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SEE BIGFOOT! (SeeBigFoot.com) -- SeeBigFoot.com provides a means for users to access images relating to BigFoot / Sasquatch sightings for a modest cost for eductional, entertainment and informational purposes. We're letting a few people access the member area for just $2.95 for a limited time only. This offer could end at any time, so go ahead and sign up now before the price increases. The price will increase as we add more members, so you don't want to miss out on this low membership price. Get an inexpensive membership now while they last. Information provided is for eductional, informational purposes. P.S. Introductory membership pricing may end at any time. |
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BIGFOOT FOUND! (WSB Radio) -- Two Georgia men presented their case to the press Friday afternoon. Mat Whitton and Rick Dyer claim they have found Bigfoot. At a California press conference, the men were joined by Bigfoot hunter Tom Biscardi who says he is convinced the find is real. "We were hiking in the woods, it was deep in the woods. It was actually laying next to a stream. The first thing that pops into your head is Bigfoot and then you take a step back and say that can't be because I didn't believe in Bigfoot at the time. I've seen the films and things on television before but you have to come to terms with it and see that you have something special," says Whitton. The men say the body has been turned over to Biscardi who is keeping it at an undisclosed location. The men would not reveal the location where they found the creature. Biscardi says they are consulting with several scientists and hope to reveal more information in the next few weeks. Advertise Your Top BigFoot Site with a link from SeeBigFoot.com 'Searching for Bigfoot' website Hear the Bigfoot press conference
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Bigfoot Corpse Found in Georgia? Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008 By AP/MALIA WOLLAN Source: http://www.time.com (PALO ALTO, Calif.) — Bigfoot or big fat lie? Whenever someone reports sighting the hairy beast of yore (details always fuzzy) or capturing the hirsute humanoid on film (images always grainy), it scares up a dubious debate of international proportions. Friday was just the latest episode in the Sasquatch show, as unreal as it may be. Two men who claim to have stumbled across a Bigfoot corpse in the woods of northern Georgia indignantly stood by their story at a news conference in Palo Alto during which they offered an e-mail from a scientist as evidence and acknowledged they wouldn't mind making a few bucks from the "find" they have kept stuffed in a freezer for over a month. "Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," predicted Matt Whitton, an officer on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department. Whitton and Rick Dyer, a former corrections officer, announced the discovery in early July on YouTube videos and their Web site. Although they did not consider themselves devoted Bigfoot trackers before then, they have since started offering weekend search expeditions in Georgia for $499. The specimen they bagged, the men say, was one of several apelike creatures they spotted cavorting in the woods. As they faced a skeptical audience of several hundred journalists and Bigfoot fans that included one curiosity seeker in a Chewbacca suit, the pair were joined Friday by Tom Biscardi, head of a group called Searching for Bigfoot. Other Bigfoot hunters call Biscardi a huckster looking for media attention. Biscardi fielded most of the questions. Among them: Why should anyone accept the men's tale when they weren't willing to display their frozen artifact or pinpoint where they allegedly found it? How come bushwhackers aren't constantly tripping over primate remains if there are as many as 7,000 Bigfoots roaming the United States, as Biscardi claimed? "I understand where you are coming from, but how many real Bigfoot researchers are out there trekking 140,000 miles a year?" Biscardi said. Biscardi, Whitton and Dyer presented what they called evidence supporting the Bigfoot theory. It was an e-mail from a University of Minnesota scientist, but all it said was that of the three DNA samples sent to the scientist, one was human, one was likely a possum and the third could not be tested because of technical problems. At least one other Bigfoot researcher, Idaho State University anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum, called the trio's claims "not compelling in the least." He told the Scientific American that photographs posted on the Web site "just looks like a costume with some fake guts thrown on top for effect." Whitton and Dyer have offered three different accounts of how they found the beast's remains. In early videos, the animal was shot by a former felon, and the men followed it into the woods. In a second version, they found a "family of Bigfoot" in the north Georgia mountains. In the third, the two were hiking and stumbled upon the corpse with open wounds. In one of their YouTube videos, they are shown speaking with a man they identify as a scientist. Earlier this week, they admitted that the man was Dyer's brother. Dyer said they were simply having fun. Asked why anyone should believe his claims when he already had shown a flair for tomfoolery, he suggested that skeptics simply are jealous. "They don't have a choice to believe us. We have a body," Dyer said. Georgia men claim hairy, frozen corpse is Bigfoot By MALIA WOLLAN, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 16, 1:02 AM ET source: News.yahoo.com PALO ALTO, Calif. - Bigfoot or big fat lie? Whenever someone reports sighting the hairy beast of yore (details always fuzzy) or capturing the hirsute humanoid on film (images always grainy), it scares up a dubious debate of international proportions. Friday was just the latest episode in the Sasquatch show, as unreal as it may be. Two men who claim to have stumbled across a Bigfoot corpse in the woods of northern Georgia indignantly stood by their story at a news conference in Palo Alto during which they offered an e-mail from a scientist as evidence and acknowledged they wouldn't mind making a few bucks from the "find" they have kept stuffed in a freezer for over a month. "Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," predicted Matt Whitton, an officer on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department. Whitton and Rick Dyer, a former corrections officer, announced the discovery in early July on YouTube videos and their Web site. Although they did not consider themselves devoted Bigfoot trackers before then, they have since started offering weekend search expeditions in Georgia for $499. The specimen they bagged, the men say, was one of several apelike creatures they spotted cavorting in the woods. As they faced a skeptical audience of several hundred journalists and Bigfoot fans that included one curiosity seeker in a Chewbacca suit, the pair were joined Friday by Tom Biscardi, head of a group called Searching for Bigfoot. Other Bigfoot hunters call Biscardi a huckster looking for media attention. Biscardi fielded most of the questions. Among them: Why should anyone accept the men's tale when they weren't willing to display their frozen artifact or pinpoint where they allegedly found it? How come bushwhackers aren't constantly tripping over primate remains if there are as many as 7,000 Bigfoots roaming the United States, as Biscardi claimed? "I understand where you are coming from, but how many real Bigfoot researchers are out there trekking 140,000 miles a year?" Biscardi said. Biscardi, Whitton and Dyer presented what they called evidence supporting the Bigfoot theory. It was an e-mail from a University of Minnesota scientist, but all it said was that of the three DNA samples sent to the scientist, one was human, one was likely a possum and the third could not be tested because of technical problems. At least one other Bigfoot researcher, Idaho State University anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum, called the trio's claims "not compelling in the least." He told the Scientific American that photographs posted on the Web site "just looks like a costume with some fake guts thrown on top for effect." Whitton and Dyer have offered three different accounts of how they found the beast's remains. In early videos, the animal was shot by a former felon, and the men followed it into the woods. In a second version, they found a "family of Bigfoot" in the north Georgia mountains. In the third, the two were hiking and stumbled upon the corpse with open wounds. In one of their YouTube videos, they are shown speaking with a man they identify as a scientist. Earlier this week, they admitted that the man was Dyer's brother. Dyer said they were simply having fun. Asked why anyone should believe his claims when he already had shown a flair for tomfoolery, he suggested that skeptics simply are jealous. "They don't have a choice to believe