Globsters

by Michael Newton

Naturalist, adventurer and Fortean author Ivan Terence Sanderson coined the term 'globster' in 1962, to describe strange masses of organic tissue washed ashore by ocean tides. While Sanderson initially applied the term to one specific carcass, beached in western Tasmania two years earlier, today we know such strandings have occurred worldwide, with records spanning fifteen centuries. Nor is an ocean view required to spot a globster: certain lakes, as well, have vomited peculiar carcasses.

Globsters is the first attempt to survey all known 'monster' strandings in a single dedicated volume, covering the years from 661 C.E. through 2010. In addition to 132 discoveries of lifeless remains, the book also examines thirty-six cases in which aquatic cryptids - 'hidden animals,' the subject of cryptozoology - were allegedly killed or captured alive by intrepid seamen or hunters. Some of the cases are globally famous, while others are virtually forgotten, known only from passing mention in documents covering other subjects. Certain globsters have been scientifically identified through DNA or other forms of testing; others are presumed to have prosaic explanations, although evidence is lacking; and a few remain profoundly enigmatic.

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