From the unexplained to the mundane, come join
us on a Journey to the Fringe. The fringe lawyers
actually were really insistent that we put that
disclaimer out there at some point. So we are
your legally obligated host, Taylor and Chelsea,
here today doing an individuals episode. I guess
we'll hold off on saying whether they're an asshole
until the end of it. I think it will sway pretty
hard one way as we get going. But I'm not gonna
tell you which way, to keep it a surprise. Okay,
I'll take that. Looking at a guy in the Bigfoot
community, in his brick dire, have you heard
of him before? I feel like I have, and I'm not
sure at this point if it's because you told me
you were doing this as an episode, so I never
looked at him. I'm pretty sure that's what it
is, but I'm pretty sure I might know who you're
talking about, but TBD, right now. I think at
some point, as I'm talking, it's gonna click
in that you know the story, guys associated with,
but until that point you can remain in speculation
about this whole thing. Okay, fair enough. I
will do that. The interesting thing about Rick
Dyer is there's nothing about him before 2008.
From what I vaguely get a sense of, he was either,
like nothing. He just pops onto the scene. From
what I can gather, he was either a used car salesman
or owned a used car dealership. But I can't tell
which is correct from what I've been reading.
He was also a corrections officer at some point
in there as well. But 2008 is really where we
kick things off with this whole story. Well,
I'll just accept both of those things as vaguely
in the same direction, I don't think I need either
of them defined. You're getting different vibes
from somebody if they say hi, used car salesman,
or hi, owner of used car dealership. Do you though?
No. I would just get more used car salesman vibes
off the guy who owns it, I think. Yeah. Oh, so
you know how to train and pick out the used car
salesman. Yeah. OK. OK. I'm not wrong. OK. They're
generally in the same direction. I believe he's
from Georgia, or at least he is around 2008.
Somewhat pertinent to the story, but not really.
But he's in the States. OK. So big thing happens
in 2008 on August 12th, him and a man by the
name of Matthew Whitman. Yeah, go ahead. Wow,
we're recording like pretty much exactly on that
day. Holy shit, almost, yeah. Not in 2008, but
you know. 17 year anniversary. Where were you?
That's crazy Matt Witten and Rick Dyer. I have
a press release They go on this show called the
Squatch Detective hosted by Stephen Kull and
it's a radio show because podcasts aren't a thing
at that time So real prestigious their claim
is that they have a dead Bigfoot body in their
possession Did they kill it? Am I getting too
ahead of myself? Okay. After they initially leaked
some grainy footage that showed a Bigfoot, they
presented the carcass in a block of ice at a
conference that was only open to the press. Oh,
I remember this story. The two announced that
they found... Can I tickle this video? Yeah,
you can. It might give away some of the story.
Okay, I'm just gonna tape it and then I'll head
into later. The two announced that they had found
the seven foot, seven inch, 500 pound creature
while hiking in the North... Georgia mountains
in June. They come across this like family that's
dragging this dead Bigfoot behind them. It's
a family of three. What? And according to Dyer,
basically they scared off the family and then
they dragged this body back to civilization.
According to Dyer, it took them a day and a half
with six men to carry out the Bigfoot. I have
no idea who the other four men are. All the way
while being followed by the Bigfoot creatures.
Yeah. The family killed the Bigfoot or found
it. Basically, I think basically it was apparently
a bigfoot that was like bringing the body of
one of their family members somewhere and They're
like, oh we can get a body of a bigfoot this
way by scaring them off and just taking the body
It's so much easier than killing a bigfoot. I
don't know that I'd take that risk, but okay.
Okay. Okay that clarified it Now, and Witten
and Dyer are joined by a man named Tom Biscardi
at this news conference. And Biscardi states,
last weekend, I touched it. I measured it. Its
feet. I felt its intestines. End quote. It's
authenticity. As it thought, however, things
start to happen here. How did he touch his intestines?
I feel like I'm missing. I think it was because
it, like, had it at one point, they have the
body, and then to preserve it, they throw it
in his deep freeze. So I'm guessing that Tom
Biscardi had seen it before it went into the
deep freeze, because it's in a block of ice.
Okay, but is it cut open? Well, it's a dead body,
so I guess it's decomposing. I don't really know.
