The unidentified : mythical monsters, alien encounters, and our obsession with the unexplained / Colin Dickey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dickey, Colin, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Occultism.

Parapsychology.

Physical Description:

307 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

[New York] : Viking, [2020]

Summary:

"In a world where rational, scientific explanations are more available than ever, belief in the unprovable and irrational--in fringe--is on the rise: from Atlantis to aliens, from Flat Earth to the Loch Ness monster, the list goes on. It seems the more our maps of the known world get filled in, the more we crave mysterious locations full of strange creatures. Enter Colin Dickey, Cultural Historian and Tour Guide of the Weird. With the same curiosity and insight that made Ghostland a hit with readers and critics, Colin looks at what all fringe beliefs have in common, explaining that today's Illuminati is yesterday's Flat Earth: the attempt to find meaning in a world stripped of wonder. Dickey visits the wacky sites of America's wildest fringe beliefs--from the famed Mount Shasta where the ancient race (or extra-terrestrials, or possibly both, depending on who you ask) called Lemurians are said to roam, to the museum containing the last remaining "evidence" of the great Kentucky Meat Shower--investigating how these theories come about, why they take hold, and why as Americans we keep inventing and re-inventing them decade after decade. The Unidentified is Colin Dickey at his best: curious, wry, brilliant in his analysis, yet eminently readable"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part 1 Sunken Lands and Falling Meat

Field Notes: Mount Shasta, California p. 13

1 The Man Who Could Not Be Turned p. 19

2 Abandoned Geography p. 28

3 The Credulity of Incredulity p. 36

4 Dispatches from the Desert of Blood p. 41

5 Believe Nothing p. 49

Part II The End of Monsters

Field Notes: Darien, Georgia p. 59

6 The Linnaean Society of New England versus the Gloucester Sea Serpent p. 63

1 Spectacular Taxonomy p. 69

8 The Edge of the Map p. 79

9 The Home Invasion p. 91

10 Lost in Translations p. 96

11 Men, and Wild Men p. 106

12 Believing Is Seeing p. 114

Part III In These Perilous Times

Field Notes: The White Mountains, New Hampshire p. 125

13 Fragments p. 129

14 An Unimpeachable Witness p. 134

15 Welding p. 139

16 A Jittery Age p. 147

17 The Call from Clarion p. 156

18 Gray Days p. 166

19 Host-Planet Rejection Syndrome p. 174

Part IV The World Turned Sour

Field Notes: Rachel, Nevada p. 185

20 The Disinformation Game p. 189

21 The Pilgrim's Road p. 198

22 Aliens on the Land p. 207

23 A Horseman p. 216

24 The Suburban Uncanny p. 223

Part V The Postapocalyptic Hangover

25 The Comforts of Lemuria p. 233

26 Under the Sign of the Coelacanth p. 243

27 Elegies p. 253

28 Creative Mythology p. 260

29 A Philosophy of Non-Facts p. 267.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Other Format:

Online version: Dickey, Colin, The unidentified

ISBN:

9780525557562

0525557563

OCLC:

1128100052