Nov 25, 2014 - Sale 2368

Sale 2368 - Lot 284

Price Realized: $ 552
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(SASQUATCH.) Issue of the Exeter Watchman, featuring the first known mention of Bigfoot in print. 4 pages, 19 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches, on one folding sheet; disbound; short closed separation along the center fold; name of subscriber J. Tucker inscribed in top left margin. Exeter, NH, 22 September 1818

Additional Details

On page 3 is published a report from Sacket's Harbor, NY from "a gentleman of unquestionable veracity" of "an animal resembling the Wild Man of the Woods . . . described as bending forward when running--hairy, and the heel of the foot narrow, spreading at the toes." This is commonly regarded as the first printed reference to the mysterious creature variously known as Sasquatch or Bigfoot.
Also featured in this issue is a much longer account of a hunt for a monstrous "Sea Serpent" off Gloucester, MA; and a note on the death of Daniel Boone (1734-1820), repeating a widely circulated but false rumor.