What Constitutes a BIGFOOT-SASQUATCH ENCOUNTER? Standards for Perception and Assumption (Part One); BF'S BLOG'S BIOGRAPHY, BLACK PANTHER SIGHTING!

WELCOME TO BIGFOOT'S BLOG, FROM BIGFOOT BOOKS, WILLOW CREEK, CA. MID-MAY, 2010 ISSUE.

Herein we hope you find our own possible Bigfoot Encounters interesting, and hope our own self-analysis may help to establish certain criteria for evaluating things we see or experience out in the woods, things that go bump in the night. We also would like to notify all of you that our obsession with overly-long posts of late (we can feel that book project coming on!) has pushed our blog back into a more-or-less thrice-monthly publication schedule. Read on! First, a few kudos, some news and quotes....

"Great job Steve. Keep publishing the truth and you can never go wrong."

--Kathy Moskowitz Strain, California BF Researcher

"Keep up the good work. I love the blog."

--Cliff Barackman, Oregon BF Researcher

"Just saw your blog post ...and wanted to thank you. For getting it."

--Autumn Williams, Oregon BF Researcher

"This was a really interesting interview. Thanks for sharing. ... You do like to live on the edge, eh?"

--Joshua Blu Buhs, BF Author and Independent Scholar, Sociologist, Historian of Science.

"I read your review of The Hoopa Project and wanted to let you know I appreciated it immensely. You have to fact check, and if you don't, I think you demean the field as a whole. I am glad there is someone like you out there keeping people in check with the facts and nothing but the facts. I enjoyed both of his books but none the less enjoyed your review for letting me know the veracity of the information I had consumed might not be 100%."
--Bryan, Humboldt County Bigfooter

Images, Incidental: From the "Legend of Bigfoot" gift center compound, Hwy. 101, South of Garberville and Benbow, CA. Other images from our own backyard, hillside forest, which goes on for thousands of acres and hundreds of miles into Squatch Territory for sure. Taken by Steven Streufert, 2008-2010. Remaining images are event or show/website promotional images from various websites.

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FIRST SOME NEWS...

Just announced by the upcoming OREGON SASQUATCH SYMPOSIUM: a special guest will possibly be none other than BOB GIMLIN! Details have not yet been announced, so check their website (link above) for further details. The picture of Bob below was posted on their web site recently, so it looks like he might really be there! Tickets are still available for general seating at a slightly raised $29.00. We'll be there, and so should you!

Other news regarding the OSS: David Paulides has mysteriously dropped out of his speaking commitment... [EXCISION]... Or perhaps Dave was afraid of seeing US there? Who knows? How odd! (OLD NEWS, SEE BELOW)
UPDATE!!! Folks, we don't normally remove things we've posted here on this blog, but this issue about Paulides seems to have stirred up a few problems. We had heard that there were issues about accommodations and transport for him, and these were contradicted by someone else. We corrected this and removed another epithetic statement someone else had said. We were given permission to post the REAL reason Dave would not be there, and we did. Now we've been asked to replace the updated statement we'd placed here with the following quote instead. We are doing this ONLY out of courtesy to the die-hard and dedicated organizing force behind the OSS. We don't want to step on any toes, unless it is deserved. We appreciate what he is doing, so here it is:

"Please put the following and only the following as the OSS final quote on the matter: The Oregon Sasquatch Symposium and David Paulides could not reach a negotiated agreement as to the structure on how he would attend this years event."

We'll leave it at that, and are moving on. Take it for what you will. It doesn't really matter, anyway. Right?

[END EXCISION/UPDATE]... Ugh.

For what it's worth, ticket sales seem to be doing well now, with or without Paulides, with many planning to attend, especially with Gimlin said to be "expected" to be there.

CLICK THE IMAGE OF THE SCHEDULE TO ENLARGE AND READ IT.

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Also... more shenanigans from Tom Biscardi's SEARCHING FOR BIGFOOT, INC.? Did JAVA BOB really retire from the group, or was he trying to spy on STEVE KULLS in a secret undercover operation? Read about the bizarre interactions on the SQUATCHDETECTIVE BLOG.

One may also listen to the BlogTalk Radio show through the link on the Kulls link above... in fact, it should start playing automatically on either page. Will this bizarre stuff ever end? We reserve comment, for now.

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Apparently the OHIO BIGFOOT CONFERENCE AND EXPO 2010 (read the schedule summary via the Bigfoot Field Reporter site), organized by Don Keating at Salt Fork State Park, May 14th-16th, was a big hit this year. It apparently set attendance records at over 600 people, with folks overflowing into the lobby. We have been trying to get good reports as to what happened, but so far nearly all the reports are about the people there and the food they ate, not the information covered by the speakers. It seems it was mostly a social event, as all the the images seem to be of the folks sitting in restaurants or at BBQ picnics eating big plates of chow. Bob Gimlin was there, and wooed the entire crowd with his character, humor and sincerity. Tom Yamarone and his BardSquatching minstrelsy, too, seems to have been even a bigger hit than the grub at the lodge. Talking with Tom the other day we were told that there was nearly NO anger, competition, or dissension at this meet-up. How UNUSUAL! Could this be the future of Bigfooting? We hope so.

We wish we could have gone, but it seems that the Oregon event will be even BETTER with Gimlin now possibly attending, and Paulides out of the picture.

Listen to HENRY MAY's HBM's CRYPTO-CORNER on BlogTalk for the best recap we've found so far on the event. It lasts for an hour of streaming audio with the so-called "Walking Squatchopedia" himself.

Here is an ARTICLE about the Conference from a local paper. Thanks for the tip, Tom Yamarone!

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LOCAL NEWS: BLACK PANTHERS AT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!

Even stranger than a totally peaceful Bigfoot conference is the creatures that have been haunting the edge of the children's playground area at TRINITY VALLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, where our own daughter attends. They have seen a BLACK MOUNTAIN LION several times, lurking on the edge of the woods there, watching the kids at play.

Now, these mountain kids have all seen bears before, and would surely know the difference. Many normally-colored mountain lions have been seen there recently, including one mother with two juveniles. Scary! And the Department of Fish and Game say that they cannot shoot one until it attacks first. Is that insane, or what? We do not advocate the harming of wildlife, but hey, couldn't the school put of a ten-foot fence back there? Eh?

