Tuesday, August 17, 2010

BFF R.I.P.? BIGFOOT FORUMS CLOSED. Outing Its Former Controllers, and What Is a JIMITE? plus... A BIGFOOT POEM

BIGFOOT'S BLOG, Mid-August 2010 Edition


Well, here we go again! Another round of big, crazy Bigfoot news. It's been a full two years since the "Georgia Gorilla" Bigfoot Body Hoax. We'll cover that fiasco next time around. See below or a brief update and some assigned reading on Mr. Biscardi.

Image: What is wrong with this picture?

The BFF may be closing forever. Even though the former tyrant, "Teresa," was deposed, along with henchwoman "JayleeD," most of the old fixtures like "Blackdog" and "Bittermonk" still remained in place, and were still causing the same old problems of favoritism, back-biting, attack dog-ism, etc. We didn't really monitor this, as we don't go to the site much at all since we were  banned from it for no good reason. However, we have received constant helpful information from the fine folks over at the "BFFA" (Bigfoot Forums Anonymous), erstwhile known as the SEARCH FOR BIGFOOT FORUM. Thanks to all of you, for the information and support! Read on for more, plus some background information on the "Jimite" faction that has caused so much trouble from within the Bigfoot Community, much like a nasty virus, or leprosy, eating away at the health and productivity of the field itself, slowly diminishing its effectiveness. You may be amazed at how many of the same names run through most of the most troubling conflicts in Bigfooting in the last decade or so.

We have two BFF-related reports below, plus a poem, News, and a new Bigfoot toy. Read onward...

Don't forget to become a Fan/Friend of BIGFOOT'S BLOG FACEBOOK PAGE to keep up with things on a nearly daily basis. This is where we will post flash news and updates while our three-a-month blogs sit churning on the back burner.

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Here is a poem we recently found in the massive files of paper here in our bookshop. We wrote this late one night after awakening from a bizarre dream. We present it here as we found it, unrevised, in rough draft form. It could be trimmed down from four pages to one, but we kind of like it this way in its raw form.

THIS FOOTPRINT HAS BEEN HERE FOR A THOUSAND YEARS

Bespoken of by wild wood, feared,
 beloved of wolf, eagle and bear,
Bearing in him the ghost
 of the lost grizzly shadow,
Of condor, and incomprehensibly tall
 suggesting a thousand-yeared history
Beyond recollection even of those
 small men who first crossed over
The bridge of land and ice after him
 crossing continents, spanning vague water
Lands frozen, indistinguished, and also disdaining
 the pale white ones following, and their oil slicked,
Blackened world of roads, ashed stumps,
 denuded and gated, raped piles
Upon blasted towering monuments
 to false comic book televised gods.
He hates this, and you, if you believe it,
 but he loves what is left of what is
 still good in your blood.

His foot shakes beneath all
 other animals, quavers the hearts
Of beasts and men, boasts of strength
 allied with two thousand year trunks
Redwood, and fir forests, of which his
 is the beating conscious heart.
In the sand, rarely, a mark;
 there is so little seen, blending
With brown and shadow and stone
 he moves merged with myriad forms.
His scat is rapidly eagen again as holy.
You will not see him, his bones vanish
 into mulch, no fossil contains his
Vast form, as upon rock, through
 rivulets and over log and rip rap
He ponders invisibility and watchs
 you from beyond camp fire and villages.
Only his teeth, a jawbone, maybe, remain.
Unseen, unknown, older than the fields
 that were ripped away to geologic
Foundations torn and shucked aside
 to form what now are called mountains,
Yosemite, or temporary bases for cities.

If  fortune lapses and you catch
 a fleeting image it will not be
His, but yours, a reflection of a child's
 Boogeyman, a beast of tabloid fame,
A fear magnified by distance and
 tortured separation, solitude,
Among all that prosper and thrive
He eats and breathes vast quantities
 of that freedom unfelt, unbelievable;
Outside, in cold uncaring of it, through flood
 and snow, uncivilized, bearing across
Years and remembering more than knowing,
 this thing has been here a million years.
At least, look up, see sun burning; look
 down, feel roots burrow and wrack, touch
Fire, ash, deep compost of all that lived;
 you won't come close, but at least have
Tried to approximate to the impossible.

There is more than your scheduled dreams
 metered days, accruing debt to ignorance;
His stride courses decades, levels all
 into undeluded, timeless, mortal deeds.
Eat, inhale, drink, lift yourself
 into the sun while it is here.
Nothing lasts; but this adaptable,
 strongly struck footprint, though
In sand or mud, has beaten across
 all of human memory, song, and legend.
It has been and watched and known,
 and now strikes out beyond to outlast.
Stands and sees beyond, through;
 you see him not from your passing car window.
He eats your pale illusion of freedom
 like a tidbit, and moves down the steep hill bracken
 for more.

-- Steven Streufert, circa 2008, found in the piles and files

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BFF R.I.P.???
BIGFOOT FORUMS ON HIATUS, TO CLOSE PERMANENTLY?
Founder BRIAN BROWN, "BIPTO," Rejoins, Sees the Problems, Closes Site





Despite our recent protestations, we find this news saddening... Is the BFF DEAD?

We perhaps played a bit of a David to Goliath role here (or rather, more like the straw that broke the camel's back!)... perhaps; but we hope that the site may be preserved somehow, if not as an active discussion forum, then perhaps as a permanent archive of great information. When founder Brian Brown was here in our shop he did not seem at all angry with us over our criticisms made on this blog, and seemed to chuckle a bit at our satirical images presented here. He seemed, indeed, to know just what we were talking about it. Changes were going to be made, he said. Well, we didn't exactly expect what we found in our inbox this morning, and it is not what we had hoped would happen. Apparently, the problems just seemed too vast, too deeply ingrained, and the factions too entrenched, for any real change to occur? Or perhaps it would have taken full-time super-human powers of administration to effect any real change?

This today from "Bipto," Brian Brown, the Bigfoot Forums' founder:

"Also, as you all know, I have recently "returned" to the forum. This was a mistake. I wasn't happy with what had happened to the forum's reputation and thought I had a solution that would have put the site on a firm footing for the future. That may all still happen, but I don't know when. Bottom line is my personal and professional obligations do not, at this time, allow me to give this site the attention it requires. Also, I have no idea to whom I can give the forum. Honestly, I don't know if I *want* to give the forum to anyone. The fate of the BFF is tied to me in a way it isn't with anyone else. I have come to the difficult conclusion that best course of action for me to take is to put the forum on a hiatus during which no posting will be allowed. For all intents and purposes, the BFF is closed until further notice. I will leave the site up as long as I am able. All the content will be visible, but posting and new registration will be suspended. There was a time when the BFF was necessary. I believe that time has passed. When a redwood tree falls, thousands of little ones sprout on its stump to take its place. It's time for whatever comes after the BFF to sprout."

Yes, there are OTHER forums out there, and Bigfoot discussion will not end on the internet. One thing we can say, though, is that it is good to see the former oligarchic tyrants of the BFF, those who took over after Brian Brown and Paul Vella left their roles as Chief Administrators, brought down from their haughty perches. They can all go and seek refuge where they belong: OVER ON THE JREF FORUMS! We do sincerely hope, though, that someone with the time, ambition, and broad-mindedness might be found to revive and host the BFF in the future. Recent rumors that Brian Brown was going to hand over the BFF to the Alliance of Independent Bigfoot Researchers (AIBR) have proven to be unfounded, as confirmed to us personally by AIBR co-founder Kathy Moskowitz Strain. 

Almost all former Administrators have been demoted to Moderator status on the BFF, save for Brian himself and the other good and fair guy, "Tugboatwa." This hopefully will prevent any malicious changes being made to the site while it sits in hiatus limbo.


Read below for more background on just whom these former BFF usurpers are, and their history of running conspiratorial coups d'etat from within Bigfoot organizations. Oh, what fun!

And no, BFF "Parnassus," this is not a case of "the cheese had fallen off his cracker." Those Nazi and Commie images were meant as JOKES. It is called "SATIRE," fool! You say, "I guess he's just playing for attention/hits. Reminds me of Glenn Beck." Well, that is rich. But yes, it WAS propaganda. We WERE trying to get the information out to the largest possible group. Sometimes exaggeration just plain WORKS. See? Sometimes one has to destroy to rebuild. Sometimes one just needs to clear the crap out of one's pathway. The pieces below were written before today's closure announcement, but we'll just post them as is.


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THE JIMITE CULT AND ITS USURPATION OF THE BIGFOOT FORUMS:
A Preliminary Overview of the Culprits and Oligarchs

Image: from the excellent "The Jimite Chronicles" web site. Link Below!

NOTE: This part of the blog contains quotations from others in the know and from two web sites in particular. It is offered for the information of those who may have encountered problems on the BFF or in Bigfoot organizations in the past. It is not meant as having any implication opon the personal lives of any of the people mentioned, but rather refers to their ONLINE BEHAVIOR within the Bigfooting Community. Take what you find below with a few grains of salt.

