Orgone Research

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This essay was originally published in the journal Northwest Science, Vol. 62, No. 3, 1988 pages 129 and 130. A PDF version of the article is found here:

I’ve taken the liberty to re-post it here, to put into HTML. The original illustration is not included here. A short discussion of mine follows Bodley’s essay.

Sasquatch Footprints: Can Dermal Ridges be Faked?

John H. Bodley, Department of Anthropology

Washington State University Pullman Washington 99164-4910

Introduction

In May 1987 six very fresh giant human-like footprints (approximately 45 x 15 cm) were discovered in the

Blue Mountains of southeastern

Washington State by myself and a student. These

tracks resembled those that have been reported

throughout the Pacific Northwest and which

some attribute to the Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, a

legendary, bipedal, human-like creature (Green

1978). With the exception of a single scuff mark,

and one print over a bent shrub, each footprint

was a complete, very clear impression, approximately one centimeter deep in the firm damp

soil of the trail, or somewhat deeper in the softer

soil beside the trail. These particular tracks were

of special interest because they were extremely

fresh and because upon close inspection they

were found to contain distinct impressions of dermal ridges. Dermal ridges are the tiny swirls or

concentric ridges on palms and digits of hands and feet that leave “finger prints” or “toe prints.”

Such friction skin is found only in primates.

Given the presence of the ridges, the general

crispness of the footprints, and the fact that it

had been raining lightly during the afternoon the

prints were found, it seemed likely that the prints

were perhaps only a half-hour old when first

found. Unfortunately, the ridges did not transfer

to plaster of Paris castings that were made the

following day. These casts were made by Paul

Freeman who, unlike us, had the necessary

materials with him.

However, several years earlier, in June of

1982, plaster casts made by Paul Freeman, then

a U.S. Forest Service patrolman, from similar

tracks in the same general region did yield

distinct dermal ridge impressions.

Casts of these

earlier tracks were analyzed by several dermatoglyphic experts (including Douglas M. Monsoor, a Colorado

criminologist; Robert D. Olsen,

with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and Edward Palma and Benny Kling, with Wyoming law

enforcement offices) who all concluded that

it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible,

for someone wishing to make fraudulent

“Sasquatch” tracks to also produce such fine detail

as these ridges (Krantz l983). They all found the

pattern consistent with foot arrangements, and not

patched together from several hand impressions.

Even though Krantz’s analysis of the 1982 casts

led him to discount the possibility of deliberate

faking in that case, the circumstances of the 1987

tracks led me to test the feasibility of artificially

producing prints of dermal ridges. I was especially puzzled by the remarkable perfection of the

tracks and their distribution along the trail.

Although the tracks were randomly distributed

along a quarter-mile stretch of trail over basically

uniform ground, only a single pair of sequential

left-right prints were found. The other associated

print was a single scuff mark found 10 meters

up the trail from a print very deeply pressed in-

to the center of the trail. It was difficult to ex-

plain why so few tracks were found on so much

available soft soil. The possibility that they had

been artificially planted could not be ruled out,

but it was necessary

to account for the presence

of the detailed dermal ridge impressions.

Krantz (1983:72) reported that some critics

had speculated that dermal ridges could be produced using rubber castings. He also observed

that the wind-blown loess topsoil of southeastern

Washington was fine enough to hold the imprint

of dermal ridges and demonstrated

with his own

thumbprint that ridges could be transferred from

skin-to-soil and then to a plaster cast. I was interested to see if entire footprints could be produced, complete

with such ridges. The purpose

of this experiment was to determine if dermal ridges could in fact be produced in a deliberately faked footprint.

Methods

In order to produce dermal ridges, a mold of a

44 cm Sasquatch-like footprint was shaped from

modeling clay. I then carefully rolled my bare

big toe in the soft clay to leave clear dermal ridge

impressions.