Parents are up in arms. We ourselves take it with just a small grain of salt: there have also been demons and aliens sighted on-campus there, by the "Mystery Club," of which our daughter is one of the founding members. It is undeniable, though, that there are a number of these panthers stalking the school campus. Teachers and administration have seen them, too. Scary, indeed!

More details will be coming in our future blog entries, so check back.
Late last night we sent this information to Loren Coleman, of Cryptomundo.com, and the next morning he posted an article about it.  Read it here:
SCHOOL FEARS BLACK PANTHER ATTACKS.
It is amazing how quickly things can become global news.

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FEATURE ARTICLE:

Was That a BIGFOOT-SASQUATCH ENCOUNTER, or What???

Our Own Experiences, under the Microscope....  PART ONE

"Twenty-four hours a day I have doubts--it drives me crazy. But the Sasquatch business is so intriguing that I can't give it up, come hell or high water. I've sunk so much time and effort in it now that I must go on searching. Besides, above all else, I want to know the answer. In the Sasquatch business you have to be crazy or dedicated. On one side you have all the big scientists in the world, the game biologists, the press and all the so-called sane people. An on the other side you have a nut like me. But look at it this way--once upon a time scientists didn't believe the world was round or that man would get to the moon."

--Rene Dahinden, BF Researcher, 1973 (from a newspaper article, recently posted on bigfoottimes.net)

“They’re shaking their heads at me, and I’m shakin’ my head at them. It’s REAL, end of story.”

--James "Bobo" Fay, California BF Researcher, BFRO Member

For those of us who have not had an undeniable, irrefutable, face-to-face sighting of the large, hairy, cryptid hominoid, it is sometimes difficult to be utterly and absolutely sure of ourselves when it comes to Bigfoot. We ourselves, despite all of this time looking into the phenomenon, and hearing endless reports from witnesses, can say no better than that we are approximately 95% a believer. There is always the nagging possibility that we are, perhaps, just crazy after all. Why believe in something that we cannot absolutely prove, something we can't just go out and necessarily find if we want to? Could it be that this whole thing was born from a joke, and perhaps has continued all of these decades simply as a congregate collection of mis-perceptions and hallucinations combining with myth and legend generated by the popular media? Well, we think not; but we strive endlessly to be sure of things as we proceed as we ever do off into the realms of the unknown and the great Mysteries of the world, the mind, of being itself. 

What follows are some preliminary thoughts we hope will lead to a larger paper on Blobsquatching. We'll look at our own possible Bigfoot encounters, from the obviously false fleeting visions to more suggestive and convincing experiences that cannot just be explained away.

Recently someone we know fairly well claimed a face-to-face encounter with a Bigfoot up in the Trinity County mountains. At a distance of about 30 feet he stood before one and even spoke to it. The encounter lasted about two minutes before the creature (described as being much more like a man-like Neanderthal than an ape) turned and retreated back into the woods. Now, we wish we could have such an extended encounter. It would provide so many answers, as it has for this witness who no longer feels the need to prove that the Sasquatch exists. However, how can we, personally, know for sure? Maybe it was a tall tale, a lie, a self-delusion? None of these options seem, to us, very likely. The witness seems very sincere and sane. But, despite it all, the lingering questions of the human mind and perception and individual differences and motivations persist.

Even if we see such a thing ourselves, are there not some doubts that can remain about our own perceptual processes? Many who have seen a Bigfoot report a confusion of their previous reality systems, some even questioning their own minds and sanity. Sometimes there is even a feeling of having been somehow cursed or hexed--so great is the shock to the psychological system--a phenomenon especially notable in the old Native American recountings (see the book, Raincoast Sasquatch for examples). Others become serious true believers and advocates for the cause of Bigfoot, and spend their lives in pursuit of another encounter.

Not to get too close to issues of "multi-dimensionality" and mystical propositions (which are better left alone when one is trying to prove something), we think it can clearly be said that there is something powerfully strange about Bigfoot encounters, that somehow they exist outside of not only our known sense of the world, but also trigger a part of the mind with which we are fairly unfamiliar. Sighting encounters are not usually "normal" in the sense in which we see an elk or a bear. There is something odd about them, it seems, that triggers not only our vision but also something in the mind that is ambiguous, unclear, and yet deeply powerful. Confusion and conviction can occur at once, throwing the normal control we have over our own minds and reality somewhat into doubt. Also, how do we account for the differences in perceptions, even within the category of "Class A" sightings? How can one person see an ape, and another see some kind of proto-human cave man? And what is the real difference? Obviously, our perceptions are based not only on raw input, but in large part are formed of individual perspectives and interpretive biases.

Before we get into our own experiences, we'd like to note the classification system devised by the BFRO. BFRO uses "Class A," "Class B," and "Class C" categories to divide the most convincing reports from those that are merely suggestive, second hand or historical. To summarize, we quote in part:

"Class A reports involve clear sightings in circumstances where misinterpretation or misidentification of other animals can be ruled out with greater confidence. ... Incidents where a possible sasquatch was observed at a great distance or in poor lighting conditions and incidents in any other circumstance that did not afford a clear view of the subject are considered Class B reports. ... Most second-hand reports, and any third-hand reports, or stories with an untraceable sources, are considered Class C, because of the high potential for inaccuracy."

To these we would like to add our own somewhat humorous classes: "Class D" and "Class F," as well as "Class X." In our proposed Class D category would fit any indeterminate experience that though not fully known could have been a Bigfoot encounter. Often, an experience in this realm can FEEL like a Class A encounter to the experiencer; but because that thing falling to the forest floor could have been an acorn falling from a tree, and not something thrown by a Sasquatch, we have to be circumspect in our assumptions and reactions. This would also have to apply to unidentified animal calls heard out in the spooky hills at night. Though we have pretty convincing sound recordings that we think might be Bigfoot-originated, we just can't say they are so without some corollary evidence such as footprints or a sighting of the creature actually vocalizing or wood-knocking.

