Bigfoot Lunch Club 2012 Year in Review Pt 1

What happened in Bigfoot News this year? We crunched the numbers and analyzed the statistics and can confidently tell you what Bigfoot Lunch Club fans thought were the greatest and favorite posts! 

JANUARY: Larry the Cable Guy

We start the year with Larry the Cable Guy refusing to believe what his own ears heard. In our post. "Larry the Cable Guy Call Blasting for Bigfoot" Larry the Cable Guy goes out with Field research team, Kentucky Bigfoot and does some call blasting.

Larry jokingly does a ridiculous call and to everybody's surprise he gets a response. Kentucky Bigfoot's Charlie Raymond told BLC, "In order to make sure Larry and his crew are not pulling a fast one over on us, I contacted Blake Smith, a production crew member...I asked him to ask the crew if they did in fact made the howl, or is Larry simply still in denial? Blake explained to me on 1-18-12 over the phone that he talked to the crew and they did NOT make the howls.

Listen for yourself below.

11-11-11 larry the cable guy by BigfootLunchClub

FEBURARY: The London Trackway

February was dominated by a historical track finding 120 sequential tracks made by a possible Sasquatch, coined by Thom Powell as The London Trackway. In our post, "London Trackway: Over 120 Sequential Sasquatch Prints Found" we reported the time line of events from when they were discovered by a passerby (Max Roy), reported to Toby Johnson and casted by Cliff Barackman, Chris Minnier, Thom Powell, Beth Heikenen, and Guy Edwards. We also include measurements of the Step Length and Stride Length.

Check out the slide show collection of the best photos taken by the investigators below.

MARCH: The Melissa Hovey Photograph

Our initial post, "Melissa Hovey Releases Detailed Bigfoot Picture," was published in late February, but it was the conversation afterwards in March that really made this photo interesting.

This photo which was sent to Melissa Hovey in 2008 was polarizing from the beginning, causing copyright disputes and YouTube channels to be shut down, personal attacks etc..

We took a slightly different route and asked two of the best special effects make-up artist to weigh in. 

We asked Bill Munns (Creature of the Black Lagoon) who said, "If it is fake, it does represent a fair amount of both skill and expense on the part of the fabricator." 

Mr Munns went on to comment about the fur, "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."

We also asked Lee Romaire, (Letters From the Big Man) who also commented on the fur, "The fur is simply too uniform in color, density and direction to be authentic...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). "

With both experts independently identifying the type and brand of fur, astute reader, Rodney Young, actually went to National Fibre Technology (NFT) and asked for free samples to compare the fur with the photo.

click to enlarge

APRIL: The White Bigfoot

MK Davis is most notable for his stabilization of the Patterson Gimlin film. He is still doing video analysis. In our post, "White Bigfoot or Patchy Ungulate?" we shared MK's recent work on VHS tapes he recieved.

The tapings were part of a four-year project producing over 50 six-hour VHS tapes (that's 300 hours). MK has had them for about six months and has digitally transferred the VHS tapes himself. 

These videos were taped on a land that was initially purchased because the current owner was looking for Indian artifacts, like arrow heads and what have you. Eventually he kept coming across large prints and tracks and wanted to know what could be making them. With the help of a technical savvy person he set up a surveillance cameras.

MK's Video analysis is below. Our position? The video is non-definitive, there simply is not enough information to determine, or rule out, anything. MK insists, "Its definitely not a cow or an ungulate, I'm pretty sure of it because I got better pictures of it..."

MAY: Oxford University Bigfoot DNA Study

According to Rhettman Mullis, President of Bigfootlogy, the idea of doing Bigfoot DNA research was a joint brain-child of himself and Team Bigfootology member Dr. Anna Nekaris who is a colleague of Dr. Bryan Sykes. Bryan Sykes is a professor at the University of Oxford who has written the critically acclaimed book Seven Daughters of Eve. A book that suggests that, based on genetic DNA research, all modern Europeans can be classified into seven groups.

This "news" was officially released on May 22nd, but you read it here first in our post, "Dr Jeff Meldrum Participates in Oxford University Genetic Bigfoot Study" In our post Dr. Jeff Meldrum mentioned his participation at a NW Bigfoot Conference. Eventually mainstream media caught up with the Bigfoot DNA News.

Mixed reactions followed, Dr. Meldrum was careful to announce this as a parallel Bigfoot DNA study. Another study had already been in progress headed by Melba Ketchum of DNA Diagnostics. Some felt this was a threat to the Ketchum Study which has been promising peer-review and journal publication for years.

Rhettman Mullis makes the distinction that the Sykes study is not only about peer-review and journal publication, "There are two different things happening. Dr. Sykes is writing a book on the findings... they are also filming a documentary that will be three one hour shows about the event."

JUNE: Idaho Bigfoot Video

At BLC we hate Bigfoot videos, which is a shame because it seems most people are interested in them. Regardless of our own personal feelings, we still report the Bigfoot news. In our post, "Watch Video of Jeff Meldrum Discussing new Idaho Bigfoot Video," we share a report from an ABC affiliate covered a possible Bigfoot video taken by three students.

Later this year the popular TV show, Finding Bigfoot opened the third season with an episode called, "Ripped from the Headlines." In this episode they do their own investigation of the video and the footprint photo attached to the same incident.

Watch two clips from the episode below.

This only the first half of the Year! GO TO PART 2 NOW!!

Bigfoot Lunch Club 2012 Year in Review Pt 2

What happened in Bigfoot News this year? We crunched the numbers and analyzed the statistics and can confidently tell you what Bigfoot Lunch Club fans thought were the greatest and favorite posts! This is Part 2 make sure you READ PART 1 FIRST!

