The Foot of Bigfoot?
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on February 14th, 2007
On Saturday, a mysterious foot was found at a Virginia landfill. Initially, it was thought to be a human foot.
However, after being examined by Virginia state medical examiners, it was determined to be of an “apelike species.”
It turns out that the foot found Saturday in Spotsylvania County was not that of a human, authorities said today.
The search through 127 tons of trash at the Livingston Landfill ended abruptly this morning after the foot was cleaned and X-rayed by state medical examiners.
They determined the foot was not human and was possibly that of an apelike species, said Spotsylvania Sheriff Howard Smith.
The medical examiner’s office called the sheriff’s office this morning, Smith said. They did not say if it was a monkey or some other type of ape-type species-only that it wasn’t human.Bill Freehling
The Free Lance-Star
Speculation has been that it is human, bear and even Bigfoot. Truth be told, to me, it does bear (pun intended) striking resemblance to Tom Biscardi’s Hand of Unknown Origin.
Comments regarding the identity of a hand of unknown origin.
The Free Lance-Star sent photos of the foot to several people who study primates. All disagreed with the state medical examiner’s office’s conclusions.
Experts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said it looks more like a human foot than that of an apelike species, according to Jordana Lenon, a spokeswoman for the primate center on campus. She said it’s difficult to tell without handling it. A colleague of Lenon’s said it looked like the skinned-out hind-foot of a bear.
April D. Truitt of the Primate Rescue Center in Kentucky, also said the foot looks more human. She said it’s too big to be a monkey; it’s more the size of a gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo or orangutan. She said its bone structure leaves the chimp as the only possibility.
“This certainly doesn’t resemble the foot of any chimp I’ve ever met, and I’ve encountered hundreds in the past two decades,” Truitt added.
William Dranginis of Manassas has a more unusual opinion–he believes the foot could be that of Bigfoot. He heads the Virginia Bigfoot Research Organization and has been passionately studying the elusive creature for more than 10 years.Bill Freehling
The Free Lance-Star
What do the readers of Cryptomundo think?
Story Update:
See Update: The Foot of Bigfoot?
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.
I wish they’d let us know how long it measured.
The fact that it was sawed off at the ankle makes it a little suspicious.
It’s pretty clear that all the digits are missing a bone, like they’ve been cut off at a joint. My guess is that these are the remains of a bear that was used to make a rug with the claws intact (hence the lack of skin). It’s also possible that the claws have been removed for some other purpose.
What do I think? I don’t know, not much information to go by, but I assume if these people are trustworthy (being medical examiners, they probably could be), then this could be interesting. It should be quite easy to determine if it’s human or not, so why don’t they?
The terminal joint missing is suspicious… we’ve been here before.
Lenon and Truitt should be contacted to see if they really did make the statements attributed to them… it’s hard to imagine bona fide experts making statements like this from just looking at a photo.
Keep us posted.
Looks like a taxidermist or trapper was busy…
Probably a bear
Scientists should be able to extract DNA from the remains and verify whether or not it is a bear “foot”. DNA testing would also show whether or not the “foot” belongs to a known Ape or not.
So, who is in posession of the “foot” and how long will it be before they send a piece of it off to have DNA extracted and tested to determine to what, or to whom it belonged?
Doesn’t really look like a bear foot to me, but who knows? Could be a big deal. I doubt it, but you never know.
Maybe a crocodile or alligator foot severely degraded with the claws clipped off? DNA.
Was it picked up from the landfill that the FBI deposits the Bigfoot bodies that they confiscate, mostly from the nations railroad systems? The FBI is in Virginia, isn’t it? Who would want to go to the trouble of skinning out a bear foot? A taxidermist perhaps? Biscardi’s hand has the entire last joint removed on each digit, so it does not qualify for comparison purposes since it is altered. It is obvious that this foot has ALSO HAD AT LEAST THE LAST JOINT REMOVED. That would certainly inhibit identification now, wouldn’t it? A taxidermist may need that last joint in order to preserve the claw and foot padding. Check with the taxidermists in the local area.
