Talking Jerry Crew with Willow
Creek's Bigfoot Ambassador...
An October Visit with Al Hodgson
by Tom Yamarone
I had just spent 4 days in the Bluff Creek
backcountry with my good friend, Robert
Leiterman and we had nothing to show for our
stay but a couple of casts of bear tracks. It
was all quiet in the Six Rivers National Forest
that weekend, but that's how it goes
sometimes. We stopped in Willow Creek,
California on our way home and decided to
give Al Hodgson a call.
Al has been around those parts all his life and
ran the general store in town. He was there
when Jerry Crew brought out that first bigfoot
cast and, as is common in any small town,
knew of the activities taking place after that.
Tom Slick's Pacific Northwest Expedition
came to the area for a couple of years and
bigfoot enthusiasts were commonplace
throughout the 1960s. Betty Allen asked him
to drive her up to the Bluff Creek area so that
she could see the tracks first-hand. Roger
Patterson and Bob Gimlin stopped by his store
to tell him the news of their film in October
1967. Of course they did! It was Al Hodgson
who had called Roger Patterson and left the
message that tracks were being found at that
time up on Bluff Creek.
Most recently, Al was instrumental in the
acquisition of the Bob Titmus collection and
the Bigfoot Collection addition to the Willow
Creek-China Flat Museum in 2000. He also
was the local coordinator for the International
Bigfoot Symposium in 2003. He's always
been friendly and accessible to bigfoot
enthusiasts coming through the area. His
association with the museum makes him a
“clearinghouse” for reports and sightings in
the area and he's an invaluable resource for
just such information.
When we spoke with him at his home on
October 17, 2005, he was overly modest about
his role in the bigfoot events of the area. This
is due, in part, to his initial reluctance to jump
on the bigfoot bandwagon. But ask anyone
who's been through Willow Creek over the
years and they'll tell you they sought out Al
Hodgson - even Patterson and Gimlin. I had
the opportunity to play two of my bigfoot
songs for him that morning and, fortunately,
chose just the right ones - “Roger and Bob
(Rode Out That Day)” and my newest
composition “Jerry Crew (He Knew What To
Do)”. He appreciated the songs and the fact
that they dealt with the subject without the
usual sarcasm making light of the bigfoot
phenomenon.. As I said, I chose just the right
songs. I did leave him a CD, so maybe by
now, he's onto me!
He began to talk with us about Jerry Crew
and what he remembered about that time. He
knew Jerry Crew very well and had stayed in
touch with his widow until she passed away
last year. I had been working that song for
the past year with my friend Jimbo “Bobo”
Fay and I've yet to record it. The first thing
out of Al's mouth upon hearing that was,
“I wish Jerry's widow could have heard this
song - she would have loved it.” From there,
he went on to tell us what he knew of the
events surrounding that event. We asked his
permission to video tape the discussion and
I'll now refer to the transcript of that tape.
Al Hodgson (Al): I didn't know all of the
story until, when? I'm not sure. I didn't
always know all the story. When he got that
cast up there, there was two other people
with him.
Tom Yamarone (Tom):(interrupts Al) Was
it on a day they were working or did he go
back up?
Al: They went up on a Saturday. There was
three of them - Jerry Crew, J.Q. Hunter and
Jess Passel. The three of them went up there on
a Saturday and found the tracks, but they didn't
take any plaster with them. They didn't take
nothing. Well, they come back to Willow
Creek to get plaster of Paris but it was too late
to go back up there. So they got the plaster of
Paris and they went back Sunday, so only two
of them went back on Sunday. Jess and Jerry -
the other was a pastor. J.Q. Hunter is still alive
but he doesn't want to talk about it. Jess was
killed in an accident out of Bend, Oregon a
few years ago…quite a few years ago, and his
widow, I think Jess' widow is still alive…I
don't know. Anyhow, Jerry's widow lived over
in Susanville and I communicated with her
quite a bit and she was going to try to make it
Jerry Crew's cast launched the name "Bigfoot".

