A Not-so Serious Look at Some Serious Bigfoot Books

There are a wide variety of books about Bigfoot, Sasquatch; whatever you want to call the legendary beast that supposedly exists in various places around the world. Some people in America evidently call it a Wood Booger, or a Skunk Ape. Even some indigenous people have their own names for the thing. Could it be that all of these names are referring to the same creature? Maybe so. Regardless of what you want to call the creature, for the purpose of this review I'll be looking at some of the more serious books about the subject. I managed to get my hands on five different books for this review. Excluding one that I really wanted to include, The Quantum Bigfoot, but it was unavailable to me at the time.

Five Serious Bigfoot Books


I wanted to get a variety of books ranging from "completely out there", to "possibly scientifically valid". I say possibly, because, well, let's face it...The Bigfoot has never been found, nor proven to ever have existed at all. This could all be a complete fiction devised and executed by old guys that were once young and bored out in Willow Creek, California. The books I chose are:



Let's start with Meldrum's book, Legend Meets Science. This one is probably the premiere title on the subject. Dr. Meldrum being being an actual professor (although not on Bigfoot) and a seemingly scientific person. He has several related titles under his belt (which I will review at another time) and speaks publicly at seminars and such events about Bigfoot/Sasquatch. This book includes a lot of photos and illustrations, which are nice to have. He approaches this book with a scientific mindset based on data analysis and logic. 

Everything seems to be based off of the Patterson footage.


I have read some not-so-nice reviews of this book and though I haven't read the entire book, I think it's worthy of attention if you're interested in this subject. Some of the other books that are available seem very "far out" compared to this one. It appears clear that Meldrum really believes in this and has put a lot of heart and soul into the research. Still, in my opinion there is a lot of assumption, or faith going on here considering I have never heard of any evidence of apes ever being found in North America. That, and the analysis is mainly based off of the Patterson film, which may or may not be a hoax. I'd say hoax, but I'm aware that "experts" have analyzed that footage deeply and many feel it is legitimate. This one is pretty serious, so it will appeal to those who wish to go deep on the subject of Sasquatch and relict hominoid research in general.




The next book is heavy on illustrations and is aptly titled, The Illustrated Sasquatch. The author may be using a pen name here, as Slade Delastrode sounds a bit like the name some LARPer gave to himself just before he walked to the local park in full costume to swing a padded sword at some fellow LARPers' duct-tape shield. Regardless of the authors name, this is an interesting and unique book amongst the others presented here. The author is talented and articulate in his drawings. The data provided makes for a readable summary of the history of Sasquatch research and is entertaining to look at and read. The layout is professional and he even mentions Dr. Meldrum once or twice. 
This looks scientific, but it's pure speculation until real evidence is found..

Some liberties were obviously takes in the drawings of the skeletal and muscular structure of a create that has never been found. So where does this info come from? I'm assuming that once again, it's all derived from the Patterson footage and a strong belief in that footage being factual and not a spoof. I found myself liking this book more than the others, even though it also includes a lot of faith-based "evidence". I think the historical aspects of this book help me to enjoy it more. The text is fairly brief and concise, so it's also a good choice for kids and people who don't wish to go deep into the Bigfoot rabbit-hole. Overall a very good introduction to the Sasquatch story.


Here we arrive at the third title, The Legend of Bigfoot. This one is the first hardcover book, and has a rather unusual illustration on the cover. Now, the subject of what Bigfoot looks like is worthy of it's own post, and I plan to get to that sooner than later since I find it fascinating and hilarious. Without going too deep right now, mostly Bigfoot depictions look more ape or human-like. This one has more of a baboon face to me. I like seeing something not typical, but this one looks more like concept art for some B-grade bigfoot horror flick. That aside, you can't judge a book from it's cover. 

Drawings lean more towards scary


This title makes efforts to distinguish between the various iterations of the Sasquatch and includes a good amount of basic illustrations to back that up. I have to say, the authors of this book are also using what seems to be pen names at first glance. I mean, T.S. Mart just sounds like the corner liquor store where I go to buy lottery tickets and beer at the end of the day. Mel Cabre, sounds a lot like macabre. This combined with the cover art in interior illustrations give me the impression that this is more for the horror/pop culture fans. It has a good amount of fun compared to the more serious titles. Hardcover may have been a bit overkill for such a title, but it looks nice.


Ok, now we're getting deeper into the silly side, and this title (and cover art) is a little too easy to make fun of. Just one look at the costumed person awkwardly attempting to recreate the standard (*cough, cliche*) image of a walking Bigfoot is enough to make me dismiss this title immediately. That, and the subtitle mentioning "True Story of Apes in America" gets me to thinking this will be a complete joke of a book. First of all, there is no evidence to my knowledge of any primates EVER being found in America. I know there are some down in central America, since I've seen them myself in Guatemala, but I think they may have come from somewhere else. Not sure on that, so correct me if I'm wrong. However, no evidence is know regarding primates in North America, period. So to claim, "True Story" makes me think this will either be full of BS facts, or that the real truth is that there is nothing to say beyond a hype subtitle. 

Does this ape suit make me look fat?

The book includes only a few pages of dark, fuzzy photos that do nothing to enhance the quality of the content. I would suggest that this one was made as a weak attempt at making a few bucks off of the Bigfoot craze, if there ever was one. Not much here worth mentioning, though it does seem to differ in approach from many of the other Bigfoot books I've seen.



Finally, we get to the most far out title of the five: The Bigfoot Singularity. Wow, this one let's you know exactly where it's coming from as soon as you glance at the back cover. "...they are artificial life forms brought here tens of thousands of years ago by aliens...", uh yeah, whatever man. At least that, or some other outlandish theory (such as in The Quantum Bigfoot) might explain why no bones or real physical evidence has ever been found. Maybe they do walk through dimensional doorways. We know unseen worlds exist, just like we know sound, light, and wind are real. I'm open to believe that, but why do some authors have to go so deep? I feel like that potentially limits their audience. But what do I know?

There's not much for me to say about this one, since I feel that the back cover tells you all that you need to know. Read that, and if you're interested then keep reading. Oh wait, how I see on the title page it says, A Novel. Does that mean that the entire book is fictional? If so, that would have been nice to include on the cover. At a glance, it looks like it's intended to be serious. I mean, just look at that Bigfoot. He doesn't look like he's a happy forest creature at all. I'd say he looks like he hates his job, and wonders why this person is photographing me. (yes, I know it's a painting). C'mon people! 


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Anyway, thanks for reading. There will be many more reviews coming. I'll be doing children's books about Bigfoot, as well as some reviews of Bigfoot novelty items and other fun things. 

All of these book can be purchased by following the links provided. 



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