Dear friends,
Now the revived Bigfoot Forums have been up for some weeks, the dust has settled and to my great delight a large number of you have relocated from the old forums to the new ones, I think it is important for me to introduce myself and more importantly, the Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ).
For those who have not heard of us, the CFZ is the international organisation I founded in the spring of 1992 to act as a clearing house for information on research into mystery animals across the board. Since 1994 we have been publishing books and magazines, since 1997 we have been carrying out a programme of expeditions across the globe, and since 2006 we have been making our own films and promulgating them for free through our YouTube channel CFZtv.
Until now we have not been particularly involved in Bigfoot research. It is not that we are not interested in man-beasts - quite the contrary - but until now most of our research has been in Asia. Since 2003 we have carried out three expeditions to the Indonesian island of Sumatra in search of the semi-legendary upright walking ape orang pendek. We brought back hair samples from the most recent expedition and preliminary testing implies that they are from a creature related to orangutans, which is pretty cool as there aren’t any orangutans in that region of the island and haven’t been in historic times.
When Paul Vella contacted me and suggested that we might like to take over hosting Bigfoot Forums I agreed because I think it is important for the good of the whole cryptozoological community that places like Bigfoot Forums continue to exist. This is not just because they provide forums for discussion and the sharing of ideas, but they are invaluable in fostering a sense of community and they also provide an invaluable archive for researchers across the world.
What is the CFZ going to do with Bigfoot Forums? Well, nothing really; it is doing pretty well without us and we are simply pleased that we are in the position to pay the hosting costs. However, we are also in a position to help. We can provide DNA analysis and hair analysis through our colleagues in Copenhagen, and would be happy to do so if an opportunity arose. We do not want to tread on anyone’s toes; merely to help in the quest to solve one of the most enduring mysteries on the planet.
Members of the forum are welcome to join in discussions on our daily interactive blog, and indeed we would welcome contributions for this or any of our hard copy publications.
If any of you want to get involved with CFZ activities please feel free and likewise, if there is anything we can do to help your researchers our resources are open to you.
Here’s to a long and happy relationship.
Jon Downes
Hello Jon,Hugh aka Methadone4life here. I went by Squatchfoot on BFF. I will definitely head back to the site now that I know that you are in charge. Take care my brother and best of wishes to you.
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