May 23, 2012

Remembering Aaron

Ten years ago, a great friend of cryptozoology lost his son. Parents never forget. We should not either, and we honor the decade anniversary of Aaron’s passing with a moment here.

Aaron Stephen Rebsamen, 14 (born October 13, 1987), died unexpectedly on Thursday, May 23, 2002, in his Fort Smith, Arkansas home.  He was the beloved son of the well-known cryptozoology artist, William Rebsamen and his wife, Barbie.

Bill did the cover illustration of Mothman for my book, Mothman and Other Curious Encounters, which was published in January 2002.  Under a tight deadline after the publisher rejected earlier images from another source, Bill Rebsamen created the Mothman painting, overnight, in one creative inspiration.

Witnesses, such as the late Linda Scarberry (see here and here), upon seeing Rebsamen’s full-length, colored illustration of Mothman, said it was the best drawing, which most matched what was first seen on November 15, 1966.

For those who wish to visit the Rebsamens’s “Aaron Rebsamen Memorial Web Site,” please click here.

Loren Coleman 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.

Filed under Cryptoart, CryptoZoo News, Mothman, Obituaries, Year In Review