By Shelby Martin
Mercury News
Article Launched: 08/15/2008 07:57:11 PM PDT
Sasquatch or no Sasquatch, a press conference Friday about a Bigfoot discovery felt like a zoo.
A man holding a "Honk for Bigfoot!" sign greeted news vans that pulled up to Palo Alto's Crowne Plaza Hotel. Over 200 people - purportedly serious journalists despite one wearing a Bigfoot costume - packed into a sweaty conference room for the big announcement that the mythical creature had finally been found.
Not only found, but stuffed into an ice-chest and its DNA sent off to the lab.
At least that's what Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer claimed. The two say they stumbled upon the beast while hiking in a northern Georgia in June.
"I didn't believe in Bigfoot at the time," said Whitton, who is now convinced that he's found one.
This was no hoax, they insisted, despite the fake video interview they did with Whitton's brother - or as they pretended on YouTube, taxonomist Dr. Paul Van Buren.
Still, they were having a hard time selling the story. Though the conference promised photo and DNA evidence, the former was blurry and the latter was less than convincing.
In an interview with Scientific American, Jeffrey Meldrum, a Bigfoot researcher and Idaho State University professor, dismissed the photos. "It just looks like a costume with some fake guts thrown on top for effect," he said.
As for the DNA evidence, the men presented a copy of an email from the University of Minnesota reporting of the three distinct DNA sequences
that showed up, one was inconclusive, one was human, and the third was from a possum.
Probably from a possum snack, opined the Bigfoot enthusiasts.
The animal's body is currently in an undisclosed location and further DNA tests and a necropsy will be conducted, said Tom Biscardi, CEO of Menlo Park's Searching for Bigfoot, Inc.
Whitton and Dyer said they found the 7-foot-7, 500 lbs. Bigfoot while hiking.
Three other Bigfoots watched from the trees. Whitton waited with the body while Dyer got his tow truck. The two said they didn't call authorities. "It seemed like it would create a frenzy," Whitton told the crowded room. "I wanted to protect the species."
Whitton said they were stunned by the enormity of their find and unsure who to call. "If you found the biggest diamond in the world, who would you call?"
Apparently, the Internet. The two announced their Bigfoot discovery on an Internet radio show, which led to an introduction to Biscardi.
This isn't Biscardi's first Bigfoot. In 2005, he told press he had two of the animals in captivity, and charged viewers to see a webcast of the creatures. Biscardi now says he was duped by a "deranged" source.
He insisted the Georgia Bigfoot was the real deal.
"Do you think these men would have come this far for a hoax?" Biscardi asked.
"Yes," chorused the audience.
That prompted a Bigfoot believer in the audience to mutter, "They ain't gonna believe it until they go up and kiss it on the mouth."
Further complicating the story were reports about the bogus YouTube video.
Whitton explained that the hoax video "was to give the psychos something to do over the weekend." The two have been stalked and even received death threats.
"Are there a lot of psychos in the Bigfoot community?" a reporter asked.
Yes, said Whitton. "It seems like there are lot of people in the Bigfoot world who are a little delusional."
BIGFOOT or BIG HOAX?
Originally Posted by beatrixkiddo
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