March 30, 2012

Sasquatch Scholars’ Wallace Problem

Ray Wallace continues to be the bone of contention in Sasquatch studies. It is time to expunge the cryptid primate track databases of his negative contributions, and look at the real evidence for Bigfoot more clearly.

Wallace Casts

Loren Coleman, London Fortean Times conference talk: Jerry Crew cast, Ray Wallace wooden foot fake, Bob Titmus cast. Fakery afoot?

Toledo Casts

Ray Wallace make fakes in a wide variety of configurations. Part of the “Toledo Collection” photographed in the 1980s by Ron Schaffner. Used by permission.

Wallace Track

Wallace Track

Both photographs © 2002 Dave Rubert. Used with permission.

Ray Wallace Tracks

Dale Wallace displays Ray Wallace’s Bigfoot wooden fake feet. (David Rubert Photography – used with permission)

Facts: The Ray Wallace fakes do NOT match the Jerry Crew October 1958 foot cast that began the use of the word “Bigfoot” in a more widespread fashion, nor do they match the Bluff Creek filmsite prints from 1967, one of which is compared below with a Wallace wooden foot.

Wallace Track

But within various Bigfoot books, you will easily find photos of “Bigfoot” prints (in Sanderson, Slick, and Green collections), which match Wallace’s handiwork. Some are not as easy to identify as others because the placing of footprints is not an exact science and materials do shift around. Nevertheless, some images in some books need to be questioned.

Wallace Track

Wallace Track

Monolithic Margins

My appreciation is given to Cryptomundo reader Dale Drinnon who has sent in the above scan of an old postcard that was sold at Happy Camp, California, apparently in the 1960s or early 1970s. Drinnon writes: “It looks to me like the one track cast [on the left in the photograph] has [evidence of] that crack in the heel.”

Ray Wallace Tracks

Doreen Hooker’s photographs of the alleged Sasquatch tracks on Blue Creek Mountain – Onion Mountain 1967

Ray Wallace Tracks

René Dahinden photograph, according to Chris Murphy.

Ray Wallace Tracks

Monolithic Margins

Monolithic Margins

Here are several blog postings from the past that will fill in any reader more completely on the ongoing conflicts between researchers regarding the Ray Wallace data that remains in the databases:

The Ray Wallace Debate

The Ray Wallace Debate – Part II

The Ray Wallace Debate – Part III

The Ray Wallace Debate – Part IV

The Wallace Line in Bigfoot Studies

More Wallace Line Images

Bigfoot’s Monolithic Margins

Bigfoot’s Bigfoot Problem

Hoaxing

Tools for Hoaxing

A Trail of Tracks in Print

Hoaxing Revealed

as noted here in Sasquatch Scholars’ Wallace Problem.

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, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoologists, Evidence, Footprint Evidence, Forensic Science, Hoaxes, Sasquatch, Skeptical Discussions