Cryptomundo has a really interesting article about "Walking Sam," a cryptid or paranormal phenomenon I hadn't previously heard of.  The article quotes Mike Crowley, a man who was attending a Tribal Council meeting of the Sioux in South Dakota.

An elderly woman stood up at the meeting and asked for official help with Walking Sam.  She described Walking Sam as "a big man in a tall hat."  His appearance is connected to teen suicides; according to the woman, he causes them.  She asked for additional police foot patrols in the area.

Bigfoot has been sighted in the Dakotas, so there is that legacy to keep in mind.  But as Crowley himself points out, the story of Walking Sam could also be "a plea for help with teen suicides - a plea that needs to be translated through a cultural filter."

This is an interesting, sidelong way of looking at local legends, and it got me thinking about a lot of the other cryptozoological stories I've heard of in the past.  Destination Truth (my favorite, and I'm sorry I can't stop talking about it, but it's such a fun show!) may be the master of this art.  Those people schlep halfway across the globe just to track down some wacky cryptid - slash - local legend.  I've never heard of half the things they go chasing after.

Call it cultural imperialism if you like, but we Westerners can't help but hear these stories through our own personal filters.  In our culture, animals either exist or they do not.  If you tell me about an animal, I will assume that it exists in a tangible sense.  In the sense that it's a living thing which eats and breathes and maybe could use a bath.

It's important to keep in mind that this isn't necessarily the case in other cultures.  Animals - particularly cryptids - aren't necessarily animals, full stop.  They may be animals, as well as gods, and spirits, or they may simply be a shorthand way to talk about something that can't be talked about out loud.  

After all, how can you really discuss an epidemic of teen suicide?  Suicide itself is a heavily fraught subject, a taboo in most cultures, something that is discussed in hushed tones if at all.  Teen suicides seem particularly tragic because we all remember how hard it was to be a teenager, but we also know - with the benefit of hindsight - that things do get better.  But not for those teenagers who take their own lives; for them, the story is over.

When this kind of subject comes up in Western culture, it's couched in euphemism.  We say things like "took his life" rather than "shot himself in the face."  We use words to protect us from the sadness and the horror.  Other cultures may not.  Other cultures may find it easier to "blame" a tall spirit in a big hat - understanding perhaps that Walking Sam is no more real than Uncle Sam, but simply a creation designed to serve a euphemistic purpose.

Walking Sam is an obvious case, but I wonder what other cryptids "exist" only in the sense that they serve a cultural purpose?  I guess the question to ask is, "what does this cryptid mean to the person who's telling me about it?"