28 Cryptozoologists

Jon-Erik Beckjord was an American paranormal investigator, photographer, and cryptozoologist interested in such phenomena as UFOs, crop circles, the Loch Ness Monster, and Bigfoot. Throughout his career, he owned three separate, small-scale museums that featured displays, mostly photographs, of alleged UFO, Nessie, and Bigfoot sightings. He made guest appearances on national radio and television shows, but was criticized by fellow cryptozoologists and skeptics alike for not providing substantive evidence to back up his claims of the existence of paranormal beings.

René Dahinden was a Canadian Bigfoot (Sasquatch) researcher.

Pierre Denys de Montfort, also sometimes spelled "Pierre Dénys de Montfort", (1766–1820) was a French naturalist, in particular a malacologist, remembered today for his pioneering inquiries into the existence of the gigantic octopuses. He was inspired by a description from 1783 of an eight-metre long tentacle found in the mouth of a sperm whale.

Timothy Kay Dinsdale, 27 September 1924 – 14 December 1987 was a British cryptozoologist who attempted to prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster.

Jonathan Downes is a naturalist, cryptozoologist, author, editor, film-maker, poet, novelist, activist, journalist, composer and singer-songwriter, with a background in radical politics and mental health care. He is Director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology. His father, the explorer and Colonial Service Officer J. T. Downes (1925–2006), wrote several books on a wide range of subjects, such as African history, theology and the Devonshire dialect. His mother Mary Downes (1922–2002) was a broadcaster and author who published several collections of Nigerian folklore under the pen-name `Yar Kunama`.

Richard Freeman is a cryptozoologist, author, zoological journalist, and WebTV Presenter. He is also the zoological director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ), and co-edits both the journal, Animals & Men and several editions of the annual CFZ Yearbook. Freeman has written, co-written, or edited a number of books, and has contributed widely to both Fortean and zoological magazines, as well as other newspapers and periodicals, including Fortean Times and Paranormal Magazine.

Kenneth Cecil Gandar-Dower was a leading English sportsman, aviator, explorer and author.

Rupert Thomas Gould was a lieutenant-commander in the British Royal Navy noted for his contributions to horology. He was also an author and radio personality.

John Willison Green was a Canadian journalist and a leading researcher of the Bigfoot phenomenon. He was a graduate of both the University of British Columbia and Columbia University and compiled a database of more than 3000 sighting and track reports.

Bernard Heuvelmans was a Belgian-French scientist, explorer, researcher, and writer probably best known, along with Scottish-American biologist Ivan T. Sanderson, as a founding figure in the pseudoscience and subculture of cryptozoology. His 1958 book On the Track of Unknown Animals is often regarded as one of the most influential cryptozoology texts.

Ralph William Burdick Izzard, OBE was an English journalist, author, adventurer and, during World War II, a British Naval Intelligence officer.

John Alva Keel, born Alva John Kiehle was an American journalist and influential UFOlogist who is best known as author of The Mothman Prophecies.

Willy Otto Oskar Ley was a German-American science writer and proponent of cryptozoology. The crater Ley on the far side of the Moon is named in his honor.

Roy P. Mackal was a University of Chicago biologist best known to the general public for his interest in cryptozoology, a pseudoscience.

Ivan Mackerle was a Czech cryptozoologist, author, design engineer, and explorer. He organized expeditions to search for the Loch Ness monster of Scotland, the Tasmanian tiger in Australia, and the elephant bird in Madagascar. He was most notable for his search of the Mongolian death worm, and he conducted three trips to Mongolia in 1990, 1992, and 2004. He authored numerous books and publications and from 1998 until 2002 he was chief editor of the Czech paranormal magazine Fantastická fakta.

Vladimir Markotic was a Croatian American anthropologist, archaeologist and cryptozoologist.

Reinhold Andreas Messner is an Italian mountaineer, explorer, and author. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen. He was the first climber to ascend all fourteen peaks over 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) above sea level. Messner was the first to cross Antarctica and Greenland with neither snowmobiles nor dog sleds. He also crossed the Gobi Desert alone. Messner has published more than 80 books about his experiences as a climber and explorer. In 2018, he received jointly with Krzysztof Wielicki the Princess of Asturias Award in the category of Sports.

Darren Naish is a British vertebrate palaeontologist and science writer. He obtained a geology degree at the University of Southampton and later studied vertebrate palaeontology under British palaeontologist David Martill at the University of Portsmouth, where he obtained both an M. Phil. and PhD. He is founder of the blog Tetrapod Zoology, created in 2006.

Dr William Charles Osman Hill FRSE FZS FLS FRAI was a British anatomist, primatologist, and a leading authority on primate anatomy during the 20th century. He is best known for his nearly completed eight-volume series, Primates: Comparative Anatomy and Taxonomy, which covered all living and extinct primates known at the time in full detail and contained illustrations created by his wife, Yvonne. Schooled at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys in Birmingham and University of Birmingham, he went on to publish 248 works and accumulated a vast collection of primate specimens that are now stored at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Anthonie (Antoon) Cornelis Oudemans Jzn was a Dutch zoologist. Although he was a specialist in acarology, the study of the ticks and mites, he was often best known for his books on sea monsters and the dodo.

Boris Fyodorovich Porshnev was a Soviet historian known for his works on popular revolts in Ancien Régime France and a doctor of social sciences working on psychology, prehistory, and neurolinguistics as relating to the origins of man.

Nicholas "Nick" Redfern is a British best-selling author, journalist, cryptozoologist and ufologist.

Graham Roumieu is a Canadian illustrator based in Toronto, Ontario. He is perhaps best known for his Bigfoot-themed books, but his work has also appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Harper's, and the Wall Street Journal.

Ivan Terence Sanderson was a British biologist and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland, who became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Along with Belgian-French biologist Bernard Heuvelmans, Sanderson was a founding figure of cryptozoology, a pseudoscience and subculture. Sanderson authored material on paranormal subjects and wrote fiction under the pen name Terence Roberts.

Sir Peter Markham Scott, was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest in observing and shooting wildfowl at a young age and later took to their breeding.

Gardner Soule was an American writer known for his books on cryptozoology and marine life.

Odette Tchernine was a British author, cryptozoologist, novelist and journalist.

Jamsrangiin Tseveen, was a Buryat scholar and one of the leading figures in Mongolian politics and especially academia in the 1920s.