Customer Reviews

The Yowie: In Search of Australia's Bigfoot

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This is a very well written book about Australia's own version of the Bigfoot. Just like in North America this large unknown creature is often described as similar in appearance to the Sasquatch but more aggressive, and has been a part of Australian folklore and Aboriginal knowledge for centuries.

The creature whatever it is, remains elusive with no good quality photos or videos being available, such as the case with Sasquatch.
Added to the mystery is the shape of this creatures foot which seems to vary from 3, 4 or 5 toed. Having said this though, the subject is well covered and with many interesting and eye opening cases listed. It is hard to believe everybody who has seen this creature could be wrong or mistaken.

The authors have done the subject a great service by not getting involved in any outlandish theories, putting together a excellent reference source for the subject, whilst leaving any conclusions open.

For those people who aren't Australian with a poor idea of Australia's size, it is important to note that Australia is of similar size to the continental lower 48 United States with just over 20 million people. Australia is also located very close to Indonesia where ancient hominids 1 million years old have been found.

Australia is a huge country with many large, wild and totally unexplored areas of wilderness. So the possibility lies open for many new discovers, who knows a real life Yowie may just one day, be one of these discoveries.

In the realm of mysterious bipedal creature books, there is a tendency for writers to explain the creatures, to hypothesize about what they are, and perhaps shape the data they utilize to support that hypothesis. But, for the researcher and common reader who want to know about the historical and actual reports of events, without hard interpretation, Healy and Cropper have provided one of the best books available on the subject.

Until now, the Yowie has been strictly a section with a book, or a reference point. While this has worked well, and offered new aspects in a well done method, it has never thoroughly evaluated the phenomenon or presented the complexity of the mystery. The overshadowing of the Yowie by its North American cousin is now rectified within The Yowie. Healy and Cropper provide the reader with anecdotal, testimonial, historical, native, modern, and evidentiary connections to the Yowie, they utilize the reports gathered first hand and through the collective work of Australian researchers and worldwide researchers. They reintroduce the world to the Yowie, and to what mysteries may still reside in Australia. They also introduce the researchers to the world in a personal light, including Tim the Yowie Man, Dean Harrison, Rex Gilroy and Graham Joyner.

Healy and Cropper no strangers to the subject, and have collectively spent over 50 years researching the subject. It was not until The Yowie however that the entire research basis has been available, consisting of over 300 documented events, from the one person sightings to mass sightings, from up-close and personal glimpses, to distance sights. This is through chronicling and presentation of the original sources, including journals and newspaper accounts, to the remembered histories of Aborigines, to the modern era of the Internet and how it has changed how research works.

Beyond the content, which the reader must digest for themselves to appreciate, is the layout and presentation. The Yowie is presented in a larger format paperback with dual column pagination. This makes the read akin to a journal entry, but also alters the pace and focuses the reader to pay attention to the work, it draw you in. The flow of the work is also important; it is steady and has few distraction points. You start with the Aborigines; move towards the Colonial Era, Early Modern era and into the Modern Era. Then there are chapters on the Junjudee, or "Littlefoot", an evidentiary summarization and examination of "What are They". But, not to be outdone, a mapping system showing the generalized regions of reports, a cataloging of the accounts, full index and reference section are provided.

The Yowie is a milestone work, and ranks in importance as such books as Sasquatch, the Apes Among Us (John Green, 1978), In the Footsteps of the Russian Snowman (Dmitri Bayanov, 1996), and Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life (Ivan Sanderson, 1961). All these works break new ground in historical, regional or overall analysis of the subject manner of mystery bipedal creatures.

It is no small feat to create a classic and thorough reference book that is easily readable to the everyday person and to the hardcore researcher, but this is what Healy and Cropper have done, and they close the core of the book remaining open-minded and vigil to what still remains to be discovered.

Craig Heinselman
Editor CRYPTO
Peterborough, NH

I was not disappointed after reading "The Yowie: In Search of Australia's Bigfoot, by Tony Healy and Paul Cropper. This book was more than informative and it contained more than meat and potatoes, not old rehashed stories and anecdotes. In it we find real witness, real people, reported unreal events and encounters. The compilation at the end of the book is akin to John Green's magnificent work and compilation of Bigfoot encounters worldwide or The Bord's Bigfoot encounter's database. Is a necessary book for the library of all Forteans, Cryptozoologist and also Ufologists. Even though I would like to have seen a more in depth study of the paranormal-UFO connection in relation to some Yowie encounters. But this book is still a must for the libraries of those that comprimise the 'lunatic fringe' (just joking) those of us involved with the myriad of forbidden subjects....

