SHARK! UNPREDICTABLE KILLER OF THE SEA by Thomas Helm

We're not out of the water yet! In fact, we've got a full blown feeding frenzy on our hands, as author Thomas Helm throws in some more bloody chum with SHARK! UNPREDICTABLE KILLER OF THE SEA!

This is pre-Jaws sharking, with Helm plunging the murky depths of myth and midcentury neurosis - he tells one story of being aboard a sport fishing boat that came upon some friendly porpoises. Some he-men with him took it upon themselves to spear a curious visitor! Ultimately only one man could finish the deed, and afterwards Helm says his boasting fell on deaf ears. Elsewhere he describes the "diabolical" method of drano poisoning sharks. We haven't even gotten to post-Jaws supercharged shark mania and we can see the era's blunt, singleminded hatred of the natural world, the need to kill, maim, destroy!

Our author, Thomas Helm (1919-1993)

Helm peppers his work with plenty of salty dog tales (like his own supposed sighting of a 30 foot monster great white in the Caribbean) and sport fishing, but works hard against the anti-shark, anti-nature attitude, some of it via an appeal to the shark's place in human commerce similar to Captain Hal Scharp in Shark Safari. Helm's species guide section benefits from his drawings, putting it ahead of Captain Scharp's similar rundown.

The photo spread in the middle of the book is a fun mix of gruesome shark pics, other sea friends like octopus and porpoises, and Captain Bill Gray of the Miami Seaquarium posing with dead fish and only sometimes with a shirt.

Helm describes other killers of the deep like sawfish, swordfish, octopus, Portuguese man-of-war, stonefish, sea urchins, moray eels, and the deadly orca! Helms calls the orca the most dangerous animal in the sea and relates a tale from Zane Grey of seeing a pod of orcas slaughter porpoises until the water turned red. The humble stingray (or stingaree), meanwhile, is Helm's admitted least favorite sea killer, while manta rays are (of course) completely harmless and so undeserving of a bad reputation. The fearsome barracuda, meanwhile, gets his own chapter to himself!

Helm ends his book with a record of shark attacks in the USA, a form to report new attacks to the Smithsonian, and a brief bibliography:

Helm's acknowledgments and bibliography credit George A. Llano, who would later pen his own paperback shark attack!

Hardcover edition

Sea serpent/monster text by Helm from 1962

Shark! is available to read and download at archive dot org.

Collier Books, 1971 (original pub. 1961)

MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: Loch Ness VI

Another reference map from Tim Dinsdale's Loch Ness Monster, 4th edition.

By now we've got quite a spread of Loch Ness maps, taken from fact and fiction:

Loch Ness Monster by Tim Dinsdale

The Monsters of Loch Ness by Roy P. Mackal

The Story of the Loch Ness Monster by Tim Dinsdale

The Loch Ness Story by Nicholas Witchell

Monster by Jeffrey Konvitz

The Great Orm of Loch Ness by F.W. Holiday

The Loch Ness Mystery Solved by Ronald Binns

Creatures From the Inner Sphere by F.W. Holiday

Courtesy Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1982 (original pub. 1961).

MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: Loch Ness V

A useful map of sightings and vantage points from the 4th edition of Loch Ness Monster by Tim Dinsdale.

Courtesy Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1982 (original pub. 1961).

THE WORLD'S STRANGEST MYSTERIES by Rupert Furneaux

Some relatively staid mysteries here, avoiding ghosts or UFOs. Furneaux focuses on more realistic historical mysteries like the Piltdown Man hoax, the disappearance of explorer Percy Fawcett, and the plausible sounding but likely bogus mystery of the Oak Island Money Pit. The most outre topics Furneaux explores are the yeti and the Loch Ness Monster. He also presents some mythological mysteries such as the origins of King Arthur and Atlantis. Other chapters include the Kensington Runestone, Shakespeare's true identity, Kasper Hauser, and Easter Island.

Furneaux delivers 26 tales in 17 chapters in 253 pages, giving us plenty of meat per entry. By comparison, a typical volume by Steiger or Smith will pack in 60-70 tales in 150-200 pages! Furneaux also includes a bibliography, a step above Smith and Steiger's unsourced and recycled stories.

A note on Ace Books: many of their old paperbacks lack then-current copyright/reprint dates, only noting the year of original copyright. This edition is probably from the mid-60s.

Available to read and download at archive dot org.

Ace Books, 1961

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: Bigfoot Clippings

Some Bigfoot newspaper clippings found inside a well loved copy of Abominable Snowman: Legend Come to Life by Ivan T. Sanderson. Our second clipping is some vintage silly season reporting from the wild old days of Bigfootery, complete with Bigfoot nesting on eggs! Meanwhile, Tom Tiede gives us a lyrical confession of his personal Bigfoot encounter.

Courtesy Pyramid Books, 1968 (original pub. 1961).