The Black Curtain Club
Welcome to The Black Curtain Club Podcast, where a fearless group of women pull back the veil on the topics that keep their minds buzzing. From spine-chilling hauntings and cryptids that lurk in the shadows, to true crime tales that keep them up at night, nothing is off-limits. Tune in as they dive into pop culture, unpack their personal kinks, explore paranormal mysteries, and even shuffle the tarot deck to see what’s written in the cards. No topic is too taboo, too eerie, or too bizarre for this bold and unfiltered crew. If it’s been pent up in their brains, it’s time to let it out—join the conversation!
The Black Curtain Club
Cryptids and Coffee
This podcast takes listeners on a journey through the tales and theories surrounding popular cryptids, including Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil, and the Squonk. We delve into sightings, origins, and the impact these creatures have on our cultural narrative.
• Discussing the legend and history of Bigfoot
• Analyzing the science behind sightings and popular theories
• Exploring the eerie legend of the Jersey Devil
• Review of famous sightings and community responses
• Introducing the sad story of the Squonk
• Reflecting on modern-day cultural significance and folklore evolution
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Before we begin today's episode of the Black Curtain Club, we would like to share a quick disclaimer. The views, opinions and statements expressed by the hosts and guests on this podcast are their own personal view and are provided in their personal capacity. All content is editorial and opinion-based, intended for entertainment purposes only. Listener discretion is advised.
Becca:Good morning cryptid enthusiasts. Grab your coffee and settle in for a chat about some of the most famous and mysterious creatures that have captured imaginations worldwide Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil and the Squam.
Angela:Let's dive into the strange, eerie and fascinating world of cryptids while sipping on our morning brew.
Nessie:In this episode, we'll explore the legends behind these creatures, discuss some theories about their origins and maybe even share some spine-tingling encounters so, whether you're a believer or just enjoy a good mystery, you're in the right place. I think today I want to start us off with talking about Bigfoot, otherwise known as the elusive forest king, Ooh one of the best.
Nessie:So just a quick little introduction to Bigfoot. He's the big guy, the myth, the man, the legend. Also known as a Sasquatch, he is the king of the cryptid world, or at least the reigning champ of blurry forest photo bin world, or at least the reigning champ of blurry forest photo bin. People say Bigfoot is a large, hairy humanoid creature who loves lurking in dense forests of North America. You know the kind of guy who'd be great on a hiking trip but terrible at hide-and-seek ironic, given his whole vibe.
Becca:I feel like I'm the opposite Same. I feel like I'm really bad on a hiking trip. Don't make me walk uphill behind something Right.
Nessie:The first reported sightings of Bigfoot start back in 1958 with Andrew Gonzoli, a journalist for the Humboldt Times. He published a cheeky little story about giant footprints found by loggers in Northern California, where he joked that they might belong to a relative of the abominable snowman. And boom, the Bigfoot fever was born. The real OG storytellers, though, were the indigenous communities that had been talking about Sasquatch-like beings long before he hit the headlines. Basically, bigfoot was a thing before being a thing was cool, so he like started the whole influencer trend, basically.
Becca:He has a whole mythology to them that I didn't even know about.
Angela:Right.
Nessie:Isn't that so cool. He's out there making big moves with his big feet, Big money moves. Some of his iconic sightings you can't really talk about without bringing up the 1967 Patterson Gimlin film. That's the one where our furry friend does his best Zoolander walk through a clearing in Northern California. You've probably seen it. He's slightly hunched mid-stride and just looking like he remembered he left the stove on Like can you imagine just like this big furry man doing his Zoolander walk. And then he looks over like oh, you can literally see it.
Nessie:Maybe he just didn't sign his NDA. Either way, it's kind of iconic, like, if you think about it.
Becca:Yeah.
Nessie:Now, if you're more like, okay, what do the actual scientists think about this? Let me introduce you to Dr Jeff Meldrum. He won't actually be on the podcast with us. Let me make that very clear right now. Please don't expect to guess this episode. It's our first episode, friends, we're not that cool yet. I asked, but he left me on. Read Right. He didn't respond to us. He's an anthropology professor at Idaho State University and probably Bigfoot's biggest academic fanboy. In 1996, he found these huge 15-inch tracks in Washington and thought yep, this is my life's work. Now he got over 300 of these footprints casted and they're in his lab and he argues some of them are way too detailed to be fake. So science, I guess, hasn't.
Becca:Just I could see there being like a whole feed finder channel for fix it. I bet there is. I bet there is.
