BIGFOOT SLIPPERS W/ SOUND A.T.S. vintage Sasquatch novelty RARE cryptid 1989 80s

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Seller: sidewaysstairsco ✉️ (1,180) 100%, Location: Santa Ana, California, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 194514206973 BIGFOOT SLIPPERS W/ SOUND A.T.S. vintage Sasquatch novelty RARE cryptid 1989 80s.
Check out our other new & used items>>>>>HERE! (click me) FOR SALE: An awesome, vintage pair of novelty slippers 1989 BATTERY-OPERATED BIGFOOT SLIPPERS BY A.T.S. INC. DETAILS: Walk in the elusive Bigfoot's "shoes"! Have you ever wanted to walk in Sasquatch's shoes? Well, now you can....kind of. Manufactured in the late '80s these novelty slippers by American Top Secret (A.T.S. Inc.) aren't only warm and comfortable they also make a ground breaking, crushing sound as you walk in them! How cool is that? Inside a zippered pocket in each slipper is an electronic sound effect device that activates with every step you take. The sound effect sounds like part of a stock sound effect of a bomb, like that used in G.I. Joe vehicles for example. The sound effect devices require 3 "AA" batteries each (not included) and they have no ON/OFF switch because they activate when a step is placed; the batteries must be taken out if you do not want sound. Makes a great and unque gift for Bigfoot fanatics, especially those who collect everything Sasquatch. This pair was sold at Michaels craft stores - the box even has the original Michaels sticker tag! Size: "Medium" - Adult size 6, 7, 8 / Children's Size 9, 10, 11, 12 The size states "Medium" which covers both some adult sizes and child sizes as they are unisex. The adult sizes can be more accurately considered men's shoe sizes. Extreme rarity! We've looked and looked but could not find the existence of any other American Top Secret Bigfoot slippers online - no photos, no information, nothing. In fact, it appears A.T.S. is no longer around and have not been for about three decades. Our extensive research has lead us to believe we have a novelty, Bigfoot-themed item  that is extremely rare. These Bigfoot slippers with sound are definitely hard to find and are definitely a cherishable collectable. CONDITION: In excellent, pre-owned condition. These novelty slippers appear to have been worn once for a short period as their condition is close to new. The bottom seem to have some dust so we assume they were at least tried and walked in for a moment. The sound effect devices have been tested and they work well . The sound device pocket liners have acquired some discoloration, one much more than the other - doesn't affect usage and the pockets are not visible when the zipper is up. The box has acquired a fair amount of storage wear, especially the handle. Please see photos. *To ensure safe delivery items are carefully packaged before shipping out.* THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK. *ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.* "Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a purported ape-like creature said to inhabit the forests of North America. A prominent subject within Canadian and American folklore, supposed evidence of the existence of Bigfoot includes a number of anecdotal visual sightings as well as disputed video and audio recordings, photographs, and casts of large footprints.[2] Some of these are speculated or known to be hoaxes.[3] Bigfoot has become an icon within the fringe subculture of cryptozoology and an enduring element of popular culture.[4][5] Folklorists trace the phenomenon of Bigfoot to a combination of factors and sources including the cultures of Indigenous people across the continent, the European wild man figure, and folk belief among loggers, miners, trappers, and prospectors.[6] Wishful thinking, a cultural increase in environmental concerns, and overall societal awareness of the subject have been cited as additional factors.[7] The majority of mainstream scientists have historically discounted the existence of Bigfoot, considering it to be the result of a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoax, rather than a living animal.[8][9] Other creatures of relatively similar descriptions are alleged to inhabit various regions throughout the world, such as the Skunk ape of the southeastern United States; the Almas, Yeren, and Yeti in Asia; and the Australian Yowie; all of which, like Bigfoot, are engrained in the cultures of their regions.... Description "Bigfoot" statue in the Garden of the Gods Wilderness within the Shawnee National Forest in Herod, Illinois.[11] Thousands of people have claimed to have seen a Bigfoot, which is most often described as a large, muscular, bipedal ape-like creature, roughly 1.8–2.7 metres (6–9 ft), and covered in black, dark brown, or dark reddish hair.[12][13] Some descriptions have the creatures standing as tall as 3.0–4.6 metres (10–15 ft).[14] A pungent, foul smelling odor is sometimes associated with reports of the creatures, commonly described as similar to rotten eggs or skunk.[15] The face of a Bigfoot is often described as human-like, with a flat nose and visible lips.[16] Common descriptions also include broad shoulders, no visible neck, and long arms.[17] The eyes are commonly described as dark in color and have been alleged to "glow" yellow or red at night.[18] However, eyeshine is not present in humans or any known great ape, and so proposed explanations for observable eyeshine in the forest include perched owls, raccoons, or opossums.[19] The enormous footprints for which the creature is named are claimed to be as large as 610 millimetres (24 in) long and 200 millimetres (8 in) wide.[13] Some footprint casts have also contained claw marks, making it likely that they came from known animals such as bears, which have five toes and claws.[20][21] History Indigenous and early records A reproduction of the petroglyphs at Painted Rock. According to anthropologist David Daegling, Bigfoot legends existed long before there was a single name for the creature. These stories differed in their details both regionally and between families in the same community.[22] On the Tule River Indian Reservation in California, petroglyphs created by a group of Yokuts at a site called Painted Rock are alleged by some to depict a group of Bigfoots called "the Family".[23] The local tribespeople call the largest of the glyphs "Hairy Man" and they are estimated to be between 500 and 1000 years old.[24] Ecologist Robert Pyle argues that most cultures have accounts of human-like giants in their folk history, expressing a need for "some larger-than-life creature".[25] Each language had its own name for the creature featured in the local version of such legends. Many names meant something along the lines of "wild man" or "hairy man", although other names described common actions that it was said to perform, such as eating clams or shaking trees.[26] Chief Mischelle of the Nlaka'pamux at Lytton, British Columbia told such a story to Charles Hill-Tout in 1898; he named the creature by a Salishan variant meaning "the benign-faced-one". Members of the Lummi tell tales about Ts'emekwes, the local version of Bigfoot. The stories are similar to each other in the general descriptions of Ts'emekwes, but details differed among various family accounts concerning the creature's diet and activities.[27] Some regional versions tell of more threatening creatures: the stiyaha or kwi-kwiyai were a nocturnal race, and children were warned against saying the names so that the "monsters" would not come and carry them off to be killed.[28] The Iroquois tell of an aggressive, hair covered giant with rock-hard skin known as the Ot ne yar heh or "Stone Giant", more commonly referred to as the Genoskwa.[29] In 1847, Paul Kane reported stories by the natives about skoocooms, a race of cannibalistic wild men living on the peak of Mount St. Helens in southern Washington state. Also related to this area was an alleged incident in 1924 in which a violent encounter between a group of miners and a group of "ape-men" occurred. These allegations were reported in the July 16, 1924, issue of The Oregonian and have become a popular piece of Bigfoot lore, with the area now being referred to as Ape Canyon.[30] U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, in his 1893 book, The Wilderness Hunter, writes of a story he was told by an elderly mountain man named Bauman in which a foul smelling, bipedal creature ransacked his beaver trapping camp, stalked him, and later became hostile when it fatally broke his companion's neck in the wilderness near the Idaho-Montana border.[31] Roosevelt notes that Bauman appeared fearful while telling the story, but attributed the trapper's folkloric German ancestry to have potentially influenced him.[32] Less-menacing versions have also been recorded, such as one by Reverend Elkanah Walker from 1840. Walker was a Protestant missionary who recorded stories of giants among the natives living near Spokane, Washington. These giants were said to live on and around the peaks of the nearby mountains, stealing salmon from the fishermen's nets.[33] In the 1920s, Indian Affairs Agent J. W. Burns compiled local stories and published them in a series of Canadian newspaper articles. They were accounts told to him by the Sts'Ailes people of Chehalis and others. The Sts'Ailes and other regional tribes maintained that the creatures were real and they were offended by people telling them that the figures were legendary. According to Sts'Ailes accounts, the creatures preferred to avoid white men and spoke the Lillooet language of the people at Port Douglas, British Columbia at the head of Harrison Lake. These accounts were published again in 1940.[34][35] Burns borrowed the term Sasquatch from the Halkomelem sásq'ec (IPA: [ˈsæsqʼəts])[36] and used it in his articles to describe a hypothetical single type of creature as portrayed in the local stories.[20][26][37] Origin of the "Bigfoot" name In 1958, Jerry Crew, a logging company bulldozer operator in Humboldt County, California, discovered a set of large, 410 millimetres (16 in) human-like footprints sunk deep within the mud in the Six Rivers National Forest.[38] Upon informing his coworkers, many claimed to have seen similar tracks on previous job sites as well as telling of odd incidents such as an oil drum weighing 450 pounds (200 kg) having been moved without explanation. The logging company men soon began utilizing the term "Bigfoot" to describe the mysterious culprit.[39] Crew, who initially believed someone was playing a prank on them, once again observed more of these numerous, massive footprints and contacted reporter Andrew Genzoli of the Humboldt Times newspaper. Genzoli interviewed lumber workers and wrote articles about the mysterious footprints, introducing the name "Bigfoot" in relation to the tracks and the local tales of large, hairy wild men.[40] A plaster cast was made of the footprints and Crew appeared, holding one of the casts, on the front page of the newspaper on October 6, 1958. The story spread rapidly as Genzoli began to receive correspondence from major media outlets including the New York and Los Angeles Times.[41] As a result, the term "Bigfoot" became widespread as a reference to an apparently large, unknown creature leaving massive footprints in Northern California.[42] In 2002, the family of Crew's deceased coworker Ray Wallace claimed that their father had been secretly making the large footprints with carved, wooden feet and that he was responsible for the tracks.[43] Despite the Wallace family's claim, Willow Creek and Humboldt County are considered by some to be the "Bigfoot Capital of the World".[44] Other uses of "Bigfoot" 1895 article describing a giant grizzly bear named "Bigfoot".[45] In the 1830s, a Wyandot chief was nicknamed "Big Foot" due to his significant size, strength and large feet.[46] Potawatomi Chief Maumksuck, known as Chief "Big Foot", is today synonymous with the area of Walworth County, Wisconsin and has a state park and school named for him.[47] William A. A. Wallace, a famous 19th century Texas Ranger, was nicknamed "Bigfoot" due to his large feet and today has a town named for him: Bigfoot, Texas.[48] Lakota leader Spotted Elk was also called "Chief Big Foot". In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at least two enormous marauding grizzly bears were widely noted in the press and each nicknamed "Bigfoot". The first grizzly bear called "Bigfoot" was reportedly killed near Fresno, California in 1895 after killing sheep for 15 years; his weight was estimated at 2,000 pounds (900 kg).[45] The second one was active in Idaho in the 1890s and 1900s between the Snake and Salmon rivers, and supernatural powers were attributed to it.[49] Sightings About one-third of all claims of Bigfoot sightings are located in the Pacific Northwest, with the remaining reports spread throughout the rest of North America.[20][50][51] Most reports are considered mistakes or hoaxes, even by those researchers who claim Bigfoot exists.[52] Sightings predominantly occur in the northwestern region of Washington, Oregon, Northern California, and British Columbia. Other prominent areas of supposed sightings include the rural areas of the Great Lakes region and the southeastern United States. According to data collected from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization's (BFRO) Bigfoot sightings database in 2019, Washington has over 2,000 reported sightings, California over 1,600, Pennsylvania over 1,300, New York and Oregon over 1,000, and Texas has just over 800.