Cryptozoologists Will Always Have Paris
Posted by: Loren Coleman on September 23rd, 2006
Dr. Marie-Jeanne Koffmann
During a forthcoming conference in Paris on October 14, 2006, cryptozoologists and hominologists will meet and discuss items of cryptozoological interest. (The French language overview of the meeting can be found below the Richard Klyver illustration of the Almas.)
At the gathering, zoologist François de Sarre will discuss unknown hairy hominoids. Michel Meurger, who wrote a book about his sociological thoughts on lake monsters, will also be speaking on other matters. Michel Raynal, Jean Roche, and Jean-Luc Rivera, all well-known French cryptozoologists, shall be attending apparently, as well.
Dr. Marie-Jeanne Koffmann, one of the world’s top researchers on the Almasty, for reasons of health, is likely not to be able to attend. Consequently, she will be replaced by Benoît Grison, a university specialist in the cryptozoology, who will speak to the conference about the topic.
Born in France in 1919, Marie-Jeanne Koffmann, as per Cryptozoology A to Z, spent most of her life in USSR, as a surgeon at Moscow hospitals and a mountaineer. She became interested in the “Snowman” problem in the 1950s, particularly in Kabarda (Caucasus), where she recorded hundreds of sightings of the Almasty, the local wild men.
Koffmann has lead an amazing life, sometimes filled full of mystery itself. From 1948 to 1954, Koffmann was held in a gulag (Soviet labor camp) after being accused of spying for the French. Four years after her release, she was picked by the Soviet Union to join their official expedition to the Pamirs. She published a synthesis of her remarkable fieldwork research in the magazine Archéologia. Marie-Jeanne Koffmann is the former president of the Russian Society of Cryptozoology.
Despite rumors that she died in the 1990s and has not been seen publicly for some time, Koffmann who would be 87, remains alive and may attend the conference. If Dr. Koffmann makes a last minute appearance, the conference will be rearranged to take advantage of her availability.
Click the Richard Klyver’s Almas drawings, above, for a larger view.
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Le Premier Congrès Fortéen Français
Paris le 14 October 2006
Afin de marquer le cinquième anniversaire de la parution de La Gazette Fortéenne, l’ODS organise le samedi 14 octobre 2006 un Congrès Fortéen d’une journée à Paris dans un lieu prestigieux, l’Atelier Z (Centre Culturel Christiane Peugeot), 62 avenue de la Grande Armée, 75017 (métro Argentine ou Porte Maillot).
Cette journée se déroulera autour de 5 interventions, suivies chacune de questions-réponses, couvrant différents domaines du fortéanisme. Le programme (sous réserve de modifications) sera le suivant:
10h : Ouverture du Congrès par Jean-Luc Rivera
10h15 – 11h15 : François de Sarre, zoologiste, parlera de la bipédie initiale et de ses liens avec les hominidés encore inconnus.
11h30 – 12h30 : Bertrand Méheust, auteur de nombreux ouvrages et membre du Comité directeur de l’Institut Métapsychique International, parlera de ses recherches sur l’histoire de la parapsychologie.
12h30 – 14h : pause déjeuner (libre)
14h – 15h : Fabrice Bonvin, auteur de OVNIs Les agents du changement, sur les rapports entre OVNI et phénomènes fortéens.
15h15 – 16h15 : le Dr. Marie-Jeanne Koffmann, médecin et spécialiste de l’almasty du Caucase, pour des raisons de santé, risque de ne pas pouvoir venir : en conséquence elle sera remplacée par Benoît Grison, universitaire et spécialiste de la cryptozoologie, qui nous parlera de « La Cryptozoologie aujourd’hui : avancées, butées, et controverses ». Si le Dr. Koffmann peut malgré tout venir, ce que nous souhaitons, elle fera aussi son intervention et nous décalerons légèrement l’heure de clôture.
16h30 – 17h30 : Michel Meurger, auteur, fera une synthèse du fortéanisme contemporain.
17h30 – 18h : clôture du colloque.
La soirée se poursuivra dans un restaurant proche avec un dîner qui offrira aux convives la possibilité de continuer la discussion avec les intervenants et les participants.
La salle de réunion ne comprenant qu’un nombre limité de sièges, l’admission se fera uniquement sur inscription préalable, accompagnée d’un chèque de 10 euros par personne pour le Congrès. Les inscrits désireux de participer au dîner ajouteront 25 euros pour le menu fixe négocié avec le restaurant, soit 35 euros par personne pour la journée plus le dîner.
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.
“fortéanisme contemporain”
Way cool, dude!
Hoping the conference is “Tres bon.”
Did she ever see one herself?
Not as far as I know from the books by Bayanov and Bourtsev.
To my surprise I see neither of them in the list of participants of this workshop.