Rethinking the Manitoba Video

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Loren Coleman, Cryptomundo wrote:
Coming to the defense of the often-forgotten Manitoba Sasquatch video – sort of…

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Remember the Manitoba Bigfoot videotape taken by Bobby Clarke during the spring of 2005? Why are people so quick to criticize it because of where it first appeared? Why is everyone surprised that it was on A Current Affair initially? I personally feel we should not judge the possible linkage between the foggy image of a Bigfoot on that footage, and where it first was screened. Ask yourself, without bias, what worth might we discover in this tape in the future?

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Art: Courtesy Dave Lowe.

The story about the video first broke on April 22, 2005.

At dawn on Saturday, April 16, 2005, a Manitoba ferryboat driver named Bobby Clarke was doing his job when he noticed something "big, black figure," "a massive creature" on the opposite bank of the Nelson River, about 300 meters away. Clarke had an old camcorder on board to record any wildlife he saw, so he picked it up and took two minutes and 49 seconds of videotape of what many say is a Bigfoot. He showed it to hundreds of locals at his friend, Georgina Henry’s house in Norway House, Manitoba, before he sold the first rights to screen it to the program, A Current Affair.

Bigfoot researchers were dismayed to hear the Native Canadian had sold the footage to television, but then Clarke merely said that he wanted to make a little money off all the interest in his footage, just as much as the next guy. He made no outrageous claims for it, and was curious about what the creature might be.

Clarke told the Globe and Mail that he "has been nervous ever since seeing the creature, especially when he takes the ferry to the side of the river the creature was on."

Despite a well-publicized A Current Affair expedition to Manitoba to search for the Sasquatch, and keep the story alive, no results were forthcoming. As fate would have it, the entire news magazine was cancelled by Fox Television a few weeks after the Clarke Bigfoot affair was no longer current.

There was an early rush to discard the Manitoba tape merely because of its association with A Current Affair. But hold on. Could it be that A Current Affair went for it because Bigfoot and related topics are an entertaining part of the diet of such reality television programming? Could it be they knew they could make a lot of money in ad revenues by getting an exclusive during sweeps month? Could it be that they obained the rights because they offered more money than 20/20, Dateline, CNN, or anyone else?

Examine the history of where the initial places past footages have been broadcast. Ivan Marx’s film was on You Asked for It (1972), Paul Freeman’s video appeared on Hard Copy (1992), Danny Sweeten’s Texas tape was screened on Strange Universe (1995). How about the “Redwoods Video,” when it was still known as the “Playmate and the Primate” footage? It was on Hard Copy (1995). The “Snow Walker” footage was on Paranormal Borderline (1996). Ray Wallace’s initial hoaxing claims, before they made it to the national broadcast media, were screened on Inside Edition (in January 2003). Some people feel some of these examples may, indeed, hold images that can assist us in understanding the reality of Bigfoot. Others seem to clearly be hoaxes and fakes.

The history of the initial release of the mixed bag of Bigfoot news, traditionally but unfortunately, has been, on tabloid television. No matter what the final analyses or in whose credible documentaries they eventually appear, Bigfoot videotapes are broadcast on reality programming on television, in general, first.

I wish this was not true. Nevertheless, we must not judge any videotape or photography too harshly based upon where we first view it. I’m afraid to say it, but if we consider that the first lengthy discussion of the Patterson-Gimlin footage (along with its stills) occurred in a men’s magazine, Argosy, that is no reason to discount it, is it? After all, as most of us know, today that bit of film is one of the best pieces of evidence we have for the reality of Bigfoot.

I’m not sure if there’s anything to learn from the Manitoba video about Bigfoot, but for now, I think it is best to keep an open mind, as opposed to ignoring it just because of who got the first rights to show it.

Contributor Chris H. added:

It’s also important to remember that the Ojibway/Nipissing/Nipigon native communities have an oral tradition featuring the ‘Waywaygweshi,’ a mischievous creature often described as hairy and man-like. If these traditions are anything to go by, it is slightly smaller than the western bigfoot and ‘follows the water’ much like the unidentified subject in the Manitoba video.

The 1975 RCMP reports from Norway House (eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg) as well as reports over the past century from north-central and northwestern Ontario make a strong case for zeroing in on this region. While for the most part utterly uninhabited save for scattered native communities, a canoe makes this region much more accessible than the mountainous ranges of western Canada and the US. Maybe the secret is in finding a promising area between James Bay and Lake Winnipeg, settling down for an extended period (the summer) and, in the words of Elmer Fudd, being ‘wery, wery qwiet.’ Chasing Sasquatch seems fruitless…waiting for Sasquatch may be the key.Chris H.