SO EP:511 Bigfoot Dermal Ridges

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out here? Did you see what it was? It was enough here. Look, I'm new to window now and I don't need anything. I don't want to go outside. Its fight. Hello, hit the buddy out here. Footquot on out there? It's thought of a bench about six foot nine. I don't know. Easy ann out there. Yeah, I'm working right heady.

of contention for most people in the bigfoot community. I want to talk about three sets of footprints in particular from June of nineteen eighty two in southeastern Washington State. I decided to talk about these in particular because of the prints themselves, as well as what appeared to be dramatoglyphics or dermal ridges that were captured in the prints themselves.

In the interest of not wanting to reinvent the wheel here, I did some research and I found a phenomenal article written by friend of the show, Darryl Collier, back in December of two thousand and seven. This and many other articles on the subject are right there for you to read on woodape dot org. There's a button right here in the show notes. All you have to do is

click it. It'll take you right over to the website and you can read this article in its entirety, as well as all the other amazing resources they have on this site. That said, I would like to read it for you right now. Casts of three large human like footprints were made by US four Service personnel in June nineteen eighty two in southeastern Washington State. The fine grain soil preserved many impressions of dermal ridges and sweat pores.

Careful stuff by dramaticglyphics. Experts show these impressions are perfectly consistent with the friction skin found only in higher primates. The foot size of thirty seven point five by seventeen centimeters rules out any known primate. The non opposed first digit indicates a hominid. Physical circumstances suggest a weight of three hundred to four hundred kilograms. It is believed that all possible methods of fakingness evidence have been considered and

ruled out. New animal species become generally accepted when a physical specimen is collected and properly described. Most commonly living species are initially demonstrated by the skin and skull of one individual. Extinct species are based on fossilized bone or shelle, often on rather small fragments. Some are proposed even on the basis of such indirect evidence, such as burrows or tracts.

In all cases, something tangible is required, which is deposited in a collection somewhere and which can be examined later by persons other than the discoverer. Only in the case of relatively unimportant subspecies might acceptance be based only on unsubstantiated observations by qualified authorities. There are no clear rules about the kind and amount of evidence that must be provided in each case. Instead, there is an unstated consensus that evidence depends on the nature of the animal, or

more properly, on our emotional reactions to it. The more unlikely or unexpected the species, the more proof is required to establish its existence. A new subspecies of chipmunk might seriously be considered on the eyewitness testimony of one competent zoologist, but if the giraffe were unknown to science, five expert accounts supported by photographs and footprints would hardly suffice. Similarly, the first platypus skin brought to Europe was suspected of

being faked. There have been persistent reports for over a century that a species of large bipedal higher primate known as sasquatch or bigfoot lives wild in North America and other areas as well. Quite rightly, zoologists and anthropologists have not accepted this animal on the testimony of claimed eye witnesses, however many they may be. The supposed species is too unexpected, as well as potentially too significant base any firm conclusions

on unverified accounts. If we accepted every creature that is supported by the testimony of ten or more claimed sightings, then we would truly have an unwieldy zoological inventory of mostly unclassifiable creatures, including unicorns, goblins, griffins, fairies, mothmen, and the like. Most scientists would agree that only good skeletal evidence would establish the reality of a species like the sasquatch. A few specialists would be satisfied with such esoteric evidence

as a test tube full of bloe. Likewise, a few specialists would be convinced by anatomically clear footprints recorded under satisfactory circumstances. If we were simply dealing with an oversized subspecies of an accepted animal, such footprints would probably gain general acceptance. As it is, However, we should not be surprised if the best of all possible footprint impressions of a sasquatch were ignored or denied by most of the

scientific establishment. That is, exactly what we are confronted with. On June tenth, nineteen eighty two, US Forest Service patrolman Paul Freeman was surveying Elk in the Yumatilla National Forest on the border of Washington and Oregon States. That morning, he reported seeing at relatively close range an animal of human shape, hair covered, standing about two point five meters tall,

with an estimated weight of over four hundred kilograms. This event is typical of hundreds of descriptions of encounters with a supposed but unverified sasquatch. Other Forest Service personnel from the Walla Walla Ranger District Office in Walla Walla, Washington were called to the scene that day, and they observed many apparent footprints that were consistent with an animal of that description. Many photographs were taken and a plaster cast

was made of one of these impressions. The following day, a search and rescue team on an unrelated mission came upon the scene, took more photographs, made another cast, and attempted to track the creature. One week later, on June seventeenth, Freeman and other foresters encountered more footprints a few miles away at a place called Elk Wallow, this time of two individuals. One of these sets of tracks matched the tracks at the sighting location, and a third cast was made.

