Abominable Science

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Abominable Science Page 49

by Daniel Loxton


  123 Amanda Paulson, “New Report Ranks U.S. Teens 29th in Science Worldwide,” December 5, 2007, Christian Science Monitor, http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1205/p02s01-usgn.html (accessed January 26, 2012).

  124 Richard Allen Green, “China Shoots Up Rankings as Science Power, Study Finds,” March 29, 2011, CNN World, http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-29/world/china.world.science_1_china-output-papers?_s=PM:WORLD (accessed January 26, 2012).

  125 “Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Final Report,” March 28, 2011, Royal Society, http://royalsociety.org/policy/projects/knowledge-networks-nations/report/ (accessed January 26, 2012).

  126 Quoted in “New Countries Emerge as Major Players in Scientific World,” March 28, 2011, Royal Society, http://royalsociety.org/news/new-science-countries/ (accessed January 26, 2012).

  127 Richard Matthews, “China’s Green Innovation and the Challenge for America,” February 23, 2011, Global Warming Is Real, http://globalwarmingisreal.com/2011/02/23/chinas-green-innovation-and-the-challenge-for-america/ (accessed January 26, 2012).

  128 Fiona Harvey, “UK Slips Down Global Green Investment Rankings,” March 28, 2011, Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/29/uk-global-greeninvestment-rankings (accessed January 26, 2012).

  129 “Germany Seventh in G-20 Members in Clean Energy Investments,” March 25, 2010, Pew Environment, http://www.pewenvironment.org/uploadedFiles/PEG/Newsroom/Press_Release/Germany%20Seventh%20Among%20G-20%20Members%20in%20Clean%20Energy%20Investments.pdf (accessed January 26, 2012).

  130 Jürgen Schmidhuber, “Evolution of National Nobel Prize Shares in the 20th Century,” September 14, 2010, Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence, idsia.ch/~juergen/nobelshare.html (accessed January 26, 2012).

  131 Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Scientifically Literate See a Different World,” September 22, 2009, Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog, http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/2009/09/22/neil-degrasse-tyson-scientifically-literate-see-a-different-world/ (accessed January 26, 2012).

  132 Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (New York: Random House, 1996), 26.

  INDEX

  Page numbers refer to the print edition but are hyperlinked to the appropriate location in the e-book.

  NUMBERS IN ITALICS REFER TO PAGES ON WHICH FIGURES APPEAR.

  Abominable Snowman, name of, 76–77. See also Yeti

  Adomnán (abbot of Iona), 135–137

  Africa: giant snakes in, 185–186; home ranges of large animals in, 24; idea of Brontosaurus in, 270–278, 274, 287, 382n.41; idea of giant spiders in, 285–286; tourism in, 279–280. See also Mokele Mbembe

  Agassiz, Louis, 178, 222–223, 302

  Agnagna, Marcellin, 283–284, 383nn.64,83

  Agogino, George, 97

  Ahmed, Enas, 291

  Alaskan Monster Hunt (television show), 246

  Albertus Magnus, 197–198, 369n.54

  Alexander the Great, 186

  alien abductions, 15–16, 310, 315–316, 365n.202

  Almasti (“Wild Man of the Snows”), 103–104

  Amaghino, Forentino, 19

  Among the Himalayas (Waddell), 78

  Anderson, Sydney, 303

  Andrews, Roy Chapman, 146

  animals: biological and ecological constraints on, 20–24, 158–159; discovery of “new” species of, x, 17–23, 21; discovery of “new” species of, known from fossils, x, 19–20; former cryptids, x, 18; and habitat fragmentation, 24; mistaken identity of, and cryptids, 21, 56–62, 159–164, 233–236; “new” species of, and cryptids, 20–21. See also coelacanth; specific animals; specific cryptids

