Tracking the Man-beasts: Sasquatch, Vampires, Zombies, and More [Paperback]

Joe Nickell (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 22, 2011

If legends and even many eyewitness accounts are to be believed, since ancient times we have shared our planet with various "man-beasts"—monsters that are more or less in our image. From A to Z—from the Abominable Snowman to Zombie slaves—these beings have managed either to terrify us or at least to excite our imaginations.

Does the enduring fascination in movies and literature with vampires and werewolves have any basis in reality?

Does Bigfoot&mdas;ostensibly our beastly relative from the past—really exist as an endangered species of the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere (including variant forms such as the Himalayan Yeti or the Australian Yowie)?

Are extraterrestrials really abducting people to create alien hybrids or conversely to impart messages of hope for our fragile planet? Are they real creatures or only expressions of our very human hopes and fears?

In Tracking the Man-Beasts, veteran paranormal investigator Joe Nickell explores the historical, geographical, and cultural reaches of various "manimals" and other humanoid entities&mdas;among them such monster men as Gigantopithecus and Neanderthals; hairy man-beasts like Sasquatch and the elusive de Loys' Ape; supernatural beings, including werewolves, vampires, and devil men; and supposedly spaceship-borne entities like Mothman and the Roswell humanoids.

Tracking the Man-Beasts takes the reader on expeditions into wilderness areas, explores historical contexts, and brings folkloric and iconographic evidence to bear on a category of mysteries as old as humanity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Joe Nickell is the master solver of major popular mysteries, and here he directs his formidable investigative and literary talents to a topic that endlessly fascinates us all—manlike monsters more or less imagined in our own image. No one does such investigations better than Nickell, and I congratulate him on another superb effort bringing clear thinking and strong evidence to bear on questions usually swamped in speculation and wishful thinking." --Kendrick Frazier, Editor of Skeptical Inquirer

About the Author

Joe Nickell (Amherst, NY) has been called "the modern Sherlock Holmes" and "the real-life Scully" (from the X-Files). He has been on the trail of man-beasts and other mysterious creatures and phenomena for four decades. Since 1995 he has been the world's only fulltime, professional, science-based paranormal investigator. His careful, often innovative investigations have won him international respect in a field charged with controversy. He is the author of numerous books, including most recently Real or Fake? Studies in Authentication and Adventures in Paranormal Investigation. See joenickell.com for more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (March 22, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1616144157
• ISBN-13: 978-1616144159
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,024,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joe Nickell has been called "the modern Sherlock Holmes." Since 1995 he has been the world's only full-time, professional, science-based paranormal investigator. His careful, often innovative investigations have won him international respect in a field charged with controversy.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Skeptical Survey of Legendary Man-Beasts April 17, 2011

By William Holmes VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Joe Nickell is an agreeable racontuer, exploring the legends of assorted "man-beasts," including yeti, Bigfoot, yowie, chupacabra, vampires, swamp monsters, werewolves, devils, little green men, Mothman, zombies and a host of others. The author does a good job of laying out the background for each legend and then offers a reasonable explanation for what's really going on. His writing style is pleasant if slightly academic, an ambience reinforced by his use of helpful chapter endnotes.

Nickell clearly does not consider any of these monsters to be real, but he is not condescending to those who think otherwise. His approach is to recount the legend and some key incidents and then offer factual reasons to think that the source of the legend might be mundane rather than supernatural or cryptozoological. Although he takes occasional mild swipes at some of the more outrageous fraudsters in the milieu, Nickell usually refrains from ad hominim attacks.

I doubt that "Tracking the Man-Beasts" will change many minds among those who believe in vampires, zombies, or man-like cryptids, but it will be an enjoyable read for students of folklore, skeptics, and fence sitters who are curious to learn what the fuss is all about.

Nickell, who styles himself "the world's only full-time, professional, science-based paranormal investigator," has written several other books. Those who are engaged by his "skeptic lite" approach to the investigation of paranormal phenomenon will probably enjoy his other entries in the genre, including: Adventures in Paranormal Investigation, Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions & Healing Cures, Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal, Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings, Unsolved History: Investigating Mysteries of the Past, Missing Pieces: How to Investigate Ghosts, Ufos, Psychics, & Other Mysteries, Secrets of the Supernatural: Investigating the World's Occult Mysteries, and Inquest on the Shroud of Turin: Latest Scientific Findings.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but not in depth May 6, 2012

By Matthew A. Bille

Format:Paperback

Well-known skeptical investigator Nickell pokes into an interesting if loosely related collection of topics: sasquatch, yeti, vampires, werewolves, etc. (Nickell's bio says he's been referred to as "the real-life Scully." Sorry Joe, I've heard you're a great guy, but Scully was hot - a thinking man's babe. You, not so much.)

Naturally, my interest is in the cryptozoological stuff, although folklore of monsters and such is always fun. (Among other facts: the claim of a "real" zombie created with drugs isn't much better substantiated than the coming zombie apocalypse. I can't figure out the zombie craze, anyway. They are, almost by definition, the most boring of humanlike monsters, since they lack the pathos of a good vampire or the cunning of a werewolf.)

Nickell, not surprisingly, doesn't think much of any of the apelike or manlike cryptids of the world. While the relevant chapters in this book are too short to cover the subject in depth, I wasn't terribly impressed even on points where I agree with him. You can't spend a couple of days in the woods and expect it to contribute in any meaningful way to proving or disproving the existence of a particular species. Think how long it took Dian Fossey to find the gorillas, and she knew they were there. And investigators should apply the same standards to all claims, regardless of which side they agree with. Nickell tries to paper over the impossible gap between the two accounts of the Patterson-Gimlin film suit (commercial costume vs. homemade horse-hide), and his drawing of the figure points to things like "suit-glove" interface that I can't see on any blowup of the actual film - which he doesn't include. I happen to agree the film figure is likely a guy in an ape suit, but it's a darn good ape suit, and I don't think the mystery behind it has been solved.

Then we get to the "melted out" explanation for the Shipton Yeti track. Why, of all the people who have written about this track, am I the only one who has actually attempted to replicate it in snow? (Results: you can't. )

Joe has done a lot of good with his investigations of pseudoscience. This particular book just didn't make an impression on me.

Matt Bille, author, Shadows of Existence: Discoveries and Speculations in Zoology (Hancock, 2006)
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Naturalist-in-Training June 7, 2011

By Evelyn Horn

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

In his Tracking the Man-beasts, Joe provides a enjoyable, readable explanation of these legndary creatures, or perhaps I should say "mythic" creatures.Our basic assumption that there "is something out there" is treated kindly, but truthfully. And so these creatues are truly "mythic." I'd recommend the book to all who delight in the truth.
The Naturalist-in-Training
Evelyn Horn

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