We’re back again this month with a cryptid! This one brings us to upstate New York, where a strange, blobby creature has been spotted throughout the decades. So – what is the Kinderhook Blob, and why does it not have as much of a cult following as other cryptids? Let’s explore.
The Encounters
In 1962, a young man named Bruce Hollenbeck was exploring the woods behind his family home alongside his cousin. They were walking among the pine trees, adventuring as 10-year-olds are wont to do, when a strange whistling noise stopped their fun. When they searched around for the sound, they noticed a small creature leaning around the trunk of a nearby pine tree – apparently watching the pair, though it did not have eyes. Understandably terrified, Bruce and his cousin ran home – though what they did not know at the time is that they were the first of half a dozen (or more) people to have seen what became known as the Kinderhook Blob.
There were no reported sightings of the blob for the next few years. The next sighting came in 1964, when a man was solo hiking through the woods near Kinderhook. He claimed to have seen a blob floating in his direction, which sent him fleeing in the opposite direction. In his terror, he lept across a pond and returned to town. He told a friend of the encounter and, unsurprisingly, his friend did not believe the tale. So the pair armed themselves and headed back to the spot – the friend quickly let go of his skepticism as he saw the blob floating through the trees. The pair abandoned their weapons and their pursuit to capture the creature and ran for safety.
The next encounter with the Kinderhook blob may have been the same year, or it may have been as late as the 70s (which sends up red flags for me, but let’s run with it). In this encounter, two fourteen-year-old boys were camping in the woods when they heard something stomping around outside of their tent (but I thought it floated?). The boys, gathering up every ounce of their bravery, looked outside of their tent to see the blob.
Finally, in 2017, two men were on a late night walk near the woods. The pair claimed that the temperature around them dropped sharply right before the Blob came shooting out from between the trees. This sighting cited the height of the creature as upwards of 7 ft tall, and again said it was making a screeching or whistling sound.
via Cryptid Wiki)
The Creature
The creature is said to be somewhere between amorphous and bell-shaped. It is white and has no distinguishing features – and no distinguishable face. Rather than walk, it floats without touching the ground. Across the sightings, there does not seem to be a uniform size to the creature, with one witness claiming it was as tall as 7 feet, with other descriptions claiming it was only a few feet in height – insinuating that there may be more than one of these things floating around Kinderhook.
Theories
I have seen a few theories thrown around when it comes to the Kinderhook Blob. As usual, they range from believable to utterly strange and unusual. First, let’s tackle the obvious – that this is some sort of niche prank that people were pulling on each other in the 60s (and maybe 70s, depending on when that third encounter took place). Then, the perpetrator of the 2017 sighting heard about those sightings and decided to bring it back. This would mostly explain the variances in sizes and shapes of the blobs. However, it does not explain the sudden drop in temperature or the even the gliding across wide expanses.
The next theory I have seen in my research is that the blob is some sort of ghost. Obviously, there is no way to prove or disprove this, but I think this theory would explain the temperature drops and the variance in the physical representations of the creature. If you believe in spirits, then you know the
Finally, maybe it really is some sort of creature that is running around the woods in upstate New York that has gone mostly undiscovered. Who’s to say what’s possible and not when it comes to the cryptozoological field? I’m certainly not qualified to make that call.
Sources
- https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Kinderhook_Blob
- https://www.cryptidcampfire.com/podcast/kinderhook-blob
- https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2018/06/strange-encounters-with-mysterious-living-blobs/
- https://ultimateunexplained.com/catskills-swamp-creature/
- https://981thehawk.com/montrose-pa-murder/ (Section: “9 Monsters, Myths, and Mysteries of Upstate New York”)
