Oregon Bigfoot Trackway: 122 Prints {Updated}
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 26th, 2012
Updated: Guy Edwards has more info, with links to updates from Thom and Cliff. See here.
Bigfoot track find by Toby Johnson.
Okay, Bigfoot field folks are all excited by the recent find of 122 tracks that might be of a Sasquatch in London, Oregon. Rightfully so, as long trackways are rare. Just in case you missed it on one of the Sharon sites (i.e. Hill and Lee) or where they got it from being either Toby’s, Thom’s, Cliff’s or Guy’s blogs, here’s a brief overview to ponder over the weekend. I’ll share it with you Cryptomundians for completeness.
Apparently 122 prints of a Bigfoot were found by Toby Johnson, south of Eugene, Oregon, at London. They were first discovered on February 12, 2012 (and they may have been left on the 11th).
Guy’s timeline of the discovery is shared here:
(SUN Feb 12th) Max is a retired man who once worked in the auto industry and now spends his retirement restoring cars, he happened to be looking for cars in the London, Oregon when he is approached by a man walking his dog.
(SUN Feb 12th) The man walking his dog mentions to Max there are three Bigfoot prints near the tree line. Max checks it out and is surprised to see the three good tracks
(MON Feb 13th) Max can’t sleep, has to go back to site to take pictures.
(TUE Feb 14th) Max remembers Toby Johnson’s Sasquatch-mobile, it had been decorated with large Bigfoot stickers resembling footprints. He had also recalled reading an newspaper article of the first Oregon Sasquatch Symposium Toby had held in 2010 at Lane Community College in Eugene. The Sasquatch-mobile is now owned by Toby’s ex-wife, sans stickers, but Max, the car aficionado that he is, recognizes the vehicle non-the-less. So when Max went to share the Bigfoot prints he contacted Toby’s ex-wife first. Max gives his contact info to Toby’s Ex
(TUE Feb 14th) Toby calls Max and Max sends the pics of the three prints via phone.
(WED Feb 14th 8:00pm ~ THURS Feb 15th 7:00am) Toby goes to the site with his friend, an avid hunter and a local. Since Toby’s friend wishes to remain anonymous, we will call him Tracker. Both Toby and Tracker see the original three and few others that were not photographed, these other tracks were in heavy vegetation.
(THURS Feb 15th afternoon) Toby goes home and Tracker goes home. Toby tries to return to site later in afternoon, due to obligations he can not stay long, as he leaves Tracker returns. Tracker is with his daughter’s boyfriend, and continues to follow the tracks on his own time. Tracker follows the tracks out of the vegetation into a clay-like substrate and realizes there are at least a hundred prints. He calls Toby.
(THURS Feb 15th 3pm-ish) Toby calls Cliff Barackman, co-host of Finding Bigfoot and a self-described “track/cast-nerd”. Cliff drives 2 hours to investigate the scene.
(FRI Feb 16th 6pm) I am able to get a ride with Thom Powell, we meet Beth Heikkenin and Toby Johnson and see the tracks ourselves.
(SAT Feb 17th 6am) Our original count was around 118 sequential prints. Cliff Barackman was able to count 122, we will confirm if his count are the sequential set or total prints in the area. We made two set of measurements recording step length stride length.
The path of the trackway has also been detailed:
Thom Powell took the photo of two of the track casts from this trackway.
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.
Long series of tracks. Measurements. This is more like it… One does wish that investigators could have arrived (and cast-taking get done) earlier.
Hopefully a variety of the tracks were cast, so as to look for uniformity – whether encouragingly consistent vs. hoaxy repetition…
Any word if Dr. Meldrum will have a chance to view the casts?
I think if this had happened before the Finding Bigfoot tv show, I’d be really impressed/excited.
However….
I think since the show has been airing, it’s more probable that some jerk did this as a joke. I know that’s always a possibility, it just seems more likely now, given the mainstream joke the show is.
I sure hope they can get as many of these as possible to Dr. Meldrum so he can have a first hand look at them for legitimacy. If he things they are that is where the Finding Bigfooters ought to be heading ASAP!
Fake!
Just that one picture of a “footprint” in the muddy grass with the tape measure next to it seals ir for me. It looks way too flat to be a footprint from a living moving creature.
