As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 204 - Cryptids Of The Appalachias

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

Today on the 204th Episode of the ATRD Podcast we have a special collection about The Cryptids and legends of the Appalachian Mountains. Today's episode was written by Tom K, Find his other works here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DBVX81W7 If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like or rate the podcast, and leave me a comment with your thoughts if the platform your own supports it! I upload episodes every 3 days, so there are 2 days between new uploads. The podcast consists of new scary story collections, Glitch in the matrix collections, and also what I call the "Dark Dreams" collections (which are older stories, remastered and layered with rain sounds). If you have a story to submit, would like to find where to listen to the podcast, or want to find me on social media platforms, all of that info can be found at https://www.astheravendreams.com You can also send stories into my subreddit (r/theravensdream) or email them to me at [e-mail] Want to check out some ATRD Podcast Merch? ➤ https://teechip.com/stores/astheravendreams Or for signed merch ➤ https://ko-fi.com/AsTheRavenDreams I wrote a novel, "The Insomniac's Experiment" by Raven Adams! Check it out on amazon (Or you can email me for a signed copy!) Join Patreon to get early access and support the Podcast! ➤ https://www.patreon.com/AsTheRavenDreams Check out my gaming channel with my pal Ghost_Ink ➤ @superNefariousBros On YouTube TimeStamps… Ad breaks after Story 1 & Story 3 Cryptid 1 (Lizard Man Of Lee County) ➤ 2:17 Cryptid 2 (The Raven Mocker) ➤ 6:09 Cryptid 3 (Skinwalkers) ➤ 11:22 Cryptid 4 (Sheepsquatch) ➤ 20:08 Cryptid 5 (Tennessee Wild Man) ➤ 25:50 Cryptid 6 (Moon-Eyed People) ➤ 30:33 ----- Disclaimer ➤ Episodes include a content warning for language and sensitive/disturbing content. Listener discretion is always advised. ALL Audio and visuals on this podcast are copyright of AS THE RAVEN DREAMS / RAVEN ADAMS and may not be duplicated, in any format. Bless This Mess. None of my audio is AI Generated, I am a real person reading real stories into a real microphone. Note: The podcast nor the host endorses any advertisements played during the podcast, ads are not chosen by ATRD or Raven Adams, they are chosen automatically by the advertisement systems by the platforms that host the podcast. I do not endorse, support, or promote any opinions or statements made in any adverts played during the show. #Cryptids #UnexplainedMysteries #AppalachianTrails Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's never too early to plan your summer story in Europe with WestJet, from rolling countryside to cobblestone streets. Begin your next chapter. Book your seat at westjet.com or call your travel agent. WestJet, where your story takes off. Hey there. Today we have a special episode, a research heavy episode, if you will. A story made in collaboration with my friend Tom K.

I tell you guys this just so you know, because, like I said, I know a lot of you, not a lot of you. I know some of you don't like the research-based episodes, so, FYI, that's what this is. If that's not your thing, I recommend skipping it. Yeah. Today, we have a different one. This is one that Tom and I both wanted to do. He had an idea about some things, and I kind of liked it, so.

And I kind of liked it. I meant I liked the idea because I do cryptid stories. and one thing we hadn't covered before was research and analysis on cryptids. So today's episode is a collection of write-ups research projects on Appalachian cryptids. Now, one thing I know I'm going to get a comment for is my pronunciation of Appalachian. Some people pronounce it Appalachian. Some people pronounce it Appalachian. If you look it up, both pronunciations are correct.

It is a regional thing. Myself being a northerner, I have always heard Appalachian, I have always pronounced it Appalachian, it was always Appalachian when I learned about it in school. So, please do not comment and tell me that I mispronounced it because I didn't say Appalachian. It's Appalachian here. That's how I've always heard it. Again, it's regional. Google it.

I had to look it up whenever someone else complained on my YouTube channel. It's Appalachian if you're down south, Appalachian if you're up north, apparently. Obviously, there will be people who disagree with that statement. People who are northerns that say Appalachian. Appalachian. But anyway, my point is, this is an episode of Appalachian, or Appalachian, whatever, cryptids. And I think that this is very interesting, so hopefully you all enjoy it. Until next time, my friends, much love and sleep well.

