Scientist Plods Forward in Search for Big Foot

Sitting in an office cluttered with toy gorillas, plastic skeletons and books about primate evolution, anthropologist Grover Krantz was on the phone recently making arrangements to send casts of some rare footprints to France.

It is a normal activity for a physical anthropologist whose specialty is human evolution. What is unusual is these 14 1/2-inch footprints are not those of ancient man or ape or even bear. Krantz claims that they belong to Sasquatch--also known as Big Foot.

Sasquatch, a breed of erect and ape-like primates that is the stuff of Indian legends, B movies, and supermarket tabloids has become Krantz’s all-consuming interest. It is what the professor at Washington State University says has cost him scholarly credibility and derailed his advancement in the world of academia.

Krantz got interested in Big Foot in 1970 when he talked to a deputy sheriff in a coastal county in Washington state. The deputy claimed that he had come face-to-face with one of the 8-foot, 800-pound Pacific Northwest myths.

“I’m curious about anything offbeat,” Krantz said. “As a scientist, if I’m quite sure something is not true--I like to find out for sure. That’s how I got started in this.”

Krantz, figuring that a scientist has to be open-minded, set out in pursuit of an animal said to have a head like an ape, walk like a man, tower over a grizzly bear and have an odor that smells like nothing else.

“I figured, the odds are 10 to 1 against--but what if it’s true?” he said. “Either way, I’ve got to know.”

Early in 1970, Krantz examined alleged Sasquatch footprints in two areas of Washington and acquired some particularly clear casts of the human-like footprint.

Then, he put the casts aside and used his scientific skills to figure out what kind of a foot could have made them.

“I reasoned if the animal exists, it would be heavier and stronger than a man,” he said. “I came up with a foot a little different than a human foot.”

With anatomy books and paper and pencil, he calculated that an animal that massive would have to have a foot significantly different than a human’s, “a longer power arm and shorter load arm to efficiently move the huge upright body,” he said.

Krantz compared his theoretical foot to the details of the big foot casts and became a lifelong Sasquatch hunter.

“It was right on,” he said. “Before I had the tracks, I would have given 10 to 1 against it. After I examined them, it went to 100% for.”

Krantz claims that it would be next to impossible for someone to have faked the footprints, “then set it up for somebody like me to find them and deduct the conclusions.

“The guy would have to be an anatomist who is more innovative than me. I won’t buy it.”

But despite the footprints, long strands of brunette hair and other evidence, the bulk of the scientific community will not buy his mysterious North American primate.

“The scientific community is not interested in studying anything new.” Krantz said. “They’re just working out the details of things already known.”

He admitted that the skepticism is understandable in light of the rare sightings of Big Foot and the lack of confirmed remains of the animal. The problem is, Big Foot is active only after midnight and--like bears--is believed to crawl off in secrecy to die, he said.

“It would take nothing less than a body or part of a body to convince the scientific community,” Krantz said.

Krantz gets no grants or official help in his search for proof of the existence of Sasquatch. In fact, his work is not only not sanctioned by Washington State University, but the school administration views it as an embarrassment, he said.

‘I Took the Risk’

“The university supports the Sasquatch investigation by not firing me,” he said. “I knew if I took this on it would lead to trouble. I took the risk.”

Krantz works on the Big Foot project on his time off and without funding.

“It’s a long shot; nobody funds long shots,” he said.

Nevertheless, Krantz shies away from people he calls, “True Believers.” Those that fervently believe in Big Foot--as well as unicorns, Atlantis and UFOs. And he is not trying to convert anybody.

“I don’t want people to accept this on the basis of my evidence,” he said. “In theory, I could have faked the stuff.”

To continue the search, Krantz has bought a $10,000 infrared imager that can detect minute amounts of heat from the air. Krantz’ theory is, as the snow melts after a hard winter, a person with the right equipment could search for a winter-killed Sasquatch.

Looking for Body

“I figured in the spring you could try to locate decomposing bodies,” he said. “If you had a rough idea were he might be, with the imager, you might be able to locate a warm spot of decomposition.”

And to make the search easier, Krantz is planning to take to the air.

“I built myself a helicopter,” he said. “It hasn’t flown yet. I have a few things to finish.”

It does not seem to bother the anthropologist that he may never see the animal he has hunted and for which he has risked his career.

“I’m satisfied Sasquatch exists. To see one would just make it frustrating not to be able to study him,” he said.