Ancient Web: The Shadowlands Made an HTML Field Guide to Mysterious Creatures

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.

The Shadowlands has a peculiar zoo. Its residents include a frog that walks upright, a red-eyed winged stranger, a supposed dinosaur in the Congo, and a giant worm that allegedly kills with electricity. No feeding time is advertised.

Visit the Mysterious Creatures and Cryptozoology archive.

The page belongs to Dave Juliano and Tina Carlson's long-running paranormal website, whose broader homepage dates the project to 1994. It begins with the familiar cryptozoological argument that unexpected animals are sometimes discovered. The coelacanth gets a mention, along with giant squid and the mountain gorilla. Real zoological discoveries are not evidence for any of the extraordinary creatures catalogued below.

A folklore encyclopedia assembled from links

The index lists the Loveland Frog, Dover Demon, Mothman, Mongolian Death Worm, Owlman, Orang-Pendek, Jersey Devil, and more. Individual sections explain where witnesses supposedly saw each creature and include drawings, photographs, and references to research organizations.

One lengthy Mothman account recounts reports around Point Pleasant, West Virginia, especially the November 1966 sightings associated with the abandoned explosives-factory area. The story is attributed to a paranormal publication rather than presented as independently verified field evidence.

Other sections show the site's collaborative side. An email correspondent supplied details about Mokele-Mbembe; Jarid Goodman is credited with a Flatwoods Monster account, including links to sources on other personal-hosting services. A short item about an alleged creature in the Philippines reproduces a purported police report. These are submitted materials and claims, not established zoology or authenticated police records.

The page is a museum of old outbound links as well as monsters. AOL member pages, CNN news references, personal domains, and an obsolete Beseen message board show how a webmaster stitched together a research community before searchable specialist wikis became common.

The broader Shadowlands portal, its Bigfoot scrapbook, and its haunted-places index are covered elsewhere in the collection. This page has a distinct editorial purpose: a single illustrated catalog of creatures from radically different regional traditions.

Some legends are disturbing, some plainly fantastical, and a few entries already express doubt. The enduring specimen is the way the webmaster preserved the competing stories on one crowded HTML page.

Explore the creature list and its contributor credits.

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.