Nessie:I didn't research, jeff himself to see if he actually was alive. It was a joke that we actually reached out to him. I will say, research Jeff himself to see if he actually was alive. It was a joke that we actually reached out to him. I will say that. But one thing I think about is like when scientists die, do you think like those things just stay in their lab as their prized possessions or do you think some weirdo is just like I'm going to put these on eBay and sell them as Bigfoot feed finder things.
Becca:That is a really good question, Like does it get handed off or passed down? Does it get handed off or passed down? It's the scientists working on it.
Nessie:It's no longer around to work on Scientists out there, let us know. Yeah, if you're a scientist, chime on below. Not everyone is Team Bigfoot. Though Most of the skeptics love to rain on this cryptid parade, they'll tell you that those tracks are hoaxes. The sightings are probably bears or people who forgot their glasses. Some people will even blame it on a combo of wishful thinking and the human brain's tendency to make shadows look like monsters. Basically, the skeptics just think we've all got Bigfoot FOMO, I mean.
Becca:I think that's valid to an extent. I mean people want to look for patterns because they want to make sense of the world around them, but I mean I don't know, I think too many people.
Nessie:Yeah, I agree with that. Like I don't know. It's hard because I want to say I'm not a skeptic, but it's like half and half, you know. Like I want to believe it's real and then to think like, ok, there's scientists out there that think this is real, so there's got to be some portion of it, that there's some reality out there behind this right. Like it could be bigfoot, it could be some other phenomenon, and it ties into like the next thing is like there's that maybe he's real crowd, and like on, like. Like I said, on one hand I am part of that crowd. Um, one theory that other people do have is that bigfoot could be a descendant of Gigantopithecus, an extinct primate that lived thousands of years ago. Picture like a prehistoric King Kong, but a little less on the climb, the Empire State Building, and a little more chill in the woods, kind of vibe. The problem behind that, though, is there's zero fossil evidence of the Gigantopithecus in North America. But hey, science has been wrong before, right.
Angela:Yeah, definitely it has been wrong.
Nessie:I do have a couple little fun, like I have one little fun fact the name Sasquatch actually comes from the Salish world and I'm going to butcher this, unfortunately, I think it's S-A-X-A-X, s-a-x, I think, sex-gag, sex-gag, sex, sex, sex. Well, because there's like the sex sex I apologize for to the salish people for butchering that word. Um, but basically salish, basically it's the name just means like wild men. So he's just got a linguistics degree to go with his forest bachelor pad. You know, like he he was, just like I got big feet. People didn't call me bigfoot. There you go I love that.
Becca:The wild men. Where can you find the sex gag?
Nessie:where can I find them? Wild men? Now my, my real, my really important question here for the listeners today is like what do you think? Do you think bigfoot is just a hairy bear with good pr? Do you believe the legend? And I mean if you've got a bigfoot is just a hairy bear with good pr. Do you believe the legend? And I mean if you've got a bigfoot story you want to share with us, whether it's a blurry photo or a suspiciously tall hiker that you've seen, or you know some old story grandpa told you 10 years ago about a big furry boy he saw in the woods. Please hit us up and maybe big fuss will big fuss bigfoot will tune in and listen to this podcast too and give us some hints or information on him yeah, big foot should turn off in the comments below yeah, you know, give us the answers to our questions.
Nessie:Big foot. Personally, I think he's a combination of both. I think maybe he is just a hairy bear with good pr, but he could also, like, actually like be a real thing, like we never know until we personally, like look into it ourselves.
Becca:I feel like the world is what you believe, if that makes sense I definitely think he's some holdover from evolution, maybe a little closer to our eight ancestors, and I think it's definitely a possibility.
Angela:Yeah, so my I first of all, I am all in on Bigfoot. I believe that it's real, I'm all in. I think that he is more of an interdimensional being. A lot of sightings are often tied with also UFO sightings, and so I think there's definitely a tie-in between the two.
Nessie:I've never even thought about that.
Becca:That like interdimensional things yeah, that's actually like.
Nessie:Yeah, what if he is like actually just like an alien, that is like sent down disguised as like this forest monster to throw us off and think there's something lurking in the forest?
Becca:like does he go through?
Nessie:yeah, there does he go. I, I want to know. Yeah, does he get beamed down?
Angela:no, it is. No, it's very much like a portal kind of situation. So, um, there is a show on discovery channel that, um, they have done this extensive bigfoot investigation and they were actually tracking one and they were right in the area where this thing was supposed to be and it just disappeared completely off their radar. It just completely vanished, couldn't see it.