In Class F we would group all of those that are obvious hallucinations, products of inner mental problems of the witness, or hoaxes (such as anything seen in the presence of Tom Biscardi). In Class X we would group all experiences that are just plain "weird," that seemed perhaps hyper-real to the witness, but may include unknown factors of reality and perception that would otherwise be termed "metaphysical" or "paranormal." We distinguish these from the sequential lettering simply because we in no way would like to deny that they happen and that they may be "real" in a way we just cannot currently comprehend. Many things we now consider as having the "X-factor" may indeed someday be proven scientifically, and may become part of our ordinary reality. For current science, proceeding as it does by incremental induction, experiment and hypothesis, these things are just simply out-of-category. That does not mean they are not real. (And that does not mean there is anything wrong with science--that is the way it is supposed to work.)

It might be helpful at this point to quote Arthur C. Clarke's three "laws" of prediction, from his essay, "Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination":

1.When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong.

2.The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

3.Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Or, as Sci-Fi writer, Larry Niven, put it in corollary to the last point, "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."

We have seen "Bigfoot," along with a whole lot of other strange monsters, many times. That is, while driving for 12 hours through the night--one's mind and eyes tend to grow tired or bored, and strange forms begin to appear. Once we thought we saw a man in a white shirt walking in the highway--it turned out to be a plastic grocery bag blowing in the wind. We've seen many a Bigfoot standing in the tree-line, or moving in the shadows, or even in the middle of the road. We've also seen demons, aliens and very large white rabbits. Obviously, all of these are almost certainly "Class F" in nature. Though one could have been a Bigfoot, we seriously doubt any were.

A few times we have gone out into the woods with people from out of town, and we found that sometimes just a nut falling from a tree or a deer moving in the brush is enough to raise the pulse and get these folks believing that Bigfoot are everywhere. This is a known condition: SQUATCH-ON-THE-BRAIN; or as we term it,"Squatchlucination," where the desire to see a Bigfoot overrides the natural perceptual skepticism and gives rise to monsters from the Goblin Universe (as Dr. John Napier termed it). 

If one lives in a natural, forested area long enough one learns just how many strange noises and creatures are out there in the night. When we first moved to Willow Creek we found ourselves hearing the horrible shrieks of demons in the hills at night. These turned out to be foxes, however horrifying within the imagination. One night the most horrible screams were heard, complete with horrid thrashing about in the brush. Though it was one of the most deeply terrifying sounds we've ever heard come from an animal, it turned out to be two raccoons fighting (or mating?). Go figure. There are owls, doves, squirrels, woodpeckers, and so many other beings that make noises that could be construed as Bigfoot. One has to learn to rule these out. Now when we hear such sounds while outside on our porch we don't even jump; though we do listen closely, if not to see Bigfoot then to understand what interesting things are living out there, or maybe to see a mountain lion or a bear. We have seen both of the latter on our own dirt road recently. However, there are other things that just don't fit into these "Class D" boxes.

There are much better cases that are very  convincing, even though they fall just short of an actual sighting. Here is how we wrote about our own very close, non-sighting encounter with something big and wild in our very own backyard, June, 2008. We can't explain it at all, save with the Sasquatch hypothesis. We live at the top of [excised for personal security after threats of violence against this blogger, July 3, 2011], in a [excision] at the dead end of the road, near the top of the [excision] Ridge which is [excision] from Brush Mountain Lookout's ridge and Friday Ridge Road to the [excision]. There have been numerous recent Bigfoot incidents reported out there lately....

"In the dark of late night/early morning something came down the hillside up from my cabin. Sitting smoking out on my enclosed porch I thought at first it was just another deer coming to eat my lettuce and chili peppers. I heard what sounded like a tripping sound in the brush, some big thing making a crack and crunch in the underbrush, followed by three distinct bipedal "whump, whump, WHUMP" footfalls. These were very heavy, thunderous things, to the degree that I could feel the concrete under my feet on the porch firmly vibrate about 30 yards away from the creature. This was followed by a heavy crash of something falling into the brush below. This was no bear, sure wasn’t a deer—I’ve seen and heard these critters up on my road. And if human it would have had to have been an incredibly big or obese man. And why would a big human be out walking around in the dark, dead end, dirt road mountainside, middle-of-nowhere woods at nearly three in the morning? I tried to observe it, but it crept back into the woods a little ways beyond the porch light, and then did not move at all. It did not flee farther.

My flashlight was inadequate in power and batteries to pursue or see it. I stood there at the edge of the woods for about 15 minutes waiting for any sound or sign. None. I didn't want to pursue and scare it off, or get eaten by whatever it was. Then I decided to duck back into the cabin where I could continue listening and looking without being seen. I knew it was still out there. Once inside for a few moments I heard movement, as the thing went down into the neighboring vacant house’s yard. Through the open window I heard two under-the-breath grunting sounds, something like a bear’s growl crossed with a pig’s snort. Quickly outside I was once again unable to spot anything. The next day I saw a depression in the weeds where the thing had fallen down. There were two further depressions in the plants that looked a lot like big footprints. I could see some metal pipe and wooden construction debris under the herbage where the thing had apparently gotten hung up. Whatever it was I cannot say; and whatever it was it was very big, and incredibly sly. It escaped into the dark of night without another trace, but its impact upon the ground and upon me was undeniable. For what it’s worth, it FELT like a sasquatch.”

As is often said: Examine the Witness, not just what was witnessed. In the interest of that, please see the Biography below for further clues.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT TIME! This one just got too long, so look for PART TWO in a week or so.

Images, above: the forest line in our backyard, very squatchy! Photo by Steven Streufert. Also, a Google Earth view of our road, to the left of the photo, which is completely surrounded by woods.

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BIGOOT'S BLOG BLOGLI-BIOGRAPHY

Found in the Files:

A Small Biography we wrote before our appearance on the SquatchDetective internet radio show. Who knows? Maybe some of you actually might be interested to know just who "we" are, eh?

Steven Streufert blogs about Bigfoot at Bigfoot's bLog, http://bigfootbooksblog.blogspot.com/, and runs a general purpose used book shop, Bigfoot Books, in Willow Creek, CA, the heart of Bigfoot Country.

In the usual way of kids of the seventies, he read through the paranormal section of his local library, but was especially intrigued by the classic books on Sasquatch, particularly those of John Green. Through such shows as In Search Of... the interest grew. He first saw the Patterson-Gimlin film at a local drive-in, and it has apparently never ceased to replay in his mind.

