Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 17th, 2011
Okay, I’m going to open this one to Cryptomundians’ suggestions.
This 70-foot long Horseshoe Crab is located in Blanchester, Ohio. Source.
I’m taking a road trip. I am going to take a few days to drive from New England to central Illinois, next week, to arrive in Decatur, Illinois, next weekend, and then return. In general, I will follow a southern tier of New York State route, then through Ohio, go through Decatur, Indiana, and go on to Decatur, Illinois. On the way back, I’ll return via Pennsylvania. Therefore, I will bisect two different sections of Indiana and Ohio when I travel both ways. I do not plan to spend all my time on the Interstates, and want to see Mysterious America, specifically, as I had in the decade from 1975-1985, when I traveled through this area a great deal, investigating Black Panther, Bigfoot, Lizardman, Thunderbird, and Giant Snake sightings. Several of my books reflect material from those treks.
But I want to throw this open to the floor. Do you know of any weird museums along the way, sites dedicated to cryptids, and/or roadside attractions in this section of mysterious Mid-America that I should stop and see?
This giant praying mantis is on US 30 just west of the Rt 219 cloverleaf, Lincoln Highway, near Stoystown, PA. Source.
Of course, I’ve done my research and have a few ideas. You will see an unfolding of these on the pages of this blog over the next two weeks. But I wish to add an interactive flavor to my postings by responding very directly to suggestions left via your comments, and stop at some of these places you note along the way.
Another giant praying mantis, this one is on the campus of Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Source.
Giant praying mantis sculpture at the Prehistoric Forest in Marblehead, Ohio. Source.
Enough of the praying mantises: Where are the Midwestern cryptid roadside attractions?
What Cryptomundo-type locations have you visited or know about that might be worth my time?
Tell me what back roads to take and what I should stop and see.
BTW, if you see a black cryptomobile going down the highway with Maine plates that say “Crypto1″ (with updated Sept 2011 stickers, of course), honk.
Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation’s Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures. NY: Paraview Pocket – Simon and Schuster, 2007.
My original 1983 edition of this book became a record of some of my early 1960s’ and 1970s’ road trips around the middle of the country. Likewise, the cryptozoological material in Weird Ohio, which I contributed as one of the three coauthors, is from those excursions into Ohio. Today, on the Internet, these trips would be called “expeditions.”
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013.