What is oftentimes called Georgia's own Titanic story took place in Henry County, Georgia on June 23, 1900. Near the present-day city of McDonough, there is a small creek called Camp Creek. As in 1900, today there is a railroad track that runs across the creek. However, if you were to visit the site today, the creek flows quietly underneath the railroad crossing. On that fateful day in 1900, the creek was swollen due to three weeks of heavy nonstop rainfall. The railroads were important modes of transportation in 1900, as this was before the mass production of automobiles. The heavy rainfall would spell disaster for Old Number 7, the locomotive that would pull the train northbound from Macon on to the bridge over Camp Creek that fateful day.
I first learned of this event after taking the Haunted History Tour of McDonough tonight led by Caprice Walker and Dan Brooks of Bell, Book and Candle in downtown McDonough, Georgia. Living in the area, the tour was even more enjoyable for me due to my curiosity about the many old buildings and homes in the downtown area. On the tour, Dan and Caprice tell guests of the many historic buildings in downtown McDonough and the ghost stories that have made these buildings so mysterious. On the tour, the two take guests to the square downtown. While it is a very peaceful, serene looking park, there are a number of things that have happened in and on the square that make it the site of some eerie happenings. Perhaps the most intriguing of these is what is called the Camp Creek Train Wreck.
As Old Number 7 sat on the tracks at the McDonough depot waiting for the heavy rainfall and bad weather to pass, it was attached to a combination car, day coach, and Pullman sleeper. There were 48 passengers and crew aboard. The engineer, J.T. Sullivan, was given the orders to wait at McDonough for eastbound Number 27 from Columbus coming in from Luella. Number 27 never came, but the Red Ball Freight carrying two people did come through and was waived on. It later crossed the Camp Creek bridge, becoming the last train to do so before the fateful accident.
Around 9:45 p.m. that night, Sullivan received orders to continue northbound. The passengers were a bit nervous about making the trek in the awful weather, and when told of this by one of his crewman, the engineer is said to have remarked, "We'll either be having breakfast in Atlanta or Hell." As the train neared the bridge, the brick supports underneath the bridge had washed out from under the tracks. By the time the train got to the bridge, it was too late. They applied the brakes on the train, but it did not work. The engine leaped through the air as the tracks fell away underneath, and although it almost made it to the other side, the other cars crashed in to the chasm below. According to Brooks and Walker in their guide to historic and haunted downtown McDonough, "As soon as the train crashed, it was engulfed in flames. The train cars began to fill with water from the swollen creek. Survivors attempted to climb the wreckage, but were swept away in the raging torrent. The scene was one of horror."
Of the 48 people on board the train, only nine survived that night. Those people were taken to the Globe Hotel or the Dunn House downtown on the square to receive any needed medical treatment and to board for the time being. The Globe Hotel is now the home of Scarlett's Retreat in McDonough and is the two story home facing Jonesboro Street. Those bodies that were recovered from the wreckage were taken back to McDonough. They were laid out on the square for identification. Local undertakers, B.B. Carmichael and A.F. Bunn and Company handled much of the work on the bodies.
Brooks and Walker have a theory as to why the square in downtown McDonough is so haunted. They feel that it has a lot to do with the Camp Creek Train Wreck of 1900. In their guide they comment, "Maybe that is why so many places around the square are considered haunted-by the ghosts of the dead who were laid out in the public square. Or maybe it is the ghost of those poor victims where were never recovered from the wreck, seeking their homes and are lingering here not knowing they never made it on their trip." Below is a partial list of the passengers and crew that were part of that wreck:
Passengers (list incomplete): W.W. Ipark, W.F. Maddox, George W. Flournoy, W.J. Pate, and Jesse Pate all of Atlanta; Clinton Hightower of Stockbridge; J.L. Florida of Nashville, Tennessee; and W.H. Jensen of Sugar, Utah.
Crew: J.T. Sullivan, W.A. Barclay, W.H. Green, W.W. Bennett, all of Atlanta; H.R. Cressman of Asheville, North Carolina.
Unidentified: There were 11 people, both African American and caucasian. Brooks and Walker also report that there were some bodies believed to be underneath the splintered railcars that were lying in the creekbed that were never recovered and identified.
Perhaps these lost souls do continue to roam the downtown square in McDonough. I know that there were a lot of buildings that we visited on the tour that were haunted. This was a tragedy of major proportions. This weekend, I plan to find the site of the wreck and visit. They did rebuild the tracks over Camp Creek, and to this day there are trains that still cross the creek on the new tracks that are there. There are still parts of the old support beams that are in the ground underneath the tracks and near the creek bank. There are also remnants of the old brick supports that are still there. I plan to visit and take pictures. Perhaps I will get to post them soon. I highly recommend a trip to McDonough to take Walker and Brook's tour. You can call and make arrangements at 770-957-1880. They visit a haunted theatre, as well as restaurants that used to be funeral parlors and are very haunted. One is The Seasons Bistro, considered to be the most haunted building in McDonough. They also visit the old Masonic Lodge, and the Hazlehurst House, a haunted antebellum mansion. It is quite a tour.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Georgia Bigfoot Hoax Turns Sour-Fast
What a difference a week can make. Since last Friday's press conference, the Georgia Bigfoot hoax perpetuated by Matthew Whitton and Ric Dyer has become the biggest Bigfoot story since the Patterson/Gimlin footage of 1967. However, this was a hoax, unlike the footage that Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin showed the world. After the press conference, hundreds of Bigfoot researchers, enthusiasts, and members of the scientific community began to question the appearance of the body. Once again, there were those who had done a simple Google search and found the company website for Thehorrordome.com and saw plainly that the costume was what the pair was showing as the Sasquatch body in the freezer. Interestingly enough, I knew the two men who did the Google search and found the costume. They included me on a email list they sent out immediately after discovering the site. The two hoaxsters, Dyer and Whitton, should never have messed with the two real Bigfoot experts I talk with and are sources for my upcoming book on the Georgia Bigfoot. These guys are actually smart, unlike Whitton and Dyer.