Born in Milwaukee, WI, Steve grew up in Santa Barbara, CA, and then essentially followed the redwoods and the wilds to Santa Cruz, and then to Humboldt County. After studying Literature at UCSC and then Humboldt State University, he achieved two MA degrees. While working in antiquarian book shops he became enamored with the mysteries of the past, and listened to the Art Bell Show nearly every night. These two alternate forces eventually led to a disillusionment with academia. Faced with the choice of an urban professional life, Steve chose to remain in the woods and seek a free and alternative means of living. After completing his school work he found his mind opening to other things that had long been buried by theory and philosophy: the things in the woods, and those strange Bigfoot statues in Willow Creek began to call.

An obsession with bears and the wild combined with a constant interest in unexplained things led to the creation of the humorous Church of Bigfoot, Scientist, but also to a reconsideration of the possible reality of that manlike creature said to lurk in those hills. An encounter in 2000 with something big and brown moving through dense and deserted overgrown forest land in the hills outside his cabin in Blue Lake gave him pause. Judging from the way the dogs reacted, and the heaviness of the crashing in the brush as the thing moved away, only a vague brown head seen fleetingly moving through the understory, he found himself thinking, WHAT IF....

Though he moved to Willow Creek in 2001 with only a vague knowledge of the things that had gone on there in the fifties and sixties--not even knowing where Bluff Creek was--living there provided a nearly constant Bigfoot exposure. As he likes to say, "People search the world over for the mysterious Sasquatch, but in Willow Creek we see Bigfoot every day." He attended the International Bigfoot Symposium there in 2003, and found himself convinced by the evidence, but he remained skeptical and analytical about the human dimensions of the phenomenon.

After founding his shop in 2005, he found himself increasingly meeting Bigfoot researchers and field investigators. Al Hodgson, still living in Willow Creek, was the first to show up. Pretty soon everyone from James Bobo Fay, Tom Yamarone, Cliff Barackman, Robert Leiterman, Joyce Kearney, Matt Moneymaker, Jeff Meldrum, and many others were visiting his shop. He also increasingly found himself the recipient of reports of sightings and footprint finds of Bigfoot coming from locals (including the Native Hupa and other tribes), as well as reports from the researchers. Now he increasingly finds himself in the old role of Al H., seemingly bombarded by Bigfoot culture and reports of its activity in the area.

Steve first published on Bigfoot in the North Coast Journal (Road to Bluff Creek: With the Faithful on the Sasquatch Stations of the Cross), and then started blogging about all of this in 2008. Feeling that having read about 70 books on the subject finally left him qualified, and feeling that there was a role in the field for a critical voice that could address local issues as well as the larger international controversies, he couldn't resist. At first he wondered how he could blog only about Bigfoot, but now finds that he has to exclude a large portion of what he hears to keep a focus on important issues.

He has been up in the Bluff Creek area a large number of times now. In the summer of 2008 something big and heavy came crashing down the hillside behind his small cabin, which sits at the end of a dirt road just south of Willow Creek. He can't explain what happened in any other way than to say, it HAD to be a Sasquatch.

"Alas! Why does man boast of sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute; it only renders them more necessary beings. If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free; but now we are moved by every wind that blows and a chance word or scene that that word may convey to us."
--Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, in Frankenstein, or, The modern Prometheus

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ANGRY BIGFOOT SPEAKS!

Me told hu-man all be nice in Ohio. Me decide me be nice, too. Me hold up bouquet of flower to first Bigfoot hunter me see. So come out here and give me hug. Me in Bluff Creek at secret spot near Bluff Creek Resort dumpster. Me jump out, scare, then hand you flower. Me so nice me even give you big hug, maybe crush you flat as river rock. Maybe it last, me change name this thing me write to Happy Bigfoot Speak. Or maybe Peace Brother BF. Me smoke green plant grow up here. Me learn hu-man word, "Irie," and me feel Jahlove. Who this Jah, anyway?
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This weblog, website, soapbox, or whatever you call it is copyright 2010, Steven Streufert, Bigfoot Books Intergalactic. Sharing and borrowing is allowed (and often practiced by us, too) if you give full credit and citation, and a fair and nice link back to our page. Spread the word! Thanks!

Sasquatch Media Blitz! BIGFOOT NEWS AND RUMOR MILL II

It seems our own appearance on BlogTalk Radio's SquatchDetective show this Wednesday has innaugurated a full-blown crazy week of Bigfoot in the media. (LISTEN TO THE SHOW WITH YOURS TRULY... HERE.) Right now our show is at #3 among the 500 rankings on BlogTalk under the search term, "Bigfoot." Cool! At least we didn't flub up too badly.

Image: A burl bigfoot found outside of Orick, CA, on Hwy. 101

We have word from the inside (we know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who is involved) that the folks from the MYTHBUSTERS TV show will be up here in Humboldt County this weekend filming an episode "debunking" Bigfoot. They are contracting with a member of Blue Lake's Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre (founded by Carlo Mazzone-Clementi) to wear the Bigfoot suit.

The theatrical troupe and school focuses on physical theater and comedy, so we will probably get an agile and possibly convincing Bigfoot enactment from them, but it could also be a mocking and exaggerated one. Whatever the case, we are sure this show will be a smug and superficial dismissal. We are already arranging to play some pranks on them wearing a Sasquatch suit and tracking them around, throwing rocks from the trees.

Coming up on Sunday night is the much anticipated National Geographic BIGFOOT documentary. We and Crazy Ian encountered the scientific and filming crew from this show down at the Patterson-Gimlin Film Site on Bluff Creek this summer. Read about black helicopters landing on the PGF zone and other musings in our PREVIOUS BLOG. We have high hopes for this film, as the producers told us they were giving the PGF and other evidence a very serious and fresh new consideration. They did high resolution scans of the entire film site area with a density penetrating device that will hopefully aid us in locating markers that will prove the exact location and trackway. One problem: did the find the REAL film site? We had our doubts. They also obtained an incredibly high quality scan of an apparently first-generation copy of the film from Patricia Patterson. We are intensely curious as to whether they plan to issue this entire film copy in digital form on the DVD. This one will depend in a vast way on the Bonus Features, folks! It could be great!

