This is a confusing and stupid book about cryptids and aliens. After starting off with a completely unbelievable yet moderately interesting account of ninja goblins attacking a gang of teenagers in England, the author provides accounts of pretty much every cryptid you can imagine. She covers the Jersey Devil, Mothman, Bigfoot, fairies, lake monsters and lots of aliens. Randle even mentions some of the weird happenings at Cannock Chase. The idea here is that nearly all cryptids and aliens are part of the same phenomena.

Unfortunately, Jenny Randle never provides a clear account of what that phenomena is. She notes that many, if not most, sightings of the unexplained occur near fault lines where the air may be being ionized by chemical changes in the rocks. Also, she notes that most of the people who see these weird creatures are of a similar type. These folks are generally more artistic, psychic and generally imaginative than others. Although she concedes that these sightings are happening in places where the environment is supposedly altering these imaginative people’s consciousnesses, she does not mean to detract from the reality of what these people are seeing.

The reasoning here is ridiculous. The author takes the phenomena of monster sightings and tries to clarify what is happening by saying that it only happens to certain people in certain places. Despite this, she maintains that there is some substantive reality behind these sightings. She’s actually making the issue more complicated rather that clarifying it. According to Randle’s outlook, monster sightings are by their very nature entirely unverifiable.

Honestly, this book was dumb and boring. The only part I found remotely interesting was an account of some cursed stones that really reminded me of the plot of Paul Huson’s The Keepsake.