Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Sasquatch Triangle Tonight...
Don's guest will be Mike Frizzell of the Enigma Project ( http://www.enigmaproject.org ) The show starts at 9:00 EST/8:00 Central and can be found at the link to the right. As always, we encorage you to please tune in and support great research.
Links on this Sunday's guests, John and Montra Freitas
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/12/22/footage_of_possible_.html
http://www.rense.com/general69/bgft.htm
http://bfro.net/GDB/show_article.asp?id=6
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/01/24/SC86886.DTL
http://www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/freitas.htm
Just say So-no-no-ma
http://www.tracone.com/the_unexplained/bigfoot_sasquatch_sightings/california_six_rivers_national_forest_bigfoot_screams_january_24_1999.htm
http://www.rfthomas.clara.net/news/searching.html
http://www.bfro.net/leiterman/stigmata.htm
http://www.tracone.com/the_unexplained/bigfoot_sasquatch_sightings/california_mud_springs_bigfoot_scares_up_believers_october_30_1999.htm
http://www.sasquatchonline.com/content/view/39/29/
http://www.farshores.org/bfoot17.htm
http://www.oregonbigfoot.com/journal/mns1.html
http://www.rense.com/general69/bgft.htm
http://bfro.net/GDB/show_article.asp?id=6
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/01/24/SC86886.DTL
http://www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/freitas.htm
Just say So-no-no-ma
http://www.tracone.com/the_unexplained/bigfoot_sasquatch_sightings/california_six_rivers_national_forest_bigfoot_screams_january_24_1999.htm
http://www.rfthomas.clara.net/news/searching.html
http://www.bfro.net/leiterman/stigmata.htm
http://www.tracone.com/the_unexplained/bigfoot_sasquatch_sightings/california_mud_springs_bigfoot_scares_up_believers_october_30_1999.htm
http://www.sasquatchonline.com/content/view/39/29/
http://www.farshores.org/bfoot17.htm
http://www.oregonbigfoot.com/journal/mns1.html
Bio On John and Montra Freitas
Bluenorth.com is the website of veteran bigfoot researchers, John & Montra Freitas. It is their goal to investigate, prove or disprove the existence of undocumented creatures, delve into and record unexplained phenomena, and inevitably, find the truth. For years these explorers into the unknown have witnessed and experienced phenomenal activity while conducting expeditions and field training. With techniques developed by John in the early 1990's, along with multiple lures, pheromone chips and the assistance of like-minded and sane researches, John and Montra continue to seek scientific proof of the elusive creatures in the darkest regions of remote forests. Come along and face your fears with the BlueNorth team as they walk stealthily into the shadows...
Let's Talk Bigfoot Tonight...
Melissa and Teresa's guest will be Dan (known as SquatchCommando on Bigfoot Forums) at 10:00 EST/9:00 Central at http://www.letstalkbigfoot.com Please tune in and support great research.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Review: Squatch Detective Radio 7-30-07/New Blog on the 40th Anniversary of the P/G Movie
This was a great show, with filmmaker Pat Holdbrook (Bigfoot: An Encounter With Reality) who discussed his project, as well as the Patterson/Gimlin Movie, along with sightings and habituation reports. Don Keating and I called in, as well as Billy bringing Bill Green on to discuss the latest in Bigfoot. I asked Steve and Billy if they had ever been to an area with no history of reports, but yet looked "Squatchy". I told of going through East Mississippi last weekend, in Sunflower, Leflore and Tallahatchie Counties and seeing isolated, wooded areas with a lot of water resources and food sources. It was a wonderful show, full of great info. Next Monday, Steve and Billy will have William Dranginis of Virginia to discuss technology in the world of Bigfoot research. That show starts at 9:00 EST/8:00 Central and can be found at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TheSquatchDetective As always, please tune in and support great research.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have established a new blog about the Patterson/Gimlin Movie celebrating the 40th Anniversary. It is located at http://40thanniversaryofpatty.blogspot.com/ Hope you all enjoy it and visit it often.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have established a new blog about the Patterson/Gimlin Movie celebrating the 40th Anniversary. It is located at http://40thanniversaryofpatty.blogspot.com/ Hope you all enjoy it and visit it often.
The Last Few Posts are courtesy of the Bigfoot Discovery Project Newsletter
Mythbusters TV Ad “Controversy”
The following is a blog reprinted from our
new blogsite called “Confessions of a Bigfoot
Junkie.” (http://hairybiped.blogspot.com)
Thereʼs a major ripple going through the
bigfoot community (people who try to keep
track of the latest BF knowledge) caused by
the Mythbusters promo that's currently being
aired on TV. Youʼve probably seen it... a guy
in a sasquatch suit speaking with a French
Canadian accent reporting that no myth is safe
(including him.) In case you havenʼt seen it:
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/
videogalleries/promo_02.html?clik=fsmain_b
annerleft
The BFRO contends that the Mythbusters will
NOT attempt to debunk bigfoot, but they are
shamelessly furthering another myth with the
promo - the myth that bigfoot has been proven
to be a hoax. The program centers on two
Hollywood special FX types who systematically
test various myths or apocryphal tales by
using technology and scientific experiments
that either debunk or authenticate the “myth”
of the week. They pretty much stay away from
tales involving animal sightings because itʼs
pretty difficult to prove a negative. (And even
if a particular photo of Nessie or Bigfoot is
proven fake, the existence of the animal
remains possible.)
But in the case of bigfoot evidence, there IS a
current myth that has been perpetrated by a
number of individuals via the sloppy work of
the media. The fact is that the Patterson/Gimlin
Film has never been debunked, even though a
number of pretenders have made claims to the
contrary, and the press has been remiss in
pointing this out. This is the single best piece
of evidence for bigfoot and it is this footage
(along with hundreds of footprints) that has
gotten science to take a second look at the
subject of sasquatch.
So hereʼs a challenge to the Mythbusters that
is “well suited” to their techniques (pun
intended). All they have to do is get a 1967
vintage gorilla suit and attempt to “recreate”
the P/G Film by modifying the costume
utilizing Pattersonʼs skill set and the tools and
techniques available to him at the time the
film was shot. (Donʼt make a state-of-the-art
2006 Bigfoot suit and have a guy walk with
an exaggerated arm swing and say thatʼs a
match.) When they try to recreate what
Patterson is supposed to have done 38 years
ago, and fail, theyʼll put an end to the “Itʼs a
man in a suit” myth once and for all. Whatʼs
more, with a tiny bit of research they can
easily come up with evidence to debunk the
Wallace and Chambers claims as well.
Ronald McDonald and Bigfoot
McDonaldʼs Corp. has launched a group of
quirky TV commercials that will hopefully
make mascot Ronald McDonald appear more
“hip” in an attempt to target the 20-something
market. Since that age group has fewer big
expenses, they have more willingness to try
new products with their disposable income.
In the McDonaldʼs commercials, a variety
of characters encounter a plastic statue of
Ronald McDonald sitting on a park bench. In
one version of the commercial, Bigfoot finds
the bench in his forest and mimics Ronaldʼs
position. A man in a hamster costume tells the
plastic Ronald what a great football mascot a
hamster would make in another ad.
McDonaldʼs USA Chief Creative Officer
Marlena Peleo-Lazar, says the ads aim to
appeal to consumersʼ emotional attachment to
Ronald while also expressing “hipness.”
“(Ronald) is cool,” Peleo-Lazar said. “By
putting him into these things ... we just widen
the berth of his coolness.”
The following is a blog reprinted from our
new blogsite called “Confessions of a Bigfoot
Junkie.” (http://hairybiped.blogspot.com)
Thereʼs a major ripple going through the
bigfoot community (people who try to keep
track of the latest BF knowledge) caused by
the Mythbusters promo that's currently being
aired on TV. Youʼve probably seen it... a guy
in a sasquatch suit speaking with a French
Canadian accent reporting that no myth is safe
(including him.) In case you havenʼt seen it:
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/
videogalleries/promo_02.html?clik=fsmain_b
annerleft
The BFRO contends that the Mythbusters will
NOT attempt to debunk bigfoot, but they are
shamelessly furthering another myth with the
promo - the myth that bigfoot has been proven
to be a hoax. The program centers on two
Hollywood special FX types who systematically
test various myths or apocryphal tales by
using technology and scientific experiments
that either debunk or authenticate the “myth”
of the week. They pretty much stay away from
tales involving animal sightings because itʼs
pretty difficult to prove a negative. (And even
if a particular photo of Nessie or Bigfoot is
proven fake, the existence of the animal
remains possible.)
But in the case of bigfoot evidence, there IS a
current myth that has been perpetrated by a
number of individuals via the sloppy work of
the media. The fact is that the Patterson/Gimlin
Film has never been debunked, even though a
number of pretenders have made claims to the
contrary, and the press has been remiss in
pointing this out. This is the single best piece
of evidence for bigfoot and it is this footage
(along with hundreds of footprints) that has
gotten science to take a second look at the
subject of sasquatch.
So hereʼs a challenge to the Mythbusters that
is “well suited” to their techniques (pun
intended). All they have to do is get a 1967
vintage gorilla suit and attempt to “recreate”
the P/G Film by modifying the costume
utilizing Pattersonʼs skill set and the tools and
techniques available to him at the time the
film was shot. (Donʼt make a state-of-the-art
2006 Bigfoot suit and have a guy walk with
an exaggerated arm swing and say thatʼs a
match.) When they try to recreate what
Patterson is supposed to have done 38 years
ago, and fail, theyʼll put an end to the “Itʼs a
man in a suit” myth once and for all. Whatʼs
more, with a tiny bit of research they can
easily come up with evidence to debunk the
Wallace and Chambers claims as well.
Ronald McDonald and Bigfoot
McDonaldʼs Corp. has launched a group of
quirky TV commercials that will hopefully
make mascot Ronald McDonald appear more
“hip” in an attempt to target the 20-something
market. Since that age group has fewer big
expenses, they have more willingness to try
new products with their disposable income.
In the McDonaldʼs commercials, a variety
of characters encounter a plastic statue of
Ronald McDonald sitting on a park bench. In
one version of the commercial, Bigfoot finds
the bench in his forest and mimics Ronaldʼs
position. A man in a hamster costume tells the
plastic Ronald what a great football mascot a
hamster would make in another ad.
McDonaldʼs USA Chief Creative Officer
Marlena Peleo-Lazar, says the ads aim to
appeal to consumersʼ emotional attachment to
Ronald while also expressing “hipness.”
“(Ronald) is cool,” Peleo-Lazar said. “By
putting him into these things ... we just widen
the berth of his coolness.”
Christmas Came
Early This Year
Over the River and
Through the Woods…
to John Green’s
House We Go
By Tom Yamarone
John Green is a great inspiration to
me…Heʼs the reason Iʼm out looking for
bigfoot…Heʼs the reason I attended the
International Bigfoot Symposium in
Willow Creek, California in 2003 –
apivotal event in a personal journey. So,
when the email came across asking if
Iʼd like to join a group of folks planning
on a Saturday visit with John Green, the
decision did not take too long. “Carpe
diem,” was all I thought.
Iʼd like to share some of the moments
from this trip in words and photographs.
It was quite a large group that made this
trip, so there wasnʼt a whole lot of 1 on 1
time with John Green. On the other hand,
this wasnʼt a trip made with any
intentions other than to talk bigfoot, visit
with friends and spend the afternoon
together. The people making this journey
are a group of researchers who are active in
the state of Washington. I met some of
them on the BFRO Olympic Peninsula
Expedition in August 2004. We met up
again at the Sasquatch Research Conference
in Bellingham, WA last May as well.
Bob Gimlin will be joining the group for
this trip and I was excited to get to spend
the weekend with him again.
December 2, 2005
The group meets in the Seattle suburbs
and begins the 3 hour trip north to
Canada. The backroads out of Bellingham,
WA are very scenic. Snow covered the
terrain on this day in stark contrast to the
verdant green I experienced here last May.
Our caravan snaked along the state
highways leading to Mount Baker and
then veered north towards the border. We
arrived in the Fraser Valley after dark and
had dinner in Harrison Hot Springs. The
Sasquatch Store was closed, but we knew
weʼd make a stop there the next day. We
all retired to our bed and breakfast and
watched bigfoot documentaries in the
home theater well into the night.
December 3, 2005
We arrived at the home of John Green just
after 10 am and were greeted by John, his
wife June and their friend and fellow
researcher Thomas Steenburg. It took a
while for introductions to be made and to
settle in, but soon the group of 14 was
down in the garage/basement looking over
the reverse copy of the Skookum cast.
Richard Noll works closely with John on
several projects relating to this lower body
impression and also the Patterson-Gimlin
film. We stood around and talked about
the importance of this cast as well as other
topics. John shared his stories and was
very amiable about answering the groupʼs
many questions.
Above: Provincial forest road in Sasquatch Provincial
Park, British Columbia
Below: 17 inch tracks found near the Skeena River
in British Columbia by Bob Titmus, 1977
Right: Tom Yamarone and Thomas Steenburg
2
We gathered again around the warmth of
the wood-burning stove and I played a
couple of songs. It was special to share my
latest song, “John Green” with the group.
The subject of the song had some
recommendations for “lyrical modifications”
—and that was great to hear.
We then got a chance to look at a small
portion of his footprint cast collection.
Each had a very descriptive paragraph
written on the back of the cast. (Note to
self and other researchers: this is a good
practice.)
Later in the day, we took a drive to
Sasquatch Provincial Park. The stark
scenery was beautiful – I canʼt imagine
what it would look like in summer. The
area surrounding Harrison Hot Springs
would seem to be prime habitat for the
sasquatch even today. Dramatic, forested
mountains rise sharply from the broad
valley floor. Within a short time one can
be well into the forest outside of town.
Our day included lunch at a nearby tavern,
a short stop by the Sasquatch Store for
some souvenirs and dinner in town. It
was well worth the trip and I would
recommend Harrison Hot Springs, British
Columbia as a destination for anyone
interested in the bigfoot phenomenon.
There are many interesting historical areas
nearby that we didnʼt get a chance to see
in our short, weekend visit including Yale,
BC (site of the “Jacko” story) and Ruby
Creek, site of a famous 1940s incident.
There is an excellent interview with John
Green at the website of my friend Gerry
Matthews.( http://www.westcoast-sasquatch.
com/ ) Check it out! GCʼs
interview with John Green…on the right
when youʼre at the main page.
I hope you enjoyed the photos and notes
from this special, pre-holiday trip…my
present to you all. Hereʼs to a productive
and eventful New Year 2006!
Early This Year
Over the River and
Through the Woods…
to John Green’s
House We Go
By Tom Yamarone
John Green is a great inspiration to
me…Heʼs the reason Iʼm out looking for
bigfoot…Heʼs the reason I attended the
International Bigfoot Symposium in
Willow Creek, California in 2003 –
apivotal event in a personal journey. So,
when the email came across asking if
Iʼd like to join a group of folks planning
on a Saturday visit with John Green, the
decision did not take too long. “Carpe
diem,” was all I thought.
Iʼd like to share some of the moments
from this trip in words and photographs.
It was quite a large group that made this
trip, so there wasnʼt a whole lot of 1 on 1
time with John Green. On the other hand,
this wasnʼt a trip made with any
intentions other than to talk bigfoot, visit
with friends and spend the afternoon
together. The people making this journey
are a group of researchers who are active in
the state of Washington. I met some of
them on the BFRO Olympic Peninsula
Expedition in August 2004. We met up
again at the Sasquatch Research Conference
in Bellingham, WA last May as well.
Bob Gimlin will be joining the group for
this trip and I was excited to get to spend
the weekend with him again.
December 2, 2005
The group meets in the Seattle suburbs
and begins the 3 hour trip north to
Canada. The backroads out of Bellingham,
WA are very scenic. Snow covered the
terrain on this day in stark contrast to the
verdant green I experienced here last May.
Our caravan snaked along the state
highways leading to Mount Baker and
then veered north towards the border. We
arrived in the Fraser Valley after dark and
had dinner in Harrison Hot Springs. The
Sasquatch Store was closed, but we knew
weʼd make a stop there the next day. We
all retired to our bed and breakfast and
watched bigfoot documentaries in the
home theater well into the night.
December 3, 2005
We arrived at the home of John Green just
after 10 am and were greeted by John, his
wife June and their friend and fellow
researcher Thomas Steenburg. It took a
while for introductions to be made and to
settle in, but soon the group of 14 was
down in the garage/basement looking over
the reverse copy of the Skookum cast.
Richard Noll works closely with John on
several projects relating to this lower body
impression and also the Patterson-Gimlin
film. We stood around and talked about
the importance of this cast as well as other
topics. John shared his stories and was
very amiable about answering the groupʼs
many questions.
Above: Provincial forest road in Sasquatch Provincial
Park, British Columbia
Below: 17 inch tracks found near the Skeena River
in British Columbia by Bob Titmus, 1977
Right: Tom Yamarone and Thomas Steenburg
2
We gathered again around the warmth of
the wood-burning stove and I played a
couple of songs. It was special to share my
latest song, “John Green” with the group.
The subject of the song had some
recommendations for “lyrical modifications”
—and that was great to hear.
We then got a chance to look at a small
portion of his footprint cast collection.
Each had a very descriptive paragraph
written on the back of the cast. (Note to
self and other researchers: this is a good
practice.)
Later in the day, we took a drive to
Sasquatch Provincial Park. The stark
scenery was beautiful – I canʼt imagine
what it would look like in summer. The
area surrounding Harrison Hot Springs
would seem to be prime habitat for the
sasquatch even today. Dramatic, forested
mountains rise sharply from the broad
valley floor. Within a short time one can
be well into the forest outside of town.
Our day included lunch at a nearby tavern,
a short stop by the Sasquatch Store for
some souvenirs and dinner in town. It
was well worth the trip and I would
recommend Harrison Hot Springs, British
Columbia as a destination for anyone
interested in the bigfoot phenomenon.
There are many interesting historical areas
nearby that we didnʼt get a chance to see
in our short, weekend visit including Yale,
BC (site of the “Jacko” story) and Ruby
Creek, site of a famous 1940s incident.
