Customer Reviews

The Historical Bigfoot

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Chad Arment delves into the possible historical references of bigfoots. The author basically collected newspaper/magazine articles from the early 1800s up until roughly 1940, the time before the "big boom of bigfoot". This is before the general terms of bigfoot and sasquatch were used, so references are to wild man, apeman, gorilla, or 'nondescript'. He alphabetically covers areas through the U.S. and Canada and includes references to the sightings based on newspaper. It was an interesting book but does get rather monotonous. All in all, it's a good reference for pre-"bigfoot" name incidents but the incidents themselves fall anywhere within hoaxes, made-up news stories, actual sightings, local myths, boogeyman stories, and real hermits/runaways.

The amusing part of this whole collection is just how many newspapers would claim the creatures were escaped circus/carnival/zoo gorillas/orang-utangs/chimps/baboons. Man, zoo and circus security must have sucked because there were gorillas escaping all over the place. You quickly can tell this is an excuse the news used to try and explain the incidents, whether there were in reality any escaped gorillas or not. With the number of "escaped gorillas" from circuses, you'd think they wouldn't have any attractions left.

The second amusing explanation by the news was that these were often halfbreed children, escaped insane people (again very poor security for asylums), or lost hikers which all managed to instantly grow full body covering hair. Whew, if there were that many escaped crazy people, escaped gorillas, and feral hair-sprouting lost people, I'd be seriously concerned how the country ever developed. Not to mention the 100-man posses all over the countryside hunting down these gorillas and crazies but never managing to capture them.

Overall, it's not your traditional bigfoot book and that's good. It's a much better book on how far-fetched the newspapers got regarding "wildman" sightings. It should be in your bigfoot collection but it does get monotonous. Also the author only presents the articles, he doesn't offer any theories or explanations to the stories.

Not just something of recent origin, Bigfoot and "Wild man" stories have been with us throughout our past history. What the author Chad Arment has done, is chronicled many past newspaper accounts, going back some 200 years, into what is now one of the best references to "The Historical Bigfoot." From small town papers throughout many of our states, to even articles taken from the New York Times, it seems hairy creature stories have long been an unsolved mystery that continues to leave us scratching our heads.

So many amusing tales to choose from, I found Missouri's "Blue Man of the Ozarks" one of the more intriguing. And of course with recent doubt over the credibility of British Columbia's well known 1884 "Jacko" capture, nothing of concrete critical evidence against that account has yet come to light. It remains one of my all-time favorite tales. Makes one want to search the archives of local newspapers for more hidden gems. And surely there are many just waiting to be re-discovered.

Chad Arment's third book on cryptozoology is the result of prodigious archival research on unknown primate reports filed from 41 states and six Canadian provinces between 1785 and 1946. The book effectively disproves the claim that Bigfoot was "invented" by a Bluff Creek, CA, hoaxer in 1958 or by a mercenary cameraman in 1967. If The Historical Bigfoot achieved that goal alone, it would be worth the cover price, but Arment offers a great deal more.

A skeptic in the purest sense, Arment opens with a thorough discussion of every conceivable explanation for false Bigfoot sightings, including hoaxes and stories contrived for ulterior motives, or misidentification of known animals or human beings. When all else is eliminated, only one possibility remains: that an unknown species still dwells in the wild reaches of North America.

The beauty of Arment's work is that he allows the historical record to speak for itself, through newspaper articles relating 143 separate sightings across North America. Nor do classic cases from the Pacific Northwest predominate. British Columbia and Oregon present only six cases each while Washington and northern California share another six between them. The entire region falls short of Pennsylvania, which has 19 cases on file while neighboring Ohio boasts 15.

Arment does not interpret the specific cases, nor does he dismiss them out of hand. Rather, he presents an archive so that readers can pursue specific items at their leisure.

Most of the stories collected in The Historical Bigfoot will be new to readers of the classic literature and to many field researchers. In that respect, the book performs an invaluable service. Casual Bigfoot buffs and serious cryptozoologists alike will rue the day they let this volume pass them by.
--www.mysteriesmagazine.com

Chad Arment has produced another winner, with this outpouring of archival research that lays the groundwork for any understanding of modern hominid or "apeman" sightings. Silly anonymous claims that another reviewer "could have slapped this together over the weekend" smell of sour grapes from someone who's never spent five minutes in newspaper archives. No one interested in Sasquatch or natural mysteries will want to let this volume slip away.

Finally, a collection of old newspaper articles about Bigfoot, all in one place!! This gives both a historical spin to the story of Bigfoot, and an interesting view into the opinions of and storytelling abilities of those who reported on Bigfoot in the past.

The skeptics can deny the existence of North American cryptids but they cannot deny the existence of the huge catalogue of reported sightings spanning such a long period of time. This books is obviously the result of a lot of hard work and exhaustive research. This book is an absolute must-have for the Sasquatch enthusiast. It is a study of the subject from a historical view and also from a sociological view.

This book has been on my wish list for quite some time, and it has been well worth the wait! I have absolutely loved the compilation of old news articles and accounts, and even more that they are presented "as is" with no biased interpretation by the author. If anyone is dissatisfied with the book because it lacks a narrative, he is reading it for the wrong reasons, or has mistaken the intent of the author. This book delivers exactly as advertised, and is the most exhausted such work I have seen.

Not a real good book. Does have a lot of documentation on bigfoot sightings throughout the years, but many times the names of the witnesses are not mentioned leaving me to believe that anybody can make up a story(s) to put in a book.

This "book" is in fact only a slapped-together collection of news articles and blurbs which reference "wild men" sightings. There is the sparsest introduction which pretends to academic Bigfoot elitism, but never delivers, as there is absolutely no narrative, no attempt at context placement, no explanations of any of the relevant themes etc. There are only the articles, reprinted as is, and organized by state, that's it.

I could have slapped this together over the weekend.

The title though technically accurate is misleading in that there is no actual reference to Bigfoot, only "wild men," etc, who may or may not have been a Bigfoot since the articles all predate the term Bigfoot, and hence the post modern legend. The worst part though is that most of these stories are more or less identical, and the best one's (such as Jacko's) are all familiar from being included in far better and more inclusive Bigfoot books. If your OK with paying a hefty price for what is essentially a flip-through, go for it, otherwise save your money and invest in a more substantial Bigfoot book you can actually read, like the Bigfoot Casebook Bigfoot Casebook updated: Sightings And Encounters from 1818 to 2004 which has the best of the Historical Bigfoot plus!

Three stars for being about Bigfoot, zero for effort. The Historical Bigfoot is for hardcore Bigfoot aficionados and paraphernalia collectors only!