Coast to Coast AM - Apr 24 2012 - Bigfoot & The Beast of Boggy Creek

Host: George Noory
Guests: Steven Streufert, Lyle Blackburn, Dr. Tony Youn

Hour 1 - Plastic surgeon Dr. Tony Youn recounted bizarre and unusual medical procedures. For instance, one plastic surgeon claimed he used the fat extracted from liposuction operations as biodiesel to run his car. Youn also touched on "body transmogrification" in which people have strange modifications such as the lizard-like tongue bifurcation, as well as a new weight loss strategy in which a doctor stitches a mesh patch on the tongue in order to make the act of eating uncomfortable.

Hours 2 & 3 - Scholar of Bigfoot history, Steven Streufert, shared history and analysis of the mysterious creature. He runs a used and antiquarian bookshop (specializing in "Sasquatchiana") in Willow Creek, California, considered the heart of the historic "Bigfoot Country,"-- the location is near where giant tracks were found in 1958, and "Bigfoot" subsequently became a household word. Willow Creek is also near where the famed Patterson-Gimlin film was shot in 1967, and Streufert has been involved in the Bluff Creek Film Site Project, which has traced the exact location of where Patterson filmed, in order to verify details about the creature, and its environment. He also participates in a Facebook group that seeks to promote the spirit of rational thinking and evidence-based Bigfoot research (in reaction to some of the more fantastical, insubstantial, or promotion-based claims made about the creature).

Streufert spoke about some of the ancient Native-American lore regarding Sasquatch, such as the beings speaking a language, as well as trading with, abducting, and even mating with humans, and producing offspring. One theory, he noted, is that Bigfoot are actually hybrids between humans and proto-humans. He also discussed the current Bigfoot DNA Project, spearheaded by Melba Ketchum, and a controversial case from last year when a hunter claimed he killed two Sasquatch in the central Sierra Nevada mountains, and now has "Bigfoot steaks" stashed in the freezer.

Hour 4 - Cryptozoology advisor to Rue Morgue magazine, Lyle Blackburn, discussed reports of a strange beast known as the Fouke Monster that have circulated among the locals in southern Arkansas.

In 1971, a family was reportedly attacked by a "big hairy monster," and within a year, there were around 50 more sightings, with descriptions of an adult creature with a narrow build. The creature became popularized as the 'Beast of Boggy Creek,' when the low budget film The Legend of Boggy Creek was released in 1972, and became a hit. The movie was indeed based on some facts, Blackburn said, who added that he considers the creature to possibly be a cross between the foul-smelling Skunk Ape and a Pacific Northwest-type Bigfoot. In 1991, a large skeleton (missing the skull) was found in the woods near Jefferson, Texas that some believe could be a Bigfoot, he added.