Metro Jacksonville

Community => News => Topic started by: stephendare on August 13, 2008, 06:10:48 PM

Title: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: stephendare on August 13, 2008, 06:10:48 PM
http://cbs5.com/localwire/22.0.html?type=bcn&item=BIGFOOT-NEWS-CONFERENCE-bagm-

QuotePALO ALTO: NEWS CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS CLAIMS OF 'BIGFOOT' FIND

PALO ALTO (BCN)

Three "Bigfoot'' seekers, including a Redwood City man who released a documentary titled "Bigfoot Lives,'' claim they may have the body of one and plan to release a photo and what they claim is DNA evidence at a news conference in Palo Alto on Friday.

Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, Georgia residents who lead Bigfoot-tracking expeditions, say they found the body of what appears to be a Bigfoot in the woods of northern Georgia and will join local Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi at the news conference, according to Robert Barrows, who is publicizing the event.

Barrows' name is known in San Mateo County, where he has made multiple bids as a Democratic primary candidate for the District 12 Congressional seat formerly occupied by the late U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos and now by Jackie Speier.

"I think you'll find that this is the real deal,'' Barrows said of the alleged discovery.

Whitton, a police officer in Clayton County, and Dyer, a former correctional officer, are not saying exactly where the body was found or where it is now, Barrows said.

Biscardi, a veteran Bigfoot tracker who said he went to Georgia to view the find over the weekend, said DNA tests are being conducted and a team of scientists will study the body, but declined to name any scientists involved.

Officials from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division said the largest wildlife they are aware of in the state are black bears and white-tail deer.
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: BridgeTroll on August 13, 2008, 07:25:15 PM
Could be just a big hairy redneck... :D
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: RiversideGator on August 13, 2008, 11:41:58 PM
Is this the same source as with your "expose" on Bush being caught redhanded?   :D
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: jacksonvilleconfidential on August 15, 2008, 10:00:29 AM
NO WAY!!!!  Everyone knows that Bigfoot/Sasquatch lives right here in Jacksonville, c'mon people.....

http://www.jacksonvilleconfidential.com/search?q=sasquatch
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: RiversideGator on August 15, 2008, 11:20:08 AM
Quote from: stephendare on August 15, 2008, 10:19:22 AM
Quote from: RiversideGator on August 13, 2008, 11:41:58 PM
Is this the same source as with your "expose" on Bush being caught redhanded?   :D
But whether or not it rises to the level of crackpot fringe writers on rightwing antisemitic websites that you normally seem to value, only the hobgoblins over at RG central HQ can answer.

Stephen:  You just dont get it.  The crackpot fringe anti-semite was the ultimate source for your "Bush Lied!" bogus story.  So, you are the one who apparently values such sites.

Now, back to Bigfoot and other mythical things.    ;)
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: Ocklawaha on August 15, 2008, 01:50:10 PM
Riverside Gator, Guess I'm a loon by your book man, because I am a full believer in Big Foot. Even without the current ries ries, "discovery" (true or false) there are just too many  story's, evidences, unknown DNA (which relates to Ape) all neetly networked oft times in an era without a network. Kings, queens, sportsmen, natives, farmers and explorers back to adam have recorded these "things".

I agree,  we don't know them yet but...
They are very smart
They smell like some of my old friends in Fresno
Night Creatures
Great Apes
inbred (from Georgia,, whereelse?)
hunters
survivors of the campus BYOB  contest
Californians headed East to ID the body of a good friend.
known to be fans of Led Zeppelin
ROCK ON GEORGIA!



OCKLAWAHA
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: tufsu1 on August 15, 2008, 02:10:06 PM
Quote from: stephendare on August 15, 2008, 11:26:20 AM
It must be cool in Gatorverse.  So interesting and so unlike our own universe.

As all things "Gator" are
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: Joe on August 15, 2008, 03:52:54 PM
So how much does anyone want to bet that...

A) It's a typical fraud, and no one legitimate will ever be allowed a close look at the thing

or

B) Someone eventually gets a DNA sample, and it's a decomposed black bear.
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: jacksonvilleconfidential on August 15, 2008, 03:59:50 PM
I say B, but it would be a decomposed Shirley Green.

http://www.jacksonvilleconfidential.com/search?q=shirley+green
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: Keith-N-Jax on August 15, 2008, 07:35:45 PM
Who cares  ???
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: Ocklawaha on August 16, 2008, 12:43:40 AM
Kind of looks like the dude that we found sleeping on my sofa in 1969... Always wondered who he was, where he came from, and where he went!??? PEACE MAN! 

