us a feel for things. Absolutely, So I am going to read just a very short section from The Cryptic Keeper, And it is the second book in the series, and in this part, Clive O the main character. He needs to find this very special cryptid. So he's doing a lot of research on this one particular cryptid and he finds a Questers Cave, which is a secret cave that has a lot of books that gives information about the cryptids in this one region.

19:06 So he's reading a book that tells him some very interesting and terrifying information about this cryptid that he is supposed to find and catch. Clivo forced himself to close the book and reached for another, this one with a terrifying image of a sinewy creature flying through the air on massive wings. The Aswang Clivo opened it and the spine cracked, as if it hadn't been touched in years, as if other questers knew better than to even entertain the idea of searching for such a creature. The parchment was old and faded, but the ink looked fresh, as if the pages had never been exposed to sunlight. Whereas the other book spent a lot of time explaining the history and stories of local legends with great exuberance, the pages of this book were blanked save for a few in the middle. There was hardly any information at all, and what there was seemed to be restrained. The book only mentioned how the oswang shape shifted at the full moon, how it flew higher than the clouds and was impossible to catch, and how it changed islands every twenty years, so nobody would notice that the human form never aged. There was some new information.

20:19 That was some new information to Clibo. He could now narrow his search to people who had moved to the island in the last twenty years, though how he figured that out was beyond him. He turned another page and sucked in his breath as he stared at the illustration of a devil faced creature. Underneath was an eloquently scrolled caption. The aswang feeds on the living. The oswang thrives on death. If you find it, destroy it. Demons have no place wandering the earth. Clibo closed the book and put it delicately back on its cloth, as if just reading the words could somehow anger the oswang.

20:59 But I think could get the image of the distorted face with sharp things and black eyes out of his head. Cliba walked back to town, grateful for the sunshine on his face. The chill of the church's tomb, combined with the warning from the book, had given him a massive case of the heebe geebs. If you find it, destroy it. His job was to protect the cryptids, not destroy them. But did that hold true for the cryptid that just might be pure evil and the immortal that's so good? Like thank you man. Yeah, that's gonna be that's gonna be a fun read. Definitely. It's crazy to think, but we are actually getting close to the end of our time together. Oh that one so fast? I know, right, it's crazy. Would you mind. Let's say, if you know, my listeners have never heard of you before, what is so a few closing questions, what's the best way they can keep you've been touched with what's going on with you? And for purchasing your book, what is the best way to do that so it helps you out the most, if you know what I mean. Oh, thank you so much. Yes, So I would say the best way to keep track of what I'm doing is to look on my website and that's Leah Fischer dot com. And I'll hold how my name is spelled up to the camera. I don't know if you can see that, but it's perfect. L I J A F I S H E

22:30 R dot com. And really, anyway that you buy my books helps me. But I will say that I encourage you now that indie bookstores independent bookstores are closed due to the pandemic, if you are able to support your local bookstore, that would I definitely encourage you to do that to support small That's awesome, that's very cool, very cool. Wow, It's been a great, great conversation and I feel like maybe in a year we'll have to have a follow up and see what else has come across your path. It sounds like you've got a very cool future. Thanks again for coming on, Leah, Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure to be here. Hello everybody, my name is Leah Fisher, and welcome to my presentation on cryptozoology. I am the author of a book series for eight to twelve year olds and they are called The Cryptid Catcher and The Cryptid Keeper, and they are humorous adventure novels about the world of cryptids and cryptozoology, which I will be talking about for about the next twenty minutes or so.

23:48 Since I will be doing this presentation recorded and not live, you won't be seeing me. So here is a picture of what I look like. That's me on the left, and that's me with Bigfoot on the right during my book launch for my first book, The Cryptid Catcher. All right, So I got the idea to write this book series actually by reading an article in the paper about someone who put together a hunting party to go to Alaska to search for the Otterman. And I thought, who is the Otterman and what do these people want with him? And so I started researching what the Otterman was, and I discovered that the Otterman is something called a cryptid.

24:36 Now, if you don't know what a cryptid is, acryptid is an animal that has been claimed to exist, but whose existence has never been proven by science. So, in other words, a cryptid is an animal that people think is alive and walking the earth today, but we haven't actually found it, so we don't know if it's just a legend and a story or an actual animal that we just haven't discovered. And you may tell yourself you know, I don't. I've never heard of cryptids. I don't know what a cryptid is, but I bet you do. For instance, this cryptid, this is the most famous cryptid in the world. People search for it all the time, and I bet you recognize that cryptid. That is the Luckness Monster or NeSSI. Now. NeSSI is one of the world's most famous cryptids.

