Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science

I've been interested in the subject of Bigfoot/Sasquatch since I first read about them sometime back in the early 1970s. Since that time, I have read probably more than 30 books on the subject. Of those 30, I would say that about half of them were primarily geared towards telling an exciting story, while not really delving very deeply into a discussion of the evidence. This book by Professor Meldrum is easily the best written and the most scientific and methodical of them all. Every aspect of the available evidence for the existence of Sasquatch is covered in grand detail, and in clear and concise language that is easy to follow and comprehend. That evidence includes stories of Sasquatch sightings and encounters (both modern and historical), Native American/First Nations oral histories of the creatures, examinations of Sasquatch footprints, handprints, and the "Skookum Cast" (and even a Sasquatch butt print!), photographic and video evidence, sound recordings, a possible ancient ancestor called Gigantopithecus, a statistical analysis of habitat and food availability in North America for a large primate, DNA and other psychical evidence, dermatoglyphics studies from the dermal ridges found from castings that have been made, and even a close examinations of some of the known hoaxes and the people who perpetrated them. I applaud the author for the very professional way in which he has approached this subject, while still managing to tell as exciting of a story as any of the sensationalistic tomes that I've read in the past. It is quite the achievement to be able to educate and entertain at the same time. I highly recommend this book. It will take its place at the top of the available literature on the subject of Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Forest Giants/North American Apes that live among us. Well done!

Dr. Meldrum has deftly woven a fast-paced work of popular science that neatly summarizes--occasionally from a detailed zoological perspective--what we know about sasquatch. Now, I didn't notice all that much difference from Dr. Krantz's work of a few years back, "Big Footprints" (except that Meldrum's opus is copiously and, moreover, supportively illustrated) but that is no surprise, given that Krantz almost literally "passed the baton" to Meldrum as the leading sasquatch researcher of the current generation. It still troubles me that a living sample has yet to be collected. It would help tremendously to kill and dissect a living animal. (The characterization of "monster" vice "animal" is unquestionably what causes the public to scoff at the whole quest. No, sasquatch may be a remarkable animal, but he is just an animal: he eats, sleeps, defecates, copulates, and dies. O.K., perhaps he's a sasquanimal.) I frankly disbelieve those hunters who claim to have rifle-scoped a sasquatch but declined to shoot because of some vague empathic vibes. They're just flat liars. But, if you think about it, there hasn't actually been that much effort directed at bagging an animal: certainly, reputable scientists must scrimp and scrape to self-fund expeditions, and they still risk their reputations on this quondam taboo pursuit. I laud Dr. Meldrum for two important tenets of the book: first, his reluctance to rely solely upon the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film, which--though logically demonstrable to be authentic--still raises hackles among some scholars; and second, his exhaustive forensic analysis of the Skookum body cast. I, for one, had believed that the body cast was utter nonsense: surely, how can you claim that a few scrapes in the mud are evidence of an eight-hundred-pound bipedal ape stalking the forests of Washington? When I read--slowly, carefully--mulled, and digested the cooperative analyses of Meldrum and his scholarly buddies, I was utterly floored at the criticality and incontrovertibility of the artifact. All in all, it is most unfortunate that diehard unbelievers will remain unconvinced, while diehard believers need no more convincing. The important question is whether those folks who yet "ride the fence" will be prodded in the believers' direction through Dr. Meldrum's engaging prose. I believe the answer is resoundingly affirmative. Yack 'em and sack 'em, sasquatchman!

