http://www.mania.com/lair-beasts-apeman-sumatra_article_131611.html A Monstrous Book
Nick Redfern
November 19, 2011
Just published by Britain’s CFZ Press is a brand new book from Richard Freeman, of the Center for Fortean Zoology, one of the very few full time groups in the world dedicated to uncovering the truth behind Bigfoot, the Yeti, sea-serpents, the Chupacabra, and much more of a beastly nature.
Over the course of the last few years, Richard has been on a number of expeditions to the island of Sumatra in search of its very own equivalent of Sasquatch: It has become known as the Orang-Pendek.
And, having collected an absolute mass of very impressive reports, credible on the record testimony, numerous stories, and taken hundreds of photographs, Freeman has now gone ahead and published his many and varied findings in his latest book, which is titled: Orang-Pendek: Sumatra’s Forgotten Ape.
Richard says of his quest to find the answers behind the legendary mystery: “We are impressed by big things; dinosaurs, whales, rhinos, super-tankers, skyscrapers. Mention mystery apes to the man in the street and he will imagine bipedal hairy giants, 10 feet tall. Indeed most reports of such things speak of massive animals; the Yeti, the Yeren, the Sasquatch, and the Yowie.”
He continues: “But for every Bigfoot there is a Littlefoot. Stories of little hairy men are widespread - but none are as famous as Sumatra’s Orang-Pendek.”
As for the specific nature of the Orang-Pendek, here’s what Freeman has to say: “Orang-Pendek means ‘short man’ in Indonesian. The creature is said to be powerfully built and immensely strong but relatively short at around 4½ to 5ft in height. It walks upright like a man and rarely, if ever, moves on all fours.”
And as Richard has come to learn during the course of his various expeditions, the Orang-Pendek is “…generally said to have dark brown or black fur but honey colored or reddish hair has been reported. Sometimes a long mane of hair that falls down to the shoulders is also mentioned. The Orang-Pendek generally seems to be a solitary creature, though there are rare reports of groups of them being seen together.”
CFZ Press note of Richard Freeman’s Orang-Pendek: Sumatra’s Forgotten Ape that: “This book looks at the history of sightings of the Orang-Pendek; similar creatures across the world; has in-depth accounts of the author’s four CFZ expeditions in search of the creature; and finally analyses the evidence to produce a cogent theory as to what the elusive short man of the forest might actually be.”
The editor and director of the CFZ, Jonathan Downes says of Freeman’s work that: “It is a tour de force by Richard Freeman, one of the most popular cryptozoology authors on the planet and the author of Dragons: More than a Myth and The Great Yokai Encyclopaedia - The A-Z of Japanese Monsters.
And if all of that has caught your attention - and you’re interested in learning much more about a mysterious ape that isn’t Bigfoot or the Abominable Snowman - then I most definitely recommend you get hold of a copy of Freeman’s Orang-Pendek: Sumatra’s Forgotten Ape at the earliest opportunity.
Written skillfully, and in an entertaining fashion, by someone who knows his way around the island of Sumatra, who has extensively searched for the animal, and who has some amazing stories, data, and witness testimony to share, the book is likely to become one of the most important, new cryptozoological-themed books in a very long time. I don’t exaggerate!
Nick Redfern’s new book, Keep Out, is published by New Page Books in December
Showing posts with label Bigfoot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bigfoot. Show all posts
Friday, December 2, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
The Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot Footage 44th Anniversary
From CryptoMundo.com:
Why do I think the P-G footage is authentic?
I feel it combines many forms of evidence:
1. The event occurred in an area known for Native traditions of these forms of hominoids. Locally, the cryptid is called Oh-Mah.
2. There are contemporary sightings, from the 1950s onward, here.
3. In this specific incident, the animal was seen.
4. It was smelled.
5. It was sensed by the horses.
6. A trackway of ten prints was found, the tracks casted and preserved – via film and in a physical state – for others to analyze. Such examinations reveal flexible, animate feet for this cryptid, historically now known as a Bigfoot.
7. And finally, the apparent animal was filmed, and analysis of this footage by Americans, Canadians, Russians, and others verify this was authentic, probably made of an unknown primate, and it was not an elaborate or casual hoax, as assumed by debunkers and some closed-minded skeptics, in a few cases...
Patterson-Gimlin Footage Turns 44
Loren Coleman
October 18th, 2011
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/p-g-44
Why do I think the P-G footage is authentic?
I feel it combines many forms of evidence:
1. The event occurred in an area known for Native traditions of these forms of hominoids. Locally, the cryptid is called Oh-Mah.
2. There are contemporary sightings, from the 1950s onward, here.
3. In this specific incident, the animal was seen.
4. It was smelled.
5. It was sensed by the horses.
6. A trackway of ten prints was found, the tracks casted and preserved – via film and in a physical state – for others to analyze. Such examinations reveal flexible, animate feet for this cryptid, historically now known as a Bigfoot.
7. And finally, the apparent animal was filmed, and analysis of this footage by Americans, Canadians, Russians, and others verify this was authentic, probably made of an unknown primate, and it was not an elaborate or casual hoax, as assumed by debunkers and some closed-minded skeptics, in a few cases...
Patterson-Gimlin Footage Turns 44
Loren Coleman
October 18th, 2011
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/p-g-44
Sunday, October 9, 2011
U.S. And Russian Scientists Target Elusive Siberian Snowman
Lee Speigel
lee.speigel@huffingtonpost.com
10/5/11
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/siberian-snowman_n_994268.html
Snowmen aren't just playthings children build in wintertime. Some say they're living beings, and an international group of scientists are about to go hunting for one -- specifically, the Siberian Snowman.
Around the world, there have been reports of large, hairy, human-like creatures. Known variously as Bigfoot, Sasquatch, the Abominable Snowman and the Siberian Snowman, none of the elusive animals have ever been captured to confirm their existence.
But cryptozoologists -- researchers who study the alleged existence of unknown animals -- say eyewitness accounts, photographs, films, videos, footprints, hair and even fecal material all suggest the possibility of an unknown species that doesn't seem to want to be discovered.
That may all change, as scientists from the U.S., Russia and other countries come together this week for a conference that will include a trek to the Siberian region of Kemerovo to hunt for the alleged snowman.
"The creatures are generally five and a half to seven and a half feet tall, a lot thinner than what most people think of as a Yeti or Bigfoot," said Loren Coleman, founder and director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
"They're hearty-looking and have multi-colored brownish-black fur, sometimes with a lighter top to their head and patches of white on their arms, which is unique to the Siberian Snowmen."
Coleman, who is the co-author of "The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates," added that the elusive Siberian Snowman is reportedly not as fearful of humans as are his hairy counterparts on other continents.
"They're sometimes seen at the edge of a forest just staring at people and not really considered as wild creatures, compared to some Yeti reports in Nepal where they reportedly attack yaks or sherpas," Coleman told The Huffington Post.
Sightings of the Siberian Snowmen have increased three-fold over the past 20 years, prompting scientists at Moscow's Darwin Museum to speculate that there may be a small population of these creatures.
Igor Burtsev, head of the International Center of Hominology in Moscow -- which investigates so-called snowmen -- told The Voice of Russia radio that "when Homo sapiens started populating the world, it viciously exterminated its closest relative in the hominid family, Homo neanderthalensis."
"Some of the Neanderthals, however, may have survived to this day in some mountainous wooded habitats that are more or less off limits to their arch foes. No clothing on them, no tools in hands and no fire in the household. Only round-the-clock watchfulness for a Homo sapiens around."
While the Darwin Museum invited Coleman to join its Siberian conference and to give a presentation, he declined, because rather than extending to him the professional courtesy of paying for his trip, "they turned around and said, 'Oh, no, we can't afford that!' And they suggested I go to one of the online travel services to get a cheap flight," Coleman said.
Despite that little inconvenience, Coleman said he thinks the museum is doing serious work in the realm of hominology -- the study of unknown hairy bipedal creatures.
Another reason why it's not the most convenient time for Coleman to be trekking through Siberia is that he's in the process of a major expansion of his museum -- the only cryptozoology museum in the world.
"We're going to have enough space now to exhibit more of the evidence, including my collection of 150 footprint casts and other materials from Yeti, Bigfoot and other hominids from around the world," he said.
