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The Flawed Guide to Bigfoot

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The Flawed Guide to Bigfoot BOOK REVIEWS Soviet Union, which was the driving Jules Verne and odier science fiction writ- The Story of the First Space Age, which force behind the moon landing. Also cov- ers inspired and anticipated many actual Burrows considers to have ended with ered is the founding of NASA, the fight technological developments in space? the demise of the Soviet Union. With over which branch of the armed forces— That the father of American rocketry, no Evil Empire to worry about and no Army, Navy or Air Force—would be in Robert Goddard, was a recluse who jeal- opposing team to challenge and moti- charge of outer space, and die develop- ously guarded his discoveries with secre- vate the American space program, the ment of spy satellites. The book chroni- tive suspiciousness? That the early rocke- second space age rose from the ashes of cles practically every Russian and teers were considered "crackpots" and diat the Challenger shuttle explosion and American mission ever flown, including their rockets were no bigger than today's the Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion. Sputnik, Soyuz, Phobos, Mariner, toy models? That Edwin hind, inventor Space exploration today is being driven of die Polaroid-Land camera, beloved by Gemini, Apollo, the development of the by commercialism—the selling of American families, was actually die head shuttle program, the Voyagers' tour of the information, communications systems, of an intelligence group during the galaxy, the Mir space station, and the and possibly the harvesting of resources Eisenhower administration and designed American Strategic Defense Initiative. from other planets, instead of by polit- a spy camera that could see objects the This New Ocean is a book to savor a ical machismo or international para- size of basketballs from thirteen miles up? little at a time, or else be overwhelmed That neither John F. Kennedy nor Nikita noia. The new players in the second with the level of detail and the cast of Khrushchev had the slightest interest in space age come from the private sector, thousands. Don't be discouraged if you space exploration per se and that the shoe- instead of from NASA, the military, can't keep all the names and acronyms banging Russian leader had never even or other government bodies. And straight, or feel like giving up after hit- attended a launch? That the early space although the pursuit of science or ting the forty-fifth one in ten pages. suits had no accommodations for urinat- knowledge for its own sake still takes a Everyone who was anyone in the history ing, necessitating that the first American backseat, at least this time, die front of space flight is immortalized forever in in space, Alan Shepard, do it in his pants? seat is occupied by people trying to this book. Whatever you want to know The subtitle of This New Ocean is make a sale, not by people trying to about man's attempts to leave Earth, it's drop a bomb. here. Just sit back, relax, and sip from this fountain of knowledge, as you would a fine wine. Burrows, a veteran The Flawed Guide science reporter and author of four other books on aviation and space, did The Field to Bigfoot his homework and knows his material. Guide to BENJAMIN RADFORD Throughout the book, he drives Bigfoot. Yeti, home the disturbing but inevitable ,ind OtherMyaer) The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti, and Other Mystery Primates joined-at-the-hip relationship between Prinuio world wide Worldwide. By Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe. Avon space flight, war, international politics, Books, New York. 1999. ISBN 0-380-80263-5. 207 pp. and the military. From the early rockets Softcover, $12.50. that stayed up for a few seconds before nose-diving into the ground to the pow- erful megaton behemoths that today he Field Guide to Bigfoot is pref- it is really more of an illustrated catalogue blast off with frightening reliability, aced with a quote by George of anecdotes of encounters with mysteri- rockets have primarily been valued, not Bernard Shaw: "All great truths ous primates. The authors have created a T classification system encompassing about for their ability to unveil the wonders of begin as blasphemies." The implication, the universe, but for their potential to of course, is that scientists and others fifty reports and sightings. They have deliver bombs to far-off places. regard claims of the existence of Bigfoot grouped them into nine categories: Neo¬ "While going to space brought a sci- as heresy, and diat the truth will out. Giant, True Giant, Marked Hominid, entific windfall and science was used as a But, as Robert Park of the American Neanderthaloid, Erectus Hominid, Proto¬ justification for the