WILL ICON FILMS EDIT OUT THE LIES FOR NAT GEO TONIGHT?

November 17th, 2013
  UPDATE BELOW

Tonight on the National Geographic Channel the two hour US version of the Icon Films/Channel-4 three part special airs under the title "BIGFOOT: THE NEW EVIDENCE" and from all the evidence so far it looks like they will be going right ahead and including the lies of commentator Mark Evans, which I discuss below.

I can see from the caption under Justin's picture on the Nat Geo site that they are still spreading the falsehood that Justin claimed the hair sample he submitted to Dr. Sykes came from the juvenile that he shot, when he never made any such claim.

Dr. Sykes KNOWS this, and never claimed any such thing himself. So much for ever believing a damned thing that comes out of National Geographic again........

I posted comments under the Nat Geo website for this show (Bigfoot: The New Evidence) and I encourage anyone else who believes in the truth to do so also. Why make the effort? Because lies, untruths and misinformation, and those who spread them, should not be allowed to go unremarked upon, especially when the research subject is as controversial, fraught with hoaxers, unsupported subjective experiences, and tenuous evidence as that of Bigfoot. Whether it is Daisy's in Boxes, Frivolous Lawsuits brought by those with Fraudulent Copyrights, or worst of all Pseudoscientists claiming Angelic Origins for something that seems to act an awfully lot like a very real, top of the food chain, predatory species to this Zoologist, the truth matters.  Yes "truth" is often subjective, and different for each perceiver, but in a case like this, where a person's experience has been documented over and over again, in print and recorded media, letting someone else come along and twist it to suit his own mocking ego gratification should not be allowed.  It is not right and it should not be allowed no matter what you think of Justin and his story.  

If we ever want the real truth about Bigfoot to be known, or the subject to be taken seriously, we can not stand idly by and allow credible institutions like National Geographic to be allowed to air such drivel..............................   

Update:  I have finished watching the U.S. version which has been edited down from 3 hours to 2, and while still glossing over any evidence that did not fit into the "bears are responsible for everything paradigm" they did at least edit out most of the mocking and ridicule Mark Evans displayed in the U.K. Trilogy. But the lie that Justin claimed his hair sample came from the juvenile he shot was still front and center, so hopefully National Geographic, if not Icon or Mr. Evans himself can issue a retraction and apology before it airs again.  Because that would be the right thing to do.

A FEW FACTS CONCERNING ICON FILMS AND CHANNEL-4

OCTOBER 27th, 2013

Well I just got done watching the 2nd installment of the Icon Films/Channel-4 Bigfoot Mockumentary, and the host, Mark Evans, pretty much dismissed us all as "Fanatical Believers"....

Dr. Bryan Sykes

And this is what I have to say about the part involving Justin Smeja:

Presenter Mark Evans outright lied TWO TIMES when he stated that Justin claimed the hair sample, found 3 weeks after the shooting incident, was from either of the Bigfoot he shot, let alone the juvenile.  He has never claimed it was from the baby and has only, repeatedly, said that it was found in the general vicinity of where he shot the ADULT, three weeks later and under the snow where it was sniffed out by his dog.  I was there during the filming of Justin's segment and during the interview later between Professor Sykes and Justin, and he never claimed any such thing about the hair sample, it was only the boots that he claimed had the blood of the young one on them.  And I want to make it clear that what Dr. Sykes told us was that whatever was on the boots was too degraded to give viable DNA or to even show up as blood by Spectrophotometry.  He never claimed there was nothing on the boots to begin with. Justin wore those boots for approximately a year after the shooting incident, including all his subsequent hunting trips and the additional blood deposits those produced, before he turned them over to Bart Cutino of the Sierras Evidence Initiative for analysis, so what could have been viable evidence if the boots had been turned over immediately, was made nonviable after a years passing.  Commentator Mark could not even manage to get Justin's age right, he is 27 not 31 as Mr. Evans claimed...........

Sierra Evidence Initiative

I can only imagine that Dr. Sykes is not pleased with the way this "documentary" series engaged in skimming over scientific facts that support the idea that there is still an unknown hominid running around in the Himalayas, and instead claimed the exciting discovery of a new hybrid bear species disproved the possibility of anything else, as well as the way the host mocked the subjects of episode two. As I stated above I was there during the interview between Professor Sykes and Justin Smeja, and at one point the good Dr. had to stop the cameras and reprimand Mr. Evans and remind him that he was not going to tolerate disrespectful lines of questioning that implied the witness was being less than truthful. And Dr. Sykes conveyed to me after the interview that he believed Justin's story and was disappointed he could not help to back it up with any DNA corroboration.

I know many of you have dismissed Justin as a liar, or an amoral Bigfoot murderer, but I would just like to go on record as saying I have spent a considerable amount of time with him and do not believe he is a liar. I believe that Justin believes what he is saying is actually what he experienced. I have spent days and nights in the field with him and I have watched him under very adverse and emotional conditions and I do not believe he is lying. He has gained nothing from going public with this story except grief and threats and financial loss. I know him to be, from over a year of personal interaction with him, a person who tells the truth, no matter how hurtful he knows that truth will be to others. And the only reason he went public with his story is that he believes in the truth, and he wanted to understand what it really was that he shot. It would have been much easier for him to stay quiet, as so many others who in the past who have had a sighting or may have killed one have done. Believe what you want, that is what everyone in Bigfooting does anyway despite any evidence that refutes erroneous ideas, or supports those they don't want to be true...

