Cryptid Sighting

I have always been interested in mythology and folklore, including cryptids, since I was a kid, but I’ve recently begun exploring it in-depth. Between that and my love of art bots, I finally came up with the idea for my first baby bot: Cryptid Sighting. It relays a #CryptidSighting or two every day. Sometimes it describes what the cryptid looks and acts like; sometimes it tells where it was last seen.

#CryptidSighting: Described as orange and enthusiastic, the Potato Bird punched the witness and then slid into the water.

— Cryptid Sighting (@sightingcryptid) October 18, 2017

I’m not an amazing writer but have always wanted to explore it more. I view this bot as kind of collaboration, making a story together. I feed it sentences and words, it generates new tidbits that I never could and that open up doors to new storytelling possibilities. It’s also interesting to think about how the internet is an amazing, weird place that definitely effects our modern-day folklore. Social media and Twitter bots will be part of that folklore.

#CryptidSighting: Have you seen the legendary Texas-Sized Kelnie recently?

— Cryptid Sighting (@sightingcryptid) January 13, 2018

I’m continuing to tweak Cryptid Sighting, add to it and learn more about coding to further evolve this bot. You can see the source code for Cryptid Sighting here. A shoutout to @v21 for Cheap Bots, Done Quick! and @GalaxyKate for her Tracery tutorials. Without them, Cryptid Sighting never would have made it past planning stages. I definitely recommend them if you want to make a bot. (Also, @GalaxyKate has some really cool bot-making badges!)

#CryptidSighting: The Scarred Figure is always around the fort, cooking grandma’s recipes.

— Cryptid Sighting (@sightingcryptid) November 12, 2017

Let me know if you have any tips or suggestions and please follow my baby bot at Cryptid Sighting!