The second individual left slightly different tracks, and three casts were made of these. The analysis in this article centers on these three new tracks from Elk Wallow and the Mill Creek Watershed. During the following winter, Freemen and other investigators found additional tracks. On several occasions they made more plaster cast, indicating the existence of at least two more individuals. In all, eleven casts of four distinguishable types have been made.

Five of these casts were made by the Forest Service workers in June of nineteen eighty two, and the originals are still in my possession pending their ultimate disposition. One made by Art Snow of the Search and Rescue team and five more made by Paul Freeman himself have been copied with latex or selastic molds and returned to their owners. The study is not concerned with the truth or accuracy

of Freeman's claim sighting. It is also not concerned with the full range of tracks and the differences between them, nor do I stress the physical circumstances of the supposed Sasquatch trails themselves convincing as they may be. Instead, the emphasis here is on the morphology of the three elk Wallow track casts, which showed the greatest detail, especially in terms of the pattern of dermal ridges that was observed in the actual tracks and that has been preserved in

parts of the plaster casts. The prevailing soil type in this region is wind blown lowess, a very fine grain substance with typical particle sizes of around zero point zero one millimeters in diameter. When this soil is damp and cool and pressed into by a warm body, a detailed imprint commonly remains. Most, if not all, of these tracks were cast within the day of the time of the impression, so they are not dried out, nor had they received

any intrusive material. The well mixed casting plaster that was poured into these impressions was able to record any degree of detail that was held by the soil. Variations down to less than point one millimeter are faithfully preserved. This is fine enough to show the individual dermal ridges and their sweat pores. While the above described circumstances seem perfectly reasonable in hindsight, I was initially unconvinced that such detail could transfer from skin to dirt to plaster. A simple

test demonstrated its feasibility. The top soil on my property in Pullman, Washington is of similar loess. I experimentally depressed my own thumb into a piece of the top soil and made a plaster cast of the impression. It faithfully recorded the dermal ridges and some of the sweat pores of my skin. I have since found out through discussions with police officials that footprint patterns in dirt are actually

used for criminal identification in India and New Zealand. A US Border Patrol tracker who was called in by the Force Service to help in the Walla Walla investigation declared the tracks to be fakes because of the presence of these dermal ridges. He pointed out that of all North American mammals, only humans have fully developed friction skin on

the soles of their feet. He did not allow for the possibility of the track maker being another higher primate, all of which have the same kind of friction skin with virtually identical dermal res. Illustrating these tracks proved to be a difficult problem. Photographing an entire cast for general shape was simple enough, but the detail was another matter. Given the significance of these fine lines and the controversy over their source, it was obvious that these drawings would

not be satisfactory. Some objective method was needed to transfer the pattern of ridges directly into black and white images for publication. Attempts at inking and rolling were not successful on cast copies, and it was decided not to try inking any of the originals. Fingerprint dust, commonly used by fingerprint specialists, and tape removal also worked well only on

small areas at a time. On cast copies. The relief of these ridges is generally under point two millimeters, so they are best seen on the cast with only oblique lighting that throws the furrows into shadow. A number of close up photographs of small areas were made with this method. These are shown here with their locations on the full cares clearly indicated. Some of these photographs have already been published. This method of illustration is limited because of the curved

surfaces of a rigid structure. Beyond a small area, details are either thrown into shadow or else they are lost when the light enters all depressions. In overall morphology, these prints resemble human feet considerably expanded. Individual footprints vary in size due to differences in depth of imprinting, motions of the foot in stepping, and apparently from flexibility of the

padding and the soul. The primary individual under consideration here left imprints thirty seven to thirty eight centimeters long, ten centimeters wide at the heel, and seventeen centimeters wide at maximum on their forefoot. Edward Palmer of the Sheriff's Department at Laramie County, Wyoming, contacted major shoe manufacturers about human feet of the size. John Robinson of Nike Shoes informed him that an extraordinary human could have a foot of

this length, but not of this breadth. The same conclusion is evident in data from red Wing shoes. Palma was able to trace the dermal ridge patterns across the ball and interdigital areas of one cast without break, thus showing that the cast adequately represented the breadth of the foot. This fact alone appears to rule out a human foot being involved. The accomplishments of stride length, slope climbing, and

