Smarty Pants From The American Scholar

Whether it’s Lemurians making their home on Mount Shasta, aliens alighting in the middle of Illinois, meat falling from the Kentucky sky, or cows being drained of blood in Oregon, accounts of unexplained phenomena are on the rise. Why have so many Americans opened themselves up to fringe beliefs and conspiracy theories, even as our empirical understanding of the world has increased? Cultural historian Colin Dickey joins us on the show this week to talk about his new book, Unidentified, in which he traverses the country in search of the cryptids and conspiracies that have stuck with us for the past few centuries, evolving alongside the dramatic changes in our frontiers, scientific knowledge, and cultural mores.Go beyond the episode:Colin Dickey’s Unidentified: Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession With the UnexplainedRead an excerpt from his previous book, Ghostland, about America’s haunted placesLearn about the Altamaha-ha, the sea monster of the Georgia coastNPR gets in on the cow mute game