The marriage of Parapsychology and Cryptozoology

The marriage of Parapsychology and Cryptozoology:



Fairly recently I made a post on social media about the overlap between Parapsychology and Cryptozoology. This opinion somehow offended someone (Don’t you just love Internet culture?) who went on a pretentious rant about how Cryptozoology uses the scientific method and Parapsychology is not real science.

Here’s the irony. According to Google, in order to be able to call yourself a parapsychologist, you need a strong foundation in psychology (B.Sc./M.Sc.), followed by a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in psychology or psychology with a focus on anomalous research, and / or neuroscience.
I could not afford a proper university education and so I settled on a vocational course in astrology / Parapsychology from The Stratford Career Institute (SCI) and some Spiritual education with The Universal Life Church. The only doctorates I have are an honorary doctorate in Metaphysics (from ULC), an honorary Doctorate in Divinity (Honorary DD from ULC), a Litterarum Doctorate (Litt.D from ULC), and I’m a certified (through ULC) Spiritual Counselor.
I do not think I have the true credentials to classify myself as a real Parapsychologist despite my love for the subject. I am a paranormal researcher or investigator, yes. And (though debatable) perhaps a parapsychology researcher but not an out-right parapsychologist.
Being a Cryptozoologist, however, does not have any such academic requirements. Anyone can call themselves a Cryptozoologist if they so wish to use the title.

Parapsychology is the scientific study and investigation of claims of the supernatural, including psychic phenomena, or paranormal manifestations, such as ghosts, near death experiences, reincarnation, curses, or even demonic phenomena though some would argue that fits under a different pseudoscience, Demonology (which also doesn’t require a degree but The Vatican only recognizes Demonologists that were trained by The Catholic Church).

Cryptozoology is the attempted scientific investigation and exploration of supposed hidden lifeforms or entities. The term Cryptid is used for these entities or lifeforms (though the status of “alive” is debatable for some of them). Legitimate historic examples of Cryptozoology entails things like the lead up to the discovery of the duck-billed platypus or the theoretical existence of biological immortality before it was discovered in the Turritopsis dohrnii (Immortal Jelly fish), or speculation about the Kraken before the discovery of real giant Squids.
Most modern Cryptozoologists seem hyperfixated on things like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster.
Despite there being no academic requirements to be able to consider yourself a Cryptozoologist it is recommended that you have some experience with Zoology, Biology, Ecology, and Anthropology.

Both Cryptozoology and Parapsychology have their legitimate and serious, scientifically driven, investigators. But thanks to bad reality TV, there are a lot of wanna-be Parapsychologists, and Cryptozoologists, who don’t seem to use legitimate science or scientific methods at all. There are so-called Parapsychologists who scream in darkened rooms and then insist that there’s a demon if they hear a bang or pop sound. And there are Cryptozoologists who don’t even know the taxonomic hierarchy or the Linnaean classification system. And it’s common practice to use the word Cryptid to just mean “monster” when it’s more accurately “non-human entity not-yet-classified-by-science.”

If you are attempting to treat both these fields with scientific legitimacy and potentiality than one must consider that there is indeed an overlap.

Here are some examples of where Parapsychology and Cryptozoology blend and blur. This is not a complete list but these are examples of the overlap.

Werewolves – Werewolves would, indeed, be considered “cryptids” and do fall under cryptozoology however werewolfism can also fall under parapsychology for multiple reasons. First, there is a high chance that the psychological condition of believing one is a werewolf and actually being a werewolf are one and the same. This is why the condition of believing one is a werewolf and actually being a werewolf share the same term. Lycanthropy. This is because there is a belief-induced physical manifestation. There’s a murky area of if the physiological manifestations would count as psychosomatic or a Tulpa / Egregore effect.
The belief that one is a werewolf becomes so strong as to have a physical manifestation such as enhanced strength and excessive hair growth. It’s similar to pseudocyesis (false pregnancy) and the physical manifestations that sometimes happen with that instance. Now whether this werewolfism manifestation is the result of psychic phenomena causing a belief to become manifest or a biological response to the strong belief has an interesting murky, grey, area where both could be true or one induces the other.
There’s also the more mystical aspect of werewolf lore such as the notion that werewolf can be warded off with a pentacle, or the werewolfism may be the result of a curse, possibly even dating back to the Greek myth of King Lycaon of Arcadia. Though a curse being treated similar to a transmutable disease also forms an interesting grey area for the sciences.
It has been said that the known charlatans, The Warrens, claimed to have once exorcised a little boy werewolf, conflating werewolfism with demonic possession. If true, this case was likely the abuse and exploitation of a neurodivergent little boy having an emotional melt down and sensory overload.
The famous, Louisiana Rou-Garou (Original French: Loup-Garou) is supposed to be an immortal werewolf of the old Germanic and French style, pre-dating the Wolf-Man-esque bipedial wolfman with monthly fullmoon transformation. Many older werewolf lore depict a werewolf capable of transforming at will and retaining their mind while in wolf-form and even transforming into an actual wolf, easily mistaken as an ordinary wolf. You could make a whole subspet of Parapsychology and Cryptozoology research based solely around werewolf phenomena. I think, for this reason, werewolves are my favorite kind of Cryptid.

