The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose Quotes

“As one learns from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—and all the media that has since made that story its ancestor—a creation’s first act is to free itself of its creator, violently if necessary.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“I had not said the words attributed to me. Even if I had said them, they weren't defamatory. Even if they were, it was a private conversation. Also—not that I am admitting I said them—they are true.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“This is not unusual in the annals of paranormal phenomena, where people espouse genuine experiences that elude any attempt of convincing evidence. The experiencer will doctor a photo or footprint precisely like what they saw, but a reconstruction after the fact. This attempt is invariably uncovered since people who are in the grips of the paranormal are unlikely to be masters of photo manipulation or biology, and the whole phenomenon is considered to have been fake.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“One can point to countless Sasquatches and their morphological kin, ghosts by the bushel, and aliens by the mothership load, but Gef existed just this once.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“By being so bizarre when less was required, he peculiarly becomes more credible. Someone faking it would not go to these lengths unless they were profoundly committed to the bit, making it more likely this was a genuine personality, an actual trickster.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“It was a rare time in history when a man chose to believe a girl when doubting her provided a more straightforward narrative.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“But that would be unsurprising given our innate short-sightedness to consequences. Why deal with the discomfort now when the agony comes to a future you? That is their problem.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“A talking mongoose, one must admit, is a more captivating figure than the typical Charlie McCarthy knockoff.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“There are always humbugs hungry for ink. It is the nature and bane of paranormal research. If we throw out all evidence for the sake of a few charlatans, the world would be a poorer place, and nothing would be solved.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“Are UAPs (Unexplained Aerial Phenomena, the more precise name for what was erstwhile called UFOs) to be blamed on a technological-advanced interstellar society? Time travelers? Dimensional visitors? The fae folk in shiny metal suits?”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“With the paranormal, it is never a matter of them walking up to you and shaking your hand.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“We see trickster fingerprints whenever a paranormal case gets a bit too weird.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“If you press a trickster to show themselves, you will find a reliable phenomenon quiet at once. The trickster will pop out from behind the rock and laugh at your disgrace once the crowd has dispersed.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“The trickster likes few things better than tweaking the nose of the doubters. They exist in the liminal space beyond proof, crossing boundaries at a whim, promising hidden knowledge they will never share.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“One does not need to look too deeply into the transcripts of witch trials before uncovering tortured women speaking of cavorting with everyday animals. (There does seem to be a size limit; one can converse with a devil in the form of a dog, but not a moose and surely not an elephant.)”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“Gef became the receptacle of all Irving’s misspent wants and frustrations, a focal point for the things the family could not say aloud. He could have Jim’s broader knowledge, Voirrey’s adolescence, and Margaret’s witchery. He could be the son from whom Jim had become estranged, the friend Voirrey did not find in Peel, the desirous confidante that Margaret could not find in her husband.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“A poltergeist is not within the girl's control. That is a crucial point: the girl made it and charged it, but she has no idea that she did. Once called forth, the poltergeist does as it wishes.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“The poltergeist is keen on as much destructive mischief as possible. It is not discriminatory. It will attack the girl who shaped it.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“Pent-up, resentful young girls are not known for conjuring an imp to hold sometimes-polite conversations with the guardians stifling them.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“A poltergeist is the byproduct of a repressed girl (and, yes, we are typically dealing with young girls; boys tend to feel more in control and have coping mechanisms beyond psychokinesis).”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“Making a poltergeist can be a simple recipe: allow a girl to have her first menstrual period, tell her she is a naughty girl for thinking dirty thoughts, punish her, bore her, disenfranchise her from her life, and wait. It is not a universal outcome. More than likely, you will summon nothing more than a moody teenager who slams her bedroom door and wishes aloud she had never been born. In exceptional cases, the dishes will fly off the shelves.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“Underneath all their deserved frustration with the mongoose is often the sort of love one might have for the black sheep of one’s family, a kind of He may be obnoxious, but he is ours.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“Now, people would no doubt pay richly for the chance to spend the night at a remote home potentially occupied by a verbal varmint, but this attitude was a half-century away from the Irvings’ occupancy.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“Feeling unsettled in an old, drafty house is not a cause to look to the supernatural.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“It was an old house far from other people, and they were there specifically to make it less drafty and miserable. It would be stranger if there were no odd noises and eerie feelings.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“The Salem Witch Trials were about little else than bored girls letting their stories spin murderously out of control.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“The mongoose took a while to warm to the family, at least enough that he did not as often threaten their life and livestock.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“But he was surly and capricious. Being an idol would not have suited him.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“Gef had no message for the world other than tweaking the nose of believers and doubters alike and demanding to be left alone with his family. Aside from potentially existing at all, Gef performed no miracle.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose

“He delighted in thinking he was getting one over on doubters and had a chilly relationship with the truth at the best of times.”
― Thomm Quackenbush, The Curious Case of the Talking Mongoose