I Know What I Saw Is Linda S. Godfrey’s Worst Book Yet

Before I begin, I’m going to admit that I am a skeptic. If this were The X-Files, I’m much more of a Scully than a Mulder. However, I still enjoy tales of the paranormal –especially cryptids– because they’re fun and scary.

Even though I know bigfoot could never exist, there’s still something that creeps me out whenever I hear stories or see those grainy photos. Think of it: He’s big and strong like a bear, but able to plot and stalk like a human. Bigfoot is the ultimate predator. So, fictional or not, it makes for fun stories.

Well, that was until reading Linda S Godfrey’s newest book, I Know What I Saw: Modern-Day Encounters with Monsters of New Urban Legend and Ancient Lore, a book where Godfrey recounts tales of cyrtid encounters from eyewitnesses who have contacted her throughout the years. Sadly, it’s not a book that embraces the spooky side of the paranormal. It merely exposes how horrifically sad and flawed it is.

Linda S. Godfrey

But first, let me quickly explain who Godfrey is. She is one of the most famous paranormal “journalists” in the world, “specializing” in cryptids. I put those words in quotes because I am also a journalist, and I would be fired from every job I’ve ever had if I used Godfrey’s methodology of reporting. She isn’t actually a journalist, she’s a believer. Her purpose in writing isn’t to uncover the truth, it’s instead a way for her to surround herself with what she loves, no matter how fake it may be.

Why do I say this? Because the book is filled with the most un-credible testimony ever, and Godfrey does nothing to question it. In fact, she actually tries to lend credibility to these stories using nonsensical anti-logic, resulting in a book that is so frustrating you want to throw it out your window.

Examples of I Know What I Saw’s Flawed “Reporting”

Here are some examples from the book that proves how atrocious Godfrey’s reporting is.

One guy claims a wolfman (or some kind of upright canine) has been stalking his property. He owns a house with a big plot of woods in Michigan. In his correspondence with Godfrey, he recounts seeing this creature near the woods at dusk…yet he’s able to fully describe what he saw. Immediately, I’d have questions. A dark animal, against the darkness of the tree line, at dusk? People get spooked and overexaggerate an animal’s size in the dark all the time, it’s extremely common. An actual investigator would question that. Does Godfrey? Nope.

But it gets worse. The man also claims he saw the beast two more times. He even says the wolfman began stealing apples he left out for the deer and put rocks in their place. As a logical reader, I’m naturally asking, “Well, did you set up trail cams? Sounds like you know how to lure the animal for definitive proof.” Does Godfrey ever ask? No.

But wait, there’s more! He even says he found the skin of a deer on his property after the sightings began. The insides had been completely sucked out, leaving nothing but the skin. Was there a photo? Did this man ever call someone in? Because, again, a deer that has had its insides sucked out is proof and DNA from the animal that sucked its insides out would be on the skin. A logical person would have saved the skin, called someone, or at least taken a photo of it. Did this guy? We’ll never know because Godfrey never asked.

Using Native Americans as Scapegoats

Instead, she attempts to further prove these stories by using her favorite tactic: Native Americans. Godfrey, a white woman, is obsessed with Native Americans. Like, OBSESSED. On every single page, she uses Native Americans to justify literally anything and everything.

When reading, take a highlighter and mark every time you see the words “Native American,” “Indian burial grounds,” and “Shaman.” Your book will be nothing but highlighter.

It became nauseating to read this over and over again. Someone says they saw something, and then Godfrey comes in with, “This reminds me of the Native American lore about…” or “This encounter happened close to a Native burial ground,” or “Shaman activity is known in the area,” as if this is somehow proof.

But it’s those lines about burial grounds and tribal lands that really drive me insane. At one point in the book, Godfrey literally says something like, “Through my research I’ve learned that much paranormal activity takes place around native burial grounds or land that was considered sacred by the natives.”

I have news for you, Linda…This country was inhabited before Europeans arrived. These events always happen near land that was once inhabited by indigenous people because THIS ENTIRE COUNTRY was once inhabited by indigenous people before Europeans came and raped, tortured, and murdered them all, forcing the few survivors to relocate to small, unfertile plots of land out west.

More I Know What I Saw Problems

Page after page after page, the book was so bad I began getting genuinely angry at wasting my money. Every story was just so easily debunkable by even the laziest of readers. By the end, it became clear that this book wasn’t about cryptids…it was about pranks and mental illness. Either the people writing these stories know that Godfrey is an easy target who believes everything she hears, or these stories are being told by people who suffer from things like dissociative disorders and schizophrenia. Studies have shown that even people with acute and sub-clinical versions of these disorders have much higher rates of believing they’ve seen paranormal beings.

A telltale example of the mental illness testimonies in the book are the eyewitnesses who claim to have seen multiple beings throughout their lifetime as if they’ve somehow been “chosen” to be the ones who can see “reality.” Like the guy who claims he’s seen numerous clones walking at a park in Canton, Ohio…always conveniently when no one else was around.

And then there are the people who found exactly what they were looking for, like the guy who encountered an elf peeking at him through an alternate dimension. But don’t worry, his white friend studied Shamanism in Hawaii (rolls eyes) and had already taught him everything he needs to know when dealing with mythic creatures. Plus, the witness admitted he had wanted to see a mythical creature for a long time now, so he was “well prepared” for the encounter.

The (No) Vetting Issue

Again, as a journalist, I can assure you that someone saying, “I have been wanting to see an elf my whole life and then one day it finally happened,” is a massive red flag. Many people who want to see the paranormal do simply because they self-manifest an illusion that they want to see. There are other examples in the book similar to this where the witness will say something like, “It looked just like the creature on that episode of Monster Quest,” or, “It was just like the beast from your previous book American Monsters,” clearly showing that these witnesses had already been primed for their “encounters” and were manifesting images they already had in their heads.

I don’t say any of this to be mean to those who are believers. But if you truly believe in the paranormal, wouldn’t you want stories to be vetted? If it’s real, then Godfrey doesn’t need to print these awful stories. There should be much better ones told by more credible witnesses, and Godfrey herself should have the courage to ask questions. Sadly, I don’t think Godfrey wants to ask questions. I think she just wants to believe at any cost.

Buy it or skip it?

My advice: Save your money and skip this book.