Nick Redfern's Blog, page 123

New Books X 3

For those who may be interested, I had 3 new books arrive in the mail today. They are (in the photo) from left to right: (A) The Most Mysterious Places on Earth , which is a U.K. edition of my 2012 U.S. book, The World's Weirdest Places , which was renamed for some odd reason!; (B) a new hardback, Russian version of my U.S. 2012 book, The Pyramids and the Pentagon ; and (C) a new book from me and Glen Vaudrey, titled Mystery Animals of the British Isles: Staffordshire , which is all about strange creatures seen all over the English county of Staffordshire, where I grew up.

Britain's Big Cats and Princess Diana

Some of you may have seen this breaking story: a new and highly controversial claim to the effect that elements of the British Army were somehow involved in the death (or as the claim suggests, the murder) of Princess Diana, in 1997.

I know nothing about this, aside from what the press is saying. And as this new story - from the UK's Daily Mail newspaper - shows , the claim is steeped in major controversy.

What I do know, however, is that there really was a link between the secret world of the British Army and Princess Diana. It had nothing to do with her death, however, but everything to do with the so-called, ABCs, or Alien Big Cats, that roam the U.K.

I tell the story in my recently published book, Monster Files . The chapter in question details the work of a small, elite group in British Army Intelligence that was watching Diana's every move in the late 1980s, amid fears that she might be kidnapped or assassinated by hostile forces.

While keeping Diana under surveillance during one, particular, late-night visit the princess made to an old village in the county of Devon, the Army team caught sight of something amazing prowling around. It was nothing less than a large, black cat, around the size of a mountain lion.




Since the ABC was seen very close to the property in which Diana was staying, the military unit was placed in a deep quandary: should they shoot the cat and alert the entire village (and, quite probably, and quickly, the media too) as to what was going down? Or should they just hope that the huge, black creature finally made its way out of the village and onto the wild countryside and moors of Devon? They chose the latter.

As for the story itself, it was provided to Jon Downes, of the Center for Fortean Zoology, who, in turn, provided it to me, years ago, after Jon personally spoke with one of the soldiers involved. It's important to note that Jon's source proved to be highly credible, since he correctly named at least one of Diana's lovers, long before the relationship became public knowledge.

It may well prove to be the case that the current controversy surrounding Diana and the British Army will implode on itself and vanish into obscurity.

But even if that does happen, it doesn't rule out the fact that there really was a British Army unit watching Diana's every move back in the latter part of the '80s. And, it was a unit that - in a very curious and roundabout fashion - became embroiled in the controversy surrounding Britain's notoriously famous ABCs.

A British Roswell???

Have UFOs crashed to Earth in the UK? Well, if you interpret the term "UFO" literally - as an unidentified flying object, in other words - then the answer is an undeniable "Yes." But, if you interpret "UFO" to mean "alien spacecraft" then the jury is very much still out.

That's not to say there is a shortage of such accounts, however. And here's one, in the form of my latest Mysterious Universe article: a little-known story I uncovered back in the mid-1990s while digging into what were then-newly-declassified British Ministry of Defense files on UFOs from the 1960s.

Next year, the incident - which occurred in Walthamstow, England - will reach its half a century, so now may be the time for someone to take a new, fresh look at the case, just in time for the 50th...

Monsters of... Reviewed

My latest Lair of the Beasts article at Mania.com is a review of two new publications from Stackpole Books: Monsters of Massachusetts by Loren Coleman and Monsters of New York by Bruce Hallenbeck.

A couple of years ago, Stackpole embarked on an ambitious and very cool project: namely to have a Monsters of... book for each and every U.S. state - and the series is going strong, with titles already available on New Jersey, West Virginia, North Carolina and more.

And here's the review of the New York and Massachusetts books.

Spirits of the Wildmen?

Is it possible that at least some reports of so-called British "wild men" are actually the ghosts of ancient, Neolithic hunters? If it sounds controversial, that's because it is! The question is one that is posed in my latest Mysterious Universe article, which begins like this:

'As people who have read my books Man-Monkey and Wildman! will know, I have a deep fascination for stories, accounts, and legends relative to what might be termed the “British Bigfoot.” The problem, as I note in both the above-books, is that the UK is simply not large enough to hide, or feed, entire colonies of large, marauding, ape-like creatures, or primitive, hair-covered humanoids. That people see them, and have done so for centuries, however, makes the whole matter even more mysterious.

"When it comes to trying to ascertain the true nature of the British Bigfoot and “wild man” encounters – which is a deeply fraught and difficult task at the very best of times – the theories are as wide and varied as they are controversial and thought-provoking. But, without doubt, one of the most engaging of all scenarios to explain this undeniably nationwide, ancient conundrum comes from friend and fellow creature-seeker Neil Arnold , whose views on the matter I secured in a January 2012 interview…"

As for the complete article, it's right here...

Close Encounters over the UK: 1957

My new Mysterious Universe feature dissects a notable, but little known, UFO affair that attracted more than a bit of official interest. Here's how it starts:

"At around 10.20 a.m., on the morning of April 29, 1957, two British Royal Air Force Hunter aircraft took to the skies from an RAF base called Odiham, which is located in the English county of Hampshire. The plan was for the aircraft to take part in a mid-air military training exercise. Things didn’t quite turn out as planned, however. When the planes reached a height of roughly 45,000-feet, one of the pilots found himself confronted by what can only be described as an undeniable, unidentified flying object.

"And you don’t have to take my word for it. The following is a word for word account of what took place, and which is extracted from a now-declassified British Air Ministry file on the case which can be found at the National Archives, at Kew, Surrey, England..."


  And here's where you can find that word for word account and much more...

Splendid Berlin: A New Q&A

Over at Splendid Berlin , there is a new Q&A with me which, for the most part, is a rant about things I hate, plus various things about how I got into writing, what I think of paranormal-themed reality TV (a clue: it's all crap), and my views on politicians (another clue: they're all crap, too).

You can find it right here...

MIB & ABC

We've all heard about the Men in Black and their attempts to silence UFO witnesses. But are similar characters trying to intimidate and silence witnesses to ABCs (Alien Big Cats) in the UK? It sounds bizarre, but it may be true.

Anyway, it's the subject of my latest Mysterious Universe article , which starts as follows:

"During the early part of 1998, the British Government’s House of Commons held a fascinating and arguably near-unique debate on the existence – or otherwise – of a particular breed of mystery animal that is widely rumored, and even accepted by many, to inhabit the confines of the British Isles: the so-called Alien Big Cats, or ABCs, as they have become infamously known.
"
It scarcely needs mentioning that Britain is not home to an indigenous species of large cat. Nevertheless, for decades amazing stories have circulated from all across the nation of sightings of large, predatory cats that savagely feed on both livestock and wild animals and that terrify, intrigue and amaze the local populace in the process. And, of course, the media loves them, one and all."

Positively Lovecraftian!

My latest Lair of the Beasts article at Mania.com , which begins like this...

"Imagine, if you dare, a real-life equivalent of H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous and legendary creation: the great Cthulhu. In the dark and disturbing pages of The Call of Cthulhu, Lovecraft gave a hideous description of the ominous nightmare."Cthulhu was, said Lovecraft, “A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind.” Could there be a real-life equivalent? Maybe...  

Mysterious Places vs. Weird Places

Last year, New Page Books, here in the US, published my book The World's Weirdest Places . Well, a UK edition has just been released, but the UK publisher has decided to rename the book as The Most Mysterious Places on Earth . Why, I don't know. It must be a conspiracy ;)