Sasquatch Science Peer Review Worth Paying Attention To

Is the Bigfoot Community, Charlie Brown and Melba, Lucy?

Scientific peer review on Sasquacth? We are not talking about Melba Ketchum. We have gone on record as not being too excited about Melba Ketchum and her potential research. We definitely have not covered it as mush as the other Bigfoot sites. For us, there have been too many red flags. The in-fighting, the fractioning of the original group, the moving of the goal posts of release date, the challenge of a peer group being able to duplicate the source DNA themselves. To us, there are many factors that contribute to our lack of confidence in the research.

We would be happy to be wrong. We would also welcome any contrary opinions. 

Logo for The Journal of Cryptozoology

That being said, we are excited about a new journal promising peer review research in the field of Cryptozoology. It is simply titled, Journal of Cryptozoology. Loren Coleman has announced it at Cryptomundo. Go check it out to get the details. Below is an excerpt describing the journal itself.

Dr Karl P.N. Shuker [of Shuker Nature] , the Editor, of the new Journal of Cryptozoology has announced this fresh peer-reviewed publication. Since the journal is planned to be a scientific one devoted to a specific subdiscipline of zoology, i.e. cryptozoology, it must adhere to the same structure and procedures that scientific journals devoted to mainstream subdisciplines of zoology adhere to, which involves submitted papers being assessed by academically-qualified zoologists with specialized knowledge in that particular subdiscipline.

Those involved in the Journal of Cryptozoology have established scientific credentials. You can read more details from Loren Coleman at his post titled, "Journal of Cryptozoology". We are very excited about this new peer reviewed journal.

Please send us your thoughts about Melba Ketchum, tell us why we are wrong, or why you feel the same way.

New Independent Yeti Documentary Shows Promise

"We are presenting a case for discovery of a new species. This show is an attempt to make a fair-weathered skeptic listen, not believe." -- EXTINCT? Writer/Director Ro Sahebi


We are huge fans of independent media. With the digital age, many individuals are creating blogs, zines and documentaries. We have showcased earlier documentries

Below is a clip from a well-organized, thoughtful and sometimes humorous documentary written, directed, narrated by Ro Sahebi of TheBigfootReport.com A brief description on the YouTube Channel:

Case study for the existence of Gigantopithecus in Asia. A look at the facts, fossils and examples of lazarous taxon and how it applies to the Abominable Snowman. Stay tuned for details about future episodes about BIgfoot, Orang Pendek as well as Extinct - The Movie.

We were able to ask writer/director Ro Sahebi a little more about the objective of EXTINCT?

With EXTINCT? we’re not telling the viewer anything is real, we are not trying to chase down anything with a camcorder either. We are presenting a case for discovery of a new species. This show is an attempt to make a fair-weathered skeptic listen, not believe. 

In addition, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. At TheBigfootReport.com we already know that spreading awareness is an uphill battle. And for the record, WE BELIEVE. But people outside of the community still see us as well… crazy. So many show enforce this, and fighting it seems to make it worse. Our view, be lighthearted and have an open mind.

We look forward to see what the future holds for Extinct? - The Movie

During Eugene Radio Interview, Bigfoot Lunch Club is Inspired by 10 Yr Old Researcher

Hunter, age 10, is a sponge for Bigfoot lore and also quite the entrepreneur

"Always believe, even if people say you are crazy! Make calls while you are in the woods, and make sure you have gloves and a camera with you." -- Hunter Davis 10 yr old Bigfoot Researcher

Last Friday I had the great honor of sharing Eugene radio waves with 10 yr old professional Sasquatch researcher Hunter Davis of Squatch Watch. Hunter was smart, eloquent and a tough act to follow. (BTW I meant porcupines not beavers..you'll understand) Please listen to the embedded interview below. We would like to thank Robb Holloway, Host of KPNW's Wake Up Call, You can catch him on 104.7 KDUK, mid-day. He does lots of events as well, check out his website at BicoastalMedia.com.

Back to Hunter. Here is the interview. 

Do us a favor, as you listen to Hunter and become impressed, let's introduce Hunter to the generosity of the Bigfoot Community by liking his facebook page on the widget below. At the beginning of this post he had 82 likes. Lets bump that number up! Click "Like" on the widget below! And buy his t-shirts and knocking sticks!

Okay now on to our interview with Hunter Davis, our new inspiration for Sasquatch research.

1. How long have you been into Bigfoot? I have been interested in Big foot for a very long time. Maybe 5-6 years.
2. How did you get interested in Bigfoot? I heard a story about an encounter with big foot, and it stuck in my mind, and caused me to be curious.
3. What are some of your favorite Bigfoot websites? I paticularly like many of the Facebook sites where dialog is taking place, like your Bigfoot Lunch Club page, and my new Squatch Watch page. I also very much enjoy Cliffs's page NorthAmericanBigfoot.com. I find it full of information and it's objective too!
4. Who are your favorite bigfoot researchers? I really [like] Cliff and Bobo from Finding Bigfoot. Bobo is very fun, and Cliff is very good at reinacting encounters.
5. How would you describe Bigfoot? I would describe  bigfoot as being a very tall, hairy and shy creature. They obviously have big feet and their eyes shine at night. Bigfoot is very ellusive.
6. Do you feel like they should shoot Bigfoot? hmm, i think they should shoot him with tranquilizer dart, so that he could be captured, as proof he exists, for research for a time, and then return him to where he was captured.
7. How do you feel about the Patterson/Gimlin film I know some people believe it was staged, but i believe it is real piece of evidence. They couldnt have faked such a elaborate staging without someone eventually . I would have loved to meet Mr. Patterson, and look forward to meeting Mr. Gimlin some day.
8. Have you had a Bigfoot encounter, or heard a Bigfoot? No, I have not, but I want to. I like to go out and make calls and listed for responses. I think I live in a very squatchy area, and hope that soon curious about me and my calling to them.
9. Can you give a brief explanation of each of the products you sell. I sell "Got Squatch?" T shirts and hoodies, and will have a new shirt design coming soon, I have hats in production now and I also have Squatch Sticks which are small stick that (kids) people can easily carry while hiking etc. and use to clap together to peak the interest of bigfoots where they are at, or to rattle tree branches to do the same.
10. Any advice for other kids looking for bigfoot? Always believe even if people say you are crazy.! make calls while you are in the woods, and make sure you have gloves and a camera with you. Make sure you take an adult with you to be safe.There are many good conversations on Facebook for kids, like on my SquatchWatch page. Dont believe everything you hear or read, but be open to investingating to find the truth.
11. 11. Is there anything you want to say about the radio interview itself? Is there anything you wanted to add? How were you approached for the interview. Robb emailed my mom to ask me to be on the radio. I was thrilled at teh opportunoity. I wanted to get the word out about my adventure and inspire other kids and adults to join me. Selling more t-shirts is great too! I like to say I am in persuit of big foot. I enjoyed listening to what you had to say durring the interview Guy. I think we made a great team!

