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Bigfoot!: The True Story of Apes in America Paperback – April 1, 2003
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BIGFOOT!
In this fascinating and comprehensive look at the fact, fiction, and fable of the North American "Sasquatch," award-winning author Loren Coleman takes readers on a journey into America's biggest mystery -- could an unrecognized "ape" be living in our midst? Drawing on over forty years of investigations, interviews, and fieldwork on these incredible beasts, Coleman explores the modern debates about these powerful, ape-like creatures, why they have remained a mystery for so long, and what we can learn about ourselves from these animals, our nearest cousins!
From reports of Bigfoot's existence found in ancient Native American traditions, to the controversial Patterson-Gimlin film of a Bigfoot in the wild, to today's Internet sites that record the sightings almost as soon as they occur, Coleman uncovers the past, explains the present, and considers the future of one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the natural world.
- Print length288 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateApril 1, 2003
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.9 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-100743469755
- ISBN-13978-0743469753
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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Bigfoot!
The True Story of Apes in AmericaBy Loren ColemanParaview Pocket Books
Copyright © 2003 Loren ColemanAll right reserved.
ISBN: 0743469755
Introduction
My body is soaked from trogging miles through heavy underbrush, literally drenched from my own sweat and the heavy mist in the forest. The object of my quest seems just ahead, around the next bend, right after that ridge. I'm after Bigfoot, and I push on. I've sunk waist deep in the swamps of southern Illinois, frozen overnight in a tent in the Trinity-Shasta area of California, looked at the stars from the Sasquatch Provincial Park in British Columbia, interviewed witnesses from Maine to West Virginia, Florida to California.
Bigfoot hunting has been my passion for over forty years. I'm convinced these creatures are out there to be discovered. A dream? I grew up with dreams. I am the son of heroes, the son of a city firefighter and a mother who speaks proudly of her Cherokee legacy, the grandson of a retired farmer who worked a field of dreams as the head groundskeeper for a minor league baseball team. I wanted to become a naturalist, in the original meaning of the word, and trek around the world seeking all sorts of animals. Instead, I did one better; I became a cryptozoologist, one who searches for new animals, yet to be discovered.
When I was young, growing up in Decatur, Illinois, I found myself outdoors all the time, camping, hiking, and, yes, at baseball games. My brothers and I, as kids, explored the "hollers and hills," the local name for the wild parts near fthe edges of town and beyond. In the 1950s, those were the safe feral places farther out, past the trailers and the cemeteries, the swampy, rugged, unexplored, and forgotten lands unused by farmers and as yet undiscovered by developers. Animals used them as natural greenways to travel from place to place, unnoticed.
I explored these and gathered snakes, turtles, toads, and other animals for my summertime zoo. I would keep, observe, and then let the animals go. In preparing to be a naturalist, I wanted to handle the things I read about in the books by Roy Chapman Andrews and Raymond Ditmars. I had visions of being a zoologist, but never could I have imagined what awaited me.
I now look back on one March evening in 1960 as a critical juncture that changed my life. I was watching the broadcast on the local Decatur TV station of a science fiction movie, a Japanese picture entitled Half-Human: The Story of the Abominable Snowman (Ishiro Honda, 1957), about the search for the Abominable Snowmen in the mountains of Asia. It was fascinating, for even though I knew it was fiction, there appeared to be an underlying truth to this tale of an expedition in pursuit of an unknown species of hairy, upright creature. One does not pick their entry point into mysteries, I suppose; for me this just happened to be the one.
I went to school the next week and asked my teachers about this elusive, mysterious creature called the Abominable Snowman. They were discouraging and lacked interest. They told me that I was wasting my time on a "myth." But their words did little to put out the fire in my belly. I was one very curious young man. I began looking for everything I could read on the Abominable Snowman. I discovered a large literature on the Yeti and soon found out, through the writings of Ivan T. Sanderson in magazines in 1959 to 1961, and in a book published in 1961, about North America's version of the Abominable Snowman, the Bigfoot of the Pacific Northwest and the Sasquatch of Canada.
