November 11, 2007

Did “Monster Quest” Prove Bigfoot?

History Channel Bigfoot

Well, how could a television program “prove” the existence of a cryptid, anyway?

Unlike some, I am not surprised that the History Channel and the producers of Monster Quest’s “Sasquatch Attack” did not leak the fact that Sasquatch DNA may have been collected. I do not feel upset with Jeff Meldrum because he didn’t rush in front of a microphone soon after the documentary filming to announce the rock-throwing and that a Sasquatch had stepped on a “nail trap.” Ouch!

Perhaps some patience is needed in this field. Why are people disturbed that Meldrum honored the non-disclosure clause in his appearance release, and that he was more interested in getting the hair and DNA test results first? It is interesting to watch such a reaction from some quarters, as opposed to a more extended debate on “What could these results mean?”

Really, you know, we have been here before. Meldrum and the Hajicek crew say they recovered hair, blood, and tissue samples of a Sasquatch. The skeptical DNA specialist found there was nothing there to study. Another scientist claimed to have removed the galvanized nails’ contamination and found the hair was “almost human.” Don’t you remember the different reactions to the Skookum cast hair samples? The Pangboche Yeti hand tissue samples came back “near human, but not human,” in other words, “almost human” in 1991.

There are three layers of keratin in hair: the medulla, the cortex and the cuticle. Missing in this new Monster Quest sample is the medulla (the spongy core), which is present in human hair. But what does this mean? The program never fully explains the possibilities for why this occurred or was found.

The Monster Quest samples collected were also tested for DNA and again that “almost human” finding came back, noting it was like a human sample, with the exception of one base pair difference with humans. The program noted this sample seemed to be from a species that was closer to humans than chimpanzees’ DNA indicated those African apes are.

The rock-throwing incidents were the ones the producers used to get viewers’ interest excited, but the Sasquatch stepping on a nail trap was left out of the pre-screening teasers. I have no idea why that was done, other than idle speculation that the complex nature of the assumed cruelty to the Bigfoot and the DNA testing do not translate well to a trailer.

As to the rock-throwing, for how the people there reacted, it has raised questions in some minds. I have people contacting me with this kind of email: “Why were these guys ‘cowering in the cabin,’ as they put it. If I were at a location looking for evidence of Sasquatch, and suddenly rocks start banging off the cabin, I’m going to go find out who/what is throwing rocks.”

Were they scared? Did they think they were dealing with poltergeist activity or a possible new species of primate? Why stay inside, indeed? For filmmaking purposes, fear, or so they could claim they saw one if a Bigfoot came to peek in a window? This primal human behavior is difficult to understand in terms of the expressed purpose of the mission there.

Certainly, the program covertly hints at pondering on this: What might have happened if someone had been attacked physically by a Sasquatch? Or what would have transpired if a member of the crew had shoot or stumbled across a dead Sasquatch, during this documentary production?

Meanwhile, the tabloid The New York Post is about the only media outlet that has picked up on what might have seemed to be, in another era, very nearly a major finding. I think The New York Times, the Times of London, the International Herald of Paris, and The Washington Post are all waiting for the body to declare any earth-shaking coelacanth-like discoveries, re: Sasquatch.

Meanwhile, take a moment. Do ask yourself the big one, what happens when the first Bigfoot body is found? I wonder what Hajicek’s and Meldrum’s backup plans were for such an event?

The History Channel may have discovered the missing link.

In its new show “MonsterQuest,” an adventurous group braved the wilderness to see if “Big Foot” actually lives in Ontario, Canada.

Scientists Kurt Nelson and Jeff Meldrum spent five days with a video and audio crew at a cabin in the utterly remote Snelgrove Lake, pulling DNA samples from the trap and exploring the forest.

The show has caused a stir among enthusiasts because it has gotten so close to proving the Sasquatch monster may, in fact, exist.

The show made “contact” with the thing on its last night of filming.

“A stone was thrown at about 2 a.m.,” executive producer Doug Hajibeck [sic ~ should be Hajicek] told The Post. “That stone hit like a bullet. It was thrown with amazing accuracy.”

The crew threw a stone back and, in a matter of minutes, a second stone was launched at them.

“I was really scared, and I felt the adrenaline,” said Hajibeck. “When we threw that rock into the woods and then it got sent back, my heart raced.”

Blood, tissue and hair discovered later on a bear trap outside the cabin was tested.

The hair did not match any known North American bear or animal and tests showed an uncanny similarity to human DNA with one exception: the irregular DNA matched that of a primate.

“It is a show that presents and analyzes the evidence,” said executive producer Mike Stiller. “But, ultimately, it’s up the viewers.” ~ Melissa Jane Kronefeld, New York Post.

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.

Filed under Abominable Snowman, Artifacts, Bigfoot, Breaking News, Cryptomundo Exclusive, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Expedition Reports, Eyewitness Accounts, Forensic Science, Media Appearances, Men in Cryptozoology, Sasquatch, Television, Yeti