BF Miscellany 3: Bigfoot in the Bars, Russian and Other Wildman Encounters

Bigfoot roams the hills, but he also appears in bars. The creature is exploited in merchandising products and used for humorous gags. Though all of this, including pranksterism and hoaxing, gets in the way of serious investigation of the subject, one has to admit that it is... funny.
[Parental Advisory: this blog entry contains murder, gross bigfoot nudity, and terribly bad beer! Parents are advised not to view it.]

Here one may see the LOGGER BAR in Blue Lake, in an undated photo that appears to be from the 1960s. The thing on the platform around which the men are gathered is a BIGFOOT CORPSE, supposedly shot up in the hills east of town. One may find this historical photo among many others documenting the logging heyday of Humboldt by looking in the hallway right before the restroom doors. In the admittedly "blobsquatchy" enlargement (click it to view even larger), one may find the "creature's" head to the right side, with its hand dangling out further.

This image, found in SIMON LEGREE'S Roadhouse, in Hawkin's Bar (about ten miles east of Willow Creek on Hwy. 299), depicts a jokingly vandalized JIM MCCLARIN BIGFOOT STATUE in Willow Creek. This act of local hooliganism really happened, sometime back in the 1980s. It is not a Photoshop job.
Simon's bar also has a relic of the days around 2005-06 when a quite tall man calling himself "Paul Bunyan," from somewhere around Redding or Anderson, had planned to lead a Bigfoot Outdoor Camp and expedition training in our area. He came here, carved a lot of wooden footprint stompers, chopped some trees, and then disappeared.
One may also find the Coors Beer Wildman raging from banners and posters in many a bar or liquor store.

Here's one sighting from Willow Creek's FORKS LOUNGE. The Forks is right across the street from the famous Bigfoot statue and the Bigfoot Collection, at the Museum.

Some of you may not have heard that famed 19th Century Russian literary novelist, IVAN TURGENEV had an encounter with a Wildman--or I should say, wild woman--that includes apparent erotic pursuit. While swimming in a river, "Suddenly, someone's hand touched his shoulder. He looked around quickly and saw a strange creature... gazing at him with great curiosity. It looked like something in between a woman and a monkey. The creature had a wrinkled face of a monkey. Messy red hair was framing the face and flowing down the back.... He started swimming to a bank of the river, not even trying to understand what he just saw. However, the creature was swimming beside him, touching his neck and back and feet." The amorous wild creature had to be driven off with a whip. It's actually a pretty typical sighting of an Almas in that region, and typical for the time period. Read Myra Shackley's book, "Still Living?," aka "Wildmen," for some fascinating, non-North American ABSM-ery. We'd also refer the reader to Chad Arment's "The Historical Bigfoot" and Scott McClean's "Big Newsprints" (link to right). Older bigfoot-type stories seem to lean more often than not toward the feral human rather than ape-like subjects. Check the whole story out HERE, at the interesting CARGO CULTE blog, a great source for all your "Freak Belief" needs.

I won't even begin to talk about the Jack Links Jerkey ads. Someday Sasquatch is gonna soundly kick their asses!

OK, sorry about that!!! I'm feeling lazy today.

Coming up soon, the Bald Hills Expedition, Meeting Mr. Moneymaker, and the Klamath Trip futilely looking for the BFRO.

Copyright Steven Streufert 2009, save for Jacklinksquatch and Turgenev; images and quotes from text free to use with full credit and link to this blog.

BF Sighting in Oden Flat, Roadside Sasquatch in Redwood National Park, Native American "Bigfoot Magnet," and Bob Titmus

Along the Trinity River and Highway 299, just past the little town of Salyer, about five miles east of Willow Creek, is the area known traditionally as Oden Flat. Heading out of Salyer going east one enters a narrow bit of road hard up against a rock wall to the right and a deep cliff into the river canyon to the left, the road bends sharply to the left and then to the right at a 25 mph sign, and then straightens out at the top. This is the area where bigfoot activity has been going on of late. It is just about a mile from the sign announcing the roadside rest area ahead.


"Fisherman" Ken Hodges and family visited Bigfoot Books last week to tell of rock-clacking heard in the woods around their home. This has been going on for a while now, with Mr. Hodges speculating that the sasquatch has been hunting the many deer that use the property for transit from the hills to the south and the river to the north. This is an area, as seen in the aerial photos above and below (click images below to enlarge area!), that is very sparsely settled by humans but with ample wildlife habitat surrounding it.

At dusk, on the evening of Sept. 11th, 2009, the family's kids were playing out in the yard enjoying the last of the late summer weather. The house is about 200 yards from the small State Route 299. A large creature was heard and then seen by the family's daughter (who looked to us to be about 12-13 years old). Whatever it was was partially obscured by bushes, about 30 to 40 feet away. At first she assumed it was a bear, but then it STOOD UP, and proved to be over seven feet tall, almost four feet wide. Her father entered the driveway after a few moments, and the creature fled away bipedally. The girl said the Bigfoot was certainly NOT a bear or any animal they are familiar with in their area. It was definitely taller than her 6-foot, 4-inch father. Though she could clearly see its hominoid form, the failing light did not allow her to get a good look at its facial features. It WAS looking at and facing her directly, though, and demonstrated an obvious curiosity about the kids playing in the yard. It had dark brown, not black, hair covering its body. This reiterates many other sighting reports we've had where a Bigfoot shows interest in children and women, but flees when a male human arrives on scene.

