Mokele-Mbembe Deaths
Posted by: Loren Coleman on March 1st, 2008
As I mentioned in 2005, when several Mokele-mbembe researchers died in a temporal cluster, I’m not talking about a curse. I’m merely noticing that several African-linked researchers have passed away seemingly together.
The sudden death of Scott Norman at 43 years of age merely goes to reinforce my memories of all of these losses.
The Mokele-mbembe-involved individuals who have recently passed away, some who have died suddenly, are:
Scott Norman, 43, who was a member of the CryptoSafari and the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club expedition to Africa in search of Mokele-Mbembe in 2001. Scott died suddenly in Fullerton, California, on February 29, 2008, from a blood clot, apparently. Norman tribute.
Scott Norman.
Mark K. Bayless, 46, moderator of a cryptozoology group and an active researcher, died in Berkeley, California, from complications of diabetes on the morning of November 1, 2006. For at least a decade, Mark studied the relationship of Mokele-mobembe, Kipeckwe, and Akani and other African cryptids to his speciality. A herpetoculturist for 23 years, he had written extensively about giant monitor lizards, especially the African species, including in his recent book Savannah Monitors. Bayless tribute.
Pastor Eugene P. Thomas, 78, a missionary for several years among the Congo pygmies, died on December 21, 2005, in Canton, Ohio. It was Reverend Eugene Thomas who first told James Powell and Dr. Roy Mackal that pygmies in 1959 said they had killed a Mokele-mbembe. Thomas tribute.
Rev. Eugene Thomas and Sandy Thomas in 1986. Photograph courtesy of William Gibbons.
Dr. Herman Regusters , 72, an aerospace engineer who worked on many NASA and JPL projects, died December 19, 2005, at Huntington Beach, California. Regusters conducted two expeditions to Lake Tele, in 1981 and 1992. Regusters tribute.
Herman Regusters.
J. Richard Greenwell, 63, cofounder of the defunct International Society of Cryptozoology (ISC), died November 1, 2005, of cancer, in Tucson, Arizona. Greenwell accompanied Roy Mackal on his second Mokele-mbembe expedition to Lake Tele in the Congo.Greenwell tribute. More on Greenwell.
Richard Greenwell, on the right.
Pastor Phil Anderton, 48, who was a missionary for 15 years in the Cameroons among the Baku pygmies, died in Kansas City, of a brain tumor, on August 24, 2005. Anderton assisted several of the Bill Gibbons-John Kirk-Scott Norman expeditions in the Cameroons. Anderton tribute.
Happily, despite a heart attack five years ago, Roy Mackal is strong and healthy, as are John Kirk, Bill Gibbons, Milt Marcy, Peter Beach, Rob Mullin, and other individuals linked to past Mokele-mbembe expeditions.
Mokele-mbembe art courtesy of Bill Rebsamen. Click on image directly above for a larger view.
- Similar Phenomena:
- Scott Norman: Update »
terrible loss….
That is interesting. Probably just all a coincidence, but you never know.
Very sad
Nicely done article…
Never knew there were so many so deeply involved in this esoterica.
Thanx to them for their efforts…
R.I.P.
Like plant girl said, one never knows…
Say not the struggle naught availeth…
So many of the names mentioned seem so young, including, of course, Scott Norman.