Bigfoot Hair Samples for 30 Bucks -- While Supplies Last

One of the 100 samples of Bigfoot hair being sold by Ty Shafer

"You would think it would be coarse, but it looks really soft — like you would see on a well-groomed dog or something,” Ty Shafer Collector, Novelty Retailer

UPDATE! After talking to Ty Shafer again, he clarified the man who gave him the hair was from Utah and the hair was, in fact from a trap in Washington. Also the hair is no longer available for $30 it will be available and up for auction July 7th. We also asked about the odor and he said there was no discernible scent to the hair at all.. 

Lufkin man puts 'Bigfoot hair' up for sale

Posted: Tuesday, June 19, 2012 10:26 am | Updated: 10:46 am, Tue Jun 19, 2012.

By ERIN PRADIA/The (Nacogdoches) Daily Sentinel

Monsters may not lurk under beds and in closets, but hair from Bigfoot may be bought at a place near you.

While Lufkin resident Ty Shafer cannot be 100 percent certain the hair he has in his possession is from Bigfoot himself, he is selling the novelty item for $30.

Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is commonly known as a hairy ape-like monster.

Shafer thought local residents may be interested in the novelty item because of the rumors of a Bigfoot wandering wooded areas of East Texas.

“If I sell it, it’s fine, if not I’ll keep it,” Shafer said. “Since I’ve been buying and selling things, my collection just keeps getting a little bigger.”

Shafer doesn’t have a shop, but he sells novelty items online, in local auctions and by taking out classified ads in the newspaper.

Shafer will appear on the History Channel’s Cajun and Pawn Stars show 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. According to www.history.com, Cajun Pawn Stars, puts a Southern spin on the History Channel’s hit series Pawn Stars, with a cast of quirky characters.

Shafer has taken out a classified ad to sell his lock of alleged Bigfoot hair.

“I got it from a guy out of state, actually. I can’t confirm it’s Bigfoot hair. You’d have to have the actual Bigfoot to match the hair,” Shafer said. “He’s just a big Bigfoot fan.”

The man Shafer purchased the lock of charcoal colored hair from had it labeled number seven of 10.

“You would think it would be coarse, but it looks really soft — like you would see on a well-groomed dog or something,” Shafer said.

Shafer is asking $30 for the lock of hair. So far, he has not had any serious inquiries in the two weeks since he acquired the hair.

“People who call about it are more curious than anything,” Shafer said. “They ask a few questions, but then they say they’ll get back to me.”

For information about the “Bigfoot hair,” or other items sold by Ty Shafer, call (936) 676-6059

Recent Bigfoot News Used to Teach English

 The Voice of America articles covers Bryan Sykes Research,
other cryptids and Oetzi (above) the iceman 

Special English is a controlled version of the English language first used on October 19, 1959, and still presented daily by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America (VOA). World news and other programs are read one-third slower than regular VOA English. Reporters avoid idioms and use a core vocabulary of about 1500 words, plus any terms needed to explain a story. The intended audience is intermediate to advanced learners of English.

Voice of America offers many news items in Special English to help learn not only the english language, but also to improve accents to sound like a native english speaker. Most articles are accompanied with audio as this one is below. The article covers the Collateral Hominid Project conducted by researchers from Oxford University and the Swiss Lausanne Museum of Zoology. So enjoy the audio that goes with the article below.

The Search for DNA from A Creature That May Not Exist

Read, listen and learn English with this story.

BOB DOUGHTY: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.

BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein. Today we tell about an appeal for genetic material from a famous creature that may not even exist. We report on the health of a man who lived five thousand years ago. And we tell about the effect of changing weather conditions on human ancestors -- the Neanderthals.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: Scientists have launched a genetic search for a large, ape-like creature called the Yeti. They are appealing to people who claim that Yetis exist to provide evidence of the creature.

Researchers from Oxford University and the Swiss Lausanne Museum of Zoology are calling their study the Collateral Hominid Project. Hominid is the general genetic family of primates. It includes modern human beings, also known as homo sapiens. The family also includes all other early human and human-like species.

BARBARA KLEIN: The Yeti is said to live in the mountains of Nepal and Tibet. It is most often described as a large, hairy hominid. It reportedly stands between two and two and one-half meters tall. The name Yeti means “magical creature” in the Tibetan language. Some people have called the creature, The Abominable Snowman or Sasquatch.

