Look closely at this pic - see a familiar face?

People send me similar things all the time: Cousin Pete in a werewolf suit, or a landscape with a brown blob that is supposed to be a Bigfoot, Manwolf, or Sigmund the Sea Monster. Sometimes the senders even helpfully add outlines in red crayon to show where the head or legs go.

Why do they do it? Some of these senders want my endorsement so they can sell the pic on e-bay, others are just sort of kidding themselves that they have captured proof that cryptids exist. A few just want to dupe me.

I have thought a lot about hoaxers since the other week's Balloon Boy debacle. The Heene family falls into the hoaxing-for-profit category. These are usually easy to sort out. The sincere "proofers" don't bother me either. I truly hope that some day, someone WILL come up with a clearly defined, measurable, unfaked video or pic of an upright wild canine that the world can chew on.

It's the folks who just like to trick others that I worry about. I know of at least four Beast impersonators on Bray Road alone (hint; Halloween is their fave time for critter-scamming). For one thing, they could get shot. It has happened to hoaxers in other places such as the so-called Choccolocco Monster whose fun was ended when someone aimed a rifle at him. (He survived but learned his lesson.)

I also worry about the safety of innocent motorists who may be passing by. Causing someone to have an accident would not be cool.

Beyond those considerations, I wonder about the psychology of the pure prankster. There is a degree of mean-spiritedness there, along with disdain for the hoaxees. A hoaxer is actually mocking those people who have had real unexplained experiences, and also makes it harder for researchers to do their work.

However, I've never been able to link any known hoaxers to reported Beast sightings by date or location. And  I have a feeling that most people know a human in a bear or gorilla suit or werewolf mask when they see one.  I've received far too many sightings of unknown upright canids over time and geographical distance to blame them all on hoaxers. In other words, hoaxes do not prove or disprove the existence of cryptids, they just gum up the binoculars.

And the photo above? That was taken by a nice lady named Donna Pulkowski who had some fun dramatizing the events on Bray Road and had the good manners to tell me that.

My final word is a plea to would-be Halloween jokesters to curb your enthusiasm and stick to scaring trick-or-treaters at your own front door this year. At least you can then give them some candy to make up for it.