Could Humans Have Evolved From An Asian Bipedal Ape?

Many in the Bigfoot research community have suggested that Gigantopithecus, a giant Asian ape believed to have gone extinct around 200,000 years ago, could be the ancestor of the Himalayan Yeti. The late American anthropologist Grover Krantz even suggested, based on the fossilized jawbone of the creature, that this real-life King Kong could have been a biped and an early offshoot of the same lineage as mankind.

This idea that Bigfoot-like creatures around the world could all be offshoots of a missing link caught my imagination as a child and instilled in me a lifelong fascination with human evolution and apemen, real and imagined. Imagine my disappointment when DNA replicated from proteins in fossilized teeth showed that the giant was more closely related to modern orangutans than modern humans. And therefore, if Bigfoot or Yeti is a descendant of this ancient ape, they too would be more closely related to the orangutan than humans.

Then I discovered this book, "The Red Ape," authored by Jeffrey Schwartz. This is not a book about Bigfoot but a book about human evolution. And, put simply, Schwartz suggests that humans are a more recent offshoot of the same lineage as orangutans than they are of the African apes (chimpanzees and gorillas). If it weren't for the DNA evidence that shows humans share approximatley 98% of their DNA with chimpanzees and gorillas (marginally less), and 97% with orangutans, I'd be convinced Schwartz is onto something.

But then I remembered Gigantopithecus's 'DNA' test results and the red orangutan-like fur of Yeti-like cryptozoological creatures in China called "Yeren" and the bipedal Orang Pendek of Sumatra. With so many stories of bipedal apes in Asia, is it possible they evolved from a bipedal ape that evolved from a close relative of the orangutan? Could such a creature have evolved into several offshoot species: Gigantopithecus, Yeti, Yeren? And then one of these offshoots crossed the Bering Land Bridge that connected Asia to America during the last Ice Age and became Bigfoot?

Let's speculate more. What if one of these bipedal ape species migrated to Africa, where it continued to evolve? We do know that a bipedal (or at least partly bipedal) ape called Sahelanthropus tchadensis lived in Africa around 7 million years ago. Could it be an offshoot of the Asian bipedal apes (Yeti-like creatures) I'm speculating existed and migrated from Asia to Africa (becoming African apes) and also America (becoming Bigfoot)? The 7 million-year date is significant because it fits well with the estimate for when humans and chimpanzees diverged from a common species.

What if this species was the bipedal ape Sahelanthropus tchadensis or a close relative? It has long been assumed that humans evolved into a bipedal species after they diverged from the common ancestor with chimpanzees. But why should we assume that? Especially considering that there is evidence that an earlier bipedal potential ancestor existed in the form of Sahelanthropus tchadensis. If true, it would mean that chimpanzees and possibly gorillas as well (much earlier) were once bipedal apes too. And they lost their bipedalism over hundreds of thousands to millions of years.

If this sounds too incredible to be true, consider that the earliest chimpanzee fossil is only half a million years old. We don't know for certain what the ancestors of chimpanzees from over a million years ago looked like. Both chimpanzees and gorillas do occasionally stand upright and walk like bipeds, suggesting they may have a bipedal past. One last note: consider Oliver, a performing chimpanzee that became a minor celebrity in the 1970s because of his preference to walk upright like a human. DNA tests showed he was 100% chimpanzee, but there is still mystery surrounding his origins. Could Oliver have been a member of an unknown ethnic group of ‘relic’ chimps that have retained their bipedalism?

I've raised more questions than answers, but I'm happy that my childhood belief that Bigfoot could be some kind of "missing link," while an oversimplification, could be kind of true.

Ghost Hunters - Episode 5 - The George Inn

DVD Synopsis:

“The George Inn is an 18th Century drinking house, in a small town in the North of England. It was the site of one of the most hair-raising tales of haunting and exorcism. And at the end of it all, buried in the cellar, we find the ring that bears the ghost’s identity.”