Creatures like the Yeti are known as cryptids. A cryptid is an animal that some people say exists, although there is no strong evidence that it does. There can be what is called “circumstantial evidence,” like unconfirmed sightings that cryptids exist. Yet scientific proof is lacking.

Other cryptids are Scotland’s Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot in North America, and central Africa’s dinosaur-like Mokele Mbembe.

BOB DOUGHTY: Researchers from the Collateral Hominid Project have appealed to individuals and organizations who say Yetis exist. They want to examine organic remains said to belong to the creature. The scientists say they are especially interested in testing pieces of hair. They plan to use recently-developed methods for studying DNA -- deoxyribonucleic acid. They say these methods produce clear results that cannot be falsified. They are planning to write a report about their findings and send it to a scientific journal for all the world to read.

In case you were wondering, the researchers say they do not expect to find any evidence proving Yetis exist. But they are promising to examine what is sent to them. They are accepting organic material for testing until September. The DNA tests are set to last from September through November.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: About twenty years ago, the mummified remains of a man were discovered in a melting glacier in the Italian Alps. The remains were said to be in very good condition. Tests showed that they were about five thousand three hundred years old. The mummy came to be called the Iceman. Scientists called him Oetzi because of where he was found. His body was frozen and mummified in the place where he fell after he was killed.

Over the years, Oetzi came to be buried under layers of ice and snow. But as the Earth’s climate warmed, those layers began to melt. In nineteen ninety-one, two Germans found the body while exploring the Oetztal Alps, near the border between Italy and Austria.

BARBARA KLEIN: Recently, European scientists announced completion of a DNA map of Oetzi. They said the map provided details about his appearance, his ethnic origins and even his health.

The details are described in a paper by scientists at the European Academy for Mummies and the Iceman in Italy, and at the Institute for Human Genetics in Germany. Among the findings is that Oetzi was genetically at risk for heart disease. Yet the scientists say he was not overweight and probably was very active. They say this information is important because it shows that heart disease existed more than five thousand years ago. They say that means the problem cannot be blamed on modern lifestyles or customs.

BOB DOUGHTY: Oetzi’s newly-mapped genome also shows that he suffered from borreliosis, also known as Lyme disease. The scientists say this is the earliest-known case of the disease. They say it proves that the disorder was present in the New Stone Age period.

The scientists found that Oetzi was unable to digest milk products. They say he became sick after eating such products or drinking milk. They say this finding supports the belief that what is called “lactose intolerance” was still a common condition in Oetzi’s time. Yet his people were becoming increasingly involved in farming. And some people raised dairy animals for their milk. Today, most Asians and Africans suffer from lactose intolerance, but few northern Europeans do.

BARBARA KLEIN: The researchers believe Oetzi’s ancestors probably came from the Middle East. The ancestors were thought to have moved to Europe, as agriculture continued to spread. The researchers say few modern-day Europeans share genes with the Iceman. Those who do live mostly in areas separate from the European mainland, like the Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Corsica.

Oetzi’s DNA map also has helped researchers recreate his physical appearance. They say he weighed about fifty kilograms, and had brown eyes and long brown hair. He was about one point six meters tall. This was an average height for a man during the New Stone Age.

BOB DOUGHTY: A report on the Iceman’s complete genome is published in the journal Nature Communications. We have included a link to the study on our website, voaspecialenglish.com.

Earlier studies found that Oetzi died at the age of forty-five. Examinations of wounds on his back show he was murdered. He was shot in the back with an arrow and left to suffer a cold and lonely death in the Alps.

Many scientists have noted the high quality of the clothing Oetzi was wearing and the fine copper axe in his possession. They say this likely means he and his family were probably important within their community.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Finally, another study has found that most Neanderthals had largely disappeared across most of Europe fifty thousand years ago. That is long before our ancestors, homo sapiens, first arrived on the continent.

 A team of researchers says its findings dispute the long-held belief that Neanderthals were in Europe for hundreds of thousands of years until modern Homo sapiens arrived. The researchers based their findings from studies of DNA taken from fossilized remains of thirteen Neanderthals who lived in what is now northern Spain.

