Bigfoot
Laporan Ekspedisi : Mengkaji Kewujudan BigFoot’ di Kota Tinggi, Johor
Tarikh Ekspedisi : 20 Februari 2005
Jangka Masa : 12 Jam (8.00am - 8.00pm)
Dianggotai :
Malaysia
Paranormal Scene Investigation (Team PSI)
1. Uncle (Syed Abdullah Alattas, 40)
2. Sis (Syahira Ahmad Ramli, 21)
3. Adeek (Siti Nadhirah, 20)
4. Dzoul (Muhammad ZulIzzi Othman, 26)
5. Ila (Noor Khalilah, 20)
Pasukan Penjejak BigfootDari kiri, Josh Gates, Kenny, Sunkist, Uncle, Jan Mc Girk, Sis, Adeek, Ila dan Dzoul.
Singapura
Singapura Paranormal Investigator (SPI)
1. Kenny, 37
2. Sunkist (Lee Qing Yu), 24
3. Douglas (Douglas Lim), 39
Amerika Syarikat
Destination Truth
1. Josh Gates
2. Eric Wing
3. Mark Carter
4. Neil Mandt
London
The Independent Paper
Jan Mc Girk
Berkumpul pada pukul 8:00 pagi di lobi Hotel Hyatt Regency, Johor Bahru. Sesi bermula dengan temuramah daripada wartawan Independent Paper dan wartawan Harian Metro. Bertolak dari hotel pada pukul 10:00 pagi dan tiba di Jeti Sg Sedili lebih kurang pada pukul 11:00 pagi.
Menghadapi masalah harga kos pengangkutan bot yang terlalu mahal sehingga menyebabkan masa kajian terganggu. Tetapi akhirnya pihak pengusaha akur untuk mengurangkan harga.
Bertolak dari jeti Sungai Sedili pada pukul 1:00 petang. Perjalanan ke tempat kajian memakan masa lebih kurang 1 jam. Kami mengambil masa 1 jam untuk mengkaji kawasan kajian dan tidak terdapat sebarang bukti yang menyakinkan kami tentang kewujudan ‘Bigfoot di kawasan itu.
Pulang ke jeti semula dan bertolak bersama pemberi maklumat En. Kong (41 tahun) ke Bukit Lintang yang dipercayai terdapat kesan tapak kaki ‘Bigfoot’. Perjalanan mengambil masa selama 30 minit dari jeti.
Sunkist dan Jan Mc Girk sedang menyukat bahan kima (Gypsum)Menurut En. Kong, terdapat 12 tapak kaki Bigfoot’ di kawasan jalan yang bertar dan 40 kesan tapak kaki ‘Bigfoot’ di kawasan hutan bersebelahan 4 meter dari jalan bertar). Kami perolehi lebih kurang 10 kesan tapak kaki ‘Bigfoot’ dan salah satu daripadanya bukti yang sangat jelas.
Pada pendapat kami semua, kesan tapak kaki itu masih baru lagi. Banyak persoalan yang timbul selepas menjumpai tapak kaki tersebut untuk mengesahkan bahawa apa yang ditemui adakah benar tapak kaki ‘Bigfoot’ kerana terdapat bukti lain seperti dahan-dahan pokok yang patah di sekitar kawasan kami menemui tapak kaki tersebut.
Kesan tapak kaki BigfootSelain dari itu, kami mencari bukti lain seperti najis dan bulu ‘Bigfoot. Kami juga cuba mencari kesan tapak kaki lain di sekitar kawasan tersebut.
Selepas meneliti kesan tapak kaki tersebut, kami dapati kesan tapak kaki sebelah kiri berukuran 45.5cm panjang dan 36cm lebar. Sebagai bahan bukti kami menggunakan bahan kimia (Gypsum) yang dibawa oleh pihak SPI untuk membentuk replika tapak kaki ‘Bigfoot’ yang sebenar. Masa yang diambil untuk membentuk replika tersebut selama 40 minit.
Kemudian, replika tersebut diserahkan kepada Team PSI bagi mengesahkan kewujudan ‘Bigfoot’ di Johor. Kami mula bertolak pulang dari lokasi pada pukul 8.00pm.
