June 27, 2008
Peter von Puttkamer’s classic 1999 documentary, Sasquatch Odyssey: The Hunt for Bigfoot has brought into our everyday jargon a phrase well-known in today’s hominology, “The Four Horsemen of Sasquatchery.”
They weren’t called the “Four Horsemen of Sasquatchery” because of the film. It is because of a drawing by my late friend Eric Devoreg. It first appeared on my wall…then on the cover of Ray Crowe’s Western Bigfoot Society’s newsletter a few years before the film. Eric was a student of Grover Krantz and became interested in Bigfoot because of his association with him. Sadly Eric died in his sleep at the very young age of 31 years old.
~ Larry Lund, Washington State Bigfoot researcher
The four individuals profiled in von Puttkamer’s film are Rene Dahinden, John Green, Peter Bryne, and Grover Krantz.
They all earned that title in the documentary because of their pivotal roles in the early days of Sasquatch, and then Bigfoot research.
But the years move on and people die. Today, two have passed away – Krantz and Dahinden – and two remain left of the four horsemen.
Of the four, the majority, three – Dahinden, Green, and Bryne – had been members of the 1960 Pacific Northwest Bigfoot expedition (campfire scene below), bankrolled by Texas oil and beef millionaire Tom Slick.
Grover Krantz was the professor, and not seen really as a member of the “men’s club” of Bigfoot hunters. Krantz got on television programs, like “In Search Of…,” just as much as the others, ultimately, and had an impact on the field.
Some have always felt that the real “fourth horseman” should have been Bob Titmus, but such is the fraternity of Bigfooters that there is forever going to be debates about who is the most important among these male primates.
Today’s reality is that the entire generation of those who were there, those who had been in British Columbia in the late 1950s, or at Bluff Creek in 1958, are growing old. Shock certainly was most recently felt when University of Washington professor emeritus of anthropology and friendly Bigfoot researcher Daris R. Swindler, 82, died suddenly in Spokane, Washington, on December 6, 2007.
Concern certainly is in the air when the word goes out that someone – especially one of the “Four Horsemen of Sasquatchery” – is ill. Of late, folks are mentioning that John Green, 81, the author of the definitive Bigfoot work Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us is sick and not able to get around much. Hopefully, John will get well soon.
John Green (right) interviews Albert Ostman about his Sasquatch encounter.
Additionally, an honorary “horseman” of the era, Al Hodgson, 84, is said to be having health issues. Al is a curator of the Bigfoot museum in the Humboldt County town of Willow Creek, California, just down the road from the site of the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film, Bluff Creek (in Del Norte County). Hodgson was for many years the owner and fixture at the Willow Creek General Store. His historic knowledge of Bigfoot events in the area may be unmatched. Indeed, he has lived in Willow Creek since 1933.
Hodgson (photo above) was the person to whom Roger Patterson first talked, outside of Gimlin, after the famed 1967 footage was taken.
In 1975, when I visited Willow Creek, I looked up Hodgson to discuss Bigfoot, after a couple years of hanging out in the Bay Area talking about the hairy guys with Jim McClarin, George Haas, Rene Dahinden, Archie Buckley, and others. It was important to check in with the pioneers and guardians of an era now long gone. Those were the days.
My sincere best wishes to Green and Hodgson, and quick recoveries to both of them.
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To learn more about obtaining the DVD that highlights “The Four Horsemen of Sasquatchery” and others, click on the title, Sasquatch Odyssey: The Hunt for Bigfoot.
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.
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