Abominable Science

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Abominable Science Page 51

by Daniel Loxton


  Oudemans, Anthonie Cornelis: on boat wakes, 238; on Egedes’ sea serpent sighting, 378n.229; The Great Sea-serpent, 17, 184–185; on identifying creatures from classical texts, 184–185; on Olaus Magnus’s Description of the Northern Peoples, 199; on sea serpents in Norse legends, 197; on seaweed, 236; on St. Olaf sea serpent sighting, 234

  Owen, Richard, 104, 178; on Daedalus sea serpent sighting, 221–222, 256–257; on evidence for ghosts vs. sea serpents, 222, 246; and Missourium fossil, 228; and “plesiosaur hypothesis,” 225; on whale fossils, 230

  paleontology, 26–27; golden age of, 267–271. See also dinosaurs; fossils

  Paluxy River “man tracks,” 384n.96

  Pamir Mountains, 103–104

  Pangboche monastery, Yeti scalp and hand at, 93, 94, 98–101

  Papadopoulos, John K., 181, 182

  paranormal, belief in: and Bigfoot, 321, 369n.61; and cryptozoology, 320–322; demographics of, 310–313; and gender, 312, 317, 318; and law of large numbers, 232, 239; and marital status, 311–312, 320; possible social costs of, 330–331; reasons for, 313–316

  Paranormal America (Bader, Menchen, and Baker), 311, 315–316

  Paranormal Borderland (television show), 111–112

  Paré, Ambroise, 203

  Parsons, Catriona, 358n.24

  Pascal, Mateka, 281

  Patterson, Roger, 38, 44–50, 110, 302–303

  Patterson–Gimlin film, 44–50, 45, 67, 344n.63; and Dinsdale film, 153; and Roe account, 38, 49; scientific study of, 302–303

  Paxton, Charles, 254–255

  peccary, 19, 21

  Peking Man, 105–106, 108

  Percy, Thomas, 196, 369n.50

  Perkins, Marlin, 99–101

  Peter (prince of Greece), 95

  Petit, Georges, 215

  photographs and videos: and Mokele Mbembe, 283–284; and sea serpents, 376n.205; and Yeti, 87, 111. See also Bigfoot: photographs and videos of; Loch Ness monster: photographs and videos of physical evidence, 256, 326; and cryptid habitats, 22–23; hair and DNA as, 62–65; lack of, as best proof of nonexistence of cryptids, 23, 68–71, 257, 326; lack of, for Loch Ness monster, 159, 170; lack of, in fossil record, for cryptids, 26–27, 290, 292; need of, for type specimen, x, 47, 54, 61, 62, 63, 247; and “no dead bears” argument, 70–71; and Yeti, 93, 94, 98–101. See also fossils

  Physiologus (collection of Greek legends), 191–193

  Pickens, Ray, 52–53, 68

  plesiosaur, 156–157, 218, 360n.66; as air breather, 159; basking shark carcasses misidentified as, 215, 216; and creationism, 216; and Greenwell’s classification system, 323; habitat of, 158–159; and Loch Ness monster, 130–131, 137–140, 156–164; and Mokele Mbembe, 272; and popular culture, 137–138; and sea serpents, 217–227; and unlikelihood of existence of cryptids, 25–26, 27

  Pliny the Elder, 184, 186, 188, 212, 298

  Pons, Stanley, 6

  Pontoppidan, Erich, 178, 196, 200, 207–212, 252

  Popper, Karl, 5

  popular culture and fiction: and dinosaurs, 137–138, 226, 267–268; and Loch Ness monster, 137–138, 142; and sea serpents, 178, 207–208, 250; and Yeti, 75

  porpoises: in Loch Ness, 162, 364n.191; mistaken for sea serpents, 209, 233–234

  Porschnev, Boris, 103–104

  Portland, Duke of, 134

  Powell, James H., Jr., 278–279, 281–283, 379n.7

  Pranavananda, Srimat Swami, 77, 350n.12

  Price, George, 232

  Project Steve, 10–11

  Prose Edda (Norse text), 195–197, 369n.50

  Proyart, Lievain Bonaventure, 266

  Pseudodoxia Epidemica (Browne), 204–205

  pseudoscience, 7–16; and “baloney detection,” 8–16; definition of, 8. See also belief systems; credibility issues; eyewitness reports; paranormal, belief in; science