I started writing to people all around the world who were investigating and searching for these creatures. Soon, I was corresponding with more than four hundred people, including the likes of Ivan Sanderson, John Green, Peter Byrne, Bernard Heuvelmans, and others. Then I decided to do some research, to look for old newspaper reports about Bigfoot, to interview witnesses, and to go out in the field myself and seek out these creatures.
In his book Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life, Ivan T. Sanderson mentioned some cases from the U.S. Midwest and South he liked to call Little Red Men of the Woods. This is where I would start, and before I knew it, I was interviewing witnesses and tracking the beasts in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Kentucky.
My interest in Bigfoot led to some specific life decisions. For example, I picked my college and its location -- Southern Illinois University in Carbondale -- because folklorist John W. Allen had written of authentic sightings of these animals by a minister and farmers from the area's bottomlands. I studied anthropology, minored in zoology, to have some scientific background to pursue these Bigfoot.
Sometimes my classes would suffer because I was hitchhiking deeper into southern Illinois to look into more cases, or to farther-away places such as Mississippi, to interview more witnesses. While I was in Carbondale from 1965 to 1969, I explored the swamplands of the area, ran down reports of strange, hairy creatures thereabouts, and spent endless hours in the microfilm sections of the libraries at SIU, as well as getting materials from Indiana University on local cases. I explored places that would later become familiar in Midwestern Bigfoot lore -- Murphysboro, Chittyville, and other places in Little Egypt, as that part of Illinois is called.
I sent reams of material -- raw reports, transcripts of eighteenth-century articles, and modern news clippings -- to my correspondents. Eventually, I became Ivan Sanderson's and John Green's "man in the East." Sanderson was so excited by what I was finding outside of the Pacific Northwest that he wrote in 1967, "Yes...Please...any reports you have...Little Red Men of the...or Giant Hairys of the suburbs. The whole bit is getting hotter and hairier by the month." John Green and John Keel, among others, mentioned me in their books, as the source of many accounts I had forwarded their way.
Finally, in 1968, Lou Farish, a correspondent in Arkansas, suggested that I begin writing articles on my own. A year later, I began writing about Bigfoot in the Midwest. Soon Ivan Sanderson introduced me to Mark A. Hall, and John Keel introduced me to Jerry Clark. The old generation was mentoring the new.
In 1974, I constructed a cross-country trek, from Illinois to California, via a southwestern route, stopping at various locales that had histories of Bigfoot reports, from the Ozarks to the Sierras. I lived in California for parts of two years, working closely with George Haas and Jim McClarin, and meeting and discussing Bigfoot with many others, including René Dahinden, Archie Buckley, and John Green. When I decided to move back East for my long-delayed entry into graduate school, I once again used my journey as a way to see parts of the Bigfoot story, on-site, staying not in motels or RVs but in a sleeping bag, under the stars or, on rainy nights, in a tent. From the mid-1970s, from my base in New England, I continued to crisscross the country seeking Bigfoot and Bigfoot reports.
I have written much, consulted on documentaries about Bigfoot, and done more than that boy in Illinois could ever have dreamed. By the turn of the twenty-first century, I had been on treks, hikes, expeditions, and explorations in forty-eight states. I have canoed the backwaters of the Everglades, Okefenokee Swamp, Hockomock Lake, Honey Island Swamp, Caddo Lake, and dozens of other Bigfoot locations throughout the land. I have explored the most likely habitats of these creatures. I have climbed peaks from Yosemite to Fort Mountain, from the Trinities to Mt. Blue, looking for signs of Bigfoot. I have interviewed hundreds of Bigfoot witnesses. Four decades later, I'm convinced that ordinary people are having extraordinary but real encounters with these creatures, these hairy giants. This is what I now know about them.
Coast to Coast
The classic Bigfoot is a real animal living in the montane forests of the Pacific Rim, specifically the United States of America's and Canada's Pacific Northwest wilderness areas up through southern Alaska. There probably exists a much rarer Eastern subspecies or regional race of primates with distinctive behavioral and physical characteristics. The American Bigfoot, also known historically as Sasquatch in western Canada, has affinities to giant, hairy, apelike hominoids reported from the western mountains of Central and South America, as well as the forested areas of China, Tibet, and Indochina, although this volume will focus only on the North American variety.
