Ivan Sanderson's Missing Crypto Archives Found.

Good news for Cryptozoology fans last year when Ivan T. Sanderson's missing archives turned up in Kalamazoo - now that Dr Michael Swords from SITU has had time to sift through some of the files, he reports on his findings at the links below.

As you can see by the pic there's plenty to rummage through and it's said there's up to 184 notebooks containing Ivan's research on topics such as Cryptozoology and the UFO/USO subject - also mentioned are sighting reports, news clippings, photographs etc.. which deal with subjects like Bigfoot, Yeti and sea, lake, or river monsters.

Missing Sanderson Archives Found.


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The archives arrived in Kalamazoo on Friday. Two very hard-working days of shelving and stacking later, punctuated by anomalies "parties" punctuated by sub-sandwiches and pizzas and large quantities of extravagant commentary, our eight person crew we at least got it all off the truck and inside. It's going to take a LOT of archival work, my friends, but it will be worth it---the unloading days themselves were some of the most fun I've had in a very long time.

I want to give you some extremely "early" assessment information. This stuff is EXTENSIVE. It nearly filled a 26-foot U-Haul truck. Secondly, it has survived the rigors of time and mice very well.

link

Contents:

Newsclippings, pictures, correspondence.

Sanderson kept his topical files arranged in three-ring notebooks usually about two-inches wide. At a minimum there are 184 of these already shelved [i.e. sitting outside the original boxes off the truck before your eyes.] I counted them the grade-school way with my own index finger. As a wild guess, there are at least 30-35 "linear feet" of them, in librarian-talk. This 184 count does not count three-ring notebooks which contain only journal/magazine runs --- these are mainly Sanderson's own constructions containing clippings, pictures, correspondence, & whatever, around some topic or set of topics. 42 of these notebooks refer to "ABSMs" [bigfoot, yeti et al], or sea, lake, or river monsters.

Update:

Organizing Files.

This is what you see if you look down the parallel corridor to the left of the first picture. It's where most of the purely anomalies-related volumes are and where most of the anomalies related journals and newsletters will ultimately be. The latter are quite voluminous and will occupy most of the top and bottom shelving areas on both corridors..

There at the end of the corridor, facing you, are some of the famous Ivan Sanderson three-ring notebook files. I placed them, especially the Bigfoot/ABSM/ Lake and Sea monster ones there for "romantic" reasons --- they are the Heart of Sanderson, and this gives them a little center ring "glory"

SITU Status: Summer 2012.

Links:

Peeking at Ivan's SITU files
Peeking at Ivan's SITU files: the Flatwoods Monster.
Peeking at Ivan's SITU files: The Santa Clara encounter
Peeking at Ivan's SITU files: Loch Morar's Monster, Part 1 / 2
Peeking at Ivan's SITU files: meaningless reports of sea monsters Part 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

I wouldn't mind digging through those file.
Boy oh boy these files are porn for researchers!

Originally posted by Regenstorm

Boy oh boy these files are porn for researchers!

Thanks for the reply mate and you're not wrong about those files - towards the end of this video it explains how everyone thought they were lost (or stolen) for good.. so it was a very nice surprise when they turned up.




Cheers.

Definitely something to keep up to date on. Nice find OP! Thank you.

Let's hope no type of random "accident" happens to any of this information so it can be completely cataloged and disclosed.

Are there any tapes of film that were found? If so then this is definitely a gold rush of information. I used to be into cryptozoology as a kid but since there was a lack of evidence, I dismissed most of the claims.

Now if there's UFO stuff, I hope it doesn't get stolen or destroyed "mysteriously." Good luck to those guys.

What i wouldn't give to search through all those boxes.

I would sell my soul too look through them

was he trying to ensnare bigfoot with those bananas and Honey Browns? lol

reply to post by karl 12


Can't watch the video on my iPad at the moment. Can you explain how the files were lost and where they turned up?