  Anning, Mary, 218

  Apatosaurus. See Brontosaurus

  Aristotle, 184–185, 187, 188, 197

  Asten, Janet, 317

  Australopithecus, 91

  Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (film), 280

  Bader, Christopher, 311–314, 321

  Bahadur, Man, 351n.24

  Baker, Joseph, 311–314, 321

  Bakewell, Robert, 219, 380n.16

  Barber, Richard, 193

  Barklay, John, 213

  Barnacle Goose, 210

  Basilosaurus, 229, 230, 374n.155

  basking sharks, carcasses of, 213–216, 214, 216

  Bauer, Aaron, 322

  Bauer, Henry, 135, 153, 159

  Bayanov, Dmitri, 104

  Baylor Religion Survey, 310–317

  BBC, 285, 384n.93

  Beach, Peter, 286, 384n.100

  bears: and Bigfoot, 57–59, 58; bones of, 69, 69–71; footprints of, 81, 90, 90–92; and Yeti, 75, 78–83, 82, 92, 95, 100, 102, 113–115, 351n.16

  Beasts and Men (Hagenbeck), 270

  Beauman, E. B., 83–84

  Beckjord, Jon-Erik, 321

  belief systems, 7–8, 310–320; and church attendance, 314, 320; and cryptozoology subculture, 298–303; demographics of paranormal believers, 310–313; and “early adopters,” 315–316; and interest in cryptids, 312, 316; and pseudoscientific ideas, 9, 313–316; and psychological contagion, 250; and social costs and benefits of cryptozoology, 328–336

  Belon, Pierre, 201–202

  Beowulf, 31

  Bernstein, Carl, 3

  bestiaries, encyclopedias, and other catalogues of creatures, 191–194, 192, 198–205

  biasd na srogaig (Scottish folkloric monster), 123

  Bible, 180–181

  Bigfoot (Sasquatch), 28–71; biological and ecological constraints on, 22–24; connection of, to UFOs or other supernatural phenomena, 321, 369n.61; credible researchers of, 12; descriptions of, 34, 37, 343n.28; financial benefits of publicity about, 35–36, 50, 67; historical perspective on, 30–35; and media, 35–36, 41–43; organizations on, 2–3; origin of legend of, 34–35; statistics on belief in, 317; subculture of believers in, 299–300, 318–320; and tourism, 35–36; unlikelihood of existence of, 4, 22–24, 68–71

  EYEWITNESS AND HEARSAY REPORTS of, 2–4; in Ape Canyon, 343n.28; backdated, 343n.28; by Burns, 34–35; claims of shooting, 34, 70, 349n.184; and mistaken identity, 56–62; by Native Americans, 31–36; planetary extent of, 71; by Roe, 37–40; variability of, 34, 37, 343n.28

  FOOTPRINTS OF: by Marx (“Cripple Foot”), 50–54, 51, 65, 345n.91; by Pickens, 52–53; as problematic physical evidence, 60–62; by Wallace, ix–x, 40–44, 48, 60

  HOAXES OF, 2–4, 36, 65–68; Jacko, 66; by Marx (“Cripple Foot”), 50–54, 51, 65, 345n.91; Minnesota Iceman, 302, 303; by Patterson and Gimlin, 38, 47–50; by Pickens, 52–53; and problematic footprint evidence, 60–62; by Rael, 68; and Roe, 38–40, 49; by Wallace, ix–x, 40–44, 48, 60

  HUNTERS OF: in British Columbia, 35–36, 39; conflict of, with professional scientists, 301–303; and credibility, 11, 47–48, 307; and “Cripple Foot” (Marx) hoax, 51–52; Dahinden, 36; demographics of, 300; hostility of, to other paranormal beliefs, 315; subculture of, 299–300, 318–320

  PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEOS OF: by Marx (“Cripple Foot”), 51, 52–53; by Patterson and Gimlin, 38, 44–50, 45, 67, 153, 302–303, 344n.63; by Rael, 68; Roe sketch, 37

  PHYSICAL EVIDENCE OF, 2–3; and fossil evidence, 26–27; hair and DNA as, 62–65, 347n.145; lack of, 4, 22–23, 68–71

