Unexplained!

Jerome Clark

Description

Weird stuff happens! The mysteries of the unexplained examined with a critical eye of a highly-respected, prize-winning paranormal investigator.

An authoritative, intelligent, and well-reasoned examination of strange artifacts and events that have long perplexed scientists, Unexplained! Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena is an award-winning exposition of the strange and mysterious. Journey to the outer limits of science and nature and explore a wide range of unknown and enigmatic phenomena. The truth is out there, and looking for it is the real fun.

Unique in the depth of examinations, this fascinating guide delivers Spontaneous Human Combustion, Cattle Mutilations, Crop Circles, Devil’s Footprints, the Tunguska event, Wheels of Light, Giant Octopus, Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Yeti, Wildman, Alligators in Sewers, White River Monster, Black Dogs, Chupacabras, Fairies, Hairy Dwarfs, Little Green Men, Mad Gassers, Merfolk, Mothman, Thunderbirds, Werewolves, Yowie, Bermuda Triangle, Cottingley Fairy Photographs, Devil’s Sea, Hollow Earth, Jersey Devil, Martian Mummies, Noah’s Ark, Ball Lightning, Roswell, Loch Ness, Ancient Astronauts, Objects from the Sky, and more than 200 other absorbing puzzles!!

What really happened? What is the truth? Should you dismiss what you can't explain? Or should you pay attention to the startling evidence and frightening personal accounts of those involved? Learn of hoaxes, witness the creation of various modern myths, and learn of frightening personal accounts and startling historical documents. Documenting the evidence and hearing witnesses out, Jerome Clark brings an engaging narrative to the stories, objectively presents their many possible explanations, and lets the reader make his or her own judgment in this one-of-a-kind book.

Seeing Is Believing. Or Is It? Decide for yourself with Unexplained! Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena!

Sujets

• Unexplained Phenomena
• Body (disambiguation)
• Unidentified flying object
• UFO

Informations

• Publié par: Visible Ink Press
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781578594283
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A BOUT THE A UTHOR
J erome Clark is a prize-winning author of the multi-volume UFO Encyclopedia (1990-1998) and other books, including Unnatural Phenomena (2005) and Hidden Realms, Lost Civilizations, and Beings from Other Worlds (Visible Ink Press, 2010). A former editor of Fate magazine, he serves on the board of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies. In June 2008 the Society for Scientific Exploration, an organization of professionals in the physical and social sciences, gave him its Dinsdale Award for "significant contributions to the expansion of human understanding through the study of unexplained phenomena … which have brought to the general public comprehensive and trustworthy information presented from a sophisticated perspective."

Photograph by Carmen Ronan.
Clark is also a songwriter (Emmylou Harris, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tom T. Hall, Seldom Scene, Mary Black, and others) and a prolific writer on folk and roots music. He pursues a wide range of interests political, historical, and literary from his home in Minnesota.
ALSO FROM VISIBLE INK PRESS
Armageddon Now: The End of the World A to Z
by Jim Willis and Barbara Willis ISBN: 978-1-57859-168-8
The Astrology Book: The Encyclopedia of Heavenly Influences, 2nd Edition
by James R Lewis ISBN: 978-1-57859-144-2
Conspiracies and Secret Societies: The Complete Dossier, 2nd Edition
by Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger
ISBN: 978-1-57859-368-2
The Dream Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition by James R Lewis and Evelyn Dorothy
Oliver
ISBN: 978-1-57859-216-6
The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena by J. Gordon Melton
ISBN: 978-1-57859-209-8
The Fortune-telling Book: The Encyclopedia of Divination and Soothsaying
by Raymond Buckland
ISBN: 978-1-57859-147-3
Hidden Realms, Lost Civilizations, and Beings from Other Worlds
by Jerome Clark
ISBN: 978-1-57859-175-6
Real Aliens, Space Beings, and Creatures from Other Worlds
by Brad Steiger and Sherry Steiger
ISBN: 978-1-57859-333-0
Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places, 2nd Edition
by Brad Steiger
ISBN: 978-1-57859-401-4
Real Miracles, Divine Intervention, and Feats of Incredible Survival
by Brad Steiger and Sherry Steiger
ISBN: 978-1-57859-214-2
Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside
by Brad Steiger
ISBN: 978-1-57859-220-3
Real Vampires, Night Stalkers, and Creatures from the Darkside
by Brad Steiger
ISBN: 978-1-57859-255-5
Real Zombies, the Living Dead, and Creatures of the Apocalypse
by Brad Steiger
ISBN: 978-1-57859-296-8
The Spirit Book: The Encyclopedia of Clairvoyance, Channeling, and Spirit Communication
by Raymond Buckland
ISBN: 978-1-57859-172-5
The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead, 3rd Edition
by J. Gordon Melton
ISBN: 978-1-57859-281-4
The Werewolf Book: The Encyclopedia of Shape-shifting Beings, 2nd Edition
by Brad Steiger
ISBN: 978-1-57859-367-5
The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-Paganism
by Raymond Buckland
ISBN: 978-1-57859-114-5
Real Nightmares ebook series volumes 1-12
by Brad Steiger ISBN: various
Please visit us at visibleinkpress.com .

