Talking to Brad Steiger

But there, in the midst of the death lists of the eyewitnesses to the JFK assassination and the strange demise of microbiologists, I ran across my “Mothman Death List.”

In an extremely well-researched, inexpensive, 539-page reference work, which I highly recommend, of course I was struck by seeing my research on this subject in Conspiracies And Secret Societies: The Complete Dossier. Sure, maybe the Steigers should have decided to take on the CIA work done by Tom Slick or discuss how Sir Edmund Hillary was looking for Chinese missiles when he said he was hunting for Yeti in 1960, but no, it’s always all about Mothman and the conspiracy angle, isn’t it? 🙂

I shouldn’t be surprised. The whole fog surrounding Mothman is one of sinister double-meanings and secrets. Only a few of us remember the real cryptid underneath, now and then. As to the Mothman death list, now that’s something else. While only four people have died, linked to the Poltergeist movies, meanwhile 85 or so individuals with Mothman ties have died. Well, that is troubling.

I briefly talked to prolific author Brad Steiger, who has been a friend of mine since the 1960s, a little about the work that went into his and Sherry’s new book.

Steiger: “This work was really a massive undertaking. Exhausting, really. Truly, we had literally to work around the clock–night turning into night again, not even glimpsing the sun–to complete the work on deadline. And you know what? There are probably 25 new conspiracies since we wrote the final pages.”

Steiger: “We offer this ‘dossier’ as a tool for readers to examine a vast history of conspiracies and secret societies. Indeed, in the Introduction, we offer several ‘disclaimers’ that we have no hidden agendas and present the information as objectively as we can to permit the readers to judge for themselves which are truly conspiracies and which are psychological reassurances that there does exist some kind of order in the world–even if it might be evil.”

How about the editorial tension between reality, the book’s disclaimers, and the death lists, within the book?

Steiger: “The editorial decision was that it is one thing to suggest assassinations of major public figures and another to suggest the same about private citizens, thus the disclaimers. For UFO researchers, the disclaimer is worded more informally: ‘Admittedly, some of the researchers …were getting up in years or were, in the testimony of family and friends, ill or depressed….'”

If your Cryptomundo tendencies go beyond cryptozoology, into politics and other mysteries, as mine sometimes do, you might want to check out the Steigers’ Conspiracies And Secret Societies: The Complete Dossier. It is a worthwhile read.

Maybe next time Brad and I will more specifically talk about cryptozoology. What would you like me to ask him? Send along your questions below in comments.

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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