The supposed corpse of Bigfoot has been revealed as nothing but a rubber costume, and the two US men who boasted about its discovery are now - like the real Bigfoot - missing, an investigator says.
Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer, announced to the world last weekend that they had found a corpse of the legendary ape-like creature in a secret forest location in their home state of Georgia.
But the organisation that arranged that press conference, Searching for Bigfoot Inc, says it was all "a lie" and a "fraud".
Investigator Steve Kulls wrote on the Searching for Bigfoot website that, after the supposed frozen corpse was examined on Sunday, it was found to be a fake.
"I extracted some [hair] from the alleged corpse and examined it and had some concerns," he wrote.
"We burned said sample and said hair sample melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair.
"At that time we contacted [Searching for Bigfoot CEO Tom Biscardi, who was present at the press conference] who gave us permission to begin an expedited melting process.
"Within one hour we were able to see the partially exposed head, as I was now able to touch it, I was able to feel that it seemed mostly firm, but unusually hollow in one small section. This was yet another ominous sign.
"As the team and I began examining this area near the feet, I observed the foot which looked unnatural, reached in and confirmed it was a rubber foot.
"Later that day, Tom Biscardi informed us that both Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer admitted it was a costume."
Mr Whitton and Mr Dyer agreed to meet Mr Biscardi at a hotel later that day to provide a written admission of what they had done, Mr Kulls said.
But when Mr Biscardi arrived at the hotel, the pair had vanished, he said.
"The motives behind this fraud are still unknown at this time," Mr Kulls said.
"It is still unclear why Whitton who, being a police officer for the Clayton County Police Department in Georgia, got up before the world and lied and was complicit in a scheme to defraud in a felonious manner."
It was also revealed that Mr Biscardi paid an "undisclosed sum" to Mr Whitton and Mr Dyer as an advance on the returns expected from the "marketing and promotion" of the Bigfoot discovery announcement.
FoxNews.com reported the sum was rumoured to be $US50,000 ($57,000).
Loren Coleman, who runs Cryptomundo - a website devoted to cryptozoology, the study of hidden animals - said the whole scam appeared to be about money.
Despite the message on Mr Biscardi's company's website, which distanced him from the fraud, Mr Coleman said he was likely to have been part of the sham.
"He's a huckster, a circus ringmaster," he told FoxNews.com.
"It's all about money with him. It probably didn't matter to him whether it was real or not.
"[Mr Whitton and Mr Dyer] probably started out small, as a way to promote their Bigfoot tracking business, and got in way over their heads.
"These are not very intelligent individuals."
Hoax? ... the supposed body of Bigfoot crammed into a freezer. Picture: Screengrab from searchingforbigfoot.com
THERE is growing scepticism surrounding claims by two men that they discovered the dead body of Bigfoot, particularly after they admitted to faking a video interview with a scientist.
Even other Bigfoot believers are dousing the claims with cold water, with one group saying the photo of the body displayed a remarkable likeness to a fancy dress costume available on the internet.
The two men who claim to have found the body, professional Bigfoot hunters Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, say they discovered it in woods north of Georgia in the US and are keeping it in a freezer.
And despite admitting the scientist in their video was fake, they say their claims about the body are true and will still hold a press conference tonight to reveal their findings.
Mr Whitton and Mr Dyer made a video which was uploaded onto YouTube featuring a Dr Paul van Buren who said the body was authentic after conducting tests on it, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
"When this thing comes out it's going to be shocking. I've never seen anything like this before," the fake scientist said.
When the scientist was discovered to be Mr Whitton's brother, they made another video admitting their hoax and saying they did it to stop people hassling them.
The involvement of bigfoot hunter Tom Biscardi, who has made dubious claims in the past, has also fuelled scepticism.
Prominent Bigfoot researcher Jefrey Meldrum, who believes the creature may exist, told Scientific American he was extremely sceptical about the find.
"I haven't been contacted by any of the principal (people) involved in this. I've had interactions with Tom Biscardi in the past, and based on that history, I would say that anything he is involved in is suspect," Mr Meldrum said.
"The fact that the two Georgian men turned to him and not anyone with scientific credentials is very questionable."
He also said the photos looked like a hoax.
"It just looks like a costume with some fake guts thrown on top for effect. Even if (the carcass) had have been eviscerated by a predator or a scavenger, (the entrails) wouldn't just be sitting up on top like that."
