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Lair Of The Beasts: How to Hunt Monsters
Where Do I Sign Up? By Nick Redfern
September 20, 2008
Hugh Jackman as VAN HELSING(2004).
© Universal Pictures
One question I occasionally get asked when I’m lecturing at conferences is: “How do I become a monster hunter?” Well, I say, that’s a damned good question.
For those of you who may want to take your interest in strange creatures to a whole new level, I have to stress that there are no college degrees available, there’s no impressive title like Professor of Monsterology, and there’s most definitely no bulging bank-accounts, Hollywood mansions or Ferraris.
Seeking out the mysterious beasts that are said to roam our planet is pretty much an easy task. You just go out and do it. But, it’s how you do it, when you do it and where you do it that will ultimately decide the success or failure facing any prospective monster-hunter.
Unless, of course, you’re lucky enough to live right on the shores of Scotland’s famous Loch Ness, it’s not always going to be an easy gig.
Yep: monster-hunting can be a long, arduous and sometimes lonely profession or obsession—depending on how you view it. But is it fun and adventurous, too? Hell, yes! And especially so when you find some sort of evidence, or high-quality witness testimony, relating to the critter in question.
For me, at least, it all began when I got utterly tired of the 9 to 5 world in my early twenties, quit my job, said “farewell” (but in a slightly less polite fashion) to my boss, and gambled on making it as a researcher, investigator and writer in the domain of the beasts.
I have to say that it’s been a distinctly wild and weird ride ever since, to say the very least. I’ve chased the vampire-like Chupacabras in Puerto Rico’s El Yunque rain-forest; lake-monsters in Scotland; Bigfoot in the thick forests of the Pacific Northwest; werewolves in Texas; and many more legends of a monstrous nature.
And when someone comes up to you at a party and asks what you do for a living, saying something in reply like “I’m a monster-hunter” is a definite ice-breaker. Occasionally, of course, it has the opposite effect and you can almost see a thought-bubble appearing above the person’s head, along with the stark words: “This guy’s a nut.”
But would I change things? Not a chance.
There’s nothing quite like sitting in the woods at midnight listening to stories of encounters with Bigfoot or of sightings of lake-monsters. Then there’s the howling, the growling and the strange, large ape-like footprints that you might be lucky enough to encounter. And, if you’re very lucky: maybe you’ll even secure a photograph (or several).
Perhaps the most important thing of all, for me at least, is that a life of monster-hunting is one that graphically demonstrates how very little we really know about our world, about the dark (and sometimes not so dark) places in which the wild things live, and about the arrogance of those who claim there are no more mysteries to seek out and solve.
For those who find the whole issue of monster-hunting to be one lacking in any credibility, and without a firm foothold in the real world, I can say that I’ve seen more than a few skeptical jaws drop and eyes widen when they find out that witnesses to unknown animals include police, military officers and respected journalists—all of whom I have interviewed at varying times.
In other words, despite what some might want you to believe, if you’ve seen a Sasquatch in the woods, Mothman soaring overhead, or a long, serpent-like neck slowly coiling out of the waters of a darkened lake late one night, then you’re actually in very good—and often very credible—company.
And to where would I suggest you head in search of monsters and mysterious creatures? Well, fortunately, there’s no shortage of such places right here in the US where you can make a good start.
Texas’s Big Thicket is said to be the home of a Bigfoot-like wild-man-of-the-woods; sightings of lake-monsters abound across practically all of the country; and Washington State is, of course, definitive Sasquatch territory.
Or, how about heading off on the trail of the Jersey-Devil; the slightly ridiculously-named Goat-Man of Kentucky; the Wisconsin Werewolf; and the hairy man-monster of the Florida Everglades known locally as the Skunk-Ape?
And that’s barely scratching the surface!
So, if all of this has firmly whetted your appetite and has encouraged you, too, to stick it to the boss, to head for the woods, and maybe even be the one who finally bags Bigfoot, snares Nessie, or captures the Chupacabras, then go for it. Good hunting.
Nick Redfern is a full-time monster-hunter and the author of four books on the subject: Three Men Seeking Monsters; Memoirs of a Monster Hunter; Man-Monkey; and his new book: There’s something in the Woods.
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