 ivan terence sanderson (january 30, 1911 â february 19, 1973) was a biologist and writer born in edinburgh, scotland, who became a naturalized citizen of the united states. sanderson is remembered for his nature writing and his interest in cryptozoology and paranormal subjects. he also wrote fiction under the name terence roberts. ==biography== born in scotland, sanderson traveled widely in his youth. his father, who manufactured whisky professionally, was killed by a rhinoceros while assisting a documentary film crew in kenya in 1925. as a teenager, sanderson attended eton college, and, at 17 years old, began a yearlong trip around the world, focusing mostly on asia. sanderson earned a b.a. in zoology, with honours, from cambridge university faculty of biology, where in the same faculty he later earned m.a. degrees in botany and ethnology. he became famous as the most credible witness to see a kongamato, after being attacked by a creature he described as "the granddaddy of all bats". this encounter occurred when he had shot a fruit bat that toppled into the water. he went to retrieve his catch but was warned by his partner to duck. he described the following events: "then i let out a shout also and instantly bobbed down under the water, because, coming straight at me only a few feet above the water was a black thing the size of an eagle. i had only a glimpse of its face, yet that was quite sufficient, for its lower jaw hung open and bore a semicircle of pointed white teeth set about their own width apart from each other. when i emerged, it was gone. ... and just before it became too dark to see, it came again, hurtling back down the river, its teeth chattering, the air "shss-shssing" as it was cleft by the great, black, dracula-like wings." sanderson conducted a number of expeditions as a teenager and young man into tropical areas in the 1920s and 1930s, gaining fame for his animal collecting as well as his popular writings on nature and travel. during world war ii, sanderson worked for british naval intelligence, in charge of counter-espionage against the germans in the caribbean, then for british security coordination, finally finishing out the war as a press agent in new york city. afterwards, sanderson made new york his home and became a naturalized u.s. citizen. in the 1960s sanderson made his home at 33 ivan road i
1911_births 1973_deaths American_fortean_writers Cancer_deaths_in_New_Jersey Cryptozoologists Deaths_from_brain_tumor People_from_Edinburgh Scottish_naturalists Scottish_nature_writers