CAPUCINE DESLOUIS
ALL APE-MEN LARGE AND SMALL
Welcome to our December issue, in which we examine the evidence for two cryptozoological mysteries. First, Stu Neville looks at the case – strongly asserted on many online forums – for a British Bigfoot (p.30). It seems unlikely that these crowded and largely deforested isles could provide a suitable habitat for a hulking, hairy man-beast, but what’s undeniable is a surprising number of people report encountering them. However, in the face of an inarguable lack of convincing evidence, it seems improbable that such encounters are with flesh-and-blood Bigfeet. Are there alternative explanations, or perhaps connections to other anomalous entities reported in Britain, or are we dealing simply with deliberate hoaxes and misidentifications of less exotic fauna?
Across the world, on the Indonesian island of Flores, the locals also report encounters with a type of ape-man, though a far smaller one that sounds remarkably like the famous fossil ‘hobbit’, Homo floresiensis, discovered there early this century – although as anthropologist Gregory Forth explains in his article (p.37), he had been told of the Flores ape-men by his respondents among the island’s Lio people before the celebrated ‘hobbit’ discovery had happened. While mainstream anthropology remains predictably sceptical about the existence of the ape-men, Gregory makes a strong case, based on his extensive fieldwork, for their possible continued existence, as well as drawing some valuable lessons about how the academic establishment evaluates different types of knowledge.
Elsewhere, we catch up on ufological stamps, dreams foreseeing the death of the Queen, apocalyptic red heifers and the nightmares unleashed by AI art...
HAUNTED SCREENS
There’s plenty of interest to forteans going on at the British Film Institute over the autumn, including a major two-month season devoted to exploring the history, innovations and meaning of horror, “the genre of our times”, with screenings in London and beyond as well as streaming via BFI Player. On Friday 28 October, our friend Steven Volk will be joining director Lesley Manning for a Q&A at a one-night-only 30th anniversary ‘live cinema’ experience of Ghostwatch – the perfect way to relive the terrors of Hallowe’en 1992.
Then, on Friday 2 December, our own Haunted Generation columnist Bob Fischer will be presenting Haunted Media: the Lingering Legacy of the Public Information Film, celebrating the terrifying legacy of Central Office of Information classi
