May 3, 2006

Biology Meets Bigfoot

In Tuesday’s Columbus (OH) Dispatch, Scott Moody, a forensics biology professor at Ohio University, pretty much dismisses Bigfoot outside of the Pacific Northwest. He is quoted as someone who did not automatically dismiss sightings of Bigfoot in Ohio in the past, as he is willing to give most anyone the benefit of the doubt.

He investigated ONE Bigfoot sighting in Ohio, and based on his findings from this single investigation, he is willing to say that Bigfoot sightings in Ohio are nothing but myth. That’s right, he felt that there might be something to all of the stories, but ONE investigation, negated all of the others. That doesn’t sound too scientific to me, to dismiss all Bigfoot reports from the Eastern United States because ONE investigation turned up evidence that pointed to the mundane.

He apparently still thinks that Bigfoot may exist in the Western United States from his quotes from the article though.

Although he dismisses most reports of Bigfoot in the eastern United States, Moody said he thinks that 8-foot-tall, 500-pound beasts with 8-inch-wide feet could be living deep in the mountains out West.

Forensic evidence has been found: primate hair and footprints with dermal ridges, which are similar to the ridges on fingerprints.

Footprints with those dermal ridges would be difficult to fake, he said.

And what was the report in question that he investigated you ask? It was this report, to the best of my knowledge. The article mentions that the report was filed on the "Ohio Bigfoot Research Organization’s" Web site. I am not aware of any organization by that name, but the online report matches the details from the Dispatch article.

Moody did have some very interesting things to say regarding Bigfoot research in the article however.

Most scientists stay away from Bigfoot research, but Moody uses it to entice students to consider forensics as a career. In addition, scientific advances enable a few interested researchers to attack the Bigfoot legend with new techniques, especially genetics analysis. 

"That’s where I butted heads with some of the Bigfoot people who want to believe everything they see out there," Moody said. "This case has no evidence whatsoever."

"People think forensics is only DNA from a dead human body," Moody said.

Think CSI meets Nature.

Bigfoot is perhaps the ultimate fugitive, so it makes sense to explain forensics to prospective students attending the science meeting.

With the good must come the bad apparently. The following photo ran with the article.

MICHAEL P. KING, DIANA HOLBROOK DISPATCH PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
OU biology professor Scott Moody mimics the infamous Bigfoot film shot in 1967 by Roger Patterson. The film, like others, was proved a hoax.

Say what? The Patterson film was proved a hoax??? 

Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Eyewitness Accounts, Forensic Science, Sasquatch