Mammoth Footage Faked

Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 13th, 2012

Not surprisingly, the so-called “Woolly Mammoth” footage was faked when someone blurred known video of the area and apparently added a computer-generated image to the footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ijg5F-5sdI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=D9Qsdxye6Yc

The filmmaker, Ludovic Petho, writes:

I’m the guy that filmed the river footage in the Sayan Mountains that now hosts a fake woolly mammoth. It was taken in the summer of 2011, the river is the Kitoy river and I don’t recall seeing a mammoth; there were bears, dear and sable to name a few mammals but no woolly mammoths. I had no idea my footage was used to make this fake sighting and question if a law was broken here.

I filmed the river during a 10 day solo hike in the mountains in preparation for a year long journey starting soon. It will re-trace my grandfather’s epic escape from a Siberian POW camp in 1915 and his walk across Siberia to reach home, Budapest, in 1918. To date we have found a handful of others who escaped and made it all the way home, including the father of American businessman, George Soros, Tivadar Soros. We hope to find more. The documentary will be in 2 parts and be finished in time for 2014, there’s more information here if you wish.

Ben Radford, RobDev, and others have alerted us to this news. Few have posted the video statement from Ludovic Petho, but I felt you would like to see it.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.


55 Responses to “Mammoth Footage Faked”

  1. EnormousFoot responds:

    How can you believe this person that this is a hoax? A hoaxer is a dishonest person so therefore you can’t believe anything they are telling you. Mammy is a real wooly mammoth and you can’t convince me otherwise. Shame on you Wooly Mammoth deniers. You are so skeptical you can’t see the evidence right in front of you. This is a real animal.

  2. Opalman responds:

    @PhotoExpert: If the testimony is to be believed, (let’s all remember Ray Wallace),you turn out to be correct though I don’t see any reason for you to feel like an expert etc. Let’s remember things as they actually happened and thankfully we have an archive of posts to remind all of us of what we said.

    My only conclusive opinion as to the identity of the subject video was and was consistently and unambiguously that the supposed creature was not a bear. I also said repeatedly that I would require some sort of verifiable evidence that the subject was a product of CGI if I were to include it in my list of options;(this was rather close-minded on my part)!

    No one, including you was able to provide any concrete evidence for the CGI opinion. Overall there were very few possibilities as to the subject’s apparent image.
    Since circumstances of the filming are always presented in a subjective manner in these types of reports I choose not to make any deductions as to motives, past history or on site conditions other than to mention the obvious: foul weather=foggy lens, cold temps = short battery life etc.

    The wood bison hypothesis was a product of visual appearance; size, long thick beard that could appear as a trunk and lumbering gait. I threw it out there as another as to yet considered possibility.

    There are those of you that are still clinging to an obvious inaccuracy regarding the physiology of both bears and pachyderms. Several of you maintain that the bear’s front quarters (legs shoulders etc.), are higher than the rear. Enough already, as I correctly state in every post the bears back line is horizontal and parallel to any level ground it walks upon. The elephant’s front quarters are conspicuously higher than the rear. See mounted, articulated skeletons:

    https://www.google.com/search?q=bear+skeleton&hl=en&rlz=1C1RNNN_enUS367US423&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=KZA7T5CREY6Dtgei2cX5Cg&sqi=2&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1680&bih=925

    PhotoExpert: I have no problem admitting I was wrong—none whatsoever. I’ve been wrong before:(once in 1977) LOL—only kidding! When I begin to see myself as infallible I believe it will be time to quit posting or even discussing such topics. Believing oneself to be infallible is THE cardinal sin in the sciences.
    I will here and now go on the record as stating that I have very little knowledge of CGI technology and no experience with it at all.
    Since you are the photo expert I had hoped that you’d be able to back up your CGI claim with verifiable evidence.
    Looking forward to many Crypto duals with you in the future.

  3. opin responds:

    OK, so we all knew this was fake from the beginning. I reported the same thing on my news show last week. This guy seems upset about the legal aspect, unfortunately, with the fair use doctrine this video seems legal. It is only a snippet and it is altered creating almost a parody of his original intent. Even though the hoaxer copyrighted the video he did so since the altered version is an original piece. The law is always fuzzy when it comes to copyright, but I would love for the video owner to collect damages. This would begin to teach the world that this sort of thing should be illegal and that it is wrong to fool people. Sadly, the creation of fake videos to fool the public is the fault of all of us in the anomalous world as so many of us believe it blindly. It has turned me into more of a skeptic than I ever thought I would be, but it’s become necessary since the scales have tipped so far in the believer direction.

  4. PhotoExpert responds:

    Opalman–Hey bud! It takes a real man to step up and acknowledge when they were wrong. Even if the only two times were now and in 1977. LOL On a serious note, I respect that immensely! You are one of the very few that ever come back and admit that they were incorrect. And you are also one of the very few that act like a gentleman when offering an opposing point of view. Because of that and because you are a fellow fisherman, you have earned my respect.

    I think it is great when two adults can have a mature conversation over subject matter, when they firmly stand oppositionally to one another. Kudos to us! At least we showed fellow Cryptomundians here how to have a lively debate without personally attacking one another.

    By the way, you may some very keen observations in your argument for the film ending early. Most people would not have thought of those issues. You did! It was just some of the many other red flags that you ignored. I think if you would have taken them into consideration, you might have reached a different conclusion. That’s why I tried to give you a heads up on Mr. Cohen being involved in the video in question.

    Opalman, also you are correct about the CGI stuff. It is so readily available and easy to use now, even a child can complete a short video. That is discouraging to me personally because it opens up all cryptozoologists to fakery and wasted time. I actually did talk about the CGI in my first post to you. The way the supposed mammoth walked looked strange and unnatural. I also pointed out how the supposed trunk of the mammoth was a different color than the rest of the mammoth and look disjointed from the body. I could have written a book on the data and facts why it might have been CGI. However, I felt it was sufficient to just list a few and concentrate on the more obvious red flags–video ending abruptly, highest brown bear concentration in Russia, Mr. Cohen being involved, etc. But in fairness, I did give examples. Maybe you did not read them carefully, but I did list them.

    OK, I am going to go and have that coffee now. Thanks! It’s on you this time, correct? LOL

    Seriously consider my one tip on fishing the Amazon though. I think it would be the best time you ever had fishing in your life. I caught over 100 of them on one particular day. Just awesome!

    I too am looking forward to many Crypto duals with you in the future. You my friend, are a worthy opponent and have definitely earned my respect!!!

  5. TheForthcoming responds:

    PhotoExpert – I don’t think anyone can be 100% right all the time especially in regards to Cryptozoology, but I suppose it is possible. Maybe right 98% of the time or something like that lol.

    But anyway, you, Loren, Craig and some others on here always have good points, like Loren does or Chad Arment in their books if you’ve ever read any of them regarding Cryptozoology, Zoology, Science, Hoaxes, etc. I am glad you don’t immediately believe everything you read or see but carefully investigate it and take it with carefully a grain of salt.

    I enjoy the study of logical fallacies and critical thinking, even though I am somewhat new to them.

    I was not 100% wrong, not right on this issue. I did offer my opinion of what I thought this video was, however.

    I dare you to tell the others there that you’re 100% right all the time, hehe.

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

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