Ellie Zolfagharifard Daily Mail, UK
From the Jersey Devil to the Mothman, the US is filled with fictional creatures that have come to life in the nation’s imagination.
Now one artist has decided to draw these cryptids by hand, revealing the beasts that are feared the most in each state.
‘The map is a bit of a declaration of optimism and wonderment as to what might be possible on planet Earth,’ artist Mark Adams told Dailymail.com.
Big Bird, for instance, has become notorious in Texas where witnesses have reported seeing an ape faced, winged beast with blood-red eyes.
Reports of the creature hit their peak in the early months of 1976 after a local radio station offered a reward for the beast’s capture.
Neighbouring state, Louisiana, is famous for the Honey Island Swap Monster. The creature is 7ft (2 metres) tall, with grey hair, yellow eyes and a foul stench.
Native Americans call this creature ‘Letiche’, and legendary tale suggests the beast came about following a train wreck in the area in the early 20th century.
A travelling circus was on the train, and from it a group of chimpanzees escaped and interbred with the local alligator population, according to the tale.
‘I personally found myself drawn more to the carnivores and predatory cats, beasts like Shunka Warakin and the Ozark Howler,’ said the Philadelphia-based artist.
‘Creatures that likely exist in other less-hostile parts of the world, but for some reason are considered to be too far out to survive in North America.’
Perhaps the most famous of all the legendary beasts in the US is Bigfoot – a large hairy ape man that is alleged by some to live in the forests of the Pacific Northwest.
While Bigfoot is more famous in Washington, last year a large footprint unlike one from a human was in the woods in Mississippi – raising suggestions that the creature it belongs to is Bigfoot.
The large print was found by Peyton Lassiter in Vicksburg on August 12 – nine months after another local man, David Childers, saw a large grey figure running through a wooded area nearby.
Other monsters in the map include the Mothman in West Virginia, the Jersey devil in New Jersey, the Beast of Busco in Indiana and the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swap in South Carolina.
‘I love to think that there could be a cougar roaming the mountains of rural Arkansas, or a dire wolf wreaking havoc on the plains of Montana,’ said Mr Adams.
‘This world is an incredibly diverse place full of mystery and magic, and I for one like to think opposable thumbs and the ability to ‘reason’ doesn’t immediately entitle us to a sense of certainty that we’ve got it all figured.’
THE LEGEND OF MOTHMAN
Mothman is a moth-like creature reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area of West Virginia from 15 November 1966 to 15 December 1967.
Some ufologists, paranormal authors, and cryptozoologists believe that Mothman was an alien, a supernatural manifestation, or an unknown cryptid.
The Native Americans had stories of giant terrible birds called thunderbirds. These thunderbirds could easily swoop down and carry away a man.
In their depictions, they look similar to the descriptions of Mothman.
On November 12, 1966, five men claimed to see a man-like figure fly low from the trees over their heads while digging in a grave. This is often identified as the first known sighting of what became known as the Mothman.