Cryptid – Page 3 – Museum of the Weird

Posted on December 5, 2012 by MOTW Admin

CSI BIGFOOT? CLIFF BARACKMAN BLOGS ABOUT FINDING BIGFOOT’S 3RD SEASON

Finding Bigfoot is now in it’s third season and is still searching for sasquatch but, Cliff Barackman follows his heart and does what none of the other Bigfoot believers seem to do, actually go look.

Here you can read a portion of his heartfelt review of their recent trip to Oklahoma City. Continue on to his website to read the rest of this blog and others that he has posted.

Cliff Barackman writes:

When I first heard that Finding Bigfoot would be heading to Oklahoma, I immediately assumed we would visit the southeast corner of the state where there are mountains and thick forests. I was a little surprised when I found I was incorrect, and that we would be going to Oklahoma City instead. Certainly there was more bigfoot activity around Honobia and the other small towns down in the southeast. However, the evidence that was bringing us to Oklahoma City was compelling enough to make me very excited about what we’d be doing.

We were to meet with a man named Roger Roberts who had been looking into bigfoot encounters on a nearby Indian reservation. This reservation had quite a bit of activity over the years, including rumors of a video taken on a surveillance camera from the parking lot. This video purportedly showed a bigfoot raiding the grease trap behind a casino. The video is reported to had been destroyed at the direction of the tribal elders, though a number of witnesses had seen the video before it disappeared. The elders were rightly concerned because after word leaked out that bigfoots were being seen on the reservation, several horses were shot dead. Apparently, people would drive onto the reservation at night spotlighting the woods, and when they saw eye shine at a good height above the ground, they would shoot to kill (This is just one of many, many reasons I strongly advocate NOT trying to kill a sasquatch.). Roger had some footprint evidence, as well as some hair samples that he collected from the same time period that he strongly suspected was of sasquatch origin.

The footprint evidence was interesting. While the photos and the cast were a bit blobby due to the substrate the creature walked in, there were some interesting details that were visible, including toe impressions and a nicely rounded heel. The impressions measured over 17 inches, but the cast indicated that the foot was somewhere between 15 and 16 inches in length (the impressions do not necessarily indicate the length of the foot, but rather the length of the damage done to the ground by the foot). The step length was up to 57 inches. Ranae tried to duplicate the step length, which she did successfully, but failed to replicate this step length in combination with the lack of straddle that is so commonly found in bigfoot footprint trackways.

Of most interest to us was the hair sample. The hair sample had been found by a tribal game officer on an animal trail leading from a location where a bigfoot had been recently seen. It was found on some broken branches more than eight feet above the ground, which would seem to rule out that it was buffalo (which are kept nearby), bear, deer, or human hair. Roger had in his possession enough hairs to spare some for us to have tested for DNA material. In hair, all of the viable DNA is found in the medulla, or hollow center shaft of the hair. This is a bit problematic because bigfoot hair tends to have fragmentary medullas, if any is present at all. However, a DNA lab in Oklahoma City called DNA Solutions offered to test the sample to see if any material could be extracted for testing. If nothing else, they could examine the hair and tell us what animals the could eliminate as a possible source for the hairs. Also of value is that they could get the results back to us in about a week.

HAS BIGFOOT BEEN PROVEN REAL?

Has recent DNA evidence proven the existence of the Bigfoot?

We recently posted a fantastic story about Dr. Ketchum in Texas, actually claiming to have gotten and examined DNA evidence of a human-primate hybrid, what we would call a Bigfoot, and has confirmed it as real as can be! More information is slowly coming out and as it does, we’ll keep you posted on anything new so, check back here often and let us know what you think!

The Huffington Post writes:

Bigfoot is real. At least that’s what veterinarian Melba S. Ketchum claims after a five-year study of more than 100 DNA samples that she believes comes from the elusive hairy beast.

Under Ketchum’s direction at DNA Diagnostics in Nacogdoches, Texas, a team of researchers has concluded that the creature may be a human relative that somehow developed around 15,000 years ago as a result of a hybrid cross between Homo sapiens with an unknown primate.

