By Aaron Littleton
Production Coordinator / TriCities.com
Published: August 21, 2008

While it is not really worth mentioning in and of itself, I’d hate for the TriCitiesBlogs.com Paranormal Blog’s record of the Georgia Bigfoot to be an incomplete account of the event.  In case you haven’t heard yet, it was just a rubber gorilla suit stuffed with roadkill and entrails.
These sheisters, who briefly went into hiding, recently poked their heads back out to tell everyone it was a joke and that everyone should have known it was a joke.  Well, we all love a good joke, that’s for sure.  However, by definition, a joke usually ends with people laughing, or the joker pulling out before any real harm is done.  Calling a press conference and taking cheques for undisclosed amounts of money usually don’t factor into the equation.  In fact, you might call that a lie instead of humor.  In fact, I am.
I think it’s pretty safe to say that interest in the paranormal has hit a high recently - the success of TV shows like Ghost Hunters is proof enough of that.  I hope that a fraud like this perpetrated at a time of increased visibility doesn’t do irreparable damage to the real hunt for Bigfoot.  I’m not saying that I believe Bigfoot is real, I’ll believe it when I see it.  But I do hold it to be a small possibility; nothing is impossible.  The thing about Bigfoot is that Bigfoot is FUN.  Bigfoot captures the imaginations of people; he stirs those emotions that make you want to get out there and find something that no one else has.  Get out in the woods and tromp around a bit - look for Bigfoot.  Why not?  Even if you don’t find anything, you’ve still spent a nice day hiking.  It would be a real shame to see that fun diminished by a hoax.
I think I will continue the discussion about Bigfoot in general in the next blog post, but let’s not muddy the waters of that with this foul story.