Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman (born in 1947 in Norfolk, Virginia) is an American scientist, best known as a leading specialist in cryptozoology, having done fieldwork since 1960. His youngest brother is paranormal writer Jerry D. Coleman, a high school graduate.
Loren Coleman was educated in anthropology and zoology at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, and psychiatric social work at the Simmons College School of Social Work in Boston. He did post-masters work in anthropology at Brandeis University and studied sociology at the University of New Hampshire. Coleman taught at New England universities from 1980 to 2004, also having been a senior researcher at the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Policy from 1983 to 1996, before retiring from teaching to write, lecture, and consult on his many interests.
Coleman appears frequently on television and documentaries in interviews about Bigfoot, Yeti, Lake monsters, Mothman, Dover Demon, and other cryptids. He has written numerous articles and books on cryptozoology, of which the first was published in 1969. He also specializes in Fortean phenomena, which includes cryptozoology but also covers other topics. He has many professional interests, as well, including a subspeciality in media analysis. His 2004 book The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines (ISBN 0743482239) followed in the wake of his earlier academic publications and book, Suicide Clusters (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1987).
Coleman, due to his extensive research on Mothman, was asked by Sony/Screen Gems before the release of their 2002 movie The Mothman Prophecies, to assist them with their reality-based publicity. He therefore was involved in press conferences, and over three hundred radio interviews discussing the factual background to the 1966-1967 events in Point Pleasant, West Virginia that informed Mark Pellington's contemporary motion picture. The studio also had Coleman and author John Keel appear in their documentary, Search for the Mothman (2002), directed by David Grabias. In conjunction with the movie and documentary, the studio encouraged Coleman to complete his book on Mothman before the release of their movie, and thus Mothman and Other Curious Encounters (ISBN 1931044341) was published in 2002 by New York's Paraview Press. He continues this work through a study of the so-called "Mothman Curse".
Despite Coleman's Mothman research, his long-term interest is in Yeti and Sasquatch investigations. He has carried out extensive fieldwork throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico, regarding sightings, trace evidence, and Native peoples' traditions of Sasquatch/Windigo/Bigfoot. Many of his recent books have dealt with Bigfoot, Yeti, Lake Monsters, and Sea Serpents. His writings are extensive collections of raw data, theories, and his adventures traveling around North America. His investigations, through others' news reports, as well as his own articles and books frequently reflect words and phrases that have passed into routine use in cryptozoology. For example, he coined Dover Demon as well as other cryptids' specific names.
Coleman is also a biographer, having written on Yeti and Bigfoot expedition sponsor Tom Slick. Coleman has won awards for this documentary and literary work, and in 2004, he was honored with being depicted as the comic book character "Coleman Wadsworth" chasing an Abominable Snowman and the title creature in the Swamp Thing comics.
Paraview Press introduced a new series of books, "Loren Coleman Presents," with Mark A. Hall's book, Thunderbirds: America's Living Legends of Giant Birds (ISBN 193104497X) in 2004.
Bibliography
Loren Coleman has written 27 books, including the following recent selections:
- The Copycat Effect (New York: Paraview Pocket-Simon and Schuster, 2004) [1]
- The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep with Patrick Huyghe (NY: Tarcher-Penguin, 2003, ISBN 1585422525)
- BIGFOOT!: The True Story of Apes in America (NY: Paraview Pocket-Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 0743469755)
- Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology (Fresno: Craven Street/Linden Press, 2002, ISBN 0941936740)
- Mothman and Other Curious Encounters (NY: Paraview, 2002, ISBN 1931044341)
- Mysterious America: The Revised Edition (NY: Paraview, 2001, ISBN 1931044058) Also in 2004, a hardbound edition of Mysterious America was published (ISBN 1931044848).
- Cryptozoology A to Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature with Jerome Clark (NY: Simon and Schuster, 1999, ISBN 0684856026)
- The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide with Patrick Huyghe (NY: HarperCollins, 1999, ISBN 0380802635)