In case you missed the most current brouhaha in Bigfootery, a guy named Charles “Snake” Stuart claims to have found something in the Adirondacks that resembles a Bigfoot corpse or the remains of one. The alleged remains will be an exhibit at the 2025 New York State Fair.
Which to me, seems like a marketing gimmick. Sometimes, investigators manufacture their own evidence or stretch the truth too far. I don’t know Snake so I don’t really know his motivations. I’m just pointing out a predictable and common pattern in Bigfootery of hoaxing, perhaps even unintentionally.
Snake is not openly making any wild claims about what the evidence represents other than it appears to a dead Bigfoot. I find it strange that he refers to himself as a Bigfoot investigator but offers no substantial clues why anyone should consider the remains to be valid evidence. Most investigators don’t make a public display of proposed evidence.
It’s too coincidental that he just happened to find the remains while searching for Bigfoot. People find hairs and footprints, and the occasional nest, but nothing biological which can be of potential value to science. Genuine Bigfoot evidence doesn’t turn up when someone deliberately wants to find it.
The most famous Bigfoot hoax occurred in 2008. Long time Bigfoot investigator Tom Biscardi Sr. teamed up with Rick Dyer who claimed to have a dead Bigfoot in a freezer. According to Dyer, he came across the body in the woods of northern Georgia while hiking. He and accomplices dragged the corpse over 7 miles through the woods and loaded it into his pickup truck.
Rick Dyer posted a few teaser videos to social media and the freezer hoax caught on. People started to believe it.
Dyer’s plan was to stretch the hoax out as long as he could and sell access to the freezer to the highest bidder. What was never clear was what would happen if someone actually bought the freezer contents. Was a “no refund” clause part of the deal once the buyer realized the corpse was fake?
Biscardi has a very long history in Bigfootery. He refers to himself as “The Godfather of Bigfoot” and truly, there is no one else worthy of that title. In May 1973, Tom Biscardi informed the Ledger-Gazette of Lancaster, California that he had about 30 minutes worth of film of Sasquatch but Biscardi refused to sell it. A Bigfoot financier allegedly offered him over $25,000 for it but if authentic, it would be worth far more, he claimed at the time. (1)
Dyer and Biscardi decided to hold a press conference in Palo Alto, California as Team Tracker. They made custom polo shirts and showed off decals for their Bigfoot search expedition business, ready to accept tourist clients in the area where Dyer said he found the Bigfoot.
It was well-attended with more than two dozen media outlets showing up. Biscardi said at the time, “It was a euphoric experience for me. What I saw, what I touched was not a mask sewn onto a body.” (2) He even went the extra mile and contacted microbiologist Curt Nelson and a paleontologist to examine the contents of the freezer. (3)
Self-tasked Squatch Detective, Steve Kulls, obtained a sample of the freezer contents. (4) Dr. Curt revealed the corpse to have opossum DNA. Everyone was upset they were tricked into wasting their time.
Biscardi was said to have paid Rick Dyer $50,000 as an advance for profits made from the frozen Bigfoot. Many people who followed the sequence of events questioned how unlikely it would be for anyone to hand over $50,000 to someone without first confirming what was in the freezer first.
Most likely, the $50,000 never transferred hands. It seems more probable that Biscardi was more interested in the exposure generated from the press coverage than perpetuating Dyer’s hoax. Perhaps having a press conference in Silicon Valley was meant to attract investors to the Bigfoot search expedition business.
Maybe Snake Stuart doesn’t have the same level of marketing skills as Rick Dyer and Tom Biscardi had. It’s still a sure bet that whatever is being proposed as Bigfoot biological remains from the Adirondacks will not measure up to anything. Upstate New Yorkers may just get kettle corn out of the experience – which is not a bad deal. Just don’t plan on any Bigfoot revelations.
- The Ultimate Bigfoot Hoax Timeline: Historical Background (1958-2007).” cryptozoonews.com.
- “Bigfoot claim a fake, ex-enthusiast says.” cnn.com, August 19th, 2008.
- Heussner, Ki Mae. “A Monster Discovery? It Was Just a Costume.” ABCNews.com, February 10, 2009.
- Steve Kulls, 50 Large, 2012.