Resolved Question

I am writing a paper on cryptozoology. So far it seems that everyone takes it for granted that thousands of people can see such things as big furry apelike animals that aren't really there. Is there any objective proof of people seeing things of this size and complexity that aren't really there? Has anyone done a study in which subjects were shown a short film of... perhaps a big bear walking in the shadows, difficult to make out for a few seconds, and then ask people what they saw? Or something like this. Is there any rock-hard evidence that any ordinary person can see a "figment of his imagination" or is it all theory?

I don't know but, I saw something on TLC a couple years ago that demonstrated the opposite. (Not seeing things that are there). They showed this video clip to a room full of people. In the clip there were some people who were told to watch the video of some people on a basketball court or something and count how many times a basket ball was passed around. In the middle of the scene a man walked into the center of the screen wearing an ape costume, then walked back out. At the end of the clip, the people were asked some questions about the video, one of which was "did a man in an ape costume walk into the center of the screen?" About 98% of those who watched the video did not see the ape. They re-ran the clip for them and they could not believe that they did now see it... The point was to demonstrate how perception is limited and constrained by focus and by the viewers expectations.