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Jerry D. Coleman (born October 3, 1951 in Macon County, Illinois) is an American anomalist who is best known as the author of Strange Highways (ISBN 189252337X), a cult classic of Forteana.
Research
Jerry D. Coleman has been investigating puzzling physical phenomena since he was a child growing up in central Illinois. As a young man in 1962, he and his friends discovered a mysterious ape-like footprint in a dry creek near Decatur, Illinois. Although follow-up research by Coleman proved that this footprint was only a hoax, Coleman has credited this incident with sparking a lifelong interest in the unknown *.
Coleman was the first person to investigate the 1977 Lawndale Thunderbird incident, in which a large bird supposedly lifted a ten year-old boy off the ground, carrying him for 35 feet before dropping him *. Although the individuals involved appeared to be sincere, Coleman found the evidence at the scene to be inconclusive. He has suggested that the witnesses may have seen an abnormally large bird (perhaps an out-of-place Andean condor) swoop down towards the boy, but he could not find any evidence (e.g. torn clothing, physical marks on body) that the boy was actually carried and dropped by anything.
Coleman has also studied the so-called "phantom cat" phenomenon in North America. He claims to have personally seen a black panther in 1995 near Byron, Illinois, and he has actively researched similar sightings in the American Midwest and American Southeast. In addition, Coleman has investigated many UFO and ghost reports, as well as relatively more mundane sightings of things like wild coydogs and surviving ivory-billed woodpeckers.
Writings and other work
Strange Highways was published by Whitechapel Press in 2003 and serves as a compilation of Coleman's most significant research. Extensive sections are dedicated to anomalous felines and the Lawndale incident, and Coleman shares many of his original field notes throughout the work. Generally well-received by those in the Fortean community, Strange Highways inspired a sequel, More Strange Highways (ISBN 1892523426), which was released in January 2006. In addition to these works, Coleman has written several articles for Fate Magazine, Strange Magazine, and various Illinois newspapers. He has also been a consultant for the Discovery Channel, and in 1994 he created "Myth or Real," a series of non-sports cards depicting various paranormal entities and events.
Personal
Jerry D. Coleman has several notable relatives. His brother Loren is a well-known cryptozoologist who has written such influential works as Mysterious America and Cryptozoology A to Z, and his son Nick [http://www.cryptozoology.com/forum/topic_view_thread.php?pid=54769&tid=25 is a member of the pop-punk band October Fall.
He currently lives in Tennessee.
Cryptozoologists | 1951 births | Living people | People from Illinois | American non-fiction writers | Fortean writers | Cherokee people
External links and other sources
- An Interview with Jerry Coleman
- Strange Highways at Amazon.com
- Coleman, Jerry. Strange Highways. Alton, IL: Whitechapel Press, 2003.
"Jerry D. Coleman"