depth of impression also rule out a human. This would be especially true of any really giant humans who are far less adept at moving themselves around than normally sized persons. The imprints indicate that there was no longitudinal arch in the foot. This would be expected for a biped of this size, where the strengths of supporting structures do not keep up with their body weight. In addition, there is no reason to believe that the ankle is set relatively

farther forward on the foot than in humans. And stay tuned for more sasquatch Ota see will be right back after that these messages. This observation was supported by Benny Kling of the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy, who was the first to examine late lifts from the Prince. He interpreted the imprint as showing that disproportionate weight was carried on the front of the foot as compared with the human,

and asked if the creature walked hunched over. My suggestion of an anteriorly set ankle struck him as an even better explanation for the apparent weight distribution from the thin and totally flexible lifts. He also deduced that it had collapsed arches. The depths of the imprints were indicative of great body weight, but exact figures were difficult to calculate. The tracks were impressed much deeper than the investigator's boots in despite the fact that they covered over twice the

area of these boots. At the location of Freeman's alleged siding, the Forest Service conducted a test at the urging of an individual visiting from Seattle. A piece of metal the side in shape of one of the footprints was cut and this was placed on the dirt road near a track. An ettojack was then put on top of it, and this was used to raise the rear end of a pickup truck. They found that this metal plate was impressed

into the ground less than the actual footprints. From this fact and the given weight of the half supported truck, the Seattle individual concluded the weight of this thing weighed four thousand pounds or one nine hundred and fourteen kilograms. None of the foresters agreed with this weight, as widely quoted in the press, allowing for only one fourth of it at most. This excessive weight figure is easily dismissed because it is based on gradual pressing of weight into

the ground in contrast of the impact of striding. A simple experiment illustrates this one can walk with long and firm strides on fine moist soil, leaving clear footprints, then stop and walk slowly back to examine the prints that were just made. One may then back off off and compare the striding tracks with the walking tracks and see that the latter are far less impressed. I have found that in most cases even hard stamping in place will

not match the impressions just previously made in striding. Full striding impacts the body weight at some speed entirely on the heel area initially and with the slight forward motion as well. In leaving the ground. The body weight is last impressed on the toe area with the force of

stepping off, and also with a slight backward motion. Applying this knowledge to the tracks in question does not give an exact figure of weight, but it moves the reasonable estimate back to near Freeman's guests of eight hundred to one thousand pounds or about four hundred kilograms. Of course, this all refers to the first individual from the sighting event on June tenth. The second individual's tracks found on

June seventeenth were slightly larger and impressed to a similar degree. Thus, the tracks that are considered in detail here we are quite possibly pressed into the ground with the weight of as much as four hundred kilograms. The foot shape is essentially human in spite of the large size and flat arch. The toes are unusual in being more nearly all the same size than in humans. The first digit is the largest, but only slightly so. The toes are also arranged nearly

straight across the front of the foot. This contrasts with the more tapered human foot, where the lesser toes are progressively much shorter. All these characteristics also apply to other wallow walla footprints, as well as to most reported sasquatch tracks. The two footprints are especially instructive in respect to differences in the depths of toe impression. At the metatarsal ends. The full right footprint has a deeply impressed digit one, while the short right one, missing a heel, has a

more deeply impressed digit two. The toes of short right are impressed into the substrate on only slightly less than the metatarsal ends, but digits two through five of full right turns somewhat upward and some of the tips are not recorded. This is also evident in digit five of the full left, where the arched ridge pattern first taken to be the tip of the toe, actually appears to be from the meta tarsal pad, and the tip does

not show at the metatarsal ends. The full right footprint has a deeply impressed digit one, while the short right one missing the heel, has a more deeply impressed digit two. A peculiarity of the full left is the extra pad of flesh to the lateral side of the base of digit five. Dermal ridges passed directly from digit five onto this pad, so it is not a double strike of the fifth digit. Since this pad does not appear on either of the right tracts, its exact nature is not clear.

It may result from connective tissues in the sole pad that were under a normal tension. Possibly it is an insipi bient sixth digit. The short right track shows what may be a double strike of a digit, where that toe was first pressed against digit three, then glanced off of a small stone and into a more normal position. A cast of that stone is preserved in the track.

In order to make such a movement, the digit had to shift to the side after it was pressed into the ground, rolled over the stone, and press in again. The first pressing of digit II against digit three is indicated by the set of five V shaped ridges meeting in a cleft. This cleft might also be taken as a deep scar between the toes, but this would not

explain the apparent two impressions of digit III. Perhaps the most intriguing of these gross characteristics of the prints is the large stone impression in the middle of the full right. The stone was photographed in the actual track before the cast was made. It measures about nine centimeters long by seven centimeters wide and stands up into the footprint cast to a maximum of two centimeters toward the rear part.

