Gregory Forth

Forth says that while discovery would vindicate him, he believes it would be better to leave the creatures alone if they exist.

“It would also kind of vindicate me, I guess you might say. But on the other hand, I think it would be much better if they still exist to leave them alone”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 1:38:08

Forth stresses he does not claim floresiensis or a descendant definitely survives, focusing instead on the experiences of Flores people.

“I don't attempt to argue that Floresiensis or something deriving from Floresiensis is definitely still around. I'm not going to make a statement of conviction like that”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 1:25:30

Forth says he agrees with Chris Stringer that floresiensis may derive from a far more primitive lineage near the australopithecines.

“he suggested that for his answers, it's something much, much more primitive physically and that it derives from something much older”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 1:19:29

Forth argues that over at least 50,000 years and a 700,000-year possible ancestry, floresiensis must have ranged widely across Flores rather than a single locality.

“the notion that they were restricted to one small neighborhood is just not credible. They must have been all over the map of Florence”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 1:04:56

Forth argues the match between the floresiensis reconstruction and Lio descriptions is too remarkable to dismiss, though coincidence remains possible.

“the match is so remarkable that... You know, and this has been some huge, well-hidden conspiracy designed entirely to fool little old me. I just can't imagine it”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 43:01

Forth says he recorded over 30 encounter reports in Lio, of which about a dozen were much more interesting than the rest.

“I recorded over 30 reports of encounters, some of them not terribly credible. Others, you know, a dozen or so much more interesting”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 14:01

Forth states that he does not find Bigfoot credible and has said so in print, considering the Flores accounts far stronger due to fossil evidence.

“No, I don't find Bigfoot credible. And again, I've said so in print in an earlier book”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 2:05:36

Forth contrasts Flores villagers, who gain nothing from reporting sightings, with North American Bigfoot claimants who can seek fame.

“nobody on Flores thinks they're going to become famous by telling me what they've seen, whatever it may have been”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 1:58:10

Forth says some paleoanthropologists and biologists find his arguments credible privately but won't say so in print, partly over funding concerns.

“I know paleoanthropologists, biologists as well, who find my arguments credible. But it's very interesting, you know, they'll never say so in print”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 1:52:39

Forth recounts that two British hikers independently contacted him after seeing a bipedal creature on a Flores mountain in March 2019.

“the encounter was in 2019, in March. And, you know, they hadn't followed this. They hadn't thought about it”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 52:23

Forth argues that Flores lacks native apes and monkeys, making misidentification less likely than in Sumatra, since its only macaque was introduced by humans.

“Flores has only one species of monkey and no apes. And the monkey, a macaque, a long-tailed macaque, was introduced by humans thousands”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 12:55

Forth says his forthcoming book argues that witch beliefs closely resembling Western ones are nearly universal across cultures, though he does not believe in witches.

“there are very few cultures anywhere that don't have a belief that corresponds very closely, even in the smallest particulars, to what we understand by belief”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 2:14:46

Forth explains that a fantastic Lio creature said to grow extra testicles yearly turned out to be the palm civet, whose glands can be mistaken for testicles.

“It turns out to be the palm civet. Ah. Which is a well-known animal and with some interpretation, you know, has features that accord with all these exaggerated claims”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 1:34:54

Forth argues that the discovery of floresiensis supports a bushy family tree of human evolution rather than a single linear progression.

“The view now seems to be that the human tree, family tree, as it were, is bushy”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 1:20:49

Forth says that the lai ho'a appear in a Lio–German dictionary published in 1933, indicating the idea of these creatures predated the fossil discovery.

“that was another strong indication that the whole notion of these creatures hadn't come from the fossil discovery”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 32:37

Forth says that in 1984 the Nage people told him of small hominoid creatures that had lived in a nearby volcano cave but became extinct two to three hundred years earlier.

“there were a group of these, used to live close by in a cave high up on a nearby volcano. But they had become extinct about two, three hundred years before”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2577 - Gregory Forth (Nov 5, 2026) · Listen from 1:51