Wednesday night’s broadcast of “The Shadow Hour” included a 20 minute segment of a discussion between host Chris Walden and myself concerning this week’s investigation into the mysterious “Gable Film.” In case you didn’t get a chance to catch it, here is the complete unedited interview from that segment of the show.
(Insert link to The Shadow Hour-Gable Film Discussion)
A few hours before the broadcast, I had invited Steve Cook, the man who owns the original Gable Film, to call in to the show but he didn’t get the message in enough time to tune in to the live show. He did however get a chance to listen to the broadcast afterwards, and had a few things he wanted to clarify. I was granted his permission to share this with our readers, so here is the email I received from him regarding his position and clarifications (annotations in brackets are my additions – S. Busti):
*******************************************************************Hi Steve –
Sorry I couldn’t join the show last night. I had a chance to listen to your interview with Chris Walden on iTunes this evening. Overall it was well done and fairly presented, but I did want to clarify a couple of things.
First, I did not buy the film. It was given to me [by] a family who purchased a box of hinges at an estate sale in southern Michigan in 2004. The film was in a carton at the bottom, with a tag attached that read “Gable Case” followed by a sequence of numbers [MP041177-1]. They had the film for over a year before borrowing a projector to watch it.
One of them was familiar with my song “The Legend of the Dogman,” (which by the way was recorded in 1987, almost 20 years before this film surfaced). He knew that people had been sending me sighting reports for years, and originally tried to sell me the film, but I told him I would not purchase any kind of evidence. Eventually, he returned and gave the film to me in August of 2006.
Second, you suggested that I had somehow inserted the ‘teeth’ frames at the end of the film. I assure you the film you see is exactly the film that is on the original 8mm reel. A film expert who examined the frames stated that while it appears the mouth and teeth bite the camera, one must remember that in the sequence immediately before, the lens had been on its highest zoom setting. It is unlikely that the person reset the lens while running, so it follows that the ‘teeth’ sequence is actually shot while the animal is several feet from the lens. He speculates that the camera was either thrown to the ground or at the animal itself to fend it off.
Third, much has been made of the ‘video lines’ that are visible just after the teeth frames. These do not appear on the original film. They only surfaced following the last digital enhancement project, which was completed largely on Apple’s Final Cut Pro Studio software. The studio technician tells me that the lines are artifacts caused by a contrast filter he used to boost the image quality.
I have never stated that the film is of a dogman. It is my policy to remain neutral on all evidence presented on the website. I prefer to let the viewer decide.
It’s also important to note that I’ve never attempted to market the film for profit. Recently, I released the entire film under the Creative Commons License. It’s available for anyone to download from my website to study, enhance, or use in any way they choose. Although portions of the film are shown in a documentary on my CD/DVD set, all profits from the sale of the set are donated to charity. I invite you to visit my site and view the contributions list: http://www.michigan-dogman.com/00_news.html
This latest development, the “Gable Film Part 2” is very disturbing. I have no idea if it is real, and frankly, I’ve expended so much time and energy on the original film that I lack the enthusiasm to pursue it.
There is a great deal more I could tell you about this matter, but this message has grown far too long already. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
Best regards,Steve Cook
*******************************************************************I’d like to thank Mr. Cook for taking the time to clarify several of the facts, I apologize for not being entirely accurate and for inferring certain things when in fact, that was not the case. His claims that the “video lines” were artifacts created during the digital enhancement makes sense, as I am familiar with Final Cut and can see how that might occur.
As for the numbers on the film box, it appears this was an important clue that nobody had picked up on until recently. The number, MP041177-1, could possibly stand for “Michigan Police 04/11/1977, Film 1.” If that assumption is correct, then we have a date.
As far as the new “Gable Film Part 2?” is concerned, the original user, QuinlanOUR12, pulled the video from YouTube late last night, shortly before George Noory’s Coast To Coast AM radio show aired with Beast of Bray Road specialist Linda Godfrey as guest (and yes, they did discuss the Gable Films). Not to fear, though; before it disappeared, I was able to upload the video to my YouTube Channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MuseumOfTheWeird
Next, I’ll discuss a scene by scene breakdown and analysis of the Gable Film 2, and see if in fact it appears to be related to the original Gable Film.
TO BE CONTINUED: GABLE FILM 2 ANALYSIS