QUOTE
Bigfoot searchers carry on
Believers say recent hoax a frustration
By Troy Anderson, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 08/22/2008 11:20:46 PM PDT
Palmdale resident Richard Hucklebridge, was frustrated when news of a Sasquatch discovery earlier this month turned out to be another trick.
"These people who conspired to make this hoax brought all the research down in my opinion," said Hucklebridge, an investigator with the Orange County-based Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization.
"It kind of upset me. We've been at this for years now and we're trying to prove these things are real."
In addition to two men in Georgia who tried to pass off a frozen rubber gorilla suit as a Sasquatch corpse, there were highly publicized photos of a "Montauk Monster," a strange, demonic-looking corpse that washed up on an East Coast beach. Some said it was a turtle that lost its shell or even a ploy to get publicity for a movie being shot nearby. No one has confirmed its origin.
That monster story was preceded by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell's claim that extraterrestrials are visiting Earth, a top-secret federal agency has covered it up since UFOs crashed in 1947 in New Mexico and several bodies were recovered.
While NASA denies aliens are visiting Earth - and most of the scientific community is highly skeptical of Bigfoot's existence - the first national survey of paranormal beliefs by Baylor University in Waco, Texas, found the public is far more receptive.
Nearly 20 percent of Americans said they believe Bigfoot one day will be discovered and 25 percent said UFOs probably are
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spaceships from other worlds.
For thousands of years, humanity has told tales of trolls, giants and aliens to the abominable snowman and sea monsters.
"We have these urban legends and we are kind of raised thinking these things might exist," said Brian Cronk, a professor of psychology at Missouri Western State University in St. Louis.
"So much of what we believe is developed by what scientists call the method of authority. You have questions as a child. You ask an authority figure who ought to know the answer and you believe what they say."
Despite a series of hoaxes over the years, Bigfoot and UFO enthusiasts maintain there is growing evidence.
Hucklebridge, who spent two decades as a tracker for the sheriff's search and rescue team, investigates about 100 Bigfoot "sightings" every year in Southern California.
Hucklebridge, a 71-year-old retired General Electric jet engine mechanic and supervisor who also worked on the B-2 Bomber for Northrop Grumman, said he believes about a half-dozen Bigfoot are living in Southern California mountains.
"Those (reports that are credible) suggest there are pockets of Sasquatch families living in and around dense tree cover, usually in higher elevations," said Bobbie Short, a Bigfoot researcher in San Diego County who operates www.bigfootencounters.com
Since the early 1970s, Los Angeles County has had 18 Bigfoot sightings, the eighth-highest total in the state, according to BRFO's database.
That compares to a high of 42 in Humboldt County, the Bigfoot capital of the world where the mystery first captured public imagination 50 years ago this month.
In the past few years on the Bigfoot front a growing number of scientists and primate researchers, including Jane Goodall - famous for her studies of chimpanzees in Tanzania - have called for a scientific study to determine if Bigfoot exists.
Jeff Meldrum, an associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University and author of "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science," recently received a private $130,000 grant to conduct a scientific investigation into Sasquatch's existence.
Meldrum hopes to obtain photographs and audio recordings of a Sasquatch. He also wants to obtain evidence to conduct a DNA analysis.
Vaughn M. Bryant, a professor of anthropology at Texas A & M University, said he supports a scientific study, but is skeptical.
"The bottom line is nobody has come up with smoking gun evidence that is really good enough," Bryant said. "Nobody has come up with a skeleton yet."
Russell L. Ciochon, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Iowa, said the modern legend is based on a hoax.
"First of all, there is no evidence of Bigfoot," Ciochon said. "They have not found a single bone. When the hair samples are analyzed, it's always some unknown animal or another species. The hair samples never turn out to be an unknown ape.
"I don't care how many expeditions they go on. They won't find this creature."
But Hucklebridge isn't deterred. He's investigated too many reports - some that seem highly credible to him - not to believe something is out there in the mountains.
"We aren't doing this for (money)," Hucklebridge said. "We are doing it because we love it. We want to find out. The scientists won't believe until somebody comes up with a body.
"But we don't want to capture or harm them. We have people who come out here and shoot at them. I know they have been shot at and hit.
