A couple of days ago I wrote a blog post titled ‘The Spiteful Misogyny of The Mothman Men‘ about the made-public-comments of Lon Strickler (Phantoms and Monsters) and Tobias Wayland (Singular Fortean). In a private group chat, the pair had a discussion about a paranormal researcher named Allison Jornlin, and how irrelevant they believed she was in the field of cryptid research related to the 2011/2017 Chicago “Mothman” sightings. One comment was made about how Jornlin was ‘like a bad cold’ and another about how she deserved to ‘have a bath’ in a river, which has (rightly) been interpreted by others as having a threatening undertone to it.
My blog post has been shared a lot and the number of visitors to my blog has surprised me. It’s clear, to me at least, that a large number of people- including some very influential figures within paranormal and cryptozoology circles -are disgusted to see how Jornlin was treated, and at the behaviour of these two individuals. I hadn’t heard of Lon Strickler or Tobias Wayland prior to this week and I certainly wasn’t aware of their books and their projects relating to the Mothman sightings around Chicago. The discussion of theirs focused on Jornlin and how it wasn’t fair (in their opinions) that she got invited to speak at The Mothman Festival. They clearly felt that they deserved the invite more, and spoke about it in a way that suggests they think Jornlin spoke at the event to personally spite them.
I cannot look into her head, but it’s my opinion that the hard work Jornlin put into researching the Chicago Mothman reports – including visiting all of the locations involved (over 50 places), and the work she put into creating her presentation for the festival, was likely because of her passion about the subject, and not about these men. Shock horror.
Reflecting on the comments made about Allison Jornlin by Stickler and Wayland, I believe that their malice came as a result of the pair feeling threatened by another person encroaching upon what they believed to be their territory – the contemporary Chicago Mothman sightings. Not only another person, but a person so competent in their research methods that she brought the whole illusion tumbling down by discovering that the reported sightings were all fake. Jornlin bothered to ask the questions that Strickler and Wayland hadn’t, and for them to accept that would have also required accepting that they had either been tricked, or had not acknowledged the inconvenient truth and had potentially kept it from others. I can’t look into their heads and know for sure, but I’ve got a hunch it’s one of these reasons and not because they think Jornlin is a bad researcher.
Yet, for a dude who so desperately seeks the credit he believes he is owed, Strickler doesn’t like to give credit to others – even when he rips off their work and uses it on his own website. For example, in 2010, a woman discovered that Strickler had taken work from her website and displayed it on his without credit. She wrote an email to him which read:
‘We have been alerted by a few of our readers that you are using our copyrighted material including sketches and articles without our permission on your blog. We ask that ALL of our copyright materials be removed, and that you respect copyright law.’
Apparently, Strickler didn’t like this. His response suggests that he felt entitled to use their work, uncredited, for some greater good. He threatened to turn his supporters against her by replying:
‘for whatever reason your organization wishes to not find as much information as possible about these phenomena is your prerogative. I have removed both items and have removed your organization from our contact list. Your attitude and reaction to this incident will be noted to my readers and radio listeners. Why any organization would consider ‘credit’ about finding the truth is beyond me. That’s the real problem….’
Similarly, a man who got in touch to tell me about his work got ripped off by Strickler, tells of an entirely different natured encounter, with Strickler ‘apologizing and claiming he somehow didn’t realize. And the post was fixed shortly thereafter.’
I’m sure that the fact an apology was issued to a man, and a woman in the same boat was issued with a threatening and intimidating email is just a coincidence. Yet, my own email from Lon Strickler makes me think maybe it’s not such a coincidence after all.
‘You do realize that you are printing comments that cut and pasted from a private conversation?’ Lon’s email to me began, ending with ‘I am filing a complaint with WordPress.’
The comments were made public long before I had read them, and although there is an ethical grey area around republishing private comments, I think doing so should be considered on a case-by-case basis. in this instance I felt that sharing the comments within my original blog post was justified to highlight a bigger issue (intimidation, bullying, and misogyny) within paranormal research circles. Also worth noting is that bigger, scarier people have tried to intimidate me into removing blog posts or apologising for my criticisms before, and they didn’t succeed either. Not only has Lon misunderstood how I work, but also how WordPress works, too. I host my own blog on my own server and any complaint would come through to me. I didn’t receive a complaint as the host leading me to believe that Strickler is not a man of his word.
The Mothman men are bullies who try to intimidate critics into silence because they alone want to be the architects of their own legacies as brilliant paranormal researchers following in the footsteps of the men like John Keel who came before. As my late mum would have said, they’re legends in their own bathwater… and I think they’ve just pulled the plug.
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