Researchers who thawed out the purported carcass of a man-ape that Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer said they found encased in ice on a North Georgia mountainside found nothing but a rubber gorilla suit.
The two men staged a press conference last week in California to unveil their findings, which they pledged contained DNA proving the existence of the legendary beast. However, sceptics dismissed the claims as just the latest in a long line of hoaxes.
Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi was curious enough to travel to the state of Georgia to meet the men.
The so-called evidence, "a freezer with something appearing large, hairy, and frozen in ice", was then handed over to Mr Biscardi and his team for an undisclosed sum.
Mr Kulls, executive director of squatchdetective.com, host of Squatchdetective Radio and an "independent observer" of the transaction, writes in a posting on Mr Biscardi's website, searchingforbigfoot.com, that as the "evidence" thawed, the men's claims swiftly began to unravel.
As the hair became exposed, a sample was extracted and burned. The results caused "concerns", Mr Kulls notes, as the "sample melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair".
The thawing process was accelerated and within an hour the partly exposed head could be seen.
"As I was now able to touch it, I was able to feel that it seemed mostly firm, but unusually hollow in one small section," Mr Kulls writes. "This was yet another ominous sign.
"Within the next hour of thaw, a break appeared up near the feet area. As the team and I began examining this area near the feet, I observed the foot which looked unnatural, reached in and confirmed it was a rubber foot."
When Mr Whitton and Mr Dyer were contacted, they admitted the remains were a costume and agreed to sign a statement admitting what they had done, Mr Kulls writes. But the pair failed to show up as arranged for a meeting.
Matt Whitton, a police officer on medical leave after being shot in the arm, and Rick Dyer, a former Georgia corrections officer, announced their find in early July on YouTube videos and on their website.
In a press release, the men described the creature as a 7-foot-7 male, weighing 550 pounds (nearly 40 stone) with 16-inch human-like feet and reddish hair.
"Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," Mr Whitton declared at the time.
Mr Kulls said in his posting that "the motives behind this fraud are still unknown at this time".
Jeff Turner, chief of Clayton County police which employs Mr Whitton, said he had not spoken to the officer but processed paperwork to fire him.
"Once he perpetrated a fraud, that goes into his credibility and integrity," Mr Turner told the Associated Press. "He has violated the duty of a police officer."
The Telegraph
What a couple of douches!!
