MINNESOTA ICEMAN

One of the things that had spurred my love for monsters as a kid was the infamous "Minnesota Iceman". A purported 6ft tall bigfoot that was frozen in a block of ice, possibly shot in Vietnam during the war and then smuggled into the US, and then put on exhibit at various carnivals and fairs in the midwest.

As a kid in the late 70's I went with my folks to the Ohio State Fair and saw this thing. It was in a trailer where you paid a quarter and entered to see a "bigfoot in Ice" and the "world's smallest woman". The trailer itself was painted with the images of a hairy bigfoot-type man as well as a nude woman sitting in the palm of a man's hand. How could I pass this up? A BIGFOOT and a naked woman the size of my action figures! Oh yea!

I snuck away from my parents and went to this thing alone. I paid my quarter and entered the trailer. It was freezing as I looked down at a hairy Neanderthal creature frozen in a block of ice. It was so awesome to see this as a kid and it sparked a fascination in bigfoot and all crypto creatures from that day forward. The next part of the trailer was equally as scary as the nude woman I had hoped to see was really a 2ft tall elderly woman with malformed limbs sitting on a pillow and smoking a cigar. She looked me in the eye and it scared me to death.

You can find info on the Minnesota Iceman all over the web with varying tales of its origin and it's authenticity. Wether it was fake or not this thing scared the heck out of me and opened my eyes to the possibility of "real" monsters. State fairs are the best!