Loren Coleman Clarifies His Remarks in New Haven Article

Loren Coleman, left, speaks with host Joshua Foer at the Institute Library in New Haven.

In our previous post, "Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman Speaks about Melba Ketchum's Bigfoot DNA Study" we quoted the New Haven Register article interviewing Loren Coleman. Since our post we received comments regarding a few of Mr. Coleman's statements, in particular his "No data, no discovery" and "Angel DNA" comments. 

Yesterday (January 20th, 2013) Loren Coleman posted an article on Cryptomundo to clarify his remarks to the New Haven Register. Full disclosure: I am a regular contributor to Cryptomundo and a big fan of Loren Coleman's contributions to the Bigfoot community. Read an excerpt from his clarifications below:

In discussing the recent DNA news, I quoted John Hawks, the Wisconsin anthropologist, in my agreeing with his notion that “no data, no discovery” is the stance to take. My attribution to Hawks was absence from the article.

I said that quotes supposedly from the researcher in Texas, saying ridiculous things like “These are angels from heaven,” were released on Facebook, and that does not help the cause of serious research on Bigfoot. Those remarks were denied later as having been said by the Texas individual. The article does not make it clear I was talking about the leakage and not the exacting quotations.

In the solving of the source of the “Montauk Monster,” at my New Haven talk, I was clear to credit myself and others for pointing to a “raccoon in second-stage decomposition,” as what the thing on the beach was. Besides myself and a New York game official, Darren Naish was behind the solution too.

We wanted to cover the two primary topics that were discussed in our comments area, but Loren Coleman also touches upon other aspects of his New Haven interview, and your welcome to read them here. 

Today in Bigfoot History | JAN 21, 1879 | Man-Monkey Attacks Horseman

Multiple Man-monkey attacks were reported in the Ranton England

On the 21st of January, 1879, a man and his horse were attacked by a Man-Monkey. The Man-Monkey of Ranton is one of favorite stories because it goes back almost two centuries. We found this one in a book published in 1883! This particular story has been referenced by Nick Redfern, but it took some sleuthing to find the source. Which brings us to " Shropshire folk-lore: a sheaf of gleanings". This 600 page volume book contains local folklore on Giants, Devils, Bogies. Fairies. Hidden Treasures, Witchcraft, and Ghosts.

You may have noticed there are no chapters on Bigfoot, this particular story is found in the chapter on ghosts. This is because it was commonly accepted that when the dead came back as a ghost they also often took animal form, as stated in the beginning of the ghost chapter, "One mark of this is the constant transformation of the departed into animals." Werewolves were actually categorized as ghosts too. We have been theorizing since 2009 that werewolves are misidentified Bigfoot.

Read this great story below and enjoy the following scene from Van Helsing which is very similar to the man-monkey story--except with vampires.

A very weird story of an encounter with an animal ghost arose of late years within my own knowledge. On the 21st of January, 1879, a labouring man was employed to take a cart of luggage from Eanton in Staffordshire to Woodcote, beyond Newport, in Shropshire, for the use of a party of visitors who were going from one house to the other. He was late in coming back ; his horse was tired, and could only crawl along at a foot's pace, so that it was ten o'clock at night when he arrived at the place where the highroad crosses the Birmingham and Liverpool Canal. Just before he reached the canal bridge, a strange black creature with great white eyes sprang out of the plantation by the road-side and alighted on his horse's hack. He tried to push it off with his whip, but to his horror the whip went through the Thing, and he dropped it to the ground in his fright.

The poor tired horse broke into a canter, and rushed onwards at full speed with the ghost still clinging to its back. How the creature at length vanished the man hardly knew. He told his tale in the village of Woodseaves, a mile further on, and so effectually frightened the hearers that one man actually stayed with his friends there all night, rather than cross the terrible bridge which lay between him and his home. The ghost- seer reached home at length, still in a state of excessive terror (but, as his master assured me, perfectly sober), and it was some days before he was able to leave his bed, so much was he prostrated by his fright. The whip was searched for next day, and found just at the place where he said he had dropped it. Now comes the curious part of the story. The adventure, as was natural, was much talked of in the neighbourhood, and of course with all sorts ot variations. Some days later the man's master (Mr. B— — ' of L d) was surprised by a visit from a policeman, who came to request him to give information of his having been stopped and robbed on the Big Bridge on the night of the 21st January ! Mr. B ', much amused, denied having been robbed, either on the canal bridge or anywhere else, and told the policeman the story just related. ' Oh, was that all, sir?' said the disappointed policeman. ' Oh, I know what that was. That was the Man-Monkey, sir, as does come again at that bridge ever since the man was drowned in the [canal] ! ' 

You can read the entire 672 pages of Shropshire folk-lore: a sheaf of gleanings for free online. 

The clip below has a 19th century man, his horse(s), a bridge and an attack from a scary creature.

LISTEN: Audio of Bigfoot Howls Haunting 3 Indian Tribes

Sylvia and Denise Minthorn have both heard the strange nighttime cries coming from the brushy wetland behind them.

"a young Bigfoot that had got separated from the rest of his clan." Josh Franken, the tribal housing authority's interim director, on theories for the new howls.

There is an area near the Umatilla Indian Reservation where the local Indians will not wander. The sounds are unfamiliar and known at the same time. The Oregonian reports, "Members of the Confederated Umatilla, Walla Walla and Cayuse tribes believe the noises come from Bigfoot, the mythical manlike creature said to roam Pacific Northwest forests."

This is the entrance to forbidden brushy swamp and source of the mysterious noises.

Read an excerpt below describing how the sounds have captured the attention of the locals and even spurred them to make phone calls.

The eerie late-night serenades began in November and emanate from a brushy swamp on the Umatilla Indian Reservation east of Pendleton. The cries range from high-pitched screams to basso profundo roars.

"It's causing an uproar around here," said Sylvia Minthorn, who lives in a tribal housing unit near the swamp, where she used to play as a child.

She's seen grown men's hair stand on end when the shrieks commence.

Colleen Chance, a tribal housing authority employee, keeps a recording of the howls on her iPhone.

"It's kind of spooky," she said. "Some say it's foxes, some say it's a female coyote and some say it's Sasquatch. I don't know what it is."

So far no one's pinpointed the source of the noise on this rugged 178,000-acre reservation that extends into northeastern Oregon's Blue Mountains and is home to about 1,500 people. The swamp in question borders the old reservation community of Mission, in a canyon north of the Wildhorse Resort and Casino.

Phone calls about the wails started coming in last month to the housing authority, and the office has had a half dozen so far. More could come in because the cries are continuing from time to time.

Some tenants of the reservation's 190 rentals and 32 homes admitted being afraid and one man reported that his dogs were too terrified to go outside, said Josh Franken, the housing authority's interim director.

"This guy was rather scared himself," Franken said. A rumor quickly spread that the cries were made by "a young Bigfoot that had got separated from the rest of his clan," he said.

Some have said these could possibly foxes. Silvia Minthorn (pictured at top of post) insists these are not foxes.

"And the first time a person hears a fox calling in the night, kind of echoing around the canyons, it raises the hair on the back of your neck," Sheeler said. "That wetland is a perfect place to have an echoing call sound eerie."

But many who've heard the racket dismiss such notions. "Foxes do sound creepy," said Sylvia Minthorn. "But it's not the same sound, not even close."

Her mother, Denise Minthorn, believes more than one creature is out there in the darkness. She's heard shrieks from two directions at once, as if two animals were communicating.

Click the following link to read the original Oregonian Bigfoot article.