Bigfoot, Dr. Ketchum, and a Purported Conspiracy

Artwork by Scott Davis

Starting the New Year off with an interesting conundrum. Is the lack of official recognition of Bigfoot as a species really the result of some government conspiracy? And has Dr. Ketchum’s work been maligned by these conspirators for nefarious reasons? CryptoVille mulls it over.

This interesting conundrum is the perfect little puzzle to think about on a frigid New Year’s Day. It came to me via YouTube. I normally listen to music there, but lately I’ve been listening to interviews with David Paulides of Missing 411 fame – another fascinating topic which I’ll cover soon.

So today, YouTube suggested I watch a video entitled Scientific Proof for Cover Up of Secret Humanoid Species. How could I resist?

Artwork by Paul Smith

Normally I begin with an introduction to the videographer and anything they share about themselves in their About section. But this time, what I found there is so weird and I would say, paranoid, that I’m not going to say anything more about him. My impression is that is how he wants it.

I also found other videos on his page, many relating to the flat Earth conspiracy. That was a huge disappointment because I think that is 100% utter nonsense, and if he believes in that, how could I possibly take anything else he shared seriously.

Artwork by Douglas Egolf

However, in the Bigfoot video, he shares what I consider good facts and data, and also some notions I’d heard before from respected Bigfoot investigators, as well as the aforementioned David Paulides.  So, I’m going to go for it and begin the discussion.

Ridicule as a Weapon

The discussion begins with a list of reasons that prohibit us from recognizing Bigfoot as a new species and I think they’re valid reasons:

Main stream media (MSM) uses ridicule to deter eye witness reports. This is absolutely true. I have railed against them before here in CryptoVille for their smarmy attitudes, smug smiles, and “ha ha” approach to the purported sightings. What they should be doing is treating the story like any other story and concentrate on getting the facts! Because of their rotten attitude as a whole, many people will never approach them with their eyewitness accounts, photos, and/or videos.

MSM outlets don’t treat the subject seriously. In this case, the video is referring to the TV shows about Bigfoot, Finding Bigfoot, Killing Bigfoot, Mountain Monsters, and Alaska Monsters. They all seem to be scripted, and once that happens, spontaneity goes right out the window along with the truth.

Scientists won’t touch the topic. Well, this is mostly true, however there are exceptions that this video chose to ignore. For example, we all know Dr. Jeff Meldrum of Idaho State University and his exemplary work on the footprint casts and locomotion made by Bigfoots. Dr. Todd Disotell who has helped certain investigators by testing samples with the full knowledge that they were looking for evidence of Bigfoot’s existence. I think he is much maligned in the Bigfoot world and he doesn’t deserve it. He has excellent credentials and is brilliant – good enough in my books.

There is also the scientist whose name I forget, studying tigers in Southeast Asia. We met her on an episode of Destination Truth when Josh Gates and crew were looking for evidence of the Orang Pendek. This scientist worked for the National Geographic society. Josh asked her how many tigers she had seen in the wild in her ten years there and she said something like 3 tigers. Then he asked how many times she had seen the Orang Pendek during that same period. And she said like 2 times. Thank you sister!

Cover-up by government agencies. This may be true in many cases. I remember reading an article about a legitimate sighting of a Bigfoot somewhere in the South. Turns out the Park rangers were aware of it and hunted it down, taking out the “pod” as they referred to the group of Bigfoots there. The issue gets complicated when regular citizens who have had a sighting report that FBI agents suddenly appear. Interestingly, this ties into accounts reported in the Missing 411 series by David Paulides. I mean, they haven’t got enough problems in the world, yet they have time to follow-up on Bigfoot sightings? It just doesn’t make sense.

Elusive nature of the creatures themselves. Yes, well, that goes without saying. They are hard to find, nearly impossible to photograph, and much quicker and smarter about disappearing in the wild than we will ever be. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying.

Artwork by Paul Smith

Kryder Exploration

Also appearing in this video is a man named Rob Kryder, of Kryder Exploration (KX). On their website they describe their goal as, “To research through adaptive, advanced scientific methods and technologies in an effort to explore and procure evidence of the major enigmatic histories, anomalies and recover, conserve any physical evidence. With the focus on openly revealing with as much transparency as possible, both the process and the totality of the finds themselves. KX seeks to present the actuality of the world around us, its wonders and truths, in an unbiased manner to all people.”  Think cryptozoology and exploration gone high tech. I wish them luck!

However, Rob says in the video that he has been offered five TV shows but he refuses to do any because he will not go along with what the scripts say. He believes these shows want the question left open; they want it (Bigfoot) to be a myth. I suppose that makes sense because TV shows are all about making money. If the search ends, so does the revenue.

Rob shared this very interesting tidbit in the video. Apparently, The Army Corps of Engineers had Bigfoot listed as one of the animals that their recruits might encounter in the wild. This lasted until 1975. I don’t know what happened after that.

