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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review of Mysterious America, December 5, 2001
Review:
Mysterious America: The Revised Edition by Loren Coleman Paraview
Press)2001If one is to consider Loren Coleman's original release of "Mysterious America" as one of the paramount pieces of literature ever penned that deals with unexplained phenomena, then one should put in parentheses "both editions". Coleman picks up where he left off in his original piece by meticulously delving back into these unexplained mysteries and providing additional details that have emerged over the past two decades. It is akin to a student revising a thesis that had previously been graded with an 'A', only to receive an 'A+'. As an author of many books and news articles dealing with this subject matter, this may very well be his masterpiece. Among the many unique unexplained events of paranormal phenomena that Coleman diligently investigates in this book, perhaps his new reflection on the "Dover Demon", a bulbous-headed creature encountered by some Eastern Massachusetts teenagers during their school vacation in 1977, is his finest work yet. As one of the pilot investigators of this perplexing mystery, he helped bring global attention to this mystery in his original edition of "Mysterious America". But why is my opinion different from any other critic's review? Well, having grown up in the vicinity of this strange occurrence and being quite familiar with the region and the circumstances surrounding this event, I had taken a skeptical stance. It developed after I undertook a personal investigation of the account and found one of the witnesses to be less than credible. In this new edition of Mysterious America, Coleman successfully extracts this witness from the others, without tainting their character or testimony. In fact, Coleman takes it one step further by utilizing his skills as a seasoned social worker. He removes the witness from the event, lies him down on a couch and psycho-analyzes him, just as a certified psychiatrist would. He postulates a motive for as to why this witness would perpetuate his account as such, and then points out the inconsistencies in his uncorroborated testimony. All the while he manages to keep the other witnesses' testimony in tact by arriving at a brilliant deduction. He then summarily dismisses the disputing skeptical explanations by exposing their inconsistent methodologies. As one who formerly believed this account to be a hoax, I now must humbly stand down and shrug my shoulders. I can no longer claim to fully understand the Dover Demon Case. I'll leave it to the experts to figure out what happened. Other gems await mining in this book. You'll be introduced to the Houston Batman, Phantom Clowns, the American Kangaroo and more that can be possibly described in this review. Coleman is also one of the champions of mysterious catamounts. He presents indisputable evidence of the existence of cougars in
areas of the United States where purported wildlife experts claim there are not any viable breeding populations by providing solid testimony from countless witnesses. Some of the phenomena described in this book may, on the surface, appear to be bordering on the fantastic. But once the
substantive supporting evidence that Coleman provides is taken in by the reader, one will come away with a sense that indeed we are living in a mysterious America. John Horrigan
Paranormal Pundit
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