| Wanted Dead Or Alive
By John Betts
From Fortean Times Magazine, January 1997
We still don't know for sure that the elusive North American Bigfoot exists, writes Janet Bord, co-author of Bigfoot Casebook (1982), but if it is ever proved, the implications are startling. To those who believe in its reality, Bigfoot (a.k.a. Sasquatch) is a hairy man-beast, 7-9 ft (2.102.7 m) tall, possibly a kind of Gigantopithecus survival. To the disbelievers, all sighting reports are lies or misidentifications and all photographs are hoaxes. In the event, reports and photographs are just anecdotal evidence and only an independent scientific examination of an actual Bigfoot is going to settle the matter. Close encounters between the creature and armed men are rare and it has, to date, proved difficult to track and kill. The opinion also exists that Bigfoot ought to be left in peace, for if its existence were proved, its isolated life would be disrupted forever. There are well over 1,000 recorded sightings of Bigfoot going back nearly 200 years. It has been seen in all parts of the North American continent, but mainly in the Pacific Northwest: in British Columbia, Oregon, Washington State and California. Sightings continue to be reported to day, but photographs and other tangible evidence are rare.
The most convincing and convenient proof of Bigfoot's existence would be the discovery of a carcass-but that's not likely. Any wildlife remains are rare finds in the North American forest where scavenging creatures can reduce something as substantial as a dead moose to just toenails, teeth and antlers in a few days. And after a week even those tail-ends are usually gnawed away. The only dead wildlife that most people see are fresh victims of collisions with vehicles. So far, Bigfoot has avoided becoming a roadkill. You are more likely to get a glimpse of Bigfoot in your rear-view mirror than in your headlights. Bigfoot researchers say that drivers consistently report rear-view sightings-usually of something large hunched down at the roadside, rising to cross the road after the vehicle passes. The evidence suggests that Bigfoot is canny enough to stay out of traffic as well as avoiding definitive proof of its evidence. The simple solution to some is to shoot the illusive beast. Dr. Grover Krantz, professor of anthropology at washington State University, author of Big Footprints and renowned cryptozoologist, advocates a hunt to track and kill a Bigfoot. He believes it's the only way to remove any doubt about the thing's existence. Inevitably, his position has drawn opprobrium from other Bigfoot searchers and researchers. "I think it's wrong. It would be criminal and totally unnecessary," objects Peter Byrne, a former big game hunter, author of The Search For Bigfoot and head of The Bigfoot Research Project based near Mount Hood in Oregon. "I think shooting a Bigfoot is something proposed by people who are desperate to get one of these things." Worse, says Byrne, Bigfoot might already be an endangered species. His own research team has not found any likely footprints in years. Byrne figures that, even if there are only a handful of the beasts around, they should be leaving thousands of prints: "I have no idea how many Bigfoots there are, but there are not very many; otherwise there would be more evidence on the ground." In Byrne's view, killing a Bigfoot would be tragic: "As one schoolboy said to me: 'Suppose it's the last one?'" Krantz, however, doesn't believe Bigfoot is at risk and, if it is, it might need to be shot. Not to shoot one, he suggests, might only ensure its demise. "If it's really endangered, which I doubt, then it makes taking a specimen all the more important, because whatever is causing Bigfoot to become extinct is continuing," he says. "The government is going to pay no attention and do nothing to help unless you prove the animal exists. The only way to prove Bigfoot exists is to bring in a specimen. So the more endangered they are the more critical it is to get that one specimen." However, Krantz believes the evidence suggests that numbers are on the rise, particularly in the Eastern United States where forested land is coming back. Notwithstanding the debate about whether Bigfoot is endangered, Byrne thinks he has a better idea for proving the animal's existence. Funded by the Academy of Applied Science in Boston-previously known for its support of Robert Rines' attempts to track the Loch Ness monster on film and sonar in 1976-Byrne's Bigfoot Project resources include stand-by helicopters, infra-red search devices, remote motion detectors, police-trained tracking teams, computer mapping, video cameras and, lately, biopsy darts. With these darts, fired from a gun, Byrne says he can get all he needs from Bigfoot by way of a tissue sample: "After that the creature walks away." Byrne admits that tissue samples and Bigfoot DNA are a far cry from a whole animal. Nevertheless, he insists that being able to prove, technically, that there is something ape-like, and hitherto unrecognised in the woods "would be a giant step forward." Byrne said his mission would then be complete and he would step back to allow the scientists to begin their research. Krantz is sceptical. First, he doubts whether Byrne's trackers could get close enough to dart a Bigfoot. Second, he doubts whether any Bigfoot hunter could take a back seat and let other take over the investigation. "You have to understand why people are taking a stand against shooting a Bigfoot," says Krantz. "They know that once a specimen is brought in, the scientists will take over and the hunters are going to be shoved aside. They want to keep the mystery alive so they've something going for them." At the same time, Krantz says, the possible wealth and notoriety for the person who proves Bigfoot's existence provides a temptation few could resist. "A lot of these people going around trumpeting how wrong it is to shoot one fully intend to if they can," he added cynically. Meanwhile, after four years of research at the Bigfoot Project, Byrne says that computer analyses of sightings are beginning to reveal patterns of movements. "It's quite exciting," says Byrne adding, probably not for the first time, "we could have something tomorrow." In Big Footprints, Krantz proposed a military-style campaign with a team of hunters to bag a Bigfoot. "If some rich person wants to famous or infamous for backing the bringing in of a Sasquatch and picks me to organise it, I would work on it," he says, "but no one has come up with the money yet."
