Dr. Eugenie Scott Debunks Bigfoot and Wildmen

"I would like it (Bigfoot) to be real -- Dr. Eugenie Scott"

This is our third post regarding Bigfoot skeptics. Previously we had a post about Brian Dunning, who although skeptical, is quite sympathetic towards us Bigfooters, and we also had a post on Benjamin Radford's top ten reasons Bigfoot is Bogus.

It's important to us at Bigfoot Lunch Club to air all voices regarding Bigfoot, even if we disagree with them. We love intelligent Bigfoot skeptics, we really do. The really smart ones showcase what we, as Bigfooters, have to overcome. If they are really good, they do half of our work for us by defining challenges we may have overlooked. The good ones are worth listening to; enter Dr. Eugenie Scott.

Dr. Eugenie Scott is a physical anthropologist who defends the teaching of evolution in public schools through the National Center of Science Education (NCSF). The NCSF's mission is described in more detail below:

We educate the press and public about the scientific, educational, and legal aspects of the creation and evolution controversy, and supply needed information and advice to defend good science education at local, state, and national levels.

Dr. Scott is also President of the Bay Area Skeptics. Founded in 1982, the Bay Area Skeptics encourages critical thinking and accuracy in the media and in our schools. They encourage rational thought and critical thinking through the use of scientific methods. They are particularly interested in such topics as claims of the paranormal, pseudoscience, and untested or poorly tested medical and psychotherapeutic practices.

In the video below Dr. Eugenie Scott represents the Bay Area Skeptics. She quickly identifies two camps of Bigfooters. In the first camp, as she describes them, are the paranormal, mystical Bigfooters that believe Bigfoot can shape shift, she quickly marginalizes them and says that is an argument for theologists. In the second camp are, as she defines them, cryptozoologist. She is critical of their lack of scientific process and ability to test their explanations. On this point we agree, we wish there was better evidence to test our explanations, its not for lack of trying. Dr. Scott does say Scientist like Dr. Jeff Meldrum are heading in the right direction.

The entire hour and half video is well worth watching, it gives us some insights into what our challenges our in seeking Bigfoot. The Table of Contents is below and you will have to click on the "Watch Full Program" in the embedded video to see the whole presentation.

Video Table of Contents:
01. Introduction: 00 min 56 sec
02. Bay Area Skeptics: 02 min 33 sec
03. Two Types of Wildmen of the Woods: 06 min 15 sec
04. Scientific Investigation of Bigfoot: 04 min 06 sec
05. Cryptozoology: 03 min 43 sec
06. Likelihood of Undiscovered Bigfoot Species: 04 min 18 sec
07. Where Bigfoot Lives: 03 min 04 sec
08. Remnants of Giant Asian Ape?: 04 min 36 sec
09. Bigfoot Prints: 08 min 49 sec
10. Existence of Orangutan: 05 min 02 sec
11. Habitat Encroachment: 00 min 35 sec
12. History of Bigfoot Sightings: 02 min 13 sec
13. Strength of Belief in Bigfoot: 00 min 36 sec
14. Bigfoot Books: 02 min 48 sec
15. Explanations for Sightings: 03 min 54 sec
16. Unreliability of Eyewitness Reports: 04 min 38 sec
17. Yeti Movie: 02 min 27 sec
18. Bluff Creek Sighting Video: 08 min 46 sec
19. Snow Walker Yeti: 06 min 32 sec
20. Camera Traps Fail to Spot Bigfoot: 03 min 34 sec
21. Analysis of Hair Samples: 05 min 21 sec

Don't forget to see the entire program click on ""Watch Full Program" in the bottom right of the embedded video.

External Links

Bay Area Skeptics
National Center for Science Education

Daily Examiner: Motorist Catches Site of Yowie

We just have a small excerpt below from the full article at Australia's Daily Examiner. According to Yowie Researcher Paul Cropper, "In our book we recorded around 350 reports going back to the late 1700s, early 1800s, but I imagine there's a lot more than that which don't ever reach the media..."

After the excerpt you can check out Yowie and many other Bigfoot Variants at the official AKA Bigfoot World Map.

THE DAILY EXAMINER | MAY 19
MOTORIST CATCHES SIGHT OF YOWIE

...“I reached the top of the hill and I was coming around the sweeping corner to the right when I noticed something a lot larger than a kangaroo in the middle of the road – my headlights weren't on it yet but it was a bright night and I saw what looked like a large person stooped over, with a big overcoat on,” Dean said.

“At the time I thought ‘you silly old thing, what are you doing in the middle of the road at this time of the morning', but next thing I knew my headlights started to light it up and it took one giant step off the road, it went from standing up like a person to going down on all fours and then it disappeared into the scrub in about three bounds.”

Dean, who is used to night-driving and fatigue management, slowed down and was looking into the scrub for the creature and said he saw it silhouetted against the sky.

“It had an almost sort of a square, shaggy block head sitting straight on its shoulders – I'm a pretty big guy but it made me absolutely awe-struck how huge its body was – it had its arm up against a tree and it had about a foot of hair hanging from under its biceps.”

He estimated the creature to be at least two metres tall and covered in what looked like jet-black hair...

View AKA Bigfoot World Map in a larger map

EXTERNAL LINKS
Daily Examiner: Motorist catches sight of a yowie
Yowie on AKA World Map

Alaskan Bigfoot in Ketchikan

In our opinion blurry videos of Bigfoot does not make news--until it makes news. The Alaskan Dispatch files this story about a video posted on May 13th filmed in Ketchikan, Alaska.

The full Alaska Dispatch report is below.

Our Alaska: Bigfoot sighting in Ketchikan?
Alaska Dispatch | May 18, 2011

Driving up the Alcan Highway through Canada, there is a whole stretch of Canadian towns along the road touting their bigfoot-rich properties, a tourist draw for those who believe in the unsubsantiated animal. Alaska is well-known for its hulking wildlife -- bears, moose, caribou and sea lions are among the biggest draws -- but when it comes to the elusive bigfoot, there seems to be a dearth of sightings for a state so enveloped in the woods that play home to the legendary beast in other parts of the world. Maybe the Bigfoot's northern cousin, the yeti, is a more appropriate fit for Alaska, where half the state hangs above the Arctic Circle.

But recently, YouTube user putua76 posted a shaky video that purports to capture the unconfirmed creature on tape near Ketchikan, Alaska.

From the original upload:
I was on a logging road in Ketchikan hiking with my friend when I saw it! Boy did my heart start racing!! It was about 40 yards from the road! Not sure if it knew I was there or not, because the noise of flowing water from the stream. It seemed to travel fast! It made my hair stand up!! At one point you can see a whitish yellowish thing in it's hand! I believe it was skunk cabbage. Not sure, but it is in bloom.

You see it jump and after that point it just seems to disappear. There was a lot of brush and trees between it and I, I could not tell where it had gone. It was a scary sort of exciting feeling at the same time!! We went to search for tracks but the river bed where we thought it was walking was full of perfect skiping rocks, we found no prints! If there is a BigFoot, Sasquatch, or Kushtaka I swear I saw him!!

According to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, this would be the first reported sighting of a bigfoot in Ketchikan, although there have been 21 previous sightings in Alaska, eight of which have occurred in Fairbanks or Southeast Fairbanks.

As with all bigfoot video the creature is hard to see, hidden behind trees and partially or totally obscured, giving just enough evidence for the skeptics to dispute and just enough for the believers to support. So is there a bigfoot in Alaska? We'll leave that up to you.

EXTERNAL LINKS
Alaskan Dispatch: Bigfoot sighting in Ketchikan?
Ketchikan Video on YouTube