Mysteries of the Unknown series
1987
Weight:
Method of Disposal: Leaving somewhere in Oakhurst (GA). Unless you want it, of course!
I was mesmerized by the supernatural as a child. I think there were a couple reasons. The first being, that it was so often wrapped up with unexplained loss, pain, and a scary unknowing. A certain emptiness took over space. The other being that I might be able to answer the questions no one else could. People would have to acknowledge my value if I found proof of a life form from another planet. Unfortunately, I now realize that developing an obsession with magical monsters, over-intelligent aliens, and lost civilizations really just makes you more invisible, which then leads us back to the first reason I liked it.
The book begins with Atlantis. Who wouldn’t be intrigued with paradise on earth? People have never been able to resist that. The book twists truth, speculation, and fantasy. Enough to make a kid dream or spark the dream of an island resort in some man’s mind. A man with access to a lot of money and a passion for tourism. Throw in some dolphins—paradise on Earth.
Then, the one that really kept me up at night. The Bermuda Triangle. It made me feel like I could just vanish at any moment. And where would I end up if I did vanish? That’s scary for anyone, but it is really scary for a kid. It’s the closest I came, at the time, to contemplating death. Of course, I didn’t know it, but I recognize the panic and almost irrational fear I sometimes I experience now. I still don’t like it.
Great Pyramids, Megaliths, and “Glyphs for the Gods,” and the inner core of the Earth. Did you know a man named Olaf (like is The Series of Unfortunate Events) claimed that he had been to Inner-Earth on his deathbed in the 1900s? He had to wait because the first time he tried to tell it he was institutionalized for decades but, luckily, a friend of his put it into book form posthumously. He lived with giants before he was labeled crazy. If you do not know that, it is because you didn’t read this ragged, ridiculous, and endearing Time-Life book as a child.
