Healy & Cropper’s (2006) The Yowie: In Search of Australia’s Bigfoot has been described as being a good “well balanced book and
worth the read” – sentiments with which I generally agree. Their literary standards are certainly higher than that of rival Yowie
author Rex Gilroy (ie better referencing, more verifiable information) yet not as good as their previous contribution to the genre
Out of the Shadows: Mystery Animals of Australia (1994) which is rightly a classic and largely still sets the standard. The
Yowie is also certainly worth reading particularly as a contrast to their earlier Out of the Shadows because it provides a beautiful
documentation of the evolution of the Yowie in concept and experience in recent years.
“Balanced” is a reasonably accurate description
of this book when considering the credibility of its three main contributors. The historical accounts provided by Joyner are indeed
excellent and thought-provoking whereas the vast bulk of modern accounts come from 2 which are highly dubious to say the least. To
realise that most modern Yowie claims originate from a small group of interconnected people and their immediate social circles raises
some big questions about the validity of the Yowie but you will not find such questions in this book. The authors themselves are close
friends with these dubious contributors but this fact is perhaps conveniently not disclosed.
Friends don’t question friends – that
is how folklore circulates and is also how Yowie folklore perpetuates. The roles fantasy and fakery play in the Yowie mystery – now
and historically – are downplayed and largely overlooked. Yet if such dubious contributors can get away with it on a grand scale (dozens
even hundreds of times) then there is no reason other individuals and groups can do so on a small basis and the Yowie as a potentially
undiscovered species vanishes. Indeed, another contributor who was a key player in the Gympie Pyramid Hoax and other fabrications
(again, not disclosed by the authors) is described as being a “historian”. When it comes to the Yowie – all is not quite as it seems…
Without
these contributions, Healy and Cropper acknowledge that The Yowie “would have been much slimmer and a great deal less interesting”
[pg. vi] and, in a sense, they are right. In reality, there are but a handful of genuinely interesting cases but the available information
about them is scant - their mysteriousness could only be a function of the lack of data. Yet, in another sense, with all the fantasy
and fakery the Yowie mystery becomes even more interesting because what it reveals about us as humans.
Fascination with the Yowie continues
because it is a great story but, ultimately, the Yowie is just another all-too-human story…
ES (NW) 22/04/2012
Extended from my
shorter review in the comments section of the Bigfoot Evidence website.
From Whats the Yowie Belief Split Percentage, downunder?
Paul Clacher (Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:11 pm):
Hi All
I would just say Chill
Out everyone. Everyone on this forum has the right to their own opinion, however respect for each other is paramount. Don't forget
that. We are supposed to be professionals. Don't get personal!
I would recommend that those who have not read it, get a copy of "Hunt
for the Skinwalker", it is an excellent book. It will explain much of what is being said here in this thread.
I have also spoken with
Neil Frost on several occasions and Neil for a period, had a Yowie Scat in his freezer. These creatures are real, I personally have
seen them and I have heard them. This is not in question, they are real. However, more to the point though is, where do they go and
where do they come from!
Paul
Big Cats
___________________________
Paul Clacher (Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:10 pm):
Earlier I mentioned the book
"Hunt for the Skinwalker". I would recommend that everyone on this thread obtain a copy
Kelleher Colm A. Ph.D., Knapp George, "Hunt
for the Skinwalker", Paraview Pocket Books, Sydney, 2005, ISBN 978-1-4165-0521-1; & ISBN 1-4165-0521-0
and read pages 143 to 147.
I
would then like to hear your comments.
___________________________
Ed Skoda (Tue Feb 24, 2009):
I have a copy of “Skinwalkers” on order
an am looking forward to studying it … especially those pages noted by Big Cats.
___________________________
Ed Skoda (Wed Mar 11, 2009
5:04 pm):
Kelleher, C.A. & Knapp, G. (2005) Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah.Pocket Books, New York.
“It is a textbook example of how scraps of information can be weaved into a rich tapestry of nonsense and hyperbole.”
(p 199)
The authors were commenting on the internet and media hype generated by this project but it could just as well apply to their
own efforts to sensationalise the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) investigation into episodes of high strangeness
at the Skinwalker Ranch, Utah.
The anecdotal evidence suggests that the ranch was the focus of intense intersecting phenomena - UFOs,
orbs, lights, cattle mutilations, strange animals, haunting, and poltergeist activity - between 1994 and 2004. “Which particular research
data from the Utah ranch does one have to discard in order to fit the rest into a tidy box?” (p 207) the authors ponder.
Answer: What
research data? The stories are impressive but the objective data (or rather the lack thereof) is virtually glossed over. Blink and
you’ll miss the following:
“By the end of 1997, no scientifically useful data had yet been obtained at the ranch” (p 186) and finally
“Throughout the years, the surveillance cameras had continued recording data… we managed to obtain no sustained evidence of anomalous
phenomena.” (p 193).
My initial excitement upon opening “Hunt for the Skinwalkers” quickly diminished as I discovered science had given
way to storytelling. Halfway through I was pulling my hair out in frustration and by the end I had descended into despair at the lack
of scientific evidence.
I am the kind of person who prefers to examine the evidence for myself before reaching any conclusions but
Kelleher & Knapp simply provide no objective evidence of any kind. No video stills, no photos, no detail in the EMF readings.
Nothing. Only stories…
The authors even used more anecdotal evidence (stories) of similar cases elsewhere as support for their own
anecdotal evidence (stories) of what was allegedly occurring at that remote ranch. There was even an example of semantic skulduggery
- an attempt to lead the reader to the authors’ predetermined conclusion - when discussing the origins of an unusual odour. To claim
that it emanated from an invisible entity was a stretch too far even for these authors.
