Monday, November 3, 2008

The Griffin of Brentford

Neil Arnold tells the strange story of the Griffin of Brentford. This is a weird tale that has more than an air of all-things Tulpa-like about it, and which was the subject of a small booklet (that is essential reading for anyone wanting the full story) written by well-known author Andy Collins. If this is a case you're not familiar with, it's definitely worth checking out.

4 comments:

cryptidsrus said...

That is a great story, Nick!!!

Sounds like a Tulpa, all right.

1) What gives it an air of believability is the fact that a PSYCHOLOGIST saw it. I know shrinks can be wrong and hallucinate like the rest of us, but I'm pretty comfortable asserting Olssen would have enough experience to know whether he was hallucinating or not. Plus the fact that other people saw the thing and it apparently matched his description. Big coincidence, if that.

2) Griffins are appropriate to England, since they figure in so much heraldry, including (if I'm not incorrect) Royal heraldry.

3) Gotta get that pamphlet one day. Thanks again, Nick!!!

Nick Redfern said...

C:
I think the pamphlet is pretty hard to find nowadays, but would be good to see it updated and reprinted.

Gummerfan said...

I've often wondered about the possibility of a monster-tulpa connection. But what puzzles me is this:
If these creatures are the product of our thoughts and mental energy, why is it that so many researchers and monster hunters, who are concentrating so intently on finding the creatures, still come up empty-handed?

Nick Redfern said...

G:

That's an interesting question; however, when you look into the world of crypto, you find that many researchers do actually have personal experiences of these things.

I've had a couple, Jon Downes in the UK has, and there are many US based researchers who have (for example) heard weird noises in the woods, seen shadowy forms, even seen hairy creatures etc.

Coincidentally, I have actually been working on a paper titled "Monsters and the Monster-Hunters Who See Them" that will be published soon, and which reveals the quite startling number of researchers who have had experiences.

I think that you'r right on target re the "empty handed" comment, however.

If these things are indeed Tulpas, then we will likely always be empty-handed because of their intangible nature.

I think that's the problem: it's not so much that cryptozoologists haven't had experiences of these things when they are looking for them.

Rather, it's the lack of hard proof in the form of physical evidence. So, by definition, we are indeed always empty-handed, despite the intensity of our searches.

And maybe the Tulpa angle explains why.