Abominable Science
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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