Josh Gates sedang meggali keluar Gypsum yang telah kering
Team PSI, SPI dan MC GirkThe unknown world: How I tracked Bigfoot through the Malaysian jungle
The unknown world: How I tracked Bigfoot through the Malaysian jungle
Jan McGirk joined a team of paranormal investigators to check out reports of 10ft giant apes in the rainforest near Kota Tinggi. This is what they found...
Wednesday, 22 February 2006
At first glance it might have seemed like nothing. A four-inch impression in the mud of the Malaysian rainforest. On closer inspection, however, it seemed as if it might be the astounding find the expedition had been hoping for. A footprint of the creature known variously as Bigfoot, Sasquatch, the tropical Yeti or - to locals - the Mawas.
Said to grow up to 10- feet tall, with an awesome armspan, a trio of these undiscovered hominids were at the centre of a flurry of unconfirmed sightings by frightened plantation workers three months ago. And in the fading light of the Bukit Lantang woods on the fringe of dense forest in Johor state, a single splayed print appeared to offer the most compelling evidence yet that we were on the trail of the mighty beast.
The Mawas appears to have grabbed for support when it teetered off-balance, because tree branches 11 feet overhead had been damaged, directly above the spot where the animal's left heel had sunk four inches into a muddy puddle. A stick had snapped beneath one of its toe depressions.
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A second fresh footprint proved impossible to find but recent damage to a rotting log, located a couple of strides away, suggested it had might have borne a prodigious weight.
For the excitable team of Yeti hunters, mainly a mix of Singapore enthusiasts and volunteers from the capital Kuala Lumpur it was vindication. Even the sceptics, including this reporter, were secretly impressed.
As with the two extremely faded footprints that had been found preserved in fresh tar on a nearby road, this print measured nearly a triple handspan across, roughly 11 by 19 inches. The Australian tracker Tony Burke, part of the Singapore team, estimated that to make such a print, an animal would have to weigh at least 240kg.
"I'm a cynic, but if we could see a right footprint as well, we could at least measure its gait. Maybe if we had some scat, I could be totally convinced," he said. "I am about 50 per cent there. Let's see what the lab results are."
An official government committee of research scientists, appointed by Abdul Ghani Othman, chief minister of Johor state, has been trying to verify Bigfoot's existence since late January, by interviewing witnesses, setting upcamera traps in its likely haunts, and collecting evidence from tribal informants in the national parks.
But our paranormal investigators' search party, tailed by an excitable science-fiction film crew from Los Angeles, was anything but stealthy. Kong Kam Choy, a 40-year-old construction worker who likes to trek through the jungle in his free time, convinced the gaggle of researchers to tramp through a leech-infested grove near a palm plantation where he had come across unusually big tracks that he could not readily identify.
It was just two hours before dusk, thunder was rumbling and the group was disappointed, having made a futile afternoon voyage upriver to examine a set of tracks discovered on 10 January near the Tanjung Sedili creek. These had since been washed away by tropical downpours and overrun by wild boar.
Then we struck gold. Kenny Fong, an e-commerce professor who founded Singapore Paranormal Investigators five years ago, came running when Josh Gates, a sci-fi documentary maker, summoned him to check out the peculiarly large footprint.
Professor Fong considers himself a debunker who is keen to spot a hoax. Using a police crime scene kit designed to preserve footprints for court evidence, he set about the job. A technician required three full bags of plaster (at about 1lb a bag) to fill the huge depression made by the single footprint. The muddy size 20 footprint was doused with hairspray before quick-setting plaster was poured into each crevice.
As the group gawked and cameras whirred, the print took on that unmistakable and almost comically ominous Bigfoot shape - the flat foot with four rounded digits, plus a gorilla-like big toe jutting out from the side. "People say Bigfoot doesn't exist, and I have had my doubts. But what else could it be?" asked Professor Fong, who promptly toppled off a hillock in his excitement to photograph the group in front of the fresh paw print.
According to Vincent Chow, a Malaysian bio-diversity expert, this area of diverse rainforest has been rife with Bigfoot sightings all month. "An elephant has been foraging in those woods for food, so farmers set off explosives to frighten it away from their fields," he said. "But animals get accustomed to these blasts and ignore them. Now we think a Bigfoot family of three may be shadowing the elephant, who clears the way.
