Out of the corner of your eye, you see a ripple in the lake you’re jogging next to. When you turn your head to get a better look, you swear you see the last inches of a scaly tail disappear under the surface of the water. What was that? It could have just been a snake, right? But, man alive, did that thing look huge! There aren’t any alligators where you live. Maybe someone dumped an exotic pet that they realized they couldn’t care for? Maybe. Or maybe, it was something else, something mythical. You keep jogging. You try to shake the thought from your head, but you can’t. “There’s a monster in the lake!” your brain screams. “Get away from the lake!” But you don’t. Instead, you sneak another peek at the icy black water. Your feet freeze to the concrete. Two glowing, yellow eyes have been swimming alongside you, watching you run, and waiting.

Oh man, I scared myself a little bit writing that. It was almost as frightening as researching these unbelievably believable cryptids sightings from recent history. From the city to the swamps, these creeping creatures are lurking in the shadows waiting for the chance to reveal themselves. Until that day, the yetis and chupacabras of the world will have to be content with shaky videos and blurry photos to prove their existence. Take a look at these 15 monster sightings and decide for yourself if Nessie exists (She does. Don’t ruin this for me).

15. Mothman In The Second City

If you thought you’d be safe from monsters in your penthouse apartment overlooking Lake Michigan, then you’d be wrong. The Mothman respects no doorman’s authority. Chicago residents have been reporting sightings of red-eyed, winged giants screeching down their city’s streets. Some say he looks like a giant owl, others think he’s just a man in a suit. I think that whatever it is, I wouldn’t want to meet it on the street on my way home from work. There have been over 20 sightings reported since April 2017, the first being by a woman walking her dog in a park, who claimed to see a 7-foot-tall man with giant black wings look straight into her soul before flying off. These incidents are particularly strange because the Mothman legend originated in West Virginia in 1967, when a giant, winged creature was seen flying away from a collapsed bridge that killed 46 people. Let’s all hope that this Mothman just decided it was time for a change of scenery, and isn’t looking for another bridge to collapse.

14. Alaskan Thunderbird

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s definitely a bird, but Christ on a cracker is it huge! That’s what I imagine the people of Anchorage, Alaska, said when they saw a tremendous flying creature soar over their city in 2002. Anchorage Daily News described it as a scene from Jurassic Park. Villagers described it as pants-crappingly scary. I mean, that’s not an exact quote, but I’m sure it’s pretty close. Thunderbirds are generally regarded as a Native American legend, but a tiny number of researchers have played around with the idea that the creatures sighted had similar features to extinct (or maybe not-so-extinct) pterosaurs. Prehistoric reptile or not, you have to give props to the pilot who saw the thing with a wingspan that matched his own flying next to his plane, for not immediately nosediving into the forest below.

13. Million Dollar Mermaids In Israel

What do you get when you cross a little girl and a dolphin? Apparently, an Israeli mermaid; one that people started flocking to the seashore town of Kiryat Yam to catch a glimpse of. Handfuls of individual witnesses have reported seeing the mythical beauty, doing flips and tricks under the waves of the Mediterranean Sea. Turns out, performing cryptids is great for a town’s tourism economy. Local officials even went so far as to offer a $1 million prize to the first tourist to capture the mermaid on film. So far, no one’s been able to recreate a live-action version of The Little Mermaid, but the town’s still holding onto the hope! “I believe if there really is a mermaid,” a spokesman said, “then so many people will come to Kiryat Yam, a lot more money will be made than $1 million.”

12. Dragons Over China

In 2014, two Chinese students were walking out of a Jilin University library, when they spotted a distinctly dragon-shaped creature soaring through the sky above them. One of the students had the wherewithal to whip out his flip phone, and snap a picture of the thing while shouting out the obvious, “Look! A flying dragon appears in the sky!” Incredibly, this was the second time that summer, that a dragon was captured on camera flying over China. “When I was walking out of the library, I saw a bright, animal-shaped object flying in the sky, heading southeast. It was incredibly dazzling, just like a gigantic dragon. I immediately took a picture of this unusual event on my cell phone,” said the student. If you’re like me and are now afraid a giant lizard might swoop out of the sky and snap you up, don’t worry. Dragons in the east are thought to be powerful but ultimately benign.

