The Fresno Nightcrawler

Magical Realist

Magical Realist

Valued Senior Member
The legend of the entity known as the Fresno Nightcrawler originated from two videos captured of the creature back in 2oo7 on security cameras in Fresno CA and nearby Yosemite National Park (see below). As can be seen from the videos, the creatures appear like two stick-like legs walking robed in a cloth with no apparent torso, arms, or head. Since the two sightings the creature has attained official cryptid status and gone viral, prompting all sorts of artwork and fiction and products based on said entity and even additional sightings. It is one of the latest examples of a modern folklore legend being generated almost entirely by the Internet. (See also Slenderman and rakes.) As of this posting, no convincing evidence or claims of a hoax has yet surfaced afaik. What the hell is it?

 
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Strange moniker, given that the putative high head and very minimum upper torso (if any) is just that -- far from dragging along the ground. Should instead have "stilt" in the name, but not sure what the rest would be.

2018
https://www.skeptophilia.com/2018/07/invasion-of-nightcrawlers.html

"They tried to recreate the video with many different known hoax techniques. All their attempts to recreate the footage was met with failure. In the end, they decided that the footage would be very difficult to fake, if not impossible, and that the video footage was authentic. [...] Even so, I'm a little doubtful about all of this. In this day of digital video editing software [and later generative AI], 'impossible to fake' has almost become a contradiction in terms."


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Some attempted explanations for the the Nightcrawlers include


In this day of digital video editing software [and later generative AI], 'impossible to fake' has almost become a contradiction in terms."
Click to expand...

Yes, unfortunately the claim that it is a computer generated hoax has become the unfalsifiable catch all forever condemning every video with an element of undecidability.
 
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Magical Realist said:
Some attempted explanations for the the Nightcrawlers include

[...] A bird walking like a crane. .... A person wearing big pants and walking on stilts [...]
Click to expand...

Since the loose "whiteness" seems pretty much all they are apart from the head and stilt-like appendages ... It could as much be a skin or fur covering as pants, cloak, or fabric...

So I'm starting to favor "stilt skin" or "stilkskin" as a revised name for the legend. The "crawler" part, again, just doesn't fit the method of locomotion and body position (and is certainly not reminiscent of a worm).

A matter of dropping the "Rumple" as the band did...

video link --> "Stiltskin: Inside" (1994)
 
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