RICHARD FREEMAN: What makes a monster?

Guest Blogger time for Richard Freeman again. It almost seems silly introducing Richard to you all once again when he makes an appearance as guest blogger several times a week. However our viewing audience/readers (whatever you like to call yourselves) is growing so fast that it is certain that some of you missed the last time I introduced him.

Some cryptozoologists object to the term monster. They hate being called monster hunters. I don't, it's what I do, hunting monsters (and it has to be said that most of those who object to the term monster are armchair cryptozoologists). The detractors ought really to study the origins of the word. Monster comes from the Latin word “monstrare” meaning to show or a 'revelation'. When applied to a cryptid this is an excellent description.

Some people will say that a cryptid is not a monster, it's an animal. Well an animal can be a monster. What would you call a 45 foot long beast with a beak the size of a rum keg, tentacles lined with clawed suckers and eyes as big as hub caps? The colossal squid is an animal, it's also a monster.

What makes an animal a monster can depend on your point of view. Flamingoes look beautiful to us, but they must seem fairly horrific to the tiny shrimps they feed on (if a shrimp can feel fear).

Man-eating animals may be looked on as monsters. In particular an individual that has killed many people and evades capture. Examples would incude Gustave the giant crocodile in Africa and the man eating lions that terrorized the railroad workers in Tsavo. Ordinary lions and crocodiles were not considered monsters.

A name can make a monster. If a large or savage animal is singled out with a name it becomes special. An out-of-place animal can become a monster. Look at the UK big cats. A non maneating leopard or puma wil be just another animal in its home range. Take it out of its place and put it in a British woodland then it morphs into something else. Given monikers such as 'Beast' (a loaded word) the cat becomes a prowling monster regardless of if it has attacked anyone, or not.

Conversely a monster can become a mere animal. The gorilla was an ogre of native folklore, dismissed by westerners untill it was first captured. Even then it retained a monstrous air until properly studied and kept in zoos. Few people today would consider it a monster. So why is the gorilla not a monster? but the equally scientifically excepted colossal squid still a monster?

Perhaps it is due to the fact we know so little about the squid, or - more likely - it is less like us; more alien. Humans are great narcissists, and fear what is different to them.

In short almost anything can be a monster, depending on where it is, and who sees it.