International Society of Cryptozoology

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| formation = {{start date and age|1982}}

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| purpose = A focal point for the investigation, analysis, publication, and discussion of all matters related to animals of unexpected form or size, or unexpected occurrence in time or space

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| headquarters = Washington, D.C.

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| leader_name = Bernard Heuvelmans

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| leader_name2 = Roy Mackal

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| leader_name3 = J. Richard Greenwell

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| main_organ = Cryptozoology

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The International Society of Cryptozoology (ISC) was an organization dedicated to the field of cryptozoology founded in 1982 in Washington, D.C. It ceased to exist in 1998.

It was founded to serve as a center for documenting and evaluating topics of interest to cryptozoologists.G. G. Simpson (1984) Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 128, No. 1 (Mar. 30, 1984), pp 1-19 "Mammals and Cryptozoology"Cryptozoology: Interdisciplinary Journal of the International Society of Cryptozoology Vol.12, 1993-1996. ISSN 0736-7023. The study of such animals is known as cryptozoology, and Cryptozoology was also the title of its journal. The President was Bernard Heuvelmans, and the Vice-President Roy Mackal. The Secretary was J. Richard Greenwell (died 2005), of the University of Arizona.BioScience, Vol. 31, No. 11 (Dec., 1981), page 804 "Cryptozoology Group Forming" Loren Coleman, John Willison Green, and several other prominent cryptozoologists were either Life Members, Honorary Members, or Board Members.

The official emblem of the society was the okapi, which was chosen because, although it was well known to the inhabitants of its region, it was unknown to the European scientific community until the English explorer Harry Johnston{{cite journal|editor1-last=Shaw|editor1-first=Albert|title=The African Okapi, A Beast Unknown to the Zoos |journal=The American Review of Reviews|date=January–June 1918|volume=57|page=544|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hpR_hPSqYa0C&q=Harry+Johnston+okapi&pg=PA544}} sent to London an okapi skin which received international attention in 1901.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F02E1D81138F93AA25752C0A964948260&n=Top%2FNews%2FScience%2FTopics%2FAnimals|title=Society formed to bring them back alive |last=Wilford|first=John Noble|date=January 19, 1982|work=New York Times|access-date=January 21, 2009}}

The journal Cryptozoology was published from 1982 to 1996.British Library Catalogue The Society also published a newsletter ISC News.[http://pagesperso-orange.fr/cryptozoo/associations/isc.htm Associations et publications de cryptozoologie]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617102544/http://pagesperso-orange.fr/cryptozoo/associations/isc.htm |date=2008-06-17 }} Institut Virtuel de Cryptozoologie.

The ISC ended its activities in 1998 due to financial problems, though a website continued until 2005.The site name internationalsocietyofcryptozoology.org is registered to the International Society of Cryptozoology in Tucson, Arizona, with administrative contact listed as Richard Greenwell. Domain name was created on "19-Mar-2004", with expiration date of "19-Mar-2007". See [https://web.archive.org/web/*/internationalsocietyofcryptozoology.org/ Internet Archive] link. Only two entries in the archive are relevant: the first entry on July 30, 2004 and the September 29, 2004 update entry. All other entries are duplicates or consist of the placeholder page. The last entry containing society content is listed as November 30, 2005, with the placeholder page appearing as the next entry, dated December 10, 2005.

In a 2025 interview with science writer Sharon Hill the reason why cryptids are seeing a resurgence are because of the Internet, for example, the Flatwoods monster is seen in over 33 video games, but the real reason according to Hill is because for awhile cryptids were thought to be real animals that some people had assigned magical powers to, and with some investigation the hope was that the magic could be stripped away and they would discover a real, perhaps unknown animal. “One of the reasons why I think that fell apart completely was because the International Society of Cryptozoology fell apart completely, so there were no longer any gatekeepers as of the early 1990’s to say ‘a cryptid is these animals that we are studying because we think it’s got a zoological basis’, those people were gone … they were quite old, they died and there was nobody there to take over that gatekeeping aspect although some people tried. … Then you saw an explosion of amateurs in the 2000’s … they became researchers that connected via the Internet. Now they start making media they can publish themselves … it started to hit a younger and younger generation … who love these creatures … now everything can be a cryptid.”{{cite web |title=Episode 250 - Cryptids go Pop! with Sharon Hill |url=https://squaringthestrange.libsyn.com/episode-250-cryptids-go-pop-with-sharon-hill |website=squaringthestrange.libsyn.com |publisher=Squaring the Strange |access-date=30 March 2025 |language=English |date=March 28, 2025}}

According to the journal Cryptozoology, the ISC served "as a focal point for the investigation, analysis, publication, and discussion of all matters related to animals of unexpected form or size, or unexpected occurrence in time or space."