Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 28th, 2006
Today, guest contributor Mark A. Hall, author of books on cryptozoology, the inventor of the concept of True Giants, and the editor of Wonders, shares his thoughts on the Malaysian evidence of four-toed tracks.
I have looked over the record of tracks for True Giants after all these impressions from Malaysia have been published.
One of the first four-toed track photographs from Malaysia, December 2005.
We are always learning more about these creatures. We know they have a mammalian limb so a fifth toe was once a part of their limbs, and it still might show up as it appears to be there at the back of these several tracks. In one of the impressions there appears to be a small side extension that could result from something stepped upon at that one spot. So that single cast is not a key indicator of how a foot might be constructed. (That is the much-pictured Joshua Gates imprint.)
The True Giant tracks show four prominent toes and a fifth toe was either not showing or not as obvious in many imprints examined in North America. Of course, I would have liked to have had the budget and the foresight to know which of the scores of tracks were most vital to have examined them in person, but that did not happen and we have to go with the second hand and imperfect record (often a poor visual record) of the North American tracks. When we look for it, there are indications in the past record of a fifth toe appearing on the inside of the foot.
I am sending along a photo (below) from the Corinth, Mississippi, episode where we can see a possible indication of a fifth toe in that location on the foot.
We are looking at populations widely separated geographically so that the position of the fifth toe might be different in the many parts of the world where these giants occur. They seem to be remarkably widespread, as I was indicating in the third edition of Yeti, Bigfoot, and True Giants.
The photos you have marked "Orang Pendek" cause me to caution that it might be misleading when people tack that label on everything that turns up in Sumatra. Much as people have put "Bigfoot" on everything in North America. We have to be ready to make distinctions. And keep learning.
I would prefer to look at these issues over time and see what evidence can be found to support this take on the tracks. But the modern age is not so gentile. I want to share what I know, and these are my preliminary views on the new evidence and how it may well fit in with the known history of True Giants.
The image is a photograph by Lee Ann Taylor that appeared in Tennessee’s Memphis Commercial Appeal for March 23, 1976.
A dispatch from Corinth, Mississippi, tells of finds in Alcorn County.
The footprints — nearly 15 inches long and 6 inches wide and most with four toes — were first discovered March 14 along Smith Bridge Road north of US 72.
Since then, more tracks have been reported at two churches and one graveyard on the southern side of the highway 12 miles west of here [Corinth].