Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum - America's "Bigfoot Professor"

[AtomicMysteryMonster]

MQ never fails to not deliver, and that's what makes it so great. One of the highlights of this season was Meldrum examining footprint casts and essentially saying, "there's nothing here". When Meldrum takes a dump on your casts, you're in trouble.

Yeah, that was a riot!

The "new species are found all the time" argument is misleading, methinks. There's not a concerted effort to find something specific. It's more along the lines of walking through a remote patch of jungle and brushing a half dozen new species off your shirt. Then scraping some more off the bottom of your shoe.

Agreed. And let's not forget "having genetic testing reveal that an animal is genetically different enough to be a considered a separate species."

Or repeatedly combing over every square inch of a Scottish lake.

Oh man, now I'm thinking of episode featuring Robert Rines' belief that the Loch Ness Monster is dead since he isn't getting any more mysterious sonar readings. Gosh, it couldn't be that those readings were due to errors caused by less advanced equipment, seals, a side effect of seiches, etc. One of these days, I really should do a thread devoted to "Monster Quest" in general.

By the way, did you ever get to check out the records for the PGF at the Library of Congress?

So, Rick Noll had to point out to Meldrum the BF "features" of the MD footage. Interesting.

I suspect that Dr. Meldrum would argue that no hoaxer would think of putting breasts on a costume or or having a fake bay sasquatch, so therefore the footage is most likely real. Now even though I don't think the MD footage really shows those two things, I do know that hoaxers can (and have) done that in the past. Ray Wallace and Ivan Marx both produced hoax photographs of female Sasquatches. In fact, one of Marx's pictures had a mother carrying a baby Bigfoot as well.

Although they're not hoaxes, several of butchykid624's humorous Youtube videos feature Bigfoot with breasts and erections (which also puts a dent in any attempt to defend the Redwoods footage by saying nobody could think of giving a Bigfoot costume an erection).

Didn't Noll also persuade Meldrum that the skookum elk lay was a BF impression?

I'm not sure about that, but I do know that the fact that some features of the lay reminded him of Meldrum's hypothetical sasquatch anatomy. In other words, it's "Sasquatch: Legend meets Confirmation bias".

 

[Kilaak Kommander]

By the way, did you ever get to check out the records for the PGF at the Library of Congress?

Yes, but it didn't turn up any surprises. All of the documents were filed by René Dahinden. The file copy of the film is a real beauty with rich, vivid color. It was in a generic container with no markings on the film itself. What stood out most was that I'm used to seeing the PGF heavily cropped. Patty is just a tiny, blurry thing in the full frame.

 

[Tyinhell]

That guy is an idiot. Read his posts, all he does is complain and take potshots at Bigfoot researchers.

The story of my life; known by many, loved by few....

 

[rockinkt]

Ty - I just about fell off my chair when I read your JREF forum handle!!!
Awesome dude, just awesome.

I look forward to reading your comments and opinions on this board.

 

[Tyinhell]

Thanks Rock....

The thoughts here are not unlike my own. I've always enjoyed reading this forum.

 

[kitakaze]

Ty,

地獄へようこそ (jigoku e yokoso)

Welcome to hell!

Come sit by the fire.

muwaHAHAHA

 

[Tyinhell]

Ty,

地獄へようこそ (jigoku e yokoso)

Welcome to hell!

Thanks Kit.

Got a real kick out of your "Wild Bunch" threads.

Great Stuff...

 

[Drewbot]

Hey TY, sorry for quoting you and evoking the "That guy is an idiot" response from Chains. But I thought your analysis of Bigfoot Scientists was spot on.

 

[Tyinhell]

Hey, that's cool Drew and thanks.

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

I really enjoy his appearances on C2C.

 

[Telaynay's G'son]

Well...he's going to be at the Honobia BF Festival later this year where the High Potentate (Ed Smith) is going to reveal the dramatic evidence (as pimped on MABRC) that's going to set Bigfootery (and the rest of the world) on it's ear.


Pardon me but doesn't this sound like paying .50 to see the bearded lady.

