Bigfoot As Performance Art

Loren Coleman has an item about an artist, a bigfoot costume, and one's presumed constitutional right to risk getting shot at by trigger happy would be Bigfoot hunters.

Melisa Hovey Interviews Bobbie Short

A very interesting interview with Bobbie Short from Melisa Hovey’s Search for Bigfoot blog (I’m not sure how recent the interview is; didn’t find a date.) Bobbie Short is a well known researcher, and we’re fortunate she brings us the excellent Bigfoot Encounters site, as well as her newsletter. Lots of good advice from Short in this interview and really, I almost don’t disagree with anything she has to say about research -- Bigfoot not being a giant ape, for example -- but naturally, we go separate ways here:

The most rewarding change has been the move away from the "bizarre" and the exodus away from the UFO related ideas. It used to be in the old days, the only place to read about hirsute hominids was in a UFO or like magazine. That trend is dying a fast death and I'm glad to see it go.

Now if we can just move research away from cryptozoology and those damn mystery apes, chupacabras, the moth man and Spring-Hill Jack, I'll be a happy camper.

Like UFO research, within Bigfoot research, there are huge divergences in ideas about what UFOs/Bigfoot might be. But that aside, it’s a good interview!

Sasquatch Tee

Bigfoot and other Fortean themed clothing at GritFX. You can win a Sasquatch tee by entering their contest too.

June Oregon Sasquatch Symposium Event in Eugene, OR

I just found the Oregon Sasquatch Symposium site. The OSS will be hosting a Bigfoot Symposium here in Eugene in June! Exciting news, and more to come on this. . . speaking of the Oregon Sasquatch Symposium site, I was pleasantly surprised to find the link used in Sali Sheppard-Wolford's (author of Valley Of The Skookum) bio is my item on her on my Orange Orb blog.

Visit my blog:
Frame 352: The Stranger Side of Sasquatch

Cryptomundo's Top Ten Worst Bigfoot Stories of 2009

Loren Coleman at Cryptomundo brings us Top Ten Worst Bigfoot Stories of 2009

What's my favorite worst story? Not sure I have one, they all make me sad; but then again, as I always rant about the UFO arena, Trickster games are to be expected, and that's true for crypto world as it is for any other estoeric/paranormal/Fortean realm.

I suppose my favorite worst is number 7 on the list:  "Teen Created Nutmeg State’s Bigfoot Hoax" about what police found after investigating a woman's report to police she had seen a Bigfoot:

Police threw out a dragnet, and said they searched and found a 16-year-old male subject dressed in a gorilla-like costume. The teenager told officers he was standing at the intersection of Unquowa and Sturges roads, waving at passing cars while friends watched.

I'm always amazed at people who think it's funny to put on a Bigfoot type costume and run around highways and the woods...there are so many trigger happy people out there who shoot at anything that moves that has fur. And if they think it's a Bigfoot, many people wouldn't hesitate to kill themselves one. 

As Coleman himself says in the post, "Thank goodness we get to start all over again in 2010."  

Following Bigfoot Ballyhoo

Linda Newton Perry's Bigfoot Ballyhoo is a blog I've posted about here recently; I also had turned on the "follow" feature to her blog. I say "followed" because she's removed me from the follow option.

Newton-Perry is a Christian and has said her religious views don't allow her to condone the paranormal. Because I have a Bigfoot blog that focuses on the high strangeness aspects of Bigfoot research, linking to my blog or supporting it, even by mentioning it I guess, conflicts with her personal beliefs.

A few days ago, Newton-Perry responded to the e-mail I had sent her by reposting it her blog:

Thank you for the good words....Regan, I , however, can not list paranormal sites. My Christian beliefs prevent me from delving into that subject. I do not believe Bigfoot is in anyway paranormal. I believe he is flesh and blood and placed in the animal kingdom for a purpose. I respect your right to believe as you wish and I ask that you respect mine. Thank you for participating on this blog and I look forward to hearing more from you.

Seems she’s changed her mind about looking “forward” to “hearing more from” me.

