Tales of the Yowie
Posted by: Nick Redfern on May 6th, 2012
Over at the Center for Fortean Zoology Australia blog, you can find a new post titled Book review: Yowie Tales 1. No prizes for guessing the subject matter of this one!
That’s right: it’s a review of a new book (actually, the first of four) from Brett Green on Australia’s most famous man-beast.
In reviewing the book, Mike Williams says:
“I found the stories and reports by eyewitnesses really interesting and look forward to the second book by Brett. The two images purportedly of yowies, if proven to be real one day, could be some of the most important secondary evidence of unusual creatures ever recorded! The Queensland area that Brett concentrates on in his book surpasses, in many ways, the Blue Mountains of NSW, which has been promoted for many years now as a Yowie ‘hot spot’. ‘Yowie Tales’ is a definite ‘must have’ for any cryptozoology enthusiast in Australia. Those interested in Bigfoot-type phenomena will be equally enthralled by tales of strange encounters in the Australian bush.”
And, if the above has provoked your interest, you can buy a copy of Brett Green’s Yowie Tales right here.
About Nick Redfern
Punk music fan, Tennents Super and Carlsberg Special Brew beer fan, horror film fan, chocolate fan, like to wear black clothes, like to stay up late. Work as a writer.
On his CFZ website Fortean investigator, Mike Williams, also posed some excellent questions to Brett Green regarding the authenticity of his Yowie photos. Green’s only response was “Under legal advice, the author has been advised not to make any comment on any unreliable or approved Internet source to any person not duly authorised while a current situation is being investigated.”
Despite having been commended for stellar work with the local scouting movement, Brett Green also has a long and well-documented history of fantasy and fakery (which is not mentioned by Williams). The “Tales of a Warrior” series are claimed to be transcribed from the diaries and notes of John and James Green 1840 to 1938 have been shown to be works of fiction written by Brett Green himself (Green’s family ancestors never even visited Queensland). Green also faked artifacts and was instrumental in the infamous Gympie Pyramid hoax.
Williams is correct in stating that the “two images purportedly of yowies, if proven to be real one day, could be some of the most important secondary evidence of unusual creatures ever recorded!” but fails to grasp that if the images are shown to be fake that it represents the tip of the iceberg of the subculture of Yowie fakery in Australia.
Initially, I was excited about the publishing of a new book about our hairy friend, the yowie.
But, I also read the dubious photo story article mention by Night Stalker above. So then I googled ‘Brett J Green’ and came across details about his “Tails of a Warrior” series. Check it out and consider. Yowie Tales 1 suggest there are more to follow and after reading the Cropper/Healy classic on the subject, I am wondering what more one can write? Unless, of course, Mr. Green has been given access to the legendary Rex Gilroy’s purported 3,000 yowie sightings….
Why single out Gilroy for ridiculous claims? The main source of Healy and Cropper’s “classic” claims there are a whopping 10,000 Yowie reports.
What more can be written about the Yowie? How about the real story – the sensationalism, the fakery, the storytelling, the art of misidentification, the Bigfoot-style shenanigans of the internet-age, the New Age “nuttiness”. There are even a handful of very interesting cases but very little is known about them.
Ultimately, the Yowie is an all-too-human story rather than a biological (or even paranormal) one. Understanding the Yowie will go a long way to understanding the International Hairy Man of Mystery…