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Aug 19, 2008 1:28 pm US/Central
Thawing Bigfoot 'Corpse' Reveals Costume, Big Hoax
MENLO PARK, Calif. (CBS) ―
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The purported body of a Bigfoot thawed out in a freezer, which turned out to be a rubber ape suit.
CBS
The recent claim made at a press conference in Palo Alto that Bigfoot was found is a hoax, a Bay Area Bigfoot hunter has now acknowledged, CBS station KPIX-TV in San Francisco reports.
Following last Friday's announcement, the Menlo Park-based group called Searching For Bigfoot finally got its hands on what was claimed to be a frozen Sasquatch.
The group's leader Tom Biscardi said it came from two men he introduced to reporters who claimed to have found Bigfoot's remains in the woods of northern Georgia.
But as the ice began to thaw in the 1,500 lb. freezer containing the body, it was discovered that the frozen remains were actually a rubber ape costume.
Biscardi said Searching For Bigfoot, Inc. is planning to take legal action against the two men from Georgia: Matt Whitton, an officer on medical leave from the Clayton County, Georgia Police Department, and Rick Dyer, a former corrections officer.
The two men claimed to have stumbled across the purported Bigfoot corpse over the summer while on a hiking trip. Then, they recently entered into a promotional contract with Searching For Bigfoot, Inc. and Biscardi said he gave them a cash advance.
Biscardi and his associates believe the men's motives for the hoax were purely financial.
"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" said Steve Kulls, a fellow Bigfoot hunter who worked with Biscardi on thawing the fake remains.
During the news conference, Whitton and Dyer had offered an e-mail about inconclusive DNA test results from a scientist as evidence to back up their claim. The pair also acknowledged they wouldn't mind making a few bucks from the "find" they had kept stuffed in a freezer for over a month.
Biscardi, in a posting on his Web site, indicated that he did not receive the freezer containing the alleged body until the day after the news conference. He said Whitton and Dyer refused to give it to him prior to meeting with reporters.
Attempts to contact Whitton or Dyer were unsuccessful. They did not return phone calls left by CBS reporters on their on the Bigfoot Tracker Tip Line, which was launched recently.
Meantime, Clayton County Police Chief Jeff Turner has moved to have Whitton fired from his job as a result of the hoax.
"He's been an embarrassment. This is basically a disgrace to be in law enforcement. You must have integrity. He has none," said Turner.
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