Ania Mininkova

The film is an American short motion picture of an unidentified subject which the filmmakers have said was a Bigfoot.

The roll was shot in 1967 in Northern California, and has since been subjected to many attempts to debunk or authenticate it by z

Independent Bigfoot research groups are to be found in every region of US – from the Pacific Northwest to Appalachia. SquatchHers, a Minneapolis based group, is an all-female research group that focus their research on Minnesota and North Dacota.

The faith in the existence of the abominable snowman in the mountains and on ancient Himalayan trails of Bhutan, for centuries didn’t differ much from belief in bears and leopards. The fabric of the Yeti belief in a remote Himalayan country seems to

A place of a recent alleged sighting of a skunk ape.

The 1975 card found at junk shop sale in Florida.

Inverness, Aug 1st

We are making a week tour of the north of Scotland. The ruins here are wonderful. I saw Ben Nevis at Fort William and Castle Urquhart on the way here. No sign at all of the monster though.

Biodiversity display at Bell Museum of Natural History

Skunk Ape or Southern Sasquatch is a cryptid believed to live in the swamps of Everglades National Park.

Skunk ape researchers believe that skunk ape's natural enemies are alligators with whom they compete for food resources in the Everglades.

The trestle that became notorious for multiple
sightings of the “goat people” since the end of XIX century until now, acquired a more grave reputation in 2017 as the sight of apparently the only one cryptozoology related death.

A female tourist wh

Internet cryptozoology resources regularly publish images with artefacts that might signify a presence of a cryptid - a silhouette, an outline, a shadow. What can sometimes be attributed to the camera shortcomings by a skeptic might be interpreted a

Some of the Mothman witnesses suffered from what they called "eye burn" – redness, swelling and itchiness, – and this was further developed in "The Mothman Prophecies" film. The creature itself was often depicted with huge red glowing eyes – both by

The road leading from McClintic Wildlife Management Area, locally known as TNT area, where one of the first Mothman sightings happened. The area still contains explosives.

It's my husband's and mine's 1st wedding anniversary.
We came to find ghosts. Rm # 327. Odd things have happened.

The quote from Mark 5.36 at the bottom of the page:
"Be not afraid. Only believe."

Things are not always are what they seem. Optical illusions, digital photography artifacts and images with enhanced or exaggerated details often mislead cryptozoology researchers and fans.

The Monster Within

The search for mysterious animals – from mountain gorilla to giant panda, who were in their own time considered a myth and a monster joke, was successful because of the people who were willing to be ridiculed as myth chasers.

The term “cryptozoology” – an unrecognized science focused on unknown animals – was coined in the 1940s, and what started as a scientific pursuit began a life of its own. The deepest appeal the wilderness and monsters have for humans launched a popular culture and research on a previously unimaginable scale with the advent of the internet.

People looking for Bigfoot, chupacabra, Mothman and a pantheon of both biologically possible and mythical “cryptids” can find fellow researchers and witnesses in a matter of seconds. What was isolated and confined, became real and widely available on Google search.

Is the monster myth a part of phenomena that took America to a place where people are increasingly entitled not only to their own opinions, but to their own facts?

This project is a pursuit of American monsters, both roaming in the wilderness and lurking within.

Ania Mininkova

Photographer and sculptor, Ania Mininkova explores themes of consciousness, fragility of memory, and perception.

Coming of age during the era of hybrid wars in Eastern Europe and Caucasia, Ania’s practice is deeply informed by the fallible nature of perception amongst unreliable narration.

Born in Ukraine, living in Poland, Russia, Indonesia, Australia and eventually the United States, her experiences of transition, placelessness and ever changing historical narratives have driven her recent work on “A Monster Within”.