Artwork by Scott Davis

Videos Shown

This video begins to show some wonderful Bigfoot footage starting around the 7:29 mark. First up is the Craven footage from Saskatchewan, Canada. I had written about this sighting before in CryptoVille; I believe it’s real.

Next, they showed the Harley Hoffman Bigfoot footage from British Columbia, Canada. I hadn’t seen that before, but it looks very intriguing.

Then there is the Independence Day footage from California. It looks like Patty from the Patterson/ Gimlin film rushing up again to pick-up her baby from behind a big boulder. It looks very authentic to me; I hadn’t seen that before either.

Next is the nighttime video from Pennsylvania where someone catches a white Bigfoot in their flashlight before it rushes off, out of sight. Not sure what I think about that one, but I’ll watch it a few more times.

Finally, they finish with the classic Patterson/Gimlin film of Patty.

About Melba Ketchum

The Bigfoot community at large is one of the nastiest I’ve ever experienced. I estranged myself from it years ago. I understand that the UFO community isn’t much better. Well, we don’t operate that way here in CryptoVille – everyone is respected and we quietly continue our search for The Truth.

Previously I had read some very disturbing things about the DNA research done by Melba Ketchum and I was very disheartened. Others seemed to have made the case that she wasn’t very qualified to do the research she did, and it went downhill from there.

So, I decided to just put her results aside amidst all the scandal and hoopla because I didn’t know enough about her, her company, or her work.

Cliff Barackman, Burt Cutino, and I think that’s Bart’s wife.

Melba Ketchum is the Director of DNA Diagnostics and according to this video has quite a good list of achievements under her belt. Much of it revolved around analyzing the DNA of race horses which was a resounding success. Her credentials also seem to be quite impressive, too. Then I discovered the results she had tested came from none other than Bart Cutino – one of the best researchers in the Bigfoot world, in my opinion. He is stringently scientific in his approach, he measures, analyzes, and reports in a straightforward manner. I’ve really been impressed by some of his research results that I’ve seen.

So, the fact that Melba Ketchum was analyzing his results pushed it way up in credibility in my opinion.

Artwork by Jesse D’Angelo

She tested mitochondrial DNA, which comes from our mothers. In the samples she tested, they were pretty straight forward, nothing remarkable about the results.

Then she turned to the nucleic DNA and tested that. Nucleic DNA comes from both parents. It was in those results that she found the strangest mix of results, things not seen in human nucleic DNA, nor in that of any other registered animal.

There is an important website called ZooBank.org wherein all the species known to Western science are registered along with their DNA profiles. Dr. Ketchum registered the results from her tested samples as Homo sapiens cognatus. An uproar ensued, but she had other well-regarded universities test and confirm her test results.

One of these universities was Texas A&M. They were given her test samples without knowledge of what they were looking for. They tested the samples and came up with the same conclusion – not human, but not like anything else on the known register of animals.

Artwork by Peter Oberdorf

Another university which ultimately insisted on remaining anonymous, tested her samples and came to the same conclusion as both Dr. Ketchum and Texas A&M. In fact, one of their researchers asked Melba if she’d sent her a new species of animal to test. When she found out it was for a purported Bigfoot, she dropped it like a hot potato, didn’t want to be associated with it, nor did her university. What a coward.

Why?

So why are so many people and institutions afraid of Bigfoot being established as a known animal on our roster of animals? The guru behind this video believes it comes down to money. He mentions that state parks make $80 million a year in admission fees and this doesn’t include National parks nor the extras that go with it for souvenirs, food, gas, camping, and hiking equipment.

Artwork by Paul from Michigan

They seem to think that people knowing Bigfoots are out in the woods will stop people from wanting to go there. It could just as easily have the opposite effect.

This answer may be partially right, but I get the feeling there is more to it than that. What, I don’t know. I’m not prepared to call it a conspiracy – that concept has gone berserk in the last decade or so with so many stupid theories about things.

But I still can’t put my finger on it.

Bigfoot is Alive and Well

Yes, Bigfoot is alive and well, despite anyone’s attempts to make us think otherwise. I’ve outlined in other articles here on CryptoVille why I think the big stinky guy exists, not only in the U.S. but abroad in many places. It seems many academics around the country have joined the lame-stream media in trying to keep the truth from us, in this case about Bigfoot.

I’m thinking maybe we should just stop worrying about what science says and let our “amateur” researchers keep going with their research and see what they can find. Phooey on the rest of them.

 

What do you think about all this?

UPDATE 1/2 /2018. My friends, I’m sitting here this evening listening to another podcast this time featuring an interview with Dr. Jeff Meldrum. He was asked about his opinion on the Melba Ketchum test results.  He clearly stated all the problems with her results so that I’m now satisfied we can disregard them once and for all. I trust Dr. Meldrum’s view of things because he’s such a reliable, thoughtful, and truly scientific researcher.

This further highlights the problems with the internet – you can always find some ‘expert’ to back every side of every argument! So frustrating. I’m glad I found this interview so I could set the record straight with you.