I loved this book.!!
The authors have obviously done a tremendous amount of research and checking of all the historical reports.
The interviews with witnesses all over Australia are priceless.
As strange a phenomena as these beasties are, the authors managed to make them fascinating and believable.
I dont know what Yowies really are, but I would not like to run into one on a dark and lonely bush track.
This is even better than their previous book "Out Of The Shadows" which was a brilliant read as well.
Get a copy, read it.. and be scared.......

Mike

If you're into cryptozoology and looking for the definitive tome on Australia's "bigfoot", the "yowie", you should look no further than this magnificent book. It is an instant classic, and easily the most exhaustive and readable book on yowies ever written. The authors write in a very accessible, occasionally humorous style which is both engrossing and entertaining. This is no dry collection of dates and sightings, this is a full-blooded exploration of the yowie legend, told with sobriety and razor-sharp attention to detail. Some of the anecdotes are positively hair-raising! I doubt I'll ever go camping in the Blue Mountains, that's for sure. The place is Yowie Central. It's a shame that the mainstream media does not take yowies more seriously. Yowie witnesses are often treated as cranks, but not by messsrs Cropper and Healy. They recognize that many yowie eyewitnesses are often upstanding members of the community, in respectable jobs. Every anecdote is given intelligent analysis by these two devoted yowie experts. I have been an avid cryptozoologist for years and have read many classics of the genre, and for me, this book is up there with the works of the great Bernard Heuvelmans. Bravo, gentlemen. I look forward to the 2nd edition. Superb work.

I'm generally skeptical of bigfoot stories, even though I find the field of unknown hominids to be immensely entertaining. Something is going on here, and whether the answer is biological or psycho-social remains to be seen.

This book takes on Australia's answer to the sasquatch, and the authors really have done a great job. The book is very well written and surprisingly open-minded. Healy and Cropper are not afraid to admit it when the evidence is lacking and offer frank talk about some of the problems that plague yowie research (no bodies or bones, five toes or three -- and what about those little hairy dudes?)

There are many parallels here with the U.S. bigfoot, but I found it interesting that the yowie seems to be a tad more aggressive or at least curious about humans. If you like a scary monster yarn, this book has them in spades. My only complaint -- and this is not the authors' fault -- is that no one has yet snapped a decent picture of the yowie. The folks Down Under lack an equivalent of our Patterson-Gimlin film. This is a shame, as even blurry photos of this hairy mystery would be welcome.

In short, if you are interested in this topic, buy this book. It's substantial, exceedlingly well written and exhaustive. I don't live in Australia, but if I did, I imagine I'd never look at the bush the same way again.

It's rare to read a book on cryptozoology so well written and entertaining. Readable from cover to cover, Healy and Cropper's volume is a small treasure - a must have about this fascinating monster. I knew little of the Yowie - his many names, aggressive nature, various colors, sizes and behaviors. Fascinating. The comparison to the North American Bigfoot is inevitable and irresistible.

I attempted to make sense of the Aboriginal stories but I did not get a sense of what might be told as true and what could be deemed as folklore. This is not a book that is intended to be read as folktales.

Many unusual features and behaviors are documented in this book - the small and large varieties of Yowie, multiple foot forms and tree biting habits, in particular. The most surprising find in this book for me was the prevalence of horrific tales of a huge beast pursuing or intimidating a human. It was frightening and I admit that I do not know what to make of these stories. Our native Bigfoot seems shy and invisible in comparison.

It was interesting to learn of the people who avidly collected Yowie stories. Obviously, their presence served a purpose as people reported many encounters to them. I appreciated the commentary on the other Yowie researchers. The authors were very fair and even-handed when there were obviously some tensions evident.

The authors conclude the book with how Yowies might be explained: folklore, real animals, now extinct creatures or paranormal phenomena. I understand this is a necessary part of wrapping up the story of the Yowie but, as one with a scientific mindset, this part is pure speculation. The evidence consists of stories and some footprints - simply not enough to build on. If the creature ventures so often around people - in its own way protesting the incursion into its territory by humans - the fact that we have no good evidence arouses suspicion that it may be just a cultural phenomena.