There is an excellent interview with John
Green at the website of my friend Gerry
Matthews.( http://www.westcoast-sasquatch.
com/ ) Check it out! GCʼs
interview with John Green…on the right
when youʼre at the main page.
I hope you enjoyed the photos and notes
from this special, pre-holiday trip…my
present to you all. Hereʼs to a productive
and eventful New Year 2006!
A Look Back in Time...
Bigfoot Stories from the
Historical Archives
By Tom Yamarone
As the year comes to an end and the
field research I participate in is on the
back-burner due to the holidays, family
time and conditions that make the
mountains inaccessible, itʼs a good time
to just relax, recharge your batteries and
enjoy a good story. Iʼm fortunate to have
a copy of “Big News Prints” by Scott
McClean. Scott has found newspaper
articles in an on-line archive that include
references to hairy, man-like creatures. He
has shared these fascinating accounts for
over a year on the internet at bigfootforums.
com in a thread entitled, “Historical
Archives” (in the Media section and the
subsection of “Newspaper Articles” for
those familiar with this website.) Earlier
this year, he assembled these stories into
a hard-copy volume in which they are
presented chronologically and sorted by
the state (in the U.S.) and nation in
which they occur.
Scott has invested hours of research into
this project and continues to collect stories
as the archives are updated. He has placed
“Big News Prints” onto a CD in the PDF
format and is offering it to the public for
the modest sum of $20. To obtain a copy,
go to McClean.org – itʼs a “must-have”
for anyone interested in this topic.
I want to share with you a few of the
stories from California. There are the
“classics” that we know about from
John Greenʼs books. The 1870 Antioch
Ledger article details a man hunting in
the region between the Pacheco Pass and
Mt. Hamilton and having his campfire
disturbed while away from camp. He
eventually hides and observes two bigfoot
creatures that enter his camp “play” with
the logs of his campfire. Itʼs a fascinating
account. The other two classics from our
state are the Jerry Crew front page article
from 1958 and the October 21, 1967
article about the famous Patterson-Gimlin
film event entitled “They Filmed Mrs.
Bigfoot.” These wonʼt be reprinted in
this issue.
Upon conferring with Scott, he suggested
the following articles. The first is
an 1891 account from the Woodland Daily
Democrat. Woodland lies in the western
Sacramento Valley. Scott expressed the
following observations about this piece:
“I think that one is important because it
mentions the men actually witnessing
really interesting behavior first hand!
He says they watched the thing rip up
and break trees-brandishing a 5 inch
sapling like a club (confirms tree twists
and crude tool use), actually make screaming
noises (confirms that Sasquatch makes
the noises), seeing it standing up in a
tree, eating game, running on all fours,
and beating itʼs chest with itʼs fists! He
then describes it standing slightly bent
over (matches most descriptions), itʼs
general features and muscle structure. All
in all a very detailed account. Anyway, I
think itʼs important and unknown for the
most part.”
Wo o d l an d D aily D e mo c r at
Thursday Evening, April 9, 1891
“What Is It?
- An Unheard of Monstrosity Seen in
the Woods Above Rumsey”
Mr. Smith, a well known citizen of
Northern Capay Valley, called upon us
today and tells us the following strange
story which we would be loth (sic) to
believe if it were not for the fact that he is
an old acquaintance of this office, and has
always borne a spotless reputation. Several
days ago, Mr. Smith together with a party
of hunters, were above Rumsey huntlog
(sic). One morning Mr. Smith started out
early in quest of game, he had not gone far
when his attention was attracted by a
peculiar noise that seemed to come from an
oak tree that stood near by. Looking up Mr.
Smith was startled to see gazing at him
what was apparently a man clothed in a
suit of shaggy fur. Having heard of wild
men, Mr. (sic) he naturally placed upon his
guard, but thinking that he would see
“what virture (sic) there was in kindness,”
he called to the supposed man to come
down, as he was filled with nothing but the
kindest motives. This speech did not have
the desired effect, rather the opposite, for
the strange thing gave grunts of
unmistakable anger. Believing that
discretion was the better part of valor, our
informant stood not upon the order of his
going, but went at once in a bee-line for the
camp. After placing some distance between
himself and the strange creature, the hunter
turned around just in time to see it descent
the tree. Upon reaching the ground, instead
of standing upright as a man would, it
commenced to trot along the ground as a
dog or any other animal would do.
Smith then realized that it was no
hermit he had see, but some kind of
monstrosity, such as he had never heard of,
much less seen before. The hunter stood
amazed and spell-bound for a moment, but
soon gathered his scattered senses again
and was soon making his best speed to
camp, where in a few breathless words,
was telling his companions of what he had
seen.
They were disposed to laugh at him at
first, but his sincereness (sic) of manner and
his blanched cheeks soon proved to them
that he had seen something out of the usual
order of things.
A hasty council was held, and the party
decided to go in search of the monster, so
taking their guns and dogs they were
piloted by Mr. Smith to whom they soon
2
came in sight of the unnamed animal. In the
meantime it had commenced to devour the
contents of Mr. Smith’s game bag that he
had dropped in his hasty retreat. The
creature would plunge its long arms or legs
into the bag and pulling forth the small
game that was in it, transferred it to its
mouth in a most disgusting manner. An
effort was made to set the dogs upon it, but
they crouched at their masters heels and
gave vent to the most piteous whine.
The whines attracted the attention of the
nondescript, and it commenced to make the
most unearthly yells and screams, at the
same time fleeing to the undergrowth, some
half a mile distant, upon which the whole
party immediately gave chase. They soon
gained upon the strange beast, and it, seeing
that such was the case, suddenly turned ,
and sitting upon its haunchs (sic),
commenced to beat its breast with its hairy
fists. It would break off great branches of
trees that were around it, and snap them as
easily as if they had been so many
toothpicks. Once it pulled up a sapling five
inches through at the base, and snapping it
in twain, brandished the lower part over its
head, much after the same manner a man
would sling a club. The hunters seeing that
they had a creature with the strength of a
gorilla to contend with, beat a hasty retreat
to camp which soon broke up, fearing a visit
from their chance acquaintance.
Mr. Smith describes the animal as being
about six feet high when standing, which it
did not do perfectly but bent over, after the
manner of a bear. Its head was very much
like that of a human being. The trapezie (sic)
muscles were very thick and aided much in
giving the animal its brutal look. The brow
was low and contracted, while the eyes
were deep set, giving it a wicked look. It
was covered with long shaggy hair, except
the head, where the hair was black and
curly.
Mr. Smith says that of late sheep and
hogs to a considerable extent have
disappeared in his vicinity and their
disappearance can be traced to the hiding
place of the “What Is It.” Among those who
have suffered are Henry Sharp, Jordan
Sumner, Herman Laird and J.C. Trendle.
Here is a chance for some energetic
young man to start a dime museum and
acquire a fortune within a very few years.
Anyone wishing to learn more about this
peculiar monstrosity can do so by calling on
our informant who will no doubt take a
delight in piloting them to the dangerous
vicinity of the late scene of action.
The second article suggested is one of a
strange scream heard in Yosemite National
Park two years prior to the Jerry Crew
incident.
The scream followed by the moan and then
the crashing of the brush…unusual indeed!
It kept them up by the fire and Iʼm sure it
would have the same effect today on any of
us. Hopefully, someone in camp would
have recorded the sounds.
Yes, these stories from the past show us
that mysterious, hair-covered entities have
been written about since the pioneer days.
Native tribes have their own stories and
names for these creatures. The stories
contained in “Big News Prints” by Scott
McClean are interesting and thought
provoking. I hope you enjoyed them. Keep
on the track and weʼll see you next year!
M E D I A / P O P C U L T U R E
Look! In Mentor! Bigfoot!
by Curt W. Olson
COlson@News-Herald.com
July 2005, Mentor, OH-- Area native Bob Gray
set to debut low-budget film starring many local
residents at Mentor Lagoons Marina.
Bigfoot is known to have a home in the
Mentor Marsh.It will soon be seen in the
Mentor Lagoons. The world premiere of Gray's
new "Bigfoot" movie will be shown outdoors
beginning at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Mentor
Lagoons Marina."It's our gift to the city," Gray
said of the first showing of the movie that was
made on a low budget and has a cast of many
area residents. (We have the movie in the museum)
The fun for area residents and fans of "Bigfoot"
will begin much earlier Friday when actors and
actresses attend the movie's premiere and take
time to sign autographs. Additionally, the city
of Mentor reports the Flagship building in the
Mentor Lagoons will be turned into a miniature
"Bigfoot" museum. The items will be on display
from Friday through the Mentor Lagoons
Festival, which will take place 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
July 9. The featured item will be the stuffed
7-foot-tall Bigfoot costume Gray used to shoot
the film.
Gray soon left Mentor after graduating in 1984,
spending most of his time in Hollywood, Calif.
Gray said he returned to Mentor in 1992 for his
mother's funeral. While driving in the Mentor
Headlands area, Gray said a herd of 12 deer
came straight at him as he drove down the
road."Maybe a Bigfoot was chasing them," he
recalled saying at the time.From that moment,
two or three times a year he would think of a
scene for the movie and wrote it down on a
card.
"As a kid I was fascinated with Bigfoot," Gray
said. He said he was glued to the television
when the program "In Search Of..." was being
shown. While he is captivated by Sasquatch,
especially those images on TV tabloid news
shows that are barely noticeable, he wanted to
create his own Bigfoot. Bigfoot fans from the
Northwest, South and even Ohio say Sasquatch
would never hurt a human being, according the
several Web sites. But, being a "huge 'Predator'
fan," Gray wanted to make a mean Bigfoot - so
much for "Harry and the Hendersons."
Gray said he was pleased with cooperation he
received from Mentor leaders.He is hopeful his
"Bigfoot" debut will get wide distribution in the
foreign film industry as a sci-fi thriller. He also
hopes purchases of DVDs will prove profitable.
That is because Gray, who does a lot of work
for the Cleveland Cavaliers and ESPN, will
shoot "the deuce" - Bigfoot 2 - with much of the
same cast.Gray said he only wishes he could
have had more money for Bigfoot.
He also wishes he could have "killed" more
than seven people and two animals in his first
movie on the yeti legend. He guarantees things
will be much different with a planned eight
Sasquatches for "Bigfoot 2."
M E D I A / P O P C U L T U R E
HIGH POINT, N.C., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/
Kleeberg Entertainment is bringing to the big
screen a family's personal story about a man who
had a secret obsession with Bigfoot that no one
in his family knew about until he died."Bigfoot:
A Family Adventure" (http://www.themovie
bigfoot.com ), is scheduled for release in late
2006 and will also incorporate a montage of
stories and images from other individuals willing
to share their tales of Bigfoot encounters. After
his wife passed away, a grandfather became
obsessed with Bigfoot.The family found over
1,000 Bigfoot-related items in their grandfather's
out-of-the-way cabin ranging from newspaper
clippings to plaster castings of big feet.
"The most remarkable thing we learned is how
the grandfather's obsession indirectly affected the
entire family," said Daniel Kleeberg. "For
example, the family realized that some of their
most memorable vacations were actually a way
for the grandfather to visit Bigfoot attractions
like the Bigfoot parade in Willow Creek, CA.
and Happy Camp, CA., which holds an annual
Bigfoot Jamboree. This movie is not just about
the grandfather's paraphernalia, it's about the
family's adventure learning about a man they
thought they knew."
"The man saved hundreds of newspaper articles
about Bigfoot encounters along with stories,
letters and correspondence from others who had
Bigfoot encounters," said Zack Kleeberg. "The
family found 100 journals in which he recorded
his observations and sketches of his and other
people's Bigfoot sightings. In his comments, he
frequently offered opinion about which stories he
believed to be real and/or hoaxes. It was wild.
"The Kleebergs are seeking input from citizens
worldwide who may have stories, photographs or
film footage detailing their Bigfoot encounters.
They will pay $1000.00 for footage of Bigfoot or
a re-creation of a Bigfoot encounter, $500 for a
photograph of Bigfoot, $250 for a video taped
testimonial and $100 for a written story or
drawing of Bigfoot. The producers will be
accepting items until January 31, 2006. For
details on where to send the information, please
visit: http://www.themoviebigfoot.com. "Bigfoot:
A Family Adventure," will be 90 minutes long
and feature 15 minutes of montage using the
elements contributed from the general public.
Contact: Daniel Kleeberg or Zack Kleeberg,
336-688-1106
This release was issued through The Xpress
Press News Service, merging e-mail and satellite
distribution technologies to reach business
analysts and media outlets worldwide. For more
information, visit http://www.XpressPress.com .
SOURCE: Kleeberg Entertainment LLC
Web Site: http://www.themoviebigfoot.com
Bigfoot Stories from the
Historical Archives
By Tom Yamarone
As the year comes to an end and the
field research I participate in is on the
back-burner due to the holidays, family
time and conditions that make the
mountains inaccessible, itʼs a good time
to just relax, recharge your batteries and
enjoy a good story. Iʼm fortunate to have
a copy of “Big News Prints” by Scott
McClean. Scott has found newspaper
articles in an on-line archive that include
references to hairy, man-like creatures. He
has shared these fascinating accounts for
over a year on the internet at bigfootforums.
com in a thread entitled, “Historical
Archives” (in the Media section and the
subsection of “Newspaper Articles” for
those familiar with this website.) Earlier
this year, he assembled these stories into
a hard-copy volume in which they are
presented chronologically and sorted by
the state (in the U.S.) and nation in
which they occur.
Scott has invested hours of research into
this project and continues to collect stories
as the archives are updated. He has placed
“Big News Prints” onto a CD in the PDF
format and is offering it to the public for
the modest sum of $20. To obtain a copy,
go to McClean.org – itʼs a “must-have”
for anyone interested in this topic.
I want to share with you a few of the
stories from California. There are the
“classics” that we know about from
John Greenʼs books. The 1870 Antioch
Ledger article details a man hunting in
the region between the Pacheco Pass and
Mt. Hamilton and having his campfire
disturbed while away from camp. He
eventually hides and observes two bigfoot
creatures that enter his camp “play” with
the logs of his campfire. Itʼs a fascinating
account. The other two classics from our
state are the Jerry Crew front page article
from 1958 and the October 21, 1967
article about the famous Patterson-Gimlin
film event entitled “They Filmed Mrs.
Bigfoot.” These wonʼt be reprinted in
this issue.
Upon conferring with Scott, he suggested
the following articles. The first is
an 1891 account from the Woodland Daily
Democrat. Woodland lies in the western
Sacramento Valley. Scott expressed the
following observations about this piece:
“I think that one is important because it
mentions the men actually witnessing
really interesting behavior first hand!
He says they watched the thing rip up
and break trees-brandishing a 5 inch
sapling like a club (confirms tree twists
and crude tool use), actually make screaming
noises (confirms that Sasquatch makes
the noises), seeing it standing up in a
tree, eating game, running on all fours,
and beating itʼs chest with itʼs fists! He
then describes it standing slightly bent
over (matches most descriptions), itʼs
general features and muscle structure. All
in all a very detailed account. Anyway, I
think itʼs important and unknown for the
most part.”
Wo o d l an d D aily D e mo c r at
Thursday Evening, April 9, 1891
“What Is It?
- An Unheard of Monstrosity Seen in
the Woods Above Rumsey”
Mr. Smith, a well known citizen of
Northern Capay Valley, called upon us
today and tells us the following strange
story which we would be loth (sic) to
believe if it were not for the fact that he is
an old acquaintance of this office, and has
always borne a spotless reputation. Several
days ago, Mr. Smith together with a party
of hunters, were above Rumsey huntlog
(sic). One morning Mr. Smith started out
early in quest of game, he had not gone far
when his attention was attracted by a
peculiar noise that seemed to come from an
oak tree that stood near by. Looking up Mr.
Smith was startled to see gazing at him
what was apparently a man clothed in a
suit of shaggy fur. Having heard of wild
men, Mr. (sic) he naturally placed upon his
guard, but thinking that he would see
“what virture (sic) there was in kindness,”
he called to the supposed man to come
down, as he was filled with nothing but the
kindest motives. This speech did not have
the desired effect, rather the opposite, for
the strange thing gave grunts of
unmistakable anger. Believing that
discretion was the better part of valor, our
informant stood not upon the order of his
going, but went at once in a bee-line for the
camp. After placing some distance between
himself and the strange creature, the hunter
turned around just in time to see it descent
the tree. Upon reaching the ground, instead
of standing upright as a man would, it
commenced to trot along the ground as a
dog or any other animal would do.
Smith then realized that it was no
hermit he had see, but some kind of
monstrosity, such as he had never heard of,
much less seen before. The hunter stood
amazed and spell-bound for a moment, but
soon gathered his scattered senses again
and was soon making his best speed to
camp, where in a few breathless words,
was telling his companions of what he had
seen.
They were disposed to laugh at him at
first, but his sincereness (sic) of manner and
his blanched cheeks soon proved to them
that he had seen something out of the usual
order of things.
A hasty council was held, and the party
decided to go in search of the monster, so
taking their guns and dogs they were
piloted by Mr. Smith to whom they soon
2
came in sight of the unnamed animal. In the
meantime it had commenced to devour the
contents of Mr. Smith’s game bag that he
had dropped in his hasty retreat. The
creature would plunge its long arms or legs
into the bag and pulling forth the small
game that was in it, transferred it to its
mouth in a most disgusting manner. An
effort was made to set the dogs upon it, but
they crouched at their masters heels and
gave vent to the most piteous whine.
The whines attracted the attention of the
nondescript, and it commenced to make the
most unearthly yells and screams, at the
same time fleeing to the undergrowth, some
half a mile distant, upon which the whole
party immediately gave chase. They soon
gained upon the strange beast, and it, seeing
that such was the case, suddenly turned ,
and sitting upon its haunchs (sic),
commenced to beat its breast with its hairy
fists. It would break off great branches of
trees that were around it, and snap them as
easily as if they had been so many
toothpicks. Once it pulled up a sapling five
inches through at the base, and snapping it
in twain, brandished the lower part over its
head, much after the same manner a man
would sling a club. The hunters seeing that
they had a creature with the strength of a
gorilla to contend with, beat a hasty retreat
to camp which soon broke up, fearing a visit
from their chance acquaintance.