Dr. Jeff Meldrum has done a wonderful job at introducing his audience to the need for an honest, scientific, and open-minded examination of the plethora of evidence already gathered. Though the subject is being taken more seriously with each passing year, the unwavering support of the citizenship of Sasquatchery and the same from the scientific community is even more important now. There will always be hard skeptics who cannot be convinced, even with all the current evidence. Our job is not to convert skeptics. It is simply to enjoy the journey and meet some great people along the way like Dr. Meldrum, Don Keating, Marc Dewerth, Cliff Barackman, Matt Pruitt, James Fay, Lyle Blackburn, and so many others. Once the species is cataloged and accepted, our focus can shift to protection of the species and further study. Dr. Meldrum has his fingers on the pulse of the Sasquatch phenomena and what a great learning experience this has been. Such a great read! Mark McClure

While reading all of the reviews on this book I came to the same conclusion that many of you have come to. People who love to study scientific theory often feel that a good scientist will only belive in things that are tangible. Things that they have touched and things that can be proven with out a doubt in the world. A subject such as this is always a hard one to write about because only a select believable few have even encountered Sasquatch. Let alone been able to bring back something from theyre experiance that would erase all doubt. Legend meets science examines the theory behind the footprints in a way that most of the other books seem to leave out. What makes a real footprint different from a fake? I found a thorough examination on the subject. I myself not being a scientist loved the book. Lets face it as the late Grover Krantz would tell you- most scientists don't even want to touch the issue, let alone even write a book about the subject with out the fear of having ridicule fallow them till theyre dying breath. I heard Dr.Krantz say" the university I work for supports me on this subject simply, by not firing me." I think that quote says every thing about how science feels about BigFoot. There will be a select few who will write a good book on the subject and be as fair and as scientific as one can be and I feel that Jeff Meldrum is one of them.

No confirming evidence of Bigfoot's existence has ever been found, but it seems logically impossible that all of the reported sightings are either hoaxes, delusions, or cases of mistaken identity. So, where does that leave us? People are seeing something, but what it is I have no clue. This book does not prove the existence of Sasquatch, but it does make an extremely strong case for not sarcastically dismissing the possibility. Until someone actually captures - or God forbid, kills - a Bigfoot, the burden of proof is on believers to prove that a creature we commonly call Sasquatch is real, not on skeptics to prove that it is not. And that is only fair. Indeed, how could such a large primate still exist undetected? Some say it couldn't, and that is where the discussion usually ends. This is perhaps the best of the genre in my humble view. Meldrum covers all the proverbial bases in great, painstaking detail. If you only can read one book on Bigfoot, this should be it I'd say. Author Jeff Meldrum argues - quite persuasively - that there exists ample collective anecdotal, scientific and historic evidence that people are seeing something they cannot explain. In the aggregate, it is simply too much to just laugh off, or flippantly dismiss. Who, exactly, would want to fake all of this, and why? Are we supposed to believe that a multitude of pranksters in rented gorilla suits are running all over the country in a brazen effort to scam the public? How would some lone goofball in a chimp costume with really big fake feet possibly know which isolated logging road in the middle of nowhere would be a good spot to jump out and scare the occassional weekend hiker, or camper? Is this some bizarre nationwide conspiracy created to mislead us about the existence of Bigfoot-like animals? For what possible purpose? People in academia who are bagging on Meldrum should first try to rationally explain away the mountain of evidence he has compiled here. To be sure, critics have waxed eloquently about how Meldrum is allegedly dragging legitimate science through the mud with his Quixotic quest to find Bigfoot. However, that same mud contains tracks from some unknown creature that have been discovered - again and again and again - thoughout America, for centuries, but that the naysayers claim cannot possibly exist. Yet, there they are. What are we to make of this, and why oppose Meldrum's honest effort to find out what the truth really is? How is it even mathematically possible that ALL of the sightings are frauds, fakes, or misidentifications? To borrow the line from the Arnold movie, "Predator", and this pretty much sums it up: "There is something out there waiting for us...and it ain't no man".

This is a great compilation of credible evidence by credible people, and a good historical account of why there is so much controversy about a fairly simple undiscovered-animal topic.

Good book about subjects

If you read & understand the information presented in this book by the late Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, you will KNOW that Sasquatch is REAL. THANK YOU Dr. Meldrum for your contribution to the SCIENTIFIC study of the Sasquatch enigma. In my mind & many others, you are now up there with John Green, René deHinden, Grover Krantz & Peter Bern, "The Four Horseman", and you are the 5th! Rest in peace.