  Bigfoot Bulletin, 300

  Bigfoot Field Research Organization, 3

  Bindernagel, John, 11, 12, 57, 70

  Binns, Ronald: on Dinsdale film, 154; on King Kong and Loch Ness monster, 129; on lack of plesiosaur bones in Loch Ness, 170; on Loch Ness before monster, 122, 357n.1; on paid lake observers, 165; on sonar surveys, 171; on Spicer account, 161; on Stuart photograph, 150–151; on Surgeon’s Photograph, 149

  birds, mistaken for Loch Ness monster, 139, 159–160. See also specific birds

  Biscardi, Tom, 3–4, 337n.3

  Black, Davidson, 105

  Blaneou, Lucien, 17

  Boardman, John, 183

  boat wakes, mistaken for sea serpents, 238–239

  boobrie (Scottish folkloric monster), 123

  Bord, Colin a
nd Janet, 349n.184

  Bousfield, Edward, 233, 247–249, 251

  Boyd, Alastair, 145, 147, 149

  Bradbury, Ray, 178

  British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, 245

  Brontosaurus, 267, 268, 268, 270–278, 287, 289, 382n.41

  Brookes, Charles, 273

  Browne, Sir Thomas, 204–205

  buarach-bhaoi (Scottish folkloric monster), 123

  Buhs, Joshua Blu, 299, 300–301, 307

  burden of proof, 256–257, 326

  Burns, John W., 34–35, 36

  Burrard, Gerald, 79

  Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 226, 268

  Burton, Maurice, 147–148

  Byrne, Peter, 52–53, 97–98, 115, 354nn.92,98

  Cadboro Bay (British Columbia), 241, 377n.215

  Cadborosaurus (Caddy), 179, 239–251, 243; and birth of modern sea serpent, 205, 207–211; as dinosaur, 243; and hippocamp, 188, 188, 250–251, 255–256, 368n.34; and King Kong, 241, 244, 249; and McTaggart-Cowan on mistaken identity, 236; and Naden Harbour carcass, 246–249, 377n.214; origin of legend of, 239–244, 249–250; origin of name of, 241; recent sightings of, 246; sighting of, by Kemp, 241–244; sighting of, by Langley, 241–242; and type specimen, 247; and undiscovered species of marine animals, 246

  Cadborosaurus (LeBlond and Bousfield), 251

  Campbell, Alex, 127–128, 139–140, 144, 160, 161, 236, 358n.20

  Carl, Clifford, 245, 247

  Carnegie, Andrew, 267, 269–270

  Carpenter, William, 250

  Carrier, Jill, 57

  Cartier, Jacques, 125

  Chambers, Maurice, 147

  Champ (monster of Lake Champlain), 26, 323

  Chehalis (Native Americans), 34–35

  China: “dragon bones” from, 104–106; and Gigantopithecus, 103–110; and scientific literacy, 334–335; and Yeti, 99, 100

  Chorvinsky, Mark, 42–43

  Christian allegory, and hippocamp, 191–193

  Chubb, E. C., 271–272

  chupacabra (goat sucker), 178, 322

  Ciochon, Russell, 106

  Clancy, Susan, 15–16, 310, 316

  Clupekwe (mythical Brontosaurus), 272

  Codex canadensis (Nicolas), 205, 206, 370n.72

  coelacanth, x, 19–20, 20, 293–294, 309, 323–324

  Coleman, Loren, 308, 319; on Georgia Bigfoot hoax, 3; on Native American legends, 33; on otters mistaken for sea serpents, 234; on persistence of hoaxes, 65–66; on “plesiosaur hypothesis,” 156–157; on psychological contagion, 250; on Slick and Byrne’s Yeti-hunting expeditions, 96, 97; on variability of eyewitness reports, 252; on Wallace hoax, 41, 43