While more skeptical researchers attribute paranormal occurrences to natural causes like hallucinations caused by ultrasound or electromagnetic pollution, the more open-minded paranormal investigators generally subscribe to three main theories. Two of these possibilities – that ghosts are either 3D psychic recordings or manifestations of the human mind's telekinetic powers – have been explored previously in this series. However, the George Inn haunting might provide the strongest evidence in the Ghost Hunters series for the most straightforward theory: that ghosts are exactly what psychic mediums claim they are – the spirits of the deceased, or evidence of life after death.

The case takes an intriguing turn with the discovery of a bereavement ring in the cellar, engraved with the name "Robert Clay" and the date "1786". Later, during a séance, psychic mediums claimed to have communicated with a spirit who identified himself as Robert Clay, stating that he had killed two children and buried them in the pub's cellar, where two gravestones were reportedly found. Further research revealed that two children did indeed go missing around the time Robert Clay supposedly lived, although no record of the individual himself could be found.

This is a classic case of unfinished business. The alleged spirit still fearful of being found out continues to guard the pub's cellar even after his death, perhaps trapped by his own guilt for his terrible crimes. It was speculated that prominent families would write out family members who had brought disgrace to their name, which would explain why references to the Clay family were found but not a Robert Clay from circa 1786.

One last thought. While this haunting is location-based, rather than individual-based, the former owner Tom appears to be a lightning rod for phenomena. While most of the other witnesses only see things move on their own, or hear strange mumbling that sounded more like old machinery than the voice of a person, Tom actually sees and hears the ghost, just like you would see and hear a normal person.

Why would this be? Are some people more psychic than others? To use an analogy, are most people basically psychically colorblind or hearing impaired? An idea that was once suggested to me by another paranormal writer was that ghosts could be best understood as a form of psychic bacteria that can attach themselves to suitable hosts and use them to sustain themselves by draining people of their energy and using their imagination and memory to select a form to manifest into. Clearly, some kind of psychic link had been created between Tom and the ghostly stranger.

But here's an alternative explanation. Tom was the one who discovered the bereavement ring, and he also knew about the graves that had been found. Could this entity have downloaded this information from Tom's mind and used it to assume the persona of Robert Clay? Perhaps this spirit actually believes it's the ghost of this man who died in 1786, but the whole story of the murders and connection with Robert Clay was created by Tom's unconscious mind and then absorbed by this psychic bacteria to transform itself into this ghost. Like a method actor who becomes so convincing that they forget it's just a show and become the character they're portraying. This raises intriguing questions about whether many ghost sightings are actually just the psychic projections of the living. In light of this possibility, our initial premis that the George Inn haunting provides strong evidence for life after death may not be the only explanation. Instead, the truth may lie in a more complex interplay between the entity, Tom's subconscious, and the location itself.

Ghost Hunters - Episode 4 - Spirits of Bodmin Moor

DVD Synopsis:

“Bodmin Moor is in the far West of England. It is a place of mystery and intrigue with associations that go far back in history, to King Arthur and beyond. We learn of the extraordinary paranormal events experienced by some people who live in the area. Some, in fact, who believe they have actually encountered King Arthur himself”

This episode begins with a detailed description of an eyewitness who believes he encountered the ghost of King Arthur on Bodmin Moor. The witness described seeing a medieval knight in full armour, reminiscent of the classic Hollywood version of the mythical King of the Britons. However, if King Arthur existed at all, it would have been in the 5th or 6th century, long before the medieval period associated with knights in shining armour. A paranormal researcher suggests that the witness might have seen a ghost from a later period, but I think an alternative explanation is possible. The witness's own knowledge of the King Arthur myth associated with Bodmin Moor and Cornwall could have influenced the apparition's manifestation, shaping it to fit their expectations. This isn't just a case of folkloric influence or cultural conditioning, where the brain filters the experience through a lens of cultural familiarity. Instead, it's possible that the witness's expectations played a more fundamental role in shaping the apparition, similar to the observer effect in physics, where the act of observation can change the outcome of an experiment.

