The claims come down to media and money, he said. "Much of the lore of Bigfoot, I suspect, is what one eminent folklorist a generation ago called 'fakelore' -- invented figures with little or no basis in actual oral tradition that are passed off as local folklore, figures like Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill -- for purposes of PR, attracting tourists, selling tabloid newspapers and magazines, creating children's literature, etc.," Doyle explained. As to the forests of north Georgia, Doyle pointed out that James Dickie's thriller "Deliverance," and the movie based on the novel, give considerable national currency to a stereotype of the remote "monstrousness" of the area. Concession sales alone in the area provide a local income boost, and future money generated from the Bigfoot hype is expected to do the same. "Crackpots Versus Eggheads" Brian Regal, assistant professor for the History of Science at Kean University, foreshadowed this week's news last month. He gave a lecture at London's Grant Museum of Zoology entitled "Crackpots and Eggheads: Pseudoscience and the Search for the Yeti." During the lecture he mentioned that there is a "battle" between amateur naturalists and professional scientists that helps to drive the hunt for "anomalous primate monsters like Bigfoot." Regal told Discovery News that there is a "long history of secretively held Bigfoot bodies that goes back to the 1960s." "The story grabs people's imagination," he said "and until a reputable museum, laboratory or university finds incontrovertible, documented physical evidence for Bigfoot, then we should assume these other finds are fakes and in the category of the 'alien autopsy' of the 90s." Ray Santilli, a London-based video entrepreneur, promoted the alien video, which featured B-movie type beings undergoing an autopsy. He admitted in 2006 that the video was not entirely genuine. Bigfoot Believers Unfazed Loren Coleman, who runs the Cryptomundo blog, which covers strange and unknown animals, warned that the public should take care to separate this latest hoax with legitimate research on the subject. Meldrum, who claims to have over 200 "Bigfoot footprint casts" in his lab, agrees. "My assessment of the evidence suggests that Bigfoot is a great ape, like a gorilla or chimp, which is not a hominid and does not possess material culture or the ability to control fire," Meldrum said. He described the unknown ape as standing 6.5 to 8 feet in height, weighing 450 to 500 pounds, muscular, small brained and flatfooted. Analysis of the footprints suggests it walks "like a human carrying a backpack," with flexed joints to carry the body's weight. He based some of his determinations on the famous 1967 "Bigfoot" video footage shot by Roger Patterson and Robert Grimlin. "I've concluded, based on repeated examination of the film, that it shows a real animal and not a man in a fur suit," Meldrum said. Regal, on the other hand, said that "the video looks fake to me," although he expressed respect for Meldrum, whom he described as being "one of the few primatologists to seriously study the phenomenon." Legends Will Continue In an odd coincidence, the deputy-found "Bigfoot" falls on the heels this week of the Texas "chupacabra," also allegedly found by a deputy. Chupacabra is another legendary animal whose name literally means "goat-sucker." Sheriff's Deputy Brandon Reidel of Cuero, Texas, shot footage of the running animal, which other experts have identified as a sick coyote. Aside from the media "ca-ching" factor, Doyle believes "legends about 'monsters,' in general, probably address people's abiding fear of, and therefore fascination with, the unknown." He suspects the Bigfoot legend will live on well into the future. "Interest in such semi-human monsters, such as ape-men and werewolves, relate to our perpetual struggle to define what is essentially human in ourselves and in others," concluded Doyle. Related Links: Jennifer Viegas' blog: Born Animal |
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