"And I know it's something that gives them a bad attitude."
like many Bigfoot enthusiasts, troy.anderson@dailynews.com - (213) 974-8985
Believers say recent hoax a frustration
By Troy Anderson, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 08/22/2008 11:20:46 PM PDT
Palmdale resident Richard Hucklebridge, was frustrated when news of a Sasquatch discovery earlier this month turned out to be another trick.
"These people who conspired to make this hoax brought all the research down in my opinion," said Hucklebridge, an investigator with the Orange County-based Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization.
"It kind of upset me. We've been at this for years now and we're trying to prove these things are real."
In addition to two men in Georgia who tried to pass off a frozen rubber gorilla suit as a Sasquatch corpse, there were highly publicized photos of a "Montauk Monster," a strange, demonic-looking corpse that washed up on an East Coast beach. Some said it was a turtle that lost its shell or even a ploy to get publicity for a movie being shot nearby. No one has confirmed its origin.
That monster story was preceded by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell's claim that extraterrestrials are visiting Earth, a top-secret federal agency has covered it up since UFOs crashed in 1947 in New Mexico and several bodies were recovered.
While NASA denies aliens are visiting Earth - and most of the scientific community is highly skeptical of Bigfoot's existence - the first national survey of paranormal beliefs by Baylor University in Waco, Texas, found the public is far more receptive.
Nearly 20 percent of Americans said they believe Bigfoot one day will be discovered and 25 percent said UFOs probably are
Advertisement
spaceships from other worlds.
For thousands of years, humanity has told tales of trolls, giants and aliens to the abominable snowman and sea monsters.
"We have these urban legends and we are kind of raised thinking these things might exist," said Brian Cronk, a professor of psychology at Missouri Western State University in St. Louis.
"So much of what we believe is developed by what scientists call the method of authority. You have questions as a child. You ask an authority figure who ought to know the answer and you believe what they say."
Despite a series of hoaxes over the years, Bigfoot and UFO enthusiasts maintain there is growing evidence.
Hucklebridge, who spent two decades as a tracker for the sheriff's search and rescue team, investigates about 100 Bigfoot "sightings" every year in Southern California.
Hucklebridge, a 71-year-old retired General Electric jet engine mechanic and supervisor who also worked on the B-2 Bomber for Northrop Grumman, said he believes about a half-dozen Bigfoot are living in Southern California mountains.
"Those (reports that are credible) suggest there are pockets of Sasquatch families living in and around dense tree cover, usually in higher elevations," said Bobbie Short, a Bigfoot researcher in San Diego County who operates www.bigfootencounters.com
Since the early 1970s, Los Angeles County has had 18 Bigfoot sightings, the eighth-highest total in the state, according to BRFO's database.
That compares to a high of 42 in Humboldt County, the Bigfoot capital of the world where the mystery first captured public imagination 50 years ago this month.
In the past few years on the Bigfoot front a growing number of scientists and primate researchers, including Jane Goodall - famous for her studies of chimpanzees in Tanzania - have called for a scientific study to determine if Bigfoot exists.
Jeff Meldrum, an associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University and author of "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science," recently received a private $130,000 grant to conduct a scientific investigation into Sasquatch's existence.
Meldrum hopes to obtain photographs and audio recordings of a Sasquatch. He also wants to obtain evidence to conduct a DNA analysis.
Vaughn M. Bryant, a professor of anthropology at Texas A & M University, said he supports a scientific study, but is skeptical.
"The bottom line is nobody has come up with smoking gun evidence that is really good enough," Bryant said. "Nobody has come up with a skeleton yet."
Russell L. Ciochon, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Iowa, said the modern legend is based on a hoax.
"First of all, there is no evidence of Bigfoot," Ciochon said. "They have not found a single bone. When the hair samples are analyzed, it's always some unknown animal or another species. The hair samples never turn out to be an unknown ape.
"I don't care how many expeditions they go on. They won't find this creature."
But Hucklebridge isn't deterred. He's investigated too many reports - some that seem highly credible to him - not to believe something is out there in the mountains.
"We aren't doing this for (money)," Hucklebridge said. "We are doing it because we love it. We want to find out. The scientists won't believe until somebody comes up with a body.
"But we don't want to capture or harm them. We have people who come out here and shoot at them. I know they have been shot at and hit.
"And I know it's something that gives them a bad attitude."
like many Bigfoot enthusiasts, troy.anderson@dailynews.com - (213) 974-8985