From the Nat. Geo. site:

"PRIMETIME AIRING
 SUN JAN 24 8PM

Sasquatch. The Wild Man. Bigfoot. Believers in the massive creature claim he's half man, half primate and roams the Pacific Northwest. Join a team of experts as they use advanced scientific analysis to investigate the phenomenon to reveal what's science, and what's science fiction. Follow along as we break down one of the most controversial pieces of evidence... a 40-year-old film that many believe is actual video of the apelike being."

WAIT! This gives us pause: "half man, half primate"? How scientific can they be if they can say something like that? It's like saying, "Half human, half mammal." Humans ARE mammals. Humans ARE primates. Humans ARE apes, or at least part of the same family of animals. Anyway...

Go to the National Geographic page for the show HERE to view some photos and a video clip featuring Jeff Meldrum.

That same night (set your Tivo and catch both!) the NABS guys will appear again on Coast-to-Coast AM ("The Art Bell Show"):

"Sunday, January 24, 2010: George Knapp welcomes researcher David Paulides and forensic artist Harvey Pratt for a discussion on the relationship between Native American cultures and Bigfoot. They'll also provide eyewitness accounts of the creature that bridge the gap between folklore and fact."

Let us hope that Mr. Dave will refrain from going public with his "Bluff Creek Massacre" theory beliefs. Remember, the C-2-C AM show repeats again (2:00 a.m., Pacific Time) on most radio channels. Catch it the night of the show, though, as the archived versions are only available to paying StreamLink subscribers. Check the COAST TO COAST AM Web Site for affiliates and show times in your area. Or check in here:
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2010/01/24.

UPDATE: Ugh! For one of the first times in recorded history a C2C AM show has been canceled! What happened? Good question; but the usual conspiracy theory answer used on the show might suffice: the government wants to suppress controversial information that Paulides might unveil. Maybe? Or did Dave's cell phone suddenly die? Did Bigfoot get him? What a huge disappointment. Well... here is what they say on the Coast-to-Coast AM web site:

"Due to technical difficulties, tonight's live program has been postponed. In its place, we are airing the 2/17/08 episode featuring George Knapp talking with Jim Marrs about UFOs, remote viewing, and the JFK assassination. Previously scheduled guests Kathy Strain, David Paulides, and Harvey Pratt will be rescheduled. "

We've just received a call from Bunbury Films regarding their fine documentary, BIGFOOT'S REFLECTION. We blogged about and reviewed the film HERE. Their web site for the film is up and running live, and their representative Andrea tells us they are in process of posting all sorts of BONUS FEATURES for the film on the web site for free access rather than putting them on the DVD itself. This includes trailers and unreleased portions of the interviews with some of Bigfootings great figures. CHECK IT OUT or get the film at bigfootsreflection.com! During the development of this site one might want to check out their FaceBook fan page, where an interview segment with John Green and other goodies are posted.

More NEWS: We've been contacted by a graduate student and his film documentarian partner, and they will be visiting us in early February. They are workikng on an MA-level thesis project in Anthropology, intending to produce a serious documentary film on the Bigfoot phenomenon. We're going to visit and interview Bigfoot godfather, Al Hodgson. Look for that!

Image: Al Hodgson on an A and E documentary.

In our conversation with Al we here at Bigfoot's bLog intend to clear up some issues regarding the PGF timeline, and debunk (we hope!) the notion that Roger and Bob were in Bluff Creek and Willow Creek at the same time as John Green and Rene Dahinden, in the fall of 1967. Watch out, "Massacre" believers. Will the GCBRO let us post THIS? We doubt it!

Also! an update just came in regarding our previously blogged ODEN FLAT SIGHTING. Big news there regarding some very convincing repeated and habitual Bigfoot activity. We will be going there with the aforementioned film guys to investigate with the residents, so look for an update soon! BFRO, do you want to get involved? We need to get some game cameras up.

Bonus Images:
Everything is Bigfooty in our area!!!

Bigfoot Wrestles!

Plus...

Wyatt's Motel ad--now known as the Bigfoot Motel, this was the site where the founding members of the Pacific Northwest Expedition including Green, Titmus and Dahinden first met with millionaire organizer, Tom Slick, and looked at a jar full of moose poop and other evidence.

 A sign warns campers in the Klamath KOA that there be Sasquatch in them thar woods!

License plate seen at the Willow Creek Post office. The driver was an unknown primate.

Photos by Steven Streufert save for those from company and corporate promotional logos/sites.

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ANGRY BIGFOOT SPEAKS!

How come no hu-man ever film or interview ME? Me no get it. What yer problem? Me no clean enough for you, stinky hu-man? Me no talk good? What? Jeez. Me go back to cave.

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This blog copyright 2010 Bigfoot Books Intergalactic. Please provide citation and link if quoting. Thanks!

A DISCUSSION WITH A SKEPTIC ON BIGFOOT

BIGFOOT BOOKS TALKS ABOUT SASQUATCH WITH A SCIENTIFICALLY-MINDED ANONYMOUS READER. CAN THE MINDS MEET ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE OF EMPIRICISM AND POSSIBILITY?

In regard to our previous blog posting involving those shall we say "controversial Bigfoot issues," a certain "Anonymous" said in our Comments field:

"How can there be a massacre of creatures that do not exist?"

And then Anonymous said...

"No Bigfoot. No cry."

This led to us contacting him to discuss Bigfoot a bit more in-depth. What follows was done by email, often with two threads going at one time, back and forth, so it is a bit freewheeling and a touch disjoint at times. Bear with us. We feel there are some interesting points made in there.

Image: "Thinker-Squatch" confabulated by Steven Streufert, who is a somewhat sloppy Photoshop artist.

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ANONYMOUS: Ain't no such thing as B/bigfoot. Waiting for Godot. Good for laughs. Good for a window into what's going in the minds of the fringe of humankind. But that's it.

I've read your blog. Your considerable intelligence and apparent talents are going to waste. They are being wasted on a dispute with a fool who is, like Don Quixote, attacking windmills, while you defend the windmills, both of you agreeing they are something more than windmills. There is an imaginary movie on the screen. You defend what is on the screen. Another says that what is on the screen does not show the full reality of the fictitious fiction-predicated fiction that follows. Bottom line is, it's all fiction. Why argue over fiction.

