Moneymaker Analyzes Mysterious Syracuse Figure Pond Photographs

A new set of photographs is making serious waves in the Sasquatch community right now, and the backstory behind them is just as wild as the images themselves. The photos, now referred to as the "Syracuse figure," were taken by an Upstate New York hiker and photographer named Kelly, who had a seriously unsettling experience while exploring a quiet, woodsy area near a pond. Kelly, whose full identity is being kept private by the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), was out enjoying a day off. She started her hike by filming the area and took a few photos of the gorgeous scenery around the pond. That's when she spotted something—or someone—standing in the water off to her left. Completely caught off guard, she snapped a picture, then quickly took a second one. But here's the creepy part: as she was taking that second photo, the figure turned its head and looked right at her. Kelly's gut told her to get out of there, so she turned around and left. The story gets even more interesting from there. After walking a bit, Kelly ran into a family just arriving at the trail, which made her feel a little better. She decided to take a different path that led closer to where she'd seen the figure in the water. When she got down to the water's edge, there was no one there—just a sign warning "no swimming, no wading." She spotted another small trail heading in the direction of where the figure had been, but got such a strong creepy feeling that she decided not to continue. Now, here's where the investigation gets really compelling. Matt Moneymaker, the founder and director of the BFRO and the familiar face from Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot, got involved after Kelly's boyfriend reached out. Moneymaker sent the photos to an investigator in Syracuse, who went to the location to check things out. What they found was that the figure stands only about 4'9" tall. And here's the kicker—even though these photos have been seen by hundreds of thousands of people, including plenty of folks right there in the county, nobody has come forward to say, "Oh yeah, that's just old so-and-so who hangs out at the park." For a figure that distinct and that small, you'd think someone would recognize them. During the discussion, Moneymaker brought up something that really got me thinking. He talked about the Native American legends of "little people" who are said to inhabit areas near swamps. These stories come from places like Alaska, Canada, and Wyoming, and they describe beings that are small in stature but distinctly different from typical Bigfoot reports. Moneymaker made a great point—people might not report sightings of these little people as often because from a distance, they could easily be mistaken for a small human. It's only when you get close enough or zoom in on a photo that you realize something is seriously off. Looking at the photos themselves