Minnesota Iceman Hoax

[Guest LAL]

Hmm, which link? Most of the links in this thread contain info from 67, 68, and 76.

Apparently, Curt Nelson (the same Curt Nelson who did DNA testing for MQ?) followed up on Hansen's iceman in 2005, and found out that Frank Hansen had died in 2003. In talking to Hansen's son, Nelson was told that the "second" body had been cleared out. I have no idea if Nelson was able to gain any information on the "first" body.

I can only see three possibilities:

1. They were all fakes, and all cleared out, or it was always just one fake.
2. The "California owner" story was true, and the real body is back with him, his estate, or destroyed.
3. The claim of shooting it in the woods was true, and Hansen either disposed of it, or left it to his wife and son who either still have it or disposed of it.

Verne Langdon said Hansen told him he bought the original (and Langdon stuck him with the dinner check). If the body became too decayed for exhibition (one of the toes was discolored when S&H saw it and there was a stench of rotting flesh when the light caused the glass to crack) Hansen may have buried it "in the back forty".

Sorry I didn't have time to look up the link for you. Mouth and teeth:

http://www.sasquat.com/2010/05/minnesota-iceman-der-mysteriose-tote-im.html

[Guest]

Agreed. However, Hansen changed his story more than once, and thus I would automatically consider his every word a lie. IMO, the only way to determine what was in the ice would be to thaw it.

Ultimately, that is correct...but at least we have Sanderson and Heuvelman (sp?) and their examination as a confirming report.

Of course, skeptics don't need that. Their skepticism ends when a convenient hint indicates a fake. It's over. It becomes fact.

Yep.

If more yahoos like the GA boys spent time in the Ironbar Hotel for their fraudulent antics, maybe we'd see less of it.

Agreed.

[Guest vilnoori]

Does anyone else see the lessons here in case a body IS discovered? First of all it is pretty much routine for genuine hominid remains to be duplicated many times for use by many museums and universities. Bone Clones is a case in point. It doesn't mean that the original sample is a fake as well. All it means is that, like in this situation, the demand for viewing is greater than the ability to deliver. And it makes sense because biological remains spoil over time whereas the fake lasts.

Then there is the whole question of ownership and where government can step in. The recent laws about First Nations getting ancient remains definitely comes into play if the bones are old. If the bones and remains are fresh then law enforcement is going to want to have a good going over, because the remains are so humanlike. If they are animal-like (ape) then Forestry/Conservation/Hunting laws come into play and they are tough cookies as well, all wanting their piece of the pie if they find it to be real. Basically it is a situation where everyone possible is going to be wanting to throw the book at you.

But the fact is you want to have a body or body parts on hand, and enough evidence that it cannot be poo pood by the skeptics once the body is disposed of or confiscated. The whole issue here is that the body went missing, otherwise it wouldn't be still on the table for debate here.

I think for me a big warning sign in this case was the fact the sample was encased in ice. Like the Georgia Boys fiasco, it obfuscates and is not necessary to preserve remains. Simple refrigeration in a morgue will do quite well, after extensive photography and filming on site all the while being free with the images online. Experts if they have enough sample pictures and video will have enough to go on, because of their knowledge of things laymen typically don't notice--like the number of incisors or the presence of an actual chin, or degree of prognathicism. DNA samples these days can say a lot, as long as the provenance of the sample is clear and undisputed.

[Guest LAL]

The MIM was encased in ice but some of it was scraped away presumably for better viewing. I think he said somewhere he had an ice sculptor do it. Perhaps there was fear of damage if it was exposed any further. He explained why it was iced (to prevent further damage and protect it from freezer burn - it was dehydrating) Of course, that's assuming the Minnesota hunting story, or some part thereof, was true. He mentioned John Chambers, too, so that wasn't any secret.