| Sasquatch Summer
By Clyde Lewis
From Unknown Magazine, Winter 2000
It is the summer of Sasquatch. With over 19 alleged sightings during the year of 2000, it is time to demand that Bigfoot need not be associated with Elvis sightings and weird theories that sound like rejected plots from the "Six Million Dollar Man." Yeti, Momo, Skunk Ape, Almas, Yowie, Sasquatch, Bigfoot, whatever the name you call it, is making its presence known throughout the Northwest. Mystery Anthropoids, or Hominoid ape like creatures that roam the forests of the world have been down played by scientists and are usually treated as tall tales concocted by drunk hunters who mistake large bears for a more strange albeit odorous being that may or may not belong on this planet. People take for granted that all species have been identified and so the idea of a great ape species living in North America is an absurdity until the "body of evidence" is exposed to the world. Even if it was exposed, the reality of such a creature could be as mundane as an endangered ape or gorilla that somehow found a way to cross continents and remain elusive from hunters and investigators, only to show up unexpectedly and witnessed by deep woods campers. The whole idea of new and mysterious species being discovered and categorized is academic to serious researchers who realize that even in recent history animals that were once thought of as products of mythology have suddenly appeared and have been categorized by scientists. Now that the proof of their existence can be caged up and put on display in a public zoo or laboratory it is common place. The difficulty in capturing an undeniable picture, video, or even hair or scat samples of the Bigfoot has caused a number of people to dismiss outright the possibility of such a creature existing. However eyewitness testimony continues to pour in and recently the sightings of such a creature have increased. Native American Indian tribes have talked about these creatures for centuries. White settlers have recorded their presence as well and the stories have continued throughout history. Even Teddy Roosevelt claimed to have seen one. It wasn't until the 1970's when interest was sparked by several documentaries that were produced about the creature and where a grainy 16 mm film was showcased purporting absolute evidence of what appears to be a Female Sasquatch walking into the forest. This famous piece of footage in known as the Patterson Gimlin film. Reports began coming in from all over the country about sightings of a creature that was between 6 1/2 to 8 feet tall, hirsute with large feet, glowing eyes and producing a horrible smell of sulfur or rotten eggs. The combination of glowing eyes and terrible smell were similar to other crypto creatures that had been reported in other parts of the country, namely the Flatwoods monster, the Skunk Ape, Mothman and most recently the Chupacabra of Puerto Rico. There have been researchers who claim that the smell is similar to human body odor. It has also been said that the odor is like a dead animal. These stories continued and later would end up in tabloids posted all over the country lessening its importance in the consensus reality journalists would ignore data from credible witnesses and most samples of stool and hair would go unreported in field studies because of the fear of ridicule. The Bigfoot creature still, has that tabloid edge to him and he is always the topic of tall tales when all are snug in their sleeping bags listening to fireside ghost stories on family camping trips. In the year 2000 it seems that Bigfoot has decided to come out of hiding and many people are catching a glimpse at the fabled creature. What this means is uncertain however the testimony as of late is remarkable and deserves mention. An Oregon Psychologist believes that he saw Bigfoot and confirms what we have heard from similar reports of the beast, that he stinks! Dr. Matthew Johnson, a psychologist was hiking July 1 2000 with his wife Rochelle, and children 9 year old Levi, 7 year old Hannah and 4 year old Michah, when he saw what he reported to be Bigfoot. The creature fit the template of the big hairy stinky beast that has been written about in tabloid stories, scientific journals and Hollywood movies for decades. After speaking with Dr. Johnson on the phone it is evident that this is no tabloid story nor is it a story of an opportunist. Johnson clearly saw something and sent me his report of the incident. After reading it I was thrust into an investigation of a creature that I had once written off as a fable. The following story is in his own words and was sent to Ground Zero for this report:
Sasquatch Summer, continued
"Where to begin? Rochelle and I took our kids to the Oregon Caves National Park in southern Oregon. We ate lunch at a picnic table and then took a tour of the caves. The caves were spectacular. If you haven't seen them before, they are a must see experience. Upon our exit of the cave, everyone usually turns to the right to go back down to the gift store and lodge. However, we are fresh from Alaska and love to hike in the outdoors (i.e., we just moved from Alaska to Oregon earlier this year). We decided to go left and hike up to see the Big Tree (i.e., a Douglas fir tree with a circumference of 40 feet that is about 800 to 1,000 years old). We hiked fro about 2 miles into the forest up the mountain. As we were hiking up the trail, we smelled a very strong putrid smell. It was as strong as a skunk but it wasn't a skunk (i.e., we know what a skunk smells like and it wasn't a skunk even though it was as strong smelling as a skunk). We were standing down wind of the smell. We continued to hike up the trail and the trail started to switch back to the right as we climbed the mountain. There were plenty of tall trees and brush. I heard a faint sound (i.e., "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!). At first I thought it was the blood vessels pounding in my head because it was a constant sound/rhythm and I'm out of shape (i.e., it was a big mountain and were constantly walking up, up, up). We kept walking up the trail. I heard the sound again except it was louder. Then I thought, "This sound is external-not internal." We all stopped and I asked, "Do you guys hear that sound?" Rochelle, Levi, Hannah and Michah looked at me and nodded their heads in affirmation. Don't ask me why but we continued to walk up the mountain through the very tall trees and brush. The sound continued in cycles of five to six repetitions (i.e., Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa). Louder and louder. Now the sounds were behind us. I started putting one and one together in my mind and my biological "fight or flight" responses kicked in. I stopped my family on the trail. I told them to stay quiet. I hiked up the hill to our left because I had to go poop ASAP (i.e., this happens when the biological "fight or flight" response kicks in). While I was doing my duty, I was scanning the woods down the mountain on the other side of the trail my family was standing on. That's when I saw it. I swear I'm telling you the truth. I saw it come out from behind one tree to the left and walk to another tree to the right. Then it looked back and was watching my family while they were standing on the trail. I've hiked through the woods in Alaska numerous times and believe me, I know what a grizzly bear looks like and I know what a black bear looks like. I was actually chased by a grizzly bear on the Russian river in Alaska about six or seven years ago. What I saw was not a grizzly bear or a black bear. What I saw walked upright on two legs like a human and it was much taller than a grizzly bear or a black bear. What I saw was (and I swear I saw it and I'm not crazy) Bigfoot (otherwise known as Sasquatch). I swear I saw it. I'm not lying. I pulled up my shorts immediately, walked fast down to the trail and got my family moving up the mountain. I sure as heck wasn't going to go back down the trail where we came from and go right to it. I didn't tell my wife or children what I saw because I didn't want them to panic. At this point, the adrenaline was rushing and I was very hypervigilant (i.e., constantly looking behind us and through the woods). The sound stopped but I wasn't convinced we were safe. When we got to a place where the kids could stop and sit on a fallen log and drink some water, I pulled Rochelle away and told her that she wasn't going to believe what I saw. She believed me right away. She smelled the smell and she heard the repetitive cycles of "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa," and she knows I'm not crazy. I told her to keep the kids going and that I would stay at the back to keep my eyes on what was behind us. I told her that if anything came up from behind us or through the woods from the side of us that I would run interference to protect them. I told her that if this happened, I wanted her to run the kids on the trail, don't stop, and don't look back. We agreed not to tell the children because we didn't want to panic them. We never heard the sounds again and I never saw anything after that. We finally made it out of the woods about 1 1/2 hours later. We sent the kids into the gift store to look for a gift because we had promised to buy them something if they were good hikers and didn't complain. Rochelle and I sat on the bench outside the gift store and talked about the pros and cons of whether or not to report what we smelled, heard, and saw (i.e., I don't want people to think we are crazy). Rochelle said it was up to me. I decided that I wasn't going to keep this a secret because it was real and I know I'm sane. I remembered reading about how the albino gorilla was a myth/legend in Africa for quite some time until someone finally captured one. Well I'm here to tell you today (and the world) that Bigfoot/Sasquatch is not a myth/legend. The creature/animal really and truly does exist!!! After we made our decision, Rochelle went into the gift shop with the kids. I walked to the Park headquarters and reported what I saw to a ranger. I sat in the chair stunned and then I began to cry. All these emotions that I was stuffing due to the adrenaline began to surface now that my family and I were safe. You don't know how vulnerable I felt being so far out in the woods without the ability to protect my family in that kind of situation (i.e., no gun). I told the ranger that I was not crazy. I gave her my business card (i.e., I'm a licensed psychologist in private practice). I told her that I have two master's degrees and one doctorate degree and that I was an intelligent person. I told that I know what I smelled, heard, and saw. In between the tears and my shaking, I told her that I saw Bigfoot. She believed me! She didn't think I was crazy. She said that there is a lot about our world that we don't know and that are discovering new species all the time. She took my story, Rochelle's story, and Levi confirmed what the noise sounded like. I was the only one who saw Bigfoot because I had hiked up off the trail high enough to see it. I can't tell you what it looked like other than it was very tall, looked half-human and half ape, walked upright, and had very dark hair (i.e., a mix of very dark brown and/or black hair). It happened way too quick and all I could think about after I saw it was to get my family the heck out of there. Around 8:30 p.m. the park ranger called and left a message in my voice mailbox. She said that I might want to purchase the following book: Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing The Dark Divide by Robert Michael Pyle (1997). I'm goling to order/buy this book ASAP. They are going to check out the area that we reported the smell, sounds, and sighting tomorrow morning before other curiosity seekers arrive. I'm sending this to you because I have to tell others what we experienced. This animal is real. It does exist. I swear that Bigfoot exists!"
