Ivan T. Sanderson

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Paranormal Researcher
Biography
Name: Ivan Terrance Sanderson
Born: January 30, 1911(1911-01-30)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died: February 19, 1973 (aged 62)
Education: MA Botany, MA Geology
Cambridge University
Resume
Field: Naturalist
Paranormal Area: Paranormal Writer
Affiliates: British Museum,
Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained

Ivan Terrance Sanderson (January 30, 1911 – February 19, 1973) was a naturalist and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland, who later became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Sanderson is remembered for his nature writing and his interest in cryptozoology and paranormal events.

Sanderson published three classics of nature writing: Animal Treasure (a report of an expedition to the jungles of then-British West Africa); Caribbean Treasure (an account of an expedition to Trinidad, Haiti, and Dutch Guyana (now Suriname), begun in late 1936 and ending in late 1938); and Living Treasure (an account of an expedition to Jamaica, the British Honduras (now Belize) and the Yucatan). Illustrated with Sanderson's drawings, they are well-written and humorous accounts of his scientific expeditions, and anticipate later works by writer-naturalists such as Gerald Durrell. Unlike Durrell, who collected animals for zoos, Sanderson collected animals for museums and scientific institutions, and including detailed studies of their behaviors and environments. However, he also killed some for study. Sanderson's behavioral observations in the animals' natural environments were invaluable: much of what was known at that time concerning "exotic" species was based solely upon the examination of dead and preserved specimens.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born in Scotland, Sanderson traveled widely in his youth. His father, who manufactured whisky professionally, was killed by a rhinoceros while assisting a documentary film crew in Kenya in 1924.

As a teenager, Sanderson attended Eton College, and, at 17 years old, began a yearlong trip around the world, focusing mostly on Asia. Sanderson earned a B.A. in zoology, with honors, from Cambridge University, where he later earned M.A. degrees in botany and geology. In a New York radio interview in March 1965 (WFMU's "Coffee Klatsch" hosted by Bob Zanotti), Sanderson stated that "I have three PhD's, but I don't call myself a doctor. Where I come from, that title is reserved for [medical] doctors". He did not elaborate. In the 1930s, Sanderson led an expedition to Africa on behalf of the British Museum.

He conducted a number of expeditions as a teenager and young man into tropical areas in the 1920s and 1930s, gaining widespread fame for his animal collecting as well as his popular writings on nature and travel.

Sanderson was an early follower of Charles Fort. Later he became known for writings on topics such as cryptozoology, a word Sanderson coined in the early 1940s, with special attention to the evidence for Lake Monsters, sea serpents, Mokèlé-mbèmbé, giant penguins, Yeti, and Sasquatch. Sanderson was also interested in the probable biological basis to reports of extraterrestrial sightings, some of which he felt might be amoeba-like outer space animals.

During World War II, Sanderson worked for British Naval Intelligence, then for British Security Coordination, finally finishing out the war as a press agent in New York City. Afterwards, Sanderson made New York his home and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. In the 1960's Sanderson made his home in Warren Country in rural northwestern New Jersey, where he owned considerable land. He later lived in the Whitby building on West 45th Street in Manhattan's Hells Kitchen until his death in 1973.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Sanderson was widely published in such journals of popular adventure as True, Sports Afield, and Argosy, as well as in the 1940s in general-interest publications such as the Saturday Evening Post. In the 1950s, Sanderson was a frequent guest on John Nebel's paranormal-themed radio program. He was a frequent guest on The Garry Moore Show, being one of the first recognized animal researchers on television to bring live specimens on talk shows. As his friend and fellow cryptozoologist Loren Coleman has remembered in several of Coleman's books, Sanderson's appearances often involved his discussion of cryptozoological topics. Coleman notes that Sanderson could be skeptical. In "Mysterious America," for example, Coleman documents that Sanderson discovered the 1909 "Jersey Devil" flap was an elaborate real estate hoax.

Sanderson founded the Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained (SITU) in 1965 in Little Silver, New Jersey.

Sanderson was married twice. His wife Alma accompanied him in the travels discussed in Caribbean Treasure and Living Treasure.

He died of brain cancer in New Jersey, which had become his adopted home.

[edit] Works

[edit] Nature/travel

  • Animal Treasure, The Viking Press, September 1937, hardback; Pyramid Books, July 1966, paperback.
  • Caribbean Treasure, The Viking Press, November 1939, hardback, ISBN 0-670-20479-X; Pyramid Books, November 1965, paperback, second printing July 1966.
  • Living Treasure, The Viking Press, April 1941, hardback, second printing April 1945; Pyramid Books, September 1965, paperback.
  • The Dynasty of Abu a History and Natural History of the elephants and Their Relatives Past and Present, Alfred A Knoff, 1962, hardback.
  • How to Know the American Mammals, Little Brown & Company, 1951, hardback.
  • Living mammals of the world in color: A treasury of real-life, natural-color photographs and complete up-to-date, accurate description of 189 mammals, Hanover House, 1958.
  • Ivan Sanderson's Book of Great Jungles, Julian Messner, 1965, hardback.
  • Green silence: Travels through the jungles of the Orient, D. McKay Co., 1974, ISBN 0-679-50487-7.
  • Follow the Whale, Little Brown, 1956, hardback.

[edit] Unexplained phenomena

[edit] References and Sources

  • Clark, Jerome, Unexplained! 347 Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena; Detroit, Visible Ink Press; 1993, ISBN 0-8103-9436-7
  • Story, Ronald, "Sanderson, Ivan T[errence]" pages 315-317 in The Encyclopedia of UFOs, Ronald Story, editor; Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1980, ISBN 0-385-13677-3