“The mitochondrial DNA was fully modern Homo sapiens sapiens indicating
that the species is a hybrid cross between modern Homo sapiens in the maternal lineage and an unknown hominin male progenitor.”
- Melba Ketchum, D.V.M. and Owner, DNA Diagnostics
Illustration by the
Erickson Sasquatch Project.
Frame 352 from the Patterson-Gimlin film,
alleged by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin to show
a Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, female with breasts walking. About
a third of all reports of North American Sasquatch sightings are
concentrated in the Pacific Northwest while widely separated Texas,
Florida and Ohio also have had many Sasquatch eyewitness reports.
See map
of Sasquatch eyewitness reports below.
March 1, 2013 Nacogdoches, Texas - On February 13, 2013, a new web journal called DeNovo Scientific Journal appeared on the internet as Vol. 1, Winter 2013. In this first issue is only one article entitled, “Novel North American Hominins, Next Generation Sequencing of Three Whole Genomes and Associated Studies.” The study boils down to this description provided by the lead author, 58-year-old veterinarian Melba Ketchum, D.V.M.: “A team of eleven scientists with expertise in genetics, forensics, pathology, biochemistry and biophysics has sequenced three whole nuclear genomes from a novel, contemporary species of hominin in North America.”
The “novel, contemporary species of hominin” is Sasquatch, otherwise known as Bigfoot, Yeti, Yowie and other names around this planet. These big creatures have variously been described by eyewitnesses for many years as at least 8 to 12 feet tall and have been reported throughout the United States and other parts of the world in both hemispheres. But to date, no indisputably real, living Sasquatch - or its skeleton - has ever been publicly displayed to the world.
However, Dr. Ketchum insists this published genetic genome work is “proof” that Sasquatch exists. Further, she says the three sequenced genomes show the source is a hybrid combination of a human female and an unknown male primate that first emerged some 13,000 to 15,000 years ago. Dr. Ketchum says that Sasquatch is a “type of person,” an illusive distant cousin of the human race that has been living almost invisibly “under the noses of humans” for centuries as it has stuck to the most remote parts of the world - perhaps even underground for shelter - trying to avoid human populations.
The problem is that GenBank in the United States, part of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration, that was created “to provide and encourage access within the scientific community to the most up to date and comprehensive DNA sequence information” - would not accept Dr. Ketchum's genome sequencing data. Further, no long-standing, credible science journal agreed to publish her work, so Dr. Ketchum was forced to produce the DeNovo Scientific Journal herself in order to reach the public.
Also, I contacted one of the eleven scientists referenced by name as contributing to the genome research. He confirmed that his lab did the DNA extraction for Dr. Ketchum, but he would not agree to an on-the-record interview because the controversy the DeNovo article has provoked about an alleged Sasquatch hybrid threatens the credibility and livelihood of his lab and other scientists. The Catch-22 is: his lab extracted the DNA. Other scientists did blind genome sequencing and their results match Dr. Ketchum's. But as soon as those labs and scientists learned the DNA under study allegedly came from the unproved Sasquatch creature, then they backed off from vouching for their own work.
When I interviewed Dr. Melba Ketchum on February 14, 2013, the day after the release of her genome research at the DeNovo website, she was very frustrated. From her point of view, she worked hard for five years trying to produce credible scientific data. But then legitimate science journals simply refused to accept her work for publication, as the Gen Bank rejected her genome sequencing data.
I asked her how she came to devote the past five years of her life to the challenge of extracting alleged Sasquatch DNA and reaching her conclusion that Sasquatch exists and is a hybrid of a human female and unknown male primate.
She told me the first thing that happened was the TV show, Destination Truth, took her some samples that the TV producers thought were potentially Yeti (Himalayan version of Sasquatch and Bigfoot). At the same time, samples were delivered to her from North American Bigfoot Search, a California organization. NABS had eyewitnesses attached to their samples and Dr. Metchum became intrigued when she thought there were similarities between the North American Bigfoot and Himalayan Yeti samples.
