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ArthurASCII Hello Playmates
Cheeky chappie Joined: 26 Feb 2002 Total posts: 2893 Location: Letsbe Avenue Age: 59 Gender: Male |
 Posted: 19-04-2002 07:00 Post subject: Necrolog |
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[Emp edit: This thread is to mark the passing of people who had an impact on the Fortean worl.
For other obits and the like see the RIP thread:
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9805 ]
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I hope I'm not being maudlin, but I think that the great Thor Heyerdahl's passing ought to be marked somewhere on this site.
Mr Heyerdahl was never put off by academic scepticism, and I hope he himself will be remembered as an acedemic rather than an adventurer.
Attempting to solve a riddle or prove a theory is often to put ones self at the mercy of those with vested interest or dogmatical bias.
Mr Heyerdahl was never afraid to "put his money where his mouth was" and gave many of us great excitement as he strove to complete his quests.
A truly great man. |
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| ArthurASCII Hello Playmates
Cheeky chappie Joined: 26 Feb 2002 Total posts: 2893 Location: Letsbe Avenue Age: 59 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 19-04-2002 07:06 Post subject: |
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Here's a poignant quote from Mr Heyerdahl tha Appeared in today's Independent newspaper...
| Quote: | I've never had the feeling that there's any positive consensus of opinion about me – I've been represented as a sort of tough sailor who's basically an ignorant madman. Perhaps if things had not gone the way they did, if I had not been able to prove my hypothesis, I would be bitter.
But it left me with a conviction that there's something wrong with science. So much information is available nowadays that to make any forward progress you are forced to specialise, and any attempt at an overview is deemed impossible, and scorned. Whereas I've always searched for correspondences. My real sadness is for the thousands of young people who are crushed by scientific orthodoxies before they even get a chance to advance their own ideas.
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| escargot1 Joined: 24 Aug 2001 Total posts: 17708 Location: Farkham Hall Age: 3 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 19-04-2002 09:47 Post subject: |
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In the late 60s I briefly attended one of those new-fangled, indoor lavatoried, own-playing-fielded and not-caning-kids primary schools, where my teacher was obsessed with Thor.
He had us plotting Heyerdahl's route on huge world maps, learning about the Pacific and the Polynesian peoples and building a huge model of the Kon-Tiki out of cardboard and raffia. Magnificent.
My only problem at the time was that our Kon-Tiki obviously wouldn't float. I seriously believed that, given a little more time and better materials, we'd have sailed our raft triumphantly across the local boating lake.
That's REAL teaching- inspired by genius.
I've been a fan of Heyerdahl ever since, and so what if he was wrong about the exact routes taken by ancient seafarers? What he proved was that seagoing travel was possible, by people in rickety reed boats without modern navigational aids.
Heyerdahl was a true maverick. I wonder when we'll see his like again. |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 19-04-2002 10:04 Post subject: |
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| I only just found out when I read the headline here. I'm shocked. I didn't know much about the guy, but he seemed really great. It's a big loss for humanity. |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 19-04-2002 11:30 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Originally posted by escargot
He had us plotting Heyerdahl's route on huge world maps, learning about the Pacific and the Polynesian peoples and building a huge model of the Kon-Tiki out of cardboard and raffia. Magnificent. |
Us too. I think it was compulsory in all primary schools back then. At ours we fashioned minatures of Thor's craft out of balsa. It led to vast piles of balsa wood in the stock cupboard. Which led to endless classes of model making with said balsa (this went on for years).
I gave up on the boat and made a witches ducking stool. I was seven. They told me I was a weirdo. They were correct.
Poor old Thor:(. We need more adventurers (or academics:)) in the world, not less.
