Todd Standing is undoubtedly a highly controversial figure. People either hate him or love him : it is hard to find anyone in between. However, no matter how you view his later photos of alleged sasquatch, his video of the male "daywatcher" traveling up the mountainside should not be as easily dismissed by the "haters".
This video came to most people's attention while watching the highly popular show "Finding Bigfoot". What many people don't realize is that "reality" tv is rarely that. There is the tv crew, the "stars", the guests, set marks for the cameras and microphones, lighting to be considered, when outdoors the weather plays a part. And when egos collide, it can be messy.
Let's take a look at some highlights of the episode with Standing.
Fnding Bigfoot segment
There are two sides going on the argument over what happened. On one hand, the Finding Bigfoot team claimed that Standing "refused" to take them to the original location because it was too dangerous. And they used that statement to label Standing a hoaxer. Moneymaker walks all around it with ambiguous statements but in essence called Standing a hoaxer. Barackman said that he couldn't judge "without going to the exact spot". Fay stated that the figure looked too broad to be a person, even a person in a suit. Holland made her usual skeptical opinion of non-belief.
Standing maintained that the story went differently on why the film crew did not go to the original site to film and to do the re-enactment.
"I just wanted to make this clear. I offered all of the cast from 'Finding Bigfoot' the opportunity to go into my research site. They refused . . . They will not film more than 500 yards from a road. . . . I only gave them permission to use Video 2 because it is . . . public anyway and I did not trust them when they refused to take or acknowledge my physical evidence [hair and scat from bigfoot]. That alone would have proved . . . . that it could not be a man in a suit, unless I can fake DNA. I was deceived by them from beginning to end."
He also made this statement in another interview : "Well, congrats to the 'Finding Bigfoot' team and producers. After being on hundreds of newspaper, radio and tv interviews and shows, the 'Finding Bigfoot' production is the worst I have EVER seen. Their production company is called 'Snake Oil Productions' for a reason. They have no intention of finding bigfoot and they couldn't possibly be stupid enough to believe they could. They literally filmed me in a spot they chose where cows are grazing all around. And they couldn't even sneak up on the cows! That is what [they] are hearing 'in the Canadian wilds' that they cannot identify. They are right when they say it is not coyotes making that sound. It's cows they are hearing. That is what happens when you go bigfoot hunting by a ranch. . . . "
This seems to be a re-occurring theme throughout these "Finding Bigfoot" segments. I know of others who were selected by the production team to be a part of the program. And they also have revealed that when it was discovered that the areas were too "remote", they were taken to a previously scouted area and told to pretend it was the real location. Guess that explains how stories were selected to investigate, why most of them took place on or near a road, and why re-enactments never seemed to look right.
So, it appears Moneymaker was determined to call Standing a hoaxer, no matter what was said, done or presented. Too bad he chose this video footage to insult and use to prove his point.
Here is the footage as shown on an episode of Survivorman with Les Stroud.
video clip as seen on Survivorman
And here is a stabilized version and with reduced speed from "Bigfoot Blog" :
stabilized version by Bigfoot Blog
And now let's look at some breakdown's of the footage. First up is TriDiver from January 2017.
TriDiver breakdown
To his credit, he does state that he is making his evaluation of the footage from a YouTube copy of the video and that is was not of great quality. But yet he hesitates to ask Standing for a chance to view a better copy. This person doesn't like the video because the figure doesn't move like he thinks a bigfoot should move. It doesn't move like Patty. [Patterson Film]. Well, duh. Patty was not running up a steep incline. And why should all sasquatch walk alike? My walk and movements are different from either of my sisters [ and they move differently from each other] and we are blood related. Why should all sasquatch walk alike with exact same stride and gait?
Another statement of his is also interesting : [It] . . . "looks too good to be true." Oh dear. How condemning. Perhaps he would have liked the footage to be a little shorter, a little out of focus, or further away?
So he states he believes this is a man in a suit. Ok. Possibility, of course. But I would sincerely like to see a man in a bulky fur suit with overly large fake feet run up that steep of an incline without stumbling, or falling down that slope screaming like a little child as he bounces off boulders, trees, and other items on his way down the mountain.
And there is the breakdown from 2016 by dontDoxmebro.
breakdown by dontDoxmebro
Ok. So, he thinks the video is fake because the camera is too shaky; it isn't held steady. If Standing is a professional, then he should be able to hold the camera still. Well, I don't believe Standing had a tripod with him [used by professionals to steady their cameras.] Even if he did, I doubt that when a large being suddenly stands up and starts running up a mountain, he would have thought about getting that tripod and camera set up and then calmly filming it. I could be wrong, of course.
And then he makes the usual claim that it's a suit. I've already expressed my view on that. Then he states the footage is fake because the figure has "no gorilla-like element". Hmmm. Most of the sasquatch I've seen have not made me think of gorillas in either their looks or movements. But then, that's my opinion. And he also wants the "evidence". He wants the "fur", the "droppings", the "skeletons", the "DNA". Well, don't we all? It is, after all, the "Golden Wish List". But let's face it. He's already labeled Standing a fake, so even if Standing did present any of the "evidence", he wouldn't accept it. He stated that if one piece is fake, then the person is a fraud. So since he labels this video fake, it really won't matter to him what Standing presents as evidence. Guess the reviewer boxed himself in.
Bigfoot Tony also stepped in and analyzed the video in 2017 :
Bigfoot Tony Breakdown
Tony states that the movements could be humanly possible, but again I don't feel that he accurately took into account the steepness of the incline. He also stated that if this is a man wearing a suit, then it is one of the closest fitting costumes he has seen. In his enchancement/stabilization he shows how you can see what look like buttocks and muscle tone in the thighs. There is also the possibility that male genitalia is visible in one shot. Tony admits it is difficult to tell and that is could possibly be vegetation in the background. He doesn't discount the human like gait as he believe that sasquatch are at least part human.
When analyzing the start of the run up the hill, it is possible that the being starts from a position of all fours. The figure also seems to briefly turn towards the camera before it turns and runs. These quick frames appear to show the face and possible pecs.
Anyhow, if this video were viewed today, without knowing that it came from Todd Standing, I think opinions would be quite different about it. It just might have been listed among the top film footage of a sasquatch. And that's my challenge. Watch this footage and forget it's from Standing. See if your opinion changes.
Nancy
"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."
UPDATE : Todd Standing shared a discussion of this footage and returned to the original location. Here is his video added to this post.
https://youtu.be/OLatxSV6XzQ
sources :
Bigfoot Tony
YouTube
bigfootblog.com
bigfootencounters.com
cryptocrew.com
Finding Bigfoot
dontDoxmebro
TriDiver
Todd Standing