I understand later that evening the snipe hunt will begin in earnest.

 

[Loxton]

Meldrum and Skeptics

Speaking of the relationship between Bigfoot, Meldrum, and the skeptical community, I might note in passing that I defended Meldrum during that 2006 flap in a guest editorial at Cryptomundo.

Looking over it now, it seems to me to give cryptozoology more credit than it has perhaps earned. It's not that anything I said is untrue, but my comments do sidestep a hard reality: bad research is bad regardless of the subject matter. Unfortunately, crypto research is very often spectacularly bad. I wish that weren't so, but it is.

 

[Loxton]

I debunk it thusly: GIGO

Yep, that's the size of it. We know the Bigfoot database is stuffed with hoaxes and mistakes both. The only filters for what goes into it in the first place are the guess-based preconceptions of Bigfooters.

Trying to conclude anything from the Bigfoot database is ridiculous.

 

[Tyinhell]

Didn't Noll also persuade Meldrum that the skookum elk lay was a BF impression?

Is Meldrum incredibly stupid or is Noll an incredibly gifted con man?

I think part of it is, these guys give each other way too much credit, in the same way LAL questions how could all of the "experts" who participated in the Skookum expedition be wrong and DY be right.

I've long considered both of their opinions on alleged bigfoot evidence to be on par with a "SweatyYeti/Coolfoot" type or just above the MABRC's collective level of objectivity.

 

[Blackdog]

Here's the thing though, Ty, (welcome to the dark side BTW)...when has Noll ever expressed an objective opinion?
He might not be salivating over every tree bend or pile of brush but he wasted no time declaring the elk lay a BF impression. Not to mention his "expert" analysis of the MDF...

At least I've heard Meldrum retract some of his knee jerk opinions, I've yet to see Noll do that.

 

[Tyinhell]

but he wasted no time declaring the elk lay a BF impression.

He did admit on the BFF that one the first things they did before casting was to pick out and toss the elk hairs.(while looking for BF hair)

Hmm *Noll and co. scratching their heads*..'I wonder what all these fn' elk hairs are doing in this Bigfoot impression? They gotta' go !..'

I've yet to see Noll do that.

Although it probably would do wonders for his credibility; somehow I suspect, from the arrogance in his posts, you never will BD.

...and thanks for the welcome..

 

[Nomada]

I wonder if Bigfoot: The life and times of a legend by Joshua Blu Buhs will be on Dr. Meldrum's bookshelf?

Edited to add: Will be published May 2009.

 

[athon]

The "new species are found all the time" argument is misleading, methinks. There's not a concerted effort to find something specific. It's more along the lines of walking through a remote patch of jungle and brushing a half dozen new species off your shirt. Then scraping some more off the bottom of your shoe. Usually the only reason these species haven't been found before is because no one was looking for them. Compare that to a 40 year search for an ape-sized creature using increasingly advanced technology. Or repeatedly combing over every square inch of a Scottish lake.

Not to mention that while there are plenty of 'new species' being discovered, bigfoot wouldn't just be a new species of hominid - by all accounts it would be a new genus. This isn't like a neanderthal clomping about in the back woods, after all.

And finding a new genus (or higher) of organism doesn't happen quite as often. Lastly, often when it's said a new species is discovered, it's less that a previously unknown animal has been found, and typically more than an organism is studied and found to be a species distinct to that which has been previously catagorised.

Athon

 

[LONGTABBER PE]

I think part of it is, these guys give each other way too much credit, in the same way LAL questions how could all of the "experts" who participated in the Skookum expedition be wrong and DY be right.

oooh, I want to comment on that sooooooooooo bad

 

[Vortigern99]

He did admit on the BFF that one the first things they did before casting was to pick out and toss the elk hairs.(while looking for BF hair)

Hmm *Noll and co. scratching their heads*..'I wonder what all these fn' elk hairs are doing in this Bigfoot impression? They gotta' go !..'

I've been chuckling about this since last night. I could re-read it a hundred times and it would still be funny.