THE MURPHY FILE NEWSLETTER #27

March 15, 2007

©C. L. Murphy - cmurphy101@shaw.ca

PLEASE EMAIL ME IF YOU WISH TO BE ADDED TO OR REMOVED FROM MY EMAIL LIST.

THE GREAT FOOTPRINT DEBATE mentioned in my last newsletter has

been rattling around in my mind for some time now. Matt Crowley, Loren
Coleman, and Mark Hall have certainly come up with some interesting
material. However, what is happening here is exactly the same thing that
happened on a similar issue I ran into when writing Meet the Sasquatch. If
you re-read page 109, you will see what I am referring to. Here, John
Green and Tom Steenburg objected to certain material that had been
“sanctioned” by professionals. I went up to see John and asked, “What do
you suggest I do?” He said, “We cannot overrule the findings by scientists
and professional people.” You will note that I show a disclaimer for John
and Tom.
The current issue involves questioning the validity of footprints (Blue
Creek Mountain and surrounding area) that John and René Dahinden
believed were genuine, and that a number of professionals have
sanctioned or reasonably validated. Indeed, John and René called in a
professional (the late Don Abbott) from the British Columbia Provincial
Museum (now the Royal Museum) to look at the prints, and he was totally
baffled by them. What more could the two have done? Since that time,
other professionals have looked at the prints, and those who have intently
studied them believe they are “valid.”
Most certainly, professionals have been fooled. However, such is far more the exception than the rule.
Whatever the case, I believe the best thing to do is to leave the final judgment on this issue up to the
professionals (primarily, Doctors Meldrum, Fahrenbach, Bindernagel, and Jimmy Chilcutt). As we move
forward, we will hopefully have an “official” organization to speak with one “scientific” voice on such matters. By
all means, I encourage research on footprints, be they the Blue Creek Mountain, Onion Mountain, Offield
Mountain, or any other prints.
Now, having said all that, there are a few things I
wish to mention. On page 63 of Dr. Meldrum’s book,
Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science, John Green is
quoted as mentioning: “…the cover of my first printing”
[On the Track of the Sasquatch, 1968]. I think it is
important to know what John did here because it might
be connected with how Ray Wallace got into wood
whittling. John put a full-size (or actual size), photograph
of a footprint across both the front and back covers of the
book (front cover was made wider, and was folded in).
When you spread open the book at its center, and lay it on the floor, you have a full size footprint (ruler and
all).
In a later printing of this same book, John went a slightly different
route as the cover fold-out created some problems. He therefore
simply used the entire back and front covers to show yet another
footprint. Again, opening the book at the center as before
provides a full-size footprint.
Both cover ideas were great because one could compare his
own foot to the photo to get a better appreciation of the
sasquatch foot size. However, John might have inadvertently
provided perfect patterns for “wooden foot” designs.
 Then in 1979, or thereabout, the University of British
Columbia Press made life-size footprint cut-outs of (I
believe) the second print shown above to promote their
book, Manlike Monsters on Trial—again, another great
pattern.

Incidentally, on the other side of the cutout, there was

information on the upcoming book. In my opinion, the
U.B.C Press should have used a film site footprint
because they show Patty. However, given it is the same
print shown on Green’s book cover, that particular print
has now been associated with Patty, as Dr. Meldrum
points out on page 226 of his book.

That Ray Wallace’s wooden feet (he made several sets)

appear to look like some prints deemed “authentic” might
be explained because he fashioned his fakes from actual
footprint photographs. Although we know he did make
casts from his faked footprints (as seen here), I would say
this was all done in his own backyard sandbox. Had he
made prints in wilderness areas to fool people, it is
odd that he does not appear to have taken photos of
his handiwork so that he could prove his point. It is
even odder that neither did any of his supposedly
numerous long-term collaborators—his relatives and
neighbors.
Seriously, some of us could whittle a couple of wooden
feet that would match any print/cast on record, and then
claim that we fabricated the original prints. (Back in 1967, I
was 26 years old, and indeed had done some wood
carving when I was a teenager–I had a full set of woodcarving chisels.)

Nevertheless, hoaxing some of the footprints that have

been found would not be easy. Some of them are impressed
in the ground very deeply. One professional, Dr. R. Maurice
Tripp, calculated that a print he examined would have required
the equivalent of 800 pounds to make (see page 120, Meet
the Sasquatch). How is it possible to apply this kind of weight
to a wooden foot? There might be a partial answer to this
question that is applicable in some cases. The only thing you
or I have that weighs that much, and that we can move, is our
automobiles. If one were to place a heavy wooden foot on
impressionable ground and drive over it, the foot would
probably sink in and leave a deep impression when removed. I have used a footprint cast here to illustrate
It would be time consuming to make a lot of prints this way, but my point. I have not tried the process, but I
with two people working, definitely possible. However, where would be highly surprised if it didn’t work.
such prints are found in areas not accessible by an
automobile, I don’t have a reasonable answer other than the
obvious one.