11. The Tokoloshe Of South Africa

Sitting around a campfire in a small village on the shores of the Indian Ocean, one of the local men started telling my friends, and me, about the Tokoloshe. He’s a small, dwarf-like water sprite that can be called upon to bring death and destruction to your enemies. When he drinks water, he becomes invisible, “like the wind,” our new friend told us. He can gouge out your eyes or sit on your chest when you’re in bed to keep you from moving. They like to assault women in their sleep – the Tokoloshe has a manhood so big, he has to wrap it around his shoulders to keep from dragging it along the ground – and bite off toes for a tasty snack! But there are ways to keep the Tokoloshe from doing you harm in the night, we were assured. Put a brick under your bed and you’ll be protected. Besides, the dwellings we slept in were all completely round. The Tokoloshe liked to hide in corners – no corners no Tokoloshe. Even with these reassurances, the cool breeze coming off the water tousled my hair, whispered in my ear, and sent shivers down my spine.

10. The Falcon’s Nest Pixie Skeleton

During a routine check of falcon’s nest, a bird rescue worker allegedly found a wee set of seemingly human bones. The itty-bitty skully, teeny-tiny spine, and itsy-bitsy ribcage were photographed, and the series of images were sent to an expert archaeologist and the police. Just kidding. The dude sent everything over to a UK-based podcast called “The Mystic Menagerie”, to be poured over and dissected. The host of the podcast was responsible for a fairy hoax himself; so whether that means we should trust him, more or less is up in the air. Either way, the man says he’s stumped on the validity of this particular skeleton. The bones appear to be browned and aged, which means the skeleton was probably in the nest for some time before it was found. Or it was painted really well.

9. Google Earth Captures Taniwha

Ready for another riddle? Doesn’t matter, I’m going to tell you anyways. What’s bigger than a shark, but too fast to be a whale? If you answered the Taniwha, then you’re either lying, or you have the same bizarre interests as I do and you should shoot me an email so we can talk about how Nessie is definitely real over coffee. For everyone else, the Taniwha is a gigantic sea monster from Maori legends. In 2014, Google Earth captured an image of a massive wake off the coast of Oak Bay, in New Zealand’s North Islands. The engineer who noticed the wake says it probably wasn’t left by a boat, because of the lack of white froth that a motor would normally create, and that it would have had to have been made by a creature that was at least 12 meters long. “It’s way too long for a shark and way too wide,” he said. “It’s got to have a lot of weight under the water to create that kind of drag.” When we’re having coffee, remind me not to go swimming in New Zealand!

8. Djinn Causes Divorce

In 2014 – yes, in this century – a United Arab Emirates man was granted the right to divorce his wife because he believed she was possessed by a djinn. Want to know how this possession supposedly manifested itself? The wife refused to have sex with her husband. Oh yeah, buddy, the only possible reason she wouldn’t want to get weird with you, is that a demon is possessing her body. I mean, come on. Clearly, the Dubai Sharia Court didn’t share my opinion because they ended up granting him the divorce. They asked him to pay his wife $11,000 dollars as well, but changed their minds when it was discovered she lied about the whole djinn thing. Shocker.

7. Anonymous Text Warns Of Aswang

First of all, if you pronounce “Aswang” the way I pronounce “Aswang,” then it’s one of the funniest words I’ve ever read. Second of all, that’s where the humor ends, because these shape-shifting, blood-drinking night terrors are frightening AF. Some say they can transform into a pig or a dog, split their damn bodies in half and fly around, and even suck GD babies right out of their mother’s wombs! (I might vom). In 2014, a mysterious text alert was sent out to some residents of Batangas in the Philippines that read, “WARNING: To everyone in Batangas, don’t loiter around at night. A group of aswang riding a big truck from CAPIS CAM SUR is already in Sto. Tomas. Don’t trust anyone you don’t know. This is not a joke. From: POLICE Tanauan.” The police denied any cause for panic, but that didn’t stop a son from beheading his own 70-year-old mother, when he became convinced she was an Aswang. Barf.

