'Bigfoot' footage screened by Sasquatch hunters

A research group calling itself the Sasquatch Genome Project spent five years and $500,000 collecting evidence that the legendary Bigfoot actually exists, including video footage and DNA samples.

At a news conference Tuesday in Dallas, the researchers shared “never before seen HD video” -- provided by millionaire businessman Adrian Erickson's The Erickson Project -- of the supposed creature crawling around the Kentucky woods.

“People have chosen not to believe it," Erickson told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth. "They can’t find it in their minds to think these things exist.”

The Sasquatch Genome Project told reporters that they tracked thousands of the alleged animals all over the country, including a mother and daughter pair, using thermal imagery, video and footprint collection.

“They’re a type of people, they’re a human-hybrid, we believe," said Dr. Melba Ketchum, group leader and veterinarian. "And all of the DNA evidence points to that. And they can elude us, so if you get [footage] at all, it can be fleeting,” Ketchum.

Ketchum and her team claimed on their website that scientific journals refused to publish their findings because "mainstream science just can’t seem to tolerate something controversial."

But Todd R. Disotell, a New York University anthropology professor, called Ketchum's claims "junk science."

“It’s just a joke,” he said. “She is a laughing stock of people that are of a community that are already kind of wacko.”