San Diego Weekly Paper Covers Bigfoot

The first issue of the San Diego Reader came out on October 4, 1972. It was a 12-page weekly black-and-white tabloid with an initial printing of 20,000 copies. Since 1972 the Reader has grown to nearly 200 pages and 160,000 papers are distributed each week.

This week they have a cover story about Bigfoot and controversy ensues.



The cover story begins with a hiking adventure in which author, James Snyder, finds a foot shaped imprint in a rock. Its starts as a delightful tale of a hiker in the initial stages of Bigfoot wonder until two things happen. First, Snyder is dismissive of Dr. Jeff Meldrum's opinion. Second, Snyder claims Michael Esordi unfulfilled revenue promises for the casting of the imprint.

You are welcome to read the whole thing here, its a story with 3862 words spanning nine pages. We have the 300 word version below followed by an excerpt from Michael Esordi's response.

An unexpected shape caught my eye. “What the heck,” I murmured. “That looks like a huge footprint.” Closer, I ogled a five-toed imprint embedded into the rock. “Hey, Rich, I just found Bigfoot!” I shouted over my shoulder. Rich made his way toward me. I squatted down to examine the impression and noticed dermal folds under the biggest toe. The toes were flexed to the side in unison, the way mine would be if I stepped at the same angle as this foot once had. “Oh, yeah, I see it,” said Rich. “It’s probably a natural rock formation. Sure looks real, though.” There was an unspoken rule of hiking courtesy between us: You show interest in what I find, and I’ll do the same.

Soon, curiosity about the footprint had eroded my ability to think of anything else. A general contractor, I got off work early one day and decided to put the issue to rest. I stuffed my backpack with a five-gallon bucket that contained a gallon jug of water, a third of a bag of 20-minute (hot mud) drywall compound, a jar of Vaseline, a paintbrush, a trowel, and some cardboard and tape. Then I made for the trailhead.

I sent photos of the print to a Bigfoot website run by a local expert, Michael Esordi. He posted them on his site, and within days, the Bigfoot people started chiming in with opinions. Dr. Jeff Meldrum, an Idaho State University expert on Bigfoot prints, said, “It can’t be. I see a quartz vein in the rock.” However, the supposed “quartz vein” was a white mineral-water stain from a seasonal flow of water. So much for the “expert.”

I took the plaster cast to Michael Esordi, the Sasquatch expert in Point Loma, who runs the Bigfoot website. He made a latex mold of the cast, so he could make and sell copies on his site. I was to receive profits, but he suddenly moved to Rhode Island, and I never saw a dime, yet he kept the Ramona Bigfoot cast in his merchandise offerings for a while.

Michael Esordi, in the comments section of the page, describes his contact with Snyder in detail and at one point responds directly to Snyder never seeing a dime.

... On the occasions I met with Mr. Snyder he conveyed two things to me. One was that he wanted to determine what had made the footprint and the other was to see what kind of monetary compensation could be made from his find. After some discussion, I obtained Mr. Snyder’s permission to make a cast from his original and to offer it for sale on the website. I personally covered all costs of production and manufacture on the item and did place it into commerce on my website. However, there was minimal interest in the item and no profits were ever made on it. Given this fact, I discontinued sale of the item ...

Our take-away from this story? If this imprint is in granite, then we need to rethink how heavy we think Bigfoot is!

** UPDATE **
Our generous friends at www.bigfootencounters.com alerted us to the original story they uploaded back in May of 2002. You should give them a visit here. Below is a photo of the actual imprint, that was included with the original 2002 article.



Another picture provided by Bobbie Short of Bigfootencounters.com. Thanks again Bobbie!



The link to the San Diego Article is here.
You can learn about Jeff Meldrum here.
You can learn about Michael Esordi here.
You can visit Esordi's site The Bigfoot Museum here.
The Original 2002 article can be read at bigfootencounters.com

Sylvanic Bigfoot Case Closed

David Rodriguez a frequent commentator at Ghost Theory has alerted us to some interesting, if not damaging, evidence regarding Todd Standing of Sylvanic Bigfoot fame.

David Rodriguez points us to GhostTheory.com. We recommend you check it out too. Its extensive, detailed and a little long. We will give you the readers digest version here.

First, in case you havn't read our previous two posts on Sylvanic. Here is the gist as described by Javier Ortega of GhostTheory.com.

Todd Standing has been saying for years that he knows of a secret valley which lies somewhere in the border of the United States and Canada called “Sylvanic”, a name given by the “locals”. In this valley, Mr. Standing claims that he has encountered a group of Bigfoot like creatures and has even filmed some of them during past expeditions.

