Dogs were caught on camera doing surprising damage to cars. It’s yet another reminder that we do not need to invoke monsters as the cause of mysterious situations.
Category: Cryptozoology
The coelacanth as a red herring
This post is updated from its original publication in 2009.– SH In researching three areas of what I concluded were mostly “scientifical” fields of inquiry for my book – cryptozoology, […]
Freak Out Over Hairless Mysterious Animals
Weird hairless animals attract morbid attention. Is it a mutant? A monster? Well, it’s most likely an unfortunate local animal who fortunately left remains for us to photograph, gawk over, […]
Fake tiger tales and other plush hoaxes
Police in the Steyning area of West Sussex, England, were called to a public park on the evening of July 23, 2020 to respond to a report of a big […]
Copy-paste cryptozoology
A review of Chasing American Monsters: Over 250 Creatures, Cryptids, and Hairy Beasts by Jason Offutt (2019). I’ve been thinking a lot about cryptozoology lately. While consuming content about many […]
The Mysterious Monster Mash of the Mid 1970s: Bigfoot hits prime time TV
Bigfoots and their other monstrous cohorts were presented to U.S. audience in a serious television documentary for the first time in 1974. The outing was so successful that it still […]
My three favorite vintage books on monsters and the paranormal
Every once in a while, I remember one of the books from my childhood that I recall with great fondness. Thanks to the Internet, I can usually find a blurb […]
The monsters of cryptozoology: Book review
A review of The Monster Book: Creatures, Beasts and Fiends of Nature by Nick Redfern. Cryptozoology literature has a problem.
Supernatural Creep: When explanations slide off to the fringes
Originally published as Supernatural Creep: The Slippery Slope to Unfalsifiability for my column Sounds Sciencey on csicop.org May 29, 2013. I’m taking a step beyond sciencey with the following topic. What happens when science doesn’t cooperate with your subject area? […]
Doubt and About: Revisiting Fort and more short book opinions
It’s been a long while since I did a “doubt and about” post detailing what’s going on. I’m in a weird space right now. I don’t really feel like talking […]
Science and cryptozoology: The taboo subject of Bigfoot doesn’t add up
Episode 7 of Laura Krantz’ Wild Thing podcast on Bigfoot, science and society explores the contentious relationship between the orthodox scientific community and those scientists who choose to seriously explore […]
Believers are the majority: Paranormal acceptance in America is rising
The results of the 2018 Chapman University survey of American Fears have been released and they suggest that America (that is, even well-educated America) is even more accepting of the […]
Supernatural in Society conference: Bader on Bigfooters
There is a lot of new research happening in academia about paranormal culture and belief. I kid you not. Scholars in sociology, psychology, religious studies, and media studies are noticing […]
The Doubtful Witness: You don’t really know what you saw
How often have you heard someone say “I know what I saw”. Observations and remembrances of events are deeply flawed but we still rely on our memory to give us […]
The Doubtful Witness: Masefield’s Montrose ghost story
The primary evidence put forward in support of paranormal reality are accounts of witnesses. Those who believe in the reality of UFOs, Bigfoot, or ghosts are heavily influenced by seemingly […]
The Science of Nessie: Then and now
From 1977 to the present, what has changed in the everlasting search for the Loch Ness Monster? That flipper photo was supposed to change the game. What happened?
Let this one be a Devil’s biography (Book Review)
“The Secret History of the Jersey Devil: How Quakers, Hucksters, and Benjamin Franklin Created a Monster” by Brian Regal and Frank J. Esposito, dispels myths about the ‘Jersey Devil’. Rooting the legend in 17th-century quarrels, politics and media-driven hoaxes, they argue that the monster is a misinterpretation of stories from the Leeds family, rather than a supernatural creature.
Big black cats of the Southern U.S. get their own book (Book Review)
Michael Mayes’ book ‘Shadow Cats: The Black Panthers of North America’ provides a comprehensive exploration of black big cat sightings in North America. The various theories considered include melanistic jaguars, cougars, or giant feral cats. Mayes argues most sightings are likely misidentifications of other animals. Although the book sometimes lacks academic rigour, it remains a significant contribution to cryptozoological literature.
Georgia river monster report is highly suspicious (Updated – hoax)
Since none of the major news outlets are doing justice to this story and I have the day off for snow, I might as well put these pieces together about […]
It’s all very fuzzy: Dogman, Bigfoot, and the scent of paranormalia at CryptidCon
A trip to the first CryptidCon reveals how these mysterious monsters are represented in modern culture.