us. We have a body," Dyer said. ___ Associated Press writer Juanita Cousins in Atlanta contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Bigfoot Tracker: http://www.bigfoottracker.com Big Foot Field Researchers Organization: http://www.bfro.net/ Georgia men defend Bigfoot body claims updated 9:39 p.m. EDT, Fri August 15, 2008 Source: CNN.com # Story Highlights # North Georgia men say they stumbled upon body while hiking in forest # They also claim to have spotted three similar living creatures # The body of the furry half man-half ape is 7 feet, 7 inches tall, they say # Men won't reveal Bigfoot den's location because they don't want others disturbed Watch report of scientist skeptical of Bigfoot claim » http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/15/bigfoot.body/index.html?section=cnn_latest#cnnSTCVideo (CNN) -- A pair of Georgia men faced more than a half-hour of skeptical questions from reporters Friday as they defended their claim that they stumbled upon the body of Bigfoot while hiking in a remote North Georgia forest. The thawed body of a creature reputed to be Bigfoot reportedly weighs more than 500 pounds. The thawed body of a creature reputed to be Bigfoot reportedly weighs more than 500 pounds. Introduced by a publicist and beside a man who promoted what turned out to be a fake Bigfoot discovery in 1995, Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer repeatedly said that their claim is not a hoax and that scientific analysis will prove it. "We were not looking for Bigfoot. ... We wouldn't know what we were doing if we did," said Whitton, a police officer on leave after being shot in the hand while making an arrest. "I didn't believe in Bigfoot at the time. ... But you've got to come to terms with it and realize you've got something special. And that's what it was." The men say they were hiking in early June when they discovered the body of a 7-foot-7, 500-pound half-ape, half-human creature near a stream. They also claim to have spotted about three similar living creatures -- and showed reporters video stills of what they say is one of those creatures shadowing them through the woods. The announcement, which the men first made on the Internet radio show "Squatch Detective" several weeks ago, has been greeted with healthy skepticism, even among some Bigfoot enthusiasts. Scientists, including the head of North Georgia College and State University's biology department, have said it's unlikely a tribe of 7-foot-tall creatures would have avoided discovery in a region popular among hikers, hunters and vacationers. Several Web sites have popped up questioning the claim and comparing a photo that the men say is the creature's body inside a freezer to a widely available Bigfoot costume. On Friday, Whitton acknowledged creating a pair of videos posted on the Internet video site YouTube, one in which his brother poses as a scientist and another in which Whitton briefly seems to admit that the body is a fake. "It seems that the stalkers have busted us in a hoax," he says in the video. But then adds, "we still have a corpse. We just wanted to give you something to do for the weekend." At Friday's news conference, Whitton first said that no video existed in which he calls the discovery a hoax. But after speaking to Tom Biscardi, the self-described "Real Bigfoot Hunter" who has been searching for the creature of legend since 1971, he said the video was made "to have a little fun with it" and was originally intended to throw off the "psychos" who had stalked him and his family since the men first made their claim. The two also promoted a Web site registered to Whitton on June 16 and said they plan to write a book about their experience. Friday's news conference was held in Palo Alto, California, near the home of Biscardi. About 100 reporters and onlookers attended the event, in a hotel banquet room, including a man who shouted questions while wearing a gorilla suit. Dyer and Whitton said they were carrying a video camera during their hike to film wildlife. They said they handed the body over to Biscardi, who is keeping it at an undisclosed location until a team of scientists can examine it. One of the two photographs the men gave to reporters Friday showed what appears to be the creature's mouth, an effort to disprove allegations that what's in the photo is a costume. "I want to get to the bottom of it," Biscardi said. "I'll tell you what I've seen and what I've touched and what I've felt, what I've prodded was not a mask sewed onto a bear hide, OK?" Biscardi acknowledged that he promoted a fake Bigfoot discovery in 1995, saying the woman who claimed to have the body convinced his staff members before he visited her and discovered that she was mentally ill. Alleged Bigfoot sightings have surfaced from time to time for years, dating to at least the 1800s. The most famous was the so-called Patterson film from 1967, which is purported to show a tall, furry, apelike creature walking along, at one point looking over its shoulder at the videographer. Most scientists who have studied the film say there's no way to authenticate it, and many say the creature appears to be a man in a costume. California: Bigfoot Remains a Myth By REUTERS Published: August 15, 2008 Results from tests on genetic material from alleged remains of Bigfoot, made public at a news conference in Palo Alto held after the claimed discovery swept the Internet, failed to prove the existence of the mythical half-ape and half-human creature. The story 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, said Curt Nelson, a scientist at the University of Minnesota who performed the analysis Georgia men claim hairy, frozen corpse is Bigfoot ATLANTA (AP) — Bigfoot or big fat lie? Source: USA Today / AP Whenever someone reports sighting the hairy beast of yore (details always fuzzy) or capturing the hirsute humanoid on film (images always grainy), it scares up a dubious debate of international proportions. Friday was just the latest episode in the Sasquatch show, as unreal as it may be. Two men who claim to have stumbled across a Bigfoot corpse in the woods of northern Georgia indignantly stood by their story at a news conference in Palo Alto during which they offered an e-mail from an entomologist as evidence and acknowledged they wouldn't mind making a few bucks from the "find" they have kept stuffed in a freezer for over a month. "Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," predicted Matt Whitton, an officer on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department. Whitton and Rick Dyer, a former corrections officer, announced the discovery in early July on YouTube videos and their website. Although they did not consider themselves devoted Bigfoot trackers before then, they have since started offering weekend search expeditions in Georgia for $499. The specimen they bagged, the men say, was one of several apelike creatures they spotted cavorting in the woods. As they faced a skeptical audience of several hundred journalists and Bigfoot fans that included one curiosity seeker in a Chewbacca suit, the pair were joined Friday by Tom Biscardi, head of a group called Searching for Bigfoot. Other Bigfoot hunters call Biscardi a huckster looking for media attention. Biscardi fielded most of the questions. Among them: Why should anyone accept the men's tale when they weren't willing to display their frozen artifact or pinpoint where they allegedly found it? How come bushwhackers aren't constantly tripping over primate remains if there are as many as 7,000 Bigfoots roaming the United States, as Biscardi claimed? "I understand where you are coming from, but how many real Bigfoot researchers are out there trekking 140,000 miles a year?" Biscardi said. Biscardi, Whitton and Dyer presented what they called evidence supporting the Bigfoot theory. It was an e-mail from a University of Minnesota entomologist, but all it said was that of the three DNA samples sent to the scientist, one was human, one was likely a possum and the third could not be tested because of technical problems. At least one other Bigfoot researcher, Idaho State University anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum, called the trio's claims "not compelling in the least." He told the Scientific American that photographs posted on the website "just looks like a costume with some fake guts thrown on top for effect." Whitton and Dyer have offered three different accounts of how they found the beast's remains. In early videos, the animal was shot by a former felon, and the men followed it into the woods. In a second version, they found a "family of Bigfoot" in the north Georgia mountains. In the third, the two were hiking and stumbled upon the corpse with open wounds. In one of their YouTube videos, they are shown speaking with a man they identify as a scientist. Earlier this week, they admitted that the man was Dyer's brother. Dyer said they were simply having fun. Asked why anyone should believe his claims when he already had shown a flair for tomfoolery, he suggested that skeptics simply are jealous. "They don't have a choice to believe us. We have a body," Dyer said. "Bigfoot" fails DNA test Fri Aug 15, 6:55 PM ET Source: Reuters via news.yahoo.com PALO ALTO, California (Reuters) - 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 fuelled 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) Skepticism as US hunters claim 'Bigfoot' find Fri Aug 15, 6:29 PM ET Source: AFP via news.yahoo.com PALO ALTO, California (AFP) - Two US men on Friday claimed to have found the body of "Bigfoot," the legendary ape-like creature that has been the subject of decades of hoaxes and dubious sightings. Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer claimed before a crowd of sceptical reporters that they were hiking in a northern part of the US state of Georgia in June when they stumbled upon a body near water. "I recognized it was unusual right away," Whitton told the press conference in Palo Alto. "The first thing that pops into your head is that it's Bigfoot." The body was said to be seven-feet, seven-inches tall and weigh more than 500 pounds. The men claimed to have stored the body in a freezer. Photos of the "corpse" were posted at www.searchingforbigfoot.com. Advertising on the Web page Friday offered Bigfoot T-shirts and films. Reports of Whitton and Dyer's "find" appeared across national print and US media on Friday, with many experts suspicious of the men's claims. Jeffrey Meldrum, a prominent Bigfoot expert and professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University told Scientific American.com he doubted the find was legitimate. "I'm extremely skeptical about this bigfoot claim," he said. "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." Bigfoot, also referred to as "Sasquatch," tells of a gargantuan, elusive furred creature that walks upright and lives in remote forests in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and Canada. Georgia is in the country's south. Many scientists believe Bigfoot is folklore instead of fact. Biscardi says he has been tracking Bigfoot since 1971 and speaks of his efforts on an internet radio show. Bigfoot theory rears its fuzzy head again Two men say they found a sasquatch corpse in the woods of Georgia, but the evidence seems thin. By Malia Wollan, Associated Press August 16, 2008 Source: Los Angeles Times PALO ALTO -- Bigfoot or big, fat lie? Whenever someone reports seeing the hairy beast (details are always fuzzy) or capturing it on film (images always grainy), the news scares up a dubious debate of international proportions. Friday was just the latest episode in the sasquatch show. Two men who say they stumbled across a Bigfoot corpse in the woods of northern Georgia indignantly stood by their story at a news conference in Palo Alto during which they offered an e-mail from a scientist as evidence and acknowledged that they wouldn't mind making a few bucks from the "find" they kept in a freezer for more than a month. "Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," predicted Matt Whitton, an officer on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department. Whitton and Rick Dyer, a former corrections officer, announced the discovery in early July on YouTube videos and their website. As they faced a skeptical audience of several hundred journalists and Bigfoot fans -- including one curiosity seeker in a Chewbacca suit -- the pair were joined by Tom Biscardi, head of a group called Searching for Bigfoot. Some Bigfoot hunters say Biscardi just likes attention. Biscardi fielded most of the questions. Among them: Why should anyone accept the men's tale when they weren't willing to display their frozen artifact or pinpoint where they supposedly found it? How come bushwhackers aren't constantly tripping over primate remains if there are as many as 7,000 Bigfoots roaming the United States, as Biscardi claimed? "I understand where you are coming from, but how many real Bigfoot researchers are out there trekking 140,000 miles a year?" Biscardi said. Biscardi, Whitton and Dyer presented what they called evidence supporting their theory. It was an e-mail from a University of Minnesota scientist, but all it said was that of the three DNA samples sent to the scientist, one was human, one probably came from a possum and the third could not be tested because of technical problems. Georgia Men Claim They Have A Bigfoot Corpse By MALIA WOLLAN | Associated Press August 16, 2008 Source: Hartford Courant PALO ALTO, Calif. — - Bigfoot or big fat lie? Whenever someone reports sighting the hairy beast of yore (details always fuzzy) or capturing the hirsute humanoid on film (images always grainy), it scares up a dubious debate of international proportions. Friday was just the latest episode in the Sasquatch show, as unreal as it may be. Two men who claim to have stumbled across a Bigfoot corpse in the woods of northern Georgia indignantly stood by their story at a news conference in Palo Alto during which they offered an e-mail from an entomologist as evidence and acknowledged they wouldn't mind making a few bucks from the "find" they have kept stuffed in a freezer for over a month. "Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," predicted Matt Whitton, an officer on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department. Whitton and Rick Dyer, a former corrections officer, announced the discovery in early July on YouTube videos and their website. Although they did not consider themselves devoted Bigfoot trackers before then, they have since started offering weekend search expeditions in Georgia for $499. The specimen they bagged, the men say, was one of several apelike creatures they spotted cavorting in the woods. As they faced a skeptical audience of several hundred journalists and Bigfoot fans that included one curiosity seeker in a [Star Wars' character] Chewbacca suit, the pair were joined Friday by Tom Biscardi, head of a group called Searching for Bigfoot. Other Bigfoot hunters call Biscardi a huckster looking for media attention. Biscardi fielded most of the questions. Among them: Why should anyone accept the men's tale when they weren't willing to display their frozen artifact or pinpoint where they allegedly found it? How come bushwhackers aren't constantly tripping over primate remains if there are as many as 7,000 Bigfoots roaming the United States, as Biscardi claimed? Biscardi, Whitton and Dyer presented what they called evidence supporting the Bigfoot theory. It was an e-mail from a University of Minnesota entomologist, but all it said was that of the three DNA samples sent to the scientist, one was human, one was probably a possum and the third could not be tested because of technical problems. Americans 'find body of Bigfoot' "Bigfoot's" finders released pictures at a press conference Source: BBC Two men in the US state of Georgia say they have found the body of a Bigfoot, the legendary ape-like creature that has been subject of decades of hoaxes. Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer say they stumbled across the 2.3m-high (7ft 7in), 226kg (500 pound) corpse in a wood in the north of the state in June. A photograph on the men's website shows what appears to be the body of a large, hairy creature with an ape-like face. Bigfoot experts reacted suspiciously to the men's claims. BIGFOOT BASICS First documented report was prints found by Canadian trader in 1811 Name dates from 1958 reports of giant footprints found in California Ray Wallace, who died in 2002, claimed to have faked these Most famous footage shot in 1967 and contested ever since "What I've seen so far is not compelling in the least, and I think the pictures cast grave doubts on their claim," said Jeffery Meldrum, a Bigfoot researcher and Idaho State University professor. "It just looks like a costume with some fake guts thrown on top for effect," he told the Scientific American magazine. The US Fish and Wildlife Service also said its officers were not taking the claim seriously and would not investigate it. "Bigfoot" finder describes making the discovery http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7564646.stm At a news conference in Palo Alto, California, Mr Whitton and Mr Dyer said they had found the body of a male Bigfoot with reddish hair, "blackish-grey" eyes, and human-like feet and hands while out hiking. "I recognised it was unusual right away," said Mr Whitton, a police officer. "The first thing that pops into your head is that it's Bigfoot." They also said they saw three other live creatures while carrying the corpse away. "They were silent," Mr Whitten added. Another picture is said to show a live Bigfoot in the wood in north Georgia The two men also brought what they said were the results of DNA tests on the corpse's body tissue which were undertaken by Curt Nelson, a biologist at the University of Minnesota. According to Mr Nelson, one test showed human DNA, another was inconclusive, while a third came back as the DNA of a possum, which he said could have been from something the Bigfoot had eaten. Bigfoot is a humanoid creature said to wander the wooded wilds of the Pacific Northwest. Stories of a giant ape roaming the forests of North America date back to before European settlement. But despite occasional footprints and photographs, there has never been much proof of Bigfoot's existence. Press Photos pr1 Tom Biscardi, CEO and founder of BIGFOOT Inc., holds up a picture he claims is the mouth of Bigfoot in Palo Alto, California, August 15, 2008. Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is a mythical ape-like creature said to live in forests of the Pacific northwest region of the United States. (Kimberly White/Reuters) pr2 Rick Dyer, 31, holds a picture he claims is the mouth of Bigfoot in Palo Alto, California, August 15, 2008. Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is a mythical ape-like creature said to live in forests of the Pacific northwest region of the United States. (Kimberly White/Reuters) pr3 Rick Dyer (R) and Matt Whitton, who both claim to have the corpse of Bigfoot, hold a news conference in Palo Alto, California, August 15, 2008. Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is a mythical ape-like creature said to live in forests of the Pacific northwest region of the United States. (Kimberly White/Reuters) pr4 Rick Dyer (R) and Matt Whitton, who both claim to have the corpse of Bigfoot, hold a news conference in Palo Alto, California, August 15, 2008. Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is a mythical ape-like creature said to live in forests of the Pacific northwest region of the United States. (Kimberly White/Reuters) pr5 This photograph obtained August 15, 2008 from www.searchingforbogfoot.com shows what is purported to be the body of "Bigfoot," the legendary ape-like creature that has been the subject of decades of hoaxes and dubious sightings. Two US men on Friday claimed to have found the body of "Bigfoot." (AFP/www.searchingforbigfoot.com) pr6 An undated handout photo and released by the Malaysia Nature Society (MNS) in January 2006 taken in a swamp near Malaysia's southern town of Kota Tinggi in Johor state, claiming it as a footprint of a bigfoot. Two US men on Friday claimed to have found the body of "Bigfoot," the legendary ape-like creature that has been the subject of decades of hoaxes and dubious sightings. (AFP/HO MNS/File/Str) pr7 Rick Dyer, left, and Matthew Whitton answer questions from the media during a conference held to announce what they claim may be a deceased bigfoot or sasquatch is in their possession Friday, Aug. 15, 2008, in Palo Alto, Calif. Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer say they stumbled across the corpse in the woods of northern Georgia, across the country from the remote regions of the Northwest where people usually claim to see the man-ape. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) pr8 Hunter Tom Biscardi, center, gives a news conference with Rick Dyer, left, and Matthew Whitton, right, announcing that what they claim may be a deceased bigfoot or sasquatch in their possession Friday, Aug. 15, 2008, in Palo Alto, Calif. Whitton and Dyer say they stumbled across the corpse in the woods of northern Georgia, across the country from the remote regions of the Northwest where people usually claim to see the man-ape. Whitton, an officer on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department, and Dyer, a former corrections officer, announced the discovery in early July. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) pr9 Reporters attend a news conference announcing the claim that a deceased bigfoot or sasquatch creature has been discovered in a northern Georgia forest Friday, Aug. 15, 2008, in Palo Alto, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) pr10 This still frame image from video provided by Bigfoot Global LLC, shows what is claimed by them to be a bigfoot or sasquatch creature in an undisclosed area of a northern Georgia forest in June 2008. (AP Photo/Bigfoot Global LLC) pr11 This image provided by Bigfoot Global LLC, shows what is claimed by them to be the mouth area of a deceased bigfoot or sasquatch creature. (AP Photo/Bigfoot Global LLC) pr12 A man in an ape costume is seen outside a hotel where a media conference is held announcing the claim that a deceased bigfoot or sasquatch creature has been found in Georgia on Friday, Aug. 15, 2008, in Palo Alto, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) pr13 Hunter Tom Biscardi, center, is swamped by members of the media as he disperses photos of what he claims to be both a deceased and a living bigfoot or sasquatch creature during a media conference Friday, Aug. 15, 2008, in Palo Alto, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) PR14 Bigfoot hunter Tom Biscardi holds a photo of what he claims to be the mouth and teeth of a deceased bigfoot or sasquatch creature during a news conference Friday, Aug. 15, 2008, in Palo Alto, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) pr15 Sonam Dorji, right, relates a tale of his encounter with an Yeti as his son-in-law Tshering Sithar, left, listens at the remote village of Signyar in Bhutan, Sunday, March 9, 2008. Even in this remote mountain kingdom that has held out against the modern world as long as it could, times are rapidly changing as old beliefs yield to the modern ways of life. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das) pr16 A sample shown by the manager of Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, collected from the park by Yeti watchers, shows comments mentioning the possibility of the specimen having been chewed by cattle rather than Yeti, at Phongme, Bhutan, Monday, March 10, 2008. Even in this remote mountain kingdom that has held out against the modern world as long as it could, times are rapidly changing as old beliefs yield to the modern ways of life. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das) pr17 Sangay Wangchuk, national director of conservation, stands near plaster casts that he claims are of footmarks from a Yeti, at Thimpu, Bhutan, Wednesday, March 5, 2008. Even in this remote mountain kingdom that has held out against the modern world as long as it could, times are rapidly changing as old beliefs yield to the modern ways of life. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das) pr18 Sangay Wangchuk, national director of conservation, stands near photographs claiming to show the footmarks of a Yeti, at Thimpu, Bhutan, Wednesday, March 5, 2008. Even in this remote mountain kingdom that has held out against the modern world as long as it could, times are rapidly changing as old beliefs yield to the modern ways of life. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das) pr19 Sonam Dorji relates a tale of his encounter with an Yeti at the remote village of Signyar in Bhutan, Sunday, March 9, 2008. Even in this remote mountain kingdom that has held out against the modern world as long as it could, times are rapidly changing as old beliefs yield to the modern ways of life. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das) PR20 Manager of Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, Tenzing Wangchuck shows a specimen collected from the park by Yeti watchers at Phongme, Bhutan, Monday, March 10, 2008. Even in this remote mountain kingdom that has held out against the modern world as long as it could, times are rapidly changing as old beliefs yield to the modern ways of life. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das) PR21 This undated illustration shows the DNA double helix. A British scientist said Monday he was anxiously awaiting the results of DNA tests on hair claimed to be from a yeti after initial examinations showed it had human and ape-like characteristics. (AFP/HO/File) Georgia men say they have Bigfoot By Juanita Cousins, Associated Press Writer Source: TheWorldLink.com Saturday, August 16, 2008 ATLANTA — Two men claim they’ve bagged Bigfoot, and they say they have the hairy corpse of the legendary creature stored away in a freezer. Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer say they stumbled across the corpse in the woods of northern Georgia, across the country from the remote regions of the Northwest where people usually claim to see the man-ape. Still, the Georgia men say DNA will prove once and for all that the frozen creature is Sasquatch. They plan to present DNA test results and photographs during a news conference Friday in Palo Alto, Calif. They’re not winning over any skeptics, though. “What I’ve seen so far is not compelling in the least, and I think the pictures cast grave doubts on their claim,” Jeffrey Meldrum, a Bigfoot researcher and Idaho State University professor, told Scientific American. “It just looks like a costume with some fake guts thrown on top for effect.” Meldrum said the DNA test likely won’t prove anything and, at best, might yield a gene sequence that doesn’t match any other known primates. Whitton, an officer on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department, and Dyer, a former corrections officer, announced the discovery in early July. The picture they sent out in a news release and on their Web site — http://www.bigfoottracker.com — shows what appears to be a hairy corpse crammed into a chest freezer. The accompanying announcement describes the creature as a 7-foot-7 male, weighing 550 pounds with 16-inch human-like feet and reddish hair. Messages left for Whitton and Dyer early Friday on their Bigfoot Tipline were not returned. They have so far offered three different tales so far about how they came to find the creature. In one, the animal was shot by a former felon, and the men followed it into the woods. In a second version, they found a “family of Bigfoot” in North Georgia mountains. In the third, the two were hiking and stumbled upon the corpse with open wounds. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Reserve spokesman Tom Mackenzie said officers also are not taking the claim seriously and will not investigate Bigfoot because it not a federal priority. “It’s not an endangered species on any list that we’ve got,” Mackenzie said. Big talk about Bigfoot August 16, 2008 Source: TheState.com Monster-hunter says he’s seen creature’s carcass; he also searched S.C. By From Staff and Wire Reports A man who claims he saw a Bigfoot carcass two men allegedly bagged in northern Georgia searched for the creature in South Carolina earlier this year. Tom Biscardi spent days searching for Sasquatch in Bishopville after a Dodge van was found Feb. 28 with strange bite marks through the front grille. The metal on its fender was peeled back and the mauled vehicle also had deep scratches, blood and hair on it. On Friday, Biscardi joined Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer at a news conference in Palo Alto, Calif., at which they claimed they had evidence of the elusive Bigfoot. Biscardi — who heads a group called Searching for BigFoot — found nothing in South Carolina, Lee County Sheriff E.J. Melvin said Friday. DNA tests conducted on blood swabbed from the van found the culprit was a “domestic dog,” according to results from a forensic laboratory at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Maj. Daniel Simon, who swabbed the blood, suspected it was a coyote. “We found some dead coyotes in the area,” Simon said. “One was hit by a car, and another was found down the road from it.” But Biscardi, who was part of a five-person search team, didn’t buy the coyote theory — or the suggestions from some that the Lizard Man, South Carolina’s own mythical beast who is said to roam the Lee County swamps, was responsible. “You can look at the jaw pressure that it took to do this damage,” he said in an April interview. “It wasn’t a coyote. I think what you have here more than likely is a Bigfoot creature.” BIGFOOT OR BIG HOAX? Biscardi, Whitton and Dyer claim they have evidence of the elusive Bigfoot, an American Indian legend whose modern fame dates to an elaborate footprint hoax perpetrated at a Northern California logging camp in 1958. The men say DNA will prove once and for all that the frozen carcass of the creature is a Sasquatch. Whitton and Dyer claim they found the dead specimen in June in a remote swath of woods in northern Georgia. “It was very frightening at first,” said Dyer, 31, a former corrections officer who now — coincidentally — runs a business that offers Bigfoot tours. “And it got even more frightening when you saw the others.” Others? Dyer said he and Whitton saw three more of the beasts nearby as they dragged the body of their creature out of the woods. A ‘EUREKA’ MOMENT? “Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words,” predicted Whitton, an officer on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department. Dyer says he has video clips and photographs to prove it. One photograph provided to the media showed what resembled a gorilla — or maybe an old sheepskin rug — lying twisted in a freezer, with a dollop of intestines protruding from its belly. “There’s a lot of comment being made that it looks fake, or it looks like a suit,” Dyer said. “But these people wasn’t there when I was sweating, pulling this thing through the woods.” Biscardi said he was “150 percent” sure the carcass was a Bigfoot. “This is ‘Eureka!,’ man,” said Biscardi, whose operations include a Bigfoot Web site, a Bigfoot merchandise line and a Bigfoot Internet radio show. “I touched it.” Both Biscardi and Dyer said they expected skeptics to discount the find, which is being kept in a freezer in an undisclosed location outside Atlanta. But they promise even more proof, including video, a DNA test and, of course, a mission to capture one of the big guys. STUMBLING ACROSS A LEGEND Whitton and Dyer announced the discovery in early July on YouTube videos and their Web site. The men have offered three different accounts of how they found the beast’s remains. In one account, they followed the animal into the woods after it had been shot. In a second version, they found a “family of Bigfoot” in the north Georgia mountains. In the third, the two were hiking and stumbled upon the corpse with open wounds. In one of their YouTube videos, they are shown speaking with a man they identify as a scientist. Earlier this week, they admitted he was Dyer’s brother. Although they did not consider themselves devoted Bigfoot trackers before then, they have since started offering weekend search expeditions in Georgia for $499. ‘A COSTUME WITH SOME FAKE GUTS’ Some are not convinced. “What I’ve seen so far is not compelling in the least, and I think the pictures cast grave doubts on their claim,” Jeffrey Meldrum, a Bigfoot researcher and Idaho State University professor, told Scientific American. “It just looks like a costume with some fake guts thrown on top for effect.” Meldrum said the DNA test likely won’t prove anything and, at best, might yield a gene sequence that doesn’t match any other known primates. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Reserve spokesman Tom Mackenzie said officers also are not taking the claim seriously and will not investigate Bigfoot because it not a federal priority. “It’s not an endangered species on any list that we’ve got.”The New York Times, The Associated Press, The (Sumter) Item and staff writer Lee Higgins contributed. Bigfoot The legendary animal Bigfoot also known as Sasquatch is alleged to be an ape-like creature inhabiting remote forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal ape. Believers in its existence contend that such an animal, or close relatives of it, may be found around the world under different regional names, such as the Yeti of Tibet and Nepal, the Yeren of mainland China, the Orang Pendek of Indonesia, and the Yowie of Australia. Bigfoot is one of the more famous examples of cryptozoology; however, the scientific community considers the Bigfoot legend to be a combination of folklore, misidentified animals, and hoaxes. Despite its dubious status, Bigfoot has become a popular symbol (see Bigfoot in popular culture). Description and behavior Bigfoot is described in reports as being an ape between 6–15 feet (1.8–4.6 m) tall weighing in excess of 500 pounds (230 kg) and covered in dark brown or dark reddish hair.[1][2] Alleged witnesses have described large eyes, a pronounced brow ridge, and a large, low-set forehead; the top of the head has been described as rounded and crested, similar to the sagittal crest of the male gorilla. Bigfoot is commonly reported to have a strong, unpleasant smell by those who have claimed to have encountered it.[3] The enormous footprints for which it is named have been as large as 24 inches (61 cm) long and 8 inches (20 cm) wide.[1] While most casts have five toes—like all known apes—some casts of alleged Bigfoot tracks have had numbers ranging from two to six.[4] Some have also contained claw marks, making it likely that a portion came from known animals such as bears, which have four toes and claws.[5] Proponents have also claimed the creatures to be mainly nocturnal and omnivorous.[6] Sightings of Bigfoot occur mainly in the Pacific Northwest but also in many other areas of North America and other regions.[5][7] Cryptozoologist John Willison Green has postulated that Bigfoot is a worldwide phenomenon.[8] History Native American/First Nations origins: Ecologist Robert Michael Pyle argues that most cultures have human-like giants in their folk history: "We have this need for some larger-than-life creature."[9] The indigenous population of the Pacific Northwest had many stories about wild men from the woods that would often come to terrorize the population. The stories differed both regionally and between families in the same community. Most members of the Lummi would be able to tell a tale about Ts'emekwes, the local version of Bigfoot. The stories were similar to each other in terms of the general descriptions of Ts'emekwes, but details about the creature's diet and activities differed between the stories of different families.