Bigfoot - The Patterson-Gimlin Film

[William Parcher]

This is a plaster cast from this trackway, yes?

The toes look too narrow to be bear. They even look too narrow for human or "Bigfoot". These toes seem to get narrower towards the right (towards the "little toe"?). But bear prints (front foot and back) don't show much of a descending reduction in toe size as you go from "thumb-to-pinkie" or from "big toe-to-little toe". With a bear, the two outside toes are obviously different in size... but the three "center toes" are nearly identical. IOW, bears don't have a nice uniform reduction in digit size as you go from inside digits towards outside (front foot or back).

Besides that, this print shows strangely narrow toe impressions considering the foot had slid backwards through mud before finding a grip. Those individual toes should be compressed (widened) as the push into the mud to create the locomotive push-off. IOW, the foot and toes slid backwards until they found a "firmness" that could propel the mass of the animal forwards.

Look at the shape of your own bare toes suspended in mid-air. Now press them against a clear glass sheet, looking from the bottom. They "squish" and widen. To me, the toes in this casting look too narrow to realistically resemble a living bear, human or Bigfoot (whatever its toes may look like).

 

[Starrman]

This is a crazy footprint to try to evaluate. It's like a big rectangular block with toes. It's not shaped like a single bear footprint, nor is it shaped like a single hominoid footprint. There is no visible tapering towards the heel. The left-side line is almost totally straight and parallel to the line of travel. What the hell is that stuff? It's as if it isn't bear, human, or Bigfoot!

Maybe overlapping prints would cause this. But, you have to wonder why is looks like a cinder block impression with toes, instead of any kind of known (or postulated) animal foot.

It almost looks like a large human hand grabbed a handfull of mud, and then the water and sediment filled in the scoop. I may be crazy, but the back of the print appears to have been scraped backwards - and someone scooping mud up would show that.

 

[William Parcher]

But, if this is a fake foot (either rigid or flexible), then the toes are going to look strange because they don't compress and widen as they grip the mud. The hoaxer drags the fake foot backwards through the mud (to create the "slide"), then mashes the foot straight down into the mud to make the "final" impression.

 

[Skeptical Greg]

............

Look at the shape of your own bare toes suspended in mid-air. Now press them against a clear glass sheet, looking from the bottom. They "squish" and widen. To me, the toes in this casting look too narrow to realistically resemble a living bear, human or Bigfoot (whatever its toes may look like).

I don't think the ' pads ' on bear's feet are as compressable as toes are.

The are more like the sole of a shoe, than they are like toes...

 

[tube]

I regret not photographing the cast in question when I was at the Bellingham conference. The photograph I'm including here is of Paul Freeman's "Wrinkle foot". To me, I see a similarity as far as how the toes are splayed outward, how big the toes are, and how wide the cast is relative to it's length.

Numerous other famous casts like those from the Patterson film site and the mate of "Cripplefoot" are much more narrow, relatively, and have more bunched toes.

This is part of why I lean toward a Paul Freeman fabrication than a bear track.

 

[tube]

One more photo of "Wrinkle Foot"

 

[LTC8K6]

http://www.bigfootencounters.com/reviews/blues.htm

On February l8, l996, I paid an unannounced visit to Paul Freeman who, after persistent questioning about the footprints, confided that he had located the first tracks of that spring that very morning. Too coincidental? I thought so until I examined the string of prints, numbering in excess of 40. They measured nearly 14 inches (35cm) in length. The ground was wet from recent rains that continued sporadically over the weekend. The last fleeting traces of dermatoglyphics were still visible in some tracks indicating they had likely been laid down the previous night. Variations in toe position, indications of mid-foot flexibility and dynamic interactions with the varying soil conditions were clearly evident. In one print, the splaying toes pressed the first and fifth toes into sidewalls of the deep impressions, producing profiles of the respective digits - - to my knowledge, the first time this had been documented. I personally cast seven footprints; further details will be the subject of a separate report. These tracks gave every indication of being "alive" as Vance Orchard puts it. Suffice it to say the incident spurred me on to further investigation.

I may have to defer to tube. I actually had no idea that these tracks were "discovered" by Freeman.

 

[LTC8K6]

Hmmm......

http://www.bigfootencounters.com/sbs/somer87.htm

Nevertheless, we were still able to find a few nearly intact prints, mostly just off of the trail. (Fig. 2). One of these was of scrape marks in the soil consisting of five digits of equal length; we initially assumed they were made by a hand. This was cast by Krantz. Subsequent examination of the resultant plaster impression revealed that it matched the digits of the 17-inch-long footprint cast very closely, so it was decided that the dig marks were actually made by that individual's toes. However, a very clear handprint was discovered approximately 10 feet downhill of the trail on a 30 degree slope. This was also cast by Krantz. In addition, Greg May made casts of three other tracks that were still intact enough to be recognizable.

