Q&A With Fans of Lost Tapes
Posted by: Loren Coleman on November 3rd, 2010
FYI….
Animal Planet has posted “Interview With Loren Coleman: A Q&A with the fans of Lost Tapes.”
Questions which were sent in by viewers are answered. I’ll pass along one such exchange.
Jose Ramirez: Should we be living in fear of certain creatures metioned in Lost Tapes?
Loren Coleman: I think that people that are not used to being in wilderness areas, in the woods, in the wild, should always be careful. Wildlife are wild, and animals can become very violent whether they’re a cryptid or known animal. So yes, I think that caution in wooded areas and forests, as well as in places like deserts and the mountains: people need to be careful whenever they’re out of their regular environment.
(Readers should be aware that my answers were transcribed and therefore some typos exist, e.g. “temporal” instead of what I said, “temperate,”)
Also…
The Occult Section published an “Interview with Loren Coleman”, conducted by Jason Stroming.
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.
My question didn’t get answered, and I think its the most important question asked, and connects to nearly every (relatively un-cryptozoological) other question asked:
“Greetings Mr. Coleman,
Could you explain to me why the world doesn’t know what cryptozoology REALLY is?
By this I mean, can you explain why the world has decided to take Heuvelmans’ zoological science and turned it into hunting aliens, ghosts, and vampires, when cryptozoology is about zoological studies?
Do you think this is why the vast majority of people consider cryptozoology a psuedoscience?
Thank you for your time”
Dear jtmkryptos
There were scores of questions. Discovery.com picked a selection and interviewed me for over an hour just with those. I suppose some were randomly left out. I’m sure you feel your question was the most important, just as the next person felt about theirs.
Needless to say, my knowledge as to what others think, of course, is not omnipotent. I have no idea why a few (I do not think it is most) people would associate cryptozoology with the purely paranormal. Bernard Heuvelmans, Ivan T. Sanderson and many of my peers and I have made great strides in educating the general public about the realistic parameters of cryptozoology. I find the modern media and especially the online and electronic communities infrequently mix everything up. As opposed to getting frustrated, this merely means I need to try harder to be clear in what I say, educate more, and spread critical thinking within the cryptozoological works I produce.
BTW, I do not waste my time getting defensive and doing battle with people who wish to label cryptozoology as a “pseudoscience.” Their minds are usually already made up about how they wish to categorize my field, and I would rather be doing cryptozoology than trying to convince someone it is not something it isn’t.
Cheers,
Loren
Thank you.
You have no idea how much you have helped me in saying this to me,
Jake
I think another reason Cryptozoology doesn’t get much play is that it is not taught in biology or science classes and it is often lumped in with paranormal. That may be due to the fact that in the past a lot of cryptozoology has been thrown in with all things Fortean, which covers the whole gambit of “oddities.”
And some of the “Weird” creatures people have seen have been so out of the norm from “real” creatures that it’s easy to lump crypto in with the fortean or supernatural. I think things like werewolves and the lizard men and so on that have rare or almost no evidence beyond a handful of sightings, and it ends up getting relegated to supernatural cryptozoological.
I DO think cryptozoology is gaining ground, in large part to the internet–like minded people can come to sites such as this and find out it’s not just a handful of people that buy into cryptzoology, but people from all across the world.
As far as things to be afraid of…any animal can be dangerous if you lack some respect and underestimate them (my cousin once wanted to “mess” with an oppossum and I matter of factly told him that if we did it could kick the crap out of both of us:).
I think the ‘Messin with Sasquatch’ commercials sum it up. 🙂
Because most people think Bigfoot and the Lochness Monster when you mention Cryptozoology. No disrespect but neither gets any real respect reasearch wise and thats a true shame. When in fact it’s much more broad and diverse with all manner of possible animals and life forms to ponder.