The FBI shared correspondences regarding them testing hair samples to see if they came from Bigfoot, NBC News reports. The recently unveiled documents between the FBI and a cryptozoology enthusiast named Peter Byrne show that the agency tested a hair sample believed by Byrne to belong to a sasquatch.
“The FBI has analyzed hair in connection with the search for Sasquatch, aka ‘Bigfoot,’” the agency wrote. “It was concluded as a result of these examinations that the hairs are of a deer family origin. The hair sample you submitted is being returned as an enclosure in this letter.”
Byrne is now in his 90s, but he still hasn't given up on finding the cryptid. The former manager of The Bigfoot Information Center and Exhibition in Oregon admitted that he still has hope.
“It’s a great challenge,” Byrne told CNBC, noting that they have placed motion cameras in the Oregon wilderness.n “Right now, I’m still active."
In the letter from the '70s, Byrne noted that the hair samples had his true believers stumped.
"We do not often come across hair which we are unable to identify," he wrote. “Will you kindly set the record straight, once and for all, inform us if the FBI has examined hair which might be that of a Bigfoot, when this took place, and if it did take place what the results of the analysis were...Please understand that our research here is serious.”
The FBI admitted that their lab is for solving crimes, but added that "on a case-by-case basis, in the interest of research and scientific inquiry, we make exceptions to the general policy” in their initial response.
The tests ultimately found that Byrne had actually found deer fur, a decidedly more common occurence in Oregon.