Ketchum’s research has yet to stand the scrutiny of independent researchers. While many people have claimed to have seen the creature, its existence has never been confirmed, despite a plethora of photos and footprints. The ongoing search is the subject of Animal Planet’s “Finding Bigfoot” television series.

“Well, it came to me, I didn’t go after it, that’s for sure,” Ketchum said of the evidence of Bigfoot’s existence in an exclusive interview with The Huffington Post. “I did not believe in these creatures. But my lab did a lot of animal testing, and we did species identification. We didn’t have any hits on anything interesting until five years ago.”

Ketchum’s professional work includes nearly 30 years in genetics research and forensics. After her team attempted DNA sequencing of hair samples from an alleged Bigfoot encounter, they found some unusual things in the hair. But there wasn’t enough DNA to conclusively verify what they were seeing.

DNA Diagnostics received more samples to investigate — including hair, blood, saliva and urine, all reportedly from various Bigfoot sightings.

Ketchum’s team consists of experts in genetics, forensics, imaging and pathology. The researcher said she believes that over the past five years, the team has successfully found three Sasquatch nuclear genomes — an organism’s hereditary code — leading them to suggest that the animal is real and a human hybrid.

Ketchum’s study showed that part of the DNA her team sequenced revealed an unknown primate species, she said, which suggests that Bigfoot is a real creature that resulted from this primate “crossing with female Homo sapiens.”

“They’re not any of the large apes — they branch off as a separate lineage,” Ketchum said. “My personal theory is that it probably branched off and evolved in parallel with the rest of the primate lineage.”

The overall results of Ketchum’s study will soon be revealed, she said, after a peer-reviewed journal is published. But skeptic Benjamin Radford is dubious about the outcome of this latest attempt to give credibility to the existence of Bigfoot.

“If the data are good and the science is sound, any reputable science journal would jump at the chance to be the first to publish this groundbreaking information,” Radford, the deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, wrote in LiveScience.com.

Radford suggests that if the mitochondrial DNA is identical to Homo sapiens (modern humans), it could mean one of two things.

“The first, endorsed by Ketchum, is that Bigfoot ancestors had sex with women about 15,000 years ago and created a half-human hybrid species currently hiding across North America.

“There is, however, another, simpler interpretation of such results: The samples were contaminated. Whatever the sample originally was — Bigfoot, bear, human or something else — it’s possible that the people who collected and handled the specimens accidentally introduced their DNA into the sample, which can easily occur with something as innocent as a spit, sneeze or cough,” Radford wrote.

Not so, counters Ketchum.

“Early on, we started getting human results on the mitochondrial DNA — that’s maternally inherited and it can show where you’re from,” Ketchum said. “Different labs had already tested alleged Sasquatch samples, and all of these labs were getting human results, so they just threw it out.

“We split the samples with another forensic lab — one worked on it manually while the other did it robotically, extracting the DNA — and we ran several tests to confirm there was no contamination. And we ended up getting human sequences on many samples.”

Read a whole lot more and watch video over at huffingtonpost.com/2012

Posted on December 1, 2012 by MOTW Admin

TRAIL CAM PHOTO OF “BIGFOOT” ANALYZED

A still from the original video showing the trail cam photos of the alleged Bigfoot.

Here’s a fantastic review and analysis by Scott McMan at one of our favorite sites, ghosttheory.com, of a man in Vermont who has come forward with some of his own trail cam photos that he says, have captured Bigfoot on film!

Watch the original video of the Vermont man claiming to have the proof below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnP05Qj9YhE&feature=player_embedded

Scott McMan at Ghost Theory writes:

Many of you may remember a couple weeks back when I turned the latest and greatest Bigfoot photo into a deer and demonstrated the desperate measures many will go to in order to prove the existence of said beast.

Since doing that I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting if I could find another alleged Sasquatch photo and prove a similar theory? Well, the truth is I didn’t do that at all…at least until I happened upon the now famous Vermont Trail Cam photo, again….today. It was then that the previous article popped into my head.

