The Long Lost “Minnesota Iceman” Resurfaces… in Austin, Texas!
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on June 26th, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The Long Lost “Minnesota Iceman” Resurfaces… in Austin, Texas!
In 1968 a carnival attraction being billed as “The Siberskoye Creature” began showing up at malls and fairgrounds across America. Also known as “The Creature In Ice,” the exhibit appeared to be the body of a hairy Neanderthal or Bigfoot-like monster frozen in a solid block of ice in a refrigerated coffin.
The “Iceman” soon garnered the attention of scientists, the Smithsonian Institution, and even the FBI, who all wanted to get their hands on the creature. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the Iceman seemed to mysteriously vanish without a trace, and along with it all hopes of ever having the body thoroughly examined.
Over the ensuing decades the enigma of the Minnesota Iceman, as it were later to be called, became the subject of many books, lectures and television shows including Unsolved Mysteries and Animal X. The story grew to near legendary status among the generation that remembered seeing it, and for over three decades the mystery of whatever happened to it became as much an open question as whatever “IT” actually was.
Now, after many years of its whereabouts being unknown, the long enduring mystery of “Where is the Minnesota Iceman?” can finally be answered.
Museum of the Weird owner Steve Busti announced today that the Minnesota Iceman is currently in his possession, and will soon be exhibited to the world once again in his Austin, Texas tourist attraction.
Busti is aiming to have the Iceman set up in his museum and open to the public within a week, with plans for a special Grand Opening event in July in cooperation with popular cryptozoology site Cryptomundo.com. Texan cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard, author of Monsters of Texas will be giving a presentation on the history and backstory of the Minnesota Iceman.
The Museum of the Weird is an homage to dime museums made popular by the likes of P.T. Barnum, and features everything from real mummies, shrunken heads and oddities, to wax figures of classic movie monsters, to live giant lizards. They even boast a live sideshow on stage every day, where one can see magicians, sword-swallowers, human blockheads, and even an “elecrticity-proof” man.
In addition to the Minnesota Iceman taking up permanent residence at the Museum of the Weird however, Busti also plans to loan the Iceman for display at the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine for a special limited future engagement.
Further details will be announced at a later date. In the meantime, you can find more information at museumoftheweird.com.
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
Darn, I was hoping it would end up a little closer to me. I don’t know when I can get down to Texas!
I thought that man was J.R.!
they show this being transported on the A&E show shipping wars pretty cool even though they talk shit about bigfooters
So…any plans to actually let scientists examine this thing?
Uh huh. Interesting if true.
Anything that has the carnival barker “you can see it soon!” I just tip my hat, move on, and figure that if there’s anything to hear, I don’t have to be particularly interested to hear it. I will.
Let’s hope they have kept it refrigerated all these years, otherwise it will need to be renamed the Minnesota Stinky Mess…
David, I had a similar thought as who has been paying the electric bill to keep this frozen for the last 45 years.
“David, I had a similar thought as who has been paying the electric bill to keep this frozen for the last 45 years.”
Some massive cold-storage building, possibly. But I wonder if any have deep-frozen storage areas.
Cold-storage building were common in cities, but started to disappear in the eighties. Times changed.
Possibly a large ice-making plant?
@ David-Australia, Insanity & Goodfoot:
Why would anyone need to keep foam rubber, latex and fake fur frozen for the past four decades?
Seriously though, you raise some good points which need to be answered. Here are a couple more:
Just how does one go about substantiating the alleged item is, in fact, the original “Minnesota Iceman?” Or even the purported replica? Exact provenance was never established back in the day. That, coupled with an (assumed) incomplete chain-of-custody for the ensuing forty-some odd years, suggests it may be impossible to ever “prove” it is the “real deal” beyond a reasonable doubt.
Then, assuming it is the original attraction, there is the matter of substantiating what, exactly, IS frozen in the block of ice. Until/unless accredited scientists are allowed to directly examine the alleged creature – preferably under forensic conditions – we are still faced with with the question of whether or not “it” is the remains of a once-living creature or a well-constructed carnival gaff.
For now, let’s hope that if/when it appears at the International Cryptozoology Museum, Loren locks the door, turns up the heat and invites Drs.’ Meldrum, Bindernagle, Nekaris, et al. of the “Relict Hominid Inquiry” Board over…
I am guessing that this isn’t the original Iceman but the replica that was produced. Hence it wasn’t being kept on ice all these years.
When I saw this as a kid, it was billed like that sign, “The Creature in Ice.” I wish I still had the booklet from it!
Possibly didn’t need to be refrigerated after all, perhaps? Yep, gonna go with that one. And with what DWA said. Works everytime to cut through the b.s.
I not feeling any love for the minnesota iceman in these comments. I mean, this is historic, whether it is the first gaff or the reproduction. It is supremely well done, and one of the rare payoffs where some people will leave the viewing not sure if they have been had or not.
No sideshow fans on cryptomundo? The consensus seems to be that this is worthless if it is not a real body? I think, either way, this is a priceless bit of history’s jetsam that has eddied back around to us, much to our good fortune.
I think one of things cryptomundians have in common is that we all carry a spark of childhood’s magic alive and well inside of us. Why aren’t we excited to see the rediscovery of a mechanism built to create wonder? If I had a kid, I’d pay a bag of money to lead him up to the box for a peek.
I’m surprised that there is no love here for carnival gaffs, the craft of making them, the magic that has to be successfully spun to separate you from your coin, and the rite of passage when the magic dissolves at that moment of seeing the gaff (or that rare instance of leaving with a seed of wonder that it might have been real).
This man is one of a few new entertainers who are reviving and respecting a culture that has all but disappeared. Good for him and much success in his endeavor. I hope he throws in a little cooch-dancing along with his live geek acts to help the parallel revival effort of vaudeville survive as well.
I watch the show Shipping Wars on Demand last night. This has to be the replica that was made to replace the original that disappeared after the Smithsonian started questioning how the thing was killed. At any rate, the only reason to keep this one frozen is not to protect flesh from decomposing, but to keep anyone from actually touching the thing and seeing it is made of latex or rubber. A piece of history, no doubt. Whatever happened to the real one though is the true mystery. I would love to see it resurface somehow so DNA could be extracted.