Australian researcher Mutton gives us the rundown on various hominids, skeletons, anomalous skulls and other “things” from our family tree, including hobbits, pygmies, giants and horned people. Chapters include: Human Origin Theories; Dating Techniques; Mechanisms of Darwinian Evolution; What Creationists Believe about Human Origins; Evolution Fakes and Mistakes; Creationist Hoaxes and Mistakes; The Tangled Tree of Evolution; The Australopithecine Debate; Homo Hablilis; Homo Erectus; Anatomically Modern Humans in Ancient Strata?; Ancient Races of the Americas; Robust Australian Prehistoric Races; Pre Maori Races of New Zealand; The Taklamakan Mummies-Caucasians in Prehistoric China; Strange Skulls; Dolichocephaloids (Coneheads); Pumpkin Head, M Head, Horned Skulls; The Adena Skull; The Boskop Skulls; ‘Starchild’; Pygmies of Ancient America; Pedro the Mountain Mummy; Hobbits-Homo Florensiensis; Palau Pygmies; Giants; Goliath; Holocaust of American Giants?; Giants from Around the World; more. Heavily illustrated.

The dead tell no tales. Or do they? In this fascinating book, Clark Spencer Larsen shows that the dead can speak to us--about their lives, and ours--through the remarkable insights of bioarchaeology, which reconstructs the lives and lifestyles of past peoples based on the study of skeletal remains. The human skeleton is an amazing storehouse of information. It records the circumstances of our growth and development as reflected in factors such as disease, stress, diet, nutrition, climate, activity, and injury. Bioarchaeologists, by combining the methods of forensic science and archaeology, along with the resources of many other disciplines (including chemistry, geology, physics, and biology), "read" the information stored in bones to understand what life was really like for our human ancestors. They are unearthing some surprises. For instance, the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago has commonly been seen as a major advancement in the course of human evolution. However, as Larsen provocatively shows, this change may not have been so positive. Compared to their hunter-gatherer ancestors, many early farmers suffered more disease, had to work harder, and endured a poorer quality of life due to poorer diets and more marginal living conditions. Moreover, the past 10,000 years have seen dramatic changes in the human physiognomy as a result of alterations in our diet and lifestyle. Some modern health problems, including obesity and chronic disease, may also have their roots in these earlier changes. Drawing on vivid accounts from his own experiences as a bioarchaeologist, Larsen guides us through some of the key developments in recent human evolution, including the adoption of agriculture, the arrival of Europeans in the Americas and the biological consequences of this contact, and the settlement of the American West in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Written in a lively and engaging manner, this book is for anyone interested in what the dead have to tell us about the living.

The Princess Bride meets Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels Join former scamp Cullin and his merry band of confidence men (and one liberated princess) as they put The Sting in the Middle Ages. With dreams of being a hero, or at least a storyteller, Cullin travels with Sir Dalbry, a washed-up knight in shining armor; Reeger, ready and eager for any part of the dirty work; and Affonyl, former princess, who wanted to study science and alchemy, rather than embroidery. Together, they cross the land with one scam after another, concocting their own heroic deeds, preparing mock dragon heads, or selling kraken tusks and mermaid scales. But when attempting to con King Longjohn, whose castle is supposedly bursting at the seams with treasure, the caper turns sour. The powerful Wizard-Mage Ugnarok and his army of ugly and muscular (if not too bright) orcs takes over Longjohn’s castle, imprisoning the king, pillaging the halls, and carrying on with typical orc-like mayhem. Cullin and his friends are trapped in the castle’s labyrinth of secret passages, just trying to survive ... or is this the opportunity for a grander scam than they have ever attempted before? Orcs are terribly superstitious—you can’t bash a ghost, after all—and it’s like Die Hard in a castle, as Cullin, Affonyl, Reeger, and Dalbry set up a grand haunting that will scare off even the scariest orc army.

In the seemingly peaceful and pleasant town of Wolverhampton, England, an entrepreneur had the brilliant and terrifying idea of creating a Park of Horrors. The idea was the brainchild of Sir Desrius – better known as the “Warlock” – a cruel and unscrupulous man who did not hesitate to imprison monsters and fairy creatures from every corner of the globe to populate the park. For years now, the monsters have been forced to suffer abuse, yet for some time rumors have spread of a rebellion… Dedicated to those who are victims of prejudice, “The Revolt of the Skeletons in the Closet” is a fairy tale that speaks straight to the heart of young and old alike.

A mother calls 911 because her child, despite a fetal monitor, stopped breathing. She didn't know it, but the fetal monitor her doctor prescribed had a memory chip. Would the monitor's memory chip preserve evidence of a tragic accident or a murder?A young couple's marriage is crumbling, but they decide to take one last family trip. She will never return home. A pool of blood suggests she died from injuries caused by an accidental fall from a boat dock. So how did she wind up face down in the lake?For more than two decades, Dr. Stephen D. Cohle has been solving vexing forensic mysteries as the medical examiner for Kent County, Michigan. As a whole, the cases he considers represent a cross-section of crime in mid-America, often committed by a macabre cast of characters: Jekyll and Hyde alcoholics who turned homicidal; killers who resorted to the most bizarre methods in concealing their crimes; and the rarest species in the zoo of criminology, a two-woman team of serial killers.Based on his work with Dr. Cohle, true-crime writer Tobin T. Buhk recounts twenty-one riveting, real-life stories, each with a unique forensic twist. Offering a glimpse into the strange sights, sounds, and smells of the county morgue, these tales of intrigue, deception, and murder will fascinate true-crime buffs, fans of CSI, and readers of mystery and detective stories.Tobin T. Buhk (Grand Rapids, MI) is a freelance writer and the coauthor (with Stephen D. Cohle, MD) of Cause of Death. In preparation for writing this book, he observed and assisted Dr. Cohle and his forensic team in more than thirty-five autopsies.Stephen D. Cohle, MD (Grand Rapids, MI), a nationally recognized figure in the community of forensic medicine, is the chief medical examiner for Kent County, Michigan, and a forensic pathologist for Laboratory Pathologists, PC. He is the author (with Tobin T. Buhk) of Cause of Death and (with R. Byard) of Sudden Death in Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence.

Award-winning writer Dan O'Sullivan opens the door and pulls you into a world filled with over twenty twisted tales of terror! Fans of "The Twilight Zone" will love this compilation of the strange and terrifying including vampires, zombies, ghosts, witches, bottomless holes, Grim Reapers, werewolves, serial killers, curses and more!

Subterranean Realms is a unique book that surveys underground and rock cut structures created in the past. It is the third book in Mutton’s trilogy on mysterious realms, the others being Sunken Realms and Water Realms. We know who built some of these astonishing and mysterious structures, but others were built by unknown civilizations in prehistory for reasons that are debated among researchers. Some subterranean structures may have been built for initiation ceremonies or perhaps for acoustic reasons, or both. Mutton discusses such interesting sites as: Derinkuyu, an underground city in Cappadocia, Turkey that housed 20,000 people; Roman catacombs of Domitilla; Palermo Capuchin catacombs; Alexandria catacombs; Paris catacombs; Maltese hypogeum; Rock-cut structures of Petra; Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae; Elephanta Caves, India; Lalibela, Ethiopia; Tarquinia Etruscan necropolis; Hallstatt salt mine; Beijing air raid shelters; Japanese high command Okinawa tunnels; more. There are tons of illustrations in this fascinating book!