Mr. Smith describes the animal as being
about six feet high when standing, which it
did not do perfectly but bent over, after the
manner of a bear. Its head was very much
like that of a human being. The trapezie (sic)
muscles were very thick and aided much in
giving the animal its brutal look. The brow
was low and contracted, while the eyes
were deep set, giving it a wicked look. It
was covered with long shaggy hair, except
the head, where the hair was black and
curly.
Mr. Smith says that of late sheep and
hogs to a considerable extent have
disappeared in his vicinity and their
disappearance can be traced to the hiding
place of the “What Is It.” Among those who
have suffered are Henry Sharp, Jordan
Sumner, Herman Laird and J.C. Trendle.
Here is a chance for some energetic
young man to start a dime museum and
acquire a fortune within a very few years.
Anyone wishing to learn more about this
peculiar monstrosity can do so by calling on
our informant who will no doubt take a
delight in piloting them to the dangerous
vicinity of the late scene of action.
The second article suggested is one of a
strange scream heard in Yosemite National
Park two years prior to the Jerry Crew
incident.
The scream followed by the moan and then
the crashing of the brush…unusual indeed!
It kept them up by the fire and Iʼm sure it
would have the same effect today on any of
us. Hopefully, someone in camp would
have recorded the sounds.
Yes, these stories from the past show us
that mysterious, hair-covered entities have
been written about since the pioneer days.
Native tribes have their own stories and
names for these creatures. The stories
contained in “Big News Prints” by Scott
McClean are interesting and thought
provoking. I hope you enjoyed them. Keep
on the track and weʼll see you next year!
M E D I A / P O P C U L T U R E
Look! In Mentor! Bigfoot!
by Curt W. Olson
COlson@News-Herald.com
July 2005, Mentor, OH-- Area native Bob Gray
set to debut low-budget film starring many local
residents at Mentor Lagoons Marina.
Bigfoot is known to have a home in the
Mentor Marsh.It will soon be seen in the
Mentor Lagoons. The world premiere of Gray's
new "Bigfoot" movie will be shown outdoors
beginning at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Mentor
Lagoons Marina."It's our gift to the city," Gray
said of the first showing of the movie that was
made on a low budget and has a cast of many
area residents. (We have the movie in the museum)
The fun for area residents and fans of "Bigfoot"
will begin much earlier Friday when actors and
actresses attend the movie's premiere and take
time to sign autographs. Additionally, the city
of Mentor reports the Flagship building in the
Mentor Lagoons will be turned into a miniature
"Bigfoot" museum. The items will be on display
from Friday through the Mentor Lagoons
Festival, which will take place 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
July 9. The featured item will be the stuffed
7-foot-tall Bigfoot costume Gray used to shoot
the film.
Gray soon left Mentor after graduating in 1984,
spending most of his time in Hollywood, Calif.
Gray said he returned to Mentor in 1992 for his
mother's funeral. While driving in the Mentor
Headlands area, Gray said a herd of 12 deer
came straight at him as he drove down the
road."Maybe a Bigfoot was chasing them," he
recalled saying at the time.From that moment,
two or three times a year he would think of a
scene for the movie and wrote it down on a
card.
"As a kid I was fascinated with Bigfoot," Gray
said. He said he was glued to the television
when the program "In Search Of..." was being
shown. While he is captivated by Sasquatch,
especially those images on TV tabloid news
shows that are barely noticeable, he wanted to
create his own Bigfoot. Bigfoot fans from the
Northwest, South and even Ohio say Sasquatch
would never hurt a human being, according the
several Web sites. But, being a "huge 'Predator'
fan," Gray wanted to make a mean Bigfoot - so
much for "Harry and the Hendersons."
Gray said he was pleased with cooperation he
received from Mentor leaders.He is hopeful his
"Bigfoot" debut will get wide distribution in the
foreign film industry as a sci-fi thriller. He also
hopes purchases of DVDs will prove profitable.
That is because Gray, who does a lot of work
for the Cleveland Cavaliers and ESPN, will
shoot "the deuce" - Bigfoot 2 - with much of the
same cast.Gray said he only wishes he could
have had more money for Bigfoot.
He also wishes he could have "killed" more
than seven people and two animals in his first
movie on the yeti legend. He guarantees things
will be much different with a planned eight
Sasquatches for "Bigfoot 2."
M E D I A / P O P C U L T U R E
HIGH POINT, N.C., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/
Kleeberg Entertainment is bringing to the big
screen a family's personal story about a man who
had a secret obsession with Bigfoot that no one
in his family knew about until he died."Bigfoot:
A Family Adventure" (http://www.themovie
bigfoot.com ), is scheduled for release in late
2006 and will also incorporate a montage of
stories and images from other individuals willing
to share their tales of Bigfoot encounters. After
his wife passed away, a grandfather became
obsessed with Bigfoot.The family found over
1,000 Bigfoot-related items in their grandfather's
out-of-the-way cabin ranging from newspaper
clippings to plaster castings of big feet.
"The most remarkable thing we learned is how
the grandfather's obsession indirectly affected the
entire family," said Daniel Kleeberg. "For
example, the family realized that some of their
most memorable vacations were actually a way
for the grandfather to visit Bigfoot attractions
like the Bigfoot parade in Willow Creek, CA.
and Happy Camp, CA., which holds an annual
Bigfoot Jamboree. This movie is not just about
the grandfather's paraphernalia, it's about the
family's adventure learning about a man they
thought they knew."
"The man saved hundreds of newspaper articles
about Bigfoot encounters along with stories,
letters and correspondence from others who had
Bigfoot encounters," said Zack Kleeberg. "The
family found 100 journals in which he recorded
his observations and sketches of his and other
people's Bigfoot sightings. In his comments, he
frequently offered opinion about which stories he
believed to be real and/or hoaxes. It was wild.
"The Kleebergs are seeking input from citizens
worldwide who may have stories, photographs or
film footage detailing their Bigfoot encounters.
They will pay $1000.00 for footage of Bigfoot or
a re-creation of a Bigfoot encounter, $500 for a
photograph of Bigfoot, $250 for a video taped
testimonial and $100 for a written story or
drawing of Bigfoot. The producers will be
accepting items until January 31, 2006. For
details on where to send the information, please
visit: http://www.themoviebigfoot.com. "Bigfoot:
A Family Adventure," will be 90 minutes long
and feature 15 minutes of montage using the
elements contributed from the general public.
Contact: Daniel Kleeberg or Zack Kleeberg,
336-688-1106
This release was issued through The Xpress
Press News Service, merging e-mail and satellite
distribution technologies to reach business
analysts and media outlets worldwide. For more
information, visit http://www.XpressPress.com .
SOURCE: Kleeberg Entertainment LLC
Web Site: http://www.themoviebigfoot.com
38th Anniversary
Patterson/Gimlin Film Expedition
October 20-22, 2005
by Tom Cousino & D.
On the morning of Oct. 20th at 6am we
started our drive to Weaverville, CA. to
meet up with Sean Fries, Don Monroe, &
M.K. Davis, our final destination was to
arrive at Louse Camp where Roger
Patterson and Bob Gimlin camped during
their expedition into Bluff Creek that
historic day on Oct. 20, 1967.
As we left Sean's house that afternoon we
headed towards Willow Creek on our way
to the Willow Creek/China Flat Museum
so Don and M.K. could see the Bigfoot
collections donated by Bob Titmus,
Dr. Grover Krantz and John Green. Al
Hodgson also donated a plaster track he
discovered himself as well as various other
researchers. Upon our arrival into Willow
Creek we contacted Al Hodgson, the
curator of the museum, who met us there
and gave us a private tour.
Don and M.K. were very excited to say
the least at being at the Willow Creek
Museum. M.K. traveled all the way from
Mississippi to join in the expedition, he
met with Don at the Boise, Idaho
International Airport where they headed to
California. All of us have been at the
museum except Don and M.K. but every
time we go we always find something
interesting and different that we didn't find
on our previous visit.
After approximately one hour of touring
the museum we departed and headed down
the road to Louse Camp. With daylight
fading we knew it would be close to dark
before we reached camp. As darkness fell
we were about three miles before Louse
Camp there was a pile of newly logged
trees stacked up on the side of the old
logging road. As Sean stopped cutting
wood with his chainsaw M.K. started
hearing what he thought was wood
knocking coming from his left slightly
down an embankment. M.K. then heard a
loud, snap as if a tree had been snapped in
half. D. walked over to M.K. and
picked up a stick and intermittently started
knocking it against a nearby tree. D.
and M.K. continued to listen hoping for a
return but instead heard nothing but silence.
After loading Sean's truck with wood we
arrived at Louse Camp a short time later.
We started setting up camp while Sean
started a campfire. When we finished we
all sat around the campfire discussing our
plans for the following Friday morning. In
between our discussion M.K. decided to
relate a true story involving himself and an
aggressive batam hen and a very fat
Vietnamese pig. While M.K. was lying on
his stomach he was a few feet from this
hugely overweight crinkled faced pig
attempting to take a few pictures when this
batam hen rushed over and started pecking
at a silver filled tooth in M.K.'s mouth
loosening it. M.K. started chasing this hen
back and forth to no avail. The next
morning he was eating eggs and bacon
when he swallowed the tooth. He then
went to the dentist and eventually paid
$1,500 to get his tooth repaired. As M.K.
told the story he made it sound so hilarious
we we're all rolling in laughter by the time
he was finished.
As the night progressed we slowly
retreated to our tents well after midnight
thinking of the possibilities that lie before
us with the new day. At dawn we awoke
and after having breakfast and gathering
our gear we headed out in Sean's truck to
Bluff Creek (Bat Boxes) up-stream from
the Patterson site.
From this location Tom and Sean chose to
go up stream looking for any signs of
bigfoot activity at which time D.
guided Don and M.K. to what he believed
was the area where the Patterson/Gimlin
site is. The reason for D.'s decision
was that D. had been to this area back
in the fall of 2003 during the Willow
Creek Sasquatch Symposium on a field
trip that the Symposium had conducted.
Members of the museum and a Park
Ranger from Six Rivers National Forest
drove everyone down to the Bat Boxes
and proceeded up stream about 50 yds.
to what they believed was the Patterson
/Gimlin Film Site.
D. had a discussion with Daniel Perez
and several other researchers and decided
that this was not the actual site. At this
time he chose to break from the group and
walk down stream. He did not feel that the
area they took everyone too was the site.
After walking approx 45 minutes to an
hour he came upon an area where the
embankments of the stream widened
considerably and the contours of the
hillsides leveled out. Walking further he
noticed several distinctive landmarks and
a portion of an old Logging Road to the
right of the creek and a high Bluff area
down stream on the left. Some of the
landmarks are three stumps, tall trees with
one leaning tree and a large fallen tree.
All these landmarks can be seen in the
Patterson/Gimlin Film. D. pointed
these out to M.K. at which time he started
taking photographs to have M.K. compare
these with the original film. Don and M.K.
proceeded to discuss the film and
land-marks that we were looking at. At
that time D. proceeded to walk to the
left of a group of cottonwood trees
towards a slight embankment near a
marshy area. At closer observation he
noticed what he believed was a possible
Sasquatch print. Don was behind D. by
a few yards and when D. noticed the
print he called out to Don to come and
look at the track. At that time with M.K.
they all agreed it was a Sasquatch track.
Don Munroe, Tom Cousino and D.
A "Bat Box" suspended at the end of a shiney pipe.
Don immediately took off his pack and
started preparing plaster in order to cast
the track. At the same time D. continued
to walk in the area looking for any
other evidence. D. found another
track in a sand bar about 30-40 yards from
the first. This track had distinctive toe
impressions that were longer and narrower
than humans. Don was called over again
and determined that the track was
unsuitable for casting. But, Don did
outline the track in the sand with his knife
to show the overall size. Pictures and
measurements were then taken of all the
evidence. While Don was waiting for the
plaster to dry M.K. found a tree break not
far from the prints.
Sean and I had backtracked and came
upon the plaster in the ground drying.
Sean called out and Don finally heard us
and came over to where we saw the print.
All three showed us what they found as we
waited for the plaster to fully dry.
At this point we all started taking are own
field documentation including pictures and
video. M.K. took all these landmarks in
mind and with the video clips that he has
enhanced with hours of comparison on the
Patterson Film concluded that this was the
original Patterson/Gimlin Site.
We all hiked back to the truck and
returned to Louse Camp. Once we arrived
we changed out of our wet clothes from
hiking down the middle of Bluff Creek
and placed them close to the fire.
Don then took out of his car two plaster
casts that he poured from prints he found
from the caves in Idaho to show us in
relation to the track that D. found.
Surprisingly, Don showed the similarities
between his two casts and the one found
along Bluff Creek. He pointed out that all
three had a Mid Tarsal Break that was all
similar in both width and length.
We were all very excited at this moment
listening to Don explain the similarities.
We compared our notes and talked about
After eating dinner we then discussed
packing up the camp early the next
morning and heading for the Hoopa Valley
to see the Hoopa Tribal Museum.
Later on that evening while sitting around
the campfire Mother Nature decided to
call and I headed for the portable “T”. At
which time while inside, the camp antics
began with Sean backing up his truck ever
so quietly against the door to my office.
All the time while D. is using my Sony
handycam to record the event unbeknown
to me. Soon after I tried opening the door
to my surprise I could not get out. I could
hear faint laughter outside the door, I
called out, “D.”, “D.”, “Sean”, with
no answer but laughter. Luckily, soon after
Sean moved his truck. To my surprise I
saw D. holding my camcorder. Little
does he know I erased said event!
About 9pm Don, M.K., and I set out on a
night hike while Sean & D. stayed back
at camp playing poker. We stayed on the
dirt road leading away from Louse Camp
so as not to get lost on the clear starry
night. We hiked about a mile all along the
way rolling football-size boulders down the
hillside to see if we would get a response.
When no response was giving Don
prop-ped himself up along the hillside in
order to look at the stars. M.K. being an
amateur astronomer started to tell us where
the dif-ferent constellations were. After
about 30 minutes we began to head back to
camp.
Upon our arrival D. and Sean said they
heard distant vocalizations at what they
thought was a Sasquatch. We were all
very excited being this was the second
time we heard noises that are reminiscent
of Sasquatch activity. In addition we were
all very thankful for the clear weather that
we had not to mention it was practically a
full moon both nights we camped. Again,
we all sat around the camp fire talking
about the days events for a couple of hours
until one by one we started retreating for
the night into our tents.
As we arose early Saturday morning we
had breakfast and shortly after we started
to break camp. We all followed each other
as we headed to the town of Hoopa on our
way to the Hoopa Tribal Museum. We
were fortunate enough to make it just as
they were ready to close the museum for
the night. We all looked at the various
native artwork and artifacts showing how
they lived and prospered through out the
region. During our visit we spoke with a
tribal member who shared with us stories
about Sasquatch and the history
surrounding its existence with the native
people in this region. They called him,
“The Old Man Of The Woods” and respect
its way of life. We were impressed with
this person's knowledge of the Sasquatch
and thanked him for sharing with us what
he knew.
We then went to Willow Creek and ate at
Cinnabar Sam's and enjoyed a final dinner
amongst friends.This was a very
rewarding expedition and we are looking
forward to our next adventure in the wilds
of northern California searching for
evidence of the existence of Sasquatch.
Patterson/Gimlin Film Expedition
October 20-22, 2005
by Tom Cousino & D.
On the morning of Oct. 20th at 6am we
started our drive to Weaverville, CA. to
meet up with Sean Fries, Don Monroe, &
M.K. Davis, our final destination was to
arrive at Louse Camp where Roger
Patterson and Bob Gimlin camped during
their expedition into Bluff Creek that
historic day on Oct. 20, 1967.
As we left Sean's house that afternoon we
headed towards Willow Creek on our way
to the Willow Creek/China Flat Museum
so Don and M.K. could see the Bigfoot
collections donated by Bob Titmus,
Dr. Grover Krantz and John Green. Al
Hodgson also donated a plaster track he
discovered himself as well as various other
researchers. Upon our arrival into Willow
Creek we contacted Al Hodgson, the
curator of the museum, who met us there
and gave us a private tour.
Don and M.K. were very excited to say
the least at being at the Willow Creek
Museum. M.K. traveled all the way from
Mississippi to join in the expedition, he
met with Don at the Boise, Idaho
International Airport where they headed to
California. All of us have been at the
museum except Don and M.K. but every
time we go we always find something
interesting and different that we didn't find
on our previous visit.
After approximately one hour of touring
the museum we departed and headed down
the road to Louse Camp. With daylight
fading we knew it would be close to dark
before we reached camp. As darkness fell
we were about three miles before Louse
Camp there was a pile of newly logged
trees stacked up on the side of the old
logging road. As Sean stopped cutting
wood with his chainsaw M.K. started
hearing what he thought was wood
knocking coming from his left slightly
down an embankment. M.K. then heard a
loud, snap as if a tree had been snapped in
half. D. walked over to M.K. and
picked up a stick and intermittently started
knocking it against a nearby tree. D.
and M.K. continued to listen hoping for a
return but instead heard nothing but silence.
After loading Sean's truck with wood we
arrived at Louse Camp a short time later.
We started setting up camp while Sean
started a campfire. When we finished we
all sat around the campfire discussing our
plans for the following Friday morning. In
between our discussion M.K. decided to
relate a true story involving himself and an
aggressive batam hen and a very fat
Vietnamese pig. While M.K. was lying on
his stomach he was a few feet from this
hugely overweight crinkled faced pig
attempting to take a few pictures when this
batam hen rushed over and started pecking
at a silver filled tooth in M.K.'s mouth
loosening it. M.K. started chasing this hen
back and forth to no avail. The next
morning he was eating eggs and bacon
when he swallowed the tooth. He then
went to the dentist and eventually paid
$1,500 to get his tooth repaired. As M.K.
told the story he made it sound so hilarious
we we're all rolling in laughter by the time
he was finished.