It wasn't that well explained. How did he touch
his intestines? Now I'm gonna read a bit about
the story around this now. This press release
was issued on August 12, 2008 and announced a
Bigfoot body found and further indicated that
DNA evidence and photo evidence of the creature
would be presented in the press conference on
Friday, August 15 from 12 noon to 1 p .m. at
the Cabana Hotel Palo Alto, California. This
conference was only open to the press in the
press release. The body was described as being
seven foot seven inches and to be part human
and part ape. Further descriptions were included,
but the location of the find was kept secret,
supposedly to protect the rare species. Tom Biscardi,
CEO of Searching for Bigfoot Inc., also claims
to be a real Bigfoot hunter, was scheduled to
attend the press conference. On Squash Detectives,
Dyer had said that Biscardi was the only person
that Matt Witten and Rick Dyer, the possessors
of the thing, wanted to verify the body. Biscardi's
doings had long been featured in the media. In
December of 73, Saga Magazine reported on his
initial search for Bigfoot in 73. A webcam service
in 2005, which planned to show a Bigfoot in captivity,
was never activated. But methods of publicity
were different in 2008. Both Witton and Dyer
had earlier posted about their alleged find,
claiming that they had discovered him in the
mountains of North Georgia, on their own website,
and on YouTube in June and July of 2008. Upon
the issuance of the August 12th press release,
Lauren Coleman posted, with considerable excitement
on his website, Cryptomundo. Responses posted
on the site vary from enthusiasm to skeptical
takes on the situation. One pro -writer posted
on August 12th that he had noticed that the distributor
of the press release, R .M. Barrows, Inc., was
an interesting choice, since Barrows was a sculptor
and a former TV production assistant in Hollywood.
Others discussed the participation of Tom Viscardi
and what it meant to the situation. The press
conference at place and confusing DNA results
were mentioned, resulting in skeptical reactions.
from some well -known people in the field. But
once this press release happens, in an online
article at WSB TV, Jeffrey Muldrum, a professor
at Idaho State University and researcher at Bigfoot,
stated that he found the photos exhibited at
the Palo Alto News Conference unconvincing and
told Scientific America that it resembled a costume.
He also found Biscardi not credible. And in the
same article, Matt Moneymaker of the Bigfoot
Field Research Organization, BFRO, described
the subject of the photography as, quote, a Halloween
costume in a box. Lauren Coleman exhibited skepticism
considering the probability of the hoax at 99%.
Chelsea, can you find a picture of the Bigfoot
in the freezer? Well, no. But if I Google Tom
Viscardi, he's holding like a photo of a Bigfoot
with like its tongue out, maybe. But the one
guy felt his intestine. So that has to be. How
would I find the Bigfoot in the freezer? Because
Bigfoot in the freezer does not come up if I
Google it. What says Rick Dyer? Okay, well, there's
a freezer with Bigfoot in it. Yeah, I'm actually
pretty sure. I can't confirm it, but I think
this is the photo here. I'm just going to share
my screen. I'm pretty sure it's this photo. Yeah,
that's the one I found. I wouldn't say that it
necessarily looks... I mean, I can't blow it
up, but I don't know. I don't know that it looks
real. Are those intestines on its? No, I think
it's underneath it. I don't know for sure, though.
Steve Kahl, host of the Squatch Detectives radio
and its associated website, SquatchDetective
.com, posted onto Tom Viscardi's website that
the evidence for which they paid Witten and Dyer,
who provided them an alleged Bigfoot and a block
of ice, was spurious. The realization had come
when tests were done. On August 16th, before
the icing case thing was fully uncovered, Kahl's
had been provided some hairs of it and he tried
burning it. So he tried burning the hairs and
they melted into a ball. But why? Because it's
plastic, it's not actual hair. But why would
he burn it? I guess it was just a test to see
if it's a real hair or not. Oh, someone else
did it. The host of the show. Oh, okay. When
the melting was accelerated, the head was soon
found to be unusually hollow, which is in quotation
marks. Not sure why. That is unusual. When the
feet, too, were exposed, it became evident that
the lower extremities were constructed of rubber.
Thus, not long after that tantalizing buildup
came the letdown that the creature was actually
a rubber suit filled with slaughterhouse byproducts
and roadkill. Oh, disgusting! We have to make
it seem dead, so why not put some entrails in
there for the smell? That makes it worse. That
makes it so worse. The two men who had provided
the ape suit on ice, Whitten, who was an officer
of the Clayton County Police Department, and
Dyer, who was once a Georgian Corrections Officer,
had been bragging about the revelations. Whitten
had said that those who had belittled them would
have to eat their words. That didn't happen.
After the revelations of the fake, Coleman compiled
a timeline on the development of the hoax entitled,
quote, Ultimate Georgia Bigfoot Hoax Timeline
2008, which is what I'm actually reading from.
It informatively connected the activities of
some of the major players, particularly the interplay
of Biscardi, Witten, Dyer, and Culls, and included
the early Clayton County Daily and Atlanta coverage.
At this point, Coleman termed his earlier August
12th posting as one of skeptical optimism. Jerry
Perino, owner of the internet Halloween costumer
retailer TheHorrorDome .com, said that the costume
quote, definitely looks like our costume. end
quote, after viewing photos of Dyer's Bigfoot.
Upon inspection, it was confirmed that the corpse
was in fact the costume stuffed with possum,
roadkill, and trails in Slaughterhouse. National
Geographic's called the hoax a short -lived one
as the whole affair lasted only a few days. Now,
upon being exposed, Dyer said he says he did
actually have a Bigfoot corpse. However, a government
agency had confiscated the real Bigfoot body.