As scientists search for evidence of the Siberian Snowman in the mountains of Kemerovo, Coleman will have a grand monster re-opening of his museum on Oct. 30 in Portland.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Bigfoot Toy Collectibles
Lyle Blackburn of the excellent Rue-Morg.com Website has created a a virtual museum of Bigfoot related toys. Some of the pictures are here: others include GI Joe and Lego sets. To see the entire collection:
http://rue-morgue.com/blog/archives/2011/09/17/monstro-bizarro-finding-plastic-bigfoot
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Here be monsters
Sceptics love to poke fun at cryptozoologists, but there are strange creatures out there whose existence has yet to be confirmed by science
Carole Jahme
Friday 15 July 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2011/jul/15/here-be-monsters-cryptozoology
I'm not sure who or what is more monstrous: the smug sceptics or the scant cryptids.
Let me explain. Having interviewed Debbie Martyr (research conservationist with Flora and Fauna International) 12 years ago about her apparent sighting of the primate cryptid the orang pendek in Sumatra and more recently interviewing ape expert Ian Redmond on his research into sasquatch/big foot (supported by David Attenborough and Jane Goodall), over the years I have acquired a fascination for primate cryptids. So I was eager to attend a recent lecture at the Zoological Society London (ZSL) entitled "Cryptozoology: science or pseudoscience?".
Henry Gee, a senior editor at Nature looking and behaving like a jovial, off-duty roadie dressed in grubby T shirt and ruby crocs, chaired the event in which Drs Michael Woodley, Charles Paxton and Darren Naish presented their crypto data.
Paxton reminded us that atmospheric electrical disturbances such as sprites, blue jets and elves were only identified in the 1980s and 1990s when they were photographed. Until then, anecdotal reports of flashes of light above the clouds were frequently ignored. Scientists used to dismiss accounts of meteorites as paranormal fantasy and poured scorn on eyewitness descriptions from lucky survivors of rogue waves – until satellite images in the 1990s confirmed their existence. The mountain gorilla wasn't believed to exist by Western science until two were shot dead in 1902, and the bonobo was not credited with being a unique species until 1930. In the past 20 years, 70 species of primate have been newly described, including a Vietnamese gibbon and the Bili ape: a large, sub-species of chimp from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2009, a Papua New Guinean crater yielded up a cat-sized species of woolly rat, among other previously undiscovered creatures.
In an age of satellites and robotic submersibles, it's easy to assume, with a "been there done that" attitude, that we know all there is to know about Earth. Clearly nature is far from being fully understood by science, and yet some sceptics persist in contemptuously sneering at almost everything outside of their immediate knowledge. With their high-systemised inability to tolerate newness, they stymie open scientific debate, bully original thinkers and drive away those with fascinating new data on unknown species.
I was sad to witness this and their non-reflective guffawing at ZSL. Paxton and Naish seemed particularly conscious of this spiked criticism and made a point of distancing themselves from misleading and bad science. Nothing wrong with that, but they were so ardent in this respect that the friend I was with mistakenly thought the panel were themselves anti-cryptozoology.
The three speakers focused their statistical analysis on sea monsters, Paxton saying that he prefers the term monster to cryptid. He also wanted to assure the audience that, "taxpayers have no fear, your money is not spent on crypto research, scientists do this in their spare time." Paxton's talk underscored the fact that anomalies should be actively pursued and science should be about wonderment.
But how should science deal with low-frequency phenomena that might well be real? One approach is to break witness reports down and analyse interesting properties. To illustrate, Paxon used his data of "initial reported distance" from sea monsters given by witnesses aboard boats. Significantly, initial sighting are usually reported close to the boat. Paxton wasn't sure why this might be. I would suggest that it is because witnesses do not know what they do not know – they have to see it close-up to be confident they are witnessing something unexpected. An unknown creature seen at a distance could be dismissed as a dolphin or a piece of wood. Initial sightings of terrestrial cryptids also tend to be at close proximity, and again the same factor may well apply.
Naish addressed the "prehistoric survivor paradigm". Some 65m years ago, during the late cretaceous, the coelacanth, the plesiosaur and many other species disappeared from the fossil record during a mass extinction. But in 1938 and again in 1999 two species of coelacanth were discovered. This Lazarus-like survival of the coelacanth gives confidence to those who suggest a long-necked surviving plesiosaur swims in our lochs and oceans. As a palaeontologist Naish was able to explain how the vertebrae of plesiosaurs could not move in the flexible, swan-like motion often described in reported sightings. But he believes this is a case of wrong classification rather than an indication that sea monsters do not exist. We were reminded of the new Indonesian species of ray and shark and the two recently identified (1991/2002) species of beaked whale, inhabiting a deep-sea niche: the deep sea and its inhabitants are barely understood.
During the Q&A an elderly sceptic quipped: "Some people say they've seen aliens and have even talked to them!" The panel trod an uneasy path as they attempted to accommodate these sorts of jibes while keeping on track.
The three speakers confirmed that their modelling indicates there are between 10 and 50 large species of marine animals yet to be described. They were also in agreement that marine sampling methods for cryptids must be established and remain constant.
For those readers left wanting more, the Weird Weekend is the biggest gathering of cryptozoologists in the world, held in Devon in August. Naish will again be speaking.
Carole Jahme
Friday 15 July 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2011/jul/15/here-be-monsters-cryptozoology
I'm not sure who or what is more monstrous: the smug sceptics or the scant cryptids.
Let me explain. Having interviewed Debbie Martyr (research conservationist with Flora and Fauna International) 12 years ago about her apparent sighting of the primate cryptid the orang pendek in Sumatra and more recently interviewing ape expert Ian Redmond on his research into sasquatch/big foot (supported by David Attenborough and Jane Goodall), over the years I have acquired a fascination for primate cryptids. So I was eager to attend a recent lecture at the Zoological Society London (ZSL) entitled "Cryptozoology: science or pseudoscience?".
Henry Gee, a senior editor at Nature looking and behaving like a jovial, off-duty roadie dressed in grubby T shirt and ruby crocs, chaired the event in which Drs Michael Woodley, Charles Paxton and Darren Naish presented their crypto data.
Paxton reminded us that atmospheric electrical disturbances such as sprites, blue jets and elves were only identified in the 1980s and 1990s when they were photographed. Until then, anecdotal reports of flashes of light above the clouds were frequently ignored. Scientists used to dismiss accounts of meteorites as paranormal fantasy and poured scorn on eyewitness descriptions from lucky survivors of rogue waves – until satellite images in the 1990s confirmed their existence. The mountain gorilla wasn't believed to exist by Western science until two were shot dead in 1902, and the bonobo was not credited with being a unique species until 1930. In the past 20 years, 70 species of primate have been newly described, including a Vietnamese gibbon and the Bili ape: a large, sub-species of chimp from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2009, a Papua New Guinean crater yielded up a cat-sized species of woolly rat, among other previously undiscovered creatures.
In an age of satellites and robotic submersibles, it's easy to assume, with a "been there done that" attitude, that we know all there is to know about Earth. Clearly nature is far from being fully understood by science, and yet some sceptics persist in contemptuously sneering at almost everything outside of their immediate knowledge. With their high-systemised inability to tolerate newness, they stymie open scientific debate, bully original thinkers and drive away those with fascinating new data on unknown species.
I was sad to witness this and their non-reflective guffawing at ZSL. Paxton and Naish seemed particularly conscious of this spiked criticism and made a point of distancing themselves from misleading and bad science. Nothing wrong with that, but they were so ardent in this respect that the friend I was with mistakenly thought the panel were themselves anti-cryptozoology.
The three speakers focused their statistical analysis on sea monsters, Paxton saying that he prefers the term monster to cryptid. He also wanted to assure the audience that, "taxpayers have no fear, your money is not spent on crypto research, scientists do this in their spare time." Paxton's talk underscored the fact that anomalies should be actively pursued and science should be about wonderment.
But how should science deal with low-frequency phenomena that might well be real? One approach is to break witness reports down and analyse interesting properties. To illustrate, Paxon used his data of "initial reported distance" from sea monsters given by witnesses aboard boats. Significantly, initial sighting are usually reported close to the boat. Paxton wasn't sure why this might be. I would suggest that it is because witnesses do not know what they do not know – they have to see it close-up to be confident they are witnessing something unexpected. An unknown creature seen at a distance could be dismissed as a dolphin or a piece of wood. Initial sightings of terrestrial cryptids also tend to be at close proximity, and again the same factor may well apply.