"Fourteen large footprints were found nearby on Saturday. Then at 4am, workers were awakened by 10 minutes of weird hooting, a kind of call and response session, while they were asleep at a palm oil plantation." The planter, Abdul Rahman Ahmad, said his terrified workers at Komping Lukut described the eerie night cries as long drawls in three distinct pitches. "They said it sounded like squeals of wild pigs mixed up with the deep barks of gibbons - but not like owls," he recounted. They also heard heavy crashing through the underbrush. Mr Chow speculated that at least three different animals, which the local tribes call Hantu Jarang Gigi, or "snaggle-toothed ghosts", must have been involved in this curious chorus.
Historical records show eight claimed sightings of enormous apemen in southern Malaysia that date back to 1871, and the Orang Asli tribes who inhabit the forest famously dread an encounter with these shy, oversized apes, known variously as Sasquatch in Canada, Yowie in eastern Australia, Bigfoot in the western US or the Yeti in the Himalayas.
The creature is almost ubiquitous and many cultures throughout the world have legends about man-beasts. Recorded sightings in North America date back to the early 1800s. According to some Native American tribes, the Sasquatch are not flesh-and-blood creatures in the first place but spirits which appear to humans in times of crisis. But despite numerous sightings, photos and footprints of often questionable origin, there has never been conclusive proof that these creatures exist. No droppings, no bones, no hair and no bodies found - alive or dead.
So far the same remains true of the Malaysian Mawas.
A photo of the clear new footprints preserved in tar ran in Kuala Lumpur's leading English daily, the New Straits Times, last Sunday. One group of local Bigfoot-stalkers claimed to have unearthed evidence that up to 40 of the reclusive black-furred Mawas hominids were roaming the rainforest feasting on rambutan, durian, mangoes and fish. The animals are said to range all along the dense jungle that connects Endau Rompin, Kota Tinggi and Tanjung Piai districts and are not exclusively vegetarian. Their huge bulk must also be maintained by hunting jungle fowl and mule deer near the swamps.
Some scientists theorise that these enormous Malaysian apes might have descended from Gigantopithecus, a huge primate that roamed southern China more than 300,000 years ago.
Jane Goodall, probably the most distinguished primatologist in academia, is an unabashed Bigfoot enthusiast and recently confessed: "I'm a romantic, so I always wanted them to exist. People from very different backgrounds and different parts of the world have described very similar creatures behaving in similar ways and uttering some strikingly similar sounds ... so the existence of hominids of this sort is a very real probability."
In Malaysia, Mawas-mania is building, fuelled partly by television. The plaster cast from Bukit Lantang woods will be presented to government scientists by Syed Abdullah Alattas, a Malaysian celebrity better known as "Uncle", who stars in a popular reality show called Seekers. Every week he tracks down the paranormal on camera, invariably surrounded by a group of female acolytes armed with daggers, who squeal fetchingly whenever they encounter the unknown.
For our trip, the Seekers crew had brought in an array of arcane equipment, including remote control robot cameras, infrared goggles and sound-enhancers, but the fresh footprint was found by chance. During a demonstration of the sound-boosting sensors before we left for the jungle, it was easy to distinguish whether restaurant diners were chewing on breakfast croissants or toast. But, during a 12-hour monitoring period in the forest, no aural trace of the bigfoot was detected.
Lack of evidence is not likely to slow the bandwagon building momentum in Kuala Lumpur though. Cartoons show a giant ape straddling the landmark Petronas Towers and grinning rubber-ape masks are being hawked at traffic lights in the city centre. Despite the growing excitement, there have been no urban sightings of Bigfoot. So far, the only sign of the primates has been found in the southern wilds, usually close to the water.
The Johor National Park director, Hashim Yusof, is sceptical about the existence of giant apes, but will not rule out the possibility. "The Endau-Rompin National Park covers 500 square miles. We only have information on half of the flora and fauna inside it," he admitted. The area lies in roughly the same latitude as Borneo, where thousands of species unknown to science have recently come to light.
Environmentalists are concerned that the craze to market Bigfoot as a peace-loving new-age monster may put the entire rainforest ecology at risk - and indeed some think that the sightings may be linked to environmental changes in the first place.
Hamid Mohd Ali, a frog-catcher from the Orang Asli tribe, claims he came eye to eye with a giant ape, which his people call the "Siamang", late last year. Other locals allege that they saw the giant creature cross the road at twilight or leap down from a river bank.
"We believe that people can only see it once in a lifetime," Hamid told reporters. "But in this year alone, four villagers have seen it [the Bigfoot] and we think this is because of the shrinking jungle."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-unknown-world-how-i-tracked-bigfoot-through-the-malaysian-jungle-467357.html
Utusan Malaysia, 23/2/2006JOHOR BAHRU – Koloni Bigfoot atau Orang Lenggor yang dipercayai mendiami beberapa kawasan hutan di Johor kini dipercayai berasal dari hutan di sekitar Grik, Perak yang terpaksa mencari habitat baru atas beberapa faktor.
Seorang aktivis alam sekitar berkata, sekumpulan 17 Bigfoot yang kini diberi nama Orang Lenggor terpaksa mencari habitat baru sepepas hutan yang mereka diami di Grik menjadi kawasan pertempuran antara tentera dengan gerila komunis.
“Kumpulan itu bergerak ke selatan hingga ke hutan Pahang sebelum menjadikan hutan di Johor sebagai habitat baru,” katanya yang enggan namanya disiarkan, semalam.
Beliau yang mendakwa mengkaji Bigfoot, bagaimanapu berkata, ketika mula dikesan di hutan Johor pada 1970-an, pihaknya hanya dapat menjejaki 15 Orang Lenggor.
“Dua lagi mungkin mati atau menyisihkan diri daripada kumpulan asal untuk membina keluarga atau kumpulan sendiri.
“Kami dapati daripada kumpulan 15 Orang Lenggor itu, yang paling tua berumur disekitar 20-an,” katanya.
Pihaknya menjangkakan Orang Lenggor terbabit berumur sekitar 50 hingga 60-an ketika ini.
“Kini Orang Lenggor di hutan Johor meningkat kepada kira-kira 40 termasuk anak daripada tiga keluarga hasil proses pembiakan dalam kumpulan awal,” katanya sambil menambah, sebab lain Orang Lenggor meninggalkan hutan Grik ialah pembinaan Lebuh Raya Timur-Barat.
Ditanya mengapa kumpulan awal Orang Lenggor tidak berhijrah ke kawasan hutan di Thailand, beliau berkata, hutan di sana tidak sesuai dengan makhluk berkenaan.
Katanya, ada kemungkinan Orang Lenggor di hutan Johor akan berhijrah ke habitat baru kerana kediaman mereka turut diancam dengan pelbagai masalah seperti pembalakan dan pembangunan.
Persatuan Perlindungan Hidupan Liar Johor mendakwa Orang Lenggor yang 70 peratus menyerupai manusia dan 30 peratus seakan-akan monyet mempunyai ketinggian antara 10 hingga 12 kaki bagi dewasa dan enam hingga tujuh kaki bagi anak.
Kosmo, 19/8/2007
Tiada bukti biologi konkrit, hanya mitos
Bigfoot tidak wujud - Uncle
KUALA LUMPUR – Bigfoot tidak wujud!
Demikian pendirian Ketua Pasukan Penyiasat Lokasi Paranormal (PSI) atau sebelum ini dikenali sebagai Seekers, Syed Abdullah Al-Attas atau Uncle ketika ditanya mengenai perkaembangan siasatan pihaknya mengenai makhluk gergasi berbulu yang didakwa ‘bersarang’ di beberapa kawasan hutan tebal di negara ini, khasnya di Johor.
Malah, beliau menganggap cerita Bigfoot yang menggemparkan negara sejak tahun lalu itu juga bukan hantu seperti diperkatakan bomoh kerana makhluk halus tidak memijak bumi.
“Jangan pula kaitkan unsur hantu kerana kita mencari jawapan yang konkrit dan ilmiah,” katanya kepada KOSMO! Ahad.
Beliau turut menolak dakwaan penduduk sekitar lokasi penemuan tapak kaki di Kampung Lukut, Kota Tinggi, Johor dan beberapa kawasan lagi di negeri itu yang pernah gempar dengan kehadiran dan suara makhluk itu sejak Januari 2006.
