There is a Yeti in the back of everyone’s mind; only the blessed are not haunted by it. ~ old sherpa saying

Friday, January 28, 2011

We Love Bigfoot, Even Though We Hate Him

Just because: From November 2008; I wrote this when I was contributing to American Chronicle.

We Love Bigfoot, Even Though We Hate Him

I happen to think that Bigfoot exists. I don´t know this for a fact, because I´ve never seen one. I do know a number of people who have. These are people I know, trust, and are -- contrary to the opinion of ignorant or knee-jerk uber-skeptics -- often educated, professional people. The fact that some of these people have college degrees and work in white collar jobs doesn't mean that those who do not hold degrees or work in fields like education are any less intelligent or credible. In fact, those who spend much of their time hunting or camping, or living in rural areas and are familiar with the wildlife, have just as much credibility as anyone else.

I also have this opinion based on years of study about the phenomena. Given the fact I know people who've seen Bigfoot, and my own explorations, I have the strong opinion Bigfoot exists, not only here in the contiguous United States, but I also have the opinion a Bigfoot like creature exists in several places the world over.

Naturally, I could be wrong. But so far, I haven´t come across any compelling evidence to convince me that the reasons for its nonexistence hold up.

Uber-skeptics and debunkers have a very different opinion about Bigfoot of course. It doesn´t exist, end of story. Well, you´d think that´d be the end of the story, but it isn´t. For something that they are certain doesn´t exist, and that only the liars, delusional, or drunken/drug addled see, the pathological debunker spends a huge amount of time arguing about its nonexistence. For some reason, I find this stubborn insistence of disbelief fascinating.

The James Randi Educational site is a popular on-line site, with its own message board: the James Randi Educational Forum. The forum is divided into several different sections, like religion, politics, etc. and, of course, one category called "skepticism and the general paranormal." Everything from ghosts, UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, all the expected and usual stuff, is discussed here, including things that don´t make much sense at all as to their inclusion, like being a vegetarian.

Bigfoot is there too. Bigfoot is currently being discussed, in one way or another, in thirty-seven different threads (!) on the forum.

Thirty-seven separate threads on why Bigfoot doesn't exist! Wow.

To be fair, some of the threads are obvious jokes and attempts to have fun at poor Sasquatch´s expense, like "I Saw Bigfoot Kissing Santa Claus." A few are just snipe fests: attacks on pro-Bigfooters, or, attacks/defenses from pro-Bigfooters in the midst inside Skeptoid Land. One thread is actually interesting; that´s the "Native American myths/traditions support Bigfoot? A critical look" thread.

Overall though, the number of threads insisting that Bigfoot doesn´t exist is an intriguing insight into the mind of the debunker. To argue, so insistently, so persistently, that something doesn't exist seems . . . well, a waste of time, for one thing. Sheesh.

We´re still left with the big question: what is it that people are seeing? To dismiss such reports as, at best, cases of mistaken identity (a bear, an elk, etc.) and at worst, being an ignorant drunken fool, ignores the fact of the witness.

I happen to believe (but take note, it is not a dogmatic belief) that Bigfoot exists, but I don´t have thirty seven separate threads going on about it. The skeptics, who don´t believe, do. Which is the more rational?



Stan Gordon’s UFO Anomalies Zone (SGUAZ)

Cant' wait for to read this one; Stan Gordon's The Pennslyvania UFO-Bigfoot Casebook. And, just learned that Stan Gordon will one of the speakers at the McMinnville, UFO Fest here in Oregon this May.

Stan Gordon’s UFO Anomalies Zone (SGUAZ)

Friday, January 21, 2011

Dream: Bigfoot in Australia, Kind Of . . .

Bigfoot on a Bicycle
A funny and beautiful dream last night. I'm with a team of Bigfoot researchers somewhere near Australia, or New Zealand, sort of in between the two. A large island maybe.. wherever this is, it is simply the most beautiful, and very unusual, place I've been. Astoundingly lush. We're in a large park like area near water; the ocean, but it is calm and quiet, more like a large lake. Highly unusual earth mounds, or cliffs, that lead down to the water. These go on for miles. Velvet green grass everywhere. Glistening white concrete paths, wide and curved, with black iron rails, or fences, also curved.

Regan Lee, Alice's Wall, acrylic on canvas
The concrete and iron sound harsh, cold, but in the dream, it was all very beautiful. So, we're looking for Bigfoot. We know we won't see Bigfoot here, in a populated area. Across this promenade are houses, and further down, a small town. No way would Bigfoot walk out in the open like this in what amounts to a boardwalk.

But, suddenly! Yes! I see Bigfoot! I cannot believe this! Adding to the amazement of seeing Bigfoot is that this one is unusually colored; silver crested head, darker silver chest and back, black legs. I see him down below, on the opposite side of the ocean/lake, where the water is extremely shallow.  He's almost flying. Walking very fast, gliding over the water. I call to the others and we all run down to catch up with the Bigfoot, me leading the way.

I have a slight lucid moment where I think "Shouldn't this be called a Yowie, isn't that what he's called here?" and "This is the second dream I've had of a fast moving Bigfoot on the water's edge."

We catch up to the Bigfoot. And it's not Bigfoot at all, but a man on a bicycle. Wearing a sliver hooded windbreaker, with a darker bottom, and dark pants, happily "sailing" along on his bike, which was hidden from our view by the water and other things. That, and the way the sun was hitting the man on the bicycle, gave the appearance of a Bigfoot.