I was there when Dr. Sykes gave Justin the results of his boot analysis, and his tears where genuine, because it was the last hope he had for getting people to believe what happened really happened.  He was genuinely shaken and upset.

Bigfoot Evidence

Do I agree with Justin's current desire to shoot another one?  HELL NO!  But I understand that the reason he now feels the need to do so is because no one, not even some members of his family, are going to believe him until he does.  And after the flippant, rude and mocking dismissal of the host Mark Evan's, you can understand why some people do believe that a body is the only way anyone is ever going to prove they exist, "that no one is going to believe they exist until someone does kill one."

And I will add that on the second day Justin and I met up with the Icon Film crew it was within a few hours of them experiencing the "wood knock response" that took place during another segment of the show, and they were all genuinely excited and convinced that it was not due to any other humans in the area, as there was no sign of anybody else around.  This did not stop Mark Evans from then dismissing it in retrospect as "just some other bigfooters in the area knocking back"....

Bigfoot DNA Sequenced In Upcoming Genetics Study

I do feel guilty that I told Justin that he could "trust this film crew" based on my erroneous belief that they were from the BBC, a belief in turn based on the misinformation being spread at the time by a certain self-promoting "ologist" / Pseudo-scientist who attached himself to Dr. Sykes study early on, and who had been throwing his good name and that of the BBC around in numerous public statements of self-promotion on his own and other's blog sites. The film crew was British yes, but that is about where any similarities to the esteemed reputation of the British Broadcasting System end.

My friend Adam Davies had this to say after we had watched the first installment of this series which contained Dr. Sykes revelation of his data that supported a new "Bear Hybrid" existing in the Himalayas: 

"I think it's exciting. It’s just one type of the `Yeti` though. I have interviewed people in Nepal who know the difference between a Yeti and a bear. The anatomical analysis done by the presenter was also very superficial. The explanation given for the divergent toe found in Yeti prints was wholly inadequate. The analysis of records was also flawed. I chose not to appear in the program myself. There are accounts of Yetis written many centuries earlier that describe a `wildman`. I could go on. I do think Professor Sykes is a decent honourable man. That is why I have said that people should wait to see all the results gathered and his experiences which will be detailed in his book. I know there is plenty more to come yet. But I don't hold my breath for the second episode personally. Sykes analyses the evidence as he finds it. This is an exciting find but it's just one part of the explanation of the Yeti, not the whole."  Adam Davies

http://www.awesomehospital.com/2010/10/dr-bigfoot-for-the-cbldf/

Pictures from the 2 days we spent with the film crew:

Icon's less than forthright host pretending to meet Justin
 for the 1st time in my truck

"Recreating" the blood on the boots using hot sauce.......

Justin and Professor Sykes were filmed talking for over an hour, too bad they didn't include most of this footage as it would have been very enlightening.

Good Company, good conversation, a beautiful vista, 
and my favorite, Newcastle, what more could a Zoologist long for?

IS THIS BIGFOOT HAIR?

Could this be the DEFINITIVE proof that we have been looking for???  

The proof we need to finally convince the world ONCE AND FOR ALL that those of us who spend way too much time in the woods thinking about what could be lurking behind every tree we pass-by, have in fact been engaged in the valid pursuit of an extremely large but unknown creature.  A creature who walks upright and is frighteningly similar to us, yet so completely different that they haunt our dreams, both waking and sleeping, for a greater majority of our lives than almost anything else??

Do we finally have what it takes to bring this topic MAINSTREAM?  

I was handed the above sample while up in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range a few days ago.  My friend said here you go, I just found some of what I know has been submitted for DNA analysis to at least one study currently under way.  I looked at what was in my hand, and then back at him, and incredulously asked "Black Moss"?  There are people who think Black Moss is Bigfoot hair?"                                                                

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bryoria_nadvornikiana.jpg

Yep he said, I have witnessed this myself.  This was hard for me to comprehend, as anyone who has spent much time at all in the forests of North America will have quickly come across at least one variety of this common lichen of the Genus Bryoria.  It grows in trees and bushes and when it falls is found laying around in clumps or tangles amidst other debris. Yes it is usually greenish, grayish, or brownish in color, but can come in a wide variety including yellow and black, as in the variety found in this picture, Bryoria nadvornikiana, which is also found in lighter colors here: 

http://www.sharnoffphotos.com/lichens/bryoria_nadvornikiana.html

If we take a closer look at my above sample we can see that the hair-like clump has curls and stems coming out in an abundance of directions all branching off of each other, as well as having a very fibrous appearance in general.  