As I pondered the possibilities, my eyes affixed on the subject and bam, there it was! I immediately froze the video and to my amazement, I won the Powerball! Well, not the actual Powerball. I mean, come on! If I had won the Powerball, I wouldn’t be here trying to entertain the likes of you lose….Uhh, wonderful readers!

Getting back on track, Yes, you guessed right, I did see what appeared to be a different animal entirely. As I began to look for parts that made it all come together, they seemed to fall into place like so many dominos. Of course, we are rarely going to get enough visibility to see every aspect of these pictures, but there was enough to clearly prove the photo was and is not that of the elusive Bigfoot…

Many of you may know, the untrained eye is going to follow along with what it recognizes and that can be different from person to person. However, enough people were in favor of it being Sasquatch, that the picture soon went viralicity.

As I said, people see what the want to see, but I try to reconstruct these photos from body part to body part. This picture was no exception and it was actually quite easy to break it down.

Read the entire fantastic analysis with photo breakdowns at ghosttheory.com/2012

We’re looking forward to checking back and reading more soon!

Posted on November 28, 2012 by MOTW Admin

CLIFF BARACKMAN OF FINDING BIGFOOT WEIGHS IN ON RECENT DNA STUDY

Cliff Barackman of Animal Planet's "Finding Bigfoot"

Since the release of the DNA results by Dr. Ketchum and her team of their study of the Russian “Bigfoot” hair, we’ve been scouring websites for any type of update or new information. Not much else has happened just yet but the great guys at Cryptomundo.com have a bit to say and have found a recent interview of Finding Bigfoot’s lead researcher, Cliff Barackman, where he was asked about and weighs in on the research.

Cryptomundo writes:

Watching Finding Bigfoot co-host Cliff Barackman on G4’s Attack of the Showis like having Thanksgiving all over again. At least in the sense that you are reminded what you are thankful for. There are only a handful of people who make great ambassadors, represent serious Bigfoot research. We are thankful for that.

The Attack of the Show host, Matt Mira starts with the typical ribbing of the title “Finding Bigfoot,” since they have not found Bigfoot. Then he pivots and asks sincere questions about breeding populations, habitat, and then drops the bomb, “What do you think about the Bigfoot DNA study that came out last weekend?”

Watch the interview with Barackman on G4 here:

BIGFOOT FACE FILMED FROM INSIDE TENT

Well geez, this certianly does look like Bigfoot taking a peak into this guy's tent!

Well, here is some awesome footage that has only deepened the world’s curiosity for Bigfoot, especially on the heels of the fantastic and absolutley amazing information contained in our last post.

Take a look at this well done analysis video posted to YouTube by TeamYin of a camper that has claimed to have filmed an intruding Bigfoot through an opening in his tent for yourself, and read what one our favorite blogs has to say just below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nZ_lbVCVd48

Ghost Theory writes:

Okay, this is like offering Jello as desert after a seven course gourmet meal coming right on the heels of the Dr. Ketchum report, still some of us have to get on with things and keep the lantern burning, even in the face of the sun.

I found this video while looking into another account of a bigfoot caught in a police officers dashboard camera that turn out an admitted hoax by some local teens. Of course going from an admitted hoax to a video this clear sets off some natural mental blocks that say to me that this is probably fake too. Yet the video below possesses some merits discussed in the analysis.

Taken as real this video contains the best footage of a Bigfoot face I have ever seen, but listen to the analysis and then I will have a few comments on some key points.

Okay, you have watched the video now. You have, haven’t you?

I am going to address the main characteristics described in the analysis.

First is the described Large Nocturnal Eyes. I am sorry to say that what the analysis describes as large nocturnal eyes with no whites showing simply appears to me to be deep set eyes beneath a heavy brow where you cannot actually see the eye. Nor do I see an eye that is especially large in proportion to the face.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: DNA STUDY CONFIRMS EXISTENCE OF BIGFOOT!