Oh, I remember this. And he faked it. Because
you don't want to look like an idiot saying that
you have a Bigfoot body when the government takes
it. No, no. This is just how the community goes.
Like, when you are disproven in something, then
it's, you know... It's the deep state. It's the
deep state. It's whoever is working against you.
It's the government. It's whoever it is. Jeffrey
Epstein. I don't know. That's, you know, has
taken it away. And so you like are left with
nothing. So that's why you had to fake it. Oh
my gosh. And anyhow, the Bigfoot research organization,
BFRO, got super upset with this whole situation
and they still to this day have this article
posted about the whole situation that they want
to be known that they really don't like this.
The original motivation for the Georgia body
hoax was the attempt by Sheriff Deputy Matt Witten
and used car salesman Rick Dyer to offer expeditions
like the BFRO. Bigfoot expeditions looked like
a great business to them because the BFRO's expeditions
often sell out months in advance. What? They
saw an opportunity to attract people who didn't
sign up for the BFRO's trip in time. This same
motivation was shared by the infamous hoker Tom
Biscardi. Years before his hoax, Biscardi had
started a company called the Great America Bigfoot
Field Research Organization, GABFRO. in a blatant
attempt to confuse people who had heard about
BFRO expeditions. Viscardi is a former Las Vegas
promoter and eventually changed the name of his
business entity to searching for Bigfoot Inc.
Even with relentless publicity campaign to advertise
his expeditions, no one signed up. As his money
started to run out, he became increasingly desperate
for media attention. He saw the potential in
the Georgia body story for a lot of free publicity
so he jumped in to advise and partner with the
Georgia boys. With the help of tantalizing press
release television, he managed to bring nationwide
TV coverage to his bizarre self -promoting press
conference in Palo Alto. This press conference
fulfilled the fantasy he had for decades, a live
press conference wherein he could command the
attention momentarily of all major media networks
and thereby proclaim himself to be the real Bigfoot
Hunter. It was both madness and a scam. And if
you look, CNN still has an article up on this.
You decide you're going to go with your passion
Bigfoot hunting tours. Do you go all in or do
you offer it as a side hustle? first. I would
definitely start it like we did this podcast
having a job firmly in hand that doesn't make
me rely on it. I feel like you don't go all in
on it like that so that by the time you're not
selling your Bigfoot tours then you know you
got to reach out to something like this. I don't
feel like you go all in on it. Just me though.
In the process of trying to draw attention to
their phony expedition business the Georgia boys
noticed that some incredulous critics suddenly
became extremely polite and even helpful when
the boys began claiming that they had in their
possession the body of a dead Bigfoot. That particular
lie struck a curious chord in many people as
if the boys claimed to have had a vision of the
Virgin Mary. Like a vision of the Virgin Mary,
the claim of having the body of a dead bigfoot
touched a nerve in many people. A superstitious
nerve that makes them both fearful and helpful
at the same time. The Georgia boys saw this happening
so they began promoting the dead bigfoot lie
with full force and even more ludicrous videos
on YouTube. Which unfortunately you can't find.
The fact that Whitton was a sheriff deputy is
ultimately what made the hoax go as far as it
did. Most people, including those in the media,
assume that a sheriff deputy would not put his
reputation and career on the line by promoting
a hoax that was bound to unravel in disgrace.
It didn't make sense, so the Georgia boys were
given the benefit of the doubt by the world media.
When Biscardi stepped into the picture, he convinced
the two Georgia boys that there was a way for
everyone involved to make a lot more money quickly.
He convinced them that they had nothing to worry
about and that they would all make out like bandits
before the hoax finally unraveled. The Georgia
boys took the matter as far as they did because
they knew hoaxes are way not illegal. Are not
illegal. If the claims were only made to the
news media and the boys never made a false report
to the local authorities. The two Georgia boys
did make a few thousand dollars from the hoax,
but Deputy Witten was fired in disgrace because
of this. You can't put him on the stand for anything
as somebody who works for law enforcement because
the defense is always going to say, aren't you
the guy who faked a Bigfoot? Not credible. I
mean, even if you're not faking a Bigfoot, if
you come out with something like, I actually
have a Bigfoot, you're still But nothing really
happens to Rick. He lost nothing in the process
because he had no career to lose in the first
place. He was living hand -to -mouth as a self
-employed used car dealer. Biscardi hoped to
make a windfall before the hoax unraveled, but
it appears now that he made very little from
the hoax and it is now destitute. The BFRO had
been tracking the antics of the Georgia Boys
several weeks prior to the press conference.
