Meldrum Offers Opinion of Ketchum Bigfoot DNA Study
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on November 28th, 2012
Posted on Dr. Meldrum’s facebook page:
The press release was frankly premature and unprofessional given the lack of any published reviewed results.It apparently was precipitated by a leak of information that was pubicized. Let’s wait and see what the published results will be and how they are to be INTERPRETED.
BTW — the spokesperson would divulge neither a timeline for publication, nor which journal received the submission. She did however inform us that they were in regular communication (psychic?) with sasquatch, and that they (the sasquatch) were enthusiastic about the study and the press release, and are completely supportive of Melba’s project.
[That being the case, one could ask why one or two of them (the sasquatch) doesn’t just come forward and hold their own press conference.]Don Jeffrey Meldrum
The video interview Jeff speaks of below:
Dr. Ketchum provides a much more reasonable interview for a Houston news program. She acknowledges the prematurity of the announcement (I believe she could have stopped short of discussing her unpublished results, however). She does conclude by saying the publication is anticipated in a matter of weeks not months (we’ve heard that before, but I hope this time it is indeed accurate).
Please don’t get me wrong. I truly hope she has the brass ring. I want very much for her study to be legitimate and significant. To that end I want to see her navigate the publication process properly and successfully!
My criticisms stem from the lack of available substantiation of her interpretation of the mtDNA results and the difficulty I have envisioning a scenario that accounts from what is proposed — a hybridization event 15000 years ago in Eastern Europe that resulted in a population dispersed across North America.
Many people don’t seem to understand the role of a null hypothesis (a working hypothesis). The aim is to attempt to falsify or refute it. The hypothesis that whatever is out there is likely a relict ape, or a relict early hominin (e.g. Paranthropus) appears the most reasonable in light of the substantive objective data (personal subjective experiences by some, notwithstanding). Melba even acknowledges this fact in her interview. If evidence, properly interpreted, overwhelmingly negates the null hypothesis, then we set it aside — simple as that. The notion of “camps” as if they were political parties, has no legitimate place in a scientific endeavor.
I am anxious to see the results — whatever they are!Don Jeffrey Meldrum
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.
So…. She’s chatting with Bigfoot. Makes a good movie or reality show title “Chatting with Bigfoot”
Oh… so this looks so not good to me. I think my brain just exploded.
What i learned from this video- Botox does nothing to improve one’s reliability.
@ PoeticsOfBigfoot
A valuable lesson learned, never use Boxtox while sequencing bigfoot DNA.
This would make a great Sasha Baron Cohen movie!
I have to agree with PoeticsOfBigfoot. lol
I am curious as to what State government labs and Universities they used.
I was wondering the same thing.
Thank you Dr Meldrum! One of the few voices of reason in the entire community of people dedicated to the research of Bigfoot/Sasquatch. Ketchum is a fraud and this hybrid theory is bogus in my opinion. Relict ape.
This clip did help answer a number of questions I have had, and probably some of you have had as well. One of which concerned just the large span of time Dr. Ketchum and her team have taken to get to this point. But, if her study analyzed over a hundred samples, as she represents, I could see why it took so long.
“Tissue samples?” Hmmm.
In the end, I have to say, if Dr. Meldrum is reserving judgment until the data is disclosed, who am I to form any conclusions now?
And here it is…already. Have you caught that CNN clip of the giggling news babe talking about (finger quotes) scientists releasing DNA (ditto) evidence of Sasquatch, played over clip of FB intro? Bullet? Please meet foot.
Well, in the immortal words of Willie’s drummer Paul: It is o.k. to step on your own d***. Just don’t stand on it.
So, weeks you say? This file diaried for 7.5 of those. Your serve Dr. K.
Mr Josua: As you know, apes are utterly unknown in the New World. No fossil evidence is known to exist.
Apes also don’t have human-like feet, nor do they walk on their hind legs, without awkwardness and for a brief time.
BOTH these things, and more, strongly point away from the Lone Ape Theory. That’s the way it is.
Goodfoot, lets look at some common factors involved in bigfoot encounters
1. Encounters oftern involve a foul sulfur like stench. Apes omit a similar odor from their apocrine glands when agitated or startled.
2. Most bigfoot sightings suggest a creature with shorter legs, longer arms, and a longer trunk than humans. Also a characteristic found in apes compared to humans.
