News Media Reaction to Erickson Project Footage
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on October 4th, 2013
Who among us didn’t see this coming?
Here’s more proof that Bigfoot is really, really, truly real: There are new videos!
But if the morning-news anchors at WTKR in Norfolk, Va., are any guide, the new evidence may not be winning over skeptics that huge, furry, bipedal demihumans have been stalking around North America, perpetually evading capture and general scientific credibility for decades.
“Sweet baby Jesus in the manger, I didn’t think I was going to make it,” said anchor Jessica Larche, after struggling to give straight narration over fuzzy night-vision clips purporting to show a Bigfoot walking around in the distance and closer-up shots of a partially obscured creature sleeping or appearing to look at the camera.
WTKR’s Larche and Blaine Stewart gave a slightly more subdued recap of the new Bigfoot footage, except until meteorologist Myles Henderson started stalking through the background. You can check out their coverage below:
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
Interesting:
“Reading the results of the Sasquatch Genome Press Conference…
I am reminded about human nature’s worst features. Either, the reporter gets the story wrong or facts wrong… or attaches pictures from 40 years ago that are suspected as hoaxed…or confuses those with the pictures never before released…or the writer leaps to insulting conclusions about the participants or their character, though unknown to him…or makes sweeping inaccurate statements about the research project. As my psychologist friend loves to say…”lack of knowledge doesn’t keep me from a vigorous opinion.”
For those who loudly discredit this research effort, I want to say the following:
I hereby vouch for my contribution to the Ketchum project. I am an ethical and published scientist in the field of animal behavior doing the best ethological work of which I am capable. I simply began, years ago, doing independent field work on this question. I am an ethologist who is researching the sasquatch question…not a bigfoot researcher ! I do not affiliate much with bigfoot clubs. (neither did Melba)
I worked really hard in the field but actually got lucky when I found what I considered truly anomalous spoor that might be sasquatch. We sent the sample to Texas A&M…hearing back there was “no species for these feces” to paraphrase the lab. I subsequently sent the corresponding hair sample to Dr. Ketchum and this is sample 15 in the study…having been judged valid by the lead researcher, Dr. Ketchum.
I have nothing but respect for Dr. Ketchum’s ethics thru this whole ordeal…and she is an experienced forensic DNA expert. I needed a lab and didn’t have funding so I was happy to find Dr. Ketchum. I have never suspected anyone in this project of dissimulation or hoaxing as the bottom line…neither Ketchum nor videographers have any history of hoaxing to my knowledge.
I know that many reviewers do not like the way the sasquatch subjects look on camera. I am sorry about this but this IS the footage the team collected. I appreciate the funding of Mr. Erickson and Wally Hersom and I don’t question their motives. The people of this project have not been associated with any hoaxers…therefore it is challenging and hurtful to be lumped with those types. Anyone who has been in the field with me knows my approach to this…the question of the century.
In summary, per my training as a scientist I will say that 1) we have compelling new data in support of sasquatch 2) we have the first sampling distribution of purported sasquatch DNA 3) We have GOOD reason to now hypothesize these creatures are, in fact, really out there. 4) As with all good science it needs to be replicated…and I am quite confident that Dr. Ketchum’s results will be upheld.
That’s where I stand.
This is what I claim as a result of my role in this study.
S. Webb Sentell PhD”
I for one do not see Matilda as a wookiee costume, I see a resemblance, and clear differences as well, and even so, it really does not matter. Attitudes are, unfortunately, the only true masters of our perception. I too do not like it, I expected a “wise savage” looking romantic archeohuman face, but I guess this could really be a teenager.
Anyway, as I said, it really does not matter. I am still waiting to see a true scientific breakdown of her paper. She clearly and plainly, for all who paid an honest attention, answered all the Breaking Bio, Ars Technica and similar “debunking”, while Disotell himself, as a true scientist, said that he only glimpsed at it. Now its all open source, free to salivate on.
For all who question the motives of this publicity stunt:
In my opinion, of course it is because of Sykes. The point is: they KNOW his results and conclusions can only be the SAME, but he can beat them to oblivion in the media. So…
So you really think the Chewbacca mask is really a Bigfoot?
