Fisherman Says He Saw Bigfoot Bathing ... And He Sent Us A Picture!
Another claim of a Bigfoot encounter !
(http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2449032/thumbs/o-TAMPASKUNKAPE-570.jpg?6)
One occupational hazard of reporting on unexplained phenomena: You can always count on waking up in the morning to find an email from someone swearing that they've just seen Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, a hybrid human alien or a UFO on the moon.
2015 began with a photo from John Rodriguez, a 66-year-old retired electrician, who claims that he was fishing Dec. 26 on the Hillsborough River near northeast Tampa, Florida, and came upon an incredible sight.
"I fish for gar in the river and I bring my camera to take pictures of the birds and what not. I heard a squishing sound, looked over and saw this thing walking through the water and crouch down in the duck weed. It did not look like a guy in a suit -- it was definitely an animal. I took this picture and got out of there as fast as I could."
Here's the image that Rodriguez sent to HuffPost:
(http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2449116/thumbs/o-TAMPABIGFOOTORIGINAL-570.jpg?6)
Rodriguez claims to have seen and photographed -- in a completely clear and non-blurry moment -- that tall, hairy, elusive creature often reported in North America and other parts of the world that goes by many names: Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti. In Florida, it's known as the Swamp Ape or Skunk Ape (primarily from descriptions of an extremely pungent odor it supposedly gives off).
"I've heard of Skunk Ape prints around Green Swamp [in Florida], but never anything like this," Rodriguez told HuffPost in an email. "My whole life, never seen anything like it."
Of course, the fact that the photo looks a little too crisp at some points, made us suspect it to be a fraud. Just look at the jagged line between the hairy beast and the water. That could be the work of a novice who just downloaded Photoshop for the first time.
However, we've got some time to kill. And doesn't this man deserve to be taken at his word? After all, wouldn't finding Bigfoot be a great way to kick off 2015?
Rodriguez said he snapped the picture in the early afternoon at an area where the Hillsborough River becomes a cypress swamp. The map below shows a small section of the 59-mile-long river that flows through Florida, filled with wildlife preserves that include many not-so-friendly creatures, such as alligators, known to jump into canoes and attack unsuspecting humans.
So, what are we to make of this fantastic tale? Did Rodriguez take the clearest, most definitive picture to date of Bigfoot?
Not so fast, according to Ben Hansen, lead investigator of the Syfy Channel's "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files" series.
"It's a relief to finally have a clear picture of the creature," Hansen, a former FBI agent, told HuffPost. "Every other photo and video we get is usually too blurry or the Bigfoot too obscured in brush to allow for any useful identification. Thanks to the clear photo, I'm excited to announce that the photographer has captured a real-life... gorilla in a Bigfoot suit!"
"To be more precise, the face of a gorilla that has been digitally added to the photo with editing software. Although I originally suspected the creature suit was actually in the water when the photo was taken, I started to notice shadows in front of the Bigfoot that appeared to be an inconsistent length and shape with the rest of the photo."
"Additionally, there appears to be some heavy digital editing touch-up to the fur around the face and where the body meets the water. I'm now leaning more toward believing the whole creature was pasted into the image and then branches and twigs were added in the foreground. The branches also could have really been in the scene, but they were later edited as separate layers so Bigfoot looks like he's now behind them, sitting in deep contemplation."
Digital photographs use a format called EXIF data, which stores a lot of accessible information within each image -- like shutter speed, if a flash was used, date and time of the image, etc. Hansen pointed out that the EXIF information of the Florida swamp creature picture suggests the image was digitally created on Dec. 26 with Photoshop.
Since those details are extremely important when trying to research unexplained phenomena images, we asked Rodriguez about this.
"I did not Photoshop this at all. Believe me or not," Rodriguez said. "When I plug in my memory card, it asks to import and opens in Photoshop. I just changed the name and saved. It seems like people get publicly crucified for coming forward with this kind of stuff."
Rodriguez also said this debunking attitude is what caused him to initially hesitate sending the original picture to HuffPost.
A March 2014 smithsonian.com story about the search for Florida's Skunk Ape pointed out the following:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/03/fisherman-saw-bigfoot-bathing_n_6407272.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
To get a fake one over there seems to cost a lot a energy. The upper part is even dry. Its also rather big.
So that speaks for the image imo.
The head looks however very ape like and fake.
