Saturday, February 10, 2007
My sighting report on the International Bigfoot Society
(One correction on the report-I told Ray I had seen the creature look at me, but in reality, it did not. I owe that aspect to the excitement of the event, but the rest of the event is quite real.)
Friday, February 09, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
THE MURPHY FILE NEWSLETTER #25
MARLON DAVIS HAS DONE some impressive work on the left hand of the
creature seen in the P/G film. Using the still frames created by Rick Noll,
Marlon made a “blink animation” that shows the thumb wiggling. The hand
then reminded me of the hand cast made from a print found by Paul Freeman
(see page 143 Meet the Sasquatch. I prepared this illustration to show the
similarity. I sent the animation to a number of researchers - for the record,
John Green and Dr. Henner Fahrenbach were not impressed. Nevertheless,
for what it is worth, I think we see the thumb, and we see it moving, just as
we see the entire hand in different configurations in various frames.
Aside from my Freeman hand cast speculation, the specific thumb movement
appears to me to be another indication that the hand was not a fabrication of
some sort. For certain, the length of the creature's arms is far beyond the
human norm. Such occurs in only one out of 52.5 million people (Glickman,
1998, Toward a Resolution of the Bigfoot Phenomenon, p.15). If the creature
was a fabrication, therefore, an arm extension with a moveable hand (controlled fingers) had to have been
used. This is certainly not impossible, but highly improbable.
Shown here is the arm extension/false hand used in the
movie Sasquatch, (2003). The fingers/thumb are
controlled by wires that are attached to finger rings
further back in the arm. One merely puts his
fingers/thumb in the rings and when the rings are pulled
(i.e., one closes his hand), the extension digits close. I
was told that this single arm cost $10,000 to make (See Meet the Sasquatch, page 100). I really don't think
Roger Patterson would have (or indeed could have) made something like this.
MARLON HAS ALSO identified what appears to me to be the creature’s
ear. If it is such, then Patterson certainly went to a lot of trouble in making
the “helmet” type headgear that Bob Heironimus said he wore in the alleged
hoax scenario. Davis did a bit of a comparison with Heironimus’s ear, and
the two did not match. As ears go, it appears to me that what we see here
is somewhat human-like.
THIS REMARKABLE BAS RELIEF
SCULPTURE FOUND by William
Hangar shows what appears to be a
Stegosaurus. What makes it
remarkable is that the sculpture is on
a temple in Angkor, Cambodia, that
is only 800 years old. While that's
old in human terms, the Stegosaurus
disappeared about 70 million years
ago. So where on earth did a 13th
Century Cambodian monk get the
inspiration to make such a sculpture? The head is not quite the same, I agree, but the rest of it is very close.
The story of the finding is featured on Jan Sundberg's website >http://www.cryptozoology.st/<. However, the
THE MURPHY FILE NEWSLETTER #25
February 15, 2007
©C. L. Murphy - cmurphy101@shaw.ca
PLEASE EMAIL ME IF YOU WISH TO BE ADDED OR REMOVED FROM MY EMAIL LIST.
CORRECTED
AND REVISED
EDITION
original material is on Loren Coleman’s Cryptomundo site, and he presents some extensive research on the
subject. < http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/euro-stego/>.
The sasquatch “connection” here is associated with what have been determined extinct creatures being
observed long after they have gone. In other words, is it possible the Gigantopithecus and/or some relict
hominid, in the case of the almasty, has actually survived into this century?
I RECENTLY HEARD FROM Professor Roderick “Rick” Sprague. Rick is
noted for his research on the stone heads (see Meet the Sasquatch, page
10), and I was very pleased to hear from him. Shown here is a photo of one
of the stone heads along with the stone foot (see Meet the Sasquatch, page
12) that I had on display at my sasquatch exhibit in Vancouver. We believe
that both of these artifacts are possibly sasquatch-related and are likely the
oldest in that regard. One thing Rick mentioned to me is that he agrees that
the word “sasquatch” should not be capitalized. There has been all sorts of
discussion on this in the past, and your computer spell-checker will probably
indicate that a capital is required. If you check a dictionary, you will see that
the word “yeti” is not capitalized, so why should “sasquatch” or “bigfoot” have
a capital? Anyway, just keep this in mind if you are preparing anything for publication on sasquatch/bigfoot.
