These are the program notes for the piece (with my tongue firmly in my cheek):
Cryp-to-zo-ol-o-gy n (1969) : the study of the lore concerning legendary animals esp. in order to evaluate the possibility of their existence. --Merriam-Webster's Dictionary
Virtually every culture in every part of the world has a tale of a creature that always manages to stay just out of sight...that may be the stuff of legend. Cryptids of North America is a musical representation of several such legendary animals on my own home continent. In composing this piece, it was my emphatic goal to depict these animals as I imagine them to be—to avoid relying too much on the opinions and observations (and clichés) of others. When a story becomes a legend, it's thrown into the public domain in the very best way. After all, you should never let the facts get in the way of the truth. --The Composer
1. Mothman (00:00) In November of 1966, two young couples from Point Pleasant, West Virginia, while driving near the West Virginia Ordinance works, saw a humanoid creature slightly larger than a grown man with wings and huge glowing red eyes. It chased their car, flying at speeds up to 100 mph. The Mothman, as it would later be called, was sighted many more times throughout 1966 and 1967, until the collapse of the Silver Bridge in which 46 people died. Some claim Mothman caused the bridge to fall, while others believe he was trying to warn of the impending disaster.
2. Ogopogo (03:05) Okanagan Lake in British Columbia is home to the Canadian cousin of the Loch Ness Monster. This Native American legend was brought to the attention of white settlers in the 1860s after several swimming horses were dragged under the water and disappeared while being led across the lake. A mass sighting in 1926, in which 30 carloads of people saw the creature, added some credibility. Theories of what the Ogopogo actually is include a prehistoric whale, a dinosaur, a large fish, or just a misidentified beaver.
3. Chupacabra (06:15) Literally translated as goat sucker, stories of the Chupacabra originated in Puerto Rico, and spread quickly throughout Latin America. The first evidence for the existence of this creature was the discovery of farm animals with small puncture wounds in the neck and chest, completely drained of blood. Sightings of the creature soon followed. Described as a cross between a reptile and a large dog, many believe the Chupacabra is an animal from another planet, and was left on earth by alien visitors, either by accident, or for some as-yet undetermined reason.
4. Jersey Devil (08:54) In the winter of 1909, unidentifiable footprints were discovered in the fresh snow all over the Delaware Valley. The tracks began in the middle of open fields, and ended just as abruptly. They passed over objects such as fences and haystacks as if they weren't even there. Tracks were found on the roofs of houses, on the tops of walls, and entering and exiting drainpipes as small as a few inches in diameter. While there are many stories about the origin and nature of the Jersey Devil, this movement is a specific musical representation of the creature that I imagine might have made such tracks.
5. Sasquatch (11:13) No introduction is needed for this most well known of cryptids. Affectionately called Big Foot, This creature has been sighted, searched for, and studied all over North America. Sasquatch best represents what people love most about cryptids. A scary story around a campfire. The question "I wonder what's out there." The intrigue of a good mystery. The thrill of just not knowing. Is it real, or some kind of mass hysteria. Sasquatch is essentially our need to discover, and yet it is also our desire to embrace the unknown. It's a paradox, a contradiction. In trying to learn about Sasquatch, we're really trying to learn about ourselves.
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