  psychics, 311, 312, 322

  pythons, 186

  Radford, Benjamin, 14–15, 48, 61, 63–64, 327

  Rael, John, 68

  Ramus, Jonas, 205

  Randi, James, 67

  Ratzenberger, John, 74

  raudkembingr (Norse creature), 194

  Raynor, Dick, 129, 163

  Regal, Brian, 74, 77, 97, 108, 301–302, 307

  Regusters, Herman and Kia, 279, 284

  Remi, Georges (Hergé), 306

  Rhodes, Joe, 345n.91

  Rines, Robert, 167–169, 322, 365n.211

  Ripley, S. Dillon, 97, 302

  Ritchie, James, 214

  River Ness, 121, 122, 122, 135, 161–162, 173, 357n.4

  Rockel, Paul, 384n.93

  Rockhill, William Woodville, 79

  rocks, mistaken for cryptids, 111

  Roe, William, 37–40, 49

  Rozi Ali, 114

  Ruscillo, Deborah, 181, 182

  Russell, Anthony, 322

  Russell, Gerald, 94, 97, 103

  Sagan, Carl, 7, 9, 326, 336

  Salkeld, Audrey, 88

  salmon, 129

  San Tenzing, 85, 353n.51

  Sanderson, Ivan T.: background and training of, 97, 306; on first report of Yeti footprints, 78, 350n.16; on Gigantopithecus as Yeti, 103; on lack of physical evidence, 69, 70; and Minnesota Iceman, 302; and Mokele Mbembe, 278; on “sworn statements,” 40; on Wallace hoax, 41, 47; and word “cryptozoology,” 17

  Sandsdalen, Halvor J., 201

  Sasquatch, origin of name, 34. See also Bigfoot

  Sass, Brian, 286, 384n.100

  Sattler, Bernhard, 270

  sauropod, 131–134, 289; and dinosaur fossils, 266–271; fossils of, 288, 291; habitat of, compared with Mokele Mbembe habitat, 275–276, 288; and knowledge of dinosaurs among Africans, 264; and unlikelihood of existence of cryptids, 27, 290, 291. See also Cadborosaurus; Mokele Mbembe

  Scandinavia: and Olaus Magnus’s Description of the Northern Peoples, 198–200; and Pontoppiden’s Natural History of Norway, 178, 196, 207–212; and sea serpent, 205, 207–211. See also Nordic culture, and hippocamp

  Schäfer, Ernst, 81–84

  Schmitt, Daniel, 46–47

  Schockley, C. H., 79

  Schosser, Max, 104

  science, 4–28; and authority, credentials, and expertise, 10–12; and burden of proof, 9–10, 256–257, 326; conflict of, with cryptid hunters, 301–303; and hoaxes as “teachable moments,” 4–5; and insufficiency of anecdotes and first-person testimony, 13–16, 54–56, 324, 327; literacy and illiteracy of, 331, 333–336; and null hypothesis, 325–326; and Occam’s razor, 256, 325; peer-review process of, 5–6, 12, 327–328; and scientific standards of cryptozoology, 322–328; and special pleading and ad hoc hypotheses, 12–13; and testing of hypotheses, 4–6, 13; and value of researching unconventional topics, 331–332; and word “scoftic,” 346n.116. See also belief systems; credibility issues; ecology; eyewitness reports; geology; paleontology; physical evidence

  Scotland: fossil record of, 26; glaciation in, 25–26; water-based folkloric monsters in, 123–126. See also Loch Ness; Loch Ness monster

  Scott, Lloyd, 170

  Scott, Sir Peter, 365n.211

  sea horses, 189

  sea lions, 21, 21–22, 222, 236, 242, 258

  sea serpents, 176–258; and creationism, 224; descriptions of, 179–180, 205, 207–208, 220, 223, 226–227, 242–243, 250–256; false-positive sightings of, 231–239, 250; first modern version of, 178; hoaxes of, 221, 227–231, 234, 240–244; and Hydrarchos sillimani, 227–231; and ichthyosaur, 380n.16; and media, 215, 228, 240–244; and optical illusions, 234–236, 235, 238–239; origin of legends of, 180–184; and “plesiosaur hypothesis,” 217–227; and popular culture and fiction, 178, 207–208, 250; variability of eyewitness reports of, 251–256. See also Cadborosaurus; hippocamp

  EARLY ACCOUNTS OF, 252, 369n.50; and Albertus Magnus, 197–198; in ancient literature and classical art, 180–184, 181, 183, 188–190; in bestiaries, 191–194, 197–200; in Bible, 180–181; and Christian allegory, 191–193; in classical natural history, 184–187; and early skep
tics, 204, 205; and evolution from Scandinavian serpent to “real” monster, 201–206, 207–211; and hippo-camp, 181, 187–211, 187, 188, 189; and ketos, 181, 181–183, 188, 195; and land snakes, 185–186; and Nordic culture, 193–197, 369n.50; and Olaus Magnus’s Description of the Northern Peoples, 198–200, 200

