The Monster Game

I blogged before about All About Monsters, the very popular Usborne book about, well, monsters, mythical as well as cryptids. A lot of emphasis was put on the cryptid ones, actually. When Usborne republished the book, I quickly bought it. But I discovered that one thing in the French translaitonw as missing in the original English: the Monster Game. Truly a board game that was made of the last page of the book, especially created, I think, for the French edition. I'm not sure why. The objective of the game was finding evidence for the existence of a lake monster, the Monster of Ellness Lake, basically a thinly disguised Loch Ness. We never played it. The rules were shoddy at best, for one. My brothers and I used the Monster Game, however for a few make belief games set around a lake and involving a cryptid like this one. Our characters explored the lake in a bathyscape, we questioned the locals, etc. It was quite fun. Anyway, I asked my father to send me pictures of the "Great Monster Game", beacause I wanted to share this memory on the blog. And because it might come in handy.

The Lambton Worm

I have first read about the legend of the Lambton Worm in All About Monsters, from which this image is taken from. It made me want to visit the village of Lambton. I have not done so yet, but I think this part of England might become a future holiday destination. Anyway, you can read the account of the legend with the image, taken from the book, but there are better versions online. I found this one, which I particularly enjoyed.

Something in this image, however schlocky it was (and from a schlocky book), really fired up my imagination as a child. You had the desperate hero in a fight to death against a terrible foe, using gadgetry to kill his adversary. You had a dragon more akin to a serpent. Reading the story going with it, and the story really took life. The monster's main characteristic was not a mean of attack, but of defense: its capacity to regenerate. It also has a river as a place of danger and the source of unnamed abominations. You have the morally flawed hero, whose lack of religious devotion made him and his fellow countrymen vulnerable to evil, put them in way of harm. It is a great local legend that deserves to be better known. So I thought I would contribute to spread it on Vraie Fiction. When/if I have time, I might write my own take of the legend one day.

A time for werewolves

Quick countdown to Halloween post, even though I blogged tonight already. This picture was taken from All About Monsters, which I blogged about here. Not my usual read for the weeks leading to Halloween: as a child, it was this book of the same collection I was reading around Halloween time. But I always loved this particular image from All About Monsters. Influenced by old horror movies more than the folklore, this werewolf, all furry, with strong fangs and a mouth dripping with blood, was very scary. Anyway, it is the full moon tonight and it is very bright right now. So it is a time for werewolves. Just in case you wanted to enjoy a walk in the night.

All About Monsters

I blogged about this book in French post last year. Back when I was a child, still naive about many things and very much into cryptozoology, I absolutely loved this book. It was called All About Monsters and was as much about cryptozoology as it was about monsters of legends and folklore. It was full of pseudo-science and as an educational book it was utter rubbish, but they had great drawings and in spite of its sensationalist nature the parts on folklore made me discover many legendary creatures that were subsequently used in make belief games. There was another book in the series called All About Ghosts, which I blogged about here and another one about UFOs, which I didn't cared much about.  One of my friends had it, I only had All About Monsters and All About Ghosts.

If the ghosts book was one of favorite reads in the months and weeks leading to Halloween (from August onwards), All About Monsters was the one of my summertime. The make belief games we played around the swimming pool involved giant squids and Loch Ness monsters-like creatures such as the one on the cover. I remember arguing with a friend about the Loch Ness monster because of this very book. The same friend who had the book on UFOs actually. We did not argue whether or not Nessie existed, as we both believed there was a monster dwelling in the lake, but what was his nature. Because of All About Monsters, he believed that Nessie was an elasmosaurus. Because of another book we had read on the subject, my brothers and I were adamant it was a plesiosaurus. But in any case, lots of mysterious creatures showed up in our games. We had of course many medieval fantasy games where the book became an important source of information. So next time I am home, I might revisit it.

Cryptozoologie enfantine

Ceci est un nouveau petit billet nostalgique. J'espère qu'il n'y a pas de cryptozoologues amateurs ici, ils risquent d'en prendre pour leurs rhumes. Mais enfin bref, il fut un temps où, enfant, je croyais que le monstre du Loch Ness, le yéti, bigfoot et tutti quanti existaient. Mes frères et moi avions emprunté des bouquins à la bibliothèque de l'école sur le Loch Ness et sur les abominables hommes des neiges. Je l'ai mentionné ici. Des petits traités de pseudo-sciences, mais ils nous fascinaient car nous avions l'imagination fertile. Je ne sais pas si on peut encore les retrouver, ils datent d'il y a longtemps. Nous croyons tellement dur comme fer en l'existence de Nessie, en fait, que la question n'était pas de savoir s'il existait mais quelle espèce il était. Mes frères et moi nous défendions la thèse du plésiosaure, un voisin défendait la thèse de l'élasmosaure.

Ce qui me mène à ce bouquin, Tout sur les montres, publié par Pierre Bordas & Fils. Un livre par comité, je pense. Il mélangeait allègrement cryptozoologie, monstres des mythes et légendes et du folklore et ceux de la fiction. Je crois maintenant que c'était un bouquin passablement malhonnête, qui faisait croire en des théories bien douteuses et des légendes urbaines, mais ne faisait pas vraiment développer l'esprit critique. Il y en avait un sur les fantômes, un autre sur les ovnis, des mêmes éditeurs, et de la même eau. C'était une collection populaire à l'époque, j'ai vu bien des enfants de ma génération les consulter. Mon voisin et ami dont j'ai parlé plus haut croyait au monstre du Loch Ness à cause du livre, qu'il avait acheté, et parce que le monstre du Loch Ness était selon ses auteurs un élasmosaure, alors il était d'accord avec eux. D'où de nombreux débats à n'en plus finir. Mes frères et moi avons fini par acheter le livre, ainsi que Tout sur les fantômes. Cela dit, malgré tous les défauts de la collection de Pierre Bordas (& Fils), elle nous nourissait notre imagination et notre créativité, c'était toujours ça de pris. Les illustrations étaient d'une beauté glauque, les monstres étant passablement repoussants. Et il y avait un jeu à la fin du livre, les règles étaient tellement vagues et le plateau tellement instable (c'était une page de livre) que l'on ne les a jamais joués. Mais on utilisait les "informations" du livre pour bien des jeux de notre enfance. Alors quand je relis Tout sur les monstres ou un autre, j'ai toujours un pincement nostalgique.