The legend of Bigfoot has taken a new twist, and it's coming from the State of Texas. A fingerprint expert claims to have uncovered convincing proof that the elusive creature, sometimes called Sasquatch, actually exists.
Skeptics, of course, think it's bunk.
Environment Specialist John Hollenhorst has been on the Trail of Sasquatch.
Skeptics say the only evidence of Bigfoot that's at all compelling is the testimony of eyewitnesses.
We can vouch for that. We listened, skeptically, to a man who claims he saw Bigfoot in Southeast Idaho a few months ago. He was extremely rattled, and wouldn't go on camera; we wound up at least believing that he believed.
And last night, three KSL employees told me similar stories, very convincingly.
But the legend will never be widely believed without physical proof. And that's what a Texas cop claims to have.
During his long career in law enforcement, Jimmy Chilcutt has become an expert. The cop from Conroe is said to be one of the best fingerprint men in the business.
But he branched out from fingerprinting Texas bad guys a few years ago,
and started going to zoos. As a sideline research project, he began collecting prints from the feet of primates: gorillas, chimps, orangutans, monkeys.
Chilcutt: "I became a primate fingerprint expert."
When he heard that, Idaho professor Jeff Meldrum was claiming to have plaster casts of Bigfoot's actual footprints.
Jeff Meldrum/Idaho State University: "Something physical left these traces in the ground."
The skeptical Texas cop became curious.
Chilcutt: "I felt that I might have something to add because I know the difference between a primate footprint and a human footprint."
He went to Idaho, brought back those very big footprints, and got down to work. He examined the tiny lines, so-called dermal ridges, unique to every fingerprint, palm-print and footprint.
He quickly judged one plaster cast to be worthless.
Chilcutt: "The casting had been enhanced manually with a human fingerprint."
But two other casts startled him.
Chilcutt: "I was amazed because it was something I haven't seen befor in humans or in primates."
The direction of flow of the dermal ridges appears to run along the length of the foot rather than sideways across the foot.
Chilcutt: "And the pattern flow indicates it was not human nor quite primate. A species in itself, really."
"Whether you call it Bigfoot or Sasquatch, from that evidence I can tell that there is an animal up there in the Pacific Northwest."
But are the dermal ridges authentic?
Michael Dennett/Skeptical investigator: "No. What it is showing, I think, is how inventive people can be in hoaxing a Bigfoot."
Skeptical investigator Michael Dennett of Seattle says if the original casts were faked, it doesn't matter what a fingerprint expert thinks. He says some of the best plaster casts came from a man in Washington State who once admitted at least some were fakes.
Dennett: "At this point of time, we don't want valuable scientists to spend their valuable time messing around with something that in all likelihood is a hoax."
Jeff Meldrum/Idaho State University: "I'm sure the debate won't be ended until we have a specimen on the dissection table or in the zoo."
But the hard-nosed Texas cop has a soft-spot for Bigfoot. This is one suspect he hopes is never taken into custody.
Chilcutt: "It's enough to know that there's an animal out there, and who, for the most part, has eluded humans for hundreds of years. Personally, I think that animal ought to be left alone."
