The world’s favourite large-footed ape-man is making a stir again, and that stir includes misconstrued bison hair, Malaysian scientists and a kid with a video camera.
Whether you call him Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti or The Skunk Ape, it’s all the same supposed creature: Usually an extremely tall hair covered and stinky man-ape biped. Everyone knows the general scenario that accompanies a sighting: a lone witness who sees something out of the corner of their eye. They look over only to find a giant upright gorilla with the face of a person and a barrel chest disappear behind a pine tree. The sightings rarely last long, and are generally at a distance, but they’re reported all the time.
In Malaysia some of these reports are leading to scientific research teams heading into the rain forest to find a Sasquatch, or evidence there-of. In America one of the more recent sightings comes with actual video footage…
There’s been a rash of Bigfoot (Stuff) sightings the world over in recent
months, several of which come out of Malaysia. The Sasquatch has been
at the forefront of the Malaysian minds for weeks now, and their
government is taking it very seriously. One of the specified reports
comes from a Malaysian man who claims to have seen the animal standing
at about ten feet tall (three metres) on its huge hind legs next to a
river. In and of itself that generic sighting isn’t overly
stimulating, but when it gets put into the context of the sighting
epidemic that it’s a small piece of, it’s legitimacy gains some
serious momentum.
There have been so many sightings, in fact, that the Malaysian
government is readying two scientific teams to get in there and have a
look around. An unnamed government official said: "Yes, the State
Government has decided to send teams of scientists to try and track it"
and Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman said on the matter: "We hope the
expedition will be able to prove its existence."
Switching continents, in the summer of ’05 there were some witnesses
in the Canadian town of Teslin that actually saw Bigfoot make some
tracks past a house in the middle of the night. He’d reportedly left
behind footprints, and a much more substantial clump of hair. The hair
was submitted to geneticists at The University Of Alberta, with the
hopes that it’s analysis would come back from the awe-stuck scientists
as: Never having been identified before, but probably from some sort of
monkey.
It didn’t happen. The tests said it was Bison hair, and the
disappointed hopefuls probably walked away with their hands in their
pockets kicking a pebble down the street.
In more uplifting Sasquatch news (and this is the good part), we’ve
got some recent video. Now, Bigfoot video is usually quite terrible, we
know. You have the Patterson Film (filmed on October 20, 1967) which –
after viewing – hecklerspray thought, "That looks like a guy in a cheap
monkey suit."
Then you have the more recent 2 minute 49 second Manitoba footage,
which shows a Bigfoot walking calf-deep along a river’s edge.
hecklerspray hasn’t seen this video yet. It was made available for a
very short period of time, but on the advice of lawyers, the owner of
the tape withdrew any permission to air it. It was filmed from a
ferry, and at some distance, leading to the creature’s features being
indiscernible, and over all being very small on screen.
Now the footage we’d like you to see here was filmed on November 14,
2005 in northern California. It was filmed by one Mark Nelson, who was
backpacking along a dear trail at the time. He saw the creature, then
looked away to grab his video camera out of his bag. That’s why at the
beginning of the film, it looks like a desperate scramble to find
something again.
hecklerspray has seen its fair share of Bigfoot footage, be it video
or still photo. Usually such a viewing leads to a disappointed shake
of the head, and wishing harm onto the people we think faked it. In
this case though, we were surprised to find ourselves thinking: "That
actually looks pretty good." Keep in mind Biggie’s time in-shot is
pretty short, and ends up really blurry, but the several seconds of
clarity had us play it again and again.
hecklerspray‘s verdict on Bigfoot’s recent rebirth: Awesome.
Watch the new Bigfoot footage here
Read more:
The Bigfoot Field Research Organisation
[story by Shawn Lindseth]
Jason Homer says
I was quite impressed with this video when I first saw it. I wrote the kid via email and suggested he contact the BFRO. I also told him he could be making some big money off of this if it’s legit. He should license it. If he read that email I don’t know but shortly there after it appeared on the BFRO website. I am now of the opinion that this video is a hoax. He has been interviewed and his story unfortunately doesn’t hold water. Here’s a link to what people are saying about the video. It’s quite long but somewhere in there is the interview with Mark Nelson by Dan Frietas a respected Sasquatch investigator.
http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.php?showtopic=13453
I don’t know much of this site but found it doing a quick search on the video. They believe it to be a hoax.
http://squatchdetective.com/video.html
Also the BFRO is posting some stuff lately as credible, possibly to peak interest in their Sasquatch expedition business they’ve started. A.K.A. – Expensive camping trips
John D says
Bigfoot never really went away, but this news in Malaysia has been creating a stir on the global front lately. It’s interesting, but should be looked at with a skeptical eye. I’ve seen a number of statements from government officials and so forth to the effect that “(they) hope the expedition will be able to prove its existence…” but little or no description of what they are willing to accept as proof or how they intent to obtain it.
Regarding video evidence, I suppose if you only saw the Patterson film once and didn’t know much of the background of it you could conclude that it’s a person in a costume based on the old “it can’t be real because there ain’t no such thing” line of reasoning. This film, however, has undergone the scrutiny of experts in biomechanics, cinematography, anthropology, primatology, and other scientific disciplines, often with the intent of discrediting the film as a hoax. None have definitively succeeded in doing so. A number of folks have come out of the woodwork claiming to be the “man in the monkey suit” (note: monkeys have tails), but none has been able to produce the actual costume. This leaves their claims to fame in the same place as the as the advocates of the existence of Bigfoot, who need to produce a body or body part to prove their position and are unable to do it.
The Mark Nelson footage does look pretty good, but would not be impossible to fake, given the quality of the video. The footage seems to have become a forum for the BFRO and ex-curator John Freitas to lash out at one another. Freitas’ statement outlining the problems he perceives with the story surrounding the video can be found at http://www.rense.com/general69/bgft.htm, and the BFRO’s defense of the footage and of the young Mr. Nelson is at http://www.bfro.net/news/sonoma.asp. The info on the Squatchdetective site about the film is interesting too – thanks Mr. Homer.
Regardless of whether Mark Nelson was harassed and interrogated by a “pushy” investigator, there do seem to be some substantial holes in the story. I’ll add a correction – Mr. Nelson and his girlfriend were day hiking and not backpacking, supposedly starting out on a turnout along Rockpile Rd. by the Lake Sonoma recreation area near Cloverdale, CA. There is some discrepancy in the story as to whether they were on a fire road or a deer trail (or “dear trail”???). I’ve driven Rockpile Rd. to its end and found that every area that matches Mr. Nelson’s description of the turnout where they climbed though the strands of a barbed wire fence to go hiking is marked with a very foreboding “no trespassing” sign warning of a $500 fine. These signs did not appear to be brand new, so it’s unlikely that every landowner along Rockpile Rd. put them up in the last two months to scare off Bigfoot hunters. It leaves one to wonder, then, why these two, who were for some reason camping in the rainy season in Northern California, would risk a large fine to go hiking on an animal trail on private property. That’s just one of the fishy things about the story.
Despite strange stories like the Mark Nelson affair, the Bigfoot enigma is still a fun subject, with pretty good arguments both for and against its existence. I wish the scientists in Johor luck in finding whatever it is they’re looking for.
Lorne says
The creatures seen all over the world are definately not the same. Some have ‘monkey’ feet, some have a different number of toes, and many are different in size and color. There are also families of them encountered as well.
The blind spot is western scientific arogance. Just because ‘they’ have not discovered it yet, it doesn’t exist! They will catch up to the rest of the world eventually.
DM says
Anyone watched Penn and Teller’s Bullshit lately??