I actually spoke with Ric Dyer back in early July. Honestly, when I spoke with him, it was during the early stages of this hoax, and he and Matthew Whitton had not changed their stories. One of the guys I spoke of earlier who is actually a credible Bigfoot researcher in Georgia called me to tell me that there was a new website out there about a group who did Bigfoot research in Georgia, and that I might want to check them out. I told him I would, and the next day, I had surfed the site and put in a call to the tip line just to see what the two guys were involved with and if I could interview them about their work. Once I made the call, hours later, Dyer called me back and told me he would be willing to allow me to interview him. We talked on the phone for over an hour. Only moments in to that conversation he told me that he and Whitton had discovered a body. He said that they discovered it while tracking the creatures in the North Georgia Mountains. Although he would not tell me specifically where, I asked if it were near Blue Ridge, Ellijay, Cherry Log, or Helen. He mentioned that it was closer to Blue Ridge and Ellijay. Since there have been sightings that have come from those areas, I felt it might be plausible to believe that there was indeed a body found there.
Continuing the conversation, Dyer told me that Whitton stayed with the body while the other members of the team went back in to civilization and got materials to retrieve it and store it. He told me that he and Matthew Whitton had spent tons of money on this, but that they fully intended to make that money back by selling the body. He specifically said that a CNN news crew had already been there to interview them and that he and Whitton had shown the crew the body. He told me that the crew laughed and giggled at the mention of a body, but when they showed the crew and its producer the corpse and allowed them to "stick their hands down in to the ice" to touch it, they quickly stopped laughing. Little did I know that there was no CNN news crew that visited their home, and that what they had in the freezer under ice was a Sasquatch costume from TheHorrorDome.com. Keep in mind that all that they told me sounded fairly believable. I remember calling my contacts after speaking with Dyer and telling them that they could indeed have a specimen and we should find out more about it. Nonetheless, going back to the conversation I had with Dyer, I remember him telling me that they had sold out their July expedition to the North Georgia Mountains to find more Sasquatch, and that they indeed knew where a family of them lived and were going to capture a live one. I guess they planned on having someone dress up in the costume and allow them to film while they pretended to capture the Bigfoot. I must admit that the costume looks fairly real, and that these guys were probably convinced a video of such would be perceived as possibly real. Who knows?
Dyer told me that he and Whitton had lost a lot of money so far on this, but that they had planned on selling the body for a large sum of money. However, no pictures or videos could be released because CNN had first release rights on the footage. That was questionable, but I am no lawyer. Speaking of lawyers, he told me that the pair had one, Monroe Ferguson. This lawyer was supposedly helping them get their contracts and legal rights to the body and copyrights together. Once that had been done, all would be released and the world would see just how real Bigfoot was. I suppose they were laughing at me the whole time that I was on the phone. But the way I look at it now is I still have my job and the whole world does not look at me as a known liar. Yes, I am an academic historian who believes there is enough evidence to suggest the existence of Bigfoot. I am not the only college professor who does. Check out Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, or the late Dr. Grover Krantz. Listen to the ideas of Dr. John Bindernagel. For heaven sakes, Loren Coleman of Cryptomundo.com is a former college professor and holds advanced degrees. There are a number of learned men and women who believe this creature indeed does exist. Wayne Ford, a very intelligent, college educated man, is a journalist for the Athens Banner-Herald in Athens, Georgia and he has pretty much staked his reputation on it, releasing a number of articles for the paper on it and even engages in ongoing field research. So, the way I see it, those two are the ones I am laughing at now, not the other way around.
Dyer also told me that Matt Moneymaker of the BFRO had offered them $100,000 for the body. They refused, holding out for more. When Moneymaker asked them more questions, specifically about their June expeditions, he became convinced they were lying. The reason: he had evidence of them sending out emails on the days when they were SUPPOSED to be deep in the North Georgia Mountains leading that expedition. I go to those mountains a good bit on vacation, and I can tell you that wireless access is almost non-existent once you leave the municpal areas like Blue Ridge and Ellijay. Moneymaker knew this too; he has done research in those same mountains, and unlike Matt Whitton and Ric Dyer, he is not ignorant. Moneymaker immediately called them a pack of liars and hung up the phone with them. Obviously that pissed them off with Moneymaker. Dyer told me on the phone that night that they planned to show Moneymaker how wrong he was and they were going to expose him for the fraud he was. It looks like Moneymaker got the last word. Check out the BFRO website on the Georgia hoax. Moneymaker had the article put on the front page of the website. It can be found at http://www.bfro.net/.
