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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Source for Some Key Human Encounters with Sasquatch, August 27, 2002
By A Customer
Take this book for what it is. Human encounters with alleged sasquatches play a rather small role in the larger debate as to whether these creatures really exist. To my knowledge, this is the best collection of reported Sasquatch encounters currently available. A book specifically dedicated to such encounters belongs in the library of anyone who is interested in the subject. As such, this book is literally indispensable. (Two other indispensable Sasquatch books are noted at the end of this review.)John Green writes well, and has an extensive background cataloguing reported encounters with Bigfoot. He began collecting and recording firsthand accounts in the 1950's. Various sources will claim that Green currently has spoken with between 1,000 and 3,000 individuals who claim to have witnessed the elusive animal. (The fact that this number varies so dramatically is a testament to the kind of second and third hand misinformation of which one needs to be wary in researching the "case" for Sasquatch). Encounters with Bigfoot is copyrighted 1980, and as of copyright date Green's files included approximately 1,000 reports from California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, combined. Taken collectively, those reports from the balance of North America comprise a substantially smaller number of files. Encounters With Bigfoot provides the reader with a select subset of John Green's larger collection. As described in the book, alleged encounters with the animal itself (by western Europeans) or discoveries of possible tracks date back to 1811 in North America. The author gives considerable treatment to incidents dating to the 1800's, and he describes many alleged sightings and track discoveries that are quite interesting. When Green cites period newspaper articles which indicate that some of California's earliest western European settlers (from the Gold Rush through the 1870's) were convinced that Gorillas lived in the California wilderness, it really makes you wonder. Some of the cases that Green describes include individuals who claim to have had encounters on more than one occasion, or situations where multiple witnesses maintain that they saw a group of three or four of these animals together for an extended period. Most of the alleged encounters include full details including the names of the witnesses, dates, and relatively specific geographical locations. One very interesting case came on the heels of a "flurry" of alleged Sasquatch activity around the Nooksack River, near Bellingham, WA, in the fall of 1975. Initially, there had been numerous reports of hairy bipeds in the area, and in one instance the captain of the police force had actually fired upon a six-foot tall, hair-covered animal in the brush. Then, on the evening of October 23, 1975, the police sergeant answered a call where someone was believed to be pounding on the back wall of a house. No prowler was found, but there had been some damage to the property. Hours later, at 2:20 a.m., the sergeant responded to another call at the same property. Per Green, "[the sergeant's] spotlight quickly picked up what looked like a very large ape standing in the back yard." Apparently, the thing didn't flee, but simply crouched down as the sergeant approached, and then stayed in that position. Ultimately, seven people reportedly watched this "ape" in the officer's spotlight for "many minutes" during this early morning encounter. The sergeant maintains that he himself walked within 35 feet of the animal. In his official police report, the sergeant estimates that this "ape" stood between 7 and 8 feet tall. His report also provides detailed information about many of the other physical features of this animal. (pp.61-62) This kind of stuff is fun to read. As I said above, this is perhaps the best currently available collection of such reports. Again, as such, it is indispensable. However, as the late Dr. Grover Krantz argued, there's no such thing as an eyewitness report that will convince the scientific community that these animals really exist. Malibu Beach lies in northern Los Angeles County. Much of this area is undeveloped brushy coastal hills. In recent years many hikers had come forward claiming that they had seen mountain lions in these hills above Malibu. Until quite recently, general scientific opinion was that this couldn't be true. Now we have learned that there is a viable cougar population in these hills, but the experts only accepted this after a specimen had been trapped and tagged. (cf. L.A. Times, August 18-21 2002?) Scientists need more than just eyewitnesses to establish the existence of a species. A great book that examines the case for the existence of the Sasquatch from the point of view of a scientist is the late Dr. Grover Krantz's Bigfoot Sasquatch Evidence. This is another indispensable work. Krantz, who was a Physical Anthropologist at the University of Washington, was convinced of the existence of this species from about 1970 onward. Yet another great book, entitled North America's Great Ape: The Sasquatch, was written by Dr. John Bindernagel. Now retired from a career as a wildlife biologist, Dr. Bindernagel is also convinced that this elusive species exists. Bindernagel's book does not address the question of whether these animals exist, but focuses instead on describing what these animals seem to be like. Bindernagel demonstrates compellingly that these animals are in most ways typical primates. Almost all of the reported behaviors of this animal (as described by the eyewitnesses) are paralleled rather eerily in one great ape or another. Bindernagel's book, too, is an indispensable work. FAIR WARNING Regarding John Green's Encounters With Bigfoot: I was disappointed with the book in some respects. You have to get past the cheesy font and the iffy binding. This is not a coffee table book. It kind of looks like it was done on an early word processor, and then photocopied. Yes, it really is that bad! I highly recommend this book, but buy it for the content. Also, the thing is only 64 pages long. I was left wanting more. Many of the more passionate Bigfoot enthusiasts rave about another of John Green's books, entitled Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us. This book is out of print, and I've never had the chance to look through it. From what I understand, it's not too hard to find a good used copy, and it amounts to an exhaustive synopsis of John Green's files. Good Luck!
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by Robert Michael Pyle
by John Willison Green
by Grover S. Krantz
by Loren Coleman