The episode also explores the idea that the granite rock in Cornwall and the large number of standing stones could act as a lightning rod attracting or amplifying paranormal activity. Ley lines, which are believed by paranormal researchers to be paths of concentrated spiritual or mystical energy that crisscross the Earth, may play a role in this phenomenon, with many standing stones strategically built along these lines according to psychics. Granite's unusual properties, such as piezoelectricity, where it can generate an electric charge under mechanical stress, are noteworthy. Let's speculate that the electrical charges generated by the granite could interact with the human brain's electromagnetic fields, potentially altering brain activity patterns or enhancing sensitivity to subtle energies. Furthermore, let's speculate that granite might also interact with the spiritual energy associated with ley lines in a similar way as electrical energy, amplifying or resonating with this energy to create a unique environment that fosters extraordinary experiences, perhaps making people more psychic or increasing their receptivity to non-physical realities.

Let's speculate more here that our ancestors built the standing stones as a means to harness this energy and create a bridge between our reality and a non-physical layer of reality. The mythical entities that emerge from this interaction may be a side effect of the supercharged human consciousness, taking on forms that our ancestors expected and understood. If true, it could raise fantastic possibilities such as: that our ancestors built these structures to tap into and manipulate the fabric of reality, perhaps to communicate with other forms of consciousness or even to transcend the limitations of the physical world. This raises fundamental questions about the nature of human consciousness, the structure of reality, and the purpose of ancient stone structures found around the world, often associated with ancient deities and mystical energies. What is the connection between these ancient sites and human consciousness? Is their purpose to tap into the deeper fabric of reality? And are the ghosts seen around sacred sites like Bodmin Moor echoes of our forgotten past, perhaps a side effect of a lost science of the mind developed by our ancestors?

Ghost Hunters - Episode 3 - The Phantom Schoolmaster

DVD Synopsis:

“In a village on the outskirts of London, many years ago, a school burned down. In recent years, there have been reports of strange happenings in buildings built on the site. We follow a trail of clues that leads us directly to the master of the burned-down school.”

When I watched this episode originally in the 1990s, it could have been my first time hearing about Ouija boards, also known as spirit boards, used to contact ghosts. As well as the paranormal, I have always had an interest in Ancient Egypt, where the Ouija Board or at least something very similar was used to communicate with the afterlife, which was taken as real as bricks and water to the ancient Egyptians, who would spend their whole lives preparing for the next life, often at great expense to themselves in terms of the costs of building tombs etc.

The Bible warns against such communication in Leviticus 19:31: "Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them." And while my mother claims not to believe in the Bible, she isn’t half afraid of the Devil, and repeatedly told me many times growing up never to mess around with Ouija boards or anything like that. I remember her telling me if I ever brought one into the house she would burn it. This wasn’t a game. It was dangerous to mess around with things you didn’t understand, and I believed her… especially after considering the rest of this episode in which both Christian priests and Spiritualist mediums warn of the dangers of trying to satisfy curiosity unprotected. Often the information communicated to the living by the spirits is very good and beneficial, but after winning your trust, mischievous spirits begin giving false information deliberately to cause harm. False claims like your “brother is having an affair with your wife” it is alleged by the priest was communicated in one seance, before the troublesome spirit board was taken outside and burned. More troublesome are the claims that such attempts at communicating with the other side is like opening a door to any stranger and once crossed over bad spirits can refuse to leave and make your life a misery.