As the night progressed we slowly
retreated to our tents well after midnight
thinking of the possibilities that lie before
us with the new day. At dawn we awoke
and after having breakfast and gathering
our gear we headed out in Sean's truck to
Bluff Creek (Bat Boxes) up-stream from
the Patterson site.
From this location Tom and Sean chose to
go up stream looking for any signs of
bigfoot activity at which time D.
guided Don and M.K. to what he believed
was the area where the Patterson/Gimlin
site is. The reason for D.'s decision
was that D. had been to this area back
in the fall of 2003 during the Willow
Creek Sasquatch Symposium on a field
trip that the Symposium had conducted.
Members of the museum and a Park
Ranger from Six Rivers National Forest
drove everyone down to the Bat Boxes
and proceeded up stream about 50 yds.
to what they believed was the Patterson
/Gimlin Film Site.
D. had a discussion with Daniel Perez
and several other researchers and decided
that this was not the actual site. At this
time he chose to break from the group and
walk down stream. He did not feel that the
area they took everyone too was the site.
After walking approx 45 minutes to an
hour he came upon an area where the
embankments of the stream widened
considerably and the contours of the
hillsides leveled out. Walking further he
noticed several distinctive landmarks and
a portion of an old Logging Road to the
right of the creek and a high Bluff area
down stream on the left. Some of the
landmarks are three stumps, tall trees with
one leaning tree and a large fallen tree.
All these landmarks can be seen in the
Patterson/Gimlin Film. D. pointed
these out to M.K. at which time he started
taking photographs to have M.K. compare
these with the original film. Don and M.K.
proceeded to discuss the film and
land-marks that we were looking at. At
that time D. proceeded to walk to the
left of a group of cottonwood trees
towards a slight embankment near a
marshy area. At closer observation he
noticed what he believed was a possible
Sasquatch print. Don was behind D. by
a few yards and when D. noticed the
print he called out to Don to come and
look at the track. At that time with M.K.
they all agreed it was a Sasquatch track.
Don Munroe, Tom Cousino and D.
A "Bat Box" suspended at the end of a shiney pipe.
Don immediately took off his pack and
started preparing plaster in order to cast
the track. At the same time D. continued
to walk in the area looking for any
other evidence. D. found another
track in a sand bar about 30-40 yards from
the first. This track had distinctive toe
impressions that were longer and narrower
than humans. Don was called over again
and determined that the track was
unsuitable for casting. But, Don did
outline the track in the sand with his knife
to show the overall size. Pictures and
measurements were then taken of all the
evidence. While Don was waiting for the
plaster to dry M.K. found a tree break not
far from the prints.
Sean and I had backtracked and came
upon the plaster in the ground drying.
Sean called out and Don finally heard us
and came over to where we saw the print.
All three showed us what they found as we
waited for the plaster to fully dry.
At this point we all started taking are own
field documentation including pictures and
video. M.K. took all these landmarks in
mind and with the video clips that he has
enhanced with hours of comparison on the
Patterson Film concluded that this was the
original Patterson/Gimlin Site.
We all hiked back to the truck and
returned to Louse Camp. Once we arrived
we changed out of our wet clothes from
hiking down the middle of Bluff Creek
and placed them close to the fire.
Don then took out of his car two plaster
casts that he poured from prints he found
from the caves in Idaho to show us in
relation to the track that D. found.
Surprisingly, Don showed the similarities
between his two casts and the one found
along Bluff Creek. He pointed out that all
three had a Mid Tarsal Break that was all
similar in both width and length.
We were all very excited at this moment
listening to Don explain the similarities.
We compared our notes and talked about
After eating dinner we then discussed
packing up the camp early the next
morning and heading for the Hoopa Valley
to see the Hoopa Tribal Museum.
Later on that evening while sitting around
the campfire Mother Nature decided to
call and I headed for the portable “T”. At
which time while inside, the camp antics
began with Sean backing up his truck ever
so quietly against the door to my office.
All the time while D. is using my Sony
handycam to record the event unbeknown
to me. Soon after I tried opening the door
to my surprise I could not get out. I could
hear faint laughter outside the door, I
called out, “D.”, “D.”, “Sean”, with
no answer but laughter. Luckily, soon after
Sean moved his truck. To my surprise I
saw D. holding my camcorder. Little
does he know I erased said event!
About 9pm Don, M.K., and I set out on a
night hike while Sean & D. stayed back
at camp playing poker. We stayed on the
dirt road leading away from Louse Camp
so as not to get lost on the clear starry
night. We hiked about a mile all along the
way rolling football-size boulders down the
hillside to see if we would get a response.
When no response was giving Don
prop-ped himself up along the hillside in
order to look at the stars. M.K. being an
amateur astronomer started to tell us where
the dif-ferent constellations were. After
about 30 minutes we began to head back to
camp.
Upon our arrival D. and Sean said they
heard distant vocalizations at what they
thought was a Sasquatch. We were all
very excited being this was the second
time we heard noises that are reminiscent
of Sasquatch activity. In addition we were
all very thankful for the clear weather that
we had not to mention it was practically a
full moon both nights we camped. Again,
we all sat around the camp fire talking
about the days events for a couple of hours
until one by one we started retreating for
the night into our tents.
As we arose early Saturday morning we
had breakfast and shortly after we started
to break camp. We all followed each other
as we headed to the town of Hoopa on our
way to the Hoopa Tribal Museum. We
were fortunate enough to make it just as
they were ready to close the museum for
the night. We all looked at the various
native artwork and artifacts showing how
they lived and prospered through out the
region. During our visit we spoke with a
tribal member who shared with us stories
about Sasquatch and the history
surrounding its existence with the native
people in this region. They called him,
“The Old Man Of The Woods” and respect
its way of life. We were impressed with
this person's knowledge of the Sasquatch
and thanked him for sharing with us what
he knew.
We then went to Willow Creek and ate at
Cinnabar Sam's and enjoyed a final dinner
amongst friends.This was a very
rewarding expedition and we are looking
forward to our next adventure in the wilds
of northern California searching for
evidence of the existence of Sasquatch.
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!
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!
SRI: The Sasquatch Research Initiative
submitted by Paul Pinkham
In 1959, millionaire Tom Slick financed the
first true team of sasquatch researchers for his
Pacific Northwest Expedition. In the nearly
half-century since that unsuccessful venture,
new organizations have emerged with the
purpose to solve the great sasquatch mystery.
To date, none have been even remotely
successful. With the wealth of resources
available with the Internet, there is now more
information and opportunities than ever to
finally lay this mystery to rest. Unfortunately,
many of these organizations do not take
advantage of this huge opportunity, and choose
instead to keep their information closely
guarded. Much of the research done by these
organizations has been documented or
published without guidelines or standards, and
may include misinformation that could be
detrimental to their existing databases.
Furthermore, we believe the lack of success by
these groups is in large part due to poor
investigation standards, lack of accountability,
and poor leadership.
It was for this reason, and many others, that the
Sasquatch Research Initiative, or SRI, was
formed. SRI could best be described as an
association of independent researchers working
together to investigate and research Sasquatch.
SRI differs from those who have come before in
that:
1) SRI is the product of itís members. All
actions and decisions are voted on and agreed
upon in a democratic fashion.
2) All members of SRI are held to very high
standards and a strict code of ethics, insuring
the kind of professionalism this field
desperately needs.
3) SRI will accept no reported sighting at face
value. Each report will be thoroughly
investigated. No report will be published until it
has been investigated to the fullest and has met
the approval of the SRI membership.
4) All investigators will be held responsible for
the work they present and will be required to
answer for any mistakes that are made.
5) SRI has nothing to hide. We are about
sharing quality information with the public and
creating a database of reliable sightings. We are
not concerned with the quantity of sightings,
but rather with the quality. Our primary
directive is not to entertain the public, but to
finally solve the mystery of Sasquatch once and
for all.
Simply stated, SRI is unlike any other group of
Sasquatch researchers. Never before has such a
large and diverse group of independent
researchers stood together as one to solve this
mystery. The time for change is now, and SRI
looks forward to working with researchers and
the public to bring about that change.
Visit us at www.sasquatchonline.com.
Cryptid of the Month
B I G F O OT E R ' S DAT E S
Oct 14-16 Texas Bigfoot Conference
Jefferson. TX
The Bili Ape
In the last couple of years there have been two
discoveries that have rocked the boat of
scientists and skeptics alike. We've already
discussed the most impressive paleontological
find in a long while: Homo floresiensis. That's
the 3.5' tall "littlefoot" hominids unearthed in
Indonesia. (see Vol1 No3) The other cryptozoological
breakthrough is the mounting evidence
and acceptance by primatologists of a "living
legend" in the form of a potentially new species
of anthropoid ape. It resides in the jungles of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in an
area known as the Bili forest.
What evidence do we have for this new ape?
Anecdotal local native reports, plaster casts of
extra large ape footprints, hair and scat samples
and a photo or two. The locals having been
relating stories of large "lion-killer" apes to
Western explorers since 1908. Michael
Crichton's novel "Congo" (it was made into a
movie as well) is based on these local accounts.
But it wasn't until a primatologist was stalked
and charged by a group of these extra large
chimps, that scientific minds finally opened to
the reality of this cryptid. Shelly Williams and her
trackers used some hunting tricks to lure the
mystery apes. "One of my trackers made the
sound of a duiker, a small antelope, as if it were in
pain," said Williams. "Four or five of the mystery
primates fell for the ruse and came running to
kill it."
Now, wait just a minute, don't we have the same
sort of evidence for bigfoot? We certainly have
stories and tracks by the thousands. We also
have hair and fecal samples labelled "unknown
primate." Then there's the P/G Film. Plus a
number of people have been stalked an "bluff
charged" as well. Granted in the case of the Bili
Apes, it was a primatologist who saw the apes
run in for the kill, not just an amateur cryptozoologist.
But the real reason for the reluctance
of anthropologists to accept bigfoot most likely
springs from it's bipedal gate. These giant
chimps are knuckle-walkers and don't upset the
scientific applecart nearly as much as a North
American bipedal ape does.
Nonetheless, the fact that science is now willing
to "discover" the Bili apes, coupled with proof of
"littlefoot" in the Indonesian archipelagos, goes a
long way towards establishing credibility for the
ongoing study of rumored animals. Cryptozoologists
can walk a little taller now, and perhaps
someday soon the study of hidden animals
will be officially recognized and developed into
a disciplined scientific specialty.
submitted by Paul Pinkham
In 1959, millionaire Tom Slick financed the
first true team of sasquatch researchers for his
Pacific Northwest Expedition. In the nearly
half-century since that unsuccessful venture,
new organizations have emerged with the
purpose to solve the great sasquatch mystery.
To date, none have been even remotely
successful. With the wealth of resources
available with the Internet, there is now more
information and opportunities than ever to
finally lay this mystery to rest. Unfortunately,
many of these organizations do not take
advantage of this huge opportunity, and choose
instead to keep their information closely
guarded. Much of the research done by these
organizations has been documented or
published without guidelines or standards, and
may include misinformation that could be
detrimental to their existing databases.
Furthermore, we believe the lack of success by
these groups is in large part due to poor
investigation standards, lack of accountability,
and poor leadership.
It was for this reason, and many others, that the
Sasquatch Research Initiative, or SRI, was
formed. SRI could best be described as an
association of independent researchers working
together to investigate and research Sasquatch.
SRI differs from those who have come before in
that:
1) SRI is the product of itís members. All
actions and decisions are voted on and agreed
upon in a democratic fashion.
2) All members of SRI are held to very high
standards and a strict code of ethics, insuring
the kind of professionalism this field
desperately needs.
3) SRI will accept no reported sighting at face
value. Each report will be thoroughly
investigated. No report will be published until it
has been investigated to the fullest and has met
the approval of the SRI membership.
4) All investigators will be held responsible for
the work they present and will be required to
answer for any mistakes that are made.
5) SRI has nothing to hide. We are about
sharing quality information with the public and
creating a database of reliable sightings. We are
not concerned with the quantity of sightings,
but rather with the quality. Our primary
directive is not to entertain the public, but to
finally solve the mystery of Sasquatch once and
for all.
Simply stated, SRI is unlike any other group of
Sasquatch researchers. Never before has such a
large and diverse group of independent
researchers stood together as one to solve this
mystery. The time for change is now, and SRI
looks forward to working with researchers and
the public to bring about that change.
Visit us at www.sasquatchonline.com.
Cryptid of the Month
B I G F O OT E R ' S DAT E S
Oct 14-16 Texas Bigfoot Conference
Jefferson. TX
The Bili Ape
In the last couple of years there have been two
discoveries that have rocked the boat of
scientists and skeptics alike. We've already
discussed the most impressive paleontological
find in a long while: Homo floresiensis. That's
the 3.5' tall "littlefoot" hominids unearthed in
Indonesia. (see Vol1 No3) The other cryptozoological
breakthrough is the mounting evidence
and acceptance by primatologists of a "living
legend" in the form of a potentially new species
of anthropoid ape. It resides in the jungles of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in an
area known as the Bili forest.
What evidence do we have for this new ape?
Anecdotal local native reports, plaster casts of
extra large ape footprints, hair and scat samples
and a photo or two. The locals having been
relating stories of large "lion-killer" apes to
Western explorers since 1908. Michael
Crichton's novel "Congo" (it was made into a
movie as well) is based on these local accounts.
But it wasn't until a primatologist was stalked
and charged by a group of these extra large
chimps, that scientific minds finally opened to
the reality of this cryptid. Shelly Williams and her
trackers used some hunting tricks to lure the
mystery apes. "One of my trackers made the
sound of a duiker, a small antelope, as if it were in
pain," said Williams. "Four or five of the mystery
primates fell for the ruse and came running to
kill it."
Now, wait just a minute, don't we have the same
sort of evidence for bigfoot? We certainly have
stories and tracks by the thousands. We also
have hair and fecal samples labelled "unknown
primate." Then there's the P/G Film. Plus a
number of people have been stalked an "bluff
charged" as well. Granted in the case of the Bili
Apes, it was a primatologist who saw the apes
run in for the kill, not just an amateur cryptozoologist.
But the real reason for the reluctance
of anthropologists to accept bigfoot most likely
springs from it's bipedal gate. These giant
chimps are knuckle-walkers and don't upset the
scientific applecart nearly as much as a North
American bipedal ape does.
Nonetheless, the fact that science is now willing
to "discover" the Bili apes, coupled with proof of
"littlefoot" in the Indonesian archipelagos, goes a
long way towards establishing credibility for the
ongoing study of rumored animals. Cryptozoologists
can walk a little taller now, and perhaps
someday soon the study of hidden animals
will be officially recognized and developed into
a disciplined scientific specialty.
October Ð
A Special Month
for Bigfooting
An Appreciation
of the Patterson-Gimlin Film
by Tom Yamarone
Thirty eight years ago on October 20,
1967 a very special event took place in our
bigfoot world. Roger Patterson and Bob
Gimlin obtained the best piece of evidence
yet in the form of a short, shaky film of a
bigfoot. There have been other significant
events since then, but none so dramatic or
memorable. In the last two years analysis
of the P-G film has produced some excellent
images. Doug Hajicek’s work in the
documentary Sasquatch: Legend Meets
Science (LMS) and M.K. Davis’ computer
based analysis have taken the P-G film to
new evidentiary heights. I’ve spent the
first days of October looking through my
books and watching the P-G film on my
LMS DVD. My goal was to review the
different treatments the Patterson-Gimlin
film has received and give a short
summary of each. Two publications stood
out above the rest in this regard: Chris
Murphy’s Meet the Sasquatch and Daniel
Perez’s Bigfoot at Bluff Creek.
Meet the Sasquatch by Christopher
Murphy in association with John Green
and Thomas Steenburg (Hancock House
Publishers, 2004) is the best collection of
bigfoot information under one cover. The
author has assembled most of the significant
tales and discoveries of the sasquatch
phenomenon and highlighted these with an
excellent array of photographs and diagrams.
Herein, the Patterson-Gimlin film
receives an extensive 56 page review and
analysis. This is as good a place as any to
commence our annual bigfoot Octoberfest.
You’ll find a copy of the original Eureka
Times-Standard newspaper article next to
a photograph of Roger Patterson holding
the two footprint casts he and Bob Gimlin
made at the film site that day. A nice
collection of photos and still frames from
the second roll of film showing the footprints
in the sandbar of Bluff Creek
follow. There are 12 still frame
enlargements of the creature from the
now-famous Cibachrome prints made in
the early 1980’s. You’ll not find a better
collection in any other publication (that I
know of…). Having been to the film site
area along Bluff Creek in 2003 and 2004, I
enjoy the 1971 photograph taken from the
hillside overlooking that stretch of creek.
It’s an “aerial” view that depicts the
scoured, wide-open creek bed with a
person walking through the frame for scale
– a scene that no longer exists today as the
forest has reclaimed the canyon.
The analysis continues with Chris
Murphy’s own re-creation of the location
in the “film site model.” Utilizing the
maps and measurements made by Rene
Dahinden, John Green and Bob Titmus,
the reader is treated to an analysis of the
film that gives a greater understanding and
appreciation of those shaky 59 seconds.
Other books, such as the excellent tome
Big Footprints by Grover Krantz, attempt
this analysis, but this rendition is much
more accessible to the layperson. The
author’s site model along with the use of
photographs and diagrams from many
sources achieve this as none before have.
This is a chapter that doesn’t end here, but
includes all of the historical analysis done
by different individuals over the years. So,
if you can’t pick up a copy of Meet the
Sasquatch at the museum store, find one in
a friend’s house, ask your library to obtain
a copy or come by the museum and
indulge yourself in the Patterson-Gimlin
film, our favorite Squach-toberfest treat!