I cannot figure out why these two lied the way they did. They soon made contact with Tom Biscardi who then told Fox News he had touched, prodded, and seen the body and that it was no costume. Later, after the hoax was exposed, he claims he was duped and that he had not seen their body until it was dethawed. Is he lying? Most certainly. Being interviewed now by Fox, CNN, and other outlets, Dyer is telling everyone that Biscardi and Steve Kulls of http://www.squatchdetective.com/ were both in on it and that they were coached by them. Kulls denies this, and Biscardi is attempting to sue the two. Dyer says he has proof of that. He also tells reporters that they were just playing a joke and that they never intended for this to get as big as it did. "It got legs,"is what some are saying, including Dyer. But what should he have expected? He and Whitton went on national television with Biscardi and lied. Did they not expect it to go this far? Why call the press conference if you did not want this to get out of hand, and why get involved with Tom Biscardi, a known hoaxer? Whitton, an injured Clayton County police officer has now been fired by police chief Jeff Turner. Turner says there is no way Whitton can be trusted in court now and is virtually useless to the force. I agree. Now, Whitton has no job. So why did they do it.
I think it might be possible that these two think they could make money on a book deal. Sure, they have gotten their names all over the news, and I would say that they were seen in the last week almost as much as Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Michael Phelps was, and as such, perhaps they feel they can cash in by selling their story for a book deal. But they are now being sued by Biscardi and his company, SearchingforBigfoot Inc. They have hired a lawyer to handle their legal affairs. Whitton did not even know he had been fired until he heard it on the news. Oh well, he used the news to perpetuate a lie; Chief Turner just returned the favor by using the news to inform Whitton of his employment status.
Should we have all known this was a hoax? Probably. But we had a hard time trying to figure out why they were doing this if it were a hoax. How would they have gotten out of it? It was too stupid to be a hoax, we thought. There were some clues. For instance, they hoaxed Whitton's brother and presented him as a Dr. Paul Van Buren. We all caught that and they had to come clean. We should have learned from that. But then again, they had no way out of this, we felt. If they did not have the body, it would be too obvious. They had to have something. As it turns out, they did not. What I hope does not happen is that people begin to doubt that there really is Sasquatch in Georgia. There is so much proof that there is. My book, which will be released in the coming months, will lay out the evidence for such a possibility. It is being published by Idyll Arbor publishers. In that book, you will see the real Bigfoot research community who will more than likely be the ones to bring in a real corpse. Honestly, Whitton and Dyer will be included in my book. They have an entire chapter devoted to their lie. It would not be complete without them. Afterall, this was a huge event in Georgia Sasquatchery-lie or not. But they did lie, and this is all over now. They are left to fight the legal battles and political fall out they have caused. True research will go on, and the story of the Big Georgia Hoax will now be part of history. What a summer!!!!
I actually spoke with Ric Dyer back in early July. Honestly, when I spoke with him, it was during the early stages of this hoax, and he and Matthew Whitton had not changed their stories. One of the guys I spoke of earlier who is actually a credible Bigfoot researcher in Georgia called me to tell me that there was a new website out there about a group who did Bigfoot research in Georgia, and that I might want to check them out. I told him I would, and the next day, I had surfed the site and put in a call to the tip line just to see what the two guys were involved with and if I could interview them about their work. Once I made the call, hours later, Dyer called me back and told me he would be willing to allow me to interview him. We talked on the phone for over an hour. Only moments in to that conversation he told me that he and Whitton had discovered a body. He said that they discovered it while tracking the creatures in the North Georgia Mountains. Although he would not tell me specifically where, I asked if it were near Blue Ridge, Ellijay, Cherry Log, or Helen. He mentioned that it was closer to Blue Ridge and Ellijay. Since there have been sightings that have come from those areas, I felt it might be plausible to believe that there was indeed a body found there.
Continuing the conversation, Dyer told me that Whitton stayed with the body while the other members of the team went back in to civilization and got materials to retrieve it and store it. He told me that he and Matthew Whitton had spent tons of money on this, but that they fully intended to make that money back by selling the body. He specifically said that a CNN news crew had already been there to interview them and that he and Whitton had shown the crew the body. He told me that the crew laughed and giggled at the mention of a body, but when they showed the crew and its producer the corpse and allowed them to "stick their hands down in to the ice" to touch it, they quickly stopped laughing. Little did I know that there was no CNN news crew that visited their home, and that what they had in the freezer under ice was a Sasquatch costume from TheHorrorDome.com. Keep in mind that all that they told me sounded fairly believable. I remember calling my contacts after speaking with Dyer and telling them that they could indeed have a specimen and we should find out more about it. Nonetheless, going back to the conversation I had with Dyer, I remember him telling me that they had sold out their July expedition to the North Georgia Mountains to find more Sasquatch, and that they indeed knew where a family of them lived and were going to capture a live one. I guess they planned on having someone dress up in the costume and allow them to film while they pretended to capture the Bigfoot. I must admit that the costume looks fairly real, and that these guys were probably convinced a video of such would be perceived as possibly real. Who knows?
