Cryptozoology and the Case for Unicorns

       Cryptozoology comes from the Greek word Kryptos which means hidden and the suffix -ology which literally means the study of. So Cryptozoology is the study of hidden life. Yes I know at this point your thinking bigfoot, aliens, the loch ness monster and ghost. Well you are correct but since your already here stick around their is more beneath the surface.

       Simply because something is widely assumed to be untrue does not mean that it does not exist. As a person who believes in both the scientific method and religion, proof is something that I am a fond supporter of and like any theory you need proof. Now a lot of the evidence that comes with cryptozoology are fuzzy images ambiguous films and eye witness testimony but people are sent to prison with much less evidence.   As my personal opinion many of the creatures that people search for are either in the Bible or a similar creature can be found their. And The Bible serves as God's word which must be true by nature, secondly if throughout history people have seen these creatures and painted and wrote about them their must be some kind of truth. Lastly, even if we are all paranoid and crazy( we are not) looking doesn't hurt or harm anyone. And even though most expeditions end up with little to no results generally your rewarded with meeting new friendly people in rather beautiful natural locations.

      In our first case study I will begin with the creature I had a sighting of the unicorn. Now the picture above displays what man has an image of the unicorn as looking like. This creature is a creature of legend a beautiful horse with a horn on it's head. No scientist has ever found a  fossil of one of these and they stay in lore and mythology.  But what do they really look like then?

     As I stated before every theory needs proof... so let's get to the evidence. To begin with the Bible mentions unicorns a number of times in the King James Version. Here are those verses and translation:

• Numbers 23:22    “God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.”

• Numbers 24:8     “God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.”

• Job 39:9   “Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?”

• Job 39:10    “Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?”

• Psalms 29:6     “He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.”

• Psalms 92:10    “But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.”

• Deuteronomy 33:17    “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

• Psalms 22:21    “Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.”

• Isaiah 34:7     “And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.”

     Unicorns are not mentioned in any of the modern translations. Only in the King James version are they mentioned. Most of the modern translations say “wild ox.” Some translations even say “buffalo.” So if the word unicorn has been changed over the years then how do we know which to believe? Before moving to fast let's look at JOB 39:10 in this verse God is talking to JOB about the creation of the universe and the number of things Job has no idea about. In his lecture he states that a man can not tame a unicorn( King James Version) wild ox in the newly translated version. Yet the animal is not tamable. Now as we well know wild oxes are and have been tamed for a many of years so why would God be talking about an actual ox? In this case this is obviously an elusive and powerful creature more like the unicorn of legend. But   
in cryptzoology doubt means more digging.

      Now if you get an old 1828 Noah Webster’s Dictionary, which is the very first edition dictionary that Webster came out with about 200 years ago, and look up the word “unicorn” it says:
Unicorn – An animal with one horn; the monoceros. this name is often applied to the rhinoceros.
Notice how this 200-year-old definition of the word “unicorn” says absolutely nothing about a horse. It says nothing about a horse-like animal, or a mythical animal, or a fictitious creature. It says absolutely nothing about mythology whatsoever. But rather, it says that this is a name that is often applied to the rhinoceros.
Now, anyone who has ever seen a rhinoceros knows that a rhino has two horns — a larger one up front, and a smaller one behind. So, how could a rhinoceros be considered a unicorn?
Well, if you look up the word “rhinoceros” in the same dictionary it says:
Rhinoceros – A genus of quadrupeds of two species, one of which, the unicorn, has a single horn growing almost erect from the nose. This animal when full grown, is said to be 12 feet in length. There is another species with two horns, the bicornis. They are natives of Asia and Africa.
According to Noah Webster, back in the early 1800’s it was understood that there were two species of the rhinoceros. The one-horned species was called “unicorn,” and the two-horned species was called “bicornis.”
Today it is understood that there are five species of the rhinoceros, three of which have two horns, and two of which have one horn.
So basically, if you get a 200-year-old Noah Webster’s dictionary and look up the word “unicorn” it says “rhinoceros,” and if you look up the word “rhinoceros” it says “unicorn.” That was just 200 years ago. The King James was translated 400 years ago in 1611. One does not have to be good at math to figure this out.
Today’s definition of the word “unicorn” says absolutely nothing about a rhinoceros, and today’s definition of “rhinoceros” says absolutely nothing about a unicorn. The definitions have changed over time.
So, if the definition of “unicorn” has changed in just the past 200 years from rhinoceros to horse, then it doesn’t make much sense to take a modern definition of the word “unicorn” and apply it to a 400-year-old translation of the Bible. That’s illogical.
As a matter of fact, even today the scientific name of the Asian One-Horned Rhinoceros is Rhinoceros unicornis. And Diceros bicornis is the scientific name of a two-horned rhinoceros called the Black Rhinoceros. Where do you think those scientific names came from?

