The Dauphin Library will be hosting a Cryptozoology display over the next few days, and all are welcome to check out the strange and fantastic collection that will be there.
Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated.
Cryptids, creatures in this study that you might be aware of are things like bigfoot or the loch ness monster, but this display has a much more local focus.
John Warms, the curator of this collection, has found many sightings and signs of quite a few Manitoba Based cryptids.
"Two of the dozens and dozens of sketches that have been made, only 2 are not from Manitoba. The bulk of everything I have here is seen in Manitoba most of it seen by multiple observers. It was most gratifying as I was collecting these stories, to find that there was corroboration between what many different communities saw."
Some of the creatures featured on this display range from replicas of giant beavers, giant northern frogs, a platypus in Lake Manitoba, and sketches of Plesiosaurs in some of the larger Manitoban lakes.
John is looking forward to showing off his many findings to everyone that's interested.
"I would just like the world to enjoy what we have that we're not that aware of, because so many of these animals live so secretly. but there's an explanation for each one. the more I learn about them, the impossibilities seem to disappear."
If you want to see these findings for yourself, the display will be in Dauphn on Thursday, March 23rd from 3 to 7 pm, and on Friday, March 24th from 9:30 am to 4 pm.
