South Park Takes On BFRO & Cryptozoology

South Park made fun of the BFRO this week, but the Finding Bigfoot folks are loving it.

“Legends tell of a horrific four-legged creature from Mexico that sucks the blood of goats, and it might have just been spotted in South Park.” – Cartman
“What does that have to do with Passover?” – Kyle
“All that I can promise you is: that this is going to be the most memorable Passover ever.” – Cartman

“If someone says that they saw a Sasquatch, they’re either lying or they are stupid! Now stop lying about the Jewpacabra before stupid people start believing you!” – Kyle

This week the comedy series South Park took on Fortean frog falls, cryptozoology, Chupacabras, the BFRO, and Finding Bigfoot in their parodies. The episode was entitled “Jewpacabra.” You can tell where they were going with that title.

“Jewpacabra” is the fourth episode of the sixteenth season of the American animated sitcom South Park, and the 227th episode of the series overall. It premiered on Comedy Central in the United States on April 4, 2012, and is being repeated routinely throughout this week.

Here’s a summary of what occurred: Kyle awakes to find Cartman in his home listening to Mrs. Brofloski talk about Passover and other Jewish traditions. Kyle screams for Cartman to get out and then asks him what he is doing. Cartman just says he is interested in Jewish culture–something Kyle does not believe for a second. Later on, the children of the town are all standing in line to sign up for the Easter egg hunt and Cartman tells everyone else of the “Jewpacabra.” Kyle arrives to angrily discredit Cartman, explaining that Cartman is just spreading antisemitism as usual. When Cartman compares Jewpacabra sightings to those of creatures like the Sasquatch, Kyle says anyone who claims to have seen a Sasquatch is either a liar or a idiot. “Now stop lying before stupid people start believing you!” But it is unfortunately too late for that as Butters lies in his bed terrified that the dreaded “Jewpacabra” will strike him. Cartman arrives and tells Butters to come with him and help him hunt “Jewpacabra.”

Cartman and Butters head out to the woods nearby with their camcorders and get a shot of what seems to be a dog or cat jumping around the rocks. Cartman tries to prove the fact that “Jewpacabra” is real by meeting the “Sooper Foods” team by showing them the video of what they took last night. The team does not want to take a chance against the “Jewpacabra” and seeks help of Cartman to find where it is. Cartman takes advantage over this and uses it to get a free water slide ride in The Bahamas.

South Park very realistically illustrates the next section with cartoon images of the four individuals from Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot. The only name that is heard often is “Bobo.”

The next scenes have Cartman and friends heading back to Colorado where they give the video evidence to a team of experts at the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (who are parodied as stupid people).

The researchers say that the Jewpacabra is real by taking an infrared image and comparing that with a picture of a dog. The BFRO characters are heard definitely claiming these are Squatch and other things. The BFRO members tell that the Jewpacabra will be after Cartman because it was he who captured the video of it. This scares Cartman and therefore seeks Kyle’s advice but Kyle refuses to help him by throwing down his phone. Cartman then hides himself in a church where he continuously prays to Jesus to help him. He also employs his friends to protect him by giving them 20 dollars and a shotgun. After a few minutes, a howl is heard which scares away the boys and there is a continuous door slam on the church. Cartman hides himself under a table and calls Butters where they are. Butters replies that they went and hid themselves in Wingstreet, and Cartman gives a funny reply that he also wants a wing.

Soon, the door is slammed and it is found to be the Sooper Foods team who are in search of Cartman. They capture him and dress him in a bunny suit in the park as they wish to sacrifice him to Jewpacabra so that they can conduct the Easter egg hunt next day without fear. They also splash a stain of blood over him so that the Jewpacabra can find him easily. After a few minutes, Kyle shows up in the park which delights Cartman. Cartman asks Kyle to help him escape but Kyle refuses to do so, since Cartman does not accept that he is been lying.

After sometime, what appears to be a view from a dangerous creature but later it turns out to be a “stupid person” (the Bobo character) from the BFRO seeing through a binocular. They think that Cartman is a real life Bunny-man, and so they shoot him with a tranquilizer. Later, the BFRO team head out to do a show on Animal Planet about the Bunny-man, taking the gun (as “evidence”) they tranquilized Cartman with but neglecting to take the actual Cartman/Bunny-man.

Cartman then has a tranquilizer-induced nightmare about the Plagues of Egypt, where he is found to be the son of the Pharaoh in Egypt. It is found that the God is angry over the people where there is a Plague of Locusts flying around and raining frogs. The Pharaoh is wrong and the first sons of the family in Egypt die (by their heads exploding) due to God’s anger. Meanwhile, Kyle breaks the chain of a knocked out Cartman and takes him to his house where he puts him onto his bed for sleep. After this harrowing nightmare, Cartman wakes, seemingly convinced he is of Jewish faith now.

Next day, he returns to the Easter Egg hunt and explains to the people but they do not seem to believe him. Finally, he says sorry to Kyle and says he now knows how it feels when one’s faith is mocked. It seems as if Cartman has become a believer in Judaism and feels friendlier to Kyle. The story ends with the Sun shining with the Star of David in it.

The cast of Finding Bigfoot, Matt, Cliff, Bobo and Ranae did not do their own voices to for the episode, but the South Park animators captured their likeness extremely well.

“As a huge fan of South Park, I couldn’t be more thrilled to have our series and fantastic Bigfoot team skewered by their genius minds. I’ve always thought parody was the sincerest form of flattery,” Finding Bigfoot Executive Producer Keith Hoffman said. “Now maybe I can get tickets to their hit Broadway show [Book of Mormon]?”

Cartman: So God makes it rain frogs? That just seems kind of mean to frogs, Kyle!

Mr. Billings: Hello young man. Let me off start off by saying Sooper Foods is absolutely not an anti-Semitic company. But, if your people do have a monster creature that feeds on Easter children, we just wanted to let you know that there’s a sacrifice for it in the park that is totally fun and safe to eat. Thank you.

Mr. Billings: Our entire business is based on fun and safety!
Cartman: This isn’t safe or fun!

Cartman: Those cryptozoologists don’t know what they’re talking about. They just gave me a case of the Hebrew-jeebies, that’s all

Cartman: What you’re looking at there is a Jewpacabra. It’s like a sasquatch, only more elusive, more ferocious, and a little more greedy.

Mr. Billings: What are the chances that Jewpacabra is real?
Peters: I’m estimating around .000000001%.
Mr. Billings: I can’t afford to take that chance.

Cartman: You can’t scare a Jewpacabra! Don’t forget Butters, we’re dealing with a creature that drinks blood, hides in the night, and has no belief in the divinity of Christ.

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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