The Black-Eyed Children – These (apparently) malevolent, child-like, entities appear to feed on negative emotions or energy. This phenomena is of a biological yet psychic variety where the physiology and psychic may work on the same mechanism or a tandem feature of their physiology. The psychic aspect places them in Parapsychology while the physiology and corporeal manifestation as a possible classifiable lifeform / entity places them with Cryptozoology and for their malicious and possible supernatural origin they may also fall under Demonology.

Phobophage / Phobovore – An entity that feeds on fear. The Dresden Files novels by Jim Butcher popularized the term phobophage for such entities but phobovore may be equally valid. If an entity preys on emotional or psychic energy this falls under psychic phenomena while still also being Cryptozoology.
Though also possibly interdimensional beings or spirits, I strongly suspect (from my own experience) that Shadow People might be phobovores. (Note: I just found out the British TV show, Doctor Who, also used the term Phobovore as a term for an alien lifeform. It just means fear-eater, much like phobophage).

The Jersey Devil – A nearly Three-hundred-year-old entity that is supposed to be the result of a mother cursing her own unborn child (her thirteenth baby) by saying “May it be The Devil” and she ended up giving birth to a child that was either a demon or resembled one as a result of her careless words.
Though this entity would count as a Cryptid and so fit the criteria for Cryptozoology, the fact that they may have been the manifestation of a curse, or prophetic wording, or even a mother’s dread having a psychic influence on the development of her own unborn child, or even if this entity was an Egregore effect caused by people believing her curse and causing it to manifest, all these possibilities allows this entity to fall under Parapsychology. Granted this entity might also fall under demonology if it truly is a demon or the result of a demonic interference in the child’s developement. This is a perfect example of a pseudoscience trifecta where the entity would fall under Parapsychology, Cryptozoology, and Demonology.
Similarly the overlap would happen with Inccubi and Succubi.
Cambion – A Cambion is supposed to be the off-spring of a mortal and a demon. This entity would fall under Parapsychology, Cryptozoology, and Demonology. You have a physical being that would fall under Cryptozoology as a not-yet-officially-studied-and-classified lifeform or entity, but being the result of a union with a demon, and being the result of / and possibly having psychic potential, would cause this manifestation to fall under Parapsychology and Demonology as well.

A Tulpa or Egregore entity taking corporeal form – The possibility of a physical manifestation of Egregore (an entity brought about from collective belief) would be both a psychic manifestation (Parapsychology) and, as a corporeal entity, Cryptozoology. Even the classic movie vampire, if somehow existed as a result of the collective idea of such a creature, would fall under Parapsychology and Cryptozoology, besides being under Parapsychology for how the entity might have come into being but for the powers that the entity might possess.

Bigfoot – You might think Bigfoot is obviously Cryptozoology. He’s practically the mascot for Cryptozoology but there is a theory, gaining popularity, that suggests that Bigfoot is an interdimensional being capable of psychically manifesting portals in reality or travel through another dimension (or dimensions) which allow Bigfoot to manifest in different time periods and different locations across the globe. This theory enables Bigfoot to have the potential to fall under both Cryptozoology and Parapsychology and also arguably theoretical physics.

(Older shorter version of this very topic below)

Parapsychology is the study and exploration of claims of psychic phenomena and encounters with the paranormal. Cryptozoology is the study and exploration of hypothetical, undiscovered, lifeforms, at the very least, physiological entities. In short- Monsters.

Many people think there is a clear, line-in-the-sand, distinction between Parapsychology and Cryptozoology. I, however, strongly believe there is often an overlap of the two subjects that should be considered as it may come up quite a lot with any genuine investigation.

