Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States

by Jim Brandon, Lee Brandon

A state-by-state compilation of descriptions of ghost towns, rock carvings, unusual structures, canyons, and other strange archaeological, geological, and anthropological discoveries

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Dat-Dangk Vemucci · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read with some very obscure Fortean tidbits for connoisseurs of high strangeness, although the emphasis is primarily on Pre-Columbian artifacts which I find less interesting. For the latter the authors credulity knows no bounds - he never saw a claimed piece of Viking masonry he didn't approve of wholeheartedly. Personally this kind of alternative archaeology stuff just isn't that interesting, I'm more of a spooky ghost stories kinda guy, but worse was finding out the reason behind the authors emphasis on establishing an American civilization preceding First Nations peoples. Jim Brandon is the pen-name of William Grimstad, a self-professed Neo-Nazi white supremacist and contracted agent of Saudi Arabia (!) with ties to the KKK. This book and 'Rebirth of Pan', another cult classic of Fortean non-fiction, were published under the Jim Brandon moniker, while his work as William Grimstad includes such titles as 'Antizion: A Survey of Commentary on Organized Jewry by Leading Personalities Through the Ages'. There's no need to go in-depth on how repellent this guy and his political philosophy are except to say it casts a shadow over the text.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Jungians and Alternative Archaeologists stay not beating the allegations.

This notwithstanding there are other issues detracting from the overall read. Frankly Brandon makes things up. Where possible I checked the original sources for his stories and on multiple occasions there were major differences which cannot really be accounted for by misreading or mis-citation. For example one story concerns a crocodile falling from the sky, landing with a loud thud on the roof. Except when you find the original newspaper article there is no suggestion of the animal falling from the sky, it was just found in the backyard after the home owners returned from a trip out. This is an example of why I think Brandon is deliberately misleading rather than making an innocent mistake, as the article specifically states the family came home to find the gator in their backyard but Brandon specifically adds the detail of them hearing it "thump" on the roof, which they couldn't have done as they weren't home at the time. Of course this kind of dressing-up of mundane events is common in Forteana generally but it is disheartening when so many interesting-sounding stories can be tracked back to an obviously misrepresented newspaper article. Obviously Brandon never anticipated that his readers would have immediate access to fully digitized newspaper archives and hoped they would take his word for it on most of these things. Which is , to be clear, the word of a guy who wrote a book called 'A Survey of Commentary on Organized Jewry'.
My final quibble is that the writing style and especially the jokes in the text are quite grating and hokey for me personally. I like this kind of writing style in someone like John Keel, whose winking tricksterish personality belies an actual human heart but even before finding out about the Nazi thing I found Brandon's writing style weirdly soulless, the kind of impersonal language and humour you'd expect from a robot who learned human affect from the jokes inside Christmas crackers.

[Craven Lovelace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book introduced me to the study of fortean phenomena and, it is safe to say, blew my adolescent mind. It makes a great companion when traveling through the continental 48.

[SamSpade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this book in the Summer of 1978 and read front to back cover. Where I lived at the time I made it to several places mentioned. Later that Fall I got in my car and started driving and ended up in Nevada, however stopped in Arizona & Utah to check out some of the sites in the book..I am old now & still have this fascinating book..Highly recommend anyone who is interested in Occult and Mysterious America to pick up a copy..if you can locate one. I am considering Selling mine as my children aren't interested.

[Louis]

Interesting if overly sensationalized, non-skeptical look at "mysterious" things across the USA. Limited and lacking many sites noted in other books and on the Internet. The book was never reprinted after 1977 and is now, surprisingly, another overpriced collectible gathering dust.