The Lizard Man of Lee Count. County. This particular cryptic is interesting for quite a few reasons. While the concept of reptilian creatures presenting some kind of threat to humanity dates as far back as the epic of Gilgamesh, there was never really a cryptid type of creature that embodied such a reptilian danger. That is, until the late 1980s, when in Lee County, South Carolina, newspapers lit up with stories about a so-called lizard man, attacking a young local Christopher Davis, who was changing flat tires on his drive home from work. The phenomena began in July of 1988 when Lee County sheriffs responded to a report of a vehicle being damaged. The car itself had teeth and claw marks, where the creature had ended up climbing atop the car as Christopher tried to flee. By the time the story hit the papers, people were incredibly riled up over the whole thing as other stories of the lizard man began to spread like a wildfire

through the community. It wasn't long before the story had made national attention, as over 100 newspapers across the country ran the story about the lizard man of Lee County. This is truly an instance of a story going viral at a time when there was no real social platform on which they could go viral. First, it was the tour. chorus that came, then the, quote, hunters, and finally it was the media that arrived.

The resulting tourism boom became its own kind of phenomenon as people began to sell lizard man t-shirts, and then other merch began being peddled. Everyone wanted to come and have their own encounter with the so-called lizard man. And one might be forgiven for questioning the sanity of anyone desiring to have their own face-to-face encounter with this lizard man, as the creature itself is described to be at least seven feet tall with snake-like scales, long clawed fingers,

and seemingly glowing red eyes. Those clawed fingers are definitely to be considered deadly as evidenced by the visible damage that was left on Christopher Davis' vehicle after his encounter with the monster. Even today, nearly 40 years later, the legend of the lizard man is alive and well in Bishopville, South Carolina.

They even have an entire festival around the cryptid, and truly do celebrate their own personal town monster. If anything, the cryptid has been as much a socioeconomic phenomenon, as much as a cultural one, as this town has truly taken control of its cryptid and turned into something to celebrate, instead of something to fear and loathe. Unlike other cryptids, in other places in Appalachia, where the very legend itself has accrued a morbidly high body count.

In short, I think that Lee County has found a way to take something that could ordinarily become this dark kind of stigma around a place, embraced it, and turned it into something that has truly benefited their community. Much like Hell Michigan, the community has leaned into it and arguably come out the better for what could have been some very bad press for the entire area. If cryptid hunting is something you're interested in, then the Lizard Man of Lee County might be the safest place in the world to begin your hunt. Savour, admire, and profite. The Raven Mocker. The Raven Mocker.

This one is actually on the list quite unironically. The fact that it ends up being so on the nose, however, is the textbook definition of an added perk. Thanks, Tom. So the Raven Mocker, or Kalanu Akeleski, Death Spirit, can assume several. forms in its endless quest for life essence. As a malevolent witch, they will often assume the form of a withered or aged person

in order to blend into society and freely stalk their prey. But this is by no means the only form this monster can assume. They can also become a fiery figure, flying through the night with their arms outstretched like wings and emitting the dive call of their namesake. Ravens are commonly associated with death and are often considered harbingers of, and this legend makes it very easy to understand why that thread so firmly binds death and ravens.

These beings are said to prey upon the elderly, the sick, and the dying. It said that groups of raven-mockers will gather at the bedside of a very sick individual and then torment the victim mercilessly until the time that person passes away. way. They will do such things as poke and prod at the ill person, and even lift them up and throw them from their beds, leaving them to die upon the floor. When the raven-mockers pray

has perished, the beast will then consume the person's heart, absorbing whatever remaining years of life that were meant for the ill person, and this is done without leaving a single mark upon the body. This hunger for life force is insatiable to the same. the Raven Mockers, and they are always in search of their next victim. These entities are so fearsome that even other witches and practitioners of taboo arts prefer to give the Raven Mockers a wide birth. These creatures are also very easily able to blend into our society and move around unseen and get close to their prey.

