Ivan Mackerle

Ivan Mackerle (12 March 1942 – 3 January 2013) was a Czech cryptozoologist, author, design engineer and explorer. He organized expeditions to search for the Loch Ness monster of Scotland, the Tasmanian tiger in Australia, and the elephant bird in Madagascar. He authored numerous books and publications and from 1998 until 2002 he was chief editor of the Czech paranormal magazine Fantastická fakta ("Fantastic Facts").

Early life Mackerle was born on 12 March 1943 in Plzeň in Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the son of an automotive constructor. When he was three, the family moved to Kopřivnice. He spent his childhood in Plzeň.

He surmised that the worm extracted its venom from the goyo plant and was capable of delivering lethal electric shocks to its victims. during which he was warned at a Buddhist monastery that the worm was a creature of "supernatural evil" and that he was endangering his life searching for the creature. Mackerle recalls having a vivid dream about the worm, and states that he woke up with unexplained blood-filled boils on his back. From 1998 to 2002 he was chief editor of the Czech magazine Fantastická fakta (Fantastic Facts), writing about strange phenomena and the paranormal.

In the early 2000s, he suffered from heart problems but recovered by 2004 and launched his third expedition to Mongolia in the late summer of that year.

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