BOB DOUGHTY: The scientists say the Neanderthal human species had died off as early as fifty thousand years ago. But they say a small group survived for another ten thousand years in areas of central and western Europe. The results suggest that Neanderthals may have been more affected by the sudden changes in climate during the last Ice Age than had been believed.

The DNA tests showed that older European Neanderthals had a much-greater mix of genes than much later Neanderthal populations. Older Asian Neanderthals also had a much greater genetic variation than the later populations.

BARBARA KLEIN: The researchers say they contacted other experts to help confirm their findings. That is because all of their results are based on severely-degraded, or damaged, DNA. They used both modern laboratory and computational methods to reach their findings.

The scientists say they only felt sure of their findings after an international research team studied them. They believe the genetic information reveals an important and formerly unknown part of Neanderthal history.

 Scientists from the University of Uppsala in Sweden led the study. They worked with researchers from Spain, Denmark and the United States. A report on the team’s findings is published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was adapted into Special English by Christopher Cruise. Our producer was June Simms. I’m Bob Doughty.

BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein. You can find a link to the Collateral Hominid Project on our website, voaspecialenglish.com.

Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

Kick Ass Oregon History Presents: Bigfoots in Oregon

Imagine you meet a girl who tells you she spent the previous afternoon drinking in a bar with the state of Oregon. During this wet afternoon Oregon spilled it's historical guts. This is the premise of ORHistory.com the home of kick ass Oregon history.

This is a brilliant website finely crafted by Doug Kenck-Crispin, a graduate student at Portland State University in the Public History Program, and Andy Lindberg, an actor, designer, musician.

June is Bigfoot month at ORHistory.com a/k/a Kick Ass Oregon History. In order to celebrate they have already had two podcasts, Bigfoots in Oregon Part 1 and Bigfoots in Oregon Part 2 (embedded at the bottom of the page) and will be speaking this Tuesday (6/19/2012) in Portland, Oregon at Jack London bar (basement of the Rialto, SW 4th and Alder). Free to get in, but must be 21 or over – there’s a full bar!

This will be the history of Bigfoot in Oregon from a bona fide historian! Who also happens to be engaging and entertaining. We can't wait and if you can't make it to the event we will do our best to share it with you after we attend.

Below is an excerpt from the announcement on the Dave Knows Best site.

Stumptown Stories: Bigfoots in Oregon (19-June-2012)
Posted on 17 June 2012
The Stumptown Stories: Free Tuesday Lecture Series, geared to anyone who is curious about the world and community in which we live and loves to learn new things, takes place most Tuesdays at Jack London bar (basement of the Rialto, SW 4th and Alder). Free to get in, but must be 21 or over – there’s a full bar!
This Tuesday, June 19, 2012 join Kick Ass Oregon History‘s resident historian Doug Kenck-Crispin as he presents Bigfoots in Oregon.

You see, June is BigFoot month at OrHistory.com

“So Sasquatch?” you rightfully ask, respectfully skeptical Ass Kicker. “Do we even know if Bigfoot is real, for realz?” And that is a great question to ask. In fact, we THANK YOU for asking such a question. And the answer to that question is, to quote Brandt, “well Dude, we just don’t know…”

If we dig deeper behind the methodology of the question, we might wonder that if something is not real, let’s say a One Eyed, One Horned, Flying Purple People Eater, then can it really be called “History?” And I, the Resident Historian of this learned site, counter with a resounding… “Maybe…”

We don’t know if there are Bigfoots. We do know that Native Americans in the area have disparate oral traditions of things that might be considered Bigfoot-esque. We also know there have been some crazy big prints found, some difficult to identify scat and hair, and almost innumerable sightings reported. But we don’t have a (thank God) Sasquatch in a cage, a body in the woods, or even a portion of the aforementioned to really examine and prove existence definitively. So in a sense, I feel it is a fair statement to proclaim that we don’t have a real history of this beast to present.

But there is NO disputing that there is a phenomenon that is called “Bigfoot.” Thousands of sightings have taken place of this gentle giant of the woods, and he (or the lactating “shes”) have left their imprint on the legacy of Oregon’s History.

The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. Always free. Always fascinating.
And don’t miss the Bigfoots of Oregon Kick Ass Oregon History podcasts – part 1 and part two (embedded below) are live!

Kick Ass Oregon History: Bigfoots in Oregon | PART ONE



Kick Ass Oregon History: Bigfoots in Oregon | PART TWO