STATE FILE · ND
Cryptids of North Dakota
What cryptids are in North Dakota? The best-known are Bigfoot, Devils Lake Serpent and Miniwashitu.
North Dakota is among the quietest states on the cryptid map – the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization lists only a handful of reports here – but its landscapes make room for mystery. The eroded buttes and juniper draws of the Badlands, protected in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the wooded Turtle Mountains on the Canadian border, and the long reservoirs of the Missouri River all lie far from crowds and street lights.
Cryptids reported in North Dakota
HOMINID · 1958
Bigfoot
Pacific Northwest forests, reported across North America
North America’s most famous cryptid: a huge, hairy, upright ape-like being reported from the Pacific Northwest to Florida since the 1958 “Bigfoot” tracks.
WIDELY REPORTED LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1894Devils Lake Serpent
Devils Lake, northeastern North Dakota
A horned, alligator-jawed serpent said to rise from Devils Lake, North Dakota, rooted in Dakota tradition and promoted by 1890s–1910s newspapers.
LOCAL LEGEND LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1921Miniwashitu
Missouri River, North Dakota
A one-eyed, red-haired river being said to break the Missouri River’s ice each spring, recorded in North Dakota by ethnobotanist Melvin Gilmore in 1921.
FOLKLOREThe legends of North Dakota
Most of the state’s Bigfoot lore comes from tribal lands. The Standing Rock Reservation, which straddles the North and South Dakota line, saw a wave of reports in the fall of 1977, when residents described a tall, hairy, foul-smelling creature; an Associated Press story that year noted the Lakota name Taku He used locally. In 2004 several sightings were reported on the Fort Berthold Reservation near Lake Sakakawea. Such accounts sit alongside living Indigenous traditions about wild beings of the forest and plains, which deserve to be understood on their own terms.
Skeptics note that bears are rare in North Dakota, which makes a large upright animal hard to explain – but also that elk, moose, people in heavy winter clothing and long nights on open prairie make for uncertain sightings.
Hotspots
Site of the 1977 Taku He reports along the North Dakota–South Dakota line.
Scene of a cluster of Bigfoot sightings reported in 2004.
Remote Badlands terrain of buttes and wooded draws in the western part of the state.
Forested uplands on the Canadian border, unusual in a mostly treeless state.
Sightings timeline
- 1894The Larimore picnickers Devils Lake Serpent
Picnickers reported an amphibious serpent along the shore. National coverage, including the New York Sun, described alligator jaws, red eyes and an 80-foot tail.
- 1904Sighting at the Chautauqua grounds Devils Lake Serpent
Mrs. C. F. Craig of Leeds and two companions reported seeing the serpent. The story was reprinted in newspapers across the country.
- July 11, 1908The horned serpent Devils Lake Serpent
The Grand Forks Herald reported tourists seeing a black, twelve-foot creature with horns on both sides of its head, which reared half its body out of the water.
- 1921Gilmore records the tradition Miniwashitu
Museum curator and ethnobotanist Melvin R. Gilmore published an account of the Miniwashitu given to him by an Indigenous informant, including the story of a man who saw it and died soon afterward.
- February 9, 1941“Sea Monster” revisited Devils Lake Serpent
A feature article revived the legend of the Devils Lake sea monster for a new generation of readers.
Latest from North Dakota
No recent cryptid headlines from North Dakota. See all the latest cryptid news.
Videos
ARCHIVE.ORG3:07
Patterson–Gimlin film (unedited)
Roger Patterson and Bob GimlinThe original 1967 Bluff Creek footage – the most famous and most debated minute in Bigfoot history. Marked public domain on archive.org.
ARCHIVE.ORG4:59
The Film That Made Bigfoot A Star
Oregon Public BroadcastingOPB’s short documentary on how the Patterson–Gimlin film turned a regional legend into a global icon – and the hoax claims around it.
▶ VIDEO
Sts’ailes Sasquatch Days in Harrison Hot Springs
Tourism Harrison River ValleyShows the festival celebrating the Sts’ailes people’s Sásq’ets, the being behind the word “Sasquatch” (no archive.org equivalent).