Naish addressed the "prehistoric survivor paradigm". Some 65m years ago, during the late cretaceous, the coelacanth, the plesiosaur and many other species disappeared from the fossil record during a mass extinction. But in 1938 and again in 1999 two species of coelacanth were discovered. This Lazarus-like survival of the coelacanth gives confidence to those who suggest a long-necked surviving plesiosaur swims in our lochs and oceans. As a palaeontologist Naish was able to explain how the vertebrae of plesiosaurs could not move in the flexible, swan-like motion often described in reported sightings. But he believes this is a case of wrong classification rather than an indication that sea monsters do not exist. We were reminded of the new Indonesian species of ray and shark and the two recently identified (1991/2002) species of beaked whale, inhabiting a deep-sea niche: the deep sea and its inhabitants are barely understood.
During the Q&A an elderly sceptic quipped: "Some people say they've seen aliens and have even talked to them!" The panel trod an uneasy path as they attempted to accommodate these sorts of jibes while keeping on track.
The three speakers confirmed that their modelling indicates there are between 10 and 50 large species of marine animals yet to be described. They were also in agreement that marine sampling methods for cryptids must be established and remain constant.
For those readers left wanting more, the Weird Weekend is the biggest gathering of cryptozoologists in the world, held in Devon in August. Naish will again be speaking.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Bigfoot Investigators Hope DNA Test Will Confirm Existence
Bigfoot Investigators Hope DNA Test Will Confirm Existence Of Two Man-Beasts
Lee Speigel
lee.speigel@huffingtonpost.com
06/16/11
http://weirdnews.aol.com/2011/06/16/bigfoot-dna-evidence-face-impression-body-hair_n_877718.html
California Bigfoot investigators were shocked over Memorial Day weekend when they found strange markings and hair on their pickup truck windows.
Now, they're hoping DNA tests will prove once and for all the existence of the legendary man-beast.
"On the passenger side window, when I first saw it, I almost threw up," said Jeffrey Gonzalez, an AT&T electronics technician and founder of the Sanger Paranormal Society.
Gonzalez and several others were in California's Sierra National Forest searching for evidence to confirm the reality of the creature. When it started to snow at their campsite, they were forced to leave two of their vehicles behind.
"Two days later, we came back to pick up our vehicles and that's when we found the impressions," Gonzalez told AOL Weird News, recalling what he and his companions noticed on the passenger window.
"Apparently, the creature was looking in the window and left behind dirt and oil on it, leaving such an awesome picture, you can see the nose, the eye, the hair all over the face and the shoulders -- it's creepy, and it's not a bear."
Gonzalez and his friends -- including a former science teacher and a correctional officer -- also found a 12-inch footprint at the site. They concluded their hairy intruder wasn't a bear because none of the four ice chests that were filled with food on the back of Gonzalez's truck had been touched.
But it wasn't just the passenger side window that presented a surprise -- the driver's side of the truck showed the imprint of a much larger creature, strongly suggesting there were two unexplained visitors to the campsite.
"An impression was left of a nose, eyes and lips, but they were extremely large," Gonzalez said. "The lips measured about 6 inches long. You can see that the whole face was full of hair, so when it leaned up against the window, you can see the depth of the eye socket in the glass.
"I've shown people -- non-believers -- this photograph and this totally freaked them out."
After Gonzalez returned home that day, he called a forensic expert to take DNA samples of the fur or hair that was left around the window impressions.
"One of the cautions I have about finding a nose print or anything on the side of a car is that it could be a homeless person, resulting in people letting their imaginations go wild," said Loren Coleman, owner of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
"Of course, if you take a DNA sample and it comes back near-human or primate, then it would match both Bigfoot and a homeless person," Coleman told AOL Weird News.
But what about the addition of the large footprint near the truck where the window impressions were made?
"A 12-inch footprint is not too exciting, because it could be a human or bears imprinting on top of each other," Coleman said.
"In this case, it might not have been a homeless person, but in wilderness areas, there are other hikers and somebody would've naturally put their nose up to the window to look inside the car."
Gonzalez is holding a news conference on June 23 at the Piccadilly Inn in Fresno, Calif.
"I'll be presenting video of both windows, pictures and live testimony from the people who shared the event with me. We will also have a forensic expert who took DNA samples," he said.
Coleman, a long-time investigator of Bigfoot and other legendary creatures that come under the category of cryptozoology, is cautious about the outcome of this kind of news.
"You know, I'd be a fool if I didn't say that I'm hoping there's definitive evidence of Bigfoot found. I hope somebody will turn over any evidence to some scientists who could then hold a news conference at a university.
"Then people won't doubt what's going on."
Lee Speigel
lee.speigel@huffingtonpost.com
06/16/11
http://weirdnews.aol.com/2011/06/16/bigfoot-dna-evidence-face-impression-body-hair_n_877718.html
California Bigfoot investigators were shocked over Memorial Day weekend when they found strange markings and hair on their pickup truck windows.
Now, they're hoping DNA tests will prove once and for all the existence of the legendary man-beast.
"On the passenger side window, when I first saw it, I almost threw up," said Jeffrey Gonzalez, an AT&T electronics technician and founder of the Sanger Paranormal Society.
Gonzalez and several others were in California's Sierra National Forest searching for evidence to confirm the reality of the creature. When it started to snow at their campsite, they were forced to leave two of their vehicles behind.
"Two days later, we came back to pick up our vehicles and that's when we found the impressions," Gonzalez told AOL Weird News, recalling what he and his companions noticed on the passenger window.
"Apparently, the creature was looking in the window and left behind dirt and oil on it, leaving such an awesome picture, you can see the nose, the eye, the hair all over the face and the shoulders -- it's creepy, and it's not a bear."
Gonzalez and his friends -- including a former science teacher and a correctional officer -- also found a 12-inch footprint at the site. They concluded their hairy intruder wasn't a bear because none of the four ice chests that were filled with food on the back of Gonzalez's truck had been touched.
But it wasn't just the passenger side window that presented a surprise -- the driver's side of the truck showed the imprint of a much larger creature, strongly suggesting there were two unexplained visitors to the campsite.
"An impression was left of a nose, eyes and lips, but they were extremely large," Gonzalez said. "The lips measured about 6 inches long. You can see that the whole face was full of hair, so when it leaned up against the window, you can see the depth of the eye socket in the glass.
"I've shown people -- non-believers -- this photograph and this totally freaked them out."
After Gonzalez returned home that day, he called a forensic expert to take DNA samples of the fur or hair that was left around the window impressions.
"One of the cautions I have about finding a nose print or anything on the side of a car is that it could be a homeless person, resulting in people letting their imaginations go wild," said Loren Coleman, owner of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
"Of course, if you take a DNA sample and it comes back near-human or primate, then it would match both Bigfoot and a homeless person," Coleman told AOL Weird News.
But what about the addition of the large footprint near the truck where the window impressions were made?
"A 12-inch footprint is not too exciting, because it could be a human or bears imprinting on top of each other," Coleman said.
"In this case, it might not have been a homeless person, but in wilderness areas, there are other hikers and somebody would've naturally put their nose up to the window to look inside the car."
Gonzalez is holding a news conference on June 23 at the Piccadilly Inn in Fresno, Calif.
"I'll be presenting video of both windows, pictures and live testimony from the people who shared the event with me. We will also have a forensic expert who took DNA samples," he said.
Coleman, a long-time investigator of Bigfoot and other legendary creatures that come under the category of cryptozoology, is cautious about the outcome of this kind of news.
"You know, I'd be a fool if I didn't say that I'm hoping there's definitive evidence of Bigfoot found. I hope somebody will turn over any evidence to some scientists who could then hold a news conference at a university.
"Then people won't doubt what's going on."
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Bigfoot the Monster
Thanks to X-Entertainment.com for the following...
Big Foot the Monster
Our Recommended Age: 3 - 7 years
Manufacturer's Age: 3 - 8 years
Our Price: $109.99
Imagine a little monster with a big personality. That's the Fisher-Price Imaginext Big Foot the Monster. He's happy. He's angry. He's sleepy. He's fun. He talks, walks and throws a ball. He also chews, burps and exercises. Kids can bring him to life with an easy-to-use wireless remote control. The symbols on the buttons show what Big Foot will do, so no reading is required.
Features
Easy-to-use wireless remote control
The remote control has a toggle and seven buttons. The toggle allows him to walk forward and backwards, and the six buttons are happy, angry, sleep, fun, ball, and exercise.
