SAN FRANCISCO — In the hairy and hoax-filled history of Bigfoot,
those who believe in the mythical beast have offered up all manner of
evidence, from grainy photos to hoarse recordings to tracks of those
aforementioned feet.
But on Friday at a hotel in Palo
Alto, Calif., a pair of Bigfoot hunters say they will present what they
contend is the most definitive proof yet of an animal that science says
does not exist: DNA evidence and photographs of a dead specimen they
say they found in a remote swath of woods in northern Georgia.
“It
was very frightening at first,” said Rick Dyer, 31, a former
corrections officer who — coincidentally — runs a business that offers
Bigfoot tours. “And it got even more frightening when you saw the
others.”
Indeed, Mr. Dyer said he and his partner, Matthew
Whitton, saw three more of the beasts nearby as they dragged the body
of said creature out of the woods. Moreover, Mr. Dyer says he has video
clips and photographs to prove it.
One photograph provided to
the news media showed what resembled a gorilla — or maybe an old
sheepskin rug — lying twisted in a freezer, with a dollop of intestines
protruding from its belly.
“There’s a lot of comment being
made that it looks fake, or it looks like a suit,” Mr. Dyer said. “But
these people wasn’t there when I was sweating, pulling this thing
through the woods.”
Tom Biscardi, a longtime Bigfoot booster from
the Bay Area, who traveled to Georgia to see the animal, said he was
“150 percent” sure that the carcass was a Bigfoot, an American Indian
legend whose modern fame dates to an elaborate “footprint” hoax
perpetrated at a Northern California logging camp in 1958.
“This
is ‘Eureka!’ man,” said Mr. Biscardi, whose operations include a
Bigfoot Web site, a Bigfoot merchandise line and a Bigfoot Internet
radio show. “I touched it.”
Both Mr. Biscardi and Mr. Dyer said
they expected skeptics to discount the find, which is being kept in a
freezer in an undisclosed location outside Atlanta. But they promised
even more proof, including video, a DNA test and, of course, a mission
to capture one of the big guys.
“I’m not asking anyone to believe
us,” Mr. Dyer said. “I’m just asking them to sit and watch, because
you’re going to eat your words.”
From : http://www.nytimes.com/
