DEL.ICIO.USGeorgia’s ‘Bigfoot’ for sale on eBay
Bidding on monkey suit already at $200,000, but that, like Sasquatch tale, may be bogus
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Even a bear market can’t keep Bigfoot down.
Two months after a former Clayton County cop and his buddy suckered the world into believing they had located the body of Bigfoot, the monkey suit they used to perpetrate their ruse is being sold on eBay.
Searchingforbigfoot.com
‘Bigfoot’ was actually a costume filled with roadkill to make it look more Bigfoot-y.
Ben Margot/AP
In this photo from August, Rick Dyer (left) and Matt Whitton tell reporters in California that they found the body of Bigfoot in the North Georgia mountains.
As of 8 p.m. Tuesday, the bidding had topped $200,000.
“This may end up being the best investment I made all year,” said William Lett, who is in possession of what could be the most expensive monkey suit ever produced.
Two months ago, Lett assumed he was the biggest victim in the summer’s Bigfoot hoax. The Eaton, Ind., investor fronted promoter Tom Biscardi $50,000 to purchase the alleged Sasquatch corpse from former police officer Matt Whitton and his buddy, Rick Dyer. They claimed to have found the creature in the North Georgia mountains.
When their hoax was uncovered, Lett was left holding the bag. A very smelly one, as the the Bigfoot costume had been filled with roadkill (since removed) to make it appear more Sasquatch-like. Lett was promised a full return, plus 50 percent interest. When he didn’t get it, Lett filed a criminal complaint against Dyer and Whitton. Clayton County police said no charges have been filed.
Paranormal researcher Joshua P. Warren, who’d been following the case, contacted Lett and said he might be able to recoup his loss by selling the costume on eBay. Warren would keep the profits — anything over what Lett and others had already invested.
Final offers are due midnight Thursday. At the rate the bidding is going, Warren, president of the Asheville, N.C.-based Shadowbox Enterprises, anticipates a hefty windfall.
“I’m absolutely stunned,” Warren said. “I didn’t even know if we’d get a single bid.”
Of course, that depends on the legitimacy of the bidders, who may be perpetrating a hoax of their own.
Any money Warren receives would go towards studying … hoaxes. That’s part of what his company, Shadowbox, does.
“By learning all we can about hoaxes, we can better identify future hoaxes,” he said.
In the end, everyone involved in the Bigfoot fraud — be they a perpetrator or dupe — stands to profit financially.
Lett, for one, would get his money back with the interest he was promised.
“That’s all I wanted out of this,” he said.
Whitton appears to be the only loser, because he was fired from the Clayton County police. But he still received $50,000 to split with Dyer for selling the Bigfoot costume to Biscardi last summer.
— Staff writer Kathy Jefcoats contributed to this report.
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