EsoterX – If Monsters Don’t Exist, Why Are They Out To Get Me?

The blogger known as EsoterX (aka Aaron Dabbah) is a rarity. He looks at the world of the anomalous, and instead of asking “Who?” or “How?” he asks “Why?” Trained as an archaeologist and information specialist, he turns his intelligent eye on such conundrums as “Fairy Fishing,” disappearing islands, and why unicorns are jerks.

Aaron asserts that anomalies are not so implausible if you are willing to suspend your disbelief. We started with his premise that the search for the meaning of the anomalous is the important part of the equation and our reaction to weirdness is more important than the actual weirdness itself. Moving through subjects at a leisurely pace, we also discussed the strangest of strange stories, such as an account that Charles Fort repeated about a cat who appeared before a crowd and asked “Hot enough for you?” before disappearing in a puff of smoke. We also dealt with the decline of quality humor and satire before he concluded that “Looking for respectability [as a researcher] is a losing game because you’re playing by rules that don’t apply to what you’re looking at.”

Many words and ideas to live by in this episode. He will be back.