On an exhilarating but scientifically accurate edition of After Hours AM/America’s Most Haunted Radio — Thursdays 9-11pE with hosts Joel Sturgis and Eric Olsen — we talk yetis, cannibals, and vampires with zoologist and celebrated author Bill Schutt, whose explosive THE HIMALAYAN CODEX novel was recently published. We talk with Bill at 10pE; at 9pE Joel and Eric review the week’s freakiest paranormal news.
THE HIMALAYAN CODEX
As the world struggles to rebuild following WWII, zoologist and adventurer Captain R.J. MacCready finds himself on the remote plateaus of Tibet in search of a creature that may exist only in legends—the mythical Yeti. It is 1946. Though he is haunted by his time spent in the wilds of Brazil, zoologist and adventurer Captain R.J. MacCready agrees to a mission into the mountain valleys of the Tibetan plateau, believing he is being sent to examine some recently discovered mammoth bones.
But when he arrives, Mac realizes that the actual discovery is a codex written by Pliny the Elder, a book as dangerous as it is fascinating. Pliny writes of having discovered a new race of ancestral humans, a divergent species that inspired the myths of the Yeti, with a powerful secret: the ability to speed up the evolutionary process. If true, it is an ability with unlimited potential benefits-and unlimited potential for destruction.
As Mac begins a search for the truth guided by the codex, he finds himself hunted by both the communist Chinese army and a race of native creatures that even the Yeti seem to fear. And the more he learns, the more likely it appears that he and his friends will not escape the mission alive.
Science Fiction of the past is quickly becoming Science FACT – Major new anthropological discoveries are uncovering still existing ancient branches of the human family tree.
In THE HIMALAYAN CODEX, Schutt and Finch liken their “Morlocks” (think Yeti-like creatures) to “Flores Man,” found in Indonesia. Popularly called “Hobbits” these creatures looked so different from humans that they were originally believed to be an obscure branch on our evolutionary tree. Now, however, they are considered to be an entirely different species of humanoid. Like the Morlocks in THE HIMALAYAN CODEX, they are our distant relatives.
And they’re more recent than you’d t
hink! These once thought to be mythical Yeti, aka the “Hobbits,” lived at least half way into the most recent ice age. Tribal oral history from the island of Flores, dating as recently as World War II, describes human-like creatures virtually identical to those being studied now. This means that they could have lived into the 20th century, or may still be living.
BILL SCHUTT
BILL SCHUTT is a vertebrate zoologist, professor of biology, and author. He is a Research Associate (in residence) at the American Museum of Natural History and a Professor of Biology at LIU Post. Bill’s first book, Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures, was critically acclaimed by E.O. Wilson, The New York Times and Alice Cooper. His newest work of non-fiction work, Cannabalism, explores the natural history of cannibalism and has been named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice. Bill lives with his wife and son on the East End of Long Island.
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