Overall, I was extremely disappointed in the
“Hunt for the Skinwalkers”. It may be a good read for collectors of unusual stories but even for the semi-serious researcher it just
has nothing to offer.
Sorry, Big Cats, but this book provides a valuable lesson in the dangers of accepting things at face value. If
understanding of unusual phenomenon is based on purely anecdotal evidence then all manner of bizarre speculation is permissible. The
next step is claiming to be on the NSA’s speed-dial…
___________________________
Paul Clacher (Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:22 pm):
Your response
surprises me!
I am very objective in the way I examine things. I have to be in my job and I thought the book was excellent. It expanded
my mind.
When we are measuring things with physics from this plane of reality, I am sure that there will inevitably be confounding
variables during these sorts of measurements, as was encountered in the Skinwalker investigations. One would expect this.
On the storytelling
level, I thought that was the best part. It made the book interesting.
___________________________
Ed Skoda (Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:38
pm):
Big Cats - my work also requires a great deal of objectivity (especially with report writing). It would be great to compare notes
over a beer someday. However, I encourage you to re-read Skinwalker with your work goggles on - there is very little objectivity in
it whatsoever.
“When I first set foot on the ranch I had the unmistakable feeling that something was not quite right. Things were not
what they seemed.” (p 91). Is Kelleher a biochemist or is he Uri Geller in disguise?
The events that are alleged to have transpired
are described in the narrative form - which makes for entertaining reading as it sensationalised the story but is poor for providing
any sort of objective basis for the reader to form his/her own opinion. By employing this approach, the authors are implying that
this is the way it happened and everyone who was there is in 100% agreement. Of course, this is NEVER the case…
Eyewitness accounts,
even of very common incidents like car accidents, usually show quite a marked deviation from one another due to differences in spatial
positioning, what was individually focused upon, state of mind, various distractions, etc. For high strangeness events there should
be notable discrepancies between various participant descriptions yet this is overlooked by the singular narrative style which focuses
solely on the story.
Taking routine steps to verify the statements and events would have gone a long way to giving the story credibility.
Instead, nothing but the singular story is provided. The authors seem to go out of their way NOT to confirm any of the events with
anything objective. Friends, family, and assorted others are conspicuously NOT given an independent voice to confirm events, there
are NO photos (not even of the aftermath of events), NO video stills, NO plaster casts, NO sketches, NO diagrams.
This is highly suspicious
especially from a book which promotes itself as “Science Confronts the Unexplained”. Are we meant to simply take Kelleher’s word for
it because he is a scientist? He, of all people, should know better than that…
The Gormans are present in almost all the events described
and in many of the events they are the ONLY ones present. Significantly, Tom Gorman was the only one to see a figure crawling out
of some sort of one-dimensional hole (the authors brag about having access to a private jet yet have only 1 set of IR binoculars?!?
Go figure). Thus it is important for the authors to stress the reliability of the family:
“The Gormans are rock-solid, firmly grounded,
honest people. There is no hint in their background of anything shady or questionable.” (p210). Yet there are discrepancies - particularly
as to why they moved to Utah in the first place:
“They had escaped the frying pan of small-town gossip” (p 25), “the small-town sniping
and gossip that they so loathed in New Mexico” (p12), and to “get away from the busybodies and closed community that keep prying into
their lives.” (sorry - I lost the page for that one).
Something is just not right here…
If the events described at the Skinwalker Ranch
actually happened it would be a far more interesting and informative read by simply providing a basic forensic account - various eyewitness
statements and sketches, photos of the events and aftermath (damage, etc) - instead of this sensational and unverified singular story.
“I
personally witnessed the shooting of a large catlike animal from a tree. I was forty to fifty yards away and am certain the bullet
hit its target. I was just a few yards away when an unknown doglike animal weighing an estimated 400 pounds was pierced by bullets
fired by an experienced marksman, yet no body and no blood were found after both of these incidents. The only physical evidence was
a single claw mark left in the snow.” (p 209). How about shooting any of those sequences with a camera?!? Aaargh! It is all so infuriating…
The
distinct lack of any form of objective evidence is highly suspicious and a profit-motive for the authors and the Gormans cannot be
ruled out. The whole project reeks of a viral marketing campaign for an upcoming movie (promoted as being based on a true story, no
doubt). Don’t forget that “The Blair Witch Project” initially fooled quite a few people into thinking it was real but they at least
displayed fictional evidence on their website.
However, THERE IS SIMPLY NO EVIDENCE HERE - “we managed to obtain no sustained evidence
of anomalous phenomena.” (p 193). Perhaps that is why no evidence was presented by the authors.
Although not specifically about crypto
zoology, Skinwalker is exactly the kind of over sensationalised, unsupported subjective claptrap that needs to be weeded out of the
field if we are to make any progress.
On the flipside, I would be interested to hear how you considered this book to have expanded
your mind, Big Cats. Please re-read it objectively and get back to me. I am furious that my hard-earned dollars went to these spindoctors
and that I lost several hours of my life reading and discussing it…
___________________________
Paul Clacher (Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:55
pm):
Hi Night Walker
No Comment. You are entitled to your opinion as I am to mine.
Big Cats
___________________________
Clacher is also a Fossicker, Licensed Private Investigator, Ex-Army, Ex-Police, Ethereal Healer, and in 2002 announced plans “to set
up a new political party”.
“NSA’s speed-dial” is a reference to an earlier deleted comment by Doctorscream who, among other bizarre posts, declared that he was
in such frequent contact with the NSA that they were on his phone’s speed-dial. It is important to note that the Australian Yowie
Research forums sometimes contain posts that are edited or even deleted by AYR Administrators which can make them difficult to follow.
Site owner and Yowie Researcher extraordinaire, Dean Harrison, has obviously not taken being outed as a hoaxer very well.
Welcome
to the wacky world of Australian Cryptozoology…