I’m not real sure what the deal with this series/website is, but you can see more here.

Coleman was (of course) initially dismissive of Whitton and Dyer’s claims, and became doubly so once Biscardi got involved, but:

I thought I could use my interest and really, my openness to the fact I might have been wrong about the Georgia guys. I questioned myself, whether I had been too harsh on them, even biased. What if two jokers in Georgia, who seemed perhaps to have a bit of credibility due to their supposed police, corrections, and military background, were honest. But what of Biscardi, the ultimate hoaxer? He couldn’t be trusted, and I knew that.

The article comes across as a bit defensive, which is unfortunate, but Coleman’s “one of the good guys” as far as I’m concerned, and hopefully he will be able to pursue his work without the shadow of these idiots on his back.

Read the full story here.

*I use the word “involvement,” but don’t mean to imply Coleman is guilty of any chicanery. He was somewhat unwillingly dragged into this mess.

He doesn’t seem pleased by the author’s focus on the “bigfoot believers” being duped:

First, as an overall observation, what I am finding intriguing is that, according to this media giant’s take on the whole thing, it isn’t the press and news organizations that are having a reaction to this hoax, but that “Bigfoot hunters” who have a bad taste in their mouth from the event.

As Coleman reads it, the article implies that reporters and the media were never fooled, and it was only true believers who were suckered.

Full article here.

“It’s aggravating that a person like [Biscardi] garners the press because of sensationalism,” says Jeff Meldrum, an Idaho anthropologist who is an expert in foot morphology and locomotion in monkeys, apes and hominids. “There are certainly activities that are laughable,” says Meldrum. “But there are also those that are attempting to legitimize a very serious inquiry into the possible existence of a relic population of great ape. This is my odyssey, this is my quest.”

Full article here.

Dyer: Also available for bar mitzvahs and retirement parties!

I hate to spend so much time on this story, but here I go again:

Matt Whitton and Ricky Dyer have given interviews to two Atlanta TV stations (one of them here) in which they basically claim that it was “all a big joke,” and that Tom Biscardi knew the squatchcicle was fake all along.

They give no indication why they continued the charade as long as they did, simply saying that they’re “all about having fun.”

They posted a new video to Youtube as well:

Now, I’m all for jokes and fun, but why do I get the feeling that, had Biscardi managed to keep this act going (and making money off unsuspecting individuals), these guys would still be riding the hoax train? If they wanted to (further) discredit Biscardi, they had every opportunity to do so before and during the press conference they held. Instead, they continued the act, and ran only when Biscardi said he wanted his money back.

Biscardi has two options at this point: He can claim he was defrauded, which means that he’s so stupid or insane he should be made a ward of the state, or he can fess up and tell the truth.

Either way, his “career” as a “bigfoot hunter” is over. Or at least should be. As Loren Coleman says, “the man has nine lives.”

FoxNews story (for fascists)

CNN Story (for pinko liberals)

Former Clayton County Police Officer Gary Whitton

Current "Larry The Cable Guy" impersonator Ricky Dyer

After the Searching For Bigfoot team and “The Real Bigfoot Hunter” Tom Biscardi began to thaw out the creature in a 1,500 lb. cooler of ice, they discovered it was a rubber suit. Biscardi contacted Whitton and Dyer and they agreed to admit the truth to the public. When Biscardi arrived at their hotel, the pair had vanished.

BIG surprise! Whitton and Dyer have gone to ground. As an added bonus, Whitton’s boss is shit-canning him:

As soon as he learned it was a hoax, Clayton County Police Chief Jeff Turner moved to have Whitton fired.

“He’s been an embarrassment. This is basically a disgrace to be in law enforcement. You must have integrity. He has none,” said Turner.

I’ve added a new post category to commemorate these two: “Charlatans.” Sadly, as long as we stick to the Bigfoot beat, I suspect it will see a lot of use.