I rolled my heel across the heel of

the mold, and imprinted my forehead on the

center of the clay footprint. Additionally, impressions of hand and feet skin were made with

Elmer’s glue and dried pieces of glue pressed

into the clay. Plaster of Paris was then poured

into the mold and allowed to harden. Upon removal, impressions of dermal ridges were clearly

visible in the resulting cast. An outline of the

track was then traced on the damp ground, the

soil beneath was loosened with a screw-driver,

and the plaster cast was pressed firmly into this

prepared soil, In order to make a good impression, it was necessary to stamp on the cast. (The

cast was broken in the process, but this seemed

not to affect the impression). Fresh plaster was

then poured into the impression in the soil, and

the second cast was examined. It also faithfully

reproduced the dermal ridges that were imprinted into the original clay mold.

Discussion

Under the right soil conditions, impressions of dermal ridges can easily be transferred from skin-

to-clay, from clay-to-plaster, from plaster-to-soil

and finally from soil back into plaster. Even more

remarkable was the transfer from first skin-to-

glue and then into the same transfer sequence:

clay to plaster to soil and into plaster again,

although the resulting cast in this case was a

“negative” print.

Krantz (personal communication) readily

recognized that the resulting cast I produced was

a clumsy fake because of the crudely-shaped toes,

and seven dermatoglyphic experts (certified latent

print examiners in Washington, Oregon, and

California, and another visitor from Scotland

Yard) readily determined that the ridges were not

correctly situated.

Dermal ridges can be faked in footprints with

relative ease, at least under certain soil conditions. This experiment certainly does not prove

that the specific tracks examined in May 1987

were fakes, but it does suggest that any purported

sasquatch prints containing impressions of dermal ridges need to be carefully evaluated for the

possible presence of patching or other irregularities throughout the entire footprint.

Acknowledgments

The author was accompanied in the field by

Lonnie Somer, a graduate student anthropology at Washington State University.

Grover S. Krantz provided the contacts that made

this field investigation possible, and showed my

creation to the fingerprinters. My son, Brett

Bodley. prepared the glue skin impression.

Literature Cited

Green,John. 1978. Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us. Seattle:

Hancock House.

Krantz, Grover S. 1983. Anatomy and Dermatoglyphics of

Three Sasquatch Footprints. Cryptozoology 2:53-81.

Received 2 January 1988

Accepted. 15 February 1988

I discovered this essay only recently, after having done my own tests to see if textures as fine as dermal ridges could really be captured in natural substrates, and then in cement casts. Indeed, one test I did with my own foot impressed into ordinary potters clay led to a spectacular capture of my own dermal ridges:

A close up photo clearly shows my own dermal ridges. I never did follow through and impress this cast into natural soil as Bodley did. Casting cements such as Ultracal and Hydrocal are significantly stronger than ordinary plaster of Paris. It might be interesting to see if casts made with these higher strength casting compounds would resist breakage better than plaster of Paris.

Screeds and Essays

Go back to the Bigfoot Compendium.

The claim has been made that purported Sasquatch foot casts contain textures that represent healed scars. One of the most notable is that of “Wrinkle Foot”, a set of right and left foot casts brought forth by Paul Freeman.

Unfortunately, A formal paper detailing the analysis of the surface detail of “Wrinkle Foot” has not been forthcoming at this point. A short account did appear in the November 2000 issue of Fate magazine:

The “scar” texture of “Wrinkle Foot” is not detailed at length in Jeff Meldrum’s Sasquatch book. From page 255:

What most impressed Officer Chilcutt were multiple examples of healed scars that appeared on a particular pair of casts from the Blue Mountains in southeastern Washington, where the soil has a high content of loess. Dr. Krantz had previously referred to these casts as “Wrinkle Foot” due to the extensive indications of coarse dermatoglyphics. The deep, clear footprints were found in wet mud and preserve much detail of the skin surface. Chilcutt reasoned, “If this animal is walking through the wilderness, he’s bound to come across rock and rough terrain that will cut the bottom of his foot. As the wound heals, the ridges curl inward toward the scar.”

A photograph at the top of page 257 is captioned “Close-up of ridge detail showing healed scar”. Unfortunately we are not told explicitly if this is “Wrinkle Foot”, but it appears to be. No metric is included in the image in Meldrum’s book.

