The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

Episode Notes for
The Iceman Goeth

Matt Crowley

LATE IN THE 1960S, in the era which gave us the famous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film, fairgoers in Minnesota were confronted with a marvel: a hairy, primitive-looking humanoid frozen in a block of ice. Was it an anthropological relic? Was it a sasquatch?

As investigators from the Smithsonian Institute and cryptozoological researchers studied the frozen creature, they came to very different conclusions as to what it represented. The MonsterTalk hosts interview Bigfoot researcher and former side-show performer Matt Crowley — and try to crack the case of The Minnesota Iceman.

In this episode

Argosy cover, May 1969

When you see an iceman (the frozen caveman sort, not the Marvel superhero) you probably think of Scooby Doo, the 1984 movie Iceman, or perhaps the 1970 film Trog? But it is likely that all these fictional tales owe their origin to the success of Frank Hansen’s 1968 traveling exhibit now widely known as “The Minnesota Iceman.” In this episode you’ll learn about the history of side-show exhibits, the specific meaning of some carnie terms, how cryptozoologists were fooled by a hoax, and the true story behind this bizarre exhibit featuring a strange looking humanoid frozen in a block of ice. Former sideshow performer and bigfoot researcher Matt Crowley joins us to discuss the history of this strange case.

• The May 1969 Argosy article on the Iceman written by Ivan Sanderson
• Read Loren Coleman’s post rejecting the iceman
• John Napier of National Geographic’s take on the iceman

Music

• Monstertalk Theme: Monster by Peach Stealing Monkeys
• Frozen by Robjn

Episode Transcript

Read a complete transcript of this episode

The views expressed on this program are not necessarily the views of the Skeptics Society or Skeptic magazine.