Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us

by John Willison Green

The bible of Sasquatch/Bigfoot, reprinted in it's original form. With the explosion of knowledge taking place in recent decades, scientists are constantly discovering that things they have been certain about are the continents they thought had been in place forever actually drift around; the cells we are made of are not simple but infinitely complex; our genus has been on Earth many times longer than they thought. And increasingly there is compelling evidence that scientists are wrong about our living relatives. One thing considered certain was that the giants and wildmen in stories from all over the world are entirely imaginary. Now that belief is under serious challenge. Forty-five years ago giant footprints found in northern California brought Bigfoot to the attention of Americans and revived interest in Canada's Sasquatch. Every year since then additional evidence has accumulated, and now that witnesses can submit information via the internet the trickle of reports has become a flood. John Green has been in the thick of things from the beginning. In Sasquatch, The Apes Among Us, first published in 1978, he sampled the evidence from the earliest records up the late 1970s and from all around the world, then concentrated on two aspects of the the nature of the animal described and the wealth of reports from parts of North America outside the Pacific Northwest. When it came out The Apes Among Us was acclaimed as the definitive work on the fascinating subject of whether humans share North America with a giant bipedal primate that is unknown to science. Since then evidence for the existence of that unknown primate has grown exponentially, and individual scientists have written books about aspects of it. Remarkably, however, to most of the scientific world the evidence remains unknown and unexplored, and for those who do follow the subject this is still the definitive book.

Genres: Bigfoot, Paranormal, Cryptozoology, Nonfiction

492 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2006

About the author

Canadian retired journalist and a leading researcher of the Bigfoot phenomenon.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the famous ‘Four Horsemen of Sasquatchery’, he originally was a journalist looking into the situation in Bluff Creek when the first prints of a big foot gained media attention and soon became immersed in researching the existence of a upright-walking primate in North America. Sasquatch: the apes among us represents twenty years of research by John Green about the titular subject.

Green begins the book by reviewing how he got involved in investigating the premise of an upright-walking ape, his personal experiences throughout the years, and the evidence he was able to examine with his own eyes. Green then goes over all the reports throughout North America he has been given or found in old newspaper reports, some going back to the early 19th Century. The ends with Green going over trends in sightings and reports then in comparing sasquatches with humans and apes clearly pins them as animals and that one needs to be shot to confirm the species. The amount of evidence Green presents is both the best part and the one little negative, the later mostly because some of the reports blend into one another as the book goes on yet the sheer amount of the reports to even have the effect can be seen that this “phenomenon” is not isolated to one part of the continent.

Sasquatch: the apes among us has been reprinted multiple times since it’s original publication in 1978, even now 45 years later the amount of evidence John Green provided only after two decades at the time of research shows that there might be something up.

[Gerald Matzke · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Green is one of the most prominent cryptozoologists of his time. This book was published in 1978 but it still stands as a must read for anyone with an interest in Bigfoot. He presents reports from all over the US and Canada with a very careful eye. His evaluations of sightings show a skepticism that recognizes that not all reports are legitimate. Some are worth a second look and he did a great deal of interviews with witnesses. The final chapters attempt to summarize the data that he had collected over the years. The last chapter discusses the question, “Is Bigfoot an animal or is it human?” The reader is left with a lot to consider, which, I believe, was Green’s purpose in writing this book

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite part was Green discussing the sightings of bigfoot/ hairy men with UFO's, he said there was no material proof of that... yup. Big foot freak not wanting to be mixed up with the UFO nut crowd.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look, I know okay, don't start. Bigfoot has always fascinated me, and as someone who refuses to buy into the idea of guilty pleasures and will proudly defend the stuff I like openly, the potential for ridicule is not going to stop me devouring this tome of hundreds, maybe thousands, of reported sightings stretching from the late 1800s to the mid 1970s.

John Green, one of the "four horsemen" of Bigfoot research, was a newspaper man by trade and I'd wager a very good one, as his writing is eminently readable and does an admirable job of stringing together what is primarily a treasure trove of stories, many quoted verbatim from the source and others summarised by Green.

Green states he is not a believer in the book's opening, but his writing betrays that if he isn't, he's certainly leaning that way. Personally, I lean in the other direction, where I'd love it to be true, but everything I've read on the subject suggests it probably isn't. That said, his thesis statement for the book is a sensible one. He knows science will never accept the existence of the creature without a body, but believes the circumstantial evidence is sufficient to warrant further study, and the book is both a presentation of this evidence and a plea for the scientific community at large to make an honest attempt to find the thing.

While most of the book is the aforementioned collection of eyewitness accounts, broken down primarily by location, the stuff I found most fascinating was Green's recounting of the early days of the phenomenon. The stories of all these eccentric characters descending on rural California in the late 50s when the footprints that started the craze were first discovered and their exploits in pursuit of the beast from there on out is easily as fascinating as the idea of the creature itself. If there's a book just focussed on this out there somewhere I'd love to read it.

The sighting reports themselves vary in length and quality, and unfortunately Green's ambition to present as much evidence as possible often acted as a detriment to my enjoyment. For every tall tale of a man being kidnapped in his sleeping bag by a family of sasquatch or a cabin beseiged by a horde of furious ape men, there's at least a dozen of a vague shape being seen in the woods before disappearing into the brush, or of a dark figure crossing the road in front of a car in the dead of night. I appreciate Green was trying to demonstrate just how prevalent sightings are, and I'm certain this makes the book a treasure trove for any amateur historians of the subject, but as a casual reader I wasn't able to manage more than a chapter or two at a time. Many of the reports, especially in the middle section of the book where he goes state by state across the US detailing activity there, are just too samey.

Still really enjoyed it, but unless you're already interested in the subject it's not something I'd recommend as an introduction.

[Matthew Simeone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll be frank. I didn't read this in its entirety.

I don't like to leave a review for books I haven't fully read, but I think I've read enough of this book to give my opinion on it.

It's not a bad book by any means - it's just outdated. Written in 1978, this book contains some information that is no longer relevant. While it may have been a useful compendium of sightings before the internet, it has been made obsolete by the existence of the BFRO, which is a much more comprehensive and up-to-date source for sightings.

Another thing. Don't go into this book expecting any arguments supporting the existence of bigfoot to be made. From what I could tell, it is just a collection of encounters. All anecdotal.

I'd say it's still worth a read if you are taking a deep dive into bigfoot research. Just know that there are better sources out there.

[Dow Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the gold standard for classic bigfoot reports and statistics. This being said, it should be read as such rather than go in with the expectation of a cohesive narrative. It it a must-read for anyone with an interest in the subject, but it is a slog to get through, so don't be deterred if you fall asleep reading it like the many times I had. The overwhelming wealth of accounts cannot be ignored and Green presents the information objectively, later giving his opinion and arguing both sides as a true journalist such as himself should.
Give it a read, but I don't recommend trying to digest it all at once. Have it be your side-book / palette cleanser and enjoy it slowly.

[Cullan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book of its kind from a non-scientist. Insightful and even-handed.