Viral

Bigfoot is buzzing again after a TikTok went viral this week, with non-believers pointing and laughing ... but one Ph.D. expert on the subject tells TMZ the joke is on them.

Here's the deal ... on Thursday, an apparent Bigfoot made its TikTok debut ... recorded just chilling against a tree in a wooded area of Lawton, about 3 hours from Oklahoma City. It was quickly dismissed as an obvious fake -- but it also piqued some legit new interest!

Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, a professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University, tells TMZ Bigfoot finding such a popular foothold in pop culture is a double-edged sword … 'cause it does poke fun at those who truly are investigating its existence … but the silliness also encourages more people to ask questions.

McDonald's U.S. is taking a juicy bite out of its UK counterpart's menu by launching the Chicken Big Mac ... which has been a smash hit across the pond.

Get ready to chow down because the double-decker chicken burger is rolling out at select locations nationwide starting October 10, but only for a limited time.

In case you want to chick it out -- the Big Mac’s classic beef patties are swapped out for two tempura-battered chicken patties. It's got all the other beloved ingredients: the signature sauce, shredded lettuce, pickles, and a slice of American cheese -- all nestled in a sesame seed bun.

No 5-star rating for this Uber driver! He delivered a heavyweight punch to an elderly passenger -- reportedly for one simple reason: not enough legroom.

Caught on surveillance camera in Dallas Wednesday ... the Uber driver picks up a couple, but doesn't hit the road right away. A few minutes later, he pops out of the car at the same time as his passenger, 68-year-old Suleman Gauba, and viciously jabs him in the back of the head -- so hard, it sends Gauba crashing to the ground.

The Uber driver looms over Gauba as his wife rushes out of the car to witness the shocking scene.

It wasn't your typical first-class experience on an American Airlines flight when a man allegedly got into an altercation with the woman next to him -- and things escalated so fast, other passengers had to jump in to calm everything down.

The whole ordeal was caught on camera by another passenger ... you can hear one guy sternly telling the alleged aggressor to back off on the flight from Miami, Florida to Charlotte, North Carolina Wednesday -- warning him repeatedly to keep his hands off the woman, or he was gonna end up in cuffs.

You can hear people asking the woman if she’s okay before encouraging her to move to another seat. But, as she does, the guy starts claiming he was the one who was assaulted by her.

An apparent Bigfoot has made his (or her) inevitable TikTok debut ... and the footage is actually the best to date of a Sasquatch in the wild -- as opposed to a snack commercial.

Here's the big hairy deal ... a video posted Wednesday that has since gone viral shows what sure as hell seems to be a Bigfoot just chilling against a tree in a wooded area of Lawton, about 3 hours from Oklahoma City.

The video is only a few seconds long, but it sure does look like something ripped right out of "Harry and the Hendersons" ... the TikToker who posted called the instance the "scariest moment" of his life.

Two moms turned an outing at an indoor playground into a violent scene ... exchanging blows MMA-style in a ball pit in front of their kids, and a surrounding crowd.

Check it out ... the 2 parents are seen wailing on each other, as bystanders try to pull them apart. Even with a kid clinging to one mom's leg, the fight does not cease ... the woman in a white top throws her rival in a cream-colored dress to the ball-covered floor.

The fight escalates as the women slap and claw at each other ... both ladies resorting to hair-pulling at different points of the grapple.

Pasadena's Pee Bandit saga has finally come to an end ... or so say the guys who believe they've fingered the offender responsible for leaving bottles of urine on a street for years.

Residents of Pasadena, California have noticed for the last 6 years that someone consistently leaves multiple bottles full of pee on top of a utility box on the side of one road ... prompting local man Derek Milton and his pal Grant Yansura to try to figure out the who, the what -- and most importantly -- the why of it all.

Yansura tells ABC7 ... "Stacks of them, you know, nine, 10, 11 bottles ... All different colors, shades -- from like an amber hue to more of a healthy, golden, lighter yellow. But some are really dark and concerning."

Jacob Elordi looks super relaxed around Olivia Jade's famous folks ... doing push ups and hanging with the whole fam on a yacht.

The actor and his girlfriend are on a yacht vacation with her parents, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli, and Jacob's keeping things loose around them.

At one point, Jacob got down and started doing push ups in front of everyone ... and they all seemed pretty impressed.

