I'd agree with a fair bit of that, but have to take issue with two of the points. Firstly the arms are not too long to be a human, that's definitely not correct. And why would they have used the footprints made by the man in the suit rather than just faking a set themselves?
Yup, it is not clear to me that the arms are too long to be human. If they are, they would be only very slightly too long, consistent with the lengthening a suit would create. And I agree on the issue of the footprints.
Now it's been ages since I have read up on all the latest on Bigfoot research, so just few general points.
1. We see a lot of claims for 'scientific analyses' etc. But this isn't CSI where one can endlessly "enhance" a picture to make all manner of detail magically pop out. This film is inherently blurry and lacking in information; no amount of enhancing or analysis can change that.
There is also a lot of misunderstanding about how science actually works. Scientific theories can never really be proven true. In science, theories are tested to see if they can be proven
false. And the problem with the Bigfoot film is that it simply doesn't contain enough clear information to do that. I'm not sure we can prove it a hoax, but failing to prove it a hoax is emphatically not the same thing as having proved that it is therefore for real.
Herniation? Most doctors are reluctant to make definitive diagnoses with the patient lying on an examining table in front of them; and here someone can diagnose a condition in another species based on blurry footage? Tell me another one.
2. As I mentioned in another thread, Bigfoot sightings happen all over the planet, and we even had some here in South Africa. There is a little page about our local ape-man here:
http://www.bigfootlunchclub.com/2009/11/south-african-sasquatch.html
Note the map that indicates where sightings have taken place: even in Britain! So in a country as densely populated as Britain, there is a whole population of previously undiscovered giant hominids running around? That stretches credibility.
As I also mentioned in another thread, this does not necessarily mean all such sightings are hoaxes or misidentifications: it is conceivable, a la John Keel, that all such creatures (and UFOs and angels and demons and mothmen and whatever else) originate in a kind of parallel universe, that now and then overlaps with ours, and when that happens creatures from there can come run around here for a while. But they always disappear back to that other realm before we can pin down unambiguous evidence. Perhaps they even deliberately do it this way, for reasons unknown.
Such an idea is of course gloriously untestable and thus falls outside the realm of science, but it is nevertheless possible. (It is also possible that entire populations of huge hominids live in various spots on earth, but I would consider that very unlikely).
3. It strikes me that they are using the wrong investigators for this. Scientists are easily and routinely fooled by stage magicians and other hoaxers. There is no guarantee that a scientist, however well trained, will automatically see through any and all hoaxing. Thus perhaps we need more stage magicians and film special effects people to help with investigations (it doesn't necessarily have to be that abrasive Randi guy!
)
Scientists, of course, are also not hunter-gatherers. That is to say, I am not aware of many that are genuine experts in tracking wildlife. Even a very good scientist will be fooled by a fake track that will not come anywhere close to fooling a hunter-gatherer tracker. Such a scientist will also lose the track under conditions in which it is still plainly visible to a proper tracker. Such people are now unfortunately few and far between, but they still exist. I have seen such trackers in action, and their abilities are so astonishing they seem almost supernatural. If there is a Bigfoot leaving tracks, a proper tracker is going to find it. Of course, if Keel is correct, the tracks will invariably disappear into thin air, sooner or later.
4. In short, I suspect that trying to find proof of Bigfoot is futile, and the notion that there are actual populations of such hominids out there probably very naive (I recently saw a documentary on the mothman in which a bunch of researchers tried to find evidence for a population of mothmen in some remote area - now that is REALLY naive!)
I nevertheless love Bigfoot tales (and mothmen tales, and tales of all other such paranormal creatures), and I cannot simply dismiss them. I keep on hoping to see such a thing myself some day.