Hunter Davis ~ 10 years old

facebook.com/squatchwatch

Thank you!!!

Thank you Hunter, you are an inspiration to all of us who are in this for the mystery wonder and science of Bigfoot. I looking forward to some really great research from you in the near future. Keep it up!

Okay last chance to give Hunter's facebook page a Bigfoot Lunch Club Bump. Please, push the Like button below and support the next generation of Sasquatch Researchers!

London Bigfoot Tracks: Tobby Johnson Interview at the Scene

Toby Johnson sending a postcard from the past.
Date/Time: Saturday, ‎February ‎18, ‎2012, ‏‎7:11:50 AM  Location: London, Oregon

At this point Toby, Thom, Beth and I had only 3 hours of sleep. We had been casting almost the entire night prior. This video was shot right after daybreak. I decided to record this interview for posterity's sake. This is the location four days after the initial discovery. In the interview there are two corrections that must be made. 

1. The original discoverer, Max Roy, was not walking his dog, he was approached by a man walking his dog who mentioned the prints to Max. The name of the man and his dog are unknown.
2. The independent count that Cliff Barackman and I, Guy Edwards, came up with was 122. Toby Mentions over 160 in the video. The 160 may be other prints that were discovered nearby, Cliff and I only counted the ones in sequence.

You can get the details Toby is describing in our earlier post titled, "Over 120 Sequential Sasquatch Prints Found South of Eugene." Enjoy the video below

More London Bigfoot Prints as Told by Cliff Barackman and Thom Powell

60+ casts made by Cliff Barackman from the London Footprint Sequence
 with the help of Chris Minniear and Toby Johnson

"I have been in ongoing and close contact with Dr. Jeff Meldrum of Idaho State University about this track find.  He has agreed to assist me in writing up my report..." --Cliff Barackman

Nearly 30 cast made by Thom Powell from the London Footprint Sequence
with help from Toby Johnson, Beth Heikkinen and BigfootLunchClub editor, Guy Edwards

"Max was't looking for bigfoot, or even bigfoot evidence.  He was looking for an old car to buy.  He never found the car, but he did find some of the best bigfoot evidence ever dicovered. Talk about serendipity." --Thom Powell


Cliff has released some great photos from his research of the London Tracks. Cliff was one of the first guys on the scene. You can read our sequence of events at our post, "Over 120 Sequential Sasquatch Prints Found South of Eugene" If you want to see great photos and specifics from Cliff Barackman's perspective then you need to head over to NorthAmericanBigfoot.com. Thom Powell, ever the author, writes one of the most gripping narratives of the events at his post titled, "The London Tracks: Where Serendipity Met Synchronicity"

Below is a slideshow compilation of most of the first photos in chronological order. The photographers are from Max Roy (first one to contact Toby about the Tracks) Toby Johnson (One of the first to discover the 120+ sequence), Cliff Barackman (The first to cast the majority of the sequence), and Thom Powell (The first person to say he got the second most casts of the sequence).

This slide show is best seen enlarged click on the enlarge icon here ↑

London in Oregon

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=43.631667,-123.091111&spn=0.1,0.1&t=p&q=43.631667,-123.091111

Lee Romaire, Creature FX Artist for Letters From the Big Man, Offers Opinion on Game Cam Bigfoot Picture

Photoshop illustration of Lee Romaire, of Lee Romaire Studios
 checking out Melissa Hovey's game cam Bigfoot picture

"The fur is simply too uniform in color, density and direction to be authentic..." -- Lee Romaire, Creature FX Artist on Letters From The Big Man

As you may remember from an earlier posts, Letters from the Big Man, was an attempt to make the most authentic depiction of Bigfoot, not only in behavior but also visually. Lee Romaire, in our opinion, succeeded. Bigfoot lunch Club was provided exclusive photos and a test video of the Bigfoot costume. You can also see a few examples of Lee Romaire's work below.

You can see an artist cutting the hair to different lengths as mentioned in Lee's opinion.
It should be noted these photos are "In Progress" and not reflective of the final costume

Here is Lee's expert opinion provided this morning (Feb, 24, 2012)

Possible Sasquatch Picture Taken from a Game Cam (click to enlarge)

"In my opinion it's  fake.  The hair used here is identical to an expensive brand of fake fur that we use.  This particular fur type is called  werewolf fur, woven on a 4 way stretch fabric (which is identical in color to the skin showing under the fur in the photograph).  You can order this fur in medium or sparse density, and this one looks to be medium density.  

The fur is simply too uniform in color, density and direction to be authentic.  Even though this is a high quality fur, it needs to be trimmed, painted etc. to achieve a hyper realistic look.   The skin is also too uniform in color.  

If one was able to zoom in very tight on this photograph and manipulate it I'd bet that you'd find a weave pattern on the skin areas." 

To make [recreate this exact photo] in your garage would probably cost less than $800.