25:32 Nessie is a sea serpent like creature who inhabits Lochness in the Scottish Highlands, and Lockness is basically a big lake and Nessie was first seen in nineteen thirty three, and just about two summers ago scientists did a new search for her using a new kind of DNA technology called environmental DNA, and they searched the loch for dinosaur DNA because there's a lot of theories that NeSSI is an old dinosaur that's still hanging out in the lake. And they did not discover any dinosaur DNA, but they did discover giant eel DNA in the loch.

26:15 And the funny thing is that there are no giant eels in Loch Ness, so maybe NeSSI is a giant eel who they just haven't found. Now here is another cryptid that you may know or not know of. Now, this is not Bigfoot, although it looks a lot like Bigfoot, but this is the Yeti or the Abominable Snowman. Now. The Yeti is a folkloric ape like creature who is said to inhabit the Himalayan mountains in Bhutan, India, and Nepal. And the first sighting of the Yeti is from all the way back in eighteen thirty two, so the Yetti has been around for a while.

26:57 Now. I mean to be talking a lot about words like folk tales and folklore, and just to let you know, a folk tale is a tale passed down through generations, and it can include fairy tales, tall tales, trickster tales, myths and legends. So as I'm talking about all these different cryptids with you, remember we haven't found them yet, so they may be real or they may just be a trickster tales and myths. Some of them are up for you to decide. Now here's another fun fact about the Yeti. In nineteen fifty nine, there were so many Americans going to Nepal to search for the Yeti because people really believed in it, that the government outlined guidelines if you wanted to do an expedition to search for the Yeti, and some of the requirements where that first you had to buy a seventy seven dollars permit if you wanted to search for the Yeti, and you were not allowed to shoot the Yeti unless it was in self defense. So that's a fun fact from nineteen fifty nine. Okay, here's another cryptid that I bet you know. That's right. This cryptid very pretty, is known as a mermaid or a mermaid, And again in folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the upper body of a female human or a man and the tail of a fish, and mermaids appear on the folklore of many cultures worldwide,

28:32 and mermaids were first seen in a thousand BC, so they've been around for over three thousand years. And the reason, the fun thing is that they've been seen. They're one of the only cryptids that has been seen all over the world. And you may ask yourself, well, how come they're one of the only cryptids that's been seen all over Well, it's because they travel in the ocean, and the ocean covers every part of our globe, so apparently they swim everywhere. All right. Now, this next slide, I just discovered actually that these are not technically cryptids because we haven't Actually I don't know why they're not technically considered cryptids, but I consider their cryptids. So this is a UFO or an alien. So UFOs are unidentified flying objects and aliens, also known as extraterrestrial life or life that exists outside of Earth is life referring to life occurring outside of Earth which did not originate on Earth.

29:45 Such hypothetical life might range from microscopic organisms to beings far more advanced than humanity. And aliens were first seen in fourteen forty BC. They were a apparently written on an ancient Egyptian papyrus scroll where this scroll mentioned fiery disks in the sky. We'll be back with more Bigfoot society after these words from our sponsors. This is known as the Truly Papyrus. But some people believe that this is actually a hoax, so they don't know if the ancient Egyptians actually saw aliens, but there is a theory that they did. All right, I want to go on to some cryptids, exciting cryptids who you may not know, such as this scary looking creature looks somewhat like a dragon, and this is actually an American cryptid. This cryptid, it has my favorite name for a cryptid, is known as the snally Gaster. Now in American folklore, the snally gaster is a dragon like beast who flies through the air in Maryland, and the snolly gaster was first seen by the original settlers of the area in the seventeen thirties, so the snolly gaster has been around for quite a while. Now I am from Colorado and we have a very famous cryptid here,

31:19 and this is Colorado's most famous cryptid. Now Bigfoot has been seen in Colorado, and this cryptid is Colorado's most famous cryptid, though even more so than Bigfoot. And this cryptid is the slide rock Bolter. And the slide rock Bolter is a beast who lives in the mountains of Colorado and it was first seen in the nineteenth century by lumberjacks. Now, just to tell you another legend of the slide rock bolter. As you can see, it's as big as a whale, with teeth like a shark and a hooked tail.

