TV Shows

I know tv shows about Bigfoot and other mysteries are fun to watch, but how much can we really learn from them? Today I contacted the main scientist at the lab that did the testing on the soil samples from the Romanian forest on a recent episode of "Destination Truth" I contacted him because I happened to remember another documentary about U.F.O's where soil samples were taken from an alleged landing spot. The samples revealed a fungus that causes round, barren patches of ground. It's also the explanation for "Fairy circles" Anyway, I asked the scientist if the soil samples from the Romanian forest were tested for that fungus and he said no, they weren't. I know the producers of the show weren't exactly deceitful about any of the info they gave in the episode, but they also didn't investigate all possible explanations for the circle. This makes me wonder how often such corners are cut in other shows of this type

The value of folklore

Many people rely on Native American folklore about Bigfoot/Sasquatch as anecdotal evidence of its existence, but how reliable is it really? Yesterday I was watching the "Destination Truth" marathon on Syfy and started noticing how often native people from different countries mislead Josh Gates & his crew. One man said he could take them to a man who had large scales from a particular cryptid (I can't recall the name of it now) He indicated the scales were approximately 3"-4" in length. When they got to the man, he gave them scales about half the size of a dime that turned out to belong to a fish indigenous to the area. In another episode, the natives said a vocalization they were picking up, belonged to the cryptid in question. That turned out to be an owl vocalization. Every episode has people claiming clear sightings of these cryptids. Many of which have been a part of the native folklore for many years. When I hear some of the more fantastic characteristics attributed to Bigfoot (invisibility, the power to cause amnesia, etc...) I can't help wondering if some of these people aren't pulling the legs of some researchers. So how much credibility should we really give to Native American folklore about Bigfoot?