As our inaugural entry for 2026, John Macklin's classic Forteana collection Out of This World is now available to read and download at archive dot org! Here's a teaser chapter on "The Maltese Monster!"
Macklin was a bit of a mystery himself, as this article by cryptozoologist Karl Shuker attests: Loch Watten's Missing Monster - Whatever Happened to Wattie?
Shuker attempts to fact check a random lake monster from a book by Peter Haining and falls down a rat hole of fabricated monsters and pseudonymous Fortean recycling which leads to Macklin! The saga continues in a series of updates to the article:
UPDATE #4
On 8 May 2010, I received a fourth response to my enquiry for Wattie information. This time it was a highly illuminating email from none other than [Fortean Time’s] own Paul Sieveking, who informed me that John Macklin was indeed a pseudonym – but not of Peter Haining! Instead, it was one of many pen-names used by another author of popular-format writings on mysteries – Tony James. The plot thickens! So did Tony James originate the storyline for the Wattie tale, or is there an even earlier version out there somewhere that he had read? If anyone has current contact information for James, I’d like to hear from you!
This twisting lake monster mystery is a suitable end to the Year of the Snake, and Macklin's Out of This World is a suitable reminder of where we've come from on the blog. Here's to more, worse, and better in the new year!
Courtesy Ace Books, 1972.
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