Sasquatch Summer, continued
Needless to say that Dr. Johnson has decided to go back to the area to do a thorough investigation into what he saw. He and a group of others have decided to take part in trying to find the creature. Johnson tells me that there is more evidence forthcoming that perhaps more than one Sasquatch lives in the area. The Northwest Bigfoot population seems to have reawakened and perhaps with serious researchers looking for a real creature and not some bogeyman we may see some results. However with the fresh sightings there are always a number of people who are bound and determined to get their outrageous theories heard. The fringe theories that make the other serious stories appear foolish. Most serious researchers are dismayed that while the scientific hunt for Bigfoot goes on, there are still those who boast these outrageous fringe theories and some are creating hoaxes that are ending up on TV and in print (If you are interested in reading some of these theories, read my un-edited Sasquatch Summer report on my website www.clydelewis.com). Thom Powell of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization laments that when real sightings happen there are a few fringe theories that creep into the mainstream press to sell newspapers. Whichever theory you embrace about the Bigfoot, Alien android, missing link, or something else entirely it is important to understand that in our investigations perhaps we could possibly be like the blind, touching an elephant. We all have different interpretations of what it might be but we may want to just call it what it is: a primate that somehow shows up and doesn't seem to be shy about making his presence known to mankind. Is it absurd to think that a Mountain Ape could live in the dense forests of the Northwest? Of course not. The unfortunate thing is that Bigfoot sightings have been treated like Elvis sightings. That is why people snicker and roll their eyes when someone claims to have seen one of them. The reality of Bigfoot may be as mundane as a monkey that has yet to be classified by science. However seeing one in the forests of the United States can be an experience not easily forgotten.
| Big Shot
By Janet Bord
From Fortean Times Magazine, April 1997
Hunters might want to shoot a Bigfoot, but Janet Bord finds that many have already missed their target.
The debate about whether or not a Bigfoot should be shot to help scientists better protect the species is not new (see FT93:34). The record of sightings of giant hairy man-beasts in North America goes back nearly 200 years and in that time there have been many attempts to shoot one. As many of the sightings were made by seasoned hunters, it is somewhat surprising that no one has yet produced a body-assuming that the creature now called Bigfoot or Sasquatch really does exist. Why not? Three explanations became clear during my research for my book Bigfoot Casebook (published 1982 and now out of print). First, it seems that many hunters have fired at Bigfoot, but it is often too quick for them and they have been unable to hit it. Sometimes, when the hunters' bullets find their mark, the creature has seemed unworried by their impact, even when shot at point-blank range. In 1924, five men prospecting in Washington's Cascade mountains claimed to have been attacked by several Bigfoot creatures in a canyon. One of the men said that he fired three shots into one creature's head and two more into its body, but it kept running, Gary Joanis was another hunter who fired at a Bigfoot, this one having stolen the deer he had shot! Joanis and a colleague were hunting at Wanoga Butte in Oregon, in 1957, when the 9 ft (2.75 m) Bigfoot suddenly appeared, picked up the dead deer and carried it off under its arm. Annoyed, Joanis fired his .306 rifle repeatedly at the beast's back as it departed, but it gave no sign that it had been injured...unless its "strange whistling scream" was a cry of pain. It kept on walking and Joanis had no choice but to let it go. Fourteen-year-old James Lynn Crabtree was equally powerless when he tried to stop a Bigfoot. Out squirrel hunting near his home in Fouke, Arkansas, in 1965, he encountered an 8 ft (2.4 m) creature which turned to face him and then walk towards him. The boy shot it in the face three times with his shotgun, but it showed no sign of hesitating, so he fled. Two years later, a group of teenagers hunted several Bigfoot which had been seen around The Dalles in Oregon. One of the hunters saw a 7 ft (2.1 m) creature in a crouching position and blasted it in the chest with his 12-gauge shotgun. This knocked the creature down and it rolled over twice before it stood up and smashed its way through a fence, snapping off the fence-posts. The hunters returned the next day to follow the tracks and collect the carcass, but after 100 yards (90 m) they lost the trail as there were no bloodstains to follow. In 1974, a police patrolman fired two shots from his revolver at a 7 ft (2.1 m) as it walked down the road towards him near Fort Lauderdale in Florida. The creature screamed, jumped 20 ft (6 m) off the road and ran away at about 20 miles an hour (30 km/h). Some Bigfoot creatures have tried ot defend themselves when being shot at, as once occurred at Flintville, Tennessee, in 1976. Six men tracked a Bigfoot and fired on it repeatedly, but although it screamed, it gave no sign of succumbing to the onslaught of bullets. Instead, it threw rocks at its attackers before running away into the brush. The next day, 16 in (40cm) footprints, hair, blood and mucus were found. In 1979, Tim Meissner, 16, shot at a Bigfoot he saw in woods by Dunn Lake, British Columbia. He said: "He was about 9 ft (2.7 m) tall, black and hairy. He had a human-like face with great big, glaring, bright eyes and shoulders 4 ft (1.2 m) wide. He stood there glaring at me for at least three seconds. He was 50 ft (15 m) away-so close I could smell him. I don't even know why I shot. I was just scared, really scared. I was aiming for right between his eyes and he went down on one knee and one hand. At first I thought he was dead, but I guess I only grazed him, because he got up and ran away at about 30 miles an hour (50 km/h)." The second explanation for the lack of a Bigfoot carcass us that it is a paranormal creature rather than a physical one. This could explain a strange report from Port Isabel, Ohio. In 1968, three men caught a 10 ft (3 m)-tall, hairy man-beast in the flashlights. It walked towards them, its eyes glowing. One of the men shot it squarely from about 50 ft (15 m) away. The creature uttered a horrible scream as two more shots were fired at it.Then, as they watched, a white mist enveloped it. A minute later, the mist cleared and there was nothing left but darkness-no blood or any other trace of the creature was found. Even more bizarre is a report from Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where one night in February 1974, a woman heard a noise ouside her isolated house. She picked up her 16-gauge shotgun, intending to scare away the intruder. She turned on the outside light and stepped out onto the porch. A 7 ft (2.1 m), hairy Bigfoot stood just 6 ft (1.8 m) from her. It raised both hands above it head and, assuming it was going to jump at her, she shot at its midriff. There was a brilliant flash-like a photographer's flash bulb-and the creature disappeared leaving no trace. The third and more believable reason suggested for the lack of a carcass is that some hunters just couldn't pull the trigger because the creature looked too human. One such incident happened near Orestimba Creek in California, in 1869, when a hunter watched a hairy creature swing lighted sticks from his campfire around its head. He commented: "Fifteen minutes I sat and watched him as he whistled and scattered my fire about. I could easily have put a bullet through his head, but why should I kill him?" The same sentiment stopped William Roe from shooting the female Bigfoot he encountered on Mica Mountain in British Columbia in 1955. Hidden in a bush, he watched as, 20 ft (6 m) away, it ate leaves. In a detailed written description, he noted: "The thought came to me that if I shot it, I would possibly have a specimen of great interest to scientists the world over...I levelled my rifle. The creature was still walking rapidly away...turning its head im my direction. I lowered the rifle. Although I have called the creature 'it', I felt now that it was a human being and I knew i would never forgive myself if I killed it." In 1962, a woman on a prospecting and fishing holiday in British Columbia suddenly came face-to-face with a hairy man-beast and raised her rifle to protect herself. She said: "My first fleeting impression was that it was a human with very long arms. But it took me weeks to get out of my mind the look it was giving me from its small, black eyes as it stood there. It was like an ape, but like a human too." And in 1971, Richard Brown, a high-school music teacher, was likewise assailed by doubt when he saw a Bigfoot in a field near The Dalles in Oregon. Through the telescopic sight of his rifle, he watched the creature for five minutes, just 150 yards (140 m) away. He described it as a 10 ft (3 m)-tall, muscular, hairy creature, weighing 600-800 pounds (270-360 kg). Brown, a seasoned hunter, was sure it was not a bear nor an ape. As he lined it up in the scope sight and began to squeeze the trigger, he found he could not shoot it. He said: "It seemed more human than animal." Sometimes the witness realises that there is just no point in trying to kill the Bigfoot. Lieutenant Verdell Veo had several sightings around Little Eagle, South Dakota, in 1977, and on one occasion when he saw a Bigfoot by moonlight he had a strange feeling that no weapon would have been any use.