For those of you who prefer to watch
(rather than read, that is!), there is a
documentary that stands head and
shoulders above the rest. I’m speaking of
Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science
(WhiteWolf productions, 2003). Herein,
the Patterson-Gimlin film is taken and
transferred to high-definition video. It’s
the clearest rendition of the film that’s
available and the whole 59 seconds is
contained in the additional features of this
DVD. Needless to say, it’s a “must-have”
in your home
entertainment
collection and a
“must-see” if you
don’t have it. Find
someone who does
and arrange a
viewing. This is
the show that takes
“Patty” and
digitalizes her so that we can view the
“walking skeleton” of the creature. We
then discover the gait involves a strange
pattern of the knees moving in a way not
normal to human locomotion. There is
also a bulge that appears on the right thigh
of the creature that seems to be a hernia of
that muscle according to doctors that
comment on the film in the documentary.
That’s our second round of indulgence
here at bigfoot Octoberfest. If you have
access to the DVD set that documents the
2003 International Bigfoot Symposium in
Willow Creek, California, you’ll want to
watch Doug Hajicek’s presentation all
about this treatment of the Patterson-
Gimlin film! He gives an outstanding talk
with excellent slides that illustrate the
process that he undertook. Check it out!!
I would be remiss if I didn’t direct you to
another excellent publication that deals
with the Patterson-Gimlin film. Daniel
Perez’s BigfooTimes Bigfoot at Bluff
Creek (1992) was written to commemorate
the 25th anniversary of the film. He seems
to have personally researched this event
more than anyone else and has come up
with many unique sources of information
regarding the film and the subsequent
events surrounding it. The bibliography –
seven and a half pages long – attests to
this fact. The copy I have is a reprint from
2003 that he made available at the Willow
Creek bigfoot symposium. It contains
outstanding interview excerpts from all the
principal players and has many of the
same site map diagrams and footprint
photos contained in Meet the Sasquatch.
Daniel’s booklet exudes the emotional
intensity with which he has pursued this
matter and depicts the events relating to
10/20/67 as they have occurred for those
of us interested in the subject matter. He
follows the debates regarding the attempts
to debunk the film and has an answer for
each of these. “The Patterson-Gimlin film
has survived through twenty-five years of
2
...continued from page 1...
he can; answered all the questions posed
to him.
He had this to say when asked about the
significance 10/20/67 has for him.
“The significance now is actually more
now than it was in those middle years. For
a few years, it was terribly exciting. An’ it
kinda got old shoe there for awhile. And
now that so many of you folks have gotten
involved back in this again and (you’ve)
made it come alive a lot better than it was.
There was so much negative stuff going
on there. Now in the last 10, 12 years it’s
all turned around. I’m excited about what
you guys are doing.”
I commented on his cooperation with
investigators after a time and how much
that’s meant to those investigating both the
film and the phenomenon. He stated:
“I always did as much as I could. (I
cooperated with) John and Rene and Bob
Titmus, and especially Grover. When
Grover was alive, I did as much as I could.
When Grover would call me and ask me to
come over, I would. I didn’t even know
Dr. Jeff Meldrum in those days. I may
have met him, but I didn’t really get to
know him . So, with guys like that
involved, like Bindernagel and all them,
they really have been putting some effort
into it. And M.K. Davis sent me a great
disc of his work.”
He’s resigned to the debate about the film
and the existence of bigfoot.
“The people that want to believe in it, do
believe. The one’s that are on the borderline,
they don’t give a hoot. And the one’s
who’ve never believed, never will. They
could see one and they’d think it was a
guy in suit. That’s kinda the bottom line:
you can’t control what people think.”
He is such a proponent of the search for
bigfoot. Here’s some final words of
encouragement for those who devote their
time to this end. “If you’re not out there,
you can’t see one. And if you don’t have a
camera, you can’t prove what you saw.
Eventually, it’s going to happen (that we
prove the existence of these creatures.)”
So, now it’s up to us to move on and see
what discoveries lie ahead. The film will
always be there for us to appreciate and
this is the perfect time of year to do just
that! Get the popcorn and a favorite
beverage ready and keep that finger on
the rewind button! Familiarity with the
“pause” and “slow motion” features of
your player will be very handy, too! Enjoy
the Patterson-Gimlin film for what it is –
the real deal…a living, breathing,
walking bigfoot
for all to see!
Editor's Note:
This list would
not be complete
without mentioning
the latest Hancock House title The
Bigfoot Film Controversy. This book
combines a reprint of Patterson's book Do
Abominable Snowmen of America Really
Exist? with an updated report on the P/G
Film and its aftermath, including some of
the claims of hoaxers. The conclusions of
several scientists and researchers are also
provided. Russian Hominologists Bayanov
and Bourtsev; J Glickman (North
American Science Institute); and several
biomechanics experts including Grover
Krantz.
Hopefully our museum's policy of free
admission, and obvious willingness to
share information will enable us to avoid
some of the "dissing" that other fulltime
searchers have received. We want to solve
the mystery and make people aware of the
rights of these and other forest creatures;
and hope to pay the bills with income
generated by art and craft sales, classes
and events related to bigfoot.
How can you help? Tell folks about the
museum and the arts, crafts and gifts
available here (more to come soon).
Volunteer to help setting up events to
edutain and generate funds. Make use of
the museum's library of reference
materials, and encourage others to do so
(we have free wireless internet). Recruit
new members and sponsors, and keep on
the track!
---Michael Rugg
time and is probably destined to go on
forever as the real McCoy,” he writes.
And, indeed, here we are 38 years after
the event and its impact hasn’t lessened
one bit.
Enjoy these sources and others for your
annual October appreciation of the
Patterson-Gimlin film. It’s an inspiration
to continue the search – and so are the
men that were there that fateful day and
the others who have worked tirelessly to
prove its authenticity. I say “Thank You”
to all of you!
A Few Words from Bob Gimlin
I don’t often ask Bob Gimlin about the
events of 10/20/67. We talk about
sightings, expeditions, outings and our
day-to-day world primarily. I did,
however, take a few minutes this week to
ask Bob what this anniversary means to
him. Of course, in the first ten years or
more after the event, it was a bitter pill to
swallow. He was overlooked by Roger and
Al DeAtley as they promoted the film.
Too bad that it had such a negative effect
on their friendship. Years later, the
principal investigators of this event
realized the significance of Bob Gimlin’s
involvement. Of course! The ups and
downs for him came full circle in 2003
with his attendance at the Willow Creek
symposium. I heard John Green once say
the best thing about that weekend was how
Bob Gimlin was treated like a rock star!
Nothing could have been more well
deserved. Bob continues to support the
search and activities of people in this
endeavor. He’s generous with his time
when he can be. He’s just about said all
he can; answered all the questions posed
to him.
He had this to say when asked about the
significance 10/20/67 has for him.
“The significance now is actually more
now than it was in those middle years. For
a few years, it was terribly exciting. An’ it
kinda got old shoe there for awhile. And
now that so many of you folks have gotten
involved back in this again and (you’ve)
made it come alive a lot better than it was.
There was so much negative stuff going
on there. Now in the last 10, 12 years it’s
all turned around. I’m excited about what
you guys are doing.”
I commented on his cooperation with
investigators after a time and how much
that’s meant to those investigating both the
film and the phenomenon. He stated:
“I always did as much as I could. (I
cooperated with) John and Rene and Bob
Titmus, and especially Grover. When
Grover was alive, I did as much as I could.
When Grover would call me and ask me to
come over, I would. I didn’t even know
Dr. Jeff Meldrum in those days. I may
have met him, but I didn’t really get to
know him . So, with guys like that
involved, like Bindernagel and all them,
they really have been putting some effort
into it. And M.K. Davis sent me a great
disc of his work.”
He’s resigned to the debate about the film
and the existence of bigfoot.
“The people that want to believe in it, do
believe. The one’s that are on the borderline,
they don’t give a hoot. And the one’s
who’ve never believed, never will. They
could see one and they’d think it was a
guy in suit. That’s kinda the bottom line:
you can’t control what people think.”
He is such a proponent of the search for
bigfoot. Here’s some final words of
encouragement for those who devote their
time to this end. “If you’re not out there,
you can’t see one. And if you don’t have a
camera, you can’t prove what you saw.
Eventually, it’s going to happen (that we
prove the existence of these creatures.)”
So, now it’s up to us to move on and see
what discoveries lie ahead. The film will
always be there for us to appreciate and
this is the perfect time of year to do just
that! Get the popcorn and a favorite
beverage ready and keep that finger on
the rewind button! Familiarity with the
“pause” and “slow motion” features of
your player will be very handy, too! Enjoy
the Patterson-Gimlin film for what it is –
the real deal…a living, breathing,
walking bigfoot
for all to see!
Editor's Note:
This list would
not be complete
without mentioning
the latest Hancock House title The
Bigfoot Film Controversy. This book
combines a reprint of Patterson's book Do
Abominable Snowmen of America Really
Exist? with an updated report on the P/G
Film and its aftermath, including some of
the claims of hoaxers. The conclusions of
several scientists and researchers are also
provided. Russian Hominologists Bayanov
and Bourtsev; J Glickman (North
American Science Institute); and several
biomechanics experts including Grover
Krantz.
A Special Month
for Bigfooting
An Appreciation
of the Patterson-Gimlin Film
by Tom Yamarone
Thirty eight years ago on October 20,
1967 a very special event took place in our
bigfoot world. Roger Patterson and Bob
Gimlin obtained the best piece of evidence
yet in the form of a short, shaky film of a
bigfoot. There have been other significant
events since then, but none so dramatic or
memorable. In the last two years analysis
of the P-G film has produced some excellent
images. Doug Hajicek’s work in the
documentary Sasquatch: Legend Meets
Science (LMS) and M.K. Davis’ computer
based analysis have taken the P-G film to
new evidentiary heights. I’ve spent the
first days of October looking through my
books and watching the P-G film on my
LMS DVD. My goal was to review the
different treatments the Patterson-Gimlin
film has received and give a short
summary of each. Two publications stood
out above the rest in this regard: Chris
Murphy’s Meet the Sasquatch and Daniel
Perez’s Bigfoot at Bluff Creek.
Meet the Sasquatch by Christopher
Murphy in association with John Green
and Thomas Steenburg (Hancock House
Publishers, 2004) is the best collection of
bigfoot information under one cover. The
author has assembled most of the significant
tales and discoveries of the sasquatch
phenomenon and highlighted these with an
excellent array of photographs and diagrams.
Herein, the Patterson-Gimlin film
receives an extensive 56 page review and
analysis. This is as good a place as any to
commence our annual bigfoot Octoberfest.
You’ll find a copy of the original Eureka
Times-Standard newspaper article next to
a photograph of Roger Patterson holding
the two footprint casts he and Bob Gimlin
made at the film site that day. A nice
collection of photos and still frames from
the second roll of film showing the footprints
in the sandbar of Bluff Creek
follow. There are 12 still frame
enlargements of the creature from the
now-famous Cibachrome prints made in
the early 1980’s. You’ll not find a better
collection in any other publication (that I
know of…). Having been to the film site
area along Bluff Creek in 2003 and 2004, I
enjoy the 1971 photograph taken from the
hillside overlooking that stretch of creek.
It’s an “aerial” view that depicts the
scoured, wide-open creek bed with a
person walking through the frame for scale
– a scene that no longer exists today as the
forest has reclaimed the canyon.
The analysis continues with Chris
Murphy’s own re-creation of the location
in the “film site model.” Utilizing the
maps and measurements made by Rene
Dahinden, John Green and Bob Titmus,
the reader is treated to an analysis of the
film that gives a greater understanding and
appreciation of those shaky 59 seconds.
Other books, such as the excellent tome
Big Footprints by Grover Krantz, attempt
this analysis, but this rendition is much
more accessible to the layperson. The
author’s site model along with the use of
photographs and diagrams from many
sources achieve this as none before have.
This is a chapter that doesn’t end here, but
includes all of the historical analysis done
by different individuals over the years. So,
if you can’t pick up a copy of Meet the
Sasquatch at the museum store, find one in
a friend’s house, ask your library to obtain
a copy or come by the museum and
indulge yourself in the Patterson-Gimlin
film, our favorite Squach-toberfest treat!
For those of you who prefer to watch
(rather than read, that is!), there is a
documentary that stands head and
shoulders above the rest. I’m speaking of
Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science
(WhiteWolf productions, 2003). Herein,
the Patterson-Gimlin film is taken and
transferred to high-definition video. It’s
the clearest rendition of the film that’s
available and the whole 59 seconds is
contained in the additional features of this
DVD. Needless to say, it’s a “must-have”
in your home
entertainment
collection and a
“must-see” if you
don’t have it. Find
someone who does
and arrange a
viewing. This is
the show that takes
“Patty” and
digitalizes her so that we can view the
“walking skeleton” of the creature. We
then discover the gait involves a strange
pattern of the knees moving in a way not
normal to human locomotion. There is
also a bulge that appears on the right thigh
of the creature that seems to be a hernia of
that muscle according to doctors that
comment on the film in the documentary.
That’s our second round of indulgence
here at bigfoot Octoberfest. If you have
access to the DVD set that documents the
2003 International Bigfoot Symposium in
Willow Creek, California, you’ll want to
watch Doug Hajicek’s presentation all
about this treatment of the Patterson-
Gimlin film! He gives an outstanding talk
with excellent slides that illustrate the
process that he undertook. Check it out!!
I would be remiss if I didn’t direct you to
another excellent publication that deals
with the Patterson-Gimlin film. Daniel
Perez’s BigfooTimes Bigfoot at Bluff
Creek (1992) was written to commemorate
the 25th anniversary of the film. He seems
to have personally researched this event
more than anyone else and has come up
with many unique sources of information
regarding the film and the subsequent
events surrounding it. The bibliography –
seven and a half pages long – attests to
this fact. The copy I have is a reprint from
2003 that he made available at the Willow
Creek bigfoot symposium. It contains
outstanding interview excerpts from all the
principal players and has many of the
same site map diagrams and footprint
photos contained in Meet the Sasquatch.
Daniel’s booklet exudes the emotional
intensity with which he has pursued this
matter and depicts the events relating to
10/20/67 as they have occurred for those
of us interested in the subject matter. He
follows the debates regarding the attempts
to debunk the film and has an answer for
each of these. “The Patterson-Gimlin film
has survived through twenty-five years of
2
...continued from page 1...
he can; answered all the questions posed
to him.
He had this to say when asked about the
significance 10/20/67 has for him.
“The significance now is actually more
now than it was in those middle years. For
a few years, it was terribly exciting. An’ it
kinda got old shoe there for awhile. And
now that so many of you folks have gotten
involved back in this again and (you’ve)
made it come alive a lot better than it was.
There was so much negative stuff going
on there. Now in the last 10, 12 years it’s
all turned around. I’m excited about what
you guys are doing.”
I commented on his cooperation with
investigators after a time and how much
that’s meant to those investigating both the
film and the phenomenon. He stated:
“I always did as much as I could. (I
cooperated with) John and Rene and Bob
Titmus, and especially Grover. When
Grover was alive, I did as much as I could.
When Grover would call me and ask me to
come over, I would. I didn’t even know
Dr. Jeff Meldrum in those days. I may
have met him, but I didn’t really get to
know him . So, with guys like that
involved, like Bindernagel and all them,
they really have been putting some effort
into it. And M.K. Davis sent me a great
disc of his work.”
He’s resigned to the debate about the film
and the existence of bigfoot.
“The people that want to believe in it, do
believe. The one’s that are on the borderline,
they don’t give a hoot. And the one’s
who’ve never believed, never will. They
could see one and they’d think it was a
guy in suit. That’s kinda the bottom line:
you can’t control what people think.”
He is such a proponent of the search for
bigfoot. Here’s some final words of
encouragement for those who devote their
time to this end. “If you’re not out there,
you can’t see one. And if you don’t have a
camera, you can’t prove what you saw.
Eventually, it’s going to happen (that we
prove the existence of these creatures.)”
So, now it’s up to us to move on and see
what discoveries lie ahead. The film will
always be there for us to appreciate and
this is the perfect time of year to do just
that! Get the popcorn and a favorite
beverage ready and keep that finger on
the rewind button! Familiarity with the
“pause” and “slow motion” features of
your player will be very handy, too! Enjoy
the Patterson-Gimlin film for what it is –
the real deal…a living, breathing,
walking bigfoot
for all to see!
Editor's Note:
This list would
not be complete
without mentioning
the latest Hancock House title The
Bigfoot Film Controversy. This book
combines a reprint of Patterson's book Do
Abominable Snowmen of America Really
Exist? with an updated report on the P/G
Film and its aftermath, including some of
the claims of hoaxers. The conclusions of
several scientists and researchers are also
provided. Russian Hominologists Bayanov
and Bourtsev; J Glickman (North
American Science Institute); and several
biomechanics experts including Grover
Krantz.
Hopefully our museum's policy of free
admission, and obvious willingness to
share information will enable us to avoid
some of the "dissing" that other fulltime
searchers have received. We want to solve
the mystery and make people aware of the
rights of these and other forest creatures;
and hope to pay the bills with income
generated by art and craft sales, classes
and events related to bigfoot.
How can you help? Tell folks about the
museum and the arts, crafts and gifts
available here (more to come soon).
Volunteer to help setting up events to
edutain and generate funds. Make use of
the museum's library of reference
materials, and encourage others to do so
(we have free wireless internet). Recruit
new members and sponsors, and keep on
the track!
---Michael Rugg
time and is probably destined to go on
forever as the real McCoy,” he writes.
And, indeed, here we are 38 years after
the event and its impact hasn’t lessened
one bit.
Enjoy these sources and others for your
annual October appreciation of the
Patterson-Gimlin film. It’s an inspiration
to continue the search – and so are the
men that were there that fateful day and
the others who have worked tirelessly to
prove its authenticity. I say “Thank You”
to all of you!
A Few Words from Bob Gimlin
I don’t often ask Bob Gimlin about the
events of 10/20/67. We talk about
sightings, expeditions, outings and our
day-to-day world primarily. I did,
however, take a few minutes this week to
ask Bob what this anniversary means to
him. Of course, in the first ten years or
more after the event, it was a bitter pill to
swallow. He was overlooked by Roger and
Al DeAtley as they promoted the film.
