TITLE: Truth-Proof
AUTHOR: Paul Sinclair
PUBLISHER: Psychic Book Club Publishing
ISBN: 9780957500785
PODCAST EPISODE: None
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
Paul Sinclair’s book Truth-Proof (2016) is the strange beginning to what later became a multi-book series spanning over four books. Living in the seaside town of Bridlington, UK, on the Holderness coast of the North Sea, Sinclair has dedicated his life to investigating incidents of ‘High Strangeness’ within a roughly 30-mile radius of Bempton and Flamborough -- both on the land and in the sea. This small area of Yorkshire, it turns out, has for centuries been a hotspot of the uncanny and bizarre.
Truth-Proof is concerned with what would primarily be called the urban legends in East and North Yorkshire. While these accounts mostly stretch back to the early 1900s, in many cases there are arguments to be made that the stories could go back to human occupation of these territories themselves. After all, Sinclair contends, can’t stories of werewolves be viewed as akin to either prehistoric or shamanic practices? Aren’t these lightforms, bizarre glowing orbs of light that move in unnatural ways, being spotted along what are believed to be leylines and above ancient barrows and other burial sites? Isn’t the area of the North Sea known for a shocking number of disappearances of both aircraft and men? All of this, Sinclair believes, must mean something.
The accounts of lightforms are interspersed with UFO encounters, and Sinclair believes the two are likely connected. Similarly, he believes that sightings of small, strange beings could be connected to earlier Yorkshire stories of fairies and elves, although he scarcely concerns himself with these, since he wishes to focus upon more recent stories. Furthermore, folklore reveals that these phenomena have been happening for a very long time -- he just wishes for others to realize that these strange events are still happening and must be recorded before they are lost forever.
The book covers a wide range of topics, everything from the aforementioned lightforms and UFOs to missing people, aircraft crashes, and werewolf and big cat sightings. Sinclair manages to tie these seemingly disparate stories together through the virtue of proximity. The primary message from start to finish remains: something strange is occurring in this small radius, most often near ancient earthworks. Only the preservation of these oral tales will allow the world at large to acknowledge what is happening. And only by acknowledging that this High Strangeness is occurring will allow humanity to perhaps someday understand it.
AUTHOR: Paul Sinclair
PUBLISHER: Psychic Book Club Publishing
ISBN: 9780957500785
PODCAST EPISODE: None
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
Paul Sinclair’s book Truth-Proof (2016) is the strange beginning to what later became a multi-book series spanning over four books. Living in the seaside town of Bridlington, UK, on the Holderness coast of the North Sea, Sinclair has dedicated his life to investigating incidents of ‘High Strangeness’ within a roughly 30-mile radius of Bempton and Flamborough -- both on the land and in the sea. This small area of Yorkshire, it turns out, has for centuries been a hotspot of the uncanny and bizarre.
Truth-Proof is concerned with what would primarily be called the urban legends in East and North Yorkshire. While these accounts mostly stretch back to the early 1900s, in many cases there are arguments to be made that the stories could go back to human occupation of these territories themselves. After all, Sinclair contends, can’t stories of werewolves be viewed as akin to either prehistoric or shamanic practices? Aren’t these lightforms, bizarre glowing orbs of light that move in unnatural ways, being spotted along what are believed to be leylines and above ancient barrows and other burial sites? Isn’t the area of the North Sea known for a shocking number of disappearances of both aircraft and men? All of this, Sinclair believes, must mean something.
The accounts of lightforms are interspersed with UFO encounters, and Sinclair believes the two are likely connected. Similarly, he believes that sightings of small, strange beings could be connected to earlier Yorkshire stories of fairies and elves, although he scarcely concerns himself with these, since he wishes to focus upon more recent stories. Furthermore, folklore reveals that these phenomena have been happening for a very long time -- he just wishes for others to realize that these strange events are still happening and must be recorded before they are lost forever.
The book covers a wide range of topics, everything from the aforementioned lightforms and UFOs to missing people, aircraft crashes, and werewolf and big cat sightings. Sinclair manages to tie these seemingly disparate stories together through the virtue of proximity. The primary message from start to finish remains: something strange is occurring in this small radius, most often near ancient earthworks. Only the preservation of these oral tales will allow the world at large to acknowledge what is happening. And only by acknowledging that this High Strangeness is occurring will allow humanity to perhaps someday understand it.