<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

The Minnesota Iceman could have served to refute one of the most common arguments against the reality of hairy bipeds, such as Bigfoot or the Abominable Snowman.

The problem is that there have been no bodies discovered for scientists to examine. Without a "type specimen," responsible scientists are understandably reluctant to recognize the existence of a species.

The Minnesota Iceman might have been the requisite body that substantiated the existence of hairy bipeds. It was examined by credentialed scientists, who came to a positive conclusion about the specimen's authenticity. A paper was published in the Bulletin of the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Belgium, describing the specimen. A scientific name was proposed. The Smithsonian Institution became involved in the investigation.

So why don't college textbooks include Homo pongoides?

Science in a Sideshow

In 1968, Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans, the father of cryptozoology (the search for animals unrecognized by science), was visiting Ivan T. Sanderson, a well-known American naturalist who had publicized the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film. Sanderson received a call.

It was a man who identifed himself as a zoologist who had recently visited the annual Chicago Stock Fair. He said that he had entered a sideshow exhibit. It was a single trailer-truck, with . . . something . . . in a block of ice.

Although the ice wasn't entirely clear, there was no doubt about what was inside. Sanderson later described it as ". . . the corpse of large, powerfully built man, or 'man-thing,' completely clothed in dark, stiff hair about three inches long."

There were only two possibilities. Either it was a simple carny hoax, or one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century.

Heuvelmans and Sanderson were able to arrange with the exhibitor, Frank Hansen, to examine "Bozo" (as Sanderson light-heartedly nicknamed it). Over the course of three days, these two scientists conducted a study of a "thing" that had been seen by hundreds of casual observers in several midwestern states.

They could smell putrefaction. There were teeth in its mouth. The hair, which covered its body, was thin enough that morphological details could be determined.

Sanderson and Heuvelmans believed that they were most likely looking at a recently deceased, six-foot tall primate that was neither known ape nor Homo sapiens.

Even the cause of death was apparent. Bozo had been shot.

At this point, the story becomes more complicated. Hansen claimed not to own the Iceman, but to be exhibiting it for a California owner. Several different stories were told as to how Bozo had ended up in show biz:

1. It was found floating in a block of ice in the Bering Strait by Russian sealers.
2. It was found by Japanese whalers off Kamchatka.
3. Helen Westring shot the creature in Minnesota when it attacked her.
4. It was killed in Vietnam during the war.

Sanderson approached John Napier of the Smithsonian Institution. Napier requested permission to X-ray Bozo. The FBI was approached in an attempt to secure the specimen for investigation. The FBI (at that point, headed by J. Edgar Hoover) declined to act. If the body wasn't that of a Homo sapiens, it wasn't their business.

Hansen claimed that the original body was removed and replaced by a replica. A second scientific examination became impossible.

External Links

Sanderson Argosy Article at Bigfoot Encounters