Loren Coleman - Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nations Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures

C icadas sing sweetly in the distance, the smell of the willows finds its way nearby, and the fan-shaped leaves of ginkgo flicker from the trees. Im walking slowly through the memories of a long-ago Midwestern day, searching again.

I started simply. Asking people questions. Reading the latest news article or book on the inexplicable. I scrolled microfilm files for old cases. Then I ventured out into the field. Many, many times I walked the walk. Trekking through an Illinois farmyard with a game warden, I wondered if he was serious when he told me the report of a black panther was merely a beaver. Getting scratched on the face with itchy weeds, as the spring peepers played the music of the hunt, I looked for tracks and found some. And then I went on the next quest, and the next.

This eventually led to my first solo book, Mysterious America. Now, almost a quarter of a century and several books later, Mysterious America has become a Fortean classic and it appears I have become a celebrity of sorts. The Center for Bigfoot Studies honored me as their Bigfooter of the Year in December 1999. During 2000, I was named the Senior Series Consultant for a new In Search Of series. Mostly, I remember the personal kudos spoken in quiet conversations with the folks from Alton, Illinois to Newcomerstown, Ohio, from San Francisco to Rangeley, Maine.

Indeed, it is sometimes hard to grasp what has happened to me since Mysterious America first appeared in 1983. I had been doing fieldwork since 1960, as well as chronicling my investigations and appearing on television programs discussing unexplained and cryptozoological matters since 1969. When I wrote Mysterious America, the idea was merely to gather in one place some of my adventures along the way, and give a few insights into my treks into the unknown. The book has become a popular introduction for people who wish to understand the many mysteries that lie just beyond their living room and backyard.

Today, I live in Maine, not Illinois or California, and teach courses in research, cryptozoology, and documentary film at New England universities. And, yes, I am also a devoted father of two boys, a partner to a wonderful woman, a baseball coach, and a soccer dad who happens to take every chance I get to chronicle and investigate Nessie at Loch Ness, prehistoric stone walls in Illinois, giant snakes in Missouri, mad gassers in Illinois, panthers all over eastern North America, sea serpents off Nova Scotia, Skunk Apes in Florida, and hairy hominid sightings everywhere, all for fun and enlightenment. I have a great deal of passion for what I do; thats why I do it.

Readers have told me for years how much they still love Mysterious America, first published by Faber and Faber in 1983 with a black and white cover, then later reprinted in 1989 with a colored one. Many of these folks have wanted another copy to share with a friend, but to no avail. The book has been out-of-print for so long that I thought it would be great to see it back in print and available for a new generation of searchers. Thanks to Paraview Press, here it is. The edition you are reading is the first major revision of Mysterious America since 1983. I have made corrections, added material, inserted new chapters, deleted inappropriate material, and located new illustrations. But I have left most of the book as is for historic reasons and because much of what I said in 1983 is still sound today. I hope you enjoy your journey with me, a little more seasoned and hopefully a lot wiser, as we travel through Mysterious America.

Loren Coleman
October 1, 2000

This 2007 Paraview Pocket BooksSimon & Schuster version of Mysterious America displays a cover that is in tribute to my readers. In addition to the faithful fans of my articles and books, I send out a special tip of my hat to the millions of readers who have discovered me via my daily blog at Cryptomundo. The cover serves as a special appreciation to you and other readers such as Phyllis Mancz of Ohio, who contributed the mystery fish postcard dated to 19041918, to Joe Citro, who took the great photo of me with the Crookston Bigfoot, and to my friends at CryptomundoCraig Woolheater, Eric Reed, John Kirk, Rick Noll, and Duncan Hopkins. Thank you all!

Loren Coleman
December 8, 2006
Portland, Maine