There are many, MANY, MANY cryptids. Things we now call mythological creatures were, at one time, believed real in the same way moth man or the flatwoods monster is.
Griffins, sphinxes, minotaur, cyclops, to name a few.
Cyclops famously is thought to come from ancient elephant skull fossils
Modern ones are the results of the same pattern of human thinking, but elevated.
There are many, MANY, MANY cryptids. Things we now call mythological creatures were, at one time, believed real in the same way moth man or the flatwoods monster is.
Griffins, sphinxes, minotaur, cyclops, to name a few.
Cyclops famously is thought to come from ancient elephant skull fossils
Modern ones are the results of the same pattern of human thinking, but elevated.
A unicorn is just a rhinoceros through a long game of telephone.
https://www.unicornsrule.com/wp-content/uploads/unicorn-deer.jpg