Mark Opsasnick

Mark Opsasnick is a Washington, D.C.-based writer and cultural historian who has authored seven books and more than 70 articles on such subjects as unexplained phenomena, popular culture and rock and roll music.

Opsasnick was born in Washington, D.C., raised in the nearby Prince George’s County city of Greenbelt, Maryland and graduated from Greenbelt’s Eleanor Roosevelt High School in 1980. He attended Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina and Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Maryland before earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Studies from the University of Maryland in 1984. From 1987 to 2005 he was a writer and contributing editor for Strange Magazine, a Rockville, Maryland, publication devoted to unexplained and paranormal phenomena. Some of the feature articles he wrote for Strange Magazine include “A Field Guide to the Monsters and Mystery Animals of Maryland” (co-authored with Mark Chorvinsky; Number 5, 1990); "On the Trail of the Goatman" (Number 14, Fall 1994); "The Haunted Boy of Cottage City: The Cold Hard Facts behind the Story that Inspired the Exorcist" (Number 20, December 1998); “Crybaby Bridge” (Number 21, Summer 2000); and “The Luzo-Brazilian Black Magic Cult (Number 22, Spring 2002). Other publications that featured his work during this period include Caveat Emptor, Fate, Fortean Times, and the Info Journal.

Articles on Opsasnick’s work and investigative skills have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers including The Baltimore Sun, Omni, the Washington City Paper, The Washington Post, and The Washington Times. Among his many projects that have gained national attention are the books Capitol Rock (a detailed history of rock and roll music in the Washington, D.C. area), The Lizard King Was Here (a biography of Jim Morrison that focuses on his high school years in Alexandria, Virginia), and The Real Story Behind the "The Exorcist".

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