Chasing Discovery: The Struggles of Cryptozoologists
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 22nd, 2011
In line with the forthcoming new series being hosted by Pat Spain, here’s a flashback to his first appearance in this 2008 documentary:
There’s something out there…
And the men and women of cryptozoology are determined to find it. The researchers in this relatively obscure science face ridicule, financial struggles and harsh skepticism in their quest to uncover the secrets of mystery animals such as Bigfoot, Nessie and Chupacabras.
This is their story…
Chasing Discovery seeks to understand the researchers who delve into the zoological unknown. The cryptozoologists featured have devoted decades to researching undiscovered animals, and are among the foremost researchers in the field. Many scientists have deemed cryptozoology a pseudoscience and a poor use of time, but these researchers are unfazed.
The financial sacrifices that they have made have allowed the research to continue, but even the world’s leading cryptozoologist struggles to pay the rent each month.
Chasing Discovery takes a unique approach towards cryptozoology, turning the cameras on the researchers themselves rather than focusing on the animals they study. It is the story of unyielding passion in a field of uncertainty.
Total Running Time: 40 minutes
Bonus Features: 15 minutes of bonus features, including a Loren Coleman guided tour through the International Cryptozoology Museum, and Jeff Meldrum giving a tour of his Idaho State University research lab, featuring more than two hundred Bigfoot footprint casts.
Characters (in alphabetical order):
Cryptozoologists
Loren Coleman
Gary Mangiacopra
Scott Mardis
Jeff Meldrum
Pat Spain
Biologists
Ellen Marsden
Psychologists
Ari Kirshenbaum
Steven Lawyer
Chasing Discovery was filmed, produced and edited by Mark Gould and Bill O’Connor for Straight to DVD Productions, © 2008. The documentary premiered April 24, 2008, at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont. It is available on DVD now at the site linked to the name of the film, here: Chasing Discovery.
(I note the symbol of the documentary, used for their DVD cover art and their webpage, is the bronze sculpture, above, of a Nape, specfically created and crafted for me and my collection by artist Dick Klyver.)
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.