  MODERN ACCOUNTS AND SIGHTINGS of, 378n.229; from Brazilian, 237, 375n.176; Cadborosaurus, 239–251, 243, 376n.204; from Daedalus, 220–222, 221, 256; by Egedes, 252, 253, 378n.229; in eighteenth century, 208–210, 252–253, 378n.229; false-positive, 231–239, 250; from Fly, 223–226; from Gloucester, 217, 219; in nineteenth century, 217–226, 221, 234, 234, 237, 256, 375n.176; number of, since 1600, 211, 211–212; from Pekin, 237, 375n.176; and “plesiosaur hypothesis,” 217–227; and Pontoppidan’s Natural History of Norway, 207–212, 211, 252; in seventeenth century, 205, 212; from St. Olaf, 234, 234; Stronsay Beast, 212–216, 213; variability of, 251–256; video images, 376n.205

  PHYSICAL EVIDENCE OF: basking shark carcasses, 213–216, 214, 216; Naden Harbour carcass, 246–249, 247, 377n.214

  seals: mistaken for Loch Ness monster, 128, 161–164, 162; mistaken for sea serpents, 209, 222, 233, 250; number of undiscovered species of, 21, 21–22, 246

  Searle, Frank, 144

  seaweed, mistaken for sea serpents, 236–238

  sea-worm (sjø-ormen), 205, 209

  Secret of the Loch, The (film), 142

  Shanahan, Hugh, 21, 246

  Sharf, Karen, 298

  sharks: carcasses of, mistaken for sea serpents, 213–216, 214, 216; mega-mouth, x, 20, 22; pods of, mistaken for sea serpents, 234, 234

  Sharps, Matthew, 316–317

  Shepard, Katharine, 182, 189–190

  Shepherd, Jolene, 57

  Shermer, Michael, xi–xii, 9, 15, 232, 328

  Sherpas, 79, 100

  Shine, Adrian, 174, 365n.206; on Dinsdale film, 153, 155; on early hoaxes, 125; on Rines photograph, 168; sonar surveys by, 158–159, 171–172; on Spicer account, 130, 133; on Wetherell hoax, 147

  Shipton, Eric, 83, 85–87, 353nn.50,51

  Shuker, Karl, 158

  Silliman, Benjamin, 219

  Silverberg, Robert, 231

  Simons, Elwyn, 107

  Simpson, George Gaylord, 97

  sirrush dragons (Iraq), 266, 267

  sjø-ormen (sea-worm), 205, 209

  Slick, Tom, 96–101, 354n.91

  Smith, Blake, 299

  Smith, Woollcott, 22

  Smithsonian African Expedition, 277

  Smythe, Frank, 83, 352n.34

  snakes, 185–186

  snow bear, 78

  snow leopard, 99

  Solow, Andrew, 22

  South Africa, 273, 382n.41

  Soviet Union, 103–104

  Speers-Roesch, Ben, 12

  Spicer, George, 130–134, 156, 359n.45

  spiders, giant, 285–286

  Spurling, Christian, 147

  squid, mistaken for sea serpent, 212, 212, 238

  Stalker, Philip, 139, 140

  Starr, Ringo, 285

  Stein zu Lausnitz, Ludwig Freiherr von, 274–275, 278

  Stevens, Lester, 277, 382n.54

  Stewart, Gloria, 98

  Stewart, Jimmy, 96, 98

  Stollznow, Karen, 299

  Stonor, Charles, 93–96

  Strange Magazine, 42–43

  Straus, William L., Jr., 77

  Stronsay Beast, 123, 212–216, 213

  Stuart, Lachlan, 149–151, 362n.131

  stumps, mistaken for animals, 57, 59

  Sulloway, Frank, xi, 13

  Surgeon’s Photograph, 145–149, 146, 148, 154, 158, 361n.110

  swan, black, 5

  Taylor, Dan, 168

  Taylor, J. H., 237–238

  television programs and channels: Alaskan Monster Hunt, 246; BBC, 285, 384n.93; Destination Truth, 115, 287; Discovery Channel, 285; and Georgia Bigfoot, 2–4; and Mokele Mbembe, 262–265, 285, 287; MonsterQuest, 115–116, 262–265, 287; Paranormal Borderland, 111–112; and pseudoscience “documentaries,” 4; and Yeti, 75, 111–112, 115–116

  Tenzing Norgay, 92–93

  Thomas, Charles, 136–137

  Thomas, Eugene, 292

  thylacine (Tasmanian wolf or tiger), 323, 327

  Tibet: Chinese takeover of, 99, 101; names for Yeti in, 75; wild-man myths in, 76–77. See also Yeti

