Lectures scheduled on Sasquatch legend
Courtesy photo Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Idaho State University, will present two lectures on the legend of Sasquatch next month in Moses Lake. Tickets are on sale at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center.
MOSES LAKE — An Idaho State University professor who has studied the legend of Sasquatch will give two lectures on his research in August. Tickets are on sale now for both lectures, scheduled for the Moses Lake Civic Center, 401 S. Balsam St.
The lectures by Dr. Jeff Meldrum are in conjunction with the “Sasquatch Revealed” exhibit currently on display at the museum. Admission to each lecture is $5, with a limited number of free tickets reserved for museum members.
“Sasquatch Revealed” will be on display through Aug. 24.
Meldrum will talk about the “Patterson-Gimlin film” at 7 p.m. Aug. 10. The film was 50 years old in 2017, and after half a century it’s still being debated. The film, shot in northern California, shows – something – walking along the bank of a creek. What actually is depicted in the film still is a subject of debate.
The film has been subjected to a lot of analysis in the last 50 years, and studied repeatedly as film analysis techniques have changed. Meldrum is one of the people who has studied the footage and will talk about his conclusions. He’s a professor of anatomy and anthropology at ISU.
Meldrum became interested in the Bigfoot phenomenon in 1996, when he was asked to examine mysterious tracks found in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington.
Meldrum’s second lecture, “Conversations about Sasquatch Behavioral Ecology,” is scheduled for noon Aug. 11. The legends about mysterious ape-like creatures in remote areas are found all around the world, and Meldrum has traveled around the western U.S. and Canada, as well as China and Russia.
Meldrum wrote a book, “Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science,” and will be signing copies of the book after both lectures.
“Sasquatch Revealed” is on loan from curator Christopher Murphy, based on an exhibit he created for a Vancouver museum, and has been traveling the U.S. and Canada for more than a decade. It includes casts of footprints, stories from people who claim they have encountered unusual creatures in the wilderness, models of what a Sasquatch skull could look like, and stills from the Patterson-Gimlin film.