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The late comedian Mitch Hedberg used to joke about the difficulty of spotting Bigfoot, "I think Bigfoot is blurry, that's the problem. It's not the photographer's fault. Bigfoot is blurry. And that's extra scary to me, because there's a large, out-of-focus monster roaming the countryside - run."
However, for a group in Texas, and thousands more nationwide, the existence of Bigfoot is no laughing matter.
The Texas Bigfoot Research Center, based in Dallas, is attempting to bring the Bigfoot phenomenon to the realm of mainstream science. Serving as a base where all Bigfoot sightings can be reported, the center hopes to validate the species as a legitimate creature and not something seen only in supermarket tabloids.
The research center hosted to the fifth annual Texas Bigfoot Conference Oct. 15 and 16. Approximately 400 believers made the trek to Jefferson, Texas, to meet with other enthusiasts and hear from expert speakers on the existence of an animal many refer to as Bigfoot or Sasquatch.
Jeff Meldrum, associate professor of anthropology at Idaho State University and a speaker at the conference, says the Texas Bigfoot Convention included speakers from several fields, including anatomy, anthropology, archaeology, forensics as talented and objective amateur investigators.
"The conference provides a valuable opportunity for those doing research to confer with one another and discuss their ideas and evidence and approaches to the investigation," he says.
Meldrum says the conference presents the media with an opportunity to view the Bigfoot phenomenon objectively. "It also affords the presenters a chance to dispel some of the distortion and bias often reported in the media, which adds to the unfortunate tabloid stigma that this topic often labors under," he says.
Experts on both sides of the argument have long-debated whether a Bigfoot-like creature roamed the earth. In defense of Bigfoot's existence, Meldrum points to eyewitness accounts, often by experienced observers in broad daylight.
His research has also addressed evidence of a more scientific form.
"Trace evidence in the form of footprints, knuckle prints, even body imprints such as the Skookum cast that indicate the anatomy of an ape well-adapted to a rugged forested environment," he says.
Not all in the anthropologic field agree with the claims made by Professor Meldrum, however. Marc Meyer says there is no current evidence of Bigfoot, and all the films have been disproved. In fact, one guy recanted his story on his death-bed and said he made up the whole thing.
Scientifically speaking, Meyer has theories which help explain why many people are such staunch believers in Bigfoot.
"The idea of Bigfoot came out of mythology. There was no way to explain certain fossils," he says. "There was an extinct primate who was huge, called the Gigantopithecus, which left Mighty Joe Young-like-sized fossils. These fossils are found scattered in the Himilayas."
The confusion with Gigantopithecus, a 9'-10" foot tall prehistoric ape, is one theory behind the idea of Bigfoot.
Staunch believers are often looked at by the public as insane, and their encounters viewed as hoaxes.
Public humiliation generally occurs for those who claim to have seen Bigfoot. Nonetheless, the Texas Bigfoot Research Center views this as evidence Bigfoot exists, as those who claim sightings rarely have anything to gain.
Meyer views those who claim to have seen Bigfoot as creative, but not scientifically accurate.
"They are very interesting and colorful, however they are intellectually lazy. They should probably take my intro class," he says.
However, Meldrum looks at the situation from the opposite spectrum, immediately dismissing those skeptics who off-handedly reject the possible existence of Bigfoot.
"I usually find that those who hold the most dismissive opinions are those with the least amount of information on the subject," he says. "Among my professional colleagues, reactions span the spectrum from irrational visceral rejection, to enthusiastic objective interest in the evidence and support of the pursuit of the question."
Sophomore Glen O'Neil, 19, calls into question the sightings and beliefs of those who represent the minority of individuals who hold strongly to the existence of Bigfoot.
"To suggest that a mythical creature such as Bigfoot, the Yeti, Sasquatch or whatever you may call it actually walks the earth, is simply absurd," O'Neil says. "Honestly, the closest I have ever come to witnessing this beast was while watching Harry and the Hendersons."
The mystery of whether Bigfoot is alive is still up in the air, but those who hold the belief, they will continually push for Bigfoot to move from a cartoon like figure to something science can view as real.
"It is precisely the evidence that attests to the probable existence of a North American ape," Meldrum says. "It justifies our attention to the matter, which is simply, does an unrecognized species of great ape inhabitat the North American continent?"
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