One of my obsessions as a child of the 70s was the mysterious world of cryptozoology. Raintree Children's Books published an extensive series of non-fiction books on the unknown and the supernatural, with titles covering a wide range of topics from Atlantis to UFOS, as well as my old favorites, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Abominable (thank you, spell-check!) Snowman.

The text of these books is aimed at very young readers, and to describe the illustrations as amateurish would be generous, but they seem to adequately cover the basics of their respective topics. Here are a few scans.

From Bigfoot: Man, Monster, or Myth? (Carrie Carmichael, 1977)




Next up, Monster at Loch Ness (Sally Berke, 1977)

The Loch Ness Monster has been described by various witnesses as resembling a frog, a horse, a camel and a dragon. They can't all be right...


Below is a photo of Tom Dinsdale, creator of a composite Loch Ness Monster model that attempts to integrate the description from several sightings. He and his model also appear in the 1973 Disney short film Man, Monsters and Mysteries.

This next illustration depicts a tongue-in-cheek attempt in 1976 to lure Nessie to the surface with a decoy "lady" monster, complete with comically large eyelashes.




Finally, The Abominable Snowman (Barbara Antonopulos, 1977)

This page depicts the three types of yeti the Himalayan sherpas claim to have seen, along with the names they've given to each. (Thelma?)

A monster dictionary of sorts (see also All About Monsters), The Creature Catalog - A Monster Watcher's Guide (1982, Random House) is a field guide to "weird and astonishing things on earth and other places", covering all categories of monsters, from folklore to mythology, cryptozoology, literature and film, with striking illustrations by author Michael Berenstain.

If Michael's last name rings a bell, it might be because he's the son of Stan and Jan, of Berenstain Bears fame.

Here's a sampling of the 70 or so creatures covered here.

The Werewolf, we learn, may have been born out of man's fear in older times of being consumed by a hungry pack of wild wolves.

The vampire may have been made famous by Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, but it's origin can be traced to the horrific barbarity of real-life 15th century figure Vlad the Impaler.

Here's a lesser known entry from Greek mythology, the Lamia, a snake-woman with a thirst for human blood.

Brief entries on several other monsters from ancient Greece, including centaurs, harpies, and Medusa.

Another unusual inclusion: from Jewish folklore, The Golem.

Zombies are associated with the voodoo rites of Haiti...

Trolls and goblins...

From the legends of Sinbad, here's the giant vulture-like bird call The Roc...

Sea-monsters, some of legend (the Kraken), some believed to be real (the Loch-Ness Monster):

The Abominable Snowman, believed to lurk amongst the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet...

An excellent rendering of the original King Kong...

The Creature Catalog is out of print as of this writing.

Written by Jane Werner and Sol Chaneles (with excellent illustrations throughout by Alan Lee), The Golden Book of the Mysterious (1976, Western Publishing Co.) delves into all aspects of the supernatural world, from ESP, psychic premonitions and reincarnation, to werewolves and witches, hauntings, UFOs, mythological monsters and cryptozoology.

Branded a "Golden Book" (although at 144 pages, and with its 8" x 11" hardcover, it is definitely not a Little Golden Book) ...Book of the Mysterious is sort of a children's version of the multi-volume non-fiction book series that were popular at the time (among them Time-Life's Mysteries of the Unknown and A New Library of the Supernatural).

This is the kind of stuff I ate up as a kid, especially before my post-James Randi conversion to junior skeptic.

Here's a sample of illustrations and topics covered.

Ghostly appearances.

Seances.

Poltergeists.

Exorcism.

Witchcraft.

Devil-worship.

Magical powers, such as levitation.

Werewolf transformation.

The yeti.

Monsters of the deep, from sea-serpents to the Loch-Ness monster.

Carvings like these, believed by some to depict an extra-terrestrial traveler, were featured in the Rod Serling narrated TV special, In Search of Ancient Astronauts (1973). (Watch it on YouTube while it lasts).

Snowbeast (1977) is a made-for-TV turkey in which hunky ski-lodge manager Tony Rill (Robert Logan), his old friend and former Olympic ski pro Gar Seberg (Bo Svenson) and wife Ellen (a silver-haired Yvette Mimieux, nearly unrecognizable from her memorable appearance as Weena in The Time Machine, 17 years earlier) take on a murderous snow yeti that's threatening to derail the annual winter carnival.

Even though it's written by Outer Limits alumni Joseph Stefano (who happened to have penned my favorite episode of that brilliant series, The Forms of Things Unknown), it's an utterly forgettable film, which makes me wonder why I still remember it after happening upon it some Saturday morning in the late 70s (no doubt broadcast on the local monster matinee show, KPHO's The World Beyond).

The yeti itself doesn't look too bad, for what you see of it, but Snowbeast's most notable aspect is its almost embarrassing resemblance to a film that came out a few years earlier and enjoyed some popularity... a little sleeper hit called Jaws. Snowbeast hits more than a few notes that will resonate with Jaws fans.

Jaws: Opens with a tourist, or "summer girl", getting killed by an unseen monster while swimming alone.

Snowbeast: Opens with a winter girl getting killed by an unseen monster while skiing alone.

Jaws: The authorities investigating the disappearance of the first victim find only partial remains, the audience seeing only a bloody arm lying on the beach.

Snowbeast: The authorities investigating the disappearance of the first victim find only partial remains, a bloody arm lying in the snow.

Jaws: The figure of authority at the beach, Mayor Larry Vaughn, denies the seriousness of the situation, so as not to cause a panic before the town's Fourth of July festivities.

Snowbeast: The figure of authority at the ski lodge, owner Carrie Rill, denies the seriousness of the situation so as not to cause a panic before the lodge's Winter Carnival.

Jaws: Fishermen catch a shark, mistakenly thinking its the one that has been doing all the killing. Protagonists Matt Hooper and Martin Brody, confident the wrong shark has been caught, want to cut it open and examine its stomach, but are denied permission.

Snowbeast: Local authorities shoot a bear, mistakenly thinking it responsible for the killings. Protagonists Gar and Ellen Seberg, confident the wrong animal has been killed, want to cut it open and examine its stomach, but are denied permission.

Jaws: The killer shark disrupts the Fourth of July celebration, causing a panic on the beach in which children and old people are stampeded.

Snowbeast: The killer yeti disrupts the Winter Carnival celebration, causing a panic in the lodge in which children and old people are stampeded.

Jaws: Determined to kill the shark, our three leads head out in a small boat to its territory, hoping to lure it out of hiding. The shark eventually severely damages the boat, stranding them.

Snowbeast: Determined to kill the yeti, our three leads head out in a small RV to its territory, hoping to lure it out of hiding. The yeti eventually severely damages the RV, stranding them.

Jaws: Forced to work around a temperamental mechanical shark that didn't often perform as expected, director Steven Spielberg used skillfully staged POV shots to imply the presence of the shark without having to actually show it.

Snowbeast: Forced to work around a mediocre yeti costume that apparently wouldn't hold up to close scrutiny, director Herb Wallerstein used POV shots to imply the presence of the yeti without having to actually show it. HOWEVER... unlike in Jaws, Snowbeast relies so heavily on these shaky-cam POV shots, you start to wonder if the yeti costume got lost in mid-production.


Here are some more fondly remembered snowbeasts...