Joe Rogan Experience #8882 — Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Duncan Trussell Transcript

Transcript

0:00 Before this podcast airs, I just want to say thank you to the fine folks at SyFy and Arthur Smith, the production company that made my show, Joe Rogan Questions Everything. did find is that having conversations in front of people standing up in weird circumstances, for allowing us to do it that way he's the most reasonable guy that I communicated with and

2:47 And I found his theories on the Sasquatch combined with this knowledge that he has about human movement to be very fascinating. So big kiss to you all. How many years, first of all, have you been involved in this? Maybe you could tell us. Do you think there's a certain amount of arrogance in assuming that we have full detail of the entire fossil record of primates when you see things like Homo florescens,

5:55 have persisted to much more recent times in the past It's a real tricky subject, the Bigfoot Sasquatch subject. What do you know about Bigfoot, man? Oh, sure. Absolutely. Well, there was a moment as I was sitting here contemplating these footprints that sort It's going after those interesting, even if they're anomalous, data points. Sure. You've seen tracks where there's no people, like deep in the woods?

10:02 tracking opportunities. We did find a set of tracks on a dusty stretch of the trail. Now, as a Bigfoot freak, what was that like for you? This is like your first piece of And so we had kind of gotten to the point, you know, you have to sort of steel yourself against that natural fear reaction to those circumstances. There's more than one. Yeah, this is not one lone monster roaming this.

12:08 stories you hear about antagonistic behavior towards humans is usually precipitated when the humans have shot at them. They've started the quarrel. But otherwise, they seem to be, because they're predatory. So there is always that risk. It depends on the circumstance. Oh, yeah. I prefer a 10 millimeter. do you pick well that's a good question i mean it's a i hate to speculate too much on a what if

14:23 I just have no experience to back up anything beyond that. You got it bad, sir. What's it for? Yes, it's there for a reason. How dare you? It's a valid question, and meet all kinds of interesting people. or having a Sasquatch experience in the first weekend you go out is pretty slim. And I got the sensation, in fact, that we had stopped to take a break at a spot that was on one of the pathways that they follow.

17:17 Perfect. Sorry. So from Asia all the way to North America was forest at one point in time? Well, a lot of those people who attribute to, you know, primal people or some kind of primitive human often also attribute various paranormal qualities. Lunatics. Like we had it yesterday. Why do you think Bigfoot is a loon magnet? was still really wild back then. It came at a time that preceded a lot of what we understand now about early human evolution and grade 8 natural history.

21:14 if they weren't looking for Sasquatch, you're an anthropologist, you're a professor, you know what you're talking about. If you were trying to convince a person, if a person was on the fence and they were like, Well, it's in debate. Grover Krantz some arguments based on the the shape of the jaw given That's his name. and yet their skulls look quite different from one another in many ways.

24:06 and there on that spur road, hard-packed dirt with a layer of fine pulverized dust I mean, the details on here are remarkable. which is right there. Sasquatch foot appears to have retained that ape-like degree of flexibility, the berries in the shrub layer. because a fall, even for humans, and you just got lucky and incorporated something But where are his calluses?

28:01 and that sole pad, that substantial sole pad, is able to accommodate those intrusions quite remarkably. I mean, when we run, because of our stiff arch, if we're sprinting, not exhibiting a How uniform is that? Linnaean classification schemes which is North American eight foot. Based on the evidence. that's probably in the upper 1% I'm not kidding. He just slaps some fur on him.

31:09 And he doesn't have the mid-tarsal break. He doesn't have evidence We would. Great. Now, gorillas are fairly intelligent. I mean, it's a composite of a number of characteristics. Would they detain him? Well, sure, there'll be all kinds of ethical questions Well, you know, that's been suggested to me and brought up numerous times by various people. DNA will only tell us so much.

34:46 What's your plan? Why does it have to be Falcon? Well, the person who is the originator of this notion, he picked that, he tells me, Aside from the fact that it's incredible So that would be the move, balloons. But I think it's the way to get at the daily behaviors and ranging I'm the president member. Now, if they're primal people, though, we may have the problems with-

37:13 It is, yeah. Now, if someone did shoot a Sasquatch in your county, what's the penalty? Whether they're- Lots of hair. But none of it a hollow or acellular medulla, Primate-like. And then the underlying, that differentiated layer of insulating hair, very fine under fur. It's long parallel tips, worn tips, no sign of ever having been cut. To chocolate.

39:49 you have a cuticle and then you have a layer called the cortex and then a central core. But, you know, identifying hair is kind of more art than science because even on our bodies we have hair that differs in appearance. Yeah, inside nose hairs, what the fuck are those all about? No, but you might pretend you found it. Yeah. First of all, notoriety.

42:30 You know, as long as there's nothing, we could line up for perspective. Mine too. Especially because since we started doing the podcast and just having all this information rattled at me every day and having these long-form three-hour conversations, I don't remember who I said what with or when. in the forest, stoned on top of it. It's possible that they are, but I think another issue is that you may only be

44:15 And a lot of people go up there to gather those things. Plus, those mushroom pickers are pretty territorial. Busted. Why wouldn't he? They have serious issues with wolves killing elk and deer now because they reintroduced the... That disturbs the shit out of people. Well, there's a lighter side. Well, if it looks that blurry to you, then you haven't seen the best renditions, the best copies of the film.

