Experts have been using fake monsters...

[William Seger]

... to test how people report encounters with mythical creatures.

One exercise saw one person unleashed in a popular Edinburgh attraction dressed in a gorilla suit, as part of a study to see how people react to so-called Bigfoot sightings.

The experts have also used props and costumes to create other beasts.

The team from the University of St Andrews, Fife, are keeping tight-lipped about their research until it has been published in a scientific journal.

But Dr Charles Paxton, a research fellow and statistical ecologist at the university, explained the “serious study” would help his team find statistical patterns in accounts of weird and wonderful sightings. He admitted: “People think it’s a bit odd till I explain what I’m doing.”

http://www.sundaypost.com/news-views/scotland/experts-using-fake-monsters-to-test-how-people-report-encounters-with-mythical-creatures-1.842133

[LostOne4Ever]

1. Hopefully there are no meddling kids and their dog involved in the study(nt)

[Orrex]

4. Zoinks!

[DetlefK]

2. Bullshit. Those were REAL monsters and the costume-story is just a cover-up.

This passes for reasonable discussion nowadays, right?

[trotsky]

3. Ha, that was the same reaction I had when reading about that.

"Aw hell, now you're going to create a brand new generation of conspiracy nuts who will still believe despite you exposing the thing as an experiment."