It's said that only skilled medicine men are able to identify them. The legend also goes that if one, sees a raven-mocker in its true form, and one knows that it's a raven-mocker, then the beast will die within seven days. And this is the only known way to kill one. This is one cryptid that has been haunting the nightmares of children for a very long time, as their family would tell them horror stories of the predatory witch-turned monster. Coming from a family with a Cherokee lineage, even I would hear some of the old stories

including ones about a relative of ours that was allegedly tormented and killed by Ravenmockers. These stories came from my great-grandmother, who told my great-uncles and grandpa, who told their children, who, in turn, shared it with my generation. And that is Cherokee history, keeping and storytelling at its finest, as I've just shared a little piece of my history and culture with you all. That's Tom saying that, by the way, not me. I am not of the Cherokee lineage. That digression aside, beyond a bit of personal connection with the source material, I just think this is a really fun legend to think about, to investigate. Just one of those things, if you think about it too long,

and it just really sort of sinks into that really vulnerable place and gets you. From an analytical perspective, this tale really hits on many of what you could consider our most primal fears. not irrational fears, but things that over the course of evolution and adapting to our environment, we have learned to develop as a survival instinct. The fear of being observed by an unseen predator. The fear of being attacked while ill or in some other extra vulnerable state. This fear of prolonged pain or other torment.

The fear of having what is precious taken. And of course, the fear of all of all. fears, our innate fear of death. Because these creatures observe us, completely unknown, posing as members of our own community, they wait until we are at our most vulnerable, too sick or infirm to defend ourselves, and then, sometimes, in number, come to our bedsides and torment us relentlessly until our spirits can no longer take it. And then, in the ultimate act of subjugation,

without even defiling our physical body. They devour our heart and steal that, which is most precious of all, our very limited time on this planet. I'm going to start this next part of the script with a small, personally added caveat. That's me, Raven saying this, not Tom. This script is researched and written by, as I said, good friend of mine, Tom K. Tom is of direct native lineage. you may think, Raven, why are you saying that? Why does that matter?

I'm saying that because this next section is about the Skin Walker. This information is being presented by Tom, who again is of native lineage, to me for my purposes, my purpose of narrating and putting the information out there. This is a collaborative effort. Now again, why am I saying this? I'm saying this because I, as someone who is not of direct native lineage, like Tom, is, have been chastised in the past for talking about Skinwalkers and not being native. So, I am not presenting this information as if I have any personal connection to it,

nor that I have done the research, nor that I know it, nor am I related to any tribes that speak of the Skinwalkers. This is Tom writing this. I know that may sound silly, but I'm trying to put this out there, so I don't get black for it. That makes sense. may seem silly, is what it is. Anyways, the Skinwalker. Now, most people associate the Skinwalker with the Navajo legend, but more than the Navajo have stories about the Skinwalker. But back in the days when the different tribes had free reign across the continent, the political

situation was always in flux, and through various wars and intermarriages, it wasn't uncommon for the legends to spread from tribe to tribe. so it's really not that far-fetched to see how stories of such a creature could spread so far. Skinwalkers are also possibly one of the best-known cryptids around alongside the Wendigo. They are also, and forgive the awkward choice of words here, but the most popular. Or at least, people love hearing Skinwalker stories. In fact, it's not uncommon for certain creators on YouTube to come out once in a while with the video that is exclusively Skinwalker stories.

I've literally killed an entire day just listening to Skinwalker story videos, and that's how prolific the tales truly are. To track down the origins of the tale of the Skinwalker, we have to look back at some of the oldest Cherokee stories, which are all kept alive by oral tradition and passed down from generation to generation. The earliest stories among the Cherokee say that all people used to be able to shift into animal forms, and the various different tribes were associated with the different animals they could shift into. The tribe of the bear, the fox, the deer, the wolf, etc.

But over time, as people began to become more civilized, they moved away from the old magic, away from the primal and animalistic instincts they had once possessed. And now we can get into the actual origin of the Skinwalker legend that starts, as with most good Cherokee stories, with the shaman that became a bit too obsessed with his own power. As the shaman grows stronger in his ancient mystic arts, he rediscovered that old ability to shift into an animal,

to be able to move undetected amongst society, for who knows what kind of nefarious ends. When it was discovered that the shaman was using what had come to be deemed as taboo magic, he was brought before the tribal chiefs who cursed the shaman. if he wanted to be so close to the beasts and to live as they did, then he would be stripped of his humanity and exiled till the wilderness with the beast he seemed to be so fond of.

That's not the end of this particular story, however, because it would seem that they had not entirely taken from the shaman his ability to communicate with people. As over time, he sought out other shamans and was able to entice them into his world, teach them his taboo arts. Although now that shape-shifting magic came with a huge caveat, it came with the curse the chiefs had laid on the shaman,

and they lost most of their humanity, and were indeed closer to the beasts they shapeshifted into. The curse also bestowed the Skinwalker with the deep and burning desire for vengeance, as well as hunger for the life force of humans. Truly, if we were in Japan, the Skinwalker would likely be categorized as a Yokai. Now, when most people hear the word, Skinwalker, they probably start thinking about the deep woods in the middle of nowhere.