There is no bigfoot. Never was. Never will be. The Patterson-Gimlin film is a hoax. The whole thing is a sham. It's obvious. If there were a bigfoot, there'd be certain evidence of it by now. A creature that size cannot exist without a breeding population of some size, bones, etc., and, if it is intelligent, other signs of its society. Why not focus on elves and dwarves and trolls? If you want to comment on the social phenomenon, write a book about the bigfoot culture? Either you can be a Tolkienesque fiction author or you can be a social commentator. Other than that, why waste time on this fiction?

This little feud also shows that it's just like everything else involving humans - much ado about nothing - except in this case it's much ado about REALLY nothing.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: You may be wrong....

I guess I don't know what else to do these days, really. Plus, Bigfoot is fun and fascinating.

I suppose what I am doing is kind of like full-immersion anthropology.... And I do tend to believe. Bigfoot is one of the last real mysteries in the visible, objective world... I mean, what we can see with our eyes and physically sense.

ANONYMOUS: There ain't no bigfoot. Take my word for it.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: So, let's make this the start of an interview for the blog, eh?

ANONYMOUS: Nah. You need publicity. Not naysayers. No interview. There ain't no bigfoot. Take my word for it.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Afraid of the debate, eh?

ANONYMOUS: I see no debate. There are real things that I struggle with that are right in front of my nose that are up for debate. A modern-day fairy tale is not one of them.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: We miss so much, always looking at those things right before our noses, always seeing things from the nose perspective....

ANONYMOUS: We don't miss that much. There are MANY noses. We are not talking a microbe here that would only be seen if the right soil sample were put under a microscope. We are talking a creature bigger than a man. There is no way that and the artifacts of its existence would be missed. It is so incredibly improbable that Bigfoot exists that it is a sign of insanity to even believe in it. This is religion. This is a sad pastime for minds that are bored and unchallenged. There are indeed many wonders out there, but it requires some patience and some discipline and learning to address these questions. Bigfoot is just cheap thrills. Bigfoot is a wannabe "scientist's" adolescent drive-in movie sex.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: How do you KNOW????

ANONYMOUS: Logic. Occam's razor militates against the existence of Bigfoot... BIG TIME!

Large animal. Intelligent. Ape or even hominid. THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL that this large and sophisticated creature, with a breeding population that would have had to last from the last thawing of the Ice Bridge to the present, would not leave REAL evidence of its existence. If such a creature were real, there'd be bones, discarded tools, burying grounds, nests, a lot more footage of the creature, almost certainly animals captured, etc. It is, in fact, INSANE to believe otherwise.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: A lot of things that do exist would be considered highly unlikely or non-parsimonious if they did not in fact exist. What if you had never heard of one, and I proposed the idea of a panda to you? Or a whale? There is a lot of evidence of Bigfoot, just none yet accepted by many scientists. Google Jeff Meldrum Bigfoot, see what comes up.... Occam's Razor is a mental tool, not an external fact. Belief in Bigfoot usually IS based on evidence, or even actual experience, for those who believe.

ANONYMOUS: There are Pandas and smaller whales in zoos and aquaria. Larger whales have been photographed and filmed extensively. The marine realm is much less accessible to us than the deepest forests, yet we have evidence of myriad "improbable" marine creatures. There is NO hard evidence of Bigfoot. None. Just a movie that is almost certainly a hoax and lots of footprints, which are easy for humans to make and of which the large part are, even amongst Bigfooters, clearly considered hoaxes. It is a billion-to-one against a Bigfoot exiting on logical grounds. So... applying the principle of Occam's razor, a thinking person must conclude that Bigfoot almost certainly DOES NOT exist.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Not everything is logical, on it's surface. Logic does not always have predictive power. The universe is full of surprise and things of wonderment. At one time Westerners scoffed at the idea of the panda. And the gorilla....

You can cite all the animals in the zoo, but perhaps Sasquatch is smarter than they are, with a much smaller population. One of the premises of the reality of Bigfoot is the idea that they are highly adapted to avoid humans; they would have had to be so to survive alongside our species as homo sapiens spread out across the land bridge. I think you exaggerate those "odds" against its existence. For instance, the Gigantopithecus lived for some odd million years, and the only way we know of it at all is a few dozen teeth and two partial jawbones.

ANONYMOUS: The universe is indeed full of surprise and things of wonderment, but they are always things that can be rendered credible or explained in some logical framework. Things outside of that are the realm of hallucination, superstition and religion.

No matter how smart Bigfoot is, it cannot exist without a breeding population. At the very minimum, we are talking, say, 200 individuals, but even then it's hard to see how enough genetic diversity to maintain a species that would not succumb to deleterious recessive traits could sustain the species. Now, that's AT LEAST 200 individuals who would have the chance of encountering one another. And if they are intelligent and human-like, everything suggests they'd live in groups. They'd thus logically be concentrated into small units, yet disperse enough to avoid detection. But there'd have to be enough to maintain a viable breeding population in America over tens of thousands of years.

American Indians are genetically related to the much larger population of East Asians. Where is the evidence for a similar larger founder stock of American Bigfoot in Asia? Abominable Snowman legends? Moreover, the smarter it is, the more likely it will leave artifacts of it existence. Is it a human-like ape? It's going to be intelligent and social and leave real artifacts of its existence. Okay...let us just concede then that maybe a minimal population of these creatures exist. They came across from Asia, but became extinct there, only surviving in legend. They evolved to be afraid of humans and to hide from humans. Fine. Still, there'd be some remains of them. Bones. Burial grounds. Something. Unless they are super-intelligent aliens or ghosts. It's in the same category of plausibility as UFOs or ghosts. Gimme a break.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: There are logical explanations for the possible existence of Sasquatch; it's just that there has not been the full objective verification of a confirmable body or part that would have been distinguished as such. Read the Meldrum book, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science. There is a lot of evidence that goes beyond hoaxery, apparently. Even the Patterson film has never been conclusively proven to be fake. People just say, Oh, that could not be real, even when it is right there before their eyes! Look closer and you will see the convincing details, too.

