Terror of the Tokoloshe

If you watched Josh Gates' show, Destination Truth, you may remember the episode in which he headed off in hot-pursuit of the Tokoloshe. If you didn't see it, well you may wonder what on earth this truly bizarre creature is (or is believed to be).

Well, the good news is that you can find all the answers in a brand new book published in the UK by Jon Downes' CFZ Press. The author is S.D. Tucker and the title is Terror of the Tokoloshe.

And here's the (very extensive!) blurb for the book, from Jon:

"Who, these days, still believes in goblins? Well surprisingly, millions of people do, right the way across the countries of southern Africa, where such creatures are known as tokoloshes. Little known in the West, these entities - hairy little men with gigantic magical penises and the ability to turn themselves invisible through the aid of an enchanted pebble - are a matter of everyday belief in nations such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Lesotho.

"In this, the first ever full-length book to be published upon the topic in the West, the consequences of this bizarre belief are explored in immense detail. It is not just that poltergeist-hauntings and UFO-sightings are blamed upon the activities of this nefarious little imp; so are everyday misfortunes such as a person's lack of success in love or business.

"Rather more outlandishly, tokoloshes are also held responsible for supposedly raping innocent women in their beds at night and then impregnating them with goblin-children; court cases have arisen in which people have been accused of murdering such unfortunate infants whilst under the genuine impression that they were evil tokoloshe-babies.

"But this is not all - tokoloshes have also been linked with witchcraft, zombies, paranormal stone-showers, murder, ancient Trickster-gods, sightings of unknown animals and outbreaks of mass hysteria.

"In no other book can you read about topics as diverse and strange as haunted toilets, killer one-eyed Cyclops-men made from porridge, severed penises being used as magical batteries and a deformed baby goat born with the head of Homer Simpson. All this, and the full uncensored tale of the man who claimed to have been molested in the night by a big gay hippo-monster

"Lavishly illustrated and all fully-referenced, this book is not only filled with dozens of unusual, amusing and hitherto-unexamined real-life stories, it also tries to place prevailing contemporary southern African belief in the tokoloshe into some kind of plausible social context. The tokoloshe may not be a genuinely real creature, but it certainly occupies a position of social reality in the minds of those who believe in it - with truly wide-ranging and often unexpected consequences."

Animal Mutilations in the UK

Late last year, Jon Downes' CFZ Press published my book Wildman: The Monstrous and Mysterious Saga of the British Bigfoot.

One of the chapters in the book is titled Mutilations and Anomalous Animals. It deals with a highly controversial topic: namely, the conjuring up of supernatural beasts - of a distinctly Bigfoot-like nature - via the ritualistic slaughter and sacrifice of animals.

A number of cases of animal mutilation and apparent sacrifice that I detailed in Wildman occurred in the English county of Devon, specifically on Dartmoor, and specifically during a full moon.

And, it just so happens that the wilds of Dartmoor have a long history of hairy man-beasts in their midst.

Well, it transpires that there is a brand new case of animal mutilation - and apparent sacrifice - on Dartmoor, which also occurred under a full moon.

You can find the story right here.

As the Falmouth Packet's new article notes:

"A Satanic cult is suspected of being behind the grisly death of a pony, found mutilated on Dartmoor after a full moon. Police have appealed for the public's help after the two month old pony was found dead on moorland at Yennadon Down, Dousland Yelverton by a horse rider at around 6.50pm on Tuesday. A police spokesman said that the pony appeared to have been 'deliberately mutilated' and officers are investigating the possibility that the body had been left in 'some kind of ritualistic way.'"

In Wildman I told the story of a woman named Jane Adams, a devotee of Wicca, who I first met in a Wiltshire Crop Circle back in August 1997.  As I specifically note in the book, Adams revealed to me that she possessed "personal knowledge"– as she specifically described it - that a certain group of occultists had engaged in sacrificing animals "near a stone circle in Devon some time ago."

"Some time ago," as I explain in the book, was 2006, when other mutilations were occurring on Dartmoor.

The purpose of the killings and sacrifices, Adams claimed, was to try and conjure up, from some ethereal netherworld, both "a black cat" and a creature that would most certainly fit the description of the British Bigfoot and which would then duly perform the group’s dark bidding.

Certainly, it's a very bizarre story, indeed, one made even weirder by the fact that we now - unfortunately - have yet another incident that might very possibly have resulted from the controversial actions of the exact same group of occultists that Jane Adams referred to, and which I cited in Wildman last year.
 
