Centre de Cryptozoologie
Founded by zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans for the study of
animals whose existence is conjectural (i.e., on a borderline between
fact and myth). Heuvelmans has coined the term cryptozoology
to characterize the study of such creatures as sea monsters,
dragons, hairy dwarfs, and yetis or abominable snowmen.
Heuvelmans was born in Le Havre, France, in 1916, and
earned his doctoral degree in zoological sciences at Brussels.
His books include On the Track of Unknown Animals (1955) and
In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents (1968), both translated from the
French. Several of his later books have not been translated. In
1982 he became one of the founders of the International Society
of Cryptozoology.
The center has a library of some two thousand volumes and
a large collection of magazine articles and illustrations, fully indexed
by a card catalog. Address Verlhiac, St. Chamassy,
24260 Le Bugue, France.
Sources
Clark, Jerome. Encyclopedia of Strange and Unexplained Physical
Phenomena. Detroit Gale Research, 1993.
Heuvelmans, Bernard. The Birth and Early History of
Cryptozoology. Cryptozoology 3 (1984) 130.
. In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents. New York Hill and
Wang, 1968.
. On the Track of Unknown Animals. New York Hill and
Wang, 1958