Who are all of these administrators and moderators on the Bigfoot Fourms (BFF) that we had such problems with? Hiding being anonymous user names like "RedWolf," "BlackDog," and "MasterBarber," they thought they could exercise total control of others while running rampant in violation of Forums rules themselves. After founder Brian Brown, and then subsequent Chief Administrator, Paul Vella, left, the site was taken over by a group that operates in the shadows, moving through organizations in the background, and making their opinions and power grabs known under pseudonyms like those above. They and their friends and cronies eventually came to control the site, up until the recent return of its founder. A stink was raised by many disaffected and banned members, such as ourselves and other members of the Search for Bigfoot Forum (SFBF), and a threatened boycott has apparently accellerated the process of change. Efforts are being made now to clear up this mess, and "Teresa" and "JayleeD," two notorious "dictatorial" BFF operators, have been deposed from positions of power (yes, they "resigned," but we all know how that works when someone is given the opportunity to fall on their own sword). We are hoping a full clearing of the house will occur.

BUT, you might ask, WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? And why should it matter? We hate anonymity, and believe in ethical accoutability and respect in discourse. So, we are going to "out" them to the extent that we may. Our involvement in the BFF Boycott Movement (call it what you want!) led us to a secretive, ulterior world of black operators, a veritable Illuminati-Bilderberg Group Conspiracy of Bigfooting. It goes back, in large measure, to the "Jimite" Jihad movement. WTF, BFF? We hear you asking....

A brief snippet quoted from the SFBF:
"jimite legacy:
* they ruined the bfro and left
* they ruined the aibr and left
* they are currently infesting the bff as its leadership"

Yes, it may seem odd, but many of those who led the post-Kentucky-video defection/expulsion of curators from the BFRO, and then tried to pull a coup d'etat of the AIBR (Alliance of Independent Bigfoot Researchers), were the VERY SAME PEOPLE who eventually came to rest as dictators and Head Trolls on the BFF. Much of the controversy on the BFF started when connections of these cronies to the Michigan Recording Project (MRP) became manifest in a cover-up of questioning about that project and its results. The Forums administration was actively practicing censorship, and reading ostensibly private PMs (Personal Messages) sent by members of the Forums. Eventually, full scale "slander and libel" were the result, and personal recriminations and vendettas came to dominate the discourse. We, living out in the middle of nowhere in Willow Creek, were largely unaware of these problems. We may live in the heart of "Bigfoot Country," or the "Bigfoot Capital of the World," but we did not involve ourselves deeply in these all-too-human alliances and secret societies operating at the core of Bigfooting on the interent and in the various BF orgs. We just did our own research, and used the Forums to notify folks about our blog. We had been warned. Perhaps we should have stayed away? In the end we stepped in a big pile of doggie doo-doo, left by all the "dogs" on the BFF, "RedWolf" and the lot. Luckily, we have a fresh new pair of Converse high-tops and are heading off in new directions. Let this  be our last commentary on the BFF situation. Let's run down the list of folks and find out who they all are, if we may.

Here are two great links for readers to refer to now, or after the list below. These are both apparently anonymous blogs/web sties run by folks in the know. They have obviously had interactions with these BFF/Jimite factions in the past, and we are trusting that the sites are factual, though very satirical, and not made up of evidence fabricated in any way. Check them out!

Here is the Rogues Gallery...
The Rogue's Gallery: Know your Jimites and Their Whacky Pals

NOTE: UPDATE, Aug. 22nd--This page has mysteriously vanished from the internet! Check the link to see if it is still up. Maybe their server has crashed due to too many hits?

...from the fine site, The Jimite Chronicles: The Arrogance, the Hypocrisy, the Hoax..
Be sure to pursue all of the links found on the left side to view all of their sub-pages. Notice the major overlap with the BFF Oligarchical Controllers? "T" obviously is "Teresa" Hall. The "Jim" of "Jimites is Jim Flowers, along with Stacey Flowers, or "Missus Jim," below. "PaulUK" is clearly Paul Vella, onetime Chief Administrator. For "RedWolf," see below. Right now we are not fully sure just whom we think "BlackDog" and "MasterBarber," two of our own antagonists, are. 

Some of these statements may be a little dated, but you'll get the gist.
We QUOTE (these are not OUR words), a little:
"The Jim: It goes without saying, he is the Jim, the head of the gang. The Jim doesnt say that much these days, but when he does it to deride someone. At end time he had walked away from the MRP alledgedly, now it's the real deal, it even predates them.
Missus The Jim, the Stacinator: The "scout", the nice one, she seems nice.... and asks a lot of questions, essentially the Jimite spy.
"T": Beware this one, also seems nice, review her posts on the BFF and elsewhere, theres the nice side you see, and the other one behind your back. She is openly a jimite, also a BFF moderator, and if nothing else, their permanent beachead on the BFF.
Guy In Indiana: Normally just another troll, fairly whiny when his pals get some comeuppance. Recently hoaxed by a guy in a monkey suit, but somehow, it's REAL when it happens to him. Also an Incredible Hulk forum aficionado.
Ty: Another troll, one of the more foul mouthed ones at that.
Wildman: Another of the more foul mouthed of the Jimites, not quite the puss filled doughnut that is Blackdog, but he tries.
Bittermonk: Has been called "one of the most two faced folks in bigfootery".
Blackdog: One wonders if he actually goes in the woods at all, or just spends time online as a troll. Recently returned to the BFF, after a long ban. One of the scummiest, nastiest of the Jimites.
Wolftrax: See Crowley Crusade, one of the lead lap dogs. Given to Conspiracy theory, possibly demented and the biggest crybaby of the bunch.
Timber Ghost: Runs the Kiamichi board, a "one comment wonder".
PatB: Acts like a sweet old hippy lady, she isn't. Has been proven the one true liar in the MRP and in falsifying the altering of evidence, is herself, a hoaxer.
PaulUK: Heads the BFF, allows the climate of gossip, dogpiles and the like. A UK native and one wonders why he has any importance in Bigfootery at all. HE freely ignores the rules of his own forum when he doesnt make them up as he goes.
Jayleed: PaulUk's "Annie Oakley", another BFF admin, also part of the problem. She is also "T"'s best friend and a closet jimite in the guise of a biased BFF admin.
Pywacket: Seems to have a problem remembering where he puts trail cams. Not nessicarily a Jimite, but an opportunist to cozy up to people, truly a creepy individual.
SuzieQ: Loyal lapdog, seems to prefer to stay on the BFD fishbowl where it's safe
Nightwing: Their resident artist, actually the one imite there might be hope for, but usually goes along with the groupthink.
Redwolf: She likes to make implied threats against folks of the BFF and BFD, another loon. A chest thumping self deluded bully.
Tube: See Crowley Crusade" ["Tube" is Matt Crowley, no doubt.]

We will quote again. Here is their list of the "Next Generation" of BFF/Jimite cultists, post-Paul Vella Administration:

"The current controlling roster:
Teresa: The witch in chief
Jayleed: Ol Annie Oakley herself, bitter over being called on her MRP related censorship, Loyal Jimite Foot Soldier, co-conspirator in the MRP hoax.
Counselor: Old school BFF Mod, attempted to censor the MRP on other forums
Mikek21: Old school Jimite Kool aid drinker
Moregon: Old School BFF Mod, will he/she/it survive the new Regime?
Oregonfooter: Loyal pod
Tugboatwa [Jerry Riedel]: The one old school decent mod, it's amazing he's survived this long.
Ace!: Loyal Pod
Bipedalist ["William"]: Snarky pod, with his own Agendas, but loyal Kool aid drinker
Bittermonk: Old School Jimite, co-conspirator in the failed AIBR coup de tat
GuyinIndiana: Bitter MRP hoaxer, "claims" he had a sighting, Incredial Hulk forum afficionado
HRPuffstuff: Bitter and nasty little Pod, has own agenda
Master Barber: New comer to the Mod squad, has own agenda, had role in running out Red rat fink
Redwolf: Just a plainly mean haggy ol' bitch. She is the bully of the Mods, constantly posturing as a delusional badass, when actually nothing more than a true bully and a useless hick. Co-Conspirator in the MRP hoax.
And alas, what of Timmy? What of the Red Rat Fink"

By the last they mean "Red Rat Snake," or Tim. A nice guy, who tried to be nice on the BFF, and paid dearly for his efforts.

And here is one last list, of the supposed ancillary characters and their "roles" in the BFF control-cult:

"The Roster:
The Jim (thug-misdirector)
Stacinator (ambassador-troll)
PatB (ambassador then victim)
Wildman (thug)
Bittermonk (info gatherer)
Tube (occasional hanger on)
Blackdog (thug and troll)
Volsquatch (troll)
Wolftrax (troll and victim)
Red Wolf (thug)
Teresa (victim)
mike2k1 (info gatherer)
GuyInIndiana (troll-misdirector-info gatherer)
ty (troll)
susan (hanger on)
jayleed (troll-misdirector-thug)
nightwing (ambassador)
shaman (thug-hanger on)
thigmo (ambassador)"

Be sure to read their KNOW YOUR JIMITE GLOSSARY, on the lower end of the same page. It will explain many of the parenthetical usages above. You will know no more about Bigfoot by reading this, but you will know a whole lot more about all-too-human HUMAN NATURE. We learned the "hard way," by having to try to deal rationally with these cult-think petty idea gangsters; but read on to the next paragraph there to see their hypothetical example of "A typical session of dog pile." Fascinating! And ALL TOO familiar! And lo, these were the very same "people" (troll-dogs) who came after us and tried to set us up to be banned. Hilarious. Or not. Maybe it is just plain lame and juvenile. Again, THE LINK IS HERE.

