Book Review: Haunted & Mysterious Australia

 Haunted & Mysterious Australia

Bunyips, yowies, phantoms and other strange phenomena

Author:                          Tim the Yowie Man

Publisher:                      New Holland Publishers

Type:                              Soft Cover

Pages:                             189

Genre:                            non-fiction

Published:                     (First: 2006) This edition: 2017

ISBN:                             9781742579436

 The first thing you will notice in this large book is the big colorful photos, but fear not, this isn't just a picture book, it also devotes most of the page to text describing the mystery in common language. Its refreshing to see such vibrant pictures in a book like this.

 There is a map of Australia in the front of the book which shows the location of the phenomenon and on which page you'll find it. 

 Tim the Yowie Man takes a logical but skeptical look at a lot of different Australian mysteries including; spooklights, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, a fishman, fairy, crop circles, haunted shipwrecks, lake monsters, poltergeists, vanishing lakes, ghosts, yowies, out of place animals, standing stones, haunted cars, surviving prehistoric creatures, UFO's, a levitating beer glass, sacred sites, mysterious geological formations, geoglyphs, cryptids, rock art, ghost ships, and haunted buildings among other subjects.

 I really like that this book is written from an Australian perspective, and it was interesting to see Tim the Yowie Man's own clearly marked encounter within it. Its also really refreshing to see stories that i have not heard of before alongside the famous ones.

 There is a bibliography in the back and a really interesting list of Australian ghost tours. 

 This is an excellent book and one worth having on every bookshelf. The only criticism i could have against this book is that the page numbers are a little bit difficult to read. If your at all interested in Cryptozoology, Paranormal activity, history or Australian culture you have to grab yourself a copy of this book.

FULL SCORE

Book Review: Burrunjor

 BURRUNJOR

 The Search For Australia's Living Tyrannosaurus 

Author:                           Rex & Heather Gilroy

Publisher:                         URU Publications

Type:                                 Soft Cover

Pages:                                336

Genre:                               non-fiction

Published:                        2011

ISBN:                              9780987226204
                                         9781326839390 

 This book explores the fascinating fact that people, often through no fault of their own, continue to encounter large reptilian beasts in the outback and rugged bush of Australia.

 The book itself is well made, it is resplendent with black and white photos and drawing thorough. One criticism i have of some of the photos is that rock art and foot prints seem to have been outlined. While i understand this is so they appear easier in print, i can also see some "skeptics" scoffing that the evidence was just drawn on in chalk. While i am sure this is not the case, it is a shame that maybe two pictures couldn't be included for some of them, one with outlines and one with out for comparison.

 Speaking of evidence we have examples of whiteness testimony, and remember one witness claiming you did a crime in court is enough to get you killed even in some democracy's. I don't think any of these witnesses had any benefit in coming forward, in fact most were ridiculed by friends and family when they told of their harrowing encounters.
 We are shown tracks many of them have been measured, photographed, sketched and even cast in plaster. I should note that these tracks match no accepted extant animal species in Australia, or the world for that matter. And it should also be noted that these tracks are not fossilized! Meaning they are from recent footfall of some unknown animal. 
 Evidence of kills that could only have been from a large carnivore have been discovered, in some cases witnesses have caught the culprit in the act. Some of the poor animals have been prize winning cattle, not something any farmer is going to kill on a lark.
 In a similar vein the beast has been seen destroying property, I can attest to the difficulty in dealing with an insurance claim for a natural disaster, i cant imagine the insurer being any less helpful, but i recon blaming property damage on a creature thought to be extinct might get you there.

 Now for those who, due to a woeful misunderstanding of scientific method, believe that such a creature can not exist because it has not been declared extant by established science, a common theme will emerge upon reading any Cryptozoology book. When witnesses go to establishment scientists they are often ridiculed, scientific institutions in Australia have a long history of "losing" evidence, and so called "skeptics" professional or not, have a bad habit of making unfounded claims without looking at or considering the available evidence. The witness only "obligation" is to provide whatever evidence they have, then it is up to "the scientist" to investigate that evidence.

 So enough of my ranting lets get back to this book. The forward entices the reader into exploring the subject of tyrannosaur like beasts that have been sighted within Australia (and New Guinea) from way back in the Aboriginal Dreamtime to at least the publish date of this book.

