The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "No matter where you live on this planet, someone within two hundred miles of you home has had a direct confrontation with a frightening apparition..." (more)
Key Phrases: monster mania, hairy humanoids, monster reports, West Virginia, New York, Point Pleasant (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Keel, John A. The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings. Doubleday. Jul. 1994. c.352p. ISBN 0-385-47094-0. pap. $9.95. REF This is essentially an updated edition of journalist Keel's Strange Creatures from Time and Space, published in 1970. The text catalogs unexplained "monster" sightings from around the globe. Included are the usual sea serpents, hairy brutes of the forest, extraterrestrials, plus a few lesser-known beasties. Fun reading whether you believe or not.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

A comprehensive encyclopedia of the unexplained, with incredible eyewitness accounts of strange creatures from around the globe.

Including:
Angles and Demons; The Mothman; Dinosaurs that still roam the earth; Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman, and other hairy monsters; A real-life land of the giants;
The Loch Ness monster, the Silver Lake Sea Serpent, and other lake creatures; Dragons;
Giant Flying Snakes; Carnivorous Plants from outer space; Unidentified submarine objects;
Aliens, bedroom invaders, and cattle rustlers from the skies; The Grinning Man; Green men, Leprechauns, and other little people;Vampires and Werewolves and much more....

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (October 13, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765345862
• ISBN-13: 978-0765345868
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #355,936 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best book about mysterious creatures that you can find., June 27, 1998

By	[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings (Paperback)

This book is full of information on any type of creature that you can imagine. It grabbed my attention from page one and I couldn't put it down. If you've ever wondered what it is like to encounter bigfoot or be abducted by aliens this book explains it all, from Mothman to the Loch Ness Monster. I've been reading books on the unknown for years and the only one that could grab my attention and still be so informative is this one. If you're interested in mosters or a sci-fi buff you'll love this book!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Huge Cast of Monsters, March 19, 2006

By	A. Mason (CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

No one wants to believe in monsters. We just do. On an almost instinctive level. We have an enduring fascination with them right into the 21st century. Every person on earth knows what a monster is. Sometimes monsters are people. Sometimes monsters are animals. Mostly monsters are imagination. But every once in while, monsters are monsters.

Like Ghosts, the belief in monstrous entities has remained constant since the dawn of history in all parts of the world. Each year, unsuspecting people with no reason to fabricate tall-tales report seeing (and sometimes being injured by) grotesque looking monsters. We hear about the occasional Bigfoot or lake-monster, but we rarely hear much about the weirder stuff like: lizardmen and goatmen.

John Keel once again uses his casual flare to report on disturbing patterns behind monster sightings. He unearths some very obscure and terrifying monsters accounts in this book. Although presented in a somewhat lighthearted manner, the research is chilling and not something I would recommend before bedtime.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Decent Book, but Not Recommended, June 22, 2004

By	Janella Baduini "Eternal Reader" (Mansfield, NJ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're looking for out-of-this-world theories, shambling writing, and freakishly inept research, by all means, buy this book. However, if it's a truly objective guide to mysterious beings you want, you'd be better off turning to something like 'Cryptozoology A to Z."

John A. Keel (who's this mysterious 'we' he keeps talking about?) claims in this book to be objective, presenting only the facts of the cases concerned so that the readers may draw their own conclusions. He then proceeds to outline his explanation for many of the occurrences, which, by the way, has something to do with an inter-dimensional 'something' using feeble human minds to mess with our lives and our planet. His style of writing seems to indicate that he believes that the phenomena and creatures mentioned don't really exist at all, and are all a part of the massive hoax being portrayed by something not of this Earth.

Not only is his account subjective, it is patchy and uncoordinated, jumping from topic to topic with no apparent connections between them. It's as if he's written this book just to show off the sheer amount of stuff he knows as it comes to mind, without really attempting to organize it logically. In fact, his writing (which is somewhat amateurish and downright insulting at times) gives the impression that all he really wants to talk about is the Mothman of West Virginia, and he has to include these other phenomena just to justify the book's existence. Many of the facts not directly concerning the chornicled phenomena are inaccurate, including some of the biblical references, the dates, and the fact that he repeatedly asserts that the Mesozoic period ended a mere 9 million years ago...it was 65 millions years, sir. I'm sorry to disillusion you.

In fact, the only saving grace of this book that I can detect is the sheer numbers of cases he records. His theories may be confusing and more than a little off-the-wall, but at least he masses the 'evidence' to 'support' them. It's a good resource to check when looking for accounts of the appearance of the phenomena, and I would recommend for that reason and that reason only.

Keel, why don't you stick to the Mothman, huh?