The group Bigfoot Field Researchers Organisation, which believes in Bigfoot, said the corpse looked quite a lot like the Deluxe Sasquatch Costume on sale on the internet, The Times said.
Clayton men offer shaky Bigfoot 'evidence,' more promises
By Daniel Silliman www.news-daily.com In a room full of reporters, with a world-wide audience waiting to hear what they had to say, two Clayton County men, who claim to have the corpse of a Bigfoot, didn't deliver the evidence they promised would shock the world. Instead, backed by their controversial, California partner, they continued making claims, with a couple of fuzzy photos -- and more promises.
Tom Biscardi, a professional Bigfoot searcher, who has been associated with a number of hoaxes and money-making stunts, said the alleged Bigfoot body was as real as the skeptical reporters. He said Matthew Whitton, a Clayton County police officer on medical leave, and Whitton's friend, Rick Dyer, a tow truck driver, who once worked as a correctional officer, wouldn't be part of a hoax.
"Do you think these fellows would come this far and put their reputations and their jobs on the line, if they didn't have what they say they have?" Biscardi said.
At the end of Friday's press conference in California, however, that claim -- that this was all too crazy to be a con -- seemed to be the strongest "evidence" the three men had.
They have claimed they have the dead body of seven-foot-seven, 500-pound ape-man, with 16-inch feet and a lot of reddish-brown hair. A photo was released on Tuesday, supposedly showing the animal, dethawed in a freezer. The image was met with some skepticism and suspicion, some smugness, and a willingness to wait, see, and to say "maybe," until the evidence was unveiled.
The unveiled evidence consisted of:
• A photo of woods, with what looks like an upright black spot or a solitary, shadow-cloaked figure. Biscardi called this "a bipedal creature."
• A photo of jutting, upper teeth and a flat tongue, sticking out at the viewer.
• Alleged DNA results from a scientist in Minnesota, reporting three tests, one showing an inconclusive gene sequence, one showing a human gene sequence, and one showing an opossum gene sequence.
Loren Coleman, the author of a number of Bigfoot books, who has closely followed Biscardi and watched what he has skeptically called the "Georgia Gorilla" discovery, described the press conference as a carnival show.
"Biscardi is a Las Vegas promoter and a showman, and he's doing it again," Coleman said. "That's what he's really good at. It's like, 'Would you like to come into my tent? I'll show you this one picture. Isn't that interesting? Pay me to see more.'"
The three men claimed there will be an autopsy next week, and more research results coming soon. The Associated Press reported that the 45-minute press conference was attended by several hundred skeptical journalists and a man in a Chewbacca suit. When Biscardi was asked how much money he hoped to make off the Bigfoot body, he said, "As much as I possibly can."
The man reportedly attempted to raise $1.5 million for a Bigfoot hunting expedition in 2004, claimed to have captured a live one in 2005, when he started selling pay-per-view subscriptions on his web site, and then, backed out with a claim he had been hoaxed by "a crazy lady."
"He's already gone through several hoaxes," Coleman said. "We always say, 'This is the end of Biscardi. He's never coming back.' I mean, the man has nine lives."
The Bigfoot Field Research Organization, a group that attempts to verify Bigfoot sightings, issued a release calling the whole thing a hoax, calling Biscardi a "sleazy vulture."
"The purpose of this grand ruse," the release claims, "is to attract lots of attention to himself ... to hold the attention of the mass media while he arranges various deals for documentaries, books, etc."
Coleman thinks Whitton and Dyer may have actually discovered something, and then got suckered by the experienced scam artist. He also thinks it's possible they were running some scam, promoting their web site with videos and hoping to sell T-shirts and ball caps, when Biscardi came in and escalated the enterprise.
The Bigfoot Field Research Operators suggest that Biscardi may have set the whole thing up, but then back down and say Whitton and Dyer were running their own ruse when they got assistance from an expert.
The two men's story has changed constantly since they started their Bigfoot tracking business in June. In early YouTube videos, the animal was supposedly shot by a former felon, and the two men tracked it into the woods. In a second story, they were on a Bigfoot search, looking for a "family of Bigfoot" they claim to have seen in the North Georgia mountains. In a third version, they were just hiking and found it, apparently dead of open wounds.
In the hotel on Friday, Whitton said he didn't even believe in Bigfoot and it was just luck, though he continues to describe himself as "the best Bigfoot tracker in the world."