"In January 1967, I made sketches of the real creature and went to Hollywood to confer with the men who make models for the motion picture industry. I talked with Bud Westmore, the director of make-up at Universal Studios. He informed me that such a model might cost up to $20.000. Westmore didn't have the time to make the creation, but he agreed to offer his technical knowledge if I needed it. He also agreed that it would be a "challenging" endeavor. I then consulted with a staff member of the Los Angeles County Museum. He suggested that I contact Howard Ball, an independent artist who was creating life-size fiberglass elephants to be displayed at the La Brea tar pits. I later engaged Ball to sculpture the carcass and mold the body.

John Chambers, a make-up artist and academy award winner from 2Oth-Century Fox suggested that a small wax studio in Los Angeles could implant the hair according to my specifications. I approached Pete and Betty Corral. They agreed to do the work and implanted each hair individually with an open-end needle. I constantly directed this portion and their work was magnificent. They were great artists and a pleasure to deal with.

By the time the model was completed, I had another worry. There was no guarantee that any exhibit would make money on the fair circuit, yet I had spent several thousand dollars, some of it borrowed, to obtain the model. Despite my misgivings, I enlisted the aid of a friend in Pasadena and we added the finishing touches to make it look as close to the specimen in my freezer as possible. The bloody eyes, broken arm, and the blood-soaked hair was carefully duplicated to match the original.

It was now time to freeze the ice around the model and this presented a few humorous moments. I rented a cold storage room from a large Los Angeles ice company and at eight a.m. one sunny morning pulled in with my monstrous creation in the rear of my station wagon. A stunned executive happened to stroll by and did several double takes. "W-w-w-w- where are you going with that thing?" he stammered. "I've rented a storage room for a few days," I explained.

"In our company?" he stared at the model and twisted his hands in anguish. "My gosh! Was that a living 'thing'? This is a food processing plant. Get that thing out of here before a government inspector sees it."

Later, I arranged to "ice down" the model at a privately owned locker plant that had recently shutdown. The final phases of my creation were completed there: I placed the model in a refrigerated "coffin" designed especially for the exhibit. This was done with heavy straps and a rented forklift. The coffin was transported in a special show trailer to Los Banos, Calif., arriving just in time for its debut with the West Coast Shows. On the 3rd of May 1967, the exhibit was opened to the public for the first time as a "What-is-it" type of show. "Where did it come from?" curious spectators inquired. "It is claimed to have been found by some Chinese fisherman in the Bering Straits," was my stock reply. My "cover" story had been created in advance and worked very well, so I stuck to it for the next two years.

As I continued along the fair circuit that year. I readily admitted to other showmen that this was a creation. All agreed it was a compelling attraction, but the model contained too many imperfections to fool anyone with an expert knowledge of anatomy.

Our tour continued until November 1967, when we closed at the Louisiana State Fair and returned to our farm home in Rollingstone for the winter. By March 1968, I had convinced myself that it was safe to substitute the real specimen for the coming fair season. I cut off refrigeration to melt the ice from both specimens and made the switch using my farm tractor loader and an "I" beam. I worked the creature into a position closely resembling the model by cutting the tendons in the arms and legs. I then started the difficult task of creating ice around the specimen. "This will be the greatest exhibit to hit the fair circuit," I said after the job was completed. "Even a trained scientist would be shocked to see this."

The 1968 season was one of the most remarkable in our history. Physicians, professors and college students came from everywhere to see the exhibit. All pondered on the possibilities of a true "missing link."

At the Oklahoma State Fair one prominent surgeon visited the exhibit on nine separate occasions. Each time he brought a different colleague. Even a high official of the State of Oklahoma tactfully suggested that we were not promoting our exhibit fully by showing it on the fair circuit. At the Kansas State Fair the county pathologist was so intrigued that he sent many of his associates to see the "creature."