Here is another gallery of culprits, a bit more sardonic, a bit more brief:
"Or Maybe There is a Player's Page," found on the "There Is No Bigfoot" web site domain.
This page acts as a sardonic warning for anyone who would blithely enter into discussion on the BFF.
The site reveals the following additional information: "BitterMonk" is Sam Rich, and "JayleeD" is Jay Lee Doster.

We quote the intro.:

"Below are a few short paragraphs describing some of the more prominent, albeit dubious Bigfoot enthusiasts, nimrods, hunters, gatherers, players, bat-boys, key grips and ...caterers whose lives apparently not only revolve around Bigfoot and its discussion, but with wreaking havoc on the sense and sensibility of the average reader and listener. Most are offenders, that is, members of the Bigfoot Forums ... discussion board."

One responder to our earlier inquiries said the following....

Who are the Jimites?
"Jim Flowers, Wildman, Blackdog, Stacey Flowers, Susan, TY, Teresa, Redwolf, GuyinIndiana, Bittermonk, Wolftrax, Pat Barker, Nightowl, Nightwing, among others.... Starting to make sense?"

Who "messed up" the BFRO and AIBR?
"The names above, some were in the AIBR (and left in a mass exodus, singing "woe is me") and the BFRO (same "woe is me" situation), some not. Just about all of these names above, are in the SRI (if it's still functioning)."

Just who ARE these characters?
"Redwolf is Kathy Harper. One time BFRO member, One time AIBR member. All around self important, little miss something else I cant type here. I have no clue who Masterbarber is... He came out of nowhere, but is quickly proving himself to be a royal jerk. Blackdog.. Well, now thats a difficult question. I know his first name, thats it. Blackdog was a BFRO member - and reminds his pals (some named above) how he left the BFRO and warned all of them, but they didnt listen to him. He lords that over their heads like a newly sharpened axe."

OK, then, ENOUGH SAID FOR NOW. If YOU have any further leads please do let us know through the email contact on this blog, or by leaving Comments, below. The above should be clue enough for some. Thanks! With Bipto, Brian Brown, now in charge, let us hope for postive changes! With old-school moderators like Tugboatwa, Jerry Riedel, in there, we can hopefully hope that good ethics and common sense and fairness will prevail in the end.

LINKS:

The full JIMITE CHRONICLES links, beyond he Rogues Gallery:
Their History: The Hall of Infamy (great info on the BFRO coup and AIBR schism, etc.)
The BFFWatch Blog (limited posts)
The Footery Exposer (limited posts)

Follow the amazingly convoluted MRP thread on the Bigfoot Forums HERE.
Read a concise Michigan Recording Project controversy history HERE.
Melissa Hovey blogs about the BFF and MRP HERE.
Drop in on the JREF BFF Debate HERE.

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A POST WE MADE RE. THE BFF FIASCO,
POSTED RECENTLY ON THE SEARCH FOR BIGFOOT FORUM

I for one am not gloating, so much as having fun with this. Though it is a serious matter, and many have been hurt along the way on the BFF or by being banned and suppressed or mocked, I feel a light-hearted approach to them disarms their viciousness. What was I to do? Take being banned seriously and get depressed over it? Nah. I just went to "war" and gave them a dose of the satire they needed. Oftentimes it is humor that is the most effective means of commentary. It is hard to argue with a joke; but that joke can show reality and human behavior in stark relief.

Do I think the BFF matters? Well, yes, it does; as they are so well known, and so prominent, the site does in many ways and cases stand for the BF Community and researchers in general. It is one way the world knows about us and Bigfoot, and an area that collects a lot of the new and perhaps naive who don't yet know better. It should be a universal domain where all of us may comment and share information, and sanely discuss things. It saddened me to see it becoming the prowling and stomping grounds of a small group who obviously cared more about their own egos and sense of power than any actual human beings on there, or the topic itself.

When I saw the self-importance of these BFF admins/mods I just wanted to bring them down a notch. Well, when I see BF bull-pookey I just can't resist--I comment on it on my blog. THAT is what got me banned, not anything I even did on the Forums. While there may not always be opportunities to prove this elusive creature exists, there are always areas within the field of study where we can comment on and attempt to correct the ideas and theories of others whom we feel are just plain wrong. This is a big part of the problem. There has to be a line, somewhere, where mutual respect reigns over petty differences. This can be difficult to achieve when some things said are just so clearly wrong, and egos are involved.

Hence, for example, I do like MK Davis well enough as a person, though I tried to tear his "Massacre Theory" to shreds. When I interviewed and talked to him, however, I tried to maintain a spirit of civil debate. Discussion and debate bring progress, when civility is maintained. This is how knowledge grows and progresses. It is unfortunate that quite often there is no room for this kind of discussion before the defensive and aggressive slings and arrows start to fly and flay.

It's exciting to see change happen, and to think that I was not just banned into obscurity. To speak up and have a say, and then to see results--that is nice. Do I expect the world to suddenly be a better place? Nah. But maybe the BFF can improve, un-ban those of us who were unjustly booted, and learn to respect new people who may not yet be masters of the sinister, predatory game played by some. And I am happy to see vindication for Melissa, who obviously has had much more reason to be angry about the BFF and Mistress T. than I ever did. If what I did on my blog helped in even a small way to bring justice into this situation, then yes, I am excited about it.

Did I make a little "tabloidy" hay out of this? Sure. But I really think we need to get our act together, all of us Bigfooters, or our arguments and bickering will just be food for the Lan Lampheres out there seeking to make news and entertainment by playing us off against each other. And every ridiculous new "Bigfoot War" just makes us, and BIGFOOT, look all the more silly to the outside world.

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NEWS!

STEVE KULLS, the SQUATCHDETECTIVE, has just announced that he will be outing the main writer and founder of THE BIGFOOTERY ENQUIRER on his BlogTalk Radio show on September 5th. We talked to Kulls earlier this month, but will not disclose here any information he shared with us. We put out a few stringers at his request, to folks out here on the West Coast, but none of them felt that the person mentioned was the right guy. One said, "he isn't literate enough" to write that blog. Well, Mr. Kulls has EVIDENCE that supposedly confirms his suppositions. WE SHALL SEE. Be sure to tune in to his show on that date. We will post a reminder of it on our BIGFOOT'S BLOG FACEBOOK PAGE

The BFE has been trying preemptively to "out" itself (in apparent response to our campaign to expose them), vaguely, anyway, using a silly bunch of riddles in their "Treasure Hunt" game. Well, you might try, too. Go to the site through the link, above. If they are exposed then they won't be able to snark so freely.

Also: word has it that Kulls' new book, "FIFTY LARGE," will be finished soon. It is a thorough recap and analysis of the Georgia Bigfoot Hoax and his relations with that notorious figure, TOM BISCARDI. This should be good! For now, check out Kulls' page, BISCARDI EXPOSED for all the details to this point.

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A NEW BIGFOOT TOY!

This one should make a good Christmas season present for your young Squatchers! However, we have been told by one witness in Target that their kid was horribly scared by the thing as it jumped up and down in its box and roared and pounded its chest. And this is only the in-store DEMO behavior!

See it on Amazon, for about a hundred bucks...
Fisher-Price Imaginext BIGFOOT the Monster

Product Features: "The Imaginext Big Foot includes a remote control, ball, speech and lots of personality. Remote toggle allows him to walk forward and backwards and the six buttons are happy, angry, sleep, fun, ball, and exercise. Hear him roar and watch him pound his fists or raise his arms above his head and shake his fists. Press the ball button and hear him say things like "play" and watch him throw the ball. Press the button on his belly and hear him laugh, the button in his mouth makes him chew and burp (don't worry, he remembers to say "excuse me")."

From the Manufacturer: "Imagine a little monster with a BIG personality. That’s BIGFOOT. He’s happy. He’s angry. He’s sleepy. He’s fun. He talks and walks and throws a ball, chews and burps and exercises. And kids can bring him to life with an easy-to-use wireless remote control. The symbols on the buttons show you what BIGFOOT will do when you push them -- no reading required. BIGFOOT includes one (9.6Volt) NiMH rechargeable battery and battery charger. Remote Control requires 2 AA alkaline batteries."

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ANGRY BIGFOOT SPEAKS!
[Spoken in the manner of the Sierra Sounds....]

BFFHGHGJHGHGJHGYJGJHHFOODHVGJHHGGHGUYGUYYYBFF@#@#$%#@#! '!!!
(Angry Bigfoot Was too Angry to Speak in Hu-man.)

