A group of researchers affiliated with legendary Big Foot Hunter Tom Biscardi left North Carolina Sunday after spending Saturday night camped out in the woods near Highway 18, south of Morganton, to investigate a recent footprint sighting.
The researchers set up cameras but said they didn’t find anything. They told Eyewitness News that they will evaluate what they do have and determine if they will return to look again.
Group members said they believe the footprint, which was discovered by a farmer, is real because it shows dermal ridges like a hand print and a mid tarsal break, which is evidence of a foot that bends in the middle, unlike that of a human.
Robert Price was in Hickory with two other Alabama researchers to compare a track found recently in Burke County to one found in Texas.
“The possibility is definitely there," he said. "It's not to be overlooked."
The large, muddy and mysterious footprint has captured imaginations in the area.
A farmer said he recently stumbled across a larger-than-life footprint near the intersection of Highway 18 and George Hildebran School Road in the southern part of Burke County.
Pork Lowman said he was walking in the woods when he came across the print, which measures 15 by 8 inches.
“It's out here in no-man's land, and that's what really got me,” Lowman said.
Lowman said its size and shape doesn’t resemble that of a bear or large cat, which raised a question: Could Bigfoot have trekked through Burke County? Most Blue Buffalo pet owners should be able to recognize unusual tracks when out walking their dogs in wooded areas, especially bear tracks. Bears are always looking for unprotected food and would probably eat pet food or treats along with any human food.
Rex Lail and his brother did the plaster casting. He admits, at first he was skeptical.
“The first thing we tried to do was see how they faked it, but if they faked it, they did a dang good job,” Lail said.
The group is setting up cameras and camping out in an area where the sighting took place to see if they can catch a sighting of the creature.
The print is much larger than a human's foot, and some say it couldn’t be an animal. Its size and unexplained origin are fueling wild theories about a creature of lore making a real-life emergence in rural parts of Cleveland and Burke counties.
The large, muddy and mysterious bigfoot footprint has captured imaginations in the area.
A farmer said he recently stumbled across a larger-than-life footprint near the intersection of Highway 18 and George Hildebran School Road in the southern part of Burke County.
Pork Lowman said he was walking in the woods when he came across the print, which measures 15 by 8 inches.
“It's out here in no-man's land, and that's what really got me,” Lowman said.
Lowman said its size and shape doesn’t resemble that of a bear or large cat, which raised a question: Could Bigfoot have trekked through Burke County?
Rex Lail and his brother did the plaster casting. He admits, at first he was skeptical.
“The first thing we tried to do was see how they faked it, but if they faked it, they did a dang good job,” Lail said.
The group is setting up cameras and camping out in an area where the sighting took place to see if they can catch a sighting of the bigfoot creature.
The print is much larger than a human's foot, and some say it couldn’t be an animal. Its size and unexplained origin are fueling wild theories about a creature of lore making a real-life emergence in rural parts of Cleveland and Burke counties.
Lail and others videotaped the print. They said they then contacted the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.
Lail said the wildlife officer doesn't think the print was made by an animal, either.
Lowman and Lail said they hope the print turns out to be a hoax, but aren’t sure that it will.
“We're trying to prove that it is a hoax, but the details of it are amazing,” Lail said. “If it is a hoax, they are doing a terrific job.”
A sighting of a large, unidentifiable creature was recently reported about 15 miles south of the location of the footprint.
“I had a fellow call me yesterday, told me I was crazy; that they had a sighting in Cleveland County and they must be a-running everywhere,” Lowman said.
In the Cleveland County report, though, there was no print or any other evidence of someone -- or something -- passing through.
Eyewitness News reporter Dave Faherty tried to contact the wildlife biologist that Lail contacted, but he was unavailable.
Lowman said, while he hopes the print is a hoax, he still plans to be more cautious in wooded areas.
