Skookum cast

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The Skookum Cast is a plaster cast taken on September 22, 2000 during a Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) expedition to the Skookum Meadows area of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state, during filming of the now-cancelled "Animal-X" television show.

The cast, which measures 3-½ x 5-ft (1.0668 x 1.524 m) and weighs approximately 400 lbs (181.44 kg), is of a partial body imprint left in some roadside mud. [1] Some observers of the cast, including the co-founder of the BFRO, Ron Schaffner, recognized some features that led them to conclude it was made by a resting elk. Some Bigfoot enthusiasts however believe the imprint was made by a Sasquatch. The cast apparently reveals the hindlegs, hip, chest, and wrists of a reclining elk. Alternatively, it has been said by some Bigfoot supporters to show the imprint of a forearm, hip, thigh, heel and ankle, and Achilles tendon. Impressions of hair are evident on the cast. Dermal ridges have been alleged to occur on the heel, but these have been interpreted as hair impressions from the wrist of an elk. A number of elk hoof imprints and coyote pawprints are also present.

Henner Fahrenbach, a retired biomedical researcher from Beaverton, Oregon, analyzed hair samples from the cast and claims to have identified a single hair, which he believes may belong to a Sasquatch, although he admits it is a very tentative identification that requires much interpretation. [2]

Impressions of the elk's wrists (interpreted as heel and Achilles tendon imprints by Bigfoot enthusiasts) were studied by Jeff Meldrum of Idaho State University, and his interpretation of their anatomy matches his hypothetical models of a Sasquatch foot. [3] Others note a much stronger similarity between the imprints and an elk's wrist and metacarpal impression.

The cast has been examined by several Sasquatch enthusiasts, including journalist John Green, John Bindernagel, and Meldrum, who believe the cast to be authentic, and solid evidence of the existence of Sasquatch. Grover Krantz has gone on record with Daniel Perez as saying that he had no idea what the cast represented. Ron Schaffner, the co-founder of the BFRO, and others within the group, recognized several unique characteristics of an ungulate lay, indicating to them the imprint was made by an elk.

1 Controversy
2 See also
3 References
4 Further reading

[edit] Controversy

As far back as March 3, 2001, Marc Hume wrote an article for the National Post of Canada in which he recognized the clear tracks of an elk and described: "imprints left that would match perfectly with an elk's legs." In his opinion, the cast was "if anything, a cast of the impression made by the hindquarters of an elk.[4]