The W-Files: True Reports of Wisconsin's Unexplained Phenomena

This is a great little book filled with fun reading. Is it the most inspired stuff ever set to paper? No. But it's an interesting read. It sits on the coffee table at our cottage in WI, and just about every guest we have ends up with it in their hands. A mixed bag of lore, history, the occult, the macabre, and the just plain eerie. Is it just for entertainment, or is it a stab at non-fiction? Not sure. Somewhere in between I guess. But when the moonlight hits the water just right, and the summer night air is so still, it doesn't really matter. It makes for a lot of fun.

When I first started reading this book I found it to be a bit ridiculous and outlandish, but then certain moments began to give me pause. For example, the "bigfoot" stories were humorous but the Windigo legend and large-size bodies found in Indian mounds made me want to learn more about this subject. I also found the "sea monsters" stories quite interesting. The UFO information was fun, at the very least. I appreciated Jay's insertion of humor into the book, because some of these stories were truly nutcases or tall-tale-tellers. But it is the people who seem sincere that make you wonder. Included in the book is a compendium of all the reported UFO sightings in the state (including the only one I can recall personally - from 20 years ago - although I admit it was my parents and their friends who saw it - when they pulled over on the side of the road to watch I refused to get out of the car or take a look out of sheer terror). Back to the book - the best part was the kangaroo sightings, which I would have thought were strange had there not been a recent well-publicized case in which the kangaroo was actually captured in a barn! This book is a lot of fun for believers and skeptics alike.