The Minnesota Iceman

            During the late 1960s a strange creature frozen in ice was exhibited by Frank Hansen, as a prehistoric man from the ice age.  According to a viewer of the iceman in the 60s the iceman came to the Eastwood Mall in Warren Ohio.  The man described the iceman as a bloody battered quasi-human corpse encased in ice, covered in a long, dark brown and black hair everywhere but the palms and feet.  However it wasnt as big as Bigfoot was being only 6ft in height and had a slightly upturned nose, whereas Bigfoot appear to be noseless, without cartilage appendage on the face as homo sapiens.  The creature also had enormous thumbs that were extended to the finger and oddly out of proportion from the rest of the hand.  He also reports a horrifying image of the iceman with a bloody broken arm above his head with bones protruding visibly and the ice was visibly stained with blood.  Even worse the creature had apparently been shot through the eye, forcing the other eye out of the socket as well and had left a ring or red ice around the head, which was more than likely the back of the skull in bloody pieces underneath.

There is no known origin of the creature known as The Minnesota Iceman or if the creature was actually a creature at all.    For instance, Howard Ball a Hollywood effects artist claims to have made the iceman out of latex and then frozen him in a block of ice.  Which seems to be a more likely story than Helen We string, who claimed to have been raped by a Bigfoot type creature, and that she had shot it through the eye killing it in 1966.  The Minnesota Iceman could have been the most fascinating piece of the Bigfoot mystery, but apparently after Ivan Sanderson publish his article about the iceman in 1969, the original owner had it switched. The story is as follows:  In 1967, Hansen was displaying an antique tractor when he is paid by an unknown man from the entertainment industry, to display a unique specimen.  Hansen is then showed the iceman. The mysterious man says he found the creature in Hong Kong refrigeration plant, and stated that it was originally found by a Chinese fisherman in a 3-ton block of ice. The man makes Hansen promise to keep him and the origin of the creature a secret.  In 1968 Hansen starts displaying his iceman all around the Midwest, all the while keeping its story to himself. During this time he hires Howard Ball to create a replica in case he needs to make a quick switch.  In December of 1968, Terry Cullen views the iceman and becomes fascinated.  He finally contacts Ivan Sanderson and Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans, two well known crypto zoologists, who immediately visit Hansen at his farm in Altura, Minnesota.  Without thawing the iceman out, the two conduct as much of an examination as they can.  Both are convinced the iceman is real, but are pleaded by Hansen to keep their findings to themselves.  Ignoring this, Sanderson and Heuvelmans publish their findings claiming to have found evidence in the survival of Neanderthal man Amongst all the fuss, Hansen takes off with the iceman in the middle of the night and meets the owner for an exchange.  Later the next year Hansen holds a press conference with his fake iceman, insinuating that it was the same one he had all along.  Most scientists, including John Napier of the Smithsonian Institute,  abandon all interests interest in the iceman, but Sanderson and Heuvelmans continue on saying that the iceman had been switched and that this was not the original iceman the had conducted the examination on.  Two months later the National Bulletin, a tabloid, features an article called I Was Raped by an Abominable Snowman about a woman, Helen Westring, who probably never even existed.

So who was this Minnesota Iceman?  Many people suggest that this could be a Bigfoot type of creature, but from my studies, this would be a small Bigfoot.  Another strong possibility is Homo erectus, which is less likely than the survival of Neanderthal man, but does pose to be an option.  Also the stories relating it to Vietnam could make the iceman a large male orange penduk, or even the lesser know orange Dalam of that region.  Some people even think it could be the Vietnamese Wildman, Nguoi Rung.  No one will ever know the truth now, because the original will never be found or will it?  If it was real, which I believe, than it has to be around somewhere, some rumors are that it was still showcased around America in the late 1980s and that it turned up in Europe in 1994.