 

Mystery Animals of Staffordshire: Available Now

Available now, I'm very pleased to tell you, is Mystery Animals of the British Isles: Staffordshire from me and Glen Vaudrey.

Published in POD format by CFZ Press in the UK, you can find it at this link.

And here's the blurb for the book:

"Throughout the county of Staffordshire, strange, monstrous and terrible things lurk. Exotic big cats are said to roam Staffordshire's thick woods. Ghostly black dogs with red, glowing eyes faithfully haunt and patrol its ancient roads and well-worn pathways. Bloodthirsty werewolves are rumoured to be on the loose throughout the county. Fantastic and vicious water-beasts lurk deep within its streams, rivers, lakes and pools. Out-of-place wallabies, wild-boar, porcupines, coypu and armadillos have all been reported. And, even the world's most famous hairy man-beast of all, Bigfoot, has been known to put in an appearance from time to time! Nick Redfern and Glen Vaudrey reveal the startling truths concerning these, and many more, mystery animals of Staffordshire."

Mysterious and Magical Cats

And there's one more new post from me at Mysterious Universe, which I penned just before Christmas, and which focuses on a great new book from Karl Shuker.

Here's the opening words...

"Beyond any shadow of a doubt, one of the leading seekers of strange creatures in the world today is Dr. Karl Shuker, who hails only a couple of miles from where I grew up in central England. But, Karl is not only a fine cryptozoologist. He’s an excellent author, too. And, right now, he has a new book out (yep, just in time for Christmas!) that should be of keen interest to anyone and everyone with an interest in strange creatures, folklore, magical tales, and Forteana. Its title: Cats of Magic, Mythology, and Mystery.

"Gathered together for the very first time, and between the covers of one single volume, are countless stories that will astound and intrigue you. Indeed, be prepared to be thoroughly amazed, and totally captivated, by a spellbinding array of truly extraordinary, exceptional cats of every imaginable – and even unimaginable – variety. And it’s Britain’s CFZ Press – the publishing arm of Jonathan Downes’ Center for Fortean Zoology - that we have to thank for publishing Karl’s book."

And here's where you can read the full article on the book, which, if Cryptozoology and weird beasts are your thing, you should definitely get hold of!

Wildman! A Study of the British Bigfoot

I'm pleased to announce that the Center for Fortean Zoology's CFZ Press have just published from me a new book titled Wildman! The Monstrous and Mysterious Saga of the British Bigfoot.

Ironically, for a subject that many - even within the field of Cryptozoology - view as marginal and minimal, it's my longest book ever. It runs at approximately 130,000 words and 300-plus pages.

Here's (below) the blurb for the book, which will give you an idea of what it's all about.

As you'll note, and as is the case with all my crypto-themed books, Wildman! doesn't shy away from the more alternative, Fortean theories for the nature of the beast that I'm known, hated and loathed for persistently promoting:

In Search of a British Man-Beast
The huge forests of the United States are home to Sasquatch. The Abominable Snowman roams the Himalayas. Australia has a similar beast, the Yowie. In China there lurks a giant, bipedal creature called the Yeren. From the Caucasus Mountains in Eurasia stories of the Almas circulate. And then there’s the highly controversial matter of Bigfoot in Britain.

A Menagerie of Monsters
For years, Nick Redfern has been on the trail of this mystifying monster of the British kind – one that provokes fear, amazement and controversy whenever it rears its horrific, hairy head. The Shug-Monkey, the Beast of Bolam, the Big Grey Man, the Man-Monkey, and the Wild Man of Orford are just a few of its many names.

The Strangest Sasquatch of All
But, the wild men and Bigfoot-style beasts of Britain are not what many might assume them to be. They’re not just strange. They’re beyond strange. In Wildman!, Nick Redfern presents controversial data that places the British man-beast in a definitively paranormal category.

A Supernatural Monster
Lycanthrope-style shape-shifting, occult rituals, the human dead returned in beastly form, animal sacrifice, thought-forms and monsters of the mind given a semblance of life, UFO activity, and amazing encounters at sacred, historic and ancient sites all across the British Isles, are just some of the many issues covered in Wildman!, the first, full-length study of a bizarre and nightmarish phenomenon of appropriately monstrous proportions.

And here are a couple of new articles I've done on the book:

1. This one is my latest Lair of the Beasts column at Mania.com;

2. And this one is from Mysterious Universe.