Apparently the exhibit was brought to the attention of Ivan Sanderson and Bernard Heuvelmans by one of their colleagues. They called and asked permission to examine the creature. This was a grave mistake on my part. Both men were visibly impressed but made no mention of releasing a scientific report. However, Dr. Heuvelmans published an article on the "Homo pongoides," the "Ape-man" in a February 1969 bulletin of the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Belgium. "The long search for the rumored live 'ape-man' or 'missing link' has at last been successful." he reported.

Ivan Sanderson published an article in the May 1969, issue of Argosy magazine. "... Let me say, simply." he wrote, "that one look was actually enough to convince us that this was — from our point of view, at least — the 'genuine article.' This was no phony 'Chinese' trick or 'art' work. If nothing else confirmed this, the appalling stench of rotting flesh exuding from a point in the insulation of the coffin certainly did."

My problem started again with the publication of Heuvelmans' article. It seemed as if every newspaper, radio station, magazine and television station in the world wanted to verify the existence of the creature. Calls poured in each day from London, Tokyo, Berlin, Rome, and scores of American cities. The Smithsonian Institution requested permission to inspect the carcass. This request was promptly refused. Dozens of scientists asked permission to remove a core sample of the creature. Biologists wanted hair end blood samples.

Heuvelmans had stated in his article that it appeared that the creature had been shot. Newspapers began to speculate on the possibility that law enforcement authorities should investigate the manner in which I obtained the creature. "... If the body is that of a human being, there is the question of who shot him end whether any crime was committed," an article in the Detroit News reported.

With these events swarming into my life, I became a regular visitor to my attorney's office. His advice was clear-cut and direct. "Frank, you had better substitute the model for the real specimen and then take off for a long vacation." This sounded like good advice, so I made arrangements to make the transfer in a cold storage warehouse. The original specimen was put into a refrigerated van and sped to a hiding place away from the Midwest. Refreezing the model took several days and it was during this period that newspapers carried accounts of both me and the creature vanishing.

During the past few months I have been pressed for the conditions or circumstances under which I would consider giving the specimen up for scientific evaluation. Two conditions must be met before I would even consider such an action. One: A statement of complete amnesty for any possible violation of federal laws. Two: A statement of complete amnesty for any possible violation of state and local laws where the specimen was transported or exhibited during the 1968 fair season.

There will surely be skeptics that will brand this story a complete fabrication. Possibly it is, I am not under oath and, should the situation dictate, I will deny every word of it. But then no one can be completely certain unless my conditions of amnesty are met. In the meantime I will continue to exhibit a 'hairy specimen" that I have publicly acknowledged to be a 'fabricated illusion,' and leave the final judgment to the viewers. If one should detect a rotting odor coming from a corner of the coffin, it is only your imagination. A new seal has been placed under the glass and the coffin is airtight."

<emphasis mine>

http://www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/hansen.htm

[wolftrax]

I guess you didn't "get it".

Verne specifically said what I said he said @ 31:34. It was solid vinyl and it weighed a lot. Does that sound like what Hajicek saw?

"In or about 1968 I saw the 'original' Iceman at a fair. I looked at it closely and what struck me the most was that the hair on the creature appeared to be set into the skin like that on my little sister's Barbie doll. Indeed, I noticed that more than one hair was coming out of the same pore in some cases. Certainly there was all the blood and gore sort of thing, but I pretty well wrote it off as a fake from this particular observation. Nevertheless, another concern was that the body looked too firm—there was no shrinkage, wrinkling, bloating, appearance of rotting, and so forth. Even a body frozen in ice will change dramatically, depending on its exposure to air or wet ice.

