Profs and Pints Richmond presents: “Encountering Cryptids,” on the cultural, historical and psychological significance of beings that may exist only in lore, with Joshua Barton, lecturer in English at Virginia Commonwealth University and scholar of horror.

Some started out as anecdotes shared by explorers. Others were created as cautionary tales, or literally were just developed as spooky stories for kids. Regardless of their origins, they’re now entrenched inhabitants of our nation’s landscapes, their lives perpetuated through tales told by communities that believe they’re real.

They’re cryptids with names like Sasquatch, Mothman, the Jersey Devil, Ogopogo, the Flatwoods Monster, and the Beast of Bray Road. And your single best chance to get to know them might be by coming to the Triple Crossing-Fulton taproom for this talk by Joshua Barton, a scholar of horror who has earned a following here with incredibly entertaining past talks on horror films and Christmas ghost stories.

He'll look at the genesis of the tales themselves and what they tell us about historic approaches to the unknown. He’ll discuss how tales of cryptids reflect societal fears, inspire local legends, and connect communities through shared myths, and he’ll examine the impact of cryptid tales on modern storytelling and local tourism.

Turning his attention to specific cryptids, Barton will describe how the Jersey Devil speaks to our nation’s puritan roots and our collective fear of evil. The chupacabra reflects anxieties over the blending of cultures, while Bigfoot and Mothman stand out as huge generators of tourism revenue.

You’ll learn how the study of such creatures—cryptozoology—exists at the intersection of oral folklore and modern belief, and you’ll probably emerge from the talk eager to tell cryptid tales of your own. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: A reproduction of a painted rock encountered on the Tule River Reservation in California. Cryptozoologists have interpreted the three figures painted on it, generally regarded as Native American symbols for negation, as instead representing an entire Sasquatch family.