KEEP IN MIND that there is a $100,000 reward offered by the Willow Creek/China Flat Museum for anyone who can
prove how the footprints found could have been faked. See John Green’s book, The Best of Sasquatch/Bigfoot, p. 16
(Hancock House). This is a genuine offer, and John Green has told me that while the requirements specified in the offer
set out the real circumstances involved, an applicant could succeed without exactly duplicating every one of them.
 THIS IS A BIT OF A MIND TWISTER. It
is a line-up of the same objects seen in
a P/G film frame (frame 353) to an
elevated shot of the film site taken from
a different angle in 1971. The film was
taken in October 1967 so the photo was
taken about 3 years 7 months later (we
can see it was taken in the
summertime). In the photo, there is a
man walking in the path taken by the
creature. The white dot represents the
camera.
Now, from what I can gather, the
creature did not go perfectly straight
ahead. It sort of veered to its left. In the
final shots of the film we can see that
leaning tree in the foreground. My guess
is that it ended up going into the forest
where I show a blue box.

(Left) I believe René Dahinden took this photo to illustrate where the creature went. Note the leaning tree on the
left. The trees and ground debris in the foreground are on the little “island” that was to Patterson’s right.

(Right) René Dahinden and Peter Byrne at the film site in 1972. They are standing close to Patterson’s second
position when he took his film. Behind them, note the log and, beyond that, the leaning tree.
 IN JANUARY 2003, Ray Crowe
featured this sasquatch image (left)
on the cover of The Track Record.
It was provided to him by Dr. Jean-
Paul Debenat, from France, who is
seen (with me) here on the right at
Ray’s 2002 conference. I show the
Sasquatch image on page 206 in
Meet the Sasquatch. We don’t
know where Dr. Debenat got the
image; however, it is extremely
good. To me it has a naturalness
that provides some insights on the
creature’s appearance.

THIS BOOK, entitled Noticias De Nutka, by Jose Mariano Mozino, recounts his
experiences upon sailing into Nootka Sound, (British Columbia) in 1792. His
possible sasquatch-related entry has been mentioned in other books; however,
here it is verbatim and with footnote information:

“I do not know what to say about Matlox, inhabitant of the mountainous district, of
whom all have an unbelievable terror.1 They [native people] imagine his body as
very monstrous, all covered with stiff black bristles; a head similar to a human one,
but with much greater, sharper, and stronger fangs than those of the bear;
extremely long arms; and toes and fingers armed with long curved claws. His
shouts alone (they say) force those who hear them to the ground, and any
unfortunate body he slaps is broken into a thousand pieces.”

1. Robert Haswell wrote in 1789 that the Indians had “several strange stories of this strange monster [.] they say they
were doing some bad things on the beach in some past ages when the dreadful fellow made his appearance…”
-Howay, ed. Voyages of the “Columbia,” p. 64

I looked up the book mentioned and here is what it says on page 64. (Note: The book is a direct reprint of
the original (odd spelling, run-on sentences and so forth), so I have provided an edited version):

“…they [natives] believe in a supreme god, and a devil, and they have several strange stories of
this strange monster. They say they were doing some bad thing on the beach in some past ages
when the dreadful fellow made his appearance. They represent him as black with fiery eyes, and
he is of an enormous size, and has but one leg; but so nimble that after eating twenty or thirty of
them, the blood running a plentiful stream down each side of his mouth, he at one hop went across
the sound and they now suppose he dwells in the woods”

Certainly this is just another native legend, but one I had not heard before. As to the “one leg,” that’s also a
new one on me.

LLOYD PYE IS OFFERING a special collector’s edition of his new book, The Starchild Skull.
Lloyd has put in a tremendous amount of time and effort into seeking the truth behind this
amazing and very intriguing artifact. Knowing Lloyd as I do, you will not be disappointed with
the work, and I encourage you to take advantage of his offer which is provided on the next
page.
If You Had A Chance To Become Part Of History…
Would You Take It?
Copies can be ordered
through Bell Lap Books Inc.
until April 5, 2007.
Please Visit
www.BellLapBooks.com,
Or call 1-800-992-4821,
For more information about the Starchild skull, visit www.StarchildProject.com.
For more information about author Lloyd Pye, visit www.LloydPye.com.
On February 27, 1999, 500 attendees of the 8th
International UFO Congress in Laughlin, Nevada, were
the first people to see, hear about, and even touch a relic
that, to this day, has not been confirmed by science as
entirely human. That relic, known as the “Starchild Skull,”
has undergone eight years of scientific analyses and
medical evaluations. In the next two or three years, recent
remarkable advances in genetic testing techniques are
solidly on track to establish the Starchild as a human-
alien hybrid.
Eight years ago those 500 Laughlin attendees be-came
a part of history…and now it can be your turn. Lloyd Pye,
the Starchild skull’s caretaker, has written a richly
detailed, page-turning account of his efforts to have the
skull tested and recognized for what it is.
This milestone book will not be released to the general
public until July 7, 2007. Before then, however, it is being
offered to all members of the “alternative knowledge”
community in a special Collector’s Edition. Orders will
be taken only until April 5, 2007, after which only the
number of books ordered will be printed, and then
delivered to purchasers in May.
Each copy will have the special “Collector’s Edition”
cover seen here, and will be a 300+ page, top-notch
hardback, with 64 full-color slides and several features to
distinguish it from every subsequent edition. Each copy
will be signed and hand-numbered by Lloyd Pye, giving it
extra value to collectors.
Cost per book is $30.00 + the special flat rate of $5.00
shipping, no matter how many copies you order. Buy one
or more and put them on a shelf. Over time, the worth of
this investment in history will continue to appreciate well
beyond the cover price.
Don’t miss your chance to
become a part of the history
that will soon be made by this
incredible skull.
 END OF NEWSLETTER #27

YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME.