August 23, 2006

Pre-1900 Gorilla Newspaper References

In Loren’s post here on Cryptomundo titled A Montana Monster, commenters asked if the term gorilla would be used in pre-1900 American newspapers. The question was also asked how this could be if the gorilla wasn’t discovered until 1902.

I showed in my post Gorilla Discovery Timeline here on Cryptomundo, that the lowland gorilla was discovered in 1847. It was the mountain gorilla that was discovered in 1902.

Below are some pre-1900 American newspaper articles that use the word gorilla to describe the creatures seen. The most common term used was wildman, but as you can see, gorilla was used as well.

Scott McClean contributed these articles. He has compiled them in a book titled Big News Prints, that is also available on CD-ROM from his website.

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Click image for the full-size version of this parade photo from 1898.

Interestingly, I have just been made aware of another book covering this subject. Chad Arment, herpetologist and author of several cryptozoology books, has a new book just out titled The Historical Bigfoot.

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.

Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Cryptozoology, Eyewitness Accounts, Folklore, Media Appearances, Pop Culture, Sasquatch