About ten years later, my girlfriend (wife-to-be) and I were driving out in the Minnesota countryside and we saw a large "Antiques" sign on a farm-like spread. We stopped in, and the owner, who I believe was Frank Hansen, came out to greet us. He was somewhat attracted to my girlfriend and proceeded to take her for a walk, leaving me standing there. I saw an old barn not far off with the door ajar, so I wandered over to have a look inside. There were tons of rusty iron stuff and other junk all over the place and, as I proceeded, I saw a large glass box in a corner. I walked over to it, and there inside was the Iceman, in all his latex rubber glory — covered in dust and grime, as there was no cover. I inspected him closely and noted the hair-attachment anomaly I have mentioned. I then moved one arm to sort of see what the thing was like. I went away thoroughly convinced that what I saw in the barn was the same "creature" I had seen at the fair."

http://www.hancockho...060123164813416

No I'm afraid you don't "Get it". Masks and props are made out of both latex and vinyl and without knowing the difference or how they are a person would have a hard time knowing the difference like Hajicek, you probably wouldn't know the difference, and Langdon's use of calling it a "rubber bigfoot" is a generalized term that sounds a lot funnier than "Hot melt vinyl bigfoot".

[Guest Blackdog]

The MIM was encased in ice but some of it was scraped away presumably for better viewing. I think he said somewhere he had an ice sculptor do it. Perhaps there was fear of damage if it was exposed any further. He explained why it was iced (to prevent further damage and protect it from freezer burn - it was dehydrating) Of course, that's assuming the Minnesota hunting story, or some part thereof, was true. He mentioned John Chambers, too, so that wasn't any secret.

<snip the quotation from the article linked below. BD>

http://www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/hansen.htm

I thought you didn't believe the "shot in Minnesota" story?

"Homo pongoides" was also the closest match to the Barmanu of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Hansen said in 2002 "I can tell you I don't associate it with Bigfoot." There goes Minnesota. Sorry.

Are you trying to piece together one coherent story out of the many different yarns Hansen spinned about this thing and somehow make it credible?

Edited May 3, 2011 by Blackdog

[wolftrax]

Ok so this is real except for using the real creature for reference:

"In January 1967, I made sketches of the real creature and went to Hollywood to confer with the men who make models for the motion picture industry. I talked with Bud Westmore, the director of make-up at Universal Studios. He informed me that such a model might cost up to $20.000. Westmore didn't have the time to make the creation, but he agreed to offer his technical knowledge if I needed it. He also agreed that it would be a "challenging" endeavor. I then consulted with a staff member of the Los Angeles County Museum. He suggested that I contact Howard Ball, an independent artist who was creating life-size fiberglass elephants to be displayed at the La Brea tar pits. I later engaged Ball to sculpture the carcass and mold the body.

John Chambers, a make-up artist and academy award winner from 2Oth-Century Fox suggested that a small wax studio in Los Angeles could implant the hair according to my specifications. I approached Pete and Betty Corral. They agreed to do the work and implanted each hair individually with an open-end needle. I constantly directed this portion and their work was magnificent. They were great artists and a pleasure to deal with.

By the time the model was completed, I had another worry. There was no guarantee that any exhibit would make money on the fair circuit, yet I had spent several thousand dollars, some of it borrowed, to obtain the model. Despite my misgivings, I enlisted the aid of a friend in Pasadena and we added the finishing touches to make it look as close to the specimen in my freezer as possible. The bloody eyes, broken arm, and the blood-soaked hair was carefully duplicated to match the original.

It was now time to freeze the ice around the model and this presented a few humorous moments. I rented a cold storage room from a large Los Angeles ice company and at eight a.m. one sunny morning pulled in with my monstrous creation in the rear of my station wagon. A stunned executive happened to stroll by and did several double takes. "W-w-w-w- where are you going with that thing?" he stammered. "I've rented a storage room for a few days," I explained.

"In our company?" he stared at the model and twisted his hands in anguish. "My gosh! Was that a living 'thing'? This is a food processing plant. Get that thing out of here before a government inspector sees it."

Later, I arranged to "ice down" the model at a privately owned locker plant that had recently shutdown. The final phases of my creation were completed there: I placed the model in a refrigerated "coffin" designed especially for the exhibit. This was done with heavy straps and a rented forklift. The coffin was transported in a special show trailer to Los Banos, Calif., arriving just in time for its debut with the West Coast Shows. On the 3rd of May 1967, the exhibit was opened to the public for the first time as a "What-is-it" type of show. "Where did it come from?" curious spectators inquired. "It is claimed to have been found by some Chinese fisherman in the Bering Straits," was my stock reply. My "cover" story had been created in advance and worked very well, so I stuck to it for the next two years.

