Death Cluster

Talk of the Mothman or Mokele-Mbembe curses aside, I find myself in the midst of some times that have me reeling and beyond my understanding.

My stepsister Shelley Atkins, 57, who was diagnosed with bone cancer less than two weeks ago, died around 7:30 pm, last night, June 9, 2008, in southern California. Shelley was also within my kinship tree as a cousin. (My mother’s second husband was my mother’s first cousin’s widower husband, and thus the children who were my mother’s second cousins then became her stepchildren – and by extension, my stepsiblings.)

Shelley’s death follows my mother’s sudden death on April 9, 2008, in Riverside, California.

After my mom (Anna Atkins) died, as mentioned before, my younger brother Bill suffered kidney failure and other life-threatening health concerns. He was in the hospital, near death, for two weeks. He’s not out of the woods yet, even though he’s at home.

My youngest brother Jerry, who has written two Fortean books of some import, was diagnosed with throat cancer on April 25, 2008. Although he was supposed to have had an operation to remove his lymph nodes and more from his throat by now, it’s been delayed to check out his heart.

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.

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