Comments on: Loren Coleman Reviews “Beast Hunter”

By: wjgibbons

wjgibbons — Mon, 30 May 2011 03:16:34 +0000

I was somewhat amused at Spain’s dismissal of the Mokele-mbembe reports after speaking with a credible eyewitness. His contention that the long-head/neck is nothing more than a crocodile emerging rapidly from the water is laughable. Does he really think that the native people of that area (Dja River in Cameroon), would mistake a crocodile from a long-necked, armoured sauropod that sometimes capsizes canoes?

Hopefully we can get a little further ahead with this research when I return to Cameroon in November with the French researcher, Michel Ballot!

By: Evo Schandor

Evo Schandor — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 19:13:37 +0000

While it’s obviously not a scientific expedition, I think the value of DT is that it shows, if only for a very short time, what is actually involved in conducting an expedition, the fieldwork as well as the travel headaches involved in even getting to most places. As far as some of the humour involved – hey, it’s entertainment and (almost) nobody wants to watch some ultra-serious scientific types lecture, even while out in the field, for an hour. If you want that, go take a class somewhere. JM2Cs…

By: Gratton

Gratton — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 04:20:11 +0000

Great review, Loren… love the show. So awesome that his great uncle is Charles Fort.

By: evilangusyeti

evilangusyeti — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:57:22 +0000

While I do like what I have seen of Beast Hunter so far, I am a little taken back of the view of Josh Gates. For instance, in the episode where they were looking for the tarassque, Josh was in a one man kayak at night and a 20 some foot creature turned up in the water. Yes it turned out to be a harmless whale shark, but how many of you would have paddled over to it to verify BY YOUR LONESOME. Josh has huevos. In the episode where they looked for the yeti, how many of you would have crawled face first into that cave? I loved his line here “the next scene is where you see me get my face ripped off by a cave bear”. We all know that shows must have rating or they get the ax. DT may not be 100% Crypto all the time but it did open up a lot of eyes to crypto study. So I will repeat what I have heard one of my fav posters here say (DWA, U DA MAN), If it draws more positive attention to the crypto field, it can only help. My kids could have cared less about cryptos until they watched DT with me. I am not knocking Pat Spain at all, I actually like his show. I just think folks give Josh Gates a bad rap for doing what he has to do for his show to keep being broadcast. I for one, like his sense of humor. BUT, this is just one old cryptid hunters point of view, and I do not begrudge any one who disagrees with my. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.

By: damon97

damon97 — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:35:43 +0000

Yes, great review, Loren. We interviewed Pat @ weirld.com last week and his approach and enthusiasm is, indeed, is refreshing. Can’t wait for tonight’s show! I don’t want to spam the comments board with URLs, but if you are interested in what Pat has to say about Charles Fort, bigfoot, the chupacabra and more, please visit our site and you will find the link to the interview with Pat on the front page. BTW, we are big fans of your work, Loren. How about an interview?

By: fuzzy

fuzzy — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:22:38 +0000

Great review, Loren… a refreshingly hard-working new show, without all the local-shopping diversions, absurd vehicles, comedy routines, interrupted continuity, one-night stands, abrupt departures and unfulfilled missions of DT.

I like Gates, but I think DT’s producers, in trying to attract too diverse a group of viewers, have chosen a format so wide and shallow that it satisfies too few, and leaves serious searchers hanging… but I/we can identify with Pat Spain (Charles Fort’s Great Nephew!!) and the rigors of the search.

Good Show, and Good Luck to Pat Spain.

By: MountDesertIslander

MountDesertIslander — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:45:33 +0000

Cryptozoology needed to have a show that took a low keyed, dignified approach to the subject. Young Mister Spain has hit upon a great formula. He is an observer letting the subject matter speak for itself instead of inserting himself into the heart of the mystery.

I am looking forward to him actually uncovering some manner of fresh evidence and seeing how he handles such a thing. That will speak volumes about the man’s intentions as well as his abilities.

I guess the litmus test I use is whether or not I would turn the show off in embarrassed panic if a neighbor walked in on me watching the show. Destination Truth and Monsterquest were guilty indulgences. Lost Tapes was crypto-porn in my opinion. So far so good on this program.

By: forsakenfuture

forsakenfuture — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:27:38 +0000

I have been wondering when Loren was going to comment on this show. The one thing bugged me was the scenes following the bullet ant bites. It was really cheesie and didn’t fit the rest of the show. It was edited with dramatic shots like it was a horror movie. Another then that it felt sort of slow…but I am sure I will be tuning in tonight.

By: Cryptidcrazy

Cryptidcrazy — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:31:43 +0000

While “Beast Hunter”, was decent enough to keep me watching, I was a little disappointed. It didn’t really offer anything new to people who are truly interested in the subject matter and somewhat educated on the cryptids being discussed. It was a bunch of re-hashed information and in some cases, there were little to no real investigations taking place at all. I’d like to see more investigations and a lot less exploration of the local cultures. If I wanted to know about the customs of the local people, I’d watch the Travel channel.

By: CryptoHaus_Press

CryptoHaus_Press — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:48:09 +0000

Wonderfully descriptive and informative write-up, Loren… makes me feel like I’ve already seen an extended preview for the series.

re: Charles Fort and his influence on the younger Spain… undoubtably, the younger relative must’ve spent hours as a youth devouring his protege’s massive volumes. BUT…

I think Mr. Fort’s methodology — going daily to the New York Public Library and combing through ancient accounts and old newspaper clippings ‘in search of’ information not statistically accumulated or analyzed as such — infinitely beats the methods used by Spain!

Of course, Spain’s methods, as you point out, capture the innate difficulties of this kind of research far better than even Mr. Fort’s best accounts of the cryptids and events Fortean themselves. It sure acts as a rebuff to clowns like Penn & Teller, who make it seem like most cryptozoologists are “weekend warriors” who park their RV at the outskirts of their local campgrounds and talk about Bigfoot being “somewhere out there” for sure!