"The best book so far to answer the question 'Who discovered America?'...This important, spell-binding report replaces sugar-coated myths about Columbus's invasion of America with indispensable history." --Publishers Weekly

"A thoughtful and challenging consideration of the many voyagers who might have reached the Americas by sea before the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria...Well informed and well written, always provocative if not conclusive, this is revisionist history with a vengeance --and about time, too." --Kirkus Reviews

"Persuasively and emphatically disputes the fact that Columbus actually discovered America...A long-overdue tribute to a score of forgotten and disregarded explorers, adventurers, and sailors. Highly recommended..." --Booklist

Patrick Huyghe is a writer, editor, and television producer. He spent two decades writing about science for magazines from Omni to Discover; produced television documentaries for WGBH and WNET; and is the author of nine books.

SWAMP GAS TIMES is a revealing memoir by a journalist who covered the UFO field for more than twenty years. This honest, behind-the-scenes look at how the media handle UFO stories also examines the dramatic events and major players that transformed UFO research for a quarter century.

Between official facts and public fantasies, there are INTERMEDIATE STATES. In a mix of the comic and the tragic, John Reppion searches for the truth behind an 1845 bridge collapse said to be caused when spectators rushed to see a clown in a tub drawn by six white geese in the river below. Cliff Willett wonders why UFO aliens would traverse deep space to borrow salt, sample our pizza, or offer us pancakes in his delightful examination of alien eating habits. Technology buffs in the afterlife? Mark Macy traces his involvement in our half-century long history of attempts to use technology to communicate directly with the dead - and them with us. Researcher Ulrich Magin tracks down the oft-repeated story of "the first ever sea serpent sighting" by the Assyrian King Sargon nearly three millennia ago and gets to the slimy truth of it all. As protosciences proliferate, David Hricenak makes the case for a new interdisciplinary field of study called bioanomalistics that overlaps with cryptozoology, UFOlogy, and parapsychology. Pennsylvania geologist Sharon Hill tackles the reports of anomalous lights, sounds, weather, and animal behavior that are said to occur before earthquakes, explains why science has been reluctant to accept them as useful precursors, and suggests a possible mechanism to explain such phenomena. Modern science may finally be shedding light on the paranormal. Biologist Dwight Smith and researcher Gary Mangiacopra look at how recent developments in neuroscience may help unravel the physical and physiological mechanisms that lead to out-of-body experiences. With an obvious passion for her subject, Victoria Alexander reviews the extreme ecstatic practices of medieval saints and mystics and finds a close relationship to the modern use of ayahuasca as a visionary tool. Researcher Theo Paijmans makes use of digital newspaper archives to get to the truth about the Black Flash - not the 1990s fictional comic book character from DC Comics but the phantomlike creature that plagued Provincetown in the 1930s and held its inhabitants in an ice-cold grip of fear. Bad sci-fi movies are a dime a dozen, but there's something special about The Flying Saucer. Nick Redfern wonders if there may not be some truth behind the claims of its star/director, who spread the word that the movie would feature footage of a real flying saucer over Alaska. The U.S. Air Force was certainly interested.

We chose Hakim Bey's wonderful phrase "The Universe Wants to Play" as the unifying theme for the articles in this volume, the 12th of The Anomalist journal. Since we began publishing in 1994, this highly praised nonfiction anthology has had as its focus maverick science, unexplained mysteries, unorthodox theories, and strange talents. In this issue. Philosopher Joseph M. Felser argues that it is utterly pointless to attempt to prove the reality of the paranormal scientifically. It seems that proof is part of the problem, not the solution. Journalist Jay Walljasper visits and interviews maverick scientist Rupert Sheldrake. Why does he rub so many biologists and physicists the wrong way? The potential victims you never hear about: Author Michael Schmicker wonders if ESP may not have helped save some people from serial killers. When terrorized, we tend to turn deranged individuals into larger-than-life creations. Authors Hilary Evans and Robert Bartholomew look at London's long history of Monster Scares, both real and imagined. We know that spiritualism was rife with fraud but was there a core kernel of phenomena behind the movement? Journalist Gregory Gutierez examines early attempts to scientifically monitor the famous Austrian medium Rudi Schneider. The indefatigable Nick Redfern spins a cold war tale of psychics, spies, and UFOs. In an effort to gain the upper hand, American and Soviet sleuths went down some strange alleyways. Cryptobotany anyone? David Hricenak takes cryptozoology to task for too often focusing on the large and "monstrous." What gets overlooked in the process, both above and below. Almost every culture has it tales of little people. Maybe they weren't so farfetched after all. Biologist Dwight Smith and researcher Gary Mangiacopra document the discovery of, and claims for, a new species of hominid - Homo floresiensis. Why some scientists may have good reason to be timid. Geophysicist Roger Hart details the legacy of the blacklist in the science of extraterrestrial life. Policeman Albert Rosales looks at some of the strangest encounters with UFO "aliens" ever reported. Some may even embarrass the true believers. Finally, archeologist William Beauchamp presents, in a classic reprint, all the details of a remarkable set of earthworks in upstate New York. Little-known, beautiful, and mysterious.