46:45 We're fine. We've got a thing for the Patterson footage. Well, one of the things... It's only about an hour. We're fine. to be the man in the intervening period, and they're applied. and you'll understand what I'm talking about here with these rainbow colors. they didn't have four-way stretch fur. That, to me, feels like a human being. pretending to be Bigfoot

49:32 bathroom or something well this is just a dude is it with bob hieronymus the guy who says it's him real. Melvin though what he was studying before Bigfoot. this film, It's the holy grail of Bigfoot footage. No. But if all I had to go on so... Is that one from Bluff Creek? It looks like a guy walking with ice skates on. Well, actually, I said it looks like a person is what I said.

52:54 a ball impression, which is the result of our arched foot that concentrates pressure walk when we're walking briskly down you know the the sidewalk um it's smooth exactly i've had Well, it does at first glance. Or you see a dude who has football pads on inside a gorilla suit. fantastic. It's easy to get me You first, me second. He, you know, heard the stories that Roger told him and went out riding with him every now and again over by Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams near where they lived in Yakima.

55:52 They put in the time. was the year that planet of the apes came out now that was the state of the art in the industry for costumes. let's be honest, it's blurry. really, really closely Go on. He's not wearing a suit. That made it look like that hand was turned back like this. Oh, sure. That's you, buddy. Or it just walked straight and they filmed it all blurry and then we add all these things to it.

59:33 Why is it walking diagonally when you have to give you a nice long view of itself as you've got your camera? steep walls at that point there's a wide girth there because of the flood that essentially scoured out And so if she has some young in tow, one behavior that exemplifies the maternal instinct is Otherwise, if they came down and got food from us, we would feed them every day.

1:01:59 whether it's just the novelty of something on that regularly used trail that wasn't there the day before. Yeah, elephants are very smart exactly I don't think that we really have to resort to extraordinary explanations for it hiding. you can talk to people who have spent lots of time in the woods By the way, that's a pretty obscure reference, pal, for most normal folks.

1:04:44 Well, right. So we don't find them in the middle of wheat fields of Kansas or, you know, West Texas. if I can find it here, there is a With postage, it would be $11.50. of productive habitat, Connecticut? even eastern Ohio, it's surprising if you've never been there. There's a lot of... Can you talk a little bit about the way that a Bigfoot smells?

1:08:19 Great apes, like chimps and gorillas, have very well-developed axillary organs. And she was probably emitting one by that point, too. We were in my backyard the other night, They're little monsters. Sure. They only have a certain amount that they could spray. Not so bad, I'm sure. Who's the most credible eyewitness that you've ever talked to? kind of experience or well hers is worth retelling very quickly. She was off trail with her goats and a couple of dogs.

1:12:05 And what part of the, where is it? tent is this eight foot tall hairy figure one. Come on, I'll show you. Well, and as I said, it's one thing to, you know, in your position to say, well, yeah, you know, it could be, it could be, it couldn't be. of how do you interpret those experiences? How credible are they? That takes some of the subjectivity out of the evaluation of the experience, for me anyway.

1:15:52 Besides Bigfoot, what are the other Bigfoot-like creatures that you believe possibly exist? They resemble, big hairy creature that walked Another significant fraction are bears, absolutely bears. They exhibit an opposable or divergent big toe. Right, probably one that's still arboreal, But here were these chimpanzee-like, very large chimpanzee-like footprints.

1:20:01 I don't think so. This thing was going north to south, which would have been fine, except that it executed two right-angle turns in succession. by making you look even more ridiculous. They don't bother you at all? You're the one with a bag of hairs. I mean, I actually am aware of a couple of interesting stories I don't hold those in very high regard.

1:22:47 They made love with another thing and created Bigfoot. other of the parental population and just, you know, diluted back into the gene pool. They remain distinct. And then the crosses have to be frequent enough. I mean, it just kind of... Science does not work that way. They do. A couple of unscrupulous individuals that were basis before they were finally discovered.

1:25:33 very sickly and died and was stunted mentally and died before the you know reaching teen years Maybe Bigfoot thought it'd be really cool. recounts an instance where at a provisioning station, her native assistant was accosted by But the point simply being is that that scenario is not completely out of the question. It slept in the bed with her. We're smaller.

1:27:53 This whole show is a Pandora's box. I have, yeah, a couple of times. The Native American stories often are very metaphorical, very like Aesop's fables. So the wild man of the woods is probably anthropology. So much of my day is spent teaching human gross anatomy, Idaho. Do you? Well, I never lose that. For the record, just for the show, I'm seriously rooting for you.

1:32:27 There was recently the cover story of New Scientist magazine this year was, of one issue, Homo floresiensis, that you're so interested in. That was really an interesting... Yeah, it's just been a few years. They're like Superman. Where are the little people supposed to... Oh, yes. thank you so much and thank you for all this work because if it wasn't for a guy like you an actual

1:34:55 when you're a person like myself who is My pleasure. That was awesome.