December 17, 2010
It appears too early to claim that an international trend is in the making, but the observation needs to be made that there is an indication that a second generation of supporters of cryptozoology and of cryptozoologists is springing up in our midst. They are, literally, the “Children of Cryptozoology.”
This has hit home with a bang via the press accounts from the UK about the son of Tim Dinsdale (more details at the bottom), the famed Loch Ness Monster researcher who passed away in the 1980s. That story came as news of the children of a Bigfooter who died earlier this year said they were going to carry on his hunt for the hairy forest giants.
Therefore, this seems like a good topic for a top ten list for 2010, so here goes. These are the top ten groups of cryptozoology children who are currently making an impact related to this field today.
The sons of a cryptozoologist in the wilds of the Everglades, doing a Skunk Ape comparative size analysis among the palmettos.
Children of Cryptozoology ~ 2010
1. Malcolm, a sports news professional in Boston, and Caleb, an on-break university student, both of who are directors of the board of the cryptozoology museum in Maine, are the sons of cryptozoologist Loren Coleman. They have gone monster hunting to Loch Ness in Scotland, to Nova Scotia, into the Everglades, and to other locations around the world. They keep the record straight when asked for their cryptozoological opinions by the media, and are very grounded that their father’s passion is not necessarily their own, as it should be.
2. Darwin, a music teacher in Berkeley, California, Tamara, a television news professional in Phoenix, Arizona, and Damian, a classical archaeologist and Egyptologist in Tucson, Arizona, are the children of International Society of Cryptozoology founder, the late Richard Greenwell. Darwin was intrigued by cryptozoology for years, and went with his father on various expeditions, as had the others, in later years.
3. Sons Justice and Robert, daughter, Suzi Rines Toth, and stepdaughter, Laura Hayes-Heur, are the children of the late Robert Rines, Loch Ness Monster searcher and Bigfoot research funder. Justice often accompanied his father on his expeditions to Loch Ness, and Rines’s children remain committed to the genuine rendering of their father’s Loch Ness legacy.
4. Simon, son of Loch Ness Monster hunter Tim Dinsdale, has taken on the mandate of proving that his father’s 1960 film shows an unknown creature in Loch Ness.
5. Erik and Martin, sons of British Columbian Sasquatch hunter, the late Rene’ Dahinden, are the safekeepers of their father’s copyrights and holdings, and oversee that the Dahinden legacy is maintained properly.
6. Lee and Jimmy Hickman are the grandsons of Bigfoot prankster, the late Ivan Marx, and, along with their ally Tom Biscardi, carry on their father’s unique form of Bigfoot interest.
7. Michael, Larry and Rick, sons of the Bigfoot hoaxster, the late Ray Wallace are the ones who revealed Ray’s wooden Bigfoot feet and are the owners of the fake feet Ray created. They and Ray’s nephew Dale keep strict control of the fakes’ whereabouts in their hands.
8. The children and grandchildren of the leaders and sponsors of the Slick-Johnson Snowman Expeditions of 1958 and 1959, Tom Slick and F. Kirk Johnson, have quietly continued supporting, funding, and asking the hard questions of zoology, biology, and the other sciences. They are deserving of being here, but out of respect for their wishes for confidentiality, their specific names will not grace this list.
9. As a child, Autumn Williams saw two hair-covered creatures, and as the daughter of Sali Sheppard-Wolford, a Bigfoot eyewitness, local researcher, and author of a memior on the subject, Autumn has likewise written a book and carried on in a family tradition of Sasquatch interest.
10. Lori Simmons and Mike Wallace, the children of Cascade Mountains Bigfoot hunter the late Don Wallace, are both actively tracking Sasquatch in the western USA.
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Tim Dinsdale, at Loch Ness.
This week, in London, The Daily Telegraph noted, in part:
Simon Dinsdale, a retired police detective from Essex, insists that the two minute film recorded 50 years ago by his father, a famous Nessie-hunter, is genuine.
Simon Dinsdale, during a music performance.The footage, shot by Tim Dinsdale in 1960, is one of the best-known images put forward as evidence by those who insist on the existence of the mysterious creature.
Now the insistence of those who believe in Nessie that the film is genuine has been lent new weight after Mr Dinsdale claimed he had seen the monster with his own eyes on two occasions.
Mr Dinsdale Sr, an aeronautical engineer in the RAF who died in 1987, was one of the world’s leading Nessie-hunters, making 56 expeditions to Loch Ness and writing a number of books on the subject.
When his footage was sent to the RAF for analysis, experts determined that the mysterious shape seen moving around in the water was neither a boat nor a submarine, but an “unknown inanimate object”.
Simon, his son, is determined to convince the public the video is authentic and discussed his belief in the mysterious monster in an interview with the BBC, [which was broadcast on Monday, December 13, 2010].
He said: “I saw this immense, extraordinary object, it looked like the back of a huge animal.
“It stood two or three feet (0.6m to 0.9m) out of the water, four or five feet (1.2m to 1.5m) across, reddish brown and had a blotch on the left flank which I could see very clearly.
“And then it started to move – a most electrifying moment.”
Mr Dinsdale Jr, who spent his career examining evidence and was involved in tracking down serial killer Steve Wright in Ipswich, is adamant the film can not be a hoax.
He said: “I’m experienced at looking at evidence and I can tell you that on the balance of probabilities there is something large and unknown living in this loch.”
This news has dovetailed with the news of a daughter of a Bigfooter, Lori Simmons, who has decided to carry on the work of her father:
After the passing of Lori Simmons’s Dad, Donald Lee Wallace, a man who tracked Bigfoot for 28 years, she needed to fulfill a promise to him. That promise was to share her Dad’s knowledge of tracking Bigfoot. It was Don’s dying wish to publish his book called Tracking Bigfoot. He was a man who lived in the North Cascade Mt. for the past 30 years and tells about his real life experiences….The book comes with real life audio of Don as he enters the woods and shares with you his experiences….Don battled cancer for many years and lost that battle on April 14, 2010….Lori Simmons fulfills her Dad’s dying wish by finishing the book with her Dad in spirit. Lori Simmons is the co-author of the book Tracking Bigfoot. She finished her dad’s book with adding her amazing experience in Bigfoot country with her brother Mike. Lori and Mike are both actively tracking Bigfoot, and recently Lori tracked Bigfoot with Tyler Bounds of BFRO in the North Cascades National Forest.
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 Abominable Snowman, Bigfoot, Breaking News, Cryptomundo Exclusive, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Loch Ness Monster, Men in Cryptozoology, Pop Culture, Sasquatch, Women in Cryptozoology
