Monster?

The term “monster” takes on a frightening connotation and sparks one’s imagination. I believe monsters are organisms that have not yet been explained by science. I believe “monsters” are creatures that are scary, because they are either not understood yet or are imagined creatures based off of other known species. Therefore, I believe that some monsters exist. However, once they are explained, I no longer consider them monsters.

An example of a creatures being regarded as a monster, because it wasn’t understood yet, would be the Giant Squid. It was once regarded as a monster, but after evidence was found of its existence, it wasn't thought of as a monster anymore. In my opinion, a monster is something that evokes fear, because it is not understood yet. Another example would be Globsters. Before scientific research was done, globsters were regarded as sea monsters, because they looked very different than known species of marine life. However, many researchers found the samples to be sharks or whales. (Radford, 2014). After knowledge of what globsters really are was found, people stopped fearing them. Sharks are also thought of as monsters by many people, even by myself when I was younger. When people are unaware of the important roles sharks play in the ecosystem and our lives, it is easy for people to still regard sharks as monsters due to our fear of being vulnerable in a territory that we cannot control. Another organism to consider is the salmon. When one isn't familiar with the life cycle of a salmon, the onlooker may regard the aged salmon as a “zombie fish” or monster (Cooney, 2013). One meaning of monster that I believe is when a creature that exists isn't thoroughly understood and evokes fear or excitement.

I also think of cryptids when I think of monsters, but I do not believe they exist. Cryptids are creatures that have been recorded in folklore and that many suspect are real, but no concrete evidence exists. For instance, many reports of sasquatch sightings are actually bear sightings. “These animals look like something familiar to us because the myths grow around whatever we've already just seen” (Prothero, 2013). Trying to prove or disprove these types of monsters is quite tricky and there are many factors that must be taken into account regarding their existence. “A cryptid can't be a single animal. If there's one of them, there's got to be many of them. You can talk about their population density, the size of range they should have based on their estimated body size.” These factors support the fact that the monsters probably do not exist, because they “should have had huge ranges, and they should have been spotted a long time ago if they really did exist.” In their book, Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids, Loxton and Prothero use the quote: “the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.” I think this quote nicely summarizes why it is difficult to approve or disprove the existence of these monsters. Although there may not be enough evidence supporting the existence of a cryptid, it does not mean that it does not exist. However, Loxton also makes another important point: “If the claim that you are advancing implies some kind of evidence, then failing to find that kind of evidence is evidence that that thing does not exist. Take, for example, the idea that there might be plesiosaurs in Loch Ness. Well, plesiosaurs had bones. That implies that there should be bones littering the loch. Well, they've dredged the loch to see if there are any monster bones down there, any plesiosaur bones, and there aren't. That goes to the truth of the claim.”

In conclusion, I believe that monsters are either creatures we do not understand yet and will no longer consider them monsters once we do understand them or cryptids

that are hard to approve or disprove their existence.

Works Cited

Cooney, Patrick. “The Swimming Dead: Videos of Zombie Fish.” The Fisheries Blog. 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 November 2015.

Radford, Benjamin. “Globsters: Mysterious Marine Masses.” Live Science. 21 May 2014. Web. 16 November 2015.

Shea, Rachel. “The Science Behind Bigfoot and Other Monsters.” National Geographic. 09 Sept. 2013. Web. 16 November 2015.