Dyer told me that he and Whitton had lost a lot of money so far on this, but that they had planned on selling the body for a large sum of money. However, no pictures or videos could be released because CNN had first release rights on the footage. That was questionable, but I am no lawyer. Speaking of lawyers, he told me that the pair had one, Monroe Ferguson. This lawyer was supposedly helping them get their contracts and legal rights to the body and copyrights together. Once that had been done, all would be released and the world would see just how real Bigfoot was. I suppose they were laughing at me the whole time that I was on the phone. But the way I look at it now is I still have my job and the whole world does not look at me as a known liar. Yes, I am an academic historian who believes there is enough evidence to suggest the existence of Bigfoot. I am not the only college professor who does. Check out Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, or the late Dr. Grover Krantz. Listen to the ideas of Dr. John Bindernagel. For heaven sakes, Loren Coleman of Cryptomundo.com is a former college professor and holds advanced degrees. There are a number of learned men and women who believe this creature indeed does exist. Wayne Ford, a very intelligent, college educated man, is a journalist for the Athens Banner-Herald in Athens, Georgia and he has pretty much staked his reputation on it, releasing a number of articles for the paper on it and even engages in ongoing field research. So, the way I see it, those two are the ones I am laughing at now, not the other way around.
Dyer also told me that Matt Moneymaker of the BFRO had offered them $100,000 for the body. They refused, holding out for more. When Moneymaker asked them more questions, specifically about their June expeditions, he became convinced they were lying. The reason: he had evidence of them sending out emails on the days when they were SUPPOSED to be deep in the North Georgia Mountains leading that expedition. I go to those mountains a good bit on vacation, and I can tell you that wireless access is almost non-existent once you leave the municpal areas like Blue Ridge and Ellijay. Moneymaker knew this too; he has done research in those same mountains, and unlike Matt Whitton and Ric Dyer, he is not ignorant. Moneymaker immediately called them a pack of liars and hung up the phone with them. Obviously that pissed them off with Moneymaker. Dyer told me on the phone that night that they planned to show Moneymaker how wrong he was and they were going to expose him for the fraud he was. It looks like Moneymaker got the last word. Check out the BFRO website on the Georgia hoax. Moneymaker had the article put on the front page of the website. It can be found at http://www.bfro.net/.
I cannot figure out why these two lied the way they did. They soon made contact with Tom Biscardi who then told Fox News he had touched, prodded, and seen the body and that it was no costume. Later, after the hoax was exposed, he claims he was duped and that he had not seen their body until it was dethawed. Is he lying? Most certainly. Being interviewed now by Fox, CNN, and other outlets, Dyer is telling everyone that Biscardi and Steve Kulls of http://www.squatchdetective.com/ were both in on it and that they were coached by them. Kulls denies this, and Biscardi is attempting to sue the two. Dyer says he has proof of that. He also tells reporters that they were just playing a joke and that they never intended for this to get as big as it did. "It got legs,"is what some are saying, including Dyer. But what should he have expected? He and Whitton went on national television with Biscardi and lied. Did they not expect it to go this far? Why call the press conference if you did not want this to get out of hand, and why get involved with Tom Biscardi, a known hoaxer? Whitton, an injured Clayton County police officer has now been fired by police chief Jeff Turner. Turner says there is no way Whitton can be trusted in court now and is virtually useless to the force. I agree. Now, Whitton has no job. So why did they do it.
I think it might be possible that these two think they could make money on a book deal. Sure, they have gotten their names all over the news, and I would say that they were seen in the last week almost as much as Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Michael Phelps was, and as such, perhaps they feel they can cash in by selling their story for a book deal. But they are now being sued by Biscardi and his company, SearchingforBigfoot Inc. They have hired a lawyer to handle their legal affairs. Whitton did not even know he had been fired until he heard it on the news. Oh well, he used the news to perpetuate a lie; Chief Turner just returned the favor by using the news to inform Whitton of his employment status.
Should we have all known this was a hoax? Probably. But we had a hard time trying to figure out why they were doing this if it were a hoax. How would they have gotten out of it? It was too stupid to be a hoax, we thought. There were some clues. For instance, they hoaxed Whitton's brother and presented him as a Dr. Paul Van Buren. We all caught that and they had to come clean. We should have learned from that. But then again, they had no way out of this, we felt. If they did not have the body, it would be too obvious. They had to have something. As it turns out, they did not. What I hope does not happen is that people begin to doubt that there really is Sasquatch in Georgia. There is so much proof that there is. My book, which will be released in the coming months, will lay out the evidence for such a possibility. It is being published by Idyll Arbor publishers. In that book, you will see the real Bigfoot research community who will more than likely be the ones to bring in a real corpse. Honestly, Whitton and Dyer will be included in my book. They have an entire chapter devoted to their lie. It would not be complete without them. Afterall, this was a huge event in Georgia Sasquatchery-lie or not. But they did lie, and this is all over now. They are left to fight the legal battles and political fall out they have caused. True research will go on, and the story of the Big Georgia Hoax will now be part of history. What a summer!!!!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Georgia Bigfoot Body is a Hoax, But Georgia Bigfoot Is Real
The press conference has come and gone. As suspected, Tom Biscardi provided nothing new or nothing concrete during the Palo Alto, California conference. All that was done was Biscardi introduced Matt Whitton and Ric Dyer, the two hoaxsters who have perpetuated this lie since the middle of the summer. Biscardi also presented what Fox News called "blurry" photos of the head of the supposed creature. Biscardi claims that he will assemble a group of scientists to examine the body in the coming days and still says he wants popular Fox News anchor Megyn Kelley to come and see the body too.