This incredible news was released today by Dr. Melba Ketchum, the head of the Bigfoot DNA study:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

‘BIGFOOT’ DNA SEQUENCED IN UPCOMING GENETICS STUDY

Five-Year Genome Study Yields Evidence of Homo sapiens/Unknown Hominin Hybrid Species in North America

Contact: Robin Lynne, media@dnadiagnostics.com, 231.622.5362

DALLAS, Nov. 24–A team of scientists can verify that their 5-year long DNA study, currently under peer-review, confirms the existence of a novel hominin hybrid species, commonly called “Bigfoot” or “Sasquatch,” living in North America. Researchers’ extensive DNA sequencing suggests that the legendary Sasquatch is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern Homo sapiens with an unknown primate species.

The study was conducted by a team of experts in genetics, forensics, imaging and pathology, led by Dr. Melba S. Ketchum of Nacogdoches, TX. In response to recent interest in the study, Dr. Ketchum can confirm that her team has sequenced 3 complete Sasquatch nuclear genomes and determined the species is a human hybrid:

“Our study has sequenced 20 whole mitochondrial genomes and utilized next generation sequencing to obtain 3 whole nuclear genomes from purported Sasquatch samples. The genome sequencing shows that Sasquatch mtDNA is identical to modern Homo sapiens, but Sasquatch nuDNA is a novel, unknown hominin related to Homo sapiens and other primate species. Our data indicate that the North American Sasquatch is a hybrid species, the result of males of an unknown hominin species crossing with female Homo sapiens.

Hominins are members of the taxonomic grouping Hominini, which includes all members of the genus Homo. Genetic testing has already ruled out Homo neanderthalis and the Denisova hominin as contributors to Sasquatch mtDNA or nuDNA. “The male progenitor that contributed the unknown sequence to this hybrid is unique as its DNA is more distantly removed from humans than other recently discovered hominins like the Denisovan individual,” explains Ketchum.

“Sasquatch nuclear DNA is incredibly novel and not at all what we had expected. While it has human nuclear DNA within its genome, there are also distinctly non-human, non-archaic hominin, and non-ape sequences. We describe it as a mosaic of human and novel non-human sequence. Further study is needed and is ongoing to better characterize and understand Sasquatch nuclear DNA.”

Ketchum is a veterinarian whose professional experience includes 27 years of research in genetics, including forensics. Early in her career she also practiced veterinary medicine, and she has previously been published as a participant in mapping the equine genome. She began testing the DNA of purported Sasquatch hair samples 5 years ago.

Ketchum calls on public officials and law enforcement to immediately recognize the Sasquatch as an indigenous people:

“Genetically, the Sasquatch are a human hybrid with unambiguously modern human maternal ancestry. Government at all levels must recognize them as an indigenous people and immediately protect their human and Constitutional rights against those who would see in their physical and cultural differences a ‘license’ to hunt, trap, or kill them.”

Full details of the study will be presented in the near future when the study manuscript publishes.

Posted on November 21, 2012 by MOTW Admin

VIDEO UPDATE ON PROVO CANYON BIGFOOT

A screen shot from the newly uploaded video about the Provo Canyon Bigfoot.

More information and even a video has come out regarding the Provo Canyon Bigfoot video that we posted about just a few days ago. The guys over at Bigfoot Evidence interviewed the couple, and you can watch the 40 minute interview here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDkWrouHfoQ&feature=player_embedded

One of our favorite websites to regularly check Ghost Theory writes this about it:

Bigfoot Evidence has posted an interview with the Utah couple who had the Bigfoot encounter in Provo Canyon which video appeared Here on Ghost Theory. This video contains the full story from the couple who wish to remain anonymous along with enhanced video and artists renderings of the creature based upon the video.

Thank you to Shawn from Bigfoot Evidence for permission to bring you this report.

Of course any time you enhance video or provide an artists rendering, or edit for any reason you alter the perception and in some way, no matter how small, alter the verifiable facts of the case so such alterations are always to be taken with a grain of salt. However taken with additional information of the couple’s testimony, which itself is not entirely conclusive or corroborative in this case, it still lends another layer to this story.

Henry@GhostTheory.com

Read more at ghosttheory.com/2012 and tell us what you think in the comments below.

