Born in Scotland, Sanderson traveled widely in his youth. His father, who manufactured
whisky professionally, was killed by a
rhinoceros while assisting a documentary film crew in Kenya in 1924.
As a teenager, Sanderson attended
Eton College, and, at 17 years old, began a yearlong trip around the world, focusing mostly on Asia. Sanderson earned a B.A. in
zoology, with honors, from
Cambridge University, where he later earned M.A. degrees in
botany and
geology. In a New York radio interview in March 1965 (WFMU's "Coffee Klatsch" hosted by Bob Zanotti), Sanderson stated that "I have three PhD's, but I don't call myself a doctor. Where I come from, that title is reserved for [medical] doctors". He did not elaborate. In the 1930s, Sanderson led an expedition to Africa on behalf of the
British Museum.
He conducted a number of expeditions as a teenager and young man into
tropical areas in the 1920s and 1930s, gaining widespread fame for his animal collecting as well as his popular writings on nature and travel.
Sanderson was an early follower of
Charles Fort. Later he became known for writings on topics such as
cryptozoology, a word Sanderson coined in the early 1940s, with special attention to the evidence for
Lake Monsters, sea serpents, Mokèlé-mbèmbé, giant penguins, Yeti, and
Sasquatch. Sanderson was also interested in the probable biological basis to reports of
extraterrestrial sightings, some of which he felt might be
amoeba-like outer space animals.
During
World War II, Sanderson worked for
British Naval Intelligence, then for
British Security Coordination, finally finishing out the war as a press agent in
New York City. Afterwards, Sanderson made New York his home and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Sanderson lived in the Whitby building on West 45th Street in Manhattan's Hells kitchen until his death in 1973.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Sanderson was widely published in such journals of popular adventure as
True,
Sports Afield, and
Argosy, as well as in the 1940s in general-interest publications such as the
Saturday Evening Post. In the 1950s, Sanderson was a frequent guest on
John Nebel's paranormal-themed radio program. He was a frequent guest on
The Garry Moore Show, being one of the first recognized animal researchers on television to bring live specimens on talk shows. As his friend and fellow cryptozoologist
Loren Coleman has remembered in several of Coleman's books, Sanderson's appearances often involved his discussion of cryptozoological topics. Coleman notes that Sanderson could be skeptical. In "Mysterious America," for example, Coleman documents that Sanderson discovered the 1909 "Jersey Devil" flap was an elaborate real estate hoax.
Sanderson founded the Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained (SITU) in 1965 in Little Silver, New Jersey.
Sanderson was married twice. His wife Alma accompanied him in the travels discussed in
Caribbean Treasure and
Living Treasure.
He died of
brain cancer in New Jersey, which had become his adopted home.
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