“Mereka mungkin terdengar lolongan haiwan daripada spesies beruk yang lain, tetapi bukan Bigfoot sebab ia mitos,” jelasnya.
Pasukannya juga tidak pernah merakam imej Bigfoot sepanjang membuat kajian sejak dua tahun lalu, bahkan tiada bukti biologi seperti bulu dan najisnya yang menyokong kewujudan makhluk tersebut.
“Kesan tapak kaki saja tidak cukup dijadikan bukti kerana berbeza setiap satu. Jika sejenis beruk, sudah tentu tapak kakinya mempunyai bentuk dan paten hampir sama,” ujarnya.
Sehubungan itui, beliau meminta orang ramai supaya mengemukakan bukti konkrit terhadap teori kewujudan Bigfoot.
“Jika wujud, pasti ia pernah terkena jerat atau tertembak oleh pemburu,” katanya.
Mengulas bukti penemuan Bigfoot oleh penyelidik biodiversity, Vincent Chow yang turut mengkaji makhluk itu sejak berita penemuan kesan tapak kaki disiarkan KOSMO! Januari tahun lalu, Uncle berkata:
“Kajian masih diteruskan berdasarkan tapak kaki, kesan ranting patah di paras tinggi. Bukti biologi pula belum berjaya ditemui.”
Walaupun masih belum menemui bukti kukuh mengenai Bigfoot, namun pihaknya akan terus mengkaji kewujudan makhluk berkenaan dan beberapa penduduk di sekitar Felda Semenchu, Kota Tinggi turut mendakwa pernah terserempak makhluk itu sebulan lalu.
Sumber di Jabatan Perlindungan Hidupan Liar dan Taman Negara (Perhilitan) turut menafikan kewujudan Bigfoot berdasarkan ketiadaan bukti sokongan mengenai makhluk tersebut.
Ditanya mengapa pendiriannya mengenai kewujudan Bigfoot tiba-tiba berubah Uncle berkata ringkas:”Sebab tiada bukti kukuh yang boleh mengaitkannya misalnya bulu atau najis.
“Kami juga sehingga kini tidak tahu tapak kaki apakah yang kami temui di hutan Kota Tinggi tidak lama dulu walaupun bentuknya besar.”
Kosmo, 20/8/2007Tak kisah walau dikata gila
JOHOR BAHRU – Katakanlah apa sahaja, Penyelidik Biodiversiti, Vincent Chow (gambar) tetap yakin Bigfoot wujud.
Malah, beliau ada menyimpan apa yang didakwa bulu Bigfoot, Cuma persoalannya ialah ia belum disahkan.
“Saya jumpa (bulu) pada sebatang ranting di Kota Tinggi yang pernah menjadi tempat persinggahan makhluk tersebut,” katanya ketika ditemui di rumahnya di Taman Molek, di sini semalam.
Chow yang terlibat dalam penulisan buku mengenai makhluk berkenaan mengulas laporan muka depan KOSMO! Ahad mengenai rumusan Penyiasat Lokasi Paranormal yang sebelum ini dikenali sebagai Seekers bahawa Bigfoot hanya mitos kerana tiada bukti biologi kewujudannya.
“Saya tidak mahu menyalahkan mana-mana pihak yang enggan percaya adanya Bigfoot kerana itu hak masing-masing.
“Pendirian saya tetap mengatakan makhluk ini wujud berdasarkan beberapa penemuan dan kenyataan saksi,” katanya yang belum pernah melihat sendiri makhluk berkenaan.
Menurut Vincent, nalurinya sendiri dapat merasakan makhluk ini sekarang hidup dalam keadaan tidak tenteram kerana semua pihak sedang menca-
rinya.
“Orang mungkin kata saya gila kerana terlalu percaya Bigfoot, tetapi saya sangat yakin kebenaran akan terbukti satu hari nanti,” katanya.
Bercakap mengenai buku yang diterbitkan mengenai Bigfoot, beliau menjelaskan, peranannya cuma sebagai penyumbang bahan dan tidak terbabit sepenuhnya dalam urusan penerbitan.
“Buku itu menceritakan hasil temu bual dengan lebih 100 orang yang pernah nampak Bigfoot,” katanya.
The unknown world: How I tracked Bigfoot through the Malaysian jungle