As I continued along the fair circuit that year. I readily admitted to other showmen that this was a creation. All agreed it was a compelling attraction, but the model contained too many imperfections to fool anyone with an expert knowledge of anatomy.

This is made up:

Our tour continued until November 1967, when we closed at the Louisiana State Fair and returned to our farm home in Rollingstone for the winter. By March 1968, I had convinced myself that it was safe to substitute the real specimen for the coming fair season. I cut off refrigeration to melt the ice from both specimens and made the switch using my farm tractor loader and an "I" beam. I worked the creature into a position closely resembling the model by cutting the tendons in the arms and legs. I then started the difficult task of creating ice around the specimen. "This will be the greatest exhibit to hit the fair circuit," I said after the job was completed. "Even a trained scientist would be shocked to see this."

I like this part:

There will surely be skeptics that will brand this story a complete fabrication. Possibly it is, I am not under oath and, should the situation dictate, I will deny every word of it. But then no one can be completely certain unless my conditions of amnesty are met. In the meantime I will continue to exhibit a 'hairy specimen" that I have publicly acknowledged to be a 'fabricated illusion,' and leave the final judgment to the viewers. If one should detect a rotting odor coming from a corner of the coffin, it is only your imagination. A new seal has been placed under the glass and the coffin is airtight."

Nudge nudge, wink wink

Edited May 4, 2011 by wolftrax

[Guest LAL]

I thought you didn't believe the "shot in Minnesota" story?

I don't think the whatever-it-was is a good match for a juvenile sasquatch but who am I to know what a Minnesotian sasquatch is supposed to look like? There is mention of a short neck. Maybe this one had an aberrant thumb. I also said " I tend to think Hansen was telling the truth - I just don't know about what."

Are you trying to piece together one coherent story out of the many different yarns Hansen spinned about this thing and somehow make it credible?

I am trying to piece it together. I'm not sure anyone can make it coherent.

I'm looking forward to learning French.

[Guest LAL]

Ok so this is real except for using the real creature for reference:

You know this how? Verne Langdon said he, Verne, sent Hansen to Howard Ball and that Werner Kepler did the ventilating.

This is made up:

You know this how?

I like this part:

I do too. This especially: "There will surely be skeptics that will brand this story a complete fabrication."

Nudge nudge, wink wink

No comment on this? "All agreed it was a compelling attraction, but the model contained too many imperfections to fool anyone with an expert knowledge of anatomy."

[Guest Blackdog]

I don't think the whatever-it-was is a good match for a juvenile sasquatch but who am I to know what a Minnesotian sasquatch is supposed to look like? There is mention of a short neck. Maybe this one had an aberrant thumb. I also said " I tend to think Hansen was telling the truth - I just don't know about what."

I am trying to piece it together. I'm not sure anyone can make it coherent.

I'm looking forward to learning French.

I'm sorry Lu but that is just reaching.

[Guest LAL]

I'm sorry Lu but that is just reaching.

As you wish. I seriously am going to have to learn more French in order to understand Heuvelmans' L'Homme de Néanderthal est toujours vivant. I sincerely hope Porchnev's contribution isn't in Russian. No, you can't borrow it

Do you think reports of unidentified Asian hominids are all misidentifications and hoaxes?

[wolftrax]

You know this how? Verne Langdon said he, Verne, sent Hansen to Howard Ball and that Werner Kepler did the ventilating.

Confirmation.

You know this how?

Hellllllloooo? what is this the 4th different story? Carny con?

I do too. This especially: "There will surely be skeptics that will brand this story a complete fabrication."

And rightfully so.

