COSMIC DEBRIS: Astro Handheld Astrological Computer

Manufacturer Kosmos was responsible for a line of handheld biorhythm calculators, of which the Astro was the most advanced. There's an in-depth video review and manual read at the Calculator Review, and a tech breakdown at the Datamath Calculator Museum. It turns out vintage calculators are alive and well on the web!

Click here for the complete manual. The Astro was also available at Radio Shack:

From Fate, Volume 33 - Number 2, February 1980.

THE MUTILATORS by Mervin Casey

A major theme of the 70s cattle mutilation phenomenon was the frisson of fear/excitement that human beings were next on the operating table. Even the back copy for Kagan and Summers' Mute Evidence positively slavers for human blood, despite the authors' exhaustive investigation uncovering nothing of the sort.

First time novelist Casey acquits himself well threading this tension with his fast paced thriller. His cast of down'n'dirty 1970s Regular Folk are adrift in a sea of possibilities as to the identities and purpose of the Mutilators, leading down rabbit holes to flying saucers, blood cultists and most sinister of all, the United States government. A warning for minor spoilers: the Mutilators use an unmarked helicopter with some kind of gripping device to snatch up their bovine victims, retreating to some unknown sanctuary to do their dirtiest work before returning the desecrated carcasses in situ. It all leads up to a crackerjack finale with some searing imagery. Only the final "Note from the Author" disappoints, with its clunky, obviously bogus news item that only reiterates what we've already told ourselves: 

We're next. 

3/4

Major Books, 1975

MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: The Devil's Sea

The fearsome Dragon's Triangle! From The Bible and the Bermuda Triangle, by George Johnson and Don Tanner. Courtesy Logos International, 1976.

COSMIC DEBRIS: Shocking UFO Cassette!

Would love to listen to this cassette 40 years on. "Stendec" refers to a cryptic message transmitted by the doomed Star Dust in its final moments:

On 2 August 1947, Star Dust, a British South American Airways (BSAA) Avro Lancastrian airliner on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile, crashed into Mount Tupungato, in the Argentine Andes. An extensive search operation failed to locate the wreckage, despite covering the area of the crash site, and the fate of the aircraft and its occupants remained unknown for over 50 years, giving rise to various conspiracy theories about its disappearance. 

The last word in Star Dust's final Morse Code transmission to Santiago airport, "STENDEC", was received by the airport control tower four minutes before its planned landing and repeated twice; it has never been satisfactorily explained.

The website for Search And Rescue Technology, Inc. has a detailed breakdown of Morse code and radio technicalities behind the "Stendec" mystery, concluding that the mystery message was slightly garbled by the receiver and was simply a routine attempt at contacting the Santiago airport.

From Fate, Volume 34 - Number 6, June 1981.

OTHER LIVES by Brad Steiger and Loring G. Williams

Reincarnation, take it or leave it! Steiger name checks Bridey Murphy while chronicling Williams' cross country hypnotic regressions, but none of the cases featured here have had any staying power. Your mileage may vary.

Award Books, 1969

MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: Dragons - Alive and Well

From an article by Richard Lee-Fulgham: "Dragons - Alive and Well and Living in ..." Featured in Fate, Volume 33 - Number 1, January 1980.

COSMIC DEBRIS: The Haunt Hunters Want You!

Founded by one Gordon Hoener, a magician and ghost hunter native to St. Louis, Missouri.

From Fate, Volume 32 - Number 5, May 1979.

THE SECRET ORIGINS OF BIGFOOT by Warren Smith

Zebra Books presents The Secret Origins of ... not Bigfoot exactly, but what appears to be a seal's head pasted over a rather hirsute male model! Adding insult to injury, the text within is riddled with typos, misprints and formatting errors, making this the most slapdash release we've seen so far from those cheap bastards at Zebra. It's a shame, because this is one of Warren Smith's strongest works! It's basically a rewrite of his Strange Abominable Snowmen that drops the fractured Fortean format of that volume in favor of a more unified through-line, which proves much more engaging that the disconnected (and often too brief) discrete entries that made up the original. Smith cheekily lifts multiple anecdotes, as well as an entire chapter (!) on THE VICIOUS WILD MEN OF ASIA, from Eric Norman's The Abominable Snowmen - which, of course, is his frequent collaborator Brad Steiger writing under their shared pseudonym. 

