Elementum Bestia
Posted by: Loren Coleman on April 29th, 2007
Craig Heinselman has completed his compiled and edited massive opus, Elementum Bestia.
The following chapters are in the book:
The American Sârâph: An Unnatural History of Winged Snakes in North America by Scott Maruna
The Case of the Grey Ghost by Craig Heinselman
Littlefoot – The Junjudee by Tony Healy and Paul Cropper
The Hobbits of Flores: A New Genus of Hominid – Parahomo by Dr Dwight Smith and Gary Mangiacopra
Maned Mystery Cats and Panthera atrox by Loren Coleman
Antediluvian Forms in South America? by Phillip O’Donnell
In Search of Rare Carnivorous Marsupials: An Examination of the Evidence for Their Survival by Chris Rehberg
New Zealand Mystery Biped? by Tony Lucas
“Aye, and behind the Cameroon’s there’s things living” by Scott Norman
Sasquatch Hoaxes by Diane Stocking
Bigfoot in Art History: Prehistoric to Early Medieval Period by Scott Marlowe
The Genesis of the Annual Bigfoot Conference / Expo by Don Keating
The Western Bigfoot Society – A History by Ray Crowe
To the Credulous Reader by JP O’Neill
A Classification System for Large , Unidentified Marine Animals Based on the Examination of Reported Observations by Bruce Champagne
Cryptofiction – One Reader’s Thoughts by Matt Bille
The Chupacabra by DL Tanner
Remember the Coelacanth by Lee Murphy
Cleve Hopper’s Goat by Gerry Bacon
Stick Doll by Blake Templeton
Creatures of the Fire: Cryptozoology in Ancient and Contemporary Perspective by Dr. Peter Dendle
The Global Search for New Species by Matt Bille
You may order Elementum Bestia for $11.99, directly from Lulu.com.
Lulu notes the construction of the book is via “perfect binding.” “Perfect binding” is the traditional name for a paperback. The book is thus a standard paperback binding, not spiral bound, in a 8.5 x 11 format at 295 pages, with an index, a mainstream printing method vs. the previous and past printings in Craig’s Crypto spiral-bound monograph series.
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.
Thanks for the heads up, I’ll add it to my buy list.
Perfect binding, of course, is a softcover bind with a flat spine on which the title can be printed. It’s a step up in quality from GBC (spiral) binding and stapled-spine binding but not quite as luxurious as saddlestitching. Sounds like a great deal at 11.99.
Looks like some fascinating stuff in there. I just hope ‘Antediluvian forms…’ doesn’t mean that some Creationist material has crept in.
The term “Antediluvian” can also apply as “from or belonging to a much earlier time”…… It is in this meaning the term is utilized.
However, there are more “creationist” researchers out there than many may think, and some (not all) hold strong skills in analysis and research.
A future work, or potential one, deals with this mis-conception a bit further: “Theoretically Does it Matter: Evolution and Creationism in Cryptozoological Thought”…….
One additional note, the book is a standard oversized paperback printed through Print-On-Demand (POD). Previous books were printed and spiral-bound at a low quality level in presentation, but not content. The earlier ones are available still at http://www.strangeark.com/crypto.html
Craig Heinselman
Peterborough, NH
“Theoretically Does it Matter: Evolution and Creationism in Cryptozoological Thought”…….
Of course it doesnt. The cryptozoologist simply wants to know if a certain animal exists or not. If it does, then whatever origins theory you subscribe to may then be brought to bear on what your opinion of this beast is, was, etc-per your own pleasure. I am a creationist myself. If Bigfoot exists, it exists for the Darwinist, the Creationist, the Transpermiaist[if there is such a term], whoever. Or, think of it this way: if you wandered into a Sas’ territory, close to where it had its young, and it knocked you about 20 yards down the trail, would your’ level of pain or injury be different depending upon what ‘origin of species’ you subscribed to? Case closed.
looks interesting. good mix of stuff. and although they shouldn’t really, good production values do matter, so well done on the format.
It’s the use Creationists make of the limited and ambiguous evidence for cryptids (which is all the evidence we have) that bothers me. Example: I found an article on the monsters of Lake Labinkir by Richard Freeman reproduced on a Creationist website (without acknowledgement naturally), where it was being used to further the idea of surviving dinosaurs! There is no particular reason to believe that anything in Labinkir is even a reptile, let alone a dinosaur; if it was, it would no more suggest creation or ID than a surviving coelacanth does. I suspect if your Creationist were really knocked down by a Sasquatch, he would go home and write an article around Genesis 6:4 (‘There were giants in the earth in those days’, in my King James edition).
Personally, I feel the same way about a cryptozoology book with Creationist contributions as I would about a book on geography with chapters by the Flat Earth Society.
Well greatanarch, I think your post shows your own personal prejudices quite well. I think the molecules-to-man scenario is completely absurd on the face of it, and I’m hardly alone in that assessment. Evolution is an interesting theory, I suppose; but “darwinism” does not equal “science”. Unfortunately, it is the entrenched orthodoxy-for now. I don’t believe that will be the case in the near future as the Darwinist house of cards will come tumbling down in the not too distant future when the current tools of censorship, intellectual Stalinism, and crude ridicule fail to cover the gaping holes in the theory. Meanwhile, I hope neither one of us crosses a Squatch in an angry mood.
The entry that is being tied towards “creationism” in this book is in fact not creationist based. Yes, Phillip O’Donnell wrote a book that had a religious overtone (“Dinosaurs: Dead or Alive?”), but in this entry the work is based on the anecdotal accounts of South American cryptids as is not religious based.
The viewpoints, regardless, in these books are presented to show the diversity as well as style of authors. The diverse entries in this work cover a wide range, and as such each has a rightful place. Likewise the author selection was to bring forth both known and not-so-well-known authors, as such authors ranging from high school age through college educators were picked through a random generation of over 100 names.
If any of the pieces is to be controversial, it may well be Dr. Dwight Smith and Gary Mangiacopra’s entry in which Homo floresiensis is theorized as a distinct genus apart from Homo.
Craig Heinselman
Peterborough, NH
If ‘“darwinism” does not equal “science”’ (Bob K.), what DOES it equal?
Wiki sez Science can be defined as “…a system of acquiring knowledge based on the scientific method, as well as the organized body of knowledge gained through such research.”
“The Scientific Method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It is based on gathering observable, empirical, measureable evidence, subject to specific principles of reasoning. It seeks to explain the complexities of nature in a replicable way, and to use these explanations to make useful predictions.”
Isn’t that what Darwin did – investigate and acquire and observe and measure and objectively analyze evidence, then formulate and postulate and publish his Theories – in the Scientific manner?
Moreover, isn’t there room in all of Philosophy for the speculative co-existence of Intelligent Design (by whoever) and Evolution, considering all available evidence?
[And if ID was from a faultless God, how come I had (until recently) an apparently useless appendix?]
greatanarch, you obviously do not know what the word giants means in Genesis. It translates as bullies or tyrants. It has nothing to do with oversized people. All people who quote the scriptures should purchase a concordance and make sure they understand what is being said instead of letting their imaginations take over.