By Zack Clothier (© 2001)

Footprint cast (Unknown Origin) - 1976 Blue Creek Mountain? Freeman Cast?
1974 Sultan River Casting

Footprint cast (Unknown Origin) - 1967 Blue Creek Mountain? Freeman Cast?

Figure 4.1

Comments: This track is thought to be one of the tracks found on Blue Creek Mountain Rd., CA, in 1967. It has also been suggested that it is a Paul Freeman cast from the early 1980s. Dermal ridges are clear in this cast.

While I am not an expert in dermatoglyphics, the first thing I noticed about this cast was the odd places the dermal ridges appeared. They seem to start about 2" up the heel, with a suspicious line right underneath where they begin (Figure 4.2).

On another area of the cast the dermal ridges look as though they are not even part of the footprint itself, but are on the outside edge of the whole casting (Figure 4.3).

Figure 4.3

Figure 4.2

Despite the unusual positions of some of the ridges, they are very natural looking. (Figure 4.4), and some of the ridges appear around the toes (Figure 4.5).

When I first saw the dermal ridges in this cast I wondered if they could have somehow been faked. They looked like they could have been made from the serrated edge on a butter knife (or other knife), so I experimented with this. First I took a small piece of clay and ran the edge of the butter knife along it (See figure 4.6), then casted the impressions. The end result (Figure 4.7) was very close to some of the dermal ridges that are in this "Sasquatch" track.

Figure 4.5

Figure 4.6

1974 Sultan River Casting

Figure 5.1

Comments: This track was casted by Bigfoot investigator Cliff Crook, on the banks of the Sultan River in Washington. It was found with others, on both sides of the Sultan River. The tracks were trailing in and out of the river. Other tracks had been seen in the general area prior to the discovery of this print.

A natural track, displaying 5 toes, the foot's contour, and an elongated heel. The toes are lined up in a sharp downward slope from right to left, but not arched as much as those on the human foot, and they are close to the footpad (Figure 5.2). The last 2 digits seem to be curled, as revealed by their depth and closeness to the footpad (Figure 5.3).

Figure 5.2

Figure 5.3

I have seen this happen in human footprints where the toes were curled - See figures 5.4 for comparisons.

The contour of the foot is shown in Figure 5.5. Lighter colors indicate raised elevations, while darker areas indicate lower elevations, similar to a topographical map.

Figure 5.5

Foot contour - Lighter areas indicate raised higher elevations

Another view of the foot's contour. Again, the lighter areas indicate raised elevations (eg the toe pads), and the darker areas are lower elevations. Read the black lines like you would on a topographical map.[p] Conclusions: After examining this cast I can find nothing that points to a hoax of any kind. This does not mean the track could not have been hoaxed, I just do not see any evidence of that.

Part III