UNEXPLAINED! Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena 3rd Edition
Copyright © 2013 by Visible Ink Press®
This publication is a creative work fully protected by all applicable copyright laws, as well as by misappropriation, trade secret, unfair competition, and other applicable laws.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or website.
All rights to this publication will be vigorously defended. Visible Ink Press® 43311 Joy Rd., #414 Canton, MI 48187-2075
Visible Ink Press is a registered trademark of Visible Ink Press LLC.
Most Visible Ink Press books are available at special quantity discounts when purchased in bulk by corporations, organizations, or groups. Customized printings, special imprints, messages, and excerpts can be produced to meet your needs. For more information, contact Special Markets Director, Visible Ink Press, www.visibleinkpress.com , or 734-667-3211.
Managing Editor: Kevin S. Hile Art Director: Mary Claire Krzewinski Typesetting: Marco Di Vita Proofreader: Chrystal Rosza Indexing: Shoshana Hurwitz
ISBN 978-1-57859-344-6
Cover images: Shutterstock.com .
Printed in the United States of America
Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file at the Library of Congress.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
C ONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
Photo Credits
Mysteries
Anomalous Clouds
Black Dogs
Beast of Exmoor
Falls from the Sky (Inorganic Matter)
Falls from the Sky (Organic Matter)
Flying Humanoids
Hairy Dwarves
Ghost Lights
Green Fireballs
Hairy Bipeds
Almas
Lake Monsters
Lake Worth Monster
Lindorms
Living Dinosaurs
Momo
Morag
Pterosaur Sightings
Sea Serpents
Tatzelwurm
Dover Demon
Thunderbirds
Thylacines
Unidentified Submarine Objects
Water Hounds
Yowie
Curiosities
Belled Buzzard
Cosmic Jokers and Saucer Critters
Nazca Lines
Entombed Animals
Green Children
Hoop Snakes and Joint Snakes
Monstrous Serpent
Ice Falls
Jersey Devil
Kangaroos in America
Alligators in the Sewers
Mad Gassers
Merbeings
Ringing Rocks
Moving Coffins
Onza
Pwdre Ser
White River Monster
Stuart’s Monsters
Teleportation
Skyquakes
Wheels of Light
Fables
Cottingley Fairy Photographs
Oliver Lerch Disappearance
Flight 19
Hollow Earth
Bermuda Triangle
Jacko
Martian Mummies and Others
Devil’s Sea
Mono Grande
Noah’s Ark
David Lang Disappearance
Paluxy Tracks
Stomach Snakes and Other Gastrointestinal Creatures
Thunderbird Photograph
Atmospheric Life Forms
Vulcan
Wahhoo
Index
F OREWORD
T he first edition of this book appeared in 1993, the second in 1999. With this edition the book enters the twenty-first century in considerably revised, much expanded form. The mass of fresh material that had accumulated over a dozen years rendered the new volume something worth doing. A good deal of what you will read has never appeared between book covers. Some subjects for example the curious affair of the Belled Buzzard have not, as far as I know, been examined comprehensively until now.
This is not an attempt, let me be clear, to represent the broad spectrum of anomalies and other allegedly unexplained events and experiences. Such an effort would require many fat volumes, and it would also cover paranormal phenomena ESP and psychokinesis, apparitions, out-of-body and near-death experiences which are, frankly, outside my area of expertise (to the extent that anyone can pretend to have "expertise" in anomalous matters). Nor does the present volume carry over everything from its previous incarnation. Some things simply didn’t seem worth revisiting because I felt I had said all I had to say about them and there were no interesting new developments. Ultimately, what I have kept and what I have added have one element in common: they interest me.
A few chapters and sidebars return more or less intact because I thought they needed to be there to serve as a corrective to persistent misinformation regularly peddled by cable television’s snake-oilish "true mystery" shows. (My inclination is to think of these as the television equivalent of those ubiquitous unsourced email forwards that peddle bald-faced lies and shameless distortions for the edification of the näive and otherwise readily bamboozled.) In fact, this book is intended, in part anyway, for intelligent persons who have seen those programs a few of which, fairness compels me to state, rise above the generally abysmal level and who may be looking for something more accurate and substantive. Veterans of anomalies literature, however, will also be exposed to information they haven’t seen until now.
In that regard, this third edition, in contrast to its predecessors, does not include chapters on UFOs, Sasquatch, and the Loch Ness Monster. Information on these, the most celebrated of all anomalies, exists in abundance, by which I mean one could fill the shelves of a small library with books devoted solely to each. Those who don’t know that literature may easily seek it elsewhere. Mostly, I have preferred to concentrate on lesser-known, sometimes entirely obscure, mysteries and curiosities. UFOs show up only in a very few cases exemplifying the most extreme claims associated with the idea of alien visitors (as opposed to the hard evidence of radar/visual cases, physical traces, and the like). Sasquatch’s alter ego, the Hairy Biped, to which resemblances to the hirsute giants of the Pacific North west seem more apparent than real, figures in a long, detailed chapter. The Loch Ness Monster is treated in succinct fashion in the chapter on Lake Monsters.
Another decision I made as I selected material was to confine it to two categories of interpretation: first, testimony that to every indication is sincerely related and apparently truly puzzling, and two, stories that are certainly or probably somebody’s invention. The pages that follow contain plenty of examples of both. A third category, the one that has sparked a massive, often eye-glazing literature, concerns instances where witness misperception or other error is certain, or at least, at varying degrees of plausibility, arguable. In other words, instances in which someone relates an encounter under uncertain viewing conditions in which the object of attention may or may not be what the witness infers it may have been. In these pages, the choices are starker: it almost surely happened (however one defines "happened"), or it almost surely didn’t.
On his late-night CBS television program, comedian David Letterman runs an occasional feature in which some unfamiliar, baffling-looking activity is presented, accom