Mythical Creatures (Shallow Thoughts)

Mythical Creatures

(A Toastmasters speech on Jul 14, 2025.)

Humans have told stories of mythical creatures for as long as there have been humans.

Creatures like mermaids, or unicorns, or fire-breathing dragons. But of course, today we know that mythical creatures don't really exist.

Or do they?

Let me tell you a couple stories of mythical creatures I've seen -- or not seen.

This past weekend, Dave and I drove up to Colorado to visit Dave's relatives. They live up at 10,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies next to the Continental Divide. It's a wonderful place to visit in the middle of summer when White Rock is too hot.

When we visited a few years ago, Kerry regaled us with tales of his battles with beavers. The beavers kept damming up the little culvert by the road, creating a pond that blocked his driveway.

I've never seen a beaver in real life. So I wanted to see these beavers! He took us out to the culvert. There was a pond there, for sure, and several dams. But we walked around there for quite a while and I never saw a beaver.

As far as I know, Kerry could have made those dams himself! People talk about beavers, but I think they're a myth.

Last weekend when we were there, he said the beavers were gone but he kept telling us about all the moose that were causing problems, wandering through people's yards, threatening them. Moose are large animals, and very dangerous, especially during the calving season, which is now.

So people say. I think they're mythical. I've never seen a moose.

So the four of us, plus Dan the dog, piled into their ATV and headed out to where the moose supposedly hang out.

It was fun. I got to drive the ATV for part of it, though after a while I traded off because I wanted to look at the scenery and take pictures. We saw a HUGE herd of elk, maybe a couple hundred of them. (Elk definitely are not mythical, as anyone around Los Alamos knows.) We saw beautiful scenery, including a pristine mountain pond with something swimming in it. Beavers? Nope. Dave's binoculars showed us three ducklings and a mama duck.

Anyway, it was a nice ride and we saw lots of gorgeous scenery. What DIDN'T we see? Moose. Not a single one.

We even went for an after-dinner walk the last night we were there, and went by places Kerry swore were great moose hideouts. Nothing.

I think moose are a myth. I mean, look at them -- long skinny legs, huge impractical antlers and a big bump of a nose. Does that seem like a REAL CREATURE? No, it does not. Pam showed me some photos -- but how do I know they weren't photoshopped? You can find lots of photos of unicorns if you do a web search.

Now, there are some mythical creatures I've heard of that turned out to be real. Take geckos.

Dave and I were on vacation in Hilo, Hawaii, maybe fifteen years ago. We were there to look at Mars, but of course we also went hiking in Volcanos National Park, and caving in some lava tubes, and we even took a helicopter ride over Pu'u O'o to see a tiny window onto the lava. We saw lots of great wildlife, especially birds. We stayed at a hotel called Uncle Billy's, and got to see a mongoose sniffing around the hotel grounds right below our window.

On the flight to Hawaii, Dave had been telling me about all the geckos in Taiwan when he was growing up -- they'd come inside the house and climb up the walls, where they'd catch bugs. He said Hawaii had lots of geckos, and I'd certainly get to see them.

But our week there passed with no geckos. I became convinced that geckos didn't really exist: they were mythical.

On the last night of the trip, we went for a twilight walk around Hilo. They had fantastic huge mangrove trees and beautiful tropical flowers growing everywhere. But no geckos.

Defeated, we trudged back to Uncle Billy's. And as we got to the front door of the hotel, suddenly Dave stopped. He pointed upward. There, above the sill of the hotel door, was a gecko.

Geckos are not mythical. I have photos to prove it.

But back to our Colorado trip. It really was a great trip, moose or no moose. Saturday morning, we woke up, packed up, had breakfast, and hit the road headed for home.

About six miles along the way, I saw something out in a field that wasn't a cow, an elk or a pronghorn. "MOOSE!" I cried. Dave pulled over to the shoulder, behind another car that had already pulled off. Sure enough, there was a moose out in the field. Cars were stopping on the highway, like it was a national park or something. While we watched, two other moose joined the first, and the three of them sauntered back and forth, giving us a nice view. I even got some pictures with my phone that are recognizably moose.

In conclusion:

Moose actually exist. They're not mythical after all, and neither are geckos.

Also, if you want to see a mythical creature, you have to give up all hope of seeing it. Only then will it appear.

I still think beavers are mythical, though.