The footprint maker simply stepped on a large stone and pressed it down into the dirt around it on all sides. This was not a doable action, hitting on one side then twisting over to press down on the other. Such a double imprinting would have left corresponding breaks in the imprint to the front and rear of the stone, but there are none. The significance of this stepped on stone is that it shows the sole of the foot had a very thick padding and that it was also very flexible.

Mobility of bone connections cannot account for most of this indentation. The deepest part is close enough to the back of the foot that only the calcaneous or heel bone is involved. It is obvious that the sole pad must have had a thickness somewhat greater than the two centimeter depth of the stone's indentation. This applies to the osteologically more rigid rear part of the foot, and maybe much the case in the forefoot, where there is there more moveability between

the bones. A flexible soule pad is further supported by the configuration of the edges of the footprint indentations. These are nearly vertical in many areas, and actually overhanged by as much as one centimeter in one place. This overhang might have been caused by sagging of the surrounding dirt after the imprints were made, although personal observation of many tracks makes this seem unlikely to me. A rigid structure could not have pressed laterally against the walls of these impressions,

then withdrawn medially and removal. A flexible foot, especially one with a thick sole pad, would make just these movements, leaving an impression that can be wider at the bottom than it is nearer to the top. Detailed skin impressions are visible on some of these vertical and overhanging walls, with dermal ridges clearly showing in one case near the

heel of the full right. These details are directly imprinted into the side walls and thus could not have been made by a rigid structure with any combination of movements. The presumption of a thick soul pad was also indicated by four foot print cast from Gray's Harbor County, Washington, made earlier in nineteen eighty two by the Gray's Harbor Sheriff's Department. These tracks show such identity of detail with each other that a single foot was almost surely involved.

Yet they varied in breadth by as much as a centimeter from one print to another. Varying pressure on a thick, flexible soul pad was clearly suggested in that case too. The logical expectation of such a thick soul pad has long been indicated by the apparent ratio between body weight and foot structure area. With increasing body size, surfaces increased by the square linear dimension, while body volume increases by

the cube. Thus, the larger hominid puts more weight on a given area of soul than does a smaller one. The reported unusually heavy set Sasquatch bodies only add to the problem. A typical man one hundred and seventy centimeters tall will have a foot twenty six centimeters long. His sixty five kilogram body weight will be distributed over two hundred square centimeters of one foot, or about point three

two five kilograms per square centimeter. Our reconstructed sasquatch two point four to two point five meters tall has a foot thirty seven point five centimeters long. Its four hundred kilogram body weight is distributed over four hundred and eighty six square centimeters of one foot, or about point eight two two kilograms per square centimeter. The above figure assumes the same ratio of stature to foot length in the human and the sasquatch. Evidence on this point is mixed.

If we follow the measurements estimated from the Patterson Gimlin film of nineteen sixty seven, a thirty seven point five centimeter foot indicates a smaller sasquatch with a body weight of only about two hundred and fifty kilograms. This would putzo point five one four kilograms on each square centimeter of the foot still more than half again as much weight per unit area of the sole of the foot as a normal human. This is probably the minimum possible figure.

Such a thick sole pad would presumably be made largely of fat, but would have to be strongly interlaced with and partitioned by connective tissue running in many directions. This design would allow for the retention of typical higher primate friction skin surface with a minimum of internal restructuring. This conclusion, which was based only on a sasquatch footprint, morphology and estimated body sizes, is supported by the data on the

gorilla foot. Raven describes the gorilla soul as follows. The subcutaneous connective tissue is very thick and fatty, and similarly has a framework of heavy collaginous septa. The fatty pad of the sole is everywhere covered by dense connective tissue. The fat is than along the middle of the foot, but is very thick two point five centimeters under the heel.

Given that the sasquatch may weigh twice as much as the gorilla and is entirely bipedal, it is reasonable to expect the same soul structure, but to an exaggerated degree. I have already alluded to the dermal ridges and sweat pores that characterize friction skin on the palms and soles of higher primates and not on other mammals. These ridges are clearly evident in the three cast in question. They cover most of the toe areas and can be seen

in scattered parts of the rest of the soul. From ridge to ridge, these lines are spaced out half a millimeter apart, more in some areas and less than others. This kind of spacing is typical for almost all higher primates, regardless of the body size. With a primate species, large individuals have ridges somewhat farther apart than those in smaller individuals.