The witnessing family were here in the store, and they made a very favorable impression on this reporter. Footprint depressions were found in the forest debris, but were not really castable due to their being made on leafy material. Mr. Hodges estimated them as quite large, pointing out on our ruler the length of an estimated 19 inches in length, 7 and 1/2 inches wide. We may be able to do on-the-ground investigation on this site, if there is any further activity. They seem open to it, though they don't want any strangers hunting around on their property.

The family told of their friend, a Native American man named James, who the say is a "Bigfoot Magnet," so often does he encounter the beings. One time while sleeping on the ground up near Waterman Ridge and Horse Linto, outside of the Willow Creek area, he was hunkered down in his sleeping bag when he heard motion in the brush outside his camp area. The thing moved closer, eventually bending down and sniffing/smelling the sleeping bag and the man inside. The man moved and was able to see the startled creature as it loudly jumped down the bank.

Some other RECENT REPORTS:

Occurring just a couple of weeks prior to the recent BFRO Redwood Expedition in Redwood National Park, we had a report come in of a bigfoot sighting on what the reporting individual says was "the new road into the (Redwood) park," just a couple or a few miles in, going east. The creature was seen in the roadbed, after twilight, and then it of course entered the forest as the driver drew near. The usual details of a Bigfoot were described. But of most interest, this sighting confirms the BFRO's interest in activity in the area, and adds yet another report to the many others coming in over the last few years from that area.

AND THIS: The most strange kind of report we get in here is the kind where the person starts talking, but then stops mid-story and seems to think better of telling further details. This often happens with the old-timers from around here. On this last Sunday we had a fellow come in who had grown up in Willow Creek area, and was old enough to recall the stories told by his elders of the 1958 activities up on Bluff Creek, as well as the events around the Patterson-Gimlin film event in 1967.

He told me this, about "a taxidermist's shop in Anderson," and I chimed in, oh you mean Bob Titmus? He vaguely nodded, but then said he was "sworn to secrecy" by his brother who had seen something there. To paraphrase, he then said, Let me just say that if you didn't believe in this Bigfoot thing before, you'd certainly have to think twice after this. SO, WHAT did he see in Titmus' shop??? Could there have been some evidence not revealed to the public? A dead Bigfoot, perhaps? Well, we are waiting on needles and pins over this one. It could be a stunning revelation from a man who knew Titmus from outside of the bigfooting community, if the brother is willing to tell his story.

Read John Green's biographical EULOGY OF BOB TITMUS, or PETER BYRNE ON TITMUS, both found on the fabulous BIGFOOT ENCOUNTERS web site.

Bigfoot Miscellany 2: New Lost World Species Found, Cryptids, Bigfoot Icons of Happy Camp

Cryptic enough for you? What is this, a chupacabras?

A "lost world" was found recently living isolated within a 2,000-year-old extinct volcanic crater in Papua New Guinea. Many new, unique species were found there. View the slide show of the creatures here, the articles here and here, in The Guardian. This reminds us of a previous bunch of new species found in an isolated area in the Foja Mountains, Indonesia, the island of New Guinea.

Life is multifarious, highly variegated, always evolving, adapting. The world is more mysterious than we currently know. And then there are forms, like the shark or the redwood, that have lived on in nearly the same form since very ancient times.

If the Coelacanth can live, why not a surviving descendant of the old ape, Gigantopithecus?

And ask yourself this, if you had no foreknowledge of the panda, which of these two would you find to be a more ridiculous proposition? I mean, pandas are just too teddy-bear-like to believe. How did these things evolve?

Keep these facts in mind.... The Giant Panda was not accepted to be a real species by the West until a pelt was brought in in 1869, and a living specimen was not seen by a westerner until 1916. The Mountain Gorilla was not verified until 1902, and before that it was a cryptid, seen as a myth of the local folk by most outsiders. The Bonobo chimp was "discovered" in 1902. The Giant Squid was not seen live until 2005, and thought to be a legend until a dead one was found in 1878. The huge Megamouth Shark was not found until 1976. So, GO FIGURE! Is it really so ridiculous to believe in the Sasquatch as a real, live species?

Check out the International Cryptozoology Museum!

To explore further: Megafauna Discovered in Modern Times, and CRYPTOZOOLOGY on Wikipedia. As always, check CRYPTOMUNDO.COM for all your cryptic needs.

BTW, folks! The word "cryptozoology" is NOT pronounced with a "zoo" in the middle. Check it: krip-tə-zō-ˈä-lə-jē.

And now, as part of our Regional Roadside Bigfoot Iconography Series, here are some images taken in Happy Camp, CA (read Bigfoot Sightings' great aricle) which is just north from the Bluff Creek area.
Happy Camp is a tranquil little hamlet nestled at the bend in the road along Hwy. 96, where the Klamath River starts to head up to the Northeast to its headwaters up in Oregon.This town rivals Willow Creek for its Bigfootiana, including a grocery store, RV park/campground, Bigfoot Towing, a massive metal Bigfoot sculptural monstrosity, and even a wooden Bigfoot statue at the post office. It is also the former home of Java Bob's Bigfoot Deli-Cafe. Java Bob has since moved on along the Bigfoot path with Tom Biscardi's... um... organization.
Click Images to enlarge. All Happy Camp images crypto-copyright, as usual, Steven Streufert, 2009. Feel free to use if credit and notice is given.

If you're ever in Happy Camp be sure to contact Linda Martin, local researcher--especially if you see something big and hairy lurking in the woods.