Vincent H. Gaddis (1913–1997)

Native American Myths and Mysteries was written by Vincent Gaddis, who is seldom remembered today, but once made a name for himself popularizing weird facts (and probably a few fictions). He coined the term "Bermuda Triangle," but is scarcely remembered for it today. This is the Borderland Sciences Research Associates reprinting from 1991. It claims to be a revised edition, though the only material I noticed that postdates 1976 is a brief mention of John Hinkley's attempt on President Reagan's life and how this relates to the alleged "Curse of Tippecanoe."

The book's title is somewhat misleading. It retells no myths, insofar as it does not retell Native American accounts of migrations and the actions of the gods. It is full of mysteries of a sort, though Gaddis seems to feel he's solved them. (The answer is, ancient knowledge, ESP, and aliens, it seems.) It's not even entirely about Native America, though that is its focus.

The book is divided into two parts, "The Historical Mysteries" and "Mystical Mysteries." Three parts might have been more appropriate, because there are three major theses. First is Gaddis' belief that a worldwide ancient culture which constructed megalithic architecture was wiped out, with its refugees settling in South America. Second is that Europeans were in regular contact with the Americas before Columbus. Third is that traditional Native Americas have mystic powers. These are Gaddis' three main thrusts, though there are a few additional bits and pieces thrown in (such as a chapter on the lost Roanoake colony).

Regrettably, the support for Gaddis' archaeological assertions is rather weak. He even spreads misinformation. For example, there are in fact parallels for the Hemet Maze Stone (pictured on the cover) in the repertoire of Native American rock art -- one need not look for Buddhist inspiration. The odd artifacts from Arizona said to represent a Roman colony were not in fact found caliche covered. Bent claimed they were found from beneath the caliche layer, but subsequent archaeological investigations found no more of the dubious artifacts. And the concept of a one-world culture was exploded even in the 1970s. I don't have the time to take apart the rest of his claims point by point; these are merely those that stood out to me while reading.

The "Mystical Mysteries" section is largely a mish-mash of anecdotes which, Gaddis believes, support the idea that Native Americans have supernatural powers. Many are interesting anecdotes drawn from the ethnographic literature, but only at second hand -- in fact, they mostly are retold from other authors retellings in such books as R. S. Lambert's Exploring the Supernatural. The last chapter is an argument that the Hopi kachinas are aliens and that they'll be coming in their flying saucers very, very soon.

Gaddis is to be commended for giving us footnotes in order to double check his sources. I've learned of a few books I plan to look up. But I suspect he is overreliant on these sources. In at least one instance (the only source I looked up) he even plagiarizes, lifting half a paragraph word-for-word from John Hinton's article "Cahuilla Black Magic" in Desert Magazine.

Unfortunately, the material that best supports Gaddis' weird claims comes from even weirder sources. Gaddis is heavily reliant upon both Fate magazine and the "Scientific Mysteries" column of Amazing Stories. I'm open minded enough to consider, for example, that the Apaches secretly worshiped Amun-Ra, but I have trouble believing that they would choose to reveal this fact for publication to the science editor of Amazing Stories.

In short, there's some interesting material in here. Most of it likely fiction, and at any rate is from dubious sources. Finally, it's presented somewhat awkwardly.… (altro)

A grand old-fashioned cabinet of curiosities, in the best Fortean tradition, full of odd facts and obscure anecdotes and unexamined weirdnesses. This book includes everything that could possibly be covered under the categories of "Mysterious Fires and Lights", from firewalking to foo fighters, from well-known cases to obscure small-town newspaper reports. The section on recurring house fires is particularly interesting given the recent well-publicized case of Canneto di Coronia. And my only objection is that he saved spontaneous human combustion, the one thing that always gives me nightmares, for last.

It's meticulously cited, but unfortunately a great many of the citations are from places like True magazine and the columns of Frank Edwards, so you have to judge the veracity on your own. And while the sections that tell the stories of the mysterious events are always fascinating, when it comes time to speculate on what they are, he fails at science. Fails hard, even making allowances for being thirty years out of date. So read for the strange events, leave the theorizing to someone else.… (altro)