For all those reasons, despite my belief that paranormal phenomena are real and desire to understand what is causing them, I never messed around with a Ouija board until I was well into my twenties, and in my entire life have only used a Ouija twice. Both times I insisted on saying a short prayer for protection, and took it all very seriously as to not offend the spirits. The first time was when I attended a ghost hunt at Swansea Museum. Nothing much happened. But more recently I was talked into using an Ouija board again in an attempt to get to the bottom of some strange happenings at a friend’s house. Lights would dim for no reason, and objects would disappear and then turn up somewhere it made no sense for them to be. The glass moved, and we repeatedly received the word “red” which we interpreted as a name, for what seemed to be a child spirit. One of many. Ultimately, nothing was resolved, but it was all very interesting nonetheless…

Then it began. For the next two to three weeks. Exactly the same phenomena that my friend had experienced seemed to follow me home. Objects disappeared and reappeared in impossible places – my remote control, pen, keys, and wallet. My belt vanished, leaving me to spend the day adjusting my trousers. When I came home, my belt was hanging in my cupboard, exactly where I had looked before leaving – seemingly impossible, but it happened. Perhaps my imagination was running away with me, but it was enough for me to ask “Red” to “please go back home now, I have a lot to do and can’t have things disappearing all the time.” After that, whenever anything disappeared, I wouldn’t acknowledge it, and like a child, whatever it was got bored and moved on. Whether this was the spirit of a little girl, or just my imagination running wild after the excitement of playing with paranormal fire, I don’t know. But it was enough to reaffirm my caution about using Ouija boards.

#ghosts #unexplained #paranormal #poltergeist

Ghost Hunters - Episode 2 - Spirits of the Civil War

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On the one hand different witnesses report these battlefield ghosts doing the exact same thing, in the same order and in the same location, seemingly trapped in a loop. Much like a home movie being played from start to finish, over and over again, with no deviation.

However, psychic mediums in other episodes of the series claim to make contact with apparitions from other battlefields, and are able to substantiate these claims by giving names, dates and other information that can be substantiated by historical research later. These “conversations” between psychics and “spirits” in which such information is passed on does suggest that ghosts are at least partly conscious and self aware, even if this is only in a limited way. Real memories and emotions are there, but these appear to be snapshots of important experiences in the deceased person’s life. But how could this happen?

Because hauntings are often associated with historical events such as battles, which would have triggered extreme levels of anxiety, fear and anger in hundreds of people before they died together in a short period of time, it has been suggested that intense primitive emotions can trigger such psychic recordings or echoes on the physical environment.

The extreme emotions of the people that died somehow generating an energy that is absorbed into physical objects like underground stones or the bricks of buildings.

So what witnesses are seeing when they see the ghosts of Civil War soldiers are actually the memories of people that died during or shortly after the battle that have been absorbed into the environment.

Ghost Hunters - episode 1 - Legends of the Legionnaires

The first episode is also my personal favourite because it deals with apparitions from my favourite period in history, the Roman Empire, while also exploring the Stone Tape Theory as an alternative explanation for hauntings in old stone buildings.

Here is the synopsis on the back of the DVD cover:

“The Romans occupied Britain for over 400 years. Many thousands of Roman legionnaires or soldiers lived out their lives and were buried on these islands. Two of the greatest Roman camps were at York in the North, and at Colchester in the East. This episode tells two quite remarkable stories of modern encounters in close quarters with the long departed legionnaires; close enough to see their mud bespattered uniforms and their unshaven chins!”

The episode begins with a witness giving his account of seeing Roman soldiers walking through walls. He includes an odd detail of the apparitions missing their lower legs and feet. As if they were walking on the old Roman road which was only partly exposed. The apparitions, showed no interest in the witness at all, as if he wasn’t there. The description this plumber by trade gave of the Roman soldiers equipment and uniforms matched exactly what Roman and mercenary soldiers based in Britain would have been wearing almost 2000 years ago. The episode then considers the Stone Tape Theory as a possible explanation for this and similar hauntings which appear to be recordings rather than sentient spiritual beings.

