Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology

by Loren Coleman

This true story of Texas millionaire Tom Slick’s quest for the Abominable Snowman and other cryptids—creatures unknown to science—reveals a life made for the movies. Fascinating stories of Slick's early brushes with adventure such as his stepfather’s abduction by George “Machine Gun” Kelly in 1933 and his creation of a research facility near Loch Ness are followed by his later expeditions into Nepal and the Pacific Northwest in search of the yeti and its counterpart, the Sasquatch. The story of Slick’s amazing, fanatic, and driven search for the stuff of legends takes readers on a whirlwind journey from the dense temperate rainforests of Washington State to the icy peaks of the Himalayas—and shows that sometimes cryptids leave the halls of the imagination and are found and captured, as proved by the giant panda and the Komodo dragon, leaving readers to wonder what more there is to be discovered.

Genres: Cryptozoology, Nonfiction, Monsters

177 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2002

About the author

Loren Coleman is one of the world's leading cryptozoologists. An honorary member of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, and several other international organizations, he is also a Life Member of the International Society of Cryptozoology. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursue of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969.

Coleman has written seventeen books and more than three hundred articles, has appeared frequently on radio and television programs, and has lectured throughout North America, as well as in London and at Loch Ness.

Reviews

[Dan Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor Coleman relates the facts, and just the facts. But the implications for other explorations are huge. Tom Slick was a great boost to serious Cryptozoological investigation, and Coleman has likewise brought serious study and real adventure to the fore!

[Dan Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up at the International Cryptozoology Museum in Maine. I wanted a souvenir of my visit and the clerk recommended this book, looking at the travels of millionaire yeti hunter Tom Slick. Interesting book overall, but disjointed. Coleman raises a lot of questions about whether Slick's expeditions (and others) were actually spy reconnaissance missions, but nothing is really fleshed out. There are interesting bits and anecdotes, but the book tries to be a biography, a cryptozoological primer, and a geopolitical history, and it rarely gains momentum in any directions before changing focus.

[Mistyblue · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started off very interesting, but the longer I read the more I got the feeling I was reading a tangent that Mr. Coleman was sharing. It could have been my lack of familiarity with the subject, but there were times I couldn’t really keep track of what was happening or what the main points the author was trying to make.

[dragonhelmuk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I definitely would not recommend this book. The story is a biography of the millionaire Tom Slick, and this man was a millionaire playboy with a privileged upbringing and very loose morals, for all that the narrator worships him all the way through the book (the style is really melodramatic at times). The author's favourite attribute which Slick was supposed to possess was the idea that instead of pursuing science systematically, he took great risks, deceived others about his findings and showered problems with money based on hunches.

Thankfully about half way through the focus of the book moves to the Yeti of the Himalayas and Bigfoot of the Americas. I did enjoy stories of the early expeditions, and especially analysis of the local legends about the creature. It was also nice to hear something about the politics of the Himalayas which I haven't heard much about elsewhere. The CIA charges were boring to read.

(The narrator tries to defend his horrible subject)
Tom Slick received a good deal of bad press about his very Texan approach to the Yeti hunt, especially from British writers in England and India. The notion that Slick was only out to kill a Yeti may have influenced at least one of the early British cinema treatments of the Abominable Snowmen, a Hammer film that profiled a Tom Slick-like character, "Tom Friend," as a ruthless hunter of Yeti. This film was called Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas.

{Tom Slick and his team with colonial attitudes}
I shall not go into details here of how we got the thumb and the phalanx of the Pangboche hand. The main thing is that we have them, and that the lamas of the monastery do not know that we have them. Because they do not know it is of the utmost importance that there is no news releases on this or any publicity for some time.... The Pangboche hand is still complete, as far as the lamas are concerned. It still has a thumb
and an index procimal phalanx. What they do not know, and what they must never know, is that the thumb and the p. phalanx at present on the hand are human ones, which we switched (Byrne, 1959a)

[Saul · Rating 3 out of 5]

With some true effort to gather obscure history, the author weaves an intriguing tapestry of fact and speculation about Tom Slick, a Texan oil magnate. Was he a curious intellectual, using his vast oil wealth and resources to fund a 1959 cryptozoological expedition in search of the Yeti? Or was he really a spy, working with the CIA to help extract the Dalai Lama from Cold War Tibet. Who knows-- who cares? This book will keep you reading as long as you're willing to suspend all disbelief. Emphasis on the word 'ALL'. I would make the following analogy, and equate reading each page of this book to eating a cheese doodle. While only a one or two should satisfy, you end up devouring the whole friggen bag. When finished, you'll wonder why the hell you did this, and likely spend the rest of the day feeling guilty.

[A]

For some reason I'm suddenly obsessed with cryptozoology. Like, spent an hour this weekend reading up on Champ of Lake Champlain and browsing airline tickets and arguing with my scientist husband about the likelihood of a pleiosaur existing obsessed. BE REAL, AMAZING ANIMALS.

[Steve Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, okay, it's a guilty pleasure, I admit it. But like a lot of people, I'm drawn in by stories of 'hidden animals'. I took this book with me on my last deployment to Afghanistan. Who knew the role Jimmy Stewart played in fleshing out details regarding the Yeti? A good read.