[10] Some versions contained more devious creatures. The stiyaha or kwi-kwiyai were names for a nocturnal race that children were told not to say less they hear and come to carry off a person—sometimes to kill him or her.[11] In 1847, Paul Kane reported stories by the native people about skoocooms: a race of canabalistic wild men living on the peak of Mount St. Helens.[5] Less menacing versions such as the one recorded by Reverend Elkanah Walker exist. In 1840, Walker, a Protestant missionary, recorded stories of giants among the Native Americans living in Spokane, Washington. The Indians claimed that these giants lived on the peaks of nearby mountains and stole salmon from the fishermen's nets.[12] Not all of these creatures were viewed as animals. The skoocooms appear to have been regarded as supernatural, rather than natural.[5] The local legends were combined together by J. W. Burns in a series of Canadian newspaper articles in the 1920s. Each language had its own name for the local version.[13] Many names meant something along the lines of "wild man" or "hairy man" although other names described common actions it was said to perform (e.g. eating clams).[14] Burns coined the term Sasquatch, which is from the Halkomelem sésquac meaning "wild man", and used it to described the unified creature in his articles.[5][14][15] Burns's articles popularized both the legend and its new name, making it well known in western Canada before it gained popularity in the United States.[16] Spread and development: Sightings of Bigfoot-like creatures by Europeans begin in the 1830s.[4] However, it was not until the Twentieth Century that Bigfoot became more widely known. In 1929, Burns published an article in Maclean's, a nation Canadian magazine.[17] Bigfoot's popularity continued to climb until major events in the 1950s. In 1951, Eric Shipton published what he described as a Yeti footprint.[16] Bigfoot's increasing notoriety through the decade culminated in 1958 when large footprints were found in Humboldt County, California by bulldozer operator Jerry Crew. The story was published in the Humboldt Times along with a photo of Crew holding a cast of one of the footprints.[5] The article's author, Andrew Genzoli, titled the piece "Bigfoot", after the 16 inches (41 cm) casts.[17] Sasquatch received a new name and gained international attention when the story was picked up by the Associated Press.[5][18] Ray Wallace was later attributed with making the name-sake footprints by Wallace's family shortly after his death.[2] Bigfoot candidates: Various types of creatures have been suggested to explain both the sightings and what type of creature Bigfoot would be if it existed. The scientific community attributes non-hoaxed sightings to misidentification of known animals and their tracts. While cryptozoologists explain Bigfoot with an unknown ape, some believers in Bigfoot attribute the phenomenon to even less mundane sources such as UFOs or other paranormal sources.[19] Bears: When standing on their hind legs, bears are roughly the same size as Bigfoot is supposed to be. Along with their prevalence in regions said to also be inhabited by Bigfoot, they are a likely candidate to explain some sightings.[20] Similarly, a tale presented in Theodore Roosevelt's 1900 book Hunting the Grisly and Other Sketches about two hunters encountering a violent bear, is sometimes used by Bigfoot proponents as historical evidence of the creature's existence. [21] Gigantopithecus: Bigfoot proponents Grover Krantz and Geoffrey Bourne believe that Gigantopithecus is a plausible candidate for Bigfoot. Bourne points to the facts that most Gigantopithecus fossils were found in China and that many species of animals migrated across the Bering land bridge, concluding that it is not unreasonable to assume that Gigantopithecus might have as well.[22] The Gigantopithecus hypothesis is generally considered entirely speculative. As the only known fossils are of its mandible and teeth, there is some uncertainty about Gigantopithecus's locomotion. Krantz has argued, based on the shape of its mandible, that Gigantopithecus blacki could have been bipedal. However, the mainstream view is that Gigantopithecus was quadrupedal, and it has been argued that Gigantopithecus's enormous mass would have made it difficult for it to adopt a bipedal gait. Bernard G. Campbellin wrote: "That Gigantopithicus is in fact extinct has been questioned by those who believe it survives as the Yeti of the Himalayas and the Sasquatch of the north-west American coast. But the evidence for these creatures is not convincing."[23] Extinct hominans: A species of Paranthropus, such as Paranthropus robustus, with its crested skull and bipedal gait, was suggested by primatologist John Napier and anthropologist Gordon Strasenburg as a possible candidate for Bigfoot's identity.[24] Some Bigfoot proponents suggest Homo erectus to be the creature[citation needed], but Homo erectus remains are not found on the North American continent.[citation needed] View among the scientific community: Scientists and academics overwhelmingly "discount the existence of Bigfoot because the evidence supporting belief in the survival of a prehistoric, bipedal, apelike creature of such dimensions is scant."[2] In addition to the lack of evidence, they cite the fact that Bigfoot is alleged to live in regions unusual for a large, nonhuman primate, i.e., temperate latitudes in the northern hemisphere; all recognized nonhuman apes are found in the tropics of Africa and Asia. Great apes are not found in the fossil record in the Americas, and no Bigfoot remains have ever been found. Indeed, scientists insist that the breeding population of such an animal would be so large that it would account for many more purported sightings than currently occur, making the existence of such an animal an almost certain impossibility. Most scientists do not give the subject of Bigfoot's existence serious attention, given the history of dubious claims and outright hoaxes. Napier wrote that the mainstream scientific community's indifference stems primarily from "insufficient evidence ... it is hardly surprising that scientists prefer to investigate the probable rather than beat their heads against the wall of the faintly possible."[25] Anthropologist David Daegling echoed this idea, citing a "remarkably limited amount of Sasquatch data that are amenable to scientific scrutiny."[26] He advises that mainstream skeptics take a proactive position "to offer an alternative explanation. We have to explain why we see Bigfoot when there is no such animal."[27] In a 1996 USA Today article titled "Bigfoot Merely Amuses Most Scientists", Washington State zoologist John Crane is quoted as saying: "There is no such thing as Bigfoot. No data other than material that's clearly been fabricated has ever been presented."[28] George Schaller is one of a few prominent scientists[28] who argue that Bigfoot reports are worthy of serious study. A 2003 Los Angeles Times story described Schaller as a "Bigfoot skeptic," but he also expressed his disapproval towards other scientists who do not examine evidence, yet "write [Bigfoot] off as a hoax or myth. I don't think that's fair."[29] In a 2003 Denver Post article Schaller said that he is troubled that no Bigfoot remains have ever been uncovered, and no feces samples have been found to allow DNA testing. Schaller notes: "There have been so many sightings over the years, even if you throw out 95 percent of them, there ought to be some explanation for the rest. I think a hard-eyed look is absolutely essential."[30] Napier argues that some "soft evidence" (i.e., eyewitness accounts, footprints, hair and droppings) is compelling enough that he advises against "dismissing its reality out of hand."[31] Other scientists who have expressed guarded interest in Sasquatch reports include Russell Mittermeier, Daris Swindler, and Esteban Sarmiento.[32] Although most scientists find current evidence of Bigfoot unpersuasive, a handful of prominent experts have offered sympathetic opinions on the subject. In a 2002 interview on National Public Radio, Jane Goodall first publicly expressed her views on Bigfoot, by remarking, "Well now, you'll be amazed when I tell you that I'm sure that they exist... I've talked to so many Native Americans who all describe the same sounds, two who have seen them. I've probably got about, oh, thirty books that have come from different parts of the world, from China from, from all over the place...."[33] Anthropologist Carleton S. Coon's posthumously published essay Why the Sasquatch Must Exist states, "Even before I read John Green's book Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us, first published in 1978, I accepted Sasquatch's existence."[34] Coon examines the question from several angles, stating that he is confident only in ruling out a relict Neanderthal population as a viable candidate for Sasquatch reports. Krantz and others[who?] have argued that a double standard is applied to Sasquatch studies by many academics: whenever there is a claim or evidence of Sasquatch's existence, enormous scrutiny is applied, yet when individuals claim to have hoaxed Bigfoot evidence, the claims are frequently accepted without corroborative evidence.