We tried to warn everyone via our public discussion
forum of the impending hoax a full week prior
to the press conference, after it was learned
that the Georgia Boys joined forces with veteran
hoaxer Biscardi. Based on his past tactics, we
knew that Biscardi would shoot for maximum publicity
and would come up with a scheme to make a windfall
of money from the intense curiosity on the internet
generated by the media publicity. As the BFRO
first announced, two days prior to the press
conference, the body was a widely available Halloween
costume stuffed into a large cooler and filled
with rotting animal entrails. At this stage,
everyone in the Bigfoot research community would
like nothing more than to whisk this hoax back
into the dustbin of history. Unfortunately, we
have to keep this page available and prominent
a while because, unfortunately, many people who
heard about the hoax were only listening with
half an ear or heard distorted details from other
people. In several instances, people mistakenly
assumed the BFRO was the group that said they
had a dead bigfoot, rather than the ones who
debunked it. In one example, a misinformed person
assumed that the man who held the press conference
must be that professor from Idaho. No wrong guy
and wrong organization. It's a shame that we
have to straighten this out with people because
it means we'll be straightening it out for a
long time into the future. When the Georgia boys
first received some press attention in Georgia,
the press attention attracted Biscardi. Biscardi
didn't start the Georgia hoax, but instead latched
onto it, basically creating it as they did. I
think the BFRO did a fairly good explanation
of that. But after the body was revealed to be
a fake to the mass media, some newspapers reported
that Biscardi was swindled out of $50 ,000 by
the Georgia boys, but this was incorrect. Biscardi
had persuaded a man in Indiana to front $50 ,000
to the Georgia boys. In exchange for the body,
Biscardi promised to pay the man back in 90 days.
But once it became clear that the body was fake,
Biscardi urged the man to sue the Georgia guys
in order to get his money back. Don't come to
me, go to them. Whatever you're just talking
about. Getting $50 ,000 for the body from some
rich guy in Indiana. Okay, I just gotta ask.
You need money quick. What are you gonna do?
Find a Bigfoot costume and go find some random
animal parts to stuff it with? I don't think
that's a bad plan. How much money could you possibly
see come in from that overall though? Well, and
I guess the real question too is like how quick
do you need it? Because these guys did like they
say they've caught it in June and it took at
least a few weeks to set it up. You look at all
these people and I don't know if they just have
that certain gift of people that we've covered
in the past who are a quote unquote whifters
that continue to just tell their audience that
they're just here to make money off of them and
they're giving them money specifically with stuff
like this. So I just don't know if it's not people
who are interested in the topic and are easily
kind of conned into something like that because
they're more dispositioned to believe in something
like that. I don't know what it would be. But
I don't know. I don't know how it would make
money faster than that. I don't know either unless
you already have a following of people. I mean,
I would sell some stuff on marketplace. Where
do you know how to get into like drug sales or
something like that? Yeah, I mean, I don't know.
that I'd be like bigfoot dead bigfoot that's
the way to do it that wouldn't be my first thing
no that money I would always almost worry that
it would be a short -term fix because everybody's
gonna want their money back as soon as they figure
out which they will figure out that it is not
a dead body yeah and it doesn't feel like they
made that much money off of it so it just and
it just feels like such a dishonest way to make
money i don't know that that's what i would leap
at for for my first my first thing to try and
make money i just it doesn't feel like something
that i would default to like this got it i got
it we're gonna pretend we got a bigfoot and stuff
it in i know But anyhow, just so that we're all
clear on the consequences, this next portion
of my script is entitled Consequences. So Witten,
as we said, was first put on medical leave and
then the police chief, Jeff Turner, worked on
paperwork to terminate Witten's employment because
of the integrity issues involved. Witten had
lied to the international media and any defense
lawyer could in the future question his truthfulness
in court. Fair enough. On August 19th, telephone
calls to Witten and Dyer were not returned by
them. Their voicemail spiel, which told of their
search for the Loch Ness Monster and Leprechauns,
had been updated to also include their search
for dinosaurs and big cats. Uh, my voicemail
is all wrong. I just realized. CNN affiliate
WSB ran video about Witten and Dyer talking about
how their fun quote got legs and ran end quote
and they claimed it was all a joke that got out
of control. Biscardi searching the Bigfoot, Inc.
website in an August 19th posting claimed to
be, quote, seeking justice for themselves and
for all the people who were deceived by this
deception. So that's Biscardi distancing himself.
Out of all of them, he seemed like the worst
one, to be honest. And then Witton and Dyer,
however, use their notoriety in media pursuits.
Their website, BigfootTracker .com, asked, quote,
Do you know of a haunted house, hotel, or any
kind of hoax? It takes hoaxers to bust a hoax,
end quote. into their YouTube show, Oaks Busters.
Chelsea, that's the saga of Rick Dyer. What do
you think? I totally remember this. And what
I meant to ask you, they were on Coast to Coast
AM, right? This has to be where I know them from.
