Media Article # 514

Sunday, October 8, 2006

[Group in Malaysia touts BF Cast]

By Agence France-Presse (AFP)  
Khaleej Times Online (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

Malaysian ‘Bigfoot’ footprint fetches 50,000 dollar offer
(AFP)

8 October 2006


KUALA LUMPUR - A paranormal investigation group that is auctioning a cast of a ‘Bigfoot’ footprint has received an offer of 50,000 dollars from a private US museum, a report said on Sunday.

Paranormal Seekers Malaysia, a group which found the print during an expedition last year to find Bigfoot, put the unique cast up for sale on eBay Malaysia after running out of money, the Star newspaper said.

‘We need equipment and material for our paranormal investigations and research but we have no funding nor aid from the government,’ said Syed Abdullah Al Attas, the founder of the Kuala Lumpur-based group.

‘Therefore we are forced to put the cast up for sale,’ he was quoted as saying.

Bidding opened at 100,000 ringgit (27,118 dollars) and a private museum in the United States had offered 50,000 dollars, while a US Bigfoot researcher wanted to trade casts, he said.

‘We will leave the offer open until the end of the year to see the highest offer,’ said Syed Abdullah, photographed in the paper holding the five-toed cast.

‘If possible, we would like a Malaysian body, be it a foundation or a museum, to buy the cast because this is the only one we have and we hope it can stay here,’ he said.

He said the Seekers and other paranormal investigation groups had found 10 possible Bigfoot footprints during their expedition in the jungle of Malaysia’s southern Johor state.

‘However, we only have enough material to make one cast or else, trust me, we would have made 10 there and then,’ he said.

Bigfoot fever erupted in Malaysia last December when some people claimed to have spotted three of the creatures, two adults and a youngster, on the edge of a Johor forest reserve.

Stories of mythical ape-like creatures have been reported in wilderness areas all over the world. They are known as Bigfoot or Sasquatch in the United States and Canada, and Yeti in the Himalayas.

Khaleej Times is the No.1 English language daily newspaper published from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the highest circulated of the ABC-certified English language newspapers throughout the Gulf. It reaches out to all parts of the UAE. Additionally, it covers Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia through a dedicated distribution network. It is also sold on stands in the UK, India and Pakistan.

With a multinational readership of 450,000, Khaleej Times Special Reports and Supplements are regarded as part of a valuable service to the Middle East at large.

This awkward cast has been displayed to the media since February. The cast was initially described by visiting journalists as "silly looking".

It may be a fake, but it is not inconceivable that is real. It could be a distortion of an actual track.

The alleged high-dollar-offers for the cast might be just as fake as the cast itself (if the cast is fake), but there is a residual benefit of this news story : Malaysians may keep a better eye out for tracks.

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