Here is a photograph of the texture in question. Remember, this is a multiple generation cast copy, and so is not as sharp as the original. Nevertheless, even with this copy we can see the main line of the “scar” with small lines branching off the sides. I have intentionally included my own fingers in the photograph to illustrate how much larger this texture is than human dermal ridges. The size of the feature alone is grounds for reasonable skepticism that this represents real primate dermal ridges.

Recently, a surprising image was forwarded to me from a friend of mine in Arizona, Brenden Bannon. Brenden cast a track he made using a fake rubber foot to impress mud in his back yard. The result is striking, as a surface texture similar to the “scar” of “Wrinkle Foot” spontainously appeared running across the “ball” of the foot:

Here is a close-up of the texture in question:

Upon close examination, small lines can be seen that connect to, but radiate away from, the main fissure.

While Bannon’s cast is a preliminary finding, it would seem to cast doubt on the notion that the texture seen on “Wrinkle Foot” is strong evidence of Bigfoot’s dermal ridges. It may be the texture is related to a suction effect, or to a cement-substrate interaction, or both.

Go back to the Bigfoot Compendium.

In late 2004 or early 2005, I began to bring a number of test coupons that exhibit desiccation ridges to meetings held at the Seattle Museum of the Mysteries. At the time, I knew very little about the nature of these ridges. I spoke to a man whose name I no longer recall, who told me that he had done plaster casting of figurines in molds. He said that entrained air bubbles were a big problem, and that the way to avoid them was to add a very small amount of “soap” to the plaster slurry. This man was from the UK, and so we had no common reference to brand name of “soap” he might have used. Further, I was unclear if he meant soap or detergent…

Nevertheless, I was intrigued enough by his claims to investigate. Since I was investigating what casting cements do when in contact with desiccant substrates and not waterproof molds, I had no idea what the outcome might be. But since a surfactant will alter how the aqueous phase acts upon the solid phase, I suspected that it might affect the pattern of resulting desiccation ridges.

My first test was successful, though I didn’t photograph the result. The resulting desiccation ridges might be characterized as a pattern that mimics dysplasia.

It was not until some time later that I tried the test again. This was an informal test, one in which I didn’t record all the parameters. I simply added a small amount, perhaps a milliliter, of Dawn brand dishwashing liquid to the cement slurry. This was poured over a foot-shaped depression in a bed of desiccant, probably pumice. The resulting band of desiccation ridges was unique and unprecedented in my experience.

As you can see, the ridges mimic the fingerprint pattern known as a “arch”:

Or possibly even a “tented arch”:

This process is interesting because it represents a rather striking emulation of a biological process (fingerprint development) by a completely non-biological process. While it’s tempting to say “inorganic” process, this would be inaccurate, as the surfactant is of course organic…

Of further interest is that the size of the ridges are commensurate with genuine dermal ridges, although somewhat bigger:

I believe that this development is novel and intriguing.

Go back to the Bigfoot Compendium.

The bulk of the following essay, and the ensuing discussion, originally appeared here.

Recently an associate of mine sent me a link to a blog entry of an individual thought of throughout the subculture of Bigfootery as a groupie, and one prone to false accusations if not outright lies.

Amazingly, after all this time, this individual finally follows the simple directions I suggested more than 2 years ago and gets exactly the results I suggested would occur:

In fact, the result is a rather striking match for the texture we see 9cm anterior of the heel on CA-19:

At this point, the rational and scientifically minded person would simply say, “Wow, it looks just the same, and nothing like real dermal ridges”
But no, The Groupie has to go through conniptions to explain away the obvious match. She decides it’s all my fault because at one time I used chopsticks to mix my plaster slurry! She equates this to a wire whisk and implies that the ridge artifacts are due to entrained air!
First off, this is a direct personal attack against me, as it implies I’m utterly incompetent to even mix plaster of Paris. A baseless accusation of course, but by now this is common practice for The Groupie.
Ever notice how The Groupie never names the experts she claims to consult? Ever notice how The Groupie never records or publishes the correspondence she has with these experts? It’s always phone calls, and second hand anecdotes. We see it in her blog entry:

In this specific situation, had I payed more attention to the expert with USGypsum.com, this may not have gone on so long. Instead I allowed myself to be bogged down in arguments over water temperature and pancake batter. I should not have doubted this man from USGypsum.com’s 25 years of experience with this product he has such an incredible knowledge of. We really should listen to those who have expertise in areas, especially when that expertise or knowledge can help us.

