NW Bigfoot hunter: Georgia find is a hoax
PORTLAND, Ore. - A Northwest Bigfoot researcher is adding his voice to the growing chorus denouncing this week's claim by two Georgia men that they have found an actual Bigfoot corpse and stuffed it in a freezer.
Cliff Barackman of Portland, who started researching Bigfoot 15 years ago, says the pair's claims and "evidence" are nothing more than an elaborate hoax.
"I think it looks a little hokey, if you ask me," Barackman says.
The two Georgia men, Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer, claim to have stumbled across a Bigfoot corpse in the woods of northern Georgia.
At a news conference in Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday, they offered an e-mail from a scientist as evidence and acknowledged they wouldn't mind making a few bucks from the "find" they have kept stuffed in a freezer for over a month.
The two announced the discovery in early July on YouTube videos and their Web site. Although they did not consider themselves devoted Bigfoot trackers before then, they have since started offering weekend search expeditions in Georgia for $499.
But there are plenty of skeptics, and Barackman is one of them.
He said the only photographic evidence the two have offered so far "kind of looks like a suit that's crumpled up."
And the DNA testing that has been done so far on three tissue samples found that one sample was human, one was likely an opossum and the third could not be tested because of technical problems.
Nevertheless, Barackman believes that Bigfoot does exist - even if the latest claim is false.
"It's a real biological entity," he says. "Their nonsensical circus they're creating won't affect that."
Barackman's home is filled with Sasquatch photos and plaster casts of huge footprints. But he is still looking for convincing evidence that will stand up to scientific scrutiny.
And he's determined.
He moved to the Northwest with the express purpose of searching for the elusive, half-human, half-ape beast. And he has invested in thermal imaging equipment to carry out his search.
Cliff Barackman of Portland, who started researching Bigfoot 15 years ago, says the pair's claims and "evidence" are nothing more than an elaborate hoax.
"I think it looks a little hokey, if you ask me," Barackman says.
The two Georgia men, Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer, claim to have stumbled across a Bigfoot corpse in the woods of northern Georgia.
At a news conference in Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday, they offered an e-mail from a scientist as evidence and acknowledged they wouldn't mind making a few bucks from the "find" they have kept stuffed in a freezer for over a month.
The two announced the discovery in early July on YouTube videos and their Web site. Although they did not consider themselves devoted Bigfoot trackers before then, they have since started offering weekend search expeditions in Georgia for $499.
But there are plenty of skeptics, and Barackman is one of them.
He said the only photographic evidence the two have offered so far "kind of looks like a suit that's crumpled up."
And the DNA testing that has been done so far on three tissue samples found that one sample was human, one was likely an opossum and the third could not be tested because of technical problems.
Nevertheless, Barackman believes that Bigfoot does exist - even if the latest claim is false.
"It's a real biological entity," he says. "Their nonsensical circus they're creating won't affect that."
Barackman's home is filled with Sasquatch photos and plaster casts of huge footprints. But he is still looking for convincing evidence that will stand up to scientific scrutiny.
And he's determined.
He moved to the Northwest with the express purpose of searching for the elusive, half-human, half-ape beast. And he has invested in thermal imaging equipment to carry out his search.
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