--Lee Romaire

UPDATE: Lee Romaire wanted to make it clear that he did NOT mean a Bigfoot costume could be made for $800, he has emailed us with more specificity, "what I meant by that photo being created for $800.00 is NOT that you can make a whole suit, but someone could sculpt a bust from the back up (with no detail on the face, paint it and stretch $500 worth of artificial  fur on it and it would produce that shot.""

He continues, "I believe that bigfoot is real, and that I have been fascinated with the subject for years. People have asked me to comment on the Patty footage, but I want to believe it's real too badly to be objective."

Lee's opinion matches up with our post yesterday featuring Bill Munn's expertise.

Also, in our opinion, we wouldn't worry about these being tips for hoaxers. Any body with the time and talent for this stuff is already using those two resources to make money in Hollywood. And as you can see, even two FX experts and Bigfoot hopefuls (if not full-on believers) can detect details of fabrication. Neither one of them had see the other's opinion.

You should read our post, "The Making of Letters from the Big Man" to read our interview with Lee Romaire and learn how he collaborated with Christopher Munch on the Sasquatch design.

Also, Be sure and check out Lee Romaire Studios, he's been working on a lot of great stuff lately, from the animatronic Lincoln for Disney, to an animatronic goat for Sacha Baron Cohen's newest movie  The Dictator.

We will always appreciate the respect and work he put into Christopher Munch's Letters from The Big Man.

Bill Munns, Creature FX Expert, Weighs in on Game Cam Bigfoot Picture

Photoshop illustration of Bill Munns looking at the Melissa Hovey Bigfoot Picture

"If it is fake, it does represent a fair amount of both skill and expense on the part of the fabricator." --Bill Munns

Professional creature effects artist and 3D digital expert, Bill Munns, weighs in on the game cam bigfoot picture released by Melissa Hovey at her Search for Bigfoot blog. You can read Bill Munns' opinion following the picture in question.

Possible Sasquatch Picture Taken from a Game Cam (click to enlarge)

My immediate concern was that the photo, if a game cam type, is cropped, since such photos usually have some time/date material included. So I must assume this photo was cropped. I have been told that the cropping was because something in the wider landscape would identify the location, and there was concern to keep the location secret. I find this explanation lacking, because the full image could be shown with minimal Photoshop re-touching of any landscape element which might identify the location, while still allowing more of this subject's body. So that issue immediately raised suspicion in my mind.

The subject, as we see it, is just hair and the hint of skin through sparse sections of hair, in the shape of a head, shoulders, torso and one upper arm. This can be so easily fabricated that it would be impossible to falsify the alternative, which means it would be impossible to validate this as being real.

The hair is curious for its length and sparseness, with a pale flesh tone through the hair. This is not standard cheap fake fur. Such is occasionally seen with custom hair made by National Fibre Technology (NFT) for movie creatures, but it's not cheap. The mixture of greys and black hair colors is also something NFT can produce on order.

The disheveled lay of the hair reminds me of fake fur that's been mussed up rubbing against things and not brushed out. The fact that the hair tends to be consistent in density, length, and color tones, also is a characteristic common to use of artificial fur. Real mammals tend to have more variance of the hair (length, density, tone, or combinations of these traits) from the head into the torso and arm, but this does not.

So my conclusion is that the figure is suspicious, and while it cannot be called an outright fake, I know it could easily be faked, and as such, I would not put any confidence in its being real.

If it is fake, it does represent a fair amount of both skill and expense on the part of the fabricator.

Bill Munns Feb. 18, 2012

Bill Munns has created a great replica of Gigantopithicus Blacki. he has also done extensive research on the Patterson/Gimlin film. Click to read our Bill Munns biography. Bill will be speaking at the 2012 Oregon Sasquatch Symposium on October 13th, with Bob Gimlin. They are presenting together and will share new information regarding what happened at the Bluff Creek location.

Below, you can see examples of Bill's creature work and a video he has done using 3D graphics to describe Patterson path with the camera, as well as the path Patti took. For you newbies, Patti is the name given to the Sasquatch in the infamous film.

Want more Bill Munns stuff? Check out his websites!!!

The Munns Report
Bill Munns Creature Gallery

Melissa Hovey Releases Detailed Bigfoot Picture

Possible Sasquatch Picture Taken from a Game Cam (click to enlarge)

"This witness asked for my help in seeking protection for what he/she claimed was a Bigfoot that had been coming onto his/her property." --Melissa Hovey

On the Search for Bigfoot blog. Melissa Hovey has released the above picture of a Sasquatch. She has taken thorough measures to preserve the use of the photo. Out of respect for her and the American Bigfoot Society we have re-posted their requested use of the photo below.

In early 2008 I was contacted via email by a person claiming to have photographed a Bigfoot. The photo is posted above.

The American Bigfoot Society holds the copyright for this image for any and all purposes. As stated in the last article, if and when the true owner of this photo steps up, we will turn the copyright over to them, and they can cover this.

Permission granted to reproduce for educational use only. Commercial copying, hiring, lending is strictly prohibited.

This image and its use on the various websites, discussion forums blogs and any other form of social media, for purposes of discussion/evaluation/research by the general public, Bigfoot Researchers and/or the media, BE ON NOTICE: the copyright MUST be maintained and placed on any images taken from this photo for any purpose and/or distributed or displayed in any manner.

This will be strictly enforced. Any questions about the use of this image should be emailed to the American Bigfoot Society at:

americanbigfootsociety@gmail.com

All website, forum, blog or any other form of social media owners, Bigfoot Researchers/enthusiasts/media and the general public, PLEASE be mindful, of potential hoaxers by maintaining the copyright on the image above. The use of this photo for hoaxing is our primary concern.

The ABS is not releasing this photo to help any potential hoaxer.

We recommend reading the rest of the story at the Search for Bigfoot Blog as well as read Melissa Hovey 's  letter to the witness.

