Surprise, surprise: Bigfoot story a hoax

'I observed the foot which looked unnatural ... and confirmed it was a rubber foot'

Last Updated: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 | 12:35 PM ET

CBC News

Bigfoot hunter Tom Biscardi holds a photo of what he claims to be the mouth and teeth of a deceased Bigfoot or sasquatch creature during a news conference Friday. (Ben Margot/Associated Press)

The website that promoted the finding of the supposed remains of the legendary Bigfoot has confirmed what most people suspected: the body was nothing more than a rubber sasquatch costume.

An investigator with Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., the group that promoted the discovery, reported the confirmation on Tuesday, just four days after a circus-like news conference in which two Georgia men claimed they had bagged the dead body of the mythical man-ape.

Georgia residents Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer claimed at the news conference Friday in Palo Alto, Calif., that they had stumbled across the corpse in the woods of northern Georgia.

But Steve Kulls, a self-described sasquatch hunter, wrote on the company's website that once the body arrived for examination, it became obvious that it wasn't real.

"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," he said.

Kulls wrote that sasquatch promoter Tom Biscardi, who runs the Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. website and appeared onstage with Dyer and Whitton to defend their find, "informed us that both Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer admitted it was a costume."

Even before the admission, skeptics had already noted that one photograph released - that of a hairy corpse stuffed in a freezer - looked suspiciously like a Halloween costume available at retailers.

And the evidence presented at the news conference - including a blurry photo of teeth and inconclusive DNA samples - had done little to sway public opinion.

"What I've seen so far is not compelling in the least, and I think the pictures cast grave doubts on their claim," Jeffrey Meldrum, a Bigfoot researcher and Idaho State University professor, told Scientific American magazine.

Meldrum also cast doubt on the find because the two men went to Biscardi and not the scientific community.

"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," he said.

Kulls said the website reportedly paid Whitton and Dyer "an undisclosed amount of money" for the freezer they said contained the body. They are now looking into taking action "against the perpetrators of this fraud."