No comment on this? "All agreed it was a compelling attraction, but the model contained too many imperfections to fool anyone with an expert knowledge of anatomy."

Hellllloooo?? Carny con? Or would that be Chilly Con Carny?

Edited May 4, 2011 by wolftrax

[wolftrax]

If we had independent confirmatory evidence of the original (which we do in the case of Iceman), yes.

So you would believe a hoax was real.

[Guest LAL]

Confirmation.

The podcast you posted.

I couldn't find a 1964 date in about 3 1/2 listenings but maybe I missed it due to a few interruptions and distractions. Maybe it's in one of his posts in the archives.

Hellllllloooo? what is this the 4th different story? Carny con?

I've lost count but where's the proof it isn't true?

Hajicek said:

"In or about 1968 I saw the 'original' Iceman at a fair. I looked at it closely and what struck me the most was that the hair on the creature appeared to be set into the skin like that on my little sister's Barbie doll. Indeed, I noticed that more than one hair was coming out of the same pore in some cases. Certainly there was all the blood and gore sort of thing, but I pretty well wrote it off as a fake from this particular observation. Nevertheless, another concern was that the body looked too firm—there was no shrinkage, wrinkling, bloating, appearance of rotting, and so forth. Even a body frozen in ice will change dramatically, depending on its exposure to air or wet ice. "

Hansen said:

"Our tour continued until November 1967, when we closed at the Louisiana State Fair and returned to our farm home in Rollingstone for the winter. By March 1968, I had convinced myself that it was safe to substitute the real specimen for the coming fair season. I cut off refrigeration to melt the ice from both specimens and made the switch using my farm tractor loader and an "I" beam. I worked the creature into a position closely resembling the model by cutting the tendons in the arms and legs. I then started the difficult task of creating ice around the specimen. 'This will be the greatest exhibit to hit the fair circuit,' I said after the job was completed. 'Even a trained scientist would be shocked to see this.' "

Sanderson said:

"Early in January of this year [1969], I was sitting at my typewriter just staring at nothing. and the staff and two visiting students from Chicago were busily working away, when the phone rang.

The caller was a Minneapolis man who introduced himself as a zoologist and owner of an animal import-export business specializing in reptiles. He gave as credentials, references to two new species of iguana lizard that he discovered in the Caribbean. This may sound rather peculiar, but in the animal business, it is much better than giving a bank reference. After a general chat, this fellow told me he had just returned from Chicago where he had visited the famous annual Stock Fair. While there, he had inspected a sideshow, which consisted of a single large coffin in a trailer-truck. In this coffin, which was glass-covered and brightly lit with strip lights, there was a huge block of ice, about half of it as clear as the air in the room, the rest frosty or darkly opaque.

In the ice was the corpse of a large, powerfully built man, or "man-thing," completely clothed in dark, stiff hair about three inches long. My informant urged me to go take a look at it, since he, being a real student of what we call ABSMery (abominable-snowman related information) and having read everything available on the subject, felt that it was the real thing, despite its being billed as a mystery. I receive stories like this almost every day, although they don't usually come in by phone. We give every one as careful consideration as is possible because we long ago realized that nothing, however peculiar it may sound at first, is impossible. But after more than thirty years of scientific appraising, police intelligence training and professional reporting, we have become rather agile and we don't go off half-cocked. Moreover, we just can't afford to go charging off after every "hare" that is put up, even by those who sound eminently sensible and whose stories make basic sense. As a mere item, this call from Minneapolis should have gone into our hopper and been subjected to what one may call "due process," since giant human bodies and skeletons, and phony corpses of pygmies, and "Cardiff Giants" made of wood or plaster roll in at a steady clip. This is not to say that we do not routinely inspect as many carnival, midway, sports and other exhibits as we can, because there are still some extraordinary specimens languishing in these somewhat neglected backwaters. On this occasion, however, that little bell rang inside me as it used to when I discovered a new animal while collecting professionally for zoos and museums. I started packing one of our station wagons with my traveling office and recording equipment."