In this provocative examination of the popular misconceptions of history, Patrick Huyghe takes the reader on a voyage of discovery through the substantial body of evidence that places Christopher Columbus last in a long and diverse line of explorers. What better time than the quincentennial anniversary of Columbus's arrival on this continent to take a closer look, without prejudice or prior assumptions, at the story of the discovery of America? In this engrossing narrative, the assembled research of archeologists, geographers, geologists, oceanographers, linguists, folklorists, ethnobotanists, and other scholars is used to paint a far more complex canvas than the one most of us were shown in our schooldays. As we travel back through history with Huyghe, the simplistic legend that Columbus was the first to land on these shores is quickly and convincingly dispelled. Huyghe presents a broadened perspective of continuous waves of migration from the Pacific, the Bering Strait, and the Atlantic as he follows the trails of the ancestors of the five hundred tribes living here when Columbus arrived. We learn of early man living in the Lake Manix Basin of California as early as two hundred thousand years ago and of numerous archeological sites yielding evidence of settlements thirty to forty thousand years ago in the southwest and Canada; we also learn about the different theories that illuminate why native Americans' physiognomies reflect Asian, African, and European ancestry. With settlements having been established by the Chinese, Japanese, Polynesians, Phoenicians, Romans, Celts, Libyans, Jews, and Hindi, the Americas had become a melting pot of cultures long before the illustrious Italiannavigator brought his three ships up through the Caribbean. After reading Columbus Was Last, the notion that America was isolated from the time the first people settled here tens of thousands of years ago until Columbus set foot on this continent will indeed sound far-fetched.

The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates is a comprehensive study of the astonishing variety of puzzling primates that are being reported by eyewitnesses around the world - but that science has failed to recognize. This fully illustrated volume not only contains the references, range maps, and typical footprints that appeared in the first edition, but it also contains a new, complete index and new preface that updates the discoveries made since this book was first published. "The thousands of worldwide sightings of unclassified bipedal primates, including the Yeti, may be confusing because these sightings entail more than one species. This field guide attempts to sort out the different creatures, coming up with a classification of eight possible mystery primates. But this book makes no real attempt to persuade skeptics of the existence of any of them. It's sort of speculative taxonomy, but I think it is one of the most useful texts in the ongoing controversy over Bigfoot." - Kevin Kelly, Whole Earth Review "If only one of these creatures is verified by naturalists, it would be a biological sensation...The book is well-researched with a good bibliography." - William Corliss, Science Frontiers "This book looks like any other field guide you might pick up. It has drawings, maps, tracks, descriptions of the organisms, and the details of the most prominent sightings or evidence....Anyone interested in folk zoology - especially anyone interested in how legends and animal lore intersect with modern scientific research - would find this to be an intriguing volume....It is an extensive...catalog of all the variations on the 'mystery primate' theme organized geographically and annotated extensively." - Andrew J. Petto, Reports of the National Center for Science Education

The classic UFO-shaped like a flying saucer with a dome on top--in reality represents but a small fraction of the mystery aerial objects people have reported seeing over the past half century or so. Eyewitnesses around the world actually describe a bewildering array of forms in flight.

Here, for the first time, is a comprehensive look at the physical structure of UFOs, a book devoted to identifying and categorizing the dozens of different shapes the UFO phenomenon exhibits globally. From double-ringed to triange-shaped UFOs, from saucers to cigar-shaped craft-and more-this book documents each variant, describes often extraordinary encounters, and even takes the extra step of offering the skeptic's explanation for some of the sightnings.

What can the shape of a UFO tell us? In some cases, the shape of the object or phenomenon provides a strong clue to its origin. But in all cases, the classification system developed in this book shows quite clearly that there is no single solution to the UFO mystery--there are most likely many answers. And some surprises too.

From the serpentine "Champie" of Lake Champlain to the venerable "Nessie" of Loch Ness, extraordinary-and un-explained-creatures of the deep have been reported in sightings throughout the twentieth century. Now, two of the world's leading cryptozoological investigators provide a globetrotting field guide to when, where, and what kind of mysterious aquatic beasts have gripped the public-and sometimes the scientific-imagination. Filled with comprehensive drawings, classifications, and maps, their book offers an invaluable and unusual resource for the intrepidly curious to investigate these sightings firsthand or to simply enjoy the fascinating accounts that others have given.