Too bad that it had such a negative effect
on their friendship. Years later, the
principal investigators of this event
realized the significance of Bob Gimlin’s
involvement. Of course! The ups and
downs for him came full circle in 2003
with his attendance at the Willow Creek
symposium. I heard John Green once say
the best thing about that weekend was how
Bob Gimlin was treated like a rock star!
Nothing could have been more well
deserved. Bob continues to support the
search and activities of people in this
endeavor. He’s generous with his time
when he can be. He’s just about said all
he can; answered all the questions posed
to him.
He had this to say when asked about the
significance 10/20/67 has for him.
“The significance now is actually more
now than it was in those middle years. For
a few years, it was terribly exciting. An’ it
kinda got old shoe there for awhile. And
now that so many of you folks have gotten
involved back in this again and (you’ve)
made it come alive a lot better than it was.
There was so much negative stuff going
on there. Now in the last 10, 12 years it’s
all turned around. I’m excited about what
you guys are doing.”
I commented on his cooperation with
investigators after a time and how much
that’s meant to those investigating both the
film and the phenomenon. He stated:
“I always did as much as I could. (I
cooperated with) John and Rene and Bob
Titmus, and especially Grover. When
Grover was alive, I did as much as I could.
When Grover would call me and ask me to
come over, I would. I didn’t even know
Dr. Jeff Meldrum in those days. I may
have met him, but I didn’t really get to
know him . So, with guys like that
involved, like Bindernagel and all them,
they really have been putting some effort
into it. And M.K. Davis sent me a great
disc of his work.”
He’s resigned to the debate about the film
and the existence of bigfoot.
“The people that want to believe in it, do
believe. The one’s that are on the borderline,
they don’t give a hoot. And the one’s
who’ve never believed, never will. They
could see one and they’d think it was a
guy in suit. That’s kinda the bottom line:
you can’t control what people think.”
He is such a proponent of the search for
bigfoot. Here’s some final words of
encouragement for those who devote their
time to this end. “If you’re not out there,
you can’t see one. And if you don’t have a
camera, you can’t prove what you saw.
Eventually, it’s going to happen (that we
prove the existence of these creatures.)”
So, now it’s up to us to move on and see
what discoveries lie ahead. The film will
always be there for us to appreciate and
this is the perfect time of year to do just
that! Get the popcorn and a favorite
beverage ready and keep that finger on
the rewind button! Familiarity with the
“pause” and “slow motion” features of
your player will be very handy, too! Enjoy
the Patterson-Gimlin film for what it is –
the real deal…a living, breathing,
walking bigfoot
for all to see!
Editor's Note:
This list would
not be complete
without mentioning
the latest Hancock House title The
Bigfoot Film Controversy. This book
combines a reprint of Patterson's book Do
Abominable Snowmen of America Really
Exist? with an updated report on the P/G
Film and its aftermath, including some of
the claims of hoaxers. The conclusions of
several scientists and researchers are also
provided. Russian Hominologists Bayanov
and Bourtsev; J Glickman (North
American Science Institute); and several
biomechanics experts including Grover
Krantz.
Lights! Camera? Action!
A Summer of Sightings and Sounds...and
Still, No Picture to Show the Family!
By Tom Yamarone
Summer’s gone and hunting season is starting
this weekend in my section of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains. No problem. There’s
always the Coast Range and starting in on the
local area investigation. It was a very good
series of summer outings beginning with the
BFRO Sierra Expedition in late June and
continuing on through the first week in August
as short outings with friends. No sightings were
to be reported but on two occasions we
recorded return calls to our call blasting and, on
another two occasions, we heard loud, clear
“wood knocks” in a location where we were
quite alone and isolated. It was thrilling!
We were camped at the spot of a reported
sighting in late June near the crest of the
Sierras along Hwy 108 in Tuolumne County.
When we first arrived, we hiked a quarter mile
to a nearby meadow and began circling the
meadow just within the tree line. It was 6:00
pm and hours away from sunset. My friend
grabbed a large branch and knocked it against a
large rock formation. Within 30 seconds, a loud
knock came from the direction of our camp in
response. That night we call blasted without
any return calls, but the next morning while I
was taking a walk back down towards the
meadow, another loud wood knock came from
the direction of camp again. It was 6:22 am and
I called back to camp on the radio. I got no
response. When I returned to camp, my
companion was fast asleep so I woke him to
ask if he had done a wood knock ten minutes
ago. He said he was sleeping. Wow! Something
was around camp.
We moved camp to a higher elevation meadow
for Sunday night and did some call blasting. On
our third attempt at 10:30 pm we had a return
call from a ways down the meadow. It was
barely audible but clearly a “howl” of 5 seconds
changing to a sound like the Klamath scream.
My friend recorded the event on a mini disc
system using a high quality omnidirectional
microphone. We had no further return calls and
no unusual events that night. We listened to the
playback of the call from earlier in the evening
and were lucky to hear it. It was quite dim at
our location and we probably would not have
heard it if we were moving around in camp.
There were sightings of bigfoot reported
throughout the central Sierra Nevada
Mountains and up into Siskiyou and Trinity
Counties this summer as well. These were the
ones we heard about – certainly, there were
sightings throughout the mountains most
everywhere. The BFRO database listed one up
along Hwy 108 in Mono County on August 21,
2005. It was a clear sighting in the late
afternoon by a family of four who were
returning to their vehicle on a trail out of the
back country.
I know of another that occurred on the 4th of
July in the Sierras near the Feather River. A 14-
year old girl was exiting a motor home around
midnight to get a blanket from the tent pitched
beside the vehicle. As she stepped down and
began to walk towards the tent, a figure caught
her attention at the edge of the campfire’s light.
It was squatted down watching her and when
they made eye contact, it bounded away into
the forest. She said it looked like a “gorilla” but
was “light colored with hair all over except in
the face” and it jumped on two legs to get into
the forest. She estimated it was nearly 5 feet tall
while she observed it squatting and it moved
with great agility. No unusual smell was
noticed and it made no noise. She was quite
disturbed by this encounter and its close
proximity to their camp. They stayed the night
in the motor home without any further incident.
It’s exciting to hear about these events. The
urge to get out in the woods is stoked by these
accounts. Unfortunately (or fortunately,
depend-ing on your point of view), I spent
some quality time with my extended family in
August. During this vacation, a relative
inquired about the current events in our bigfoot
world. I regaled her with the aforementioned
stories and she was excited to hear about these.
She is interested enough in the subject to watch
a documentary or two, but won’t be out
camping with me any time soon. I relate this
interaction because the first response she had
after hearing about these events was, “Did
anybody get a picture of one?” I didn’t dance
around that one. “No,” I answered, “it’s disappointing.
It’s not easy and not everyone is ready
with a camera.” But we sure wish they were.
And so into the Fall and Winter we go, and it’s
time once again to encourage everyone heading
out to search for our big, hairy friend to equip
yourself with some means of capturing an
image or documenting the event. It’s not easy.
It’s not cheap. You will certainly be annoyed to
be bothering with your camera at every stop
and having it out whenever you’re “in
country.” It’ll be getting dirty, dusty and likely
to shorten it’s operational life-time. But that’s
what you have to do if you hope to be ready
should that rare and exciting event take place –
a daylight bigfoot sighting.
I’m starting to doubt whether my Canon digital
camera would even get “into play” quick
enough to capture the moment. That several
second pause – even after it’s turned on –
before it snaps the photo might prove to be
quite frustrating. I’m starting to think that I
should be carrying a disposable camera with
400 speed film in my leg pocket for just such
an occasion. Sure, it won’t do much good
unless your sighting is under 50 yards or so,
but that could be the case. Should you happen
upon a different set of circumstances that allow
you to get the camcorder on and recording, or
to get out your digital camera, turn it on, zoom
in and snap the photo, GREAT! That’s the goal
– to come home with something to show the
family and friends. But think about it. Maybe
having that back-up point-and-shoot disposable
camera will do the trick someday. I think so.
Well, enough said. I’m off to the store to spend
$5 to $9 for what may be my most cherished
piece of field equipment! See you soon!
A N N O U N C E M E N T
On the way in early 2006, is the Authorized
Biography of Roger C. Patterson. This book
will be chock full of many never before
published photos and documents – well over
200 in total. This book will be penned by first
time author David L. Murphy who has traveled
over 5,000 miles tracking down witnesses and
those who knew Roger as well as close to 200
hours of research directly in the home of
Patricia Patterson. Having interviewed more
than 45 individuals who had contact at some
stage in Roger's life and having recorded over
100 hours of taped testimony, David Murphy
has a unique insight into this amazing man's
life. You will learn about Roger the family
man, rodeo rider, cowboy, acrobat, and yes,
bigfoot hunter. You will read word-for-word
transcript testimony of those individuals that
Roger interviewed on tape, including Fred
Beck of the Ape Canyon incident. You will also
learn of the little known accomplishments of
the man whose life was cut short by Hodgkin’s
disease at the young age of 38.
Not to be ignored, you will read little known
facts and information in a chapter devoted
solely to Robert E. Gimlin, Roger's equal in the
P/G Film.
Those interested in getting a copy of this book
which will tell more about the life of Roger
Patterson than all previous publications
combined, should send a self-addressed,
stamped envelope to:
Roger Patterson Book 2006
9115 Gunn Ave.
Whittier, CA 90605
or Raiders85@charter.net
Those who respond before the book is released,
will be notified and offered a pre-release copy
approximately two weeks prior to the official
release date.
Above: Twilight sky by Little Grass Valley Reservoir; Below: Sierra Crest Highway 108
3
4
C O N S E R V A T I O N
Subject: Can The great Apes Survive
(UK, Independent)
Treaty offers world's last chance
to save great apes
Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
The agreement sets targets for slowing the loss
of great apes and their forest habitats by 2010,
and for securing their future in the wild by 2015
They are man's closest cousins and they are
staring into the abyss. But in one of the most
important environmental treaties, hope has been
offered to stop the headlong slide towards
extinction of humankind's nearest relatives, the
great apes.
The agreement signed in Kinshasa, in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, is on a par with
the 1982 whaling moratorium and the 1997
Kyoto protocol on climate change. It offers a
real chance to halt the remorseless jungle
slaughter of gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos
[pygmy chimpanzees] and orang-utans, which
on current trends is likely to kill them all off
within a generation.
If it succeeds - a big if - it will be the most
significant move yet to counter the greatest
environmental problem facing the world after
global warming, the mass extinction of living
species. Increasingly, the great apes are being
seen as the flagship example of species that
have become endangered. Last year, the African
conservationist Richard Leakey said their image
should replace that of the giant panda as the
international icon of threatened wildlife.
The agreement in Kinshasa between the nations
where the animals occur in the wild, the "range
states", and a group of rich donor countries, led
by Britain, publicly recognises, for the first time
at the international diplomatic level, the unique
cultural, ecological and indeed economic
importance of the four great ape species, which
share up to 98.5 per cent ofour DNA.
It commits its signatories to a comprehensive
global strategy to save them, which involves
setting up much new legal protection and
protection in the field, and widely clamping
down on the illegal hunting, logging and other
practices which are destroying their habitats and
their populations.
Furthermore, it sets two ambitious targets: the
first of significantly slowing the loss of great
apes and their forest habitats by 2010, and the
second of securing the future in the wild of all
species and subspecies by 2015.
These are enormous tasks. At present the
gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos of Africa,
and the orang-utans of Asia, are under merciless
assault from deforestation, war, illegal logging
and mining, the captive-animal trade, hunting
(they are increasingly killed for food in some
parts of Africa and sold as "bushmeat") and now
from emerging diseases such as the Ebola virus.
As few as 350,000 of all the great apes, which
once numbered in their millions, may now exist
in the wild, and populations of some subspecies
are already down to a few hundred.
Some conservationists such as the chimpanzee
specialist Jane Goodall believe they may be
extinct in the wild outside protected areas in the
next two decades.
Certainly, if current trends continue, the
specialists who compiled the Atlas believe that,
over the next 25 years, 90 per cent of the gorilla
range will suffer medium to high impacts from
human development, as will 92 per cent of the
chimpanzee range, 96 per cent of the bonobo
range, and no less than 99 per cent of the
orang-utan range.
S P E C U L A T I O N
Giant Creatures Wiped Out by Hunters,
Not Climate
Ker Than
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com
Weapon-wielding humans, and not warming
temperatures, killed off the sloth and other giant
mammals that roamed North America during
the last Ice Age, a new study suggests.
The arrival of humans onto the American
continent and the great thaw that occurred near
the end of the last Ice Age both occurred at
roughly the same time, about 11,000 years ago.
Until now, scientists were unable to tease apart
the two events.
To get around this problem, David Steadman, a
researcher at the University of Florida, used
radiocarbon to date fossils from the islands of
Cuba and Hispaniola, where humans didn't set
foot until more than 6,000 years after their
arrival on the American continent.
The West Indian ground sloth, a mammal that
was the size of a modern elephant, also
disappeared from the islands around this time.
"If climate were the major factor driving the
extinction of ground sloths, you would expect
the extinctions to occur at about the same time
on both the islands and the continent since
climate change is a global event," Steadman
said.
His findings are detailed in the Aug. 2 issue of
the journal for the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.
This could also explain why more than threefourths
of the large Ice Age mammal species --
including giant wooly mammoths, mastodons,
saber-toothed tigers and giant bears -- that
roamed many parts of North America became
extinct within the span of a few thousand years.
"It was as dramatic as the extinction of the
dinosaurs 65 million years ago," Steadman said.
A Summer of Sightings and Sounds...and
Still, No Picture to Show the Family!
By Tom Yamarone
Summer’s gone and hunting season is starting
this weekend in my section of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains. No problem. There’s
always the Coast Range and starting in on the
local area investigation. It was a very good
series of summer outings beginning with the
BFRO Sierra Expedition in late June and
continuing on through the first week in August
as short outings with friends. No sightings were
to be reported but on two occasions we
recorded return calls to our call blasting and, on
another two occasions, we heard loud, clear
“wood knocks” in a location where we were
quite alone and isolated. It was thrilling!
We were camped at the spot of a reported
sighting in late June near the crest of the
Sierras along Hwy 108 in Tuolumne County.
When we first arrived, we hiked a quarter mile
to a nearby meadow and began circling the
meadow just within the tree line. It was 6:00
pm and hours away from sunset. My friend
grabbed a large branch and knocked it against a
large rock formation. Within 30 seconds, a loud
knock came from the direction of our camp in
response. That night we call blasted without
any return calls, but the next morning while I
was taking a walk back down towards the
meadow, another loud wood knock came from
the direction of camp again. It was 6:22 am and
I called back to camp on the radio. I got no
response. When I returned to camp, my
companion was fast asleep so I woke him to
ask if he had done a wood knock ten minutes
ago. He said he was sleeping. Wow! Something
was around camp.
We moved camp to a higher elevation meadow
for Sunday night and did some call blasting. On
our third attempt at 10:30 pm we had a return
call from a ways down the meadow. It was
barely audible but clearly a “howl” of 5 seconds
changing to a sound like the Klamath scream.
My friend recorded the event on a mini disc
system using a high quality omnidirectional
microphone. We had no further return calls and
no unusual events that night. We listened to the
playback of the call from earlier in the evening
and were lucky to hear it. It was quite dim at
our location and we probably would not have
heard it if we were moving around in camp.
There were sightings of bigfoot reported
throughout the central Sierra Nevada
Mountains and up into Siskiyou and Trinity
Counties this summer as well. These were the
ones we heard about – certainly, there were
sightings throughout the mountains most
everywhere. The BFRO database listed one up
along Hwy 108 in Mono County on August 21,
2005. It was a clear sighting in the late
afternoon by a family of four who were
returning to their vehicle on a trail out of the
back country.
I know of another that occurred on the 4th of
July in the Sierras near the Feather River. A 14-
year old girl was exiting a motor home around
midnight to get a blanket from the tent pitched
beside the vehicle. As she stepped down and
began to walk towards the tent, a figure caught
her attention at the edge of the campfire’s light.
It was squatted down watching her and when
they made eye contact, it bounded away into
the forest. She said it looked like a “gorilla” but
was “light colored with hair all over except in
the face” and it jumped on two legs to get into
the forest. She estimated it was nearly 5 feet tall
while she observed it squatting and it moved
with great agility. No unusual smell was
noticed and it made no noise. She was quite
disturbed by this encounter and its close
proximity to their camp. They stayed the night
in the motor home without any further incident.
It’s exciting to hear about these events. The
urge to get out in the woods is stoked by these
accounts. Unfortunately (or fortunately,
depend-ing on your point of view), I spent
some quality time with my extended family in
August. During this vacation, a relative
inquired about the current events in our bigfoot
world. I regaled her with the aforementioned
stories and she was excited to hear about these.
She is interested enough in the subject to watch
a documentary or two, but won’t be out
camping with me any time soon. I relate this
interaction because the first response she had
after hearing about these events was, “Did
anybody get a picture of one?” I didn’t dance
around that one. “No,” I answered, “it’s disappointing.
It’s not easy and not everyone is ready
with a camera.” But we sure wish they were.
And so into the Fall and Winter we go, and it’s
time once again to encourage everyone heading
out to search for our big, hairy friend to equip
yourself with some means of capturing an
image or documenting the event. It’s not easy.
It’s not cheap. You will certainly be annoyed to
be bothering with your camera at every stop
and having it out whenever you’re “in
country.” It’ll be getting dirty, dusty and likely
to shorten it’s operational life-time. But that’s
what you have to do if you hope to be ready
should that rare and exciting event take place –
a daylight bigfoot sighting.
