How to Celebrate Cryptidcore Autumn
THIS IS MY FAVORITE VIBE RIGHT HERE!! There’s just a specific mood that takes over once the light starts slanting lower and the woods get quieter, the kind of mood that makes you want to believe something’s watching from just past the treeline (!!!). That’s cryptidcore, autumn’s slightly feral cousin to cottagecore, so not really about coziness and more about static-laced trail cam footage, half-remembered forest sightings, and the thrill of not quite knowing what’s out there. Here’s how to actually lean into it this season, in my humble opinion. Yes this is a thing.
The vibe
Think foggy tree lines, a flashlight beam catching something that might be a branch, might not be. Think field journals with shaky handwritten notes in the margins, grainy photos that never quite prove anything, and the specific comfort of being a little bit scared in a way that feels more curious than dangerous. Cryptidcore isn’t about jump scares, because those always get to me and that ain’t it. It’s the itch of an unanswered question (spooky! Mystery Shack! Monster hunters!), the same one that’s kept Bigfoot sightings and Mothman theories alive for decades. It’s season 1 Supernatural, baby!
What to watch
Start with Gravity Falls if you want the animated, family-friendly end of the spectrum, small-town mystery, cryptid lore, and a genuinely great sense of place. For something more grounded, In Search Of… reruns and any decent Bigfoot or Sasquatch documentary series scratch the itch of watching earnest people take blurry footage very seriously. The Mothman Prophecies leans further into unease if you want something with real dread behind it. And no cryptidcore watchlist is complete without an episode or ten of Buzzfeed Unsolved, ideally the Supernatural side, where Ryan and Shane’s back-and-forth turns every haunted location and cryptid case into something between genuinely unsettling and genuinely funny. I need Brittany Broski to make her own version of Buzzfeed Unsolved, and I need to be her straight laced cohost. The Ryan to her Shane, basically, or the Scully to her Mulder.
Activities
Go on a night hike (NOT alone girls, seriously it’s not worth it. Sorry), with a real group and real flashlights, somewhere you already know reasonably well so the unfamiliar dark doesn’t tip into actual risk. Start a field journal, a small notebook where you sketch or describe anything slightly odd you notice on walks this season, a strange sound, an animal track you can’t identify, a shape in the fog. Listen to a cryptid-focused podcast episode (I enjoy The Magnus Archives even tho it’s not about cryptids- it’s still spooky) on a long drive. And if there’s any local “haunted” landmark, unexplained disappearance, or regional cryptid legend near you, this is the season to actually go looking into it, most areas have at least one. Even if you don’t live by a haunted location, make one up! Playing pretend is half the fun.
OOOOH also play Slenderman. Five Nights at Freddy’s is kinda close.
Play The Quarry!!! It’s so good!
What to DIY
Make your own field journal from a plain notebook, aged paper edges if you want to commit, and start filling it in as if you’re actually documenting something. Think Dad’s journal from SPN. Put together a “specimen board,” a curated little display of found objects from your walks, a feather, an interesting rock, a pressed leaf, arranged like evidence rather than decor. If you’re crafty, try your hand at a faded, water-stained “missing” or “sighting” poster as a Halloween decoration, something that looks like it’s been stapled to a telephone pole for a decade. And if you’ve got a trail cam or even just a motion-sensor light, set it up somewhere in your yard for a night and see what actually shows up.
Make parts for your outfit- rough up your mountaineer clothes, your glasses- look the part of a frazzled researcher way too in over their head.
What to eat
Lean into anything that looks a little foraged or a little mysterious. A root vegetable stew, dark and rich, works well here, especially served in something that looks handmade rather than store-bought. A “specimen” charcuterie board, dark grapes, blackberries, aged cheeses, dark crackers, laid out like something you’d find deep in the woods, fits the whole theme without requiring any actual cooking. And if you want a drink to match, something dark and warmly spiced, mulled wine or a spiced cider, served in a mismatched mug, completes it.
Where to travel
If you want to chase the actual folklore, a few real destinations exist for exactly this. The Bigfoot Discovery Museum in Felton, California, tucked into the redwoods, is a genuinely fun, low-key stop if you’re anywhere near the Santa Cruz mountains. Willow Creek, California, sits along what’s unofficially called the Bigfoot Scenic Byway and leans hard into the local legend with its own small museum. Further afield, the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, is the pilgrimage site for that particular legend, complete with a genuinely striking metal Mothman statue in the middle of town. None of these require a big trip to feel worth it. Even a regional detour to wherever your own area’s local legend lives can scratch the same itch.
What to burn for the ambiance
This is where my own candles come in, because a few of them were built with exactly this mood in mind. Into the Unknown is the obvious pick for a night hike energy, cedar and oak with the sense of a hidden trail curling off into the trees, its tarot card leaning into adventure and the courage to follow something unknown. Black Cat goes darker and moodier, tart blackberry, velvet patchouli, and a deep moonlit musk, paired with a card about mystery, intuition, and seeing clearly in the dark, which fits a cryptidcore evening almost too well. And Witches Brew, with its black pepper, clove, and smoked tonka base, brings a slower, more ritualistic energy if you’re settling in with your field journal rather than heading outside.
The feeling you’re actually chasing
At its core, cryptidcore autumn isn’t really about believing in anything specific. It’s about holding onto that particular, delicious uncertainty a little longer, the sense that the world still has unexplained corners in it, right at the edge of your flashlight beam. Lean into the not-knowing. That’s the whole point of the season!!! I hope you had a lot of fun reading, and that you go out and do your very own cryptidcore things! Please lmk what you do, I’d love to get more ideas!
