Sasquatch Researcher Reveals How Bigfoot Outsmarts Trail Cameras

If you've ever wondered how researchers actually get DNA samples from Sasquatch without, you know, tranquilizing one, there's a fascinating interview floating around YouTube that's worth checking out. Scott Carpenter, a researcher who's been in the field since around 2008 and has written seven books on the subject, sits down with David Paulides to talk about his work primarily in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The backstory alone is wild. Carpenter got his start after hearing a whoop on a lake and getting a response back, followed by whatever made that sound coming down to the lake shore and raising some serious havoc. That encounter sent him down a rabbit hole that hasn't ended yet. One of the most interesting parts of the interview is the DNA collection method. When Dr. Ketchum's study needed samples, Carpenter and Paulides had to get creative. They couldn't just collect hair shafts because the mitochondrial DNA testing required the follicle. So they came up with this ingenious (and slightly hilarious) solution: packing tape wrapped sticky-side out on trees, paired with bacon grease smeared into the bark as bait. Apparently, the creatures would lean up against the tree, lick the bacon grease out, and leave behind chest or belly hair with the follicle still attached. The samples passed screening and got tested. It's such a low-tech, clever approach when you think about it. But here's where things get really mind-blowing. Carpenter explains that trail cameras are basically useless because Sasquatches can recognize and defeat technology. He describes how they'd wait for the camera to fire once, then stand perfectly still until the passive infrared reset, then move in and take the food. The cameras would capture perfect photos of empty bait stations, and then 10-15 minutes later fire again to show all the food gone. They literally learned how to outsmart the equipment. To track their movement, Carpenter uses something beautifully simple: black thread strung across trees at about 8-9 feet high. If the thread breaks, something tall enough to do it passed through. In East Tennessee, he points out, there's really only one candidate for that. Carpenter also shares a chilling photo he captured of a Sasquatch leaning around a tree, looking directly at a Plot Watcher camera he'd hidden inside a tree stump and wrapped in bark. The only thing visible was the lens, and the creature still found it. Carpenter believes they can see infrared and have some inexplicable way of detecting human technology, even when it's perfectly camouflaged. What really stands out is Carpenter's evolution as a researcher. He started out thinking he was dealing with a dumb animal, maybe a relic hominid or a caveman-type creature. But after about 18 months to two years in the field, he had an epiphany. He saw one's face up close and described it as "a hair-covered man," not apish at all. That experience, and others like it, completely changed his perspective. He got pushback from old-school researchers for suggesting these beings are intelligent, but the witnesses who had seen them themselves gravitated toward his views because it matched what they'd experienced. The interview is packed with insights about how intelligent these beings really are and how they perceive the world around them. Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet.