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American Cryptids: In Pursuit of the Elusive Creatures
Welcome to the United States of Cryptids...please enjoy your stay!
Each year across the United States, there are mysterious and unexplainable firsthand encounters by average people. These encounters beg the question, do monsters exist? From east to west across the US, professionals are actively researching these encounters to prove once and for all that these creatures do exist.
American Cryptids takes you on a journey across the country, visiting each state along the way. On this adventure, renowned 'cryptopunkologist', Kenney W. Irish, details historical data of each state, details Native American lore and chilling creature encounters with such cryptids as Sasquatch, Mothman, and Champ the Lake Champlain Monster to name a few.
Each year across the United States, there are mysterious and unexplainable firsthand encounters by average people. These encounters beg the question, do monsters exist? From east to west across the US, professionals are actively researching these encounters to prove once and for all that these creatures do exist.
American Cryptids takes you on a journey across the country, visiting each state along the way. On this adventure, renowned 'cryptopunkologist', Kenney W. Irish, details historical data of each state, details Native American lore and chilling creature encounters with such cryptids as Sasquatch, Mothman, and Champ the Lake Champlain Monster to name a few.
218 pages, Paperback
Published March 4, 2021
117 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 22, 2021
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
Repetitive book outlining each State of the Union, a little history of a Native American tribe located therein, and a little bit of cryptozoology, focusing on Bigfoot.
Repetitive book outlining each State of the Union, a little history of a Native American tribe located therein, and a little bit of cryptozoology, focusing on Bigfoot.
October 13, 2021
Repetitive and disappointing...
It's more like a book about Native American lore and history than cryptids. It's also extremely abbreviated and repetitive. 90% of the eyewitness accounts are about bigfoot sightings, and all of them provide less detail than what is already documented in other books like this one. There's also several minor typos like them instead of then... it was a waste of time. Nothing new came out of this read.
It's more like a book about Native American lore and history than cryptids. It's also extremely abbreviated and repetitive. 90% of the eyewitness accounts are about bigfoot sightings, and all of them provide less detail than what is already documented in other books like this one. There's also several minor typos like them instead of then... it was a waste of time. Nothing new came out of this read.
December 7, 2021
It's just a few pages of each state talking about bigfoot. Sometimes, more interesting cryptids are alluded to in passing, but just enough so that the author can check that off and start talking about bigfoot.
April 29, 2025
2⭐️
Part travel guide, part shallow indigenous fact sheet, part super short cryptid summary. A less-than-impressive type book full of repetitive-like sentences.
Part travel guide, part shallow indigenous fact sheet, part super short cryptid summary. A less-than-impressive type book full of repetitive-like sentences.
July 22, 2021
Was bored to bits
Being half Navajo and obsessed with Sasquatch I thought I would really enjoy this but, was bored and seemed like same story. I ended up jumping to my state....never left a bad review so I'm sorry but, felt more like a history course then cool stories
Being half Navajo and obsessed with Sasquatch I thought I would really enjoy this but, was bored and seemed like same story. I ended up jumping to my state....never left a bad review so I'm sorry but, felt more like a history course then cool stories
June 23, 2025
I wanted to give this four stars. Overall, it's fascinating, especially for readers who might not know a lot about the variety of cryptids that show up in various places across the United States. After the Introduction, there's a short chapter on each State. It includes a very brief discussion about that State and its history, one of the indigenous people whose original territory is currently wholly or partly in that State, at least one discussion of a cryptid that's part of that people's lore, and an anecdote or two about a Bigfoot sighting that's occurred in that State.
Unfortunately, the entire book is in desperate need of editing. It's clear that the author ran a spell-check on it, but that was it. Sentence fragments. Bad ones. Incomplete thoughts. Like, if...William Shatner had...co-authored it. Most of the measurements of Bigfoots are hyphenated. Plural misuse is rampant (Every time you use an apostrophe-s to make a plural or neglect the apostrophe when making a possessive, God lets the Devil kill a kitten. And the body count in this regard is absolutely stomach-churning.). I'll spare you the rest, or leave you to discover it for yourself.
The State intros, while probably needed by those of us who weren't paying attention in U.S. History class, could have used some polish and better focus. Can we say, "Our State Fair is the best State Fair in our State?"
The bits about various tribes wound up repetitive after a short while. Sure, I suppose that would probably also be the case if an author were to do the same thing with, say, geo-political entities in Europe during the 17th century. But it just wound up unfairly boring. How many times and in how many ways can one say that the men did the hunting and war and women did the gardening, cooking, and childcare? He tried to make that interesting, but it didn't work well. And that's on top of the neglect of the dozens and dozens of nations not mentioned.
