Carolina Creature Sightings
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 10th, 2009
Bigfoot? Swamp Ape? Booger? Something is around. Footprints have been found.
Since at least the last week of May 2009, there have been a series of sightings of hairy hominoids in South Carolina. Chief Joe Van Parkman of the Columbia Police Department reported on May 29th that his department had received reports of a large bipedal creature being spotted around the area of the Columbia Waterpark.
“We are investigating this strictly from the viewpoint of public safety and that alone,” Parkman said. “My biggest fear is that someone might be trying to perpetrate some kind of hoax and could get hurt.”
The following footprint photo was taken of one of the tracks discovered.
Too bad there is no scale in this published Columbian print.
Of course, a track found might not have a thing to do with the sightings. I think this might be especially true since that footprint looks an awfully lot like a raccoon track to me (compare an example below). Just my opinion.
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.
I agree with you, sure looks like a raccoon track to me. I do wish that when people take pictures of these things they would put up a ruler or tape measure for comparisons. Maybe even their own foot beside it. Does this mean that something is not going on there of interest? No, but they should continue looking for evidence and give is more informative info.
Doug
Hogzilla meets racoonzilla. Our southern rustic relatives never lie, they only exagerate, and then only a little bit and only when absolutely necessary…like now perhaps.
agreed…looks like a raccoon track. those columbia folks must have some serious raccoons, or maybe they’re just BofA exec’s rooting in the trash.
Raccoon – that was my thought too. As soon as I looked at the print – that was my initial reaction…
Also funny is that there is ALWAYS just 1 or maybe 2 tracks found. Like these “monsters” just take a step or 2, then just magically disappear. If they are true animals, they have to leave long trail (maybe a weak one) to and from the “track” site.
I wish I’d taken a picture of it, but I found a fairly large, 12inch track last weekend while canoeing. Taken by itself it was strange looking and scary. But looking at the other tracks around it was quite simple to explain.
Raccoons, a large one from the prints, came to the water’s edge to feed. A raccoon track facing the water had the back of it stepped on by a deer leaving the water. The resulting combination was quite odd looking.
So not only do people need to photograph tracks with some sort of scale indicator, but should photograph the surroundings as well. Alone, a better tracker might have known what he was looking at. But even a novice could figure out that the unusual track was a combination given the additional tracks in the area.
BTW, I have no idea what size Raccoons get to, but we saw two large (to my untrained eye) ones during our trip. Huge guys raiding local garbage bins. Anyway, I don’t really have a point anymore.
My initial thought after seeing the first photo was raccoon track, even before reading Loren’s suggestion that’s what it is. But after looking at the comparison photos, there do seem to be some slight differences. For one, the heel on the first photo seems more rounded. Secondly, the toes on the first photo are shorter in regards to overall proportion. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m ruling out raccoon track, it may be exactly that, but some sort of object to use as a reference for scale would have been great. But I reckon if someone wants to try to pass off a coon track as a Sasquatch track, it wouldn’t be in their best interest to lay a dollar bill down for reference, huh?
gkingdano: actually, the main reason the footprint evidence is taken so seriously – some scientists consider it the backbone of the evidence – is that so many trackways are so long, and laid under such circumstances, that a fake or misidentification is extremely unlikely.
This one? Looks raccoon to me. One thing I don’t understand is why anyone would consider that one photograph, with nothing for scale, demonstrative of anything but a known (little) critter.
Definitely looks like a raccoon print.
Good post, Loren.
I admit it looks like a raccoon. Though from my perspective the toes are broader than the raccoon track shown. But that is just my point of view.
Let’s see if more evidence turns up so a more definitive identification can be made.
I wonder what one would call the hominids in South Carolina?
Napes? Skunk Apes? Doesn’t look like Pacific Sasquatch to me.
Raccoon…moving on…
The main reason people don’t use a “scale” in their photos is because they are:
A: Either faking a photo
B: Trying to make it look like it’s something it’s not
C: “Forcing Perspective”
D: Idiots
Anyone who does not use some type of “scale” in a photo MUST be written off as a sub-standard investigator (and I use the term investigator loosely) and their “evidence” as lacking of ANY true research validity.
When animals walk, sometimes their feet slip and slide a little which can alter the shape of the track. The type of soil and the moisture content in it can also impact the quality of the print. That’s why a “trackway” is important. Usually you will find a few pristine tracks but the majority will be far less than perfect. This looks like a “grade b” raccoon track to me. The fact that there is nothing in the photo to give the scale of the track or even context of the track should tell everyone that something is “afoot”.
As for size, most adult raccoons are in the 20-30 pound range. However adult boars in excess of 40 pounds are not unknown and the record weight is 62 pounds. The rear foot of a standard adult male would leave a track about 4 inches long by 3 1/2 inches wide. You might add a 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch for a really monster boar raccoon.
Just a big ol’ raccoon.
I’m with Loren on this one–are we even sure this track is associated with the rash of sightings? Or was this track just found and snapped off because somebody was excited and thought they had something cool?
Do we even have any size info on this track…was it a mutant sized raccoon (maybe 9 feet long with big, sharp nasty teeth…), or a BF with petite feet…
I counted four toes on the first picture and five on the racoon picture.
They look like raccoon tracks to me.
Chief Parkman is a former chief in Columbia, Mississippi, not Columbia, South Carolina.