Bigfoot is buzzing again after a TikTok went viral this week, with non-believers pointing and laughing … but one Ph.D. expert on the subject tells TMZ the joke is on them.
Here’s the deal … on Thursday, an apparent Bigfoot made its TikTok debut … recorded just chilling against a tree in a wooded area of Lawton, about 3 hours from Oklahoma City. It was quickly dismissed as an obvious fake — but it also piqued some legit new interest!
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Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, a professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University, tells TMZ Bigfoot finding such a popular foothold in pop culture is a double-edged sword … ’cause it does poke fun at those who truly are investigating its existence … but the silliness also encourages more people to ask questions.
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The author of “Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science” says the existence of a Bigfoot creature is “one of the most interesting questions facing researchers of human evolution” … so there’s a lot more to this than just selling beef jerky, and stooges trying to get clicks.
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Dr. JM says he has “hundreds” of legit foot casts of sasquatch and other relict hominoids from around the world … so he is quite confident something was — and may still be — out there.
It is easy for skeptics to point to prank videos like the recent one, and to snack commercials, to mock the idea … but if people look at the actual evidence, their tune would change pretty quickly.
Tik Tok/@e_man580
Of course … he points out discoveries of actual evidence rarely make news … people acting like boobs with fake videos are more fun for the media to cover.
As for the popularity of Bigfoot over other mysterious creatures … Dr. Meldrum tells us that is born out of nationalism. The term “Bigfoot” was coined in the U.S. in 1948, and it became “our monster” … and from there, creatives ran with the idea for sci-fi.
One thing’s for sure — if the experts are correct, “Harry and the Hendersons” might turn out to be a documentary.