Angry Bigfoot channeled this time by Denali Brown, age 8.)
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This blog is copyright and all that jazz, save for occasional small elements borrowed for "research" and information or satirical purposes only, 2010, Bigfoot Books and Steven Streufert. Borrowings will be tolerated without the revenge of Angry Bigfoot, if credit, citation and a kindly web-link are given, preferably after contacting us and saying, Hello, like a normal person would before taking a cup of salt

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Some "HAPPY THOUGHTS" on BIGFOOT; Our OREGON TRIP; BF Books' READING List; CLARIFICATIONS on PAULIDES

BIGFOOT'S BLOG, EARLY AUGUST EDITION, 2010



"WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE WHEN FIRST WE PRACTICE TO DECEIVE."
--Sir Walter Scott , in Canto VI, Stanza 17 of "Marmion" (1808)


Sometimes we wonder, what is the point? Either Bigfoot exists, or Bigfoot does not exist. And all the Bigfoot Wars, personal recrimination, theoretical hatchet jobs and factional anger are not going to prove anything. Let us face it. Bigfoot exists separate from us, and does not need us for anything. Either that, or Bigfoot exists solely in our minds. And it is in our minds that we define our approach to knowledge, and so define ourselves. If we want to experience Mystery, the wonder of the unknown, or the magical sense of discovery, we are doing ourselves and the thing(s) we seek no favor in debating about and delimiting them to the point where they have no life left in them. Sometimes we at Bigfoot's bLog just grow weary of all of this.

Artwork, above and below: by Denali Brown, age 8, 2010; sharpie pen on a circular frozen pizza cardboard backing.

Either we know something or, frankly, we do not. In our efforts to know and nail down the world around us, the process of wonder ends in the conquest of surprise... save if we may retain the edge of possibility in which we never have the final answers. Save if we can respect the world, and those around us, enough to allow for difference. We should avoid killing the things we love; and we should restrain ourselves from corrupting the world as it is with our uses, our means, our ends, and our petty personal needs. Each thing that exists, be it something as well known as a bear or elusive as a Sasquatch, has a component of the unknown that we will never fully understand. Inside of ourselves, even, lurks a whole universe of undiscovered countries.

Even if Bigfoot were shown conclusively to exist, and one were dissected upon the slab of some cold laboratory, we would still not understand its being. The only hope is in sympathetic understanding, a form of science that progresses with empathy and the extension of the self into the being of that which we seek to know. Lest we despoil yet another of nature's realms, let us consider what we are doing. Only fragments of the original beauty of the Earth remain intact, and they are diminishing. One of the last mysteries is this phenomenon of the Wild Man. We who seek to know the Sasquatch should let the Creature be its own thing. Let it be free, wild, uncivilized, in some sense reminding us of our past when we as a species still held wonder in our hearts, minds filled with awe, ourselves stripped down to honest living by the exigencies of survival. Let us allow the Bigfoot to be what it was to us in the beginning of our interest: a thing we could not capture nor contain, an antidote to the demeaning debasement of our mechanized civilization, a balm for and relief from the dehumanizing and neurotic forces of our society. "A Living Legend!" What is Bigfoot if not free to roam, either in the woods and wilds, or else in that wild part of our minds that is still free, fresh to the world, and new to experiences that may still surprise us? Of what need is "proof"?

What a heavy price we have paid if for knowledge we leave behind an emptied world, leave behind the mysteries of ontology and epistemology, and trade it all for that dead body on a slab.

So, aside from ENOCH, a nice Ohio conference, and the OSS, what has been achieved in the world of Bigfoot this summer? Not much. A bunch of blobsquatches, Mr. Mike rantings, human politics. Politics, the death rattle of joy and curiosity. Politics, which organizes like an undertaker and corrupts as avidly as the maggot.

Sometimes, and especially lately, we feel we just know too much. We know more secrets that we cannot talk about than we have things we can share openly. We know too much dirt and rumor to even want to begin to talk. We started out wanting to know Bigfoot, and what have we found? The nastiness of high school mixed with the jaded cynical malignancy of the long-term damned. Over-ripeness and immaturity blend in a nasty soup, and it is served up daily on forums and web sites and blogs. None of it makes us better in the end, and brings us only further and further from the truth. If we were Bigfoot we would be fleeing far, far, farther away than ever before. How can such a warring lot ever hope to know and find that Being which shuns us, most decidedly, for just this very reason?

On the other side of the veil of understanding we just might discover the real secret: the world as it really is, its beings in their real existences and, perhaps, ourselves in the bargain.

***

We wrote this in an email recently to a fellow "Bigfooting" friend:

See, I moved to Willow Creek and have lived the way I do for the last ten years or whatever precisely because I was tired of human humanness. I wanted the wild, the real, the true, the good. Bigfoot came to embody that for me. It embodies the mysteries of the natural world. It is so disappointing for me to see that the Bigfoot field is more f-ed up than the rest of so called normal humanity.

Yes, THAT is the thing: to look, to see more than oneself, to dispense with the egotistical concerns that so characterize the human world and individual. It is such a shame that Bigfoot culture is the exact opposite of Bigfoot as a being. These humans out "hunting"--that is the very thing I imagine the BF would flee from most avidly. If they exist and live as they seem to do, they are distinct from this greed, selfish need to own, to prove, to possess. I don't idealize them; I'm sure they are utterly pragmatic. But I think it would be far from them to scheme, plot, conspire and malign. Those are human traits. If the "hunter" needs to "get" the hunted, then these more dunderheaded and aggressive BF hunters are doing a lousy job. You'd think all that time spent in the woods would somehow help them get in tune with it all. Rather, it seems the entry into the woods accentuates and exaggerates the human need for self-proof, for compensation for frailties and shortcomings, for self-armoring defense and control mechanisms. Contrast this with what we know of the Native American trackers of the past, of attuned humans in real states of adaptation, and these modern-day gonzo machos look even more ludicrous.

And these are the ones in the woods. The creepy-crawly parasites like ___ ___ [Edit] are even worse. For some reason they are into Bigfoot, but it could just as easily be monster trucks, celebrity gossip or a bad reality show. For me Bigfoot is about mysteries and freedom from limited modes of being in human culture; for them it is about themselves and their easy answers and pet theories, and petty differences and pride. And that is if they aren't out and out just in it for the money.

Thing is, I've already run for the hills. I'm here. The squatchy stuff is all around me where I am living. I feel closest to that mystery when I am most free of myself, my attitudes, and the crazy mess of human theories, politics, and dumbass history. In a way, Bigfoot mocks us. Not that they directly try; but in the light of their honest existence and primordial lifestyle, we are just absurd. The best one can do is just go out and look, and feel, and be part of the larger world to which all other things are similarly connected.

I was out "squatching" when I was a kid. I was always out in nature, observing, feeling my way, getting outside of myself into the larger and more real world. And by that world I mean the whole cosmos.

I've always stood up for the natural world, and always hated those despoliations of it that constantly occur. Not that the universe "needs" us to "protect" it! But humanity is so out of control on this planet. BF culture, field "researchers" or Internet geeks, is too often treating the reality of Bigfoot just like those idiot campers treated your feeding spot: chopping down trees, tossing their cans and butts and piss cups and bullet shells everywhere, leaving behind ugliness and scaring any wild and free things ever farther away from the madness.

Damn, but my existence has become complicated lately. I can hardly imagine blogging as I seem to have more private information than stuff I can actually talk about publicly. It seems I have hit the hard, cancerous tumor at the heart of Bigfooting. And, basically, I can't dig any further. This takes a whole lot of the fun out of it, I'll tell you....

We are basically freaks who are into something that very few others in the world can even begin to understand the start of.... What should be a source of unity becomes, ironically, the cause of divisiveness.

There are few in the world I can really talk with about this stuff, the REAL stuff, not all that BFF or whatever it is BS. Sure, people can blab all day about BF--but what are they really talking about?

Since I really started thinking seriously about BF, in 1999 or so, I was basically out looking for BF wherever I was, following bear sign, hiking, whatever. I noticed everything I could in the living ecosystems; and BF was just a presence within it all, a possibility, like the mind of the forest, it's spirit. I never clearly saw it in an undeniable way, but I always felt I could get closer to it by openness and exploration. It was exciting to find out that there were others out there seriously pursuing the mystery. How disappointing though to find so much jerkiness at the core of it. After nearly three years actively writing about BF, seven years of specifically and assiduously studying it, my heart has never felt quite so far away from it, after all the mess of the last year or so. It's been a crazy ride. But right about now I just feel like walking into the woods and seeing what happens. Want to come along?


***


A RECENT TRIP UP TO SQUATCHY OLD OREGON

We decided recently that, rather than go to BEACHFOOT this year, we'd visit a certain Bigfooty friend up in central Oregon. This was a nice trip, and allowed us to do some investigation of recent Bigfoot sightings along one of the major rivers of Oregon and its tributaries. We have been asked to keep these locations under the lowlights, so sorry. In this case it is a good kind of secret to keep. There have been repeated sightings of a particular individual Bigfoot, and his location and habits are being protected.