For those of you who do not know, Tom Biscardi has been involved in so many hoaxes, that anything he does now is suspect. Known anthropologist and Sasquatch researcher Dr. Jeff Meldrum of Idaho State University and author of Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science said as much during an interview with The Scientific American. In addition, the owner of www.cryptomundo.com, Loren Coleman, who is the author of Bigfoot:The True Story of Apes in America, basically said that the teeth in the animal's head looked like they could have been his late mother's set of dentures. Noone in the Bigfoot community of any note or merit is taking this seriously. As I stated on an earlier post, Whitton and Dyer are self-admitted liars. On Steve Kull's internet radio show on July 28th, Ric Dyer said himself that eighty percent of what they posted in their Youtube videos previously was lies intended to "piss off" the Bigfoot community. In addition, they also admitted lying about the true identity of Dr. Paul Van Buren, who turned out to be Martin Whitton, the brother of Matt. While it was true he was from Texas, he is not and has never been a scientist or Bigfoot researcher. The two lied about this, and it was only when they were caught that they played it off as a joke, which it was not. They only considered it to be a joke when they got CAUGHT.
So, what we have here is a pair of liars, by their own admission. Couple that with Tom Biscardi's sketchy past, and it is more than difficult to take anything this trio says as believable. I for one am tired of this ploy and feel that it will do nothing more than bring even more negativity to the field of Bigfoot research. What these men have obviously done is bought a Sasquatch halloween costume, dumped animal entrails on top, put in a fake pair of dentures, and billed it as a Sasquatch body. They obviously used the costume before they did all this to take those blurry photos in the woods. I wonder which of the two put the costume on and tromped through the woods like a moron to do that? Did they not know that it is dangerous to tromp through the Georgia woods in a costume like that? Guess not!!!
But you should in no way judge the Georgia Bigfoot community by the actions of these two hoaxers. They are not the real deal, and the only thing they are really good at is lying. If they have a body, which they don't, then let them produce it. I challenge them to call Dr. Meldrum, Esteban Sarmiento, Matthew Moneymaker, and a CNN or Fox News crew to do a REAL scientific examination of said body. In addition, I would like for them to produce the list of people who went on their supposed expedition back in June. I am sure that if they are the real deal, the patrons would not mind being associated with the "Best Bigfoot Trackers in the World." Also, I would like for them to produce the receipts they got when they purchased the flatbed truck and
freezer they claimed to have bought when they supposedly brought the body out of the woods. If they really did anything like this, then the receipts would be very handy, and I am sure that if they have lost them, the companies would be more than willing to verify the purchase. Afterall, these are the "Best Bigfoot Trackers in the World." Of course, none of these things will ever happen.
Although this body is a fake, there really is a Bigfoot in Georgia. The real trackers and Georgia Bigfoot investigators work every week compiling evidence and doing research to prove that the creature is real. Anyone who has ever done any research on the history of Georgia will know that the state used to be home to two very large and powerful Native American tribes-the Creeks and the Cherokees. The history of both of these tribes includes stories that sound a good bit like Sasquatch stories and encounters. In addition, reports in Georgia of Bigfoot sightings go all the way back to 1816. Sightings of the creatures still abound, especially in the North Georgia Mountains. The BFRO routinely conducts expeditions and research in the state, and there is even a website devoted entirely to Bigfoot sightings in Georgia-www.georgiabigfoot.com. There is so much evidence and history of Bigfoot in the state of Georgia, that I have written an entire book on the topic. The book will be out shortly, and I hope that it will shed light on just how true the existence of Georgia Bigfoot is. In that book, you will meet some true professionals who have spent many hours in the woods tracking these creatures. They have read tons of books, articles, and done their own primary research in the woods and fields of Georgia. In fact, one case is still being investigated and it is clear that the eyewitnesses in this case saw more than one Bigfoot on more than one occasion. But these guys do not go out and buy costumes and perpetuate hoaxes. They care more about the truth than their own careers. In fact, one is such a committed researcher that he has moved to the Pacific Northwest for a year to gain even more valuable experience in Bigfoot research so that he can do more and be more resourceful when he returns to the Peach State in 2009. It is their stories that I hope to tell. Nevertheless, there will be a chapter about this hoax, using the facts as reported by Whitton, Dyer, and Biscardi themselves. Hopefully, the world will soon see how elaborate of a hoax this is, and how credible the real Bigfoot research in Georgia is.
For those of you who do not know, Tom Biscardi has been involved in so many hoaxes, that anything he does now is suspect. Known anthropologist and Sasquatch researcher Dr. Jeff Meldrum of Idaho State University and author of Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science said as much during an interview with The Scientific American. In addition, the owner of www.cryptomundo.com, Loren Coleman, who is the author of Bigfoot:The True Story of Apes in America, basically said that the teeth in the animal's head looked like they could have been his late mother's set of dentures. Noone in the Bigfoot community of any note or merit is taking this seriously. As I stated on an earlier post, Whitton and Dyer are self-admitted liars. On Steve Kull's internet radio show on July 28th, Ric Dyer said himself that eighty percent of what they posted in their Youtube videos previously was lies intended to "piss off" the Bigfoot community. In addition, they also admitted lying about the true identity of Dr. Paul Van Buren, who turned out to be Martin Whitton, the brother of Matt. While it was true he was from Texas, he is not and has never been a scientist or Bigfoot researcher. The two lied about this, and it was only when they were caught that they played it off as a joke, which it was not. They only considered it to be a joke when they got CAUGHT.