The term supernatural comes from “super” which in this context means “Advanced quality of” and natural, which simply means “of nature.” Supernatural literally means “an advanced quality of nature.” To me this means that despite the notion of parapsychology being purely incorporeal or psychic, it can be as physically manifest and evident as the entities (not necessarily “life” forms) described within Cryptozoology.

Let’s use a hypothetical example of where this overlap would present itself. Let us pretend, for a moment, that the vampires, as described in the works of Anne Rice, were real. (Humor me.) Would these Ricean vampires fit under the study of Parapsychology or Cryptozoology? I’d argue that they would fit under both.

The vampires of Anne Rice are essentially mutates created from human corpses undergoing a specifically triggered biological transformation. It is a physical transformation that can be studied and observed in a laboratory setting. This hypothetical situation presents itself in the novel and low-budget movie, Demon Under Glass by Deborah Warner.

With Anne Rice’s vampires, there is a physical change that (like with the novel Dracula) can be observed under a microscope. The vampire host (the transformed human corpse) becomes the host of a sort of symbiotic lifeform within their very blood. However this physiological transformation was the result of the meddling of a ghost. In the later novels Anne Rice established that Amel was the ghost of an alien replimoid (a genetically modified human) but I digress. He’s a soul existing outside of a long deceased body. And this spiritual entity merged with the blood to create the vampire race of Anne Rice’s novels. The spiritual / psychic becoming corporeal and physiological and causing a genuine biological (actually down to the genetics as they can transmit their vampirism to others) manifestation.

They are corporeal. They can be observed in a laboratory setting. But they have psychic powers and are the result of supernatural interference. For this reason I feel this is the place in study where parapsychology would overlap with Cryptozoology.

Another example I could give as a hypothetical is werewolfism. This one would depend on where you stand on the debate on if werewolfism is a sort of biological mutation, or disease, or if it is the result of a supernaturally concocted curse. Is it one or the other or both? There’s a quote of “Just because you know how it works doesn’t make it any less magick.”

There’s also the thought of “Is werewolfism the result of a psychosomatic manifestation?” or that it can even be an Egregore effect- the notion that a collective belief can make something manifest. (Tulpa would be the version conceived from an individual’s belief).

I feel that if you are serious about investigating undiscovered physiological beings you must consider that these creatures (or mutates) may not just be some undiscovered species but also something paranormal. It can be both. When investigating entities that are known in spiritual beliefs like the dreaded Wendigo or Skinwalker (yee naaldlooshii) it may be wise to consider that what you are seeking could be both. You’re not looking for a new species of mountain lion. You’re looking for something that might want to feast on your psychically manifest fear like a rare steak. That line between parapsychology could be skipped over as easily as a chalk line on a school yard.

I think that it is important for all good parapsychology researchers to be open to Cryptozoology and for all Cryptozoologists to be open to the subjects within parapsychology. There is a lot more to genuine efforts into Parapsychology and also with Cryptozoology than running around a forest with a shaky inferred camera and shrieking at shadows.

The people trying to pretend that there isn't an overlap with parapsychology and a lot of the creatures in Cryptozoology are precisely why the late Dr. Hans Holzer did not like the term supernatural. It was because what we call paranormal phenomena might be an advanced quality of nature (preternatural) but it is not outside of nature. It would be, in theory, as natural as the wind.

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The Ricean Speculation:


The Ricean speculation:

A hypothetical in Parapsychology and Cryptozoology overlap:

I'll use Anne Rice's vampires for the hypothetical example of Cryptozoology and Parapsychology overlap.

Let's pretend Anne Rice's vampires and all their lore is true. (Humor me.)

Lestat is the reanimated corpse of a French actor who had been born into nobility. Another vampire bit him and fed him his blood- the condition is transmitted like a disease, through blood. The vampirism itself is a symbiotic entity residing in the blood as a mutation of blood cells. This entity is known as Amel. Amel mutates and enhances the host organism (In this case, Lestat) to sustain itself.

Amel also happens to be a genetically modified-by-aliens human who died during the fall of Atlantis. (Anne Rice gets weird). So this ghost alien-experiment created a genetic mutation in the blood of recently deceased hosts that become immortal, blood drinking, vampires.

The vampires have psychic powers and some of them are able to astral project.

Later in Anne Rice's novels Amel is extracted from the vampires but their condition and ability to create new vampires remains in tact, the transformation is on a genetic level (This is why the Talamsca TV show was so intellectually insulting by letting the human twin woman have matching DNA with her vampire sister when the novels establish the genetics are altered when you become a vampire.) Based on this information where would Anne Rice's vampires fall? Parapsychology or Cryptozoology? The answer is both.