I was disappointed that jackalopes aren't mentioned, but I suppose they're not technically a cryptid.
As an intro to cryptids, it had more potential. At a mere 200 pages, it's adequate as an introduction, but just barely. It could have been half again as long, with more breadth and depth, and been a lot better, especially with even a cursory beta-reading pass.
Unfortunately, the entire book is in desperate need of editing. It's clear that the author ran a spell-check on it, but that was it. Sentence fragments. Bad ones. Incomplete thoughts. Like, if...William Shatner had...co-authored it. Most of the measurements of Bigfoots are hyphenated. Plural misuse is rampant (Every time you use an apostrophe-s to make a plural or neglect the apostrophe when making a possessive, God lets the Devil kill a kitten. And the body count in this regard is absolutely stomach-churning.). I'll spare you the rest, or leave you to discover it for yourself.
The State intros, while probably needed by those of us who weren't paying attention in U.S. History class, could have used some polish and better focus. Can we say, "Our State Fair is the best State Fair in our State?"
The bits about various tribes wound up repetitive after a short while. Sure, I suppose that would probably also be the case if an author were to do the same thing with, say, geo-political entities in Europe during the 17th century. But it just wound up unfairly boring. How many times and in how many ways can one say that the men did the hunting and war and women did the gardening, cooking, and childcare? He tried to make that interesting, but it didn't work well. And that's on top of the neglect of the dozens and dozens of nations not mentioned.
I was disappointed that jackalopes aren't mentioned, but I suppose they're not technically a cryptid.
As an intro to cryptids, it had more potential. At a mere 200 pages, it's adequate as an introduction, but just barely. It could have been half again as long, with more breadth and depth, and been a lot better, especially with even a cursory beta-reading pass.
August 16, 2021
Thin on Creatures
American Cryptids: in Pursuit of the Elusive Creatures
The book has an appealing format using the fifty states for organization. I enjoyed the identification of the many creatures in each state. The history of the states is interesting. The reader, at times, doesn’t gain the perspective given in square miles and geographic features where the creatures roam in other books on this subject. The downside to American Cryptids: In Pursuit of the Elusive Creatures is that it is sparse on specifics about the creatures. The book reads more like a travel guide pointing out places of interests to tourists.The history of Indigenous peoples is also interesting, but the repetitiveness of what they worn and their tasks within their communities could be covered in one section denoting any differences separately in the narrative of each location. Naming of experiencers would add validity uniqueness to the events. I’ve read many similar accounts of encounters such as the Bray Road Beast or the Moth Man; the witnesses give their name. I recommend American Cryptids: In Pursuit of Elusive Creatures for readers interested in a brief history of individual states and the indigenous peoples who live in those states. If the reader is looking for an in-depth look at cryptids, they won’t find it in this book.
American Cryptids: in Pursuit of the Elusive Creatures
The book has an appealing format using the fifty states for organization. I enjoyed the identification of the many creatures in each state. The history of the states is interesting. The reader, at times, doesn’t gain the perspective given in square miles and geographic features where the creatures roam in other books on this subject. The downside to American Cryptids: In Pursuit of the Elusive Creatures is that it is sparse on specifics about the creatures. The book reads more like a travel guide pointing out places of interests to tourists.The history of Indigenous peoples is also interesting, but the repetitiveness of what they worn and their tasks within their communities could be covered in one section denoting any differences separately in the narrative of each location. Naming of experiencers would add validity uniqueness to the events. I’ve read many similar accounts of encounters such as the Bray Road Beast or the Moth Man; the witnesses give their name. I recommend American Cryptids: In Pursuit of Elusive Creatures for readers interested in a brief history of individual states and the indigenous peoples who live in those states. If the reader is looking for an in-depth look at cryptids, they won’t find it in this book.
January 27, 2023
One of the important things that the author does is ask the question 'What is considered evidence?' If you want to prove that something exists then you need to have good evidence backing you up but what kind of evidence? Photos? Video? Eye-witness testimony? Also, how reliable is the evdience?
The author talks about Bigfoot, how it's seen in all states of the U.S. and how it might be related to a very early form of hominid. Then he examines each state of the union. For each state he first gives some basic history, what year it was made a state, it's capitol, it's population, it's area and other information.
A few of the creatures he notes include the Wampus Cat, The Whipple Creek Screamer, the Ozark Howler, the Thunderbird, Cannibal Dwarves, the Melon Head Cannibals, Hogzilla, the Green Clawed Beast, the Snallygaster, the Wendigo, the New Jersey Devil, the Loveland Frogman and a lot of others.