  Collins, M. J., 149

  Columba, Saint, 135–137

  confirmation bias, 33

  Coon, Carleton, 97, 98, 108

  cormorants, 139, 140, 160, 235

  Cosgrove, Jim, 248

  Cosgrove, Stephen, 250

  Cotting, John Ruggles, 220

  Crabtree, Smoky, 319

  creationism, 7–8; and burden of proof, 10; and credential mongering, 305, 309; and cryptozoology, 308–309; and Mokele Mbembe, 265, 285–286, 292–295, 308–309, 384nn.93,96,100; and scientific illiteracy, 333–335; and sea serpents, 216, 224

  credibility issues, 10–12; and credential mongering, 11, 305, 309; and Dinsdale film, 154–155; and eyewitness reports, 143–144; and Hydrarchos sillimani, 228–231; and Patterson–Gimlin film, 47–48; and scientific credentials, 11–12, 305, 306, 309; and Shipton photograph, 88–89; and universities, 11, 338n.21, 388n.43. See also hoaxes

  Crew, Jerry, 41–44, 47

  “Cripple Foot” (Bigfoot hoax [Marx]), 50–54, 51, 65, 345n.91

  crocodiles, mistaken for Mokele Mbembe, 288

  Crowley, Matt, 387n.32

  cryptids: biological and ecological constraints on, 20–24, 158–159, 288; body size of, 20–21, 23, 24; definition of, 17; discovery of former, x, 18; and “new” species, 20–21. See also specific cryptids cryptozoology: and classical world, 188–189; and creationism, 308–309; definition of, 17; and gender, 317–320; image problem of, 322; levels of involvement with, 299–300; origin of term, 16–17; and other paranormal beliefs, 320–322; and professional scientists, 301–303; scientific perspectives of, 16–27; scientific standards of, 322–328; significant figures in, 304–309; social costs and benefits of, 328–336; statistics on interest in, 312, 316, 318; subculture of, 298–303, 318–320, 330–331; and “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” argument, 71, 231–232. See also Coleman, Loren; credibility issues; Greenwell, Richard; Heuvelmans, Bernard; Krantz, Grover; Mackal, Roy; Sanderson, Ivan T.

  Curley, Michael, 191–192

  Curtis, Wardon Allan, 137

  Cuvier, Georges, 218

  Daegling, David: bear bones found by, 70; on competence of hoaxers, 67; on “Cripple Foot” (Marx) hoax, 53–54; on lack of physical evidence, 69, 71; on Patterson–Gimlin film, 48; on problematic footprint evidence, 61; on problematic hair samples, 63; on Wallace hoax, 42

  Dahinden, René: cave expeditions by, 36; and conflict between cryptid hunters and professional scientists, 301, 303; and “Cripple Foot” (Marx) hoax, 50–52; and Patterson–Gimlin film, 303; on Patterson’s credibility, 47–48

  Daily Mail (newspaper), 93–96, 97, 98, 144–145

  Dalai Lama, 116

  Dana, James Dwight, 229

  Darwin, Charles, 220, 221, 225, 373n.136

  Dass, Petter, 207–208

  Davis, Richard, 349n.184

  Dawkins, Richard, 255

  De animalibus (Albertus Magnus), 197–198

  De aquatilibus (Belon), 202

  DeAtley, Al, 50

  dermatoglyphics, 307, 387n.32

  DeNovo Scientific Journal, 63–64

  Description of the Northern Peoples, A (Olaus Magnus), 198–200, 203

  Destination Truth (television show), 115, 287

  deviance theory, 313–314

  dinosaurs: and creationism, 293–295, 308–309; footprints of, 263; fossil record of, 26–27, 288–291; fossils of, 266–271, 268, 269; and King Kong, 130–134; origin of term, 221; and popular fiction, 226; sea serpents and Hydrarchos sillimani, 227, 227–231. See also Brontosaurus; Cadborosaurus; Diplodocus; elasmosaur; Mokele Mbembe; plesiosaur; sauropod

  Dinsdale, Tim, 158, 160; film by, of Loch Ness monster, 151–155

  Diplodocus, 131–134, 243–244, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 273