This is a sensitive subject for researchers. If you put yourself out there as a researcher, you have an obligation to be honest to the data. As I asked in my previous post: if your religious views conflict with data, where does your responsibility end? If you reject, hide, or ignore data you don't like because it conflicts with your views, are you an honest researcher? I don't know, I'm asking. I asked that question in a spirit of discussion. I had asked in my previous post, what would Linda Newton-Perry do with, say, the recent BF report from the Oregon teacher who had a recent Bigfoot sighting on the Oregon coast if that teacher had included some weird detail like, BF dematerializing in front of her? Or a UFO appeared next to it? Or any other of the high strangeness things that have been reported by some Bigfoot witnesses?


Newton-Perry didn't answer, either directly to me, or on her blog. She preferred to ignore the question and remove me from the follow feature. Certainly her right to do so; but I wonder where that leaves the Bigfoot reports that are coming her way? What if, as I asked previously, one of those reports she’s posted on her blog contained "weird" data? Would Newton-Perry lie about it? Hide it? I think these are legitimate questions.

Since Newton-Perry writes for two newspapers about Bigfoot, has a Bigfoot blog, and has published books about Bigfoot, these questions are valid and assuming her participation in this discussion is sensible.

Newton-Perry said her beliefs don't allow for paranormal Bigfoot beliefs but as I pointed out, not all Christians share that opinion. For example Stan Johnson (deceased) was a Christian who had many so-called paranormal encounters with Bigfoot including telepathic communications and rides on space ships.

Like the UFO subject (sans Bigfoot) religious beliefs come into things, and there’s a variety of beliefs and opinions within any particular religion. I know Christians who believe UFOs and related entities are demonic, and don’t want to have anything to do with the topic. I also know Christians who don’t believe that at all. And everything in between.

On the one hand, if Newton-Perry believes, as she says, Bigfoot is strictly flesh and blood, and not paranormal, that’s fine. Many BF researchers, as we know, believe that, regardless of their religious beliefs. But again, the question is, what would a researcher do -- Christian or not -- with a ‘weird” BF report that came their way?


This post of mine isn't to pick a fight or become one of those self appointed gurus of UFO or Bigfoot research. Not me! This field, like the UFO field, has its share of the pompous, arrogant, and self-important. This field is also full of just plain mean people who have no problem openly insulting others. This isn’t about insulting anyone, making fun of anyone’s religion, or picking fights. It’s about sincerely asking questions concerning research. If you can’t participate in that then should your work be taken seriously?

To be fair, we all have our buffers and lines we won't cross. Concerning Bigfoot, I haven't found mine yet. (UFOs and related subjects, maybe, but that's another blog and another post entirely.)

I wish all researchers the best, except, those that promote a kill policy. I just can’t get past that, and well, that’s the way it is.

But as always, the question that’s been asked many times by many a Bigfoot researcher, what to do with those high strangeness reports? Not a new question, but one that won’t go away.

Bigfoot Ballyhoo Blog and Non-Paranormal Bigfoot Beliefs

I've been commenting on Linda Newton Perry's Bigfoot Ballyhoo blog, and emailed her earlier today. This is what I sent her:

I've been following your blog recently and have been enjoying it. I've posted about it on my blogs: Frame 352 and my Oregon blog at the LOWFI site.

I wonder if I could post something at your blog.

I just want to say how much I appreciate the fact your blog is active, has photos, and respects the privacy of witnesses.


Aside from the importance of reporting sightings, etc. the question surrounding the lack of response--and respect--from police and authorities are important, and need to be asked. Ask over and over until things change. At least be a squeaky wheel!

I wanted to let Linda know of my appreciation for her hard work concerning Bigfoot, and I had in mind possibly doing a "guest blogger" kind of thing, possibly about the apathetic and stone walling attitude from police and other authorities.

Linda kindly posted the above on her site, with the following comments:

Thank you for the good words....Regan, I , however, can not list paranormal sites. My Christian beliefs prevent me from delving into that subject. I do not believe Bigfoot is in anyway paranormal. I believe he is flesh and blood and placed in the animal kingdom for a purpose. I respect your right to believe as you wish and I ask that you respect mine. Thank you for participating on this blog and I look forward to hearing more from you

.

