Cryptomundo
for Bigfoot, Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents and More

It may be one of the most fascinating, passionate cryptozoology books to appear in recent years. It gives old and new insights into the discovery of an amazing unknown hairy hominid carcass that slipped through the fingers of zoology and anthropology, as well as those of cryptozoology’s. Readers will learn of the intrigue behind the scenes, in a way never before told, which discusses the historical conflicts between Heuvelmans and Sanderson that changed both of their lives. And, for the first time ever, this books reveals new thoughts on whom the “mystery millionaire owner” might have been, in a line of thought researched and published for the first time. The Minnesota Iceman story is a saga for the ages, and has many lessons for current cryptozoology. For some in and out of cryptozoology, the case is the field’s Piltdown Man, a cautionary tale with perhaps a hint of fully revealed reality behind a false screen of deception erected by a Minnesota Wizard of Oz.

The story begins at the end of 1968 in New Jersey, when zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans and biologist Ivan Sanderson first hear from a correspondent about the frozen corpse of an extremely hairy man-like creature being exhibited in the Midwest. Upon arrival in Minnesota, the two scientists come face to face with a “hominid” not of our species embedded in a block of ice. An inquiry into the origin of the specimen triggers a bizarre adventure involving the FBI, the Smithsonian, the Mafia, the Vietnam War, drug smuggling, Hollywood, and a secretive millionaire, giving much of the account the flavor of a riveting detective story. What happened is told in meticulous detail by Heuvelmans, who draws a startling conclusion as to the Iceman’s nature based on a comparison of its anatomy with that of modern humans and fossil ancestors. But where Heuvelman’s scientific tale ends, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman’s begins, in a lengthy fact-filled afterword that brings this remarkable saga up-to-date.

About the Author:

Bernard Heuvelmans (1916-2001) was a Belgian-French zoologist, explorer, researcher, and a writer probably best known as “the Father of Cryptozoology.” His On the Track of Unknown Animals and In the Wake of Sea Serpents are regarded as two of the most influential works of cryptozoology. In 1975 Heuvelmans established the Center for Cryptozoology in France, and in 1982 he helped to found the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct) and served as its first president. In 1999, he donated his vast holdings and archives in cryptozoology to The Museum of Zoology of Lausanne in Switzerland.

Paul H. LeBlond is an ocean scientist with a long interest in cryptozoology. He was one of the founders of the International Society of Cryptozoology, and a co-founder of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club. LeBlond is an emeritus professor at the University of British Columbia, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. LeBlond is the author of Discovering Cadborosaurus and the translator from the French of The Asian Wild Man by Jean-Paul Debenat. LeBlond is the first President of the newly formed International Cryptozoology Society.