Wide range of emotions
Press the happy button to hear him laugh, or press the angry button to hear him roar and watch him pound his fists or raise his arms above his head and shake his fists. With the push of another button, your child can also change his expression to watch his face shift from a frown to a smile.
Sweet dreams
The sleep button makes him go to sleep and emit loud snoring sounds. Press any of the emotion buttons on the remote while he sleeps to hear him dream.
Fun and games
Press the ball button to hear him say things like "play" and watch him throw the ball. Press the button on his belly to hear him laugh. Don't forget the fun button on the remote to hear a unique rap and a variety of other sounds and words.
Strong muscles
Your child can help Big Foot complete a rigorous workout with a push of the exercise button. Watch him "lift weights" and turn somersaults while making grunts and other crazy sound effects. If he works out too much he will say "No More!"
Dinner time
After a long workout, Big Foot is always ready for a snack, and his favorite meal is a delicious green leaf. Press the button in his mouth to make him chew and burp. He will even remember to say "excuse me."
Friday, December 4, 2009
Southern Fried Bigfoot DVD
http://www.bigfootsurplus.com/bigfoot_books/04-0010.phpSouthern Fried Bigfoot DVD
Southern Fried Bigfoot profiles some of the people and groups who have made efforts to study and pursue the southern sasquatch. And while it covers the subject of strange creatures in the South, a few key legends are highlighted.
They include:
The Fouke Monster
The hairy creature that has been sighted around Fouke, Arkansas for decades and was the inspiration for the cult classic film "The Legend of Boggy Creek."
The Skunk Ape
The foul-smelling creature that is said to haunt the Everglades in Florida.
The Honey Island Swamp Monster
The beast that is rumored to prowl the swamplands northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Lake Worth Monster
A white shaggy creature that was sighted repeatedly near Fort Worth, Texas in the late 1960s.
$19.00
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Backyard Bigfoot
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6162993/Backyard-Bigfoot-gorilla-like-creature-photographed-in-Kentucky-garden.htmlBackyard Bigfoot: gorilla-like creature photographed in Kentucky garden
A gorilla-like creature that resembles the mythical creature Bigfoot is causing excitement on the web after being photographed in the back garden of a home in Kentucky.
09 Sep 2009
The mystery creature is about the size of a bear, but with a smaller head.
The large, hairy beast can be seen in a blurry picture taken on an automatic camera set up by an amateur hunter.
While flicking through images of rabbits and deer, Kenny Mahoney noticed a dark, humanoid creature that does not look like any of the southern US state's known native species.
The mystery animal's head appears too small for it to be a bear, leaving Mr Mahoney wondering whether he had accidentally captured one of the clearest ever photos of Bigfoot.
"It looked like it had the outline of a head, and like gorilla type shoulders, and then the arms crossed is what it looks like to me," he told local news station WAVE-TV .
"One of the explanations my brother-in-law said it may be a garbage bag blowed up in there, but all the smashed over vegetation in there-I really don't know. I have no idea what it is."
Mr Mahoney, or Jefferson County, said he is very doubtful that the creature in the photo is Bigfoot. His wife Margaret has sent the image to a wildlife expert in the hope of getting it identified.
The mythical ape-like creature Bigfoot is most regularly sighted in the forests in the northwestern states and provinces of North America, although last month a teenage girl in Poland reported seeing a similar beast.
Last year two men in the US state of Georgia claimed to have discovered a body of Bigfoot but subsequently confessed that photos they produced as "proof" of their find actually showed a rubber ape costume.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Palin Bags a Bigfoot
http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/?p=2605Palin Bags a Bigfoot
Posted on 15 September 2008
Categorized: alaska, Bigfoot, camouflage baby bjorn, chugach national park, conservatives, john adams, johnadams, palin, sarah palin, sarahpalin, sasquatch, sexy librarian, skunk ape, wasilla, white house
WASILLA, AK - Records and eyewitnesses have come to light that prior to announcing her candidacy for the Vice Presidency; Sarah Palin shot a Bigfoot from a helicopter.
A government helicopter was seen flying low over the Chugach National Park with what witnesses described as “a sexy librarian shooting out the side.” Employees at a local bait shop report seeing a similar woman only hours before carrying an infant in a camouflage Baby Bjorn.
The Bigfoot, or Sasquatch as it is known in scientific circles, was found dead on the outskirts of the park, just south of Wasilla, Alaska. Preliminary forensics reports confirm that an adult male Sasquatch was shot in the face with Palin’s trademark 5mm M4 Carbine Assault Rifle.
Environmental groups are in an uproar at the hunting death of a rare and notoriously reclusive species. Efforts to have the Sasquatch placed on the endangered species list have met with repeated opposition from state legislature, since protecting the ‘Missing Link’ could be seen as validating evolution.
Conservatives have immediately rallied to their party’s new star, citing that gun ownership and hunting are indelible parts of American culture. Indeed this point is hard to argue, as John Adams was notorious for having captured what he called a “Skunk Ape” and killing it with his bare hands on the White House lawn in front of a paying audience.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Bigfoot and chupacabra double feature
http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/08/bigfoot-and-chupacabra-found-c.html
Bigfoot and chupacabra double feature
Wednesday August 13, 2008
posted by Rod Drehe
Woo, it's a great week for cryptozoologists. Not only has a south Texas sheriff's deputy filmed the dreaded chupacabra with his dashboard cam, but a couple of likely suspects in Georgia (Boss Hogg's Georgia, not Saakashvili's) claim to have found a Bigfoot body. You can see the alleged Bigfoot photos here (handsome devil, he is). They say they're having it independently analyzed, and will present the results at a Friday press conference in California. If these boys really are onto something, they'd do well to hire a press agent, because this goofball press release doesn't do much for their credibility. Still, we might know on Friday.
Belief in Bigfoot is not altogether crazy, though skepticism is of course in order. From Michael Shermer in Scientific American:
The reason cryptids merit our attention is that enough successful discoveries have been made by scientists based on local anecdotes and folklore that we cannot dismiss all claims a priori. The most famous examples include the gorilla in 1847 (and the mountain gorilla in 1902), the giant panda in 1869, the okapi (a short-necked relative of the giraffe) in 1901, the Komodo dragon in 1912, the bonobo (or pygmy chimpanzee) in 1929, the megamouth shark in 1976 and the giant gecko in 1984. Cryptozoologists are especially proud of the catch in 1938 of a coelacanth, an archaic-looking species of fish that had been thought to have gone extinct in the Cretaceous.
Although discoveries of previously unrecorded species of bugs and bacteria are routinely published in the annals of biology, these instances are startling because of their recency, size, and similarity to cryptid cousins Bigfoot, Nessie, et al. They also have in common--a body! In order to name a new species, one must have a type specimen--a holotype--from which a detailed description can be made, photographs taken, models cast and a professional scientific analysis prepared.
If such cryptids still survived in the hinterlands of North America and Asia, surely by now one would have turned up. So far all we have are the accounts. Anecdotes are a good place to begin an investigation--which by themselves cannot verify a new species. In fact, in the words of social scientist Frank J. Sulloway of the University of California at Berkeley--words that should be elevated to a maxim: "Anecdotes do not make a science. Ten anecdotes are no better than one, and a hundred anecdotes are no better than ten."
Scientific American also profiled a Bigfoot researcher (not the good ol' boys who claim to have rustled up a Sasquatch carcass).
When I was a kid growing up in the country, I used to scare myself silly reading Bigfoot books. No kidding, I still get chills thinking about it (commercials for the 1972 B-movie "The Legend of Boggy Creek" rocked my first-grade world; a mere description of this scene made me afraid to go to the bathroom after sundown; you can imagine how that worked out). I hope this Bigfoot is real, so we can find them all and kill 'em daid before they git us.
Bigfoot and chupacabra double feature
Wednesday August 13, 2008
posted by Rod Drehe
Woo, it's a great week for cryptozoologists. Not only has a south Texas sheriff's deputy filmed the dreaded chupacabra with his dashboard cam, but a couple of likely suspects in Georgia (Boss Hogg's Georgia, not Saakashvili's) claim to have found a Bigfoot body. You can see the alleged Bigfoot photos here (handsome devil, he is). They say they're having it independently analyzed, and will present the results at a Friday press conference in California. If these boys really are onto something, they'd do well to hire a press agent, because this goofball press release doesn't do much for their credibility. Still, we might know on Friday.