I’m starting to doubt whether my Canon digital
camera would even get “into play” quick
enough to capture the moment. That several
second pause – even after it’s turned on –
before it snaps the photo might prove to be
quite frustrating. I’m starting to think that I
should be carrying a disposable camera with
400 speed film in my leg pocket for just such
an occasion. Sure, it won’t do much good
unless your sighting is under 50 yards or so,
but that could be the case. Should you happen
upon a different set of circumstances that allow
you to get the camcorder on and recording, or
to get out your digital camera, turn it on, zoom
in and snap the photo, GREAT! That’s the goal
– to come home with something to show the
family and friends. But think about it. Maybe
having that back-up point-and-shoot disposable
camera will do the trick someday. I think so.
Well, enough said. I’m off to the store to spend
$5 to $9 for what may be my most cherished
piece of field equipment! See you soon!
A N N O U N C E M E N T
On the way in early 2006, is the Authorized
Biography of Roger C. Patterson. This book
will be chock full of many never before
published photos and documents – well over
200 in total. This book will be penned by first
time author David L. Murphy who has traveled
over 5,000 miles tracking down witnesses and
those who knew Roger as well as close to 200
hours of research directly in the home of
Patricia Patterson. Having interviewed more
than 45 individuals who had contact at some
stage in Roger's life and having recorded over
100 hours of taped testimony, David Murphy
has a unique insight into this amazing man's
life. You will learn about Roger the family
man, rodeo rider, cowboy, acrobat, and yes,
bigfoot hunter. You will read word-for-word
transcript testimony of those individuals that
Roger interviewed on tape, including Fred
Beck of the Ape Canyon incident. You will also
learn of the little known accomplishments of
the man whose life was cut short by Hodgkin’s
disease at the young age of 38.
Not to be ignored, you will read little known
facts and information in a chapter devoted
solely to Robert E. Gimlin, Roger's equal in the
P/G Film.
Those interested in getting a copy of this book
which will tell more about the life of Roger
Patterson than all previous publications
combined, should send a self-addressed,
stamped envelope to:
Roger Patterson Book 2006
9115 Gunn Ave.
Whittier, CA 90605
or Raiders85@charter.net
Those who respond before the book is released,
will be notified and offered a pre-release copy
approximately two weeks prior to the official
release date.
Above: Twilight sky by Little Grass Valley Reservoir; Below: Sierra Crest Highway 108
3
4
C O N S E R V A T I O N
Subject: Can The great Apes Survive
(UK, Independent)
Treaty offers world's last chance
to save great apes
Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
The agreement sets targets for slowing the loss
of great apes and their forest habitats by 2010,
and for securing their future in the wild by 2015
They are man's closest cousins and they are
staring into the abyss. But in one of the most
important environmental treaties, hope has been
offered to stop the headlong slide towards
extinction of humankind's nearest relatives, the
great apes.
The agreement signed in Kinshasa, in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, is on a par with
the 1982 whaling moratorium and the 1997
Kyoto protocol on climate change. It offers a
real chance to halt the remorseless jungle
slaughter of gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos
[pygmy chimpanzees] and orang-utans, which
on current trends is likely to kill them all off
within a generation.
If it succeeds - a big if - it will be the most
significant move yet to counter the greatest
environmental problem facing the world after
global warming, the mass extinction of living
species. Increasingly, the great apes are being
seen as the flagship example of species that
have become endangered. Last year, the African
conservationist Richard Leakey said their image
should replace that of the giant panda as the
international icon of threatened wildlife.
The agreement in Kinshasa between the nations
where the animals occur in the wild, the "range
states", and a group of rich donor countries, led
by Britain, publicly recognises, for the first time
at the international diplomatic level, the unique
cultural, ecological and indeed economic
importance of the four great ape species, which
share up to 98.5 per cent ofour DNA.
It commits its signatories to a comprehensive
global strategy to save them, which involves
setting up much new legal protection and
protection in the field, and widely clamping
down on the illegal hunting, logging and other
practices which are destroying their habitats and
their populations.
Furthermore, it sets two ambitious targets: the
first of significantly slowing the loss of great
apes and their forest habitats by 2010, and the
second of securing the future in the wild of all
species and subspecies by 2015.
These are enormous tasks. At present the
gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos of Africa,
and the orang-utans of Asia, are under merciless
assault from deforestation, war, illegal logging
and mining, the captive-animal trade, hunting
(they are increasingly killed for food in some
parts of Africa and sold as "bushmeat") and now
from emerging diseases such as the Ebola virus.
As few as 350,000 of all the great apes, which
once numbered in their millions, may now exist
in the wild, and populations of some subspecies
are already down to a few hundred.
Some conservationists such as the chimpanzee
specialist Jane Goodall believe they may be
extinct in the wild outside protected areas in the
next two decades.
Certainly, if current trends continue, the
specialists who compiled the Atlas believe that,
over the next 25 years, 90 per cent of the gorilla
range will suffer medium to high impacts from
human development, as will 92 per cent of the
chimpanzee range, 96 per cent of the bonobo
range, and no less than 99 per cent of the
orang-utan range.
S P E C U L A T I O N
Giant Creatures Wiped Out by Hunters,
Not Climate
Ker Than
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com
Weapon-wielding humans, and not warming
temperatures, killed off the sloth and other giant
mammals that roamed North America during
the last Ice Age, a new study suggests.
The arrival of humans onto the American
continent and the great thaw that occurred near
the end of the last Ice Age both occurred at
roughly the same time, about 11,000 years ago.
Until now, scientists were unable to tease apart
the two events.
To get around this problem, David Steadman, a
researcher at the University of Florida, used
radiocarbon to date fossils from the islands of
Cuba and Hispaniola, where humans didn't set
foot until more than 6,000 years after their
arrival on the American continent.
The West Indian ground sloth, a mammal that
was the size of a modern elephant, also
disappeared from the islands around this time.
"If climate were the major factor driving the
extinction of ground sloths, you would expect
the extinctions to occur at about the same time
on both the islands and the continent since
climate change is a global event," Steadman
said.
His findings are detailed in the Aug. 2 issue of
the journal for the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.
This could also explain why more than threefourths
of the large Ice Age mammal species --
including giant wooly mammoths, mastodons,
saber-toothed tigers and giant bears -- that
roamed many parts of North America became
extinct within the span of a few thousand years.
"It was as dramatic as the extinction of the
dinosaurs 65 million years ago," Steadman said.
O B S E R V A T I O N S by Mike Rugg
On a recent trip to my local bank, I had
occasion to wear my cap, which is adorned
with a pin announcing “Bigfoot Lives.” The
teller glanced at the pin and asked if I was
associated with the Bigfoot Museum. “Yes,” I
said. “Have you ever seen one?” she asked.
“I think I did when I was about six years old,”
I told her. “Well I definitely saw one when I
was six years old,” she affirmed.
She told me that at the time she was camping
with her parents on the Klamath River in
Northern California. While walking in the
woods she observed what she described as a
“strange looking stump.” She said she had a
tough time taking her eyes off the stump, as
there was something peculiar about it, but she
couldn’t quite figure out what it was about it
that was strange, “until two eyes suddenly
blinked open” in the middle of the stump!
Apparently the bigfoot was hiding in plain
sight, by kneeling down, closing its eyes and
holding perfectly still. Once the eyes were
open, and she made eye-contact with it, the
ruse was up so the bigfoot stood up to its full
height and walked into the woods. “If it hadn’t
opened its eyes, I would have walked on, and
probably would have forgotten all about the
incident.”
This is one of several stories I’ve heard now of
a bigfoot hiding in plain sight. Another story,
which is also listed on the BFRO web site, was
reported by a man living in the Aptos area near
Nisene Marks Park. He came into the museum
several weeks ago and described in detail his
bigfoot sighting.
The property he lives on is adjacent to his
father’s, and they share a private dirt road. One
day as he was driving in from the highway, he
glanced over the fence next to the road and
noticed what registered in his mind as a “slash
pile” in the field. He explained that when his
father cuts down a tree, he is usually the one
who gets to strip the tree of limbs, bark and so
forth, which is typically thrown into a pile for
burning or to be hauled away. This is a slash
pile, and that’s what he thought he saw lying in
the field. But when he asked his dad which tree
he’d cut, and why he didn't ask for help, his
father said, “What tree?” They both went
immediately to the spot where the “slash pile”
had been, and it was gone! Realizing he had
“misread” what he saw, and thinking back, he
now believes that he saw a bigfoot lying facedown
with its hands clasped behind its neck, its
arms covering the sides of its head. The
sighting was also mentioned in the last
newsletter in an article by Tom Yamarone.
The point here is that bigfoot is capable of
hiding in plain sight. By holding its body in a
certain position and staying absolutely still, its
capable of causing us to misinterpret what we
see even when we look right at it. --MR
On a recent trip to my local bank, I had
occasion to wear my cap, which is adorned
with a pin announcing “Bigfoot Lives.” The
teller glanced at the pin and asked if I was
associated with the Bigfoot Museum. “Yes,” I
said. “Have you ever seen one?” she asked.
“I think I did when I was about six years old,”
I told her. “Well I definitely saw one when I
was six years old,” she affirmed.
She told me that at the time she was camping
with her parents on the Klamath River in
Northern California. While walking in the
woods she observed what she described as a
“strange looking stump.” She said she had a
tough time taking her eyes off the stump, as
there was something peculiar about it, but she
couldn’t quite figure out what it was about it
that was strange, “until two eyes suddenly
blinked open” in the middle of the stump!
Apparently the bigfoot was hiding in plain
sight, by kneeling down, closing its eyes and
holding perfectly still. Once the eyes were
open, and she made eye-contact with it, the
ruse was up so the bigfoot stood up to its full
height and walked into the woods. “If it hadn’t
opened its eyes, I would have walked on, and
probably would have forgotten all about the
incident.”
This is one of several stories I’ve heard now of
a bigfoot hiding in plain sight. Another story,
which is also listed on the BFRO web site, was
reported by a man living in the Aptos area near
Nisene Marks Park. He came into the museum
several weeks ago and described in detail his
bigfoot sighting.
The property he lives on is adjacent to his
father’s, and they share a private dirt road. One
day as he was driving in from the highway, he
glanced over the fence next to the road and
noticed what registered in his mind as a “slash
pile” in the field. He explained that when his
father cuts down a tree, he is usually the one
who gets to strip the tree of limbs, bark and so
forth, which is typically thrown into a pile for
burning or to be hauled away. This is a slash
pile, and that’s what he thought he saw lying in
the field. But when he asked his dad which tree
he’d cut, and why he didn't ask for help, his
father said, “What tree?” They both went
immediately to the spot where the “slash pile”
had been, and it was gone! Realizing he had
“misread” what he saw, and thinking back, he
now believes that he saw a bigfoot lying facedown
with its hands clasped behind its neck, its
arms covering the sides of its head. The
sighting was also mentioned in the last
newsletter in an article by Tom Yamarone.
The point here is that bigfoot is capable of
hiding in plain sight. By holding its body in a
certain position and staying absolutely still, its
capable of causing us to misinterpret what we
see even when we look right at it. --MR
Bigfooting with Roger and Bob -ÊÊÊÊÊÊ
The Buddy Knox Story
ÊBy Tom Yamarone
One of the best things I took home
from the Bellingham Sasquatch Research
Conference in May was a CD of Sasquatch
songs that included an amazing bigfoot song
by rockabilly star Buddy Knox. It also
included an interview with him in which he
talks about the time he went out “bigfooting”
with Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin in the
late 1960’s. I had heard this story a year ago
as it was told to me by Bob Gimlin while we
were out on expedition with the BFRO in
Washington. It was the “small world
syndrome” to have a very good friend tell me
he had an interview with Buddy Knox and an
unreleased demo of a song he subsequently
wrote after being out in the woods with the
dynamic bigfoot duo. Wow! Here’s how it
goes….
Buddy Knox was in Yakima,
Washington performing for two weeks at a
local lounge. His band leader was a man
named Jerry Merritt, a guy who had known
Roger and Bob for many years in Yakima.
Roger stopped by after one of the shows and
started talking about bigfoot with Buddy and
the next thing you know, they’re on horseback
in the Cascade Mountains looking for our
elusive friend. The interview is full of
incredible insight into the world of Roger
Patterson and Bob Gimlin. These were two of
the most determined “field researchers” of the
time and you get a feel for their enthusiasm
and die-hard nature as Buddy recalls the two
days they spent out in the woods.
Here’s some of the interview which
took place near the end of Buddy’s life while
he was residing in Victoria, British Columbia.
A.F. (Alex’s Friend): I’ve heard this story once
before, but you’ve got to tell me the sasquatch
story….
B.K.: Oh, the bigfoot story. Well, Jerry
Merritt, an old friend of mine – I think you
know who Jerry is; he’s in the Rockabilly Hall
of Fame, too – he was my band leader a lot of
times over the years and a friend of mine, he
was living in Yakima, Washington and, uh,
Jerry booked me into a place called the
Chieftain Hotel in the lounge. We sold that
lounge out and the guy decided he wanted to
keep me over for another week. So I stayed
there two weeks in the lounge, you know, and
he gave me another thousand a week.
So, in the meantime, I ran into a guy named
Roger Patterson. He was a little, small cowboy
and all that was on Roger’s mind was this big
thing living out in the woods that he called
bigfoot. And I said, “What the hell is a
bigfoot?” and Roger – that’s all it took for him
to start talking and boy, he went to work
talking! He always ran around with an Indian
boy named Bob Gimlin. (Note: In complete
deference to my good friend, Bob Gimlin, I
would say that this term was commonly used
back then and it was a point of pride, very
much in the manner of the Lone Ranger and his
sidekick, Tonto. No kidding. Buddy also uses
the same terms in the song lyrics. Where we
might cringe today hearing this, I am sticking
up for Buddy Knox as this was acceptable at
that time.) And, uh, the Indian boy was always
with him – everything they done!
So, we sat down in the lounge area there and he
(Roger) told me about bigfoot which, uh, in
scientific terms is called sasquatch which is the
same thing as a yeti over there in – where is
that? – Tahiti or someplace in the mountains
over there. (Note: Tibet was obviously the
country he was trying to think of…) And it’s the
same thing as the Abominable Snowman but
over here he’s called bigfoot or sasquatch. And
Roger Patterson was just totally taken with this
thing. And Roger owned a large ranch quite
aways out of town and he says sasquatch is on
his ranch! And I said, “Hah! I got to see this!”
(chuckles) So, one Sunday Roger come rolling
in and he had a little Volkswagen Bug van and
he had this horse Peanut in it. It was a small
horse, but it was in his damn van! And he
brought over, Bob Gimlin, he brought over a
truck with three other horses in it, in this big
truck and we commenced to go look for
sasquatch. We was headed out of Yakima into
the Cascade Mountains….
(edited for brevity)
We climbed on these horses and we were going
to go out there all day and stay – it was
Sunday; we had Sunday off and we didn’t have
to go to work until Monday night…we didn’t
have a matinee on Monday – so, I thought
we’re going to be out here riding these horses
all day Sunday and all night and all day
Monday. So, I just decided to enjoy a good
horse ride, you know, but he (Roger) was hellbent
to catch sasquatch ‘cause he had a gun
there that shot a net thing out on this saddle and
he carried it right behind his saddle. And it shot
a net out there and he was going to capture a
damn sasquatch.
And he showed me before we went, he showed
me this film that you’ve seen a thousand times
on television of this female sasquatch walking
along and stepping over a log and turning
around and looking and you see these breasts
sticking out there, so you know it’s a female,
you know. He took an 8 mm picture of this
thing just when he was out hunting one time
and, uh, he never thought about shooting it
‘cause he didn’t know if it was a human
dressed up like that and he said, “Shooting it
never crossed my mind.” So, he said, “I
grabbed my camera.” He had his camera with
him and he took about 13 to 14 minutes of the
sasquatch walking around this little horse-shoe
curve and it disappeared in the woods, you
know.
(Note: We all know the Patterson-Gimlin
footage is just under a minute long with the
classic 12 stable seconds somewhere in the
middle of it…perhaps Roger was showing a
loop of the footage or Buddy watched it for
what seemed like “13 to 14 minutes.” Doesn’t
matter. What does matter is that he got to
experience the bigfooting world of Roger and
Bob sometime after the film was taken!)
And we rode up to this log and I saw the
sasquatch step over this log like it was a little
stump, and this damn log was this high! (I
assume he’s pointing somewhere chest high
or above.) There was no way in the world I
could hardly even jump over it, you know, so
the sucker had to be 7 or 8 feet tall – had to be!
(Note: I think in the course of the many bigfoot
encounters Roger had investigated, he was
telling Buddy about some of these on top of
showing him the film. Then, they went out in an
area where Roger had followed up on a
sighting and/or found tracks – later we hear
about Buddy seeing a place where Roger had
cast some tracks. So, I’m sure Buddy over the
course of the day – or the years since then –
has confused some of these details. He thinks
he was at the film site and we know he wasn’t.
In some similar creek watershed in the
Cascades, Buddy thought he was seeing the
downed logs and stumps visible in the film.
Still, what a great two days to recall!)
And, uh, he (Roger) said, “Yeah, that thing was
about 7 and ? feet tall – easy! And he said, “I
don’t know how much it weighed but I’d guess
500 pounds or 600 pounds,” and he said it was
big and (there) was hair all over it. He said he
never got a good look at the face – couldn’t see
a look of the face in the camera – and a little
later on, I saw him on Johnny Carson and he
showed that same film on Johnny Carson. And
he interviewed Roger and I saw him just again
on TV on a show about sasquatches and he’s an
older man now, not a young, skinny cowboy,
you know.
(Note: Now back to the bigfooting that Sunday
and Monday…)
2
Now
And he found these prints when he was out
there hunting and he went back to town and got
some plaster to come back and make some
plaster casts. And I saw these damn prints and
these things were an easy foot and a half –
close to 2 feet long! – and the imprints and
everything was there. I don’t see how he could
have falsed (sic) them up so easy, you know.
One print was a little rough – he had 4 or 5
prints, you know, plaster casts of these. So, he
brought plaster and everything along with him
on another horse. And net guns and the whole
works on this other horse. So, I could tell he
was either planning an elaborate joke or he was
deadly serious about this. And I found out later
that he was deadly serious.
