There’s a few different versions, a few different cases, but in each it is very obviously a hoax. It’s video editing. This is bad. I find that most cryptozoological phenomena doesn’t appear on camera. It might be that it’s literally incapable of appearing on camera, as I talked about in the video yesterday. Where the phenomena is a manipulation of the light spectrum. So we get a video with a cute little creature, a cute little critter. Tumblr, you know, has always made aesthetic forms, cute forms of oftentimes serious things. It gets to a point where people will watch a movie that had been aestheticized on Tumblr and then be shocked at the content, shocked at how serious or horrifying it is.

And I find that this is the case with cryptids. You know, when the cryptid is made cute, it is neutered, it is castrated. The potency, especially the psychic potency, is removed. Because keep in mind, as in my cute video, there is a potential for powerful cuteness. The Fresno Nightcrawler is not treated as a powerfully cute thing. It is ridiculous. It is silly. In a way, this is a mean cryptid. It is a cryptid that was made for the means, was made to be viral, and that is in existence to perpetuate a mean. It’s not real.

People don’t see them. There’s not a human element. It’s cameras that see them, not people. This is bad. So what can we compare it to? What is another memetic figure that shares this nature? Gondola. The Sperdo-Sparbe spinoff. You know, the little bear with his legs. That is the closest thing on the internet to the Fresno Nightcrawler. And I don’t think that it’s a silly comparison. The fact that there is, you know, this kind of prototype cuteness to use, to draw from, to create a monster. So, a meme cryptid. A cryptid that is stripped of its power, stripped of its potency.

Cryptozoology, to me. Very similar to dreams. Very similar to sexuality. And to the larger, meme-scape. These are deeply symbolic, unconscious contents. These are profound wells of symbolism. And, for example, when people derive their dreams as, oh my god, that was so weird, so ridiculous, so silly. It strips it of its meaning. When we look at the phenomenon, the cryptozoological phenomenon, and say, oh my god, look at how cute. Or, I want you to Mothman ate my ass, or Bigfoot ate my ass. Like, that is a stripping of agency away from the cryptid. The very significant phenomenon.

It’s a really important experience that I find deeply meaningful. So, the fandom exists in opposition to the psychic potency of the phenomena itself. This is almost always the case with any media. Almost all media is profoundly resisted by its fans. Fans often hate the thing they purport to love the most. This is the way of things. So, what is the solution? Number one, a more strict litmus against hoaxes. But two, there are cute creatures in the canon. There are cute curtains. Look at the real ones. Look to the real ones. Look to the literature. And recognize that there is a synthesis that is possible.

You know, when people, and it is often children, when people see creatures, regardless of how cute. You know, I think of a story, these two boys are playing marbles, and one looks over and sees little tiny men, tiny little guys, and they’re walking along marching. He is taken aback. He is kind of terrified. This is a profoundly uncanny experience. Yes, it is. It’s cute. There are little tiny people. It’s cute. And yet, it is terrifying. It’s not normal. It’s unnatural. That is the feeling that I find to be the most important. That’s the feeling that we should be looking for, is the uncanniness, the mixture of something cute with something that’s wrong.

That is when it gets real, when it gets powerful and potent. By reducing it to, oh my God, look at how cute, it neuters and castrates the phenomenon. There is plenty of room for artistic play within this space. But truly, it is material that is worth delving into deeper. Every day for this month, I’m going to be doing a video like this. We’re going to take a look, not only at cryptids, but at various scary stories. So be sure to leave in the comments what would you like to see covered, what monsters, creepy things, and things of that nature do you want to see.

If you like this, check out my writing on rickrubinstetragrammaton.com or on my substack. Check the link in the description. And as always, remember, screens matter. Thanks for watching. Thanks for watching. [tr:trw].