[UPDATED See below.] For a few brief seconds of the 2001 IMAX film “Great North” a dark figure is seen on the far side of a river. The figure, which went unnoticed for 9 years, seems to startle part of caribou heard that the crew was filming crossing the river. While the figure is currently unidentifiable in copies of the film available online, big foot researchers are currently attempting to track down the filmmakers in the hopes of being able to find a print of the film at the full IMAX quality for further analysis. If they are able to find a high quality version of film, the researchers should be able to tell whether or not the film crew inadvertently documented the existence of an undocumented North American hominid. Until that happens we are left to ponder over lower resolution versions of the clip, like this one taken from Youtube:

While there is definitely no way to make any identification of the figure, the clip is more that clear enough to peak my interest in finding out exactly what was filmed. What do you think?

For anyone interested, the full documentary is available on Hulu to anyone in the US.

UPDATE: It turns out that the figure in the video was a crew member that was positioned to direct the caribou heard.

In search of Great North camera crew [via Chris Holly's Paranormal World & GhostTheory]

If you have even a passing interest in cryptozoology or the unknown, Loren Coleman’s newly opened International Cryptozoology Museum has the perfect addition for your Christmas Tree. Constructed of glass and resin the bigfoot and yeti ornaments are available in the Portland, Maine museum’s gift shop along with other cryptozoology related fare. Unfortunately, it appears that the ornaments are not available for order online. For those of you that are able to get to the museum to pick up an ornament, I definitely think this is a must have addition to any Christmas tree.

Bigfoot & Yeti Ornaments [via Boing Boing]

©2001 David Barkasy & Loren Coleman

Sometimes referred to as the Bigfoot of the South, the Skunk or Swamp Ape is a hominid that is said to inhabit the South Eastern United Sates. The skunk ape gets its name from the horrible odor that seems to accompany most sightings of the creature. They are described by witnesses as having brown to blackish fur and stand on average about 6 feet tall, though some witnesses have reported specimen as tall as 10 feet. The skunk ape most walks upright on its hind legs, but some reports indicate that swamp apes will sometimes drop to all fours to run. While there have been skunk ape sightings throughout the swamps of the South East, a large majority of sightings occur in the Florida Everglades.

Skunk ape sightings in the state of Florida date back as far as 1818 when residents spotted the creature in Apalachicola. Sightings continue to this day with the most recent Florida sighting being reported in the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization database occurring in March of this year. The incredible consistency in the descriptions that accompany sightings in Florida have led researchers to believe that if an unknown primate species exists, it most likely does so in the swamps of Florida. Taking up most of the southern tip of Florida, the Everglades provide almost 4 million acres of sparsely populated swamp for the skunk ape to call home without ever having to see a single human. Adding to the mystery, the local Seminole and Miccosukee Indian tribes that have lived in the Everglades for centuries are very reluctant to speak to outsiders about the creature.

Skunk Ape @ Wikipedia