ANONYMOUS: Sasquatch as a microbe of a micron in diameter that has not been detected: okay. Sasquatch as a very large and intelligent ape that ranged far and wide and crossed from Asia to America without any definitive trace: near impossible.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Right now, up in the Klamath and Siskiyou wilderness area I would venture to guess that there are NO "noses" out there. There is a LOT of open and inaccessible land. Any remains would be a needle in a haystack to find. Some would argue with you about "signs" and traces. Many involved are not insane or deluded or something like that, but simply SAW one, clearly, right before them, leaving tracks behind that were later cast. How do YOU know they were hallucinating?

And actually, bigfooting is a much more fun and healthy pursuit that sitting around in a laboratory all day under fluorescent lighting. To these guys, myself included, it is also an enjoyment of nature, and one of the last non-internal adventures left to us humans.

ANONYMOUS: Bigfooting is fun. There you go. That explains the phenomenon. Seriously.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Well, first, from the sightings there would seem to be a population that ranges through most of the parts of North America that provide forested, isolated, and normally high precipitation zones; or there are several regional groupings. If anything, encounters are proliferating.

ANONYMOUS: Big area. Breeding population means they can all encounter one another. Encounters proliferating could just mean alcohol is proliferating.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Family groups have been sighted. A fellow in my shop whom I know to be rational and sane told me he was out hunting and saw three of them as clear as day down the hillside. No mistaking them for a bear or humans. What do you say to that? I hear such things ALL the time around here.

Image: Original source unknown, found on internet site.

ANONYMOUS: Sightings? Why all the sightings? With so many sightings proliferating in the age of cheap digital cameras and cell phones with camera/video capabilities, shouldn't digital evidence be increasing? Sightings. Hallucinations. Drunk or otherwise.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: The background population is considered to be either a branch of earlier hominid, or else the Giganto type of ape. There are plenty of examples of relic populations of animals being found.


ANONYMOUS: Evidence of migration from Asia to America? Fossils usually exist for this type of thing. No? Ahem...

BIGFOOT BOOKS: There HAVE been artifacts and remains found, but none have either been preserved for modern science or been found convincing enough to be accepted by the mainstream. What do you make of hair found that tests out as "unknown primate"? What do you make of the incredibly scant evidence for Giganto... which is, despite that, a known species?

ANONYMOUS: Where can I see these artifacts? What museums? Or can I at least see photos? Face it, you are in the realm of RELIGION. The weird Bigfoot Religion. Amen!

BIGFOOT BOOKS: But you admit... it is "NEAR" impossible? You said it "ALMOST certainly" does not exist.

Reports are numerous of Sasquatch being seen but then basically just disappearing by blending in with their surroundings, or of odd sounds, and rocks being thrown, but with the actual sighting being totally elusive. If real, they are very sneaky, clever, and perfectly adapted, without the need of tools and cultural artifacts. Despite this, they ARE seen, they do leave traces, however frustratingly inconclusive.

ANONYMOUS: They must be as sneaky as bin Laden, who is dead. Give me a break...

Yeah, I admit it NEAR impossible as in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5jNnDMfxA

[He presents a link to a scene from "Dumb and Dumber:"]

BIGFOOT BOOKS: And yet, you believe in bin Laden, and with no evidence you believe he is dead? Osama was alive once, and MAY just be hiding, not dead.

ANONYMOUS: Yes, because there is no evidence he is alive now, but there is evidence he once was. Evidence!

BIGFOOT BOOKS: If a rock hits you on the head in the middle of the woods with no other humans around, and you heard strange vocalizations and found big footprints, how would you explain it?

ANONYMOUS: I'd say you were then suffering from post-concussion hallucinations.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: I meant... a small rock. And where did it come from? A mischievous squirrel?

Yes, bigfooting is "fun." So I argue it is a very healthy, sane pursuit. I like the idea of mysteries and unexplainable things; but I have experienced certain things in the woods I cannot explain, and I know people who HAVE seen them in states of total sanity and clarity.

ANONYMOUS: Me too. The wind. A poetic moment.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Look at science. Many of its propositions seem utterly absurd or incomprehensible (like multidimensionality and quantum physics), and much of it remains in the realm of hypothesis and theory (like string theory).

Image: Original source unknown, found on internet site.

ANONYMOUS: Not true at all. Completely unabsurd and very comprehensible if you know science.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Whales can encounter one another over vast spaces of oceans. Why not Sasquatches across the mountains and woods?

Actually, there has been an increase in photo evidence, but they are nearly all very dark, tiny, blurry, inconclusive. Blobsquatches. The creature is not posing, you know? And this equipment is normally of very limited quality, resolution and capacity. If I took a picture at night with my cell phone camera of my daughter standing on the edge of the woods in my yard one would only see a dark blur.

The artifacts are held by researchers, as museums won't have them. Dr. Meldrum has a ton of great evidence I his lab. There is an element of faith, and of Mystery, I'll admit that. It's part of the fun and fascination. And, I'd argue that Bigfoot is way more plausible than God, yet billions believe in That!

ANONYMOUS: Whales don't pose either, yet, in an alien (to us) aquatic habitat, they make their presence known in film and photos. They spend a tiny fraction of their time breaching, yet we have the evidence. Sasquatch, a terrestrial creature, can't even give us that? What a spoiled sport. He is nocturnal. I guess the confident stride of PGF is an anomaly, then. Artifacts held by researchers? Any researcher worthy of the name would have it documented and publish it, a.s.a.p. Bigfoot is more plausible than God, but that doesn't say much. Tinkerbell is more plausible than God.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: There is nowhere for a whale to hide when it breaches. That is why they are sitting ducks for whaling ships and sightseers, despite considerable brain size and all. No one ever SEES Tinkerbell. The stuff HAS been published. It's just kind of hard to get peer review. Look into the works of Meldrum and Grover Krantz.

ANONYMOUS: Can you send me the evidence? If it has been published, that should be easy. Otherwise, it's TinkerFoot to me.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: I don't HAVE to believe in Bigfoot. God requires belief and faith. Bigfoot just shits in the woods, walks across the road, and then eats blackberries in the yard. It's very simple, actually. No heaven, no hell, no dogma; just a well-adapted creature living in the forest and mountains in the real world. To me it is relieving to not have superstition and belief. Bigfoot is anti-religion, anti-human culture, its very opposite.

