Exclusive: Johor Bigfoot Cast Copy
Posted by: Loren Coleman on October 9th, 2006
Joshua Gates – shown above on his investigative trek in Malaysia with Seekers Sis and Illa – reveals to Cryptomundo the startling news that an excellent first generation copy of the Johor Bigfoot cast sits safely in California.
Illa shows off the cast last February, as photographed from a different angle, above, as opposed to the often seen image, below.
Joshua Gates, above, was involved with obtaining the original Johor cast, in the jungle.
But, as it turns out, a copy was made; see the photo directly above, which was previsiously published as showing the original. Gates is shown below in the act of accepting the never-before revealed copy. He writes me that this cast was made directly from the original Kota Tinggi print’s cast: “Since The Malaysian government was adamant about the original cast remaining in country, we quickly created another mold from the original and copied the casting using soft clay to create a negative and plaster of Paris to create another print. The second cast is here in Los Angeles.”
This is good news, because no telling where the original will now end up.
But it also brings up the question, if the Malaysian government would not allow the original cast to be taken out of the country for study earlier this year, why are they allowing the Seekers to sell it to the highest bidder anyplace in the world now? Why is the Malaysian government allowing the original cast to leave their country now, when, in fact, they previously banned such a move, and probably to a wealthy American?
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.
Why would the Malaysian government allow the cast to leave the country?
$$$, that’s why!
I think the Malaysian government was taken in by the Johor Hominid scandal, and after that embarrasment they’ve most likely decided to wash their hands of all things bigfoot.
There’s also the fact that the cast looks fake. As someone mentioned in a previous post, it looks like a crocodile print with a human heel added to it — almost like a scuba diving flipper with toes.
I feel it is truly unfortunate that money money money always comes up in the equation with any kind of cryptid evidence like this. It is really a powerful incentive to go out and try to hoax. Why is it that these Yarwen slayers and what not always want to sell to the highest bidder? A lot of researchers out there in the field that are turning up nothing that only want to do it for the sake of science. I don’t know if this cast was the real deal, but I hope when reliable evidence comes up, it is treated as a valuable scientific find and
not a fat paycheck.
Mystery_Man, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Real scientists with real, credible research would publish papers and apply for grants. Get-rich-quick “investigators” just make a bad name for everyeone.
Precisely. And even the researchers out there who do get a lot of grant money and such, what do they do with that money? They don’t go out buying a Ferrari, they spend it on more research. There is a certain passion in real scientific research that I just find lacking in these quacks that have been springing up these days.
They can always make more. Just ignore the group of fraudsters, they give cryptozoology a bad name.
As far as casts go, that is one ugly and non believable cast anyway. That thing could be a cast of anything, and most likely a hoax.
Interesting. I am glad this story still has some legs. And its refreshing to see a government taking this kind of thing seriously.
I agree with previous posters; this looks horridly fake