Moneymakin'! The BFRO Bigfoot Expeditions Thread.

[LTC8K6]

Meldrum's stories, TV appearances, and published papers are ridiculous.

Anyone who is objective can see that.

Add in his associations with hoaxers, and his participation in crap like Snelgrove Lake, and he becomes a joke.

You really only need the one paper to totally dismiss Meldrum:

http://www.isu.edu/~meldd/fxnlmorph.html

 

[LTC8K6]

Meldrum thinks this is a real track. It's laughably bad on several levels.

http://www.isu.edu/~meldd/jpg/026.jpg

What sort of fool looks at that and does anything other than laugh at the poor effort?

The sort of fool who is long gone down the rabbit hole...

 

[Jodie]

Since you have bought into the "liar and con-man" meme, could you give me a clear example where you find the only possible explanation for Meldrum's argument or statement or whatever is that he is knowingly lying?

That 40 dollars I spent on the cast of one of those "discredited more than the other examples he sells" of a bigfoot print. I do think if you sell casts you ought not sell the ones where the provider of said prints has a history of faking them.

 

[LTC8K6]

For instance, Meldrum understands how damaging the Ray Wallace revelations were to Bigfoot lore.

One would think he would not use alderfoot tracks in his papers then...

 

[Resume]

Seems to me that bigfootery is just one long con with a bunch of players but instead of Ocean's 11 it's Patty's 1113. Enthusiasts like to claim there's no money in it but does anyone believe that a Bob Gimlin or Cliff Barackman do events like the Ohio Bigfoot Conference for free? Then there's the Bigfoot Museum in Squatchy, Ca or the Bigfoot and Weed Smoking Festival in Red Mud, OK; the $$$ just depend on which car you occupy on the bigfoot gravy train.

When Meldrum alligns himself (however peripherally) with Todd Standing, he also associates himself with those shots of some sort of muppet/werewolf mask photoshopped into the shrubbery. Which are the perfect representation of the pretend nature of all things bigfoot.

 

[The Shrike]

Here's a specific claim of Meldrum's that warrants close scrutiny, from his "ichnotaxon" paper (2007):

"Discussion: The type pair of casts was originally made by Roger Patterson on October 20, 1967. These represent the earliest documenta- tion of the footprints in nearly pristine condition. Krantz labeled this pair as CA-9 and CA-10 respectively. Dupliates are reposited in the Division of Physical Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, Na- tional Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. Ten additional casts relevant to the holotype were made by Bob Titmus at the film site, nine days after the filming. The original ten casts are reposited in the Willow Creek – China Flats Museum, Humboldt County, CA."

Nowhere in this paper does Meldrum question the authenticity of these prints cast by Roger Patterson. The #1 thing one would need to establish before naming an ichnotaxon from some impressions like this would be to eliminate the possibility that they had been hoaxed. With respect to these prints he holds out as the best of the best, he doesn't even address the question. This is a science fail of epic proportion.

 

[William Parcher]

Enthusiasts like to claim there's no money in it but does anyone believe that a Bob Gimlin or Cliff Barackman do events like the Ohio Bigfoot Conference for free?

I seem to recall reading that Cliff is a middle school science teacher. He has been spending so much time on Bigfoot (including starring in Finding Bigfoot) that I wonder if he quit teaching. Anybody know?

When Meldrum alligns himself (however peripherally) with Todd Standing, he also associates himself with those shots of some sort of muppet/werewolf mask photoshopped into the shrubbery. Which are the perfect representation of the pretend nature of all things bigfoot.

He has painted himself into a corner in which he really can't call anything a hoax. To do so is to light a match which starts a fire that he cannot extinguish and it will burn down Bigfootery.

 

[William Parcher]

We're all starting to drift off topic for this thread.

 

[AlaskaBushPilot]

lol. It's okay to make nasty personal comments about posters on this forum, but don't you dare accurately characterize a con man by calling him a con man.

I am BIG TIME in James Randi's corner for calling woo peddlers charlatans, crooks, con men and every other exactly accurate description of what they are. Right on, Randi.

 

[Resume]

This is not true, at least for the expeditions in the upper Midwest. I've been on over 10 BFRO expeditions and helped organize three of them so I'm speaking from experience.

NL, how did you identify skeptics during an expedition? Or are you challenging the notion of vetting potential expedition members?

Was it on one of these expeditions that someone handed you a thermal cam on which you proceeded to see a bigfoot?

We're all starting to drift off topic for this thread.

Maybe NL can come back and answer some of the above.

 

[tsig]

You've just exposed the disconnect between you and ABP


The infamous "mid-tarsal break" for starters. He's not provided a single intelligent/valid/reasonable argument as to how the PGF tracks (or any others) provide any evidence/indication whatsoever of having a mid-tarsal break. Or as importantly, why they would. From an engineering standpoint there is no obvious reason such a (purportedly) massive creature would need or have such an insane adaptation. There is no mid-tarsal break. He simply made it up. He needed an angle and mating an obscure theory with a mythical monster seemed a natural for extending the 'credibility' of an otherwise creepy science guy who just wants to be king.

