On the mundane lives of cryptids
I’m part of a writing group called Homework. The group started online during the first lockdown in 2020 as a way for local writers to meet up and create during all the pandemic uncertainty. At the start of each month, we set ourselves a writing prompt. Then, we go away and write, and meet back up at the end of the month to share the results. I joined the group in 2024, and it's been such a lovely part of my routine. I really like the accountability of being invited to produce something new once a month. Back in May, the prompt was “the dog (or other animal) on the bus”. I struggled for ages on this one, trying to come up with an interesting angle, a new perspective, but to no avail. Then, during an idle afternoon of random googling, I came across a recording of the Patterson-Gimlin Film from 1967, which proports to capture a Bigfoot wandering through the forests of Northern California. As I watched the film, I wondered to myself where the Bigfoot in the video was...