cryptidcurrency

  Kevin Wikse greets the legendary Lusca in an Andros blue hole—a meeting of cryptozoology, Bahamian folklore, and mutual respect.  Some monsters require considerable imagination to make work. The giant octopus is not one of them. Years ago, I spoke with a man on a bus who told me about something that happened to him as a teenager while diving in Puget Sound, Washington. He wasn't looking for monsters. There was no expedition into the paranormal, no cryptozoological investigation and, as he told it to me, no ambiguity about what attacked him. It was an octopus. He was underwater when a long arm suddenly reached toward him and caught his leg. Then it pulled. He estimated that the animal dragged him downward perhaps ten or fifteen feet before he felt an intense pain in his calf. The octopus had bitten him, tearing away a chunk of flesh. What remained especially vivid in his memory, however, was the strength of the animal. The arm gripping his leg constricted so tightly that he b...