Revisionist History: “johor hominid”

The source of those sexy "Johor Hominid" eyes was actually a color photograph found in a book on a television documentary about Australopithecus. The discovery of this hoax was by Jean luc Drevillon, who lives on Lafayette in Toulon, France. He emailed his results concurrently to Vincent Chow and to me at 3:25 am, Friday, August 4th morning. Nevertheless, the revisionist history on the end of this melodrama began late on the 4th, in Malaysia. Read on….

The "Johor Hominid" website went down, and as of the morning of Saturday, August 5th, US time, it still is down. Here’s the site’s official statement:

First of all, johorhominid.org would like to thank all of you for assisting us in the identification of the hoax photograph. The respective winner of the Award will be contacted via email.

Given that the current evidence for the existence of a hominid is weaker, we are currently closing down this site temporarily pending the investigation of the alleged hominid/hominoid cave and skull. Initially the focus is on lobbying the JWPS on the release of the photograph.

Now that we have completed the mission, Vincent Chow will focus more on the fieldwork and exploration. Please email us if you wish to be updated about the expeditions via the SMS technology.

Interestingly, on Saturday, August 5, there is an article published in the Malaysian Star, an outlet for the group, that seems to be giving a public front to the hoax drama but mixed with some new revisions to the developing and old news.

JOHOR BARU: The website set up for discussion on the local Bigfoot has been closed for “maintenance”, and two major players in the search for the creature are making conflicting statements about photos related to the phenomenon.

These dramatic developments came about after www.johorhominid.org released a photo yesterday that it claimed was an actual shot of a female Bigfoot’s eyes.

BIGFOOT’S EYES?: A photo of what the founders of www.johorhominid.org claimed were the eyes of a female Bigfoot. The photo was taken from the website after it was posted there yesterday.

The posting of the photo came days after the website had released a sketch of what it claimed were the eyes of a female Bigfoot.

According to the website, the photo had been provided by the Johor Wildlife Protection Association (JWPA).

It also threw a challenge to visitors, offering RM1,200 to anyone who could find a match of the photograph or prove beyond doubt that it was a hoax.

In addition, it said, the successful individual stood to receive free accommodation for two nights and three days at a five-star hotel, plus a guided tour to sites in Johor’s rainforest where the Bigfoot was likely to be seen.

According to the website, the photo had been posted to attract the attention of more serious researchers and to get them to provide views on the issue.

It said biodiversity researcher Vincent Chow, a co-founder of the website, had obtained the JWPA’s permission to use it.

However, at around 6pm, a visitor to the website posted a full-head shot of a creature in the comment page, which showed the same bloodshot eyes featured in the first photo.

“You have no credibility left! Habis! (Finished!),” the visitor wrote, adding that the full-head shot had been obtained from another website.

At close to 7pm, the once-active www.johorhominid.org site was closed, and there was a notice stating that it was down for maintenance.

Meanwhile, it is uncertain what the photo it had posted earlier actually showed.

When contacted, website co-founder Sean Ang said: “We have closed down the site to investigate the matter.”

JWPA secretary Tay Teng Hwa said the association had never released any photos to anyone.

“We will release photos of Bigfoot in a book that will be launched soon. Who said we gave them any photographs?” he said.

Meanwhile, Sean Ang was trying to do some damage control and revising of history to mention that he "exposed" this hoax. Here’s an email from him sent out on Friday at 5:18 PM:

We think it may be a Hoax because of the feedback from the online community after I posted of the eye sketch. That is why I persuaded Vincent to obtain the real eye photos. And we offer the cash prize. This step looks unusual, but the online member really save us alot of trouble.

As of 7am today, JWPS still do not know the truth about the photos. I think they will be upset. However, despite the photo Hoax, Vincent still think there is some truth on the bigfot situation.

By evening today, JWPS will an provide explanation to the press. As for me, at least I exposed 2 hoaxes in Malaysia, the Ustaz Safuan case and the JWPS case.

OK. I may be abit excited in the beginning.. but I am monitoring the comments of online members most of the time, thus this is how the truth can be revealed so fast.

Now, Saturday, August 5, 2006, another Malaysian newspaper, The New Straits Times, has checked in about this:

Photo alleged to be of Bigfoot’s eyes proved to be a hoax 05
Aug 2006
R. Sittamparam

Local Bigfoot website, johorhominid.org, today thanked a French hominologist who helped them prove that photographs of Bigfoot provided to them by a group was a hoax.

One of the website founders, Sean Ang, said Jean luc Drevillon had yesterday responded to the website’s posting of a clip of the eye from an alleged female Bigfoot picture and revealed the actual source of the photographs.

Ang said Drevillon had identified that the eye photograph was from Australopithecus images in a book on a French television documentary, "L `Odyssee de l’espece", released in 2001.

He added: "At first we thought the Bigfoot photographs were convincing. However, after we posted a sketch of the eye, we could smell something fishy. The online community was not convinced. This was worrying. So, we thought it was time to post the real photo to settle the issue once and for all."

Ang said the website’s co-founder, bio-diversity researcher Vincent Chow, managed to convince the group in possession of the hoax photographs to allow the posting of the eye photo.

"We also announced in our website cash prizes for anyone who could match the posted eye photograph. Our technique worked and in less than 12 hours, the verdict was out that the photograph was a hoax."

Ang thanked the online community including Jason Pritchett of the United States and Lorenzo Rossi from www.criptozoo.com among many others for providing help in proving the photograph a hoax.

Chow meanwhile said with the hoax photographs out of the way, the website will now concentrate on the many sightings and evidence compiled on the Johor Bigfoot so far.

To be continued, no doubt…for a complete rundown on all the August 4th breaking news on the &q
uot;Johor Hominid" hoax discovery, please see:

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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