London Trackway: Over 120 Sequential Sasquatch Prints Found

One of the first measurements taken by Toby Johnson 15-16 inch print

South of Eugene, over 120 footprint tracks were found in a clay-mixed substrate that was a perfect material to capture and record footprints. We believe the tracks were made as recently as Saturday February 11th, although the first few prints were not discovered until Sunday the 12th.

Quick run down of events.

• (SUN Feb 12th) Max is a retired man who once worked in the auto industry and now spends his retirement restoring cars, he happened to be looking for cars in the London, Oregon when he is approached by a man walking his dog. 
• (SUN Feb 12th) The man walking his dog mentions to Max there are three Bigfoot prints near the tree line. Max checks it out and is surprised to see the three good tracks
• (MON Feb 13th)  Max can't sleep, has to go back to  site to take pictures.
• (TUE Feb 14th)  Max remembers Toby Johnson's Sasquatch-mobile, it had been decorated with large Bigfoot stickers resembling footprints. He had also recalled reading an newspaper article of the first Oregon Sasquatch Symposium Toby had held in 2010 at Lane Community College in Eugene. The Sasquatch-mobile is now owned by Toby's ex-wife, sans stickers, but Max, the car afficianado that he is, recognizes the vehicle non-the-less. So when Max went share the Bigfoot prints he contacted Toby's ex-wife first. Max gives his contact info to Toby's Ex
• (TUE Feb 14th)  Toby calls Max and max sends the pics of the three prints via phone.
• (WED Feb 14th 8:00pm ~ THURS  Feb 15th 7:00am) Toby goes to the site with his friend, an avid hunter and a local. Since Toby's friend wishes to remain anonymous, we will call him Tracker. Both Toby and Tracker see the original three and few others that were not photographed, these other tracks were in heavy vegetation.
• (THURS  Feb 15th afternoon) Toby goes home and Tracker ges home. Toby tries to return to site later in afternoon, due to obligations he can not stay long, as he leaves Tracker returns. Tracker is with his daughter's boyfriend, and continues to follow the tracks on his own time. Tracker follows the tracks out of the vegetation into a clay-like substrate and realizes there are at least a hundred prints. He calls Toby.
• (THURS  Feb 15th 3pm-ish) Toby calls Cliff Barackman, co-host of Finding Bigfoot and a self-described "track/cast-nerd". Cliff drives 2 hours to investigate the scene. Cliff also contacts Chris Minniear who picked up most of the casting material, did about half of the 65 cast made. Chris also documented the evenings events on video.
• (FRI Feb 16th 6pm) I am able to get a ride with Thom Powell, we meet Beth Heikkinen and Toby Johsnson and see the tracks ourselves. 
• (SAT Feb 17th 6am) Our original count was around 118 sequential prints. Cliff Barackman was able to count 122, we will confirm if his count are the sequential set or total prints in the area.We made two set of measurements recording step length stride length.

Step length is the distance between the point of initial contact of one foot and the point of initial contact of the opposite foot. In normal gait, right and left step lengths are similar.

Stride length is the distance between successive points of initial contact of the same foot. Right and left stride lengths are normally equal.

Below is a rough illustrated diagram of the the general path and the measurements we took. Knowing how difficult it is to get exact measurements, I added a third column titled Calculated Stride Length to compare against the Measured Stride Lengths. The numbers in the calculated column are based on the recorded step length. the numbers I am interested in are the average and means. 

The mean is the usual average,

so in Series A: Step Length average is 47.29:

(45 + 48 + 46 + 45 + 46 + 54+ 47) ÷7 = 47.29

The median is the middle value, so I'll have to rewrite the list in order

so in Series A: Step Length median is 46:

45, 45, 46, 46, 47, 48, 54

As you can see in the two sets, Series A and Series B, there average numbers and the means for the step and stride are relatively close.

Click to Enlarge

Below is a chronological slideshow of London Footprints (possible sequence of 120+ Sasquatch tracks). Photo compilation from Max Roy & Toby Johnson (initial discoverers), and Cliff Barackman & Thom Powell (first seasoned researchers on the scene) and yours truly, Guy Edwards (Bigfoot fanboy).

Finding Bigfoot Co-Host Cliff Barackman to Speak in Portland

(click to see larger version)

Friendly reminder for all you local Portland, Oregon folks. Toby Johnson of the Oregon Sasquatch Symposium fame, and Bigfoot Lunch Club (we did the flyer and the logo) will host Cliff Barackman at the Sasquatch Brewery, a family-safe venue, on Tuesday the 21st. The address for the Sasquatch Brewing Company is 6440 SW Capitoal Hwy. Portland, Oregon.

View Larger Map

Cliff has a great presentation on the research he did on a game cam photo. This photo has only been viewed by the public once before at Ray Crowes gathering at Patti's Home Plate Cafe.

Cliff will have excellent copies of famous casts to give away if you can answer Bigfoot trivia questions correctly.

At the following link, you can see Cliff Barackman's announcement. Also, according to Toby's Johnson,  there may be a tease of some recent news of an interesting track find south of Eugene.

Also this will be a great opportunity to buy your tickets to the 3rd Annual Oregon Sasquatch Symposium. Tickets will be $25 only $20 bucks!

Remember this year Bob Gimlin and Bill Munns will be doing a joint presentation about Bluff Creek and the patterson film. 

Georgia Bigfoot Hoaxer's RV Catches Fire While Looking for Bigfoot

Possibly Rick Dyer's (2008 Georgia Bigfoot Hoaxer)

"The driver told the fire department that he and his family were on a 36-state tour looking for Bigfoot." --WESH News

You can watch the local news video here, and read the report below. We have not been able to confirm it was indeed Rick Dryer, but it was an RV with the www.bigfoottracker.com web address.




WESH.COM

Bigfoot Trackers Involved In I-4 RV Fire

DELTONA, Fla. -- A fire that engulfed a recreational vehicle along Interstate 4 Thursday evening led to the closure of the eastbound lanes of the highway.

Officials with the Florida Highway Patrol said the highway was closed at Mile Marker No. 108.