Update: According to the London Times, Whitton and Dyer:

…Sold the rights to the corpse to Rick [sic] Biscardi, a Californian Bigfoot hunter, for a reported $50,000, and Mr Biscardi then presented the pair to the world at a press conference in Palo Alto last Friday, although he was forced to defend the lack of physical evidence on show.

…

After admitting their deception in a telephone conversation with Mr Biscardi and promising to pay his money back, the two hoaxers swiftly checked out of their California hotel before the Bigfoot hunter could get there, making themselves as scarce as their mythical prey.

So they’re on the run with Biscardi’s money. All this story needs is a divorced single mother from Gainesville who finds the money, and then we’ve got a Carl Hiaasen novel.

Link to CBS46 – Atlanta story

Steve Kulls - Honest, but gullible.

In what should come as a surprise to no one, talk show host Steve Kulls – the man who introduced the two yahoos to Tom Biscardi – has said he’s examined the “corpse” of the “Georgia Bigfoot,” and it’s a fake.

BlogTalkRadio has a transcript of his stunning revelation:

On August 16, 2008, the freezer containing the alleged corpse arrived with the Searching for Bigfoot team at an undisclosed location. I arrived that same day at 6 p.m. to provide initial verification, examination, biohazard control, and consult for security measures at the location.

…

Within the next hour, upon examining the feet area, there was a break in the ice and I observed the foot, which looked unnatural – reached in and confirmed it was a rubber foot.

More on this as it becomes available.

Here’s Fox News’ take.

And BoingBoing.

And from across the pond, SkyNews.

I don’t think I’m alone in saying that nothing presented here is remotely believable or even compelling, but I’m posting it just for the record. The video is in three parts.

Apologies for the quality… If I can find a better (or less copyright infringing) version of the event, I’ll replace this.

Update: Here’s a link to a better (though non-embeddable) video.

Update II: Evidentiary pics after the jump.

First up, the shot of the teeth:

Photo via Crunchgear

And the “not a blobsquatch” blobsquatch photo:

Photo via Crunchgear

Finally, a picture of the e-mail sent to Biscardi by the bigfoot-friendly scientist tasked with testing the DNA samples:

Photo via Crunchgear

All photos brazenly stolen from Crunchgear.

ABC News has joined the parade of news bureaus with nothing to else to report, and picked up the Georgia bigfoot story. Not much new: Brief introduction to details, skeptical bigfoot researchers, history of bigfoot, etc.

But there’s a quote in there with some new info (at least to me) that reveals Tom Biscardi’s plan.

After describing how he sent samples to Curt Nelson at the University of Minnesota for DNA analysis (which, by the way, won’t likely be available at today’s press conference), the article states:

…Biscardi said he plans to keep the body at an undisclosed location while scientists, including two Russian hominid specialists, study the creature. Biscardi said the entire process will be filmed and then released as a documentary.

So rather than pursue scientific validation through normal channels, which even (bigfoot enthusiast) Curt Nelson is calling for, Biscardi is going to keep the “body” hidden away somewhere, to be studied by “Russian scientists” (likely to be about as trustworthy as Dr. Paul Van Buren), after which he’ll start selling DVDs. Basically we’ve got another “Alien Autopsy” situation on our hands.

I wonder if he can get Johnathan Frakes (or – even better – Yappi) to host it.

Legend of Bigfoot: Discovery? Try Hoax. – ABCNews.com

Photo: AP

Well-known bigfoot researcher, author (of Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science) and scientist Jeff Meldrum was contacted by Scientific American and asked about the Bigfoot Hoaxers Trackers’ claims:

What do you think of this announcement of a bigfoot body being found in Georgia?

I’m extremely skeptical about this bigfoot claim. I haven’t been contacted by any of the principal [people] involved in this. I’ve had interactions with Tom Biscardi [the bigfoot hunter holding the press conference] in the past, and based on that history, I would say that anything he is involved in is suspect. The fact that the two Georgian men [who said they found the body] turned to him and not anyone with scientific credentials is very questionable.

Link to Full Article