Big Shot continued
"Something told me-I could sense it, if you can understand-that I had better just get out of there and leave the thing alone." On the evidence of these reported attempts to kill a Bigfoot, Lt. Veo would seem to be talking good sense! If no one has been able to kill a specimen, thus far, what makes today's would-be Bigfoot hunters think they can do any better?
| A Drive Down Highway 16
Told to Chris Fleming
From Unknown Magazine, Winter 2000
The greatest thing about publishing this magazine is that you never know who is going to come forward with a true and amazing experience. Case in point: For over six years I had been attending various conventions. It was at one of these conventions, while promoting my magazine and selling some of my own collectibles, that Mike, another dealer to whom I had often spken over the years, told me something remarkable. With respect, he has asked me to keep his last name confidential. It was in 1997; I was promoting the second issue of Unknown Magazine, when Mike came over to my table, glanced at my magazine cover, and then walked casually away. After a few steps, he stopped, took a few tentative steps towards me again, and then moved quickly to my table. I was wondering, "What the heck is he doing?" It was obvious he wanted to say something-what it was, I had no idea. He asked me, as he pointed to my magazine, "Do you believe this stuff?" "Yes and no," I said. "Yes, I believe there are things that exist that we don't fully understand. No, in the sense that people have experiences dealing with these things each and every day, but each case has to be judged on its own merits." He nodded and looked quizzically at me again and asked, "Has anyone ever talked to you about Bigfoot?" I tried to think if anyone had. Wanting to say yes, what I said was, "No, not really." Little did I know that he was about to share his own experience with me. He nervously said he would like to tell me a story about what had happened to him, quickly adding, "I'm not crazy." As he began his story, I noticed his arms shaking nervously, and the forearm hairs standing on end. I realized that what this guy was telling me had scared him so badly that his fear could still evoke a physical reaction. My interest was piqued. When someone tells you their story, and you see them getting excited andworked up in the telling, you realize how eager they are to have someone to listen to them: Someone who can relate to their story, a story they are afraid to tell anyone else. I recently called Mike and asked him to relate his experience to me again so that I could share it with my readers. i have told his story as he relayed it to me. I thank Mike for deciding to tell this amazing story. With respect to his wishes, he has asked that I keep his last name confidential. -forward and transcription by Chris Fleming
Back in 1981 when I was 19, I was driving to Savannah, Georgia to visit my brother, with whom I was going to stay for a few months. I was living in Michigan, and felt it was time to get away from it all and pay my brother a visit. I was doing about 45-50 mph, headed down Route 75, towards Highway 16 going east to Savannah. It was 2 p.m. Driving down 16 east, the road was pretty desolate. I hadn't seen any cars for awhile. The drive was actually nice and peaceful. As I was driving, a movement up ahead on the side of the road caught my eye. It was a clear bright day, and I squinted, trying to get a better look, wondering what it was I had seen. Then I thought, "Wow, that looks like a huge bear. Wow, cool...a bear on the side of the road. Here's something I don't ever get to see in Michigan." As the excitement built, I began to slow down, because...I just had to check out this bear. As I approached it, slowing down to about 5 mph, the darn thing stood up. I was startled. I thought, "Cool! The bear is standing up. I have got to see this!" Then all of a sudden this bear, or so I thought, turned around and looked at me. I slowed down even more as I watched this thing on the right side of the road stare at me. Then I began to wonder. My mind raced. I never heard of a bear like this. This bear had odd characteristics. Then I realized, as I got closer, it didn't look like a bear anymore. The next thing the "bear" did was start walking across the road. I watched in disbelief, realizing that this was no damn bear. It walked upright, swinging its arms back and forth like a man. My hair stood up on my arms and I was like, "Shit!" As I got closer, it walked further to the other side of the road, still looking over its shoulder at me. I tell you this was in broad daylight, 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and my eyes never came off of it. I had my windows down, it being nice out and all. By this time I was driving at a snail's pace, about 5 mph, in my 1980 Spirit. As I continued on a slow coast we kept looking at each other. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. A Spirit is a very small car, and this thing was only 3-4 car lengths away from me. So you can imagine how scared I was. The only things moving were the wheels of my car. It had black fur with a reddish brown mix to it. It made no sound, but just kept glancing back at me, slowly taking its time as it crossed the road. I watched-completely paralyzed. This thing finally walked into the woods. I was amazed, and remember thinking to myself, "Oh, my God, that looks like...like a Bigfoot." But I kept saying to myself, second guessing myself, "No, it can't be, it can't be." To this day I wish I could have had a camera with me. I would have taken some pictures. This was on Highway 16, southeast of Atlanta, 3/4 of the way between Atlanta and Savannah. This incident reminded me of an accident scene, when you slow down to check it out. As you drive past it you are like, "Wow." Once you have passed it by, you quickly drive away. In this case, I flew out of there, because I got nervous when I began to realize what I had actually seen. When I got to Savannah, I ended up telling my brother what had happened. He is 5 years older than me, about 24-25 at the time. I casually said to him, "Ya know, you are going to think I am stupid or that I have been drinking (which I never do, nor have I ever done drugs, so I know I wasn't hallucinating), "but I think I saw Bigfoot." He started laughing and said, "Mike, you are not the only one, because I think I saw one too." I was astonished, "What? How?" And to my amazement he told me his story. We discussed the Bigfoot creature. We both had seen a creature that was the same height-about 7 feet tall, and moved slowly, with a weird gait. This thing was pretty identical to the one I had seen in movie clips and described on TV. My brother, who was in the service, and had moved down to Savannah a year prior to our visit, had seen the same thing, on the same road, in the same area, just 4-5 months before I did. His description and mine were the same. I was relieved to know that I wasn't the only one to see this thing, but I was also dumbfounded.