The RV was in the right lane and shoulder of the road. The highway was closed for about an hour, and traffic was backed up for about 10 miles.

Volusia County Fire Services Battalion Chief Chris Sievert said the occupants of the RV -- three adults, two children and a dog -- all escaped uninjured.

The driver of the RV told fire officials that thick smoke started coming from under the hood as they were driving, so they stopped and got out. The State Fire Marshal's Office was called because the driver couldn't identify any mechanical issues with the RV.

Sievert said the RV was trailed to a sport utility vehicle with the logo for the website BigfootTracker.com , which advertises appearances on Animal Planet, CNN and other networks.

The driver told the fire department that he and his family were on a 36-state tour looking for Bigfoot.

Fire officials said the RV was a total loss, but the SUV had only minor heat damage as it was separated immediately from the flaming vehicle.

CLICKORLANDO.COM

RV fire backs up I-4 in Volusia County

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. -

The state fire marshal is investigating what caused a recreational vehicle to catch fire, after an enferno that back up rushhour traffic on Interstate 4 for miles.

Florida Department of Transportation cameras caught the massive fireball the engulfed the RV on I-4 at the St. Johns River Causeway in Volusia County Thursday evening.

Vehicles were backed up for miles and many drove right past the flames. Many drivers were stuck on the causeway, but others were able to find detours.

Tom Snyder got off before the bottleneck and said, "It's dead stop. We're going to Daytona and because it's on the bridge, you had to get on U.S. 17-92 to go around."

A family with children were inside the RV when it started to smoke. The driver said they pulled over and got out just seconds before it burst into flames.

The RV was hauling an SUV labeled "BigfootTracker" and Local 6 learned it's part of a team of people on a cross-country tour searching for Bigfoot.

The people in the RV escaped without a scratch, and they were lucky to escape in time, because there were propane tanks in the vehicle that never exploded.

Bigfoot Bones: Sasquatch Skeleton Analyzed and Compared to Human

Illustration by Guy Edwards, back when Hominidae were Pongidae

The picture above was illustrated by myself, back when we were calling the great apes Pongidae.  Its an appropriate companion to the article below, written by Yahoo! Voices contributor David Claerr. Below is a short excerpt from David's great article, "Bigfoot Bones: Sasquatch Skeleton Analyzed and Compared to Human". IOnce you visit David's sit you can see three more 3d Illustrations. We would like to extend our thanks to David Claerr for permission to reprint his copyrighted material.

Bigfoot Bones: Sasquatch Skeleton Analyzed and Compared to Human
Sasquatch Skeletal Anatomy Related to Body Kinetics and Motion 

David Claerr, Yahoo! Contributor Network

Feb 16, 2012 

David Claerr

As this article is being written, there are some significant scientific efforts that are expected to be published in the near future, particularly in the field of DNA sequencing, that will provide exceptional evidence to help verify the existence of Sasquatch, or Bigfoot as a living species of hominid. Preliminary reports suggest that they may be more closely related to humans than any of the other "great apes" or higher primates, such as chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas or orangutans, perhaps even related to or within the direct lineage that resulted in modern humans.

Skeleton comparison of human and Sasquatch

The purpose of this essay is to lay a groundwork for analysis of the structural anatomy, based on current evidence both from still and video imagery as well as what may be the actual physical, skeletal remains that have been exhumed in a few rare instances. (The important images accompanying this article can be enlarged by selecting them by the numbers and then clicking directly on the image.) In the course of both my independent and collaborative research of the Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, I have had the very good fortune to have access to collected evidence that is not available to the general public, and that in some cases, is either copyright protected or, by request, kept confidential pending further verification. I have been able to perform analysis and biometric measurements of cast prints of hands and feet as well as photometric measurements of skeletal remains of images from still and video footage. In addition, in my travels, I have been able to view physical hominin skeletal remains of indeterminate origin that are in excess of 8 feet tall.

Read the rest at here.

Bobcat Goldthwait Spends 3 Days Looking for Bigfoot

Bobcat Goldthwait Talks about Bigfoot and Religion

In a recent interview by www.mywesttexas.com Bobcat was driving through willow creek after spending three days looking for Bigfoot. below is an excerpt of the Bigfoot part of the interview.

During the interview, Goldthwait was driving through Eureka, Calif., on his way back from Willow Creek, which is "kind of the Roswell of the Bigfoot community. I'm coming back from looking for Bigfoot."

No success in the search but Goldthwait said, "I did meet some interesting people."

Today he described his life as "Pretty good.

"I really enjoy making movies (especially those he's not in). You are talking to a guy who just spent three days in the week looking for Bigfoot. I don't take my time on the planet for granted and go out of my way to look for the fun things to do."

Read more: Comedian 'having fun again on stage' - Mywesttexas.com: Entertainment http://www.mywesttexas.com/entertainment/article_feba0201-99fb-5404-a5ab-30fb34606c44.html#ixzz1mUmafV12 

Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

This is not the first time Bobcat has gone on record with his fascination with Bigfoot. While promoting his movie World's Greatest Dad, during an 2009 interview for atnzone.com, he waxes poetically about the philosophy of bigfoot.

Yeah! But that kind of (snaps fingers). I want to set it in the Bigfoot community, because as I was poking around there, the Bigfoot people all think they have the right version of Bigfoot. Some of them have seen it, others are ripping them off and they all fight. And I just thought it was a good way to examine faith without it being a parody of Christianity, because that has been done and is always very cartoony. So I thought about using Bigfoot as God, and I want to make it in a screwball kind of way. It’s just an idea.

Around the same time (2009) promoting the same movie, Bobcat is interviewed on a website called Groucho Reviews. Again he talks about the faith of Bigfoot.

"Oh, you know, I’ve always wanted to write a movie about Bigfoot," because I wanted to do a satire on faith, and I didn’t want to set it in the world of churches and stuff—just ‘cause the people who believe in Bigfoot all fight amongst each other really hard. So maybe someday I’ll make "His Girl Bigfoot."

