TITLE: Yale and the Strange Story of Jacko the Ape-boy
AUTHOR: Christopher L. Murphy
PUBLISHER: Hancock House Press / Crypto Editions
ISBN: 978-0888397126
PODCAST EPISODE: None
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
In the early 1880s, a strange creature was captured near the town of Yale, British Columbia. Since that initial capture and the publication of the story in the local newspaper, people have been arguing over the veracity of the story. Was it real, or was it a hoax? If it was real - was it a chimpanzee that was captured, or could it have been a Sasquatch?
Nowadays, the consensus leans more towards the story being a hoax. Christopher L. Murphy decided to try his hand at getting to the heart of the mystery. Yale & The Strange Story of Jacko the Ape-Boy (Hancock House Publishing, 2011) is the culmination of years of intensive archival searches, interviews, and even trips to Yale and the surrounding area to survey the area where the events unfolded. Beautiful photos of his trips as well as high-quality reproductions of newspaper articles and maps of the region make up the appendices.
Murphy has compiled an interesting pamphlet that analyzes each aspect of the story as it was first printed in the Daily Colonist, as well as later reprints of the story elsewhere. Where he can, he sources interviews with people in the town, residents of the nearby reservation, and people who worked in the building where Jacko was purportedly housed. He also interviews their relatives about their parents’ or grandparents’ stories. Murphy debunks speculation that Jacko was originally going to be sold to P.T. Barnum, in addition to other spurious claims which ring of potential truths.
Ultimately, there is more work to be done to get to the heart of the Jacko mystery - a fact that Murphy himself states, while also considering other avenues where research could be done. He points out that one group should have been interviewed, but had not been: the Chinese rail workers. Perhaps future researchers could conduct fieldwork to see what stories persist among descendants of those workers? Murphy certainly makes a compelling argument that it is worth further scrutiny, rather than outright dismissal as a hoax among the cryptozoological community.
AUTHOR: Christopher L. Murphy
PUBLISHER: Hancock House Press / Crypto Editions
ISBN: 978-0888397126
PODCAST EPISODE: None
REVIEWER: Hilary Wilson
In the early 1880s, a strange creature was captured near the town of Yale, British Columbia. Since that initial capture and the publication of the story in the local newspaper, people have been arguing over the veracity of the story. Was it real, or was it a hoax? If it was real - was it a chimpanzee that was captured, or could it have been a Sasquatch?
Nowadays, the consensus leans more towards the story being a hoax. Christopher L. Murphy decided to try his hand at getting to the heart of the mystery. Yale & The Strange Story of Jacko the Ape-Boy (Hancock House Publishing, 2011) is the culmination of years of intensive archival searches, interviews, and even trips to Yale and the surrounding area to survey the area where the events unfolded. Beautiful photos of his trips as well as high-quality reproductions of newspaper articles and maps of the region make up the appendices.
Murphy has compiled an interesting pamphlet that analyzes each aspect of the story as it was first printed in the Daily Colonist, as well as later reprints of the story elsewhere. Where he can, he sources interviews with people in the town, residents of the nearby reservation, and people who worked in the building where Jacko was purportedly housed. He also interviews their relatives about their parents’ or grandparents’ stories. Murphy debunks speculation that Jacko was originally going to be sold to P.T. Barnum, in addition to other spurious claims which ring of potential truths.
Ultimately, there is more work to be done to get to the heart of the Jacko mystery - a fact that Murphy himself states, while also considering other avenues where research could be done. He points out that one group should have been interviewed, but had not been: the Chinese rail workers. Perhaps future researchers could conduct fieldwork to see what stories persist among descendants of those workers? Murphy certainly makes a compelling argument that it is worth further scrutiny, rather than outright dismissal as a hoax among the cryptozoological community.