Unless we come up with a new sub-category of parapsychology for a specialized Cryptozoology we have to let the two proto-sciences occasionally blend.

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Parapsychology = Investigation into claims of the paranormal.

Cryptozoology = The study and search for undiscovered physiological Creatures / lifeforms / entities.

Examples of parapsychology manifestations = Psychic phenomena, ghostly encounters, astral projection, reincarnation, near death supposed afterlife experiences, claims of curses and witchcraft and other things that may exist but have not yet been fully understood by science. The attempt is to study these phenomena and to prove (or even disprove) these claims through scientific means.

Examples of Cryptozoology cryptids = The hypothetical existence of Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, Moth Man, and Merfolk. And the attempt to hypothesize about the possibilities of these undiscovered entities and how they may function within nature.

Both Parapsychology and Cryptozoology attempt to use nature and the scientific method (including taxonomy) to explore these claims or supposed encounters.

Examples of where Parapsychology and Cryptozoology overlap = Vampires (especially if they happened to exist the way Anne Rice or Bram Stoker described them, both corporeal and examinable under a microscope but also preternatural). Werewolves (Depending on the kind), Wendigo, Skinwalker, Shadow People, and Black-Eyed Children.

The entities I described in the last batch are tied heavily to folk belief in the supernatural. Some are supposed to have psychic capabilities or are mutate created from a reanimated corpse, or the result of a curse, or are a mutate created by interdimensional entities, aliens, demons, or even ghosts (or ghosts of aliens in some lore).

You can see from this a place where the line blurs and even dissolves.
Who would have dibs if Count Dracula was captured? The Parapsychologists or Cryptozoologists? Same for the immortal Loup-Garou (The Louisiana werewolf). Sometimes, whether you like it or not, there IS an overlap.

Parapsychology isn't devoid of science, in fact many parapsychology researchers are dismissive of Cryptozoology because they think it's Cryptozoology that doesn't rely on actual science and you don't need a degree to consider yourself a Cryptozoologist.
Both these fields are considered pseudo-science or more politely proto-science since they rely heavily on hypothesis and conjecture.

My point remains that with certain supposed phenomena or entities Parapsychology and Cryptozoology collide. They are not rivals. There isn't an invisible wall. One isn't better than the other. To a certain extent I consider Cryptozoology, in its modern form (in regard to many entities) to be a specialized version of parapsychology.

Again, there IS an overlap. It's not a pissing contest where one field must belittle the other. The two can intersect. Sometimes science does that. It's how we end up with things like biochemistry.

The intersection of these two fields is definitely intriguing, especially with phenomena like the Jersey Devil, which could be viewed through both lenses. Imagine the decor possibilities with cryptid-inspired art in a spooky-chic home! 🎃

Oh, yes. There's already a few. Not merely because of werewolves and similar classic Halloween staples. There are some people who have done Moth Man themed Halloween displays.

The overlap between Cryptozoology and Parapsychology is so common that I am surprised at the seeming rivalry in those who follow these “pseudosciences” (Debatably Speculative sciences / Obscure sciences / Theoretical sciences). The pissing contest is probably the most unscientific thing about these fields of study. I think we do a disservice to our own efforts of study if we allow ourselves to bristle and become averse to the idea of the overlap of Parapsychology and Cryptozoology. I even feel like Cryptozoology may (in many instances) count as a highly specialized field of parapsychology. When you try to keep these subjects separate you are limiting all potential exploration into the understanding of these entities and their manifestations, as well as their origins and possible capabilities.

Whether some may want to face it or not, Cryptozoology and Parapsychology overlap a lot and in many instances Cryptozoology feels like it could be considered a specialized branch of parapsychology. I, personally, feel that if you want to address Cryptozoology with any seriousness, you must also consider Parapsychology as well and vice-versa. If the classic Universal Monsters were real they would count as Cryptids and most of them would fall under both Parapsychology and Cryptozoology- particularly Dracula, The Wolfman, and The revived Mummy. This is why I consider myself both a Paranormal investigator (Parapsychology researcher) and a Cryptozoologist. I acknowledge the overlap of these fields of study rather than try to pretend such investigations have to be one or the other and we much choose the “right” one, like some cheap reality TV series set in an excessively humid swampland, or some child who doesn’t want to share their toys with the other creepy kid on the playground.
I am honestly surprised at how few people seem to acknowledge the overlap in Parapsychology and Cryptozoology. There is an unavoidable connection between modern Cryptozoology and Parapsychology.