The 1995 Redwoods Footage
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
The video depicts a fleeting, dimly lit image of a bulky, striding, bipedal figure initially seen at some distance (about 32 metres) in the periphery of the headlights, then at close proximity (about 4.5m). One of our first objectives was to establish some scale by which we could determine the size of the subject. Starting from the factory specifications of the RV, we were quickly able to corroborate the witnesses' impression that the subject stood nearly 2.5m tall, After a site visit - and some careful measurement of trees visible in the video - we arrived at a height of about 2.3m. The subject in the video clearly wasn't just an ordinary man.
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Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Associate Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology, and the late Richard Greenwell, formerly secretariat of the International Society of Cryptozoology took a look at their evidence. Misty clouds shroud the northern California coastline as twilight settles on the towering trees of the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. The date is 28 August, 1995. The driver of the long recreational vehicle (RV) pulls onto a small side road so that his passengers - a TV film crew from Waterland Productions can take a closer look at the majestic scenery. Music plays, beers froth and the ever-present video camera is running as the crewmembers relax after a long week's work.
Suddenly, the driver glimpses a shadowy movement at the periphery of the headlights. "Look! It's a f--ing bear!" he shouts to his companions. Eager to catch it on video, the cameraman zooms in on the retreating figure, Through the rain, the crew see what they take to be a massive, shaggy bear. It walks upright, arms swinging at its sides, around a slight bend in the road some 3om or so ahead. "Let's go get it!" someone shouts.
The driver accelerates forward as the hirsute figure glances warily back. But instead of the protruding snout of a bear, there is a flat, human-like face. "That's not a bear," one of them realizes. "What is that?" asks another. The driver brakes to an abrupt halt as, without warning, the apparition steps in front of the oncoming vehicle and crosses the road in the direction of the nearby Smith River. The headlights reveal a hair-covered giant, towering nearly 2.5m (8ft) tall. "Switch to full beam," someone urges. Taken aback by the bright beams, the figure raises its arms defensively, then moves with unhurried deliberate strides, pausing momentarily to glare back with a "what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here?" expression. "Oh my God ... it's Sasquatch!" someone exclaims. The astonished crew take in the sloping brow, broad flat nose, high flaring cheekbones and broad well-muscled neck and shoulders.
And then the giant vanishes behind a massive redwood tree. In all, less than 30 seconds have elapsed. Attempts to follow it are futile in the rainy darkness. The witnesses huddle in the RV to examine their video and assess their surreal experience. Driving back to Los Angeles, they wonder whether they should go public with their video - and risk the reactions of a skeptical audience, When challenged by an interviewer some months later, one of the witnesses resolutely replied: "I saw what I saw. That's all I can say."
What did they see? The Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, is a supposed giant primate from western North America. Its status is highly controversial. Footprints, eyewitness reports and a previous film shot in 1967 by Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin - have failed to convince a skeptical scientific community, though some scientists retain an open mind on the subject. We approached the new footage in that spirit.
Suddenly, the driver glimpses a shadowy movement at the periphery of the headlights. "Look! It's a f--ing bear!" he shouts to his companions. Eager to catch it on video, the cameraman zooms in on the retreating figure, Through the rain, the crew see what they take to be a massive, shaggy bear. It walks upright, arms swinging at its sides, around a slight bend in the road some 3om or so ahead. "Let's go get it!" someone shouts.
The driver accelerates forward as the hirsute figure glances warily back. But instead of the protruding snout of a bear, there is a flat, human-like face. "That's not a bear," one of them realizes. "What is that?" asks another. The driver brakes to an abrupt halt as, without warning, the apparition steps in front of the oncoming vehicle and crosses the road in the direction of the nearby Smith River. The headlights reveal a hair-covered giant, towering nearly 2.5m (8ft) tall. "Switch to full beam," someone urges. Taken aback by the bright beams, the figure raises its arms defensively, then moves with unhurried deliberate strides, pausing momentarily to glare back with a "what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here?" expression. "Oh my God ... it's Sasquatch!" someone exclaims. The astonished crew take in the sloping brow, broad flat nose, high flaring cheekbones and broad well-muscled neck and shoulders.
And then the giant vanishes behind a massive redwood tree. In all, less than 30 seconds have elapsed. Attempts to follow it are futile in the rainy darkness. The witnesses huddle in the RV to examine their video and assess their surreal experience. Driving back to Los Angeles, they wonder whether they should go public with their video - and risk the reactions of a skeptical audience, When challenged by an interviewer some months later, one of the witnesses resolutely replied: "I saw what I saw. That's all I can say."
What did they see? The Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, is a supposed giant primate from western North America. Its status is highly controversial. Footprints, eyewitness reports and a previous film shot in 1967 by Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin - have failed to convince a skeptical scientific community, though some scientists retain an open mind on the subject. We approached the new footage in that spirit.
Still shot from film
