Of Weeds and Wheat, Part 5

OF WILLIAM CORLISS

The biggest name in this type of research today is probably William R. Corliss. An expert in the domain of astronomy and astrophysics, Corliss has written a whole score of books on communication systems, the universe, and some technical papers which I did not fully comprehend so am wont to discuss.

What’s of more interest here is that this man, who obviously is not just some non-sensible nobody, is the very same man who spent his life in careful studying of various mysteries, phenomena, and anomalies. Moreover, his research, superseding any divisions in the field, ventured to encompass all categories of such occurrences known to us today.

Thus, some of his works deal with the phenomena found in humans, some with those found in animals, and yet some others with geological, metereological, astronomical, and other miscellaneous anomalies.

Corliss’ works are well organized and not only a real dish for a true Fortean but also a catalogue of sorts for anyone who cares to learn more about the unbelievable and the unexplored that surrounds us right here and right now.

His works are vast, no doubt. Yet, they remain far from finished. It is said that over the decades of hard and dedicated collecting, he compiled so much information that twenty and more books can still be written about it. Corliss has already published at least as many! I am a proud owner of several (hope to eventually complete the set).

OF UFO-LOGISTS AND CRYPTO-ZOOLOGISTS

I’d like to further mention several other important authors. Jerome Clark, for instance, is an outstanding encyclopedist of mysteries, who specializes in UFO phenomena. There is then Lauren Coleman, the expert crypto-zoologist, a person who wrote probably one of the best and most down-to-earth books about the famous Bigfoot (“Bigfoot: the True Story of Apes in America”).

The founder and author of the best works in the field of crypto-zoology is the late Frenchman Bernard Heuvelmans. His two most influentIal works are: “On the Track of Unknown Animals” and “In the Wake of the Sea Serpents”. They are translated in English and, together with the works of the second older generation important crypto-zoologist Roy P. Mackal, form a foundation and a great venture point for all those who care to follow the tracks of some enigmatic and mysterious animals and utilize most terrific texts as guideposts.

Today, their legacy continues through the works of a first-rate zoologist and a hard-core crypto-zoologist Karl P.N. Shuker. I kindly recommend his books for their fantastic scientific and adventurous style as well as for the wealth of the new facts they provide which are, naturally, simply not to be found in the works of the older generation writers.

George M. Eberhart also made a significant contribution to the field with his unavoidable, fairly volumnous hardcover “Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology”.

This article too would run quite lengthy if I were to list all the good authors in this area of study, as they are numerous, and describe all of their well merited works, so I am not gonna do that. Instead, I’ll mention just one whom I hold in high regard. That’s Mathew A. Bille.

Matthew had written a study titled: “Rumor of Existence”. Though short and, seemingly, his only published work so far, Bille's’s text is rather very good. I am certain anyone interested enough to obtain a copy would quickly attest to this.

OF JIM BRANDON

Jim Brandon authored works in various fields of interest. I’d like to stress that I am only concerned with his works in Forteana. My comments only have to do with the two Fortean works of his and whatsoever not with any of his writings in any other fields of interest.

In fact, I am a proud owner of “Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States”, one of the two (very rare, limited edition) fortean works of his. Written in the 1970s, it is a marvelous catalogue of all phenomena found in each of the United States (with the exception of Alaska).

The second rare fortean work of this estranged journalist and writer, who is notoriously difficult to track down (and not the least due to the fact that he writes under a pseudonym and not under his real name), is titled “The Rebirth of Pan: Hidden Faces of the American Earth Spirit” and is an invaluable source of many interesting facts explained through Brandon’s unique and thought-provoking theories.