Chris Scott
10-03-2011, 02:46 PM
I started a thread recently regarding info about the "Devil's Footprints" case of 1855. This was part of the preparation for a new venture called "Mystery of the Month." Each issue - at roughly monthly intervals - will take an event that could reasonably fall into the category of a "mystery." So each issue will be on only one theme.
What is different about this? Well, I'm sure there must be many who, like me, have seen a seemingly endless succession of compilation books - The World Atlas of Mysteries, The World's Last Mysteries, The Readers Digest Book of this, that and the other - only to find they are virtually clones of each other, seemingly just rehashing the facts of the same cases again and again.
The "Mystery of the Month" will take a different tack. A brief summary and timeline, where applicable, will be given and links for those who want to read a detailed account of the facts of the case. But the main body of the issue will be taken up with contemporary reports of the events in question, mostly press reports. The main aim of MOTM is to acquaint - or reacquaint - the reader with what was said of the case at the time or shortly after its occurrence.
It was my intention to make the subject of Issue 1 the Devil's Footprints case of 1855 but in the light of material that Stewart Evans very kindly supplied me, such a treatment would be redundant in that a writer named Mike Dash has already dealt with the source articles in such a thorough and magisterial way that any revisiting of this would be pointless duplication. If anyone wants to read Mike's article - which I urge you to do - there is a link to it in the Devil's Footprints thread (q.v.)
So - the subject of the first issue will be the case of Caspar Hauser of 1829. The mag will be published as a PDF document and the first issue will be free. When Issue 1 is available I will let folks know and how they can obtain a copy.
Happy reading and I hope you enjoy it!
Chris Scott
What is different about this? Well, I'm sure there must be many who, like me, have seen a seemingly endless succession of compilation books - The World Atlas of Mysteries, The World's Last Mysteries, The Readers Digest Book of this, that and the other - only to find they are virtually clones of each other, seemingly just rehashing the facts of the same cases again and again.
The "Mystery of the Month" will take a different tack. A brief summary and timeline, where applicable, will be given and links for those who want to read a detailed account of the facts of the case. But the main body of the issue will be taken up with contemporary reports of the events in question, mostly press reports. The main aim of MOTM is to acquaint - or reacquaint - the reader with what was said of the case at the time or shortly after its occurrence.
It was my intention to make the subject of Issue 1 the Devil's Footprints case of 1855 but in the light of material that Stewart Evans very kindly supplied me, such a treatment would be redundant in that a writer named Mike Dash has already dealt with the source articles in such a thorough and magisterial way that any revisiting of this would be pointless duplication. If anyone wants to read Mike's article - which I urge you to do - there is a link to it in the Devil's Footprints thread (q.v.)
So - the subject of the first issue will be the case of Caspar Hauser of 1829. The mag will be published as a PDF document and the first issue will be free. When Issue 1 is available I will let folks know and how they can obtain a copy.
Happy reading and I hope you enjoy it!
Chris Scott