Viscardi was for sure. I can't remember if Rick
Dyer ever got on Coast to Coast. And I think
this is actually something that they wouldn't
be advertising anymore if they were. No, I don't
think that they would take it on. If he was on
there, they wouldn't take it off. Yeah, fair
enough. I don't see it. Tom Biscardi has a long
history as president and CEO of organizations
in a wide range of businesses, including advertising,
insurance and marketing consultation. Tom began
his Bigfoot research in 1967. His first company
related relating to Bigfoot research was, quote,
Amazing Horizons Corporation in 1971. According
to Biscardi's resume, he was founder and expedition
leader of a principal company responsible for
the existence of documentation on the legendary
creature called Bigfoot. His website is GreatAmericanBigfoot
.com. He has some videos, Bigfoot Alive in 82,
In the Shadow of Bigfoot, Legend of Bigfoot.
He was on... Some really random Bigfoot he was
on Bigfoot roundtable I remember listening to
this on Coast to Coast AM though, and it's really
weird Maybe they have wiped it strange. I don't
see any mention of yeah It's actually really
weird when you look for Ricky Dyer though most
of his social media presence. It's not there
I'm sure I heard this on Coast to Coast Day.
No, Chelsea, I should say at this point, it turns
out I'm only halfway through my script. So we're
going to jump forward to 2012. I thought you
were closing it out. You fooled me. Dyer claims
to have killed a Bigfoot -like creature in San
Antonio, Texas in early September. Another, not
another one, but now he's in possession of another
dead Bigfoot. Another dead Bigfoot. Okay. And
he stopped on the way home to purchase a lottery
ticket as well. I would hope. Let's go through
this article. It's from CNET back in the day.
Infamous Bigfoot hunter Rick Dyer claims to have
shot and killed the elusive Sasquatch and says
he plans to show off his lifeless corpse on an
upcoming Worldwood media tour. Okay, maybe this
is what I remember. Though Dyer has tried to
fool the public before and deservedly faces more
than a little skepticism, he claims this corpse
is the real thing. During a September 2012 expedition
in San Antonio, Texas with BAFTA winning filmmaker
Morgan Matthews and his British documentary film
crew in tow Dyer says he lured Hank which is
what we call it out with quote pork ribs from
Walmart and quote doused in his special barbecue
sauce attached to trees quote we nailed them
all around the trees and then that night we heard
Bigfoot come back and quote Dyer told Esquire
quote I chased him down in the middle of the
night I shot him once he ran I shot him again
and quote the footage in the upcoming film shooting
Bigfoot which was what they were filming at the
time. Oh my god, it's shooting. However, there
is a source out there, a homeless man, who says
that he was paid to attack the filming crew in
a staged presence by Dyer. Dyer posted evidence
in a YouTube video on January 2nd, revealing
an up -close shot of a Bigfoot without camera
flashes. Quote, Bigfoot is not Tooth Fairy. Bigfoot
is real, end quote Dyer told KSAT News. Quote,
the most important thing to me is being vindicated,
letting people know that I am the best Bigfoot
tracker in the world. not just me saying it."
Dyer also told the hosts of an Australian morning
show that a video of Bigfoot autopsy is completed
and will be shown soon. He planned a February
6 press conference to reveal even more Bigfoot
details, presumably including the dates of the
Macabre corpse tour across the United States
and Canada. CNET has contacted Dyer for comment
on this alleged catch and will update the story
when and if we hear back. He claimed that an
unnamed university in Washington state had tested
the creature's DNA and told Dyer that it was
an unknown species. Dyer's accomplice and self
-proclaimed Bigfoot skeptic, Alam Islub, also
known apparently as Muske -Alan, of Wakanda,
Illinois, claimed to have inspected Dyer's Bigfoot
in Las Vegas in February 2013 and proclaimed
it to be the real thing. This claim resulted
in many people getting sucked into Dyer's scam.
Dyer called the creature Hank and started touring
the body around the US and charging people to
view it. To view the body which lay beneath plexiglass
in a wooden coffin, adults were charged $10 and
kids were charged $5. I feel like I go. As much
as I want to be, I'm like, I'm not the person.
and that would go to this, I feel like even if
I knew it was fake, I'd still be like, it's worth
$10. It's a Bigfoot, I gotta go see a Bigfoot,
even if it's a fake Bigfoot. I can't just not
go see. Nobody really knows how much he made
from this either. Some say it was upwards of
$500 ,000, but like there's no actual sources
on it. You would think that the taxman would
want to know how much he made from that. But
the taxman don't tell us. That's true. Of the
creature Dyer stated, quote, DNA, DNA sequencing,
scans, autopsies, everything you can imagine,
it was being done, end quote. Some of the media
endorsed Dyer, including Andrew Clayce. I don't
know who Andrew Clayce is. No, neither do I.
Critics soon pointed out that Dyer had pulled
off a Bigfoot hoax in 2008. I think you're going
to be more in to actually get a Bigfoot body.