The only argument I've seen him make is "I am a professor and an expert on the mammal foot and I know a mid-tarsal break when I see one".

 

[tsig]

First of all, I'm not defending Meldrum or the rest. I think they are wrong. There is probably no Bigfoot.

My concern is with this kind of thing: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2072247.Sasquatch

Read the comments. They are impressed with Meldrum's arguments. If we were to direct them to the Meldrum thread here, what would they find prominently: Liar, Liar, and he's a nut too. Really. Who would find that sort of thing enlightening and helpful. (And I'm not saying the entire thread is a wash out -- just that the overall tone of it is more smearing than a taking to task.)

For those on this thread who have challenged me to bring up some of Meldrum's arguments that haven't been addressed -- I say look at his book to find them.

For instance, Meldrum understands how damaging the Ray Wallace revelations were to Bigfoot lore. So, in the second chapter of his book, he makes a case against the notion that Wallace was the impetus for the 50's creation of Bigfoot. Why not look at his argument and explain why it is wrong? That would be helpful to others looking here for some counterbalance to Meldrum's views.
That's the kind of thing I have in mind when I made my comments upstream.

Shrike has said he has mused over writing up a rebuttal to Meldrum's views for publication. Maybe he could throw a couple of Meldrum's arguments and his rebuttals into a new thread. That would be great.

Since you have bought into the "liar and con-man" meme, could you give me a clear example where you find the only possible explanation for Meldrum's argument or statement or whatever is that he is knowingly lying?

It only took you 263 words to not defend him.

 

[tsig]

Meldrum thinks this is a real track. It's laughably bad on several levels.

http://www.isu.edu/~meldd/jpg/026.jpg

What sort of fool looks at that and does anything other than laugh at the poor effort?

The sort of fool who is long gone down the rabbit hole...

Well, there's lots of lettuce down that rabbit hole.

 

[Drewbot]

As far as trying to make ABP's arguments sound manipulative, I would tend to disagree.

He is not selling plaster casts, or soliciting paid trips to public parks, or utilizing known hoaxed tracks to sell Bigfoot to the masses.


Bigfootry is made up of several types of people including liars, mentally disturbed and mistaken people.

The Bigfootry Elite, I am convinced, is made up of liars, who have rationalized that it is OK to lie about Bigfoot.

It is far more difficult for these people to admit to lying, than it is to just continue the lie.

I don't know what that type of disordered thinking is, but I'm sure ABP does.

 

[s4zando]

He [Meldrum] has painted himself into a corner in which he really can't call anything a hoax. To do so is to light a match which starts a fire that he cannot extinguish and it will burn down Bigfootery.

The imagery you provided in that statement is grand. How do we harness such power, so that it's proverbial heat and smoke is felt and seen throughout all BFRO expeditions?

 

[Northern Lights]

Maybe NL can come back and answer some of the above.

Didn't see this yesterday, I'm still lurking.

Regarding your questions, on the expeditions I attending and helped organize, we truly wanted everyone to be a skeptic, but it wasn't something we required to confess to before or during the trip. Relatively few actually have had encounters and the majority were there to find out for themselves.

On my last trip where I had my thermal sighting, it was not a BFRO expedition. I'm no longer participating with that group. It was an SRA expedition which is the group I'm associated with now.

 

[Resume]

On my last trip where I had my thermal sighting, it was not a BFRO expedition. I'm no longer participating with that group. It was an SRA expedition which is the group I'm associated with now.

Any particular reason?

 

[Northern Lights]

Any particular reason?

The group I'm with now was formed by three former BFRO investigators that had their own reasons for leaving and deciding to create a new group. I had worked with them for several years, and they asked me to join them. I believe they are all very upstanding individuals and enjoy being with them in the field.

 

[Drewbot]

Can you link to your sighting?

I would say based on your history that I can recall, that you had some sort of 'encounter' involving sleep, or chemical induced dream/hallucination, and instead of just admitting that was the most likely possibility, you rationalized your faulty sensory perception as a Bigfoot. You feel much more comfortable continuing the Bigfoot thing, than just admitting you had a moment of mental or neurological misfire. Now it is just in your make-up to continue promoting the Bigfoot is real thing to make yourself feel better.

That is my answer, but I have no recollection of your particular sighting.

 

[Northern Lights]

Can you link to your sighting?

I would say based on your history that I can recall, that you had some sort of 'encounter' involving sleep, or chemical induced dream/hallucination, and instead of just admitting that was the most likely possibility, you rationalized your faulty sensory perception as a Bigfoot. You feel much more comfortable continuing the Bigfoot thing, than just admitting you had a moment of mental or neurological misfire. Now it is just in your make-up to continue promoting the Bigfoot is real thing to make yourself feel better.

That is my answer, but I have no recollection of your particular sighting.

Here you go. Nope, nothing to do with sleep. Was wide awake.

http://sasquatchresearchers.org/report-for-the-sra-resercher-expedition-sept-2013/