Today in Bigfoot History | JAN 22, 1996 | Grover Krantz Advocates Killing Bigfoot

Grover Sanders Krantz was a professor of physical anthropology at Washington State University

"Someday down the line, 50 years from now, somebody by the rare chance might just stumble across the skeleton of a Sasquatch..." Grover Krantz

Today, January 22, 1996, the late Grover Krantz picks a side on the kill/no kill Bigfoot debate. Krantz's idea that in order to preserve the Bigfoot species, we need a specimen to understand it first. This is one of the most polarizing debates in Bigfooting. Some have argued that Grover's stance is a little more nuanced than any newspaper article can convey. There are also those that argue Krantz's view would be different today due to the advances in DNA. Either way, the debate continues to stir high emotions among the community. Read the article below that touches on arguments for both sides.

The Salt Lake Tribune

January 22, 1996

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Dr. Grover Krantz, anthropology professor at Washington State University, has touched off something of a controversy in Bigfoot circles by openly advocating the view that a specimen should be hunted down and killed. "Someday down the line, 50 years from now, somebody by the rare chance might just stumble across the skeleton of a Sasquatch, and then the government sends out masses of [chimpanzee researcher] Jane Goodall's granddaughters, and establishes definitely, they were there, but they're extinct," Krantz theorized. "Everybody will be standing around wringing their hands saying: `If only we knew they were real, we could have saved them.' Well, they could have been saved if only we would blow one away now. The first one who bags one should get a big, big prize. The second one should be hanged."

One opponent of Krantz's view is Peter Byrne, director of the Bigfoot Research Project at Oregon's Mount Hood. Byrne is a big-game hunter in the classic tradition -- Irish, with a good head of white hair and a penchant for khakis and wool sweaters. He spent a good part of his hunting-and-tracking career in Nepal before developing an interest in the Sasquatch and undertaking the first major organized Bigfoot expedition in Oregon in 1960.

It failed to produce a Sasquatch, but Byrne hasn't quit looking. He now spends much of his searching tracking down witnesses, carefully probing their stories for holes and sending investigators to look for corroborating evidence.

Loren Coleman Clarifies His Remarks in New Haven Article

Loren Coleman, left, speaks with host Joshua Foer at the Institute Library in New Haven.

In our previous post, "Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman Speaks about Melba Ketchum's Bigfoot DNA Study" we quoted the New Haven Register article interviewing Loren Coleman. Since our post we received comments regarding a few of Mr. Coleman's statements, in particular his "No data, no discovery" and "Angel DNA" comments. 

Yesterday (January 20th, 2013) Loren Coleman posted an article on Cryptomundo to clarify his remarks to the New Haven Register. Full disclosure: I am a regular contributor to Cryptomundo and a big fan of Loren Coleman's contributions to the Bigfoot community. Read an excerpt from his clarifications below:

In discussing the recent DNA news, I quoted John Hawks, the Wisconsin anthropologist, in my agreeing with his notion that “no data, no discovery” is the stance to take. My attribution to Hawks was absence from the article.

I said that quotes supposedly from the researcher in Texas, saying ridiculous things like “These are angels from heaven,” were released on Facebook, and that does not help the cause of serious research on Bigfoot. Those remarks were denied later as having been said by the Texas individual. The article does not make it clear I was talking about the leakage and not the exacting quotations.

In the solving of the source of the “Montauk Monster,” at my New Haven talk, I was clear to credit myself and others for pointing to a “raccoon in second-stage decomposition,” as what the thing on the beach was. Besides myself and a New York game official, Darren Naish was behind the solution too.

We wanted to cover the two primary topics that were discussed in our comments area, but Loren Coleman also touches upon other aspects of his New Haven interview, and your welcome to read them here. 

Today in Bigfoot History | JAN 21, 1879 | Man-Monkey Attacks Horseman

Multiple Man-monkey attacks were reported in the Ranton England

On the 21st of January, 1879, a man and his horse were attacked by a Man-Monkey. The Man-Monkey of Ranton is one of favorite stories because it goes back almost two centuries. We found this one in a book published in 1883! This particular story has been referenced by Nick Redfern, but it took some sleuthing to find the source. Which brings us to " Shropshire folk-lore: a sheaf of gleanings". This 600 page volume book contains local folklore on Giants, Devils, Bogies. Fairies. Hidden Treasures, Witchcraft, and Ghosts.

You may have noticed there are no chapters on Bigfoot, this particular story is found in the chapter on ghosts. This is because it was commonly accepted that when the dead came back as a ghost they also often took animal form, as stated in the beginning of the ghost chapter, "One mark of this is the constant transformation of the departed into animals." Werewolves were actually categorized as ghosts too. We have been theorizing since 2009 that werewolves are misidentified Bigfoot.

Read this great story below and enjoy the following scene from Van Helsing which is very similar to the man-monkey story--except with vampires.

A very weird story of an encounter with an animal ghost arose of late years within my own knowledge. On the 21st of January, 1879, a labouring man was employed to take a cart of luggage from Eanton in Staffordshire to Woodcote, beyond Newport, in Shropshire, for the use of a party of visitors who were going from one house to the other. He was late in coming back ; his horse was tired, and could only crawl along at a foot's pace, so that it was ten o'clock at night when he arrived at the place where the highroad crosses the Birmingham and Liverpool Canal. Just before he reached the canal bridge, a strange black creature with great white eyes sprang out of the plantation by the road-side and alighted on his horse's hack. He tried to push it off with his whip, but to his horror the whip went through the Thing, and he dropped it to the ground in his fright.

The poor tired horse broke into a canter, and rushed onwards at full speed with the ghost still clinging to its back. How the creature at length vanished the man hardly knew. He told his tale in the village of Woodseaves, a mile further on, and so effectually frightened the hearers that one man actually stayed with his friends there all night, rather than cross the terrible bridge which lay between him and his home. The ghost- seer reached home at length, still in a state of excessive terror (but, as his master assured me, perfectly sober), and it was some days before he was able to leave his bed, so much was he prostrated by his fright. The whip was searched for next day, and found just at the place where he said he had dropped it. Now comes the curious part of the story. The adventure, as was natural, was much talked of in the neighbourhood, and of course with all sorts ot variations. Some days later the man's master (Mr. B— — ' of L d) was surprised by a visit from a policeman, who came to request him to give information of his having been stopped and robbed on the Big Bridge on the night of the 21st January ! Mr. B ', much amused, denied having been robbed, either on the canal bridge or anywhere else, and told the policeman the story just related. ' Oh, was that all, sir?' said the disappointed policeman. ' Oh, I know what that was. That was the Man-Monkey, sir, as does come again at that bridge ever since the man was drowned in the [canal] ! ' 

You can read the entire 672 pages of Shropshire folk-lore: a sheaf of gleanings for free online. 

The clip below has a 19th century man, his horse(s), a bridge and an attack from a scary creature.