Mysterious Creatures: The Truth Behind the Legends by David Alderton and Akara Heart
Big thanks to Bloomsbury Academic and NetGalley for sharing
an advanced copy of David Alderton and Akara Heart’s Mysterious Creatures: The Truth Behind the Legends, a great new compendium that investigates mysterious
and legendary creatures like Bigfoot, vampires, werewolves, unicorns, and
dragons. I love books like these that provide an overview of legends, myths,
and other mysteries of the unknown, and have been reading these kinds of
collections since I was younger. There’s been some recent great books that
focus more on cryptids and urban legends (The United States of Cryptids by
Ocker, Fairylore by Wallman and Cleto, and Tales of the Dark Feminine
by V. Castro), and I love that so many of these books go beyond mere
definitional entries in a kind of brief encyclopedia. While my younger self
would have enjoyed Mysterious Creatures, it is a book that engages the
wonders and mystery of these legendary creatures, but also presents some evenhanded
investigations and science into working to find a rational explanation for
these creatures and legends. It’s not quite a book I could recommend for
children, but it remains a fascinating and entreating read that I could not put
down.
Alderton and Heart have done considerable research to not
only investigate the origins and incidents involving many of these legendary
creatures, but also to provide some plausible explanations and ideas as to why
or how these legends have entered our belief systems and why they have
persisted for so long. Many of the legends appear throughout history and cut
across different cultures. For example, the unicorn may have first appeared in
ancient Babylonian times as a seal for official documents, yet over time the
idea of the unicorn has transformed from a fierce, yet elusive beast with
magical powers, to something more delicate and unique. Alderton and Heart trace
the ways in which this legendary creature has changed to mean different things
to various cultures and time periods, as well as how many people in the middle
ages profited off of the supposed powers of unicorn horns by selling ground up
powders to unwitting customers. Similarly, we learn how mermaids have been a
part of legends and myths since people began sailing, yet the idea of a siren
has changed over time. Nevertheless, scammers took advantage of the willingness
to believe and the lack of skepticism (or education or information at the time)
to make some money with well-crafted hoaxes, most notably the Feejee (or Fiji)
mermaid. I was shocked to learn how much someone paid for what was ostensibly a
monkey carcass sewed to a fish tail. Nevertheless, I loved learning about the
mythical origins of these creatures, and how they have appeared in stories,
legends and literature, eventually making their way to books and films, and becoming
somewhat iconic and meaningful symbols of for different cultures and generations.
These chapters explore the history, but tend to focus in on some of the more iconic
or important stories that helped to propel these myths to the mainstream and
explain how they eventually have shaped our current beliefs and ideas about
these creatures. My favorite chapters were about vampires and werewolves and
dogmen. I loved learning more about the history of these creatures and finding
out about some strange cases and the possible medical or mental health reasons
behind these phenomena. The last two chapters on Sasquatch and Thunderbirds (or
giant birds) were interesting; however, I wish there was more about the indigenous
beliefs about these creatures. The authors mention some ideas, but don’t get
too in depth about the cultural myths and stories related to them.
Nevertheless, they provide some interesting modern instances of Bigfoot and
giant bird sightings in the US, and provide some compelling and rational suggestions
about what these creatures could possibly be. The other chapters on dragons and
phoenixes were also interesting, especially since both chapters explored cross
cultural beliefs and examined the cultural significance and differences of both
creatures in European and Asian (China, Korea, Japan).
I really enjoyed this book, and it’s one that I would
definitely recommend, not only because it’s so informative, but I also loved
the way that the authors present some plausible suggestions to explain how and
why the belief in these creatures has persisted for centuries, and how they
have often become culturally significant for different groups of people over
the course of history. While not a book for younger kids, I think this book
offers a great introduction to exploring skepticism and formulating
counter-arguments to provide reasonable explanations. While I always want to
believe in these mythical and mysterious creatures, I think it’s important to learn
these kinds of skeptical skills and to examine more scientific explanations, especially
as we find more and more technology being deployed to advance more complex
hoaxes and ideas. While we have access to more and more information and
education than previous generations, it still doesn’t prevent people from trying
to exploit our willingness to be amazed and our desire to believe in the
unexplained. Alderton and Heart’s book allows us to explore and question, but
also offers us important lessons in looking for more reasonable and logical
explanations. My only wish is that they included more images throughout the
book—whether they are illustrations or other examples of these creatures throughout
history and different cultures. Nevertheless, this is a book I highly recommend!
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