Who is this expert? What is his name?
To cut to the chase, I knew that her claim that the ridges we see are due to entrained air is complete and total bullshit. There are a bunch of reasons for this.

1. If these ridges were due to entrained air, we would see them on every substrate, but we don’t.

2. We don’t see them on casts made in substrates that have had a proper application of a barrier spray.

3. We don’t see them occur on non-porous surfaces, like latex molds.

4. Entrained air produces little pits, not ridges! And so on…

But hey, why listen to me, I just have a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy. I decided to follow up with The Groupie’s source of information; US Gypsum.

I sent the following e-mail to Kym Heitke, a technical representative with US Gypsum:
Hello, my name is Matt Crowley, and I’m writing from Seattle Washington. For some time now, I’ve been investigating a strange property of some of your casting compounds including Ultracal 30, Hydrocal B11, and ordinary plaster of Paris. When I make casts of impressions made in certain fine, dry substrates like pumice or silica without a barrier spray, I sometimes get very characteristic ridges and furrows. For some time now, I’ve been trying to understand the mechanism of this process. An associate of mine with a PhD in Geology advises me that they are “desiccation ridges”, caused by the strong capillary action of these particular substrates pulling the water from the cement slurry strongly away. To understand on a visual level what I’m talking about, I’ve created a number of webpages on the subject. Here is a good example:

http://www.orgoneresearch.com/testing_silica.htm

I fully recognize the subject of “Bigfoot” is “fringe science” but I assure you the spontaneous ridge phenomenon is absolutely real and easily reproduced. I appreciate you taking the time to read and respond to my request, which is simply this; can you help me to understand the physical mechanism that would produce these spontaneous ridges?

I’m usually home from work after about 4:00 o’clock if you want to call me at home. My home phone number is 206-XXX-XXXX

I didn’t get a response from Kym Heitke, but she forwarded my e-mail to Perry Tuttle, who has given me permission to publish his answers to my question. Here is his response to my first e-mail:

Matt,

It appears to me that your geology friend is correct. The porous nature of the material you are making the impression in is “wicking” water at uneven rates from the plaster. To rehydrate plaster properly, the slurry needs to lay undisturbed after vigorous mixing. If wicking is occuring, the suspended solids compact due to the water being withdrawn, and that creates ridges and water starved (desication) cracks on the cast.

Since this has happenned on various USG products of a wide range of formulation difference, I’m pretty confident. Also, if the dessication and ridging does not occur after you “seal” the pumice or fine silica impression, then that supports a wicking problem. We recommend to seal any surface that plaster is poured against.

Here is something to try if you don’t seal the impression before pouring plaster. First, mix the plaster vigorously for at least five minutes – this will ensure that the plaster crystals are already using the water before you pour. This will also create a faster setting plaster which could solidify before the full effects of wicking take hold. I believe the fix is to use a sealer on your “mold”.

We have a good website called gypsumsolutions.com that has great literature on mixing, casting, drying, etc. to help you read up on the details.

Perry Tuttle
Region Sales Mgr-West
Performance Substrates, USG

Imagine that! A technical expert at US Gypsum agrees with what Anton Wroblewski, a PhD in geology and therefore an expert in inorganic processes has been saying all along: these are DESICCATION RIDGES! Who would have thought!

I sent Mr. Tuttle another e-mail:

Mr. Tuttle;

Thank you very much for responding to my e-mail inquiry. I was fairly confident that slurry desiccation was the most likely mechanism involved in this process, and I’m glad to have received your confirmation. As a follow-up, I have read a public claim that the ridge-artifacts are due to entrained air, and not desiccation. I don’t believe this to be correct for a number of reasons, the least of which is that I’ve never seen little bubble-pits on any of the ridges in any test casts I’ve made. I’d like to get your take on this claim as well.
In addition, I would like your permission to publicly quote your answer, as well as this portion of your previous e-mail:

Matt,

It appears to me that your geology friend is correct. The porous nature of the material you are making the impression in is “wicking” water at uneven rates from the plaster. To rehydrate plaster properly, the slurry needs to lay undisturbed after vigorous mixing. If wicking is occuring, the suspended solids compact due to the water being withdrawn, and that creates ridges and water starved (desication) cracks on the cast.

