The Skookum cast is a

plaster cast A plaster cast is a copy made in plaster of another 3-dimensional form. The original from which the cast is taken may be a sculpture, building, a face, a pregnant belly, a fossil or other remains such as fresh or fossilised footprints – p ...

showing the imprint of what appears to be a large animal’s left forearm, hip, thigh and buttocks. It was discovered in a muddy wallow near Mount Adams in the southern part of

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

in the year 2000 and is argued by some to have been made by a

Bigfoot Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a purported ape-like creature said to inhabit the forest of North America. Many dubious articles have been offered in attempts to prove the existence of Bigfoot, including anecdotal claims o ...

Description

The cast was taken on September 22, 2000, during a Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) expedition to the Skookum Meadows area of the

Gifford Pinchot National Forest Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a National Forest located in southern Washington, managed by the United States Forest Service. With an area of 1.32 million acres (5300 km2), it extends 116 km along the western slopes of Cascade Ran ...

in Washington state, during filming of the '' Animal X'' television show. Researchers filming for the show left fruit in a muddy wallow overnight and imprint was discovered the next morning. The cast, which measures and weighs approximately , is of a partial body imprint left in roadside mud.

Analysis

As seen during the Animal X episode, the Skookum cast was scanned onto a computer for further analysis and also studied in person by physical anthropologist Dr.

Grover Krantz Grover Sanders Krantz (November 5, 1931 – February 14, 2002) was an American anthropologist and cryptozoologist; he was one of few scientists not only to research Bigfoot, but also to express his belief in the animal's existence. Throughout his ...

, wildlife biologist Dr.

John Bindernagel John Albert Bindernagel (December 22, 1941 – January 17, 2018) was a wildlife biologist who sought evidence for Sasquatch since 1963. Biography Bindernagel was born in Kitchener, Ontario, attended the University of Guelph, and received a PhD in ...

, and others. Dr. Krantz stated his belief that the cast was made by a Sasquatch while others remain skeptical. Professor of the Department of Anthropology at

Idaho State University , mottoeng = "The truth will set you free" , established = , former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927)University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho State ...

, Dr.

Jeffrey Meldrum Don Jeffrey "Jeff" Meldrum (born May 24, 1958) is a Full Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Idaho State University. Meldrum is also Adjunct Professor in the Department of Physical and Occupational Th ...

, also studied the cast and found specific details in what he believed to be the foot area of the cast and found evidence of

dermatoglyphics Dermatoglyphics (from Ancient Greek ''derma'', "skin", and ''glyph'', "carving") is the scientific study of fingerprints, lines, mounts and shapes of hands, as distinct from the superficially similar pseudoscience of palmistry. Dermatoglyphics a ...

that he believes are related to primate feet.

Skepticism

The

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is a program within the US non-profit organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which seeks to "prom ...

have put forward the suggestion that the initial identification was premature and created bias among subsequent team members. The casting was made by wildlife ecologist LeRoy Fish, tracker Richard Noll, and animal tracker Derek Randles. While working with this team to find evidence of bigfoot, Richard Noll saw the impression and suggested to his team that it was left by a bigfoot. These team members may have been influenced by the suggestion, motivating them to co-validate the original identification.

Conclusion

On March 3, 2001, Marc Hume wrote an article for the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'' 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. However, debate continues regarding what animal truly left the imprint.

Description

Analysis

Skepticism

Conclusion

See also

References

Further reading