trip, most scientists Physical Society wrote recently (in a Pygmy, Unknown Pongid, Giant knew that their participation was basi- similar context), "Alas, to wear the man- Monkey, and Merbeing. cally a respectable cover for dark objec- tle of Galileo it is not enough that you The entries are largely culled from tives," Burrow writes in die last chapter. be persecuted by an unkind establish- previous books on cryptozoology, with Yet Burrows also peppers die saga with ment, you must also be right." delightful and sometimes shocking sur- The guide is an odd book indeed. Benjamin Radford is managing editor of prises. Did you know mat the tales of Although purporting to be a field guide. the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER January/February 2000 55 BOOK REVIEWS few original sources cited. In nearly every footprint finds, and depictions in native slight variations on large, hairy bipeds. entry, not enough details are given to art together as if all have equal weight and Accuracy doesn't seem to be a high prior- judge the credibility of the account. credibility. Sources for the field guide ity; with one creature, the Tano Giant Coleman and Huyghe make much of the include an alarming number of third-hand (p.98), the account clearly states die crea- fact that native peoples have various sources, stories by young children, ture had no thumbs. That apparently words for wildmen and other elusive, unnamed, long-dead eyewitnesses, and didn't sit well with the authors, who note, possibly mythical creatures. But just even the English poet who wrote Beowulf. "perhaps its thumb was simply small rel- because a creature has a name does not Yes, The Field Guide to Bigfoot ative to the rest of its hand," and depict imply that it actually exists: dragons, pix- includes Beowulf, a thousand-year-old die creature with thumbs anyway. ies, elves, and leprechauns can be poem, as a credible source for an account Along with the individual entries, described, drawn, and classified too. of an actual mystery primate that may be maps depict the range of each class of crea- Interestingly, the books premise is at alive today. For those a little shaky on ture. My personal favorite is die Merbeing variance with longtime Bigfoot researcher early English literature, the poem tells the ("water creature") map. According to it, Grover Krantz, who, as the authors admit story of the Danish king Beowulf who these aquatic creatures roam no less than on page 10, does not see "any compelling slew an ugly, hairy giant named Grendel. five deserts, including die Atacama (in evidence for more than one type of hairy On your next trip to Denmark, be sure to Peru), die Mojave (U.S.), the Great Sandy biped" and finds "no reason to think ii has take this guide so if you see Grendel (Australia), and die Sonoran (Mexico). anywhere near a worldwide distribution." you'll correctly identify it as a member of Over a dozen accounts claim that die The creatures Coleman and Huyghe the True Giant class! creatures were killed. Yet no bones, skele- catalogue have between three and five toes, Even the infamous Minnesota tons, or preserved bodies exist today. This and fail to account for alleged Bigfoot Iceman, a fair exhibit shown in the late elicits visions of hunters saying to diem- prints that show two and six toes. They 1960s and claimed to be a frozen Bigfoot, selves, "Wow! We killed a wild, man-like apparently ignored evidence that didn't fit appears in the book. It's touted as a real creature! I've never seen anything like it their categories. Or perhaps they assumed creature, despite strong evidence that it before! Let's throw it away!" all tracks showing two or six toes are was simply a rubber creature designed by It's clear that mystery mongering is at hoaxes. If so, by what criterion? Why are a top Disney model-maker. As Jon work here. In several places, the eyewit- three- or four-toed primate footprints any Beckjord, director of Project Bigfoot, nesses themselves admit that it's possible more credible than two- or six-toed ones? wrote in the Summer 1982 issue of they misidentified an ordinary animal, Early in the book, the authors decry a SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, "I'd like to point such as a bear, spider monkey, or "lumping problem," diat is, that myriad out that nobody who is involved in baboon. But as long as there's a hint of sightings are collected together under Sasquatch investigations has ever felt that doubt, Coleman and Huyghe are happy homogenous names such as "Bigfoot" or this frozen dummy was a Bigfoot.. ." to claim it a mystery, treat it like a real "Yeti." This, they say, is a problem That doesn't stop Coleman and Huyghe, animal, and lump it in with accounts because it "hides a larger truth, lumps who quote one cryptozoologists bizarre from folklore and poems.
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