Bigfoot controversy
By far, Todd Standing is the biggest go-getter when it comes to Bigfoot field investigation. He’s been at it since at least 2005. In all of that time, no one other than David Paulides has kicked up more controversy in Bigfootery than Todd.
A lot has been said already about Todd. He’s been on a number of podcasts, reality shows, and has been active as an influencer before YouTube was hitting its stride. Each step of the way, Todd’s involvement with the subject of Bigfoot has always been about publicity.
Before YouTube, Todd branded his work “Sylvanic Bigfoot” and sold CDs with a documentary he produced, part of which you can find on his YouTube site today.
Todd’s launch pad was a remote area of Nordegg in British Columbia with some convincing clues of Bigfoot activity. He actually became sort of famous overnight in Canada because search and rescue teams were called out, thinking he was lost. (1) Nope, Todd claimed he was busy being chased by bears. He took an alternate route and missed the timing of his expected return.
The biggest weight of controversy around Todd has been digital footage of puppet-looking creatures he allegedly took at Nordegg which he insists are of genuine Bigfoot. There is also a clip of one of them scrambling up the rocks at elevation. That clip is not given nearly as much scrutiny as the puppets and is more interesting in my view.
The puppet-looking creatures have been scrutinized quite a bit. Most people deem those images to be too unrealistic to be genuine. To other people, the puppets are legitimate Bigfoot. That’s the problem with analyzing visual evidence, it can go either way.
What stands out about the puppet footage is it’s too brief, too clear, and looks like staged shots. Todd’s reasoning on why the footage is brief is because of low battery. (2) That sounds reasonable but also too convenient.
Todd’s Bigfoot controversy skills
There’s no question of Todd’s abilities as an outdoorsman; his tracking skills, and knowledge of Bigfoot. In that sense, Todd is way ahead of 99% of other Bigfoot field investigators. However, Todd is also a filmmaker with a creative mind, a lot of ambition, and an overriding concern for Bigfoot to be legitimized by society so their habitats can be protected. That has always been his stated primary reason for doing what he does. Getting in his own way, he has also used that reasoning as an excuse to not reveal key aspects to the puppets that could either legitimize what he says or debunk it completely.
If not for the puppets, Todd would not be put on the defensive so often, trying to outrun the controversy.
In my book, Hacking Bigfoot, I complimented Todd for demonstrating expert knowledge in the field. There is no way he could have lasted this long doing field research without being dedicated to his cause. His 2017 documentary, Discovering Bigfoot, is actually pretty good. I’m willing to bet nobody can reproduce those scenarios in a similar manner to debunk it.
What it comes down to is it’s next to impossible to come up with decisive proof. Some investigators feel pressured and resort to manufacturing evidence. In the case of the puppets, I suspect Todd actually did witness Bigfoot or multiple Bigfoot and then attempted to recreate what he saw with props.
Given Todd’s film and videography background, I am skeptical how he was able to get such clear footage with an early model digital camera at such a range. By now, everyone has figured out, the closer you are to a subject, the more clear the subject is to a camera lens. How can you be 60-80 yards or whatever range he was from the alleged creatures and get those shots with that day’s technology? What happened to the other footage that did not make it into the Sylvanic documentary? That would go a long way to support his case but he avoids it or such b-roll footage never existed.
If Todd would have come clean a while ago, perceptions of him and his field work would be very different today. His other field work is excellent but Bigfootery has never been accepting of mixing hoaxing with legitimate research. He should have just said from the start the puppets are a re-creation of what he thinks he saw.
- “Sasquatches and Horses.” Callout: Search and Rescue. Season 2, episode 7, originally aired December 26, 2011.
- Mentioned in his 2017 documentary, Discovering Bigfoot.