So, what we have here is a pair of liars, by their own admission. Couple that with Tom Biscardi's sketchy past, and it is more than difficult to take anything this trio says as believable. I for one am tired of this ploy and feel that it will do nothing more than bring even more negativity to the field of Bigfoot research. What these men have obviously done is bought a Sasquatch halloween costume, dumped animal entrails on top, put in a fake pair of dentures, and billed it as a Sasquatch body. They obviously used the costume before they did all this to take those blurry photos in the woods. I wonder which of the two put the costume on and tromped through the woods like a moron to do that? Did they not know that it is dangerous to tromp through the Georgia woods in a costume like that? Guess not!!!
But you should in no way judge the Georgia Bigfoot community by the actions of these two hoaxers. They are not the real deal, and the only thing they are really good at is lying. If they have a body, which they don't, then let them produce it. I challenge them to call Dr. Meldrum, Esteban Sarmiento, Matthew Moneymaker, and a CNN or Fox News crew to do a REAL scientific examination of said body. In addition, I would like for them to produce the list of people who went on their supposed expedition back in June. I am sure that if they are the real deal, the patrons would not mind being associated with the "Best Bigfoot Trackers in the World." Also, I would like for them to produce the receipts they got when they purchased the flatbed truck and
freezer they claimed to have bought when they supposedly brought the body out of the woods. If they really did anything like this, then the receipts would be very handy, and I am sure that if they have lost them, the companies would be more than willing to verify the purchase. Afterall, these are the "Best Bigfoot Trackers in the World." Of course, none of these things will ever happen.
Although this body is a fake, there really is a Bigfoot in Georgia. The real trackers and Georgia Bigfoot investigators work every week compiling evidence and doing research to prove that the creature is real. Anyone who has ever done any research on the history of Georgia will know that the state used to be home to two very large and powerful Native American tribes-the Creeks and the Cherokees. The history of both of these tribes includes stories that sound a good bit like Sasquatch stories and encounters. In addition, reports in Georgia of Bigfoot sightings go all the way back to 1816. Sightings of the creatures still abound, especially in the North Georgia Mountains. The BFRO routinely conducts expeditions and research in the state, and there is even a website devoted entirely to Bigfoot sightings in Georgia-www.georgiabigfoot.com. There is so much evidence and history of Bigfoot in the state of Georgia, that I have written an entire book on the topic. The book will be out shortly, and I hope that it will shed light on just how true the existence of Georgia Bigfoot is. In that book, you will meet some true professionals who have spent many hours in the woods tracking these creatures. They have read tons of books, articles, and done their own primary research in the woods and fields of Georgia. In fact, one case is still being investigated and it is clear that the eyewitnesses in this case saw more than one Bigfoot on more than one occasion. But these guys do not go out and buy costumes and perpetuate hoaxes. They care more about the truth than their own careers. In fact, one is such a committed researcher that he has moved to the Pacific Northwest for a year to gain even more valuable experience in Bigfoot research so that he can do more and be more resourceful when he returns to the Peach State in 2009. It is their stories that I hope to tell. Nevertheless, there will be a chapter about this hoax, using the facts as reported by Whitton, Dyer, and Biscardi themselves. Hopefully, the world will soon see how elaborate of a hoax this is, and how credible the real Bigfoot research in Georgia is.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Georgia Bigfoot Body Video Released
Well, the September 1st deadline was moved up, and for what reason, I am not sure. However, Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi, who many of my sources tell me has been involved in releasing pictures and videos of Bigfoot that have then turned out to be hoaxes, has taken the lead in talking to the press and the rest of the world on behalf of Matt Whitton and Ric Dyer. The two men from the metro-Atlanta area claim to have the body of a Bigfoot found in the North Georgia Mountains. While I am sure that Bigfoot does exist in North Georgia, I am skeptical as to whether or not this is a real specimen. On the internet, there is a company that sells Sasquatch costumes. It can be accessed at http://www.thehorrordome.com/HDSHOPPINGPROPS/SasquatchLARGE.htm. If you take a close look at the photo of the costume, it looks suspiciously like the body in the freezer that they are now calling the Ricmatt creature. This was brought to my attention by two experienced and seasoned Georgia Bigfoot hunters, both of which are field researchers and members of the BFRO.
Right now, Tom Biscardi says that there will be a huge public announcement made on Friday, August 15th in San Francisco, California about the find. According to Biscardi, the two, Whitton and Dyer, stumbled upon the creature while they were in the woods in North Georgia. No other details about what they were doing there or how it was discovered have been released. Biscardi claims to have gone with the pair to the area where the body was retrieved. I spoke with Ric Dyer on the phone back in July, and he told me then that the two were Bigfoot hunters and had been looking for Bigfoot for a while. However, now it appears that the two just "stumbled upon" the body and were not actually Bigfoot hunters. He also told me that at that time a CNN news crew had already been to the site where the body was being stored, and that they had filmed the creature. Ric Dyer, with whom I spoke, also promised to allow me to interview him and Matt for my upcoming book; however, they never called me back, and I have yet to interview them. Nonetheless, most of what they are now saying is on Youtube or is being relayed by Tom Biscardi. As far as I know, CNN has not covered the story, and several local news stations from the Atlanta area did interview the two, and sources now tell me that none of those local stations plan on doing a story and releasing the story or footage of the two men that they shot because the two refused to show any of them a body. The only media outlet (national) that I know of that has even touched this is Fox News, and they did it more so as a joke. They are the ones that ridiculed Matt Moneymaker of the BFRO. However, some at Fox appear to believe that there may be something of merit to this story. I believe that they may be fooled.