31:59 So it would do is it would shimmy itself up a mountain, hook its tail to the top of the mountain, and it would wait for someone to walk below it. And as soon as someone walked below the slide rock Bolter, it would slide down the mountain and eat the person. And that is its legend. Now, if you don't believe that these cryptids exist, if you're like, nah, they're just tall tails and trickster tails, well, one reason why they may have been created is to explain the world around them. Now, so if people were looking up at the mountains and they saw something happening, what do you think would have happened to make them create the slide rock Bolter. Well, imagine if you looked up the mountain and saw an avalanche, or if you looked up to the top of a mountain and saw a rock slide or a mud slide. You may not know what exactly is going on, but it might have caused you to create the story that there is a beast up there sliding down the mountain. So that's how some of these stories begin. All right, Now, this is one of my favorite cryptids. This is the Ugly Merman. And this is a frog faced creature who lives in Russia, and he's kind of a nasty cryptid. He sits on a dam smoking a pipe, and the locals are supposed to show up and give him gifts and treats as a thank you for not destroying the

33:31 village. Well, if the locals don't give him treats as a thank you for not destroying the village, he will destroy the village. He will break the dam and flood the village with water. So that is the cute looking yet very nasty, ugly Merman. And then next we have the blue Tiger in China, and it literally is just a big blue tiger that has been seen roaming around China. And then one of my favorite cryptids. Is the giant sloth that has been seen in South Africa. Now on the right is a picture of a real sloth, but then on the left is the drawing of the giant sloth. Again, we have not found the giant sloth, but supposedly it still exists in South America. All right, So if cryptids are of interest to you, you might be interested in cryptozoology. Now, crypto cryptozoology is the science or the pseudoscience of searching for cryptids. And some people believe that, you know that it's not really a science, because how can you study something that doesn't exist. But really, the same way that you would prove the existence of a cryptid is the same way that you would prove the existence of any mammal that we have yet to discover. And we do still discover one to two mammals a year, and we've also proven the

35:07 existence and found cryptids. But I'll get to that later. So for cryptozoology, let's talk about extinction. Kind of a sad topic, but for extinction, about two hundred species of plant, insect, bird, and mammal become extinct every twenty four hours. Every twenty four hours, we are losing things from the earth, But are they really gone? Because we have had many, many different experiences of rediscovering things that we thought were extinct but are actually still around today. For instance, in Colorado, just a couple of years ago, we discovered something that we thought was extinct but was actually still here, and that was the San Juan cutthroat trout. That's right. We thought that this fish was extinct until a fisherman one day was like, hey, I think that that's the San Juan cutthroat trout swimming in the stream. Well, since they thought it was extinct and hadn't actually found it, it was considered a cryptid until it was actually caught in twenty eighteen. So this fish was a cryptid because we thought it was extinct, yet people kept seeing it.

36:31 So it wasn't until they caught it and proved its existence that it was now no longer a cryptid. Now hopefully the fisherman put it back in the river or once again the fish probably is extinct. So all right, And then next we have the Cuban and I believe it's pronounced Selenidon, but I apologize if I'm mispronouncing that. So this crypt did supposedly one extinct in nineteen eight, but it was rediscovered in twenty twelve, So from nineteen ninety eight to twenty twelve it was a cryptid because people kept claiming they were seeing it, but supposedly it was extinct. And the fun thing about this cute little creature is that it is one of the few mammals that are venomous, So if it bites you, be careful because it's like getting bit by a snake.

37:27 So I present to you the idea that if we can discover the San Juan cutthroat trout and rediscover the Cuban Selenodon, maybe, just maybe we can rediscover the megalodon. Now, the megalodon is the largest shark that has ever lived. It one extinct about two and a half million years ago, and there are some theories that maybe it's still alive in the deepest parts of the ocean. So we haven't rediscovered this shark yet, but maybe someday we will. Next discovery. So even though a lot of species go extinct every year, we are still discovering about eighteen thousand new species every year of plant, animal, bird, fish, mammal and for instance, we recently discovered this orangutang. This orangutang was just discovered in twenty thirteen. We did not know that this particular species was alive, and this is the rarest great ape alive and they're only about eight hundred left of these orangutang. Next, this is one of my favorite recent discoveries, the bird eating vampire frog. Yes, it is actually called the bird eating vampire frog. And this creature was discovered

39:00 around two thousand and nine, and it eats birds with its fangs. So this frog actually jumps up, catches a bird with its fangs and then eats it. So it's kind of a nasty frog, but very interesting. So I present to you the idea that if we can discover the orangutang and the bird eating vampire frog, maybe, just maybe, someday we'll discover Bigfoot. Now, a funny thing about Bigfoot is that he has been seen in every single state in America except one, and that state is Hawaii. And you may ask, well, how come he hasn't been seen in Hawaii? Well, because apparently Bigfoot can't swim because he's too hairy and his fur would get too heavy and wet, and who would let Bigfoot on an airplane to fly to Hawaii. I bet he probably doesn't have a suitcakes to take his things with him. All right, final piece here mystery. So if you're thinking to yourself, we've pretty much discovered everything on Earth, there's not really you know, I have an iPad where I can type a type of question in and get an answer. There's there's really very little that we don't know.

