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Forteans Search For Hairy Man

ArthurASCII

Gone But Not Forgotten
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I just caught the end of a news item on BBC Radio 5 Live, about an expedition into the wilds of the English countryside in search of an eight foot tall "hairy man".

Internet searches have failed to enlighten me, but I'm sure that I remember reading of historical accounts of such a beast/beasties somewhere.

Does anyone have the lowdown on this marvellous expedition? and can it's progress be followed on this very Website?
 
maybe someone had spotted Sky's Richard Keys after a visit to st James' park....
 
It5's not far from where I live.Belsay lake.There seems to be a lot of fuss and only one sighting by three anglers.Talking of strange things in the north east,Bill Oddie was spotted creeping around a wildlife area last night.Maybe it was him the anglers saw.Gooody gooody yum yum
 
... And the original news report is here. ...

The link is dead (redirects to a current site with no reference to the 2003 story).

Here's the text of the January 10 2003 news story, salvaged from the Wayback Machine ...

Hunt is on for Bolam's Beast
Yeti hunters are heading to the North East to discover if the Beast of Bolam Lake is real or fake.

Jonathan Downes, director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, will lead a team of four who will carry out the investigation in the Northumberland country park.

The Chronicle reported on Monday how anglers came across a strange figure in the woods at the end of a late-night outing. They described it as 8ft tall and with glowing eyes.

Since then explanations for what they saw have ranged from Bigfoot to a monk from a nearby Buddhist monastery on a late night stroll in the woods.

Mr Downes said: "I'm very wary about this one. I would like it to be true, but I've a sinking suspicion that it could have been a practical joker in a monkey suit. But my job is to discover the truth, and if it turns out the truth is prosaic and there's no mystery at all, then we'll still have done our job."

The team are bringing specialist equipment to carry out scientific observations in an effort to resolve the mystery.

Mr Downes, based in Exeter, is the author of several books and has travelled the world in search of mysterious creatures.

In 1992 he founded The Centre for Fortean Zoology, with the aim of co-ordinating research into mystery animals, bizarre animal behaviour and the paranormal.

His team for the trek to Bolam Country Park will include Richard Freeman who, in 2000, went to Thailand in search of the Naga, a gigantic snake with a scaly crest on its head.

Last July they were involved in the hunt for the biggest and oldest freshwater fish in England, at Martin Mere, Lancashire, after reports of a mysterious monster attacking swans in the lake of a nature reserve.

With the help of sonar equipment and a couple of sightings, they established it was a species of catfish about 8ft long.

Mr Downes said: "We expect to spend about a week or so in Northumberland, when we hope to speak to some of the eye witnesses."

A report of three encounters with the half-human, half-ape creature were sent to the British Hominid Research website, www.lincolns.org.uk, run from Newcastle by Geoff Lincoln.

The report's unnamed author said he was between two friends walking on a wooden path back to the car park, just after midnight when he saw the 8ft figure.

SALVAGED FROM: https://web.archive.org/web/2003040...fm?objectid=12520184&method=full&siteid=50081
 
Jon Downes actually saw this. His description, a 2d ,7 foot, black man-like thing running like speeded up film, sounds more like a ghost. Indeed he did not think what he saw was any kind of flesh and blood animal.
 
Jon Downes actually saw this. His description, a 2d ,7 foot, black man-like thing running like speeded up film, sounds more like a ghost. Indeed he did not think what he saw was any kind of flesh and blood animal.
Perhaps all the hunts for the wild man/yeti/big foot is the ghosts of a creature who lived several hundred thousand years ago. Perhaps that's why they'll never find it.
 
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Lars Thomas of Copenhagen University said it was a primate akin to, but distinct from the Sumatran orang-utan.
 
Lars Thomas of Copenhagen University said it was a primate akin to, but distinct from the Sumatran orang-utan.
Nothing's better then that they got physical evidence of unknown primate species.

I don't personally believe in the ghost theory that has been promoted in recent years, but perhaps it has been presented as a theory because of the frustrations of not getting good photos and evidence.
 
*Ignorance alert*
I love watching dodgy documentaries on Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Wood Apes etc and they are always flouting hair samples as "evidence" which always comes back as Coyote/Bear DNA.

So my question to those more learned that myself is - has anybody, ever, anywhere (in their hunt for one of these creatures) genuinely found hair samples or DNA which come from an as-of-yet unidentified creature/primate?

And I mean irrefutable evidence. Not just one paper claiming so but with samples examined by various labs to authenticate.

*/Ignorance alert*
 
*Ignorance alert*
I love watching dodgy documentaries on Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Wood Apes etc and they are always flouting hair samples as "evidence" which always comes back as Coyote/Bear DNA.

So my question to those more learned that myself is - has anybody, ever, anywhere (in their hunt for one of these creatures) genuinely found hair samples or DNA which come from an as-of-yet unidentified creature/primate?

And I mean irrefutable evidence. Not just one paper claiming so but with samples examined by various labs to authenticate.

*/Ignorance alert*
No. I'm sure someone will point to 'unidentified samples', but these are jyst samplles that they haven't been able to identify, and for a variery of reasons, not that they've not been able to match them.
 
Lars Thomas of Copenhagen University studied hair samples we brought back from Sumatra. Judging them on structure and formation he concluded that they were from a primate related to but distinct from the Sumartran orang-utan.
 
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