ANONYMOUS: Tinkerbell is the same, and her shit has also not been found. Anyway, who cares? There are a lot of myths. Evidence?

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Like Rene Dahinden said, "What if I hit you over the head with one of those footprints' plaster casts? Would that be real enough for you?"

ANONYMOUS: Does buying an extra-large condom mean you have an extra-large dick? Same logic.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: You can't verify the empty space in the condom, nor really hit someone over the head with it. But many of the footprints have very convincing anatomy. Good enough to convince anthropological anatomist, Meldrum, anyway. Any guy can buy a big condom, but can he USE it???

ANONYMOUS: Anyone can make a "cast" of my penis that is two-feet long. That is not evidence of being Long Dong Silver.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: But would it have dermal ridges, and convincing anatomy? Perhaps "unknown primate" pubic hair remains, too?

ANONYMOUS: Oh, does all that show up in Bigfoot foot casts? Wow. They must really be into foot-casting, pressing their dermal ridges and sprinkling pubic hair on them as well. Smart Bigfoot. Good boy. Heel.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: The pubic hair would have come from your theoretical penis casting. Normal remains of an organic, biological mammalian foot placed on the ground. Ask Meldrum. Primates have dermal ridges on their feet, too, you know. Bigfoot will have his say!

ANONYMOUS: If you believe in Bigfoot, you are as irrational as any theist. Evidence. Show me. They have published shit evidence on other animals before. Where's the Bigfoot shit evidence?

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Bigfoot shit HAS been found, or so it is proposed. Big, nasty, stinky ones, containing parasites not known in other animals. I had a bird shit on my head once--could that have been Tinkerbell?

ANONYMOUS: If  I had evidence of this, I'd publish a.s.a.p.. It'd make me famous. Any scientist would do so. If it were real. Bigfoot flies with Pinocchio

BIGFOOT BOOKS: Hey, Pinocchio becomes a "Real Boy."

Where's the Bigfoot scat evidence? Well, I can't really say. But the problem with excrement is it decomposes quickly in the field and smells really bad. The parasite scat thing happened in the early sixties. Science journals don't like to publish Bigfoot stuff, so it ends up in the Bigfoot genre books and web sites.

ANONYMOUS: There you go. I guess excrement doesn't decompose so quickly when it is important.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: If a turd falls in the forest, and no one is there to see it, does it really fall?

I think this is part of why I like Bigfoot: It is not human, just a free floating possibility and it represents freedom; and yet it has its feet on the ground, as it were.

Bigfooters love science and scientists, by the way, or at least when they have open minds they do....

ANONYMOUS: Yeah, whatever. If you publish this it could be perceived as justification for hating scientists. They don't need more anti-sciene BS. Other scientists are already enough for scientists to deal with.

BIGFOOT BOOKS: You should see how they revere the scientists at Bigfoot conferences...!

ANONYMOUS: ...those who validate preconceived notions and ideology.

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Editorial NOTE: From here the conversation evolved into Existentialism and Politics. THE END, for all Bigfooting purposes.

Some readers on the believer side may wonder why we published all these criticisms. Well, please keep in mind: these are questions we have to face all the time. It is good to consider them, and to hone and perfect our responses. We say: welcome skepticism and criticism, but then CHALLENGE it with logic, evidence, and accuity.

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COMING UP: A CLOSE READING OF THE HOOPA PROJECT.

Many of the readers of this blog may wonder why we came out as so critical of David Paulides, author of The Hoopa Project. Well, we felt much of that needed to be said. Our intention was mainly to explore the issue of "The Bluff Creek Massacre Theory," which we had tried to delve into with Dave and MK Davis in interviews. We were unable to crack that nut with them. We also wanted to challenge certain ideas about the timeline of events surrounding the making of the Patterson-Gimlin film. Along the way, in our effort to defend the honor of John Green and Bob Gimlin, not to mention the memory of Roger Patterson, Bob Titmus and Rene Dahinden, some interpersonal issues arose with Mr. Paulides. Our interview with MK fizzled out when he would not talk about certain issues. Really, we wanted to stick to the just the issues, but we felt some of these things to be of deep importance within the Bigfoot community. And so we talked about them. However, we had told Paulides before that we felt The Hoopa Project was among the bigfooting classics, and would last over time--we STILL think that is so.

DON'T GET US WRONGLY--we read both of Mr. Paulides' books (the other is Tribal Bigfoot), and found both to be mainly quite fascinating reads. We STILL recommend them. Mr.  Paulides is a dogged investigator with some unique angles, and did some excellent work especially by focusing deeply on particular areas, delving into them, and revealing both new information on Bigfoot/Sasquatch sightings in those areas, and also unique characteristics that would have been missed in superficial or more glancing inquiries. However, our qualified problems with these books and their conclusions and methods remain. There are issues with the facts in some major and important areas, there are issues of logic and methodology that need to be addressed. There is the issue of history, and the books' serious lack of citation and crediting of prior books and research done by others. We wish to again explore The Hoopa Project, and in an analytical close re-reading we intend over the course of the next few weeks or months to unearth what we liked in this book, and to reveal and explore what bothered us about it during our first read and subsequently. We hope that NABS and their friends will not see this project as an outright and biased attack. Rather, we wish to be fair, and give credit where credit is due, but yet to discover areas that could be corrected and improved. The book has great value, and we hope that in the end perhaps Mr. Paulides could be encouraged to issue a corrected and revised second edition of his interesting book.

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ANGRY BIGFOOT SPEAKS!

 Me got woken up by New Years hu-man noise. Me start thinking, me not go back to sleep. So me have idea. Me get angry again about hu-man crazy acting and thing they think about ME. Me will set them straight. Now I talk to human friend who write and he like my idea. Next time on this blog-thing hu-man write ideas. He call it PROPOSITIONS FOR A NEW DECADE IN SQUATCHING.

Me spell that right? It be  up here next time, if hu-man not hibernate too.

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The text of this blog entry is copyright 2009, Bigfoot Books and Steven Streufert. Please present with citation and blog link if you are quoting. Thanks!