Dr. Krantz was perhaps my favorite professor at Washington State University. We could always get him off topic by getting him started on gigantopithecus. Okay, for a physical anthropology class it wasn't that far off topic, but it was still fun to watch him pantomime the posture and gait of a giant, prehistoric, bipedal primate. He was a lovable, sincere, and highly intelligent character who took footprint forensics very seriously.

Dr Krantz could examine a set of hominid tracks and tell you the approx height, weight, and posture of the individual - and then break down the mechanics and the physical characteristics of the feet that made them - their arch (if any), their flex points, and, if the substrate was right, even their dermal ridges (toe prints).

I never got the impression that Professor Krantz was 100% sold on the survivability of gigantopithicus into the 20th century, but he saw enough evidence in some of the footprint casts to crack open the door of possibility. Either there is a hoaxer afoot (pun intended) who has a PhD in primate anatomy, or there is something mysterious walking the woods in the Pacific Northwest.

Myself, I remain highly skeptical, even after reading Professor Krantz's well written speculations. Then again, I'm skeptical about everything: ghosts, karma, voodoo, crop circles, manifest destiny, capitalism, god, acupuncture, yada, yada, yada.

*My signed copy of this book will always be something I treasure. I miss him dearly.