I absolutely respect her views and agree to disagree. I have a question for Linda and other researchers as well, who don't think there's anything paranormal about Bigfoot: what do you do with those reports?

If, say, the teacher that saw a Bigfoot cross the Oregon coastal highway added some sort of high strangeness element, well, what then? Ignore it, delete it, reject the report altogether, edit the report? I believe these are valid questions for any Bigfoot researcher.

In fact, I know Christians who don't believe as Linda does; for example, Stan Johnson, a Christian, had a life time of high strangeness or paranormal Bigfoot encounters.

Despite the differences in philosophy, Linda's blog is enjoyable and active, and she respects witness confidentiality.

More About Beeping

This originally appeared in my Orange Orb column for UFO Magazine. Related is my article Beeping Bigfoot on UFO Digest Somewhat related are the recent posts on Strange Planet, and Damn Data, which inspired me to comment on my blog Mothman Fluttereings about mechanical voices.

Beeping in Varied Encounters

In April I wrote a piece for UFO Digest called Beeping Creatures. In that article, I discussed the beeping, electronic and other strange, often mechanical sounds associated with some Bigfoot and other anomalous creature encounters. These sounds also occur in meetings with aliens and entities and UFOs.

Sometimes these sounds seem to come from the creature (Bigfoot) or the alien. Other times, these sounds seem to come from within the person, as if the sound is beamed (or “beeped” ) into his or her head. I’ve been awakened many times by a strong beeping sound coming from inside my head. It’s a definite, strong electronic sound. It isn’t coming from any outside source (as in any outside source, like a truck or alarm clock, ) and for some reason, I associate it with the color green. That lime-green “Matrix” type color. (In fact, years ago when I was experiencing a lot of UFO activity, I had a very strange experience. I awoke abruptly from a deep sleep to find that a computer type screen was being projected right before my eyes; it was all I could see. nothing but rows and columns of green numbers rapidly scrolling on a black screen. This made me very uncomfortable, but the screen stayed there, whether I closed my eyes or not. Lots of strange things happened in that house concerning UFOs and paranormal activity.)

As I wrote in Beeping Creatures, in relation to UFOs, this beeping sound is sometimes heard in connection with UFOs. Bonnie Meyer, in her book Alien Contact: The Messages They Bring, writes, in a section titled “Scanning”:

”If you are hearing a lot of beeping sounds, it is probably a small scanning instrument. This scanning is kind of like a mind probe. I doubt you could tell the difference where or who it’s coming from.”

The beeping sound was heard by Barney and Betty Hill during their experience. This experience has been related many times, including most recently in Stanton Friedman’s and Kathleen Marden’s (Betty HIll’s niece) book Captured! where the beeping was described as:

. . . “code like,” with several beeps, a pause, then more beeps. Were the beeps some kind of alien Morse code?

UFO researcher Raymond E. Fowler, who’s also an “experiencer” (we must come up with a better word for that!) himself , has experienced this beeping sound while asleep:

January 27, 1995: I awoke twice to a electronic beeping sound. the second time I thought it was my watch alarm sounding and actually reached to shut if off before the beeping stopped. My right nostril is still sore.”

This experience was repeated:

I woke up again to a electronic beeping sound and again reached for my watch alarm, but it was not the watch. My right nostril is still sore. ~ ”Synchrofile: Amazing Personal Encounters with Synchronicity and Other ~ Page 188

In UFO Mysteries: A Reporter Seeks the Truth, author Curt Sutherly recounts the story of UFO witness Harold Butcher . In 1965 Butcher, was working on his parents farm in New York state. Butcher noticed that the animals were panicking over something, at the same time, the milking machine Butcher was working abruptly stopped:

”Looking out a window, Harold saw a large elliptical object land about a quarter-mile away. The object emitted a smell of burned gasoline and a red vapor clouded its rim. A strange beeping sound was heard. the object departed by ascending straight up into the clouds.

