I Know What I Saw: Modern-Day Encounters with Monsters of New Urban Legend and Ancient Lore

by Linda S. Godfrey

Which came first--the monster or the myth? Journalist Linda Godfrey investigates present-day encounters with mysterious creatures of old.The monsters of ancient mythology, folklore, and more contemporary urban legend have long captured the popular imagination. While most people in America today relegate monsters to just that--our imaginations--we continue to be fascinated by the unknown. Linda Godfrey is one of the country's leading authorities on modern-day monsters and has interviewed countless eyewitnesses to strange phenomena. Monsters evolve, taking on both new and familiar forms over time and across cultures. In this well-researched book, Godfrey explores uncanny encounters with werewolves, goatmen, Bigfoot, and more.In more than twenty-five years spent "chasing" monsters, Godfrey has found that it often remains unclear whether the sightings are simply mistaken animals, hoaxes, or coincidence. When all the speculation is said and done, one question remains for fans and Are the creatures "real," or are they entirely "other-world?" Godfrey suspects that it isn't an either/or question--our reality operates on a scale from dense matter to realms the human eye cannot see. As Godfrey investigates unexplained phenomena, her search for answers will fascinate casual observers and enthusiasts alike.

Genres: Nonfiction, Folklore, Paranormal, Audiobook, Horror, Cryptids, Supernatural

335 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2019

Reviews

[Cheemo Hoiips · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is simply one eye witness account after another. But the author doesn’t really elaborate on any of them. The stories are left to exist on their own without facts, historical insight or thematic resonance. There is a dissonance to the structure of this book that is felt throughout.

The author doesn’t care to discuss these tales. Doesn’t want to pick them apart too much because there reslly is no proof they happened and to dig into them would require the author to acknowledge that the eye witnesses may be less than truthful. Remaining distanced from the relayed accounts allows her to ignore the possibility that any of this may be false. It never once comes up.

Would have been a zero star book - i learned nothing and I was anything but entertained - but the. In the very last section the author claims a biblical basis for Bigfoot (apparently descended from Esau) that made me laugh out loud. Could have used more of that bonkers bullshit.

[Niki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not gonna lie, I skimmed chunks of this, particularly the endless stories about dogmen/ werewolves/ bipedal canines, which the author herself admits that there's too many stories of but it's the majority of the stories she receives so here they all are, I guess!

I didn't have a problem with the book being just people's recollections of their encounters because it was exactly what I was looking for and expecting, and I certainly didn't expect Linda Godfrey to try and question any of the encounters when she describes herself as an "authority on modern day monsters" (too many words just to say "a professional believer"), I was expecting a lot more variety in the stories instead of 70% of them being about bipedal canines, again and again and again, with very little variation. It got repetitive and dull real quick. How do you make a book about urban legends this dull??

[Steve Stred · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could've been so much better. Ahhh. So frustrated, honestly.
I went into this hoping for a thoroughly researched book where the author interviews subjects and we get to learn about each of the creatures featured.
Instead, it's jampacked with quick stories that get left behind after each paragraph and nothing is expanded upon or followed up on.
I was really looking for a good non-fiction, creature feature, but unfortunately for me, this fell into "let's fit as much stuff in as possible" and failed on the execution.

I will say - I spent just as much time reading as I did noting down creatures to do deeper dives on later.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cool idea, poor execution

[Edward Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been a fan of cryptozoology since before I even knew there was a word for it. I lived for a time in southern New Jersey and tales of the Jersey Devil were rife in my teen years. My friends and I would take trips to Atsion, and Tabernacle to see the sites of the Pine Barrens and Wharton State Forest, and eventually, even after I moved away, I kept that love for all that was on the fringe of not only science but also society.

Things like this lead me to read The Beast of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin's Werewolf by Linda S. Godfrey (who was the one who named the eponymous creature during its mad romp through the dark backroads of Elkhorn, Wisconsin) and always seeking out her other books about the other creatures both known and unknown to the wider universe. Many people know about Bigfoot, the Chupacabra, and the Jersey Devil, but what about the Loveland frog, Hodag, or Dover Demon?

Remember, forewarned is forearmed...

[Rachel Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will come back to review.

[Gina Zappa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A whole book of mysterious creature sightings??!! Yes! Give it to me!

If you know me at all, you know I am sucker for anything and everything cryptozoology! Bigfoot? Love it! Lake Monster? Amazing! Wolfman/Upright Canid? Yep. Here for it! You get the picture.



I loved this book. I love how her chapters were broken down, and her little illustrations. I enjoyed hearing about some things I actually hadn't heard about before. I loved that she cited all her sources as well, that way I could easily add a million more books to my never-ending TBR pile.



This book was great fun, while simultaneously giving me a lil fright or two (I'll admit). I do believe there is far more out there than we know of, and not all of these people (so very many people!) can be "making it up" or be "crazy".



