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Questions for Linda Godfrey on "American Monsters"


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Gene Steinberg

Gene Steinberg

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Time for a change of pace on The Paracast.

On Wed. March 11, from 10 AM until Noon Pacific time, we'll be recording an interview with Linda Godfrey, author of a recent new book, "American Monsters: A History of Monster Lore, Legends, and Sightings in America."

According to 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."

As with our previous session with Linda, this is going to be more about case histories than about theorizing.
 
1) Monsters appear to occupy a special place in human culture as we have always seen distorted anthropomorphic versions of ourselves throughout history in some animalistic form. What do you think is the purpose of monsters in society?

2) Have you ever run across monster stories that have overlap with other paranormal or UFO phenomenon, cases where ghosts and Bigfoot are seen together, or ufo's and wolfmen appear in the same area. Do you feel there is some kind of crossover or connection between different paranormal phenomenon?

3) What's your favourite monster and why?
 
Q: To what extent, if at all, do Native American monster legends play a role in Linda's latest book? Are there any instances where such monsters were also witnessed or experienced by European newcomers and, if so, how did the latter's interpretation differ from the former's?

Similarly, of the many nationalities and ethnic groups that have comprised America's immigrant population over the past three centuries or so, are there any that stand out as particularly inclined to experience, or make claims to have experienced, so-called monsters?
 
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The Yowie (Doolagahi), Bigfoot, Abominable Snowman, Sasquatch, Yeti, Yahoo and Windago among many names; all the same sort of "creature". If you do a internet search of "names for bigfoot" you'll find a long alphabetical list. These are from different continents, different races, different traditions yet they all have a story of the large hairy man. Do you have a theory on a connection?
Thank you.
 
1. Do you see any links between modern day accounts of bigfoot/sasquatch and the tale of Enkidu (the hairy, wild man) in the epic of Gilgamesh? Is there perhaps some truth behind the mythical accounts of hairy men of the past and the phenomenon in its more modern form?

2. What evidence, if any, has convinced you that accounts of monster sightings in the US are actually true, and cannot easily be explained away as mere paranoia, misidentification, or outright hoaxing?

3. Which of the many monster accounts that have crossed your path do you find to be the most interesting and worthy of further exploration?

4. Are we ever likely to capture on film or in person a real monster of some kind, or does the lack of physical evidence in the form of a body (dead or alive) reveal the possible extra-dimensional reality of said creatures? In essence, are these monsters more supernatural than physical?
 
1. With your research over what is assumed to be a significant time period of history, have you seen anything that has led you to believe that since the original "prime source" researchers (Green, Dahinden, and possibly Byrne) the succeeding generations of researchers (2nd gen such as Kranz, Place, Napier, etc...) to the fairly modern (3rd gen such as Meldrum, Bindernagle, etc...) there has been any trend of growth to the case histories? I am not directly meaning exaggeration or misrepresentation, but rather more like the comcept of playing "telephone", where each retelling and such seems to involve more than what might have originally been intended?
A) Is this true for Sasquatch research as a whole historically?
1) Please explain?
B) Are there specific cases or accounts that you have found this to be true?
2) Examples please?

2. What is your take on the current legitimacy of the Original William Rowe and Albert Ostman accounts?

3. The tale told by Teddy Roosevelt about the two trappers in the "Wilderness Hunter" is still considered by many to be an early account of a sasquatch encounter, especially an account of a violent encounter. Are you aware of any others that have a similar experience. Any other than Native American lore?
 
Qestion:
Linda, I have trouble believing there might be many multiple and totally distinct paranormal creatures/events. What do you think of the theory that most if not all paranormal creatures are just different outward manifestations of the same paranormal force/entity, i.e it seems simpler and more believable to have a single source rather than many distinct sources.

Question:
Linda, what do you think of the piece of footage from inside a car that appears to show a dog/wolf-like creature running alongside and in front of the car, before crossing to the side and seeming to be standing straight up on 2 legs as the car passes it?

Goggs
 
Goggs Mackay said:
Question:
Linda, what do you think of the piece of footage from inside a car that appears to show a dog/wolf-like creature running alongside and in front of the car, before crossing to the side and seeming to be standing straight up on 2 legs as the car passes it?