I am not convinced, even by these colorful reports, that the Yowie actually exists as a genuine animal of the Australian wilderness (and rural areas). Yet, based on the fair treatment of the subject and the engaging style, I recommend the Healy and Cropper book as definitive on the creature and a necessity for your cryptozoological library.

Sure, mine is a skeptical endorsement. But isn't the critical review even more valuable than the outright believer's?

Excellent, well writtten book. Amazing all the similiarites with the the bigfoot encounters in this country. Buy it.

As avid bigfoot fans know, there isn't much in the way of info on the Yowie. This book is not necessarily the most well-written or well-organized book on the subject of bigfoot in general, but it is by far the one book you SHOULD own if you want to understand Australia's version of bigfoot.

The book does an admirable job of going back to early aboriginal history to provide the reader with possible glimpses into ancient Yowie existence, it's behavior, and hostile relationship with natives. This gives the reader a good foundational context for better understanding the Yowie phenomenon in today's Australia.

The book provides the reader with sightings accounts from each territory within Australia at the back of the book and also goes into detail on the more key encounters.

I certaintly think it's possible. Australia has approximately 3/4 the land mass of the continental United States. However, at 20 million residents, Australia has only 1/15 the population of the United States. There are many remote areas for an intelligent hominid-type creature to still carve out an existence.

Additionally, it's always interesting to read bigfoot-type books written by authors outside of the United States. Canadians, Australians, Chinese, Russians, etc. are so much more open-minded to scientific investigations of cryptids than most of the establishment in the United States. It's always a refreshing perspective for me to read books written by individuals living in other nations.

I highly recommend you make this one of your next additions to a growing personal library on bigfoot-type creatures.

The Yowie: In Search of Australia's Bigfoot by Tony Healy and Paul Cropper is an enjoyable and informative read that adds a new dimension to the mystery of giant, undiscovered, upright walking primates.

As the title implies, this book tracks the "Yowie," an Australian cryptid supposedly resembling the famous North American Sasquatch. Healy and Cropper are researchers who have compiled a large collection of Yowie reports from a combination of first hand interviews and print media. The chapters work through a selection of their archives chronologically, covering creature reports from the early days of Australian settlement up to present day, also touching on sightings of the "littlefoot," and concluding with a summary of the evidence and resulting theories.

The main text of the book is fun, interesting, and highly readable. Those familiar with the bigfoot phenomenon in other parts of world will be amazed by the close correlation with Yowie reports, which are often apparently completely isolated from North American influence. Many of the most in-depth and fascinating stories are covered, with lots of first-hand accounts, illustrations, and documents being included. I must commend the authors for remaining objective in their writing, and for avoiding any temptation to impress their personal opinions on the reader. In fact, in true scientific fashion, there are several occasions in the text where Cropper and Healy explicitly acknowledge cases whose seeming incongruence "poses a difficulty to investigators," and yet they don't shy away from presenting the breadth of the phenomenon... from the textbook cases to the downright unusual. A compendium of your old, rehashed, formulaic stories this isn't.

Additionally, as an American, I'm only vaguely familiar with the Australian landscape and local customs. The authors do superbly to accommodate readers in my position, including everything from simple maps, to a glossary of abbreviations, and metric/imperial conversions in an attempt to make the text globally accessible. Healy and Cropper use geography to tie many reports together, making the included references invaluable.

My one complaint about this book is that the size is somewhat deceiving. As any Bigfoot reader will know, presenting a catalogue of reports is a perilous pursuit which often bogs down and becomes redundant and unenjoyable. The main text of The Yowie avoids this problem spectacularly, but the reader will come to realize that only 200 of the 320 pages of the book are actually the authored "chapters." The remainder is simple appendices, the largest of which is a flat catalogue of a couple hundred sightings, most unedited, and many not longer than a couple sentences. Although the appendix does create an effect on the reader by evidencing the sheer number of reports available, it won't offer most casual readers much entertainment.

Ultimately, I would rate The Yowie a "must read" for all Bigfoot enthusiasts. It opens the door to a new continent for Sasquatch researchers to explore, and although it does not provide any conclusions, it deepens and reinforces the mystery in new and fascinating ways.

Rating: 4.5/5

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Matt LaPlante
1/28/2008