It has been estimated that the population of Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest is between two thousand and four thousand individuals, with the greatest concentrations around Bluff Creek, California, and with other random spots such as the Skookum Meadows region of Washington State getting routine visitations. I tend to think the number may be smaller, only 1500 Bigfoot.
Witnesses have reported seeing Bigfoot in groups, including females and juveniles, demonstrating that breeding groups do exist. Detailed descriptions of the young of the Bigfoot are rare, but we do find some records of encounters at the edge of forested areas abutting new human habitats.
In general, the upright Bigfoot ranges in height from six to nine feet at maturity, with the conditions of available light, temporal length of the encounter, and the hair covering of the animals causing an often exaggerated estimate of greater stature. Their hair-covered, stocky bodies have enormous barrel torsos, with well-developed buttocks in both genders, penises seen on males, and large breasts clearly visible on older females. The breasts are often reported to be hair-covered except for the nipple area. Their heads are relatively small and peaked with no visible neck or forehead, with a heavy brow-ridge that sports a continuous up-curled fringe of hair. Both genders exhibit a sagittal crest, the peaked ridge found in fossil hominoids and modern great apes, which runs from the front to the back of the top of the skull where the muscles of the jaws are attached. Their jaws project forward markedly. Canine teeth that are noticeable enough to be called fangs are only rarely reported in males. The skin seen on the faces of the young is generally light-colored, while that of older individuals tends to be dark. Their eyes are small, round, and dark.
The hair of Bigfoot is reported to be relatively short and shaggy with no difference in length between body and head hair. In the young, the hair is usually dark, moves into shades of red and brown with age, and finally, at extreme maturity, evidences some silver, as in male mountain gorillas ("silverbacks"). Among the eastern North American subgroup of Bigfoot, piebald, or "two-tone," coloring has been reported.
Evidence of these animals, as their name implies, is often in the form of large tracks found in mud, sand, and snow. The Bigfoot foot has an hourglass outline and measures 4 to 9 inches in width by 11 3/4 to 20 inches in length. Unlike in the human foot, halfway down the Bigfoot foot is a "split-ball" or double-ball arrangement that is unique for these primates. Each foot has five toes, all aligned together, with some individual variation in number of toes either showing in the prints left behind or actually existing. Four-toed prints are rare but not unknown.
Bigfoot do not wear clothes of any kind and never display weapons or tools. They seem to nest in caves or beds made in the open and in trees. They appear to be vegetarian, though they have been seen to take small rodents and fish on occasion. Bigfoot are highly vocal, making high-pitched whistles, animal-like screams, howls, and such sounds as eeek-eeek-eeek and sooka-sooka-sooka.
Bigfoot are nocturnal, with sightings also at dawn and dusk. They are retiring, alert, and clever, generally avoiding humans, though firsthand encounters and native folklore plus a few modern reports indicate they have been known to kidnap humans. Bigfoot are intelligent. They appear to have a heightened sense of smell and avoid metal objects such as guns, cameras, and human dwellings in general. The Eastern variety has routine negative interactions with dogs, and an intriguing curiosity about such domestic animals as horses and cows. Sightings are scarcer than generally acknowledged, and close encounters in which good details are reported are extremely rare.
Undiscovered in North America?
Could a bunch of large, hairy, near-human ape-men, or hirsute giants, be living unfound in America? A parallel story, from just fifty years ago, suggests that this is a very real possibility.
The largest land animal in Canada, the wood bison, had been disappearing from all over North America for centuries when the last animals were officially declared extinct in 1940. Then in 1957, a wonderful discovery occurred. During a regular air patrol, federal wildlife officers flying over a remote part of the Wood Buffalo National Park, Alberta, spotted a small, isolated herd of two hundred wood bison. They had gone completely unnoticed for decades -- and had kept physically and genetically separate from their cousins the plains bison, so familiar to Americans as the buffalo. The wood bison were found about one hundred miles from a new road being built from Alberta to the arctic circle and within fifty miles of a mission station that had existed for a hundred years. Inspection of these animals showed that they were indeed the last remaining pure wood bison (Bison athabascae), an enormous Ice Age species not known to exist in a pure strain anywhere else in the world.
