Tim Binnall's excellent Binnall of America show has a couple of great new crypto additions that he has just written to tell me about. As you'll see from Tim's information below, the two new episodes see Tim deep in discussion with Adam Davies (author of Extreme Expeditions) and Ken Gerhard (who wrote the book Big Bird).
Both Adam's and Ken's books are great ones, well worth reading, and contain masses of material on the strange creatures that lurk amongst us. Here's Tim to tell you more:
http://www.binnallofamerica.com/boaa11.9.8.html
Adam Davies, Extreme Expeditions: Travel Adventures Stalking the World's Mystery Animals
1 Hour, 35 Minutes.
Bonus, post-show mini-interview with Thunderbird researcher Ken Gerhard.
BoA returns to the UK to talk with Adam Davies, author of Extreme Expeditions: Travel Adventures Stalking the World's Mystery Animals. We'll be covering some of the adventures that are detailed in his book, including his travels to the Congo to search for the Mokele Mbembe, hunting the Orang Pendek in Sumatra, investigating the Mongolian Death Worm, and other treks around the world seeking truly unique cryptids.
We'll also delve into the human side of crypto expeditions, talking about what makes a good team, the political roadblocks to international work, how Adam's family feels about his adventures and much more.
Plus, we cover Alien Big Cats, the Seljord Serpent, American Bigfoot, the "kill v. no kill" debate, and, as always, tons and tons more. This is a jam packed edition of BoA which spans the globe and covers a wealth of cryptozoological topics.
Full Preview: We kick things off with the standard bio/background portion of the interview, finding out who Adam Davies is and how he got interested in cryptozoology. This leads to Adam telling us about some of the scarier moments of his cryptozoological expeditions.
Adam then gives a thumbnail look at Extreme Expeditions and explains his goals for writing the memoirs of his expeditions. Adam also recounts the incident, as detailed in the book, where he was arrested in Mongolia on suspicion of being a Chinese spy. We dive into the book with discussion of Adam's early forays into crytpo expeditions and the initial issues he faced, namely finding the right people to join him and the preparation work involved in such adventures.
Next, we discuss one of the early, colorful characters of the book, Jan, and we get Adam's take on some of Jan's eccentricities that are detailed in his book. We then get Adam's perspective on the members of expeditions who are sometimes overly interested in the media exposure as opposed to the actual research. We discuss some of the creatures that Adam has gone searching for on expeditions, starting with the Seljord Serpent.
After that we talk about the Loch Ness Monster and get Adam's take on the popular notion in esoterica that it is some kind of eel. Adam then gives us some perspective on what it's like on the ground at Loch Ness and how if the Monster is highly commercialized or not. We also discuss the perception that the LNM has become less popular over the last few decades and we get Adam's take on if that is apparent in Europe as well, and, if so, why that might be.
Moving on, we talk about the Mokele-Membe, which Adam has searched extensively for in the Congo. Adam details some of his early interest in the Mokele-Membe and how it fueled his desires to go on expedition searching for it. This leads to some talk about the political hassles that are involved in exploring the Congo for mysterious creatures. Adam reflects on how the natives in the countries that he traveled to were very receptive to his visits and attempts to verify their cultural stories of strange creatures in their homelands.
He then talks about some of his interactions and friendships with the natives of the countries he visited. We get Adam's take on if he think the Mokele-Membe could exist and what it might be. We also find out how extensive the research into the Mokele-Membe is, since it seems like one of the more peripheral cryptozoological animals. We discuss environmental issues with regards to cryptozoological animals and the question of whether or not their shrinking habitats would lead to their discovery or extinction.
We follow that up with discussion of another bizarre creature that Adam has gone searching for: the Mongolian Death Worm. He also gives his opinion of what the Death Worm might be and details some of the witnesses and believers in the animal. Lessons learned from his expeditions and advice for would-be crypto explorers is our next topic of discussion. We find out some of the means and methods used by Adam when he is on one of his expeditions. Adam shares the reaction by some of his fellow travelers who were featured in Extreme Adventures.
We also talk about the incident in the book where one of his compatriots had to leave the expedition and we find out how that person felt about having to leave the trip. Our conversation then turns to the subject of growing older and having a family and how that effects Adam's life of traveling the globe in search of mystery animals.
We also find out his wife's perspective on Adam's sometimes dangerous travels and if she has ever told him to stop making these trips. In light of Adam's many travels, we find out what he thinks of coming to America to pursue some of our cryptozoological creatures. We also get his take on the Chupacabra as well as some of the creatures that may be lurking in Australia.
Jumping back to one of our previous discussions, we talk about the Orang Pendek, how people describe it, and what it may be. We learn where Adam stands on the "kill v. no kill" debate as far as mystery beasts go. We also find out how extensive Adam's ability to capture the creatures would be, should he come across one during his expeditions. Looking at some of his post-book work, we find out about Adam's trip to Russia this past Summer in search of the Almasty, which is the Russian Bigfoot.
Looking at expeditions as a whole, we find out how prevalent the concern is over potentially getting sick with an exotic disease or physically injured while on the trip. We then discuss one cryptid which is in Adam's proverbial backyard: the Alien Big Cat and get his take on the ABC phenomenon. Following that, we get Adam's opinion on the "paranormal v. natural" debate over Bigfoot and other cryptids.
We also get his perspective on a post-Bigfoot discovery cryptozoology world and how the field would react and be affected by such a discovery. This naturally leads to this Summer's Bigfoot discovery hoax and we find out how Adam felt about the event as it unfolded. Heading towards the close, we find out about some of the documentary films that Adam has made and been a part of and how folks can see these films.
We then find out what's next for Adam Davies and what future expeditions he may have on the drawing boards. This interview was recorded on 9.27.8
Bonus Audio: Ken Gerhard As an added audio bonus, at the conclusion of this week's episode, we've included Binnall's on-site mini-interview with Thunderbird researcher Ken Gerhard at the Mass Monster Mash.
We find out what drew Ken to attend the Mass Monster Mash and he tells us about his book Big Bird: Modern Sightings of Flying Monsters. We get Ken's take on the "bird v. pteredactyl" debate regarding the Thunderbird phenomenon. We find out if Ken has gotten much photographic evidence for giant birds, in light of the technological boom of the last decade.
Ken enlightens us to some of the origins of the "Big Bird" and Thunderbird name. We also find out about Ken's research into the Texas Chupacabras from the past few years. Wrapping up the mini-interview, we find out where folks can find out more from Ken Gerhard. This interview was recorded on 10.18.08
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http://www.binnallofamerica.com/ : BoA...The Esoteric Observer
http://www.binnallofamericaaudio.com/ : BoA Audio
http://www.myspace.com/binnall : Binnall on Myspace
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