A Bridge Too Far…For Some
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 15th, 2007
You never know where a bridge will take you. This is the Devil’s Elbow bridge in Oklahoma, along Route 66. Photo: legendsofamerica.com
Whether you have thought my attention to the Mothman links has been wonderful or weird, most folks, let’s say, have had an opinion one way or another. A few have not understood why I would even be interested at all.
Yes, additionally, I’ve received grief from a verbal few for exploring a couple breaking stories to highlight the fact that dwelling just beneath the surface of such news – whether in Minnesota or China – a wealth of information exists. Frequently, I learn about cryptids, about curses, and about others’ cultures, as I research and write.
So, in terms of my psychiatric training, this is my defensive blog in the wake of finding out that a few feel all my bridges are too far out for them. 🙂
Let me elaborate. As opposed to talking about O.J. Simpson’s new book or Brittney Spears’ custody matters here, I do talk about wild animals, weirdness and wonders, as well as discoveries, disasters, and deaths, at Cryptomundo. Even in writing obituaries to celebrate people’s lives, I learn something new about the person and recall, hopefully, what they were trying to do on this earth.
Our worlds are really unknown, at least, hopefully those I choose to explore, and part of my job is to scratch beyond the norm and share what I find here.
Am I sensitive? Of course I am. It is the kind of guy I am (just ask my kids and ex-wives), so I’m allowed, once in awhile, to pause and explain why I’m taking you along for the ride I’m on.
Some of what I’ve seen coming out of Minnesota was as shallow as what I saw news reporters doing after Ray Wallace died or when the latest Nessie video was shown. The deeper stories behind the headlines are the ones I want to always ask myself to pursue.
Sometimes asking simple questions reveals weaknesses and sometimes it surprisingly exposes new information. Metaphors abound all around for me. Take, for instance, the simple age of the I-35W Bridge.
Actual specific information is important to me. Don’t you think in one of the more important mainstream stories of recent months that journalists could have dug a little deeper for some of their “facts”?
Even in the least complex, I’d say, the reporters fell down. How old was Minnesota’s I-35W Bridge? Yes, we’ve all heard it was “forty years” old, just like the Silver Bridge, and that it went up the same year the Silver Bridge came down. But what happened when some of us wanted a little more exact date?
The partyline answer is so similar it appears to be coming from one source. Maybe it did. As it turns out, the internet, print, and broadcast news media accounts appear to be quoting one Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) “fact sheet,” which does not give a specific date. Instead, it generally says “in November of 1967” the Minnesota bridge was opened.
The I-35W Bridge fell on August 1, 2007, during rush hour. When did it open?
I asked the Minnesota Historical Society Library’s Reference Archivist Ruth Bauer Anderson to look into this matter, for a more specific date. After researching her archives and old newspaper files, she informed me she discovered the I-35W Bridge “opened on December 26, 1967.” She said that newspapers of the time noted the bridge would open on that date and then two specific photos on December 25, 1967, were published showing the signs for turning onto the bridge.
Since Christmas Day was on a Monday in 1967, it makes sense that if the state was going to open the bridge that week, on Tuesday, December 26th, they would want to publicize the fact. And they did.
The Silver Bridge fell on December 15, 1967, packed with holiday shoppers and people going home from work.
Therefore, the lifeline for the I-35W Bridge is December 26, 1967 – August 1, 2007, thus falling a few months short of being 40 years old. It will be remembered that the Silver Bridge of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapsed eleven days before that event, on December 15, 1967, at the same time that President Lyndon Johnson flipped the switch to turn on the lights on the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C.
Even I need to take breaks from tragedies. I won’t be talking about bridges for awhile, unless there’s some incredible sighting of a giant bird over the middle of a bridge right before it collapses, heaven forbid.
I have a forthcoming article in Fortean Times in which I will discuss the overlapping dates and other Celtic & Pagan calendar links between the Silver Bridge and I-35W collapses, not to mention the Mothman mythos too. In that article, I have more to say also about the strange “coincidences” between the Curse of Chief Cornstalk and the sacrifice of the Corn God. So, it’s back to routine cryptozoology here, hopefully, and no more Fortean bridge collapses, for awhile. I’ve never “believed” in things coming in threes, and I’m not looking for a third major collapse. Fenghuang and I-35W were beyond enough.
