Skookum cast

The Skookum Cast is a plaster cast taken on September 22, 2000 during a Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) expedition to the Skookum Meadows area of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state, during filming of the now-cancelled "Animal-X" television show.

The cast, which measures 3-½ x 5-ft (1.0668 x 1.524 m) and weighs approximately 400 lbs (181.44 kg), is of a partial body imprint left in some roadside mud. Impressions of hair are evident on the cast. [ [http://www.bfro.net/news/bodycast/ISU_press_rel_cast.asp "Idaho State University Researcher Coordinates Analysis of Body Imprint That May Belong to a Sasquatch"] (retrieved 23 June 2008)] Many individuals, including the co-founder of the BFRO, Ron Schaffner, recognized several anatomical features that led them to conclude it was made by a resting elk. The cast apparently reveals landmarks that can be recognized as the hindlegs, hip, chest, and wrists of a reclining elk. Alternatively, it has been said by some Bigfoot enthusiasts to show the imprint of a forearm, hip, thigh, heel and ankle, and Achilles tendon of a reclining Sasquatch. Dermal ridges have been alleged to occur on a "heel," but these have been interpreted as hair impressions from the wrist of an elk. A number of elk hoof imprints and coyote pawprints are also present.

Elk and bear hair was found in the cast. Henner Fahrenbach, a retired biomedical researcher from Beaverton, Oregon, analyzed some hairs and claims to have identified a single specimen, which he believes belongs to a Sasquatch, although he admits this identification is very tentative and is impossible to test. [ [http://www.bfro.net/news/bodycast/ISU_press_rel_cast.asp "Idaho State University Researcher Coordinates Analysis of Body Imprint That May Belong to a Sasquatch"] (retrieved June 23 2008)]

Impressions of the elk's wrists were studied by Jeff Meldrum of Idaho State University, and his interpretation of their anatomy matches his hypothetical models of a Sasquatch foot. [ [http://www.bfro.net/news/bodycast/ISU_press_rel_cast.asp "Idaho State University Researcher Coordinates Analysis of Body Imprint That May Belong to a Sasquatch"] (retrieved 23 June 2008)] OthersWho|date=June 2008 note a much stronger similarity between the imprints and an elk's wrist and metacarpal impression.

The cast has been examined by several Sasquatch enthusiasts, including journalist John Willison Green, John Bindernagel, and Meldrum, who believe the cast to be authentic, and solid evidence of the existence of Sasquatch. Grover Krantz has gone on record with Daniel Perez as saying that he had no idea what the cast represented.Fact|date=June 2008 Ron Schaffner, the co-founder of the BFRO, and others within the group, recognized several unique characteristics of an ungulate lay, indicating to them the imprint was made by an elk.

Other explanations

As far back as March 3, 2001, Marc Hume wrote an article for the National Post of Canada in which he recognized the clear tracks of an elk and described: "imprints left that would match perfectly with an elk's legs." In his opinion, the cast was "if anything, a cast of the impression made by the hindquarters of an elk. [ [http://farshores.org/bfoot29.htm "Controversy Surrounds Skookum Sasquatch Cast"] (retrieved 23 June 2008)]

CSICOP have put forward the suggestion that the initial identification as a bigfoot cast is problematic, as it was done my a bigfoot researcher looking for evidence of bigfoot, while his fellows only concurred after this identification was suggested to them 9and thereby validating the original identification). [ [http://www.csicop.org/si/2002-03/bigfoot.html#1 Bigfoot at 50] (retrieved 23 june 2008)]

See also

* Evidence regarding Bigfoot

References

*Idaho State University Press Release (October 23, 2000) [http://www.bfro.net/news/bodycast/ISU_press_rel_cast.asp "Idaho State University Researcher Coordinates Analysis of Body Imprint"] by Glenn Alford. Retrieved February 7, 2006.

Further reading

* [http://www.bfro.net/news/bodycast/images.asp Skookum Cast Images and Sketches]
* [http://www.bfro.net/news/bodycast/green_statement.asp Green Says Skookum Cast May Be Proof]
* [http://www.bfro.net/news/bodycast/index.asp The Skookum Cast] - Details from the BFRO.
* [http://www.bfro.net/news/bodycast/expedition_details.asp September 2000 Skookum Expedition] - Details of the BFRO expedition that obtained the cast.
* [http://www.csicop.org/si/2002-03/bigfoot.html#1 Bigfoot at 50] - CSICOP article that mentions the Skookum Cast.