Comments on: Durham Gorilla Revisited

By: lordoftheonionrings

lordoftheonionrings — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:17:19 +0000

Very interesting. From what people have gathered from Bigfoot reports, they tend to travel in family groups. I have often wondered what would happen if a young bigfoot was orphaned. I think that would be our best bet of finding one, as it might not know how to survive/avoid humans on its own. Not to mention that would be the most likely time for one to seek out humans if it was confused or was seeking help. That could possibly be why it was sighted so many times within such a close vicinity of humans.

By: Mandigo

Mandigo — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:41:59 +0000

” I would have known if it were a hippie or something”

from re-runs I remember Ironside was really down on the hippies in the seventies – the fact that a child had to discount hippies as an explanation for a chimp/gorilla sighting does give an amusing insight into what societies general view of this group was in 1973 Durham, Maine – and maybe how in that time they had become scapegoats/boogeymen for unexplained ill events (who’d get this distinction today, clown faced teens, loners in black leather overcoats?).

By: Bob K.

Bob K. — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:36:51 +0000

Based on the fact that it made “a mad dash on two legs”, I’m thinking that it is less likely that this was a chimp or gorilla. Juvenile ‘squatches apparently are reported to have simian looking faces as opposed to adults, who seem to have far more human like mugs.
Since this individual was only 5 foot tall – and a big boy at 300-350 lbs. – nevertheless, he still had a long way to grow to adulthood if he was a Bigfoot.
I’d guess that this was either a young Bigfoot or perhaps some kind of Nape.

By: Hapa

Hapa — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 05:27:51 +0000

Over 5 feet tall, 300 to 350 lbs, said over and over again to be chimp like…sounds more like a friggin Bondo-bili Giant chimp rather than a Gorilla. The chances of a giant chimp unrecognized at the time by science to be roaming Maine seems astronomical. What’s also interesting is that one of the eyewitness reports agrees with the Sheriff’s estimate of the creature’s weight based on its tracks.

However, the tracks recovered and the upright stance of the animal scream out Bigfoot, albeit in these descriptions with a closer affinity to Chimpanzees. Given the repeated “chimp-like” nature of the beast it makes me wonder why it wasn’t called the “Giant Chimp of Durham” (“Durham Gorilla” sounds better and it was the size of a gorilla, though by 1973 people should have been able to distinguish Gorillas and Chimps!). The second sighting was of a “Gorilla-like” creature but due to not finding any tracks at the site, makes me wonder if this was a legit sighting. It would be interesting to have all the descriptive information of the number 4 sightings to see if the animal is also described chimp like, more so than Gorilla like.
The clawed human like tracks are most likely of a bear (legit bigfoot tracks are claw-less, and primate feet and hands have no claws but fingernails, save for humans who allow their nails to grow exceedingly long. Bears have human-like feet, on occasion walks upright, and when the fore and hind paws of bears leave tracks on a same spot it looks like a giant human track. Combined with claws, the “human like tracks with claws were most likely of a bear, and different from the later track the Sheriff examined.)

Both Gorillas and Chimps (especially Bonobo/Pygmy Chimps), like bears, can and do occasionally walk upright. Surprisingly, their feet are less human like than bear hind paws (ape feet have an “opposable thumb”). One Lowland Gorilla in a zoo is famous for walking upright more than normal, and was shown on a recent Bigfoot documentary (Bigfoot the definitive guide). Oliver, a bald chimpanzee that was circus trained, became a master bipedal walker, so much so that, combined with his unusual appearance, made some question if he was a humanzee. Such apes with a predisposition to upright walking that got out of a private research facility or other places that keep wildlife could be responsible for events like this. However, as Loren Coleman noted, no Gorillas were kept in Maine at the time, and unlike chimps, the creature that made the track was Gorilla sized and lacked an opposable thumb on its feet (Though Bili apes get to around 300 lbs, they were not known back then and also have an opposable thumb on their feet. Even if the track lacked a defined opposable thumb due to the way the animal held it when stepping, Bili apes were not recognized or kept in the States at the time.)

Very interesting occurrence Mr. Coleman.