Sunday, February 2, 2014

Bogus Bigfoot: Hucksterism Run Rampant

                                                               

It’s Superbowl Sunday and the game is due to start any minute but I’m not that interested. I’m more interested in understanding why we’re still talking about a bigfoot body that does not exist.


Rick Dyer’s Bigfoot – The thing that wouldn’t die…if this supposed creature turns out to be a real,
physical corpse, then all else in the Bigfoot world is trumped. Ongoing attempts to quash this rumor have not succeeded and now we have bloggers Robert Lindsay and Christopher Noel who claim that Dyer has (the remnants of) a body.  Click or Scroll down for more






I’m throwing these names out without full explanation because this information is the result of my perusing of the blogosphere and internet at large and those who follow the BF saga know the names. The short blurb on this development is that the skin and fur that Rick Dyer will begin touring through the country has convinced blogger Lindsay that it is the remains of a factual Bigfoot body, although Lindsay will not divulge his sources. 
                  That's Dyer, along with Biscardi and that other potato head who lost his job as a cop after the                                                                                Georgia Bigfoot in a Freezer hoax came undone. 

                                                                                          Hank and Hank?

Blogger Christopher Noel claims the same as Lindsay, citing the anonymous sources as well and of course this is useless blather too.  For his part, Dr. Meldrum denies that he supports that conclusion, apparently posting on Facebook, “ I was not one of those who reportedly endorsed “Hank.”
The sad reality is that the internet is just a fast-track version of the rumor mill, with BF B.S. being tossed on to our computer screens with ever increasing speed and flash.  And Lindsay may be as detestable as Dyer himself. After I read supportive posts that Lindsay made about pornography and pedophilia, I clicked out.
Christopher Noel, who wrote a decent book called ‘Sasquatch Rising 2013: Dead Giants Tell No Tales’ alludes to the same anonymous sources, but disclaims that Dyer actually shot the creature. Where did it come from? Noel ain’t saying. Where does this leave us? Nowhere.

                        "Me and Hank" The Bigfoot movie starring Woody Harrelson as Rick Dyer. (Not).


      'If you know a good barber, I'd be obliged'

It’s surprising to me how this thread of inquiry conjures up very old memories for me.
My own interest in things related to Bigfoot began in dribs and drabs, with a recording of a Stan Freberg’s comedy bit called ‘The Abominable Snowman.’ Freberg’s glib monster, a sort of non-chalant, nightclub version of the Abominable Snowman was wonderfully funny. Here’s a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND-EdUwqhaI

Back in about 1962, my brothers and I would hang out in the living room and turn the record up trying to imitate Freberg’s voice as he inhaled while speaking, creating a croaky growl that, when hearing it again for the first time in fifty years, I was instantly reminded of another boyhood memory of visiting the Seattle Center and viewing a museum oddity called ‘Olaf The Giant.’  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones'_Fantastic_Museum

                                                                           
          That kid on the right could've been me.


My mom took me to this makeshift exhibit and I remember the thrill of seeing such a weird, monstrous thing.
The link is a must view, as it also contains the story of Laughing Sal, a super creepy 6’10” animatronic woman who was the epitome of ‘clown scary’.
                   You would not believe how creepy this thing was

Considering how Dyer’s plan to display his ‘creature’ in a glass case in the absolute manner of a carnival sideshow, there seems to be little difference. Barnum and Bailey have nothing on Dyer.


Some of the other pressing Bigfoot developments deserve mention.
                                                                                Mr. Ed and Ms. Ketchum

Melba Ketchum’s DNA- The story here is also convoluted, where a former veterinarian is claiming to have sequenced DNA for an unknown hominid. Peer review including accredited genetics labs is necessary to arrive at a consensus for her claims and this has not happened to date.
                                                                        ' Bro...do you even hide?'
Sasquatch Ontario’s Mike Paterson is all over Youtube. He claims to have a habitation site in some remote location in Ontario where he routinely records a Bigfoot he calls Nephatia (sp). The recordings include words that he is apparently teaching this alleged creature, like ‘brother’ and ‘flower’. He responds to many of the questions Youtubers ask him, and he alludes (with no clarification) to aspects to the creature’s behavior that smack of the paranormal.  All I can find out about this guy’s character is a rumor about a skydiving accident that ‘changed him’, along with alleged alcohol and drug abuse. Not my idea of a strong source for veracity in matters of Cryptid research.


                                                                          Nice hunting rifle, Smeej


Justin Smeja  Personally, I don’t even like this guy’s name much less the rumor that he killed not just one but two Bigfoot creatures and then left them to rot out of fear of being arrested. What a mook.
You can’t manufacture a good reason for this sort of behavior, except to lump him in with the bulk of reckless hunter stories. This should never impugn the careful work of responsible hunters, but sadly, whether true or not, the name Smeja is in the books now as a fool and possibly as a murderer.

It must be particularly tiresome for the people in the BF world who strive to maintain integrity, like Dr. Meldrum, Derek Randles and the people at the BFRO.  The hard part is that every new bit of information must be researched until it can be vetted beyond reproach. That’s a tall order in a world where video and photographic proof is no longer trustworthy and even the task of getting DNA results replicated is onerous. But this is how the story shakes out now, not as a disclosure to the world in a conference held by a panel of world-renowned scientists, but from a glass case towed behind a motorhome that parks on the disused grounds outside your city. All we’re missing is a ferris wheel and some cotton candy.

                                                                      Date Night with the Missus

One thing is certain, I believe, and that is that there is certainly a large bipedal animal that exists in the forests of this country and perhaps in other locations around the world. There are far too many credible eye-witness accounts to ignore and while the physical evidence has been unconvincing to date for the bulk of us, the full understanding of this new addition to the taxonomy of man will come to fruition eventually. But it won’t be added to the curriculum of institutions and the record books until that panel of real, credentialed scientists like Dr. Meldrum are fully on board. 

Bigfoot Howls!

'Take me hoooome, Country Roaaads!' G reenwater, Washington is a 'blinkandmissit' town on Hwy 410 that has a long histo...