Becca:I'll have the hair on my buns. Yeah, it's crazy.
Angela:I know I was like I just got the chills and I'm sitting in front of a heater with oh my gosh yeah, maybe we're on to something um sasquatch is found in the appalachians, um it's found in the pacific northwest in alaska, and a lot of these are all tied to UFO activity.
Nessie:I think that actually gives me one more question that I want answered now is like is there just one Bigfoot or is it like? Is it like, you know, like we have communities of like? Is it like a tribe of Bigfeet? Are there like? Is that the plural? Is it Bigfoots, bigfeet?
Angela:Well, I mean I think, yeah, of course there's going to be probably different species. I mean, look, just look at our squirrels. We have red squirrels, we have gray squirrels.
Nessie:I'll buy those squirrels.
Angela:We have the skunk ape in Florida who's very much in some sort of very much like a cousin to Bigfoot.
Becca:So yeah, I think it makes sense the same with the Missouri monster.
Angela:It's not a different species.
Nessie:Maybe we should do an episode that ties all the cryptids lineage together and just do a family tree of cryptids as one of our episodes. Bigfoot family reunion yes um, I personally think I have heard enough about bigfoot for today, considering the amount of research I've done on him, and I would love to hear what becca has researched and put together about the jersey devil for us so the jersey devil has kind of been a thing in my life since.
Becca:Probably I developed a personality and I'll get a little bit into that later, but for now we're going to just go into the basic backstory. What even is the Jersey Devil? So the Jersey Devil is a mishmash of the weirdest combinations of animals I've ever heard. Let me paint you a mental picture A kangaroo-like creature with the face of a horse, the head of a dog, the wings of a bat with two horns and a forked tail. It stands over six feet tall with razor-sharp talons on stubby front legs, and its back legs are supposedly horse-like as well. It's known for its frightening screech that can be heard as far as the next town over, and, like I said, I discovered this cryptid when I was about 10 years old and I've kind of had an irrational fear of it ever since.
Becca:So the first reported sightings of the Jersey Devil were dated back to the early 1700sating in the pine barrens of new jersey, and there's two theories that I kind of feel are worth talking about when it comes to this cryptid. The first one is mother leads. So in 1735 in south jersey, a woman named mary leads was giving birth to her 13th child at home. As she struggled, struggled and strained, she cursed the unborn child, declaring either I wish the devil himself would take the child away or let this one be a devil. I've seen both in my research, so I figured I would just mention both. Either way, I think if I had 13 children in a dirty hobble with no epidural, I'd probably feel a little resentful too. So as the baby emerges from its mother, she says she watches as it transforms into the ugliest of creatures and shrieks before it flies away over the vast darkness of the pine barrens. This is a little fantastical. This is where things are a little paranormal. Quickly, can we?
Nessie:just pat like dubs in the chat and a pat on the back for mother leads here. Women back then, 13 kids.
Becca:No epidural dirty hovel and a boil water. Oh my god.
Nessie:I haven't personally given birth to any crotch goblins yet, or children, as respectfully children, um. But even I'm like ow 13 back then, like you said, with no epidural, not really the best care for like doctor wise are you? Oh jeez, I got.
Becca:I just got chills thinking about that and I mean your aftercare would just be remember to boil your rags before you step them up there like yeah I was born in the right millennium.
Angela:Yeah, I'd be cursing a few things.
Becca:Yeah, no, kidding there is another theory, however, that the jersey devil is based either on daniel leads or the leads family in general. Now this is said to be a different Leeds family than Mother Leeds. They just happen to have the same name and it kind of fits with the narrative. So Daniel Leeds was alive from 1651 to 1720. He was a prominent figurehead in the Quaker community during the Revolutionary War. He gained notoriety with the publication of an almanac that used astrological elements in predicting climate and conditions. And since the Quakers were so devoutly religious, they found the scientific practices ungodly and started a feud with the family, casting them out. Daniel converts his family to angelicanism and began to publish anti-frager literature. So it became kind of like an old-timey Twitter war between the two right. And another nail in the coffin is he was famously aligned with the British-appointed governor of Jersey.
Becca:So basically, the train of thought here is, because of all of the things that were said about this family, the way they were demonized by the community, maybe it was a rumor that got, maybe drawn out of proportion, you know, like it just got bigger than it needed to. The jersey devil has been said to haunt the pine barrens for centuries, with numerous reports from locals and even well-known figures like the leeds family. Some insist the creature has nefarious motives and even claim that you can hear the screams of the jersey devil as far as the next town over. Others claim he's the protector of the pine Barrens and would never harm a human. They say the reason descriptions of him are so varied and different because he is so ugly and so horrific. You can't stand to look at him for longer than a few seconds. I think that's a little harsh.