Quite literally some “plank” did this.
It’s a shame there’s so many hoaxers out there. Surely someone could at least try to make it convincing to start a proper debate and encourage some decent research (the only benefit from a good hoax)
Our neighbor is 6’5″ and wears a size 18 shoe. At 53 and 280lbs, well, let’s just say the London Qregon tracks are not impossible to duplicate
I keep waiting for one of those 8 foot Bigfoot BoBo and Matt always talk about, to leave a genuine size 28 to 35 track
Shaquille O’Neal wears a size 22g…an 8 foot “Bigfoot” should come in with bigger feet than Shaq who is 7’1″
Unless that was Kobe walking around in the woods of Oregon, those tracks are not that impressive
Whatever walked there has seriously strong gluteus maximus muscles.
The more outward the toes go when walking, the more uneven the balance in strength between the gluteus and the gracilis is.
At least this is true for humans.
I am not familiar with the bigfoot anatomy or “method” of walking so I will leave that discussion to others.
If it adds to the credibility? No idea.
@Big Steve… you need to go to Cliff’s site and take a look at the pics there he has shots of most of the tracks and I can tell you they are anything but flat. I had the same thought as you upon first glance but after looking at all the available pics I can see the ride right where the break should be it’s just clearer in some pics/tracks than others because of lighting and the color of the soil.
Also according to Cliff, Dr. Meldrum has agreed to assist in examining the tracks once Cliff has had a chance to let them dry completely and clean them off.
Cliff has a very lengthy, and informative, write-up on his blog containing supplemental information about this event/find.
In part, he writes: “Word of a recent and highly significant footprint find has started making the rounds in the bigfoot community. Already some false rumors have started, so in order to stop the misinformation I wanted to clarify some things about this event….”
The full write-up is in his Saturday (Feb 25th) blog entry, at this URL.
This is far too early for me to pass judgement one way or the other (real vs. faked); so I’m simply supplying the link to the additional information, and trying to remain as objective as possible until more information comes out.
In any case, I hope my fellow Cryptomundians find the information to at least provide an entertaining read, if nothing else.
Very hard to tell from just pictures if these are legit. I agree Dr. Jeff meldrum should look at them and not anyone from BFRO !!!
Very interesting. I read about these prints on another site. There needs to be authentification of the tracks and a major trek in the region.
Although Not a body, it is something to go on; if the tracks prove legit, you must persue it!
I agree with the other who eagerly await Dr. Meldrum’s conclusion.
Trackway length and toe-out very, very suspicious.
Two consistent aspects of the trackways that experts take seriously: almost straight line with almost no toe-out; very long step interval. That looks like it happens on the last two. You can hear the hoaxer thinking, uh-oh. Needed BIG steps.
That looks like a waste of plaster to me.
DWA Not a waste of material at all I wish I’d had more. Viewing a small portion of the trackway and only a handful pictures of the does not give you a complete picture…certainly not enough to cast judgement. Within the next seven weeks the tracks that Cliff and I cast will be hand delivered to Idaho for Dr. Meldrum to scan into his 3D system for analysis.
A 14″ print is indicative of a 7’6″ subject. The width 5″ at the ball and 4″ at the heal are not within the normal human range even for someone who has a 14″ foot. The fact these were left on a muddy isolated stretch of lake bottom make it improbable that they are a hoax. The dynamic interaction with the the silty lake bottom shows they were not made by a wooden foot. The number of 122 makes it also unlikely. Why so much work to leave a trail where only shear luck for discovery in during one of the rainiest months of the year. Come on.
No BFRO members were present and if they were it would not invalidate this find. People you need to release your petty differences as they only make the entire bigfoot community weak. It’s OK to have differences of opinion, but too often one sees people bashing the character of people they have never met in person. You don’t really know someone from a TV show for instance.
So, time will tell. I for one don’t need Jeff to tell me they are real. That will be for your benefit.
minnie-ear:
Look, if that’s genuine I’m the happiest guy on this board.
And I probably violated one of the principles with which I have said here one has to view trackways: sooner or later every animal makes a track – maybe even a trackway – that looks like that of another animal.
So sure, let’s see. I’m down.