We did find out that redwood old growth trees come inland as far as 40 miles in this area. Amazing! It is strictly in the coastal zone down in Northern California.

What we can do is show you photos of the lovely forest that one may find in that area if one can get past all of the clearcuts. It is still very squatchy up there. Photos below are from several different Bigfoot sighting spots, exact locations remaining secret.

The creekbed photos are from a sighting that had been reported just a week and a half earlier. We were at the exact spot of the sighting, but found no remaining tracks or footprints of an out-of-the-ordinary nature. Also, the creek's pools were not as deep as those in which the Creature was reported wading. We had some questions, but the squatchy feeling of the place and other prior reports did help us to keep our minds open.

Many sightings were reported along the roadsides.


No Bigfoot sightings happened here that we know of, but this falls just struck us as pretty nice, and odd with its tannin filled waters below.
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Since we are feeling particularly nice all of a sudden, and because we want to make sure there is no misunderstanding on this issue, we would like to issue this...


CLARIFICATION OF ISSUES INVOLVING DAVID PAULIDES OF NABS.

We have blogged about his research, his book, his organization's work, and his strange involvement in the Bluff Creek Massacre Theory. We stand behind all of our comments and critiques made of Paulides' Bigfoot work. Also, we must say, on the other hand, that despite these criticisms we also find much of value in TRIBAL BIGFOOT and THE HOOPA PROJECT. Go ahead, read them, they are interesting Bigfoot books with some very good work in them.

However, recently some news came up involving Paulides' former career as a  police officer and some legal issues. The link below was provided by an anonymous source and among many other things this source told us (which we did not blog about) there were some allegations revealed in the San Jose Mercury News paper.

We want to make this ABSOLUTELY CLEAR:
We never said that he was convicted of anything, either the first, earlier, intra-police charge, or the latter one involving solicitation of autographs from celebrities. We received this initial link and information from an anonymous source, and so could not confirm much of it, save for the published charges, beyond hearsay.

To find out if any of it was true, we then passed the link on to a couple of other researchers who might have better access to the newspaper archives than we do. This turned up two articles, BUT NO ARTICLES WERE FOUND DECLARING A RESOLUTION TO THE CASE. Hence, we have to assume that there was probably no conviction on the charges made, and that most likely it was handled internally by the DA and the SJPD. Fine. It doesn't resolve the issues our source raised, but short of any confirmation of anything final in the public records WE MUST GIVE MR. PAULIDES THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT, even as we might have our own private doubts. Daniel Perez of the Bigfoot Times, as well as ourselves and our allied research friend could find NO FURTHER INFORMATION. Efforts made by Perez to find out the history of the charges were STONEWALLED BY THE SAN JOSE POLICE DEPARTMENT. And the City Hall would only release information based upon a case number, which none of us could unearth. So, we must say, just let this issue lie, and LET'S GET ON WITH BIGFOOTING!

READ OUR PREVIOUS PREVIOUS POST ON THIS ISSUE.

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE ARCHIVED SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS ARTICLE. The article in question is number six in the list. You will have to pay $2.95 to view the whole thing.

SEARCH NEWSBANK FOR YOURSELF. Just enter "David Paul Paulides" and it should come up. This search should bring up the earlier inter-departmental issues he was involved in. But remember... being a cop ain't an easy job.

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NEW FEATURE: BIGFOOT BOOKS' NOW READING LIST


Click Images to Enlarge.

This section will appear from time to time to show you what we're reading, and will contain occasional brief reviews. We'd like to remind you to visit our constantly updated BIGFOOT BOOKS' BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOOKS ON SASQUATCH, BIGFOOT AND YETI. For this issue we will just offer you this little pictorial taste:

THE CREATURE, by Jan Klement. A fascinating book, though it could of course be fictional. There are a few implausible elements in it, and the "author's" grammar falls a bit short of what one would expect from a Ph.D.-holding professor and scientist. However, as some have pointed out to us, the book does "get a lot right" about the true nature of Bigfoot. Beyond all of this, and the part where the Creature, Kong, travels 200 miles in one day on foot, it is an endearing tale of friendship.

BIGFOOT, by B. Ann Slate and Alan Berry. This one contains original direct work on the Sierra Sounds, as well as some other very strange stuff. Even more strange, like UFOs. Fascinating, and we have only just begun to re-read this one, a book we originally read at the age of 10 or so.

Also, just started... IMPOSSIBLE VISITS: The Inside Story of Interations with Sasquatch at Habituation Sites, by Christopher Noel. This is a fascinating book. We once feared reading it, lest it turn out to be a new-ager book. But lo, it is far from that! A very sensible book, in the sixty pages we read last night. We are enjoying it, and it is very well written with in-depth thought on the all the various Bigfoot phenomena and some good coverage of field techniques.

And yes, every month, we always read and then re-read Daniel Perez' BIGFOOT TIMES. Even if you feel you are totally hip to what's going on on the internet and social Bigfootosphere, Daniel's unique perspective and analyses will intrigue and keep you in perspective. This last month's issue contained a good survey of the Oregon Sasquatch Symposium written by now-"retired" Bigfooter, Darin Richardson. Yes, he is a "member" of what has been called by some "The Church of Autumn," a grouping containing BFers whose respect for the Squatch goes to the point of no longer wanting to "prove" it. We highly recommend that you subscribe to this newsletter, and probably to join the Church, too.

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ANGRY BIGFOOT SPEAKS!

What, me worry?

No hu-man. It you that need worry.

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This blog is copyright and all that jazz, save for occasional small elements borrowed for "research" and information or satirical purposes only, 2010, Bigfoot Books and Steven Streufert. Borrowings will be tolerated without the revenge of Angry Bigfoot, if credit, citation and a kindly web-link are given, preferably after contacting us and saying, Hello, like a normal person would before taking a cup of salt

Thursday, July 29, 2010

The OREGON SASQUATCH SYMPOSIUM, 2010, Day Two; BIGFOOT'S BLOG Now on Facebook; BIGFOOT FORUMS Tyrant Dethroned! "Research"?

BIGFOOT'S BLOG, LATE JULY EDITION.

Belated Oregon Sasquatch Symposium Report, and Some Stray Fallout and Mess from the Bigfoot Wars....
Well, we all know how life can get in the way of the living of it, or one might say, the best-laid plans. So it is that this blog entry has been sitting on the back burner since late June and early July, when all of the crazy started to fly all over the place.


Mr. Mike is gone back to obscure retirement, and we're sure all of us are happy about that... until the next Ghost Hunters episode comes out with yet another absurd theory about disappearing Sasquatches, and how even their scat somehow entered the fifth dimension. No trace was left behind save in the conniving mind of Mr. Lamphere and his UFOolgist co-conspirator. We already had one Mike, and that was good enough for us, Lan.

See our Day One OSS Report HERE.

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BREAKING NEWS!: 

BIGFOOT'S BLOG now has a Facebook page. 
Yes, that is the biggest news in Bigfooting right now.

Check it out, become a "Fan" as they say, spread the word. This is where we will be posting the odd daily trivium, updates, news and such. We've gotten so long-winded on this here blog that we just needed another outlet. Here you go. Click and Enjoy:


If you need encouragement, just see ANGRY BIGFOOT's warning below.

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Our humble BIGFOOT'S BLOG also made it to THE BIGFOOT LUNCH CLUB, a site we recommend to you, just a while back. Read it here: 

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Anyway, it looks like VICTORY IS OURS!

Yes, that's right. The usurping tyrant of the BIGFOOT FORUMS has been cast from her throne in Mordor, the Ring melts in the fiery wells of hell, and the nearly-blind, benighted souls of the BFF have been emerging into the glorious light of the realms of free discourse. We advocate now that those considering boycotting the place should hold off, and give founder Brian Brown some slack... and encouragement. Don't hold back in commenting here and there, where you can, ON the Forums. With change afoot and the vicious wolves at bay, NOW is the time to raise your voices and speak out. 

So: BOYCOTT ON HOLD, INSURRECTION IN PROGRESS!

We were visited in our shop in Willow Creek by Brian Brown, a.k.a. BIPTO, and found him to be a congenial and fair-minded, intelligent and humorous person. JUST what the Forums need! The day before we were visited by BFF moderator TUGBOATWA, or Jerry Riedel. He too left us with a favorable impression. His theory of how to Moderate? "Just don't do anything." So, change is coming. We hope. JUST WATCH THE DOGS, and stand up if you so much as see BLACKDOG or REDWOLF or their other associates baring their teeth at a fresh piece of meat. That helpless victim could be the next truly important witness or habituation, nipped in the bud.

Read how former Chief Administrator "TERESA" ran off with her tail between her legs, and then dug her head into the snow announced here, on the JREF FORUMS, of all places!



