Georgia Bigfoot pranksters now face legal action after selling their \'find\' for $50,000 USD. Image: stopnlook/Flickr.
While his belief in Bigfoot is unshakeable, Tom Biscardi’s belief in Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer has come to an abrupt end after the long-time Bigfoot tracker paid the men somewhere in the region of $50,000 USD for their much talked about frozen corpse, which has now been officially confirmed as a hoax.
Thought to be a cash advance on potential future earnings made through the Bigfoot discovery, Biscardi has found himself somewhat red-faced and distinctly out-of-pocket after publicly supporting the two Georgia hunters at a recent press conference only to be left with a thawed out gorilla suit and a damaged reputation.
On a mission to retrieve the cash and patch up his standing -- which was tenuous at best due to past allegations of hoaxing from other Bigfoot trackers -- Biscardi is now preparing to sue Whitton and Dyer, just as soon as the two men can be located.
“There will be legal action” warned Catherine Ortez of Biscardi’s California-based Searching for Bigfoot, Inc., which has paid for the rights to both the (now hoaxed) Bigfoot find as well as Whitton and Dyer’s story. “If this was a joke, it was very methodical and thought-out,” said Ortez in an Atlanta Journal Constitution report.
Quizzed as to how he could have been hoodwinked by a hairy Halloween suit, Biscardi has offered that it was difficult to gauge authenticity when the ‘creature’ was encased in ice.
“It was the most macabre thing you’ve ever seen in your life,” commented the Bigfoot tracker, who also said thawing the find revealed it to be stuffed full of body parts from other animals, including bones, eyes, tongues, and cheeks. “It’s just incredible,” he told FOX News.
Biscardi may well be looking to file fraud charges against Whitton (28) and Dyer (31), but both men are currently nowhere to be seen in the aftermath of the hoax.
However, in an interview given to WSB-TV this Wednesday night, Whitton and Dyer’s attorney, Steve Lister, attempted to place blame on Biscardi’s shoulders for wildly exaggerating what was initially supposed to be a harmless prank.
While fun might have been their initial motivator, both Whitton and Dyer will likely face an unpleasant storm when they do resurface, and Whitton, a six-year Clayton County police officer will also return to discover he has been fired.
There will also be those who take issue with the notion of an amusing joke that started with a YouTube video and a prank Web site, not least because Whitton and Dyer have been offering Bigfoot tracking expeditions for $499 USD, along with Bigfoot memorabilia such as T-shirts and baseball caps.
At time of posting, neither men have been located for comment.
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