Little Monsters

Kevin Coolidge


“Kasey, is Shackleton’s Endurance in memoir or history?”

“It’s in biography and memoir. I just saw it there yesterday.”

“It’s not there. Did you remember to leave out a bowl of milk for the book gnomes?”

“I did right before we closed up last night, but I think Hobo drank it before we left.”

It can be hard to know where every book is in a bookstore. Sometimes there are several right categories to place a book; sometimes a customer will put a book back in the wrong place; and sometimes mischievous creatures will play tricks – no, really.

Everyone knows the story of Rip Van Winkle, the American colonist who is challenged to a drinking game by the “ghosts” of Hendrick Hudson and his crew. Rip drinks some of their liquor and falls asleep for twenty years in the Catskill Mountains.

Washington Irving’s tale was actually based on ancient stories of “fairy abduction” in which the Little People take mortals into the land of Faerie where time flows differently. He based his story on a folktale from the Orkney Islands off Scotland.

Native Americans, however, have similar legends. Perhaps there is more truth to the legends than you believe. The Algonquin speak of the Memegwesi, hairy dwarfs that dwelled on riverbanks. They would only appear to those pure of spirit, which usually meant children. This idea is quite similar to Celtic legends of faeries.

Human beings around the world have stories of a race of naughty little folk who play tricks and sometimes cause injury. There are tales from the Far East, South America, and even Australia. If a legend is so universally believed, could it have basis in fact?

Bruce G. Hallenbeck, author of Monsters of New York, believes the key to this mystery may be connected to more recent stories of alien abductions. There is the “missing time” element that is present in both alien and fairy abductions. There are also similarities in appearance between fairies and aliens.

Faeries are described as diminutive beings with large staring eyes. Some reports of alien abduction include descriptions of small creatures holding “power rods” used to paralyze abductees, just as fairies were thought to carry magic wands.

Fairies often dwell in “fairy mounds” in the forest. UFOs are allegedly often seen sitting on the ground in the woods at night. In fact, author Whitley Strieber’s alien abductions began around his isolated cabin in the Catskill Mountains—the same area that Rip Van Winkle took his twenty year nap.

After reading Monsters of New York, I’m convinced that the Empire State is teeming with monsters, from Bigfoot in the Adirondacks and the Catskills, to sea serpents in the depths of Lake Champlain. There’s alligators in the sewers of New York City, and don’t forget the big cats of unknown origin, and the genetic monstrosity that is the Montauk monster.

I’m just going to put out a fresh bowl of milk and shelve Monsters of New York next to Monsters of Pennsylvania so that I will know just where it is. Hey, there’s The Endurance. Now has anyone seen Hobo? Hobo! What are you doing on the shelf, and why are you tied up in shipping tape???

Bigfoot? Or Little feet? Email me at from_my_shelf@yahoo.com and let me know. Miss a past column? It’s no secret. You can seek them all at http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com Looking for a cat with big feet? Check out Hobo, the polydactyl, and Wellsboro’s most famous cat…



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