http://www.charltoncountyherald.com/articl...cf391350577.txt
QUOTE
The folly of the boys who cried Bigfoot
By Len Robbins - Wednesday, September 3, 2008 11:28 AM EDT
Disappointments, like celebrity deaths, come in threes.
For instance, first of all, I recently didn’t win the lottery again (some day, choosing 11 for every Fantasy 5 number has got to win). Secondly, I learn that Barack Obama bypassed me as his running mate (suggested campaign slogan: “We’re Changelicious!”) and I haven’t been vetted by John McCain either (suggested campaign slogan: “Tippecanoe and Robbins Too!”). Then, just recently, I hear the heralded discovery of Bigfoot in North Georgia was a hoax.
Of the trio of my disappointments, the most disheartening was, of course, the Bigfoot ruse.
I had such high hopes for this story. Like most of us, I usually get all my Bigfoot news from the National Enquirer, the World Weekly News, or Cat Fancy magazine. But I actually read about this in a publication I didn’t purchase at a supermarket or pet supply store. Two Georgia men reported that they had not only apprehended a dead Bigfoot and had the body as proof, but in bringing the body back to civilization, they were trailed by a clan of Bigfoots. The two men “ Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer “ said they were going to reveal their startling discovery at a press conference in California (where, traditionally, all Bigfoot press conferences are held).
At the press conference, which was televised live on CNN (Yes, CNN), the two men provided a photo of a strange looking creature in a cooler as proof, but little else. After the press conference, Searching for Bigfoot Inc. “Sasquatch Detective” (and Denny’s bus boy) Steve Kulls realized something was amiss when the cooler began to thaw and he noticed the creature’s feet were made of rubber. Being a “Sasquatch Detective” and an expert in the science, Kulls knew that a Bigfoot couldn’t have rubber feet. Their feet are always made of cedar.
Confronted with the rubber foot, Whitton and Dyer admitted their Bigfoot to be an imposter. The body was actually a Sasquatch Halloween costume available on the Internet.
In the aftermath, an Indiana man, only known as “That Idiot,” claims he paid the Georgia men $50,000 for the Bigfoot body, and now wants his money back. Whitton lost his job as a Clayton County police officer. And neither of the men seemed to think they should be ashamed of their sham.
“Maybe we pissed some people off, but we didn’t do anything wrong,” Whitton said in a Clayton News Daily story, adding that he is hoping for another payday to make their story into a movie.
What’s so disgruntling about this whole episode is that these guys’ shenanigans give all of us legitimate Bigfoot-hunters a bad name. It’s the “one bad apple” syndrome where the actions of a few, misled pranksters ruin the credibility of other scientists and unemployed people earnestly searching for the real Sasquatch. I can understand an innocent false sighting of Bigfoot. It happens to all of us. I once falsely reported a Bigfoot sighting in the Atlanta airport only to find out it was Janet Reno wearing a fur. But there’s a huge difference between trying to tackle a woman in an airport bathroom (unsuccessfully, I might add) because you honestly believe she’s Bigfoot, and purposely misleading people to believe you found Bigfoot for profit or giggles.
They may think it a funny hoax, but I’m not laughing.
© Len Robbins 2008
By Len Robbins - Wednesday, September 3, 2008 11:28 AM EDT
Disappointments, like celebrity deaths, come in threes.
For instance, first of all, I recently didn’t win the lottery again (some day, choosing 11 for every Fantasy 5 number has got to win). Secondly, I learn that Barack Obama bypassed me as his running mate (suggested campaign slogan: “We’re Changelicious!”) and I haven’t been vetted by John McCain either (suggested campaign slogan: “Tippecanoe and Robbins Too!”). Then, just recently, I hear the heralded discovery of Bigfoot in North Georgia was a hoax.
Of the trio of my disappointments, the most disheartening was, of course, the Bigfoot ruse.
I had such high hopes for this story. Like most of us, I usually get all my Bigfoot news from the National Enquirer, the World Weekly News, or Cat Fancy magazine. But I actually read about this in a publication I didn’t purchase at a supermarket or pet supply store. Two Georgia men reported that they had not only apprehended a dead Bigfoot and had the body as proof, but in bringing the body back to civilization, they were trailed by a clan of Bigfoots. The two men “ Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer “ said they were going to reveal their startling discovery at a press conference in California (where, traditionally, all Bigfoot press conferences are held).
At the press conference, which was televised live on CNN (Yes, CNN), the two men provided a photo of a strange looking creature in a cooler as proof, but little else. After the press conference, Searching for Bigfoot Inc. “Sasquatch Detective” (and Denny’s bus boy) Steve Kulls realized something was amiss when the cooler began to thaw and he noticed the creature’s feet were made of rubber. Being a “Sasquatch Detective” and an expert in the science, Kulls knew that a Bigfoot couldn’t have rubber feet. Their feet are always made of cedar.
Confronted with the rubber foot, Whitton and Dyer admitted their Bigfoot to be an imposter. The body was actually a Sasquatch Halloween costume available on the Internet.
In the aftermath, an Indiana man, only known as “That Idiot,” claims he paid the Georgia men $50,000 for the Bigfoot body, and now wants his money back. Whitton lost his job as a Clayton County police officer. And neither of the men seemed to think they should be ashamed of their sham.
“Maybe we pissed some people off, but we didn’t do anything wrong,” Whitton said in a Clayton News Daily story, adding that he is hoping for another payday to make their story into a movie.
What’s so disgruntling about this whole episode is that these guys’ shenanigans give all of us legitimate Bigfoot-hunters a bad name. It’s the “one bad apple” syndrome where the actions of a few, misled pranksters ruin the credibility of other scientists and unemployed people earnestly searching for the real Sasquatch. I can understand an innocent false sighting of Bigfoot. It happens to all of us. I once falsely reported a Bigfoot sighting in the Atlanta airport only to find out it was Janet Reno wearing a fur. But there’s a huge difference between trying to tackle a woman in an airport bathroom (unsuccessfully, I might add) because you honestly believe she’s Bigfoot, and purposely misleading people to believe you found Bigfoot for profit or giggles.
They may think it a funny hoax, but I’m not laughing.
© Len Robbins 2008