And you wouldn't be wrong to think that. But as time marches on, there are more and more stories of suburban and even urban encounters with walkers. Even around the world and cultures in which the Skinwalker does not even exist in their zeitgeist, have stories coming out of them that sound a lot like Walker encounters. Although, if you really look at the legend of the Strogoy from Romania, there are quite a few parallels in some of the tactics employed by them. Think of some of the stories that are floating around about a Skinwalker pacing around outside

of someone's house, calling their name, trying to lure them outside. Now, just replaced the word Skinwalker for Strygoi, and you would actually be really close. Strogoy also have the ability to take a human or animal form, much as the Skinwalker. Just as interesting thing I found over the course of some of my research and felt it was worth mentioning. Skinwalkers have a variety of ways they will try and mess with you. Sometimes, it almost seems as if they feed off the distress they cause as much as anything else. They like to make you afraid, very afraid.

They will take on the form of animals, yet they won't look natural at all. Oftentimes, they're described as looking mangy or otherwise sick or diseased. There have even been stories where it's said that they seem almost undead, like some kind of creature that had absolutely no right to be walking around. It's something else that is very consistent in the description of skinwalkers in animal form, is that they have no tail. It's also said that they will make. mimic loved ones, people you know.

Some stories will have Skinwalkers actually shape-shifting into the uncanny copy of someone in an attempt to get close to prey. They will also mimic the voices of people, sometimes people you know, sometimes random people's voices, and sometimes your own voice. When you hear a Skinwalker mimicking voices from somewhere beyond your sight, the voices will often have a very unnatural quality, often equated to, you know, often equated to the sound of a recording coming through a speaker. Another thing that seems to be kind of universal from story to story

is that when a skinwalker is near, the overpowering smell of rotten meat is present. Kind of adds up, though, when you think about a skinwalker appearing in the form of an animal that looks diseased or even undead. The skinwalker is unquestionably a purely malevolent entity that seeks only to feed on our fear and our life for. and they're also nearly unstoppable. One way I've seen said that you can kill a skinwalker is with silver, bullets, knives, etc.

The other way is if you know who the skinwalker is and you name them while they're in their animal or skinwalker form, that they will then die. They're undoubtedly incredibly deadly. They're fast. They can be incredibly stealthy and there are a few things they will not resort to in order to try and lure their prey in. They can also be very relentless. Once a Skinwalker decides it wants to hunt you, they can stalk you for years. They're definitely terrifying predators, and not to be trifled with.

If you're ever camping and you feel unseen eyes upon you, or you hear uncanny voices coming from just beyond your sight, then you may have just wandered into a Skinwalker's territory. And you should probably get out of there before, It's too late. Lazzang surgellied, puissance-moid for 15 minutes.

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aid to the Shep Squatch. Point Pleasant, West Virginia is home to a lot

of very strange creatures and stories. In the case of this particular cryptic, I won't hold it against you if you have a moment of eye-rolling when you hear the name, as I had very much the same reaction the first few times I heard about the creature. To be completely candid, it wasn't until I started researching the creatures of Appalachia that I finally took a minute to actually learn a bit about this beast. As I said initially, Point Pleasant is a place surrounded in mystery, and legend. A lot of people tie a lot of the strange happenings and bizarre creatures to the old T&T area nearby. Some of the stranger creatures are even said to live in the old silos. This creature

is no exception, as the first recorded sighting of the beast occurred in the 90s near that old T&T area. In 1994, in particular, it seemed to be a bit of a banner year for the beast, as there were some high-profile sightings of the creature. The first came when a former Navy seaman spotted the creature ambling out of the woods and watched what he described as a quadruped roughly the size of a bear with baby goat-like horns, a long canine face with long saber-like teeth covered in shaggy white fur, approach a creek where it began to drink with paws that almost looked like raccoon hands. He then watched for several minutes as the creature wandered to a nearby road and eventually,

vanished back into the nearby bush. Later that same year, two children reported an encounter with the creature while they were playing in their yard. They said it looked like a bear, and they said it stood up on its hind legs and sniffed the air much as a bear would. When it noticed the children, it became just as startled by them as they were by it. And they say the beast fled back into the forest, and was even breaking off medium-sized tree branches as it retreated back to its home in the forest.

