MonsterQuest

I had never seen this show before I found it on Netflix. Honestly when I started watching it, I thought it would be crap. But I find I enjoy it. They take one monster myth each episode and set out to try and hunt it down. Like Mythbusters only they only focus on monsters.

I told the hubby today, I am seeing a lot of common stories. Sasquatch, Big Foot, Skunk Ape, etc... all over the US there are reports of these human-ape like creatures, but each area calls them something different. They're varied in height, and varied in fur color, and even varied on how much human to ape ratio they have. Of course, I'm sitting here thinking, "well, look at humans.. we're varied in height, varied in hair/skin color and look at how varied our facial features are. Duh." But maybe I'm over simplifying it.  Now, do I think these creatures are real? Not sure. Do I think there's a chance some offshoot of an ape evolved into something like them? It's possible. You cannot say it isn't possible. Do I Think they've remained hidden from humans all this time to avoid detection? Dude, they haven't avoided detection, or we wouldn't hear about it.

Think of it this way. First, primates are intelligent. No one can deny this. They can learn to use tools. They use wood knocking to communicate over distance. They work in groups. This supports intelligence. If something did evolve off an ape chain into something manlike, why would you think it failed to evolve higher intelligence as well?

Now, add to it the fact that most people see something they don't believe, they keep quiet about it, or only tell a few friends. A good portion of the population doesn't (seem to) go spouting off "Guess what unknown weird and improbable thing I saw" at the top of their lungs to anyone and everyone who listens. Those who do usually get marked as a "nut-job" and ignored. So communication of these things... probably a lot lower than if you happened to see J-Lo eating at a Denny's.

Now, you might say that, if people saw J-Lo eating at a Denny's, they'd have video and photos posted all over the net in seconds, so why don't people just do that? I don't know about you, but normally I don't go out with a video camera on my hip, or even my digital. I have to plan to take it. So if I ran across something cool, I'd be forced to snap a picture on my cell phone. My cell takes craptastic photos. How's yours? About the same? Now, figure that someone is less likely to question if that pic of J-Lo is a fake, than that pic of a BigFoot walking across the corn field. More people will cry 'fake' on the monster pictures. So, a crappy cell photo won't cut it on a monster sighting. Which means, why take one?

Anyways, I certainly think it's arrogant of us to assume there's things out there we still don't know. I mean, seriously, new creatures and new species are being discovered even today. Why would anyone think that these stories, reported in all kinds of places, might just be fairytales? There's always a change they have some truth to them.

But beyond that, the search into the unknown is just freaking cool to me. So much so, that while I was watching the story on the 'Black Beast of Exmoor' the narrator said something about taking precautions so as to not run into the beast and get hurt, and I was going "Why? Dude, close encounters could be awesome.. run up and hug it. If it mauls you, then you have real proof."

Mind you this 'beast' is supposed to be some kind of large cat, like a Jaguar. I am SO a cat person. Had it been something like a snake or a dog I might have agreed, but it's a cat. I just want to pet the thing!