Bigfoot believer shares hairs: 'I wouldn't give it up for anything'

http://www.kpic.com/news/local/Bigfoot-believer-shares-hairs--199028631.html?hpt=us_bn10

Bigfoot believer shares hairs: 'I wouldn't give it up for anything'

By Dee Dee Gatton KPIC News with KPIC.com staffPublished: Mar 19, 2013 at 1:00 PM PDTLast Updated: Mar 19, 2013 at 6:03 PM PDT



SUTHERLIN, Ore. - Betty Klopp has been holding on to these strands of hair and bits of skin for nearly 45 years.

"Of course I've kept it," Klopp told KPIC News. "I wouldn't give it up for anything."

She believes the clumps came from a bigfoot.

No one has proven the existence of bigfoot - or sasquatch or yeti or skunk ape, as some call the creature.

Klopp is convinced the forest dweller is really out there.

"Oh definitely," she said. "I don't think people should go around shooting him if they find him."

Where the encounter took place

Her sasquatch keepsake comes from her parents. Klopp said her parents were driving along in the 1960s, towing a small trailer, when they swerved off the road to avoid hitting what they believed was a man.

Klopp said her parents stopped at the Porter Creek Store to assess what had happened. They got out of the car and searched the area, but they found nothing.

The next day, her parents discovered pieces of skin and hair snagged on the trailer.

"This is something you don't run into every day, quite literally," Klopp said.

She said the material was sent to the University of Montana for testing about 3 years ago. The results showed the DNA was too deteriorated and the hair too degraded to make any identification.

Klopp still believes. She decided to share her story after hearing reports that someone in Texas had killed a bigfoot.

"There are reports that someone has one and has shot it and is storing it in his freezer," Klopp said. "I would like to know for sure."

[The samples are of course head hairs, from something that has longer hairs on the head, and hence human-like. The problem with the DNA being too degraded to tell anything is actually common in supposed Bigfoot DNA samples, which is one reason to be cautious with any reported findings: most samples are not collected properly nor yet stored safely in airtight containers, so that contamination by the human sample handlers is also a very real possibility.]