Eventually when Dr. Ketchum summarized her genome sequencing data for publication in a scientific journal, she ran into refusals. Then on February 13, 2013, a brand new DeNovo Scientific Journal appeared on the web and I asked her if she had to produce that new journal herself in order to get her research into the public and media. She told me, “We have suffered a huge deal of scientific bias. We've had a lot of peer review done, which you're not supposed to come out with. So I have to be careful. The truth will come out eventually and so it's been a well-read paper. Right up to the last minute, I thought we had a journal's acceptance, but that was yanked, too.”
Interview:
Play MP3 interview.
Melba Ketchum, D.V.M., Owner, DNA Diagnostics; producer and lead author of 021313 DeNovo Scientific Journal, Nacogdoches, Texas: “We got a younger journal finally that was very interested and they targeted reviewers that were more knowledgeable in the new technology of next generation sequencing and we passed peer review with them.
And right before we were going to announce this, we had them call us and say, 'Don't send out your press release. We can't do this. Our lawyer has told us that our careers will be over if we publish this paper.' And apparently it shocked them all and we were able to acquire that journal.
IS THE DE NOVO JOURNAL OF SCIENCE PRODUCED BY YOU, DR. MELBA KETCHUM?
Not per se. We have editors coming on board and what have you that will take it. I only, you know, made the deal to acquire it, renaming it and sending out what they didn't have the gumption to do.
SO DE NOVO IS BRAND NEW AS OF FEBRUARY 13TH ON THE WEB. THE CLASSIC JOURNALS FOR SCIENCE ARE NATURE AND SCIENCE AND JAMA
[ Journal of the American Medical Association] AND PLOS [ Public Library of Science] AND SO FORTH.
Yes.
DID YOU SEND YOUR ARTICLE OUT ABOUT THE GENOME TO ALL OF THEM?
Yes, I did. And the bottom line is that it's novel and they don't believe it. They don't criticize the data. They just say they don't believe it. There has to be another explanation. It has to be contamination. Not just one journal, but all of them and we have all the proof in the world that it's (DNA samples) clean.
SO YOU HAD TRIED ALL OF THE TRADITIONAL JOURNALS , HAD BEEN REJECTED FOR WHATEVER THE REASONS POLITICAL OR OTHERWISE, AND THEN YOU WERE CLOSE TO HAVING A PUBLICATION. SO, OUT OF DESPERATION YOU YOURSELF PUT TOGETHER THIS DE NOVO VOLUME I, SO YOU COULD GET THIS THREE GENOME SEQUENCING INFORMATION OUT TO THE PUBLIC AND THE MEDIA.
Yes, and it's so ridiculous that GenBank would not even take our sequences because when you do this (genetic research) you're supposed to upload your genetic sequences to GenBank. And we tried and they wouldn't take them because we did not have a name for it, a taxon. So I have their (GenBank) email and I tried repeatedly to contact them and call them and they would not talk to us and would not respond to our emails after that one turning us down.
YOU'RE SAYING THAT YOU RAN INTO THE CATCH-22 PROBLEM THAT IF YOU HAVE AN ANOMALOUS GENOME SEQUENCING THAT GEN BANK WOULD NOT ACCEPT YOUR DATA BECAUSE IT DID NOT FIT IN AN ALREADY PRE-ACCEPTABLE CATEGORY?
Yes, absolutely! I have their email that says exactly that. I've got a big target X on me!
I'M READING AGAIN FROM, ‘THE MITOCHONDRIAL DNA WAS FULLY MODERN HOMO SAPIENS INDICATING THAT THE SPECIES IS A HYBRID CROSS BETWEEN MODERN HOMO SAPIENS IN THE MATERNAL LINEAGE AND AN UNKNOWN HOMININ MALE PROGENITOR.’ CAN YOU TAKE THAT AND GO INTO YOUR RESEARCH AND HOW YOU FOUND THIS?