I was surprised at the number of responses that I received about the article. Many people e-mailed me to tell me they’ve heard these same sounds, either from outside but in the context of a UFO or Bigfoot sighting, or from within their heads, again, concerning UFO and/or paranormal activity.

One person said the article was “the most startling article” he’s read in years, because he’s experienced the same beeping sound, along with other sounds, in connection with alien “intruders” as he put it.

Another person said he spent a lot of time going back and forth between Southern California and Mexico, where he spent a lot of time on the beaches. He and several friends witnessed UFOs on more than one occasion in the desert. He and a group of about four friends heard a strange beeping sound one afternoon on the beach. They felt as if they were moving in slow motion, and couldn’t explain the frightened feeling they had. Throughout this experience, they felt as if they were in a trance; aware of their surroundings but unable to move. This is common in UFO and other paranormal encounters.

Greg Taylor, who runs The Daily Grail website, sent me an e-mail along with his article Her Sweet Murmur: Exploring the Aural Phenomenology of Border Experiences.

Taylor outlines several seemingly diverse paranormal events that share one thing in common: beeping and other sounds. Upon seeing a UFO, Marian “apparitions,” experiencing an OOBE, and so on, many individuals hear beeping, singing, roaring, clanging, bells, . . .(all of which I’ve experienced, particularly with OOBEs.) Furthermore, these experiences are often validated by others, which confirms these unusual encounters with sounds as being a true paranormal or UFOlogical event, and not just someone’s imagination. Taylor theorizes that this fact points to the likelihood these varied phenomena, while very different, come from the same source. (An idea that many other researchers share.)

The article received the most e-mails and comments of any article I’ve written. Obviously this type of encounter, in spite of its high strangeness factor, has been experienced by a lot more people than we might have assumed.

Sources:
Synchrofile: Amazing Personal Encounters with Synchronicity,Raymond Fowler.
Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience: The True Story of the World's First Documented Alien Abduction Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden.

Alien Contact: The Messages They Bring, Bonnie Meyer
UFO Mysteries: A Reporter Seeks the Truth: Curt Sutherly

The Daily Grail
http://www.dailygrail.com

"Conversations With Bigfoot"

New site: Bigfoot Hub, has a link to Dr. Gordon Langley's 1975 Conversations With Bigfoot. (Thanks to Blogsquatcher for the link.) Bigfoot is from space, it seems:

IVES: What happened? Who are you?
BF: My name is Shadarue. It indicates that I am of the moon families and it signifies the pale green color in the moon’s ring.
IVES: What happened? 5
BF: We cannot speak where vision is sufficient. I’m sorry.
IVES: I’ll go for help. My car is back on the skid road, I’ll get a doctor, it won’t…
BF: No.
IVES: It won’t take long. Doctors can do amazing things.
BF: Death is more amazing.
IVES: You don’t understand – they can save you. It is serious but they can save you. But I must go now.
BF: No. Stay to ease my spirit forth.

My favorite quote from this story is what the following explanation of Bigfoot/Shaarue's, who is explaining what they can, and cannot (or will not) do:

"We do not pull rabbits from a hat. But we can become rabbits."

Love it.

Linda Newton-Perry's Bigfoot Ballyhoo Blog

(You can also find this post over at my Western Oregon blog on the L.O.W.F.I. site.)

A Bigfoot blog that I've recently become aware of is Linda Newton-Perry's Bigfoot Ballyhoo. A lot of activity there, the latest concerning news of Bigfoot sightings in the coastal areas of Waldport, Siletz, etc. Exciting for me personally (I live vorcariously) since I often travel through those areas, in fact I hope to relocate there soon.

Newton-Perry is an author who writes a couple of Bigfoot related columns for local newspapers, and has written a few children's books about Bigfoot.


About the above sightings in that area; aside from the Bigfoot sighting reports themselves, is the discussion about the treatment of reports and witnesses from the local police, which is very negative, even heavy handed. I find that interesting; why are the police (and other authorities in the area) so reluctant to accept such reports, and why are they going so far as to be rude, almost libelous, in their treatment of witnesses?

Was Flix a Hoax?