Posted on November 20, 2012 by MOTW Admin

INDONESIAN VILLAGERS ATTACKED BY MYSTERIOUS CREATURE

A mysterious creature has been stalking villagers near a small Indonesian village called Kampung Paon Gahat. After a couple of attacks on locals and a foreigner, the creature came upon a farmer with a sickle in hand and decided to attack. The farmer prevailed and even took some pictures! Check them out in the story below and tell us what you think in the comments.

The Borneo Post Online writes:

SERIAN: An Indonesian plantation worker and a 75-year-old farmer got the shock of their lives when they were attacked by an unknown animal species in two separate occasions earlier this month.

The farmer, Aris Kuna of Kampung Paon Gahat, was attacked by the rare animal while attending to his pepper garden about noon. The foreigner, however, was attacked a week later at a plantation near Kpg Baing while gathering oil palm fresh fruit bunches around 9am.

The animal that attacked the duo was described as having a ‘bear and wild boar’ resemblance. Fellow workers and villagers who saw the carcass, brought by the Indonesian, could not identify the animal species.

“It’s a rare species. None of the villagers could identify it when we saw the body and pictures of it. Some even took to the Internet to find out but to no avail. Could it be one of those already considered extinct?

“In all my life venturing into the jungle, hunting and such, I’ve never come across this species,” 62-year-old Louis Nyaoi said when met at his house in Kpg Mentung Marau, some 50km from here yesterday.

His son Jimmy Tubo, 27, believed that the rare animal could have reappeared due to the opening of the nearby jungle for agriculture and other developments.

When relating the ordeal of the foreign worker, Jimmy said the Indonesian had claimed that the animal gave a strange noise, firstly sounding like a hen followed by a wild boar sound, before proceeding to attack.

The victim alleged that the animal stood up on its hind legs when charging at him. He immediately swung his sickle, killing the animal instantly.

Jimmy, who works with the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) added that the animal which attacked the Indonesian measured two feet long.

The animal also spotted a long mane and sharp wolverine-like claws. Another mysterious attribute to the animal was that it gave out foul smell only hours after it was killed.

Another local expert jungle trekker and hunter Paul Hnrnp, 41, said he never smelled anything like the stench. He also said that one could smell the stench from some 10 metres away when the Indonesian brought the carcass to the plantation’s FFB pick up ram for observation by fellow workers and villagers.

On Aris’ encounter, Paul, a security guard at SK St John, Kpg Mentung Murau said his grandparents were resting at a hut after tending to their pepper crops at the time.

“My grandfather (Aris) heard an unfamiliar animal outside the hut, so he went out to check. At first, he could not see where the animal was coming from although he anticipated that danger was lurking.

“Sensing that the animal was near, he said a prayer before starting to swing his machete numerous times to fend off as what he described as an ‘invisible’ attack. Only after he felt he had slashed something that he saw a limb of the animal’s leg on the ground. Moments later, he saw the lifeless animal.”

Aris immediately dispersed the body at the jungle. As for the one that attacked the Indonesian worker, the body was partly buried at the plantation.

Not ruling out the fact that the animal could have been an endangered species, Louis believed the actions of both men as self-defense.

HAS THE FLORIDA BIGFOOT, THE ‘SKUNK APE’, BEEN CAUGHT ON FILM?

Florida has plenty of natural resources for wildlife to thrive but.

A man named Tim Fasano has released footage of what he says is the best video evidence of Florida’s legendary Skunk Ape. Apparently though, this man has quite a reputation in the crypto-community already. Interesting…

Watch the video below and see what you can see:

Ghost Theory writes:

If you are unaware of who Tim Fasano is, let me fill you in. Tim is a controversial figure in the world of Bigfoot. However Tim is more interested in the cousin of Sasquatch, namely the Florida Skunk Ape.

Tim has been roaming the Florida everglades for many years in search of this elusive biped, which he is convinced exists.

He has several websites and he puts out videos with the best of them. You have to hand it to him, as he takes video footage at least once a month. If anyone deserves to find a Skunk Ape, it’s Tim.

Unless you’ve been too busy with the big election, you’d know by now that Spike TV is offering 10 million dollars to whoever gets irrefutable evidence of Bigfoot. That’s a lot of samolians!

