BUCKHANNON, West Virginia – A West Virginia Wesleyan College professor will be traveling with some unusually large luggage this week after being invited by Gaming Community Expo (GCX), hosted by Universal Studios, to display some of the West Virginia cryptids at the event, which attracts about 10,000 gamers annually.

Dr. Greg Popovich – who received this year’s Distinguished Faculty Award from the senior class – is an Associate Professor of Exercise Science and Athletic Training with an affinity for all things cryptid and Halloween.

His latest project with his partner Dr. Kristy Henson is Dr. Jekyll’s Institute of Monster Studies. The pair are co-founders, and Henson is curator. Currently a pop-up museum, the goal is to have a home base opening in early 2027.

These creations do not fit in carry-on or even checked luggage. The life-size Mothman, Grafton Monster, and latest creation – Snallygaster – will need to be driven to Florida in a rather large vehicle.

“We are fortunate to have procured a grant through the Arts Entrepreneurship for Individual Artists, and that is through the West Virginia Department of Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts,” Popovich said. “We will be renting a large van to aid in transportation. The grant will be used to cover travel up and down the East Coast to a variety of events throughout the next year. Other destinations include Louisville, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee.”

“I am so excited,” he said. “I was raised on classic Universal monsters  – watching those films was such a tradition and bonding experience for my dad and me. Just the idea of being a novice and so new to creating these things and having the opportunity to show my wares at an event this large is mindboggling, and to have a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts makes it all the sweeter.”

Over the last few years, Popovich has traveled around the state with cryptid builds.

“Monsters always had a special allure for me, and Halloween was always my favorite holiday,” he said while the mammoth Grafton Monster loomed in the background. “During the pandemic, I had some extra time on my hands and started getting more ambitious with some of these projects. That culminated in my first couple of creature builds.  Once those made their public debuts, I found myself being invited to various festivals and other events.”

“This year, we will have a central display at the Mothman Festival,” he added.  “I accidentally became a Cryptid ambassador for the state of West Virginia  – it would appear. Cryptids are the new coal.”

At GCX, the museum’s half-dozen or so builds will reside within the Fallout Xperience’s immersive booth weaving the connection between gaming and cryptids.

“For the gaming community – the connection is that a lot of these creatures are featured in video games, particularly Fallout76, which is set in West Virginia,” Popovich said. “That is how a lot of people are familiar with these characters.”

In the midst of creating the Grafton Monster, Popovich learned a festival was being planned and offered his creation for the festival in June 2024.

“That is how I became the de facto Grafton Monster for the state,” he said.

This build, made out of upholstery foam, took approximately 500 hours and the costume has undergone repairs since then.

“Most of the things I design are to tolerate bad weather,” he said. “Most of the builds are pretty forgiving and pretty resilient and that makes it more enjoyable for people to touch them. Cryptids are absolutely fascinating. They are of the people, by the people and for the people. These are our stories and our folklore. West Virginians own this.”

Grafton Monster was named in the top 10 Creature designs of 2025 by the Stan Winston School of Character Arts.

“Yesterday, we put on a workshop for children at a theater camp sponsored by Augusta,” Popovich said. “The children asked me if I wanted to scare people with monsters. No. My goal is for people to love and adore monsters. As a physical therapist by training, one of my missions is to teach children that just because someone or something looks differently, moves differently, or speaks differently than you do should not be cause for concern. With the end goal that humans are more accepting of others who are different than themselves.”

The latest, Sally the Snally, is a prop made out of spray foam instead of a costume, but still ended up being twice as big as originally planned.

The Halloween traditions and now cryptids help unexpectedly enrich Popovich’s classes with students looking forward to the fun and creativity.

“Every year, I host Halloween parties for my nutrition classes,” he said.

One year, Popovich had not put as much time and effort into his costume, and a student encouraged him not to take it easy because they look forward to it so much. Another alum returned to campus to surprise him during the Halloween party.

“If it is the most memorable part of what I do as a professor, then I would say I am just happy to be remembered,” he said.

Many people ask how Popovich does this, since he is an exercise science professor and not an art professor.

“Both my girlfriend and I have backgrounds in anatomy, and that’s a great foundation for sculpting because monsters are largely a corruption of anatomy,” he said. “Being a physical therapist helps me understand joint alignments and movement when designing costumes. To me, all these things are inextricably linked. They’re not distinctly separate at all.”

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) is a private, four-year residential liberal arts and sciences college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. A tradition of excellence for 135 years, West Virginia Wesleyan is home to 14 Fulbright Scholars. The Princeton Review ranked Wesleyan as one of its 2026 Best Colleges in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States. U.S. News & World Report’s 2026  Best College Rankings designated Wesleyan second in Best Value – Regional Universities (South). WVWC offers students nearly 60 majors and 40 minors; graduate programs in athletic training, business administration, creative writing, nursing and counseling; 22 NCAA Division II athletic programs; multiple performing arts groups; and more than 50 organizations. Founded in 1890, the College is closely affiliated with the United Methodist Church and abides by the Wesley doctrine that emphasizes service to others. For more information, visit wvwc.edu.