Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures [Hardcover]

When two authors active in skeptic organization CSICOP decide to publish a book about lake monsters it's not much of an accomplishment to correctly assume what kind of book it'll turn out to be. Skeptical analyses, critical discussions, debunking of earlier research that has often been flawed and/or incorrect, and on-site investigations and interviews.

And, well, that's exactly what Lake Monster Mysteries is all about. Throughout the book Joe Nickell and colleague Benjamin Radford presents a number of lakes in the U.S. and Canada (as well as Loch Ness in Scotland) that all claim to be the home of one or more lake monsters. The reader is presented with a short but informative background to each lake and its alleged monsters, offered details about some of the most important research to date, and is taken along with Nickell and Radford as they carry out their fieldwork and analyses of some of the most famous photographs and sightings.

Which is all both interesting and worthwhile, but to the reader who has an earlier interest in these lakes and their mysterious inhabitants the book fails to offer very much new material. However, this doesn't mean it's not a very good contribution to cryptozoological research. Nickell and Radford - who not very surprisingly come out as extremely skeptical to everyone and everything - are very efficient in their work when they point out many of the errors that precious researchers have done and later used in their own books, and it's difficult not to agree with them when they show the reader how something as mundane as a floating log or otters swimming in a straight line very easily can fool even the most experienced of observer and create the illusion that it's really a slime sea serpent cruising along the surface of the water.

It's not a very thick book though, and you'll finish it in a heartbeat. The lakes under investigation are all situated in the U.S. or Canada: Lake Champlain, Lake Memphremagog, Silver Lake, Lake Crescent, Lake George, and Lake Okanagan. True, Loch Ness also has a chapter of its own, but neither Nickell nor Radford visit the lake in person, and those mysterious lakes from the rest of the world that are mentioned at the end of the book aren't given very much attention.

Therefore "Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures" is somewhat misleading, and should have been changed to "Investigating North America's Most Elusive Creatures". Furthermore, it's sometimes easy to get the feeling that Nickell and Radford have been somewhat in too much of a hurry when dismissing the existence of the lake monsters, after having spent a day or two at the lake without seeing anything unusual and thus concluding that there's nothing unusual to be seen.

But the good outweighs the bad, and all in all Lake Monster Mysteries is a sweet read indeed. The most fascinating chapter is without a doubt the one about Lake Okanagan and its monster Ogopogo. Here the authors make a detour from the perspective of the hardcore skeptic and spend time discussing the folklore surrounding the lake, and if this had been done in the other chapters as well the final score would have been close to the highest possible.

CSI investigators Ben Radford and Joe Nickell provide overviews of the most famous lake monsters in the world, and detailed analysis of the best evidence that has been provided to date. They do this in a series of essays which cover most of the well known lake monsters of North America, as well as Loch Ness and brief observations of other world wide lake monster phenomena. The book looks for the best evidence of mysterious creatures and analyzes that evidence very critically. Photos, illustrations, and detailed citations will provide both the credulous and the skeptical with plenty to think about. I, for one, am anxious to see some good video of otters crossing a lake after hearing how frequently people mistake such a natural occurrence for something much more mysterious.

If you're an amateur cryptozoologist and you're going to be looking for lake monsters, be sure and pack some good cameras, some measuring equipment, some sun-block, and a copy of "Lake Monster Mysteries." It will give you something very good to read for what might be quite a long wait.

Lake Monster Mysteries, by Benjamin Radford and Joe Nickell, is a genuinely excellent skeptically-leaning book about the various rumored creatures of the world's freshwater lakes.

The book focuses primarily on alleged monsters of the lakes of New England and eastern Canada, but it also addresses the Loch Ness Monster of Scotland, a famous lake monster in British Columbia, and a variety of creatures from around the world.

The book is written clearly and concisely, and is a fast read, and by the end of it I think most readers will not only have a good idea of how to think about lake monsters, but also a good idea of how one ought to think about all sorts of strange phenomena.

I found its explorations of "expectant attention"--or how witnesses expecting to see something report far different experiences and interpretations of events than those who aren't expecting anything--to be especially helpful.

The best part of this book, though, is how it's such a great showcase of hands-on skepticism--not the armchair variety that so many true believers love to deride; it shows what real skeptical investigation can and should be. Radford and Nickell track down witnesses and original sources, go to the lakes, perform tests, scrutinize photos and videos, check every fact, and keep their minds open until the evidence leads them to solid conclusions.

I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone interested in cryptozoology, skepticism, or just an entertaining but scholarly read. I'd love to read a sequel to it--perhaps about sea monsters, or perhaps merely about other notable lake monsters.

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