So to understand my appreciation for Mike Bezemek’s nonfiction book Mysteries of the National Parks (2025), you need to realize I’m a sucker for so-bad-it’s-good B-movies and books that don’t quite fit any category but are a joy to read. One that comes to mind is Yasunari Kawabata’s elegant short novel The Lake (1954). In Kawabata’s case, it’s a story about an extremely nerdy teacher guy who gets into trouble for romance with a student . . . if you can call it that. (It’s oblique and understated: They appear to have met secretly a few times, which caused a scandal.) But it’s one of my favorite novels. It violates many principles often taught in creative-writing classes: The main character is not likable. He’s kind of a mumbling, bumbling anti-hero. Nothing really happens. He visits a lake resort and attends an outdoor festival. That’s about it. (And nothing is resolved about his quasi-romance, if it is even that, with the student. She doesn’t even seem to particularly like him, either.)
Which is all to provide context for my praise of Mike Bezemek’s Mysteries of the National Parks (2025). First off, it’s a kooky book. Its subtitle is “35 Stories of Baffling Disappearances, Unexplained Phenomena, and More.” But it’s really more like, “Here are some kooky things I decided to write about that connect very loosely to some national park, somewhere.”
Consider Chapter 11, one of my favorites: “How Was Heaven’s Gate Named One of the Worst and Best Films of All Time?” What exactly does the infamous Michael Cimino bomb of 1980 end up as a National Park mystery? Well, apparently some of the movie scenes were shot in and near Glacier National Park. Or what about Chapter 1: “Did Kenneth Arnold Spot the First Flying Saucer?” That took place somewhat close to Mount Ranier in Washington State. I do take issue with the “Yellowstone” story, which is Chapter 10: “Is Murder Legal in the Zone of Death?” There’s no actual murder, and no actual death zone. Perhaps a better title/subject might be, “Why do tourists taunt the bison and get thrown in the air?” Or perhaps the historically accurate: “Why did the tourist parents pour honey on their baby’s face and hold it out the car window for the cute black bear to lick off?” Answer: So they could get an awesome photo.
I have to hand it to Mike Bezemek, whoever he is. (Full disclosure: I know nothing about the guy.) It’s not so much about the mysteries of national parks as more of a humorous glimpse into one man’s odd obsessions that somehow, often tangentially at best, relate to national parks. Seen from that angle, you nailed it, Bezemek! I’m reading the whole book. Even if some of the chapters are pretty sketchy, such as Chapter 16: “Who Left Behind the Forgotten Winchester?” Someone forgot their rifle, leaning against a tree. End of story.