Yet another STRANGE entry in Brad Steiger's series of spooky Forteana for the Popular Library, and a transitional volume that bridges the Gothic atmosphere of "moss-covered crypts and mournful sighs floating up circular stairwells" with our own "jet-paced atomic age" of Bigfoots, UFOs, and sundry spectral fires. Modern readers would be entranced by Richard Burton's haunted experiences in the famed Tower House, and by Steiger's cutting edge updates on "ghostly" Bigfoots across America which include the Yeti of Fremont, Wisconsin, a monster who made his mark after an article in Argosy by Ivan T. Sanderson.
Per the modern focus, the longest chapters are devoted to Bigfoot, some recent UFO developments, and Spontaneous Human Combustion. Once again Garth Haslam's website for Anomaly Info proves invaluable, with a thorough rundown on frequently cited cases of SHC including several from this volume. Sadly, many prove less than spontaneous, including Maybelle Andrews' perfectly explicable combustion in a dance hall which was mangled beyond recognition through Fortean retellings.
Popular Library, 1972
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