The number of ridges and the fetus is geared to the average adult bodies sigei of the species, so those individuals that grow to larger sizes have the given number of ridges more spread out, and vice versa. Friction skin tends to have the optimum density of ridge spacing for the best adhesion to smooth objects. The number of lines laid down in the fetus varies according to the adult size for each species. There is no adjustment for sexual

size differences. Thus it is not clear where our thirty eight centimeter tracks were deposited by a male or a female. The near constancy of ridge spacing and primates rules out one method of faking latex Molds of real skin soaked in kerosene will greatly expand there may also be other methods for expanding molds. This procedure could produce gigantic skin patterns in some respects, but the ridge spacing would also

be expanded and thus easily recognizable as abnormal. The dermal ridges in these tracks show bifurcations, terminations, and isolated short sections in various places. These are the same kinds of variations that are seen in human dramatoglyphics, and they occur with normal frequencies. If a dormal ridge running across a toe is counted as one and a ridge of a similar length on the other sole as another, then these

shrick casts display almost a thousand dermal ridges. Each of those that has been carefully observed is a smoothly rounded ridge and cross section, and not a scratch or V shaped groove as would be produced by engraving. The furls are also rounded valleys between the ridges, and they are relatively narrow. The spacing between the ridges varies only gradually from one location to another, and there are no abrupt

breaks in the pattern. Density. Ridges can be seen in some places well off the soul more than two centimeters of the side of the foot. This shows most clearly around the outside of the heel of the cast of the full right. The greater extension of the friction skin up the edge of the foot, as compared with a much lesser degree on the hand, is normal in primate

dramatic glyphics. These ridges are clearest and with the deepest relief on those areas that bear the least weight, around the edges of the foot itself and around the individual toes. In particular, the skin should normally strike the substrate only briefly. In these areas. Ridge to furrow depths are at a maximum. On the more weight bearing surfaces of the soul and the middle of the toepads, the ridges appear to be somewhat worn down. This is normal for a primate that

walks a great deal on hard surfaces. I am told by a primatologist who prefers anonymity that only a big gorilla living in a concrete floored cage would wear down these ridges completely. Interestingly, the footprints at the Freeman site location the first individual show no ridges except for a few traces around the edges in some places. Perhaps this individual had done considerably more walking than the second individual being studied here. For more sasquatch Otta see, will be

right back after these messages. In the early fetal development of dermal ridges, each sweatpoor has a tiny cone or pebble of skin surrounding it. As the growth progresses, these cones line up in a fixed pattern and merge together in unbroken ridges. Sometimes this development partially fails, and many of the ridges consist of only a jumble of very

short segments. This condition is known as dysplasia, which tends to affect only mostly the central areas of the greatest weight support, where the ridges are the most worn down. While these two conditions topographically coincide, they should not be confused because they have separate origins in morphology. In affected areas, the directions of dermal ridge sets can still be made out by observing the general trend of orientation of the

short segments. Our second individual shows this form of dysplasia, as it occasionally occurs in humans. The pattern in some toe tips and over the fore part of the soul is somewhat confused and hard to follow. Nevertheless, the trend on this one recorded instance of a mid soul print is transversely across the soul. This is the hominid pattern as opposed to the podids, where the trend in this

area is diagonally from anterior medial to posterior lateral. This contrast should be used with caution because apes show high variability, and some of them approach the human orientation in parts of the soul. The first Freeman citing individual soul was too torn to determine if it showed dysplasia In at least one place, the ridge trend abruptly changes direction with no apparent reason. While this is puzzled three examiners, it

is actually a perfectly normal phenomenon, though rare. This is another form of dysplasia or dissociation of dermal ridges, and is discussed by Olson in nineteen seventy eight. Even more moor extreme examples have been reported in palm prints. In one human case, a one centimeter circle patch sharply outlined, has its ridges turned ninety degrees from those on the surrounding skin. The ridge alignment is slightly broken up on some toe tips, but the basic print pattern can still

be determined. The toe tip patterns are mostly arches, while digit I of the full left appears to have a loop. On the fingerprints. Arches occur rarely in humans, showing in just over ten percent of individuals only among Congo pigmies and South African bushmen. On the toes, they occur somewhat more frequently, but they're still in the minority. On the shafts of the toes, the ridge pattern begins to follow the primate norm of running straight across at the basis

of the toes, which are surprisingly short. New patterns again can be seen on the metatarsal pads. None of these can be followed through clearly in their entirety, but an arching design is the most common in the distal areas of these pads. The best cast, the full left, seems to show the beginnings of a loop pattern at the base of digit two and perhaps on digit one, while digit five simply arches. As far as the lines can be traced. These are normal patterns for apes or humans.