The Stone Tape Theory owes its name to a BBC ghost story for Christmas called ‘The Stone Tape’ written by Manx writer Nigel Kneale. Like Kneale’s ‘Quatermass And The Pit’, which suggested that poltergeist activity could be explained by mankind’s psychic abilities rather than spirits, ‘The Stone Tape’ also combined science with the supernatural.

The TV play revolves around a group of scientists who move into a new research facility: an allegedly haunted Victorian mansion. Curious, they investigate the alleged “ghost” but soon determine that it is really only a psychic recording of a past event somehow stored in the stone walls of cellar: a “stone tape”. Believing that this discovery may lead to the development of a whole new recording medium, which they were originally brought together to find in the first place, they throw all their knowledge and high-tech equipment into trying to find a means of playing back the stone tape recording on command.

But how could any information be stored in stonework? We use inanimate matter to store information every day, DVD and older VHS tape recordings are an example of this. Crystals can also be used to store digital information much like a DVD. And from a physicist perspective crystals are made of silicon like other stones, so why shouldn’t stone buildings be able to store other forms of information like psychic energy? (If such mental impressions exist).

This explanation might also provide the answer to another popular problem in the paranormal: why is it that some people see full-blown solid apparitions whereas others only see transparent figures, shadows or, worse, nothing at all? Again like a conventional video tape perhaps the older a “Stone Tape" recording gets the more the sound and picture quality suffers.

Alternatively, of course, perhaps a better explanation opened up by the theory might be that some people may simply make better psychic video players than others. Maybe an important point to make here is that according to the theory, the ghost or recording is seen (perhaps "played" might be a better term here) internally inside the minds of the witnesses rather than in the outside external physical universe. Therefore, depending on the sensitivity of the witnesses, it's quite possible that several people might experience the same encounter very differently depending on how psychic the individual is. Some people may see apparitions in living colour whereas others only see a humanoid figure in fuzzy black and white. Perhaps some people can never see or experience anything paranormal because they have a psychic form of colour blindness.

The idea that ghosts might really be some kind of psychic tape recording rather than the spirits of the dead might not be desirable to some die-hard researchers who believe ghosts offer us proof of life after death. Although, the two ideas are not mutually exclusive, it's possible that there could be more than one type of "ghost" each representing something very different. However, if ever proven the theory would raise perhaps almost equally important questions about the true nature of consciousness and the human mind.

Logically, the only way such a psychic recording could be made and replayed would be if there was some kind of direct connection between the human mind and inanimate stone. There would have to be some form of telepathy between two "minds" (for lack of a better word) suggesting that inanimate matter might have some form of highly primitive consciousness or awareness.

Ghost Hunters

Broadcast between 1996 and 1997 on the Discovery Channel in the UK, ‘Ghost Hunters’ is probably the most thought provoking paranormal series ever made for television. This was a scientific documentary series and not reality television, which focused on the experiences of ordinary people living in 1990s Britain who had experiences they couldn’t rationally explain. The four series attempted to explain these experiences by seriously considering the simple question if paranormal phenomena is real, what does it mean for the scientific understanding of reality? Is a new “science of the mind” required so that science can explain what is happening and offer a complete world view without paranormal gaps of understanding?

For many years this gem of a series was part of my daily routine. Two episodes would be broadcast on the Discovery Science channel every evening, followed by a UFO focused series. I had always been interested in anything odd or unexplained but it was Ghost Hunters that persuaded me that the mind could possibly survive bodily death, and that this doesn’t need to be a religious belief. It is simply part of the processes of the wider physical universe which we don’t have an explanation for…yet.

I have managed to obtain two DVD boxsets that include the entire series between them. I plan to make this series part of my daily routine once more. Every day I’ll watch one episode and share my immediate thoughts on it.

Some of the theories and phenomena I will be writing about include the Stone Tape Theory, Demonic Possession, Black Magick, Time Slips, Crisis Ghosts, Poltergeists, and Quija Boards.

Anyone who wants to watch along can find the entire series in one omnibus video uploaded on YouTube here: