Page 3 - 200808 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - August 2008

Delaware Businessman in Bigfoot Hoax 3 Delaware Businessman in Bigfoot Hoax 3 Delaware County On The Hunt For Bigfoot A A Delaware County On The Hunt For Bigfoot businessman, doing a Legend has it the Himalayas is businessman, doing a Legend has it the Himalayas is the stomping ground of the yeti, favor for a friend, became the stomping ground of the yeti, favor for a friend, became writes Ben Stubbs. involved in a Bigfoot yarn writes Ben Stubbs. involved in a Bigfoot yarn that quickly unraveled. Campfire tales in Nepal don't warn of that quickly unraveled. psychotic lumberjacks or headless horsemen trying to abduct you in the night, they focus on By KEITH ROYSDON the yeti; that shaggy beast living in a cave that By KEITH ROYSDON is supposed to resemble Harry from Harry And The Hendersons. MUNCIE -- William Lett Jr. wants his Camping deep in the Himalayas, I'm Delaware County friends and business aware of every oddity swirling in the sleet as I associates to know: He's not a Bigfoot kinda reluctantly head to the toilets in the middle of guy. the night. I feel like a six-year-old, thanks to the "I don't know anything about Bigfoot," the local builder told The Star Press in a Biscardi called his friend Lett and asked him to warnings thrown around each evening by my Nepali guide Satish. Swaying trees become weekend interview. "I don't have an opinion on go to Georgia. Bigfoot." "Their whole deal is to debunk stuff," approaching mountain men, the shuffle of a yak must be a tiptoeing predator and the shadows So how did Lett, a local commercial Lett said in reference to Biscardi's group. "They builder who works on the national level, end up believe Bigfoot is out there, but they believe a behind me are terrifying. Stories have circulated through the brokering a $50,000 deal between two Georgia big percentage of what comes out is bull---p. He valleys of Nepal for hundreds of years about the men who claimed, in mid-August, to have the asked me to help out." abominable snowman that lurks in the grottos remains of the legendary backwoods creature in So Lett traveled to the Atlanta, Ga., area of the Sagamartha National Park. As we trek a chest freezer? with $50,000 in cash and handed it over to along the ridges towards Gokyo Ri and the And when the unlikely story was Whitton and Dyer, who traveled with him back Tibetan border I learn that even Sir Edmund confirmed to be a hoax, why was Lett the one to Muncie with the carcass in a chest freezer. Hillary had his suspicions, leading expeditions who filed a theft report with Georgia police, "We saw a solid block of ice, but you looking for evidence to analyse after finding purporting to be the victim of the scheme? could tell something was in there," Lett said. "yeti hair" on one of his mountain ascents. Lett is a longtime friend of Bigfoot The group stopped in Delaware County Continuing our trek under the inky researcher Tom Biscardi, who -- when news of and Whitton and Dyer camped overnight at shadows of Ama Dablam I'm told that this is no the Georgia "discovery" broke on Aug. 14 -- Lett's Eaton-area property before moving on. imaginary indulgence either. Many Nepalis asked Lett to represent him by going to Georgia After the subsequent revelation that the speak of the young herder and his animals that and making a quick deal for the purchase of the "corpse" was a combination of a furry suit and were killed in the fields of Macherma by a remains just in case it turned out to be the real organs from other animals, Lett contacted shaggy beast in the 1800s. Next to our yak-dung thing. Whitton and Dyer and asked for the $50,000 fire that evening we also talk to a Nepali The deal ended up including a side trip back. They refused to return it, which prompted to Eaton-area property owned by Lett, where the police report and subsequent indications in mountain climber who says his sister was attacked by the yeti one night 30 years ago and Bigfoot hoaxers Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer -- news stories that Delaware County had some she still gets spooked when it is mentioned. along with their prize, frozen in a block of ice - connection to the hoax. Unsure if they are secretly having a laugh at me - spent the night before traveling on to "I was just in the middle of something," or not, Satish assures me that tomorrow he'll announce their "discovery" in California. Lett said. "I just didn't know how much I would have proof. So one of the year's most memorable be in the middle of something." We arrive in Khumjung on a sunny hoaxes passed through Delaware County and Lett is convinced he'll get his money afternoon and decide to pay our respects at the left a local man wincing over the resulting back through police in Georgia or through his mud-brick monastery on the edge of town. publicity. friend Biscardi, who couldn't be reached for For a "donation" the resident monk is "I'm only embarrassed because of the comment on Sunday. way it was projected," Lett said. "It was a Lett, for his part, wonders if the hoax willing to unlock the secret of this frosty mountain town. I hand over a sweaty wad of business thing to me. I do business all the time. didn't have more layers than has been apparent rupees and he opens a lime-green cabinet. You go into projects with guys, but stuff like so far. Inside is a yeti scalp, given to them by a this doesn't happen. "There's something else going on," he neighbouring monastery as a gift. "It's unfortunate this is Bigfoot. I hate to said, speculating that maybe Whitton and Dyer The limp-looking toupee looks closer to see it pushed off as 'stupid Muncie' in the news were working for someone producing a something from Bert Newton's closet rather again. I'm just a guy trying to help somebody do television show about hoaxes. "Somebody had than confirmation of a marauding mountain their thing. The problem with it is, it's Bigfoot, something up." [] beast, but the plaque warns visitors of the so somebody will automatically assume you've mountain yeti's temper and gives information got a screw loose. Everybody thinks you're nuts on the three species that they have identified: if you say it." the Drema; the Chuti, which preys on goats; and Lett, 55, is a longtime builder of retail stores and other structures who met Biscardi -- the 2.4-metre Mitre, which has a taste for trekkers. founder of Searching for Bigfoot -- years earlier The yeti may be no more real than when he helped Biscardi raise funds for a film. Chewbacca or the famous drop bear, but it still Whitton and Dyer -- who apparently have no ties to Biscardi -- announced around makes me hesitate every time I need to wander off to the loo in the Himalayas. [] Aug. 14 that they would prove the existence of Bigfoot by displaying the dead body of one. http://www.smh.com.au People in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the People in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Bermuda Triangle Bermuda Triangle Listen to The ‘X’ Zone Radio Show AM 1620 WDHP Listen to The ‘X’ Zone Radio Show with Rob McConnell on AM 1620 WDHP with Rob McConnell on