Minnesota Iceman: New Color Photos Update
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 10th, 2011
Book has arrived. Sample color pages are shown below:
Exciting news out of France is of the reprinting and enhancing of an important book (in French) by Bernard Heuvelman and Boris Porchnev: L’Homme de Néanderthal est toujours vivant!
Bernard Heuvelmans, considered the Father of Cryptozoology*, authored many books, but today they are very difficult to find, even from secondhand booksellers. This was especially the case for Heuvelmans’ work discussing his thoughts that the Neandertal hominids are still alive, which was initially published by Plon in 1974. This new edition from the Eye of the Sphinx (de l’Oeil du Sphinx) has now appeared in April 2011.
In this new work, coauthored with Soviet historian and hominologist Boris Porchnev, Bernard Heuvelmans tackles the problem of the “men sauvages” and hairy unknown hominoids, reported, especially, from Asia. From the photographs of the Minnesota Iceman taken by Heuvelmans, and of the many testimonies gathered and examined in the USSR by Boris Porchnev, the two authors demonstrate that this specimen authenticates for them the evidence for living Neandertals.
Above image, from Argosy cover.
Above image, © Loren Coleman, August 1969, taken at the Illinois State Fair, Springfield, Illinois.
Above drawings and photos are of the comparative images created for and by Heuvelmans and Sanderson.
This new edition is enriched by comments by Jean-Jacques Barloy, and for the first time the color photographs taken by Heuvelmans during his examination of the Minnesota Iceman with Ivan T. Sanderson are published. The edition of 1974 presents only photographs in black and white (except for its cover).
The new book can be ordered online at the website of the Editions of l’ Eye of the Sphinx for the price of 33 Euros. Heuvelmans’ newly republished book can be ordered therefore by North Americans, using PayPal (at a cost of about $57, with shipping), via clicking here.
If you are interested in reading the description in French, click here.
Publishing Info:
Heuvelmans, Bernard, and Boris Porchnev
2011 L’Homme de Néanderthal est toujours vivant. Paris, Éditions de l’Oeil du Sphinx.
Furthermore, new pictures of the Heuvelmans collection at the Zoology Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland (after nearly one year of renovation) have been made available, thanks to Christoph Kummer and the permission of Oliver Glaizot (Musee Cantonal de Zoologie Lausanne).
Thanks to German cryptozoologist Markus Hemmler for the museum information. Deep appreciation to French cryptozoologists Michel Raynal and Phillippe Coundray for the new book bulletin.
*Heuvelmans does give credit to cryptozoologist, zoologist, and author Ivan T. Sanderson for independently coining “cryptozoology” before he himself Heuvelmans did.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I’ve always been fascinated by this case: the most striking aspect of it, for me, is the naturalistic pose of the figure encased in the ice. In an era (late ’60s) one would expect a sideshow to pose a fake in the typical “Frankenstein’s monster on a slab” manner. This is not the case here.
The creature is frozen in a pose one would expect to see if either (i) it was found dead in situ, lying on the ground in that position; or (ii) if it was hurriedly crammed into some sort of bag or container prior to freezing. (If this is, in fact, an unknown hominid, the allegation that it was killed in Vietnam and smuggled home in a body bag would match with the latter explanation.)
Skeptics have pointed to Frank Hansen’s various contradictory statements respecting the authenticity of this display as proof of it’s fakery. I don’t see it that way: If Mr. Hansen did come into possession of an unknown, humanlike hominid, I would imagine that he would have had the greatest concern that any testing would reveal that it was a human (or close enough to human) to warrant criminal charges.
A fascinating case — and in my opinion, a tragically wasted opportunity.
I’m afraid I always had the opinion this was a fake and Heuvelmans and Sanderson were duped.
Ironically Heuvelmans thought a fake was real (Ice Man) and something real was a fake (Patty).
The story (or the various stories) and the convenient disappearance of the ‘thing’ are just way too fishy for me to think it was ever anything other than a con job.
Still, cool photos and a no doubt interesting book.
Neandertals are still around: Europeans and Asians are about 4% descended from that race (and different parts, so a total of 8%), and the Melanesians are about 6% Denisovan.
The Minnesota Iceman looks like a chimpanzee with some broken joints to make it look slightly more human.
I remember paying a quarter to see the Iceman at the local (big) shopping mall. Probably in the ’60s. Cool.
I saw an “iceman” exhibit in the Fort Henry Mall (now called “Kingsport Town Central”) in Kingsport, TN sometime around 1977 – 1979. Does anyone know anything about that exhibit? I was just a kid; but I remember we had to pay some small amount to see it; there were long lines and we were ushered through a little trailer that was set up inside the mall. You got a glimse of a “man” frozen in ice that had long brown hair and a long brown beard. It did not look apeman as much as it looked like a sterotypical “caveman”. It was probably fake. There were a lot of bubbles in the ice and you could not see the face clearly, but what you could see was obviously caucasian with a wide, flat nose. When I see those Geico “caveman” commercials nowadays it reminds me of what the subject of the exhibit looked like.
I, too, saw a carnival sideshow labeled ‘The Minnesota Iceman’ in the early 60s. This was in Port Orchard, Wash, USA. I was elementary or Junior-high age, being born in 1949, makes this around 1960-1966. It was in a tractor-trailer with a walk-way along one side. This specimen was, like Robb’s, in ice with lots of bubbles. One could only see a short way into the exhibit. The hair was long and light brown, though sparse, with only the face truly visible. The timing is totally off from the reports I’ve read, and I could be wrong, but I graduated in 1968, and was in the service right after that, so it had to be no later than 1968.
Thanks for posting this! I love the cover!!!!!!!
Well worth the 35 euros. Now all I have to do is learn French.
Photographs of Frank Hansen’s model as it appeared in the exhibit Hansen framed for shopping malls are in Rick West’s book, Pickled Punks and Girlie Shows: A Life Spent on the Midways of America. No ice obscures the view.