This introduction was written for my 2009 book, Some More Things Strange & Sinister. Since that time new books on Sasquatch have appeared including Jeff Meldrums excellent -and highly recommended- SASQUATCH: LEGEND MEETS SCIENCE.
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Some have
suggested that in Some Things Strange And Sinister I took the stance of a
“debunker” –someone who takes it upon himself to explain away anything unusual
or odd. I suppose that I should not have
been in the least bit surprised by that response.
The last thing I
would ever want to be is a debunker.
Some “Forteans” and “cryptozoologists” were quite annoyed –several very annoyed— by the way I had “casually
dismissed” the Canvey Island Dead Aquatic Creatures incidents. Well,I have looked into those events,and
others like them,for over thirty years and my conclusions are backed up by full
documentation. “Casually” indeed!
Some “ufologists”
were a tad upset,too. How dare I dismiss
crashed UFO cases! Well,if there was one
iota of evidence in just one case I would not.
Roswell
is a big money earner yet it has been adequately explained as a non-crashed
flying saucer for a long time. The 19th
Century Aurora,Texas crash –a downright hoax.
Were I more the
cribbing and rehashing from other books type I’m quite sure I would be much
more like! However,if something is false
it needs to be shown and declared as such rather than let it continue to be
used in literature and the media and all that entails.
At times I rather
feel like that masked magician on TV revealing how all the old tricks are
done. Hated by those “within” that
circle because he hopes to push the magicians into developing new tricks rather
than continue on with the same old stuff.
If we can rid cryptozoology,Forteanism and ufology of all the fakes and
easily explainable cases then we can concentrate on those that seem genuinely
unexplainable.
With UFO landing
reports I concentrated a great deal of time on non-humanoid cases since these
seemed to hold more promise of finding a genuine,unexplainable case[s]. I was very disappointed when one after
another disintegrated into a tissue of hoaxes and lies. But what was really annoying was the fact
that those who had published foreign language accounts in English language publications
knew of the follow-up
articles/reports that proved hoaxes. One
ufologist complained to me that he had just published two of the accounts [from
Some Things Strange And Sinister] in his book and that I made him look stupid.
Apparently,though,he had carried out no
research but merely taken the accounts from existing UFO book sources. My response was “Well,had you even vaguely
carried out any type of research you would not be looking stupid now!”
After over
thirty-five years of UFO investigation,some of that while running the
officially unofficial Anomalous Observational Phenomena Bureau [AOP B],apart
from what we termed “UNP” [Uninvestigated [by science] Natural Phenomenon] no
evidence was found proving any kind of alien,or extra-terrestrial involvement.
I witnessed a number
of UNP –on one occasion within 100 yards of me and though very impressive it
was quite obviously not “alien”. I’ve
climbed around giant rock conveyer belts in quarries,forests,buildings and much
more looking for physical traces left behind following UFO incidents but found
nothing. I’ve chased hoaxers over fields
and other places. I’ve advanced by
myself toward a supposed landed UFO with occupants while three squad cars full
of police hung back “this is your speciality” I was told.
Having written
that I ought to point out that I was with about forty other “truth-seekers” at
Cradle Hill, Warminster,in the late 1970s when a red light moved about the copse
there. Myself and Franklyn Davin-Wilson
realised there was something “off” about it and we moved forward –to shrieks
and calls from the other folk there not to
go toward the “UFO”. As I said
loudly,”What the hell is the point of trying to find proof of what is going on
if you stand like lemons and don’t confront
anything head on?” It turned out to be a
hoaxer anyway but better the mad dash than add more junk to ufology.
I have never
hidden in conversation or writing the fact that I firmly believe that there are
probably unknown large species,commonly referred to as “sea monsters” awaiting
discovery. That is if we are lucky. The seas and oceans usually take care of dead
–rather like jungles and forests can see all remains of a large deer vanish in
a little less than a month.
Whether the number
of such aquatic unknowns is falling we can only guess as by looking at other
large species such as whales,etc..
Depleting fish stocks as well as pollution and destruction of aquatic
environments probably mean there are not as many “sea monsters” as there used
to be. Unlike in the old days of sail
when a ship might look,from below,like a whale or other sea animal,today we
have sonar and much more,including very noisey engines,that might scare off
unknown creatures –probably why the number of sightings have dropped from the
mid-20th century onward.
I would hope that
noise pollution at sea was a better explanation than recent extinction. But science will not be happy until it can
kill and dissect any such creature. It
is the way of science sadly,for that reason,I’d hope –hope— for a dead beasty
washed ashore. The nature of these
things is that you might kill a good specimen for study but it could be the
last breeding male/female of a species just holding on.
I’ve also been
told that I seem to sit on the fence regarding hairy hominids such as
Bigfoot/Sasquatch,the Yeti and so on.
Well,although I used to be in regular contact with hominologists back in
the 1970s-1980s,my AOP Bureau work meant I had to restrict some things. Sadly,a number of those early credible
investigators are now no longer with us.
The late Ivan T.
Sanderson produced what we can call the first real technical field book on the
subject [1]. I was shocked to learn that
out of 101 people professing to be investigators or researchers into
Bigfoot/Sasquatch,only three –three— had read Sanderson’s
book! It should be the book read by anyone interested or involved in that
field.