Close-up of Sierra Lichen Sample

When I touch it, it is very course, heavy and almost rubbery, not something I would ever think of as characteristic of hair, and especially not correlating to the description of the kind of hair the witnesses I have talked with have conveyed as seeing on Bigfoot.  This clump could almost be described as "pubic-like" though much thicker and heavier than that, but does not conform to the way that the hair of any animal, including us Homo sapien members of the Kingdom Animalia, is known to grow.

Further close-up of my sample

As you can see it did not take any special equipment, like a microscope or spectrophotometer, to do a little leg work to determine that this is not hair or fur, as hair/fur does not grow in a branching, divergent fashion off of other shafts, as this lichen sample does.

And closer still

All I needed was my cell phone camera set on it's maximum 4X close-up setting.

For more information on mammalian hair growth please follow this link: Structural Characteristics of the Hair of Mammals

So for me this lichen is a great example of why it is so important to do the proper follow up work when we are out in the woods trying to collect evidence and calling ourselves "Field Researchers".  Even as amateurs, without scientific training or access to laboratories and collections of known specimens to use for comparison, everyone now has the great resources available on the internet, which can allow for the proper due diligence when determining if something is or is not related to Bigfoot.  Did you take a picture of something you think was a Bigfoot?  Then it is of utmost importance to go back at a later time and investigate what is still present where that picture was taken, so you can show that what you are claiming is a creature is in fact no longer there, and so you can take measurements of the surroundings to determine the size of the object in your picture.  Did you find something you think could be a biological sample from a Bigfoot and which could provide DNA for a definitive analysis and proof of an unknown species? Then please do your best to rule out any other more probable explanations before jumping to the conclusion that what you have found must be from Bigfoot.  

Remember the Principal of Occum's Razor, which in a nut shell states that the theory with the fewest assumptions should be used first.  In other words, don't automatically assume you have something from a Bigfoot, just because you don't know what it is in your hand.  Use the Scientific Method and first try to prove to yourself that what you have is NOT Bigfoot in origin, then if you have ruled out all other explanations you can proceed with the analysis needed to show that it is!

Possible explanations can become needlessly complex. It is coherent, for instance, to add the involvement of Leprechauns to any explanation, but Occam's razor would prevent such additions, unless they were necessary.

You can read about and see more pictures of the Bryoria Lichens at the links below:

Bryoria nadvornikiana 

Bryoria Species 

Lichen Index 

Bryoria Images 

I HAVE HAD A REVELATION!

Lemurnade

The Lemurians Hath Spoken To Me!  

Sayeth the Lemurs:  

And the Nephilim descended upon the earth, and it came to pass that they saw that those called the lemurs possesseth really Big Feet, and they were impressed beyond all previously experienced heights of impressedness, as their own feet were diminutive, and they declared that this was good, and vowed that they would obtain these large feet through any means possible...

Ring-Tailed Lemurs

And in their desireth to cover up their covetousness for large appendages, they introdusethed some mtDNA to cover their previously small tracks, and so it came to be 15,000 years later on the earth that is flat, and which is revolvethed by the sun, that a new race of PEOPLE was deemed worthy of their Constitutional Rights. Hallelujah!"

Why Do Lemurs Live In Madagascar?

And then Prophet SasquatchScoop divulged Missing chapter 411 verses 15 through 20:

 "15 And it came to pass, as the Sasquatch were gone away from them into the forest, the Ketchumites said one to another, Let us now go even unto Nacogdoches, and see this thing which is come to pass, which Melba hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Melba, and David, and the DNA Study published in a pseudo journal.

17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this study.

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by Melba.

19 But Melba kept all these things, and petitioned the government.

20 And the Ketchumites returned, glorifying and praising Melba for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them."

And thusly The Church Of We Don't Need No Real Science was formed atop the shifting sands traversed by the Ostriches of wishful thinking, the Ketchumites! 

Praise Pseudoscience!

Prophet SasquatchScoop: Praise Melba!!

But in all seriousness folks, the Lemurs are THE most endangered Primate.  If you would like to support a creature truly in need of protection and habitat restoration please go here, learn more, and make a Donation if you are able: Lemurs Are The Most Threatened Mammals In The World: 

Most Threatened Mammals

From Lemurworld.com:

The Lemur is a native of Madagascar. They are also found at Comoro Islands.

The word Lemur is Latin and means spirits of the night. 

There are many legends throughout cultures that talk about the Lemurs being active at night. They are nocturnal.

Lemurs are a type of primate known Prosimians. This means ape! They are considered to be the type of primate at the highest risk of extinction.

There are many different species of Lemurs. They include the Alatron Gentle Lemur, Aye- Aye Lemur, the  Indri Lemur, Black and White Ruffled Lemur, Red Ruffled Lemur, and the Ring Tailed Lemur.

The smallest species of Lemur weights about 10 grams.

The tail is often longer than the body.

They have opposing thumbs. They also have long toes. They use them for climbing and for holding on. They don’t have claws either. Instead they have nails.

They don’t see very well in color but they do have good vision overall.

Most Lemurs live all their life in trees. However, many of the larger species also live on the ground.

It isn’t unreasonable to see some species of Lemurs active during the day.