  Disotell, Todd, 298

  DNA, 62–65, 98, 347n.145

  dogs, 143

  Doig, Desmond, 99–100

  Dolan, Brooke, II, 81

  dolphins, mistaken for sea serpents, 233–234

  Doyle, Arthur Conan, 138, 226, 268, 276

  dragons, 185

  du Toit, Johan, 23

  Durrell, Gerald, 301–302, 332

  Dyer, Rick, 2–3

  Dzunuk’wa (Kwakwaka’wakw ogress), 32, 33

  ecology: and cryptid body size, 23; and unlikelihood of existence of cryptids, 20–24, 158–159, 288; and viable population size, 23, 290. See also habitat

  education: and creationism, 7–8; hoaxes as “teachable moments,” 4–5; and scientific literacy, 9, 333–336

  Egede, Hans and Poul, 252, 253, 378n.229

  Egginton, Major, 147

  elasmosaur, 137, 138, 156–157, 360n.66

  Ettel, Peter, 107

  Etymologies (Isidore of Seville), 192–193

  Everest Reconnaissance Expedition (1921), 76

  evolution: deniers of, 10–11; and early humans, 108–109; “ladder of creation” model of, 294; and Mokele Mbembe, 293–295, 308–309; and “plesiosaur hypothesis,” 225–226; and scientific illiteracy, 334. See also Gigantopithecus

  eyewitness reports: as credibility issue, 39–40; insufficiency of, x–xi, 13–16, 54–56, 252, 324, 327; and “leading the witness,” 281–283, 327; by local people, 278–284; and malleability of memory, 57, 164, 365n.202; and “memories” of strange experiences, 15–16; multiple, by same person,
139–140, 143–144; negative, investigators’ refusal to accept, 282–283, 339n.39; variability of, 140–141, 251–256, 287, 288. See also credibility issues; specific cryptids

  Fairley, John, 74

  Faulkes, Zen, 64

  Ferry, Lawrence de, 208–210

  Feynmann, Richard, 6, 328

  Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates, The (Coleman and Huyghe), 31

  Fleischmann, Martin, 6

  Fleming, Peter, 145

  “Fog Horn, The” (Bradbury), 178

  folklore. See myths and legends

  footprints: of Gigantopithecus, 109–110; hoaxed Bigfoot, by Marx (“Cripple Foot”), 50–54, 51, 65, 345n.91; hoaxed Bigfoot, by Pickens, 52–53; hoaxed Bigfoot, by Wallace, ix–x, 40–44, 60;footprints (continued)

  hoaxed Loch Ness monster, by Wetherell, 144–145; of Mokele Mbembe, 262–263, 286; of monkeys, 85, 95; as poor indicator of underlying anatomy, 53–54; as problematic physical evidence, 60–62, 89–92, 95–96; of sauropods, 263; of Yeti (or bear), 78–81, 83–92, 87, 115; of Yeti (or wolf), 76

  fossils: of Basilosaurus, 229, 230; and Cadborosaurus, 246; of dinosaurs, 266–271, 268, 269, 288, 291; and discovery of “new” species, 19–20; and evolution, 293; of Gigantophithecus, 103–110, 105, 107; lack of, for cryptids, 26–27, 290, 292; “living fossils,” 309; of mastodon, 228; and sea serpents, 217–220; and sea serpents and Hydrarchos sillimani, 227–231

  Fox, Ted, 241

  Fraas, Eberhard, 270

  Frechkop, Serge, 305

  Freeman, Paul, 48, 65

  Frere, Richard, 150, 362n.131

  Friedrich Wilhelm IV (king of Prussia), 231

  Gates, Joshua, 115

  geology, 25, 25–26, 158

  Gesner, Conrad, 201–204

  ghosts, 222, 246, 311, 312

  gibbons, 96

  Gibbons, William: and Agnagna film, 283–284, 383n.83; on coelacanth, 293–294; as creationist, 265, 292–293, 308–309; credibility issues with, 11, 265, 309; and giant spiders, 285–286; on knowledge of dinosaurs among Africans, 264; and MonsterQuest expedition, 287; on payments to local people, 279; trips to Cameroon by, 285; trips to Lake Tele by, 284, 285

 

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