February 4, 2006

John Green: 45 Years of Bigfoot

This article was originally presented at the 2003 International Bigfoot Symposium by John Green. It is quite lengthy and will be presented in sections on a daily basis. Posted with John Green’s written consent.

Most of you will have noticed that I am not Jane Goodall, and you may well be wondering why I have been asked to fill her spot at this symposium. Well, you are missing the obvious. We have the same initials.

That Dr. Goodall has been unable to keep her commitment to speak here is most unfortunate. Her presence might well have focused the attention of the media on the fact, which they have so far largely succeeded in ignoring, that scientists of world-wide reputation are starting to take a serious look at the evidence that humans are not the only bipedal primates on Earth.

That, in my opinion, is the current development that holds the greatest promise for the future of Bigfoot/sasquatch investigation…

 It is by no means just Jane Goodall.

 In recent years I have had considerable contact with:

• George Schaller, director of science for the Wildlife Conservation Society




• Esteban Sarmiento, primate specialist at the American Museum of Natural History




• Russel Mittermeier, president of Conservation International and chairman of the world-wide Primate Specialist Group




• Daris Swindler, author of the atlas of comparative anatomy of man and chimpanzee.

All but Dr. Mittermeier have spent time examining the Skookum cast.

All of them are on our side.

They have all stated, all but one of them publicly, that the evidence already accumulated establishes the case for full scientific participation in getting to the bottom of this matter. Dr. Mittermeier told me that he has long considered taking up the hunt himself–and he told Jeff Meldrum that he would not fear being criticized for doing so, because he and his team have already discovered several other unknown primates.

Dr. Swindler, whom I have known for more than 30 years, has appeared in documentaries on this subject in the past as the obligatory skeptical scientist. Now, after careful examination of the best heel print in the Skookum cast, he has expressed the conviction that it is the heel print of a large unknown primate – and he would be here with us today if his health permitted.

With this high-profile support, and with the increasing number of less eminent but fully-qualified zoologists and physical anthropologists who are already participating at their own expense, the time may well be near when scientific institutions with resources and funding will join us in our search.

All that, however, is in the future, and I am really about the past. The number of individuals and groups now participating in the investigation and the amount of information now available on the internet have gone far beyond my ability to monitor, and my own recent efforts have produced nothing worthy of the keynote position that has been assigned to me here.

What I do have is experience, nearly a half century of it, so mainly I will talk about that.  

To be continued tomorrow…

Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Conferences, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Expedition Reports, Eyewitness Accounts, Folklore, Forensic Science, Museums, Sasquatch