to the symposium but she wasn't feeling well
so she didn't come over. And she died about a
year ago from cancer…her husband died the
same way.
Tom: Wow. And where was he (Jerry Crew)
living at that time? Was he a Willow Creek
resident?
Al: Oh yeah. Fact is, he lived out at the Susie
Q. Actually, it's almost to Hawkins Bar.
There's a big house on the left they call the
Susie Q and he lived there. He had a school
bus and he picked up kids (on Sunday and
drove them to a place where there) was a
Christian education (program).
Tom: They say when they write about Jerry
Crew, they say he was an active member of the
Christian community…that he was a pastor.
Al: He was a member of the Willow Creek
Bible Church. It's the same Church now just
with a different name. And Jerry was an active
member. I knew him well. And the thing is that
I never talked to him about it. I kick myself all
the time. And it was just a case where I didn't
believe.
Tom: Did he go around talking about it?
Al: No.
Tom: He didn't go showing his cast around
town…?
Al: No. It was known (around town)…fact is,
the cast was taken to Bob Titmus and he made
copies of it and they sold them around town
here. I wouldn't buy one (everyone chuckles)
No lie. I told him it was a hoax and I wasn't
going to have anything to do with it.
Tom: We know that Ray Wallace and his
family were eventually hoaxing. But what I'm
interested in was how soon after (Jerry's find)
were people coming in with track finds?
Al: Well, it was shortly right after that that
they started the Tom Slick expedition.
Actually, the cast that Jerry and those guys
made and it got in that paper, there the ones
that got this whole ball rolling. And of
course, Tom Slick came in and got this
expedition together with a bunch of guys that
never should have been together (chuckles).
I mean, John Green, Bob Titmus, and Rene
and uh, I always called him the great white
hunter…(Peter Byrne) yeah, Peter Byrne and
they actually put this all together down there
at the Bigfoot Motel.
Tom: Did you meet them at that time? Did
they come by the store for grub?
Al: (Shakes his head 'no'…) I knew they were
there but I didn't meet John Green…I didn't
meet any of them. I guess I knew Peter Byrne
more than anybody else and I didn't know
him and I didn't “know him” - I knew he was
here. I'd see him walk by the store. His
brother was here with him - I can' t remember
his brother's name - and he was a nice guy.
Anyway that's where it all started there and
got all the publicity going. And that's when
this lady from across the river - Betty Allen -
talked me into going up to see the tracks and
I said, “OK.” I withstood going all this time
and she said, “You know there's tracks and
they're trying to preserve them for us (his
hands demonstrate covering them with pieces
of bark) and she said, “Will you take me up?”
And of course she didn't like to go up by
herself so she talked us into (going) - Frances
(Al's wife) and I and the two boys who were
small at the time - and Betty Allen and her
cousin. And we all found the tracks that were
covered up with bark and we made some
casts.
Robert Leiterman: That's the one you sell at
the museum, right?
Al: No that's not the one. The one they sell at
the museum is the one I made at Bluff Creek.
They insisted that they knew I was coming
and they made these tracks.
Tom: was your cast from near Tish Tang
Creek?
Al: No it was from Louse Camp near Notice
Creek. But you know what we're hearing
today. We're hearing more actual sightings
than we hear about tracks. (end of transcript)
Like I said, this was not a formal interview,
but rather just a discussion we had that
morning with Al Hodgson. I got his permission
to share this with you all because I think it's
moments like these that have made bigfooting
so special to me - moments that reveal the true
down-to-earth nature of some of the people
involved in this search. Well, that's it for this
month. I'll look forward to sharing the song
lyrics to “Jerry Crew” and other tidbits I can
dig up for next month's newsletter. It's the
slow time of year “in the field” due to the
holidays and the need to put family first.
Please feel free to share with us any field
information you might have!