[53] The debate over the legitimacy of Bigfoot sightings reached a peak in the 1970s, and Bigfoot has been regarded as the first widely popularized example of pseudoscience in American culture.[54] Regional and other names "Bigfoot" carving at the Crystal Creek Reservoir in Colorado. Many regions have differentiating names for the creatures.[55] In Canada, the name Sasquatch is widely used although often interchangeably with the name Bigfoot.[56] The United States uses both of these names but also has numerous names and descriptions of the creatures depending on the region and area in which they are allegedly sighted.[57] These include the Skunk ape in Florida and other southern states,[58] Grassman in Ohio,[59] Fouke Monster in Arkansas,[60] Wood Booger in Virginia,[61] the Monster of Whitehall in Whitehall, New York,[62] Momo in Missouri,[63] Honey Island Swamp Monster in Louisiana,[64] Dewey Lake Monster in Michigan,[65] Mogollon Monster in Arizona,[66] and the Big Muddy Monster in southern Illinois.[67] The term Wood Ape is also used by some as a means to deviate from the perceived mythical connotation surrounding the name "Bigfoot".[68] Other names include Bushman, Treeman, and Wildman.[69] Alleged behavior Some Bigfoot researchers claim that Bigfoot supposedly throws rocks as territorial displays and for communication.[70][71][72] Other claims include wood knocking behavior theorized to be communicative.[73][74][75] Skeptics argue that these behaviors are easily hoaxed.[76] Additionally, structures of broken and twisted foliage seemingly placed in specific areas have been attributed by some to Bigfoot behavior.[77] In some reports, lodgepole pine and other small trees have been observed bent, uprooted, or stacked in patterns such as weaved and crisscrossed, leading some to theorize that they are potential territorial markings.[78] Some instances have also included entire deer skeletons being suspended high in trees.[79] In Washington state, a team of amateur Bigfoot researchers called the Olympic Project claimed to have discovered a collection of nests, and they had primatologists study them, with the conclusion being that they appear to have been created by a primate.[80] Many alleged sightings are reported to occur at night leading to some speculations that the creatures may possess nocturnal tendencies.[81] However, mainstream science largely disputes this claim as all known apes, including humans, are diurnal with only lesser primates exhibiting nocturnality.[82] Most anecdotal sightings of Bigfoot indicate the creatures being observed as solitary, although some reports have described groups being allegedly observed together.[83] Vocalizations Alleged vocalizations such as howls, moans, grunts, whistles, and even a form of supposed language have been reported.[84] Some of these alleged vocalization recordings have been analyzed by individuals such as retired U.S. Navy cryptologic linguist Scott Nelson. He analyzed audio recordings from the early 1970s said to be recorded in the Sierra Nevada mountains dubbed the "Sierra Sounds" and stated, "It is definitely a language, it is definitely not human in origin, and it could not have been faked".[85] Les Stroud has spoken of a strange vocalization he heard in the wilderness while filming Survivorman that he stated sounded primate in origin.[86] Some researchers claim Bigfoots can produce infrasound.[87] Others argue that the source of the sounds attributed to Bigfoot are either hoaxes, anthropomorphization, or likely misidentified and produced by known animals such as owl, wolf, coyote, and fox.[88][89] Diet The concept of what Bigfoot would consume for sustenance is a debated issue. Most mainstream scientists maintain that it is unlikely that a breeding population would be able to sustain themselves in North American forests as great apes historically thrive only in the tropics of Africa and Asia. In addition, they would face competition with bears and other large predators and would be leaving behind feces and other identifiable evidence.[90] Others argue that like bears, the creatures likely have an omnivorous diet and are opportunistic much like humans. Anecdotal accounts indicate that the creatures consume roots, berries, nuts, fruit, fungi, salmon and other fish, small mammals like rabbit and squirrel, birds, and hooved ungulates including deer and elk. There have also been alleged reports of Bigfoots consuming carrion and killing or stealing livestock.[91] In 2016, Centralia College anthropology professor and "Bigfoot enthusiast" Mitchel Townsend presented forensic research at the 69th Annual Anthropology Research Conference that he and his team completed after studying three different prey bones recovered near Mount St. Helens. They claim that the bite marks found on the bones provide evidence of a large, unknown hominid having made them based on their characteristics.[92][93] Interactions Alleged interactions with humans have been reported. Many Indigenous American cultures traditionally fear and respect these creatures.[94][95] An incident in 1924, often referred to as the "Battle of Ape Canyon", tells of miners being attacked by large, hairy "ape men" that hurdled rocks onto their cabin roof from a nearby cliff after one of the miners allegedly shot one with a rifle. A miner was supposedly knocked unconscious by a rock which crashed through the roof, and the creatures slammed into the cabin walls, causing the entire structure to shake.[96] Canadian prospector Albert Ostman reported that he was abducted by a Bigfoot and held captive with its family for six days near Toba Inlet, British Columbia in 1924. He reported that they did not cause him harm, but were instead amused by his presence.[97] In Fouke, Arkansas in 1971, a family reported that a large, hair-covered creature startled a woman after reaching through a window. This alleged incident caused panic in the area.[98] According to the BFRO, there have been no credible modern reports of any humans being killed by a Bigfoot, but harassment and stalking-like behaviors toward people have been reported.[99] The 2021 Hulu documentary film entitled Sasquatch describes marijuana farmers telling stories of Bigfoots harassing and killing people within the Emerald Triangle region in the 1970s through the 1990s; and specifically the alleged murder of three migrant workers in 1993.[100] Investigative journalist David Holthouse attributes the stories to illegal drug operations using the local Bigfoot lore to scare away competition, specifically superstitious immigrants, and that the high rate of murder and missing persons in the area is attributed to human actions.[101] There have also been reports of dogs allegedly being killed by a Bigfoot. In the early 1990s, 9-1-1 audio recordings were made public in which a homeowner in Kitsap County, Washington called law enforcement for assistance with a large subject, described by him as being "all in black", having entered his backyard. He previously reported to law enforcement that his dog was killed recently when it was thrown over his fence.[102][103] Anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum notes that any large predatory animal is potentially dangerous to humans, specifically if provoked, but indicates that most anecdotal accounts of Bigfoot encounters result in the creatures hiding or fleeing from people.[104] Some amateur researchers have reported the creatures moving or taking possession of intentional "gifts" left by humans such as food and jewelry, and leaving items in their place such as rocks and twigs.[105] Skeptics argue that many of these alleged human interactions are easily hoaxed, the result of misidentification, or are outright fabrications.[106] The History Channel television series MonsterQuest investigated a 2002 incident in which a remote wilderness fishing cabin on Snelgrove Lake in Ontario, accessible only by floatplane, was broken into and ransacked sometime during the winter months. Entire kitchen appliances had been ripped from the walls and shelves were torn down, but nothing appeared to have been stolen. Initial blame was placed on a bear as they are occasionally the culprits of home invasions and property damage in their search for food.[107][108] Wildlife biologist Lynn Rogers of the North American Bear Center, after reviewing the insurance video of the cabin's damage, believes it was unlikely to have been caused by a bear due to hibernation patterns and because the refrigerator insulation, which would smell like an ant colony to a bear due to the presence of formic acid, was not ripped out and no claw or bite marks appeared present. Some have attributed the damage to have been caused by a Bigfoot as well as other strange incidents allegedly occurring near this cabin, while others maintain it was likely the result of human vandals or a bear.[109] Other alleged incidents of vehicles being damaged with rocks has been attributed to Bigfoot behavior but skeptics argue it is likely the result of human actions such as pranks, or simply misidentification.[110] Proposed explanations A black bear showcasing its ability to sit in a human-like fashion. Various explanations have been suggested for sightings and to offer conjecture on what type of creature Bigfoot might be. Scientists typically attribute sightings either to hoaxes, or to misidentification of known animals and their tracks, particularly black bears.[111] Misidentification The 2007 photo of an unidentified creature captured on a trail camera. Bears American black bears, the animal most often attributed to being mistakenly identified as Bigfoot,[112] have been observed and recorded walking upright, often as the result of an injury.[113] In 2007, the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization put forward some photos which they claimed showed a juvenile Bigfoot. The Pennsylvania Game Commission, however, said that the photos were of a bear with mange.[114] Anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum,[115] and Ohio scientist Jason Jarvis on the other hand, said that the limb proportions of the creature were not bear-like, they were "more like a chimpanzee."[116] While upright, adult black bear stand roughly 1.5–2.1 metres (5–7 ft),[117] and grizzly bear roughly 2.4–2.7 metres (8–9 ft),[118] both within the range of anecdotal Bigfoot reports. Escaped apes Some have proposed that sightings of Bigfoot may simply be people observing and misidentifying known great apes such as chimpanzee, gorilla, and orangutan that have escaped from captivity such as zoos, circuses, and private owners.[119] This explanation is often proposed in relation to the Bigfoot-like Skunk ape, as some argue the humid subtropical climate of the southeastern United States could potentially support a population of escaped apes.[120] Humans Humans have been mistaken for Bigfoot, with some incidents leading to injuries. In 2013, a 21-year-old man in Oklahoma was arrested after he told law enforcement he accidentally shot his friend in the back while their group was allegedly hunting for Bigfoot.[121] In 2017, a shamanist wearing clothing made of animal furs was vacationing in a North Carolina forest when local reports of alleged Bigfoot sightings flooded in. The Greenville Police Department issued a public notice not to shoot Bigfoot in fear of someone in a fur suit mistakenly being injured or killed.[122] In 2018, a person was shot at multiple times by a hunter near Helena, Montana who claimed he mistook him for a Bigfoot.[123] Additionally, some have attributed feral humans or hermits living in the wilderness as being another explanation for alleged Bigfoot sightings.[124][125] One famous story, the Wild Man of the Navidad, tells of a wild ape-man who roamed the wilderness of eastern Texas in the mid-19th century, stealing food and goods from local residents. A search party allegedly captured an escaped African slave who was attributed to the story.[126] During the 1980s, a number of psychologically damaged American Vietnam veterans were discovered living in remote forests across North America, living off the land and wearing animal hides as clothing.[127] As of 2020, many survivalist veterans and others continue to call the forests of the Pacific Northwest home.[128] Pareidolia Some have proposed that pareidolia may explain Bigfoot sightings, specifically the tendency to observe human-like faces and figures within the natural environment.[129][130] Photos and videos of poor quality alleged to depict Bigfoots are often attributed to this phenomenon and commonly referred to as "Blobsquatch".[131] Hoaxes Both Bigfoot believers and non-believers agree that many of the reported sightings are hoaxes or misidentified animals.[132] Author Jerome Clark argues that the Jacko Affair was a hoax, involving an 1884 newspaper report of an ape-like creature captured in British Columbia. He cites research by John Green, who found that several contemporaneous British Columbia newspapers regarded the alleged capture as highly dubious, and notes that the Mainland Guardian of New Westminster, British Columbia wrote, "Absurdity is written on the face of it."[133] In 1968, the frozen corpse of a supposed hair covered hominid measuring 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 m) was paraded around the United States as part of a travelling exhibition. Many stories surfaced as to its origin such as it having been killed by hunters in Minnesota or killed by American soldiers near Da Nang during the Vietnam War. It was attributed by some to be proof of Bigfoot-like creatures. Primatologist John R. Napier studied the subject and concluded it was a hoax made of latex. Others disputed this, claiming Napier did not study the original subject. As of 2013, the subject, dubbed the Minnesota Iceman, is on display at the "Museum of the Weird" in Austin, Texas.