Goggs
Click to expand...

Dock this man one demerit for not providing a link :mad:
 
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Goggs Mackay said:
Qestion:
Linda, I have trouble believing there might be many multiple and totally distinct paranormal creatures/events. What do you think of the theory that most if not all paranormal creatures are just different outward manifestations of the same paranormal force/entity, i.e it seems simpler and more believable to have a single source rather than many distinct sources.

Question:
Linda, what do you think of the piece of footage from inside a car that appears to show a dog/wolf-like creature running alongside and in front of the car, before crossing to the side and seeming to be standing straight up on 2 legs as the car passes it?

Goggs
Click to expand...

Do you have a link to that video?
 
Goggs, a statement like that DEMANDS a link.... It's just an outright "low down, dastardly, double dealing, stealing lollipops, force feeding kittens hot sauce, and pulling the wings off flies" mean thing to do to your fellow forum members not to include one. A person that would willingly do that probably played with magnifying glasses and ants as a child.

Since we all know, Goggs, that your nothing like that...
May we please have a link? Pretty please?
 
TheGodAmmon said:
In all seriousness, could Goggs be referring to the Gable film?
Starts at 10:49 in this youtube video

Click to expand...

Settle down class, settle down! Firstly, the reason I hadn't provided a link is because I thought this was such a well known piece of footage, it's been doing the rounds for a number of years under the guise of being a 'skin walker'. The quality is terrible mobile phone footage taken in a moving car but analysis I've seen seems to show this definitely 4-legged creature running and then you get a split-second of it standing up.

I know the Gable film and I know it is a fake. Here is what I'm talking about:
Skinwalker caught on tape - YouTube
 
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Goggs Mackay said:
Settle down class, settle down! Firstly, the reason I hadn't provided a link is because I thought this was such a well known piece of footage, it's being doing the rounds for a number of years under the guise of being a 'skin walker'. The quality is terrible mobile phone footage taken in a moving car but analysis I've seen seems to show this definitely 4-legged creature running and then you get a split-second of it standing up.

I know the Gable film and I know it is a fake. Here is what I'm talking about:
Skinwalker caught on tape - YouTube
Click to expand...


It's nothing more than a dog or a wolf. If you stop the video every second you can clearly see the shape of the animal as it's running and then crosses the road, and it doesn't appear to stand up. More like a reflection of the person in the car in the window. Skinwalker it ain't.
 
Actually I do now recall seeing that elsewhere and I second @Psychedelic_Alchemist analysis with the caveat that my analysis consisted of me watching it several times online. It sort of brings to mind the Houston ufo from last summer



What I found even more interesting was the comments following the video. There were some replies from people who claimed having native blood...no reason to doubt that...posting as that fact alone determined they were capable of determining that it was a skinwalker , not us Haole and my guess they were making that judgement the same way, by watching the video. I wouldn't argue that skinwalker's don't exist but i wouldn't use that video as evidence.
 
I was more angling for the Dogman thing, since it's Linda Godfrey we're having on. I think a skinwalker in the guise of a dog/wolf is supposedly a different creature to a Dogman, my understanding being that the skinwalker takes the form of the animal it wants while a dogman is always a dogman (but maybe dogman-human-dogman like a werewolf? All these doggy thingy's ....)
 
Goggs Mackay said:
Settle down class, settle down! Firstly, the reason I hadn't provided a link is because I thought this was such a well known piece of footage, it's being doing the rounds for a number of years under the guise of being a 'skin walker'. The quality is terrible mobile phone footage taken in a moving car but analysis I've seen seems to show this definitely 4-legged creature running and then you get a split-second of it standing up.

I know the Gable film and I know it is a fake. Here is what I'm talking about:
Skinwalker caught on tape - YouTube
Click to expand...


Looks like elk antler to me, it may have reared up, or just stood looking bang on 7 seconds, looks like an elk, not faked, but its poor footage right enough.
 
For Linda

What's you think of Todd standings so called footage and if he is faking why has Jeff meldrum backing him ??
 
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