What happens when you take the world's cutest little cryptid, but then you don't manage

to dig up enough eyewitness accounts to make it as popular as Bigfoot, Nessie, and all

the others?

But then, despite the lack of evidence, what happens when that little cryptid somehow manages

to become popular all on its own?

Today we're going to examine the singular case of the Fresno Nightcrawler.

It's coming up right now on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid.

I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

Why the Fresno Nightcrawler is so popular?

One of my favorite things about my job is learning why certain stories become popular

and grow long legs.

And yes, that Turner phrase is a little bit of a play on today's subject.

There are a few cryptids that have strong believer communities, none more so than Bigfoot,

which has legions of followers who have absolute faith that it is a real animal.

But there are many more cryptids that exist only as bits of folklore, and whose followers

are not ardent believers so much as they are students of the legend.

There's some interesting little thing in the backstory of every cryptid, at least enough

to keep a small community of followers intrigued.

But today's example is something of a curiosity.

The Fresno Nightcrawler is supported by little or no actual belief by anyone that it's

a real creature.

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