John Kirk Talks Aquatic Cryptids
Posted by: John Kirk on April 1st, 2011
Cryptozoologist John Kirk appears on Shaw TV Vancouver’s Urban Rush with hosts Fiona Forbes and Michael Eckford.
About John Kirk
One of the founders of the BCSCC, John Kirk has enjoyed a varied and exciting career path. Both a print and broadcast journalist, John Kirk has in recent years been at the forefront of much of the BCSCC’s expeditions, investigations and publishing. John has been particularly interested in the phenomenon of unknown aquatic cryptids around the world and is the author of In the Domain of the Lake Monsters (Key Porter Books, 1998).
In addition to his interest in freshwater cryptids, John has been keenly interested in investigating the possible existence of sasquatch and other bipedal hominids of the world, and in particular, the Yeren of China. John is also chairman of the Crypto Safari organization, which specializes in sending teams of investigators to remote parts of the world to search for animals as yet unidentified by science. John travelled with a Crypto Safari team to Cameroon and northern Republic of Congo to interview witnesses among the Baka pygmies and Bantu bushmen who have sighted a large unknown animal that bears more than a superficial resemblance to a dinosaur.
Since 1996, John Kirk has been editor and publisher of the BCSCC Quarterly which is the flagship publication of the BCSCC. In demand at conferences, seminars, lectures and on television and radio programs, John has spoken all over North America and has appeared in programs on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, TLC, Discovery, CBC, CTV and the BBC.
In his personal life John spends much time studying the histories of Scottish Clans and is himself the president of the Clan Kirk Society. John is also an avid soccer enthusiast and player.
I like how Mr. Kirk disarms the hosts right away. They didn’t have a chance to get up on their high horse and talk down to him like I’ve seen happen in these type situations…And I agree- the young lady is the crazy one.
I really enjoyed watching this interview. It gave me a renewed sense of pride and excitement in being a cryptozoologist. Lately for me, it feels that the chase is more important then understanding what is really going on in the world of cryptozoology.
This may sound blasphemous, but I would feel justified if the work that we did in researching these cryptids did not yield what we hoped for because of what Mr. Kirk said about figuring out what these creatures are and where they fit into the whole zoological aspect.
I think for me, shows like MonsterQuest (again this may be blasphemous) did a bit of disservice to the cryptozoology field in the sense that it never moved the information of what we learned forward. Yes they would travel to locations and possibly somewhat almost kinda see something maybe and let the legend linger, but the show never made it seem like they had gathered some information that they did not learn from previous expeditions and help use it to verify or deny the legend. Now they may have, and it was edited out of the program, but I felt like at the end of each episode we were right back at the same spot an hour before.
That’s why listening to Mr. Kirk, I really felt happy and a bit vindicated that being a cryptozoolgist allows us to still wonder and question our world and still explore and look at things differently. I am proud to be a member of the BCSCC and thank you Mr. Kirk for reminding me why I still believe.