Were We All Stood Up On Finding Bigfoot?

Why in the world would Finding Bigfoot do an episode about Todd Standing’s Sylvanic project, which troubled Bigfoot investigators as soon as it appeared in 2006? (Search Google, Yahoo, and the Cryptomundo search engine for more on “Sylvanic” and “Todd Standing.”)

Below is a cropped view of the image, with the subject of the Standing video enlarged:

One of my problems with most of the reality cryptozoology television series is that after a bit they tend to start scratching the bottom of the barrel for stories. This was behind the demise of MonsterQuest when they began producing non-cryptozoology programming about city rats, escaped piranhas, and large out-of-place snakes. I was saddened but not surprised to see them cancelled in mid-season.

These shows seem to ignore the fact that that while the subject matter is elusive, nevertheless, there is a universe of compelling cryptids out there to investigate.

So why would Finding Bigfoot already be turning to Todd Standing to show his movie? Well, the simple answer is because Mr. Standing has what television needs…visual footage…even if it might be, allegedly, created. Also, one wonders, did the show’s producers decide to look for an easy target to create credibility with the debunkers watching the series?

The tangled weave of intrigue with Todd Standing didn’t start recently. It has been going on for a long time.

The domain sylvanic.com was created on November 29, 2004, registered to a Todd Standing of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Between 2004 and 2006, a film appeared by Todd Standing entitled Sylvanic. For the tale of how it was made, you can watch the Finding Bigfoot re-runs now.

Almost immediately, as soon as Standing began to show his footage in 2006 in halls and elsewhere, people began to question it. One reviewer employed phrases like it appeared to be “just a fictional short film” by “Blair Witch wannabes.” Viewing all 30 minutes revealed it to be a story that someone was trying to sell. Did Standing finally find a payday with Animal Planet?

Most troubling of all, if this is being promoted as real footage of a Bigfoot: Why did Todd Standing place an ad (published in the Spring of 2005) for actors to be in a film that sounds like the one he claimed soon after to have been made about Sasquatch in Alberta?

How does showing the Sylvanic footage to the general viewing audience add anything worthwhile to the study of Bigfoot?

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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