Abominable Snowmen - Legend Come To Life!

Today most folks call him "Bigfoot". But back in the day, the elusive hairy giants which roamed the planet were called "The Abominable Snowmen" or "ABSM" for short. Ivan T. Sanderson's book Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life hails from that time, specifically 1961 when the book was first published. I've always rather preferred "Abominable Snowman" to other names such as the aforementioned "Bigfoot" or the somewhat more esoteric "Sasquatch" or "Yeti", just because it has such drama in it. The name comes from a corruption of the Sherpa name for the creature that supposedly lives in the exotic climes of the Himalayas. But Sanderson uses the term "ABSM" as a category for any and all of the legendary and elusive shaggy giants across the globe. 

And it is across the very globe itself that Sanderson guides us. He begins the book with some basics and then sets up some parameters regarding geography and natural habitats which might best be gleaned for evidence of such mythical beasts. Then he takes the reader carefully and resolutely around the world from Canada to the United States to Mexico to South America and then on to Africa and across Asia ending the tour in the Himalayas. Specific tribal legends are examined, and specific reports of encounters are both referenced and quoted with many substantial passages from original sources. He sets this book up as a seemingly serious study of a truly mysterious animal or quasi-human or whatever. 

Sanderson was in some instances anyway a legit scientist. He carried out expeditions in the decades before WWII into some remote areas investigating and capturing animals of all kinds. For a time, he was even in the "animal business" until a natural disaster destroyed his stock and his business. He was a "Fortean", a devotee of Charles Fort, a fellow who was at once a scientist and fascinated by weird things. Sanderson seems to have been much the same. His novel divides the myriad ASBMs across the globe into four categories, each ranging in size from giant to small with an array of habits. Sanderson is considered a "grandfather" of sorts for the pseudo-science of "Cryptozoology" which looks not only for ABSMs but also for other legendary beasts across the world. 

I was surprised to find that Sanderson was theistic and evoked the absolute truth of a Christian God more than a few times during his lengthy discussion. (This is not a criticism, just a surprise coming from a devout "Fortean".) And that's the main deficiency of his book, it's too long. Sanderson has a measured logical tone and plows through details and stories with a relentless energy. But when we get to the end of four hundred and fifty pages, he offers up this bon mot "I have not by any means said all that I could say." Actually, he's said it more than a few times and we still have at least four appendices to go when this line crops up. 

My position on the Abominable Snowman is that the alure of its actual existence adds quite a bit of zest to a world which often lacks mystery. When someone says the "believe in Bigfoot" it's a statement about how they choose to encounter the world around them, with hopefully an open mind and heart. I'm less and less convinced of the evidence of the ABSM myself, but at this writing I still choose to believe. It's more fun that way. And reading Sanderson's tome was a way to engage that fun in a harmless and erudite way. 

Rip Off