Tech Stomps Bigfoot Rumor

By: James C. Falcon, Journal Staff Writer

RAPID CITY — The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology does not have Bigfoot. And the Rapid City school issued a news release last week to emphasize the point.

“I’ve done some checking, and we have no Bigfoot,” Breanna Bishop, Tech’s public-information coordinator, said.

Rumors have circulated on the Internet that the elusive creature known as Bigfoot was killed on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and then was taken to the Rapid City school for further inspection.

“The School of Mines has no facilities dedicated to Bigfoot or other cryptozoology research,” Bishop said in the written release.

Bishop first learned of the school’s alleged role in the study of Bigfoot a week ago.

She received an e-mail from someone identified as “Kurt,” who read a blog at www.cryptomundo.com. The Web site, dedicated to Bigfoot, posted these rumors of Bigfoot’s remains being held at Tech. “Kurt” wanted confirmation of the school’s role, Bishop said.

Kurt wasn’t the only one interested in confirming or debunking the rumor.

“Tech received calls, mostly from media. They are getting quite a few calls down on the reservation where Bigfoot was allegedly shot,” Bishop said.

As reported on Cryptomundo, Bigfoot — or Sasquatch, or Chiye-tanka, or “Big Man” — was shot and killed on Tuesday, Aug. 1, near Slim Butte on the Pine Ridge reservation.

A testimony, originally featured on an Internet message board and that later appeared on Cryptomundo’s Web site, stated that “several medicine men including Wilmer Mesteth, Oliver Red Cloud and Tom (?) Janis invited by the police, smudge the body with burning sage and cedar, and say prayers.”

The person who posted the Big Foot account, identified only as “ac10,” stated that he or she had heard the story from their sister-in-law on Aug. 1. The information was posted on the Internet site the following Saturday, Aug. 5.

“I don’t really think I know what you’re talking about.” Red Cloud said when asked about his involvement with the smudging of Bigfoot’s body.

WCSRO, 2006.