American Bestiary
Each entry in this codex treats its subject as a specimen: named, classified, and weighed against the account that produced it, in the manner of the medieval bestiaries this project borrows its form from. Some resolve to a known animal wearing an unfamiliar shape, a coyote with mange or an owl caught in headlights. Others were built deliberately, by a lumber camp, a newspaperman, or a radio disc jockey, and outlived whoever built them. A remainder stays exactly as strange as the day it was first reported, with no tidy explanation on file. The verdict for each specimen sits in the margin beside its record, and the same verdict sorts the entire archive.
Use the arrow keys to move between territories and Enter to choose one.
Specimen of West Virginia: Mothman.
Mothman
Flying Cryptid / Avian
A winged, glowing-eyed humanoid whose apocalyptic legend was heavily embellished by authors following initial sightings of out-of-migration avians.
Wildlife biologists consistently attribute the sightings to misidentified sandhill cranes or large owls.
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Told in the timber camps
Invented by loggers, mostly to frighten new hires.