The rediscovery of a hidden group of wood bison in a remote valley in Canada is as remarkable as the discovery of the coelacanth, the mountain gorilla, and the giant panda. I don't believe those who insist that North America has no new secrets. One day Bigfoot will be officially recognized as a living creature.
I hope to see that day soon. In the meantime, the sightings continue, the number of Bigfoot seekers keeps growing, and the search is still afoot.
Copyright © 2003 by Loren Coleman
Continues...
Excerpted from Bigfoot!by Loren Coleman Copyright © 2003 by Loren Coleman. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Product details
- Publisher : Paraview Pocket Books; 0 edition (April 1, 2003)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0743469755
- ISBN-13 : 978-0743469753
- Item Weight : 9.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.9 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #585,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #53 in Biology of Apes & Monkeys
- #989 in Ancient & Controversial Knowledge
- #1,250 in Unexplained Mysteries (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Customers find the book informative and well-researched. They appreciate the thorough coverage of history and background on Bigfoot. The writing style is described as clear and concise, with an expert narration.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book informative and interesting. They describe it as a good reference, even for non-believers. Many readers consider it a solid read and a must-read for serious Bigfoot hunters.
"...Overall, a fun read, and one of the better books out there in this subject area." Read more
"...hashing what has been said for quite a few years - but reading this book is a good reference." Read more
"...That said, this is a very informative book that is well worth a read." Read more
"This was a good read...." Read more
Customers find the book informative and well-researched. They appreciate the skeptical information presented, including evidence and analysis. The writing is lively and the subject matter is interesting. Readers describe the author as a solid researcher with many years of experience in the field.
"This is a solid book from a solid investigator with many years in the field... A great amount of background and history on the reality that is..." Read more
"...overview of the history of Bigfoot by one of the best cryptozoological researchers to have worked in the field and who worked alongside many of the..." Read more
"...Some good information, but the writing and subject matter seems to jump around a bit a times...." Read more
"...The author obviously did extensive research and presents a very good case." Read more
Customers find the book provides an excellent overview of the history of Bigfoot. It's relevant for anyone interested in the subject, with a deep and well-referenced history of sightings, testimonials, and evidence. The author is considered an expert on the subject, and the book provides information on various bigfoot-like creatures that don't fit the common bigfoot mold. Readers consider it a must-read for all enthusiasts and beginners to the Bigfoot subject.
"...with many years in the field... A great amount of background and history on the reality that is Bigfoot." Read more
"...This is book is a excellent overview of the history of Bigfoot by one of the best cryptozoological researchers to have worked in the field and who..." Read more
"This was a good read. There is a lot of history in here about the search for Bigfoot that can help a modern investigator understand the background f..." Read more
"...The book gave information on various bigfoot like creatures that don't fit the common bigfoot mold, without becoming disjointed...." Read more
Customers find the book well-researched and written. They appreciate the straightforward narration.
"...I found the book to be well written and informative. It was not a white wash of the subject either...." Read more
"...The writing is lively & thoroughly researched--this book was nearly impossible to put down...." Read more
"...by Loren Coleman is a very accountable book and gives the reader a no nonsense narration of..." Read more
"if you follow Bigfoot research this is must read book, well written and properly arranged for easy understanding. great book" Read more
Customers appreciate the book's background and history. They find it covers the subject well and appreciate the candor and openness Coleman displays.
"...from a solid investigator with many years in the field... A great amount of background and history on the reality that is Bigfoot." Read more
"...I appreciated the candor and openess Coleman displays and look forward to more information." Read more
"Enjoyed this book! It fills in much background, history, and legends of this elusive creature. This was a fascinating read." Read more
"Covers the subject well. Interesting. Would recommend for anyone wanting to know how the Bigfoot phenomenon started in modern times." Read more
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A Great Start Point for beginners New to Bigfoot Subject and A Must Read for ALL Bigfoot Fans
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2024This is a solid book from a solid investigator with many years in the field... A great amount of background and history on the reality that is Bigfoot.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2021Did Bigfoot just pop up one day or has it been around for a while? Veteran cryptozoologist Loren Coleman examines the question in Bigfoot!: The True Story of the Apes in America.