JIM BURGTORF offered an explanation for my question regarding why UFOs don’t appear to make any noise.
Jim states that according to Paul Hill in his book, Unconventional Flying Objects, UFOs are not pushed through
air, but are propelled as a unit including everything in them – a kind of “reactionless drive.” The air around the
UFO is, “moved out of the way, no matter what the speed.” Although this goes beyond me somewhat, there’s
definitely something happening, unless UFOs are in reality “something else.” As Jeff Meldrum points out, it is
very odd that supposed superior beings choose to severely limit their contact with us.
I SEE TOM BISCARDI is involved in the finding of a giant human skeleton (see his
website: >http://www.searchingforbigfoot.com<
As I recall there is an old newspaper article that shows a photo of Biscardi and Ivan
Marx after they got photos of an alleged bigfoot splashing around in a creek. We all know
that was just fun stuff.
Anyway, I must admit that Biscardi “got me going” on that Coast to Coast radio
interview last summer. He convinced us that a sasquatch had just been captured, and
described the event in some detail. We then learn that he got the information second hand
and it was all a big put-on. When I later discussed the incident with John Green, he simply
said, “You should have known.” John is equally dubious about Ivan Marx who was
involved in the “cripple foot” track findings.
I think I will sit out the giant skeleton. If there is anything to it, I am sure we will hear
about it through proper channels.
KRISTINE WALLS sent me some comments received on the recent U.S. Discover Channel bigfoot
documentary. I have not see it, but it is apparently pretty bad. Unfortunately, the name of the game
with most TV producers is to appeal to as many people as possible with their silly programs. Most
people get a kick out of “bigfoot bashing,” so this is the group they target. Jay Ingram of the Discovery
Channel in Canada also likes to have fun with this subject, as evidenced by his ridiculous 2002 skit.
Seriously folks, this is all “show business,” it has nothing to do with science or intelligence.
I HAD TO SMILE a little at the closing comments in an Argosy magazine
article written by Odette Tchernine that was published in February 1971.
The article, “Abominable Snowmen Behind the Iron Curtain,” provides a
great summary of the yeti and includes the photo seen here – probably the
first time it was published.
Anyway, I had just watched the Glenn Beck show with all of its Third
World War foreboding. I then read an email from my daughter in England
that ended with, “Look forward to a lovely dinner with you and tales of the
sasquatch, in this decaying, melting and deranged world.” (She is visiting in
May.) So what did Odette say that got me smiling? Here it is:
“I may be verbally flayed for what I am about to say, but perhaps, after
all, we are not meant to discover the whole truth about the Snowman
or Yeti. Perhaps these are the primal rough and secret stock saved by
nature to withstand and survive any final disaster; preserved and hidden as the raw material
for a fresh start in evolution should we finally blow up our so-called civilization.”
I
note that Bobbie Short has the entire article on her site if you wish to read it.
>http://www.bigfootencounters.com/<
In BIGFOOT ENCOUNTERS IN OHIO, I include the story (page 61) of
the unusual tracks found by Beverly Fletcher in Bloomingdale (1979).
Here is a photo of Beverly and her mother, along with a track, that I
recently found in the Furhmann files. The odd thing about these tracks
was that the toes appeared to have claws. We have the same situation
with the prints found by David Thompson near what is now Jasper,
Alberta, in 1811. Here, however, there was another anomaly – the
prints showed just four toes. When we add to this the mystery of threetoed
prints, we are beyond “pushing the envelope” because there
would have to be breeding populations of several species of something
that has big feet and walks erect. As John Green has lamented, we
would prefer we did not have these oddities and UFO connections.