We had non-human hair and we have the comparison pictures in the paper giving human mitochondrial DNA. We're forensic scientists. We washed this hair thoroughly before we extracted it. In the tissue samples, we went to the very center of the tissue where there could not have been any contamination. We did it under a (laboratory) hood. We did it completely covered. There could not have been any contamination there. There's no way there is contamination, especially on that tissue sample. And when we did our sequencing with universal primers - meaning we tried to see if any other animal was there - all we got was human.
But yet the hair on that sample and on all the other hair samples was quite consistent and it is definitely NON-human.
Then we also had a human pathologist to look at it and confirmed that the cellular structure in the hair is the way it was in the tissue that is NOT human also. And yet, we're getting human DNA. This is what really triggered us to get into it. And then we didn't want to say it was human because everybody would sure enough think we were crazy.
There were other labs that had done testing and they also had come up with the same results. So we had to have contaminated it (before other lab testing). Well, we're forensic labs and two of us extracted the DNA and it still came out human. All of these samples were testing human with non-human hair.
So then we went back in and started working on nuclear DNA and that's when we started finding things that don't match in GenBank - that aren't of any known species that we know of.
And finally we did whole genomes. You've heard of the Human Genome Project. Well, we have the Sasquatch Genome Project. We did three genomes and they aligned - they all contained the same human mito(chondria) sequence. But when we went to look at the nuclear part and start aligning it down chromosomes, we got something that was very unusual. It was closely related to human, but it was not human.
You can have software where you can use GenBank without depositing into it. And we used that technology to make a family tree that shows they are close to human - but they are not (human). And so they are something that has never been seen before. The genomes aligned with one another, meaning they came from the same species. So, here we've got three independent samples from three different parts of the country from three different submitters and they are all showing the exact same thing on genomes!
IF I UNDERSTAND CORRECTLY, THE MITOCHONDRIAL DNA IS COMING DOWN THROUGH THE FEMALE MATRIARCHAL LINE AND THAT IT IS IN THE MITOCHONDRIAL THAT YOU HAVE THE HUMAN ASPECT OF THESE TESTS. AND THEN IN THE NUCLEAR, THERE IS AN UNKNOWN HOMININ MALE PROGENITOR. DO YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT WOULD BE THE CLOSEST OF KNOWN PRIMATES TO THE UNKNOWN HOMININ MALE PROGENITOR?
It's headed a little more towards the lemur line, oddly enough. It is definitely NOT an ape. And it's interesting that we found out that there is an extinct lemur that weighed 400 or 500 pounds. Also, they had opposable thumbs and hooded noses. It really freaked me out that we had lemur. I did not expect that (laughs).
Garnett's Galago Otolemur garnettii at Cincinnati Zoo. Source: Wikipedia.
[ Editor's Note: Wikipedia - "The northern greater galago (Otolemur garnettii), also known as Garnett's greater galago, is a prosimian primate endemic to Africa. A low-coverage genomic sequence of the northern greater galago, was completed in 2006. As a 'primitive' primate, the sequence is particularly useful in bridging the sequences of higher primates (macaque, chimp, human) to close non-primates such as rodents."]
OK. CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT ARE THE THREE WHOLE GENOME SOURCES? ONE, I THINK, IS THE TOENAIL FROM ARIZONA?
No, not the toenail. [ Discovered in 2011 near the Grand Canyon in Seligman, Arizona, and investigated by Bigfoot researcher, Alex Hearn.]
DeNovo Tissue Sample # 1
We had one of them (fresh saliva) came from the Erickson Project (see Websites below), which was a several-year study in the field trying to obtain DNA from them along with video footage, which he has.
DeNovo Tissue Sample # 2
The second sample was a piece of tissue from an alleged deceased Sasquatch. It was a piece of skin and subcutaneous tissues down in some muscle.
