Dec. 12 - Loren Coleman

[Jeff Crowell]

Good show, as always. I find Loren's critical thinking and level-headedness refreshing. He's always been an entertaining guest. His points taking cryptids away from the paranormal and that people associating cultural mythology with Bigfoot and other cryptids rang true with me. These are ideals that we find in both the ghost-hunting and UFO phenomena, both, and it's dibilitating to either areas of research.

My favorite part of the show? When Loren was asked what his favorite cryptid would be, his response, "That's like asking me how often I beat my wife." LOL!

 

[trilithium]

Great show so far, I haven't quite finished the episode yet. The fact that wild animals dead bodies are rarely seen was very interesting, it really made me think.
I had no idea that some animals try to cover themselves when close to death. I can't wait to hear the rest. I would love to visit his museum. Great guest!

 

[Apocalypto]

I like Mr. Coleman. He's a very smart man and I'm looking forward to - one day - visiting his museum. Sounds like a great time. I'm already married so I can't go there on honeymoon unless my wife wants to do another one. I'm not sure if a Cryptozoology Museum would be her first choice, though. She's more of a beach / warm weather kinda gal. Having said that, I'll drag her to the museum one day and we'll have a look.

I live in Vancouver, and I've visited some of the more popular (I'll use the term even though Mr. Coleman doesn't like it) "Bigfoot" areas. On one occasion I camped on Harrison lake with a couple of lady friends. We were all in the tent falling asleep when I heard a very loud rustling in the bushes. We were on the beach, very close to the water, and the sound was coming from the wooded area on the other side of the tent. The area was very popular with campers, and there were definitely a lot of racoons around, what with all of the food people leave around.

Still, the sound began to get louder and louder, and I began to wonder. I remembered the giant wooden Sasquatch statue at the bottom of Harrison lake, and my mind raced back to watching all of those Bigfoot documentaries as a child... and here I was in a tent with two women, out in a remote area of Harrison lake... my head began to spin.

I decided to go take a look, much to the chagrin of my girlfriend. She grabbed my arm as I got the flashlight ready. Now the thing, whatever it was, was RIGHT beside the tent, and I could hear very loud snapping sounds as it crushed the sticks and branches around the back of the tent. I could even hear breathing and snorting...

Frankly, I was pretty pumped up. I was actually looking FORWARD to coming face to face with a Bigfoot. I even got myself ready in case I needed to send it a message of peace...

I'll tell you the rest of the story later. For now I've got to get ready for bed.

Good show!

 

[Jeff Crowell]

I especially enjoyed the fact that Mr. Coleman was into anthropology. I have an extreme interest in anthropology and believe that any of it's subfields could be applied to several fields of the paranormal (of which I'm including cryptozoology here. My apologies if that offends.) From cultural, even medical, and archeological, anthropology can be used to investigate many aspects of unknown phenomena.

 

[Snidely Whiplash]

@Sandanfire, I have to agree with you about the best part of the show. I'm going to have to add that quib to my wheelhouse. LOL

 

[Digital Trickster]

Was a great show ! Loren is such a good guest and i love his approach to this subject.His opinions on what he believes alot of these cryptids to be are so great because they are based on science and what evidence there seems to be and he does such a great job of distinguishing the lore of these creatures from what is most likely the best explanation.Another awesome episode guys

 

[Thabtos]

A great job, he was certainly worth the wait. There need to be more researchers who seek facts and evidence instead of yarn spinning.

 

[boomerang]

Good show! I always enjoy Mr. Coleman's well articulated take on cryptids and our reaction to them. I can't quite wrap my head around bigfoot as a flesh and blood hominid roaming the wilds. But as always, Coleman makes one heck of a good argument for it.

 

[Andrew Cater]

Loren is fun to listen to and really knows his stuff. I found it odd that he would conclude that sasquatch is a stupid animal. By our standards, of course it is, but we humans are freaks of the natural world (thats a topic for another show); by animal standards you have to compare its behavior to other great apes and from all accounts that I've read - and I've read a lot - sasquatch may be second only to us in intelligence. The very notion of a sasquatch wearing a pair of boots implies that it recognizes what an item like that is used for and is able to us it. Other examples include watching people through windows - Ive never heard of an animal staring at people through a window, which implies that it is acquiring information; what that information is, who knows. Sasquatch is curious about humans, has the ability to recognize what a tool is and how to use it, and constructs very complicated shelters - check out the Marble Mountain footage (

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVUPoBGJo1o
). I think sasquatch is making the best of a bad situation.

 

[red_pill_junkie]

Nessie is not a plesiosaur. Mokele Mbembe is not a dinosaur, and Mothman was just a big-ass owl.

Loren kind of became the Grinch who stole Xmas. And by 'Xmas' I mean all my childhood cryptozoological fantasies

Srsly though, I have nothing but the deepest respect for Loren. He is certainly the most important cryptozoologist in the world right now, and he deserves that title.

Having said that, I do have some caveats with the quick way by which he dismisses all those fringe cases where Cryptozoology and Ufology seem to interject. I'm not sure how would Stan Gordon respond to his conclusion that all those reports of Bigfoot seen coming out of a UFO were the by-product of the Hippie era.

I was also kind of expecting Chris to mention cases like the Skinwalker ranch, where Bigfoot-type entities were reported, along with other weird phenomena, but alas that didn't come to pass.

Maybe a next episode with Loren & Nick Redfern, who takes a 180° view with regards to Cryptozoology, would make for a hell of a show

 

[Andrew Cater]

I agree Red, Loren definitely popped a balloon or two. I think his take on the Mothman and the events in Point Pleasant might be too conservative. Recently Ive come across some accounts by people recalling events in that area as young adults; they indicate that there was more going on there than just a large owl. The topic of giant owls is cool none the less and they might be the most elusive of all crypto creatures.

 

[Terjarv]

Great Show, although I disagree with Loren's view that cryptids like Bigfoot are simply wildlife. I don't see how a Bigfoot could be running around the pacific northwest without leaving any substantial trace evidence.

 

[ZenBug]

Loren sounds like he's bursting balloons, but if you think about it, he's just arguing in favour of his cryptozoological position. If he's so readily willing to write off the paranormal aspects of the Mothman case, why not take it a step further and write off the reports that it was six feet tall and just conclude that people misjudged the size of a regular owl? If he finds it so hard to believe that Nessie is a plesiosaur, how is it that he's willing to believe that it's anything cryptozoological? He referenced Occam's Razor himself but he stops short of making common sense conclusions, that people are misidentifying known animals and other objects.

Loren puts too much stock in eyewitness testimony. That's why he was duped by that Malaysian hoax a few years back about the close-up photos of bigfoot's eyes that "could not possibly have been faked".

He's not as skeptical as you'd think.

 

[Jabbermocky]

... (I'll use the term even though Mr. Coleman doesn't like it) "Bigfoot" areas.

... The very notion of a sasquatch wearing a pair of boots implies that it recognizes what an item like that is used for and is able to us it.

Maybe Loren doesn't like the term "Bigfoot" because he would then have to explain or investigate into what size of human boot a "Bigfoot" could put its 'big foot' into...

That was one of my first thought upon hearing that -- almost like Loren dropped his usually very good skeptical guard.

Excellent episode of The Paracast; great guest and great job Gene and Chris.

BTW Apocolypto, Harrison Hot Springs is one of my favourite places to visit when going to the west coast, and that large, seated, wooden Bigfoot always finds its way into my holiday snaps.