If you’d like to listen to it, here’s a link to the interview. Very interesting.

 

12 comments

  1. Don’t know what to think about this. I used to believe Big Foots to be real but I said to myself one day, why hasn’t anyone come up with any physical evidence of a single one? Film just kind of doesn’t do it for me because it is so easily tampered. But I never thought of a cover up. I could so see certain groups doing that. But if someone found some evidence of one, I do believe it would come into the hands of those who would see it for what it was and get the word out to the world like let’s say the Smithsonian Museum.

    • Don’t be disheartened Lisa. Remember there are many wonderful accounts of people seeing these creatures, plus there is the work being done by Jeff Meldrum – WHY don’t his fellow academics get behind his careful research and the evidence presented by all those hundreds of foot and hand casts? If I was him, I’d be furious.

      I would hope that something like the Smithsonian or National Geographic would get the evidence once something more definitive is found, like a body. But I fear some idiot will try to turn it into another “Minnesota Iceman” to make money off of it. Well, we’ll just have to see what happens.

      As always, thank you for visiting CryptoVille! … Susan

  2. I do believe they are out there and that the Gov’t is hiding the info like so many other things. We should keep looking and not disturb unless they want to know more about us.

    I like cryptroville.

    • Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, Leo! Yes, the government’s involvement is disturbing – it just seems so senseless and unnecessary.

      I would like to see us find evidence to prove to the world that Bigfoots do exist, once and for all. But like you, I hope we can then leave them alone and move on. However, I fear that may not be realistic. People (trophy hunters for example) might start hunting them down and who knows what else people will do.

      As with all things, time will tell. Thank you for visiting CryptoVille! … Susan (CryptoVille)

  3. Susan, years of hoaxing and a absence of archological evidence is reason enough for avoiding the Big Foot phenomena . Four years of undergraduate, get lucky and the means for post graduate school only to DIE in the world populated by some very nutty people who are looking for big foot! Like my own experience this thing leads to a dead end.

    It is interesting that the Navy F18 video of the tic tac shaped UFO and the pilots description of the event has been acdepted far better than any big foot claims. It is a issue of credibility .

    • Hi Robert! I feel your frustration. I’m sitting here this evening listening to yet another audio interview this time with Dr. Jeff Meldrum. He has clearly answered the question regarding the legitimacy of Dr. Melba Ketchum’s test results – not good. I’m ready to shoot myself in my not so big foot! LOL! I guess it’s back to the drawing board for me! As far as credibility, I think Dr. Meldrum is top drawer.

      Re: that UFO video. Interesting, somewhat more intriguing considering who filmed it (Navy pilots), but I’m not going to get too excited over it. At least not at this point.

      Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and thank you for visiting CryptoVille! … Susan

  4. Sasquatch are quite real and Ketchum’s DNA study nailed it down very well. Naysayers are almost entirely uneducated in DNA analysis and there are those, such as Dr. Sykes, who have deliberately misled the public about the findings. Sykes cherry picked his samples and deliberately avoided any samples already tested and proven to be Sasquatch. Be careful who you believe. The proof is in the pudding.

    • Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, Dudlow! It sure is hard to sift the truth out of all the turmoil in the Bigfoot community, that’s for sure.

      Thank you for visiting CryptoVille! … Susan (CryptoVille)

  5. I am a retired wildlife researcher and have been following bigfoot since Sanderson was the authority back in the 50`s. I met Paterson in 1970 in Arcata, and have greatly pondered the phenomenon (does any serious researcher really believe that Hawaii hosts a viable population?). My view is that the research community is too focused on the big monkey in isolation and not looking for an out-of-of-the box new idea which would encompass other cryptids, as well as the whole array of wo wo subjects.
    Science generally progresses in small increments, but eventually someone needs to get serious about the true nature of reality.

    • That’s an interesting theory, Mike. I guess by other cryptids you’re referring to the dogmen, rougarou, and maybe things like the wind walkers? In my mind they’re a lot different than the traditional Bigfoot so I’d have to really think how they might all be connected, if at all.

      Do you have any theories?

      Thank you for visiting CryptoVille! … Susan (CryptoVille)

  6. Hello Susan, do you have a link to the podcast featuring the interview with Dr. Jeff Meldrum? I would be very interested, since I thought the Ketchum study was rejected due to irregularities in the publication process and the faulty cladograms.

    • Hi Brigid! It looks like both podcasts I had listened to back in 2018 are no longer on YouTube. That’s strange. I wonder why. It’s so frustrating when this happens. Maybe the owners didn’t like what I had to say about them.

      If you’re looking into more information about Dr. Melba Ketchum, I suggest you listen to the podcasts by Steve Isdahl. He’s had some very interesting reports on her, to the point where I’m now thinking she was unfairly attacked for her research which may very well be legitimate. His channel is called “The Facts By Howtohunt . com”

      Hope that helps. Thank you for visiting CryptoVille!

      Susan (Curator of CryptoVille)

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