Some of us will continue to wander in this landscape. Wait until you read today’s Minneapolis City Pages article, “Stool Pigeons.” It is just one more example of a mention of how talking about the Minnesota bridge and Mothman is “bizarre.” It then jokingly asks, “Is Mothman assembling an army of avian crappers?” (The article looks at a theory that tons of bird droppings brought down the bridge.)
Charles Fort looked at the world through its frogs. It’s logical to me that some people would do the same thing via bird shit, while splatting that on my work. That’s okay. Pass me the gloves. I’ll keep on looking in all the dark corners.
For those that don’t understand Forteans have a sense of humor in the midst of tragedy to take a new view of the world,…well, more about that some other time….
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
We all see the world through our own personal viewpoint, and if you happen to see a cryptozoological aura to events, that shouldn’t be any more or less derided than those who see everything as political or economical or sexual.
Living in Wisconsin, just three short hours from the 35W bridge (and having crossed it far too many times to count), the news has been dominated by the disaster. And yet, there are questions left unasked that irked me to no end.
It just seems that the dialogue nowadays has been cheapened to accept only one viewpoint, and all others are either excluded or made fun of. The universe is far too exciting and varied to put blinders on and not open your mind to possibilities.
I got your back Mr. Coleman; if anyone should bring this information together it should be you. If people can’t understand that there are similarities and that you are just pointing them out than they are not open minded people. Yes it is a tragedy but, there are other motives which the map of NASCO will prove. Carry on with the cool Fortean outlook.
Don’t worry Loren, there are those of us out here who are thankful that someone is taking the lead in documenting and looking more deeply into these weirdnesses. And it’s all the better that that someone should be you.
And thanks for using a pic of NASCO with the url for http://www.StopSPP.com … that’s a meme that needs spreading.
SMiles
Loren,
The “dark corners” are where I like to be – instead of turning on the TV news and seeing Brittney Spears’ underwear.
Loren,
or lack thereof, perhaps?
I totally agree. If dark is wrong, I don’t want to be light.
i like the world better with some mind bending coincidences. or some weird mystery animal. it justs adds more to the otherwise boring world. if we knew everything, the world would be incredibly boring. that is why i love this site. it delves into the mysteries of the world when most people just dismiss them. when people dismiss mysteries, its all the more satisfying to prove them wrong or give good facts about it. people should have open minds to all the mysteries happening all around the world. so thank you Cryptomundo, for going out on a limb and talk about things most people dont.
“The secret of life is not to be in the know, but to be in the mystery.”
Loren, I appreciate your courage in choosing to live where there may be no exact, easy answers (and if there are, they’ll take a lot of work to get). Too many people live in a world dictated to them by television and what “people have always told them”. Not enough individuals ask questions. It’s honorable that you and many others like you DO ask questions.
I sure appreciate it. The 9 to 5 humans-know-everything-about-the-world delusion sure is BORING. 🙂
~Y
“I shall be accused of having assembled lies, yarns, hoaxes, and superstitions. To some degree I think so myself. To some degree I do not. I offer the data.”
Charles Fort
That is a quote that I have always liked and it has been going through my head as I read of these events that Loren has been addressing here. In my opinion, what we are getting here in these articles are the facts involved behind the cases, some of those facts very odd and very coincidental, but all fascinating. We have not been asked to embrace any one theory or another and have not had any idea thrust upon us. We are being offered the data on a very bizarre string of events, and I feel that Loren has just put it out there and allowed us to come to our own conclusions. In my opinion, respect has been shown towards the readers here towards allowing us to do with the data presented what we will. Whether you want to believe any of these events are based on any Fortean occurrences or not, one thing that I think can be said with reasonable certainty is that sometime very odd things seem to be going on in this world of ours.
I am personally more interested in the zoological aspects of this site, but nevertheless I have been quite intrigued by this series of articles and I appreciate that Loren has taken the time to shine some light into the dark corners of our world. As long as these sorts of stories are posted here, I’ll be reading them.
as a fortean investigator you should be investigating areas of interest to YOU and as stated above if you see similarities among certain events you should indeed continue. There are options for those who aren’t interested in this particular topic.
Thanks’ Loren,
…. This site is the BEST….