     While not as pretty as the unicorn of legend the above is a picture of the now assumed extinct animal called the giant unicorn( Elasmotherium) could be the creature spoke of in the Bible and throughout history. This giant unicorn was one that was hunted by man and fossils have been found in the Eurasian steeps all though the fossils were not found in large quantities.

     The specifics of the animal are very impressive estimated to weight as much as 5 tons, was approximately 6 feet high and 18 feet long with a 6 foot long single horn in it's forehead. The length of it's legs show that it was designed similar to horses and meant for galloping and despite its massive weight appears to be able to move at great speeds. 

     A partial skeleton of a unicorn was found in the mountains of Germany in 1663. Skepticism quickly followed after claims were made that due to looting that the unicorn was compromised of mammoths and other animals. Half of the spine was missing as well as the hind quarters, but the skull as well as the 6 foot long horn was in perfect condition. To many believers and scientist many thought this was the creature that Julius Caesar wrote about in his Gallic Wars:  “ A little below the elephant in size, and of the appearance, color, and shape of a bull. Their strength and speed are extraordinary; they spare neither man nor wild beast which they have espied . . . . Not even when taken very young can they be rendered familiar to men and tamed. The size, shape, and appearance of their horns differ much from the horns of our oxen. These they anxiously seek after, and bind at the tips with silver, and use as cups at their most sumptuous entertainments.”

    Now that we have dissected a brief part of the history of the unicorn the time has come to give my personal account. But first a bit of background about me. Around 5th grade me and a friend would spend breakfast and hours after school combing through public libraries for books on Bigfoot, aliens and the loch ness monster. We would go so far as to make book reports filled with sightings and history of the long sought after creatures. I took it a step further and would spend many weekends searching through woods for footprints and chasing any animal tracks or poop I could find. Never found much of anything besides deer and foxes until my 8th grade year.

   At this time I had moved to Eielson AFB, Alaska and became infatuated with the northern lights, snowmobiling and skateboarding. The sun was staying up almost 24 hours a day and school was almost taking a summer break. I was out riding my bike one day and was headed to some open areas to learn how to walk a mountain bike. Anyways I lifted the front tire and moved the petals only to have the chain pop off of the bike. I bailed and hit the ground rolling didn't hurt just startled me. When I rolled to my feet I looked to my left and down a path and saw a large creature eating from a tree. To get a picture of what kinda area I was in imagine riding down a dirt path you stop. 100 yards in front of you is a partially frozen lake and to your left and right are separate dirt paths with forest on the sides. When I saw the animal at first I thought it was a moose. It was about the same size and immediately I was frozen with fear because we had been told that moose were dangerous even though they didn't eat meat they would trample and impale you to death. The animal then looked at me and that's when I saw the horn.... a long single horn on a dark colored moose size animal. The animal started taking steps toward me and I ran towards the lake I stood near the edge of the lake and stared at the woods waiting to see if the creature would come out. And that was it.....

 
      No I didn't take any pictures for one I was terrified for 2 it was around 1995 their were no camera phones. And I should have carried a camera but didn't. But one thing I do believe is that I do believe in unicorns but I do not think they are all white pure creatures with a horn that heals you. I believe these creatures are massive creatures that are capable of killing humans. Early stories about capturing unicorns say it took many bowmen with poison tipped arrows to take the creature down. Should we kill a unicorn if we find one? Kill or sedate I say yes why? Well the chances of finding one are rare but finding a male and a female? Highly unlikely. A dead one would provide it exists and is a reason I carry my bow.