6. No Question, That’s Nessie

Here’s the thing, guys. I’m an absolutely cynical skeptic when it comes to anything mythical, paranormal, or romantic. But Nessie…Nessie’s special. I’m not exaggerating when I say I absolutely need Nessie to exist. She’s who I pray to at night, the shining light I turn to when all hope is lost, a prehistoric reminder that there is still magic left in this dark, dank world. Reports of the Queen of the Loch were first recorded in 565 in a biography of Irish monk Saint Columba, that mentions a giant ‘water beast’ that dragged a man to his death in Scotland’s River Ness. Get him, girl. Fast forward 1,452 years, and we’re looking at the most recent sighting of Nessie in 2017. A 28-year-old woman from Manchester snapped a photo of what appears to be a long neck sticking out of the water in Urquhart Bay – a favorite haunt of my pal Ness. Buzzkills have said it resembles a log, but I won’t hear it. Nessie’s real, and one day I’m going to climb on her beautiful back and we’ll swim off into the sunset together. Just you wait.

5. Akkorokamui Is Looking At You

Say it with me, the Akkorokamui is said to be a monstrous octopus, or squid-like creature that haunts the waters of Funka Bay, located in the Southwestern portion of the Northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The sneaky cephalopod is said to be strikingly, incandescently red and because of this visible from great distances, which is where you should be in relation to a giant sea monster. In the early 1900s, a missionary recorded a sighting of the beast in his book The Ainu and Their Folklore, describing it as, “a great sea monster with large staring eyes…The monster was round in shape, and emitted a dark fluid and noxious odor.” More eyewitness reports have surfaced (Ha, ha!) in recent years, but so far no one’s made giant calamari rings out of the beast yet.

4. Jersey Devil Visits Pennsylvania

Turns out, construction workers are good at three things: constructing, catcalling, and capturing footage of a hoofed devil with wings that’s said to steal chickens and terrorize towns. Apparently on a vacation to sunny Pennsylvania, the Jersey Devil was allegedly spotted swooping over the treeline, on the side of a highway one night in 2015. A Youtube video purportedly shot by a 32-year-old Pennsylvania construction worker, was posted online as proof. The video shows what the man’s friend originally thought was a large vulture flying through the night. They soon discerned that the thing was decidedly not a vulture, when they noticed its leathery wings and goat-like features, things vultures do not have. Take a look at the footage and judge for yourself.

3. Momo The Missouri Monster

Undeniably the most adorable addition to the list, Momo the Monster is a Missouri legend similar to a Yeti or Bigfoot. Momo is said to live in the forests alongside the Mississippi River, and have a delightfully pumpkin-shaped head. Some accounts, which I’m personally choosing to ignore, say he’s covered in a coarse, smelly coat and actively aggressive. After sightings in 1972, tracks were found in the mud and casts were taken of the imprints. They were sent to the director of the Oklahoma City Zoo for study, and he deemed them to be left by an unknown primate species. Momo hasn’t been seen since, so either he doesn’t exist or else he’s probably taken up some charming hobby, like knitting tea cozies, and he just hasn’t been leaving his house as much.

2. The UB-85 Sea Monster

In 1918, as the first world war was finally coming to a close, and the world collectively breathed a sigh of relief. The captain and crew of the British service ship Coreopsis had very little time to catch their breath, when they spotted a German submarine floating on the surface of the Atlantic. The crew of the sub surrendered immediately. When the sub’s captain was interrogated about their strange behavior, he described a “strange beast with a small head, glistening teeth and a horny skull,” that attached itself to sub. The soldiers panicked, and shot at the beast until it slunk back into the sea. The damage done was so great, that the sub sunk to the bottom of the ocean before anyone could analyze it. How convenient.

1. The Lizard Man Of Scape Ore Swamp

One – almost assuredly foggy – night, a 17-year-old North Carolina boy was driving home at 2 a.m. (of course), when he blew a tire. His car conveniently rolled to a stop on the outskirts of Scape Ore Swamp. Just as he finished with the routine change, the boy looked up into the eyes of a horrifying bipedal creature covered with green, scaly skin, three clawed fingers on each of its hands, and glowing, red eyes. He jumped to his feet, wrenched open his car door, and sped off as the thing climbed onto the roof. When police investigated the site, they couldn’t find any evidence of the Lizardman, but visible claw marks were found on the roof of the kid’s car. The takeaway here? Never leave your house. Order takeout and stay inside where the monsters aren’t.