His response:

Hi Matt,

It’s fine to post my opinions. Air entrainment problems, when created by poor mixing practices, tend to show up throughout a cast and do not create one isolated feature. Many times, when a mold has a particular section of contour where air can’t be fully displaced to the backside (top) of the casting, then you can get isolated air entrained features. In both cases, you should see air bubbles in cross section.

Additionally, pouring a plaster product against a porous medium can also create bubbles even though you may have mixed the slurry without entraining air. When the slurry enters an open porosity system, the air has to be pushed out somewhere and typically, it will simply find its way into the slurry. Sealing your pattern material is the way to go.

Perry

As you can see, NOWHERE does he suggest that these ridges are due to air entrainment , and in fact accepts the mechanism proposed by Dr. Wroblewski: desiccation.

Perhaps it’s time for The Groupie to reconsider her constant resorts to anecdotal, second-hand accounts of unnamed individuals whom she claims to be experts. Since she has demonstrated time and time again that she has no clue what real science is all about, perhaps she should consider a move to the UFO field, where second hand accounts from unnamed and secret sources is standard operating procedure. The UFO field is rife with personalities like hers; I’m sure she would fit right in.

Go back to the Bigfoot Compendium.

Some years ago, I posted on a popular Internet forum rather simple directions on how to create casts that exhibit desiccation ridges using volcanic ash as a substrate. Since that time several individuals have successfully followed these directions, and obtained the results I suggested they would. Being that duplication of results is one of the fundamental qualities of science, I believe that the methodology and results of Bigfoot advocate Sam Rich deserves to be publicized and praised.

Sam carefully documented his methodology and results in his own series of blog entries, starting here, and further offered them for public discussion here:

I can find nothing at all to criticize in Sam’s work. His style is even more scientific than mine in the sense that he eliminated one more variable than I did; he used a standardized impressioning tool to create his “tracks” whereas I simply made mine “freehand” each time. Since we both achieved virtually the same results, I would argue that this variable is not greatly important in the grand scheme of things; You can make cookies by hand or use a cookie cutter. I made mine by hand, Sam used a cookie cutter. Our cookies both tasted the same…

Sam has given me permission to re-post his findings on my own website.

Starting with a chunk of clay, Sam created a “male” master for his final impressioning tool, which, understandably, was a Big Foot:

Through a series of steps, he arrived at a final impressioning tool, complete with handles with which to pull the tool cleanly away from the test substrate:

Removal of the tool, which he painted dark green, perhaps as an homage to The Incredible Hulk, resulted in a cleanly detailed “track” in a bed of volcanic ash:

No fixative was used, and a plaster slurry was poured into the “track”. Note where the plaster slurry is contacting the substrate, and how the propagating wave front of the slurry is more or less curved. This is an outstanding photograph as it illustrates the initiation of two fundamental features of the desiccation ridge process; the “point of first slurry impact”, and the arched furrows which curve in toward the point of first impact.

The resulting cast exhibited every single subtle feature which I had discovered to have occurred under such circumstances; a subtle ring recording the point of first slurry impact, furrows that abut bands of desiccation ridges, with the ridges on the inside of the furrow, relative to the point of first slurry impact. The “ridge flow pattern” that followed the sidewall contours of the track. Desiccation ridges of the same size, shape, and pattern of distribution that I’ve seen again and again in my own tests:

Having done this myself, I can personally attest that photographs alone do not do justice as to how much work and meticulous preparation goes into doing this kind of test. Because Sam went to the trouble of creating a standardized impressioning tool (his Big Green Foot), his conclusion is unduly modest:

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Given that these casting artifacts (and their similarity to alleged “dermal ridges”) was anticipated the results came as no surprise.