Walter Cronkite Has Died; Bigfoot Rumor Recalled

Walter Cronkite, 92, died on July 17, 2009, three days before the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the Moon of humans. Cronkite was tied to that event, as well as other historically significant moments.

CBS vice president Linda Mason says Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. Eastern, after a long illness with his family by his side.

It popped up in 2007, seeded in D. B. Donlon’s blog, here and even mentioned by Craig Woolheater on Cryptomundo in 2007.

Using the name Walter Cronkite, who certainly in his day gave credibility to any news report, the essence of the rumor was that The CBS Evening News had broadcast footage of the capture of a Bigfoot.

A “Bigfoot” was captured. The evidence exists. I saw a report (mid 1960’s) on CBS news (with Walter Cronkite) showing video of a captured “typical” hairy creature – very human-like. He was bound with what seemed to be chain restraints. He stood about a foot taller that the 4 men who “escorted” him (against his will, by the expression on his face). The report said he was being taken to a secure (but secret) laboratory for testing and examination, and that for humanitarian reasons, his location would not be revealed. I waited for months for a follow-up report, but it never happened. I suggest that “Bigfoot researchers” ought to do a thorough search of CBS News archives. The video was astounding, but I’ve never seen it replayed, and CBS news never mentioned it again. (I’m not making this up.) Mike OK

But it is noteworthy, two years later, absolutely nothing ever came of it. With YouTube, you would think by now that if such footage existed, it would show up. But this story has gone the way of the “Mystery Thunderbird photo,” or the secret “Invisible Bigfoot at the Livermore Labs,” stories which are lightly chuckled about but never pan out.

One intriguing Walter Cronkite tape that I will show here is from his CBS Reports documentary on the Dexter, Michigan UFO series of 1966. Forget the UFO content. What I find instructive in this footage is the typical reaction captured here of the primary eyewitness, frustrated at not being believed. He expresses at the end of this clip his wish he had never seen what he saw. This is a theme heard often from Bigfoot eyewitnesses.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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