I have always been
a little “iffy” when it comes to the Yeti. A hairy hominid travelling,occasionally,to
higher snowy ground..maybe. But when you
come to the kingdom
of Nepal you have a
different situation. Nepal is a land
of geographical extremes and these include near sea-level elevations in the
southern Terai to the world's highest mountains. And the country contains a variety of eco-systems;from
the tree-less sub-alpine pastures and dense fir forests of the high valleys,the
oak and rhododendron woods of the middle hills,and the tall sal forests of the
south. Along the southern borders of Nepal are preserved much of the
lowland jungles and grasslands that once covered this part of the sub-continent
and here you can see birds and mammals found nowhere else. It should be noted that, although animal
habitat has been somewhat depleted as a result of agriculture,deforestation and
other causes,because of Nepal's extensive and effective park and reserve system
the country still has more varied flora and fauna than any other area in Asia.
An unknown biped is possible.
The Orang Pendek
is a hominid that reportedly inhabits remote,mountainous forests on the island of Sumatra.
There is the highly likely possibility that this is some unknown form of
primate and research certainly seems to be attracting a lot of people from
established science.
There are
others,of course. Certain islands
covered with jungle and rarely if ever visited could hold a few more surprises
in this field.
As for
Bigfoot/Sasquatch. John Green [2] and
many others who know what they are doing,have looked at everything from food
and habitat to possible migratory routes throughout the year. The food and habitat aspect is the real stuff
of any study because if any animal is real it must have a diet –specialised or
otherwise. When you look at some of the
habitat consisting of dense forest running into thousands of square miles and
into which only a few venture you see that any large hominid could exist.
Really,it will
take a prolonged investigation of a year or so to draw conclusions or gather
evidence and I think that there are certain locations that would be perfect for
this,but it takes money!
In the former
Soviet Union,research into hominology and the Almas has always been taken seriously and
Dmitri Bayanov is a well known and internationally respected researcher. And in the Peoples
Republic of China rsearch and investigation
into the Yeren is taken just as seriously and there have been officially
sanctioned investigations,some yielding interesting results. The United States seems to have lagged behind
because until more recent years anyone involved in serious science who even
suggested that there might be “something interesting in this Bigfoot business”
could see a good career suffer.
So,no,I do not
dismiss hominology as a very interesting subject worth delving in to.
When it comes to
ghosts –as opposed to poltergeist activity—I have to admit to really wanting to find evidence. I think most of us would like to find proof
of life after death. My mother always
said that if there was anything after death she would do her best to let me
know. Years have passed and
nothing. I’ve known others who have said
the same thing but still nothing.
Franklyn A. Davin-Wilson was a solid believer in ghosts and the
paranormal and had a brilliant mind and we both agreed that,whichever one of us
“popped off” first,would come back to prove there was life after death. Over twenty-five years later I still wait on
the agreed anniversary of death but Franklyn still hasn’t shown up.
I think my views
on poltergeist activity were adequately explained in Some Things Strange And
Sinister.
With digital
technology every particle of dust,pollen or other mundane minute piece of
debris became “orbs” –“energy amassing before a ghostly event”. It just shows how ignorant people are of the
technology they use and I think the mass of amoebic-like orbs I photographed
and reproduced in my last book proves a point:use a digital camera in a dusty
[even seemingly dust-free] environment and the flash will reveal “orb central”.
The point is
that,some 99 per cent of the things I look into sound incredible and
unexplainable but turn out to be wild goose chases. However,I am still holding out for that 1 per
cent that will prove that there are genuinely some things strange and,possibly,sinister
out there. That one case
or,hopefully,several cases,that will show that this is not a seemingly mundane
world devoid of things to stimulate the human mind and further research.
While working with
the University of Wales Swansea Exotic Cat Group,I delved into more 18th,19th
and early century newspapers and publications than I care to think about. However,what these sources revealed were
truly astonishing because most modern wrtiters/researchers do not carry out this type of work.
Finding something interesting by accident while reading a book or
picking items reprinted for the umpteenth time seems to be the norm.
Whether gorillas
in captivity prior to scientific discovery –such as “Jenny”— or The Beast of
Faudiere,Girt Dog of Ennerdale or Beast of Gevaudan:the facts are all
there.
While certain
factions of Forteanism,Cryptozoology and Ufology try to keep the cult of
personality alive for their own kudos or to become a “character”,the idea of
rolling up your shirt sleeves and getting to work in the field or in research
takes a backseat. Certain “field
investigations” tend to be more reminiscent of adventure holidays than anything
serious.
So,I am definitely
not a debunker. I am certainly not a “Ufologist”,”Fortean” or
“Cryptozoologist”. I am an investigator-researcher
and naturalist.
Never be too shy
to share your opinion. And if you can
add anything new to any of the subjects within this or the previous book I’d
very much like to hear from you. If you
have seen,filmed or photographed anything unusual I would definitely like to hear from you!
I hope I have a
few more years left in me for research and investigation even if my home does
appear to be solely decorated with files and folders with some very unusual
titles on them.
Here’s to a few
more years!
Terry Hooper-Scharf
Corryn Gwall,
Bristol,
November,2009
1. Sanderson,Ivan
T.,Abominable Snowman:Legend Come To Life,[reprinted]
Adventures
Unlimited Press,Illinois,2006
2.
Green,John,Encounters With Bigfoot,Hancock House Publishing,1980.