Belief in Bigfoot is not altogether crazy, though skepticism is of course in order. From Michael Shermer in Scientific American:
The reason cryptids merit our attention is that enough successful discoveries have been made by scientists based on local anecdotes and folklore that we cannot dismiss all claims a priori. The most famous examples include the gorilla in 1847 (and the mountain gorilla in 1902), the giant panda in 1869, the okapi (a short-necked relative of the giraffe) in 1901, the Komodo dragon in 1912, the bonobo (or pygmy chimpanzee) in 1929, the megamouth shark in 1976 and the giant gecko in 1984. Cryptozoologists are especially proud of the catch in 1938 of a coelacanth, an archaic-looking species of fish that had been thought to have gone extinct in the Cretaceous.
Although discoveries of previously unrecorded species of bugs and bacteria are routinely published in the annals of biology, these instances are startling because of their recency, size, and similarity to cryptid cousins Bigfoot, Nessie, et al. They also have in common--a body! In order to name a new species, one must have a type specimen--a holotype--from which a detailed description can be made, photographs taken, models cast and a professional scientific analysis prepared.
If such cryptids still survived in the hinterlands of North America and Asia, surely by now one would have turned up. So far all we have are the accounts. Anecdotes are a good place to begin an investigation--which by themselves cannot verify a new species. In fact, in the words of social scientist Frank J. Sulloway of the University of California at Berkeley--words that should be elevated to a maxim: "Anecdotes do not make a science. Ten anecdotes are no better than one, and a hundred anecdotes are no better than ten."
Scientific American also profiled a Bigfoot researcher (not the good ol' boys who claim to have rustled up a Sasquatch carcass).
When I was a kid growing up in the country, I used to scare myself silly reading Bigfoot books. No kidding, I still get chills thinking about it (commercials for the 1972 B-movie "The Legend of Boggy Creek" rocked my first-grade world; a mere description of this scene made me afraid to go to the bathroom after sundown; you can imagine how that worked out). I hope this Bigfoot is real, so we can find them all and kill 'em daid before they git us.
Montauk Monster and the best cryptids of all-time
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2008/07/31/182279.aspxThe Montauk Monster and the best cryptids of all-time
Posted: July 31, 2008
by Mark Medley
By now, you're certainly have had nightmares about the Montauk Monster story that Gawker broke on Tuesday. Is it a turtle missing its shell? A dog thrown in the ocean by its evil owner? A nutria? A viral marketing campaign for Cloverfield 2? Someone call a cryptozoologist, on the double.
This isn't the first monster to grip our collective consciousness -- there's Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Chupacabra -- but these are certainly not the only famous cryptids.
• Jersey Devil -- Ever wondered where the NHL's New Jersey Devils get their name from? This creature reportedly has a long, slender neck, hooves, and wings, with its height ranging from three to seven feet. Back in the 19th century the devil was blamed for the killing of livestock. More recently, the creature popped up in an episode of The X-Files.
• Jackalope -- Part rabbit, part antelope, all trouble. It lost all its mystique when it was repeatedly featured on the very unfunny America's Funniest People -- and named Jack Ching Bada-Bing -- in the early 1990s. Thanks Dave Coulier.
• The Mothman -- A large, moth-like creature that was spotted in West Virginia in the late 1960s. Richard Gere can't be wrong.
• Goatman -- A half man-half goat creature first spotted in Maryland in the late 1950s. Since then, there have been sightings as far south as Florida and as far north as Ontario.
• Dropa -- A race of mini-aliens said to be discovered in China in 1938.
• Mokèlé-mbèmbé -- The African equivalent to the Loch Ness Monster. A dinosaur the size of a small elephant, there have been several expeditions -- right up until this year -- to try and locate it.
• The Beast of Bray Road -- The first sightings of this werewolf-like creature were in Wisconsin in the 1980s. After a spate of sightings, one local reporter wrote a book about the beast.
Researcher says bigfoot just a rubber gorilla suit
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hhwCB7TKbWTNMtXT8I9EfKkgbgYQD92LKD300
Researcher says bigfoot just a rubber gorilla suit
By JUANITA COUSINS
8-19-8
ATLANTA (AP) — Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit. Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice — handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it — was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla outfit.
The revelation comes just days after a much ballyhooed news conference was held in California to proclaim that the remains of the creature were found in the North Georgia mountains was the legendary man-ape.
Steve Kulls, executive director of squatchdetective.com and host of Squatchdetective Radio, says in a posting on a Web site run by Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi that as the "evidence" was thawed, the claim began to unravel as a giant hoax.
First, the hair sample was burned and "melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair," Kulls said in the posting.
The thawing process was sped up and the exposed head was found to be "unusually hollow in one small section." An hour of thawing later and the feet were exposed — and they were found to be made of rubber.
Matt Whitton, an officer who has been on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department, and Rick Dyer, a former Georgia corrections officer, announced the find in early July on YouTube videos and a Web site.
"Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," Whitton said at the time.
Phone calls to Whitton and Dyer went unreturned on Tuesday. But the voicemail recording for their Bigfoot Tip Line — which proclaims they search for leprechauns and the Loch Ness monster — has been updated and announcing they're also in search of "big cats and dinosaurs. If you see any of those, give us a call."
On Tuesday, Clayton County Police Chief Jeff Turner said he has not spoken to Whitton but processed paperwork to fire him.
"Once he perpetrated a fraud, that goes into his credibility and integrity," Turner said. "He has violated the duty of a police officer."
On the Net:
http://www.searchingforbigfoot.com/
Researcher says bigfoot just a rubber gorilla suit
By JUANITA COUSINS
8-19-8
ATLANTA (AP) — Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit. Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice — handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it — was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla outfit.
The revelation comes just days after a much ballyhooed news conference was held in California to proclaim that the remains of the creature were found in the North Georgia mountains was the legendary man-ape.
Steve Kulls, executive director of squatchdetective.com and host of Squatchdetective Radio, says in a posting on a Web site run by Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi that as the "evidence" was thawed, the claim began to unravel as a giant hoax.
First, the hair sample was burned and "melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair," Kulls said in the posting.
The thawing process was sped up and the exposed head was found to be "unusually hollow in one small section." An hour of thawing later and the feet were exposed — and they were found to be made of rubber.
Matt Whitton, an officer who has been on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department, and Rick Dyer, a former Georgia corrections officer, announced the find in early July on YouTube videos and a Web site.
"Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," Whitton said at the time.
Phone calls to Whitton and Dyer went unreturned on Tuesday. But the voicemail recording for their Bigfoot Tip Line — which proclaims they search for leprechauns and the Loch Ness monster — has been updated and announcing they're also in search of "big cats and dinosaurs. If you see any of those, give us a call."
On Tuesday, Clayton County Police Chief Jeff Turner said he has not spoken to Whitton but processed paperwork to fire him.
"Once he perpetrated a fraud, that goes into his credibility and integrity," Turner said. "He has violated the duty of a police officer."
On the Net:
http://www.searchingforbigfoot.com/
Officer’s Hometown Paper Dissects Body Story
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/clayton-news/
Officer’s Hometown Paper Dissects Body Story
August 16th, 2008
The Clayton News Daily is set to publish the following story today, Saturday, August 16, 2008.
On this anniversary of the death of Elvis, should we ask, has Elvis left the building yet? Did anything solid come out of the news conference in California yesterday?
What does Clayton County police officer Matt Whitton’s and tow truck driver Rick Dyer’s hometown paper have to say?
Here’s the article straight from Georgia to Cryptomundo:
Clayton men offer shaky Bigfoot ‘evidence,’ more promises
By Daniel Silliman
In a room full of reporters, with a world-wide audience waiting to hear what they had to say, two Clayton County men, who claim to have the corpse of a Bigfoot, didn’t deliver the evidence they promised would shock the world. Instead, backed by their controversial, California partner, they continued making claims, with a couple of fuzzy photos — and more promises.
Tom Biscardi, a professional Bigfoot searcher, who has been associated with a number of hoaxes and money-making stunts, said the alleged Bigfoot body was as real as the skeptical reporters. He said Matthew Whitton, a Clayton County police officer on medical leave, and Whitton’s friend, Rick Dyer, a tow truck driver, who once worked as a correctional officer, wouldn’t be part of a hoax.
“Do you think these fellows would come this far and put their reputations and their jobs on the line, if they didn’t have what they say they have?” Biscardi said.
At the end of Friday’s press conference in California, however, that claim — that this was all too crazy to be a con — seemed to be the strongest “evidence” the three men had.
