On July 15, 2009, I was on a business trip to the area and attended a Tribal Council meeting at Eagle Butte on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. People at the Tribal Council session also asked for federal help with some things that sounded strange to non-tribal ears. For example, one local woman, who left before I could talk with her personally, asked Washington for help dealing with Walking Sam. The woman, who was elderly but otherwise quite lucid, described Walking Sam as a big man in a tall hat who has appeared around the reservation and caused young people to commit suicides. The woman was from Red Scaffold, which is a small community on the reservation.
I looked through quite a number of books trying to find any reference that I could to Walking Sam. Well, I didn't go looking for Walking Sam, but I did stay in a town that weekend that straddles the edge of the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. Whether Walking Sam represents Bigfoot, an evil spirit, or is just a manifestation of the fear that people have about losing their loved ones to what seems an incomprehensible type of event, the teen suicides are real.
UNDERSTANDING ARDI, a one-hour special produced in collaboration with CBS News will air at 11 PM (ET/PT) immediately following DISCOVERING ARDI. The special is moderated by former CBS and CNN anchor Paula Zahn and includes research team members Dr. Tim White, Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie, Dr. Giday WoldeGabriel, Dr. Owen Lovejoy, and science journalist Ann Gibbons The scientific investigation began in the Ethiopian desert 17 years ago, and now opens a new chapter on human evolution, revealing the first evolutionary steps our ancestors took after we diverged from a common ancestor we once shared with living chimpanzees. "Ardi's" centerpiece skeleton, the other hominids she lived with, and the rocks, soils, plants and animals that made up her world were analyzed in laboratories around the world, and the scientists have now published their findings in the prestigious journal Science. "Ardi" is now the oldest skeleton from our (hominid) branch of the primate family tree. These Ethiopian discoveries reveal an early grade of human evolution in Africa that predated the famous Australopithecus nicknamed "Lucy." Ardipithecus was a woodland creature with a small brain, long arms, and short legs. The pelvis and feet show a primitive form of two-legged walking on the ground, but Ardipithecus was also a capable tree climber, with long fingers and big toes that allowed their feet to grasp like an ape's. The discoveries answer old questions about how hominids became bipedal.
Ever wonder how things get popular and become trends? Trendhunter.com seems to think they do. Apparently Bigfoot is becoming a hot trend. The above video is one example of how Trendhunter aggregates different media to support a rising trend.
Below is a self description from the Trendhunter Website #1 in Trends - With 9+ million monthly views, TrendHunter.com is the world's largest, most popular trend community. Fueled by a global network of 28,000 members, Trend Hunter and Trend Hunter TV feature 52,000 micro-trends and cutting edge ideas.
Routinely sourced by the media, Trend Hunter is a source of inspiration for industry professionals, aspiring entrepreneurs and the insatiably curious. Trend Hunter has been featured or cited by: MTV, The Economist, CNN (2x), Time, CBC (3x), T3 (4x), Cosmopolitan, GQ, Glamour, Entrepreneur, The Globe and Mail (2x), Entertainment Tonight (3x), FOX News (3x), The Financial Times (40x) and even the personal blog of Kanye West.
TrendHunter.com was launched in 2005 by Jeremy Gutsche, an innovation expert and keynote speaker who wanted to build a home for new business ideas and creativity.
Go to trendhunter.com to see how bigfoot is becoming a trend.
An exerpt from Trendhunter.com
This week the internet was set ablaze with videos and proof of the Chupacabra ‘Vampire Dog’ in Texas and Bigfoot in Georgia. Could Chupacabra and Bigfoot both be captured in the same week? It seems unlikely… So why the coincidence?
If I had a little more time on my hands, I would fake both of them to create a big publicity stunt.
Accordingly, I am going to explain 5 Reasons to Fake Chupacabra and Bigfoot for Publicity:
1. Accuracy is Not Required for Viral - In March, one of the most viral posts on the net was the redesigning of the Eiffel Tower; the Serero Project. The news spread like wildfire, with people passionate, excited and upset. The kicker is that the project was a fake. Big deal, the Guardian and others still printed it…
2. Mythvertising Works - Last month, we saw UFOs crash land next to the London bridge… But wait, aliens don’t exist! Tell that to Vauxhaul. People were immediately intrigued by the idea that a myth had been made real. Days after getting media attention, the new Vauxhaul was revealed. Vroom vroom.
3. It’s Easy to Fake ‘NO EVIDENCE’ - In the case of Bigfoot, how difficult is it to list the features of Bigfoot and announce that DNA proof of Bigfoot will come later? By the way, did anyone else notice that Bigfoot was discovered in Georgia, but the press conference is in Palo Alto? That’s the heart of Silicon Valley, BTW…
4. It’s EASY to Fake a Weird Dog - Guess what? If you want to make a dog look like Chupacabra, you simply add something around his nose and take a blurry video from far away. But won’t ‘adding something’ to a dog’s head make the dog run funny? Exactly! What if people doubt the legitimacy of blurry Chupacabra footage? Easy, say that the footage is from a police car video and interview a small town police officer…
5. Brand Association - There are 450,000 Google results for “Trend Hunter”… But there are 10,000,000 results for the word Bigfoot. The bottom line is that Bigfoot is a big brand… But nobody owns him, and that means his brand is FREE! Well imagine that. In short, both Bigfoot and Chupacabra are well known brands that you can use to boost your product.
The only other note is that I would fake Bigfoot before faking Chupacabra. I say this because it’s taken me half an hour to write this article and most of that time was spent learning to spell Chupacabra / chupecabre / chupa-whatever. Having said that, maybe it’s just because in Canada we don’t have goat-sucking vampire dogs.
In short, when the Bigfoot Chupacabra hoax is revealed, I’d like say that Trend Hunter told you first… However, I’d be happier to say that Trend Hunter did it!