[134] Tom Biscardi, long-time Bigfoot enthusiast and CEO of "Searching for Bigfoot, Inc.", appeared on the Coast to Coast AM paranormal radio show on July 14, 2005, and said that he was "98% sure that his group will be able to capture a Bigfoot which they had been tracking in the Happy Camp, California area."[135] A month later, he announced on the same radio show that he had access to a captured Bigfoot and was arranging a pay-per-view event for people to see it. He appeared on Coast to Coast AM again a few days later to announce that there was no captive Bigfoot. He blamed an unnamed woman for misleading him, and said that the show's audience was gullible.[135] On July 9, 2008, Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton posted a video to YouTube, claiming that they had discovered the body of a dead Bigfoot in a forest in northern Georgia. Tom Biscardi was contacted to investigate. Dyer and Whitton received $50,000 from "Searching for Bigfoot, Inc." as a good faith gesture.[136] The story was covered by many major news networks, including BBC,[137] CNN,[138] ABC News,[139] and Fox News.[140] Soon after a press conference, the alleged Bigfoot body was delivered in a block of ice in a freezer with the Searching for Bigfoot team. When the contents were thawed, observers found that the hair was not real, the head was hollow, and the feet were rubber.[141] Dyer and Whitton admitted that it was a hoax after being confronted by Steve Kulls, executive director of SquatchDetective.com.[142] In August 2012, a man in Montana was killed by a car while perpetrating a Bigfoot hoax using a ghillie suit.[143][144] In January 2014, Rick Dyer, perpetrator of a previous Bigfoot hoax, said that he had killed a Bigfoot in September 2012 outside San Antonio. He claimed to have had scientific tests conducted on the body, "from DNA tests to 3D optical scans to body scans. It is the real deal. It's Bigfoot, and Bigfoot's here, and I shot it, and now I'm proving it to the world."[145][146] He said that he had kept the body in a hidden location, and he intended to take it on tour across North America in 2014. He released photos of the body and a video showing a few individuals' reactions to seeing it,[147] but never released any of the tests or scans. He refused to disclose the test results or to provide biological samples. He said that the DNA results were done by an undisclosed lab and could not be matched to identify any known animal.[148] Dyer said that he would reveal the body and tests on February 9, 2014 at a news conference at Washington University,[149] but he never made the test results available.[150] After the Phoenix tour, the Bigfoot body was taken to Houston.[151] On March 28, 2014, Dyer admitted on his Facebook page that his "Bigfoot corpse" was another hoax. He had paid Chris Russel of "Twisted Toybox" to manufacture the prop from latex, foam, and camel hair, which he nicknamed "Hank". Dyer earned approximately US$60,000 from the tour of this second fake Bigfoot corpse. He stated that he did kill a Bigfoot, but did not take the real body on tour for fear that it would be stolen.[152][153] Gigantopithecus Fossil jaw of the extinct primate Gigantopithecus blacki Bigfoot proponents Grover Krantz and Geoffrey H. Bourne both believed that Bigfoot could be a relict population of the extinct southeast Asian ape species Gigantopithecus. According to Bourne, Gigantopithecus may have followed the many other species of animals that migrated across the Bering land bridge to the Americas.[154] To date, no Gigantopithecus fossils have been found in the Americas. In Asia, the only recovered fossils have been of mandibles and teeth, leaving uncertainty about Gigantopithecus's locomotion. Krantz has argued that Gigantopithecus blacki could have been bipedal, based on his extrapolation from the shape of its mandible. However, the relevant part of the mandible is not present in any fossils.[155] The more popular view is that Gigantopithecus was quadrupedal, as its enormous mass would have made it difficult for it to adopt a bipedal gait. Matt Cartmill criticizes the Gigantopithecus hypothesis:     The trouble with this account is that Gigantopithecus was not a hominin and maybe not even a crown group hominoid; yet the physical evidence implies that Bigfoot is an upright biped with buttocks and a long, stout, permanently adducted hallux. These are hominin autapomorphies, not found in other mammals or other bipeds. It seems unlikely that Gigantopithecus would have evolved these uniquely hominin traits in parallel.[156] Bernard G. Campbell writes: "That Gigantopithecus is in fact extinct has been questioned by those who believe it survives as the Yeti of the Himalayas and the Sasquatch of the north-west American coast. But the evidence for these creatures is not convincing."[157] Extinct hominidae Primatologist John R. Napier and anthropologist Gordon Strasenburg have suggested a species of Paranthropus as a possible candidate for Bigfoot's identity, such as Paranthropus robustus, with its gorilla-like crested skull and bipedal gait[158] —despite the fact that fossils of Paranthropus are found only in Africa. Michael Rugg of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum presented a comparison between human, Gigantopithecus, and Meganthropus skulls (reconstructions made by Grover Krantz) in episodes 131 and 132 of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum Show.[159] He favorably compares a modern tooth suspected of coming from a Bigfoot to the Meganthropus fossil teeth, noting the worn enamel on the occlusal surface. The Meganthropus fossils originated from Asia, and the tooth was found near Santa Cruz, California. Some suggest Neanderthal, Homo erectus, or Homo heidelbergensis to be the creature, but no remains of any of those species have been found in the Americas.[160] Scientific view Recognition In 2013, ZooBank, the non-governmental organization that is generally accepted by zoologists to assign species names, approved the registration request for the subspecies name Homo sapiens cognatus to be used for the reputed hominid more familiarly known as Bigfoot or Sasquatch.[161] "Cognatus" is a Latin term meaning "related by blood." The request was made by Melba S. Ketchum,[162][163] D.V.M. Moody Scholar and lead scientist of The Sasquatch Genome Project following publication of "Novel North American Hominins, Next Generation Sequencing of Three Whole Genomes and Associated Studies, "Ketchum, M. S., et al, in the DeNovo: Journal of Science, 13 Feb 2013.[164] The article examined 111 samples of blood, tissue, hair, and other specimens "characterized and hypothesized" to have been "obtained from elusive hominins in North America commonly referred to as Sasquatch." Zoobank is an adjunct to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature or ICZN. The Sasquatch Genome Project is a collaboration of an interdisciplinary team of scientists from independent, public, and academic laboratories. DeNovo is a multi-disciplinary scientific journal providing three levels of peer review. This is only the first official step in scientific recognition of the species. The following step would be to secure the recognition and inclusion of a DNA sample from Homo sapiens cognatus by GenBank a DNA repository whose catalogue, though incomplete, is well recognized by the scientific community. GenBank provides standardized accepted procedures for the collection and analysis of DNA samples. According to a statement by an ICZN associate scientist, "ZooBank and the ICZN do not review evidence for the legitimacy of organisms to which names are applied – that is outside our mandate, and is really the job of the relevant taxonomic/biological community (in this case, primatologists) to do that. When H. s. cognatus was first registered, needless to say we received a lot of inquiry about it. We scrutinized the original description and registration of this name as best as we could, and as far as we can determine, all the requirements were fulfilled for establishing the new name. Thus, at the moment, we have no grounds to reject the scientific name. This says nothing about the legitimacy of the taxon concept – it's just about whether the name was established according to the rules." There is no single organization of primatologists imbued to provide recognition of evidence for the legitimacy. Opinions of individual primatologists are disparate but generally antagonistic. The evidence advanced supporting the existence of such a large, ape-like creature has often been attributed to hoaxes or delusion rather than to sightings of a genuine creature.[12] In a 1996 USA Today article, Washington State zoologist John Crane said, "There is no such thing as Bigfoot. No data other than material that's clearly been fabricated has ever been presented."[25] In addition, scientists cite the fact that Bigfoot is alleged to live in regions unusual for a large, nonhuman primate, i.e., temperate latitudes in the northern hemisphere; all recognized apes are found in the tropics of Africa and Asia. Primatologist Jane Goodall was asked for her personal opinion of Bigfoot in a 2002 interview on National Public Radio's "Science Friday". She said, "Well now you will be amazed when I tell you that I'm sure that they exist."[165] She later added, chuckling, "Well, I'm a romantic, so I always wanted them to exist", and finally, "You know, why isn't there a body? I can't answer that, and maybe they don't exist, but I want them to."[166] In 2012, when asked again by the Huffington Post, Goodall said "I'm fascinated and would actually love them to exist," adding, "Of course, it's strange that there has never been a single authentic hide or hair of the Bigfoot, but I've read all the accounts."[167] Dmitri Bayanov, Chairman of the Smolin Seminar on Questions of Hominology at the Darwin Museum in Moscow, Russia, stated "All researchers versed in this science do know that Bigfoot is a mammal, not myth, because of the females' conspicuous mammae. All know that Bigfoot is a primate because of the dermal ridges on its soles, a diagnostic characteristic of primates. All hominologists, respectful of logic and the current classification of primates, know that Bigfoot is a non-sapiens hominid because of its nonhuman way of life and bipedalism. ... I think that one of the great scientific results of the 20th century was the discovery of relict hominids (homins, for short), popularly known as Abominable Snowman, Yeti, Yeren, Almas, Almasty, Bigfoot, Sasquatch, etc. Actually, it was a re-discovery by hominologists of what had been known to western naturalists from antiquity to the middle of the 18th century, when wild bipedal primates were classified by Carl Linnaeus as Homo troglodytes (i.e., caveman) or Homo sylvestris (i.e., woodman, forestman). As for eastern scholars and rural population in many parts of the world, they have always been aware of wild hairy bipeds, known under diverse popular names."[168] Many other mainstream scientists do not consider the subject of Bigfoot to be a fertile area for credible science, and as such, there have been a limited number of formal scientific studies of Bigfoot.[169] As with other similar beings, climate and food supply issues would make such a creature's survival in reported habitats unlikely.[170] Great apes have not been found in the fossil record in the Americas, and no Bigfoot remains are known to have been found. Phillips Stevens, a cultural anthropologist at the University at Buffalo, summarized the scientific consensus as follows:     It defies all logic that there is a population of these things sufficient to keep them going. What it takes to maintain any species, especially a long-lived species, is you gotta have a breeding population. That requires a substantial number, spread out over a fairly wide area where they can find sufficient food and shelter to keep hidden from all the investigators.[171] In the 1970s, when Bigfoot "experts" were frequently given high-profile media coverage, Mcleod writes that the scientific community generally avoided lending credence to the theories by debating them.[54] The discovery of an unknown great ape or hominid species calling North America home would have a drastic societal impact. Paleontologist and author Darren Naish states, "It is, after all, great fun to wonder what the existence of Bigfoot would mean for field biology and ecology in North America, for conservation and wildlife management, for our understanding of primate evolution and diversity, and for the relationship we have with the rest of the natural world".[172] Researchers Ivan T. Sanderson and Bernard Heuvelmans, founders of the subculture and pseudoscience of cryptozoology, have spent parts of their career searching for Bigfoot.[173] Later scientists who researched the topic included Jason Jarvis, Carleton S. Coon, George Allen Agogino and William Charles Osman Hill, although they came to no definite conclusions and later stopped their research.[174] Anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum has said that the fossil remains of an ancient giant ape called Gigantopithecus could turn out to be ancestors of today's commonly known Bigfoot.[175][176] Meldrum, who specializes in the study of bipedalism, possesses over 300 footprint casts that he maintains could not be made by wood carvings or human feet based on their anatomy, but instead are evidence of a large, non-human primate present today in America.[177] John Napier asserts that the scientific community's attitude towards Bigfoot stems primarily from insufficient evidence.[178] Other scientists who have shown varying degrees of interest in the creature are David J. Daegling,[179] George Schaller,[25][180][181] Russell Mittermeier, Daris Swindler, and Esteban Sarmiento.[182] Formal studies The first scientific study of available evidence was conducted by John Napier and published in his book Bigfoot: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality in 1973.[183] Napier wrote that if a conclusion is to be reached based on scant extant "'hard' evidence," science must declare "Bigfoot does not exist."[184] However, he found it difficult to entirely reject thousands of alleged tracks, "scattered over 125,000 square miles" (325,000 km2) or to dismiss all "the many hundreds" of eyewitness accounts. Napier concluded, "I am convinced that Sasquatch exists, but whether it is all it is cracked up to be is another matter altogether. There must be something in north-west America that needs explaining, and that something leaves man-like footprints."[185] In 1974, the National Wildlife Federation funded a field study seeking Bigfoot evidence. No formal federation members were involved and the study made no notable discoveries.[186] Beginning in the late 1970s, physical anthropologist Grover Krantz published several articles and four book-length treatments of Sasquatch. However, his work was found to contain multiple scientific failings including falling for hoaxes.[187] A study published in the Journal of Biogeography in 2009 by J.D. Lozier et al. used ecological niche modeling on reported sightings of Bigfoot, using their locations to infer preferred ecological parameters. They found a very close match with the ecological parameters of the American black bear, Ursus americanus. They also note that an upright bear looks much like a Bigfoot's purported appearance and consider it highly improbable that two species should have very similar ecological preferences, concluding that Bigfoot sightings are likely misidentified sightings of black bears.[188] In the first systematic genetic analysis of 30 hair samples that were suspected to be from Bigfoot-like creatures, only one was found to be primate in origin, and that was identified as human. A joint study by the University of Oxford and Lausanne's Cantonal Museum of Zoology and published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B in 2014, the team used a previously published cleaning method to remove all surface contamination and the ribosomal mitochondrial DNA 12S fragment of the sample. The sample was sequenced and then compared to GenBank to identify the species origin. The samples submitted were from different parts of the world, including the United States, Russia, the Himalayas, and Sumatra. Other than one sample of human origin, all but two are from common animals. Black and brown bears accounted for most of the samples, other animals include cow, horse, dog/wolf/coyote, sheep, goat, deer, raccoon, porcupine, and tapir. The last two samples were thought to match a fossilized genetic sample of a 40,000 year old polar bear of the Pleistocene epoch;[189] a second test identified the hairs as being from a rare type of brown bear.[190][191] In 2019, the FBI declassified an analysis it conducted on alleged Bigfoot hairs in 1976. Amateur Bigfoot researcher Peter Byrnes sent the FBI 15 hairs attached to a small skin fragment and asked if the bureau could assist him in identifying it. Jay Cochran, Jr., assistant director of the FBI's Scientific and Technical Services division responded in 1977 that the hairs were of deer family origin.[192][193] Claims An artist's impression of the creature After what The Huffington Post described as "a five-year study of purported Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch) DNA samples",[194] but prior to peer review of the work, DNA Diagnostics, a veterinary laboratory headed by veterinarian Melba Ketchum, issued a press release on November 24, 2012, claiming that they had found proof that the Sasquatch "is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern Homo sapiens with an unknown primate species." Ketchum called for this to be recognized officially, saying that "Government at all levels must recognize them as an indigenous people and immediately protect their human and Constitutional rights against those who would see in their physical and cultural differences a 'license' to hunt, trap, or kill them."[195] Failing to find a scientific journal that would publish their results, Ketchum announced on February 13, 2013, that their research had been published in the DeNovo Journal of Science. The Huffington Post discovered that the journal's domain had been registered anonymously only nine days before the announcement. This was the only edition of DeNovo and was listed as Volume 1, Issue 1, with its only content being the Ketchum paper.[195][196][197] Shortly after publication, the paper was analyzed and outlined by Sharon Hill of Doubtful News for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Hill reported on the questionable journal, mismanaged DNA testing and poor quality paper, stating that "The few experienced geneticists who viewed the paper reported a dismal opinion of it noting it made little sense."[198] The Scientist magazine also analyzed the paper, reporting that:     Geneticists who have seen the paper are not impressed. "To state the obvious, no data or analyses are presented that in any way support the claim that their samples come from a new primate or human-primate hybrid," Leonid Kruglyak of Princeton University told the Houston Chronicle. "Instead, analyses either come back as 100 percent human, or fail in ways that suggest technical artifacts." The website for the DeNovo Journal of Science was setup [sic] on February 4, and there is no indication that Ketchum's work, the only study it has published, was peer reviewed.[199] Numerous plaster casts of alleged Bigfoot footprints exist and some have been studied by individuals such as retired police fingerprint technician Jimmy Chilcutt.[200] He examined multiple casts of alleged Bigfoot footprints and using his experience in both human and primate dermatoglyphics, believes that some of these casts contain unique dermal ridges and even evidence of healed scars.[201] In 2005, a man named Matt Crowley obtained a copy of a cast Chilcutt studied called the "Onion Mountain Cast", and was able to painstakingly recreate the dermal ridges. Michael Dennett of the Skeptical Inquirer spoke to Chilcutt in 2006 for comment on the replica and he stated, "Matt has shown artifacts can be created, at least under laboratory conditions, and field researchers need to take precautions".[202] A body print taken in the year 2000 from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state dubbed the Skookum cast is also believed by some to have made by a Bigfoot that sat down in the mud to eat fruit left out by researchers during the filming of an episode of the Animal X television show. Skeptics believe the cast to have been made by a known animal such as an elk.[203] Claims about the origins and characteristics of Bigfoot have also crossed over with other paranormal claims, including that Bigfoot, extraterrestrials, and UFOs are related or that Bigfoot creatures are psychic, can cross into different dimensions, or are completely supernatural in origin.[42] Patterson-Gimlin film Main article: Patterson-Gimlin film The most well-known video of an alleged Bigfoot, the Patterson-Gimlin film, was recorded on October 20, 1967, by Roger Patterson and Robert "Bob" Gimlin as they explored an area called Bluff Creek in Northern California. The 59.5-second-long video has become an iconic piece of Bigfoot lore, and continues to be a highly scrutinized, analyzed, and debated subject.[204] Some argue that the film has provided "no supportive data of any scientific value",[205] while others believe that the subject in the film is proof of an unrecognized hominid living in North America.[206] Organizations and events There are several organizations dedicated to the research and investigation of Bigfoot sightings in the United States. The oldest and largest is the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO).[207] The BFRO also provides a free database to individuals and other organizations. Their website includes reports from across North America that have been investigated by researchers to determine credibility.[208] Another includes the North American Wood Ape Conservancy (NAWAC), a nonprofit organization.[209] Other similar organizations exist throughout many U.S. states and their members come from a variety of backgrounds.[210][211] Some organizations, as well as private researchers and enthusiasts own and operate Bigfoot Museums.[212][213] Additionally, Bigfoot conferences and festivals are attended by thousands of people.[214][215] These events commonly include guest speakers, research and lore presentations, and even live music, vendors, food trucks, and other activities such as costume contests and "Bigfoot howl" competitions.[216][217] The Chamber of Commerce in Willow Creek, California has hosted the "Bigfoot Daze" festival annually since the 1960s, drawing on the popularity of the local lore.[218] In February 2016, the University of New Mexico at Gallup held a two-day Bigfoot conference at a cost of $7,000 in university funds.[219] In popular culture Main article: Bigfoot in popular culture A tongue-in-cheek sign warning of Bigfoot crossings on Pikes Peak Highway in Colorado Bigfoot has a demonstrable impact in popular culture,[220] and has been compared to Michael Jordan as a cultural icon.[221] In 2018, Smithsonian magazine declared "Interest in the existence of the creature is at an all-time high".[222] According to a poll taken in May 2020, about 1 in 10 American adults believe that Bigfoot is a real animal.[223] The creature has inspired the naming of a medical company, music festival, sports mascot, amusement park ride, monster truck and more. In 2021, Rep. Justin Humphrey, in an effort to bolster tourism, proposed an official Bigfoot hunting season in Oklahoma, indicating that the Wildlife Conservation Commission would regulate permits and the state would offer a $3 million dollar bounty if such a creature was captured alive and unharmed.[224][225] October 10 is considered by some as "National Sasquatch Awareness Day".[226] In 2019, World Champion taxidermist Ken Walker created what he believes to be a life-like Bigfoot model based on the subject in the Patterson–Gimlin film.[227] He entered it into the 2019 World Taxidermy Championship and became the subject of the 2020 documentary Big Fur.[228] Some have been critical of Bigfoot's rise to fame, arguing that the appearance of the creatures in cartoons, reality shows, and advertisements further reduces the potential validity of serious scientific research.[229] Others propose that society's fascination with the concept of Bigfoot stems from human interest in mystery, the paranormal, and loneliness.[230] In the podcast Wild Thing, creator and journalist Laura Krantz argues that the concept of Bigfoot can be an important part of environmental interest and protection, stating, "If you look at it from the angle that Bigfoot is a creature that has eluded capture or hasn't left any concrete evidence behind, then you just have a group of people who are curious about the environment and want to know more about it, which isn't that far off from what naturalists have done for centuries".[231] Bigfoot has been used in official government environmental protection campaigns, albeit comedically, by entities such as the U.S. Forest Service in 2015.[232] The act of searching for or researching the creatures is often referred to as "Squatching" or "Squatch'n",[233] popularized by the Animal Planet reality series, Finding Bigfoot.[234] Bigfoot researchers and believers are often called "Squatchers".[235] During the onset of the  pandemic, Bigfoot became a part of many North American social distancing promotion campaigns, with the creature being referred to as the "Social Distancing Champion" and as the subject of various internet memes related to the pandemic." (wikipedia.org) "Slippers are light footwear that are easy to put on and off and are intended to be worn indoors, particularly at home. [1] They provide comfort and protection for the feet when walking indoors.... History The recorded history of slippers can be traced back to the 12th century when the Vietnamese had been wearing slippers. But in the West, the record can only be traced to 1478.[2][3] Peranakan Chinese wedding slippers from the late 19th century Slippers were worn in China very early on. They were made of cotton or woven rush, had leather linings, and featured symbols of power, such as dragons. Native American moccasins were also highly decorative. They depicted nature scenes and were embellished with beadwork and fringing, their soft sure-footedness made them suitable for indoors appropriation. Inuit and Aleut people made shoes from smoked hare hide to protect their feet against the frozen ground inside their homes.[citation needed] Victorian men needed such shoes to keep the dust and gravel outside their homes. For Victorian ladies slippers were an opportunity to show off their needlepoint skills and use embroidery as decoration.