They have claimed they have the dead body of seven-foot-seven, 500-pound ape-man, with 16-inch feet and a lot of reddish-brown hair. A photo was released on Tuesday, supposedly showing the animal, dethawed in a freezer. The image was met with some skepticism and suspicion, some smugness, and a willingness to wait, see, and to say “maybe,” until the evidence was unveiled.
The unveiled evidence consisted of:
• A photo of woods, with what looks like an upright black spot or a solitary, shadow-cloaked figure. Biscardi called this “a bipedal creature.”
• A photo of jutting, upper teeth and a flat tongue, sticking out at the viewer.
• Alleged DNA results from a scientist in Minnesota, reporting three tests, one showing an inconclusive gene sequence, one showing a human gene sequence, and one showing an opossum gene sequence.
Loren Coleman, the author of a number of Bigfoot books, who has closely followed Biscardi and watched what he has skeptically called the “Georgia Gorilla” discovery, described the press conference as a carnival show.
“Biscardi is a Las Vegas promoter and a showman, and he’s doing it again,” Coleman said. “That’s what he’s really good at. It’s like, ‘Would you like to come into my tent? I’ll show you this one picture. Isn’t that interesting? Pay me to see more.’”
The three men claimed there will be an autopsy next week, and more research results coming soon. The Associated Press reported that the 45-minute press conference was attended by several hundred skeptical journalists and a man in a Chewbacca suit. When Biscardi was asked how much money he hoped to make off the Bigfoot body, he said, “As much as I possibly can.”
The man reportedly attempted to raise $1.5 million for a Bigfoot hunting expedition in 2004, claimed to have captured a live one in 2005, when he started selling pay-per-view subscriptions on his web site, and then, backed out with a claim he had been hoaxed by “a crazy lady.”
“He’s already gone through several hoaxes,” Coleman said. “We always say, ‘This is the end of Biscardi. He’s never coming back.’ I mean, the man has nine lives.”
The Bigfoot Field Research Organization, a group that attempts to verify Bigfoot sightings, issued a release calling the whole thing a hoax, calling Biscardi a “sleazy vulture.”
“The purpose of this grand ruse,” the release claims, “is to attract lots of attention to himself … to hold the attention of the mass media while he arranges various deals for documentaries, books, etc.”
Coleman thinks Whitton and Dyer may have actually discovered something, and then got suckered by the experienced scam artist. He also thinks it’s possible they were running some scam, promoting their web site with videos and hoping to sell T-shirts and ball caps, when Biscardi came in and escalated the enterprise.
The Bigfoot Field Research Operators suggest that Biscardi may have set the whole thing up, but then back down and say Whitton and Dyer were running their own ruse when they got assistance from an expert.
The two men’s story has changed constantly since they started their Bigfoot tracking business in June. In early YouTube videos, the animal was supposedly shot by a former felon, and the two men tracked it into the woods. In a second story, they were on a Bigfoot search, looking for a “family of Bigfoot” they claim to have seen in the North Georgia mountains. In a third version, they were just hiking and found it, apparently dead of open wounds.
In the hotel on Friday, Whitton said he didn’t even believe in Bigfoot and it was just luck, though he continues to describe himself as “the best Bigfoot tracker in the world.”
Bigfoot, Hoaxes, Cryptozoology, Cryptozoologists, Breaking News, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News.
Officer’s Hometown Paper Dissects Body Story
August 16th, 2008
The Clayton News Daily is set to publish the following story today, Saturday, August 16, 2008.
On this anniversary of the death of Elvis, should we ask, has Elvis left the building yet? Did anything solid come out of the news conference in California yesterday?
What does Clayton County police officer Matt Whitton’s and tow truck driver Rick Dyer’s hometown paper have to say?
Here’s the article straight from Georgia to Cryptomundo:
Clayton men offer shaky Bigfoot ‘evidence,’ more promises
By Daniel Silliman
In a room full of reporters, with a world-wide audience waiting to hear what they had to say, two Clayton County men, who claim to have the corpse of a Bigfoot, didn’t deliver the evidence they promised would shock the world. Instead, backed by their controversial, California partner, they continued making claims, with a couple of fuzzy photos — and more promises.
Tom Biscardi, a professional Bigfoot searcher, who has been associated with a number of hoaxes and money-making stunts, said the alleged Bigfoot body was as real as the skeptical reporters. He said Matthew Whitton, a Clayton County police officer on medical leave, and Whitton’s friend, Rick Dyer, a tow truck driver, who once worked as a correctional officer, wouldn’t be part of a hoax.
“Do you think these fellows would come this far and put their reputations and their jobs on the line, if they didn’t have what they say they have?” Biscardi said.
At the end of Friday’s press conference in California, however, that claim — that this was all too crazy to be a con — seemed to be the strongest “evidence” the three men had.
They have claimed they have the dead body of seven-foot-seven, 500-pound ape-man, with 16-inch feet and a lot of reddish-brown hair. A photo was released on Tuesday, supposedly showing the animal, dethawed in a freezer. The image was met with some skepticism and suspicion, some smugness, and a willingness to wait, see, and to say “maybe,” until the evidence was unveiled.
The unveiled evidence consisted of:
• A photo of woods, with what looks like an upright black spot or a solitary, shadow-cloaked figure. Biscardi called this “a bipedal creature.”
• A photo of jutting, upper teeth and a flat tongue, sticking out at the viewer.
• Alleged DNA results from a scientist in Minnesota, reporting three tests, one showing an inconclusive gene sequence, one showing a human gene sequence, and one showing an opossum gene sequence.
Loren Coleman, the author of a number of Bigfoot books, who has closely followed Biscardi and watched what he has skeptically called the “Georgia Gorilla” discovery, described the press conference as a carnival show.
“Biscardi is a Las Vegas promoter and a showman, and he’s doing it again,” Coleman said. “That’s what he’s really good at. It’s like, ‘Would you like to come into my tent? I’ll show you this one picture. Isn’t that interesting? Pay me to see more.’”
The three men claimed there will be an autopsy next week, and more research results coming soon. The Associated Press reported that the 45-minute press conference was attended by several hundred skeptical journalists and a man in a Chewbacca suit. When Biscardi was asked how much money he hoped to make off the Bigfoot body, he said, “As much as I possibly can.”
The man reportedly attempted to raise $1.5 million for a Bigfoot hunting expedition in 2004, claimed to have captured a live one in 2005, when he started selling pay-per-view subscriptions on his web site, and then, backed out with a claim he had been hoaxed by “a crazy lady.”
“He’s already gone through several hoaxes,” Coleman said. “We always say, ‘This is the end of Biscardi. He’s never coming back.’ I mean, the man has nine lives.”
The Bigfoot Field Research Organization, a group that attempts to verify Bigfoot sightings, issued a release calling the whole thing a hoax, calling Biscardi a “sleazy vulture.”
“The purpose of this grand ruse,” the release claims, “is to attract lots of attention to himself … to hold the attention of the mass media while he arranges various deals for documentaries, books, etc.”
Coleman thinks Whitton and Dyer may have actually discovered something, and then got suckered by the experienced scam artist. He also thinks it’s possible they were running some scam, promoting their web site with videos and hoping to sell T-shirts and ball caps, when Biscardi came in and escalated the enterprise.
The Bigfoot Field Research Operators suggest that Biscardi may have set the whole thing up, but then back down and say Whitton and Dyer were running their own ruse when they got assistance from an expert.
The two men’s story has changed constantly since they started their Bigfoot tracking business in June. In early YouTube videos, the animal was supposedly shot by a former felon, and the two men tracked it into the woods. In a second story, they were on a Bigfoot search, looking for a “family of Bigfoot” they claim to have seen in the North Georgia mountains. In a third version, they were just hiking and found it, apparently dead of open wounds.
In the hotel on Friday, Whitton said he didn’t even believe in Bigfoot and it was just luck, though he continues to describe himself as “the best Bigfoot tracker in the world.”
Bigfoot, Hoaxes, Cryptozoology, Cryptozoologists, Breaking News, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News.
"Bigfoot" fails DNA test
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080815/sc_nm/bigfoot_dc;_ylt=AoHu3.s1zQ553HCxlmD5qOyzvtEF
"Bigfoot" fails DNA test
Fri Aug 15, 2008
Bigfoot remains as elusive as ever.
Results from tests on genetic material from alleged remains of one of the mythical half-ape and half-human creatures, made public at a news conference on Friday held after the claimed discovery swept the Internet, failed to prove its existence.
Its spread was fueled by a photograph of a hairy heap, bearing a close resemblance to a shaggy full-body gorilla costume, stuffed into a container resembling a refrigerator.
One of the two samples of DNA said to prove the existence of the Bigfoot came from a human and the other was 96 percent from an opossum, according to Curt Nelson, a scientist at the University of Minnesota who performed the DNA analysis.
Bigfoot creatures are said to live in the forests of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. An opossum is a marsupial about the size of a house cat.
Results of the DNA tests were revealed in an e-mail from Nelson and distributed at the Palo Alto, California, news conference held by Tom Biscardi, host of a weekly online radio show about the Bigfoot.
Also present were Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, the two who say they discovered the Bigfoot corpse while hiking in the woods of northern Georgia. They also are co-owners of a company that offers Bigfoot merchandise.
Despite the dubious photo and the commercial interests of the alleged discoverers, the Bigfoot claim drew interest from Australia to Europe and even The New York Times.
Biscardi said the DNA samples may not have been taken correctly and may have been contaminated, and that he would proceed with an autopsy of the alleged Bigfoot remains, currently in a freezer at an undisclosed location.
(Reporting by Clare Baldwin in Palo Alto; writing by Jim Christie; editing by Mary Milliken and Peter Henderson)
"Bigfoot" fails DNA test
Fri Aug 15, 2008
Bigfoot remains as elusive as ever.
Results from tests on genetic material from alleged remains of one of the mythical half-ape and half-human creatures, made public at a news conference on Friday held after the claimed discovery swept the Internet, failed to prove its existence.
Its spread was fueled by a photograph of a hairy heap, bearing a close resemblance to a shaggy full-body gorilla costume, stuffed into a container resembling a refrigerator.
One of the two samples of DNA said to prove the existence of the Bigfoot came from a human and the other was 96 percent from an opossum, according to Curt Nelson, a scientist at the University of Minnesota who performed the DNA analysis.
Bigfoot creatures are said to live in the forests of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. An opossum is a marsupial about the size of a house cat.
Results of the DNA tests were revealed in an e-mail from Nelson and distributed at the Palo Alto, California, news conference held by Tom Biscardi, host of a weekly online radio show about the Bigfoot.
Also present were Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, the two who say they discovered the Bigfoot corpse while hiking in the woods of northern Georgia. They also are co-owners of a company that offers Bigfoot merchandise.
Despite the dubious photo and the commercial interests of the alleged discoverers, the Bigfoot claim drew interest from Australia to Europe and even The New York Times.
Biscardi said the DNA samples may not have been taken correctly and may have been contaminated, and that he would proceed with an autopsy of the alleged Bigfoot remains, currently in a freezer at an undisclosed location.
(Reporting by Clare Baldwin in Palo Alto; writing by Jim Christie; editing by Mary Milliken and Peter Henderson)
Bigfoot Hunters Press Conference Reveals... Little
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,404805,00.html
Bigfoot Hunters Press Conference Reveals... Little
Friday , August 15, 2008
The much-anticipated Bigfoot press conference Friday afternoon in Palo Alto, Calif., revealed little more than two men — introduced by a self-styled Sasquatch seeker — claiming to possess the 7-foot "body" of a "bipedal creature" on ice in a secret location, awaiting an autopsy.
The men, Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, were joined in the press conference by Tom Biscardi, host of an Bigfoot Internet radio show, who said the men approached him with their "find," saying, "We want to talk to Tom Biscardi... They didn't want to meet anyone else."
Biscardi showed reporters two blurry photos, claiming one was the mouth of the "creature" while the other was another creature running through the Georgia woods. The men claimed they "stumbled on the creature," but would not reveal more because they were concerned about it being an "endangered species."
Biscardi reiterated his invitation to FOX News Channel anchor Megyn Kelly to come to Georgia and view the body, and plugged his Internet radio show.
He said there wouldn't be anything more revealed Friday, but promised that he would "assemble" a group of scientists to examine the alleged corpse.
Whitton recounted how he and Dyer found the "body," and said that more Bigfoots "paralleled" them as they were loading it onto a flatbed truck.
Biscardi said Whitton and Dyer had gotten death threats from Sasquatch fanatics, whom Whitton deemed "psychos."
None of this was likely to dissuade skeptics, even among Bigfoot experts, who questioned Biscardi's past ventures and noticed that the body in the freezer looked a lot like a Sasquatch Halloween costume available on the Internet .
"It definitely looks like our costume," Jerry Parrino, owner of TheHorrorDome.com, told www.FOXNews.com.
"This 'body' has little to do with Bigfoot and everything to do with a Sasquatch costume that someone developed after watching too many gorilla movies," warned Loren Coleman , who runs the influential Cryptomundo blog devoted to strange and unknown animals. "The teeth that seem to have been placed in the mouth could be my late mother's false teeth."
"I've had interactions with Tom Biscardi in the past, and based on that history, I would say that anything he is involved in is suspect," Idaho State anthropologist and Bigfoot investigator Jeffrey Meldrum told Scientific American .
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Reserve spokesman Tom Mackenzie told the Associated Press his agency isn't taking the claim seriously and won't investigate.
"It's not on endangered species on any list that we've got," he said.
Bigfoot Hunters Press Conference Reveals... Little
Friday , August 15, 2008
The much-anticipated Bigfoot press conference Friday afternoon in Palo Alto, Calif., revealed little more than two men — introduced by a self-styled Sasquatch seeker — claiming to possess the 7-foot "body" of a "bipedal creature" on ice in a secret location, awaiting an autopsy.
The men, Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, were joined in the press conference by Tom Biscardi, host of an Bigfoot Internet radio show, who said the men approached him with their "find," saying, "We want to talk to Tom Biscardi... They didn't want to meet anyone else."
Biscardi showed reporters two blurry photos, claiming one was the mouth of the "creature" while the other was another creature running through the Georgia woods. The men claimed they "stumbled on the creature," but would not reveal more because they were concerned about it being an "endangered species."
Biscardi reiterated his invitation to FOX News Channel anchor Megyn Kelly to come to Georgia and view the body, and plugged his Internet radio show.
He said there wouldn't be anything more revealed Friday, but promised that he would "assemble" a group of scientists to examine the alleged corpse.
Whitton recounted how he and Dyer found the "body," and said that more Bigfoots "paralleled" them as they were loading it onto a flatbed truck.
Biscardi said Whitton and Dyer had gotten death threats from Sasquatch fanatics, whom Whitton deemed "psychos."
None of this was likely to dissuade skeptics, even among Bigfoot experts, who questioned Biscardi's past ventures and noticed that the body in the freezer looked a lot like a Sasquatch Halloween costume available on the Internet .
"It definitely looks like our costume," Jerry Parrino, owner of TheHorrorDome.com, told www.FOXNews.com.
"This 'body' has little to do with Bigfoot and everything to do with a Sasquatch costume that someone developed after watching too many gorilla movies," warned Loren Coleman , who runs the influential Cryptomundo blog devoted to strange and unknown animals. "The teeth that seem to have been placed in the mouth could be my late mother's false teeth."
"I've had interactions with Tom Biscardi in the past, and based on that history, I would say that anything he is involved in is suspect," Idaho State anthropologist and Bigfoot investigator Jeffrey Meldrum told Scientific American .
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Reserve spokesman Tom Mackenzie told the Associated Press his agency isn't taking the claim seriously and won't investigate.
"It's not on endangered species on any list that we've got," he said.
Bigfoot expert weighs in: "I'm extremely skeptical"
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=bigfoot-expert-weighs-in-im-extreme-2008-08-1460-Second Science Blog
August 14, 2008
Bigfoot expert weighs in: "I'm extremely skeptical"
By Adam Hadhazy
A press conference in Palo Alto, Calif. tomorrow is planned to showcase yesterday's bold claim that the remains of a Sasquatch, or bigfoot, have been found in northern Georgia. Matthew Whitton, a police officer, and Rick Dyer, a former corrections officer, along with veteran Bigfoot tracker Tom Biscardi of Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., said they came across the seven-foot, seven-inch (2.3-meter), 500-pound (227-kilogram) body of a simianlike creature in the woods. The group also said DNA tests are being carried out and that a team of undisclosed scientists will examine the corpse.
