Join leading cryptozoologist Richard Freeman as he gives us an introduction to more than a quarter of a century of leading expeditions in search of unknown animals such as the yeti, the Mongolian death worm, the giant anaconda, the almasty, the orang-pendek, the gul, the naga, the ninki-nanka, as well as known species (and sub-species) that have been classified as extinct including the Caspian tiger and the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger).
About the Speaker
Richard Freeman is a cryptozoologist, author and journalist who serves as the zoological director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) and co-edits its journal Animals & Men. He has written and contributed to numerous publications, including Fortean Times and Paranormal Magazine, and has lectured widely across the UK. Inspired from a young age by Doctor Who, Richard studied zoology at the University of Leeds and began his career as a zookeeper at Twycross Zoo, where he became head reptile keeper working with hundreds of species. He later worked in an exotic pet shop, a reptile rescue centre, and briefly as a gravedigger before discovering the CFZ, rising from contributor to Yorkshire representative and then full-time member, culminating in his current leadership role. Richard is the author of more than ten books, with his most recent being The Highest Strangeness (2024).
Your curator and host for this event will be the author Edward Parnell, author of Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country. Ghostland (William Collins, 2019), a work of narrative non-fiction, is a moving exploration of what has haunted our writers and artists – as well as the author’s own haunted past; it was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley 2020 prize, an award given to a literary autobiography of excellence. Edward’s first novel The Listeners (2014), won the Rethink New Novels Prize. His latest book is All the Fear of the Fair (pub. Oct 2025) the second antholoigy he’s edited for the British Library’s Tales of the Weird series. For further info see: https://edwardparnell.com
Don’t worry if you can’t make the live event on the night – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day.
Image [Left]: Richard Freeman and an orang-pendek witness standing next to a giant titan-arum flower in Sumatra. [Right]: a female thylacine (front) with its juvenile male offspring (rear), in Washington D.C. National Zoo, c. 1904. Attribution: Baker; E.J. Keller., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