(http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/onion_news1215.jpg)

Or maybe, Jimmy Hoffa?  


OCKLAwAHA
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: BridgeTroll on August 16, 2008, 09:53:40 AM
Quote from: Ocklawaha on August 16, 2008, 12:43:40 AM
Kind of looks like the dude that we found sleeping on my sofa in 1969... Always wondered who he was, where he came from, and where he went!??? PEACE MAN! 

(http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/onion_news1215.jpg)

Or maybe, Jimmy Hoffa?  


OCKLAwAHA

I was wondering whos house that was... ??? :D  Another night I dont remember... :D
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: RiversideGator on August 16, 2008, 03:56:08 PM
The "Bigfoot" actually was possum meat with human hair pasted on. 

QuoteScientist Says 'Bigfoot' Fails DNA Test

PALO ALTO, California (Aug. 15) - Bigfoot remains as elusive as ever.
Results from tests on genetic material from alleged remains of one of the mythical half-ape and half-human creatures, made public at a news conference on Friday held after the claimed discovery swept the Internet, failed to prove its existence.

Its spread was fueled by a photograph of a hairy heap, bearing a close resemblance to a shaggy full-body gorilla costume, stuffed into a container resembling a refrigerator.

One of the two samples of DNA said to prove the existence of the Bigfoot came from a human and the other was 96 percent from an opossum, according to Curt Nelson, a scientist at the University of Minnesota who performed the DNA analysis.

Bigfoot creatures are said to live in the forests of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. An opossum is a marsupial about the size of a house cat.

Results of the DNA tests were revealed in an e-mail from Nelson and distributed at the Palo Alto, California, news conference held by Tom Biscardi, host of a weekly online radio show about the Bigfoot.

Also present were Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, the two who say they discovered the Bigfoot corpse while hiking in the woods of northern Georgia. They also are co-owners of a company that offers Bigfoot merchandise.

Despite the dubious photo and the commercial interests of the alleged discoverers, the Bigfoot claim drew interest from Australia to Europe and even The New York Times.

Biscardi said the DNA samples may not have been taken correctly and may have been contaminated, and that he would proceed with an autopsy of the alleged Bigfoot remains, currently in a freezer at an undisclosed location.

Reporting by Clare Baldwin in Palo Alto; writing by Jim Christie; editing by Mary Milliken and Peter Henderson
http://news.aol.com/article/scientist-says-bigfoot-fails-dna-test/136118?icid=100214839x1207495468x1200415099

A portion of this response was deleted by moderators
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: Jason on August 20, 2008, 11:33:40 AM
Ha, so its already been debunked.

Great stunt by these guys though.  They have certainly garnered the attention I'm sure they were looking for.
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: Driven1 on August 20, 2008, 11:51:54 AM
maybe Big Foot actually is an opossum.
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: BridgeTroll on August 20, 2008, 12:11:25 PM
Could be... but in this particular case... it is not.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080819/D92LKD300.html

Researcher says bigfoot just a rubber gorilla suit

Aug 19, 6:14 PM (ET)

By JUANITA COUSINS


ATLANTA (AP) - Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit. Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice - handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it - was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla outfit.

The revelation comes just days after a much ballyhooed news conference was held in California to proclaim that the remains of the creature were found in the North Georgia mountains was the legendary man-ape.

Steve Kulls, executive director of squatchdetective.com and host of Squatchdetective Radio, says in a posting on a Web site run by Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi that as the "evidence" was thawed, the claim began to unravel as a giant hoax.

First, the hair sample was burned and "melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair," Kulls said in the posting.

The thawing process was sped up and the exposed head was found to be "unusually hollow in one small section." An hour of thawing later and the feet were exposed - and they were found to be made of rubber.

Matt Whitton, an officer who has been on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department, and Rick Dyer, a former Georgia corrections officer, announced the find in early July on YouTube videos and a Web site.

"Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," Whitton said at the time.

Phone calls to Whitton and Dyer went unreturned on Tuesday. But the voicemail recording for their Bigfoot Tip Line - which proclaims they search for leprechauns and the Loch Ness monster - has been updated and announcing they're also in search of "big cats and dinosaurs. If you see any of those, give us a call."

On Tuesday, Clayton County Police Chief Jeff Turner said he has not spoken to Whitton but processed paperwork to fire him.

"Once he perpetrated a fraud, that goes into his credibility and integrity," Turner said. "He has violated the duty of a police officer."

Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: RiversideGator on August 20, 2008, 01:03:20 PM
If "Bigfoot" ever is found, I suspect it will be found accidentally and not by 2 yahoos with a financial interest in there being a Bigfoot mystery.  The money angle always draws suspicion.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that a large unknown creature could exist in an area so heavily populated.  But, anything is possible...
Title: Re: Bigfoot Found in Northern Georgia? A Body and DNA evidence at last.
Post by: BridgeTroll on August 20, 2008, 01:53:38 PM
National Geographic article...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080818-bigfoot-dna.html

Bigfoot Discovery Declared a Hoax
Ker Than
for National Geographic News 
August 18, 2008 
 
Alas, the search for Bigfoot continues.

No evidence has emerged to support claims made last week by two men who said they found the corpse of a seven-foot-tall (two-meter-tall) Bigfootâ€"an apelike creature of North American legendâ€"in the woods of northern Georgia.

Critics declared the men's story a bold hoax after the pair refused to show the body and following the disclosure that genetic tests from the alleged remains revealed only human and opossum DNA.

Discovery of a Lifetime

Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer spoke to a packed room of reporters last Friday in Palo Alto, California, about their discovery. Joining them on stage was controversial Bigfoot hunter Tom Biscardi.

Whitton told a compelling story of how he and Dyer found the body of the dead Sasquatchâ€"as the creature is also calledâ€"next to a stream while hiking in the Georgian woods in early June.

Whitton said he stood guard by the body for nine hours while Dyer went back to get a truck.

When Dyer returned, the pair dragged the hairy 500-pound (230-kilogram) corpse through the woods to the truckâ€"all while being shadowed by three live Sasquatch.

"As we were bringing it out, they were paralleling us," said Whitton, a Georgia police officer on administrative leave.

Whitton said that after reaching their truck, they refrigerated the Bigfoot body and soon after contacted Biscardi.

Weak Evidence

At the press conference, the self-proclaimed "best Bigfoot hunters in the world" declined repeated requests to display the Sasquatch remains.

Instead, they handed out photographs purportedly showing the creature's mouth and tongue, and a blurry image of a hairy figure strolling through the woods.

Reporters and other Bigfoot investigators were underwhelmed by the group's evidence.

"When I first heard about this, I was optimistic and hopeful," said Jeff Meldrum, an anthropologist and Bigfoot investigator at Idaho State University. "But when I heard [Tom Biscardi] was involved, that optimism quickly evaporated."

Within the community of amateur and professional Bigfoot hunters, Biscardi has a "reputation of ill repute," Meldrum said.

Meldrum is also extremely skeptical about the authenticity of a photograph released in the days leading up to the press conference showing what appears to be a hairy corpse in a refrigerator.

"It looks like a heap of costume fur. It doesn't look like natural hair," Meldrum said. "The gut pile looks like it was dumped on there just for effect."

Mixed DNA Results

Casting further doubt on the group's claim are mixed DNA results from the purported body.

The DNA sample was analyzed by Curt Nelson, a molecular biologist at the University of Minnesota, who described it as a mixture of human and opossum.

Biscardi's "suggestion was that the tissue sample was from the intestine of the animal, and that the animal had eaten an opossum," Nelson told National Geographic News. "That seems improbable to me."

Jason Linville is a forensics expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who was not involved in the DNA analysis.

If the group had instead sent in hair samples from the body, it would have been relatively simple to confirm that it belonged to an unidentified primate species, Linville said.

"In theory, you could analyze that DNA and it would come up as something that didn't quite match human and didn't quite match primate, but was something pretty close to it," Linville said.

Media Storm

Matthew Moneymaker is the president of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, an international network of Bigfoot investigators.

Moneymaker called the press conference an elaborate "profiteering scam" engineered by Biscardi.

"They know there's tremendous interest in seeing photographs of [Bigfoot], and they're trying to get people to pay to see hoaxed photos," he said.

Moneymaker's organization tracks Bigfoot news in the media, and he says Biscardi really scored with his latest exploit.

"There's been at least a thousand stories in newspapers across the world," Moneymaker said. "Before this, the highest record was about 200 articles in newspapers."

Moneymaker predicts that the mass exposure could actually hurt Biscardi in the long run.

"Now he's really a famous con man," Moneymaker said. "He was a con man known in Bigfoot circles for years, and now it won't be long before everybody knows it."

Biscardi, Whitton, and Dyer remain undeterred, however. The trio said they plan to conduct an autopsy of their Bigfoot corpse in the near future.

"I want to get to the bottom of it," Biscardi said. "What I seen, what I touched, what I felt, and what I prodded was not a mask that was sewn on a bear hide, OK?"