The Minnesota Iceman

A major chunk of this very small book, nearly half of the book, was taken right out of the May 1969 issue of Argosy magazine, which is very easily found all over the internet and I have already read. Only this time I forked out my own dollars to have it printed in the form of this book! There are missing words and misspelled words throughout the book and what looks like the very poor use of a "find and replace" that was done on the text, where the word "end" was substituted for the word "and". Then there is page 54, where part of the story has been duplicated and appears twice, "the exact same text" and there seems to be some part of the story that is missing on the following page. There are missing ends or beginnings of quotes throughout the book and then once you get to around page 107, hard returns have been placed repeatedly in the middle of sentences, which kicks the remaining part of the text down to the next line, which makes it hard to read. I was very disappointed in the book overall. It contains allot of information that has already been available for quite some time.

Although I probably wouldn't have read this book if it hadn't been written by acclaimed Bigfoot researcher William Jevning, I can honestly say that I'm really glad that I decided to reserve judgement and give it a try. Of course I really enjoyed all of Mr. Jevning's previous books about the Sasquatch phenomenon, but to be quite honest, I was surprised that such a reputable author would actually choose to devote an entire volume to such an old and really quite infamous case, that, to be even more honest, I have always figured must have actually amounted to nothing more than a pathetically obvious hoax.Yes, a hoax! A sham! A blatant sideshow fraud, clearly concocted to sell tickets to gullible carnival goers, no less! Yet... by only the second or third page of the book, my long held preconceived notions about the Minnesota Iceman case had pretty much been thoroughly shaken up, turned upside down, yanked inside out, and unceremoniously uploaded right back into my bemused and befuddled noggin! And here I thought I was more than your average avid reader of paranormal themed unsolved mysteries, with a cranium already stuffed to overflowing with dubious knowledge about all the hairiest, scariest, and most bizarre stories that this big, dark, beautiful, and endlessly intriguing universe of ours has to offer!Yes, I honestly thought I already knew more than enough about the Minnesota Iceman case. But boy, was I wrong! And I sure am glad that I was, because the book really turned out to be a fun and thoroughly interesting read that was really hard to put down. So I must humbly admit that I came away from the experience feeling genuinely challenged to ponder the admittedly outlandish notion that maybe, just maybe, the Minnesota Iceman may have actually been a real-live (or rather, frozen-dead) Bigfoot specimen! Or... something like that anyway.To be fair, much of the book is actually a running compilation of previously published materials that, when taken in the shrewd and highly logical order that the author presents them in, make a surprisingly convincingly case for not only the existence of the genuine Iceman article, but even offer a pretty plausible explanation for just exactly why the owner of the frozen cadaver allegedly went to the considerable trouble and expense to have a full sized replica manufactured by skilled artisans. This is naturally supposed to account for the fact that some people (most notably, two scientists) who examined the Iceman exhibit were convinced that they'd observed a genuine, previously unclassified, ape-like creature (the body of which reportedly even stunk of decaying flesh), while others claimed to have only seen a very cleverly crafted (but more or less obvious) forgery.Not to give too much of the content of the book away, of course, but there has always apparently been the risk that merely possessing the body of a creature that appears to have so many human characteristics (despite its equally ape-like qualities) might actually lead to the owner having to face criminal charges! Now, isn't THAT as interesting as all get out? Well, maybe not for some people, but there really is no accounting for taste, now is there? After all, one man's Bigfoot encounter story is another man's tall tale, you know! Until, that is, the species is finally scientifically proven to actually exist. Or not.Whatever the case may eventually turn out to be, I honestly have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by this remarkable book. So much so that I really have to hand it to Mr. Jevning yet again. As with his previous work in this particular field, his examination of the classic Minnesota Iceman case is thought provoking, well organized, and downright entertaining. So I figure even if you don't believe in hairy, scary, giant, forest-dwelling, modern day boogie men such as Sasquatch and the like, you'll probably still get a kick out of reading the book. Because doggonit, I sure as heck did.

For those interested in the weird and strange, the paranormal or Bigfoot, this is a must read. The Iceman is definitely a true story however what is absolutely the truth, in the details, is a little less clear. In the Bigfoot world scientists insist that "a body" must be found to prove existence. The Iceman is a story about a "creature" that many people saw (in the ice). Two reputable scientists examined it for about 3 days and wrote up about it. So there is fairly irrefutable evidence that a hairy, man-like creature with very large hands and feet and apparent gunshot wounds in the head was presented to the public in the 20th century. Today we would likely call this creature a juvenile Bigfoot.So I would strongly recommend this to anyone interested in Bigfoot. This story along with the story of Zana (late 1800's in Russia) are to me definitely the two most compelling historical stories of a Bigfoot like creature.I gave it a 4 rating only because it is not a well written/edited book.

Sasquatch witness Will Jevning writes an interesting narrative which comes from several perspectives on this controversial mystery. He reprints a good bit of material on the Minnesota Iceman from several books and magazine articles, including from Argosy, Saga (articles written by Ivan T. Sanderson and Frank Hansen himself, respectively) as well as from Dr.John Napier's book Bigfoot: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality, not to mention e-mail correspondence with author Mike Quast and Hominologist Dmitri Bayanov on their findings as regards the strange mystery creature on ice. Hansen had written in the Saga article that he shot the creature himself and preserved it, but came up with a tale of it being found floating in the Bering Sea by Chinese fishermen, preserved in a block of ice (there was an episode of Scooby-Doo which had a caveman floating in ice in the ocean-inspired by the Iceman, perhaps?).He also claimed he was approached by a mysterious wealthy individual who told him to exhibit the creature for a few years. Both Sanderson and Bernard Heuvelmans' papers are presented in their entirety as well, along with speculation as to where this thing actually came from, and Hansen said he had a model made after the wealthy and religious owner of the original exhibit took it back (it has been speculated that the owner of the creature was none other than Jimmy Stewart, since Hansen said it was someone people would instantly know the name of). The book really brings together all the different documentation on this subject, but also gives it a unique spin from the author himself. Was the creature inside the ice real or was it indeed a fabrication all along? No one knows for sure, and Hansen is dead, so I doubt we will get answers to this intriguing mystery in our lifetime. Still, this is a great read on a cryptozoological anomaly which is still fascinating, real or hoax.

True, it's also the ONLY book I've read, but I doubt anyone else has more info available. It's a great saga, and it gives you all the info you need for you to ponder the possibilities of a mystery that only a few people left alive know for sure.I want it to be true. I want Patty to be true. Will we, the general public, ever know for sure?

A good book with some excellent information. Alas, the short book lacks any chapters which can make for a frustrating read.