Interview with a Bigfoot Hunter
by Daniel Perez
from Fate Magazine, February 1998
John Green looks back at 40 years on the track of Sasquatch
In the annals of Bigfoot research and investigation, few people remain as steadfast in the pursuit as John Green, one of the true pioneers in the field. Green has been tracking Bigfoot for 40 years. In 1961, the late Ivan T. Sanderson described him as indefatigable, and Green, who turns 71 this month, shows no sign of letting up. The British Columbia native has written such classics as On The Track of The Sasquatch (1968), Year of The Sasquatch (1970), The Sasquatch File (1973), and the definitive Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us (1978). The six-foot-plus, slender Green has been at the scene of the classic Bigfoot events: the Patterson-Gimlin film, the Glen Thomas incidents, the Ruby Creek sighting, and the Albert Ostman abduction. One of his major career findings is that Bigfoot reports occur in areas where there is more than 20 inches of rain per year. Lately Green has been involved in computerizing his massive files, and he recently returned from a research trip to Russia. Bigfoot hunters hope his completed database will provide important clues about Bigfoot's existence.
Fate: Forty years ago "Bigfoot" had not yet been heard of, even in California, and "Sasquatch" was a British Columbia phenomenon. What was it presumed to be?
Green: The picture presented to the non-Indian community was of giant Indians wearing breech clouts, hairy only in that they had long hair on their heads; a wild tribe who had a language, lived in villages, and communicated with signal fires. The Indians knew what they really looked like, but did consider them to be human.
Fate: When you began investigating, what did you learn?
Green: It very quickly became clear that first-person descriptions didn't match the popular concept. Witnesses told of creatures completely covered with short hair and looking more like erect apes than people. There was no mention of clothing, fire, or villages. Observations of behavior accumulated more slowly, but were equally consistent. The added up to a creature that depended on physical abilities, not mental ones: They used no tools, had no language and no home, didn't form groups, and generally lived the same lives as bears.
Fate: What do you think is up and coming in the field of Sasquatch research?
Green: I hope DNA techniques will soon be able to establish if hair is from an unknown higher primate, and with camcorders so common someone should get a good video of a Sasquatch before long. But for a decisive conclusion someone has to get a Sasquatch, or part of one, which almost certainly depends on chance. A Sasquatch should have been collected by now. I have no explanation why that hasn't happened.
Fate: What might humans learn by collecting a Sasquatch?
Green: The study of another higher primate that has adapted to bipedal locomotion is bound to add a lot to human knowledge. It should also be useful to research the reasons our branch of the primate family was so insistent that this other branchmust not exist.
Fate: Would you shoot one?
Green: I don't know, I don't hunt anything...But there is no hope of protecting their habitat without first proving that they exist, and science has made it very clear that only physical remains will do that.
Fate: What is your computer study telling you?
Green: I don't think any computer study will enable anyone to make an appointment with a Sasquatch, as some claim. What my work does is give a quick access to the massive amount of information in my files so that I can answer questions and check theories against what has actually been reported.
| Interview with a Bigfoot Hunter, continued
For example, the average height estimate is slightly more than seven and a half feet. Average footprint size is 16 inches long and seven inches wide. There are no patterns indicating that Sasquatch migrate. A powerful smell is reported in only about one third of close encounters, indicating that Sasquatch either control emission of the odor, or, like silverback gorillas, only emit it under stress.
Fate: How many reports do you have on file?
Green: More than 3,000, counting both sightings and footprints. More than half are from eastern North America, and for most of those I have little specific information.
Fate: What might be a reasonable guesstimate as to how many Sasquatches are on the North American continent?
Green: For Sasquatches to be reported as widely throughout North America as they are, a reasonable estimate of their numbers has to be in the thousands, probably tens of thousands.
Fate: How do you explain the lack of fossil evidence?
Green: I don't consider the lack of fossils at all unlikely. Many fossil finds are of large creatures not previously known to exist, and I am told that there is as yet no fossil ancestor for gorillas.
Fate: What do Sasquatches live on?
Green: They have been reported eating many types of vegetation, including leaves, but also killing other animals, presumably for food. Evidence is mounting that they are major predators, easily able to catch and kill deer.
Fate: How do they survive in winter?
Green: Since there are no patterns in the accumulated information to suggest that they migrate, it seems probable that they hibernate. As predators they could obtain food in winter, but the scarcity of tracks in snow indicates that they aren't active.
Fate: Are they an endangered species?
Green: How could they be? There is no confirmed record of any being killed by humans, and they are reported almost everywhere in the world. North America, particularly, must have a thriving population, but some are suffering habitat destruction in places where wild areas are being cleared and subdivided.
Fate: Aren't they sometimes seen in groups?
Green: Very rarely. More than 90 percent of reports involve a single individual, and only 2 percent involve more than three.
Fate: What about mothers and young?
Green: Very few reports involved identifiable females, and there are almost none of females carrying small ones. Since higher primates can't travel on their own for years, it seems that females must be careful to avoid places where they might be seen.
Fate: If I pressed you for a definite yes or no with regard to the famous 1924 abduction of Albert Ostman by a family of Sasquatches in British Columbia, which way would you go?
Green: Given only that choice I have to say yes, but with no great assurance. I would reject a story like that today, because the information to fake it is now in circulation, but I came to know Albert Ostman well and heard him questioned by experts in ape anatomy and in cross-examination. I don't think he was lying.
Interview with a Bigfoot Hunter, continued
Fate: What's your feeling about Forest Service patrolman Paul Freeman's 1982 sighting in Oregon, which resulted in Newsweek coverage and Freeman quitting his job, and the reported footprints with dermal ridges?
Green: I would have little reason to question Paul Freeman's story of his original sighting had he not followed it up with an unbelievable number of further claims. As to the dermal ridge evidence, I find it interesting but not conclusive.
Fate: Do you think hoaxers are a lot more sophisticated today?
Green: The most sophisticated hoaxes I know of took place about 20 years ago, but there may well have been better ones since which have not been exposed.
Fate: The 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film was the red-letter event of Bigfoot studies, What's been your best case, minus that one?
Green: There may be a better "best case" than Patterson-Gimlin, namely Glen Thomas' story of Sasquatches digging out and eating hibernating rodents in a rock pile near Estacada, Oregon (in 1967). A great range of behavior was observed with three very different individuals, and hard evidence-a pit in the rocks that neither bear nor human could duplicate-is still there.
Fate: There is now a new generation of scientists who grew up knowing about the Sasquatch question. Might this group be more successful in obtaining funding than past generations?
Green: The negative peer reaction toward scientists doing Sasquatch research has eased a lot in recent years. I think some of them may well be able to get funding soon. Fate: So, do you think the search for the Sasquatch will be wrapped up within your lifetime?
Green: Probably not. I don't have another 40 years.
Fate: Well, if you knew in 1957 the Sasquatch mystery would not be resolved in 1998, would you have gotten involved?
Green: Do I regret becoming involved? No, I don't.
| Bigfoot-What The News Media Won't Tell You
By David Taub
From Unknown Magazine, Winter 2000
Should you be so lucky as to find a magazine or newspaper article about Bigfoot, sometimes referred to as Sasquatch, and you as likely find that it is treated as a joke, you can confidently inform the reporter or editor that the joke is on them for being so ill-informed about this extensively studied subject. Those individuals and organizations who have either exclusively studied Bigfoot, or embraced the study of Bigfoot in the broader subject of "Cryptozoology," include highly qualified scientists, teachers, wildlife officials, law enforcement officers, and technicians. A book titled "The Magic of our Universe-Beyond The Facts" lists a number of such individuals and organizations including:
Peter Byrne, Director of the Bigfoot Research Project (BRP, now defunct) which received grant funding from the Academy of Applied Science in Concord, NH.
Daniel Perez, Director of the Center For Bigfoot Studies (CBS), Norwalk, CA.
Jeff Glickman, Board Certified Forensic Examiner, and Executive Director of the North American Science Institute (NASI)
Dr. Richard Greenwell, cryptozoologist and secretary for the International Society of Cryptozoology, Tuscon, AZ.
Dr. Grover Krantz (deceased), cryptozoologist and professor of Anthropology at Washington State University.
Jeff Meldrum, associate professor of anthropology and anatomy at Idaho State University.
Dr. John Bindernagel, Co-Curator of The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), which is headed up by Matt Moneymaker and maintains a database of all Bigfoot/Sasquatch eyewitness reports and related observations.
Although these various organizations and individuals liase and work with each other with each other to varying degrees, it is the BFRO which is under the spotlight for this article. They have an excellent website (www.bfro.net) and can be emailed at Comments@bfro.net. The BFRO describes itself as "A unique scientific/investigative organization focused on the Bigfoot/Sasquatch mystery." And those who make up this organization include, "Biological scientists, government land management employees, law enforcement officers, and professionals from various backgrounds."
The website is methodically laid out and easy to navigate, tackling all aspects of the subject and dealing with all the obvious questions a novice or skeptic would pose. The frequently asked questions (FAQ's) and points of debate, each have their own heading which includes:
*How could these creatures still be undocumented after all this time?
*Evidence vs. Remains
*Nobody Looks For Bigfoot Remains
*The Roadkill Potential
*Hunter Behavior-hunters don't hunt for these animals.
Some of the in-depth information explained, left me thinking, "Geez! That is so obvious and common-sense, why didn't I think about that?! It also dispelled a number of myths and easily made false assumptions. It is not just the false assumptions that we the general public and mainstream media make, which leads to the easy dismissal of such creatures but also the same flawed assumptions which are frequently made by academia, as BFRO explains: "The common academic attitude is often referred to as the "show me the body" position. The mountain of evidence and testimony is ignored because a specimen hasn't been delivered to academia yet. Very few academics ever consider that physical remains of these animals might be extremely rare and thus unlikely to be found at random. In an era where people are confident that every land animal species has been identified, the idea of an undiscovered great ape species in North America seems absurd. It's challenging for people in this era to realize that only very recently (relative to our history) has civilization adopted a popular presumption that every species has been accounted for. Less than 100 years ago, large animal species were still being "discovered" by western science. Those discoveries usually happened in the context of expeditions to look for unusual animals described by reliable eyewitnesses." Although Native Americans have been aware of the existence of Bigfoot, in particular the tribes of British Columbia who refer to the creature as Sasquatch (Wild Man of the Woods), and the Hoopa tribes of Hoopa Valley, CA, who refer to the creature as Omah (Boss of the Woods), in typical white western dismissive arrogance, their accounts had been given little credence until the past 40 years. This primarily being as a result of the first Associated Press newsline, which picked up on the cast made of several large footprints and nicknamed "Bigfoot" by some workmen on a road in California. Interestingly enough, Teddy Roosevelt described what is quite likely a Bigfoot in his book, The Wilderness Hunter. Ultimately the best evidence is that of the Patterson and Gimlin, 1967 footage, but it still took several more years-the mid 70's before a feature film documentary called "The Mysterious Monsters" showed the Patterson-Gimlin footage. And still, repeated attempts to discredit the footage as a hoax have been, and continue to be made. And that is inspite of extensive study of the footage by cryptozoologist, Dr. Grover Krantz and primate anatomist, Jeff Meldrum. Then, (as documented in Kent Moberg's book, TheMagic of Our Universe) Jeff Meldrum, pointing out details that only an expert in primatology would be able to duplicate states.
Bigfoot-What The News Media Won't Tell you continued
"It's the same way great apes with their thick upper necks have to move when looking back in mid stride." But is this footage the only "evidence" supporting the existence of Bigfoot? One would rightly think not, especially with so many qualified and credentiated individuals continuing their investigations, some who have done so for over thirty years. As the BFRO explains: "There is quite a bit of physical evidence. Tracks, hairs, scats and tree damage are all "physical evidence." People tend to misuse that term (physical evidence) when they really mean physical remains. The assertion that there is absolutely no physical evidence is absolutely false. There is more physical evidence than most people realize. Physical evidence is found every month in various areas across the country. Distinct tracks that do not match each other but no known wild animals, and large scats that could not be made by any known species, are all physical evidence." In spite of all the information presented in this article, the greatest obstacle that the BFRO and similar research organizations have to overcome, is the misperception the general public has of this subject, mostly as a result of the disinformation and ridicule perpetuated by tabloid commercialism. According to the BFRO, "Some of the reports that come in can be honest misinterpretations. Honest people make honest mistakes. If we believe that the person saw something attributed to natural wildlife, etc,. we try to explain this to the persons what they could have seen." Acknowledgements go to Kent Moberg, author of The Magic of our Universe-Beyond the facts, and Ron Schaffner of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. Check out the BFRO website, www.bfro.net for a comrehensive database of authentic sightings of Bigfoot/Sasquatches, related reports, and a large selection of old newspaper clippings reporting back to 1800's. The data base is maintained by the network of Bigfoot researchers, archivists, and investigators in the United States and Canada. If you have an authentic sighting incident to report, or any old news clippings you can mail to them or go to their website to report it. You can also check out Ron Schaffner's own website, Creature Chronicles-Independent Information and wildlife phenomena at http://home.fuse.net/rschaffner/ Bfro is always looking for sponsors and funding. The only way to really discover a specimen or real hard evidence is to be able to hire investigators full time to stay in the forests for a month or two. If you would like to contact them you can go to their website at: www.bfro.net
Or write:
Ron Schaffner
c/o BFRO
P.O. Box 158
Milford, Ohio 45150
| New "Sasquatch" found-It's Called Bigfoot
From The Province newspaper, Monday, Oct. 6, 1958
Author unknown
Eureka, Calif. (AP)-Jerry Crew, a hard-eyed catskinner who bulldozes logging roads for a living, came to town this weekend with a plaster cast of a footprint. The footprint looks human, but it is 16 inches long, seven inches wide, and the great weight of the creature that made it sank the print two inches into the dirt. Crew says an ordinary foot will penetrate that dirt only half an inch. "I've seen hundreds of these footprints in the past few weeks," said Crew. He added he made the cast of a print in dirt he had bulldozed Friday in a logging operation in the forests above Weitchpeg, 50 miles north and a bit east of here in the Klamath River country of northwestern California. Crew said he and his fellow workmen never have seen the creature, but often have had a sense of being watched as they worked in the tall timber. Bigfoot, as the Bluff Creek people call the creature, apparently travels only at night. Crew said he seems fascinated by logging operations, particularly the earth moving that Crew does with his bulldozer in hacking out new logging trails. "Every morning we find his footprints in the fresh earth we've moved the day before," Crew said. Crew said Robert Titmus, a taxidermist from Redding, studied the tracks and said they were not made by any known animals. "And they can't be made by a bear, as there are no claw marks." "The foot has fine stubby toes and the stride averages about 50 inches when he's walking and goes up to 10 feet when he's running. Two years ago reports from this area told of logging camp equipment tumbled about, including full 50-gallon drums of gasoline scattered by some unknown agency.