How fascinating! Can't wait to read more. S&F!

Every so often somebody posts a jewel of a find and this is one of those times.

I'd love to get lost there for a few days. Sorta like how I feel about getting lost in the Smithsonian's off limits storage area, Just let me have a sleeping bag and a few dozen MRE's and I'll catch ya later

reply to post by SLAYER69


karl12 is an expert at posting excellent finds, and this, as you say, is another one. I too could spend days in that archive- truly fascinating............

I have a few of Sanderson's books from many years ago. I would be lost for days in that archive. Great find.

Wow, that's a lot of info to go through and organize! Fascinating!!!!!!!!!! Wish I could join them!!

Aww man...

All those boxes full of stuff.

I have a mighty need to dig through this.

Appreciate the replies and I think the general consensus is we'd all like to have a good look through those files.

Found the Flatwoods monster sighting pretty fascinating and, as well as being a UFO case I suppose the monster is also classified as a cryptid -here's Ivan Sanderson discussing it in a 1956 interview:





Stanton Friedman also mentions in this video that metal and liquid samples from the case were sent to the U.S. Government and never seen again.. which I found interesting because, according to the restricted government document found at the SITU page below, the Pentagon was also asking for a soil analysis (and instructing the Directorate of Special Investigations to give utmost priority to the lab analysis of the subject samples).

..but the Pentagon was very interested in it nevertheless. We know this because of the above released document [actually in the Project Blue Book OSI microfilm all along.] As you can see it is a Routing and Record Sheet which is classified "Restricted" and is asking for a soil analysis. Of What?? Of Flatwoods soil. There was a report that the entity floated down the hill towards the UFO and that "skid-marks" had been initially seen. Whether soil samples from there, the area under the tree, or the depressed-dried area were taken for analysis, this record doesn't say.

link

Cheers.

Im so psyched maybe, just maybe, there will finally be found the photograph of the Thunderbird that has gone missing....

I want that photo of the thunderbird to be found so badly. And Oh what I'd give to look through those boxes and files. I think If the photo was going to be found it is a good chance that it will be found now.

Wonder what the long term goals of the team are and the archives future will be?
I would hope that perhaps the archives could be scanned and put onto the web. The man hours to organize the feat would be large. perhaps a kickstarter-like fund raise to pay for time and the enormous effort of catalogueing, tagging correctly and uploading.
To put them into the public domain for study, interest and research.

reply to post by karl 12


Now we play the waiting game...

2nd

Look kids, this is how people researched before Wikipedia.

What a treasure trove. It's like the dead sea scrolls of the Unexplained, can't wait to get a look at some of these articles.

Kudos for the thread, S & F.

Originally posted by xynephadyn

Im so psyched maybe, just maybe, there will finally be found the photograph of the Thunderbird that has gone missing....

Here's hoping mate -maybe there will be more historical accounts of red haired giants with double rows of teeth as well (as if there's not enough already).

Regarding the Thunderbird pic, there's some interesting speculation in the comments section of this article and it states that Ivan loaned the picture to two researchers who lost it so maybe it's not in the files after all (Doc Swords has had them a while now and never mentioned it).

Originally posted by rimjaja

Can't watch the video on my iPad at the moment. Can you explain how the files were lost and where they turned up?

Rimjaja, here's what the USO documentary said about the files and there's also some info at the links in the first post about Dr. John Reed and the Society for Scientific Exploration -there's also a pdf file here which contains some interesting comments from John Keel about government intimidation experienced by Ivan towards the end of his life and and mysterious black Cadillacs.

At the end of his life, weakened by cancer, Sanderson fell victim to friends and enemies alike who coveted his research.

"A lot of people would back their stationwagons up to his bunkhouse and said they were going to borrow files and never brought them back."

Speculation continues in various circles about whether secret government operatives removed Sanderson's files thereby destroying the best cache of deep sea UFO evidence ever collected.

Cheers.