Loren,
I can’t say anything that hasn’t already been said. I just wanted you to know you’ve got another supporter out there. (You’re my all-time favorite Coast to Coast AM guest, by the way.)
Anyway, I read a quote by Einstein today that I think can be applied here:
“As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.”
It comforts me to think of all that darkness out there.
~Kitty Cat Bandit
Loren,
This is your site and it is your right to post whatever you want. I thank you for allowing dissenting views in the readers response.
However, I do not think you add credibility to the topic of cryptozoology when you go completely to the deep end of the pool known as Fortean. In my humble view, Forteans want their cake and to eat it too. If some phenomenon seems too weird to be true, then it may be true because it is too weird. (The “We live in a weird world” mantra). We shouldn’t forget that Fort wrote to discredit mainstream science and to contradict everyday rationalism.
You will never lack for adherents to this view (just look above for comments of those who willfully admit to a graving for “darkness” and an aversion to the “light”). But I think you cheapen the whole topic of cryptozoology when you give in to your flights of Fortean fancy.
For some reason I am reminded of one of my (many) favorite lines from the book “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”: “We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!”
No, this is not presented as a criticism of anyone here. Just a funny quote.
Look, I do not appreciate being judged by people that use targeted verbal yardsticks, and would prefer if some individuals merely see these differences as differences; let’s keep it there. Using words like “credibility” has too many value-laden trigger emotions tied to it.
Mr. “jerrywayne,” for example, only confirms my sense that a random few people don’t know what the Fortean point of view is. If people characterize a Fortean POV as “graving for darkness,” more work needs to be done here.
In reality, exploring and finding new things in the unknown (dark) and bringing them into the known (light) is the focus, in Forteana and cryptozoology. As Ivan T. Sanderson taught me, skeptically but open-mindedly dealing with the tangible intangibles is definitely in line with being a cryptozoologist, and I retain that core mission as a Fortean and a cryptozoologist.
Fortean is not the deep end of the pool, unless you can’t swim of course. Cryptozoology rules, and Forteans rule, bottom line. A Cryptozoologist must look at all angles and Loren knows this. There are no boundaries. I don’t care if you wrote about raining frogs all week, as long as there is something better than that lame mainstream boo-boo news.
Cryptomundo rules!!! Rules!!! And people should open their minds. I don’t see how people write on this site, but don’t understand a Forteans outlook. Unreal.
Looking forward to reading your FT article on Celtic and Pagan links between the Silver and I-35W bridge collapses. I applaud your courage in looking at the shades of grey between events. I agree that Charles Fort and Ivan T. Sanderson taught us to look at the world skeptically. The media coverage of today will become the history of tomorrow which is all too often biased and shallow.
You are so awesome, Loren. And your thoughts on everything crypto-related or Fortean is what keeps me coming back.
I appreciate what you do! 🙂
Loren,
Apparently I misunderstood your initial post. I thought you were looking for an open ended discussion, pro and con, of Fortean posts at a cryptozoology site.
Concerning my “craving the darkness” comment:
1. As you should understand, I was making a value judgement concerning the linkage of Fortean ideas with cryptozoology. I am entitled to this as my opinion as well as you are entitled to a contrary opinion. (This does not imply that I am some “random” dunce that doesn’t understand Forteana.)
2. Actually, I was using the “darkness” metaphor because others had used it in a favorable way in posts above mine.
To clarify my view: I hold a conservative view concerning cryptozoology. I believe cryptozoology should find itself as a sub-discipline of the life sciences, probably not as important as, say, evolutionary science, but nonetheless legitimate.
This view runs counter to a Fortean takeover of cryptozoology interests. The Fortean’s unstated premise is that “conventional wisdom” as acquired over the centuries (through the sciences and rational thought) is inadequate in accounting for anomalous events. This view allows the Fortean to propose all sorts of explanations for phenomena that are improbable on their face (but are paradoxically as probable as mundane explanations under the Fortean view.)
I believe there is a reason why folks have linked Fortean ideas (basically anti-rational and anti-scientific) with cryptozoology (a proposed scientific descipline). They simply want to be able to entertain the most sensational and romantic ideas and not be tied down to more realistic, mundane explantions. You and I may disagree as to the result of this marriage: light or darkness?