3. The bigfoot (according to sightings and P/G film) has a flat nose that is wide and flat against face. Human noses are norrow and project downwards and ape noses are relatively wide and flat.
4. Bigfoots are often described with having thick coats of hair. (visual aid P/G, Jacobs Creature, Freeman Footage) All apes (sans a few with genetic disorders) are completely covered with hair with the exception of their face. Humans are only sparcely covered with hair so my guess is people would be reporting an unknown animal which looked more like H. mousteriensis (or Neanderthal)
Your last counter point is baseless since there are no “hybrid human” bones in the New World either. We currently do not have any foot bones/fossils for Gigantopithecus Blacki so there is no true way to tell if they had oppasable toes or not.
I would say the evidence strongly suggests it is an ape. Check back with me in a few weeks (vs a few months) and see how Ketchum’s research and this hybrid theory is holding up. Until then….enjoy the STEAK and blueberry bagels.
My question is (as with most DNA dramas), “Who’s the daddy?”
Okay, lets look at this again:
“BTW — the spokesperson would divulge neither a timeline for publication, nor which journal received the submission. She did however inform us that they were in regular communication (psychic?) with sasquatch, and that they (the sasquatch) were enthusiastic about the study and the press release, and are completely supportive of Melba’s project.”
Excuse me, what?
Repeat that again?
BTW — the spokesperson would divulge neither a timeline for publication, nor which journal received the submission. She did however inform us that they were in regular communication (psychic?) with sasquatch, and that they (the sasquatch) were enthusiastic about the study and the press release, and are completely supportive of Melba’s project.
I feel like that guy in Land of the Lost when Will Ferrell said he had Hadrosaur Urine in his plastic container.
I also feel like I did when I heard about how those guys in Gorgia who claimed to have killed a Sasquatch, mentioned “Leprechauns” and other things like that on one of their answering machines. RED FLAG!
I hope Dr. Meldrum misheard or something, because if not, this is something that can destroy who knows how many careers, damaging beyond repair many’s scientific credibility. Heck, just credibility period!
I applaud Dr ketcham for all the work she has done on bigfoot dna and blazing the trail on the importance and potential of sasquatch dna. Before melba there was some kind of public consensus that getting sasquatch dna was a waste of time, a sceptic mantra and couldnt be done anyway because of all sorts of reasons. Then in 1982 she found something new in the hank of hair donated by Josh gates of ‘monster quest’ and started on her odyssy.
Previously dna tests on putative sasquatch samples were done under the giant shadow of the new york labs led by Todd Disodell an arch sasquatch sceptic, who’s lab for many years either found every sample had No dna (is this possible ?) was contaminated by human dna or was something mundane like bear etc. I think this was over a period of about 16 years !
Dr Ketchum and events like the denesova discovery and dna analysis, which outranked the small bits of bone found completely changed the situation from a dna desert to an exciting and challenging one. Where dna imformation has become so desirable and the subject of hugh attention and interest.
Her suggestions about what sasquatch may or may not be, are perhaps improbable and may be wrong but sasquatch is clearly something very different and she may be right. At this time its mostly speculation. Arguments about whether sasquatch is apoid or humanoid are a bit premature other than in a rather speculative way.
Dr meldrums publication etiquette may be a bit lacking or new but isnt sasquatch a very special case ? It seems to me short of getting her and her teams work through peer review and published she would still suffer all the vituperation and criticism that she has. Very difficult to do for all sorts of reasons not her fault.
I think one has to be tolerent about her friends bringing in the psychic even though I dont rule it out. It is not relevant to the dna studies and scientists can easily let it muddy the waters. As things are and all the pressure Dr Ketchum is under she must need good friends who are reporting such events. A lot of scientists do not recognize the paranormal except as an aberration but it is in my opinion a valid subject of study on its own.
Bring on the data !
erratum line 4 should be 2008 not 1982
All the speculation in the world means absolutely nothing other than a chance to say “I told you so” once whatever evidence, dna or otherwise, is brought to life. Personally, I’ll wait until we actually have something to discuss other than rumor.
This is all a sideshow until the peer-reviewed paper is published.
That said, I’m not surprised that Meldrum hopes something comes of it. He strikes me as being more than smart enough to know that validation is more important than who provides it.
I’m also not surprised at CNN giggling-newsbabe, Ploughboy. Until those are taken off the bigfoot beat, don’t count on anything good.