Children learn about monsters very early. They can’t help but imagine monsters lurking in the dark, living in their closet, or under their bed. Our ideas of monsters reflect our greatest fears. Monsters have features outside our normal or comfortable range of size, appearance, strength, or even acceptable social behavior (if we consider some people as “monsters”). Monsters are common subjects of books and movies. In recent times, they are often shown as the outcome of man fooling with nature – the result of environmental pollution, radiation exposure or genetic experiments gone wrong.
As explorers and naturalists documented the world, real “monster” discoveries became fewer and strange-looking animals became familiar to us. However, people still report sightings of monsters all over the place – in the ocean, in lakes, walking around the forests, coming down from space or even just hanging around their own neighborhoods. Are these misidentifications of everyday animals or are they creations of imagination? Perhaps they are a bit of both. Maybe we may even discover a few more real “monsters”. But, as surely as there are people, people will tell of monsters.
- Sharon Hill (Scientist) |
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