Description: “My mommy always said there were no monsters – no real ones – but there are.” Back in the 1980s, a character in James Cameron’s Aliens uttered those lines and we thought they were appropriate given the subject covered here. Hollywood has done an excellent job over the last several decades of scaring the crap out of us. From the lurking Great White Shark in Jaws to the murderous xenomorph of the sci-fi Alien franchise, big screen monsters have us glued to the screen one minute and then checking our closet before bedtime. Sure, no alien is ever going to burst out of your friend’s chest at dinner but that doesn’t mean that other monsters aren’t out there lurking. Yes, technically there are real life monsters living all around us today. In the air, on land and in the sea there are an array of creepy and potentially dangerous creatures that have either served as the inspiration for a movie monster or probably should have. For the most part, these animals and creatures are ‘monstrous’ because we don’t know a lot about them or we only hear about them when they have been involved in the death of a human. Of course, there are some that are included because they are just plain scary. As you’ll see in the following examples, real life monsters come in all shapes and sizes. From giant creatures of the sea to the smallest insects, these creatures aren’t a statistically significant threat to humans but just the fact they exist can make our skin crawl.