the wilderness. The next year, in 1995, things would escalate as the creature became less, uh, pardon the pun, sheepish. This time an elderly couple driving along the road spotted a strange hulking white form in the ditch along the side of the road. And much as one may expect, they slowed down to try to figure out just what was going on and what the figure was. What they saw truly horrified them.

as they recounted a description that sounded much like the ones from the other incidents. However, they did have one detail that had previously not been reported. The creature had four eyes. So far, that detail was completely new as no one else had said anything about it having four eyes. But as the couple were trying to make sense of what they saw, the beast leapt up from the ditch and began to attack their car. Of course, the couple quickly fled the scene, and upon arriving back home noticed long claw marks on the vehicle where the creature had attacked.

While 1995 would mark the first report of a violent encounter with an aggressive sheep squatch, it would not be the last one, as in 1999 a couple that had been camping in the woods behind their home when they heard the sounds of what sounded like an agitated bear rooting around the perimeter of their camp, although it deliberately stayed out of the firelight to begin with. Suddenly, from the darkness, a massive figure lunged at them. The pair fled in a panic running down the trail back to their home, with the beast pursuing them the entire way. Once they were safely in the house and looking back, they noticed the monster had stopped

at the tree line and had not crossed into their backyard. The creature then allegedly led out an ear-splitting screech before disappearing back into the woods. The couple returned to their campsite the next morning and found it completely wrecked, saying that the ground looked as if someone had tilded up for gardening. One of the most interesting encounters I came across is that of one in 2015, when six anonymous campers had a run-in with the beast. It was first spotted some distance away and was in a squatting position.

Not long after they noticed the creature it stood to its full, height and began charging down the hill at them. They didn't flee immediately as there was a river separating them from where they had first spotted the monster. For a while it paced the opposite bank looking for some way across, before it finally realized its only option was to wade across. Once it had crossed and emerged from the water, there was a terrible screech causing the beast to hesitate.

They say that a look of fear crossed the beast's face, before it let out what sounded like a whimper, and then turned and fleed in the opposite direction of the noise. I find that last story so very interesting for the most obvious of reasons. What could possibly have made such a massive creature turn and run away in such fear? But then, after just a few seconds of contemplation, I find myself a bit more scared of learning the answer than I'm proud to admit. The Tennessee Wildman.

This particular cryptid is actually kind of the catalyst for this entire Appalachian-themed episode. That's because I recently actually got to touch on this creature a bit when I was talking about a missing person's case that I recently covered for the podcast. The case of Dennis Lloyd Martin, if anyone is curious. I didn't go too much into depth on the creature there as it was about a missing child. and not about a creepy critter. But I would be lying if I said the urge wasn't there because this is definitely a very interesting legend to look into. It's one of those legends that there's just a lot there.

The stories date back to at least the 1800s, when it said that he was captured by a freak show and put on display until the beast was able to ultimately escape back into the wild. And what a spectacle such a beast would have been to those willing to be. pay and brave enough to look upon. The creature is said to be between seven and nine foot tall with piercing red eyes.

Most descriptions say he either has shaggy gray hair covering his body or reddish ginger hair. It said that the creature very much resembles a Sasquatch, but with more distinctly human features. They're also often speculated

to be adversaries of Sasquatch, often battling for territory. The Wildman is also very, very aggressive and is known for violent interactions with humans. The creature has been such a problem at times that on multiple occasions, bands of hunters have taken to the wilderness

in an effort to hunt down and deal with the Wildman. However, each time such a thing has happened, they've either never found any sign to the beast or some tragic event has occurred, meaning that there have never been any really fruitful expeditions to hunt and eliminate the beast. The first accounts of the wild man emerged in the 1870s, with reports of a seven-foot-tall beast haunting the area between Sabby and Cranesville, fleeing from men while attempting to abduct women, which is kind of a recurring pattern with the wild man. They tend to attack dogs and pets while trying to abduct women.

