Meldrum Hypothesizes 500-750 Sasquatch Living Today
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on April 28th, 2011
“My goal is not to convince, my goal is to open minds,” said Jeff Meldrum, professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University. Meldrum has been researching the specimen of Sasquatch for more than 15 years and has received national attention for his work, both positive and negative.
His research examines various evidences which suggest that the mythical creature Sasquatch may in fact be real. In particular, he hypothesizes there may be not only one creature living today, but as many as 500-750 of the Sasquatch species.
“People have been so conditioned that this isn’t possible that when they finally see it, it upsets their whole equilibrium,” he said.
Meldrum said many people, both inside and outside of academia, don’t believe that Sasquatch could be real.
“Some of the naysayers adapt that position because such a creature, such a species could not exist under our noses and not have been discovered,” he said.
Others, he said, don’t accept the possibility out of stubbornness.
“There’s a certain chic to being critical these days,” he said, “and skepticism is worn as a bright red arm band by some individuals.”
Dr. Robert Schmidt, USU professor of wildlife policy and human dimensions in the College of Natural Resources, invited Meldrum to come and speak.
“I met Dr. Meldrum a number of years ago and it was just interesting about how he, as a person with a credentials in science, how he uses that process to look at Sasquatch, which is a very different way than the other Sasquatch fans,” he said. “He has this logical process by which he sorta says ‘I can include this information.'”
Ryan Carlisle, an international studies major who attended the lecture, said the presentation didn’t affect his belief in Sasquatch.
“It’s a possibility,” he said. “I didn’t totally discount it. It could be.”
Halley Kartchner, a graduate student in human dimensions of ecosystems science and management who considers herself an amateur Bigfoot enthusiast said, “I thought it was really refreshing take on the legend of Sasquatch. My other exposure to it has been kinda crazy people I guess.”
She said that while she’s not completely convinced that Sasquatch is real, Meldrum’s lecture made her more inclined to believe he could be.
“It was really good to hear someone with a Ph.D and all this background knowledge giving his take on it,” she said.
Sara Preece, a graduate in marine biology from BYU, said, “I had never seen evidence presented the way he had. I feel like he presented it very factually, very evidence-based. He wasn’t trying to change anyone’s mind or convince anybody, he was just presenting objective evidence for people.”
She said she doesn’t necessarily believe or disbelieve that Sasquatch is real because belief connotes a religious type of conviction, but said Meldrum’s presentation did make her think that Sasquatch could be real.
Meldrum said he himself is not positive that Sasquatch is real, but that the evidence compels him to continue researching.Rob Jepson
The Utah Statesman
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.
This is an interesting number for the population. I look forward to the justification of the population size estimate.
Daniel Perez once stated he thought there were 100,000 Bigfoot in North America.
It will be recalled, Grover Krantz, a physical anthropologist, said he figured there were 2000 Bigfoot/Sasquatch animals living in the Pacific Northwest.
The BFRO gives an estimate of 2000-6000 for the population size of Bigfoot in North America.
I wonder how Dr. Meldrum came to his conclusions. If I had to guess, which is all I can do, I would guess in the 1000 range. There are reasons that I would guess that number, but it’s still a guess.
Numbers are truly meaningless when we know so little about these possible hominoids. I would not hazard a guess myself. I am not criticizing any of the aforementioned gentlemen – they are fine people – but numbers are just guesses that could have a huge margin of error.
However many there are, they are elusive and I doubt if we will ever really know how many there are.
Well, there’s interesting stuff in here, and some hope for the general mindset of the population.
“She said she doesn’t necessarily believe or disbelieve that Sasquatch is real because belief connotes a religious type of conviction, …”
Precisely. Evidence leads you to conclude, as Krantz put it, or you’re not going about this correctly.
“My other exposure to it has been kinda crazy people I guess.”
This is what happens when, as Meldrum notes, rote conditioning from childhood has produced the societal mindset, and not rational consideration of evidence. The stone-deniers line up on one side and the crazy people on the other. One can only wonder how quickly the public agitation for serious scientific consideration would ramp up if Meldrum could just spend a whole year on a speaking tour.
I think that his pop estimate may be driven by presumptions of range. I’m not sure how convinced Meldrum is of the contintent-wide sasquatch – an animal that I am convinced exists, if it exists anywhere. Why? The evidence gives me no reason to think otherwise.
I would like to believe that the Sasquatch population is larger than that. However, if they are not really rare, then their eventual outing is inevitable. And a few years after that, Monday Night Football will never be the same.
If that’s the case, then they’re critically endangered and need urgent protection. Science should always be open minded and imaginative, that’s how all of the great discoveries have been made in the past, not by the status quo naysayers who use science as a cudgel to pummel anyone with an imagination. Things need to be proven to become facts, but they also need to be investigated to be proven, not dismissed out of hand.
Dr. Meldrum needs to add a few zeros to his hypothesis, because I study these creatures here in Missouri and I know for a fact there are at least that many here in Missouri alone.