"One of the first red flags is in the name Slyvanic. Todd’s website said that this is the name the “locals” had given this hidden valley."

syl·van also sil·van (slvn)
adj.[Medieval Latin sylvnus, from Latin Silvnus, god of the woods, from silva, forest.]

Given the fact that Sylvanic is derived from the latin Sylvus, it is suspicious that native people in the United States would have given this valley a Latin name. This is not concrete evidence of Todd being deceitful since many places in the United States do have Latin origins like California. One could say that Todd was confused as to the origin of the name or who exactly had initially named this place.

I then started to see several comments originated from the same computer or network using different name handles and emails. These comments were pro Sylvanic in nature.

PRO SYLVANIC COMMENT # 1
Author : Tracey (IP: 75.155.73.92 , d75-155-73-92.abhsia.telus.net)
E-mail : *****@hotmail.com
Comment:
With all the research Standing has done and spent years working on with his team, I would think serious bigfoot believers would understand the immense cost involved. He has never made any money, donating cash to humane societies. It is my guess he needs funds to further research, as sort of indicated on his site.

That aside, getting biologists involved can be so difficult. People always talk the talk but when it’s time to get in action, so many fail to bring it. It is my understanding that this is why Standing has gone to journalists, they can make the discovery VERY public and hopefully hurry along the species protection Standing is trying to gain before revealing their location.

Kudos to Standing, I think he is doing a great job and needs more support and encouragement, not rude comments from derogatory, narrow-minded individuals who have never so much as been in the forest and have no idea what they are talking about.

PRO SYLVANIC COMMENT # 2
Author : Louise (IP: 75.155.73.92 , d75-155-73-92.abhsia.telus.net)
E-mail : ****@gmail.com
Comment:
As the writer writing this NOVEL, I must say there are always skeptics and doubters. I have all of Todd’s information and evidence, much of which has never been released and will not be without species protection. I agree with him that the species would be threatened if he gave out this info.

The problem with evidence, in my opinion, is that for real conclusive and irrefutable evidence you MUST provide a genuine body. Without that, no skeptic, including governments will accept the reality of them. Todd works towards finding a body and until such a time, there will always be those who just don’t believe.

PRO SYLVANIC COMMENT # 3
Author : mark (IP: 75.155.73.92 , d75-155-73-92.abhsia.telus.net)
E-mail : ****@gmail.com
Comment:
I bought both videos a couple of days ago after reading these articles. I think their great. The website explains alot, and i listened to his interview on sasquatch radio from the 28th of dec. the link is here http://www.blogtalkradio.com/sasquatchwatchradio/2009/12/29/sasquatch-watch-radio-todd-standing-of-sylvanic

I hope he finds a body and proves all you nay sayers wrong.

These are just the red Flags uncovered by Ghost Theory. Apparently Todd Standing has a history of inconstancies. These are revealed by a commenter known as MutipleEncounters or ME. You can read ME's post at BFRO you have to scroll halfway down the page) here and read also read ME's further comments at the GhostTheory.com here.

Who is David Rodriguez

David Rodriguez will be a guest speaker at the Oregon Sasquatch Symposium. An excerpt from his bio page below.

David Rodriguez is a 52 yr old Oregon resident who has had a number of encounters with sasquatch over the last 32 years of his life. Dave is self employed and has taken on a variety of community projects over the decades. He is also an avid outdoorsman and hunter.

His first visual encounter of a Sasquatch occurred in 1977 in Yosemite National Park where he and his then roommate almost ran into one late at night while it was crossing the road in front of his vehicle. His most recent "major" encounter was while deer hunting in the Cascades 5 yrs ago late one afternoon, when a Sasquatch came crashing through the timber to cut him off. He and his German Shepherd then had to approach the "individual" within a distance of 22' in order to pass. Dave calmly spoke to the "individual" even though he admits to never being so scared in his life. Despite having numerous other encounters, and more than once with rifle in hand, Dave has long avoided getting involved in the research end of the field until 3 years ago. After twice being within 25' of a Sasquatch, Dave now takes his visual and non visual encounters in stride. He looks forward to his growing ability to stay calm during what are still rare but amazing encounters with this mysterious species.

Rodriguez has a great report entitled "Snow Loading an Alternate and Major Cause of Tree Breaks." While some may incorrectly assume from the title, Rodriguez is discrediting tree breaks as a possible tell-tale sign of Sasquatch behavior. This is simply not true. Rodriguez is doing all field researchers a favor, by giving us insight into how to differentiate types of tree breaks, especially those found in lower elevations.

The report can be read here, it is thorough, complete and has great graphics to illustrate his points.



The best thing about this report is David Rodriguez, he's not afraid to tell Bigfooters things Bigfooters may not want to hear. He is sensitive to the passion of Bigfooters, but honest enough to provide information that can only make us all better Bigfoot researchers.

We salute you David.