The unidentified : mythical monsters, alien encounters, and our obsession with the unexplained Cover Image

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

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.

Record details

ISBN: 9780525557562
ISBN: 0525557563
ISBN: 9780525557586
ISBN: 052555758X
Physical Description: 307 pages ; 24 cm
Publisher: [New York] : Viking, [2020]
Copyright: ©2020

Content descriptions

General Note:	Publisher, dates, and paging may vary.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-307).
Formatted Contents Note:	Introduction: the fire -- Sunken lands and falling meat. Field notes: Mount Shasta, California ; The man who could not be turned ; Abandoned geography ; The credulity of incredulity ; Dispatches from the desert of blood ; Believe nothing -- The end of monsters. Field notes: Darien, Georgia ; The Linnaean Society of New England versus the Gloucester Sea serpent ; Spectacular taxonomy ; The edge of the map ; The home invasion ; Lost in translations ; Men, and wild men ; Believing is seeing -- In these perilous times. Field notes: the White Mountains, New Hampshire ; Fragments ; An unimpeachable witness ; Welding ; A jittery age ; The call from clarion ; Gray days ; Host-planet rejection syndrome -- The world turned sour. Field notes: Rachel, Nevada ; The disinformation game ; The pilgrim's road ; Aliens on the land ; A horseman ; The suburban uncanny -- The postapocalyptic hangover. The comforts of Lemuria ; Under the sign of the Coelacanth ; Elegies ; Creative mythology ; A philosophy of non-facts -- Conclusion: what remains.