EARTH'S HIDDEN MYSTERIES by Carl Cohen

Following up on Daniel Cohen's The Greatest Monsters in the World here's another young reader primer on the supernatural, by one Carl Cohen - no relation. This Cohen's book is far more scattershot, running through the Bermuda Triangle, Easter Island, the Mary Celeste, modern witches, UFOs, and the Oak Island Money Pit ... and that's that! Carl's not a patch on Daniel's writing ability, descending into kid's book treacle and uncritically repeating von Daniken's nonsense on Easter Island and spacemen. He even promotes von Daniken with the title of scientist, debating theories with other scientists! 

The urban legend of Oak Island is another example of rumor and myth being repeated ad nauseam until it takes on a life of its own. Fifty years after Carl Cohen tossed off a quickie chapter recycled from earlier writers, there's a long running reality show about the non-existent treasure playing on the History Channel. In the world of the paranormal, everything old is new again.

Nice cover art at least, and the UFO photos are delightfully bogus.

Xerox Education Publications, 1974

THE GREATEST MONSTERS IN THE WORLD by Daniel Cohen

It's the end of August at the Hotel Ozone, and the perfect time to review a paranormal pocket primer for scholastic readers courtesy mid-century pop-sci writer Daniel Cohen! All the stars are out tonight: Bigfoot and the Yeti, Nessie, giant squids and sea serpents, and Cohen gives them all grounded summaries in his smooth, unpretentious style. There are more than a few nice illustrations, including the diagram above of a shark rotting into a "sea serpent" and some funny looking 16th century snake drawings. Cohen includes an index, which isn't always a given with this genre!

Cohen was a member of CSICOP (nowadays known as CSI), the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and leavens his writing with the appropriate amount of skepticism while avoiding the tone of a debunker. He also avoids the syrupy tone that plagues inferior authors writing for young readers.

An Archway Paperback published by Pocket Books, 1977 (original pub. 1975)