  Tilman, H. W., 83–84, 352n.34

  Timmer, John, 64–65

  Tolkien, J. R. R., 194

  Tombazi, N. A., 80–81, 102

  Topsell, Edward, 186

  tourism: and Bigfoot, 35–36; at Loch Ness, 122–123, 141–142; and Mokele Mbembe, 279–80; and Yeti, 74

  tracks. See footprints

  Triton (merman), 181, 188

  Truzzi, Marcello, 9, 326

  Twana (Native Americans), 32

  type specimen, need for, x, 47, 54, 61, 62, 63, 247

  Tyson, Neil deGrasse, 336

  UFOs, 9, 182, 312, 321–322, 369n.61

  van Roosmalen, Marc, 19

  Van Valen, Leigh, 327

  Vermeule, Emily, 180

  Verne, Jules, 137, 226

  Victor, Charley, 34–35

  Victoria Daily News (newspaper), 240–242

  Virgil, 191

  von Koenigswald, Gustav Heinrich Ralph, 105–106

  Vulgar Errors (Browne), 204–205

  Waddell, Laurence A., 78, 351n.16

  Wall, John, 17

  Wallace, Raymond, ix–x, 40–44, 48, 60

  walrus, 194, 201

  Wang (assistant to Schäfer), 81–82

  Ward, A. E., 79

  Ward, Michael, 85–89, 351n.24, 353n.51

  Warnborough College, Oxford, 11

  water-bull (Scottish folkloric monster), 123, 254

  water-horse (Scottish folkloric monster), 123–125, 165, 254

  Weidenreich, Franz, 106

  Welfare, Simon, 74

  Wetherell, Ian, 146

  Wetherell, Marmaduke, 144–146, 163–164

  whales, 181, 184, 229, 242

  Whillans, Don, 102

  Whitton, Matthew, 2–3

  Whyte, Constance, 149–150

  Williamson, Gordon, 162

  Wills, Archie, 240–241, 243–245, 249–251, 256

  Wilson, Edward O., 24

  Wilson, Robert Kenneth, 145–149

  Witchell, Nicholas, 147, 150, 168–169

  wolf, 76

  Wolpoff, Milford, 108

  Woodley, Michael, 21, 246, 251

  Woodward, Bob, 3

  Wooldridge, Anthony, 111

  Woolley, Jacqueline, 298

  World War I, 276

  World War II, 84

  worm, 199

  Wyman, Jeffries, 228–229

  Wyss-Dunant, Edouard, 92, 95

  Yeti, 73–116; as Abominable Snowman, 76–77; biological and ecological constraints on, 23–24; as chemo, 113–114; and closure of Tibet, 101–102; as collective term for bears and monsters of Himalayas, 114–115; as Dzu-teh, 75, 95; and Gigantopithecus, 103–110; growth of legend of, 78–81; hoaxes of, 86, 88–89, 111–112; and media, 76; as Metoh Kangmi, 76–77; as Mi-go, 75; multiple names for, 75–77; origin of name of, 75, 114; physical evidence of, 93, 94, 98–101, 113, 115, 355n.121; and politics, 99, 100; and popular culture, 74–75; and Sherpa culture, 79, 100; and tourism, 74; and wild-man myth, 76–77, 103–104

  EYEWITNESS REPORTS AND FOOTPRINTS OF, 78–81, 83–84, 102, 115, 354n.92; eyewitness reports, 78, 80–81, 101–102, 111–113; footprints of, as problematic evidence, 89–92, 95–96; Izzard footprint, 94–95; Shipton footprint, 83, 85–89, 87, 353n.50; by Tombazi, 80–81, 102

  HUNTERS OF, AND EXPEDITIONS: Chinese, 102–103; Daily Mail, 93–96; Dolan, 81–84; in early twentieth century, 79–84; Everest Reconnaissance Expedition, 76; Hillary–Perkins, 99–101; lack of evidence from, 79–80, 93–104, 115–116; Messner, 112–115; Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition, 85–87; in postwar era, 84–89, 92–101; Royal Geographical Society, 80�
��81; Slick, 96–99; Soviet, 103–104

  MISIDENTIFICATION OF: and bears, 75, 78–83, 82, 92, 95, 100, 102, 113–115, 351n.16; and gray wolves, 76; and human hermits, 80, 102; and monkeys, 85, 95; and rocks, 111; and serows, 99, 101, 115; and snow leopards, 99

  Young Earth creationism, 292–295

  Zhou Guoxing, 102–103

  Zueglodon, 229–230

  Zuiyo Maru (fishing trawler), 215–216, 216

 

 

 


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