Cryptid Atlas: Bigfoot Reports

Sightings with a paper trail.
Cryptid Atlas is a cryptid map of Bigfoot and Sasquatch, Dogman, Mothman, lake monster and sea serpent reports, each filed with the source it came from.

Tap a pin and the case file opens: what was reported, when and where, how precisely it is mapped, a credibility class and the source. Inclusion is documentation, not confirmation.

THE MAP

Busy areas cluster. Tap one to zoom in, and where several files share a spot, a list opens with the files there. Chips narrow the map by creature type.

The atlas holds 775 sourced case files. Coverage varies by region, and new files are added as they are checked. Recent sightings reported in the news are included, marked as reported, not verified.

BIGFOOT SIGHTINGS AND THE REST

For Bigfoot sightings, start at Bluff Creek, where the Patterson-Gimlin film was shot, then head north to Ape Canyon in Washington.

Skunk ape files come out of southern swamps. A Dogman file collects reports of an upright canine on Wisconsin's Bray Road. Mothman starts at Point Pleasant, and the Jersey Devil belongs to the Pine Barrens. Thunderbird and Frogman files sit beside lake monster reports from Loch Ness and Lake Champlain. Further afield are files on the Yeti in the Himalaya, the Yowie in Australia, Orang Pendek in Sumatra and the Chupacabra in Puerto Rico. What fits nowhere is filed as unclassified.

The sky has files too: mystery airships in old newspapers, FAA pilot reports, and military UFO and UAP records.

HISTORY ON FILE

Some files reach back centuries: a sea serpent seen in Gloucester Harbor in 1817, wild man stories from nineteenth-century newspapers, and royal records of the Beast of Gévaudan in the 1760s.

CREDIBILITY CLASSES, NOT CONCLUSIONS

Every file carries a class: A is firsthand, B is secondhand, C is historical and D is disputed. Every card cites its source. A Sources & licences screen credits the archives the files come from.

RESEARCH TOOLS

Research filters narrow the case file list by creature type, era, credibility class and country. Park browsing groups files on public lands, park by park. There are no in-app purchases: every case file, filter and park view comes with the app.

WHEN THE SIGNAL DIES

Case files are stored on your phone once they have downloaded, so they open with no signal. The map needs a connection, except for ground you have already viewed. Source links and sending a report also need signal.

IF YOU HAVE SEEN SOMETHING

The report form walks you through what you ran into, where and when, the weather, moon and terrain, the sounds and smells, and your account in your own words. You place the pin yourself and can add a photo. Every report is checked, and jokes, abuse and spam are removed. If you say it may be posted, a report that passes goes on the map, blurred to the area you choose; your contact details, photo and exact pin are never shown.

DAY, NIGHT, TEXT SIZE AND NOTIFICATIONS

Read in Night or Day colours, or let the app follow your phone, and set text from Small to Largest. Notifications are off until you turn them on. When you open the app and new case files have arrived, it lets you know.

PRIVACY

There is no account, no ads and no analytics. Your GPS position is used on the phone to centre the map and measure the distance to the nearest case file, and is sent only if you use it to place a report pin. Case files download from the app's server, and map tiles load from an online tile server, which can see the area you are viewing. Beyond those requests, the report form is the one place your information leaves your phone. A report sends its pin, your answers and written account, a photo if you add one (with location data removed), contact details only if you ask to be reachable, and a random ID made by the app to limit and group repeat reports.

Start with the map. Check the sources. Then make up your own mind.