Smith opens and closes with The Bigfoot News, Peter Byrne's clearing house of Sasquatch news and views that he ran out of The Dalles, Oregon for some number of years. Many then-modern sightings are gone over, including those good ol' Bigfoot boys Momo the Missouri Monster and the Fouke Monster. The "Secret Origins" of the title involve potential Bigfoots from Biblical, mythological and historical sources as seen in pages 146-147, also lifted from Steiger's book. There's a good spread of foreign sightings, including those omnipresent Almasti, the Yeti, and as stated earlier a copy/pasted swath of Southeast Asian hominids who seem to have an especially nasty disposition.

In Strange Abominable Snowmen Smith had rewritten THE CANNIBAL CREATURES OF ASIA from a segment in Steiger's book, giving the tale a darker turn with a fatal encounter instead of a near miss. This time he simply copies the original text and the poor sentry lives through his encounter with a "Mouth Man" creature. The Secret Origins of Bigfoot is available to read and download at archive dot org.

Table of Contents:

1.  Bigfoot: The Mystery of the Mountains (5)
2.  Canada's Elusive Sasquatch Creatures (21)
3. Bigfoot Behind the Iron Curtain (39)
4. The World-Wide Magical Monster Tour (57)
5.  Bigfoot: The Evolutionary Enigma (71)
6. The Gentle Giants Are Alive and Well in the Wilderness (86)
7.  Bigfoot With a Southern Drawl (101)
8.  The Maurading (sic) "Mouth Men" of Malaysia (117)
9.  The Mysterious Men-Beasts of Ancient Times (134)
10. Bizarre Bigfoot of Asia (151)
11. The Mysterious Wild Ape-Men of South America (174)
12. A Note to Readers (190)

Zebra Books, 1977

COSMIC DEBRIS: Secret Nazi Polar Expeditions

Another flashy ad from hate monger Ernst Zundel, promising an expedition through the South Polar entrance to the Hollow Earth in search of secret Nazi UFO bases. Of course, the grandiose proposal was really a fund raising scheme for Zundel's continued Holocaust denial:

This is the most daring scientific operation ever launched by any UFO organization and publisher. The estimated cost for the Antarctic Expedition is well in excess of $2,000,000.00--from which at least $500,000.00 is required for allocation toward the charter deposit fee and modifications on the special aircraft. A fantastic sum? Certainly, and it is just as certain to be worth every dollar in terms of the knowledge to be gained.

SAMISDAT's Antarctic Expedition in Search of Hitler's Flying Saucer Bases and the South Polar Opening into Inner Earth will be the unique event of a lifetime. As only a very limited number of people can be accommodated, our selection standards are of necessity rigorous. The approximate cost per person on this expedition may be as high as $9,999.00. However, the cost could be reduced considerably, provided we are able to raise money from our SAMISDAT SERIES of lectures, tapes, conventions, UFO models and book sales in this interim period. You can help to realize this dream of a lifetime in several ways: (1) You can become one of our book distrlbutors by buying SAMISDAT books and other items at wholesale dealers' prices and then retailing them to friends, colleagues, UFO conventioneers, and visitors to county fairs, psychic fairs and flea markets. By purchasing SAMISDAT titles in bulk, you could easily realize almost a 100% profit on each item sold. This money you could then apply toward your share in the Expeditlon or use as you see fit. (2) You can organize a UFO club and hold your own UFO conventions on a profit-sharing basis with SAMISDAT. (3) You can help us find sponsors for the Expedition. (4) If you are rich and conscientious, you can underwrite the whole or part of the Expedition and realize our goal of a lifetime much, much faster.  But empty promises and other hot-air products from windbags and do-nothings, however well off, will not serve to waft the Expedition to Antarctica and back. The only thing capable of doing that is cold, hard cash up front. If you've got what it takes and want to put your money to work right away, then please contact us! (5) You can set up your own fund-raising campaign for the Expedition. For details and assistance in regard to these and other ideas, do not hesitate to contact us.

From Fate, Volume 32 - Number 1, January 1979.