For now, noone has seen the body in the Bigfoot community except Tom Biscardi. If there is a body, and it is real, then the two should NOT be afraid to release it and show it to the world at the press conference. Will they? I don't know. I am not sure why these two have been so coy. If they do have a body, they will not be able to keep it. More than likely it was found on public property and would be confiscated by the Georgia DNR of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. If there is no body, then Biscardi, Dyer, and Whitton will have a lot of explaining to do. They supposedly have led expeditions and charged people money, claiming to be the only pair to ever find a Bigfoot body and know where a family of Sasquatch live, so if there is no body, those claims are fraudulent. This could get interesting.
The two men who claim to have the body have a track record of lying, by their own admission. Dyer told Steve Kulls of Squatchdetective, that the many Youtube videos were full of lies. They were just trying to piss off the Bigfoot community, and were trying to lure in people and get exposure, but they admit that they were lying to do it. In addition, to that they create a fictitous character, Dr. Paul Van Buren, who turned out to be Matt Whitton's brother. Only when they were caught did they finally admit that they were lying about that, and then tried to play their lie off as a joke. Perhaps they are lying now. Who knows? What will come of that press conference? What will happen? If the press does not do proper investigation like they would on any claim such as this, perhaps a hoax will be perpetuated and everyone will end up with egg on their face.
Right now, Tom Biscardi says that there will be a huge public announcement made on Friday, August 15th in San Francisco, California about the find. According to Biscardi, the two, Whitton and Dyer, stumbled upon the creature while they were in the woods in North Georgia. No other details about what they were doing there or how it was discovered have been released. Biscardi claims to have gone with the pair to the area where the body was retrieved. I spoke with Ric Dyer on the phone back in July, and he told me then that the two were Bigfoot hunters and had been looking for Bigfoot for a while. However, now it appears that the two just "stumbled upon" the body and were not actually Bigfoot hunters. He also told me that at that time a CNN news crew had already been to the site where the body was being stored, and that they had filmed the creature. Ric Dyer, with whom I spoke, also promised to allow me to interview him and Matt for my upcoming book; however, they never called me back, and I have yet to interview them. Nonetheless, most of what they are now saying is on Youtube or is being relayed by Tom Biscardi. As far as I know, CNN has not covered the story, and several local news stations from the Atlanta area did interview the two, and sources now tell me that none of those local stations plan on doing a story and releasing the story or footage of the two men that they shot because the two refused to show any of them a body. The only media outlet (national) that I know of that has even touched this is Fox News, and they did it more so as a joke. They are the ones that ridiculed Matt Moneymaker of the BFRO. However, some at Fox appear to believe that there may be something of merit to this story. I believe that they may be fooled.
For now, noone has seen the body in the Bigfoot community except Tom Biscardi. If there is a body, and it is real, then the two should NOT be afraid to release it and show it to the world at the press conference. Will they? I don't know. I am not sure why these two have been so coy. If they do have a body, they will not be able to keep it. More than likely it was found on public property and would be confiscated by the Georgia DNR of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. If there is no body, then Biscardi, Dyer, and Whitton will have a lot of explaining to do. They supposedly have led expeditions and charged people money, claiming to be the only pair to ever find a Bigfoot body and know where a family of Sasquatch live, so if there is no body, those claims are fraudulent. This could get interesting.
The two men who claim to have the body have a track record of lying, by their own admission. Dyer told Steve Kulls of Squatchdetective, that the many Youtube videos were full of lies. They were just trying to piss off the Bigfoot community, and were trying to lure in people and get exposure, but they admit that they were lying to do it. In addition, to that they create a fictitous character, Dr. Paul Van Buren, who turned out to be Matt Whitton's brother. Only when they were caught did they finally admit that they were lying about that, and then tried to play their lie off as a joke. Perhaps they are lying now. Who knows? What will come of that press conference? What will happen? If the press does not do proper investigation like they would on any claim such as this, perhaps a hoax will be perpetuated and everyone will end up with egg on their face.
Friday, August 8, 2008
September 1st Draws Nearer
It appears that two men from the Atlanta metro area have found Bigfoot, or they say they have. The two own the site http://www.bigfoottracker.com/. I have spoken with one of the two, and he says that the body will be released for the world to see on September 1st. A lot of people have debated whether or not this is true. Here is a quick update. A visit to the site of Bigfoottracker.com reveals that the two have partnered with longtime Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi who owns http://www.searchingforbigfoot.com/. Apparently, he has taken DNA samples of the body. The website gives no further information, but previously, Dyer and Whitton, the owners, said they will release the body and photos on September 1st.
In addition, if you go to the webpage, there are a few photos there that seem to indicate that they photographed something in the woods. If you look VERY closely, you can see the semblance of a silhouette in one of the photos that looks like there is something standing there. Is this one of their blurrier and less decipherable pictures? Are they trying to let us see what they have little by little and have released the most obscure ones first? Perhaps!! Check out the photos.
I personally am looking forward to September 1st to see what they have. If they have a body, then the world of science will have quite a task getting all the information gathered by Bigfoot hunters about these animals. It will also lead to vindication for scientists who stuck their necks out and said that these animals did indeed exist, like Dr. Jeffery Meldrum of Idaho State University, and the late Dr. Grover Krantz of Washington State University. I highly recommend Dr. Meldrum's book Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science.