Last edited by Guest on 19-04-2002 11:37; edited 1 time in total |
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| TheHoodedClaw2 Yeti Joined: 06 Aug 2001 Total posts: 84 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 19-04-2002 11:38 Post subject: |
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| That's sad - a true adventurer, and a childhood hero. I'll raise a glass to him tonight, and dig out my old copy of Kon-Tiki. |
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| ArthurASCII Hello Playmates
Cheeky chappie Joined: 26 Feb 2002 Total posts: 2893 Location: Letsbe Avenue Age: 59 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 19-04-2002 12:10 Post subject: |
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Here's a link to the Kon Tiki Museum:
http://www.kon-tiki.no/indeks.shtml
I was lucky enough to visit it some years ago while working in Oslo. It's a fascinating place. |
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| NilesCalder Reptilian Overlord
Moderator Joined: 20 Aug 2001 Total posts: 2506 |
| Posted: 19-04-2002 21:28 Post subject: |
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I think I must have read (and reread) most of Thor's books over the years. I remember my famous granddad  was a big fan of his, so I guess I know where I picked up the bug from...
Cursed: Can you think of anywhere on Earth to which man has not yet gone, or hasn't been mapped from space, or any 'fringe' theory which a bit of adventure could prove then speak up! I'm game!
Niles "Game until it get's too difficult" Calder |
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 19-04-2002 23:25 Post subject: |
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I read a book called "Seven Little Sisters" by a bloke who crossed the Pacific alone on a balsa raft, inspired by Thor's 'Kon Tiki'. This book impressed me a lot, but it was several years before I read Thor's books myself.
TH was obviously a man who got things done, and although his books tend to sound 'Me, me, me', I guess you need that sort of personality to achieve things.
I have an old copy of his 'Aku-Aku', about an investigation of Easter Island in the 50s. |
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| Cult_of_Mana Get that
Conversation Killer Joined: 24 Mar 2002 Total posts: 1040 Location: British Museum Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 21-04-2002 22:59 Post subject: |
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The man is my hero. I'm currently reading the Ra Expeditions. This is where he builds a papyrus reed boat and attempts to cross the Atlantic. You may also be interested to know that a book is coming out soon by IJ Thorpe and Nick Thorpe called 8 Men and a Duck: An Improbable Voyage to Easter Island by Reed Boat. I'm guessing that Heyerdahl may have planned a similar expedition. I know he did it on Kon-Tiki but the voyage by reed boat would be a logical extension of the Ra voyages.
I can't believe he's died and I've heard nothing about it! Thanks Arthur. This thread is really appreciated. |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 22-04-2002 15:09 Post subject: |
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| Niles, on the Mokele Membe thread it was mentioned that Congo should be 90% unexplored. You could try that one. There are also some other places but I'm afraid none in your neighborhood. |
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| Evolved |
| Posted: 27-08-2002 15:57 Post subject: Peter Chapple Dies Suddenly |
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R.I.P
http://www.lorencoleman.com/obits.html
| Quote: | Breaking News August 26, 2002
Australian Cryptozoologist Peter Chapple Dies Suddenly
by Loren Coleman
Peter Chapple, 47, well-known Australian cryptozoologist, died suddenly, on August 26, 2002 (local Australian time) at Dendenong Hospital, after suffering a heart attack.
Peter Chapple was the President of the Australian Rare Fauna Research Association (ARFRA), in Emerald, Victoria, Australia, which recorded more than 2000 sightings of the Thylacine in Victoria alone. ARFRA was founded by Chapple in June, 1984, under the name "Rare Faune and Phenomena Research," after he had an encounter that year with a "Big Cat" (cryptid panther) in the forest in the Dandenongs. The group became an incorporated association in 1993.
Under Chapple's leadership, ARFRA conducted extensive field-studies and compiled a large data-base on the subject of unidentified animals. One of ARFRA's main achievements involved a 1980s study of panther reports in the Dandenong Ranges. Through a detailed analysis of information gathered over many years, Chapple and other researchers were able to predict the appearance of particular panthers in places where they had been seen in the past. This led to several close encounters with them and proved that the "Big Cat" phenomenon could be measured scientifically.
Peter Chapple devoted the last 18 years of his life to researching Victoria's Big Cat and mainland Thylacine incidents, and he had become a major figure in Australian cryptozoology. He traveled to Fortean Times' London conferences to give lectures on "Australian Thylacines, Big Cats and Devils," in 2000, and on further Australian cryptozoology at "Myths and
Monsters 2001."