It is clear that Bobcat Goldwait has had Bigfoot on the mind since at least 2009 and the intrigue still gets to him to this day. Bob, if your reading this, we think your a fantastic director/comedian and you should let us take you out to the woods. 

Huffington Post Does a Finding Bigfoot Round Table With Ranae Holland and Matt Moneymaker

Left to Right: Barry Weintraub of HuffPost Weird News,  Lee Speigel,
Ranae Holland and Matt Moneymaker

Watch the video below of a round table with Barry Weintraub & Lee Speigel (HuffPost Weird News) and  Ranae Holland & Matt Moneymaker (Finding Bigfoot)

Included with the video was this blurb written by Lee Speigle:

Armed with a military-type array of special night-vision and infrared technology, a group of determined hunters has only one mutual outcome on their collective mind: "Finding Bigfoot."

That's exactly what the four-person team of Animal Planet's popular series hopes to accomplish, finding ultimate evidence that groups of tall, hairy, human-like animals exist in the forest and wilderness areas of the world.

"People have been describing these types of animals in many different parts of North America for well over 400 years -- that's indisputable, that people have described seeing them," said Matt Moneymaker, founder and president of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, or BFRO, a network of scientists and amateur researchers interested in Bigfoot and its reported "cousins": Sasquatch, Yeti and the Abominable Snowman. 

SRC: HuffPost Weird News

Hyundai Canada Has a Great Sasquatch Campaign

Douglas Tait as Hyundai's Sasquatch

Some of you have seen the the Canadian Hyundai campaign starring Sasquatch. Below is the first video that aired on Canadian television. And a few others from the campaign. This is a small collection, you can see the rest at the Canadian Hyundai Sasquatch Campaign Site. The ones below are what we thought were the funniest; Sasquatch attacking a furry hat, wearing a fanny pack, etc..

Country Drive

Furry Hat

Fanny Pack

Psssst...

Dinner?

Slideshow of Sasquatch Pictures

Bigfoot Field Researchers Do Not Collect Enough Data

Fiona Stewart, a post doc student at Cambridge University
pioneered a new way of understanding our closest ancestors.

Collect data, any data. Record what you observe. These are tenets, we believe, are missing in Bigfoot field research. Fiona, in the picture above is a great example of how simple data collection can be pretty revealing. The data she collected spanned only twelve nights, and yet, yielded some interesting results.

In an article On catching up and new primatology methods ERUDEF cites Fiona Stewart's published research on why wild chimpanzee sleep in nest. At first the article comments on what is very familiar in most of the Bigfoot research we have come across.

The early primatological field researchers valued highly personal, anecdotal evidence; they did not separate it from quantitative data collection.

Then it goes into the data driven era of modern research, which, we believe has rarely happened in Bigfoot research.

However, the discipline today, like many scientific disciplines, is legitimized predominantly by the objective analysis of quantitative data.  A methodological approach is only considered valid and reliable if the scientist removes the personal journey experienced while attempting to answer a research question.

There is a third way, to combine subjective experience with objective data. In order to understand why chimps sleep in nest, Fiona slept in them herself.

Understanding why chimpanzees choose to sleep in nests has been a difficult question for many primatologists to answer. Nest building is a complex and time-consuming activity, yet all weaned chimpanzees do it every night. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this ubiquitous activity pattern: antipredation, antipathogen and thermoregulation. However, nobody has ever had the opportunity to empirically test any of these hypotheses for both logistical and ethical reasons.

Chimpanzees hanging out in a nest. Photo courtesy of livescience.com Fiona’s new approach was unorthodox, but it seems to have yielded interesting and intriguing results. For 12 nights she slept in either an arboreal chimpanzee nest or on the bare ground, all the while collecting data on her core body temperature, sleep duration, external and internal sources of disturbance and number of parasitic bites.

She then compared the data from her nights sleeping a chimpanzee nest with night spent sleeping without a nest structure. The results provided the first evidence that arboreal nests provide protection from parasites, assist with thermoregulation and improve overall sleep quality.

Chimps nesting.

Although Fiona gets credit for pioneering this "type" of research, it is important to note, according to a Grover Krantz obituary, "Once, in order to find out the advantage of huge brow ridges to Homo erectus, he made himself a replica of a homo erectus brow ridge that he strapped above his eyes [for six months]."

Fiona's example makes two arguments for us; one, we are not collecting enough data, two, data collection is simple and does not require a lot or time or effort to come to a conclusion.

BFRO, Finding Bigfoot, Cliff Barackman and Lizard Men

Cliff Barackman at the filming of season 1 finale of Finding Bigfoot. Photo by Neo Edwards 

"Humans have this arrogance where we think we have things all figured out, but we don't. It's kind of neat to know that there is still mystery in the world, and these things have still eluded us, and we don't know everything yet." --Cliff Barackman

In journalism a puff piece is defined as an article or story of exaggerating praise that often ignores or downplays opposing viewpoints or evidence to the contrary. At first, this article seems to be a puff piece for the  BFRO, eventually it gets down to the good stuff and has some real gems from Cliff Barackman. Its ends up going into other territories, like lizard men. Read it for yourself below.

Sasquatch investigators keep the faith alive 

This is Bigfoot Country

by Paul Bowers @ccpnews

Mary Beth Pope knows what she saw. On a clear night in November 2007, while hiking on an overgrown logging road in Sumter National Forest with four fellow members of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, she heard a crunch of leaves and twigs, glanced to her left, and saw an eight-foot-tall creature walking alongside her. It had shaggy fur and arms that swung down by its knees, and it was perhaps 30 feet away. She froze in her tracks and tried to stay calm.

Pope, who runs a sustainable-food wholesale and retail business on Pawleys Island, moonlights as a sasquatch investigator with BFRO, which is perhaps the largest group of Bigfoot believers in North America. Formed in 1995 by a man in Ohio named Matt Moneymaker, the BFRO sends its members into small towns and backwaters to check out reports of Bigfoot sightings and either confirm or debunk them. According to the group's website, the state with the largest number of reports is Washington, with 525. The one with the fewest is Delaware, with two. South Carolina has 49.