[citation needed] In 2004, Henry Gee, editor of the prestigious magazine Nature, argued that creatures like Bigfoot deserved further study, writing, "The discovery that Homo floresiensis survived until so very recently, in geological terms, makes it more likely that stories of other mythical, human-like creatures such as Yetis are founded on grains of truth ... Now, cryptozoology, the study of such fabulous creatures, can come in from the cold."[35] Prominent hoaxes: Many proponents of Bigfoot admit that many of sightings are hoaxes or misidentified animals. Loren Coleman, a cryptozoologist, and Diane Stocking, a Florida Bigfooter, have estimated that as many as 70 to 80 percent of sightings are not real.[4] Bigfoot sightings or footprints are often demonstrably hoaxes. Author Jerome Clark argues that the "Jacko" affair, involving an 1884 newspaper report of an apelike creature captured in British Columbia was a hoax. Citing research by John Green, who found that several contemporary British Columbia newspapers regarded the alleged capture as very dubious, Clark notes that the New Westminster, British Columbia Mainland Guardian wrote, "Absurdity is written on the face of it."[36] In 1958 bulldozer operator Jerry Crew took to a newspaper office a cast of one of the enormous footprints he and other workers had been seeing at an isolated work site at Bluff Creek, California. The crew was overseen by Wilbur L. Wallace, brother of Raymond L. Wallace. After Ray Wallace's death, his children came forward with a pair of 16-inch (41 cm) wooden feet, which they claimed their father had used to fake the Bigfoot tracks in 1958.[2][5] Wallace is poorly regarded by many Bigfoot proponents. Napier wrote, "I do not feel impressed with Mr. Wallace's story" regarding having over 15,000 feet of film showing Bigfoot.[37] In 1967, Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin reported that on October 20 they had captured a purported Sasquatch on film at Bluff Creek, California. This came to be known as the Patterson-Gimlin film, the best evidence that Bigfoot exist. Many years later, Bob Heironimus, an acquaintance of Patterson's, claimed that he had worn an ape costume for the making of the film.[38] Organizations such as Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization have suggested that that Heironimus himself is a fraud.[citation needed] On July 14, 2005, Tom Biscardi appeared on the Coast to Coast AM radio show and announced that he was "98% sure that his group will be able to capture a Bigfoot which they have been tracking in the Happy Camp, California area."[39] A month later, Biscardi announced on the same radio show that he had access to a captured bigfoot and was arranging a pay-per-view event for people to see it. Biscardi appeared on Coast to Coast AM again a few days later to announce that there was no captive Bigfoot. Biscardi blamed an unnamed woman for misleading him, and the show's audience for being so gullible. On July 9, 2008, two hikers, Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton, posted a video to YouTube claiming that they had discovered the body of a deceased Sasquatch in a forest in northern Georgia. Steve Kulls of Sasquatchdetective.com and Sasquatchdetective Radio posted a video response asking them to appear on his radio program on July 28, 2008. After an hour long phone interview with Dyer on July 28, Kulls contacted Tom Biscardi, a long-time Bigfoot enthusiast and CEO of Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. At that time they decided that Biscardi would take over the investigation. He traveled to Georgia on August 1, 2008 to look at the body (named "Rickmat" by Dyer and Whitton[40]). Biscardi was given samples of genetic material by Dyer and Whitton. Biscardi then hand delivered the samples to Dr. Curt Nelson in Michigan.[41] One sample was shown to contain human DNA and another sample opossum DNA, while a third was inconclusive. Biscardi suggested that the opossum DNA could be attributed to the stomach contents of the carcass.[42][43][44] On August 4, Dyer and Whitton entered into a contract with Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. On August 12, Dyer and Whitton requested an undisclosed sum of money from Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., as a good faith gesture. They received their requested funds on August 14. Biscardi had originally planned a press conference after the body had been examined by scientists, but Dyer and Whitton refused to turn the body over to his company unless the press conference were held first. The press conference took place on August 15, 2008. On August 16, the alleged Bigfoot body arrived with the Searching for Bigfoot team. The body was in a block of ice in a freezer. It was estimated to weigh about 1500 pounds, and at first began thawing at room temperature to avoid additional decomposition. When some hair was exposed, it was tested and found to be uncharacteristic of hair. At that point, heat was applied to speed thawing. Once the head was exposed, it felt hollow when researchers touched it. Once the feet were exposed, it was confirmed that they were made of rubber. Biscardi was immediately contacted, who confronted Dyer and Whitton. They admitted the "body" was a costume. Biscardi set up a meeting with Dyer and Whitton so that they would sign a promissory note and admission of what they had done. When Biscardi arrived at the hotel room where the meeting was to take place, he found that Dyer and Whitten had left. It is still unclear as to Dyer and Whitton's (a seven-year veteran with the Clayton County Police Department) motivation behind the hoax.[41] Famous sightings: There have been many hundreds of alleged Bigfoot sightings. These are some of the most notable ones: * 1924: Fred Beck claimed in an 1967 book that he and four other miners were attacked one night in July 1924, by several "apemen" throwing rocks at their cabin in an area later called Ape Canyon.[45] The men went outside and shot at what Beck described as "mountain gorillas". The next morning, large footprints were claimed to be found around the cabin.[5] Speleologist William Halliday argued in 1983 that the story arose from an incident in which hikers from a nearby camp had thrown rocks into the canyon.[46] There are also local rumors that pranksters harassed the men and planned faked footprints.[5] * 1941: Jeannie Chapman and her children claimed to have escaped their home when a large Sasquatch, allegedly 7½ feet tall, approached their residence in Ruby Creek, British Columbia.[47] * 1940s onward: People living in Fouke, Arkansas have reported that a Bigfoot-like creature, dubbed the “Fouke Monster”, inhabits the region. A high number of reports have occurred in the Boggy Creek area and are the basis for the 1973 film The Legend of Boggy Creek.[48][49][50] * 1955: William Roe claimed to have seen a close-up view of a female Sasquatch from concealment near Mica Mountain, British Columbia.[51] * 1958: Two construction workers, Leslie Breazale and Ray Kerr, reported seeing a Sasquatch about 45 miles northeast of Eureka, California. Sixteen-inch tracks had previously been spotted in the northern California woods.[52] * 1967: On October 20, 1967, Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin captured a purported Sasquatch on film in Bluff Creek, California in what would come to be known as the Patterson-Gimlin film. * 1970: A family of Bigfoot-like creatures called "zoobies" was allegedly observed on multiple occasions by a San Diego psychiatrist named Dr. Baddour and his family near their Alpine, California home, as reported in an interview with San Diego County Deputy Sheriff Sgt. Doug Huse, who investigated the sightings.[53] * 1995: On August 28, 1995, a TV film crew from Waterland Productions pulled off the road into Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and filmed what they claimed to be a Sasquatch in their RV's Headlights.[54] * 2005: On April 16, 2005, A creature resembling a Bigfoot was reportedly seen on the bank of the Nelson River in Norway House, Manitoba. Two minutes and forty seconds of footage was taken by ferry operator Bobby Clarke from across the Nelson River.[55] * 2006: On December 14, 2006, Shaylane Beatty, a woman from the Dechambault Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada, was driving to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan when, she claimed, saw the creature near the side of the highway at Torch River. Several men from the village drove down to the area and found footprints, which they tracked through the snow. They found a tuft of brown hair and took photographs of the tracks.[56][57] * 2007: On September 16, 2007, in the Allegheny National Forest near the town of Ridgway, Pennsylvania, hunter Rick Jacobs captured an image of an animal using an automatically triggered camera attached to a tree which some claimed was Bigfoot.