[4] Types     This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Types of slippers include:     Open-heel slippers – usually made with a fabric upper layer that encloses the top of the foot and the toes, but leaves the heel open. These are often distributed in expensive hotels, included with the cost of the room.     Closed slippers – slippers with a heel guard that prevents the foot from sliding out.     Slipper boots – slippers meant to look like boots. Often favored by women, they are typically furry boots with a fleece or soft lining, and a soft rubber sole. Modeled after sheepskin boots, they may be worn outside.     Sandal slippers – cushioned sandals with soft rubber or fabric soles, similar to Birkenstock's cushioned sandals.     Evening slipper, also known as the "Prince Albert" slipper in reference to Albert, Prince Consort. It is made of velvet with leather soles and features a grosgrain bow or the wearer’s initials embroidered in gold. Novelty animal-feet slippers Some slippers are made to resemble something other than a slipper and are sold as a novelty item. The slippers are usually made from soft and colorful materials and may come in the shapes of animals, animal paws, vehicles, cartoon characters, etc. Not all shoes with a soft fluffy interior are slippers. Any shoe with a rubber sole and laces is a normal outdoor shoe. In India, rubber chappals (flip-flops) are worn as indoor shoes.[5] In popular culture The fictional character Cinderella is said to have worn glass slippers; in modern parlance, they would probably be called glass high heels. This motif was introduced in Charles Perrault's 1697 version of the fairy tale, "Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre" "Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper". For some years it was debated that this detail was a mistranslation and the slippers in the story were instead made of fur (French: vair), but this interpretation has since been discredited by folklorists.[6] Derek "The Slipper Man" Fan holds the Guinness World Records record for wearing a pair of dress slippers for 23 years straight as of June 30, 2007.[7][dubious – discuss] A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz sold at Christie's in June 1988 for $165,000. The same pair was resold in May 2000 for $666,000. On both occasions they were the most expensive shoes from a film to be sold at auction.[8] In Hawaii and many islands of The Caribbean, slippers, or "slippahs" is used for describing flip-flops.[citation needed] The term 'house shoes' (elided into how-shuze) is common in the American South." (wikipedia.org) "Novelty (derived from Latin word novus for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual.[1] Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an individual. From the meaning of being unusual usage is derived the concept of the novelty dance (a type of dance that is popular for being unusual or humorous); the novelty song (a musical item that capitalizes on something new, unusual, or a current fad); the novelty show (a competition or display in which exhibits or specimens are in way some novel); and novelty architecture (a building or other structure that is interesting because it has an amusing design). It is also this sense that applies to a novelty item, a small manufactured adornment, toy or collectible. These, in turn are often used as promotional merchandise in marketing.[2] The chess term, novelty, is used for a move in chess which has never been played before in a recorded game.[3] The term can have pejorative sense and refer to a mere innovation. However, novelty in patent law is part of the legal test to determine whether an invention is patentable.[4] A novelty effect is the tendency for performance to initially improve when new technology is instituted." (wikipedia.org) "Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that aims to prove the existence of entities from the folklore record, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Yeti, the chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, or the Mokele-mbembe. Cryptozoologists refer to these entities as cryptids, a term coined by the subculture. Because it does not follow the scientific method, cryptozoology is considered a pseudoscience by mainstream science: it is neither a branch of zoology nor folklore studies. It was originally founded in the 1950s by zoologists Bernard Heuvelmans and Ivan T. Sanderson. Scholars have noted that the subculture rejected mainstream approaches from an early date, and that adherents often express hostility to mainstream science. Scholars have studied cryptozoologists and their influence (including the pseudoscience's association with Young Earth creationism), noted parallels in cryptozoology and other pseudosciences such as ghost hunting and ufology, and highlighted uncritical media propagation of cryptozoologist claims.... Terminology, history, and approach As a field, cryptozoology originates from the works of Bernard Heuvelmans, a Belgian zoologist, and Ivan T. Sanderson, a Scottish zoologist. Notably, Heuvelmans published On the Track of Unknown Animals (French Sur la Piste des Bêtes Ignorées) in 1955, a landmark work among cryptozoologists that was followed by numerous other like works. Similarly, Sanderson published a series of books that assisted in developing hallmarks of cryptozoology, including Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life (1961).[1][2] The term cryptozoology dates from 1959 or before – Heuvelmans attributes the coinage of the term cryptozoology 'the study of hidden animals' (from Ancient Greek: κρυπτός, kryptós "hidden, secret"; Ancient Greek ζῷον, zōion "animal", and λόγος, logos, i.e. "knowledge, study") to Sanderson.[1][3] Patterned after cryptozoology, the term cryptid was coined in 1983 by cryptozoologist J. E. Wall in the summer issue of the International Society of Cryptozoology newsletter.[4] According to Wall "[It has been] suggested that new terms be coined to replace sensational and often misleading terms like 'monster'. My suggestion is 'cryptid', meaning a living thing having the quality of being hidden or unknown ... describing those creatures which are (or may be) subjects of cryptozoological investigation."[5] The Oxford English Dictionary defines the noun cryptid as "an animal whose existence or survival to the present day is disputed or unsubstantiated; any animal of interest to a cryptozoologist".[6] While used by most cryptozoologists, the term cryptid is not used by academic zoologists.[7] In a textbook aimed at undergraduates, academics Caleb W. Lack and Jacques Rousseau note that the subculture's focus on what it deems to be "cryptids" is a pseudoscientic extension of older belief in monsters and other similar entities from the folklore record, yet with a "new, more scientific-sounding name: cryptids".[8] While biologists regularly identify new species, cryptozoologists often focus on creatures from the folklore record. Most famously, these include the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the chupacabra, as well as other "imposing beasts that could be labeled as monsters". In their search for these entities, cryptozoologists may employ devices such as motion-sensitive cameras, night-vision equipment, and audio-recording equipment. While there have been attempts to codify cryptozoological approaches, unlike biologists, zoologists, botanists, and other academic disciplines, however, "there are no accepted, uniform, or successful methods for pursuing cryptids".[1] Some scholars have identified precursors to modern cryptozoology in certain medieval approaches to the folklore record, and the psychology behind the cryptozoology approach has been the subject of academic study.[1] Few cryptozoologists have a formal science education, and fewer still have a science background directly relevant to cryptozoology. Adherents often misrepresent the academic backgrounds of cryptozoologists. According to writer Daniel Loxton and paleontologist Donald Prothero, "Cryptozoologists have often promoted 'Professor Roy Mackal, PhD.' as one of their leading figures and one of the few with a legitimate doctorate in biology. What is rarely mentioned, however, is that he had no training that would qualify him to undertake competent research on exotic animals. This raises the specter of 'credential mongering', by which an individual or organization feints a person's graduate degree as proof of expertise, even though his or her training is not specifically relevant to the field under consideration." Besides Heuvalmans, Sanderson, and Mackal, other notable cryptozoologists with academic backgrounds include Grover Krantz, Karl Shuker, and Richard Greenwell.[9] Historically, notable cryptozoologists have often identified instances featuring "irrefutable evidence" (such as Sanderson and Krantz), only for the evidence to be revealed as the product of a hoax. This may occur during a closer examination by experts or upon confession of the hoaxer.[10] Young Earth creationism A subset of cryptozoology promotes the pseudoscience of Young Earth creationism, rejecting conventional science in favor of a Biblical interpretation and promoting concepts such as "living dinosaurs". Science writer Sharon A. Hill observes that the Young Earth creationist segment of cryptozoology is "well-funded and able to conduct expeditions with a goal of finding a living dinosaur that they think would invalidate evolution."[11] Anthropologist Jeb J. Card says that "Creationists have embraced cryptozoology and some cryptozoological expeditions are funded by and conducted by creationists hoping to disprove evolution."[12] In a 2013 interview, paleontologist Donald Prothero notes an uptick in creationist cryptozoologists. He observes that "[p]eople who actively search for Loch Ness monsters or Mokele Mbembe do it entirely as creationist ministers. They think that if they found a dinosaur in the Congo it would overturn all of evolution. It wouldn't. It would just be a late-occurring dinosaur, but that's their mistaken notion of evolution."[13] Citing a 2013 exhibit at the Petersburg, Kentucky-based Creation Museum, which claimed that dragons were once biological creatures who walked the earth alongside humanity and is broadly dedicated to Young Earth creationism, religious studies academic Justin Mullis notes that "Cryptozoology has a long and curious history with Young Earth Creationism, with this new exhibit being just one of the most recent examples".[14] Academic Paul Thomas analyzes the influence and connections between cryptoozology in his 2020 study of the Creation Museum and the creationist theme park Ark Encounter. Thomas comments that, "while the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter are flirting with pseudoarchaeology, coquettishly whispering pseudoarchaeological rhetoric, they are each fully in bed with cryptozoology" and observes that "Young-earth creationists and cryptozoologists make natural bed fellows. As with pseudoarchaeology, both young-earth creationists and cryptozoologists bristle at the rejection of mainstream secular science and lament a seeming conspiracy to prevent serious consideration of their claims."[15] Lack of critical media coverage Media outlets have often uncritically disseminated information from cryptozoologist sources, including newspapers that repeat false claims made by cryptozoologists or television shows that feature cryptozoologists as monster hunters (such as the popular and purportedly nonfiction American television show MonsterQuest, which aired from 2007 to 2010). Media coverage of purported "cryptids" often fails to provide more likely explanations, further propagating claims made by cryptozoologists.[16] Reception and pseudoscience There is a broad consensus among academics that cryptozoology is a pseudoscience.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23] The subculture is regularly criticized for reliance on anecdotal information[24] and because in the course of investigating animals that most scientists believe are unlikely to have existed, cryptozoologists do not follow the scientific method.[25] No academic course of study nor university degree program grants the status of cryptozoologist and the subculture is primarily the domain of individuals without training in the natural sciences.[26][27][28] Anthropologist Jeb J. Card summarizes cryptozoology in a survey of pseudoscience and pseudoarchaeology:     Cryptozoology purports to be the study of previously unidentified animal species. At first glance, this would seem to differ little from zoology. New species are discovered by field and museum zoologists every year. Cryptozoologists cite these discoveries as justification of their search but often minimize or omit the fact that the discoverers do not identify as cryptozoologists and are academically trained zoologists working in an ecological paradigm rather than organizing expeditions to seek out supposed examples of unusual and large creatures.[29] Card notes that "cryptozoologists often show their disdain and even hatred for professional scientists, including those who enthusiastically participated in cryptozoology", which he traces back to Heuvelmans's early "rage against critics of cryptozoology". He finds parallels with cryptozoology and other pseudosciences, such as ghost hunting and ufology, and compares the approach of cryptozoologists to colonial big-game hunters, and to aspects of European imperialism. According to Card, "Most cryptids are framed as the subject of indigenous legends typically collected in the heyday of comparative folklore, though such legends may be heavily modified or worse. Cryptozoology's complicated mix of sympathy, interest, and appropriation of indigenous culture (or non-indigenous construction of it) is also found in New Age circles and dubious "Indian burial grounds" and other legends...invoked in hauntings such as the "Amityville" hoax ...".