ABSTRACT
A typical feature of cryptozoology, or the study of hidden, secretive creatures (cryptids) not officially recognised by science, is that it is usually only considered seriously by a fringe element of society that draws its evidence from anecdotal sightings of what are assumed to be zoological entities that are physically tangible; their confirmation as a recognised species being dependent on their capture, or their potential for leaving physical remains as evidence, or by independent verification of sightings by a number of sober minded scientists (see Forth, this volume; Walsh and Goldman, this volume). Cryptids are often suspected of being vestiges of species thought to be extinct but have somehow managed to survive human categorisation and domination due to their shy or elusive natures. They are brought to the forefront of public consciousness and imagination when rare, and often brief sightings are claimed by individuals or small groups who happen to be traversing their territories. While public imagination may be stimulated by such claimed sightings (Dendle 2006), serious scientific consideration is usually frowned upon and belief in cryptids tends to be viewed as occupying the realms of psychological fantasy or disorder (Sharps et al. 2010). The range of creatures falling into the category of cryptids is vast (Eberhart
2002; Newton 2005), and includes those species not officially recognised by science. These may range from species thought to be extinct or unknown, to creatures out of place in that they furtively occupy territories not their own, to mystical and magical shape-shifting creatures that transcend the various orders of reality as we understand them. These different categories require different sorts of analysis and understanding and thus some classification of cryptids is in order. A discussion on classification is not my intention in this paper (see Turner, this volume); my interest, however, is with the last of the categories mentioned, those phantasmagorical and shape-shifting creatures often associated with fantasy, in particular shape-shifting water serpents and their associates, fish-tailed beings or mermaids (see also Schmidt, this
volume). I argue that research tools beyond those typically associated with scientific verification may be required in order to understand claimed human experiences of them – experiences which appear to transcend time and space and form the basis of many religious belief systems. To support my argument I draw from my own experiences of radical participation amongst Ngunispeaking diviner-healers (Zulu = izangoma/pl; Xhosa= amagqirha/pl) in South Africa, which has allowed me to glimpse the nature of such beings from a different perspective or ‘order of reality’ (Schutz 1974) to that of science, which presently does not have the tools to address such encounters.
