The Montauk Monster and Bizarre Creatures that Really Do Exist

The Hamptons in New York were abuzz when a strange-looking hairless creature supposedly washed up on the beach there. It appeared to have a beak, one elongated claw, and the body and face of a dog.

Now the speculation has begun: is the photo a part of a viral marketing campaign for a Cartoon Network show about cryptids? Is it a decomposed dog, raccoon, or a sea turtle with no shell? Or is it a photo-shopped image or animal corpse that some sicko has messed around with? No one knows for sure, but one thing is for certain, like many cryptids before it, the legend of the Monster of Montauk will not die down any time soon.

We're all so amazed by "hell beasts" like the Monster of Montauk, but what about the crazy creatures of our world that do exist? The Monster of Montauk, like many cryptids, is supposedly a combination of a variety of animals (a bird and dog, mainly). But look at the bizarre creatures like this that do exist: the duck-billed platypus, which appears to be a combination of a duck, beaver, and otter, and is even venomous, or the okapi, which appears to be a combination of a zebra, giraffe, and horse. There are even flying fish and squirrels lurking about out there. These animals are very interesting and bizarre-looking, but the public isn't all that interested in them, because they're proven to exist.

And even when it comes to cryptids like Bigfoot, look at the creatures that are human-like that we already do exist with: chimps, gorillas, and monkeys. Not only are they very closely related to us, we can even communicate with some of them through sign language! That's pretty amazing to me, but, once again, since we know these creatures exist, we're not all that impressed by them.

Yes, there are undiscovered creatures out there. Scientists are constantly discovering new species of animals and plants, but we rarely hear about it because they aren't discovering "hell beasts" like the Chupacabra, Nessie, Jersey Devil, or Mothman. These somewhat scary, mysterious creatures would cause a sensation if they were ever discovered, but, then again, we've learned to live with the fact that sharks, Komodo dragons, and crocodiles do exist, and they're all pretty frightening creatures.

Perhaps it's best that the existence of the Montauk Monster and other cryptids is never confirmed, because what has made them such a sensation is their legendary status. For some reason, we are absolute entranced with the unknown. To discover one of these creatures would be extremely gratifying for a moment, but then we would grow disinterested in that creature and move on to the next unknown. There's just something in the human psyche that causes us to keep exploring and searching for answers to the questions that we don't know the answer to, and that's what sets us apart from these "hell beasts" and the creatures that we actually know exist. So while we may not ever discover that a real Montauk Monster exists, the search for it can help us discover a lot about ourselves and our reason for existing.

SOURCES: FOXNews.com article of August 1, 2008: 'Montauk Monster' Has Hamptons in a Tizzy