BFF Leader Resigns - Page 8 - JREF Forum


We quote her JREF (The Randi Forums? Why, "Teresa"?) statement in brief:

"I am retiring from all things bigfoot. I've been around since 2000 and a member of the BFF since February 2003. I've done my time and am looking forward to new horizons. I don't feel a need to explain my decision here or the BFF. I'd just like to be left in peace to return to the obscurity from whence I came... I don't plan to take any active role at all in bigfootery..."


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Someone on Facebook just commented that we should stop worrying about the BFF and get out and do some research already. To which we reply, "HUH?"

We LIVE in the forest. Every day is "research," in that narrow sense that so many think is so superior to the intellectual consideration of the ramifications of the Bigfoot Phenomenon that we do while sitting in front of the computer or reading. Yes, folks, "THINKING" is "research," too. Anyone can sit around a campfire and listen to acorns falling in the night. We say this:

BIGFOOT'S BLOG just went on a Research Expedition.We stepped out our front door, looked around, noticed the fine trees and the twilight around us. We sniffed the air, waited stealthfully and quietly for about five minutes. We listened to the deer moving in the woods up the hill. The hoot of an owl. The rustle of a mouse or vole. The stars were coming out, the moon was rising. NO BIGFOOT. Oh well. Time to roll a cigarette, pop a beer, and congratulate ourselves on another night of "research." No, we didn't even have to wear camouflage!!!


So, what IS "research"? Going out camping and banging on trees and hooting and hollering at deer and jumping to conclusions at falling acorns is NOT research. Field research is one form, but this requires a rigorous METHODOLOGY and accounting of facts to really be considered serious study. How many Bigfooters can say they do that? Another form of research is scholarly, or historical. This latter is, beyond our love of living in and being in Nature, and observing all of the time what is out there where we live, our preference. However, one never knows when a Bigfoot could be in one's "back yard" out here! Studying Bigfooting culture, on the internet and elsewhere is also a form of research; and we do that, too. Our methodology? Well, that is a secret. You're just going to have to figure it out, dear Sharon. If we comment on the BFF situation, it is because we find it sociologically amusing, as well as counterproductive for the field within which we are operating.

re·searchPronunciation: \ri-ˈsÉ™rch, ˈrÄ“-ËŒ\ Function: noun; 
Etymology: Middle French recerche, from recercher to go about seeking, from Old French recerchier, from re- + cerchier, sercher to search — Date: 1577

1 : careful or diligent search
2 : studious inquiry or examination; especially : investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws
3 : the collecting of information about a particular subject

transitive verb:
1 : to search or investigate exhaustively
2 : to do research for
intransitive verb: to engage in research

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NOW, ON WITH THE SHOW....

THE OREGON SASQUATCH SYMPOSIUM, FIRST DAY OF TALKS 

Images: Above, promotional poster and, to left, event schedule flier. Click Photos to Enlarge. All OSS images taken by Steven Streufert, save the last two by "C.I." and from the OSS web site.

UPDATES!: We are reviewing the recordings of the Symposium, and have added details to the accounts of the talks, below. Details finished August 8th. Check it out if you read this piece initially before that date.

After a long saga of a drive the day before, and an eventful evening at the OSS Meet-and-Greet, followed by some high times at the karaoke bar and a lively room party at the Red Lion Inn with fellow Squatchers (see our previous report HERE), we weren't exactly in tip-top shape the morning after, after having had only a few brief hours of actual "sleep." A quickly gulped down-breakfast and triple dose of coffee, and we were on the road to Lane Community College for the first of these Eugene, Oregon Sasquatch Symposia. 
When we got there the room was packed with just over 200 attendees, with additional vendors and media folks in the back. AUTUMN WILLIAMS had just begun her talk.

And what a talk it was, despite some grimacing coming from a skeptical Jeff Meldrum from his perch high in the elevated back rows. Bob Gimlin himself sat raptly listening down near the front (visible just to the left of the conifer at the podium, in the image below). If there was a revelation at this symposium it was definitely the news of ENOCH, both the book, and the somewhat sociable Skunk Ape.
This wasn't all news to us, as we'd been talking a bit with Williams in the weeks before this event, but even we were a bit stunned by the moving image of the creature that graced the cover of her book, especially when it was displayed on the big screen behind the speakers' podium. Its penetrating gaze and human-like features produced what has been called by many "an audible gasp" in the room. We just had to say, Go Autumn!

Anyway, something very odd happened to us during this presentation. Was it some kind of strange juju? We don't know. However, our recording device somehow malfunctioned during Williams' talk, despite the fact that it recorded the entire rest of the Symposium just fine. We checked it in progress--it was recording, and we did hit "save" correctly at the end. The file simply disappeared. Then, after the first talks, we noticed that our camera had been taking blurry pictures. The settings were fine. It worked well the rest of the time. What was going on here??? We're tempted now to get superstitious... but anyway.... Because of this lost recording we can't quote the presentation itself, save the memory of it.

The beginning of the talk dealt with the issue of whether the Bigfoot creatures are ape or human-like. She did not come out and say that they are actually human, but just that they are not really like apes, in terms of posture, anatomy, and certain behaviors. She focused upon the foot shapes first, and noted that humans and the Sasquatch do not have their big toe placed on the side of the foot in a semi-opposable grasping set-up as apes do. She showed depictions of the Gigantopithecus and the Bigfoot for comparison. This, though, was just a brief prelude.


She then began to give her account of her interactions with a witness reporting from somewhere in Florida (undisclosed), named Mike (no last name given), who had not only SEEN a Skunk Ape, not only had repeated sightings, not only had habituated them to him and himself to them, but who had actually BEFRIENDED the Creature he called "Enoch." Now, alarm bells go off when Bigfooters hear such things, and many alarms are surely going off even now; but if one listened to Williams' presentation one could clearly see that she approached this scenario with all the rational and skeptical tools a good investigator would apply to any such report. She wasn't just buying into it, and Mike was surely not some hippie out bonding with some idealized noble savage. This accounting had all the hallmarks of real and repeated Bigfoot reports, just that they were all here in one single instance. The only real difference was that these were seen from the OTHER SIDE of the veil of understanding. This was no monster, though he could be a scary beast when he wanted to be. Nor was this the "Psychic Sasquatch" wise man-shaman some others speak of. This was a plausible account of what it is like to actually KNOW something about these beings. If we believe they exist, should we then also not believe these things are possible?

There was a lot of attention paid in the talk to the humorous character of Mike, much of which she read from the book, in Mike's own words. There were some classics, which we'll quote from the Eugene Weekly's account (see link below): “Skunk ape farts are in a class all by itself,” “Big feet, big johnson,” and they smell “like a wet, musky garbage dump.” Man, we wish our recorder hadn't malfunctioned during this one! These are remarks meant for posterity.

Rather than summarize the entire presentation, and since we plan to do a full and lengthy review of the book here soon, let us just quote the shorter review we wrote for the book on Amazon.com: 
5.0 out of 5 stars "A Study in Trust and Possibility. A Revealing Psychological Journey into a Great Mystery,July 23, 2010


This review is from: Enoch: A Bigfoot Story (Paperback)
Get it now! It will blow you away if you have an ounce of trust left in you. If you want to analyze scat and hair DNA remnants this may not be the book for you. Nonetheless, this book presents fascinating possibilities, and the author is of unquestionable sincerity. More than anyone at this time, Autumn Williams seems to have catalyzed a major change that is now running through to the core of Bigfooting. I have heard repeatedly expressed the sentiment that "proving" the Bigfoot/Sasquatch to the world would only endanger them and threaten their very survival. On her Oregon Bigfoot site and blog she has clearly delineated the reasons why decades of Bigfoot field research have largely failed to produce conclusive results. Autumn is forging a new attitude both toward the "Creatures" and the witnesses, recommending respect for both. This book offers more than the interesting, often humorous story of Mike, a loner who encounters and bonds with Skunk Apes somewhere in Florida; it will also teach you methodology in how to approach anecdotal accounts and deal with the difficulties witnesses face in relating their experiences. 
Long-term habituation scenarios are often scoffed at by the Bigfoot Community, and the public at large; but this book makes this one seem utterly convincing. Far from some kind of delusional believer or New-Age seeker of the "Forest Brothers," Autumn Williams is cool, collected, and logical in her approach. Her coming to know and trust the witness, Mike, parallels the process of Mike's gradual understanding of and bonding with this mysterious being. It is a trans-species interaction that quite likely will challenge your ideas of humanness, sentience and intelligence. If you have ever struggled with issues of belief and trust, this book may very well be about much, much more than Bigfoot to you. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! The most intriguing Hairy Hominoid book in a very long time. 

BIGFOOT'S BLOG from Willow Creek will be writing a full, lengthy review of this book. We'll post it here when it is finished. Get this book now if you care about Bigfoot.