[30] In a 2011 foreword for The American Biology Teacher, then National Association of Biology Teachers president Dan Ward uses cryptozoology as an example of "technological pseudoscience" that may confuse students about the scientific method. Ward says that "Cryptozoology ... is not valid science or even science at all. It is monster hunting."[31] Historian of science Brian Regal includes an entry for cryptozoology in his Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia (2009). Regal says that "as an intellectual endeavor, cryptozoology has been studied as much as cryptozoologists have sought hidden animals".[32] In a 1992 issue of Folklore, folklorist Véronique Campion-Vincent says:         Unexplained appearances of mystery animals are reported all over the world today. Beliefs in the existence of fabulous and supernatural animals are ubiquitous and timeless. In the continents discovered by Europe indigenous beliefs and tales have strongly influenced the perceptions of the conquered confronted by a new natural environment. In parallel with the growing importance of the scientific approach, these traditional mythical tales have been endowed with sometimes highly artificial precision and have given birth to contemporary legends solidly entrenched in their territories. The belief self-perpetuates today through multiple observations enhanced by the media and encouraged (largely with the aim of gain for touristic promotion) by the local population, often genuinely convinced of the reality of this profitable phenomenon."[33] Campion-Vincent says that "four currents can be distinguished in the study of mysterious animal appearances": "Forteans" ("compiler[s] of anomalies" such as via publications like the Fortean Times), "occultists" (which she describes as related to "Forteans"), "folklorists", and "cryptozoologists". Regarding cryptozoologists, Campion-Vincent says that "this movement seems to deserve the appellation of parascience, like parapsychology: the same corpus is reviewed; many scientists participate, but for those who have an official status of university professor or researcher, the participation is a private hobby".[33] In her Encyclopedia of American Folklore, academic Linda Watts says that "folklore concerning unreal animals or beings, sometimes called monsters, is a popular field of inquiry" and describes cryptozoology as an example of "American narrative traditions" that "feature many monsters".[34] In his analysis of cryptozoology, folklorist Peter Dendle says that "cryptozoology devotees consciously position themselves in defiance of mainstream science" and that:         The psychological significance of cryptozoology in the modern world...serves to channel guilt over the decimation of species and destruction of the natural habitat; to recapture a sense of mysticism and danger in a world now perceived as fully charted and over-explored; and to articulate resentment of and defiance against a scientific community perceived as monopolising the pool of culturally acceptable beliefs.[35] In a paper published in 2013, Dendle refers to cryptozoologists as "contemporary monster hunters" that "keep alive a sense of wonder in a world that has been very thoroughly charted, mapped, and tracked, and that is largely available for close scrutiny on Google Earth and satellite imaging" and that "on the whole the devotion of substantial resources for this pursuit betrays a lack of awareness of the basis for scholarly consensus (largely ignoring, for instance, evidence of evolutionary biology and the fossil record)."[36] According to historian Mike Dash, few scientists doubt there are thousands of unknown animals, particularly invertebrates, awaiting discovery; however, cryptozoologists are largely uninterested in researching and cataloging newly discovered species of ants or beetles, instead focusing their efforts towards "more elusive" creatures that have often defied decades of work aimed at confirming their existence.[25] Paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson (1984) lists cryptozoology among examples of human gullibility, along with creationism:         Humans are the most inventive, deceptive, and gullible of all animals. Only those characteristics can explain the belief of some humans in creationism, in the arrival of UFOs with extraterrestrial beings, or in some aspects of cryptozoology. ...In several respects the discussion and practice of cryptozoology sometimes, although not invariably, has demonstrated both deception and gullibility. An example seems to merit the old Latin saying 'I believe because it is incredible,' although Tertullian, its author, applied it in a way more applicable to the present day creationists.[37] Paleontologist Donald Prothero (2007) cites cryptozoology as an example of pseudoscience and categorizes it, along with Holocaust denial and UFO abductions claims, as aspects of American culture that are "clearly baloney".[38] In Scientifical Americans: The Culture of Amateur Paranormal Researchers (2017), Hill surveys the field and discusses aspects of the subculture, noting internal attempts at creating more scientific approaches and the involvement of Young Earth creationists and a prevalence of hoaxes. She concludes that many cryptozoologists are "passionate and sincere in their belief that mystery animals exist. As such, they give deference to every report of a sighting, often without critical questioning. As with the ghost seekers, cryptozoologists are convinced that they will be the ones to solve the mystery and make history. With the lure of mystery and money undermining diligent and ethical research, the field of cryptozoology has serious credibility problems."[39] Organizations There have been several organizations, of varying types, dedicated or related to cryptozoology. These include:     This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (May 2018)     International Fortean Organization – a network of professional Fortean researchers and writers based in the United States     International Society of Cryptozoology – an American organisation that existed from 1982 to 1998     Kosmopoisk – a Russian organisation whose interests include cryptozoology and Ufology Museums and exhibitions The zoological and cryptozoological collection and archive of Bernard Heuvelmans is held at the Musée Cantonal de Zoologie in Lausanne and consists of around "1,000 books, 25,000 files, 25,000 photographs, correspondence, and artifacts".[40]: 19  In 2006, the Bates College Museum of Art held the "Cryptozoology: Out of Time Place Scale" exhibition, which compared cryptozoological creatures with recently extinct animals like the thylacine and extant taxa like the coelacanth, once thought long extinct (living fossils). The following year, the American Museum of Natural History put on a mixed exhibition of imaginary and extinct animals, including the elephant bird Aepyornis maximus and the great ape Gigantopithecus blacki, under the name "Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns and Mermaids"." (wikipedia.org) "A hoax is a falsehood deliberately fabricated to masquerade as the truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment,[1] rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences, and April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.... History See also: History of propaganda Zhang Yingyu's The Book of Swindles (c. 1617), published during the late Ming dynasty, is said to be China's first collection of stories about fraud, swindles, hoaxes, and other forms of deception.[3] Although practical jokes have likely existed for thousands of years, one of the earliest recorded hoaxes in Western history was the drummer of Tedworth in 1661.[4] The communication of hoaxes can be accomplished in almost any manner that a fictional story can be communicated: in person, via word of mouth, via words printed on paper, and so on. As communications technology has advanced, the speed at which hoaxes spread has also advanced: a rumor about a ghostly drummer, spread by word of mouth, will impact a relatively small area at first, then grow gradually. However, hoaxes could also be spread via chain letters, which became easier as the cost of mailing a letter dropped. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century brought down the cost of a mass-produced books and pamphlets, and the rotary printing press of the 19th century reduced the price even further (see yellow journalism). During the 20th century, the hoax found a mass market in the form of supermarket tabloids, and by the 21st century there were fake news websites which spread hoaxes via social networking websites (in addition to the use of email for a modern type of chain letter). Etymology The English philologist Robert Nares (1753–1829) says that the word hoax was coined in the late 18th century as a contraction of the verb hocus, which means "to cheat," "to impose upon"[5] or (according to Merriam-Webster) "to befuddle often with drugged liquor."[6] Hocus is a shortening of the magic incantation hocus pocus,[6] whose origin is disputed.[7][better source needed] Definition Thomas Ady's A candle in the dark ... (1656) contains one of the earliest mentions of hocus pocus, the origin of the word hoax.[8] Robert Nares defined the word hoax as meaning "to cheat," dating from Thomas Ady's 1656 book A candle in the dark, or a treatise on the nature of witches and witchcraft.[8] The term hoax is occasionally used in reference to urban legends and rumors, but the folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand argues that most of them lack evidence of deliberate creations of falsehood and are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes, so the term should be used for only those with a probable conscious attempt to deceive.[2] As for the closely related terms practical joke and prank, Brunvand states that although there are instances where they overlap, hoax tends to indicate "relatively complex and large-scale fabrications" and includes deceptions that go beyond the merely playful and "cause material loss or harm to the victim."[9] According to Professor Lynda Walsh of the University of Nevada, Reno, some hoaxes—such as the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814, labeled as a hoax by contemporary commentators—are financial in nature, and successful hoaxers—such as P. T. Barnum, whose Fiji mermaid contributed to his wealth—often acquire monetary gain or fame through their fabrications, so the distinction between hoax and fraud is not necessarily clear.[10] Alex Boese, the creator of the Museum of Hoaxes, states that the only distinction between them is the reaction of the public, because a fraud can be classified as a hoax when its method of acquiring financial gain creates a broad public impact or captures the imagination of the masses.[11] One of the earliest recorded media hoaxes is a fake almanac published by Jonathan Swift under the pseudonym of Isaac Bickerstaff in 1708.[12] Swift predicted the death of John Partridge, one of the leading astrologers in England at that time, in the almanac and later issued an elegy on the day Partridge was supposed to have died. Partridge's reputation was damaged as a result and his astrological almanac was not published for the next six years.[12] It is possible to perpetrate a hoax by making only true statements using unfamiliar wording or context, such as in the Dihydrogen monoxide hoax. Political hoaxes are sometimes motivated by the desire to ridicule or besmirch opposing politicians or political institutions, often before elections. A hoax differs from a magic trick or from fiction (books, film, theatre, radio, television, etc.) in that the audience is unaware of being deceived, whereas in watching a magician perform an illusion the audience expects to be tricked. A hoax is often intended as a practical joke or to cause embarrassment, or to provoke social or political change by raising people's awareness of something. It can also emerge from a marketing or advertising purpose. For example, to market a romantic comedy film, a director staged a phony "incident" during a supposed wedding, which showed a bride and preacher getting knocked into a pool by a clumsy fall from a best man.[13] A resulting video clip of Chloe and Keith's Wedding was uploaded to YouTube and was viewed by over 30 million people and the couple was interviewed by numerous talk shows.[13] Viewers were deluded into thinking that it was an authentic clip of a real accident at a real wedding; but a story in USA Today in 2009 revealed it was a hoax.[13] Great Moon Hoax Governments sometimes spread false information to facilitate their objectives, such as going to war. These often come under the heading of black propaganda. There is often a mixture of outright hoax and suppression and management of information to give the desired impression. In wartime and times of international tension rumors abound, some of which may be deliberate hoaxes. Examples of politics-related hoaxes:     Belgium is a country with a Flemish-speaking region and a French-speaking region. In 2006, French-speaking television channel RTBF interrupted programming with a spoof report claiming that the country had split in two and the royal family had fled.     