 The book looks at what the beast could be and how it might have come to still be roaming the Australian bush. It should be noted that this book appears on some whack-a-doodle young earth websites. These donkeys seem to think, by some fantastic leaps of acrobatic style logic,  that any existing prehistoric creature somehow proves their particular brand of religion. For the record this book does not in any way support a "young earth" fallacy, the book even shows some fossilized prints and skeletons. It also does not support any unscientific anti-evolutionary nonsense. 
 Rex Gilroy has been an avid explorer of Australian mysteries since 1957, he is known as the father of Australian Cryptozoology and associating him and his work with such anti-science does a disservice to him and to the whole scientific field.

 I can recommend this book to anyone interested in Australia, history, Aboriginal culture, dinosaurs, and Cryptozoology.

Also

Book Review: The Resurrectionist

Book Review:

The Resurrectionist

The lost work of Dr. Spencer Black

Author:                                E.B.Hudspeth

Publisher:                            Quirk Books

Type:                                    Hard Cover

Pages:                                   191

Genre:                                  Novella / Art book

Published:                            2013

ISBN:                                   978-1-59474-616-1

 The book is well made and i didn't notice any errors. There are black and white drawings throughout, in fact the majority of the book is taken up by anatomical studies.

 The first part of the book is The Resurrectionist (pages 11-65) proper a story involves one Dr. Spencer Black and his biography. Who believed that beings from mythology were in fact real advances in human evolution.

 The second part of the book is titled The Codex Extinct Animalia, (pages 66-191) which has a short description of a 'mythological' species and a few pages of detailed anatomical drawings.

The story itself almost seems a little lovecraftian.

 The book is not a novel and is a little short on story. But i do not think that's what it was aiming for. This book is a curiosity. It would be interesting for those interested in Cryptozology, mythology or anatomy.

Review: Lure of the Thylacine

Lure of the Thylacine

True stories and legendary tales of the Tasmanian Tiger. 

 

Author:                                Col Bailey

Publisher:                            Echo Publishing

Type:                                    Soft Cover

Pages:                                   280

Genre:                                  (True Stories)

Published:                            2016

ISBN:                                   978-1-76040-088-0

 

The book itself is well made. Its a little over nine inches tall, six inches wide and  a inch thick. I didn't notice any misspellings or grammatical errors. One slightly odd thing was that there are eight glossy pages of drawing and photographs, these are nice but are not in the center of the book. It doesn't distract from the book in any way its just a little different.

 

The book begins with longer bushmen stories that border on glorifying the old trappers and loggers. With stories of the Thylacine becoming as tame as a beloved pet to tales of the creatures vicious nature.

The book delves into the history of the Thylacine, the government bounty and the eventual conservation efforts. Most of the information concerns Tasmania but sometimes include West Papua and mainland Australia. 

The "scientific community's" denial of evidence (sightings, photos, blood, hair, videos, footprint casts, and in at least one case a whole corpse,) provided to them infuriates me. I wonder if these creatures might have been saved from extinction if the "scientific community" had done its job instead of ridiculing witnesses. Even today those who witness the Thylacine are met with ridicule. The author doesn't seem quite as angry about this as i am, which is probably a good thing for the reader.

There is a little crossover when we get into more modern sightings especially with the Alien Big Cat or Australian Puma and Lions witness testimony. While some stories go for pages long, others are a few to a page. Indeed while there are 64 chapters some of those chapters are only two pages long.

There is an extensive chapter on the Newfoundland Wolf and its sad parallels with the Thylacine. In fact i should mention the Thylacines story is a sad one, and a lot of the pictures show it in the horrible zoo conditions of the time.

The chapter on the Aboriginal Australians relationship with the Thylacine was especially fascinating.

The end of the book lists source credits for each individual chapter.

This is a great read and got me through a day when i had no electricity. I would recommend it for anyone interested in Cryptozology, animals, and Australian history.

There is an aspect of the Thylacine not covered in this book, and after searching online i can not find any reference to it. So in the interests of my own safety i am leaving it out of this review.