After introducing himself and how his own researching of Bigfoot started, Coleman’s overview of the subject begins with events in 2000 when a rash of sightings made the news on the National level during the summer before the finding of the Skookum body cast in Washington state. After this hook, Coleman reviews the oral and written traditions and histories of Bigfoot from Native American tribes to colonist, settlers, hunters, and normal people up until 1958 when Jerry Crew made the first Bigfoot casts, and a “legend” was born. Coleman covers everything around the Bluff Creek incident and how it sparked the search for Bigfoot which led to the Patterson-Gimlin film that Coleman covers in-depth as well. Coleman completes his history with the “rise” of other bipedal “monsters” across the country from Florida’s Skunk Ape to Missouri’s Momo. The last half of the book is Coleman covering various topics and subjects that have arisen over the near half-century from Coleman’s own theory about three subspecies of Bigfoot—Classic, Eastern, and the North American Apes in the South—to the belief that Bigfoots were extraterrestrials during the last 1970s and many other things before Coleman finished the book by asking and answering three important questions at this point in the search of Bigfoot.
This is book is a excellent overview of the history of Bigfoot by one of the best cryptozoological researchers to have worked in the field and who worked alongside many of the early and important scientists that studied the subject soon after 1958. Through Coleman focuses on history, he does cover some scientific subjects including one that is not talked about much by researchers. Coleman’s inclusion of his subspecies theory and supporting evidence, especially related to the more apish subspecies of the American South and southern Midwest, adds to the overall work.
Although Loren Coleman’s Bigfoot! Is almost two-decades old, it is still relevant for anyone interested in Bigfoot/Sasquatch whether one has been a long-time enthusiast or newly interested.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2011My take: Worth the read, but a little disjointed in the approach. Some good information, but the writing and subject matter seems to jump around a bit a times.
To the author's favor, he is obviously a recognized player in the bigfooting field, and has done extensive research over many years. Also, he seems to make a commendable effort to give credit where credit is due, as he mentions (by name) other figures - both known and not so well known - in the bigfooting community.
Overall, a fun read, and one of the better books out there in this subject area.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2024It’s hard to find a book on this subject that is “objective “. The author obviously did extensive research and presents a very good case.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2024Book is re-hashing what has been said for quite a few years - but reading this book is a good reference.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2019Item arrived promptly, but the right upper corner of the book was completely crushed. This was surprising/disappointing for a "new" item which had been shipped in a box. That said, this is a very informative book that is well worth a read.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2022Good flow and very informative. Not a bunch of Hocus-pocus
- Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2022I think the reason that I wasn’t fully engrossed in this book was that I read it last and I’ve read hundreds of Bigfoot books before it so mostly everything in it I already knew. Don’t get me wrong it was very informative book it just lacked personality.
Top reviews from other countries
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Canada on February 25, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book! I am a new believer in Bigfoot
Wonderful book! I am a new believer in Bigfoot! It all started with two documentaries I watched on Netflix one was called reflections I highly recommend it! I then started to research a bit and came across this author. Loren Coleman did an excellent job at examine this historical creature right from the beginning I was hooked! It's been a long time since a book has grabbed me like this! I don't know what is out there but whatever it is all I can say is I believe! To put it to you this way I am not even done this book and I had to review it! Excellent book and very exciting times we are living in! I would like to read more from this author!
- Mrs Jan Vick HughesReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 19, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars Bigfoot/Bigread
Covers a wide range of topics relating to this field, lots of little bits in there that I did not know including some info on unidentified apes in places other than the USA. Can recommend.
- Ian George McleishReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
great reading
- CarlaReviewed in Canada on February 20, 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it!
Very interesting and easy to read!
Mentions Canadian areas of interest as well...that is why I like it!
I learned some new words as well....never thought a book about Bigfoot would teach me some english words I never saw before in my life...'ephemera' and 'hirsute' are two examples of expanding my english language!
Enjoy!
- Graham J. CoxReviewed in Canada on June 16, 2015
4.0 out of 5 stars it's nice the information was there
Very well written. Informative and accurate, with little to no biased opinion. A little too much jargon in terms of variation of Bigfoot names; some were hard to pronounce and that stuff bothers me. Though, it's nice the information was there. Would recommend the book to anyone interested in the subject matter.
PS - I would love to discuss Sasquatch with the author!