People are seeing something, and I am always ready to hear about it!

[Tony Garavaglia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a good story...especially of strange creatures and occurrences. What Linda S. Godfrey gives you in this book is just that...unfortunately it missed the mark. She writes well and spins a good yarn but in pieces. She tells you a story then jumps into another and then another and eventually they piece together in a way. It seemed choppy and each story does not come full circle. Plus it is a lot of the canine creature variety and I wished she had mixed it up a bit. I feel this story was unbiased and she does make you think of what is truly out there. I just wish it was executed a bit better.

[Misty · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a lover of all things weird & creepy, this should have been right up my alley. Instead, I struggled to get through this book. I thought this was going to be some curated, interesting eye-witness accounts. It was mainly just emails people have sent to the author about things they've seen. It jumped horribly from story to story with nothing more than a bit of speculation from the author (Well MAYBE this witness actually saw a dogman, not a werewolf, because it was 200 miles from this OTHER dogman sighting), and a lot of referencing her other books.

[Sylvia Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a good handful of books about cryptids, the paranormal, and other supernatural phenomena before this and very few of them focused on the aspect that makes this culture/hobby so fascinating: the sharing of eyewitness accounts. Some others greatly dislike this book for its strong use of accounts (the majority of the book is sharing the experiences of others), but that’s precisely what pulled me into this world in the first place.

This book was a stellar collection of eyewitness accounts of strange creatures and it strikes a fine line between accommodation and reality as the author gives her own thoughts on each encounter. I don’t read about these to find “the answers” because there aren’t any. That may spoil some people’s fun with this, but the supernatural is not a puzzle to be unlocked. It’s a marvel to be intrigued by, enraptured by. This book understands that and I loved it for that.

[J.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author kept saying "in my other book" or "this story is covered more fully in my other book" which is great and all but became annoying after the fifth time. I'm reading this book, not your other one. Then at the end she discusses her personal sightings of big foot. Entertaining especially to read around Halloween but not exactly what I wanted based on the title and book description.

[HorrorBook HellHound · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book although I mainly listened to it as an audio book (found it to be more enjoyable that way). This book focuses heavily on werewolf-like cryptids, but since that is my favorite type of cryptid, I found it to be fascinating and can't wait to read more of Linda Godfrey's books!

[David Veith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of this will give you goosebumps lol. Even more so since I live in WI and a lot of the info. is based on WI (where the author also lives). In the middle of the book got a little slower, lots of "I was driving at night and saw something". But overall, a very fun read that makes you wonder!

[Ducky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful read. Did this one as a buddy read with my wife, us taking turns reading chapters to one another. I really liked the telling of the encounters, as well as learning about various cryptids. Very good read.

[Simone Beg · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disclaimer: this was a chance find for me in my local bookstore. It just caught my eye. I’ve never heard of the writer and her work before picking up this book.

Frankly, I bought this more for the laughs than anything. But coming from a cultural studies background I do appreciate deeper dives into folklore, myths or either in the making even.

I don’t know what I expected. A serious dive into the lores and myths of different cultures, a playful collection of creepy pasta like content for a Halloween read (my initial hope), an actually scientific dive into which parts of such myths are provable and which not... whatever, at least I was hoping for an entertaining and maybe even insightful read. I didn’t get any of these things.

Before going into this book you need to know the author believes she sighted Bigfoot several times. Her ‘research’ operates on the assumption that she knows ‘what she saw’.

The book then is mostly listing one ‘eye witness’ account after another, after another. The eye-witnesses are taken by their word, no real proof needed. If there is something like a cross check it’ll be something like a call to the local archive of the area where the ‘sighting’ occurred.

Eye witnesses conveniently lose/misplace found unusual bones/skulls that might lead to any real scientific insights, nobody ever has a camera at hand not even in ‘sightings’ post 2010 (right, cause as it so happens everyone who gets to see any of the named creatures likes to take walks in the forest or fields without their phone to call someone in case of an emergency), if there’s any chance for scientific evidence to be had, you can be sure no one’s going to bother to take it. One ‘eye witness’ swears a psychic otherworldly horse sized dog made love to his shar pei and there are even puppies (with pics) to account for it. The author agrees on how otherworldly magnificent they look... errrm... all this happens in the US right? There is literally a DNA test kit for dogs in our day and age?! It’s not even that expensive?!!

Another amazing moment was when the author argued one evidence that Bigfoot exists, is that most witnesses describe it increasingly in the same manner. Some dude from her circle of ‘researchers’ theorised Bigfoots are just energy manifestations of mental energy. So how then, she asks, would so many different individuals experience/see the same thing if it wasn’t indeed real. Lady, BECAUSE there is an increasing lore around Bigfoot spread since the 50s through movies, now increasingly the internet and people like you, people’s minds have a larger tendency to interpret things they don’t understand in this largely (and artificially) popularised common manner. Did that ever occur to you? Jeez, why am I even bothering...

If the frequent use of words like ‘compelling’ and phrases like ‘fitting the bill’ don’t already tell you that you’re way deep into the tinfoil hat understanding of the word ‘science’ these attempts of reasoning surely will. If you’re someone with an actual academic background who learned the hard way how tough science is and how long and how much work it takes till you actually can claim anything on black and white with at least a good probability, and more often than not you just have to scrap a whole idea cause it’s plain not provable, a lot of this will just make you cringe. And all of it is presented with little to know self doubt or second questioning.

Anyway, all that would have been still forgivable if it wouldn’t have been such a tedious task to read through all those never ending encounter stories with no supporting evidence whatsoever. The book description and content also led me to believe there would be a larger range of urban myths covered. It’s a subjectively felt 40% werewolves and wolf creatures, 30% big cats, 20% Bigfoot and 10% other. So if you’re really into werewolves this might be for you. If you’re someone who occasionally gets entertained by the weird side of YouTube, this may be for you. If you’re already a ‘believer’ this is definitely for you. You’ll find your beliefs reinforced and maybe be fed some new ones. To the latter I would suggest though to once in a while maybe pick up a proper book on psychology and the way memories are formed. I am not saying you’re crazy, I am saying that there’s some actual real scientific research on memories often not really reflecting actual occurrences, yes, not even collective ones. For an easy pop science entry try ‘The memory illusion’ for example.

Personally i cannot give this book any more stars than I did, despite occasionally liking this kind of far out topic. It’s just too un-ironic, too confident that it’s preaching to the converted and most of all too tedious to read. The stars I gave are for the inclusion of Native American folklore, especially Water Panther. I wish the author had delved a lot more into this very deep and interesting subject.

As it is, I’m glad it’s over. May there be so far undiscovered creatures out there? Of course there are. Many people are not aware of this but new species are discovered every year. But no real researcher or scientist would go and present their existence as fact before they don’t have proper physical proof. Nothing more to say about it.

[Sombraline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was... Fun. It's a very self-indulgent read, one that will certainly not convince any skeptics. The author is evidently very enthusiastic and wants to believe that Bigfoots and wolfmen are very common. Why not? If you want to believe too, or if you like playing around with ideas of odd creatures, this is an entertaining book. Just don't pick it up hoping for a very thorough study, or an attentive consideration of more likely explanations.

[MKF · Rating 1 out of 5]

Questionable eyewitness accounts of cryptid creatures by a woman claiming to be a researcher as well as a skeptic. Which makes it odd when she mentions people using real names to make an account seem real then in the next paragraph claim an article is real because the people mentioned are real. That is the author admitting she has no evidence and with eyewitness accounts being fallible is clinging to whatever she can use as evidence.

[River Arya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, I really did but I felt what started as a neutral stance on Cryptids developed into a bunch of pseudo classification and just boring encounter after encounter. Even though the author mentioned photos and evidence most of the pictures in the book are illustrations with one blurry black and white photo here and there that shows zilch that could be convincing. Some might call me a skeptic but I believe in the possibility of such creatures. This book however honestly did more to convince me otherwise.

[Hayden Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re anything like me and love nothing more than to eat up eyewitness accounts of cryptid and monster sightings, then this book is Cici’s Pizza.
It does get a little repetitive when read in one go, but if you can’t get a kick out of stories about werewolves running around rural America, then I’m not sure we’re gonna get along.

[Melisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting combination of firsthand accounts ,history, and open-minded possible explanations. Lots of fun, but it does focus mostly on dog creatures, cat creatures, and Bigfoot/Sasquatch, if you're into that.

[J. S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this a 3.5 overall. The stories and encounters were shared and listed in a way that made sense and show connection.

I really enjoy cryptozoology ideas and while some stories freak people out, I just love the idea of ‘possibility’. I’m a skeptic, but idk…it’s fun.

[Tim Vargulish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always love learning about new urban legends and monsters. Good stuff in this book.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always had a love of folklore and urban legends. One of the first questions I ask when I move somewhere new is: what urban legends do you have? It helps inform me of the local culture in a way other aspects of local living can’t.

This author presented their information in an entertaining and intriguing way. I appreciated the occasional humor and recognition of what can and cannot be considered “proven” even it if seems highly likely to be true.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but it’s a retelling of individual stories with little connection or context to create a cohesive conclusion. Which, I do believe was her goal. Here are the stories and facts.

[Rick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to say this was a very disappointing book. One of the worst I've read in some time. Mostly it's because I had such a different expectation that started AFTER reading it. It seemed to be, right off, a book that would examine the urban legend side of cryptiod stories. This would be very unique to me and would offer a fresh perspective. There were several times when it seemed to be headed in that direction.