To the slight embarrassment of the others on the team, I run up to this man and tell him how excited we were, what we thought he was, and what we're doing; looking for Bigfoot. It's only after I tell him this I realize he'll probably think I'm a lunatic, but he thinks the whole thing is fascinating, and apologizes good naturedly for not being Bigfoot. As I'm talking to him, and enjoying his company (he's cute for one thing :) I have a nagging feeling he's lying, or something strange going on here. I wonder, feeling a bit silly, if he knows more than he's telling, or if he's a shape shifter, because, as far fetched as it would have been to see a Bigfoot out there, it was a Bigfoot that I saw! I even have a fleeting moment where I remember seeing the Bigfoot morph into the man as we got closer to it/him.

Shape-shifting Silvers
 It seems my dreaming mind has a thing about shape shifting, "fake," not-what-they-seem, gray or silver Bigfoot. I had forgotten about this dream, that I wrote about here.

And Water
Those two dreams, and this one, all have Bigfoot near, or on, water. In a dream -- and OOBE -- Bigfoot is by the ocean's edge, moving very rapidly over wet rocks. I remember thinking how agile this creature is, to be moving so easily and lightly over slippery rocks in the misty, dim atmosphere. The Bigfoot in this dream wasn't silver or gray; he was a dark brown. Nor was he pleasant as in the other two dreams, but highly annoyed I was there.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

From Micah Hanks: Bigfoot and Big Brother: The Weird Exploits of the Crypto-Feds | Mysterious Universe

Micah Hanks on the feds and Bigfoot; is the federal government aware of the existence of Bigfoot and other cryptids? Bigfoot and Big Brother: The Weird Exploits of the Crypto-Feds | Mysterious Universe

For years, there have been allegations that creatures only alleged to exist such as Bigfoot might have been acknowledged in some official capacity. Folks calling in to late-night radio programs have told odd stories of ape-like creatures being killed, only to be subsequently zipped-up in body bags and spirited off by “Men in Black.”

Surprisingly, in the various literature pertaining to claims of cryptozoological monstrosities, such stories aren’t that uncommon, really. But is there evidence that suggests governments like that of the United States has taken interest in such wild claims as well?

As Micah writes: "Perhaps. . . "

Saturday, January 15, 2011

dreams and phase transitions: The fall of the house of Blogsquatcher

Blogsquatcher is back, in a way. Not the blog, but the man behind Blogsquatcher, who managed one of the, if not the best, Bigfoot blogs, abruptly went off line some time ago, much to my dismay. (Also to my dismay, it seems I'm one of several who used his name alongside Blogsquatcher, which was something I wasn't supposed to do. I had NO idea that was the case! My big huge bad; I apologize:)
You'd be amazed how many times you can find "blogsquatcher" and "dbdonlon" right next to each other on certain websites..

When you click on the link that takes you to the Google search engine, there's Frame 352 in second place. Again, I am very sorry! I do my best to honor people's requests for confidentiality.

What is revealed in his post about Bigfoot is fascinating. Go here and read. It's amazing.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

From Micah Hanks: "Startling Chupacabra Kill, or Merely Another Varmint Vanquished?"

Micah Hanks writes on the chupacabra: Startling Chupacabra Kill, or Merely Another Varmint Vanquished? I've posted here and on my Sasquatch blog Frame 352 about the trigger happy people in the U.S. who happily blast away at creatures they think might be the "chupacabra." Of course, as I and others have pointed out many times, the chupacabra is a spiny backed, red eyed, high jumping creature of the Fortean kind. Stories of the blood sucking cryptid came out of Puerto Rico, migrated to Mexico, Florida, elsewhere in the states and South and Central America, retaining its eerie high strangeness nature. No one spoke of mange ridden canines, or other mundane animals. Until, it seems, maybe three years ago or so, where reports of the latter creatures came in, mainly from the southwest but other states as well. People persisted in calling these poor creatures "chupacabra" and killed one as soon as they saw one.

So now the meme has been firmly planted: chupacabra of the true cryptid high strangeness variety, with all its conspiratorial theories -- government projects gone horribly awry, alien pets, inter-dimensional travelers, etc. -- are forgotten, and blue-gray skinned, hairless canine type creatures, probably foxes and or coyotes, etc. with mange or some type of disease have replaced the chupie of legend.

The fear persists however. Fear at seeing something unfamiliar. And so naming it with a handy pre-labeled moniker (chupacabra) and insisting the creature is unknown, a strange interloper, gives one justification for kill first, ask later.

As Micah correctly points out, the media that gladly reports on these stories, and the people that shoot away, are the same ones who laugh at the subject of cryptids, cryptozoology, and the like. Hanks quotes from a recent Fox "news" segment on a recent killing of a "chupacabra"


The legendary chupacabra has been spied, shot and killed — will bigfoot be next?

And rightfully points out the disgusting exploitative implications:

Wonderful to see that some odd-looking little creature (likely a possum, or perhaps a varmint of some sort, as we’ll get to in a moment) has been shot and killed, rather than the diminutive, lizard-like little monsters from the early Puerto Rican reports back in the 1990s. To be clear, this is not a “chupacabra” in the truest sense by any means. However, before we go any further with the report from today, is it too much to ask also that the word “Bigfoot” be capitalized? To quote Loren Coleman, author of Bigfoot: The True Story of Apes in America, since “words like Sea Serpent, Nessie, Bigfoot, Yeti, and related forms all have not been technically ‘accepted’ by systematic zoology, as of this date, the capitalized form (should) be employed.” (Curiously, the same does not typically apply to the use of the term chupacabra in Fortean literature, hence my use of the lower case… but I digress)

Startling Chupacabra Kill, or Merely Another Varmint Vanquished? | Mysterious Universe
Thank you Lesley at The Debris Field for link.