Comments on: Happy Fathers’ Day Cryptozoology

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 13:20:21 +0000

Now that’s a groaner…

Unless I’m mistaken, I believe that was Saint Columba, said to have converted people to Christianity as much by his sword as by his word. Of further Fortean interest is his supposed sacrifice of one of his followers (Another saint), buried alive beneath the cornerstone of his church. He was dug up many years later, still alive (Or so the story goes), at which point he began to utter prophecies of future history so disturbing that Columba had him reburied.

By: sasquatch

sasquatch — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 04:00:39 +0000

What about the priest who rebuked the Loch Ness monster way back when? Get it? Father of Cryptozoology?

By: springheeledjack

springheeledjack — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 02:26:14 +0000

good call mnynames…and let us not forget Pliny the Elder…can’t remember off the top of my head where he sat in time in relation to Oudemans…but he was in the thick of it too…and now that I think of it, Aristotle was at least recording zoological phenomenonononon…some of it which would have fallen in the realm of the crypto…

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 02:44:34 +0000

Well, if you go back much farther, any ol’ naturalist or explorer would probably do, as they were certainly looking for unknown animals, just not in a specific manner. Even as late as the 1930’s, there were regions of the world that were unexplored to the western mind. Anything could be there, that’s why the Lost World, the Land That Time Forgot, Tarzan, and King Kong seemed rather plausible.

Having said that, to get back on your track, how about some of these guys- A. C. Oudemans, Gunnar Olof Hylten-Cavallius, Dr. DeWitt Webb, Rupert T. Gould, William H. Harkness (His wife, Ruth, should get Mother status then), W. M. Gerald Russel, and Tom Slick.

I believe Heuvelmans personally believed Oudemans as the first initiator of the field of Cryptozoology.

By: stompy

stompy — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 00:15:20 +0000

I vote for ME!!!

By: Loren Coleman

Loren Coleman — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 18:21:11 +0000

Jeremy, sorry, but you have it backwards. Heuvelmans is very open that it was ITS’s article in Saturday Evening Post in 1947, which stimulated Bernard to undertake a study of unknown animals. After writing about jazz and doing some science articles, Heuvelmans was looking about for a project to devote his time and from which to obtain an income. He discovered that article, and thus stumbled into what would become “cryptozoology.” If anyone was the mentor, it was Ivan to Bernard.

But as far as a “father,” I was looking for any older suggestions than Sanderson or Heuvelmans.

By: Jeremy_Wells

Jeremy_Wells — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:34:21 +0000

I love Ivan T. Sanderson… but Bernard Heuvelmans was a mentor to Ivan…
Grandfather of cryptozoology?

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 14:34:58 +0000

OK, so I should have said French-speaker…and I knew Sanderson was a Scot, that’s why I said resident, like Albert Einstein, not native, like James Fenimore Cooper.

By: Lorenzo Rossi

Lorenzo Rossi — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:27:40 +0000

“cryptozoology” is not a word only, but a methodology and his “father” is Bernard Heuvelmans without doubt.

By: springheeledjack

springheeledjack — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 04:49:46 +0000

Huevelmans is definitely the “flag ship” of crypto’s, and he brought the work to light to much of the rest of the world. There are also many others who catalogued and recorded the unknown before him.

Personally, I don’t want to lay all the blame for my passion on any one person…let’s give everyone their due for their contributions and go out in their honor and find some real test-of-time evidence for our favorite cryptids!

Last of all, let’s give the honor to all of our male cryptids who keep propogating thier species so that we have something to search for:)