On 13 March 2010, the Imedi television station in Georgia broadcast a false announcement that Russia had invaded Georgia.[14] Psychologist Peter Hancock has identified six steps which characterise a truly successful hoax:[15]     Identify a constituency—a person or group of people who, for reasons such as piety or patriotism, or greed, will truly care about your creation.     Identify a particular dream which will make your hoax appeal to your constituency.     Create an appealing but "under-specified" hoax, with ambiguities     Have your creation discovered.     Find at least one champion who will actively support your hoax.     Make people care, either positively or negatively—the ambiguities encourage interest and debate Types Graphic showing differences between misinformation, disinformation, and hoax, presented for Wikimedia Research (2015) Hoaxes vary widely in their processes of creation, propagation, and entrenchment over time. Examples include:     Academic hoaxes         The Sokal affair         The Grievance studies affair     Art-world hoaxes:         The "Bruno Hat" art hoax, arranged in London in July 1929, involved staging a convincing public exhibition of paintings by an imaginary reclusive artist, Bruno Hat. All the perpetrators were well-educated and did not intend a fraud, as the newspapers were informed the next day. Those involved included Brian Howard, Evelyn Waugh, Bryan Guinness, John Banting and Tom Mitford.[16]         Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928-1960: a 1998 art world hoax, by William Boyd         Disumbrationism: a modern art hoax         Pierre Brassau: exposing art critics to "modern paintings" made by a chimpanzee         Spectra: A Book of Poetic Experiments: a modernist poetry hoax         Ern Malley, the popular but fictitious Australian poet.     Apocryphal claims that originate as a hoax gain widespread belief among members of a culture or organization, become entrenched as persons who believe it repeat it in good faith to others, and continue to command that belief after the hoax's originators have died or departed     Computer virus hoaxes became widespread as viruses themselves began to spread. A typical hoax is an email message warning recipients of a non-existent threat, usually forging quotes supposedly from authorities such as Microsoft and IBM. In most cases the payload is an exhortation to distribute the message to everyone in the recipient's address book. Thus the e-mail "warning" is itself the "virus." Sometimes the hoax is more harmful, e.g., telling the recipient to seek a particular file (usually in a Microsoft Windows operating system); if the file is found, the computer is deemed to be infected unless it is deleted. In reality the file is one required by the operating system for correct functioning of the computer.     Criminal Hoaxing, such as the case of John Samuel Humble, aka Wearside Jack. Criminal hoaxing diverts time and money of police investigations with communications purporting to come from the actual criminal. Once caught, hoaxers are charged under criminal codes such as Perverting the course of justice     Factoids     Hoaxes formed by making minor or gradually increasing changes to a warning or other claim widely circulated for legitimate purposes     Hoax of exposure is a semi-comical or private sting operation. It usually encourages people to act foolishly or credulously by falling for patent nonsense that the hoaxer deliberately presents as reality. A related activity is culture jamming.     Hoax news     Hoaxes perpetrated by "scare tactics" appealing to the audience's subjectively rational belief that the expected cost of not believing the hoax (the cost if its assertions are true times the likelihood of their truth) outweighs the expected cost of believing the hoax (cost if false times likelihood of falsity), such as claims that a non-malicious but unfamiliar program on one's computer is malware     Hoaxes perpetrated on occasions when their initiation is considered socially appropriate, such as April Fools' Day     Humbugs     Internet hoaxes became more common after the start of social media. Some websites have been used to hoax millions of people on the Web[17]     Paleoanthropological hoaxes, anthropologists were taken in by the "Piltdown Man discovery" that was widely believed from 1913 to 1953     Religious hoaxes     UFO hoaxes     Urban legends and rumors with a probable conscious attempt to deceive[2] Hoax news Main article: Fake news Hoax news (also referred to as fake news[18][19]) is a news containing facts that are either inaccurate or false but which are presented as genuine.[20] A hoax news conveys a half-truth used deliberately to mislead the public.[21] Hoax may serve the goal of propaganda or disinformation — using social media to drive web traffic and amplify their effect.[22][23][24] Unlike news satire, fake news websites seek to mislead, rather than entertain, readers for financial or political gain.[25][23] Hoax news is usually released with the intention of misleading to injure an organization, individual, or person, and/or benefit financially or politically, sometimes utilizing sensationalist, deceptive, or simply invented headlines to maximize readership. Likewise, clickbait reports and articles from this operation gain advertisement revenue." (wikipedia.org) "A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditionally, in the twentieth century, they were created with foley. In motion picture and television production, a sound effect is a sound recorded and presented to make a specific storytelling or creative point without the use of dialogue or music. The term often refers to a process applied to a recording, without necessarily referring to the recording itself. In professional motion picture and television production, dialogue, music, and sound effects recordings are treated as separate elements. Dialogue and music recordings are never referred to as sound effects, even though the processes applied to such as reverberation or flanging effects, often are called "sound effects". This area and sound design have been slowly merged since the late-twentieth century.... History A live rooster in the Yle recording studio in 1930s Finland The term sound effect ranges back to the early days of radio. In its Year Book 1931 the BBC published a major article about "The Use of Sound Effects". It considers sounds effect deeply linked with broadcasting and states: "It would be a great mistake to think of them as anologous to punctuation marks and accents in print. They should never be inserted into a programme already existing. The author of a broadcast play or broadcast construction ought to have used Sound Effects as bricks with which to build, treating them as of equal value with speech and music." It lists six "totally different primary genres of Sound Effect":         Realistic, confirmatory effect         Realistic, evocative effect         Symbolic, evocative effect         Conventionalised effect         Impressionistic effect         Music as an effect According to the author, "It is axiomatic that every Sound Effect, to whatever category it belongs, must register in the listener's mind instantaneously. If it fails to do so its presence could not be justified."[1] Film In the context of motion pictures and television, sound effects refers to an entire hierarchy of sound elements, whose production encompasses many different disciplines, including:     Hard sound effects are common sounds that appear on screen, such as door alarms, weapons firing, and cars driving by.     Background (or BG) sound effects are sounds that do not explicitly synchronize with the picture, but indicate setting to the audience, such as forest sounds, the buzzing of fluorescent lights, and car interiors. The sound of people talking in the background is also considered a "BG," but only if the speaker is unintelligible and the language is unrecognizable (this is known as walla). These background noises are also called ambience or atmos ("atmosphere").     Foley sound effects are sounds that synchronize on screen, and require the expertise of a foley artist to record properly. Footsteps, the movement of hand props (e.g., a tea cup and saucer), and the rustling of cloth are common foley units.     Design sound effects are sounds that do not normally occur in nature, or are impossible to record in nature. These sounds are used to suggest futuristic technology in a science fiction film, or are used in a musical fashion to create an emotional mood. Each of these sound effect categories is specialized, with sound editors known as specialists in an area of sound effects (e.g. a "Car cutter" or "Guns cutter"). Foley is another method of adding sound effects. Foley is more of a technique for creating sound effects than a type of sound effect, but it is often used for creating the incidental real world sounds that are very specific to what is going on onscreen, such as footsteps. With this technique the action onscreen is essentially recreated to try to match it as closely as possible. If done correctly it is very hard for audiences to tell what sounds were added and what sounds were originally recorded (location sound). In the early days of film and radio, foley artists would add sounds in realtime or pre-recorded sound effects would be played back from analogue discs in realtime (while watching the picture). Today, with effects held in digital format, it is easy to create any required sequence to be played in any desired timeline. In the days of silent film, sound effects were added by the operator of a theater organ or photoplayer, both of which also supplied the soundtrack of the film. Theater organ sound effects are usually electric or electro-pneumatic, and activated by a button pressed with the hand or foot. Photoplayer operators activate sound effects either by flipping switches on the machine or pulling "cow-tail" pull-strings, which hang above. Sounds like bells and drums are made mechanically, sirens and horns electronically. Due to its smaller size, a photoplayer usually has fewer special effects than a theater organ, or less complex ones. Video games The principles involved with modern video game sound effects (since the introduction of sample playback) are essentially the same as those of motion pictures. Typically a game project requires two jobs to be completed: sounds must be recorded or selected from a library and a sound engine must be programmed so that those sounds can be incorporated into the game's interactive environment. In earlier computers and video game systems, sound effects were typically produced using sound synthesis. In modern systems, the increases in storage capacity and playback quality has allowed sampled sound to be used. The modern systems also frequently utilize positional audio, often with hardware acceleration, and real-time audio post-processing, which can also be tied to the 3D graphics development. Based on the internal state of the game, multiple different calculations can be made. This will allow for, for example, realistic sound dampening, echoes and doppler effect. Historically the simplicity of game environments reduced the required number of sounds needed, and thus only one or two people were directly responsible for the sound recording and design. As the video game business has grown and computer sound reproduction quality has increased, however, the team of sound designers dedicated to game projects has likewise grown and the demands placed on them may now approach those of mid-budget motion pictures. Music Some pieces of music use sound effects that are made by a musical instrument or by other means. An early example is the 18th century Toy Symphony. Richard Wagner in the opera Das Rheingold (1869) lets a choir of anvils introduce the scene of the dwarfs who have to work in the mines, similar to the introduction of the dwarfs in the 1937 Disney movie Snow White. Klaus Doldingers soundtrack for the 1981 movie Das Boot includes a title score with a sonar sound to reflect the U-boat setting. John Barry integrated into the title song of Moonraker (1979) a sound representing the beep of a Sputnik like satellite. Recording A man recording the sound of a saw in the 1930s The most realistic sound effects may originate from original sources; the closest sound to machine-gun fire could be an original recording of actual machine guns. Despite this, real life and actual practice do not always coincide with theory. When recordings of real life do not sound realistic on playback, Foley and f/x are used to create more convincing sounds. For example, the realistic sound of bacon frying can be the crumpling of cellophane, while rain may be recorded as salt falling on a piece of tinfoil. Less realistic sound effects are digitally synthesized or sampled and sequenced (the same recording played repeatedly using a sequencer). When the producer or content creator demands high-fidelity sound effects, the sound editor usually must augment his available library with new sound effects recorded in the field. When the required sound effect is of a small subject, such as scissors cutting, cloth ripping, or footsteps, the sound effect is best recorded in a studio, under controlled conditions in a process known as foley. Many sound effects cannot be recorded in a studio, such as explosions, gunfire, and automobile or aircraft maneuvers. These effects must be recorded by a professional audio engineer. When such "big" sounds are required, the recordist will begin contacting professionals or technicians in the same way a producer may arrange a crew; if the recordist needs an explosion, he may contact a demolition company to see if any buildings are scheduled to be destroyed with explosives in the near future. If the recordist requires a volley of cannon fire, he may contact historical re-enactors or gun enthusiasts. Depending on the effect, recordists may use several DAT, hard disk, or Nagra recorders and a large number of microphones. During a cannon- and musket-fire recording session for the 2003 film The Alamo, conducted by Jon Johnson and Charles Maynes, two to three DAT machines were used. One machine was stationed near the cannon itself, so it could record the actual firing. Another was stationed several hundred yards away, below the trajectory of the ball, to record the sound of the cannonball passing by. When the crew recorded musket-fire, a set of microphones were arrayed close to the target (in this case a swine carcass) to record the musket-ball impacts. A counter-example is the common technique for recording an automobile. For recording "Onboard" car sounds (which include the car interiors), a three-microphone technique is common. Two microphones record the engine directly: one is taped to the underside of the hood, near the engine block. The second microphone is covered in a wind screen and tightly attached to the rear bumper, within an inch or so of the tail pipe. The third microphone, which is often a stereo microphone, is stationed inside the car to get the car interior. Having all of these tracks at once gives a sound designer or audio engineer a great deal of control over how he wants the car to sound. In order to make the car more ominous or low, he can mix in more of the tailpipe recording; if he wants the car to sound like it is running full throttle, he can mix in more of the engine recording and reduce the interior perspective. In cartoons, a pencil being dragged down a washboard may be used to simulate the sound of a sputtering engine. What is considered today to be the first recorded sound effect was of Big Ben striking 10:30, 10:45, and 11:00. It was recorded on a brown wax cylinder by technicians at Edison House in London on July 16, 1890. This recording is currently in the public domain. Processing effects As the car example demonstrates, the ability to make multiple simultaneous recordings of the same subject—through the use of several DAT or multitrack recorders—has made sound recording into a sophisticated craft. The sound effect can be shaped by the sound editor or sound designer, not just for realism, but for emotional effect. Once the sound effects are recorded or captured, they are usually loaded into a computer integrated with an audio non-linear editing system. This allows a sound editor or sound designer to heavily manipulate a sound to meet his or her needs. The most common sound design tool is the use of layering to create a new, interesting sound out of two or three old, average sounds. For example, the sound of a bullet impact into a pig carcass may be mixed with the sound of a melon being gouged to add to the "stickiness" or "gore" of the effect. If the effect is featured in a close-up, the designer may also add an "impact sweetener" from his or her library. The sweetener may simply be the sound of a hammer pounding hardwood, equalized so that only the low-end can be heard. The low end gives the three sounds together added weight, so that the audience actually "feels" the weight of the bullet hit the victim. If the victim is the villain, and his death is climactic, the sound designer may add reverb to the impact, in order to enhance the dramatic beat. And then, as the victim falls over in slow motion, the sound editor may add the sound of a broom whooshing by a microphone, pitch-shifted down and time-expanded to further emphasize the death. If the film is science-fiction, the designer may phaser the "whoosh" to give it a more sci-fi feel. (For a list of many sound effects processes available to a sound designer, see the bottom of this article.) Aesthetics When creating sound effects for films, sound recordists and editors do not generally concern themselves with the verisimilitude or accuracy of the sounds they present. The sound of a bullet entering a person from a close distance may sound nothing like the sound designed in the above example, but since very few people are aware of how such a thing actually sounds, the job of designing the effect is mainly an issue of creating a conjectural sound which feeds the audience's expectations while still suspending disbelief. In the previous example, the phased 'whoosh' of the victim's fall has no analogue in real life experience, but it is emotionally immediate. If a sound editor uses such sounds in the context of emotional climax or a character's subjective experience, they can add to the drama of a situation in a way visuals simply cannot. If a visual effects artist were to do something similar to the 'whooshing fall' example, it would probably look ridiculous or at least excessively melodramatic. The "Conjectural Sound" principle applies even to happenstance sounds, such as tires squealing, doorknobs turning or people walking. If the sound editor wants to communicate that a driver is in a hurry to leave, he will cut the sound of tires squealing when the car accelerates from a stop; even if the car is on a dirt road, the effect will work if the audience is dramatically engaged. If a character is afraid of someone on the other side of a door, the turning of the doorknob can take a second or more, and the mechanism of the knob can possess dozens of clicking parts. A skillful Foley artist can make someone walking calmly across the screen seem terrified simply by giving the actor a different gait." (wikipedia.org) "A stock sound effect is a prerecorded sound effect intended to be reused with an entertainment product, as opposed to creating a new and unique sound effect. It is intended to work within a sound effect library.... History As far back as Ancient Greece, sound effects have been used in entertainment productions. Sound effects (also known as sound FX, SFX, or simply FX) are used to enhance theatre, radio, film, television, video games and online media. Sound effects were originally added to productions by creating the sounds needed in real-time. Various devices and props were utilized to approximate the actual sounds, including coconut shells for horse hooves, and a sheet of metal for thunder. With the advent of radio and specifically radio dramas, the role of sound effects became more important. When cinema went from silent to "talkies", sound effects became a large part of this new medium, too. Audio recording technology continued to evolve, making it easier to record and replay sound. As this happened, the more commonly used and harder-to-replicate sound effects were pre-recorded to make them more accessible. Prerecording also allowed the same sound effect to be used many times. Both producers' and listeners' sensibilities began evolving with the technology, and the need for more realistic sound effects or for using the "real" sound increased. Therefore, a more urgent need developed for prerecorded sound effects. Over time, the quality of audio recording and playback increased, as did the demand for a wider variety of highly specific sounds. For example, rather than use a generic gunshot, a producer might request a gunshot from a specific type of gun, shot under precise conditions. Access to "real" sound effects became increasingly important to producers. These collections of prerecorded sound effects, both real and artificial, began to be referred to as stock sound effects and were organized into libraries. As their usage increased, stock sound effects libraries became the valuable assets of sound design artists and production companies. Some stock sound effects have been reused so many times that they have become easily recognizable and even cliché. Examples of these include the scream of a red-tailed hawk, castle thunder, or the Wilhelm and Howie screams. Many of the original sound effects libraries originated from film and television studios that employed the artists who created them, such as Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera. Over time, independent companies such as Sound Ideas and Hollywood Edge became involved, both distributing the major studios' libraries as well as making their own available to the public. The internet ushered in a new generation of technology, entertainment media, and sound effects libraries. Sounddogs became the first to distribute sound effects libraries over the internet and Soundrangers became the first to create an all-new sound effects library for internet-based entertainment. Dozens of other websites now provide stock sounds for movies, video games, and software. Others such as Freesound aim to provide free sound effects under the public domain. Over the years, with the evolution of sound recording technology and new formats, the format used for sound effects libraries also evolved. Sound libraries are now available on many types of media, including vinyl records, reel-to-reel tape, cassette tapes, compact discs, hard drives and via the internet. Sound effects libraries now include more complex, layered, and mixed sounds along with a wider variety of incidental real-world sounds." (wikipedia.org) "A novelty item is an object which is specifically designed to serve no practical purpose, and is sold for its uniqueness, humor, or simply as something new (hence "novelty", or newness). The term also applies to practical items with fanciful or nonfunctional additions, such as novelty aprons, slippers, or toilet paper. The term is normally applied to small objects, and is generally not used to describe larger items such as roadside attractions. Items may have an advertising or promotional purpose, or be a souvenir.... Usage This term covers a range of small manufactured goods, such as collectables, gadgets and executive toys. Novelty items are generally devices that do not primarily have a practical function. Toys for adults are often classed as novelties. Some products have a brief period as a novelty item when they are actually new, only to become an established, commonly used product, such as the Hula Hoop or the Frisbee. Others may have an educational element, such as a Crookes radiometer, Newton's cradle, or drinking bird. Sex toys are often described as novelty items (varying from this definition, as they do serve a practical purpose), and some products sold in sex shops may not have any practical sexual function, if operating primarily as a humorous gift, such as sex dice. Some food products may be considered novelty items, especially when first introduced, such as deep-fried Mars bars. History Pet rocks with googly eyes, popularized during the 1970s A 3D printed Penrose triangle Humorous novelty signs The French mathematician and astronomer Pierre Hérigone (1580–1643) describes a novelty item that was a camera obscura in the form of a goblet. Hérigone's device was constructed so that the user could spy on others while taking a drink. Its 45-degree mirror had a stylized opening for the lens and the lid bore a magnifying lens at the top. Lenticular printing was developed in the 1940s, and is used extensively in the production of novelty items. Paper clothing, which has some practical purpose, was briefly novel in the United States in the 1960s. One of the more popular novelty items in recent history was the singing Big Mouth Billy Bass, manufactured by Gemmy Industries. It is estimated that over 20 million original pieces were sold in 12 months during 2000 and 2001. Novelty items based on mathematical objects, such as Klein bottles and Penrose triangles, have been manufactured. Models of Möbius strips are sometimes made in place of regular bands, such as rings. List of novelty items     Wikimedia Commons has media related to Novelty objects. This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.     Big Mouth Billy Bass     Bobblehead     Bubble pipe     BunaB     Chattering teeth     Cheesehead     Chinese finger trap     Crookes radiometer     Deely bobber     Drinking bird     Dehydrated water     Expandable water toy     Garden gnome     Groucho glasses     Horse head mask     Joy buzzer     Kit-Cat Klock     Lava lamp     Magic 8-Ball     Mexican jumping bean     New Year's glasses     Newton's cradle     Novelty lighter     Pet Rock     Plasma globe     Plastic flamingo     Propeller beanie     Radio hat, while a practical item, was a novelty when it first appeared     Silly Putty     Slime     Slinky     Snow globe     Squirmle     Talking clock     Toffee hammer     Trammel of Archimedes     Umbrella hat     Useless machine     Whoopee cushion     X-Ray specs" (wikipedia.org)
  • Condition: In excellent, pre-owned condition; tested. Please see photos and description.
  • Gender: Unisex
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
  • Look: Bizarre
  • Decade: 1980s
  • Material: Synthetic
  • Original/Reproduction: Original
  • Color: Brown
  • Occasion: Casual
  • Brand: American Top Secret

PicClick Insights - BIGFOOT SLIPPERS W/ SOUND A.T.S. vintage Sasquatch novelty RARE cryptid 1989 80s PicClick Exclusive

  •  Popularity - 20 watchers, 0.0 new watchers per day, 862 days for sale on eBay. Super high amount watching. 1 sold, 1 available.
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