Blogger Alyce Lomax over at The Motley Fool recently posted an article having to do with Bigfoot and other cryptid creatures, and though it places some rather broad generalizations on the nature of the mystery creatures it discusses, the overall idea behind the article is fairly clever, and makes some pretty valid assertions about American economy today.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/09/08/the-monster-in-your-portfolio.aspx

“Cryptids have made big news in the last couple of weeks,” Lomax says. ” ‘Bigfoot body found!’ ‘Chupacabra caught on film!’ And there was the Montauk Monster … whatever that was. So much for the freaky fun, though. Bigfoot turned out to be a Halloween costume on ice. The chupacabra is probably just some ugly, mangy old coyote. And the Montauk Monster is apparently some kind of PR stunt for a movie.”

At the heart of her article, Lomax addresses some points which, from an economic standpoint, I feel are very interesting and worthy of consideration… whether or not you’re a Bigfoot hunter out there in the brush on weekends, or if you get your weekend thrills watching the stocks go up and down instead. But with regard to how she references cryptids, there are a few generalizations which might be addressed from an alternative point of view. For instance, where she asserts that “Bigfoot turned out to be a costume on ice,” we might consider that, more specifically, the most recent publicity stunt involving an alleged Bigfoot, which for once the mainstream media decided to pay attention to, turned out to be a hoax. In reality, when it comes to Bigfoot, “he” didn’t turn out to be anything in this situation. After all, Bigfoot wasn’t even directly involved… and if anything, one might even go so far as to say that ole’ foot was misrepresented somewhat by what turned out to be nothing more than a costume in freezer wreaking of possum guts.

As for saying “chupacabra is probably just some ugly, mangy old coyote,” I must also differ, if only with regard to the actual definition of how a chupacabra has been described looking up until recently. When my friend and fellow researcher, Joshua P. Warren, visited Puerto Rico recently, on the last day of his trip he met with a man named Jorge’ Martin. Martin is one of the world’s most prolific and reputable researchers into chupacabra phenomenon, having been first to present composite sketches of how the creature is said to look back in the early 1990s. Interestingly, Josh says Jorge is adamant that no hairless dogs or “mangy coyotes” fit the description of the true chupacabra, described in reports going back to the late seventies (possibly even earlier) in the Latin American countries. Instead, Martin says the creature is clearly humanoid, and if anything resembles a monkey or some other small primate, save its greenish color, red eyes, scaly skin, and the trademark “frills” running down its head, neck, and spine. Standing anywhere between one and three feet tall and walking upright, how did these hairless dogs (reports of which are becoming more and more frequent) ever become equated with chupacabras at all? I hardly think any chupacabra, at least in terms of traditional descriptions stemming from Latin American countries, could have turned out to be a mangy coyote.

Lomax goes on to say, “I can see why monsters of myth and legend would capture the public’s imagination these days. Many elements of our economic situation stink worse than Skunk Ape on an August afternoon. It’s much easier to worry about, and be fascinated by, mythological monsters than about the real macroeconomic monsters that are hiding around every corner — and, in some cases, staggering around in plain sight.” Altogether, she’s right, regardless of her views pertaining to Bigfoot and other alleged mystery beasts. We don’t know if Bigfoot or chupacabra exist, but what evidence we do have supports very distinct possibilities. Similarly, we don’t know what financial and economic turmoils may lay ahead for Americans, but as Lomax points out, the evidence is “staggering around in plain sight,” which we certainly can’t say about Bigfoot. One thing is for certain though; banks failing, corporations losing stock, gas prices sky-rocketing, and good honest work being harder to find these days are indeed “monsters” far scarier than any bogymen lurking off in the shadows.