But, there you are…
End of Newsletter #25
Comments are welcome.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Link Of The Month
I have transferred this over to this blog. The link is: Billy Willard's Sasquatch Watch
Professor to discuss ‘Bigfoot’ legend on Discovery Channel Feb. 1
Tall tale or Texan? An exhibit takes a serious look at the existence of Bigfoot
09-26-06: Forging a Second Identity
Jeff Meldrum's 'Sasquatch'
Do they have lunch? Who picks up the tab? I'm guessing science.
Forge is an imprint of Tor Books responsible for some pretty odd books, and none odder (of late) than the double-hitter of 'Haunted Homeland' by Michael Norman (Forge / Tor ; September 19, 2006 ; $27.95) and 'Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science' by Jeff Meldrum (Forge / Tor ; September 19, 2006 ; $27.95). Now, I know Forge because they're the imprint that launched the careers of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child when they published 'Relic', their first collaboration, back in the before-time. It's a good book, and it gives a good idea as to what Forge is all about. Heretofore, at least, Forge has always seemed to me to be the closer-to-the-mainstream cousin of Tor. The books are those that are not DEFINITELY science fiction or fantasy; they tend towards mainstream thrillers with a soupcon of strange. They're generally less likely to be interesting to me personally as a result, though there are exceptions, such as the Preston and Child novel. Heck, it had a guaranteed monster.
But as many Forge titles as I've seen, I've never seen any quite like these two, and they're both pretty interesting. 'Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science' by Jeff Meldrum is the most straightforward, so let's start there. First off, obviously, perhaps, what we have here is a non-fiction book, and I guess that's part of the oddness. The cover design here, nice though it is, is clearly reminiscent of the fiction titles, even though the book is clearly not fiction. If you've read a few Tor books and seen a few Forge titles, it might cause some cognitive dissonance if not outright confusion. After all, Tor often partners with the SciFi channel, who recently broadcast yet another bad original movie, this one something to do with Bigfoot. You might suspect that this is a novelization of that bad movie, but you’d be wrong. Still, I'm used to seeing this "look" for a fictional title, and 'Sasquatch' is not fictional. Really!
'Sasquatch' is associated with a television program, but not from the SciFi channel; instead it’s from the Discovery Channel special of the same name. I missed that too, but frankly, I'm happier with the book which is a lavish, well-written affair by the protégé of Grover Kranz, who wrote 'Big Footprints'. I actually own and have read 'Big Footprints', which seemed to be to as sober as one can get with these sort of books, on par with the fine work by Loren Coleman. So, what's up with 'Sasquatch' and who wants to or needs to read it?
Fist and foremost, let me say that Forge has done an outstanding job on this book. It's an unusual format, 8" by 9 1/2" instead of the usual 6 1/2" by 9 1/2". It's engagingly written, and includes a boatload of photos and illustrations; B&W embedded in the text and a slick center selection of full-color plates. Nice. It's the sort of thing that might get cracked by your precocious pre-teen, and has enough pick-it-up-and-browse appeal that it would make a good coffee table book.
Meldrum is a primatologist who specializes in studies of how primates move and how their motion is supported by their physical structure. In 'Sasquatch', he goes step-by-step though the evidence, and reading about this is pretty interesting, assuming that cryptozoology is of interest to you. The illustrations that pepper the text make the book much easier to read than it might otherwise be. Meldrum makes a great case for the evidence being at least worthy of examination and he examines it carefully.
The real question you have to ask yourself is: Do I want to read non-fiction about Bigfoot? If the answer is yes, and you've read Kranz' 'Big Footprints', Coleman's many works on the subject ('Tom Slick and the Search for the Yeti' / 'Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology'), then Meldrum's book is a great chaser and bringer-up-to-date. And there are lots of questions to answer, particularly with regards to DNA analysis of purported Bigfoot hairs and droppings. And yes, Meldrum gets there. Is it worth going on the journey with him? Definitely, ikf this is the sort of journey you're interested in making.