It's not only an educational book but it's fun to read, especially with some of the names of the creatures.
October 4, 2021
I thought this was a really good book. I know I learned a lot about the states and the activities there. I've always been a Bigfoot fan. Actually, a few years ago for Christmas, my daughter gave me a Bigfoot statue almost as tall as I am (but that's saying a lot people cause I'm a shorty). I find these creatures can be very likeable sometimes and very dangerous sometimes. Not that I would like to actually see a Bigfoot and it would be sort of impossible where I live in Virginia, but I do wish people would let them along and let them live their lives. I've learned a lot about their lives by reading these books and I still have a few books to go. Try this book. I think you'll love it and learn a lot.
March 25, 2021
State Guide with Brief Sightings
I had high hopes for this book. I thought it would be filled with some great encounter stories and searches for creatures. Instead, this is a guide of cryptids in each state. There is a brief overview of the state and the resident Native American tribe. Then a few creatures are noted and the chapters end with a Bigfoot sighting. The sightings are all of the "I saw something, but not sure what it was variety." Nothing spooky or intriguing. After reading a number of other books about incredible encounters, this book is very tame by comparison.
I had high hopes for this book. I thought it would be filled with some great encounter stories and searches for creatures. Instead, this is a guide of cryptids in each state. There is a brief overview of the state and the resident Native American tribe. Then a few creatures are noted and the chapters end with a Bigfoot sighting. The sightings are all of the "I saw something, but not sure what it was variety." Nothing spooky or intriguing. After reading a number of other books about incredible encounters, this book is very tame by comparison.
February 11, 2024
51 sections, 51 types of big foot
While this book was interesting for learning about the different Native American Tribes in each state, it wasn't very informative about Cryptids.
Each section contained 1-3 Cryptids from each state, with 1-3 of them being Bigfoot encounters or different types of Sasquatch. While I enjoy learning about Sasquatch lore and encounters, I was expecting to read more about local tales of creatures other than Bigfoot.
This Authors book about World Cryptids is a very interesting read, but this one? Not so much.
While this book was interesting for learning about the different Native American Tribes in each state, it wasn't very informative about Cryptids.
Each section contained 1-3 Cryptids from each state, with 1-3 of them being Bigfoot encounters or different types of Sasquatch. While I enjoy learning about Sasquatch lore and encounters, I was expecting to read more about local tales of creatures other than Bigfoot.
This Authors book about World Cryptids is a very interesting read, but this one? Not so much.
September 27, 2023
A brief summary of cryptids in all 50 US states, heavy on basic history trivia, a scant (and insufficient) nod to native peoples in each state, and brief anecdotal stories about a cryptid or two. Overall, lacking in any serious content or connection, apart from the theme of "50 states." Basically, if you want to read about US cryptids, this is not the book for you.
July 22, 2021
US History of cryptic creatures
It was like reading a textbook about all the states in the US. You read some facts about each state , then the cryptic creatures that could be found in the state. Worth a look.
It was like reading a textbook about all the states in the US. You read some facts about each state , then the cryptic creatures that could be found in the state. Worth a look.
April 8, 2022
Really vague cryptid stories that lack detail or in depth research. If you want travel / history / indigenous lessons you might enjoy it more. Overall the worst cryptid book I've ever read and the first time I have actually felt ripped off after buying a book.
May 5, 2022
Bigfoot really is everywhere!
This was a quick read but lots of fun. A state by state detailing of accounts of people seeing strange creatures. If you enjoy cryptozoology, check this out.
This was a quick read but lots of fun. A state by state detailing of accounts of people seeing strange creatures. If you enjoy cryptozoology, check this out.
April 5, 2021
A great collection of stories
Irish has compiled an impressive collection of tales of high strangeness from every state. An interesting read and an enjoyable travelogue
Irish has compiled an impressive collection of tales of high strangeness from every state. An interesting read and an enjoyable travelogue
May 4, 2021
I thought the research was very good. There is a lot of information on cryptically, but I think it fell short of the book I was looking for.
August 21, 2021
Really enjoyed the book.
August 9, 2022
This was an interesting read about cryptids, lake monsters, legends and native American folklore from all 50 states. If this interests you, this is a quick, fun read.
July 9, 2025
My favorite cryptid is Hogzilla
August 17, 2025
Hilariously poor writing, to say nothing of the subject matter. There's good cryptid content out there, at least for the entertainment value. This is not it.
July 9, 2025
I liked it, I listened to the audiobook in the car and while doing tasks. It was a bit repetitive with the introductions, but I believe that was intentional. Overall I liked it!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews