Runester

There is so much wrong with this story … but let me begin with the scientist.

“What I’ve seen so far is not compelling in the least, and I think the pictures cast grave doubts on their claim,” Jeffery Meldrum, a Bigfoot researcher and Idaho State University professor, told the Scientific American. “It just looks like a costume with some fake guys thrown on top for effect.”

Meldrum said the DNA test likely won’t prove anything and, at best, might yield a gene sequence that doesn’t match any other known primates.

So, first he (Jeffery Meldrum) claims that this looks like a costume and a fake. Then he goes on to point out that the “at best” the DNA sample may not match any other known primates. Really? That would be pretty astounding, wouldn’t it? I mean, if it just turned out to be Brown Bear or Gorilla fur or something, then there’s nothing to see here. If the sample had no DNA at all, then there would be nothing to see here. But, if the sample contains DNA and it’s similar to other primate DNA but from no known species … how is this not news?

For the record, the story insinuates pretty heavily that this is a hoax and the jerks involved are highly non-credible sources. But, having said that, I still have something to complain about. More then once, on “paranormal” type shows, scientists have devised tests for the “other then normal” phenomenon that they are presented with. Unfortunately, the tests are nearly always one sided. While a failure would disprove the phenomenon, a success would not prove it. This is the same thing presented here! If the DNA comes back as any normal animal then the professor would point and say, “See! A hoax!” but if it comes back as an unknown primate, he would say, “Well, that doesn’t prove anything.”

I’ve seen the same thing with ESP tests. If the testee scores equal to or less then the odds would predict – he’s a sham. If he scores more, then this is not proof and more tests would need to be conducted. Interesting …