In addition to being unusually short for such a foot size. The toes show another peculiarity that does not occur in primeate feet. They have no flexion creases. Ideally, there should be three such creases, each corresponding to one of the three felangel joints, but in this case none are visible. I do not know how to interpret this absence, except

to make note of it. It may not be a normal sasquatch trait because the toes on this particular individual are relatively even shorter than on the other presumed sasquatch footprints. The main significance for now may relate to the possibility of these tracks being faked with lifts and cast from real primate tie skin. How does one locate a group of people with arch thumbs of various sizes and uniformly short,

with none of them showing any flexion creases. While there are many pattern breaks with large blank areas on the soles, some of the toe prints are continuous from tips to the metatarsal pads. No patching is indicated. I could find only one case in the literature of a human finger without flexion creases. Haylock nineteen eighty three illustrates one Brachydactylus individual where a very short digit II lacks creases and has a continuous arch pattern from the tip to the

metacarpal end. Dermal ridges were first suspected on a cast of a handprint ascribed to a Sasquatch that was recovered in northeastern Washington in nineteen seventy. In this case, parallel ridges were evident on the edge of one finger near the tip. They were spaced about one millimeters apart, thus

making their identification as dermal ridges somewhat uncertain. Other footprint casts have been sought out and examined since the walla Wall of Discovery, but nothing more than suggestive traces could be found in a few cases. This is not surprising because of the fortunate and rare circumstances in this instance. In many places in the specimens considered here, one can see small indentations or pores located along the ridges. These are typically spaced out about half a millimeter apart and

are centered on the ridges. They vary in size from barely visible to less than point one millimeter up to a diameter of point two millimeters. The ridges visibly widen around each of these poores. This is most clearly seen at the base of digit I of the full left track. The margins of these pores curve gradually inwards to the centers. There is not a sharp edge. Several forensic specialists who have examined this material agree that these are sweat poors.

The sweat poors are generally lined up regularly on adjacent dermal ridges, as opposed to having alternative or random positions. In other words, the pores also occur along lines drawn perpendicular to the ridges. This pattern is not regular, but it is a strong tendency, just as in human dramaticglythics.

The possibility that air bubbles might have mimicked sweat poors was suggested by physical anthropologist Tim White at the University of California, Berkeley, who otherwise thought the cast appeared to represent legitimate footprints. To settle this point, I made impressions of false ridges in similar soil and cast them in plaster. I compared the results with the actual cast and found that they are in fact occasional air bubbles from casting.

These bubbles, however, are sharp edged and are not as small as the apparent sweat poors. They are rather few and not regularly spaced or lined up. In some cases, they also bulge out of the ridges around them, but only slightly, and with a much thinner wall between the hole in the ridge edge than the presumed pores. One fingerprint expert with the Vancouver, BC Police Department pointed out that sweat poors often have irregular edges, while these poors

sometimes appear quite circular. This discrepancy results from the method of observation. Inked fingerprints used by law enforcement agencies record the very outermost edges of the poores, and these are usually not quite circular. Photographs of many of these cast poors show only shadows thrown deeper into the holes, where active sweat pours are in fact perfectly rounded. Others with

more oblique illumination show the typical irregularities of outline. Thus far, every specialist who has examined these casts agree that their detailed anatomy has all the characteristics and appearance of being derived from an imprint of primate skin. These now include thirty police fingerprint workers, mostly from the Western States, twelve of whom who might be considered experts. Also included are six physical anthropologists with expertise in this area, as well

as four pathologists and two zoologists. At present, two of the police experts are willing to state categorically that the prince actually represent the existence of a real but unknown animal, regardless of the implications. Interestingly, these two are not only among the most highly qualified, they are also two who

have studied the material more thoroughly. Even the strongest critic, a mammalogist at the Smithsonian Institute, agrees that the cast represent primate skin, but he thinks that it must have been transferred from known animals by silicone rubber casting and combined somehow to form the tracks. His examination of the

cast was brief. Another strong critic, a leading medical authority on skin and the Pacific Northwest, also agreed that the impressions were undoubtedly of primate friction skin, but left open the question of how they came to be located on these tracks. His examination of the cast was somewhat longer. Neither of these experts attempted to specify the source of the skin that might have been transferred to these tracks. In their gross anatomy, these tracks could not have been

made by any known animal. They are too large to be human, and the length and stride and depth of the imprinting are also beyond human capability. Human feet do not have the flexibility of soul to conform to the large stone that was stepped on. In one case. The toe design is also above the range of human feet in the fact that they are relatively too short toes two through five or two wide, and they line up too nearly straight across to the front of the foot.

