Searching for Sasquatch: Crackpots, Eggheads, and Cryptozoology (Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology)

How does science treat evidence from the edges? This fresh and entertaining look at the search for Sasquatch concerns more than just the startling and controversial nature of monsters and monster hunting in the late twentieth century, but the more important relationship between the professional scientists and amateur naturalists who hunt them—and their place in the history of science. The traditional heroic narrative of monster-hunting situates mainstream, academic scientists (the eggheads) as villains rejecting the existence of anomalous primates and cryptozoology as unworthy of study. It gives a privileged place to passionate amateur naturalists (the crackpots) who soldier on against great odds, and the obstinacy of the mainstream to bring knowledge of these creatures to light. Brian Regal shows this model to be inaccurate: many professional scientists eagerly sought anomalous primates, examining their traces and working out evolutionary paradigms to explain them. Even though scientific thinking held that anomalous primates—Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti—did not and could not exist, these scientists risked their careers because they believed these creature to be a genuine biological reality. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 A Note About the Cover Image......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 List of Abbreviations......Page 12 Introduction Chasing Monsters......Page 14 1 Crackpots and Eggheads......Page 20 2 The Snowmen......Page 44 3 Bigfoot, the Anti-Krantz, and the Iceman......Page 68 4 The Life of Grover Krantz......Page 94 5 Suits and Ladders......Page 118 6 The Problems of Evidence......Page 144 7 A Life with Monsters......Page 170 Notes on Sources and Monster Historiography......Page 200 Chronology......Page 204 Notes......Page 208 Bibliography......Page 238 Index......Page 254 The first academic study of this subject is an entertaining look at the search for Sasquatch which considers not just the nature of monsters and monster hunting in the late 20th century, but the more important relationship between the professional scientists and amateur naturalists who hunt them—and their place in the history of science. Explores the controversial topic of monster hunting and the relationship between professional scientists and the amateur naturalists who hunt them