Nessie:He must have got whooped with the ugly stick, I mean.
Angela:And it's so hard to find a description of. He must have got whooped with the ugly stick. I mean, yeah, aww. And it's so hard to find a description of this thing online because it's literally like every animal.
Nessie:Just put in one.
Becca:Yeah, poor guy. So there have been sightings of the. There are sightings of the Jersey Devil ever so often, but what I find fascinating is that, according to a poll done by Fairleigh Dickinson University, 16% of New Jersey residents believe in the Jersey Devil. While some say he's a source of pride for the community, a few genuinely believe he's a threat to their safety that has been neglected for too long. Deniers of the cryptid blame the numerous sightings on massive birds in the area he's known to inhabit. A common theory is that people are seeing sandhill cranes and thinking that these are the Jersey Devil. They match the wingspan and the glowing red eyes that the Jersey Devil said to have. I want to point out that these birds are not native to the area whatsoever. So if people are seeing sandhill cranes and thinking they're the jersey devil, what are they doing, right?
Nessie:yeah, like what? If it's not the jersey devil, then what is making those birds that are not native? They're there, like why are people seeing them? So?
Becca:often and so frequently. Then all of a sudden, why is it more believable to see a bird that doesn't live there there than it is to see a Jameson Temple there?
Angela:You know what I'm saying.
Nessie:Why is?
Becca:this, disproving our theory. This also doesn't account for the witnesses who say they've seen the beast raiding their chicken coops and terrorizing their community. But skeptics insist. A reasonable explanation like diseased or distressed wildlife may be a more rational explanation for the phenomenon, and I just don't accept that I'm a rabid wolf like it's not just one animal.
Nessie:It's like okay, so diseased wildlife mishmashed and became every single diseased wildlife in one. Then Like explain that Right.
Becca:Right. Why is the camel dog? Why is the camel dog coming and eating my chickens?
Nessie:Why is the chicken eating the other chickens and it's got a dog head, Like what's happening here.
Becca:What if we found out the jersey devil was the reason for the egg shortage?
Nessie:oh, I'm sorry I would have to be a little upset, even though you know like we love the jersey devil around here. But like I would, I think I'd have to be a little upset because we went to the store the other day and it was like almost 13 dollars for 12 eggs.
Becca:So I'm a little yeah, that's how it is here too. Too. Thanks a lot, jersey Devil.
Angela:Yeah, he's just at the Eggland Farm going nom, nom, nom yeah.
Nessie:He's eating the chickens too, so it's like he's not just killing all the. They're like we can't keep up with all the chickens he's eating.
Becca:Right, it's a living they're trying to scrape out in the harsh environment of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, but leave the chickens alone.
Nessie:Just let the people live, man.
Becca:There is a couple of famous sightings that I would feel neglectful if I didn't touch on, so one that I want to bring up is Joseph Bonaparte. It's Bonaparte Bonaparte, joseph Bonaparte. I up is Joseph Bonaparte, it's Bonaparte, bonaparte, joseph.
Nessie:Bonaparte. I read it as Bonaparte.
Becca:Joseph Bonaparte in 1820. He is the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was the king of Spain for a little while before Napoleon lost the war. That's a story for another time. So this goes down after he was exiled to the Americas when his brother was defeated in combat. One day, while on a hunt in the barrens, he comes across tracks in the snow. He reports they look like the prints of a donkey, but noted that this was not plausible, since donkeys have four feet and this creature appeared to be bipedal. The tracks ended suddenly as if the creature had flown away. He suddenly heard a loud hissing noise behind him and he spun to face a creature he had no name for stood six feet tall and had the head of a horse and bird-like legs. The creature scared the hell out of him and flew away. Before he remembered he had a rifle over his shoulder. Locals would later tell him he had just met the Jersey Devil. What do we think of that?
Nessie:That's crazy. Also, imagine being a soldier who is so scared that you forget you have a weapon.
Becca:Exactly, Exactly. You literally have a gun and you're so scared.
Nessie:That's a terrifying beast right there at that rate the, the hissing.
Becca:It's the hissing for me, excuse how unnecessary I think.
