Ancient History of Cryptozoology
Posted by: Loren Coleman on November 30th, 2008
For those who missed it and who might be looking for a bit of intellectual weekend reading, here is a short history of cryptozoology, which you may download here: Cryptozoology in the Medieval and Modern Worlds.
(I’m on the road, traveling for a couple weeks, and various items may reflect uploading before my trip.)
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.
I’m surprised that there is no mention of the jentilak, of Basque tradition. The Basque people, being the native Iberians and the oldest culture in all of Europe, would be the most likely to have seen any hairy hominids in their midst. My wife is half Basque, and when I was there visiting her family a few Christmases ago I saw a man dressed as Olentzero, (their “santa” type figure). Legend has it Olentzero was the last of a race of hairy giants (jentilak). His appearance, was a bearded human, with coal dust on his face making it dark/black.
I had forgotten about that until we were talking to our kids about Olentzero the other night, and my wife mentioned the legend. I looked it up in Loren’s Field guide to Bigfoot, and it wasn’t in there either. There isn’t a lot of information on the internet about it, so I’m curious if anybody has heard of the jentilak, and can give us some more information.
Loren, do you know anything about these hairy giants?
On a side note, the reason my wife’s great grandfather chose Western Oregon to immigrate to was it’s similarity to the Pyrenees.
Thanks