DeNovo Tissue Sample # 3
And the third one was from a pipe that was ripped to shreds and fresh dry blood had run down on the inside of the spout.
SO, FRESH SALIVA, SKIN WITH A LITTLE MUSCLE AND FRESH BLOOD WHERE A PIPE HAD BEEN RIPPED APART.
Yes. Back to the saliva. It was done sterile. They had a wildlife biologist on staff - a Ph.D. - to oversee it. It was a well-oiled research machine (at the Erickson Project).
WHY WAS THE TOENAIL NOT INCLUDED?
Because without destroying the toenail, which they did not want to do, we could not get enough DNA to do a genome.
Sasquatch Hybrid - 13,000 to 15,000 Years Ago?
I'M READING AGAIN FROM, ‘THE GENETIC DATA INDICATES THAT THE MATING OF A HOMO SAPIENS FEMALE WITH AN UNKNOWN HOMININ TOOK PLACE AS LATE AS 13,000 TO 15,000 YEARS AGO.’ HOW DO YOU DETERMINE AGE?
By the mitochondrial haplotypes when we sequenced the genome. We outsourced this analysis to a company that has thousands of haplo-group genomes in their database and has some computer software that will assign haplotypes.The 13,000 to 15,000 year range - in the mitochondrial family tree of mankind, you have mutations that happen along at different time intervals starting with a single lineage, from ‘mitochondrial Eve.’ Her offspring started mutating over thousands of years and where each one of the mutations occurs, it gives a new family treeline, like a branch coming off. When there is a branching, the age can be determined by knowing how many mutations occur for however many years approximately when this new line or new branch comes off the family tree.
But all I can say is that we don't know where they came from. All we know is they have a human maternal lineage and they have their progenitor male that is something that was not seen before - not to say that it's not just a normal hominid that's extinct and we haven't found any fossils. We don't know.
Do the Genome Sequences
Prove Sasquatch Exists?
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THE SCEPTICS WHO SAY THIS RESEARCH DOES NOT PROVE THAT SASQUATCH EXISTS?
Well, you know what? There's an old saying that you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time. I truly think there are people, who are so extremely involved in this that you could actually walk one (Sasquatch) up and introduce him and they wouldn't believe they exist (laughs). So, I know there are skeptics that will never be convinced and I'm not even trying to. I'm just trying to present our research to show there is a very valid scientific study that came from a lot of eyewitness samples, that every care was taken to do it in a very legitimate scientific way.
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO BENJAMIN RADFORD, WHO IS THE DEPUTY EDITOR OF SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, AND HE WROTE IN LIVE SCIENCE, ‘THERE IS NO REFERENCE SAMPLE OF BIGFOOT DNA TO COMPARE THIS WITH, SO BY DEFINITION THERE CANNOT BE A CONCLUSIVE MATCH.’
Well, he's a skeptic and what we do know is that we have a novel primate. Now, the (physical) samples - quite a few of them - came, like the toenail - came from something physical or with an eyewitness account attached to it. And like the Erickson Project where they had actually identified these creatures living in this family unit and were able to obtain the DNA from them - plus thousands and thousands of eyewitness accounts of a large primate running across the road or habituators where they (Sasquatch) come in and actually interact with these people (eyewitnesses).
They've (critics) made fun of these people (Sasquatch eyewitnesses) for as long as I've ever known, and I was one of the people who made fun of them and I'm ashamed of myself. But some people will not be convinced no matter what. I mean, they will have to see one (Sasquatch) for themselves. Even then, they (debunkers) might not believe. But they (Sasquatch) are there and we don't know of any other reports of other hominids or even primate-type species with that type of accounting across North America. It's not like Africa where there are a lot of species of primates there that are in the wild. We (in North America) have only mainly reports of one primate and that's Bigfoot, or Sasquatch. I prefer Sasquatch.
Sightings of Bigfoot in North America based on information from the Bigfoot
Research Organization (BFRO) Geographical Database of Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Sightings & Reports produced September 8, 2008 by Fiziker. Washington State in the
Pacific Northwest had the greatest number of reports, 459, by September 8, 2008.
When you go into thousands and thousands of people - a lot of which are credible, educated people that have seen these things. If there is smoke, sometimes there is fire, let's put it that way. Like we had police officers - in one of our samples, there was a police officer and a woman - the thing (Sasquatch) was digging in her garbage and he (Sasquatch) pulled his arm out and there was hair left on the garbage bin. And that sample tested alike the same novel results as with these samples.
I think we have as strong a case for proving it (Sasquatch) as has ever been done, short of a body. And one thing I hope is that no one is out there hunting them. I hope they (Sasquatch) will be protected.
YES, COULD YOU EXPLAIN TO LISTENERS WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE HAPPEN NEXT BASED ON YOUR FEELING THAT YOU HAVE PROVED THAT THIS HYBRID EXISTS AND IS OUT THERE IN THE WORLD?
I would like for government protection so they can't be allowed to be hunted or harrassed - (being) chased through woods trying to get a glimpse of them. I mean, that's their home. They should be left alone because they are a type of people! They might live different than us, but they are still people and they need to be protected. And people should leave them alone and let them live their lives. I mean, you would not want people coming in your living room and making a lot of noise and harrassing you and threatening to kill you so they can prove you exist. They might live in the wild, they might have a different culture or whatever they have, but they are still a type of person. That's why they are so illusive, too. They have more intelligence than a regular animal. They ARE human and with that extra intelligence, you have a better ability to avoid (humans).”
If any Earthfiles viewer has encountered and/or photographed what might be an elusive Sasquatch, please email: earthfiles@earthfiles.com. All requests for confidentiality are honored.
More Information:
For further information about Sasquatch and Bigfoot, please see reports below from the Earthfiles Archive:
• 01/24/2013 — Updated: Part 5: High Strangeness in Dundee, Oregon (Snohomish Sasquatch)
• 01/22/2013 — Part 6: High Strangeness in Dundee, Oregon
• 01/09/2013 — Part 4: High Strangeness in Dundee, Oregon
• 01/04/2013 — Part 3: High Strangeness in Dundee, Oregon
• 09/16/2009 — Yeti in Tatra Mountains, Poland?
• 08/16/2008 — Bigfoot Body Found in Georgia?
• 10/25/2007 — “Young Sasquatch”? Infrared Images On September 16, 2007
• 12/29/2006 — Earthfiles Mail About Sasquatch
• 12/28/2006 — Physical Evidence That Sasquatch Lives?
• 05/20/2003 — Bigfoot Encounter in Northern California
• 01/16/2003 — Bigfoot Walks Along Logan, Utah Canal
• 12/31/2002 — Deer Dropped Into New York Maple Tree - From Where?
• 11/03/2002 — Chapter 13 - Mystery Stalks The Prairie
• 10/28/2001 — 12,000-Year-Old Human Hair DNA Has No Match With Modern Humans
• 09/29/2001 — Part 1 - Sasquatch Bigfoot, Physical Evidence in North America
• 09/29/2001 — Part 2 - Sasquatch Bigfoot, Visible and Invisible Evidence in North America
• 07/21/2001 — Missing Link Between Humans and Chimpanzees – Ethiopian Forest Bipeds 5.8 Million Years Ago?
• 07/07/2001 — Laos - Part I Unexploded Ordnance on the Trail of "Wild Men"
• 07/08/2001 — Laos - Part 2 Vientiane, The Capitol
• 10/08/2000 — Unidentified Primate (Bigfoot?) Body Print and Hairs Discovered in Washington State
• 03/24/2000 — Sasquatch - A Forensic Expert Says It's A Different Species
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