Oh, I love that perspective. I love that that's
where you went with it. That's just thinking
on the bright side. Well, and maybe even from
the start, too, when he told people he had a
body, maybe that was the motivation to actually
find a Bigfoot body. You know how, like, if you
say like, oh, he lost 10 pounds on this diet.
Maybe that's actually motivation to lose 10 pounds.
But I just love how did nobody realize this in
the first place? It's in different areas. It's
not involving Whitten or Biscardi this time around.
So maybe he thought he could get away with it.
But it seems like people didn't immediately notice
that he was the same. guy that ran the hoax at
the press place. Okay, I love the gusto in it,
at least, at the very least. I don't know for
sure how they advertise the press conference.
Maybe they didn't say who was going to be saying
they had a body or what was going to be said.
Okay. And maybe it was like - I gotta think -
Afterwards. I'm just thinking as a person who
lives a normal life, I would say I live a normal
life, I run a Bigfoot hoax. I think, you know,
I need money. I can't do a YouTube live. I don't
have a big enough audience to just tell an audience
that I need them to give me money. So I'm like,
OK, I love Bigfoot. I have a Bigfoot costume.
I'm going to fill it with possums and. fucking
squirrels and sausage from the store. That's
a buddy who works down at the meat processing
plant. He can get me some good stuff. Yeah, and
I'm gonna make a lot of money at it and then
I'm gonna $2 ,000 and it's gonna be proved it's
a hoax and I stop. for years and then years later
i'm like you know what i'm gonna give it another
go this time without these guys they're everything
that was wrong with it the last time they fucked
it all up i'm gonna try this again and so i do
i don't understand the thinking it's perplexing
see there's there's more story so don't worry
we're gonna be even more confounded with everything
And like, there is a documentary out there called
Shooting Bigfoot. I can't find it anywhere. It
was on Prime for a while. Why is that the name
of the doc? Shooting Bigfoot? Yeah, because they
were, like, literally. He happened to claim that
he shot the Bigfoot while this was being documented.
What do Bigfoot, like, what do real Bigfoot,
because there's Bigfoot people. Yes. What do
they think of this guy? Do you get into that?
OK, they hate him. Like I even the BS who are
somewhat in the squatcher industry there they
give the tours they hate this guy Yeah, I could
see it. I could see it. They have taken down
their article from 2008 because they don't want
people confusing this and they hate him Yeah,
I could see why they hate him shooting Bigfoot.
What a name. What a name I mean it goes right
alongside with filling a fucking suit of a Bigfoot
with decomposing animals and throughout the course
of the hoax die are repeatedly slandered and
Anyone who openly spoke up about him, many suggested
this tactic was just more proof that Dyer was
hoaxing again. Professor Don Jeffrey -Eldrum
at the Department of Anthropology at Idaho State
University stated, quote, the thing has clearly
been fabricated to depict a specimen that has
been dissected. It's smacks of images of alien
autopsy, end quote, which is an infamous fake
video of an actual alien autopsy. I don't know
if I had to say that, but I feel like I should
still include it. Yeah, it was in fact an actual
alien autopsy, I believe, right? Of course, but
it was done in a way that made it look really
fake. Yes, just like this bigfoot one, I presume.
It's kind of like, I don't know if you've ever
watched Community Chelsea, but John Goodman's
character puts all of these things around somebody
so that they'll never believe the story that
you tell them about his air conditioning school.
Like he has a black Hitler and an astronaut making
waffles. And it's just so that if you ever tell
somebody about it, it sounds like it's fake.
That's how you would record an alien autopsy.
I love that. OK, that's amazing. I didn't know
John Goodman was on Community. Oh, yeah, it's
a great little arc there. Responding to the controversy,
team members working with Dyer on the touring
and Bigfoot projects overall confronted Dyer.
Andrew Clayce, a spokesperson for the project,
wrote, quote, I confronted Mr. Dyer in Daytona
on my suspicions of authenticity. And he admitted
to me personally that the body of Hank was not
a real body, but rather a construct of a company
from Washington state, which was paid by Rick
Dyer. I am available and willing to cooperate
with any or state law enforcement investigations
should they arise. This guy takes his Bigfoot
stuff way too seriously because he's getting
charged. Oh, that guy is the true hero of this
story. Clacey immediately flew back to Australia
and abandoned both the project and Dyer. Oh,
I like that guy. Artist Chris Russell of Twisted
Toy Box in Spokane, Washington says he made the
Bigfoot Dyer called Hank last November and December.
Everyone's turning on him. Well, once that came
out. they started looking for people and this
guy says, I was told the body would be used in
making of a film about killing big bucks. Now
Dyer acknowledges that the body is a fake, but
he still maintains he did shoot and kill a Bigfoot,
but fears the real thing would be stolen according
to the San Antonio News Express. The newspaper
reported that Dyer admitted the hoax on Facebook.