Book Review: UFOs Werewolves & The Pig-Man

UFOs Werewolves & The Pig-Man

Exposing Englands Strangest Location 

Channock Chase

 

Author:                                Lee Brickley
Cover Design:                      David Reeves                          

Publisher:                            Yam Yam Books        

Type:                                    TPB

Pages:                                   126

Genre:                                  Non-Fiction

Published:                           2013

ISBN:                                  9780992603908 (My copy had no ISBN?)

Source:                                Independently purchased 

Anyone with even the remotest interest in the Paranormal or Ufology would have heard some bizarre stories coming out of Cannock Chase in Staffordshire England.

This book is the local author, Lee Brickley’s investigation into the Chase and the strange things that people encounter within.

The book itself is well made, it’s a little on the thin side, and has large type which will be good for those hard of seeing out there. It has a map of the Chase and a few black and white photographs scattered through. There is no index, but there is a list of references, both books and websites.

The book starts off with a brief history of the author and a more in depth history of the area. The use of the term AD instead of CE is unfortunate; in a non-christian work one should really use Before Common Era (BCE) and Common Era (CE). Some replace common with Current, but the initials remain the same.
What is downright offensive is the association between the Pagan Horned God and the Christian devil, they are not the same entity. This inaccuracy makes me suspicious of claims that ‘satanic practices’ took place on the Chase, were they Satanic or merely non-christian?

This may simply be ignorance on the part of the author, he may simply come from a Christian back ground and not even realise the mistakes, he is after all a paranormal investigator not a religious scholar. The Christian viewpoint should be noted when reading though, t doesn’t seem to adversely influence too much of the information.

The mention of the Abbot Bromley Horn Dance, a modern version of an ancient Pagan rite, is one such example, the author mentions “its true beginnings” but does he understand those beginnings are Pagan and not Christian and therefore not satanic?

The history of the place is examined without getting too gratuitous.

Then we move onto Alien encounters, abductions, UFO sightings and an alien ship crash.

We touch on out of place animals like penguins to werewolves, giant serpents and alien big cats.

A whole chapter devoted to the legend of the Pig Man comes next, and it’s quite fascinating.
From here we move onto the more common ghosts and the otherworldly Black Eyes Kids.

The possibility that all these strange events might be happening with a military base underground is examined in some detail.

The conclusion doesn’t just have the authors opinion but he has sourced opinions from various experts in the field; Nick Redfern and Lon Stickler among them.

All in all it’s a good book and an interesting read. It loses some leaves for the use of religious terminology and for the offense to my deity, which I am sure, was unintended.

But it is still a worth addition to any Ufology, Paranormal, or Cryptozoology library. 

The seemingly low score was due to the lack of BCE use, the implication that my religions God is another religions devil and the lack of an index, ignoring those points the book would be about average.

Lee Brickley is a Paranormal/ Cryptozoology investigator and author, he has his own website about Paranormal Channock.

Book Review: Lizardman, Lyle Blackburn

LIZARDMAN 

The True Story of the Bishopville Monster

Author:                                Lyle Blackburn
Cover Illustration:              Carlos Cabrera                             

Publisher:                            Anomalist Books         

Type:                                    TPB

Pages:                                   174

Genre:                                  Non-Fiction

Published:                           2013

ISBN:                                   9781938398162

Source:                                Independently purchased 

The swamplands around Bishopville, South Carolina was the haunt of a seven foot tall, scaled humanoid. What was it?

The book itself is well built, the cover colorful and glossy, the book is scattered with maps, photos, and drawings all in black and white.
There is a good forward by Nick Redfern.

The first few chapters examine the Bishipville Lizardman monster in great detail. It is good to read the encounters in great depth. 

A section is dedicated to Lizardmen in mythology and pop-culture. This is good for those who are interested in both cryptozoology and monster movies. 

The Scape Ore Swamp is investigated in detail and we see what happens when the Lizard man returns. This really sets the scene, for me especially being from a different continent. 

We also briefly examine similar creatures; like the Loveland Frogmen, and The Thetis Lake Monster, gatormen and others not really famous enough to have their own well known title. This is a really good section, i do indeed like hearing about cryptids that i don't know very much about.

The possible suspects are examined in good detail, from the silly animal escaping a derailed circus train, possible hoaxes, to the more plausible Dinosauroid. 
The authors conclusion may surprise you.