Sasquatch Hunt Moves From Harrison To Fraser Canyon
Agassiz Folk Examine Cases
By A.C. Milliken, October 29, 1958
From unknown Canadian newspaper
The Sasquatch hunt has now moved from Harrison Lake area to Yale. Last Sunday, Mr. and Mrs. John Green of Agassiz, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Rene Dahinden, visited the Yale area and accompanied by friends from Yale, examined a cave reported to have been the home of a Sasquatch. Mr. Green, who is publisher of the Agassiz Advance, has done considerable research in this connection. His attention was drawn to this area by a news story carried in the Victoria Colonist under the date of July 3, 1884. Briefly, the story reports that a creature, described as half man and half beast, was captured in the vicinity of No. 4 tunnel above Yale. It is described as resembling a human being with but one exception. His entire body is covered with black glossy hair about one inch long, except the hands (or paws) and feet. It possesses extraordinary strength and occasionally utters a noise described as half bark and half growl. The Colonist article gives a dramatic description of the capture including the names of the participants, who have been found to be persons living in Yale at the time, and employed on the railroad construction. All were men of importance and holding responsible positions, one being the engineer in charge. Mr. Green interviewed August Castle, dean of oldtimers in this area. Mr. Castle was a young boy at the time and does not remember the incident but he does have a recollection of hearing later that such a "thing" had been caught. Annie York of Spuzzum was also interviewed. While Miss York does not have the age qualifications to verify the story, her wealth of knowledge of eaerly incidents as told to her by the old people years ago, yielded no clue in this connection. However, Miss York related many stories if reported sighting of Sasquatch at different points in Canyon area. A preliminary investigation of the above mentioned cave leads one to believe that it has been inhabited at one time by some form of life. Some osteological material was found but not sufficient to prove conclusively what it was.
| Believers spellbound by Bigfoot
By Claire Ogilvie, Staff Reporter, May 23, 1993
From The Province newspaper
Meeting draws experts, laymen
At first it looked like a black speck against the snow. It moved rapidly down the mountain and as it came closer it looked like a moose. But through the binoculars the hunters realized it was walking upright. They watched spellbound- the adrenaline just pumps through you when something doesn't make sense-as the creature moved effortlessly through the snow without snowshoes. Or clothing, either. "It was running bare-naked through three feet of snow," the astounded outdoorsman told two dozen Bigfoot believers at a conference at Harrison Hot Springs, in the heart of Sasquatch country. "It was big and black. This creature must have been a minimum of eight feet tall. Was it just casually on a Sunday afternoon stroll? I don't think so. I'll have a mystery in my mind for the rest of my life." The men who spotted the humongous hairy humanoid near Christina Lake, 60 kilometres southwest of Castlegar, last October won't be identified for fear of ridicule-like a lot of other Sasquatch spotters. But believers say you can't discount the thousands of sightings, footprints and even a video. Sasquatch sympathizer John Green, who has been looking for Bigfoot for 40 years from his Harrison home, said: "Reports of this creature come from all over the world and can be traced as far as there are records. Either you've got an animal with feet like this or you have a human conspiracy to manufacture evidence, and it's worldwide and it goes back as far as history. Either explanation is ridiculous but one must be true. It must be an animal, because that is the simplest explanation." Green said Bigfoot can reach 4.5 metres in height and weigh 450 kilograms (1,000 pounds). The hair covering its body is either black, brown or auburn. Its strides are 1.8 to 2.4 metres long. Its footprints are about 60 centimetres long and 20 cm wide and look similar to man's. Author Tom Steenburg of Calgary told the conference that Bigfoot is probably a great ape that migrated across the Bering Sea land bridge tens of thousands of years ago. "What scientists really need to prove this animal exists is a body or a piece of a body." he said. "Nothing else will do."
| On a myth and a footprint
By Stewart Bell, from unknown newspaper
October 23, 1993
Is a hairy, ape-like creature with big feet in the mountains of British Columbia, carefully avoiding scientists and bounty hunters? Three recently released books revolve around this question and the search for the elusive beast that lives in the house of unsolved mysteries along with the Loch Ness Monster, Ogopogo and whoever puts the filling into Cadbury bars. For some reason this seems to be the year of the Sasquatch in the North American publishing world, which leads me to suspect it's been a slow year. Or does someone out there really take Bigfoot seriously enough to publish a 300-page "scientific" study of the issue? Big Footprints: A Scientific Inquiry into the Reality of Sasquatch is an attempt to bring what is so far only a campfire tale into the world of factual science. Although no Sasquatch has ever been captured-dead or alive-and no skeleton has ever been found, Grover Krantz's book painstakingly argues the case for its existence. The book reads like a physics tex, with exhausting detail, diagrams, studies of the posture of Bigfoot and photographs of large footprints. A lighter telling of the Bigfoot legend appears in Sasquatch/Bigfoot: The Search for North America's Incredible Creature,by longtime Sasquatch enthusiast Rene Dahinden and Don Hunter, a columnist with the Vancouver Province. Like Krantz, Dahinden is a believer in Bigfoot, and Hunter seems to lean that way as well. But rather than overwhelming readers with pseudo-scientific "proof" that the creature exists, the authors simply tell the stories of those who claim to have seen it. There is Albert Ostman, who claims that in 1924 he was held captive for a week by four Sasquatches. There is Myles Jack, a member of an Alberta rig crew, who believes he saw a Sasquatch near Dawson Creek in 1987. And there is Roger Patterson, who in 1967 shot a grainy, out-of-focus film of an ape-like animal in Northern California. The book is like a tabloid newspaper. It's entertaining, but only if you temporarily suspend your mental faculties. Thinking too hard about this stuff will take all the fun out of it. Richard Hoyt's Bigfoot, on the other hand, is a mystery novel that uses the Sasquatch as the backdrop for a tale of love and murder. When a real-estate developer offers $100,000 to anyone who can prove that Bigfoot exists, private eye John Denson teams up with a native Indian shaman named Willie Preettybird and a female Russian scientist to claim the prize. It is interesting that of the three books on the topic, Hoyt's work of fiction comes closest to an intelligent examination of the Bigfoot phenomenon. The other two books fail to ask the most important questions" What is it about the Bigfoot mystery that fascinates some people? Why do people believe so strongly in an animal that has never been proven to exist? Is it because of some subconscious desire to hang on to what little mystery remains in the modern, frontierless, scientific world? "The search for the Sasquatch is a lot like looking for the Holy Grail," says Dahinden. "Except it is performed by very unholy people." Perhaps they are not unholy, just confused.