Nessie:For me it's the fact that it's like one again scared him so much he forgot he had a weapon on him. He forgot he had a pew, pew two. It's six feet tall with a horse's head yes, yes, could you imagine? Just standing there, like I'm probably, like I think I'm five, six, five, seven.
Becca:I'd just be like, oh, just looking up at it, oh my gosh.
Angela:Yep, I forgot what I was gonna say. Okay, it was a moment that went into my head and it flew out as soon as it went in.
Nessie:Like the Jersey Devil. Yeah, like the Jersey Devil.
Becca:In one ear out the next.
Becca:Another famous sighting is the Jersey Devil sightings of 1909. Over a hundred reports came in claiming to have seen or been personally victimized by the Jersey Devil. Some sightings were reported as far as Philadelphia Reports of him raiding chicken coops, terrorizing citizens with his screams and aggressive nature. Some reported he had injured them with either claws or dropping them from a great height. Reports on this incident are difficult to prove due to the era they occurred, but I feel that it's compelling enough to mention, because A news traveled at a literal snail's pace back then. So for such widespread reports to have been made with such similarity to the nature of the reports, I find that compelling and my lizard brain wants to know if this supposed creature wasn't the jersey devil and what was it. That's a big thing for me. If you're gonna tell me I'm wrong, tell me why I'm wrong. Hundreds of people reported something in that stretch of a few months and at this point they need to prove to me it wasn't the Dresden Death, because I refuse anything else.
Nessie:Yeah, because, like, how did so many people see it? You know like Hundreds and it spanned so far.
Becca:Months, months and months, and most of these incidents were happening like back to back, like he would be seen in one place and then seen in another place, and they just it was a mass reporting of it. It was like a hot incident for me.
Nessie:That's crazy Like I couldn't even imagine that.
Becca:Being flown into the air and dropped.
Nessie:Ouchie, now all I have in my head is the Mario.
Becca:Now a few more theories and explanation. Now all I have in my head is the Mario. Now a few more theories and explanation. It's worth mentioning that police, government officials and hundreds of others have reported seeing this creature dating back 250 years. To this day, people traveling down the Garden State Parkway or the Atlantic City Expressway report sightings of something and tell stories of strange things.
Becca:Many continue to believe that the legendary game is still around. Skeptics will say that this is just a local legend blown way out of proportion, that the creature is in fact a mockery of the leads family that has evolved over time, and I feel it's worth saying that, after the death of daniel leads, his son, titan, took over the printing of the almanac and found himself in competition with no other than benjamin freitler, who went on a street dragging the leeds family name through the mud, going so far as to say the person saying these things must not be titan leads, but a creature from the spirit world, and continuing to pop off after titan's death, writing that the ghost of leeds continued to haunt him as payback. The theory is that two men have become one in legend as the local rumor mill in intensely superstitious communities, being blown way out of proportion.
Nessie:I just want to say too that it all kind of seems like no matter what, this whole cryptid and superstition kind of ties back to the leads, because there's mother leads, daniel leads and Titan leads mother leads, daniel leads and titan leads they're, you know, like it's one of these three or all three of these leads. Family members have something to do with this story around the jersey devil, and that totally does, could and that and that could be something that crypt or cryptids, ha ha, skeptics say is you know, oh, it's just slander, but like also at the same time, why are so many people reported seeing this thing and like all kind of describing the same thing? It just doesn't make sense if it's just slander right.
Becca:If it were just slander, there wouldn't be witnesses, there wouldn't be dead chickens, there wouldn't be injured people right, yeah right, we wouldn't have the egg shortage all right.
Becca:So to wrap this up, I want to go into my personal introduction to the jersey devil. I'm going to put the picture I'm talking about on our social media when this episode airs, because you have to see it to really understand. When I was about 10, I checked out a book from the library that was all about north american monsters. This book was where my love of cliff kids came from, and I really wish I could remember the name of it because I would share it, to the high heavens, with you guys. In this book there was a whole section dedicated to the Jersey Devil, and I don't know if it's because I lived in the woods out in the middle of nowhere, or because I was the perfect age for this to mess with my head, but the Jersey Devil became my personal thing that goes bump in the night. I was convinced he was going to swoop down from the sky and drag me away to wherever the hell New Jersey was and swallow me whole.
Becca:After about a year of me being almost too afraid to walk 75 feet through the woods to my grandma's house she literally lived within sight of our home. I was too scared to go. My dad insisted I show him this home. I was too scared to go. My dad insisted I show him this thing that I was so scared of, and when he sees that picture he laughs in my face. He literally said there is no physical way this could even swallow a human being. What is this about? And I really want to just let you know I did live in Oklahoma at the time, so if the Jersey Devil is real, he probably would never have even seen me.
Becca:I was way too far away it still went bumping the night in your brain and scared you that bad though it hit me just right and it was just the picture and the stories of him like dropping people from the sky, like imagine looking up through the trees and just seeing something swoop overhead. Oh, it like activates the prey center of my brain.
Nessie:Yeah, I couldn't.
Becca:Now that I'm an adult, looking at this, I see the Jersey Devil as a kind of vigilante cryptid. His lore is steeped in an environmentalist agenda and locals to his prowling grounds insist he's tasked with protecting the woodlands and wetlands of New Jersey and the surrounding areas. I do want to shout out the Jersey Devils hockey team. They've won a total of 1,679 games and lost 1,726 games. Not a great record, but I can see you're trying, sorry. So what do you guys think about the Jersey Devil? You?
Angela:know.
Nessie:I don't know what it is, but I think there's enough anecdotal evidence that there's definitely something to this one I think I'm gonna have to agree with you, like I definitely see him as just like this woodland vigilante who just wants to protect the woods. Honestly, like the fact that the saying is, if, if you have love for the land and respect for its inhabitants, the devil has no quarrel with you. Like I'm sorry that right there, he's a vigilante. He is the Robin Hood of cryptids. He says I protect the world.
Angela:Yeah, I definitely think there's a lot of credence to it. I am a believer and I want the Jersey Devil to believe in himself.
Becca:Yes, Jersey Devil.
Nessie:Believe in yourself.
Becca:I like when they have morals and a backstory and you can see their motivation. He just wants to protect the Pine Barrens.
Nessie:And I respect the hell out of that man. He's just a boy trying to protect the woods, yeah.
Angela:Right, he's just a boy.
Becca:Anyways, after all this talk of the Jersey Devil dropping me from the sky, I think I've been waiting for weeks for you to tell me about the squonk.
Nessie:I know I'm so excited. Let's hear it, Ange.
Angela:Oh yeah, is it time for the squonk? It is. It is that time Now? I will say I've never heard of the squonk until I started researching for this episode, and I have to say squonk is a very fun word to say, so you're going to hear it a lot. Get it out of your system. Squonk, squonk, squonk, squonk.
Nessie:Squonk Squonk, squonk, squonk Squonk.
Angela:Squ very soft. Squonk back there, becca. So let's dive into this little fella. So the squonk is a creature shrouded in sadness and self-loathing and let me tell you, like I have never bonded so much with you, know a research subject as the squonk, and I think by the time that we're done with this, you're going to find him very relatable. Described as an odd, pitiful being that roams the woodlands of Pennsylvania, lacrymacorpus dissolvans, which is a true stroke of linguistic brilliance. It's derived from Latin and it literally translates to tear, body, dissolving. But what exactly is a squonk, and why is he such a sad little guy? Well, let's dive into the legend.
Angela:According to local folklore, the squonk is a creature that not only is strange in appearance but also cursed with a perpetual sense of misery. Its most distinct feature is its appearance, or rather the way it appears to others. The squonk is said to be covered in loose, wrinkled skin, with a body that's vaguely pig-like, though some descriptions make it sound almost like a deformed dog or bear. But the most striking feature is the creature's physical appearance of constant sadness. Its face is said to be covered in tears and its eyes perpetually filled with sorrow. I mean, like, can we get a collective aww for the little guy. That's so sad.
Nessie:What it is. Poor baby Squonk, like he's so sad, I know.
Angela:I feel so bad for him.
Nessie:I'm feeling Squonky. I did just tear up a little bit at that. Just reading like listening to you read that made me feel some type of way about the squonk, like I feel he's such a sad boy.
Angela:He is, he is, he's just. He's just a little guy that you know has some problems. Um, so you may ask why all the tears? Well, the squonk is supposedly so ashamed of its appearance that it weeps constantly. In fact, it's said that it's so self-conscious of its looks that when it encounters other creatures or humans, it will flee, often dissolving into tears and vanishing into the misty forests of Pennsylvania. I have to say I have bonded with this little creature because I too dissolve into tears and vanish into the mist when I have to deal with people and have to work on my own self-confidence. Be like, you know, a vampire burst into a million bats.
Nessie:So definitely relatable little guy. I think we all have a little bit of a squonk in us when it comes to stuff like that, um and it's. I think maybe we just have to kind of start referring to it as that because, like, if I think personally, if I was like all the squonk inside of me is sad of how I looked, I would like I would try to cheer my squonk up personally in my brain if that made sense, you know.
Angela:Yeah.
Nessie:How's your squonk doing today? What's your squonk level?
Angela:Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly so. This miserable little guy was first reported in the late 19th century, Though his exact origins are a little unclear. I did find two literary references of the squonk. So many credit William T Cox with first mentioning the creature in 1910, when he recounted a version of the story in his book Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods. So Cox described this creature as, and I quote, a very retiring disposition, generally traveling about at twilight and dusk. Because of its misfitting skin skin which is covered with warts and moles, it is always unhappy. However, 14 years prior, in 1896, a cryptid expert and author named charles m skinner recounted his version of the story in his book Myths and Legends of Our Own Land. So he described the squonk as, and I quote, a creature of such deformed appearance that it lived in constant fear of being seen and would cry incessantly if anyone encountered it.
Nessie:I'm sorry, but from the way that everyone is describing the squonk, I would cry every time someone saw me too, if I knew the things that they were going to write about me and say about me because honestly, from the images like yeah, he is kind of a little off-putting, but like he's adorable in an off-putting way, don't be mean to the squonk.
Angela:We stand for squonk in this house yeah, yeah, I mean I feel so bad for or him. Like you know, not only does he have to deal with maybe you know some some, you know, I don't know uh, self self-confidence issues, but then to know that people are, you know, trying to catch him and put him in sacks, and you know you're just. I would be kind of sad all the time too if people just made fun of me every time they saw me. So you might be wondering much like I was when I was doing this research how, if this creature is real, how does it survive into the wild?
Angela:Well, the squonk has allegedly a strange defense mechanism that plays upon its own tragic nature. That plays upon its own tragic nature. It's said that if the squonk is ever pursued, it can dissolve into a pool of tears, disappearing completely into the environment. This odd ability has led some cryptozoologists to theorize that the squonk might not be a physical creature at all, but instead some sort of spirit or manifestation of grief and fear. So, interestingly, the Squonk is often described as living in the dense, misty forests of northern Pennsylvania, specifically in areas like the Allegheny Mountains.
Angela:These areas are often steeped in mystery mountains. These areas are often steeped in mystery and the foggy conditions kind of make it easy to imagine, or you can get a sense, how such a creature hiding in the shadows would be just waiting there to dissolve into tears. But another element of the squonk's lore is that it's a solitary creature, so it doesn't form any groups or live in packs. It's kind of like an outcast in nature and its own sense of isolation contributes to its melancholy and it's in this way, I think, that it kind of makes the squonk a more tragic figure in the whole cryptid catalog of creatures. What do you all think?
Nessie:Do you think that this is maybe some kind of manifestation, or yeah, I mean, I don't know, I think it's kind of a mixture, like I feel like some of the depictions of him, of this, of the squonk itself I guess I shouldn't keep saying him but of the squonk, of this cryptid. I think that some of those depictions could possibly be just like misguided or like they. Obviously people think they saw what they saw, but they could have seen, like they could have thought, that this creature had tons of moles on it and it was really just covered in dirt. You know, like we'll never actually know what these cryptids look like until we see them. I wouldn't want to see this squonk because I wouldn't want to make it cry. That's another thing too.
Becca:Like what if I react the wrong way and I hurt its feelings? You know that's another thing too. Like what if I react the wrong way and I hurt its feelings? You know?
Angela:The sensitive guy You're responsible for it to dissolve.
Becca:Right, I would never forgive myself if he dissolved in my prison.
Angela:That would be hard to live with. So, yeah, what's really cool is, despite its overwhelming sadness, um, and, and how this story kind of evokes a lot of sympathy, um, it has actually made it into modern times, and so, even though all of these stories and the origins date back to the 19th century, it is kind of cool to know that the squonk is very much part of modern folklore in Pennsylvania, and some local residents still tell stories of encounters with the squonk, and there are local festivals and events that pay tribute to the squonk. So, with that, I have one word that's even more fun to say than squonk, and that is squonkapalooza. You heard that right, pennsylvania has squonkapalooza.
Nessie:What is a squonkapalooza?
Angela:This has made me so happy.
Nessie:I need to know what is this so well?
Angela:so every year in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is home to Squonkapalooza, which is also known as the Squonk Opera. So it's a performance created by a musical ensemble known as give you a wild guess the Squonk Opera, which described itself as a creative engine. So they've made the Squonk an integral part of their performances, incorporating the creature into their art to symbolize themes of loneliness, rejection and the beauty of transformation. The Squonk Opera's incorporation of this creature into their works is just one example of how the Squonk has transitioned from an obscure folk legend to part of contemporary culture, folk legend to part of contemporary culture. Additionally, there are plenty of squonk-related tourist attractions in Pennsylvania, including themed merchandise, artwork and tales of modern-day sightings.
Angela:This little fella, this sad, sad little creature, definitely has a cult following. The other thing I wanted to know is the rock band genesis yes, the one with phil collins made a song about the creature, and you know, of course, this song is entitled squonk um. So they released this in 1976 on their album a trick of the tale, and this song tells the story of this mythical creature that cries and hides from others and a hunter who tries to capture it. Its lyrics concluding with and this is so sad, I think, walking home that night, the sack across my back, the sound of sobbing on my shoulder, when suddenly it stopped. I opened up the sack, that all that I had a pool of bubbles and tears, just a pool of tears.
Becca:This is like low-key horrific. I just want to know why he has me in a sack.
Nessie:Why did he put him in a sack.
Angela:You know, if somebody put me in a sack, I would probably be crying too and want to just dissolve into a pool of my own tears. So, regardless if you think that he's real or he's some kind of manifestation of something greater, cryptozoologists continue to debate this creature's origins, with some believing that the squonk is born out of myth due to the region's mysterious landscape and the immigration of early civilization landscape and the immigration of early. Others argue the creature could be a form of undiscovered animal, a species that has remained elusive for centuries, and it's just been hidden in the remote corners of Pennsylvania's forests. I think, ultimately, the squonk is a reminder of how folklore can evolve and adapt over time from a sad crying creature hiding in the woods to a symbol of how folklore can evolve and adapt over time, from a sad crying creature hiding in the woods to a symbol of modern artistic expression.
Angela:The squonk is a unique cryptid. It serves as a poignant reminder of how stories and legends are frozen into the fabric of our communities, whether it's a mythical beast or a misunderstood animal or some sort of representation of sorrow and isolation. I think the squonk has earned a place in the pathion of cryptids and definitely in our hearts and minds. So please tell us do you think the squonk is real? Do you have any squonk stories? Have you been to squonkapalooza, and or is this just a deeply symbolic piece of folklore?
Becca:I find him so interesting, I have to say. I mean a lot of these cryptids like bigfoot and the jersey devil. They have like a bit of like a violent nature to them, and this one is just a hundred percent sad.
Nessie:Boy in the woods, please don't look at me, I'm so sad right, yeah, because like it's, so it's, and that's the cool thing is, like with the three different cryptids that we've talked about today, they're all so different, right, I mean, and they're similar in their own ways. Like I see bigfoot as like a brooding man in the woods who's like I'm going to spook you and not let you get a full picture of me because I'm a sneaky boy, ha ha ha. But he's also probably like sad boy in the woods alone, like you can never get a picture of me you know, right?
Angela:do you think bigfoot and squonk would be best friends? I?
Nessie:think so I think they might.
Becca:I think so. Yeah, I think there's. There's an air to the bigfoot stories about him being like a protector of woodland creatures, like I could see him definitely taking little squonky under his wing. I think the jersey devil would have no time I think squonk.
Nessie:I think I could see Bigfoot being like I'll beat you up if you look at my squonk wrong this is my squonk.
Angela:You can't have him yeah, I think it's interesting too how these cryptids are all very different. But here we have a theme of you know these, these cryptids being particularly fond of the forest or a friend of the forest. You know they right, that's where they make their home and they seem to be, like, very protective of their environment.
Becca:The whole core does tie back into just the general message of the land around you is very mysterious. It can provide you everything that you need, that you need to respect it and respect the boundaries. I think maybe some of these cryptids are just personified boundaries of the land, you know?
Nessie:yep I totally agree with that I. I like the way that you said that too what I'm here for so with that being said, today, dear, dear listeners, what are your thoughts, facts, opinions, sightings of either Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil or the Squawk? Have you seen them? Do you believe in them? Do you think it's fact? Do you think it's cap? What do you think about them? Let Do you think it's fact? Do you think it's cap? What do you think about them? Let us know in the comments down below.
Becca:Alright, so to wrap today's episode up, once again I have been Becca.
Angela:I have been Angela.
Nessie:And I have been Nessie and it has been so great yapping with you guys today and we will see you later. Bye, bye, thank you.
