The Unidentified & Creatures of the Outer Edge
by Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman
Trade Paperback, 516 Pages
$24.95, ISBN: 1933665114
Genre(s):
UFOs
Cryptozoology
Back in print for the first time in decades!
The Unidentified and Creatures of the Outer Edge, the classic early works of Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman, now in a special double edition with a new introduction by the authors.
The Unidentified finds the links that connect supernatural folklore, religious visions, cryptozoology, and modern-day UFO stories. It documents episodes from the fringes of human experience and exposes what they may tell us about ourselves and the strange world we live in, where things - whether fairies, ghosts, divine apparitions, or ostensible extraterrestrials - may be even more mysterious than they seem.
Creatures of the Outer Edge surveys the cryptozoologically bountiful decade of the 1970s (and more) with accounts of Mothman, Owlmen, Thunderbirds, Phantom Panthers, Devil Dogs, Texas Big Birds, and, yes, of course, Bigfoot. Some of the individually "named" local Bigfoot creatures first appeared in this book, including Momo (Missouri Monster), Lake Worth Monster, Murphysboro Mud Monster, the Enfield Thing, El Reno Chicken Man, Noxie Monster, Navajo's Skinwalkers, and Yukon's Bushman. The book also introduced the now-iconic Dover Demon for the first time to the general public.
About the Author: Jerome Clark is a longtime ufologist and anomalist, who has appeared on NBC, ABC, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and A&E. He has written nearly 20 books, including two Book of the Month Club selections and the award-winning, multi-volume The UFO Encyclopedia, as well as songs recorded by Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, and other country, folk, and bluegrass artists. His most recent book is Unnatural Phenomena. He lives in southwestern Minnesota with his wife, writer and editor Helene Henderson.
Loren Coleman is the world's most popular living cryptozoologist. He appears frequently on television and radio, and has even been turned into a fictional character in novels and comic books. He is the author of more than two dozen books, including Bigfoot!; Mysterious America; andCryptozoology A to Z (with Jerome Clark). His fieldwork has taken him from Scotland's Loch Ness to the rainforests of Mexico, from the Everglades to the Pacific Northwest's Bigfoot country. He lives in Portland, Maine, and is the director of the International Cryptozoology Museum.
FROM THE NEW INTRODUCTION:
Written three decades ago, The Unidentified and Creatures of the Outer Edge long ago took on lives of their own and acquired a passionate, enduring following. As the two of us look at these works today, we see a record of our youthful interests and enthusiasms. We see an original, creative approach that would prove influential - though we could not have known it at the time - in the evolving debates about anomalous and paranormal phenomena. We see lots of interesting cases and stories, many of which still intrigue and enthrall us well into our adulthoods.
At the time we wrote these two books, we were a decade and a half into our careers as anomalists, both of us having started down this path in our young teens. In the late 1960s and 1970s we were under the added influence of counterculture currents then omnipresent, though they are barely felt in this very different era. It was, however, the counterculture that led us to the theories of the psychological philosopher Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), at least as understood by our youthful selves. To us Jung provided a framework in which ostensible anomalies and paranormal incidents could be reevaluated. We thought then that Jung's key unlocked all kinds of doors, exposing links that would connect such apparently disparate phenomena as fairylore, cryptozoological creatures, and flying-saucer contact tales.
Soon after these books were published, our ideas and perspectives began moving on to what we believe are more intellectually sustainable interpretations...
CONTENTS
Introduction to this Double Edition 1
Book One: The Unidentified
An Introductory Note 8
UFOland: Other Worlds and the Otherworld 9
Fairyland: The Magical Impulse 45
Voices from Heaven: The Religious Impulse 93
The Airships: The Technological Impulse 131
UFOs: The Mystery in the Machine 165
Paraufology: Understanding the Incomprehensible 225
Selected Bibliography 251
A Note on UFO and Fortean Publications 261
Index 263
Book Two: Creatures of the Outer Edge
Introduction 11
Chapter One: Mystery Animals 15
Chapter Two: The Bigfeet 28
Chapter Three: The Manimals 51
Chapter Four: Phantom Cats and Dogs 117
Chapter Five: Things with Wings 165
Chapter Six: Phantasms 195
Epilogue: A Year Filled with Monsters 208
Bibliography 228 |