JULY: Chinese Bigfoot Expedition

In 2010 we shared the story about the Hubei Wild Man Research Association looking for 100 scientist and explorers. Later that year we shared the Yeti hair research by The Shennongjia Nature Reserve. Then in July we announced China's effort to Explore Virgin Forest Home of 'Bigfoot'.

Later it was a man not an institution that would inspire us to learn about the Chinese Bigfoot known as yeren. Perhaps because he reminded us of ourselves, spending time in the woods, at times feeling obsessed and driven to get another glimpse--another sound. In our post, "One Man's Inspiring Story about China's Bigfoot" we introduced you to someone's who's heart and curiosity was close to ours despite being an ocean away.

For the past three decades, Li Guohua has had just one mission in life: to find the legendary "Wildman" in the thick forests of Hubei province.

He can't recall how many times he almost lost his life to unexpected cold, falling into canyons or fighting bears. He was even mistaken by police for being an armed fugitive when trying to trace the ape-like Wildman in the mountains of Shennongjia, the scene of numerous witness reports of this elusive ape-man.

The retired 62-year-old firmly believes in the existence of Wildman and plans to organize an exploration team.

"Although I am not as vigorous as I used to be, I am still strong enough to climb mountains and with my experience I can guide young team members," he says. "I am sure I will find a Wildman and be able to provide solid evidence if I can get support from others."

AUGUST: The Man Who Killed Bigfoot Passes Polygraph

Justin Smeja claims he killed two Bigfoot, to many in the community he is synonymous with the term Bigfoot Steak, for the slice of thigh meat he carved from one of the dead Bigfoot. His "steak" is being independently tested for Bigfoot DNA.

As you would expect he is a controversial figure, not only for his suspected credibility, but his stance on killing Bigfoot. For many in the community it is taboo. Despite his "bad guy" reputation, almost all who have met him personally have befriended him.

In July Ro Sahebi of The Bigfoot Report did a fantastic interview with Justin Smeja. It was August though that put Mr. Smeja on the map. This was when he passed a polygraph test backing his claims to have killed two Bigfoot. Our two most popular post were reactions from the key players and our exclusive interview with the polygraph examiner.

SEPTEMBER: The Elbe Trackway Hoax

This was the biggest disappointment of the year. Although we were there to investigate the tracks, the best reporting was done by Thom Powell of ThomSquatch.com.

In Thom's post, "The Elbe Trackway: I Doubt It," he states his initial apprehension that lighting doesn't strikes twice. He helped investigate the London Trackway in February.

Using the London Trackway as a reference, over the next two-weeks after the investigation he found the evidence un-compelling and announced it as a possible hoax.

Unfortunately Thom's suspicions turned out to be completely accurate and the hoaxer was outed as someone  that was among the community. Hoaxes sting worse when it is done from within the community.

OCTOBER: Spike TV's 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty

In late October we announced in our post, "Spike TV's 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty," that there was going to be a reality-based game show pitting teams of Bigfooters together competing for a $10 Million prize.

The biggest prize in TV History, there is a stipulation of winning the prize. According to the press release, the teams, "will be faced with the daunting task of proving to a group of experts that Bigfoot, the hairy ape-like sasquatch, exists with the irrefutable evidence."

Proof hasn't happened yet, maybe a monetary incentive will help. We also investigated how a show can afford to have a huge prize insured in our post, "How Can Spike TV Afford a 10 $Million Cash Prize? They Can't." 

As of now they are currently still taking submissions for candidates.

NOVEMBER: The Bigfoot Blimp & Bigfoot DNA Press Release

November got the attention of the Mainstream media. At first everybody was talking about the Bigfoot Blimp. Officially called the Falcon Project, we announced Dr. Meldrum's support in our post, "Dr.Meldrum Backs 3-Year-Old Bigfoot Blimp Project"

Almost simultaneously, Melba Ketchum, who had been working on her own Bigfoot DNA study for the last 5 years, submitted a press release stating several sensational findings including the suggestion that Bigfoot is part human, almost immediately we got email from scientific peers and compiled them in our post, "First Bigfoot DNA "Peer Review" Results are In-- But, Not as Expected.'

the general consensus was Ketchum's biggest challenge is to insure that she was able to minimize contamination completely. We have gone on record as having a few concerns ourselves; pushing back the deadline of publication, DNA Diagnostics previous inability to deliver test results on time, and over all irresponsible communication about scientific results. Some in the community can not understand how we can hope for success and have concerns at the same time, but we really do hope Melba Ketchum makes a contribution to Bigfoot research.

DECEMBER: More Native Americans Please

Although not strictly a December phenomena, but our most popular stories are about the contributions made by Native Americans. 

The White Apache Nation announced that Bigfoot sightings have increased. If you have read Thom Powell's Op-ed, Native American names for geographic location are clues to best Bigfoot areas. The Navajos have been more forthcoming about Bigfoot Sightings thanks to great research done by J.C. Johnson. 

Finally, we learned from archaeologist, Robert Muckle, that at least one indigenous group had specific instructions for the archaeologists working within their territories, "report any Bigfoot sightings to the Indigenous group and thereafter maintain confidentiality." 

We respectfully request Native Americans to share the oral traditions and help us understand Sasquatch as you do.

Thank you fans! Each year gets better and better. Your support and comments are appreciated; critics and supporters alike. Each one of you helps make BLC a better website. I hope you know how much I love doing Bigfoot Lunch Club.