For all the above reasons, no ape foot comes anywhere near matching these casts. In addition, all apes show some degree of apposability of the first digit, which is not seen in these casts. The lack of a longitudinal arch in these feet, interestingly, is not an argument against either human or or ape identification. Bear feet can easily be eliminated on gross anatomy. Again, these tracks are too large for the hind foot of any bear, in which the first toe is the shortest and the third toe is

the longest. Bear tracks also generally show claw marks and have especially narrow heels. No other animal feet need seriously be considered. There are only two possible explanations to account

for these footprints short of denying their existence. Either they were fabricated somehow by a modern human hoaxer, or else they are tracks of a presently unrecognized animal previous studies have already dealt with most of the problems that would face any potential hoaxer of these tracks, like in terms of their physical circumstances, they need only to be listed here in this case as reminders. The hoaxer had to penetrate a watershed area that is closed to the public

by the US Forest Apartment. This would have to be done without leaving any noticed evavidence of vehicles or human footprints into or out of the area. The unlikelihood of these tracks being discovered at least suggests that dozens or hundreds of sets of these tracks must have been made in order to ensure the discovery of at least some of them. The long stride, commonly one point two meters,

is difficult to manage even without big fake feet. Stepping once on the heel while coming down a two meter embankment should have toppled any hoaxer on his face at the bottom. The depth of imprint means that even if the hoaxer weighed one hundred and fifty kilograms, he was carrying an additional weight of maybe two hundred kilograms and still managing long strides. He also managed to walk for at least three quarters of a mile with all this equipment.

That is how far the search and rescue team from Oregon was able to backtrack. The first individual accounting for the gross morphology of these tracks presents an equally baffling set of obstacles. The hypothetical hoaxer somehow knew how to make the soul's fly at the toes short and wide, with only a modest emphasis on digit one, the forefoot almost squared off, and the heel abnormally wide. These would not have been too difficult to execute if some of

my published descriptions of tracks were consulted. But he also knew enough to introduce two other variations that I noted back in nineteen seventy. These have never been written down nor told to anyone. Some innovations added here include the apparent double strike of one toe that must have been difficult to manage. One cannot help but wondering why the extra pad of flesh was included next to digit five of the full left track, which looks almost like an

incipient sixth digit. The deep indentation in mid soul of the full right track shows a surprising degree of flexibility of the foot and thick cushioning. How the hoax are managed to walk on top of these flexible pads is another problem, unless he was long accustomed to doing this. Earlier descriptions of authentic seeming sasquatch tracks often included the double ball. This is seen clearly in the partial left track, but for various reasons, it did not show up in

the other two tracks. Differences in the relative depths of imprinting of the metatarsal pads between the tracks require some explanation, perhaps separately articulated pseudo bones and faked feet. Also, different inclinations of the toes between the two right feet imply still more structural complexity in the feet. The hoaxing problems recounted up to now strain the imagination. Yet similar circumstances have been reported by reliable observers many times in the past,

for which no good explanation has been forthcoming. The usual approach of the debunkers is to simply ignore the situation, or to insist that the facts have not been correctly reported. When the actual tracks have eroded away and memories have faded, all that remain is some big plaster casts. Little argument is left in this case. However, the three plaster cast show a degree of detailed anatomy that cannot be dismissed

so easily. The supposed track hoaxer somehow managed to include microscopic detail that matches the foot skin of higher primates. These are clearly formed dermal ridges with sweat pores over large parts of these three imprints. These details are of the correct size, shape, and orientation in each area for gigantic commonid feet. Some peculiarities include arched toe tip prints

and very short toes that lack flexion creases. All possible sources of primate friction skin have been considered and none can account for these characteristics. In addition, the hoaxer had the ridge relief slightly worn down in exactly the areas where the most weight would be supported on the feet of this size and design. Finally, the incomplete pattern formation of dysplasia occurs on just the areas where it would