This challenge apparently is no challenge to Tim as he believes he might already have the evidence. The video below is taken from a recent outing of Tim’s in the glades. I’ve lived in South Florida, so I’m allowed to use the abbreviation, “glades”, plus it sounds cooler! No? Ehh, what do you know?

Getting back to the video, Tim claims to have caught the Skunk Ape rising up behind some saw palmetto…

Here’s some commentary from Tim himself:

“I was about 300 yards from camp when I saw movement and took this video. At 4:09 you will see something peek up over the palmettos. When I pan back its in the open and tries to hide. I zoom so you can see. It was far away. I saw movement but did not know I had this capture until later. More vids of the expedition are at http://floridabigfoot.org”

I’m not so sure I see a Skunk Ape here, but you have to give Tim props, at least he’s out there looking and who knows, he may one day prove the subject of his quest. For now, I think the $10,000,000.00 is safe, but I wish Tim all the luck in the world.

I can’t say that Tim and I have been on the best of terms, but we have gotten along. I’ve covered a couple news items related to him and I do check in with his sites and videos from time to time. After all, if nothing else, he is entertaining.

Hey GTers, you guys are welcome to chime in with your thoughts. What do you think?

Thanks to Tim Fasano for providing the content of this article as well as Spike TV.

NEW BOOK DELVES INTO THE SCIENCE OF MONSTERS

We all know, love, and have our favorite of the classic monsters from our childhood but, what was the original inspiration for these creepy creatures of the shadows? A new book being published called “Medusa’s Gaze and Vampire’s Bite: The Science of Monsters” delves into what fears and real dangers the people of the time were living with that would have created them. From disease to war, times have most certainly been tough in the past and everyone had plenty to worry about.

Reuters reports:

Nov 8 (Reuters) – The suave and sensitive Edward Cullen of “Twilight” may be the norm for vampires these days, but fictional monsters such as Dracula originally sprang from the fear of inexplicable diseases and the mysteries of death in the natural world.

So argues science journalist Matt Kaplan in “Medusa’s Gaze and Vampire’s Bite: The Science of Monsters,” an examination of monsters around the world and throughout history – the science behind their origins, and why they matter to us even now.

“When our kids ask for monster stories around the campfire, they are behaving in a way that is not dissimilar to lion cubs,” Kaplan said in an email.

“Lion cubs play fight so they can test out their skills in a safe place where nobody is going to get maimed or killed. Monster stories serve a similar purpose, they allow us to face our worst fears without the risks that are normally associated with them.”

Some are simple. The Kraken tales of mammoth monster squid, along with the Leviathan of the Bible, are most likely based upon the existence of real creatures such as whales.

The terrifying Medusa of Greek myths, with her hair made of snakes and a gaze that could turn things to stone, may have been distantly connected to the idea of fossils for ancient people, with the snakes in her hair an example of pure fear.

Though mentions of vampire-like creatures exist as early as ancient Greece, it took hundreds of years for tales of the creatures to gradually evolve into the haunting undead of more recent history.

Accounts of people found in their graves with blood on their lips and their stomachs seemingly full, as if they had just eaten, may be explained by simple decay, with gas buildup throughout the body sometimes pushing blood up from the lungs. Elongated canine teeth and fingernails was due to skin shrinking after death and pulling away, making both more prominent.

Later, greater awareness of contagious diseases such as influenza and tuberculosis – which could cause people who came in contact with the ill person to also sicken and die – further contributed to the myth. This was especially true due to incubation periods that weren’t understood at the time, making it unclear how the diseases were being spread.

“One death would follow another in a dominolike progression,” writes Kaplan. “In a morbid sense, these patients were literally killing their friends and relatives, but from their deathbeds rather than the hereafter.”

But vampires have now undergone a radical transformation, a process that began with the publication of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” but has speeded up in recent years.

“If tuberculosis, influenza, rabies and bloated bodies are the human experiences from which Dracula came, how have we now ended up with the kind, honorable and handsome Edward Cullen?” Kaplan said.