The
Minnesota Iceman is a purported man-like creature frozen in a block of ice and displayed at
state fairA state fair is a competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in their categories at the more-local county fairs....
s or
carnivalCarnival is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during January and February...
s in and around
RollingstoneRollingstone is a city in Winona County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 697 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.5 square miles , all of it land....
,
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
, and Milwaukee on and around December 17, 1968 as a "
missing linkThe term Missing link may refer to:* Any transitional fossil, especially one connected with human evolution.**for specific "missing link" fossils, see List of transitional fossils...
". It has been described as male, human-like, 6 ft (~1.8 m) tall, hairy, with large hands and feet, very dark brown hair about 3 - 4 inches (~9 cm) long, and a flattened nose. One of its arms appeared to be broken and one of its eyes appeared to have been knocked out of its socket, allegedly by a bullet that was supposed to have entered the animal's head from behind. If a genuine animal, the specimen would be a significant zoological discovery, as some have suggested the creature was a
neanderthalThe Neanderthal , or ), also spelled Neandertal, is an extinct member of the Homo genus that is known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia. Neanderthals are either classified as a subspecies of humans or as a separate species...
,
BigfootBigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is an alleged ape-like creature purportedly inhabiting forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid....
or
YetiThe Yeti or Abominable Snowman is a mythological creature and an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology...
, while others contend that it was a
hoaxA hoax is a deliberate attempt to deceive or trick an audience into believing, or accepting, that something is real, when the hoaxer knows it is not; or that something is true, when it is false...
.
Frank Hansen owned the "iceman", and made a number of contradictory statements as to its origin and how he obtained it. These statements led to criticism and charges of a hoax. Hansen reportedly claimed he had a real frozen creature and a replica, but that he only exhibited the replica due to the original's value and fragility. While touring with the iceman, Hansen was reportedly detained by
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
customsCustoms is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country. Depending on local legislation and regulations, the import or export of...
officials, who were concerned he was transporting a
cadaverA cadaver is a dead human body.Cadaver may also refer to:* Cadaver tomb, tomb featuring an effigy in the form of a decomposing body* Cadaver , a video game* Cadaver , a Norwegian death metal band...
, or a possible health risk. Hansen reportedly contacted his senator,
Walter MondaleWalter Frederick Mondale is an American politician and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He was the 42nd Vice President of the United States under President Jimmy Carter, a two-term United States Senator from Minnesota, and the Democratic Party nominee for president in 1984...
, who was able to "pull the right strings to let the Iceman come back home."
Two trained scientists and followers of cryptozoology, Ivan Sanderson and
Bernard HeuvelmansBernard Heuvelmans was a Belgian-French scientist, explorer, researcher, and a writer probably best known as "the father of cryptozoology"...
, examined the "iceman" and concluded it was a genuine creature, noting "putrefaction where some of the flesh had been exposed from the melted ice." Heuvelmans wrote a scientific paper about the iceman and even named it as a new species with neanderthal affinities,
Homo pongoides, and theorised it was shot and killed in
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
during the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
. Sanderson wrote an article for
ArgosyAn argosy is a merchant ship, or a fleet of such ships. As used by Shakespeare , the word means a flotilla of merchant ships operating together under the same ownership.It is derived from the 16th century city Ragusa An argosy is a merchant ship, or a fleet of such ships. As used by Shakespeare...
magazine and spoke about the "iceman" on television. The
Smithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines...
was reportedly briefly interested in the iceman, asking
John NapierJohn Russell Napier, MRCS, LRCP, D.Sc. was a British primatologist, paleoathropologist, and physician, who is notable for his work with Homo habilis and OH 7,
to investigate, then suggesting the FBI investigate, due to reports that the creature had been shot and killed through one eye. Shortly thereafter, the iceman disappeared, withdrawn from public display, Hansen said, by the
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
-based owner. It was later replaced by a similar, though different, exhibit which was clearly a model and not as accurate in appearance as the original. In a 1995 interview, Hansen reported that "I never did find out" if the iceman was genuine.