Quote from: Lunica on January 04, 2015, 04:34:31 PM
The head looks however very ape like and fake.
Yes, that looks like a gorilla head.
Video: Unsolved Mysteries BIGFOOT in Oregon.
Not long after posting this , by Coincidence an Unsolved Mysteries program showed this video about Bigfoot...
At 7 mins 45 seconds it shows what seems an amazing encounter that one person claims to have witnessed that I have never seen before..
But just showing in it such a program as this, shows how easy it is to have someone dressed up in a Bigfoot suit that looks quite real..
If what he claims was true, it was certainly a remarkable encounter..
http://cryptoworld.co.uk/video-unsolved-mysteries-bigfoot-in-oregon/
The whitish hair looks like it was cropped from Harry
(http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140930165510/p__/protagonist/images/7/72/Harry_Henderson.jpg)
Dang... now I wish I would have taken a picture of that footprint outside of my gate the other morning :'(
I would have to say it is not exactly where I would choose to have a bath!
Calling all shadow experts to look at angles of the sun.
I have to say it looks like it is not real. Out of place.
The white beard on zoom in is cut and pasted. The green plants in the water and the monkey fur are not blended (feathered) and are dufferent pixel size
While swamp water may be therapeuticc for some :P I will go with a bad photo shop
The Biggiefootie is not even looking at the fisherman.
I think its blind
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2015/01/family_of_sasquatches_traffic-camera_photo_by_adot_causes_buzz_in_bigfoot_w.php
Turns out it is just bushes , as the Adot cameras take shots evry few minutes and the "bigfoot family " did not move ...lol
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNcMfGwL62w
Well heck Moses talked to a bush and look where that story went :P
Quote from: zorgon on January 06, 2015, 09:44:29 PM
Well heck Moses talked to a bush and look where that story went :P
You can never trust a bush. ;)
I agree that its very unlikely many animals would want to bathe in such a weed filled lake...
The close up photo of the creature however does look like the above header image that "Z" added to this part of the Cryptozoology - Bigfoot, Monsters and other Critters section of the forum ...
That picture shows a similar image capture of a bigfoot..only it is peering through some bushes in stead of a weed filled swampy lake.
'Mysterious Beasts' Spotted by Arizona Highway Cameras.
A suspicious pack of what appeared to be a group of large animals has sparked a viral debate about a possible sasquatch sighting in Arizona.
(http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/ht_arizona_sasquatch_float_lb_150105_16x9t_384.jpg)
(https://s1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/nRZ7ULZT7LlvOdkvxuRD8Q--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTUzOTtpbD1wbGFuZTtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz05NjA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/gma/us.abcnews.gma.com/ht_arizona_sasquatch_float_lb_150105_16x9_992.jpg)
The Arizona Department of Transportation was behind the latest announcement -- and conspiracy theories began to grow after they posted a photo from a highway patrol camera.
It wasn't Big Foot enthusiasts reading too deeply into a suspicious photo; the government officials were the ones to suggest that something sinister -- and mysterious -- was going on.
Mystery of Death Valley's 'Sailing Stones' Solved
Woman 'Scared to Death' by Latest UFO Sighting
"We might have spotted a family of sasquatches on SR 260 near Heber this afternoon. What do you think?" the Department of Transportation wrote in the caption of the photo it posted to their official Facebook page on Jan. 1.
The post was shared nearly 3,000 times.
The more than 2,000 comments ranged from true believers to those concerned with the well-being and supposed mythological powers of the rarely spotted beings, but eventually the department put the speculation to an end, admitting it was just meant to be humorous.
"We always try to have a little fun with our Facebook and Twitter feeds," department spokesman Tim Tait told ABC News. "That way, we don't just post news about crashes and road conditions, but a little something to engage our audience in different ways. This posting was one of those efforts -- something that caught our attention, and we thought it might make some people chuckle."
https://gma.yahoo.com/mysterious-beasts-spotted-arizona-highway-cameras-220315455--abc-news-topstories.html
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/pages/bigfoot-footage-from-lettuce-lake-park-fl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=7636&8502x-yt-ts=1422503916&v=xcgHKMbYYNw#t=120
Check out video footage recently sent in to Bigfoot Evidence. The witness said he was canoeing in a swamp outside of Tampa, Florida, when he spotted something "walking" and diving in a gator infested area. Could it be Bigfoot or a Skunkape?