This is an excell­ent book, except when it’s not. And that’s about half the time… It’s a wide-rang­ing antho­logy and, as might be ex­pected, the chap­ters re­flect mixed invest­ig­at­ive and lit­er­ary qual­ity. The main prob­lem is how “lesser-known” most of the topics are. A lot of the mat­er­ial would rate only a foot­note in an­other book. On the basis of two 1920s re­ports by the same man, for ex­ample, all­eged Myan­mar glowing spid­ers get a whole chap­ter. Not every crypt­id can be Big­foot, but more, per­haps, is requ­ired to get some ink.

Jerry Padilla’s acc­ount of New Mexico myst­ery creat­ures today and in Native Amer­i­can legend is charm­ing.