 

[Skeptical Greg]

One more photo of "Wrinkle Foot"

O.K. !!

Now I see where you are coming from..

I have no problem seeing a connection between this cast and what I was seeing as bear tracks..

 

[Correa Neto]

On February l8, l996, I paid an unannounced visit to Paul Freeman who, after persistent questioning about the footprints, confided that he had located the first tracks of that spring that very morning.

OK, so this particular person seems not to have too much difficulty on locating bigfoot tracks. So, here's the possibilities (not mutually exclusive):

(1) He lives or visits what is / was the territory of a bigfeet familiar group -or perhaps a rogue male- (that's how they are supposed to live, according to bigfoot experts);
(2) He is an incredibly good tracker;
(3) He is incredibly lucky;
(4) He is a hoaxer.

Now, if (1) is correct, why not use the chance and try to take sharp footage or pictures, of even bag a specimen?
If (2) and even (3) are true, why not use the guy to track bigfeet there or somewhere else, an then try to take sharp footage or pictures, of even bag a specimen?
But if (4) is correct...

[footermode]Nah, that can't be true. There's anatomical detail that only an expert could create, I mean, it has to be... No one could hoax that thing... It's true, right? He's a good guy, isn't he? Why would he make a hoax? Even if he faked one, it does not mean he faked all of them... Heck, bigfeet are real... They must be real... I can't be mistaken.... I'ts impossible for me to have been fooled...[/footermode]

 

[William Parcher]

I regret not photographing the cast in question when I was at the Bellingham conference. The photograph I'm including here is of Paul Freeman's "Wrinkle foot". To me, I see a similarity as far as how the toes are splayed outward, how big the toes are, and how wide the cast is relative to it's length.

Numerous other famous casts like those from the Patterson film site and the mate of "Cripplefoot" are much more narrow, relatively, and have more bunched toes.

This is part of why I lean toward a Paul Freeman fabrication than a bear track.

My goodness! Those toes are very narrow. It doesn't look realistic to me. "Mudfoot" also has unrealistically narrow toes.

 

[William Parcher]

My prediction: Every single person reading this thread (no matter how young you may be), will die before Bigfoot is scientifically confirmed to be a real living animal.

 

[Z]

Not me, I'm immoral. Er, uh, I mean immortal. Yeah. Just a typo. Nothing to see here... move along.

 

[William Parcher]

Secondary prediction: Immortal beings will not witness a scientific confirmation of Bigfoot (as a real, earthly-living animal) at any time during their open-ended and perpetual existence.

 

[LTC8K6]

An immortal being could just do us all a favor and tell us what he knows about giant bipedal primates that may or may not have been chilling out in the woods of this continent.

 

[UrsulaV]

An immortal being could just do us all a favor and tell us what he knows about giant bipedal primates that may or may not have been chilling out in the woods of this continent.

Hey, now, just because you live forever doesn't mean you know squat about Bigfoot!

 

[William Parcher]

This is a frame-by-frame still image extraction, from MK Davis' "Paddlefoot" animated gif. We are told that the source images used to create this gif are Cibachrome prints.

Please pay attention to the "thigh hernia" on the right leg, that is most obvious in the second and third image. It is my belief that this anomoly is actually the "bunching up" of a costume suit skin when the subject lifts its right leg.

I would now like to appeal to any JREFers who have knowledge and/or experience with the medical condition and physiology of "thigh hernias". Is this supposed to be a thigh muscle hernia? Is there such a thing in the medical record? If so, what do thigh muscle hernias look like? How might a thigh hernia of this sort affect the locomotion of a bipedal subject (human or hypothetical Bigfoot) that has such an injury?

 

[William Parcher]

Hey, now, just because you live forever doesn't mean you know squat about Bigfoot!

... but it sure as hell would give you lots of time-related opportunity to learn about the reality (or otherwise) of Bigfoot.

 

[RayG]

Please pay attention to the "thigh hernia" on the right leg, that is most obvious in the second and third image. It is my belief that this anomoly is actually the "bunching up" of a costume suit skin when the subject lifts its right leg.

Cargo pants?

RayG

 

[Z]

... but it sure as hell would give you lots of time-related opportunity to learn about the reality (or otherwise) of Bigfoot.

With our luck, we'd be immortal but still have a limited-capacity memory. Sure, you could learn most everything... but you'd forget just as much.

Then again, that could explain how immortal existence could be fun...