Quote, From this moment on, I will speak the
truth. No more lies, tall tales, or wild goose
chases to mess with the haters. Quote, Which
has since been deleted. Quote, I never treated
any bad. I'm a joke. I play around. That's just
me." Russell says it took about two weeks for
him and two other artists on his team to make
Hank. Quote, I was asked to make a prop look
like a poorly made old and rotten taxidermy prop
that had not been preserved correctly. Dyer did
send photos and drawings taken from the internet
and asked for certain features to be replicated,
end quote. Russell said in an email that he sent
photos of the sculpture to Dyer for his approval
and that Dyer then used a photo to create quote
a medical scan, end quote of Hank. Quote, this
medical scan was nothing more than a cell phone
photo of the head sculpture that I took. was
put into Photoshop and made into a negative by
Dyer, end quote. Dyer also wanted a Bigfoot family
and asked that a baby Bigfoot and female be created.
Russell said he couldn't make more due to harassment
I was getting through the internet email and
phone calls. In an interview posted on Facebook,
Russell said Dyer took precautions about keeping
the truth about Hank's secret. End quote. Dyer
maintains that he actually does have the body
of a real Bigfoot that he shot and killed, but
cannot produce it. Oh my god. This fucking guy.
Funny enough, Dr. Melba Ketchum is somewhat involved
in this. No! It's super weird, because I've googled
it and I could only find one thing. This is on
her Facebook page, and it's a comment on March
1st, 2013. This is Robin writing for Dr. Ketchum.
As some of you may already know, Mr. Rick Dyer
asked Dr. Ketchum to come and view the body of
his Bigfoot. This was made public tonight on
Blog Talk Radio. At this time, Dr. Ketchum will
not be commenting other than to say that she
is responding and will be talking with Rick Dyer.
And that's it. But then, just below it, one of
the comments says, wait, who changed Dr. Ketchum's
comment? both of them, where she accepted Rick
Dyer's invitation to see the Bigfoot body being
held near Vegas. I know she accepted because
I selected the like button and now it's gone.
And now there's a third entry, a disclaimer or
an attempt by her assistant to rephrase Ketchum's
response. So I'm really curious what she had
said. Oh my god. And yeah, that's his 2012 -2014
hoax. I think the real question is, what has
Rick Dyer been up to since 2014 onwards? I think
that is the real question. I've been wondering.
Especially after, like, he ends it with that
Facebook comment of like, no more lying, only
the truth. And then he drops off the face of
the earth. Kind of. And this is really weird.
Until recently? We're going to talk about it.
I have, I asked three AIs what was going on with
Rick Dyer after the hoax. Two out of the three
agree with this, but none of this seems to exist
online anymore. So I think it's reasonable to
assume this did happen. And that is that Rick
Dyer took a far right and conspiracy driven career
from this. Over kind of various platforms. He
was on Bitshoot, he's on Rumble. What the hell
is Bitshoot and Rumble? Very far right stuff.
Okay, that would explain why I don't need. I've
never even heard of them, so that was all I need
to know. His presence has been scattered due
to bans and deletions. So some things that came
up on YouTube. He had a show called Rick Dyer
TV and the real Rick Dyer. and he discussed COVID
-19. He had a video titled COVID Scam Exposed,
2020 election fraud, supporting Trump's big lie,
cueing on adjacent themes like deep state corruption.
In a 2021 video, which I can't find, but both
of the AAs agree it existed, he claimed that
Fauci funded Bigfoot research to distract from
COVID lies, which I just don't even know what
to think of that. I can't form a thought on it.
He has been on several podcasts, apparently.
He went on one called The Hagueman Report, which
is a far right conspiracy podcast. He did a 2021
interview where he tied Bigfoot to government
bioengineering and called COVID the plandemic.
And he went on the Freaky Truth podcast in 2022,
where he talked about the globalist elite and
fake news media. He was suspended from Twitter.
I think he's back on X, but I don't know for
sure. It's because his names get really weird.
And he also did a collaboration with a YouTuber
called The Crypto Kid in 2023, where they discussed
Bigfoot and the New World Order blending cryptozoology
with far -right conspiracies, and he talked to
the Flat Earth British guy where Dyer appeared
on his show in 2022 comparing Bigfoot hoaxes
to NASA lies. Ah, Bigfoot hoaxes, but he's the
one lying about Bigfoot. Well, allegedly, because
remember Chelsea, he said he's only doing the
truth from here on out. But he said he's doing
the truth from here on out, but he also said
that he just made the doll of Bigfoot because
the deep state, what have you, took away the
actual Bigfoot. I did do a bit of a Reddit search
for him, and I did find that apparently he did
post a video in 2019 where this is the title
of the Reddit post. Another Rick Dyer hoax in
the making. Holy shit, Dyer is going for the
trifecta. And it's a five minute video basically
explaining how he has another body in 2019. Oh
my god. Chelsea, I just got to share with you
now. This is from seven months ago. I found this
video of Rick Dyer on his official page. It took
me a while to figure this out. His official page
is Rick the car guy, and he's just giving a life
update. No. So he's still a used car salesman?