The Lemurs are very social and the live in family groups.

Females have dominance over the male Lemurs.

The approximate life span of a Lemur in the wild is about 18 years.

Several species of Lemurs are currently at risk of being extinct in the near future. Even with conservation efforts there continues to be serious barriers to protecting them.

Lemur Pictures

5-4-13 ADDENDUM:

My response to a recent accusation that I was "Closed Minded":

Knowledge Tree

I have seen things that many people have not seen and/or don't believe to be true. That does not mean I expect others to believe me 100% without any kind of evidence or scientific proof.  My mind is very open and hopefully one day the further understanding of things involving Quantum Mechanics and other branches of Physics and Science will help us know many more facts about the world around us and what is really possible and based on reality.

I also know that many people experience many things that are purely subjective or spiritual experiences, and no one person's perception of reality is the same as that of anyone else's.  Because of this we need to rely on the Scientific Process to weed out what is based on Universal Scientific Law and is therefore repeatable and shown to be true and fact based, from that which is just an interesting possibility but which can't be repeated so can't be proven in any way. Science leads to new information which can be used to clarify and substantiate many things that in the past were thought to be false or were not known.  It is a continuing process that builds upon itself.

There are many possibilities out there that are interesting to read about or chase after, but I chose to spend my limited time and energy on those that I can actually have some hope of collecting evidence for, and in turn proof that they are real. 

Currently Bigfoot fits that criteria perfectly!  

The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers

 

"Bigfoot Blues", Or What I am Reading Right Now!

Well I am finally taking a break from all the painting, tiling and tenant reclamation/rehab work I have been doing on my house that I vacated 7 years ago, and moved back to on the 8th, as the Real Estate market is rapidly rising again in Sacramento so it looks like I am back in the "Flipping" Biz that the bubble burst of 2005 had put on hold!  What am I doing on this "break" you may ask?  Why reading about Bigfoot of course!

Written by Pamela Foster, who was born and raised in Humboldt County and therefore knows about all things Bigfoot and all aspects of the local culture, "Bigfoot Blues" is the story of Samantha, the daughter of a crusty lifelong "Bigfooter", who was raised in the neighborhood Bar chock full of the numerous colorful locals, and who finds herself on the adventure of a lifetime during which she also unearths her authentic self and the key to love and happiness.  I was hooked from chapter one, and kicked myself for starting it right before I had to head out for the evening! But once home I barely put it down until I finished it a day and a half later.  I can also say that it was high-jacked off my nightstand by a non-Bigfooter who read it all in less than a day, and who loved every second of it, so it's allure is definitely not confined to just the Bigfooting crowd.  

Watch the Trailer Here:

Thank you so much for the signed copies of both your Books Pamela!  I have greatly enjoyed conversing with you and hope to meet you in person this May at the Old Town Eureka Arts Alive Event where you will be signing copies at Cafe Nooner!  Click these links to read more about "Bigfoot Blues" and it's wonderful Author Pamela Foster and make sure you check out her other book Redneck Goddess as well!

See my Amazon Review for more. 

Bigfoot Or B.S.?

The Scientific Journal Of Failure

Well I don't know about the rest of you out there, but as a result of the Ketchum "Study" delivering the death knell on Bigfoot being taken seriously in the Scientific Community and the non-Bigfoot believing population in general, I feel like I am done even trying.  If Dr. Sykes fails to have success coming up with anything unequivocally verifiable and replicable by other legitimate scientists, because that is how peer review is supposed to work dear people, then I am afraid there never will be the kind of proof we need in order to be taken seriously.  Yes there is always the slight chance that a body might be obtained some day, by accidental means or happenstance hopefully, because I certainly am not a proponent of killing one just so we can study them, but since that has not happened historically I am fairly dubious it is going to happen now.  

Will 2013 be "The Year Of The Bigfoot"?  Probably not, just as 2012, 2011, 2010,..... were not.  But if Sykes does hit a home run and deliver the goods then I guess we are going to be dealing with a whole new ball game.  Until then I have grown weary of the pictures of blobs, the transparent hoaxers and liars, the egos and posturing, and most especially those who want to continue believing in something that has clearly failed, in the face of all the facts that it has clearly failed, and are now ludicrously insisting that those of us who understand that it has clearly failed are the ones who have closed our minds and are not "facing reality".  Good luck with that mentality in the real world. The realilty is that there is no data backing up anything Ketchum is claiming.  All she produced after 5 years of taking other peoples hard earned samples and money were a few small sections of mixed up snippets from known species. The entire genomes of 3 individual members of a novel species?  Where is that Dr. Ketchum?  If it exists please do share........

Or Will It?

So yes some of you may have noticed that I have shut down my Facebook account, I am enjoying the peace and quiet and drama free existence out here in the real world right now.  Well if not drama-free then at least it is real drama and not the never ending round of misunderstood meanings and words and hurt feelings and bruised egos of the cyber world.  I am starting some exciting new projects out here including finishing up the classes I have been taking, a new job and a move back to the Davis/Sacramento area that I consider home. So for right now I have no plans to reactivate my Facebook.  Maybe in a few weeks or months I may, it all depends on how I feel and what I want to do.  So to those of you in the Cyber Bigfoot World who I do consider real and true friends, take care and I will pop in once in awhile to say hi.  Keep on fighting the good fight for truth and reality in Bigfoot research, but only do so if YOU are enjoying yourself and getting something out of it.  Because once you no longer are it is not worth the effort. If you need to contact me you can do so here.