Stay tuned!!! This could get interesting.
In addition, if you go to the webpage, there are a few photos there that seem to indicate that they photographed something in the woods. If you look VERY closely, you can see the semblance of a silhouette in one of the photos that looks like there is something standing there. Is this one of their blurrier and less decipherable pictures? Are they trying to let us see what they have little by little and have released the most obscure ones first? Perhaps!! Check out the photos.
I personally am looking forward to September 1st to see what they have. If they have a body, then the world of science will have quite a task getting all the information gathered by Bigfoot hunters about these animals. It will also lead to vindication for scientists who stuck their necks out and said that these animals did indeed exist, like Dr. Jeffery Meldrum of Idaho State University, and the late Dr. Grover Krantz of Washington State University. I highly recommend Dr. Meldrum's book Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science.
Stay tuned!!! This could get interesting.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Will the body be released soon?
The men who have claimed to have found the body of a Bigfoot in the North Georgia Mountains are now saying that they have sold the body for about ten million dollars. This came from the mouth of one of the men, Ric Dyer, on the internet radio show, Squatch detective, which aired on Monday night. However, they claim that they will release video of the body on September 1st. The two men have posted videos on Youtube under the screen name rdyer678 if anyone would like to check them out. They have very unconventional ways of promoting their message. In fact, they seem to have a vendetta against Matt Moneymaker, the owner of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, and Loren Coleman, the owner of Cryptomundo and famed cryptid researcher and author.
According to their story, as told by Dyer on the Squatch detective radio show, the men are NOT Bigfoot researchers and never had been before they supposedly found this body. Dyer says they stumbled upon the body, and then proceeded to purchase equipment to haul it out of the North Georgia Mountains over the course of a day and a half. He also says that as they were dragging the body out of the woods, they felt they were being watched by other Sasquatch. They also claim to have photos and video footage of living Sasquatch and will release those pictures and videos later this summer as well.
There is a great deal of controversy surrounding these events. First, the two men seem to be very abrasive and braggish. They claim to be the "best Bigfoot trackers in the world." But on the radio show Monday night, July 28th, Dyer said that we should all understand that 80 percent of what we hear and see on their videos is just to sell t-shirts and make fun of the Bigfoot research community. So, there is really no clear indication of what their intentions and purposes are. Again, according to Dyer, they have sold the body to a third party and are not going to be supervising scientific inquiries and examinations of the body. However, he did indicate that there were three people that he had chosen to see the specimen before the September 1st release date. Steve Kulls, the owner of http://www.squatchdetective.com/ is one of the men who has been chosen. You may monitor his site for more updates.
Is all of this true? Many of my contacts in the Bigfoot research community that I interviewed for my upcoming book believe it is a huge hoax. Others in the community at large are perplexed about their methods. I have spoken with Mr. Dyer, and although he seemed a nice enough man, there are some things he did not reveal to me, and without those details, I cannot say for sure what is truly going on here. Indeed, I hope they do have a specimen, as that will solve the mystery and give the scientific community a springboard from which to leap in to genuine scientific research about the creature. If they do not have a body, then this will be a black eye to them, but also to the Bigfoot research community as a whole, many of whom have latched on to this tooth, nail, and claw. Only time will tell. I would suggest continuing to monitor their website and their Youtube account for more details in the coming weeks. The countdown is on. If they are for real, we are one month away from a big unveiling.
According to their story, as told by Dyer on the Squatch detective radio show, the men are NOT Bigfoot researchers and never had been before they supposedly found this body. Dyer says they stumbled upon the body, and then proceeded to purchase equipment to haul it out of the North Georgia Mountains over the course of a day and a half. He also says that as they were dragging the body out of the woods, they felt they were being watched by other Sasquatch. They also claim to have photos and video footage of living Sasquatch and will release those pictures and videos later this summer as well.
There is a great deal of controversy surrounding these events. First, the two men seem to be very abrasive and braggish. They claim to be the "best Bigfoot trackers in the world." But on the radio show Monday night, July 28th, Dyer said that we should all understand that 80 percent of what we hear and see on their videos is just to sell t-shirts and make fun of the Bigfoot research community. So, there is really no clear indication of what their intentions and purposes are. Again, according to Dyer, they have sold the body to a third party and are not going to be supervising scientific inquiries and examinations of the body. However, he did indicate that there were three people that he had chosen to see the specimen before the September 1st release date. Steve Kulls, the owner of http://www.squatchdetective.com/ is one of the men who has been chosen. You may monitor his site for more updates.
Is all of this true? Many of my contacts in the Bigfoot research community that I interviewed for my upcoming book believe it is a huge hoax. Others in the community at large are perplexed about their methods. I have spoken with Mr. Dyer, and although he seemed a nice enough man, there are some things he did not reveal to me, and without those details, I cannot say for sure what is truly going on here. Indeed, I hope they do have a specimen, as that will solve the mystery and give the scientific community a springboard from which to leap in to genuine scientific research about the creature. If they do not have a body, then this will be a black eye to them, but also to the Bigfoot research community as a whole, many of whom have latched on to this tooth, nail, and claw. Only time will tell. I would suggest continuing to monitor their website and their Youtube account for more details in the coming weeks. The countdown is on. If they are for real, we are one month away from a big unveiling.
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