Linda Godfrey: New Book! American Monsters

If, like me, you're a big fan of the work of Linda Godfrey (Hunting the American Werewolf, The Michigan Dogman, The Beast of Bray Road, etc.), you'll be pleased to know there is a new book coming from Linda. Its title: American Monsters: A History of Monster Lore, Legends, and Sightings in America.

Okay, it's not out until August, but, what the heck, it's already online as a pre-order, so check it out!

Here's the link, and here (below) is the book info from the publisher:

"From pre-Columbian legends to modern-day eyewitness accounts, this comprehensive guide covers the history, sightings and lore surrounding the most mysterious monsters in America—including Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil, and more.

 

"Bigfoot, the chupacabra, and thunderbirds aren’t just figments of our overactive imaginations—according to thousands of eyewitnesses, they exist, in every corner of the United States. Throughout America’s history, shocked onlookers have seen unbelievable creatures of every stripe—from sea serpents to apelike beings, giant bats to monkeymen—in every region.

 

"Author, investigator, and creature expert Linda S. Godfrey brings the same fearless reporting she lent to Real Wolfmen to this essential guide, using historical record, present-day news reports, and eyewitness interviews to examine this hidden menagerie of America’s homegrown beasts."

A Werewolf Q&A

Over at OnMilwaukee.com, there's a new profile on Linda Godfrey (author of such excellent books as Hunting the American Werewolf and The Michigan Dogman).

It's a profile that begins as follows...

"Wisconsin author Linda S. Godfrey didn’t set out to become a leading expert in the manwolf' phenomenon, she just kind of fell into one cold winter in 1991.

"'I call myself the accidental werewolf chronicler because it was nothing that I thought of in my previous life as a career I might someday have,' Godfrey recently told me over the phone.

"She lives in the 'quiet, conservative community' of Elkhorn. In the early '90s, she got a staff job as a writer and illustrator at the Walworth County newspaper The Week and soon received a strange tip."

And here's the rest of the story, including what happened after that "strange tip" came Linda's way...
  

Linda Godfrey Reviews Wildman

Linda Godfrey - author of Real Wolfmen, The Michigan Dogman, Hunting the American Werewolf, and many other titles - reviews my book, Wildman!, the subject of which is the "British Bigfoot."

Here's Linda'a review:

"Bigfoot in the British Isles? The idea of huge, hairy man-apes hiding out in the manor-dotted, bucolic countryside of the British Isles seems as likely at first blush as the queen switching out her Earl Grey for chugs of Red Bull. But Nick Redfern's new book, Wild Man! The Monstrous and Mysterious Saga of the British Bigfoot, (CFZ Press, 2012) makes an exhaustive and surprisingly compelling case that people have indeed been seeing anomalous, Bigfoot-like creatures from Shugborough to Derbyshire, perhaps for centuries!

"Redfern has to be one of the most prolific current writers on strange and cryptozoological topics -- he releases books faster than I can find time to review them. But I wanted to make sure that I got this one posted because it covers so many topics of interest to the worldwide cadre of Bigfoot-seekers. It has the additional advantage of being authored by a native of the British soil who possesses many area connections and much firsthand knowledge.

"Redfern starts by grounding the wild man topic in medieval history, harking back to the wodewose, or hairy, naked men seen throughout the forests of England since at least the early 14th century. But he notes that the wodewose was described as very close to human underneath all that fur.

"The nearly 300, large pages are packed with anecdotes in a timeframe that ranges from ancient to contemporary, but the book is about more than mysterious case studies. Redfern doesn't shy away from possible explanations for the anomalous creatures, venturing into possibilities such as misidentifications with primates released from the private zoos of eccentric collectors. He also notes the difficulty of explaining how large predators could subsist in the English countryside without detection and lays out a theory that they may be 'semi-physical' or products of some other process that is not presently known to science.

"Whatever these wild things are, Redfern's examination of them belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in anomalous creatures, especially those of the hairy hominoid kind. There may be more beasties hiding in that famed British mist than anyone has previously guessed."

World's Weirdest: Reviewed

Author Linda Godfrey (The Beast of Bray Road, Hunting the American Werewolf, Real Wolfmen) reviews my latest book, The World's Weirdest Places.