For this particular investigation, the team drove to the end of a forest service road and began hiking single-file toward a meadow clearing where skookum activity had been reported (skookum, like skunk ape or knobby, is just one of the many regional names for sasquatch). The researchers maintained a distance of 20 to 30 feet between each other and kept silent as they made their way through the pine forest. Pope was fourth in line, and she didn't want to spook the intimidating beast that had appeared to her left.

"I didn't want it to know that I knew it was there, so I started walking again," she says. "When I started walking, it started walking. It kept its head straight ahead." She quickened her pace to catch up with the third person in line, but he shushed her when she tried to get his attention.

"I could see the meadow and our people coming to the end of their hike, and all I wanted to do was get there, get where I could be close to other people," Pope says. Just before she got to the clearing, the creature peeled off and disappeared into the woods.

That night as they camped out in the clearing, she told her fellow researchers about the encounter. They believed it. Back home, her tales usually fall on skeptical ears. She remains unshaken. "For me, I don't feel like I have to convince anyone, because I know what I saw," she says.

Pope estimates that she has contributed to 75 to 100 reports since joining BFRO in 2007, although most are not publicly available on the BFRO website. She says the point of the data collection is not to prove the existence of Bigfoot — the members already know where they stand on that issue. Rather, the group is tracking data like rainfall and deer migration patterns to learn what it can about America's best-known cryptid.

Many of the people who report Bigfoot sightings don't want their names or locations made public, either out of fear that they will be ridiculed or that droves of sasquatch enthusiasts will come traipsing onto their property. BFRO protects its sources' anonymity when they request it.

"There's a lot of stigma attached to Bigfoot and Bigfoot sightings," Pope says. Her own brother had a face-to-face sighting with a mother sasquatch and her child in broad daylight in rural North Carolina, but he doesn't go around broadcasting that information.

"He doesn't like to talk about it," she says.

Not Alone in the Woods

When a person spends enough time alone in the woods, he can get the feeling that he is not, in fact, alone. Don Tart, a BFRO member from Westminster, S.C., says most of the game hunters he has talked to know exactly what that uncanny sixth sense feels like. When they admit they've felt it before, he tells them about infrasound.

Tart believes that sasquatches are capable of emitting sound waves below the 20-Hz threshold for human hearing. Like many of their other adaptations, he says, infrasound serves to help sasquatches either scare off or avoid human beings. They have also been known to bang on tree trunks and throw rocks when they are in distress, either to scare off intruders or to alert their families. They are even believed to use sticks to build small teepees indicating the presence of humans nearby, a behavior that he thinks might be related to the creatures' pre-Colonial contact with Native Americans.

And then there's the howl. "To me, it sounds like a cow in distress, but it carries for a lot longer," he says. "It's an eerie sound."

Don Tart (right) poses for a picture with renowned Russian Bigfoot expert Igor Burtsev during a scouting expedition in the Upstate

Don Tart (right) with Igor Burtsev

Tart himself has felt the unease of not being alone in the woods. The first time was in June 1980 near Mt. St. Helens, which had recently erupted and killed 57 people. The volcano was still spewing hot ash when Tart, then a freelance photographer, hiked into the red zone ­— the 10-mile radius where officials had said they would arrest anyone caught trespassing.

He walked toward the mountain in the dark morning hours, before the guards were to arrive at 7 a.m., and was scoping out vantage points for photographs when he looked down and saw a solitary footprint pressed deep in the mud that was perhaps 16 inches long and 5 inches wide. In his mind, he wrote it off as an enormous bear track, but a part of him felt a strong urge to get away.

For years after that first queasy encounter, he was only a casual observer of Bigfoot phenomena. He took a job at Duke Energy's Oconee Nuclear Station near Seneca. Eventually, after accompanying some BFRO investigators on a 2006 expedition in North Carolina, he accepted an invitation to become a member.

"In my line of business, as an engineer, I validate assumptions," Tart says. "But I've seen a lot that I can't explain. I've seen them up close and personal."

Bigfoot on TV

Here's what Cliff Barackman knows about sasquatches: They are omnivores. They have flat feet. They are probably nocturnal, which would explain the scarcity of daytime sightings.

"If you had never been to school — no culture, no math, no ability to make fires — but you had that big old brain and you funneled all that intelligence into avoiding people and surviving, you'd be very good at it too," he says. Barackman is one of the stars of Finding Bigfoot, a TV show about BFRO investigators (including Matt Moneymaker) that recently began its second season on Animal Planet after becoming one of the network's top three series in 2011. He knows people regard his career choice with derision, and they have even yelled at him in public for promoting Bigfoot theories. He understands why.

"It strikes this chord in us because they are so similar to us," Barackman says. "Perhaps, in some people, it makes them so uncomfortable because it reminds us that we are animals, that we are part of the food chain, and that we are still, in some ways, beasts."

Establishing credibility is a big part of Barackman's job these days. He says he focuses his energy on researching Bigfoot, but not other murky phenomena such as UFOs or chupacabra sightings, because he has realized that "the more diverse the weird things I'm into, the less credible I become."

Barackman has done investigations across the United States, and he says the reports don't vary based on demographics — he gets them from people of all races, creeds, and backgrounds. He also says that, for every report that the BFRO receives voluntarily, he meets 10 people on the ground who have never spoken up about their own Bigfoot sightings.

"In small towns, your reputation is sometimes the only thing you have," Barackman says. "You don't want to be seen as a liar or someone who hallucinates or is on drugs."

As a researcher, Barackman stands on the shoulders of luminaries in the field, people like Idaho State University professor Jeffrey Meldrum, who is perhaps the only person with a collection of sasquatch footprint casts that is larger than Barackman's. After authenticating plaster molds from the field — looking for telltale signs of a fake, such as the presence of an arch — he often shares them with Meldrum. By marking the lengths of footprints on a scatter plot, he and Meldrum have determined that male sasquatches have slightly larger feet that females, as is the pattern in most primates.