There will always be those who just want to deny or accuse or dismiss the facts in favor of whatever their fantastical belief of the moment is, and for whatever motivation they have for holding onto that belief.  Facts are facts despite someone's belief otherwise.  Beliefs are fine, as long as the person who holds them is not expecting others to accept them as irrefutable reality, with no actual proof or data to back them up.  Once a person starts expecting that, and dictating that anyone who questions those beliefs or asks for proof of them is "being disrespectful and must be shut down", then all you have is a cult.  A cult of belief that will not accept any fact that disputes that belief, and will dismiss any evidence to the contrary as part of the "conspiracy of the closed minded big brother establishment".  That is the argument of people with no data to back up their claims.  That is the argument of those not dealing with reality in the real world.  Belief is fine as long as you acknowledge that it is your own personal paradigm that makes you feel happy, but don't try to force others to go along with it or attack them for having proof that your particular belief is flawed.

I am an open minded person.  In fact I think it is entirely possible that the creatures we call Bigfoot, whatever they are, could have abilities and senses that we currently have no understanding of.  I am most fascinated by this possibility and it is one of the reasons I became interested in this mystery.  I find a lot of the stories from people who have experienced these unexplainable phenomena very believable.  I BELIEVE that they believe what they experienced really happened.  But my belief and their belief can not be considered proof or evidence at this time.  Those experiences and stories should be collected and documented however because at some time in the future we may be able to understand and explain them.  Everything in the Universe has an explanation, even if we do not understand what that is at the moment.  But none of that changes the facts that the Ketchum Study failed, and failed in all the worst ways.  It was never a transparent or above board process, but was mired in misinformation, lies and subterfuge if you honestly look at the history of the last 5 years.  It failed to adhere to the principals of real science and when advised how to do so by those reviewing it, it failed to realign itself within those principles despite have many years to do so.  It was clearly driven by the agenda and egos of two less than qualified or objective members of the community, whose goals as evidenced by the back-story of websites set in place before any scientific findings had even been found, was to propel their personal beliefs and to profit from that belief.

So until something worth discussing manages to surface in the Bigfoot world I will be doing the thing that I actually enjoy about Bigfooting, getting out into the beauty of nature with friends and fellow researchers and trying to figure something out for myself.  If I do figure anything out I will be sure to let you all know, but I guarantee that I will not be making any claims of indisputable fact about it unless I have the data to back it up !Until that time all we can do is to share and document our anecdotal "evidence" in the hopes that it will someday lead to our actual understanding of what this great mystery is all about.  Because in the end it is that mystery that brought us all here in the first place! 

I am not interested in "hits" or "views" or making money from Bigfoot.  I am interested in the truth. The truth is out there, whatever that truth may be....................

In Search Of The Truth

Please Show Us The WHOLE Sequencing Data!

4-21-13 UPDATE IV: 

"For those of you who think the "Angel DNA" conversation with Dr. Melba Ketchum released yesterday is photoshopped, here's the truth from the person who released it. Bigfootology.com's Rhetman Mullis had urged Dr. Melba Ketchum to "do the right thing" and collaborate with other scientists such as Dr. Sykes to ensure her methodology and science was sound. In early 2012, after submitting samples and having long conversations with Ketchum, Rhetman realized that there was a problem and found Ketchum's conclusions highly "questionable". Here's a statement from Rhettman Mullis regarding Dr. Melba Ketchum and why he chose to release his conversations with her:"

I was privy to this information shortly after it happened and it is one of the main reasons many of us had so many doubts about her credibility before her self-publication of unsubstantiated "data" took place 2 months ago.

Read More at Bigfoot Evidence: Rhettman Mullis Explains The Release of His Conversation With Dr. Melba Ketchum

2-28-13 UPDATE III: 

The complete Report on the Sierra Site Sample now in!

History of “Sierra Kills” Tissue Submission & Testing (Frozen & Salt-Cured Tissue)
- By Bart Cutino 

"As I’ve stated previously in my summary attachment to our Trent University report regarding the “circumstantial” Sierras tissue, our objective and responsibility to the public, fellow researchers, the hunter/submitters and frankly ourselves, was to independently contract multiple labs to screen this sample as a precautionary measure and hopefully rule out “all” potential North American mammalian candidate contributors." Continue Here

2-26-13 UPDATE II:  

Breaking News!  Real Geneticist who has analyzed the available Ketchum "Sequencing" says it is a combination of human chromosome 11, cat, dog and panda bear, amongst other things, and is the result of contamination/mixing and poor technique. Watch 6 real Scientists discuss all aspects of her self publication here:

 
UPDATE:  Many of you have been citing the small sequences of genomic data that Ketchum included in one of her "supplements" as the sequencing I am calling for.  This is just a small amount which she has removed from the whole genomic context, an amount far too small to prove her claims of having completed the entire genomic sequencing on several individuals of a new species, individuals who supposedly differ enough from all other known species to be a new, or hybrid one, but which resemble each other enough to be considered the same "novel species".  The small nucleotide region/s she has included do not prove what she is asserting.  As an example it would be like someone saying their address is 123, so they must be the person who lives at 123 Street Name, City, State, Zip Code, without showing that the person does indeed live at the same street, city, and state.  

