“Cryptid Creatures With Augie Macro – The Grand Tour: The Cryptids, Creatures, and Curiosities of the Keystone State,” is a feature length YouTube documentary. The film follows 16-year-old Augie Macro on a journey throughout Pennsylvania. Macro dives into not just things that would interest cryptozoologists, but he also educates, entertains, and takes viewers on a trip to some of the coolest spots in his home state–many of which are worth traveling to.
From podcast to feature film
Macro’s CCwAM “Grand Tour” is a compilation of his journeys across the Keystone State. Viewers don’t only get to go on Macro’s adventures with him, but they also get to glimpse his growth as a creator and human. Much of the footage for the feature was pulled from other independent episodes of his YouTube show.
If you tune into Macro’s show organically, heading over to Season One, Episode One, “Bigfoot: The Legend of the Squatch,” viewers will be greeted by a young Macro just starting to cut his teeth. The early episodes of CCwAM are like watching a Labrador puppy, with large feet, learning the ropes and exploring not only the subject matter, but his craft.
Fast forward to footage from the film or Season 2, Episode 8, and a more sure footed, confident content creator presents the material from the comfort of his own skin. Curious might be where Macro was when he started his adventure, but learned and educated is where it’s taken him thus far.
So this is about bigfoot and other mythical creatures, right?
The first thing that really stuck out about Macro’s film was the material that was presented right out of the gate. The filmmaker did not dive right into the world of cryptozoology, but rather gave some interesting and informational lessons on different subject matters. Macro looks into the geological history of Pennsylvania, different areas of the region, and also talks about the spots from an anthropological/geological view.
Churning through the facts and figures might be snorey if all you were looking for was some cryptids, but these elements add so much to the body. Macro becomes an educator of not just the surreal but the real as well.
The history
When Macro talks about different eras and periods in the film, he does not just spout out dates. He goes deeper, showing the viewer geological formations that would have been emblematic of those times, and discusses the different flora and fauna. What are some of the historical or prehistoric timeframes that are covered early on in the film? He goes through the Eons, for sure!
- Proterozoic Eon
- Archean Eon
- Cenozoic Era
- Mesozoic Era
- Triassic Period
- Jurassic Period
- Cretaceous Period
- Neoproterozoic Era
- Ediacaran Period
- Phanerozoic Eon
- Paleozoic Era
- Permian Period
- Carboniferous Period
- Devonian Period
- Silurian Period
- Ordovician Period
- Cambrian Period
Location, location, location…
Macro’s CCwAM “Grand Tour” ping-pongs across the commonwealth. “For those who do wish to take a road trip across the state, I recommend against following the order by which we’re presenting this as you would be doing lots of zigzagging and burning lots of gas,” Macro explains. “The order that we’re presenting this in isn’t really meant to have any particularly logical order, and we’re just bouncing around the state however we please.”
Where does Macro and his team go? Some of the interesting locations include:
- Red Hill Fossil Site
- Ohiopyle Falls
- High Falls
- Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village
- Raystown lake
- Chickies Rock County Park
- Sinnemahoning State Park
- Valley Forge National Historical Park
- Kinzua Bridge State Park
- The Kinzua Dam
- The Nittany Lion Shrine
- Punxsutawney Pennsylvania
What about the cryptids?
“The Grand Tour: The Cryptids, Creatures, and Curiosities of the Keystone State,” must have some cryptids, no? Of course. Macro goes over some of the more common cryptids that are alleged to be in Pennsylvania. Besides diving into the legends of the beasts, Macro created high-quality original artwork used throughout the film for his depictions of the beasts.
Some of the creatures that are covered:
- Raystown Ray
- Albatwitch
- Susquehanna Seal
- Giwoggle
- Grey Spector of Ridge Road
- Pig Lady of Cannelton
- Pennsylvania White Bigfoot
- Squonk
- Bigfoot
Interview with Stan Gordon
Towards the end of the documentary, Macro included a video interview he conducted with Stan Gordon. Gordon is a preeminent UFO/paranormal expert in the commonwealth. Macro sat down with Gordon while he was visiting Ligonier, Pennsylvania.
Gordon told Macro that he first got interested in the paranormal when he was 10 years old. He was listening to a radio show and said “they were talking about strange happenings, talking about haunted houses, flying saucers, strange creatures.”
Gordon is the author of several books, been in a number of documentaries, and directed a documentary:
- Silent Invasion: The Pennsylvania UFO-Bigfoot Casebook
- Really Mysterious Pennsylvania: UFOs, Bigfoot & Other Weird Encounters Casebook One
- Astonishing Encounters: Pennsylvania’s Unknown Creatures, Casebook 3
- Creepy Cryptids and Strange UFO Encounters of Pennsylvania. Bigfoot, Thunderbirds, Mysteries of the Chestnut Ridge and More. Casebook Four
- Kecksburg – The Untold Story
- America’s Alien Invasion: The Lost UFO Encounters
- Alien Paranormal: Bigfoot, UFOs And The Men In Black
- Invasion on Chestnut Ridge
The informative back and forth between Gordon and Macro is chronicled. While earlier in the film, Macro did have some other experts weigh in on topics, this was the only full interview that was shared.
Overall impression
This featured length online documentary is a commendable project. What shines through the body of work is not just the content, but the passion behind it. Macro’s near-Renaissance Manesque curious nature seeps into both his channel and this work. For a freshman project, “The Grand Tour: The Cryptids, Creatures, and Curiosities of the Keystone State” is something that Macro should be proud of.
You won’t be wasting time if you decide to tune in and have an interest in the Keystone State and or any of the topics touched upon. A great side quest for young learners, that could both captivate their imaginations as well as impart some good facts to them.
The most exciting thing about witnessing “The Grand Tour: The Cryptids, Creatures, and Curiosities of the Keystone State” by Augie Macro might be contemplating what’s coming next. The bar is certainly set very high. What Macro will be bringing the viewers in the years to come likely won’t disappoint. Is there a new project on the horizon? We may never know–or will we?
You can view all of “Cryptid Creatures With Augie Macro – The Grand Tour: The Cryptids, Creatures, and Curiosities of the Keystone State” on Macro’s YouTube channel HERE.