I think the clear signs of butchering coupled with the lack of terminal digits clinches the matter as being from a bear, much like Biscardi’s “hand”, but everyone is right is saying that DNA testing would indisputably prove it one way or another. Even if the flesh is too far gone, DNA from the bones should be obtainable…
I live very close to that landfill and I think that it is a human foot, if a human foot was trapped in hundreds of pounds of trash the foot structure would have changed. Oh yah the foot is 8 inches and twelve centimeters. If you want to check it out for yourself go to the Spotsylvania news website.
8 inches? Sawed off at the ankle? Tips of “toes” missing?
A dollar says it’s taxidermists waste of a bear.
That’s what a bear paw looks like when you skin it down to take the claws off. However the second picture looks less “bear like”.
I didn’t know the FBI collected Bigfoot bodies, seems that would be a job for the Department of the Interior’s special ops people.
A bear’s foot, definitely. The final photo shows that it has been cut-off at the ankle, but it also reveals that there is no heel bone (calcaneus).
Dare I say, “It’s a big foot”? 🙂
I think it’s a bear’s mutilated foot too. Bears’ feet appear quite “ape-like” on Xrays because both bears and apes are large, mostly unspecialized, plantigrade animals.
Since there are DNA databases for every known living species of both bears and apes, including us, I hope that DNA testing will be done to conclusively prove the species.
hey everyone i realy like the above replys regarding this possible primate-sasquatch-hominid foot found in a va dump which looks to be authentic to me. but more research etc & study needs to done it. put this way primative man bones are always being found all usa & world forests every year. so the possiblys of this foot situation will probley continue with new updates soon. good morning bill. this foot photos look very interesting it doesnt look a bear paw. updates as they accure. 🙂
For me, the problem about the idea that this has been tampered with or is an example of creative taxidermy is that if this has been examined by professionals, wouldn’t they be able to spot if this was tampered with? If this was the madical examiners office, and they cleaned and x-rayed it, would they not indeed be able to ascertain the difference between a human foot and a hoax of some sort? I would hope so, since they are medical examiners. They examined it pretty thoroughly and that is the conclusion they have reached whereas some here are making assertations based on these photos. I wonder at this point whether we should be doubting this and saying what we think it might be, like a bear foot or whatnot. Wouldn’t the medical examiner be able to determine whether a joint was missing? There is not much information here about what they think it is other than “not human” and “possibly from an ape”, but it does not mention anything about them thinking this is a faked artifact and that seems telling to me as they should be able to determine if that was the case. I may be wrong, but if they had any doubt whatsoever, would it be common procedure to announce that it is not human and possibly from an apelike creature of all things? It looks human to me, but I didn’t examine it. They have also not made any final claim to what it is, nor said that it is a bigfoot foot. I think perhaps we should not be too quick to judge this anything other than what they are saying this is until more information is released.
Additional information regarding DNA testing of the foot is available here on Cryptomundo at: Update: The Foot of Bigfoot?
It seems to me, this foot should be passed along to the primate experts for examination.
Ok, got it Craig! Thanks for the update!
You make a good point, Mystery Man, but unfortunately medical examiners are as human as the rest of us, and right now we have no idea if it was examined by Quincy, M.D. or Goober, M.D. As relatively educated people who have seen things like this before (Read Hand of Unknown Origin), I think we can play the probability game pretty well, as long as we also recognize that firm conclusions can only come from further testing, as you say. If the ME thinks it’s an ape, by all means have a primatologist take a gander at it, as you suggested. Find a bear expert too, while you have those DNA samples sent off, I’m all for it. It may seem like a waste of effort for something most would say is pretty obvious, but this is the way science is done. I say if you can afford to do it, do it. If nothing else, it’s a way to know better for next time (And there will be a next time, to be sure).
Well, I am glad to hear that they are going to send it off for other opinions. I for one am curious about the outcome!
Looks like bigfoot’s foot!
No offense, but what leads anyone to believe this is a young sasquatch’s foot? It looks like a rotted human foot, a little too narrow for bear.