Author Nick Redfern exposes monsters and government secrets
For Your Eyes Only – Fantastic Beasts Dossier
Why would a government care about the Abominable Snowman, the Loch Ness Monster, or any wild campfire story? And yet they do, and with alarming consistency. Blowing the lid off the accepted lore of strange creatures, prolific author Nick Redfern doesn’t settle for outdated explanations, but instead monster files, offers at all times, a convincing view of the possible involvement of the clandestine government. Monster Files is just what the name suggests; an investigation of government secrets, freedom of information act documents, first-hand accounts, false-tale investigations, and dogged investigations. The result is a fascinating mix of paranormal and conspiracy.
Following a general timeline of monstrous events, the book begins with Teddy Roosevelt’s Bigfoot story and ends with modern beasts.
Not all creatures are necessarily the target of government interest; some monsters are introduced to serve as an introduction to the next official engagement story. However, it is not so easy to group each case into narrow classifications. Some monsters are ‘used’ by governments as a cunning distraction, a ‘wild goose hunt’ to hide top secret projects and advanced weaponry. At other times, these same agencies have a curious interest in all things paranormal. Sometimes they seem fascinated or even frightened, as in the case of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Oceanic Service (NOA), both loudly protesting thatmermaids don’t exist!
At other times, the government has technological interests, such as with the fading beasts of the werewolf and Bigfoot variety, where multi-dimensional super technologies could be used for our own governments’ nefarious purposes.
In Monster Files, Nick Redfern proves that he is an author and researcher who is willing to offer original conclusions and concepts to what might otherwise be a family tradition. His explanation of the origins of the famous, or infamous, Flatwoods monster sighting in 1952, in the small town of Flatwoods, West Virginia, is original and more than a little thought provoking.
Rarity files are frequent and varied in form.
Government research on the psychic abilities of cats and dogs to detect hidden mines? It is true! That research also showed that cats and dogs transfer ESP information to each other.
Did FDR greenlight a project to use bats as living bombs? Yes! It’s here too!
Monster Army and ape-human hybrids
A book about monsters would not be complete without Dr. Frankenstein’s scientific creations, real or rumored. Redfern explores the story of Russian physiologist Ilya Ivanov, who was hired, allegedly by none other than Joseph Stalin, to create an army from a race of genetically spliced half-human/half-ape men in the late 1920s. The book it is good at digging for the truth behind such wild claims and its author is not one to simply accept such stories at face value. There is something here for both skeptics and believers. Redfern covers all the bases.
And about the reality of the Russian ape-men?
“So what we have here is a saga that has some truth to it, that describes very real attempts to create human-ape hybrids that were undertaken by the scientific elite of the Soviet Union, which were financed by the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and thatmade have the support of the Bolshevik government”.
(Reprinted, with permission of the publisher, from MONSTER FILES © 2013 Nick Redfern. Published by New Page Books, a division of Career Press, Pompton Plains, NJ. 800-227-3371. All rights reserved.)
However, Stalin’s involvement, as the author points out, remains to be seen.
There are other apes here too, those of the long-lost cousin variety, and a few stories of possible Neanderthals showing up to visit.
The best is the last one from chapter 3, (again from the USSR) which tells the story of a lieutenant colonel. Karapetyan in the Soviet Army Medical Service in World War II. A strange-looking man had been captured; who was initially thought by the Soviets to be a spy. Covered in a long brown cape of shaggy hair, standing six feet tall with powerful arms, the beast had to be kept in a cold room because it couldn’t stand the heat.
The possibility of what any of these monkeys could have been makes any future visit to my local zoo’s monkey exhibit unsettling.
Indian Jones: Monster Hunter
Adventurer Tom Slick, the possible real-life inspiration for Indiana Jones, is profiled in his possible role as a CIA spy. Slick studied at Harvard and MIT, served in the Navy during the Pacific engagement of World War II, and was also instrumental in three groups that later became the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and the Southwest Research Institute. . For all intents and purposes, Slik was a man who had strong connections to important people. He was also a globetrotting adventurer who had a very real passion for mysterious beasts like the famous Yeti, also known as the Abominable Snowman.
The real reason, as some have theorized, for Tom Slick’s trip to Tibet in 1956 was not just to search for the Yeti, but also to use the expedition as a cover story for a secret CIA mission to spy on the Communist Chinese government. invader who was trying to take over Tibet. The evidence presented in the Monster Files certainly lends credence to Slicks’ clandestine role. Redfern presents a 1959 United States Department of State document titled: Regulations covering mountaineering expeditions in Nepal – related to Yeti.
And it doesn’t end there. That chapter continues to weave together the loose threads of the assassination of JFK, Bigfoot, and the budding career of none other than George HW Bush (aka Bush 41) and neatly ties them all together in one package!
The real scare comes at the end of that chapter with the mysterious death of Tom Slick on October 6, 1962. Returning from a hunting trip while flying over Montana, Slicks’ plane appears to have disintegrated in mid-flight. As you can imagine, the sinister notes of a conspiracy are heard. Did the CIA monster hunter know too many secrets, secrets that doomed him to an untimely grave?
Blocking the mysteries of the lake?
Our friend Nessie, the great Loch Ness Monster, is visited and revisited numerous times and for different reasons throughout the book. The good thing is that this never goes out of style. You still have many questions. Sure, Nessie could be a ruse by the British government to hide sophisticated weapons, the Monster Files argues, but that doesn’t explain the sightings dating back to before submarines were invented, as the author also points out.
And then there is British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s interest in protecting Nessie for Scottish tourism!
The burning thought for me on Monster Files was how could there be so many sightings of a large creature that couldn’t survive on such a meager food supply provided by the lake? The possibility that Nessie could, in fact, be the ghost of an extinct dinosaur is a mind-boggling concept.
Bigfoot: What the US Government Doesn’t Want You to Know
Mount Saint Helens erupted with terrible and violent force in May 1980. Once all the volcanic ash had settled, there were scattered rumors and reports that the US Army Corps of Engineers took several Sasquatch-like beasts. Chapter 18 also holds more surprises, but one can only speculate as to the reason for any government involvement. The book points to the idea that these beasts, Bigfoot, have some kind of special ability that the military is studying.
There is also a chapter here on UFOs and Bigfoot. The possibility that these creatures can jump to other dimensions and that they have psychic abilities are possible reasons given for government/military involvement.
mix of monsters
There are many stories that haunt and fascinate, and the brief history of the US government trying to trick an ordinary house cat into working as a spy was, for me, a spectacle. It is just one of many that make this book a must. The Case of the Stuffed Bigfoot, Princess Di and the Big Black Killer Cat, the World War II Werewolf; Everything is turning the page! There are so many good tales here that highlighting any one story hurts the other weird tales. Nick Redfern’s Monster Files offers mysteries, monsters, conspiracies and excitement. It is a book to read and reread.
Nick Redfern Monster Files
New Page Books 15.99
Soft cover 288 pages