A visitor to my Oregon blog on the L.O.W.F.I. site left the following comment concerning my post on Flix, the creature in Conser Lake, Oregon:

Just browsing that bit from the book and noticed a number of errors, among them “Devers-Conner, about 30 miles south of Millersburg”. The name of the area is Dever-Conner and Conser Lake is only about 5 miles NW down the Willamette River from Millersburg.

…I don’t want to kill the buzz, but I can say I’m an Albany native and my family’s been here for a few generations now. My great aunt and uncle have both told me that the Westby boys were “trouble makers” and recalls them bragging about having fooled a number of people who provided original accounts of Flix. This is non-existant. Nobody in the area knows or cares about the legend. Reports of the creature fall within a relatively short period and have not occurred since, which could relate to the relocating of locals, their involvement, and their word of mouth in the hostel-size community.

Flix was cool to believe in when we were kids and growing up a few miles as a crow flies from Conser Lake (and a few blocks from the Conser family), but the legend is truly garbage. I wouldn’t promote it any further or set any store in what you read concerning it. Fooled!

I have several emails and letters from people who lived in the area at the time of Flix's visit. Two people are adamant that it was a hoax, but offer no proof, not even evidence, only their opinion. Others have had their own Bigfoot sightings (of a non-Flix and more mundane nature) or share their memories of the event as an exciting and weird mystery.

However, as I replied to Spencer, the person who left the following comment,on one level, with stories like this it's not important if the story is "true," a statement that might be misunderstood. I'll try to explain myself further at some other time but I'm taking a break from getting ready for work this morning. I couldn't resist posting this for now however. So this is what I replied to Spencer, and if the Flix story was a hoax by the Westby brothers, I sure would love to hear more about that! As I mentioned to Spencer and I've mentioned elsewhere, if Flix was just some teens in a big heavy hairy suit, they were more than stupid for risking their lives since people were coming in from all over to shoot at the "monster."

Spencer: thanks. The quotes are as if from other sources…

As to the story itself: for a Fortean, it’s moot if there literally was a Flix or not in Millersburg. There are so many weird little elements and synchronicities, behaviors, responses and events that echo the story of Flix that’s part of the intrigue of the story.

You’re correct that “Reports of the creature fall within a relatively short period and have not occurred since,” which often happens with stories like this. A strange creature pops up, hangs around for a while, then leaves. It entirely possible Flix was a hoax by the “troublemakers” — although, why they would risk their lives by getting shot at is a question.

I’ve heard from several people who lived in the area at the time and they are still, after all these years, interested, so I wouldn’t say “nobody cares” but no doubt many are convinced it’s all a hoax and have moved on.

Either way, the story, as a story and part of the Bigfoot/Big Hairy Monster lore, remains.

Bigfoot in West Virginia

UFOs, et al has an enjoyable and interesting article on Bigfoot in West Virginia: Bigfoot Migration Route Goes Through West Virginia?, which details the experiences of musician Kris Allen (Marshall Tucker Band, Southern Thunder) who's seen Bigfoot several times, and is working on a documentary about the creature.

The accounts are full of interesting details, including the reaction of Allen's two dogs when in the vicinity of a Sasquatch. Animal responses to the weird are a good indicator that something isn't right; whether it's UFOs, ghosts, or strange creatures like Bigfoot, dogs, cats, cattle, birds, etc. react atypically during these events.

West Virginia is Mothman country too, by the way. Just a reminder :)

Mythical White Stag Photographed

With lovely photos.

Stanislav Szukalski

Artist and author Stanislav Szulalski believed that humans breed with Yeti. Here's an excerpt from the Paranormality site:

Zermatism : is a form of pseudoscience which was intended to show that all languages came originally from a single ancient language and that all art could be distilled down to a single series of universal symbols. The theory was conceived by a man called Stanislav Szukalski who was born in Gidle in Poland around 1893 and died in 1987. "According to his theory, differences in races and cultures were due primarily to inter-species breeding between near-perfect ancestral beings and the Yetinsyn (humanoid creatures reputed to live in remote Himalayan valleys which some people call Abominable Snowmen".