While Bigfoot is described as being a far more shy and sometimes even gentle creature, the wild man is not. He's confrontational and very, very territorial. As with other Bigfoot-like creatures, the wild man is also said to have a very pungent stench about him that often heralds its arrival to the area. I suppose this would make it something of a skunk-ape type of creature. I think it's so fascinating that with the Bigfoot-type creatures,

one of the universal things, no matter if it's a Sasquatch, Grassman, Wild Man, or one of the other distinctive hominid-type creatures, is that horrible stench. The other thing I feel like bears some emphasis is the fact that in every notable encounter I found reports of with the Wild Man is that they all mention some sort of very disturbing and often blood-courges. curdling howl or scream, often right before the creature withdraws or flees. Regardless of who describes it, every source agrees that the vocalization the creature makes

are very disturbing, alarming, or outright terrifying. From 1871 all the way up to 2012, when the last recorded sighting of the creature came in, there have been dozens of encounters with the beast, ranging from a brief sighting, all the way up to the more violent encounters where the wild man attacks a dog or attempts to snatch a woman. With it being more than a decade since I've been able to find any reports or encounters with the wild man, perhaps that's for the best. One final thing I want to mention before wrapping this one up, is that the final reported sighting of the Tennessee Wildman was in the very same area

where the first stories began to come out of a tall, powerful beast man trying to abduct women. It certainly feels like this one came full circle. And that just doesn't happen very often. The Moon-Eyed People This happens to be possibly one of the oldest legends in North America. And I know that's saying something, but please hear me out here. The moon-eyed people were first encountered by the Cherokee, when the Cherokee first arrived in Appalachia.

The specific area they encountered them were in eastern Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas. So, when we even bring up the Moon-Eyde people, we're talking about a literal civilization that was present in the southern U.S. that predates the Cherokee by quite a margin. By the time the Cherokee had arrived and encountered these strange people, the MEPs had already built impressive stone structures through the area. You can even visit one of these sites at Fort Mountain State Park,

where they still stand the entirety of the great stone wall that was constructed before the Cherokee, or any documented European settlers, arrived. Before I drag you any deeper into this, I should probably make a mention that the Moonite people and the existence of is pretty controversial, and highly debated still to this day. The Cherokee encountered them first, but as most Cherokee history has passed down an oral form and rarely, if ever, documented in a written form, this, of course, to the more academic-minded, immediately casts doubt upon anything the Cherokee have passed down through their oral traditions. The settlers heard tales of the MEPs through various contacts with the Cherokee tribe,

who they considered to be one of the five civilized tribes. But it wasn't long before they allegedly began to encounter them as well. So, just what do these moon-eyed people look like and why are they called moon-eyed? Well, we do have some descriptions, and even carved likenesses in stone. And a really, really good idea as to why they were called moon-eyed. These MEPs were short, pale, and blue-eyed. The eyes are said to be large in saucer shaped. They also wore long beards, which was very unusual to the native tribes of the area.

We also know these MEPs to be very nocturnal. The stories the Cherokee tell of the MEPs talk about how they were only active at night and rarely left their stone fortress during the day. This has led to speculation that they are blind during daylight hours, or at least have such impaired vision, that they only become active at night. Another very big part of the Cherokee saga is the fact that from the very beginning

they were at war with the MEPs. In fact, the Cherokee weren't the only tribe in the area that had multiple armed conflicts with the Munite people. Ultimately, the Cherokee came out victorious in this war, and that was how they came to be the dominant power in the southern U.S. I'm not exactly sure which side started the hostilities, just that the conflict went on for a long time, and ended with the near extermination of the MEPs by the Cherokee Nation,

and presumably any of their allied tribes. I mentioned before that the MEPs are the source of no small amount of controversy. First off, few people can even agree on just who the MEPs might have been. Were they early European settlers? Some people theorize that they were early Welsh settlers to the region. Were they some ancient branch family of the human species that had gone along a slightly different evolutionary path? Or were they something more extraterrestrial? And sadly, the answer to these questions are beyond people much, much smarter than I, Tom the writer.

Thank you for clarifying. And so I really can't do much, but speculate just as so many before me have. Let's start with possibly the most fantastical theory here, extraterrestrial. I just felt that audience pullback and this hasn't even gone live yet. But now, hear me out here. In a universe that, while not infinite, is unfathomably large, large beyond our human ability to process, it would certainly be possible that these moon-eyed people

came from somewhere among the stars. However, while I may like to think that this is possible, I have to say it would be the least likely, Occam's Razor and all that. The next hypothetical origin of the MEPs that would probably border on the fantastical would be the divergent evolution theory. This idea that, while humans and MEPs

share common ancestor, somewhere along the way before the MEPs branched off in the evolutionary sense. Now, I think based on the legends of Bigfoot another hominid-type creatures or the old quote, missing link theory, that the notion of this being a credible theory is quite high. In the case of Bigfoot-type creatures, we were the offshoot or branch-off species.

