(Cast) Cripple Foot
Cripple Foot is the name given to a creature which, in November 1969, is alleged to have left a trackway of 1,089 distinctive footprints in and around Bossburg, Washington.
Cripplefoot was so called, because the right foot appears to be deformed, possibly as speculated by Grover Krantz, by the same condition that causes 'club-foot' (Talipes Equinovarus) in humans, or, as determined by Jeff Meldrum, a condition known as 'skew-foot' (Metatarsus Adductus).
John Napier, a world-renowned expert on the evolution of human locomotion, said, "It is very difficult to conceive of a hoaxer so subtle, so knowledgeable — and so sick — who would deliberately fake a footprint of this nature. I suppose it is possible, but it is so unlikely that I am prepared to discount it." The case is also considered to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back for Krantz. Before analyzing the tracks, Krantz had given bigfoot only a 10% chance of existing, but the tracks convinced him.[1]
Anthropologist and bigfoot skeptic David Daegling wrote a analysis debunking the case, "Cripplefoot Hobbled," for Skeptical Inquirer magazine in March 2002. [2] The tracks have often been questioned because of their association with known hoaxer Ivan Marx. Marx later claimed to have filmed the "crippled" bigfoot and further claimed the creature to be 8 feet tall, but investigation by Peter Byrne at the site of that film revealed the figure to be just over 6 feet tall (In Search of: Bigfoot, 1978).
References
- Sasquatch - Don Hunter & René Dahinden
- Big Footprints - Grover Krantz
- Napier, J. 1972. Bigfoot. New York: Berkley Books.
- Barcot, Bruce. 2002. Sasquatch is real! Outside Magazine, August.[3]
- Daegling, David. 2002. Cripplefoot Hobbled. Skeptical Inquirer, March. [4]
