Monsters

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If something isn't undead, and it isn't really a spirit and it isn't really a demon, what is it? The best word we can come up with is "monster." Now, this is a fluid category, we'll grant you that. But to us, a spirit is something that died and refuses to leave. A demon is something that lives in hell and only comes topside to spread pain and chaos. And a revenant is something dead that won't lie down.
The other kind of sucker's a monster.
The word "monster" comes from the Latin monstrum, which means-well, it means "monster", but it also means "portent" or "omen". Bad sign. From a root, monere, that means "warn". People used to think that monsters were signs of impending disaster. our experience has been a little different. We think that monsters are disasters all by themselves. Nothing impending about them.
The world is full of monsters, and also full of people pretending there are monsters where there aren't any. That's part of the fun. Are there lake monsters? You bet there are. We've seen them. We've never been to Scotland, so we can't tell you if Nessie is for real, and the same goes for Argentina and Nahuelito, but as far as Champ goes-you ever heard of Champ? Head up to Lake Champlain sometime and ask around. You'll get an ear full. Back in 1609 or so, Samuel de Champlain saw the monster while exploring the lake that would later bear his name. Since then, Indian legends and tourist reports have consistently said that something's in the lake.
Giants and orges? Never seen one.
Dragons? Give us a break.
But cryptozoologists would probably say the same thing about, say, an evil spirit. So who are we to say? There are more things in heaven and earth, et cetera, et cetera. Or, to put it another way here's what astronomer Arthur Eddington said about the general bizarritude of everything: "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine."

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