Enough of that. Let us just say that Autumn Williams' talk really set the tone for this symposium, one wherein new possibilities as to the nature of Bigfoot were considered, and one where new types of research approaches, even serious crypto-linguistic analyses, were brought to the table. From our view, this has produced an agonizing and inspiring re-evaluation across the geography of Bigfooting. There is a "back to Nature" quality to Mike's story and Autumn's advocacy of it; but it is a sensible one, not utopian: what Mike seeks in the swamps and with the Skunk Apes is not to lose himself into a dream, but rather to find a more authentic selfhood without all the silly distractions of modern, socialized human life. We'll just quote the Eugene Weekly again: "In fact, it is actually us, with our alienating cities and glitzy consumer goods and fear of boredom and, as Williams put it, our constructed selves that 'change on a daily basis with fads,' who must learn from the skunk apes. 'We’re so far removed from what we were,' Williams said." OK! We'll agree with that.

There was an undertone of skepticism present in the room, if one felt deeply enough for it. This wasn't just coming from Mr. Meldrum, the Scientist in the room. But generally, most there were rooting for this point of view, this kind of change, anyway. If one was a stone-cold rationalist and methodologically-bound scientist, this talk and event could have been a frustrating one. We didn't feel that way, but we were a bit... entranced.

Next up was another presenter with a tale of a Bigfoot habituation scenario. Coincidence? No. This was Autumn Williams' mother, SALI SHEPPARD-WOLFORD. The habituation of Skookums around the small cluster of rural cabins along the Carbon River at Orting, WA, is the basis for Williams' nearly life-long involvement in the field of Bigfooting. Autumn was just a three-or-so-year-old when she and her mother saw two of these big, hairy whatever-they-ares standing as clear as day before them along the trail from their home. Her mother is the author of the book, VALLEY OF THE SKOOKUM: FOUR YEARS OF ENCOUNTERS WITH BIGFOOT, a fine and engaging read. The book contains many elements that will raise a skeptical eyebrow, or two; but it is not just the story of encounters with Sasquatch, but also of one woman's shamanic and spiritual process. The accounts in the book are verifiable in that many a neighbor, a non-believing father, some Bigfoot researchers, and a young child all saw them, and their footprints and other remains and signs.

Sali's talk was basically readings from the book. She covered the Bigfoot parts, and didn't focus on the Native American spirituality and the dancing lights in the sky. The accounts are plausible, and well told, evoking the mystery of the experience of repeated encounters, and growing habituation. Of course, we cannot "verify" spiritual or subjective experience, so hey, just let it be. The Bigfoot events in the book, as well as the dancing lights, were witnessed by many different people living out there, and so are verifiable to that degree. She later told us that the other stuff happened "in dreams," and hence it was her own private spiritual or shamanic experience, and was parallel to but not necessarily related to the Bigfoot stuff. Her presentation table, beside Autumn, contained horse mane hair (seen below) that was found woven in interesting ways, and may have been done by a Bigfoot.

It should be stressed that, however metaphysical her mother's book is, ENOCH contains none of this. It is similar to VALLEY OF THE SKOOKUM, but heads in different directions. We recommend both, and for different but sometimes parallel reasons. Since her talk contained large chunks of a book we had just read a few weeks earlier, we slipped out the door for a smoke. Sheppard-Wolford seemed to us a practical and down-to-earth lady, and she didn't once hex us with a crystal or anything like that. It was great to see Autumn and her mother together, in action. Who are we, ignorant and limited larval evolving forms that we are, to comment on such things?

After lunch and some groovy Johnny Cash-styled country-folk Bigfoot Songs by LENNY GREEN. Go and listen to these songs for free on his BIGFOOT SONG WEBSITE. Unfortunately, in the mad rush to get some lunch, we missed most of the live versions. Here's some info. on Mr. Green from his website: "Songwriter since 1956. DelFi Recording Artist 1962. Country bandleader and front for 25 yrs. Staff songwriter in Nashville in the 80s. Songs recorded by Floyd Cramer, Wynn Stewart, Don Gibson, The Texas Playboys, The Cascades, Moe Bandy, etc." These are great songs! You've got to hear them. Tom Yamarone, look out--you have a rival for the BIGFOOT BARD title.

Returning from lunch we found BOB GIMLIN already in action, pacing the stage in his cowboy hat and duds, arm still in a sling from a horse-related accident. His movements back and forth embodied the excitement of his story of he and Roger Patterson capturing a Bigfoot on film in Bluff Creek, CA on October 20th, in 1967.

What can we say? All of you have almost certainly heard this story a hundred times over; but nothing can compare to seeing the man in person and hearing it from him. Not an ounce of bull crap comes from this guy, but all the honest good naturedness and humor you'd expect from a Washington cowboy. And then, no one can really imitate old Bob. You've just got to meet him.

The story has been told so often there isn't all that much more he can add to it, though. Here he clarified one issue: whether the creature in the film was squatting or standing when they first saw it. Bob had said standing, whereas Roger had said it was squatting. Gimlin explained that Roger had been ahead of him about 12 feet on the path up the creek, and that therefore the first man saw the creature first, and Gimlin didn't glimpse it until a second later as it was standing erect. We know, this is stuff for only the most avid PGF nerd; but it held the audience's attention captive for his brief but intense talk.

Bob spoke of getting to know Roger, and their early Bigfooting and horse riding expeditions, how they would sit at the campfire and listen to Roger's cassette tapes of witness interviews. If only we had access to those tapes! Does Patricia Patterson still have them? Bob couldn't remember the exact day that he and Roger arrived in the Bluff Creek area, before catching their film of the creature, but he said it was around the first of October that they arrived. That morining of the 20th Roger rode south on the creek and Gimlin road up north about eight or nine miles, and then they met back in camp and decided to load up the pack horse and head up to an area they'd found promising before. They brought gear like sleeping bags for a potential overnight stay up there. The sun was heading toward the western mountain ridge and trees when they got there and saw the Bigfoot. Bob clarified that the horses did not "blow up," like and explosion, but rather "had a fit" when they saw the Bigfoot. We were the only ones there, he insisted, just he and Roger and NO ONE ELSE but the Creature. This brought a round of enthusiastic applause from the crowd who all know damn well that there was no Bob Hieronimus in a gorilla suit there that day.

One final demonstration had Gimlin set up PAUL GRAVES to try to imitate the 42-46 inch smaller step and stride and the longer measured stride (by Roger and Bob) of 68-72 inches the Patty creature took. Pointing out tape strips on the ground, Gimlin suggested he try it. And when he did, the rather tall and lanky Graves stumbled and nearly fell over. If a guy easily over six feet two can't do it, then how could a stubby Bob Heironimus encumbered by a bulky monkey suit? See Bob, and it is easy to believe in Bigfoot, we're tellin' ya.

OK, we're taking up too much of your time here (and ours!) so we will try to do more concise coverage of the next speakers. This was one heck of a full day!!!

DAVID RODRIGUEZ, 52 years old and a hunter, gave a talk recounting his several Bigfoot encounters, of varying degrees. One sighting was 32 years ago when he was working in Yosemite National Park. He was on the way back from Los Angeles when, on the road, late at night, at a distance of about 25 feet, he saw a Creature stop, look at him, and then head down over the bank. His traveling companion was sleeping, but when awakened saw it just as it headed over the bank edge. He said he can still see every detail, as it is "burned in his memory."

Another one was a few years later, in the mid 1980s up in the forested mountains of Oregon, when he saw a head and shoulders up above 7-8 foot tall Rhododendron bushes. He watched it with binoculars as it hid behind a tree, but it never came out from its hiding place. Distracted by a fleeing four-foot garter snake that hurled itself off a 25-foot cliff, Rodriguez took his eyes off the tree, and never saw the Creature despite waiting for another 10 minutes. Later, he did find tracks up there, but could not track them far. A third encounter occured when out hunting, in a regrowing clearcut area, something came crashing through the brush, blocking his way out and forward. He followed up the gully toward it with his dog, .30-.30 rifle in hand, approaching it, talking to it in a calm voice. He slowly walked past it, hoping to escape the area. He noted no foul odor save that of a "wet animal," kind of musky, "saying his prayers" as he went on. The creature let them past. After mustering his courage he later returned to the site, and was howled and whistled at from something out in the woods.

A fourth encounter involved a solo hunt two winters ago in northeast Oregon. Recounting it he said, "I see this shadow off in the--it was twelve o'clock in the moonlight--and I see this shadow in this long grass, and then I take a double take, and then the shadow starts walking." [NOTE: the above is our transcription of what we were able to hear on the recording. However, Mr. Rodriguez has offered us by email the following as more accurate either to what he said, or what was really meant: "I see this shadow in a small grassy area about 125 feet away about 5 AM in the pre-dawn light, and then I do a double take and the shadow starts walking and so I realize it wasn't a shadow."] His reaction then was "cool, there's a Bigfoot," rather than being afraid of it. He finds that as these encounters recur, he is able to remain more calm in the face of them, rather than reacting with fear. He spoke of the reasons why some people have repeat encounters, and speculated that perhaps it is just because the Creatures "feel safer" around certain personality types or some people who are able to not react in fear upon seeing one. These encounters happened despite the fact that Rodriguez was armed with a rifle in most instances.