<snip>

[wolftrax]

The podcast you posted.

Yeah, the podcast I posted confirmed that indeed Hansen went to Chambers and Langdon to have the fake made, Hansen confirmed this as well, and they referred him other people to have it done.

I couldn't find a 1964 date in about 3 1/2 listenings but maybe I missed it due to a few interruptions and distractions. Maybe it's in one of his posts in the archives.

Then you know the Squatchopedia entry you referred to was wrong.

I've lost count but where's the proof it isn't true?

Hajicek said:

"In or about 1968 I saw the 'original' Iceman at a fair. I looked at it closely and what struck me the most was that the hair on the creature appeared to be set into the skin like that on my little sister's Barbie doll. Indeed, I noticed that more than one hair was coming out of the same pore in some cases. Certainly there was all the blood and gore sort of thing, but I pretty well wrote it off as a fake from this particular observation. Nevertheless, another concern was that the body looked too firm—there was no shrinkage, wrinkling, bloating, appearance of rotting, and so forth. Even a body frozen in ice will change dramatically, depending on its exposure to air or wet ice. "

Hansen said:

"Our tour continued until November 1967, when we closed at the Louisiana State Fair and returned to our farm home in Rollingstone for the winter. By March 1968, I had convinced myself that it was safe to substitute the real specimen for the coming fair season. I cut off refrigeration to melt the ice from both specimens and made the switch using my farm tractor loader and an "I" beam. I worked the creature into a position closely resembling the model by cutting the tendons in the arms and legs. I then started the difficult task of creating ice around the specimen. 'This will be the greatest exhibit to hit the fair circuit,' I said after the job was completed. 'Even a trained scientist would be shocked to see this.' "

Sanderson said:

"Early in January of this year [1969], I was sitting at my typewriter just staring at nothing. and the staff and two visiting students from Chicago were busily working away, when the phone rang.

The caller was a Minneapolis man who introduced himself as a zoologist and owner of an animal import-export business specializing in reptiles. He gave as credentials, references to two new species of iguana lizard that he discovered in the Caribbean. This may sound rather peculiar, but in the animal business, it is much better than giving a bank reference. After a general chat, this fellow told me he had just returned from Chicago where he had visited the famous annual Stock Fair. While there, he had inspected a sideshow, which consisted of a single large coffin in a trailer-truck. In this coffin, which was glass-covered and brightly lit with strip lights, there was a huge block of ice, about half of it as clear as the air in the room, the rest frosty or darkly opaque.

In the ice was the corpse of a large, powerfully built man, or "man-thing," completely clothed in dark, stiff hair about three inches long. My informant urged me to go take a look at it, since he, being a real student of what we call ABSMery (abominable-snowman related information) and having read everything available on the subject, felt that it was the real thing, despite its being billed as a mystery. I receive stories like this almost every day, although they don't usually come in by phone. We give every one as careful consideration as is possible because we long ago realized that nothing, however peculiar it may sound at first, is impossible. But after more than thirty years of scientific appraising, police intelligence training and professional reporting, we have become rather agile and we don't go off half-cocked. Moreover, we just can't afford to go charging off after every "hare" that is put up, even by those who sound eminently sensible and whose stories make basic sense. As a mere item, this call from Minneapolis should have gone into our hopper and been subjected to what one may call "due process," since giant human bodies and skeletons, and phony corpses of pygmies, and "Cardiff Giants" made of wood or plaster roll in at a steady clip. This is not to say that we do not routinely inspect as many carnival, midway, sports and other exhibits as we can, because there are still some extraordinary specimens languishing in these somewhat neglected backwaters. On this occasion, however, that little bell rang inside me as it used to when I discovered a new animal while collecting professionally for zoos and museums. I started packing one of our station wagons with my traveling office and recording equipment."

<snip>

You just posted it.