First half guest Bryan Sykes joined Dave Schrader (email) to discuss his DNA research on samples of alleged hair from Bigfoot. Sykes is a professor of human genetics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Wolfson College in the UK. He began by pointing out that homo sapiens were "not the only human species" to have lived on this planet, and that there is a chance that there are still isolated members of the human family living (or hiding) in remote areas of the world. Sykes says that some of his colleagues (including some senior scientists) have supported his research because they believe that Bigfoot is a mystery that can be addressed by science.
Sykes asked researchers and Bigfoot hunters from around the world to send him hair samples for DNA testing. Each DNA test costs about $1,500. Semi-humorously, Sykes stated that the three main questions facing lab researchers of Bigfoot are "1- Does it exist? 2 – What is it? and 3 – Who's paying?" He conducted a number of tests and then published his findings in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, which he said was the first time that this has been accomplished. Sykes also spoke about his visits to the U.S. to talk to researchers and witnesses. The ones that made the most favorable impression on him were regular people who were genuinely perplexed about what they had seen. He also told the story of visiting the northwestern U.S. with a researcher who stomped on the ground and received an answer of three knocks, apparently coming from inside a tree which she claimed was the home of a Sasquatch. During the call-in segment, many listeners described their fascinating Bigfoot encounters. After the segment, Sykes provided a link to an article that examines his current work with the Russian "ape woman" Zana.
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Appearing on the program for the second two hours was Andrew Colvin, a paranormal researcher and publisher of reprints of books about UFOs and other strange phenomena. He calls his work "curated fringe" publishing. Colvin said that he grew up in a rural area and "really felt like a forest child." He experienced many strange episodes and phenomena in his childhood and didn't realize that they were unusual until he left his small town. He claims he was seven years old when he had his first entity encounter with something unidentified flying over him. As he grew older he says he began to camp out and developed a "psychic connection to nature." Later in life, he feels that he developed a mental relationship with the entity known as "mothman" since he grew up in the same area as the famous sightings in the 1960s.
Colvin's latest reprint is from an original book by famed UFO researcher Gray Barker, who was active from the 1950s to the late 1980s. Barker began as a serious researcher of the phenomenon, but later realized that definitive answers were hard to come by, and became more circumspect and even humorous in his approach. He is probably best known for his 1956 book "They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers." During the program, Colvin read some of the more unusual stories recounted in the new reprint, many having to do with Bigfoot witnesses who shot at the creatures, with no apparent ill effects or even blood, in most cases. Colvin said that those interested in the paranormal should keep the subject "at arm's length," but remain open to indirect revelations and synchronicities.