Bernard Heuvelmans - Biography

Biography

Heuvelmans was born on October 10, 1916, in Le Havre, France, and raised in Belgium and earned a doctorate in zoology from the Free University of Brussels (now split into the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel). Heuvelmans was a pupil of Serge Frechkop, a proponent of the Theory of Initial Bipedalism. His doctoral dissertation concerned the teeth of the aardvark, which had previously defied classification. Though earlier interested in zoological oddities, he credits a 1948 Saturday Evening Post article, "There Could be Dinosaurs", by Ivan T. Sanderson with inspiring a determined interest in unknown animals. Sanderson discussed the possibility of dinosaurs surviving in remote corners of the world.

Heuvelmans undertook a massive amount of research and wrote On the Track of Unknown Animals, considered by some the most influential work of cryptozoology in the twentieth century. After On the Track, Heuvelmans wrote many other books and articles, few of which have been translated into English. His works sold well among general audiences but saw little attention from mainstream scientists and experts. In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents was his second book translated into English and sold in the United States in 1968. It consisted of his book on sea serpents with parts of his book on the giant squid (and colossal squid) added. As he continued his researches he saw the need to "give a name to the totally new discipline in zoology my research implied. That is how I coined the word 'cryptozoology,' the science of hidden animals."

Heuvelmans searched the world's oceans for giant animals to substantiate the rumors and legends about animals known to local people but still unknown to science. In the late 1960s, Heuvelmans helped spread the controversy surrounding the Minnesota Iceman when he examined the "ice man" then in the possession of a road-traveling circus exhibitor. Heuvelmans thought the creature could be genuine and published a formal description, naming it as the new species Homo pongoides. There was never conclusive evidence given to either substantiate or discredit the Minnesota Iceman, and the idea that it represented a new species of living hominid has never been accepted by mainstream zoologists.

In 1975 Heuvelmans established the Center for Cryptozoology in France, where his library is housed. In 1982 he helped to found the International Society of Cryptozoology and served as its first president. He was also the first president of the Centre for Fortean Zoology. In 1999 he donated over 50,000 documents, photos, and specimens to the Museum of Zoology in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Although much admired and considered "the father of cryptozoology" among cryptozoologists and many general readers, Heuvelmans was also criticized and even ridiculed for his belief in cryptids by skeptics, notably Swedish author and naturalist Bengt Sjögren. He died on August 22, 2001, at the age of 84.