| Foot skin patterns "prove existence of Sasquatch"
By Moira Farrow, from unknown newspaper
October 23, 1982
Skin patterns just like fingerprints are the latest evidence that the Sasquatch is real, a U.S. anthropologist claimed at a press conference here Friday. Dr. Grover Krantz, associate professor of anthropology at Washington State University, earlier this year produced plaster casts and photographs of footprints made by a creature believed to be a Sasquatch. The underside of the feet showed skin patterns, known to scientists as dermal ridges, which Krantz said belong to a higher primate but not an ape or a human. "They come from a higher primate that doesn't exist so we have an interesting problem here," he said. "I think these may be the best set of prints of a Sasquatch ever obtained." Krantz was speaking at a press conference organized by the International Society of Cryptozoology (a group of people interested in "hidden animals") at the University of B.C. He said the footprint casts and photographs were made by the staff of the Walla Walla, Wash., office of the U.S. Forest Service and an Oregon search and rescue volunteer. He said some of the prints are believed to have been made by an ape-like creature seen last June 10 by Forest service employee Paul Freeman near the Washington-Oregon border. Other prints were obtained in the same general area on two subsequent occasions a week or so later. The prints averaged 38 centimetres long and represented two individual creatures each weighing 300 to 350 kilograms, according to Krantz. "All of this, including the sighting of the creature, are relatively routine," said Krantz. "We have over 1,000 cases of Sasquatch sightings and footprints." He said the unusual new evidence are the dermal ridges-fine lines about half a millimetre apart in the skin of the feet. "These are the same kind of ridges you have in our fingerprints," he said. "It is beyond the ability of anyone to fake these ridges." Krantz said he called in a police fingerprint expert who concluded that the prints were not human. And he said the toes (mostly equal in size) were not those of an ape. Krantz said further analysis of the footprints is now being done by police and anthropologists. "The police expert told me that whoever made the tracks had walked barefoot for a long time because some of the ridges are worn," said the professor. "Dermal ridges have never before been seen on footprint casts," said Krantz. He speculated that the creature which made these prints had happened to step into mud "that was right on the point of setting" so making particularly clear prints. He said he has plans to return to the area next summer because his society believes the only way of finally proving the existence of the Sasquatch is to "obtain a specimen." Asked whether he planned to kill one, Krantz said his society has no policy "hunting or not hunting."
| Mrs. Sasquatch filmed in color?
By Tony Eberts, from unknown newspaper
October 25, 1967
The Sasquatch is not dead; it is alive, and living in Northern California-according to a Yakima man who claims to have the first motion pictures of one of the legendary creatures. The film, said to contain a clear, 30-second scene of a hairy female Sasquatch, will be shown at the University of B.C. Thursday night to a select group of Pacific Northwest anthropologists and zoologists. Despite suggestions that many people have been known to go hairy in California, or that the film star may be only a hippie that went too far, amateur photographer Roger Patterson, 34, is convinced he has finally proved existence of wild, furry mountain giants. Don Abbott, an anthropologist with the provincial museum in Victoria, said Tuesday he has some evidence to support the film-plaster casts of huge footprints found in the same California region in September. "I went down there (it's a remote region about 100 miles northeast of Eureka) two months ago and examined many of the footprints," he said. "It's either a highly elaborate hoax, or some of these hairy humanoids exist. Like everyone connected with the provincial museum, I started out completely skeptical; I just laughed at the idea. But now I'm not sure at all. If the idea of Sasquatches weren't so fantastic I'd be prepared to believe it now." Rene Dahinden, another Sasquatch enthusiast of Vancouver and Lumby, has made a plaster cast of what he claims was a giant Sasquatch footprint in Northern California. Contacted at his home in Yakima, Wash., Roger Patterson told The Province the story of his epic film-making trip: "I've been chasing down reports of these creatures for years, and was attracted to the Northern California region by repeated findings of fresh tracks on road projects. Last Friday my companion-Bob Gimlin, a part-Apache fellow who's good at tracking and so on-and I started up an old logging road where a particular lot of big tracks had been seen. Some of the tracks were 17 inches long. We rode horses, and I had a 16-millimetre movie camera in my saddlebag. We both had high-powered rifles, but we agreed that if we found a Sasquatch we wouldn't shoot unless we absolutely had to. About 1:30 in the afternoon, as we rounded a bend in the road, we saw the creature. My horse reared, and then fell as I tried to control it. But I got the camera out and yelled to Bob to cover me with his rifle while I tried for pictures. The thing was across the creek beside the road, about 50 yards away. I ran down to the creek and got on a high sandbar to film it. It was obviously a female, for although it was covered with hair you could see it had large breasts. It stood about six feet tall, maybe more, and was very broad. We figured the weight at somewhere between 350 and 400 pounds. She stood there for maybe half a minute and then started walking away, still upright. She crossed the creek, got back on the logging road up ahead and moved out of sight. Bob started to follow on his horse, but I called him back. The tracks we'd seen earlier indicated she was part of a family group, and that could be dangerous. I was shaking quite a bit, so the film isn't too steady, but it shows the thing clearly. I've believed they existed for a long time, just from talking to many eye-witnesses. Now there's no doubt at all." Patterson, who said he makes his living devising farm machinery improvements, hopes to get up a full-scale Sasquatch safari soon, with a view to capturing one of the creatures. It isn't a new idea for B.C., where various such expeditions have been attempted with a notable lack of success. But Patterson is pinning his hopes on the tangible evidence of 16-millimetre movie film, in color. "If the film convinces the experts at UBC Thursday night," he said, :there'll be no stopping me." There have been scores of Sasquatch reports and sightings in B.C. over the years, with most of the tales emanating from the Harrison Lake area. John Green of Harrison, a B.C. Sasquatch expert and newspaper editor, said he had already seen the film. "It's definitely a film of a Sasquatch," he said. "I don't believe it can possibly be a fake." Green said he has seen many Sasquatch footprints in Northern California and the Harrison area, up to 17 inches long. "Anyone who has had a good look at these prints doesn't go away believing there is nothing to it," he said. Green added that scientists have been reluctant to investigate the subject for fear of their reputations. "We have succeeded in deluding ourselves that these creatures don't exist." He seriously believes a Sasquatch can be captured if there is a concerted effort. "Up to now the subject hasn't been taken seriously," he said.
Sasquatches Really Exist, It Says Here
Author Unknown, from unknown newspaper
January 12, 1968
Vancouver, B.C. (AP)-John Green, a weekly newspaper editor, and Rene Dahinden, a lead salvager, said yesterday they have bought the Canadian rights of a 60-second film clip said to show an abominable snow woman, or Sasquatch. They said they bought the film, which Roger Patterson of Yaima, Wash., said he made in Northern California last fall, for $1,500. The pair said they intended to use the film in a one-hour movie they are making in hopes of proving Sasquatches do exist on the West Coast. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment