Scientist Confirms Bigfoot DNA in East Texas

Dr Melba S. Ketchum is the founder of DNA Diagnostics, Inc., based in Nacogdoches, East Texas.

She heads a team proficient in laboratory genetics for human beings and all manner of animals too. Amongst her previous forensic work was testing DNA found in the debris of the World Trade Center in 2001. Until November 2012, she wasn't out to prove the existence of Bigfoot.

Yet all that changed five years ago, when she began collecting samples of hair, which donors claimed had come from Sasquatch.  Her genetic investigation has only now reached a conclusion; and it's one which many of her peers would be surprised to read.

Bigfoot does exist; and mitochondrial DNA confirms that it shares a common mother with human beings.  The evolutionary division occurred around 15,000 years ago.

Dr Ketchum told a press conference, in November 2012, that "... (Sasquatch) do have human in them.  There is human sequence interspersed in their genome."

All told, the DNA Diagnostics team were able to compile 'three whole genome sequences from three different individuals'.  The results appear to have shocked Dr Ketchum too.  She further explained, "That was the first time that I saw something which gave some unusual results."

Before any scientific revelation or discovery can be proclaimed as fact, it has to go to peer review.

In a nutshell, this involves releasing research notes and/or writing a journal, in a respected academic publication, so that other scientists can check the findings for themselves.

This has not yet happened with Dr Ketchum's Bigfoot work.  She explained why in the interview with Houston News. 

Her conclusions had been leaked by an over-excited colleague in Russia. As the news was out, DNA Diagnostics, Inc., felt that they had to respond with a press release.

It described the findings and called upon governmental bodies to recognize and protect Sasquatch as an indigenous people.  But it also states that the study is under peer review in the very first sentence. While the closing statement reads, 'Full details of the study will be presented in the near future when the study manuscript publishes.'

On Houston News, Dr Ketchum told reporters that the publication will be 'weeks' rather than months away.

This isn't nearly enough for armchair scientists all over cyber-space.  They seem to be falling over themselves to establish that she isn't a 'real' scientist at all.  No-one can claim credibility until their peers have conferred it. 

They all seem to ignore the fact that she's repeatedly added the caveat that there's been a premature leak in information, and that it all still requires that peer review. 

A DNA geneticist with the research notes and laboratory results says yes.  The Sasquatch enthusiasts are too busy cheering to respond with much coherency.  The rest of the internet says no.

In reality, it's too soon to tell.  We have to wait until the facts have been published and Dr Ketchum's peers have had a chance to determine credibility.

However, it might be a good time to remind readers that Dr Bryan Sykes, at Oxford University, England, also found some unknown DNA in a possible Yeti sample.  He put out a call in May 2012 for more samples to test.

In addition to this, Chinese geneticists called into the Shennongjia Nature Reserve also announced an unknown DNA in samples of purported Yeren hair.

Suddenly Dr Ketchum's conclusions don't seem so out there, do they?

On December 6th 2012, it was announced that Dr Ketchum's Bigfoot paper had been sent back from a scientific journal in the USA.  It needs to be published in one of them, in order to be evaluated by peer review.

Naturally, the sneering armchair internet scientists went wild!  'The science isn't sound!', 'She submitted it in crayon!', were pretty much the tone of their reports.  None of them have read it.  Neither have her peers.  It hasn't been published.

Dr Ketchum's camp released a statement saying that some amendments, in the fifty page paper, were necessary before it could be considered for publication.  She claims that these revisions have now been made and the report has been submitted again.

Meanwhile, Dr Ivor Burtsev gave an alternative statement. He had worked as a research student under Dr Ketchum and was responsible for leaking the conclusions (prior to peer review) in the first place.  He stated that the paper is going to be submitted to a Russian scientific journal instead.

With many thanks to Kajohu, who gave me the head's up on this latest development.