be normal for feet and toes of this size. Our track maker is an excellent outdoorsman of incredible size and strength. He is able to move about largely unseen over vast wilderness areas, leaving many tracks and stay tuned for more sasquatchy ott to see We'll be right back after these messages. He does not depend on vehicles to get in and

out of these areas where these tracks are found. He is able to imprint the ground with tracks that are anatomically correct for a gigantic combinid, and he is able to leave on occasion clear impressions of primate friction skin. Such a track maker is not really impossible, just not Homo sapiens. After removing any possibility of a human hoaxer, we can consider these footprints on face value. Using only the three prime foot prints described above, the track maker

can be reconstructed as follows. The skin makes it a high primate without specifying monkey, ape or man. It is bipedal and thus with upright posture. The stride indicates a stature of almost two and a half meters if it has a human body leg ter ratio where stature is twice the striding gait. A body weight of about four hundred kilograms is consistent with the depth of impressions and

with the indicated soul cushioning pad. The stature and body weight would indicate a body build much more heavy set than is usual for humans. The short toes, non diverging first digit, and transverse mid soul ridges all indicate a hominid, a member of the zoological family homenity that includes humans. Granting the hominid status, it would have broad shoulders like

any exbrachiator. One could also presume from the track locations and the lack of communications between them and ourselves that they are not human in any cognitive and social meanings of the word. The above description is consistent with Paul Freeman's sighting report of the animal that started this particular investigation.

Many hundreds of other people have described seeing essentially the same kind of biped All such reports also include reference to a full covering of body hair, usually dark brown in color. This might be a reasonable expectation for a non human higher primate, especially in a temperate climate. Most observers say the arms are relatively longer than is usual for humans. They are also massive, especially at the shoulders. It is often noted that the head is set low,

with no constriction showing at the neck. The face is described as being nearly flat, with a little muzzle projection and with deep set eyes under projecting browridges. It has a head that rises only gradually behind the brows to a low peak towards the rear. These last name traits are entirely consistent with the animal described from the footprints. It does not automatically follow that our track maker has all these additional traits, but it would be a most

peculiar situation if it did not. That possibility would presuppose the existence of a giant hominid that leaves footprints and has never been seen, and another species of giant, hairy, guerrilla faced hominid that has often been reported, but which leaves no footprints. The simplest resolution to this is that the footprints and descriptions may be ascribed to the same animal.

It may seem as though a large edifice has been erected on the base of just three footprints that were cast in plaster by the US four at Service in nineteen eighty two. Actually the edifice has been there all along, based on many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of footprint events and

observations accumulating for over a century. The fact that direct, substantial proof of the animal has not been produced, combined with the fact that a proportion of the evidence has been demonstrated to be fault, has led most biological scientists

to deny the existence of the species. One prominent physical anthropologist has told me that if these tracks with the first and only evidence available, the animal would likely be accepted, but as it is, with so much publicity and fakery known and suspected in the past, such acceptance will not occur. It has been far easier for most scientists to assume that all the evidence is false than it is to believe that a giant hominid has eluded verification for this

longer time. The evidence of these three track casts has been presented to many experts in the appropriate fields. The reactions of two major groups are significantly different. In the fields of physical anthropology and zoology, most of the responses have ranged from mild interest to flat denial that they could be real. Among fingerprint experts and palaeontologists, the results

have ranged from mild interest to enthusiastic acceptance. To most anthropologists and zoologists, the implications of these tracks, if authentic, are profound. It would mean that their sciences have completely missed one of the biggest and potentially most important mammalian species on Earth. They may even fear that the public might ask if they were so wrong in this case,

what else might they be overlooking? I have heard of instances in which scientists have sincerely expressed the hope that sasquatch will never be proven exactly because of these implications. It has also been suggested that anthropologists are still smarting from the expose of the pilt Down hoax, and that their public image would be severely damaged by another such instance. To them, I need only point out how almost all geologists firmly oppose the idea of continental drift. Until the

late nineteen sixties they survived. Police finger printers and pathologists generally have no stake in whether or not such a creature exists. It's outside their normal area of conscers, and few have made any past pronouncements on the subject. They risk no professional embarrassment by its demonstration. If anything, they might be more concerned about the possibility that a hoaxer has developed a technique that can be used to fake fingerprints.

The evidence of this new set of tracks should be treated as conclusively by all authorities, but it is not. If and when a sasquatch skeleton or fresh specimen is recovered, it would require little intelligence to conclude that the species has existed all along. What does require some reasoning power is to move from the presently available data to a clear conclusion as to either the method of hoaxing or the reality of the animal.