The last half of his talk dealt with how tree breaks and twists are not necessarily due to Sasquatch activities. They can be caused by weather, snow, even deer. We were glad to have this practical analysis, as we ourselves have seen this phenomenon while living in Mt. Shasta City. Up on that volcanic mountain one sees such wrenched and warped trees up on the tree-snowline all the time. It is due to shifting weight and flow of snow packs in the winter and as they melt in the spring. Interestingly, Rodriguez didn't go into his deeper theories about Bigfoot, which involve possible multi-dimensionality and other cool things. Well, maybe next year?

Next was CLIFF BARACKMAN, who would win our Best Bigfoot Field Researcher and All Around Good Guy Award, if we, uh, had such an award. Anyway, this guy is dedicated! He has been at Squatching for 16 years or so.

He said, "Every time I'm wrong about something, I'm a little bit smarter," to a large bout of applause. A good attitude, and a scientific one, even if one's hoped-for Bigfoot print turns out to be from a bear.

His talk covered his investigation of the so-called Silver Star photos taken by Randy Chase on Silver Star Mountain in Gifford Pinchot National Forest on November 17, 2005. At first Randy just wondered, Why is that big guy sitting ther on that mountaintop, all dressed in black, and such things. Only later when showing the photos to his family did the word "Bigfoot" come up. "Big... what? was Randy's reaction. But he reported it to the BFRO after Googling "Bigfoot," and history was made, despite Randy's unpretentious and retiring nature.

Cliff demonstrated that he truly is a "Bigfoot nerd," and math and science geek (he admits it!)--through complex geometry and equations and other stuff that made us drop out of Trigonometry in high school, he basically proved (with a certain margin of error) that the creature in the photos is larger than a human. It was seven feet, eight inches tall, approximately, he concluded; and it compared very well beside an image of the PG-Film subject. He visited and measured the site and met the witness, as well as analyzing the photos themselves. His work on these photos was influenced by the work of Bill Munns and his MUNNS REPORT, he said. He also presented some very good, higher resolution versions of the photos, which we had never seen before. Comparison photos of the witness/photographer revealed clothing details not seen on the original subject, and the size was considerable smaller than the creature. Very convincing! This is the kind of work that needs to be done if photos of Bigfoot are going to be anything more than "blobsquatches." "It's a Bigfoot," Barackman concluded.
NOTE: The BFRO has a good sighting report page for these SILVER STAR photos. HERE.

After that, in an exhausting afternoon time slot that he had complained of the night before, THOM POWELL gave his great talk before a surprisingly (to him?) still-packed house. Powell is a witty, sometimes sardonic fellow, used to entertaining students at a middle school level, so it translates well into his public speaking. He had a slick graphic slideshow running on his computer, but it didn't feel like he was just rattling it off; until the end, that is, as he accelerated as if aware that some in the audience might be wearing thin with this exhaustingly long schedule. Powell admits that Bigfoot researchers are amateur scientists, even one such as he who is a Science teacher. But that shouldn't discourage us, he says. After all, the Wright brothers were amateurs. From viewing Bigfoot as an example of "junk science" in his classes, at some point he could not deny the possibility that this phenomenon was actually real. This is because he actually LOOKED at the evidence, whereas so many "real" scientists do not.

Much of Powell's talk deals with the subsequent development of his book. One thing he said that we take to heart: if you write a Bigfoot book, don't print over 4,000 copies, as that is most likely all you'll ever sell. Strange to hear from the author of one of the most popular and well-regarded Bigfoot books in recent years, THE LOCALS: A Contemporary Investigation of the Bigfoot Phenomenon.
It was Powell who once told us that authors publishing with Hancock House only make about a dollar per book sold. Could this really be true? Egads. Many of the more interesting and "fringe" issues of the Bigfoot issue are dealt with well here, including, as Powell mentioned in his talk, habituation issues and the possibility of the use of infrasound, as well as things that we would normally call "paranormal," but may have down to earth explanations if one "turns over a few rocks" and looks. "All 'paranomal' means to me is that it is not scientifically explained, AT PRESENT," he said. In speaking of writing about Bigfoot Powell suggests using humor: "If you don't use the humor, they're going to use it on you. So might beat them to the joke." This would mean, among other things, Let's not take ourselves too seriously, folks.

Thom is a rational fellow, an adherent of the Occam's Razor approach of Parsimony. Starting out using Sasquatch as a lesson plan aimed at using critical thinking to debunk Bigfoot evidence and belief, and going out on field trips to investigate, Powell found himself slipping to the "believer" side of the issue (where he firmly sits today). For a guy who obviously loves sarcasm, we often wonder if he'd rather be on the skeptics' side, just for the fun of it. But we're glad to have him on our team. Speaking of Bigfoot he said, "While you are out studying them, they are studying you." Speaking of researchers he says, "The only way we're going to get anywhere is by sharing." It is a terrible thing not to share information, though one might want to keep exact locations of sightings and one's field work secret. But beware, "Studying Sasquatch is not good for your personal life." He claimed to have been divorced like 11 times, but that must have been a joke. He offered a bunch of advice how to temper this detrimental effect by using levity and balance. "I don't search for Bigfoot anymore..." he said, and in response to a hypothetical question, "First of all, I don't look for Bigfoot. I let Bigfoot come to me...." In high school, "As soon as I stopped chasing girls, they would come to me!"

He concluded with a wide-ranging discussion of field methodologies (cameras are no good, but thermals are OK), habituation, possible Sasquatch languages, and such. He invited questions, saying, "It's easy to ask me questions because the answer is always, 'I don't know!'" But with a witty and curious mind like Powell's it seems one does not need the answers, just to keep looking and inquiring with an open mind.



NOTE: At this point you will notice BLOGGER is messing with our fonts display again. Sorry about that! We can't seem to fix it without deleting all of the images and links, so we're leaving it as it is. Ah, wonderful technology!

KATHY MOSKOWITZ STRAIN came on next, with her usual Native American Anthropology angle; but she added a bunch of refreshing new stories and points, including a cool recording of a Karok elder, Charlie Thom, singing a Bigfoot song about the headwaters of Blue Creek, in the Bluff Creek area. She is the author of the interesting collection of historical ethnographies that point toward possible Native-Bigfoot contact. It is also a fine photographic collection, though many of the photos are not of anything remotely related to Bigfoot. The book? Giants, Cannibals and Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture published by Hancock House, of course.


Synopsis of Some Points:
Some Natives believe Sasquatch have always been here, or were created here, and did not come across a land bridge. She spoke of wars between the Bigfoot people and the Native tribes. There was trade between the groups (shall we say species?), sometimes in face to face meetings, other times involving items left in the woods which were replaced with a trade item. Salt, woven mats, and such were desired by the Bigfoot people. Sometimes the Bigfoot would try to cheat the humans in face to face trading. There was a ceremonial process that allowed a human to become a Bigfoot clan member, and there are accounts of offsping being produced, though sometimes "mentally slow" individuals were the result. From here she spoke some on Native American culture and told some stories. One account of a Bigfoot cave that was surrounded by bones of his human victims was particularly intriguing. She presented images of archaeological and cultural pieces from Native American "Hairy Man" traditions, and declared that these indicate that the Bigfoot motif was NOT introduced by European invaders. There are no "Christ-like" motifs present in these cultural pieces that were obviously introduced by Europeans, suggesting that these were original, non-introduced aspects.

Unfortunately, we were so tired from the trip up and night before that we and our fellow-traveler decided to head back to the hotel for a bit of rest before heading out to the pub for dinner and a planned post-conference meet-up of Bigfooters. We knew we'd have to have some energy left for that (especially as we figured Autumn would be going), so we made the sacrifice. We're told that ESTHER STUTZMAN gave a good talk on local Native lore and stories. There was a question and answer session, and a plaster cast demonstration was done by JAIME AVALOS, using the actual real-live foot of Dr. JEFF MELDRUM. How could we have missed this? Luckily, the evening at Irish pub was fun and momentous, where we got to share our little table with Cliff Barackman and Autumn Williams.
CLIFF BARACKMAN, on his NORTH AMERICAN BIGFOOT BLOG, did a fine report of this day of the event. Also, find out about the exciting phone call that dragged him away from our table at the pub and off into the night in pursuit of some big, human-like footprints that had just been found up in Washington. The picture to left, taken by our friend, Ian, was at McShane's Bar and Grill, an Irish-style pub-tavern, right before that fateful call came in. 
READ:


Here's a link to HANCOCK HOUSE BOOKS on CRYPTOZOOLOGY.
And here, just because we are a total nerd and dork (and because our cheapo camera couldn't get this good of a closeup at the event), here is another Autumn picture, this one from the OSS website. Be sure to check back for the 2011 2nd Annual event.

NOTE: Our DAY THREE reporting will be coming up soon. We'll get started once we get around to getting back from a Squatching trip up to Oregon this weekend. Hang in there, good reader!



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ANGRY BIGFOOT SPEAKS!

Be Fan of Me FACEBOOK PAGE. Like, Tell Friend, or Me Stomp, Stomp, Stomp, Hu-man!!! Me mean it when me say Stomp. And me got big stomping feet.


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