2:25 PM PT -- According to a Worcester Police Department update Wednesday night, the suspect who shot himself in traffic was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Officers were responding to an earlier shooting near the interstate, in which an unidentified victim later died. A Massachusetts State Trooper then located the suspected shooter, who fired at the trooper and fled on foot into traffic. Police say the suspect tried to carjack motorists on the highway before he was fired upon by officers -- leading to the man shooting himself about an hour after the incident began.

Police said there was no further danger to the public.

A Massachusetts highway turned into a terrifying scene for commuters when a man with a gun sparked heavy police presence and prompted road closures ... and TMZ has a look at the chaos.

Eyewitnesses tell TMZ ... Interstate 190 was closed just north of Worcester, Mass. Wednesday afternoon after a man with a gun took to the highway on foot ... dipping and diving in between cars in standstill traffic, attempting to avoid capture.

Mass. State Police spokesman Brandon Doherty told TMZ ... troopers and Worcester police responded to a report of a man with a gun around 3:40 PM local time ... and a shooting occurred shortly thereafter.

Parents of a 3-year-old boy are feeling mighty grateful a police officer rescued their child from a pool after he went missing.

Alex Calvillo and Savannah Ybarra of Indiana say they first became worried about their youngster's whereabouts after the boy, named Aziel, disappeared as they prepared brunch for loved ones.

Aziel, who has been diagnosed with autism, was left on the couch to watch a tablet ... but wandered off -- which his parents told WPTA-TV he tends to do.

Edwin Castro's record-setting jackpot is staying in his hands -- a judge says the guy who accused Castro of stealing his Powerball ticket, doesn't have a case ... because he doesn't have the ticket in hand.

Jose Rivera had sued Edwin and the California State Lottery Commission claiming he had actually purchased the ticket that ended up being worth $2.04 billion. He alleged someone stole the ticket from him, and it somehow ended up in Castro's hands.

But, an L.A. County Judge has ruled, too bad, so sad ... essentially. According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, the judge said, "players are solely responsible for securing their Tickets against theft, loss, damage, or destruction" -- and, if Jose thought his ticket was stolen, he should've gone to cops.

Frankie Valli sparked a public wave of worry after appearing disoriented and frail during a recent gig -- but he's clapping back, insisting nobody's twisting his arm to perform, and he's on stage by choice.

The 90-year-old icon's clearly fed up with the online chatter, even facing accusations of elder abuse against his team. But he’s setting the record straight -- it’s all him, and he feels blessed he's still in the game and doing what he loves at his age.

He told People the accusations crack him up ... reiterating on his own terms, "Nobody has ever made me do anything I didn't want to do."

An escaped rhino in India went full beast mode ... charging at a biker and leaving him dead in a terrifying rampage.

The whole wild scene was caught on camera -- the massive rhino casually gets free from the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam’s Morigaon district Sunday, spots a man on a motor-bike identified as Saddam Hussain (different spelling, weird coincidence) rolling up, and charges straight for him.

It's a pretty distressing sight ... Hussain hops off his bike and makes a desperate dash into an open field, trying to escape this hefty beast -- but he didn’t stand a chance.

Twenty-three people were killed Tuesday in Thailand when a school bus exploded in flames with many children inside, according to police.

The large bus was transporting 40 passengers -- a combination of students and teachers -- when tragedy struck as they traveled along the outskirts of Bangkok on a field trip, cops said.

Check out the video showing the bus after it turned into a fireball, with smoke billowing, leaving nearly two dozen dead and scores more injured. All the deceased have reportedly been identified.

Britney Spears is back in action on IG, sharing a wild tale of almost setting herself on fire months ago -- all while using her bizarre, self-proclaimed "British" accent.

In the video posted Monday, Brit recounted her near-miss, saying she usually has her security handle the fireplace lighting because it’s caused some drama before ... but 6 months ago, she took matters into her own hands, and it blew up in her face -- literally!

Now, we haven’t exactly seen pics of her singed face from earlier this year, but Brit insists she was convinced she’d clocked some second and third-degree burns after losing her eyelashes and eyebrows.

A woman in Spain was tragically gored to death by a bull gone wild during a town festival, and the shocking incident was caught on camera.

In the clip, you can see the 60-year-old woman in a red outfit crossing the street in Enguera, near the city of Valencia, before the bull charges into her from behind, sending her crashing to the ground.

The unidentified woman went flying, hitting her head hard on the pavement and suffering a horrific injury to her armpit from one of the bull's horns.