Credibility squandered.
I can respect that the part Dr. Sentell played in this is completely legit. But where defense of the Sasquatch Genome project as a whole unravels is that the presentation included footage of someone wearing mass-produced Chewbacca mask as video “proof” of the existence of sasquatch. Even if there weren’t also dozens of red flags raised elsewhere by the science, by the documentation, by the publication history, and even by other accompanying video clips, the Wookiee mask proves one thing for certain: the project is fatally flawed.
No offense, but no one’s ever accused the media of being overly intelligent…after all, their job is to read off a prompter and look concerned…
Love it!
“We have compelling new data, blah, blah, blah….” We’re so tired of this crap, either prove it or give it up. Until then, guess what, America is going to continue to laugh every time this nonsense appears. A lot of people are calling the ones involved in this cluster**** hoaxers and con-men. I just call them dorks.
I cant comment on the DNA paper, as i have not read it and am not a geneticist. And i don’t know about that footage, though it does not look like the star wars mask it is often claimed to be. That media report was unprofessional and insulting, poorly researched and poorly presented.
I do wonder how these fools will react when science does accept these creatures.
Dr. Sentell: Thank you for your effort, time and contribution to the discussion here. As you can see, our de-funding of science curriculum across our great country continues to draw dividends.
So, what else can you share with us? I appreciate any information you would care to tell us.
Dr Sentell no offence but maybe if Melba Ketchum’s financial backers’d spent more on videographers and less on you then they might’ve had a stronger hand meaning anything you might’ve contributed’d have a greater impact.
You say “many reviewers do not like the way the sasquatch subjects look on camera…but this IS the footage the team collected” making it sound like a question of personal aesthetic taste but if David Attenborough put something of that quality out through the BBC or Sky you as an ethologist’d be among the first to point out the quality of film reflects the quality and accuracy of the ethological data you can extract from it or the ethological implications which can be extrapolated.
You say “it is challenging and hurtful to be lumped with [hoaxer] types” then don’t use videographers whose videos lump you with hoaxers.
You keep goin’ on about ethics an’ hard work an’ Messrs Erickson an’ Ketchum may very well be the saintliest pair who ever walked God’s Earth but that doesn’t change the fact the videos they’re off’rin’ us’re an unholy mess.
It’s all very simple a good picture paints a thousand words.
Dr. Sentell, I personally thank you for stepping forward with your comments. I have been following all the hoopla regarding the DNA study as have many here on Cryptomundo and other Bigfoot sites. I have grown so sick of the doubting Thomases. Short of an actual body, it seems everyone is quick to dismiss anything someone brings forward as either a hoax or a lame attempt to grab their 15 minute of fame. While I agree much of photos, videos, etc. does appear dubious, I choose not to hastily cast everything in the “How lame…….NEXT!” pile. I don’t need the scientific community to sanctify Sasquatch in order to believe that he and she exists. I have had my own BF experiences, I know they are real as surely as I know the sun rises and sets. I don’t care if anyone else believes in Bigfoot or if they think I am a loon for believing. It makes no difference. The world still continues to spin.
For everyone out there who thinks that one video is a Chewbaca mask look-alike–many people who have reported seeing a Bigfoot have commented that it reminded them of a Wookie. When I saw this clip, I was immediately taken back to when I was 4 years old (I’m in my mid 50’s now) and on a family outing deep in the middle of the forest in Washington state. I came back to the campfire after a brief expedition in the woods and told my family I saw a monkey. Needless to say they all thought I was making it up and dismissed it playfully. That face in that clip is EXACTLY what I remember from that day in the woods in 1961.
All the rest of you can bash Melba and the others. I choose to believe her. I don’t think she would risk her profession and career if she didn’t honestly believe she had something valid. Let it play out. The truth is out there and they will be revealed; sooner or later.
Give me a F@cking break. I’ve seen better Hoaxes put together by grade school kids with cell phones. Yah, we found a sleeping bigfoot and filmed it briefly and then got out of there before it woke up. As for the other video, no it looks nothing like someone in a gorilla or ghillie suit. Any supposed respected scientist who would lend any credibility to any of the videos these people shared with their findings, sorry then they are full of shit too.
hey doc… you might wanna open up your eyes….
cuz if you wanna hang your professional credibility with these jabronis…. you might wanna re-evaluate things….
have another look at those videos…. then lets talk.
Dr. Sentell,
No offense I assure you, but “it doesn’t matter” that one of the pieces of evidence these folks have put forward unambiguously features a character mask from the Star Wars franchise?
Did it not matter during the early days of the (first) Rick Dyer hoax when people began correctly identifying the “creature in the freezer” as a Halloween mask?
Did it not matter when Tom Biscardi attempted to run a video-subscriber scheme and was subsequently forced on a national radio program to extend refunds?
The reason people are hammering this particular clip so relentlessly is because it totally undermines the credibility of the rest of the project.
Todd Standing’s fake photos are a thousand times bettter than using a wookie mask to attempt to fool people. I cannot fathom the thought process behind this… It is beyond stupid..
First of all, what’s up with you guys?
Dr Sentell’s not here, and I honestly doubt he will ever be.
It was clearly a quote. A quote. With quotation marks. A quote I quoted from FB.
Secondly, the video most certainly does not “UNAMBIGUOUSLY” feature a character mask from the Star Wars franchise.
I don’t understand a few things here. You say it’s poor quality, yet you all claim or act like it is UNAMBIGUOUSLY a specific mask?
In reality, the face vaguely RESEMBLES it with clear (even with “poor quality”!) differences in many aspects, there for everybody with eyes and the will to see. But who am I talking to – guys who fail to see a quotation mark?
How many of you here are Sharon? Streufert? Shawn Evidence? Oh, no…Tod!!??
What’s next -someone will step up and say he was the guy in a costume?
It is a groundbreaking facial shot, a leap ahead comparable only to PG film, way much better quality than anything we saw in decades. It resembles a wookie mask, face of an imaginary large hairy humanoid.
People are fast to call Ketchum a crackpot. They are fast to discredit her, and her results. One of the main people I am seeing speaking out against her research is Todd Disotell. He is one person, and have you all noticed he sports a mohawk? That’s fine for a high school or college kid. A pro-wrestler. But he is a scientist. Did he really look that closely at Ketchum’s DNA results, and what are the names of others who HAVE validated Ketchum’s results?
People need to open their minds a bit and see how this plays out. It seems like it’s Meldrum and his team against Ketchum and her’s. Maybe they should team up, put their egos, and personal attacks aside, and get some hard science going.
” It resembles a wookie [sic] mask, face of an imaginary large hairy humanoid.”
No, it IS a Wookiee mask — the face of an imaginary large hairy humanoid with a black, canine-like nose unlike any nose ever reported as being seen on a sasquatch.
Degnostic, what is the color of the sky in your world. I saw a Wookie mask the first time I viewed this and so has pretty much everyone else. As for the P.G. film I suggest you try and locate online the American Paranormal version of it. What most people don’t realize is that the P.G. film was duplicated only once and then stored away by Roger Patterson’s. So any version we have seen has been a either a copy ( when you copy a film you lose resolution each time ) or a copy of a copy or a copy of a copy of a copy, you get the idea. Roger Pattersons wife allowed American Paranormal access to the original and they made a copy using a very high resolution camera and what they got back was a very clean high resolution duplicate of the film. It’s a must see for anyone interested in cryptozoology. As for these video’s they are crap, the worst 10th generation version of the P.G. film still puts them to shame.
@Degnostik: Well I strongly disagree. It more than “resembles” a wookie mask. In addition, no where have I ever seen any artist rendering of the face/head, etc. of a sasquatch and in particular the nose, look anything close to that clip. In fact, if this was real, than I can emphatically state the PG film would have to be a total fake as “Patty” looks nothing like this “wookie” does. The thing in the Erickson Project clip has a nose like a DOG. I must repeat, LIKE A DOG or canine. I have read dozens of books and heard/read thousands of sitings and accounts and I cannot recall ANYONE EVER stating that a sasquatch/almasty, yeti, skunk ape, etc. had a nose resembling a DOG!
So for me to think this would even have a remote possibility of being real, I would need to be convinced that there is some sort of other entity out there that is a human/dog hybrid. And that is a totally different type of cryptid.