Small sequences could just be a mutation/difference in one individual, but which would not make them a new species.  We all have these differences, that is why each individual's DNA is like a fingerprint, no two are exactly alike except in the case of identical twins, as they derive from the same egg/sperm combination so their DNA is shared before they split from one another.  This is why DNA evidence is taken so seriously in a court of law.  She needs to turn over these full sequencing genomes to qualified geneticists to have them confirmed.  Dr. Meldrum and Dr. Sykes would be glad to assist with this I am sure, so her argument that she can't do so because the "mainstream" does not take her seriously is a clear fallacy.  

I have added some new articles below as well! 


A review of the latest opinions on the DNA Results, including the Sierras Evidence Initiative's disclosure on their sample which was included in the Ketchum study!  (See Below)

Data Processing

Well for all of you who have been trying to keep up with everything surrounding the release of the Ketchum "Paper", below are links to many of the latest evaluations by credible sources.  Once I am all moved and have gotten settled into my new job I am hoping that Ketchum herself will have finally released the "Amazing Data" related to her supposed Bigfoot Genome Sequencing.  Then at last some real analysis can begin on whether or not she has succeeded, as her non-peer reviewed self-publication has claimed.  It is 12 days now since her paper was self-published and still no sign of that actual new "genomic" data.

I had hoped wholeheartedly over the last 2 years that she would accomplish what she had been promising, despite all the behind the scenes stories I was hearing from my friends and colleagues who were working with her, and who were becoming very concerned with her credibility.  Not only because of the way she seemed to be milking her study for cash, but because of the bizarre religious connotations she was making about what her study would prove.  These claims changed depending on who she was talking to and what they wanted to hear, but some of the claims where that "they" had either alien or angelic DNA present.......The last we heard from her on Coast to Coast Radio was that she was abandoning her DNA work to do further research at her "Habituation Site" (should be right around 52min 25sec in the Interview).

Genomic Sequencing

Personally I don't care what Sasquatch turn out to be or where they actually fit into our family tree, I just want to know the TRUTH about what they are.  I was hoping we would see some real science to back up all the witness reports and personal experiences which make up the current circumstantial evidence for the likely existence of the Sasquatch species, whatever that species turns out to be.  Sadly no one has yet to accomplish this feat, and I can only keep on hoping that Dr. Skyes at Oxford does produce irrefutable data that we can all celebrate in it's accuracy and legitimacy!  

You can read about the Scientific Process here, and hopefully get an idea of how and why the Ketchum study has so far failed to adhere to these standards, let alone release the actual sequencing data, leading to the grave disappointment of so many of us who understand why it should have been so important to do so:  What Is Science And Is It Important To Bigfoot?.  After all she has circumvented the actual Journalistic Peer Review Process by publishing her own data (Sorry folks but there is no evidence of the legitimate Journal she claims to have bought, and why would she do that and then obliterate all record of it's past publications and Academic Review Board????), yet she is now claiming she can't release her sequencing due to Genbank's discrepancies not her own, so why not just Self-Publish your Sequencing data too Dr. Ketchum?  Show us the "Meat" that your claims are based on, or perhaps I should say "Steak"......

I still hold out some hope that something can be salvaged from all this, as so many good and legitimate people were involved in the sample collection and funding of this project.  But until her actual sequencing data is seen I remain unconvinced of anything but her lack of professionalism, which is all that the news stories quoted below have had to base their opinions on as well:

2-14-13

Dr. Meldrum's first statement on how the DNA paper was released:
 

[JEFF SPEAKING] The journal was created on a GoDaddy template on Feb 4, by a third party, with a one-year contract. There is no information about who is editing the "journal" or who the members of an editorial board might be. I queried the contact feature on this matter but have received no reply. This does not appear to be a refereed journal. It appears to merely be a front for a self-published report. The sequences have not been uploaded to Genbank.  

Project Sasquatch

2-14-13 

“It’s clearly a fake Vanity Journal with lots of ShutterStock pictures, misspellings and it was only created on 2/4/13. I’ve only read the abstract and conclusion and neither makes any sense.”

More at SciGuy

2-14-13

"She remained silent for the last two months before finally posting a link to her paper on an online journal called ‘Denovo Scientific Journal.' The only problem is the journal did not exist before 9 days ago! It was literally created to self-publish her material, basically circumventing the peer-review process. She later explained her reason for doing this was because of "scientific bias" among the journals she submitted to. So, instead of sending complementary copies to genetic specialists to garner some kind of credibility, she has opted to send them to independent Bigfoot researchers--the direct opposite of peer-review. That's like giving cotton candy to a child; of course they are going to like it. Everyone else who wants to read the paper has to pay her $30. Most journals charge "per article" prices for those without a university proxy, but what I find most troubling about the situation is that Ketchum's DNA sequencing company is tanking. It currently has a rating of "F" from the Better Business Bureau. This has led some people to speculate that she dreamed the paper up to rake in cash from Bigfoot enthusiasts."
 

More at Research Gate 

2-15-13

On behalf of myself and The Olympic Project, I'd really like to clarify a few things about the Ketchum paper and the Denovo Journal. Let me make this very clear. Our role in this effort was simply to provide samples for this study. We did indeed supply many samples including hair, tissue and saliva. I have been in support of her effort since the beginning because I was extremely happy that someone stood up and was willing to take this on with hopes of bettering BF research. Our part in this was simple. We gathered samples, submitted them and sat back with high hopes. Beyond that, we have nothing to do with the way the paper came out, and we have nothing to do with how it's structured. We are simply submitters. I have been receiving many phone calls and pm messages with a large variety of questions and inquiries. Folks, I can't answer all these questions. They are not my questions to answer, please refer to Melbas team. My personal submission was the Sierra sample. Genome sequencing was performed on this sample at Texas university. It's my hope that the test results from this analysis can now be looked at by qualified eyes in the scientific community and more can be learned about it.

Thank you,
Derek Randles.
Olympic Project

2-15-13 

"It would be a huge story if all the work done by Ketchum and her team ultimately leads to scientific confirmation of the reality of Sasquatch. But at this point, the new wrinkles about the DeNovo Science Journal have only added to the credibility issues by a foot or two -- a Bigfoot."

More at The Huffington Post

2-15-13

"However, geneticists who have seen the paper are not impressed. “To state the obvious, no data or analyses are presented that in any way support the claim that their samples come from a new primate or human-primate hybrid," Leonid Kruglyak of Princeton University told the Houston Chronicle. “Instead, analyses either come back as 100 percent human, or fail in ways that suggest technical artifacts.”

More at "The Scientist"

2-19-13

"To make an end-run around the process by erecting a facade in the form of a so-called new journal and allege that it is edited and reviewed, without providing any of that information on the public web page, it appears that she has undertaken an effort to self-publish, just to get it out there," Meldrum told The Huffington Post. "And, to boot, she's charging $30 a pop for a copy of the paper."
 

More at The Huffington Post

 2-19-13

"The issue(s) as I see it is the way the study has been conducted and presented. Science has no room for cloak and dagger behind the curtain secrecy. There have been numerous inconsistencies, if not flat out lies, obvious signs of an agenda being pushed, and now what seems to be profiteering taking place. NDA's, copyrights for book and film deals, viewing fees, teaser clips of videos, business contracts, financial partnerships, I fail to see how these are normal and acceptable parts of a non-biased scientific inquiry."

More at Bigfoot Crossroads

2-21-13

"The DeNovo Scientific Journal has no other studies, articles, papers or reviews, and only Ketchum’s paper has been “published” by the journal, NBC News pointed out. It also is not subscribed to by any major library or university, and its website apparently didn’t exist until three weeks ago. In the words of LiveScience’s Benjamin Radford, “It is not an existing, known or respected journal in any sense of the word.”

More at Time Magazine

2-23-13

The Sierras Initiative Information Release:

The Sierras Site Initiative led by Bart Cutino posts a statement about why they felt the need to do independent testing of the circumstantial Smeja sample:  Thank you Justin Smeja for respecting Wally Hersom's wishes that you not speak out about your experience with Ketchum until after she had taken her study to it's conclusion.

Read and Listen here:  Behind the Scenes with the Smeja Sample Revealed

The Sierra Sites DNA report and full data which conflicts with the Ketchum claims:

Trent University DNA Results

2-23-13

Listen as Jeffrey Kelley addresses the Ketchum claims of sample discrepancy:

Ketchum vs Smeja Who Is Lying

2-24-13

"It couldn’t be that the paper STARTED with the premise that Sasquatch is real and the data she collected now PROVES that. There are lines of evidence that show she had already come up with her hypothesis long before she was able to “confirm” it through these nuDNA results. That would be sham inquiry to me – when you already have the answer in mind and work backwards. It’s not good science."

"Science is a tough gauntlet to run. She complained about the time it took, how picky everyone was, the skepticism she got. I don’t have much sympathy. That’s how it goes. It’s not the best system but it’s the best one we have right now to weed out all the trash. If you want the respect from the scientific community, you must do these annoying and tedious things. And squarely face your critics. Instead, Melba has chosen to plead her case to the sympathetic pro-Bigfoot audience, like the audience of Coast to Coast AM. Twice. Some advice: that is exactly the LAST thing you should be doing to gain credibility. Science isn’t done on late night radio and Facebook. It doesn’t take a scientist to tell you that. But many Bigfooters can see that this is certainly NOT what they hoped from the promises of this DNA study."

Read more at Doubtful News

2-24-13

"Ketchum referenced the Milinkovitch paper as circumstantial evidence of Sasquatch across the modern world for centuries and the referenced literature is incontrovertible proof of their existence.

There's only one problem with the paper she cited. It's a damn April jokes from 2004. Apparently, the paper is well-known to many students and it is often brought up as one of the best known April Fools jokes in research literature. This is even noted in the paper itself:"

Read more at Bigfoot Evidence

2-24-13

"Or, long story short: what happened, in the period immediately preceding the appearance of the JAMEZ on about Jan. 4, 2013, that could have suddenly lit a very hot fire under Dr. Ketchum, causing her to seemingly rush into a bizarre and poorly-executed succession of “journals” and self-publication?"

" On December 26, one Tyler Huggins published, on several sites, the results of independent testing of what has been called the centerpiece of Dr. Ketchum’s paper, sample #26, aka The Sierra Steak, collected by Justin Smeja. Why, you ask, would this have upset Dr. Ketchum’s often-stated determined plan to have her paper published in a quality peer-reviewed scientific journal? Let’s list the ways:  

Read this extensive list here at Over the line, Smokey!

2-25-13

"We pulled out some of Dr. Kokjohn's questions, but also provided the email from Dr. Kokjohn so you can see the questions in context.

1. What happened to the original founder species?
2. The Hybrids are abundant, yet the founder species is extinct?
3. How could a hypothetical species so close to modern humans to interbreed and produce viable, fertile offspring not share homology to the same entities in their extended family?
4. Where did the sequences not in GenBank originate?

Dr. Kokjohn added, "I am not impressed with the data I have seen, but from that I draw no conclusions regarding the existence or non-existence of Bigfoot."

It should be noted we reached out to Dr. Melba Ketchum to see if she had any insight to any of these questions; we gave her ample time to respond and she did not have a comment at the time of this post." 

Read more at The Bigfoot Lunch Club

From My 2-12-13 "On My Mind Right Now" Page

Tuesday, February 12th, 2013:

Has Ketchum Committed Professional Suicide?
 
Well Melba Ketchum has just hammered the last nail into the coffin of her scientific credibility. She has created a website posing as a real Scientific Journal in order to publish her own paper without any actual review or corroboration from other members of the Academic Community.  This is not how legitimate data becomes part of our scientific knowledge base.  This is how those who practice Pseudoscience operate.  Read about the announcement here: Bigfoot Evidence

This, "Denovo A Scientific Journal", is a brand new website with no history of actual publications. I can find no record of this being a real "Journal" or any past issues or papers from other authors that have been published by them.  She has just created this as a way to fool the naive into thinking she has been accepted by a real peer reviewed journal.

Anyone can make up a fake Journal on a new Website and publish anything they want. This proves nothing except that she is the fraud all of us who have been practicing critical thinking have come to believe she was months ago......

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com/) Domain Name: DENOVOJOURNAL.COM Created on: 04-Feb-13 Expires on: 04-Feb-14 Last Updated on: 04-Feb-13 

Ding Dong the Fraud has just committed professional suicide.  Long live Dr Sykes..........

Read about pseudoscience and why real peer review is imperative to real science here:  What Is Science And Is It Important To Bigfoot? 

UDATE - The Scientific Community is weighing in:

From  SciGuy - A science blog with Eric Berger  

"If Ketchum really had the goods she would have co-authored the paper with reputable scientists and gotten the work published in a reputable scientific journal. Instead she’s playing to an audience that doesn’t understand how science works, that wants to believe Bigfoot exists and is willing to send her some cash to further their delusions."  

________________________________________________________________________
From scienceblogs.com
 
"How did she get it published?

Well, she says she bought an existing journal and renamed it (the Journal of Cosmology was on the market, and I hoped most fervently that that was it…but no, JoC is still online). So she owns the journal. It’s now called De Novo.

Then she came out with a special edition. It’s Volume 1, Issue 1. It contains precisely one paper, hers.

You should be laughing by this point."  
________________________________________________________________________
From Doubtful News:

"We finally see the other authors, at least. Note that none are academics, but forensic specialists. Problem one.

Problem two: This is a brand new journal. Was it launched JUST for this paper? Well, this is an interesting and HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS twist. We do not know what the standards are for review. There are no rules for starting up your own journal and calling it “peer reviewed”. And, indeed, that’s what was done

Problem three: The paper costs $30 to download. No academic institution is going to have access to a new journal site so they will have to pay to review it. Some Bigfoot bloggers have received embargoed copies. Bigfoot bloggers. With NO scientific qualifications. I have yet to see any genetic specialists comment on the paper but it’s very early and I expect some will. I have requested access to the paper.

Problem four: Excuses. Check this out from the Sasquatch Genome Project page

My initial opinions of this latest news? It’s a fiasco. It’s unprofessional and disappointing. The websites are amateurish, the goals are delusional and it smacks of a self-serving money-making venture. Melba has positioned herself as a self-named expert with additional projects set up to collect funds and protect an animal she insists exists. It has not been confirmed, contrary to her opinion that she has “proven” it."

Review