(edited again….)
So, we done a matinee and a show that
(Saturday) night and the next morning he come
and got me in the hotel and he said, “Load up!
We’re going!” So, we cut out and Roger
Patterson got the horses and we started looking
for sasquatch. And we looked all day long and
we looked on up until it got dark and we
decided to set up a camp site. So, and I said,
“What are we gonna eat?” and Jerry said, “Oh,
Roger brought some food, yeah.” And he
brought out this little sack of trail nuts and stuff
and raisins and you know, like not even a hand
full – oh, just about a hand full – for all of us to
eat! This was our supper. So, I lived on trail
nuts and stuff for two days, you know. And the
next morning we crawled out (from under our
blankets) at first day light and Roger’s out
there and loaded up, ready to go. And he had
the horses already saddled and everything. We
just slept on the ground, you know. I just slept
in my clothes and folded up one of those little
rolling things behind the saddle and used it as a
pillow. And it was warm, so we weren’t cold or
nothing. And we hunted until about 5 or 6 the
next afternoon – never saw prints, never got a
smell. He said they smell horrible! And he said
once we smell that smell, we’ll follow the
smell and see if we can find him.
Well, we never got a smell of the smell and we
never saw any footprints or nothing like that ,
but Roger showed me where he found the other
footprints and you could tell – there was plaster
all over the ground and you could tell he had
made something plaster there. And , uh, so I
just took it that he was telling the truth and you
know, I didn’t think he was a liar or nothing…
(interview ends here…)
---------------------------------------------------------
There’s more to this story that I’ll save for
another edition of the newsletter. Suffice it to
say, I find this to be a wonderful glimpse into
“bigfooting” with Roger and Bob. The song
which accompanies this interview was folkstyle
ballad and a lot of work was done on this
acetate by Alex Solunac of Victoria, B.C. to
make it “listenable”…It was the hit of the
Bellingham weekend as we listened to it over
and over. We’ll have to find a way to post some
of it on the one of our websites, but for now,
here are the lyrics.
The Bigfoot Song
by Buddy Knox
Way up in the north woods an’ deep in the dark
pines that blacken the mountains of the
Cascade Range,
They still tell the tales of an Indian legend,
Sasquatch is the legend, Bigfoot is the name.
The Indians claim he’s the missing link that fits
in the gap of the evolution chain.
You can make your mind up when you’ve
heard the stories,
Sasquatch is the story, bigfoot is the name.
(chorus)
You can ride from Canada to Northern
California,
All up and down the Cascade Range,
But if you go alone, friend, I’m here to warn
you,
Look out for the thing with the bigfoot name,
Look out for the thing with the bigfoot name.
From out of the Yakama Indian Reservation a
young cowboy and an Indian came,
To hunt in the mountains of Northern
California, truth was the purpose, Bigfoot was
the game.
Now young Roger Patterson ran a small string
of horses,
And he lived in the foothills in a cabin with his
wife,
He knew that many secrets were hidden in
these mountains,
And he had heard the legend of bigfoot for
most all his life
(chorus)
Nine years ago while running wild horses, deep
in the mountains with an old Indian friend,
He ran across a huge, a very huge footprint and
this is where the hunt for the bigfoot man
began.
To town and back they went and they made a
plaster cast 18 inches long from heel to the toe,
And from the print that it made, they guessed
that it must have weighed 700 pounds or so.
(chorus)
Now the facts they put together sent chills right
up their spines and the search for a lot more
information began,
And when they told the story and showed these
plaster prints, they only drew laughs from
strangers as well as friends,
Now up through the years they found a lot
more footprints and they gathered sworn
statements from a lot of decent minded folks,
But when they took these facts up to the
educated experts, it was all disregarded and
branded as a hoax.
(chorus)
Now it become a challenge to Roger and the
Indian to gather more proof and to bring it all
forth,
And show the whole wide world that this
bigfoot man is alive today and living in the
mountains to the north,
And for years they gathered a lot of signed
statements and tapes from people who had seen
bigfoot or his tracks,
But still no sightings and no film photographs,
and they knew they must bring a lot better
proof back.
(chorus)
From out of the Yakama Indian Reservation a
young cowboy and an Indian came,
To hunt in the mountains of Northern
California, truth was the purpose, Bigfoot was
the game.
Now young Roger Patterson ran a small string
of horses,
And he lived in the foothills in a cabin with his
wife,
He knew that many secrets were hidden in
these mountains,
And he had heard the legend of bigfoot for
most all his life
(chorus)
Nine years ago while running wild horses, deep
in the mountains with an old Indian friend,
He ran across a huge, a very huge footprint and
this is where the hunt for the bigfoot man
began.
To town and back they went and they made a
plaster cast 18 inches long from heel to the toe,
And from the print that it made, they guessed
that it must have weighed 700 pounds or so.
(chorus)
Now the facts they put together sent chills right
up their spines and the search for a lot more
information began,
And when they told the story and showed these
plaster prints, they only drew laughs from
strangers as well as friends,
Now up through the years they found a lot
more footprints and they gathered sworn
statements from a lot of decent minded folks,
But when they took these facts up to the
educated experts, it was all disregarded and
branded as a hoax.
(chorus)
Now it become a challenge to Roger and the
Indian to gather more proof and to bring it all
forth,
And show the whole wide world that this
bigfoot man is alive today and living in the
mountains to the north,
And for years they gathered a lot of signed
statements and tapes from people who had seen
bigfoot or his tracks,
But still no sightings and no film photographs,
and they knew they must bring a lot better
proof back.
(chorus)
The Buddy Knox Story
ÊBy Tom Yamarone
One of the best things I took home
from the Bellingham Sasquatch Research
Conference in May was a CD of Sasquatch
songs that included an amazing bigfoot song
by rockabilly star Buddy Knox. It also
included an interview with him in which he
talks about the time he went out “bigfooting”
with Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin in the
late 1960’s. I had heard this story a year ago
as it was told to me by Bob Gimlin while we
were out on expedition with the BFRO in
Washington. It was the “small world
syndrome” to have a very good friend tell me
he had an interview with Buddy Knox and an
unreleased demo of a song he subsequently
wrote after being out in the woods with the
dynamic bigfoot duo. Wow! Here’s how it
goes….
Buddy Knox was in Yakima,
Washington performing for two weeks at a
local lounge. His band leader was a man
named Jerry Merritt, a guy who had known
Roger and Bob for many years in Yakima.
Roger stopped by after one of the shows and
started talking about bigfoot with Buddy and
the next thing you know, they’re on horseback
in the Cascade Mountains looking for our
elusive friend. The interview is full of
incredible insight into the world of Roger
Patterson and Bob Gimlin. These were two of
the most determined “field researchers” of the
time and you get a feel for their enthusiasm
and die-hard nature as Buddy recalls the two
days they spent out in the woods.
Here’s some of the interview which
took place near the end of Buddy’s life while
he was residing in Victoria, British Columbia.
A.F. (Alex’s Friend): I’ve heard this story once
before, but you’ve got to tell me the sasquatch
story….
B.K.: Oh, the bigfoot story. Well, Jerry
Merritt, an old friend of mine – I think you
know who Jerry is; he’s in the Rockabilly Hall
of Fame, too – he was my band leader a lot of
times over the years and a friend of mine, he
was living in Yakima, Washington and, uh,
Jerry booked me into a place called the
Chieftain Hotel in the lounge. We sold that
lounge out and the guy decided he wanted to
keep me over for another week. So I stayed
there two weeks in the lounge, you know, and
he gave me another thousand a week.
So, in the meantime, I ran into a guy named
Roger Patterson. He was a little, small cowboy
and all that was on Roger’s mind was this big
thing living out in the woods that he called
bigfoot. And I said, “What the hell is a
bigfoot?” and Roger – that’s all it took for him
to start talking and boy, he went to work
talking! He always ran around with an Indian
boy named Bob Gimlin. (Note: In complete
deference to my good friend, Bob Gimlin, I
would say that this term was commonly used
back then and it was a point of pride, very
much in the manner of the Lone Ranger and his
sidekick, Tonto. No kidding. Buddy also uses
the same terms in the song lyrics. Where we
might cringe today hearing this, I am sticking
up for Buddy Knox as this was acceptable at
that time.) And, uh, the Indian boy was always
with him – everything they done!
So, we sat down in the lounge area there and he
(Roger) told me about bigfoot which, uh, in
scientific terms is called sasquatch which is the
same thing as a yeti over there in – where is
that? – Tahiti or someplace in the mountains
over there. (Note: Tibet was obviously the
country he was trying to think of…) And it’s the
same thing as the Abominable Snowman but
over here he’s called bigfoot or sasquatch. And
Roger Patterson was just totally taken with this
thing. And Roger owned a large ranch quite
aways out of town and he says sasquatch is on
his ranch! And I said, “Hah! I got to see this!”
(chuckles) So, one Sunday Roger come rolling
in and he had a little Volkswagen Bug van and
he had this horse Peanut in it. It was a small
horse, but it was in his damn van! And he
brought over, Bob Gimlin, he brought over a
truck with three other horses in it, in this big
truck and we commenced to go look for
sasquatch. We was headed out of Yakima into
the Cascade Mountains….
(edited for brevity)
We climbed on these horses and we were going
to go out there all day and stay – it was
Sunday; we had Sunday off and we didn’t have
to go to work until Monday night…we didn’t
have a matinee on Monday – so, I thought
we’re going to be out here riding these horses
all day Sunday and all night and all day
Monday. So, I just decided to enjoy a good
horse ride, you know, but he (Roger) was hellbent
to catch sasquatch ‘cause he had a gun
there that shot a net thing out on this saddle and
he carried it right behind his saddle. And it shot
a net out there and he was going to capture a
damn sasquatch.
And he showed me before we went, he showed
me this film that you’ve seen a thousand times
on television of this female sasquatch walking
along and stepping over a log and turning
around and looking and you see these breasts
sticking out there, so you know it’s a female,
you know. He took an 8 mm picture of this
thing just when he was out hunting one time
and, uh, he never thought about shooting it
‘cause he didn’t know if it was a human
dressed up like that and he said, “Shooting it
never crossed my mind.” So, he said, “I
grabbed my camera.” He had his camera with
him and he took about 13 to 14 minutes of the
sasquatch walking around this little horse-shoe
curve and it disappeared in the woods, you
know.
(Note: We all know the Patterson-Gimlin
footage is just under a minute long with the
classic 12 stable seconds somewhere in the
middle of it…perhaps Roger was showing a
loop of the footage or Buddy watched it for
what seemed like “13 to 14 minutes.” Doesn’t
matter. What does matter is that he got to
experience the bigfooting world of Roger and
Bob sometime after the film was taken!)
And we rode up to this log and I saw the
sasquatch step over this log like it was a little
stump, and this damn log was this high! (I
assume he’s pointing somewhere chest high
or above.) There was no way in the world I
could hardly even jump over it, you know, so
the sucker had to be 7 or 8 feet tall – had to be!
(Note: I think in the course of the many bigfoot
encounters Roger had investigated, he was
telling Buddy about some of these on top of
showing him the film. Then, they went out in an
area where Roger had followed up on a
sighting and/or found tracks – later we hear
about Buddy seeing a place where Roger had
cast some tracks. So, I’m sure Buddy over the
course of the day – or the years since then –
has confused some of these details. He thinks
he was at the film site and we know he wasn’t.
In some similar creek watershed in the
Cascades, Buddy thought he was seeing the
downed logs and stumps visible in the film.
Still, what a great two days to recall!)
And, uh, he (Roger) said, “Yeah, that thing was
about 7 and ? feet tall – easy! And he said, “I
don’t know how much it weighed but I’d guess
500 pounds or 600 pounds,” and he said it was
big and (there) was hair all over it. He said he
never got a good look at the face – couldn’t see
a look of the face in the camera – and a little
later on, I saw him on Johnny Carson and he
showed that same film on Johnny Carson. And
he interviewed Roger and I saw him just again
on TV on a show about sasquatches and he’s an
older man now, not a young, skinny cowboy,
you know.
(Note: Now back to the bigfooting that Sunday
and Monday…)
2
Now
And he found these prints when he was out
there hunting and he went back to town and got
some plaster to come back and make some
plaster casts. And I saw these damn prints and
these things were an easy foot and a half –
close to 2 feet long! – and the imprints and
everything was there. I don’t see how he could
have falsed (sic) them up so easy, you know.
One print was a little rough – he had 4 or 5
prints, you know, plaster casts of these. So, he
brought plaster and everything along with him
on another horse. And net guns and the whole
works on this other horse. So, I could tell he
was either planning an elaborate joke or he was
deadly serious about this. And I found out later
that he was deadly serious.
(edited again….)
So, we done a matinee and a show that
(Saturday) night and the next morning he come
and got me in the hotel and he said, “Load up!
We’re going!” So, we cut out and Roger
Patterson got the horses and we started looking
for sasquatch. And we looked all day long and
we looked on up until it got dark and we
decided to set up a camp site. So, and I said,
“What are we gonna eat?” and Jerry said, “Oh,
Roger brought some food, yeah.” And he
brought out this little sack of trail nuts and stuff
and raisins and you know, like not even a hand
full – oh, just about a hand full – for all of us to
eat! This was our supper. So, I lived on trail
nuts and stuff for two days, you know. And the
next morning we crawled out (from under our
blankets) at first day light and Roger’s out
there and loaded up, ready to go. And he had
the horses already saddled and everything. We
just slept on the ground, you know. I just slept
in my clothes and folded up one of those little
rolling things behind the saddle and used it as a
pillow. And it was warm, so we weren’t cold or
nothing. And we hunted until about 5 or 6 the
next afternoon – never saw prints, never got a
smell. He said they smell horrible! And he said
once we smell that smell, we’ll follow the
smell and see if we can find him.
Well, we never got a smell of the smell and we
never saw any footprints or nothing like that ,
but Roger showed me where he found the other
footprints and you could tell – there was plaster
all over the ground and you could tell he had
made something plaster there. And , uh, so I
just took it that he was telling the truth and you
know, I didn’t think he was a liar or nothing…
(interview ends here…)
---------------------------------------------------------
There’s more to this story that I’ll save for
another edition of the newsletter. Suffice it to
say, I find this to be a wonderful glimpse into
“bigfooting” with Roger and Bob. The song
which accompanies this interview was folkstyle
ballad and a lot of work was done on this
acetate by Alex Solunac of Victoria, B.C. to
make it “listenable”…It was the hit of the
Bellingham weekend as we listened to it over
and over. We’ll have to find a way to post some
of it on the one of our websites, but for now,
here are the lyrics.
The Bigfoot Song
by Buddy Knox
Way up in the north woods an’ deep in the dark
pines that blacken the mountains of the
Cascade Range,
They still tell the tales of an Indian legend,
Sasquatch is the legend, Bigfoot is the name.
The Indians claim he’s the missing link that fits
in the gap of the evolution chain.
You can make your mind up when you’ve
heard the stories,
Sasquatch is the story, bigfoot is the name.
(chorus)
You can ride from Canada to Northern
California,
All up and down the Cascade Range,
But if you go alone, friend, I’m here to warn
you,
Look out for the thing with the bigfoot name,
Look out for the thing with the bigfoot name.
From out of the Yakama Indian Reservation a
young cowboy and an Indian came,
To hunt in the mountains of Northern
California, truth was the purpose, Bigfoot was
the game.
Now young Roger Patterson ran a small string
of horses,
And he lived in the foothills in a cabin with his
wife,
He knew that many secrets were hidden in
these mountains,
And he had heard the legend of bigfoot for
most all his life
(chorus)
Nine years ago while running wild horses, deep
in the mountains with an old Indian friend,
He ran across a huge, a very huge footprint and
this is where the hunt for the bigfoot man
began.
To town and back they went and they made a
plaster cast 18 inches long from heel to the toe,
And from the print that it made, they guessed
that it must have weighed 700 pounds or so.
(chorus)
Now the facts they put together sent chills right
up their spines and the search for a lot more
information began,
And when they told the story and showed these
plaster prints, they only drew laughs from
strangers as well as friends,
Now up through the years they found a lot
more footprints and they gathered sworn
statements from a lot of decent minded folks,
But when they took these facts up to the
educated experts, it was all disregarded and
branded as a hoax.
(chorus)
Now it become a challenge to Roger and the
Indian to gather more proof and to bring it all
forth,
And show the whole wide world that this
bigfoot man is alive today and living in the
mountains to the north,
And for years they gathered a lot of signed
statements and tapes from people who had seen
bigfoot or his tracks,
But still no sightings and no film photographs,
and they knew they must bring a lot better
proof back.
(chorus)
From out of the Yakama Indian Reservation a
young cowboy and an Indian came,
To hunt in the mountains of Northern
California, truth was the purpose, Bigfoot was
the game.
Now young Roger Patterson ran a small string
of horses,
And he lived in the foothills in a cabin with his
wife,
He knew that many secrets were hidden in
these mountains,
And he had heard the legend of bigfoot for
most all his life
(chorus)
Nine years ago while running wild horses, deep
in the mountains with an old Indian friend,
He ran across a huge, a very huge footprint and
this is where the hunt for the bigfoot man
began.
To town and back they went and they made a
plaster cast 18 inches long from heel to the toe,
And from the print that it made, they guessed
that it must have weighed 700 pounds or so.
(chorus)
Now the facts they put together sent chills right
up their spines and the search for a lot more
information began,
And when they told the story and showed these
plaster prints, they only drew laughs from
strangers as well as friends,
Now up through the years they found a lot
more footprints and they gathered sworn
statements from a lot of decent minded folks,
But when they took these facts up to the
educated experts, it was all disregarded and
branded as a hoax.
(chorus)
Now it become a challenge to Roger and the
Indian to gather more proof and to bring it all
forth,
And show the whole wide world that this
bigfoot man is alive today and living in the
mountains to the north,
And for years they gathered a lot of signed
statements and tapes from people who had seen
bigfoot or his tracks,
But still no sightings and no film photographs,
and they knew they must bring a lot better
proof back.
(chorus)
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