MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: Abominable Snowmen Across the World

"ABSM" was the author's abbreviation for Abominable Snowmen. From Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life by Ivan T. Sanderson. Courtesy Pyramid Books, 1968 (original pub. 1961).

COSMIC DEBRIS: UFO Entities, Real and Imagined

From an article by Alvin H. Lawson, "Hypnosis of Imaginary UFO 'Abductees'" featured in Proceedings of the First International UFO Congress, edited by Curtis G. Fuller. Courtesy Warner Books, 1980.

FLYING SAUCERS IN FACT AND FICTION edited by Hans Stefan Santesson

A slapdash volume mixing some essays on flying saucers with short stories. Lester del Rey laments SF fandom's adoption of flying saucers, deeming them both too dull for fiction and too ridiculous for fact, while Ivan T. Sanderson cheerfully disregards everything from del Rey's piece to spin a yarn introducing us to "The Nonterrestrial" with his usual freewheeling style. One John Nicholson provides a useful look at the split in reported humanoid saucer occupants between handsome Nordic types and creepy Little Green Men.

Despite the heady lineup of authors the fiction entries are a mixed bag. The strongest story by far is Judith Merril's Exile From Space, followed by Theodore Sturgeon's A Saucer of Loneliness. Both of these manage to overcome del Rey's objections to flying saucer fiction with some stirring emotional content. Fritz Leiber and Robert Bloch deliver cutesy trifles that feel beneath them.

Lancer Books, 1968

MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: Stonehenge

From The View Over Atlantis by John Michell. Courtesy Ballantine Books, 1969.

COSMIC DEBRIS: Cybertronic Destiny Wheel

Another combo astrology/ouija style gadget, going for a princely sum in 1970s dollars. It might work something like an E-meter? This random web posting isn't particularly enlightening but does give us a neat picture:

Moving on down, The Tarot of the Bohemians is considered a foundational Tarot text.

From Fate, Volume 23 - Number 12, December 1970.

TODAY'S WITCHES by Susy Smith

    

Witchcraft, 1970! Susy Smith takes us on a witchy world tour ... and it sure is strange! Black magic, white magic, sex cults and death cults, witch doctors and love spells and more, put together by one of the grand dames of vintage paranormal writing.

Launching with some then-timely rubbernecking at the Manson Murders and the occult/orgy rumors that swirled around the victims, Smith makes it clear this will be a catch-all, kitchen sink volume. The next chapter on Haitian magic comes secondhand (contra the inside promotional copy) per Smith's "dynamic, attractive" friend Evelyn Hill. The rest of the book alternates with chapters of Smith's own research and dispatches from her many glamorous friends across the globe. One of the best chapters concerns Smith's own experiences with the VANDERCAR mystery of Southern Florida, wherein a local warlock left cryptic newspaper notices and played good natured pranks on the local populace.

Table of contents:

i.  Introduction (7)

1.  The United States Today (15)

2.  Haitian Holiday (29)

3.  Lee's Witch (46)

4.  Mexican Magic (56)

5.  How Not to Get Burnt! (67)

6.  Witchcraft in England (80)

7.  The Cursed Woman of Rio (86)

8.  Spells and Incantations (98)

9.  Devil Worship (109)

10. Vandercar (118)

11. Witchcraft Worldwide (133)

12. The Use of Drugs (142)

13. Toronto's High Flying Witches (149)

14. Discussions in Black and White (159)

15. Murders by Magic (170)

16. The Magic of Love (178)

Award Books, 1970

MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: More Terrible Triangles

More cartographic carnage from Michael J. Cusack's Is There a Bermuda Triangle? A minor quibble with the text: Cusack refers to Ms. Adi-Kent Thomas Jeffrey as male throughout. 

Courtesy Julian Messner (a division of Simon & Schuster), 1976.

COSMIC DEBRIS: The Illustrated Man in Black

Author Albert K. Bender drew this sketch after an eerie encounter in 1953 with a trio of well dressed inhumanoids ... but that is a story for another time. Dig the iconic sunburst effect this fellow has stolen from Our Lady of Guadalupe!

From Flying Saucers and the Three Men, by Albert K. Bender with Gray Barker. Courtesy the Paperback Library, 1968 (original pub. 1962).

THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE CALENDAR: February 1975

Some of the most infamous Triangle disappearances have occurred in February!

Lawrence David Kusche, 1974