How the Minnesota Iceman Dragged American Intelligence into the Cryptozoology Business

In December 1968, two government agents stood in a freezing Minnesota parking lot, peering through glass at what appeared to be a hairy humanoid frozen in a block of ice—complete with a bullet wound through its eye. The Minnesota Iceman, a traveling carnival attraction that cost 35 cents to view, somehow triggered a federal investigation involving the CIA, FBI, and Smithsonian Institution, all fighting over jurisdiction of what was almost certainly a rubber suit covered in yak hair.

Through declassified documents and contemporary accounts, we trace how Frank Hansen's sideshow hoax became a matter of national security, why Soviet interest in "relic hominids" made the CIA monitor Bigfoot sightings throughout the 1970s, and how Cold War paranoia could transform a carnival freezer truck into a classified intelligence operation. The punchline? Portions of the government's investigation remain redacted after 55 years. I guess they're still too embarrassed to fully reveal how seriously they took a frozen rubber gorilla that you could see for less than the price of a candy bar.

Let’s listen in as Nathaniel Sheppard narrates this tale on my behalf, shall we?

-Daniel P. Douglas

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