Instead it devolved during the last two-thirds of the book into telling us about every dog related crypto story that could be told. There was no real context provided and each story was taken as the gospel truth. If the book kept heading in the direction it was heading it would have been a great bok!

No need to read this!

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'ai mis énormément de temps à terminer ce livre, non pas par désintérêt, mais parce que j'avais tendance à me détendre énormément en le lisant... Et à faire la sieste au bout de quelques paragraphes. 😅

Cela dit, la moitié du livre est fascinante. J'ai beaucoup aimé les histoires de loup garou, encore plus ceux des chats bipède et encore plus plus, ceux sur les espèces de gnome. Cela dit j'ai perdu l'intérêt quand il a commencé à être question de couguar et co, idem pour bigfoot, qui est un sujet qui m'ennuie profondément.

[Elizabeth Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest it’s not what I was expecting and I do wish there were more cave creatures but overall a fun read!

[Colin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great -- I read this for a story idea I had. There's only so many things you can believe in before you just start to sound gullible. I can accept somebody saying they saw Sasquatch and believe in him, or that their grandma's house used to be haunted, or maybe they saw a weird light at night. We all have a friend or an aunt or something that is convinced they saw something unexplainable.

Godfrey's book, which says it's about cryptids of all sorts but is mostly about different kind of "upright dogs," underwhelms because it's little more than a relation of people's accounts of cryptid sightings. This all kind of blends together after a while. The book only rarely pauses to express skepticism (a phantom hound mating with a witness's dog is the only time Godfrey genuinely seems to disbelieve), and as a consequence, it all rings kind of hollow.

I can accept, potentially, that certain animals are outside of our ken. It seems unlikely for Bigfoot, simply because a breeding population of primates in North America seems like it'd be easier to track down -- it's not like when they find one of like seven rare frogs in the world in the Amazon. But miracles do happen, like with the coelacanth. But a deep-sea fish is not a primate, and finding one does not mean the other exists. It just makes you look gullible.

I will say that as a part of the research, I stumbled across Ms. Godfrey's obituary. What struck me were the volume of condolences left on the page -- many left by former readers and listeners who felt as if she had genuinely heard them when no one else would. I can only imagine how isolating believing in something, especially if it might have been a harrowing, frightening experience, can be. Regardless of how credulous I find the book, I do think there is a certain generosity in the mere fact she was willing to listen.

[Chad King · Rating 2 out of 5]

What could have been a fascinating book is marred by Godfrey's unquestioned belief that the monsters are real. She could have simply shared the stories without commentary, but instead she attempts to justify to the reader how these stories really happened, and how all of these monsters can co-exist in the real world.

My complaint isn't that she believes in the monsters. Rather, I am annoyed by her persistent attempts to convince me, the reader, of all the reasons why the monsters could be real. So what could have been an entertaining collection of urban legends and strange stories turns into a proselyting tract for monster believers. And she bears testimony of her beliefs by relating her own Bigfoot stories, including one where a Bigfoot threw a rock at her and a hiking buddy.

All of this might make for an interesting book if her theories made sense, but her arguments are unpersuasive and her logic is frequently weak. Her willingness to accept monster stories at face value -- and even argue that they are legitimate -- without seriously questioning the motives of the storyteller or exploring the non-monster alternatives left me wishing she had taking a more critical approach.

Again, I'm not attacking her belief in monsters -- she can believe whatever she wants and I don't expect her to debunk the stories. But I am disappointed that the book was marketed merely as a collection of legends and stories, but it's actually an attempt to convince the reader the stories are true.

As someone who would prefer a more critical examination on the part of the author I rate it 2 stars out of 5.

[Josh Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I'm hardly an enthusiast of cryptids or monsters or Bigfoot, I still found this to be a fascinating read, as are all of Godfrey's works. Most people don't realize how pervasive such encounters really are, and for how long they've been reported.

This book is an easy, fun, fast read, not going too deep into any specific legend or beast, but rather flooding you with report after report, overwhelming any doubts you may have that such things really happen. And if you're like me you'll get the creeps over at least one of these reports! I'm still getting goosebumps thinking about one in particular. You may find the whole book to be chilling and terrifying. I was unnerved by some other reports in the book, but the majority were merely interesting.

It's been said a lot that the sheer number of such reports, and from very credible witnesses, cannot be dismissed as false. People really are seeing things they cannot explain, and the more we take them seriously, the more we allow them to tell their stories, the closer we come to revealing the truth about what's really going on.

And it's not just the number of reports or the long history of such encounters, but also, despite Godfrey's focus on her local area, the widespread, all-50-states prevalence of these incidents. As well, it's also the variety of monsters or types of encounters that amazes us.

Something is going on, people really are seeing unexplainable creatures and having real experiences. And books like this are an anodyne for the bias and harsh judgement we get for reporting factually what we legitimately experienced.