Saturday, February 07, 2009

Book Review of The Mothman's Photographer II


This is a very silly book and a perfect example of why most run-of-the-mill types (the "normal" people) dismiss paranormal investigation as the province of goofs and whackos.


Here is what I mean. I'll use the author's stream-of-consciousness and "synchronicity" "investigations" -- as if applied to Amazon, the company from whom I bought this book:

AMAZON -- right off, I get a feeling of strife and anger. The Amazons were a mythological race of women warriors. That reminds me of militant feminism, a bunch of man-haters.


Also, the legendary Amazons sliced off a breast so as to more easily draw back their bows in battle. So that means that any company named after them must be in favor of elective plastic surgery.

And the word AMAZON starts with the letter A -- which looks like an upside-down oxen yoke. That means that Amazon seeks to enslave us by hitching us to its bank account.

Oh, and don't forget that the word AMAZON sounds like the word AMAZED, so the company must be trying to "baffle us with BS."

Oh, yeah! The last part of the word AMAZON is also in the word ZONE, so that must mean that they want me to be Zoned Out on their products.

Also, AMAZON contains the name of the evil DC Comics abdroid AMAZON, so that must mean that Amazon is being paid by DC Comics to use this name.

And most "meaningful" of all, when I started typing this review, my 25-disc CD changer, set on RANDOM, played the Beatles' "Something."

So that means there is SOMETHING to what I am saying!

Seriously folks, that example is about as deep and meaningful as this book is. It has transcriptions from radio shows where the author rambles about things that deserve true investigation, but he treats it in such a silly fashion that anybody who doesn't belong to the gosh-wow school of gullibility will, like me, cringe.

However, there are several chapters which are made up of transcribed talks by veteran investigator John Keel. Unlike the author of this book, Mr Keel is an investigator who lines up cold, hard facts, and shows them to you, BEFORE proposing a theory.

Really, folks, this book ranks right up there with the JFK people who think the Zapruder film shows JFK's driver shooting him, or the people who believe that aliens built the pyramids.

I have 1900+ books in my home library, half of which concern mysteries and unknown things. I believe that many sightings of UFOs, cryptid animals, and other anomalies were really things seen by people who reported what they saw. But books like this are not worth a serious reader's time and money, unless you have lots of time for unsubstantiated gobbledygook which appears to be mostly based on feelingsv scary stories and psychic impressions.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

They're Just Animals, say these guys

Not every invesigator of Fortean critters thinks they beasts are hobgoblin manifestations of Earth energy or such.




Some just think they're real-life animals that are *really good* at hiding.







For example, Peter Costello's fascinating chronicle, In Search of Lake Monsters, is an exhaustive listing of sighting from all over, with investigations into familiar water-horses such as Nessie or Champ, as well as some Norwegian animals seen in (temporary) pools of water!

But nowhere does Costello suggest that they aren't flesh-and-blood types.

Similarly, John Napier is happy to tell us that Bigfoot is "another form of life on Earth." And he means a form that leaves feces, footprints, and a bad stink.

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