''Bozo'', The Minnesota Iceman

By Crusader1307

 As we have seen with "The Cardiff Giant", "The Solid Muldroon", "Fiji Mermaid" and the vaunted "Alligator Man" - hoaxes abound in the World of The Unexplained. The story of The Minnesota Iceman may very well be such a tale......or not. Said to have been discovered in a remote portion of Siberia in the late 1950s, the reported find was a 6-foot part-Primate, part-Humanoid creature encased in ice. The creature is covered in thick brown 3-inch fur. It shows signs of a broken arm and a traumatic head wound, which resulted in the expulsion of the creatures right eye with resulting explosive rear head trauma, indicative of a gunshot to the head. Small portions of the creatures exposed body out of the ice have putrified and decomposed to skeletal structures. Nicknamed "Bozo", the Creature was claimed to have been owned by an unnamed, wealthy California Businessman, who in turn left it in a Will to one Frank Hansen. He began to exhibit the now named "Minnesota Iceman", throughput the United States (Shopping Centers, Carnivals, Circuses etc). He charged $.25 (USD), to view.

The resulting National Press brought in a curious Smithsonian Institution. They wished to examine the Creature. Hanson would not allow direct tissue samples taken due to the already changing condition of the corpse due to air exposure. He was willing to let a trained Artist to do a detailed sketch of "Bozo". Based on the drawing and close observations of the Artist, the Creature appeared to be a firm of long-thought extinct Neanderthal. However, without proper physical examination, The Smithsonian Institution would not verify it's authenticity. Years later, Hansen stated that he had a West German Effects Company duplicate an exact replica of "Bozo", which he began to display. His reasoning was the damage being done due to consistent exposure. However, this was done allegedly during the height of his "Tours". This casts doubt as if the creature even existed at all. In 2013, "Bozo" (The Dummy ), was sold on eBay for $19,000 dollars (USD) to The Museum of The Weird, in Austin, Texas (US). The Museum deals with Sideshow and Carnival History. They do not purport the authenticity of "Bozo", only "His" story in History.