But in the case of MEPs, perhaps they were an offshoot of ourselves. Not something I can say with great certainty, but a fun notion to entertain nonetheless. What some would consider the most likely, most credible theory, would be that the The Moon-eyed people were very early European settlers, Welsh being the most often put forth. This theory, while possibly far less interesting, is the simplest and probably the one that holds the most water. Especially when we take a step back and look at civilizations that have been found to have traveled more widely, earlier on than we at one point thought possible. I'll even go so far here as to lay out a possible scenario to support the Welsh settler theory.

The Phoenicians were the earliest pioneers when it came to sailing, shipbuilding, and navigation by the stars, and from their power base in modern-day Lebanon, sailed the entire length of the Mediterranean, setting up little outposts along the way, and establishing some of the earliest long-distance trade we have proof of. These pioneering peoples eventually crossed beyond the pillar of Heracles, the Strait of Gibraltar, and into the Atlantic Ocean, and made landing on the southern tip of Great Britain long, long before the Romans even thought about trying to conquer the known world. So now we have Phoenicians, advanced traders and shipwrights,

present on the Isle of Great Britain, and the longer they stayed and the more they interacted with the indigenous people of the island, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that a brave, enterprising group of Welsh wouldn't purchase a Phoenician ship, or perhaps build one of their own based on the Phoenician design, and then set sail across the Atlantic, seeking what might lay beyond that horizon. Now, can I prove anything beyond that the Phoenicians were the premier shipbuilders of the ancient world,

and that they had a presence in Britain before any other empire? Absolutely not. But it's just one of those things that the possibility is just too fun to entertain. Ancient explorers with nothing but a ship, a dream, and a passion to discover the distant corners of our planet is just too great a theory to not want to buy into. So you made it to the end of this. Thank you for listening all the way through.

And with that, I say, that my friends, was a collection of some of the cryptids and creatures of the Appalachians. This was a collection of myth, of legend, of tales passed down through generations about these strange and unknown creatures that people claim to have encountered at some point in history. Are all of these real?

Who knows? Are any of them real? Who knows? That's the beauty of cryptozoology, of cryptids, and again, those passed down legends of the Appalachians of anywhere, really, but let's specifically stick to Appalachians here.

That's the fun of this. They could all be real. They could all be false. They could all be stories told by people long, long ago that just wanted to entertain themselves before the advent of radio, television, cell phones, anything of that nature. Just stories people wanted to tell to be entertained.

And we'll never know. We'll never know the true answers to that. But what we do know, is the Appalachians, the Appalachian area, is a terrifying area, a part of this country that stretches out for hundreds of miles, and there's no way to know what happens in all of it at all times. So with that, we can look upon it just a little bit of mystery.

Just keep that slight twinkle in our eye and hope that maybe, just maybe. just maybe there's something out there that we don't understand and maybe it's best that we don't understand it anyways friends I hope you enjoyed this collection of Appalachian

Creatures and Cryptids thank you so very much for listening thank you to Tom for writing this up I really appreciate you brother I hope you know that working with you is an absolute pleasure be it on these full episode write-ups or just on the one-off write-ups that you do

for specific topics that I request you are an amazing person bro and I really do appreciate it and everyone if you can comment and you really did enjoy this please do let me know I would love to do more things like this I don't want it to be a constant thing I still like my stories but I don't know maybe some dark history some legends of places

like the strange and scary state by state stuff I like these maybe just every once in a while we can just keep doing these how's that sound to you all hopefully good anyway if you want early access to my content you can join on Patreon or YouTube memberships. You can find all my social media pages, my merch store,

where you can submit your story on as the raven dreams.com. And I do implore you to do so because I like reading what you'll have to write. All that said, friends, I hope you have a beautiful week. I hope I see you again here very soon. But until then, remember that you are loved, you are valid, you are important to you. And the best you that you can be. Don't forget it. And don't want anyone to you otherwise.

Until next time, my friends, much love and sleep well.