Ep. 362 - Sasquatch Believers Vs. The Skeptics!
April 13, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readGrover Krantz's Middle Path: Why Both Believers and Skeptics Get the Sasquatch Wrong
In 1978, anthropologist Grover Krantz stood before a conference at the University of British Columbia and announced he intended to alienate almost everyone in the room. "I am here going to alienate almost everybody by attacking both positions," he said—meaning both the true believers and the hard skeptics. Nearly fifty years later, hosts Cliff Barackman and Matt Pruitt argue that Krantz's diagnosis of the Sasquatch debate remains startlingly accurate, even as the information environment has transformed around it.
The Problem of Certainty Without Knowledge
Krantz opened his paper with a claim that Cliff and Matt find as relevant today as it was in 1978: "With only a few exceptions, those who hold a firm opinion on this matter, either for or against the existence of this animal, are doing so without adequate knowledge." The hosts see this pattern constantly. People who have never examined a footprint cast, never spoken to a witness, never read the primary literature nevertheless hold absolute positions. Matt points to the recent controversy around the Patterson-Gimlin film documentary, where people who had not seen the film—and could not have seen it, since it had not been released—were already declaring it debunked or definitive. "They're just saying, 'Oh, it's fake,'" Cliff says. "Why d
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:46) **Episode Intro & Guest Host** - Cliff and Matt Pruitt (filling in for Bobo) introduce the episode's concept: reviewing a classic 1978 Grover Krantz paper to see if it holds up today.
- 2 (07:23) **Krantz's Core Thesis: The Uninformed Believer & Skeptic** - The hosts examine Krantz's claim that most people with firm opinions on Sasquatch, for or against, hold them "without adequate knowledge."
- 3 (15:34) **Krantz vs. The Scientific Establishment** - The hosts grapple with Krantz's controversial statement that "science is generally not in the business of investigating the unknown."
- 4 (22:17) **The "Frogging" Analogy for Scientific Skepticism** - Matt introduces a novel analogy for how scientists should react to the Sasquatch claim.
- 5 (28:11) **Breakthroughs by Amateurs & The 99% Rule** - The hosts examine Krantz's point that major scientific breakthroughs are often made by amateurs, and that the scientific establishment must filter out 99% of bad ideas.
- 6 (35:23) **The Specimen Demand & The Value of Negative Results** - Krantz's argument that only a physical specimen will suffice for scientific acceptance is examined.
- 7 (42:36) **The Fear of Scientific Reputation** - The hosts discuss Krantz's observation that scientists fear reputational damage for even showing interest in Sasquatch.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
See Cliff at the Great Florida Bigfoot Conference in Ocala, FL, on June 13th!
See Pruitt at the Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Festival in Townsend, TN, on May 2nd!
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