February 22, 2007

S. F. Chronicle: $100,000 Bigfoot Scam? John Green’s Challenge

Ostman Green

John Green (right) interviews Albert Ostman about Ostman’s 1924 Sasquatch abduction incident in British Columbia. Green, who turns 80 in 2007, has been involved in many foundation cases, needless to say.

Recent discussions here have been about the Blue Creek Mountain – Onion Mountain tracks found in 1967, by John Green and others. Green feels very passionate about keeping these tracks within the realm of what are seen as genuine prints, despite mounting evidence that they were pranked or hoaxed by Ray Wallace and/or his associates. Everyone has an equal say about this affair. John Green, who is greatly respected in the field and very much so by me, wants to bring his previous challenge about the hoaxing into this, so let’s look at that “$100,000” reward.

First, here’s John Green’s message about this sent to me and to Cryptomundo on February 21, 2007:

The carved wooden feet that Loren and others think were used to make the 15-inch” tracks at Bluff Creek, Blue Creek Mountain, etc. in the 1950s and 60s still exist and there are plenty of photos and casts of the tracks that were supposedly made with them. There is also $100,000 waiting for the Wallaces or anyone else who can demonstrate that those wooden feet (or anything else) can successfully be used to produce the sort of tracks that those photos and casts show. Until someone does that, and so far no one has even cared to try, claiming to find proof that those tracks were faked with those feet is just armchair speculation, nothing but blowing smoke.John Green

As Green knows, it was mentioned and discussed at the time of his original $100,000 challenge, several requirements within the criteria are set up to the benefit of the pro-Green judges (who could hardly be expected to be objective). The exact conditions for 1958 in Bluff Creek or 1967 at Blue Creek Mountain – Onion Mountain, as to the same weather, the same surfaces, and more will never be available for such a challenge because there are only hearsay records of those conditions. Green knows that.

When asked by CNN stringer and Bigfoot believer Scott Herriott how such a test would be done, John Green answered:

It means nothing unless you do it under the exact conditions of the tracks you are studying.John Green, 2005

To which Scott replied:

That’s the point John. What were the “exact conditions” of the tracks involved? Besides some people telling you what they were, how does a scientist quantify this? Human trust has no place in the lab. This is not to necessarily imply or even suggest lying, just the always present possibility of human fallibility. Plus, there was no quantitative analysis of the soil done. This, it should also be noted…My concern is with scientifically verifiable evidence, which means physical evidence. Not thoughts and ideas and recollections from people which, we all know, can either be mistaken or presumptive. Scott Herriott, 2005

Besides, those of us that say the Wallace fakes are part of the database are not saying that the Crew track cast or the Patterson filmsite casts were produced by probable Wallace fakes.

Green sets up a strawman situation just as James Randi does about his “reward” challenges in the skeptics universe.

Various people have also called for the Wallace fakes to be turned over for “inspection,” with the theory being that looking at them more closely would “settle the question.” Ray Wallace’s nephew, Dale, appears to have the fake feet in question that are the source of the Blue Creek Mountain – Onion Mountain 1967 prints.

However, from what is generally understood, Dale Wallace does not wish to provide the wooden feet. Why would he wish to use what are now valuable historical artifacts for such a “test”? There is a very real fear of damage to these wooden fakes, as has occurred, for example, with the Homo floresiensis skull when it was turned over to a skeptical examiner.

You will note that the Skookum cast remains in private hands and is only open to infrequent viewing for similar reasoning. Indeed, Rick Noll now has a copy of the cast that he loans for exhibitions of the Skookum cast. As to the Wallace fakes, fiscal considerations that the Wallace family are now under the assumption they might receive, and their distrust of “Bigfooters” has also come into play regarding the Wallaces’ refusals. Dale Wallace has no reason to walk into such a firing squad situation with people he sees as highly subjective when examining these wooden tools (Bigfoot fake feet).

The $100,000 Challenge, as noted, has existed since 2003. A California newspaperman predicted what would happen regarding this reward.

In the San Francisco Chronicle for March 13, 2003, Tom Stienstra, an extremely open-minded and pro-Bigfoot-friendly staff writer wrote a column and mentioned what he called a “Bigfoot scam,” as it was termed in the headline. He wrote:

Sounds like a scam: I’ll predict right now that the $100,000 reward announced last weekend for anybody able to create fake Bigfoot tracks that could fool experts is a publicity stunt for the Willow Creek Museum, the capital of Bigfoot Country. I predict nobody will ever get paid the money, no matter what anybody comes up with. Tom Stienstra
San Francisco Chronicle, 2003

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.

Filed under Bigfoot, Breaking News, Cryptomundo Exclusive, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoology, Forensic Science, Hoaxes, Pop Culture, Public Forum, Reviews, Sasquatch