Szulalski was an awarded artist with certainly interesting ideas. His art was well known in his native Poland; sadly, he had to leave when the Nazi's invaded Poland; here's more from the Mad Professor site:

Shortly after the Nazis bombed his museum out of existence, Szukalski came to the United States, where he toiled away in obscurity, living in a small apartment in Glendale, California, until he died at the age of 93.

More from Mad Professor on Szukalski's beliefs on human/Yeti relations:

He was chiefly occupied with his self-made science of "Zermatism," a grand theory that explained the origins of humans and culture. He drew over 40,000 illustrations to accompany his research. One of the most interesting things about Zermatism was Szukalski's dead-serious belief that Yetis had at once time mated with human beings, producing two races -- pure and superior humans, and inferior, troublemaking Yeti-human hybrids. The two races have been at war with each other, culturally and politically, for thousands of years.

Mad Professor has a lot more on Szukalski, including images.

Szukalski is a new discovery for me, and I'm looking forward to exploring more about him. Truly fascinating.

Bigfoot Thread Warning

As I've posted here many times, the James Randi message forum has dozens of separate threads on Bigfoot. At last count I think it was around forty. That's forty individual threads devoted to a creature they "know" doesn't exist. Adding to the surreal nature of this fact is a recent warning on the JREF site admonishing those who enter to behave or they'll be suspended. Apparently all these threads have driven the mods mad and due to " the numerous, egregious, and repeated breaches of the Membership Agreement that this topic seems to generate" the warning has been issued.

Discussion needs to be "friendly and lively" when dealing with "the creature called Bigfoot." So behave!

Bigfoot researchers Melissa Hovey and Monica Rawlins, in an interview from February of this year.

---

Read about the McMinnville UFO gossip and more!

Felton, California: Bigfoot Discovery Day

Bigfoot Discovery Day! in Felton, California (Santa Cruz mountains) October 17th. Wish I could be there . . .

---

Was there a "third, and "lost" Trent (McMinnville, OR) photo?"

Rabid From the Ukraine to Maine

A couple of strange items found on Rense.com... one about a rabid wolf attacking people on the “premises of the Chernobyl atomic power plant” in the Ukraine. Altogether, six people have been attacked by the rabid wolf.

My love for the wolf naturally drew me to this story, as well as the general Fortean weirdness of both this story and the strange events surrounding Chernobyl in general. (Visit the Village of Joy blog for a series of disturbing and vivid photographs of the aftermath of Chernobyl.) In a somewhat related tangent, I just found out the other day my great-grandfather's first name was Wolf. He, and my grandfather, were born in the Ukraine.

A wolf isn’t the only rabid creature in the area; it seems a rabid cat attacked several people in “one of the townships in Crimea” -- the cat has been killed.

Domestic cats are turning up rabid in Maine, with 42 rabid cats this year so far, according to an item posted on Rense.com.

(also see my post Killing the Wolf on Oregon L.O.W.F.I.

Loren Coleman: New Home for Crypto Museum

After years of hard work it's finally paid off; new home for the crypto museum. Read all about it on Loren's blog Cryptomundo.

On Blogsquatcher: "Recent Posts"

On the Blogsquatcher blog, a post about "recent posts" on other Bigfoot blogs, with kudos to researcher Autumn Wiiliams and Linda Martin. I very much like what Autumn has to say about Bigfoot research:

Those of you who know me well know that the only strong stance I take related to the nature of bigfoot is that I REFUSE to take a strong stance on WHAT bigfoot is or is not. I have some suspicions, but that’s all they are. Suspicions. Something akin to conclusions that have been tentatively reached in order to form hypotheses and direct my field research. If they don’t work, I immediately head back to the drawing board, rather than sticking to hypotheses that don’t serve me well.

I know Blogsquatcher quotes that as well, highlighting her comments, but it's so worthwhile, I had to repeat it here. I'd also paraphrase Autumn's sentiments here regarding BF research to say the same about the UFO phenomena, but that's another story! Unless of course, it's a Bigfoot-UFO encounter, then . . . :)