He does a whole other thing. He owns two used
car dealerships, and he invested $10 ,000 in
Dogecoin when it first dropped, and he's made
apparently pretty good money off it. I could
see it actually. See, you make more money off
that than faking a Bigfoot, so why fake a Bigfoot?
Why fake it is my question. I don't get it. And
Chelsea, I just need to show you this part of
his life update. I've never been convicted of
anything at all, not even one speeding ticket
in my whole life. Contrary to popular belief,
most people believe, oh, I'm some sort of scammer
or I'm some sort of this or that. But the fact
of the matter is I'm not. I am the world's greatest
Bigfoot hunter, and that's where a lot of this
comes from. And some people think I'm ashamed
of my Bigfoot days. Man, my Bigfoot days are
now. we just signed another contract with the
Discovery Channel and we're going to go hunt
for them again and we're going to get another
body and we're going to tour the country again.
No you're not. I'm proud of that. And I would
do it again and again and again. In fact I have
my own channel on YouTube and TikTok it's called
Bigfoot Master Tracker. Look it up and follow
me. But this time is going to be a lot bigger
a lot better and a hundred times more entertaining.
We found the beast in 2008, we found the beast
in 2012, and we're going to find them again in
2025. And we're close this time. So my name is
Rick Dyer and I am the king of course. Discovery?
No. We got to take him at his word. But yeah.
When is this from? Seven months ago. Yeah. Discovery
would not give a contract, would they? I would
hope not. but he has like he has a name putting
out some pretty shit tv and like the guy is a
character yeah i could see it discovery host
tlc now and they put out some pretty shit tv
these days so i could actually see it without
them doing their full research behind the guy
them actually putting him on tv uh i didn't like
how that ends and you wonder why he's the one
i decided to follow from this No, that was good.
The shame about Bigfoot is I love Bigfoot, which
is why you told me I was going to like this episode,
I think. Yeah, there's some pretty cool stuff
when it comes to Bigfoot. And that's why I say
I would be a taken in if somebody was touring,
be like, here's a Bigfoot. I would totally pay
$10 to see a Bigfoot. Not that I want to see
a costume stuffed with animal carcasses, but
the costume was. with animal carcasses they just
gotta somebody professionally make it up well
the first one in a freezer oh yeah the first
one yeah no we don't want to smell that but there's
some pretty cool stuff to do with Bigfoot and
we've done really good Bigfoot episodes before.
So it just pains me to see Bigfoot painted in
this light of some guy that just continually
is hoaxing this stuff because Bigfoot is a majestic
being who does not deserve to be portrayed in
this light. I found this guy to be like such
an interesting character in that like he just
keeps doing it. Just keeps doing it. But why
would you keep doing it? And it's not just if
you're faking Bigfoot. it would be anything,
even Stanley Tiger. That was kind of the child's
adjacent things that he had to deal with. But
it almost sounded like after the 2008 one, they
were going to expand out into other things and
like find a Loch Ness monster body. And like,
I think he thought it was like too hard and he's
just gonna go back to doing gorilla suits. Cause
that's the easiest thing to fake at the end of
the day. You're right. We've been covering Loch
Ness a little. They're really watching it. Cause
remember the last thing we covered was them watching
AI with Loch Ness. So they're really on top of
it. Bigfoot's a whole other thing because the
Loch Ness... is like fully relying on tourism
for that. Bigfoot, not so much as other than
a few. There's an area that people rely heavily
on it. Like there might be a few businesses that
do, but like an entire town. Well, there is.
I would say specifically for my area, Harrison
Hot Springs. No, but it's not finding that Bigfoot.
It's more about like the lore about it. there
it is the lore because of the actual draws the
hot springs the indigenous around that area however
to the town itself there's lots of Bigfoots around
the town they have Bigfoot tours that you can
go on they have a Bigfoot Center that you can
go to so I would argue that a little bit and
I think there's a few towns around the PNW that
are the same way they fully rely on Bigfoot I
can't say for other parts of the country I'm
sure just like you would find the Mothman is
probably probably a huge thing for Point Pleasant,
but it's in different ways than you would find
with that. But strange that he would be caught
for a hoax or twice and decide to do it some
more. Each time he said, no, I still have a body.
Yeah, he's really sticking with it. And then.
How would you even go about getting, you just
know he's the one that went to Discovery about
it to get a show. I'm interested to see if he
actually gets a show or if it's not something
that he's just making up to get more views or
something. I guess this is something we might
see play out. Poor Bigfoot. In the meantime,
I've been Taylor here with Chelsea. We are Journey
to the Fringe. Thank you all for listening. We'll
see you next week. Bye. Thank you for listening
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