[20][58][59] A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Game Commission challenged the Bigfoot explanation, saying that it looked like "a bear with a severe case of mange."[20] * 2008: In July, berry-pickers reported a Sasquatch sighting in northern Ontario, Canada.[60] Similar creatures: * Almas - Mongolia * Barmanou - Afghanistan and Pakistan * Chuchunaa - Siberia * Fear liath - Scotland * Fouke Monster - Fouke, Arkansas * Hibagon - Japan * Kapre - Philippines * Lake Worth monster - Lake Worth, Texas * Momo the Monster - Missouri, Louisiana * Ngu?i R?ng - Vietnam * Nuk-luk - Northwest Territories * Old Yellow Top - Canada * Orang Mawas - Malaysia * Orang Pendek - Sumatra, Indonesia * Pennsylvania Creature - Pennsylvania * Pitt Lake Giant - British Columbia, Georgia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania * Skunk Ape - Florida * Yeren - Hubei, China * Yeti - Tibet * Yowie - Australia Similar creatures in folklore: * Giant - Southern Europe * Ogre - Northern Europe * Troll - Scandinavia * Wendigo - Canada and Eastern US * Woodwose Footnotes [ 1.] "Sasquatch". Encyclopædia Britannica. (2008). [ 2.] "Bigfoot [a.k.a. Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas, Mapinguari (the Amazon), Sasquatch, Yowie (Australia) and Yeti (Asia)]". The Skeptic's Dictionary. [ 3.] "Sasquatch Smell / Aroma / Odor / Scent". Bigfoot Encounters. [ 4.] Radford, Benjamin. "Bigfoot at 50". Skeptical Inquirer. [ 5.] Nickell, Joe (January 2007). "Investigative Files: Mysterious Entities of the Pacific Northwest, Part I". Skeptical Inquirer. [ 6.] "Physiology". Bigfoot Field Research Organization. [ 7.] "Geographical Database of Bigfoot/Sasquatch Sightings and Reports". Bigfoot Field Research Organization. [ 8.] Green, John Willison (1978). Sasquatch - The Apes Among Us. Hancock House Publishing, p. 16. ISBN 0-88839-123-4. [ 9.] Goodavage, Maria (1996-05-24). "Hunt for Bigfoot Attracts True Believers". USA TODAY/bz050. [10.] Rasmus, S. Michelle (Spring 200). "Repatriating Words: Local Knowledge in a Global Context". American Indian Quarterly 26 (2): 292. [11.] Rigsby, Bruce. "Some Pacific Northwest Native Language Names for the Sasquatch Phenomenon". Bigfoot: Fact or Fantasy? [12.] "The Diary of Elkanah Walker". Bigfoot Encounters. [13.] See Mizokami, Kyle. "Native American Sasquatch Names". Sasquatch Research. Retrieved on 2008-08-18. for a list of names. [14.] Mildrum, Jeff (2007). Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science. Macmillan, p. 50. [15.] "Sasquatch". Merriam-Webster. [16.] "Bigfoot". Missing Links Primate Center. [17.] "J. W. Burns". West Coast Sasquatch Research. [18.] Krantz, Grover (1992). Big Footprints: A Scientific Inquiry into the Reality of Sasquatch. Johnson Books, 5. ISBN 1-55566-099-1. [19.] Boston, Rob (December 2003). "Scenes from a Bigfoot Conference". Skeptical Inquirer. [20.] "Is this Bigfoot ... or is it a bear with bad skin?", Mail Online (30 October 2007). [21.] An example is Green 1978, pp. 29-34 [22.] Bourne, Geoffrey H.; Cohen, Maury (1975). The Gentle Giants: The Gorilla Story. G.P. Putnam's Sons, p. 296. ISBN 0-399-11528-5. [23.] Campbell, Bernard G. (1979). Humankind Emerging. Little, Brown and Company, p. 100. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 78-78234. [24.] Coleman, Loren. "Scientific Names for Bigfoot". BFRO. [25.] Napier, John Russell (1973). Bigfoot: The Sasquatch and Yeti in Myth and Reality. E.P. Dutton. ISBN 0-525-06658-6. [26.] Daegling, David J. (2004). Bigfoot Exposed: An Anthropologist Examines America's Enduring Legend. Altamira Press. ISBN 0-7591-0539-1. [27.] Daegling 2004, p. 20 [28.] "USA Today Bigfoot Articles". [29.] Bailey, Eric (April 19, 2003). "Bigfoot's Big Feat: New Life; A prankster's deeds revealed posthumously appeared to doom the legend." (in English), The Los Angeles Times, pp. section A.1. [30.] Theo Stein (2003). "Bigfoot Believers: Legitimate scientific study of legend gains backing of top primate experts" (in English). archive. The Denver Post. [31.] Napier 1973, p. 197 [32.] Stein, Theo (2003-01-05). "Bigfoot Believers", The Denver Post. [33.] "Transcript of Dr Jane Goodall's comments on NPR regarding Sasquatch". Bigfoot Field Research Organization (2006). [34.] Markotic, Vladimir (1984). The Sasquatch and Other Unknown Primates. Western Publishers, p. 46. ISBN 0-919119-10-7. [35.] "Flores, God and Cryptozoology". Nature Publishing Group (2004). (available only with subscription). [36.] Clark, Jerome (1993). Unexplained! 347 Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences and Puzzling Physical Phenomena. Visible Ink, p. 195. ISBN 0-8103-9436-7. [37.] Napier 1973, p. 89 [38.] "Man Admits : I was Bigfoot". World Nets Daily (2004-03-10). [39.] http://www.oregonbigfoot.com/georgia_bigfoot_dead_body_in_freezer_dyer_whitton_biscardi.php [40.] http://rickmat.org/press-release-original/ [41.] Kulls, Steve. "Searching For Bigfoot Uncovers the Truth". Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. [42.] ""Bigfoot" fails DNA test". Reuters (August 14, 2008). [43.] "‘Bigfoot’ press conference reveals possum DNA". AJC (2008-08-15). [44.] "Bigfoot Press Conference Yields Little Evidence, Lots of Scorn". Scientific American (2008-08-15). [45.] Beck, Ronald A.. "I Fought the Apemen of Mount St. Helens, WA." [46.] Halliday, William R. (1983). Ape Cave and the Mount St. Helens Apes. ISBN 1886168008. [47.] "Sasquatch Classics: Ruby Creek". [48.] "Quirky Arkansas - Curiosities and Roadside Attractions". [49.] "Too Close to the Mirror". [50.] "The Ghosts of Arkansas - The Legend of Boggy Creek". [51.] "Sasquatch Classics: William Roe". [52.] "BFRO Media Article 87". Bigfoot Field Research Organization. [53.] "Bigfoot: The San Diego "Zoobie" Story". Bigfoot Encounters. [54.] "The Redwoods Video". [55.] "Bigfoot: The Manitoba Footage and articles 2005". Bigfoot Encounters. [56.] "Claims she saw Bigfoot". [57.] "Sightings the talk of 'sasquatch-ewan'". [58.] "Rick Jacobs Bigfoot Pictures: Multiple Photos Now Online". National Ledger. [59.] "Rick Jacobs photos". Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. [60.] "Berry-pickers report Sasquatch sighting in northern Ontario". CBC News (CANADA) (2008-07-28). Links Bigfoot supporters Alliance of Independent Bigfoot Researchers (AIBR) Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization Willow Creek - China Flat Museum - includes an entire building dedicated to Bigfoot, including footprint casts, maps, photos, and other documents LorenColeman.com - website of Bigfoot researcher Loren Coleman Bigfoot-lives.com - A UK-based Bigfoot site Bigfoot Discovery Project Skeptical views Article by Benjamin Radford, in Skeptical Inquirer, March/April 2002 Article by Kal K. Korff and Michaela Kocis, in Skeptical Inquirer, July 2004 Bigfoot - from the Skeptic's Dictionary Skeptic World - Bigfoot Other Indianapolis Fox 59 - Whitton & Dyer incident revealed as hoax Recent Headlines Georgia men claim hairy, frozen corpse is Bigfoot (AP via Yahoo! News) Bigfoot or big fat lie? Whenever someone reports sighting the hairy beast of yore (details always fuzzy) or capturing the hirsute humanoid on film (images always grainy), it scares up a dubious debate of international proportions. Friday was just the latest episode in the Sasquatch show, as unreal as it may be. Bigfoot Corpse Found in Georgia? (Time Magazine) Two men who claim to have stumbled across a Bigfoot corpse in the woods of northern Georgia indignantly stood by their story at a news conference in Palo Alto Georgia men defend Bigfoot body claims (CNN.com) A pair of Georgia men faced more than a half-hour of skeptical questions from reporters Friday as they defended their claim that they stumbled upon the body of Bigfoot while hiking in a remote North Georgia forest. California: Bigfoot Remains a Myth (New York Times) One sample of genetic material from alleged remains of Bigfoot came from a human source, while another was 96 percent from an opossum Georgia men claim hairy, frozen beast is Bigfoot (AP via Yahoo! News) Bigfoot or big fat lie? Georgia men claim hairy, frozen corpse is Bigfoot (USA Today) A hairy corpse crammed in a Georgia freezer is Bigfoot, say two men who have been tracking the legendary creature, when they aren't busy looking for leprechauns and the Loch Ness monster. "Bigfoot" fails DNA test (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Bigfoot remains as elusive as ever. Skepticism as US hunters claim 'Bigfoot' find (AFP via Yahoo! News) Two US men on Friday claimed to have found the body of "Bigfoot," the legendary ape-like creature that has been the subject of decades of hoaxes and dubious sightings. Bigfoot Found! No, Really, Guys Say (The Tampa Tribune) Bigfoot or big fat lie? Whenever someone reports sighting the hairy beast of yore (details always fuzzy) or capturing the hirsute humanoid on film (images always grainy), it scares up a dubious debate of international proportions. Friday brought just the latest episode in the Sasquatch show, as unreal as it may be. Bigfoot theory rears its fuzzy head again (Los Angeles Times) |