So in short, to attempt to pass this off as a bigfoot is IMO simply preposterous, as it is counter to the thousands of reported sitings as documented. Therefore, the simplest explanation applies, – wookie head (mask). End of story…sorry everyone’s time has been wasted for nothing.
“I do wonder how these fools will react when science does accept these creatures.”
They’ll pretend they thought Bigfoots were real all along, of course.
And for those of you who claim to lend credence on this beyond sloppily-faked “evidence”, again: not enough palms in existence for a proper face-palm.
You’ve literally taken my breath away. And again, I have to ask, what in the world is REALLY going on here?
Yes, but can Matilda repair a broken hyperdrive while being pursued by several star destroyers? Inquiring minds want to know…
In fairness, it was Han Solo who fixed the hyperdrive. Chewie just handed him the tools. LOL
To me, it looks like a mask. I withhold my true judgement on the subject until I see the entire documentary. For all we know, the PG film is fake as well.
If they are that close to a sleeping sasquatch, why not shoot it with a tranquilizer and take all examining and photos you want. They do it in the wild and in zoos all the time. Tranq the animal, do what you have to do, then let it go.
This should be acceptable to even the folks who say to leave them be, don’t capture or kill and don’t put them in zoos.
If the refuse to do this, then I would be very skeptical of their goals.
Right Bobzilla. Why not do as you suggest? Or else even more easily, continue filming until it wakes up to get a full view of it, including the face. The only plausible explanation is that all their video footage is pure fakery.
First thing: though I do enjoy crypto-zoology, and think there is more to Sasquatch than the mere footprint and anomalous hairs, I must say: Funny! Sure, they are making fun of us, but they did it in a very humorous way.
It will be even funnier if and when we get the proper evidence, to show that they actually exist…
Second thing: Does the above make you mad, that the Media once again makes fun of us? Then quit thinking you’ll discover Sasquatch or any cryptid with tracks, pics, vids, and other junk: need body, major parts of a body, fossils, or live specimen: nothing more, nothing less. You want the laughing to stop? Get the right evidence.
Third: the facial pic looks like a died wookie mask. If it was a body, however, I would have no beef, because you cannot argue with a corpse. Or for that matter, a live specimen…
@Grasshopper
Amazing how you twist sightings to support this Wookie Mask fakery. Yes people have said Sasquatch looks like a wookie in regards to the long arms with hair hanging 6-10 inches. Nobody has ever said Sasquatch had a little black dog nose. Broad, flat, and grey/tan in color is what I have always ever read. Also I have seen longer arms on alligators than this subject. It goes directly against the arm/leg ratio reported in thousands of sasquatch sightings. My guess is you saw a young bear or the Michigan Dog Man on a vacation…..not a sasquatch.
For those of you who are defending this footage saying you cannot see a Wookie mask please come back to Earth. You are the very reason we are being laughed at by media because your so blinded by your desire for Sasquatch to be proven as a real entity. It will be proven but not by this cast of hoaxers.
My prediction is, what we lump together under the classification of “Bigfoot” is, in all probability, a number of distinct sub-species and each has its own peculiar habitats, physical characteristics and behaviors. We might realize that the label “Bigfoot” no more accurately predicts the appearance of the animal any more than saying “dog” delineates a Dachsund from a Great Dane. Sure, both have four legs and fur, but does it get you any closer than that?
So, can some of them look like a wookie? Not saying this video is legit or not, although I put a lot of stock in what Bill Munns tells me, but has life never imitated art?
Ploughers, yeah. Sometimes even life imitates life and art imitates art!
We are on the same Ivan Sanderson train, I suspect. Who knows how many species and subspecies of BFs will eventually be found? It might even be possible they’re further subdividing into even more subspecies over time. We just don’t know.
As you probably know, I’m torn over them being proved to exist, because it might be the worst thing that could ever befall them, reservations, exhibits; it turns my stomach to imagine what might be done in the name of “helping” them. I’d be happy to forgo any proof to keep that from happening.
Anyway, I know what I heard, and my daughter knows what she saw, a couple months apart and nearly 1900 miles from one another. That blows my mind.