The Historical Bigfoot (Paperback)

by Chad Arment (Author)
Key Phrases: gravel bank, mountain devils, wild man, New York, Blue Man, British Columbia (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Historical Bigfoot covers sightings of Wild Men, Gorillas, Yahoos, and What-Is-It's, from the early 1800s to the 1940s. Before the term "Bigfoot" was coined to signify an unknown species of North American primate, sightings of towering bipedal apes were reported throughout the continent, but called a variety of names. This book compiles and sorts the most significant sightings, but also provides a look at hoaxes, misidentifications, and the influential perspective of newspaper editors as they dealt with reports of a strange hairy manlike ape.

Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: Coachwhip Publications (August 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930585306
• ISBN-13: 978-1930585300
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #645,531 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #62 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Primatology
  #83 in	Books > Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Primatology
  #96 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Ecology > Animals > Apes & Monkeys

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Stories of old, September 29, 2006

By	R. Howell "boriskhan" (Medford, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Chad Arment delves into the possible historical references of bigfoots.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.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mysteries Magazine review, October 28, 2007

By	Kim Guarnaccia "Editor, Mysteries magazine" (Surry, NH) - See all my reviews

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

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stories From Past Centuries, November 4, 2006

By	R. McRae (Saugus, CA) - See all my reviews

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.