What should you do if you come face-to-face with a Bigfoot? Finding Bigfoot co-host James "Bobo" Fay likes to talk to the beasts, place food on the ground, and then leave the area. Barackman cites Oregon Bigfoot researcher Autumn Williams as giving the advice to "let it retain control, because you're not in control anyway."

"If they were dangerous and came after us, we would have gone after them with pitchforks and torches centuries ago," he says. "That said, I think it would be stupid to shoot one, because it would probably retaliate."

The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp

The last time South Carolina made it on the map, Bigfoot-wise, was in 1988. That summer, in rural Lee County, tourists and international media swarmed the tiny town of Bishopville hoping to catch a glimpse of the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp.

According to contemporary newspaper accounts, it all started when 17-year-old Christopher Davis pulled his car to the side of the road around 2 a.m. one June night. He had blown a tire near the swamp on the way home from work, and when he got out of the car to change the flat, he saw a monster with green skin and glowing red eyes bounding toward him. Terrified, he scrambled back into the car and pulled away, but not before something banged on his bumper and then jumped onto the roof. He swerved to throw the creature off and then sped home, taking hours to settle his nerves before telling his parents what he had seen.

After Davis finally worked up the nerve to tell Sheriff Liston Truesdale what he had seen, other reports started coming in from around the swamp and the Browntown neighborhood. In some instances, people reported torn-off fenders and bite marks on wheel wells.

To this day, the Lizard Man is a topic of conversation in Bishopville. There are believers who have evidence to back up their claims, and there are nonbelievers. There is now a Lizard Man 5K, and at least three songs have been written about the creature, while a museum in the town still peddles T-shirts and hats featuring crude drawings of the Lizard Man, vestiges of the year when Bishopville became an international curiosity and tourist hot spot.

Of course, the Lizard Man does not exactly fit the traditional model of Bigfoot stories. For one thing, it is much too aggressive. For another, it has been identified as a reptile with three toes per foot — although the authenticity of the tracks has been disputed. But Barackman thinks the Lizard Man might have been a sasquatch with a wrinkled face that spectators mistook for a scaly face. And anyway, the study of the Lizard Man falls under the same field of research as Bigfoot sightings, known as cryptozoology, or the study of creatures whose existence has not been proven.

In the summer of 2011, three professors from the College of Charleston — a biologist, a historian, and a communications researcher — traveled to Bishopville to hear Lizard Man stories, which by then had reached mythic status. Christopher Davis was murdered in 2009, but Sheriff Truesdale was still around and willing to talk.

The professors' two-day expedition did not yield any positive evidence. They saw the landmarks and heard stories from town historians, but they left as unconvinced as they had been when they arrived. Today, they talk about it with an air of academic distance. Their aim, after all, had been to learn about the Lizard Man's believers, not the Lizard Man himself.

Plaster mold of lizard man from lee county, S.C.

Plaster mold of lizard man.

Eric McElroy, who studies reptiles in the college's biology department, says the story of the Lizard Man would likely not have made it outside of Lee County if Truesdale had not taken Davis' story seriously. There are those who believe the Lizard Man was really a local farmer who dressed up to scare away people who had been stealing the copper coils from the air-conditioning unit in his butterbean shed.

"The sheriff said, 'I'm not here to be skeptical. I'm just here to investigate,'" McElroy says. "He treated it as a real case."

McElroy, for his part, did not take the same approach when he traveled to Bishopville. He knew that a reptile-human hybrid is an impossibility, and, as with all Bigfoot claims, he saw a simple lack of solid evidence. "These animals are eight feet tall and furry," he says. "I have a hard time believing that there's a population of these in existence that we've never seen a carcass and no one has ever kept one in captivity."

As a researcher, he was somewhat disheartened to learn about all the time and effort people had poured into validating legends like the Lizard Man. "The amount of money that goes toward researching Bigfoot is disappointing when you consider that basic science research is hurting for money," he says.

Robert Westerfelhaus, a CofC communications professor, had heard of Bigfoot stories while living in Columbus, Ohio, in the '80s. At the time, rumors abounded that Bigfoot-like creatures had come down from the Appalachian foothills in the southeastern part of the state. Sheriffs and teetotaler preachers had provided credible eyewitness accounts, but the culprit turned out to be bears that crossed over from West Virginia when a harsh winter froze the Ohio River.

After traveling to Bishopville, the thing Westerfelhaus found most remarkable was the way the Lizard Man had briefly buoyed local businesses and inspired hopes of economic revival. To this day, there are those who call for the construction of a Lizard Man statue in the town.

Perhaps the most keenly interested of the three professors was Scott Poole, the history professor and author of the 2011 nonfiction book Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting. In his book, he wrote that although Bigfoot-style stories have existed in America since the Colonial days, when they represented a fear of the unknown on the New World frontier, they really reached their golden age in the 1950s and '60s. He cites the proliferation of so-called "creature features" and alien-invasion films at the dawn of a nuclear age as a sign of unease with the direction of American scientific research.

"I tend to think that beliefs about Bigfoot, beliefs about UFOs, beliefs in the paranormal, this current fascination with ghosts and specters and hauntings, it comes in part from a religious impulse and an effort to re-enchant the world," Poole says. "We want to reject the idea that the world has been explained for us, that there's order, that there's rationality, and that science can answer the big questions."

Cliff Barackman, like many Bigfoot hunters, tends to see his research as more scientific than mystical. But ask him why his TV show is such a success and why sasquatch tales continue to fascinate decades after Bigfoot's prime as a cultural phenomenon, and he gives an answer similar to Poole's. "Humans have this arrogance where we think we have things all figured out, but we don't," Barackman says. "It's kind of neat to know that there is still mystery in the world, and these things have still eluded us, and we don't know everything yet. It's even cooler that it's right in our own backyard." 

SRC: CharlestonCityPaper.com