The appendix includes a time line of events, witness statements and witness sketches of the beast itself.

This is a great book for those interested in Cryptozoology and the lizardman in particular. Check it out.

Lyle Blackburn is the author of The Beast of Boggy Creek, his website can be found here.

Book Review: MYSTERIES, MONSTERS and untold secrets, George Laycock

MYSTERIES, MONSTERS and untold secrets

My First Book

Author:                               George Laycock
Cover Illustration:             Ted Hanke

                             

Publisher:                            Scholastic Book Services          

Type:                                    TPB

Pages:                                   158

Genre:                                  Non-Fiction

Published:                           1978

ISBN:                                   0-590-31270-7

Source:                                 Independently purchased 

This isn’t the first book I read obviously, it is however the first book I bought. At my primary school they would sometimes pass around a book catalogue from scholastic, and we had the opportunity to purchase books from this catalogue. A few months later the book would arrive and all was good. In year Five I purchased this book, in part to try to make sense of my own Yowie encounter.

The book is well constructed, it has survived some thirty years, it is scattered with full page black and white drawings and photos.

The book devotes one chapter to each topic; the topics are so diverse that I am sure at least a few would be of interest to any reader.

In a new look at loch Ness, we are shown  Dr. Rines expeditions to find the Loch Ness Monster as well as the Surgeon Photos, this chapter also mentions the Flathead lake monster, which opens the mind to the possibility that Nessy isn’t the only one.

Strange lights in the sky examines MinMIn or ghost lights as this book calls them.

Have you seen the UFOs?, touches on sightings, government investigations of the phenomenon and a little bit on abductions.

Ghost ships of the high seas tells the salty tales of the Mary Celeste, Carroll A. Deering and the Rubicon ship mysteries.

We then delve into the Bermuda Triangle and the more famous disappearances.

Big Birds of Texas tells us of the reports of Pterosaur like creatures coming from Texas.

In the mystery of Oak Island we are told of the money pit and the misfortune that befalls those who seek its treasures.

The gold nobody can find lies in the lost Dutchman mine.

The trail of Bigfoot, looks at bigfeet and the evidence of their existence, the Gimlin/Patterson film is covered of course. It is interesting to note that back in the day this was published Bigfeet were thought to be gentle, quiet and inoffensive forest ape-people.

At the time of first reading this and comparing it to my own encounter, I was confused, as I was sure the only reason my head wasn’t ripped off was because I was a small child.

The Missing Virginians examines the mystery of the lost Carolina colony.

Finding water with a stick, explains what dowsing is, I remember making my own divining rods at the time I read this and being to lazy to dig where they told me to.

We look at the Mayans in Mysteries of a jungle civilisation.

ESP-the inner mystery, examines parapsychology and psychic investigation.

Animals and ESP, looks at the ability of beloved pets to find their carers even if they have never been to the carers new home, how pets know when their carers  decide to come home, and how pets can travel to their former homes despite the fact they shouldn’t know the way.

Island of the forgotten looks at the enigmatic Easter Island and the stunning statues that guard it.

This book had a profound effect on me as a child. For one I knew I wasn’t alone in my experiences but it also opened my mind to the possibility’s. That the world is still full of mysteries and secrets.

It also paints a rather pleasant picture of ‘science’ showing true scientists, those that don’t merely scoff at a mystery but realise it is their job to document and explain it. This view of science no longer fits well with me, I have heard too many ridiculous arguments from sceptical scientists that are far more extraordinary than the sighting they are trying to ‘debunk’. Too many times I have heard sceptics on behalf of the scientific community demanding evidence of a witness, when the only responsibility of the witness is to report the sighting (a witness report is evidence) and then it is up to the scientist to investigate. 

Perhaps it is not science or scientists that are the problem but close minded, big mouthed skeptics, which are only skeptical of anything they don’t understand or are ignorant about?

About the Author

The book doesn’t have an author page, perhaps which was the style at the time. Some online research shows that he was a learned writer who wrote many books on animals and cryptids, I am sure his books encouraged and inspired many. He was born in May 29, 1921 and died March 31, 2014.

What was the first book you ever purchased? 

Read? Cherished?