ScientificAmerican.com contacted Jeffrey Meldrum, a prominent researcher on Sasquatch and professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University in Pocatello, who has studied bigfoot prints and other clues like hair samples. Meldrum has written a book on the subject of whether or not the mystery beast is real, and has previously said that "the evidence that exists fully justifies the investigation and the pursuit of this question."
Cryptids, or bizarre, undocumented animals like the "Montauk monster" and the chupacabra, have been making the news rounds lately. Will this latest claim wither under scrutiny, or have these amateur bigfoot hunters in fact really found something?
An edited transcript of what Meldrum had to say about this week's supposed discovery follows.
What do you think of this announcement of a bigfoot body being found in Georgia?
I'm extremely skeptical about this bigfoot claim. I haven't been contacted by any of the principal [people] involved in this. I've had interactions with Tom Biscardi [the bigfoot hunter holding the press conference] in the past, and based on that history, I would say that anything he is involved in is suspect. The fact that the two Georgian men [who said they found the body] turned to him and not anyone with scientific credentials is very questionable.
What about the pictures?
So a picture is worth a 1,000 words. What I've seen so far is not compelling in the least, and I think the pictures cast grave doubts on their claim. It just looks like a costume with some fake guts thrown on top for effect. Even if [the bigfoot carcass] had have been eviscerated by a predator or a scavenger, [the entrails] wouldn't just be sitting up on top like that. Someone says [on the Internet] that they've found an off-the-shelf costume that looks a lot like the figure in these pictures.
So apparently [the bigfoot finders] stuffed the body into a freezer. You look at it and there doesn't seem to be any mass there, of muscles and bones and so forth. Also, they tried freezing the corpse in a block of ice—you wouldn't do that if you were trying to preserve a specimen, unless you're trying to hide the details.
So what is the story with the Sasquatch DNA evidence?
All the rumors about the bigfoot DNA results are just that: rumors. I spoke to Curtis Nelson (a biologist from the University of Minnesota) who is doing the DNA tests, and he all he could say is that there are no results yet—he can't say anything more due to a nondisclosure agreement. Apparently Curt just received a vial of tissue in the mail, and there's no chain of custody, no validation that this tissue came from the corpse in question. Since there is no known Sasquatch genetic material to compare it to, he may just end up with a gene sequence that doesn't match any other primates, at best.
Why would anyone stake such an outrageous claim without proof?
I don't know what their motivation would be. I don't see how they think they can perpetuate such a hoax in this day and age. You hold out hope that bigfoot will be found one day, and to some extent this is probably what that event would be like. But assuming that this kind of scenario transpires at some point, hopefully it wouldn't unfold in such a carnival atmosphere and the proper authorities and scientists would be involved.
Proof or Hoax? Bigfoot Said Found in Georgia
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/080813-bigfoot-sighting.html
Strange News
Proof or Hoax? Bigfoot Said Found in Georgia
By Benjamin Radford, LiveScience's Bad Science Columnist
posted: 13 August 2008
Two Georgia men claim to have found in the northern woods of that state something that has been often reported but never proven to exist: a Bigfoot.
They say they have a body, photos of the body, and DNA evidence — some or all of which will be revealed this Friday, Aug. 15, at a press conference in Palo Alto, Calif.
If the group does have a Bigfoot carcass (and if they actually show the body, instead merely displaying photographs of a supposed body), then perhaps scientists will take note. Still, it's not clear how, exactly, the group will prove that what they have is a Bigfoot. Because there is no comparison specimen, there is no DNA analysis that can definitively identify Bigfoot tissue.
Readers may recall the much-hyped press conference held on May 30, where a man claimed he would provide "definitive proof" of alien visitation. His "proof" turned out to be a short fuzzy video clip of what he said was an alien head outside his window trying to ogle his teen daughters. Needless to say, top scientists were not awestruck by his evidence.
History repeats?
This is not the first time a Bigfoot body has been claimed to have been found. A man named Tom Biscardi, founder of something called the Great American Bigfoot Research Organization, once claimed he had captured a Bigfoot. On Aug. 19, 2005, Biscardi appeared on the radio show "Coast to Coast with George Noory." Biscardi claimed his group had captured a Bigfoot a week earlier, a male beast that weighed over 400 pounds and stood 8-feet tall. He said he would be presenting photos of it several days later. It turned out to be a hoax.
Interestingly, Biscardi is also involved in the new Bigfoot body discovery.
Speaking on behalf of the Georgia men this week, Biscardi said, "Extensive scientific studies will be done on the body by a team of scientists including a molecular biologist, an anthropologist, a paleontologist and other scientists over the next few months at an undisclosed location" under armed guard.
If it all sounds very cloak-and-dagger, it is. Unnamed experts? Undisclosed location? Sounds more like "The X-Files" than real science.
Marketing scheme?
In 2005, Biscardi promoted a pay-per-view cable TV show in which he offered viewers the chance to see a Bigfoot captured on live television for only $59.95. That never happened, but Biscardi did recently direct and produce a film called "Bigfoot Lives."
Surely the publicity from this press conference might boost his film's sales...
Bigfoot researcher Loren Coleman, while stopping short of authenticating the claims, wrote on the Web site Cryptomundo.com, "I feel, in all honesty, this, indeed, may be the real deal, and I say this carefully after reviewing information that has been shared privately with me."
So has a Bigfoot finally been found, after all these years? Or is this just the latest hoax to embarrass Bigfoot believers and bring further ridicule to a field sorely in need of science?
Apparently we will see.
Benjamin Radford is managing editor of the Skeptical Inquirer science magazine. He has investigated Bigfoot, lake monsters, and other mysterious creatures for over a decade. His latest book is "Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures." This and other books can be found on his website.
Strange News
Proof or Hoax? Bigfoot Said Found in Georgia
By Benjamin Radford, LiveScience's Bad Science Columnist
posted: 13 August 2008
Two Georgia men claim to have found in the northern woods of that state something that has been often reported but never proven to exist: a Bigfoot.
They say they have a body, photos of the body, and DNA evidence — some or all of which will be revealed this Friday, Aug. 15, at a press conference in Palo Alto, Calif.
If the group does have a Bigfoot carcass (and if they actually show the body, instead merely displaying photographs of a supposed body), then perhaps scientists will take note. Still, it's not clear how, exactly, the group will prove that what they have is a Bigfoot. Because there is no comparison specimen, there is no DNA analysis that can definitively identify Bigfoot tissue.
Readers may recall the much-hyped press conference held on May 30, where a man claimed he would provide "definitive proof" of alien visitation. His "proof" turned out to be a short fuzzy video clip of what he said was an alien head outside his window trying to ogle his teen daughters. Needless to say, top scientists were not awestruck by his evidence.
History repeats?
This is not the first time a Bigfoot body has been claimed to have been found. A man named Tom Biscardi, founder of something called the Great American Bigfoot Research Organization, once claimed he had captured a Bigfoot. On Aug. 19, 2005, Biscardi appeared on the radio show "Coast to Coast with George Noory." Biscardi claimed his group had captured a Bigfoot a week earlier, a male beast that weighed over 400 pounds and stood 8-feet tall. He said he would be presenting photos of it several days later. It turned out to be a hoax.
Interestingly, Biscardi is also involved in the new Bigfoot body discovery.
Speaking on behalf of the Georgia men this week, Biscardi said, "Extensive scientific studies will be done on the body by a team of scientists including a molecular biologist, an anthropologist, a paleontologist and other scientists over the next few months at an undisclosed location" under armed guard.
If it all sounds very cloak-and-dagger, it is. Unnamed experts? Undisclosed location? Sounds more like "The X-Files" than real science.
Marketing scheme?
In 2005, Biscardi promoted a pay-per-view cable TV show in which he offered viewers the chance to see a Bigfoot captured on live television for only $59.95. That never happened, but Biscardi did recently direct and produce a film called "Bigfoot Lives."
Surely the publicity from this press conference might boost his film's sales...
Bigfoot researcher Loren Coleman, while stopping short of authenticating the claims, wrote on the Web site Cryptomundo.com, "I feel, in all honesty, this, indeed, may be the real deal, and I say this carefully after reviewing information that has been shared privately with me."
So has a Bigfoot finally been found, after all these years? Or is this just the latest hoax to embarrass Bigfoot believers and bring further ridicule to a field sorely in need of science?
Apparently we will see.
Benjamin Radford is managing editor of the Skeptical Inquirer science magazine. He has investigated Bigfoot, lake monsters, and other mysterious creatures for over a decade. His latest book is "Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures." This and other books can be found on his website.
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