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-10-2003 16:02 Post subject: |
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Clear lent sympathetic ear to people reporting alien abductions | Quote: | Constance Clear spent her life as a seeker of truth, a psychotherapist, a radio talk show host and novelist who tried to make people aware of different ideas.
Clear made a name for herself in the realm of alien abductions and UFO phenomena when she took the narratives of seven people who claimed to be abductees and published her first book, "Reaching for Reality: Seven Incredible True Stories of Alien Abduction."
Clear, 53, died Tuesday in Phoenix from injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident.
"She loved to get on her trike and just go," said her sister, Susan Ross. "I wrote that she rode her beloved motorcycle with the wind in her hair and a mission on her mind, because that sums up my sister."
In materials published for the release of her book in 1999, Clear said that within a year's time she found herself with seven clients from within a 200-mile radius of San Antonio who claimed to have been abducted by otherworldly beings.
Author Whitley Strieber and Clear met when they sat next to each other on an airplane and just began talking.
"She told me for the first time in her life these people started coming to her with their experiences of close encounters," Strieber said, adding they immediately became friends after that flight.
Her book had a tremendous effect on people who claimed to have had close encounters or survived abductions, he said.
"She was extremely kind to take people like me seriously," he said. "She was willing to listen rather than laugh at us."
Brent Fisher, Clear's ex-husband and a fellow psychotherapist, agrees that Clear's compassion set her apart from other psychotherapists.
For 15 years prior to her work with people who claimed to be alien abductees, Clear led a monthly support group, Share, for parents who lost babies through miscarriages, stillborn births or newborn deaths.
"I filled in for her on one session, and it was three hours of utter sorrow," Fisher said. "She was willing to entertain or allow some of the extreme emotions people had that most psychotherapists wouldn't accept."
Clear also had a show on KENS Radio called "Clear Talk" until the station went off the air earlier this year.
From 1991 to 1999, Clear helped run Independent Horizons, a group of homes for mentally disabled adults, with Ann Jordan and Lucinda Frost.
"She was a great business person," Jordan said. "When she had an idea, she didn't just talk about it, she did it."
Clear moved to Show Low, Ariz., after deciding to write a book about Hopi Indians, who for centuries have described meeting gods from the sky.
Clear also is survived by her son, Trustin Avery Clear of Houston, and two nieces.
A casual celebration of Clear's life is scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. Nov. 2 at Los Patios at 2015 N.E. Loop 410. The family invites friends to come with love and cherished memories of Clear.
Clear will be cremated, and her ashes will be spread near a tree in Arkansas where her parents' and brother's ashes already have been spread.
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| ogopogo3 Just a CabbageHead Joined: 25 Oct 2001 Total posts: 1684 Location: Minnesota Age: 40 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 30-12-2003 06:36 Post subject: |
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http://www.nynewsday.com/entertainment/ny-bc-ny--obit-berlitz1229dec29,0,3695519.story?coll=nyc-topheadlines-left
Linguist, Author Charles Berlitz Dies
December 29, 2003, 5:25 PM EST
TAMARAC, Fla. -- Charles Berlitz, a noted New York linguist and author whose books, including "The Bermuda Triangle," explored the paranormal, has died at age 90.
Berlitz, whose grandfather founded the language schools that bear the family name, died Dec. 18 at University Hospital in Tamarac, relatives said.
Berlitz spoke numerous languages and worked as head of publications for the Berlitz Co. in New York, where he wrote language curriculum for schools around the world. His grandfather, Maximilian Berlitz, founded the school in 1878 in France.
Berlitz was internationally known for his 1974 best seller on the Bermuda Triangle, but he also wrote other books on paranormal phenomena, including "Without a Trace," "The Philadelphia Experiment-Project Invisibility," "The Roswell Incident" and "The Dragon's Triangle."
He was born in New York City in 1913, and spent three decades working for the Berlitz Co. as a writer, lecturer and travel expert. He developed the company's record and tape courses and worked to simplify his grandfather's teaching methods.
He also spent 26 years in the Army, serving as an intelligence officer.
Berlitz began visiting Florida during the 1970s when he was researching his books on the Bermuda Triangle and Atlantis. In the early 1980s, he and his wife moved to Fort Lauderdale. |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
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