40:22 But that's not true. There is so much still to be discovered here on Earth. For instance, let me ask you this question. Do you think we have spent more time on the surface of the Moon or more time in the deepest parts of the ocean. Believe it or not, we have spent more time on the surface of the Moon for the oceans, believe it or not, more than eighty excuse me, more than eighty percent of the ocean. That ocean floor is unmapped and unexplored, including the merry on a trench, which is the deepest part of the ocean. So who knows what could be hiding down there. Even on land, there are places on Earth where humans have never set foot. For instance, this mountain here is in the Himalayas in Nepal, and this mountain is off limit to climbers because it is considered a sacred mountain by the locals. Now, in nineteen fifty seven, a British team climbed to within a one hundred and fifty feet of its summit, but turned back because they promised they wouldn't step foot on the actual summit.

41:38 So if I were the Yeti, I would probably live at the top of this mountain because no humans come up there, and maybe that's why the Yeti has never been found. Finally, not only on Earth, but also in space, there's so much still to be discovered, such as the black hole is the most recent clearest photo of a black hole that we have in space and inside the event horizon, meaning inside the center of that black hole. The very fabric of space and time defies physics. We don't know if time speeds up, we don't know if time slows down, so everything we understand about time could be totally different in space. So there is still so many mysteries to uncover. Now, Like I mentioned earlier, there are actually cryptids that have been found. So cryptids are initially considered stories and legend until we actually discover them. For instance, here's the ocopy the ocopy is the world's first cryptid. This is the first cryptid that people kept seeing. This is the first animal that people kept seeing, but yet we hadn't actually found it. And it is known as the forest giraffe. And it was discovered in Central Africa in nineteen oh one. And it is kind of you can

43:13 see it's like half giraffe, half zebra. And the fun thing about this cryptid fun fact is that it has a foot long tongue that can clean its eyes and ears. So I imagine having a tongue long enough that you could wiggle your ear with it. Next, we have the platypus. So the platypus has a duck bill, a beaver tail, and an otter foot. And when it was first seen in seventeen ninety nine, scientists deemed it a hoax because it was such an odd looking creature with so many different animal parts on it. They thought that someone had actually sewn on different animal parts two this creature as a hoax. But it wasn't until it was actually discovered in seventeen ninety nine that it was deemed to be real. And it lives in Australia. And guess what this is also a venomous mammal. So if the platypus fights you be careful because it's poisonous. Okay. Next, the mountain gorilla. Look at this big creature. So this is the largest living primate and it was considered a legend until it was actually discovered in nineteen o two in Africa. Now I propels the idea to you, if the mountain gorilla can be found, maybe we can find Bigfoot, because this guy doesn't look

44:47 that different from Bigfoot, does he? And finally, here's the manatee. The manatee known as a sea cow and is also known as one of the most gentle animals on Earth. Now, when sailors kept seeing it in the fourteen hundreds, they actually mistook the manatee for mermaids because it has a tail that looks very much like a mermaid, and so when sailors saw it swimming in the water, they thought it was a mermaid until the manatee was actually caught and determined to be its very own species. Now, if you are more interested in query more about cryptozoology, there is actually a museum, the International Cryptozoology Museum, and it is located in Portland, Maine, and of course, it's unfortunately closed right now, but you can always google them online and discover all sorts of fun stuff. And the founder of the museum, his name is Lauren Coleman, and he has been a cryptozoologist for about sixty years, and he has written a wonderful book called Cryptozoology A to Z and it is a basically an encyclopedia of cryptids. It's kind of like Bullfinch's Mythology, which is an encyclopedia of myths. This is an encyclopedia of cryptids.

46:16 And finally, for those of you who live in Colorado, there's actually a Bigfoot museum right here in Bailey, Colorado. It is called the Sasquatch Outpost, and when it reopens you can go in and read all sorts of fun stuff about Bigfoot, because, as I mentioned, Bigfoot has been seen in Colorado quite a bit, and the Sasquatch out Post will tell you all about it. Well, everybody, I want to thank you so much for listening to my presentation. Again. My name is Leah Fisher, and I hope that you explore the wonderful world of cryptozoology. It is acting as a gateway science for kids to get them interested in all sorts of life sciences because hey, it might be one of you who actually discovers Bigfoot. Thanks so much, everybody, have a great day. You're a Bigfoot Society article is to provide a platform for those that have encountered Bigfoot to share their encounter in a safe and respected environment. But we need to hear your story. If you've experienced something that you just can't explain, please send me an email at Bigfoot Society at gmail dot com. Then we can start the conversation. And I know a lot of you have not shared your encounter at all. It's been twenty years and it's time that you get this off your chest and then you

47:50 can get some well deserved for rest, because I know you haven't been sleeping. I understand what you're going through, and I appreciate every one of you listening.