Author: Louis R. Petolicchio
Published: 2021 by Witherspoon Publishing (Sutton, WV)
Back in December, Spectral Research and Investigation returned to Sutton, WV for a holiday get-together and investigation of the Haunted Haymond House. In a serendipitous turn of events, right after we confirmed our date, the West Virginia Bigfoot Museum announced that they'd be holding a special event called the Yeti Expo on the same day we were going to be in town! Obviously, myself and other members of the team jumped on the opportunity, and if you know me...you know I can't attend such an event without picking up souvenirs in the form of whatever paranormal nonfiction books are being sold!
After touring the West Virginia Bigfoot Museum, perusing the interesting items for sale at the Mountain Laurel Country store, and talking with Les O'Dell of WV Cryptids and Strange Encounters about HIS new book (Theresa's Review of West Virginia Cryptids) I picked out a book from the museum's gift shop area. The book I chose was The Wild Man of North America by Louis R. Petolicchio.
In another moment of serendipity, Louis was actually the one who rang up my purchases at the register! We had a lovely little chat about the book, the museum, and what I was in town for. He gave me some inside info about the book as well---apparently there was a mix-up with the cover art, and the image on the front of the book was NOT part of the public domain. So, there was only a limited run of this particular edition, with a re-publish coming soon. I promised that I'd come back and buy the updated copy as well, just for my own personal paranormal nonfiction collection. That seemed to tickle him, and he offered to sign my copy, which I gladly agreed to.
Unfortunately, Louis R. Petolicchio recently lost a battle with Covid, a huge loss to his family and friends, as well as the community of Sutton and the Bigfoot/cryptid research community. He was such a nice, likable person, and I was really sad to hear of his passing. I only got to speak with him the one time, but he made me feel very welcome and appreciated and it really bothers me that my next visit to the WV Bigfoot Museum won't include me telling him how much I LOVED his book!
The Wild Man of North America is a really cool collection of vintage newspaper articles, dating back from the early 1800's through the early 1900's. Throughout the United States, newspapers in nearly every city and state ran articles about Wild Men--strange, feral human-like creatures that seemed to be covered in fur/hair, were nearly always nude or nearly-nude, and who often had quite the bad temper towards anyone who tried to make contact.
Louis makes a note in the introduction that these types of stories seem to fall into three broader categories: 1. Large, hairy bipedal humanoids that we'd probably classify as a Bigfoot or a Sasquatch today. 2. Feral humans, who can use tools, are often violent, and if caught, speak gibberish and are usually deemed to be insane. And, 3. Lost hominids, which seem to be neither man, nor beast...not quite as elusive and animalistic as a Bigfoot, but taking on some human-like characteristics, such as using fire, clubs, and other tools. For the most part, I agree with these classifications, but reading through the stories, I can definitely see some shared characteristics and similarities between some stories that I think make classification of such 'creatures' a little more gray.
Either way, this is an excellent book for the Bigfoot researcher, or who is interested in a historical perspective of creature reports that we'd probably classify as a Bigfoot today. Although quite a few of the tales included are obviously humans who for whatever reason found themselves living away from 'modern civilization,' there are plenty of stories that really do seem to be more cryptozoological in nature. For me personally, I'm not ready to head out in the deep woods looking for Bigfoot today, but I really enjoy deep diving into the history of sightings and trying to make connections with the research being done today. Plus, its just really entertaining! The writing style and language used in some of these articles is downright hilarious, and reads like something you'd find in the Weekly World News...not an established, respected newspaper.
In addition to the large section on these Wild Men stories, there's a chapter on the infamous Teddy Roosevelt's re-telling of a friend's possible Bigfoot experience, as well as a small section of newspaper articles on other curiosities, including a ton of articles on giant skeletons found in burial mounds and some creature reports that sound a lot like misplaced kangaroos! If this book is lacking anything (which I don't think it is) I think I would have liked to have some additional commentary by Mr. Petolicchio. Additional commentary really isn't NEEDED throughout most of the book, but I would have been interested in whether or not he would make any connections between giant skeletons and deceased Sasquatch creatures and just some general thoughts on the nature of these stories. I was super pleased, however, to see several stories from West Virginia and surrounding areas, including a really weird story where a wild man attacked a train near Morgantown (Wild Man Attacks Train Near Morgantown)!
I am so happy that I was able to pick up a copy of this book when I did, and I'm even happier that I got the opportunity to meet Mr. Petolicchio. My heart goes out to his friends and family who lost a good man too soon. This book will take a place of honor on my bookshelf, as a reminder of the awesome contributions to the field of Bigfoot research made by Mr. Petolicchio. Today, the WV Bigfoot Museum will reopen to the public--if you're in the Sutton area, stop by and let them know you support them. I've also included a link below to the family's GoFundMe page in case you'd like to help out. And of course, if you get the opportunity to add this book to YOUR collection, I highly recommend you do so! It is a well written, well-curated collection of really interesting historical news accounts that is a must-have for any researcher wanting to see how reports of hairy hominid creatures has evolved over the last 200 years!
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| Louis Petolicchio Photo by Braxton Citizens' News |
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