First and foremost, please allow me to apologize and explain for the lack of blog posts.
The Oregon Sasquatch Symposium is scheduled for the weekend of June 19th and 20th here in Eugene, Oregon. Toby Johnson is the event organizer, a good friend of mine, an OB member, and more fun than a barrel of monkeys in the field. While Oregon Bigfoot is not officially “affiliated” with the Symposium (in that I have no stake in it and am not doing anything other than speaking at it), Toby had asked me long ago to give the keynote speech Saturday morning to kick off the Symposium.
This occurred early on in my contact with Mike, the witness I’ve been working with for months now. When it became clear to me that my perception of this subject and all that it entails was going through an intense shift because of my work with him, I realized that I’d want to talk about that at the Symposium. I also realized that I couldn’t talk about anything Bigfoot-related anymore, because these effects on me had been so profound. How can you say something that may sound like it’s coming out of left field, without giving some sort of context regarding WHY you think it is so? Because my thinking on nearly each and every aspect of this phenomenon had… not changed, exactly, but been clarified… even the most innocuous discourse on the subject that I would undertake suddenly would appear out of context.
I didn’t “decide” to write a book. The effect of Mike’s observations on me and my ability to do what I’ve done for so many years… to attempt to share information about this subject with you... demanded that I find a way to explain it all in full context.
Trouble is, in order for me to offer a framework for all that I was going to say, it would take a book’s worth of information to provide that context. In the meantime, my tongue has been tied and I really haven’t found any other way to loosen it. Which meant writing the book quickly, editing it even more quickly, and not having the luxury of having two years from onset to publication, which is what publishers like Hancock House and others require.
I’ve spent the last month finishing the last few chapters, writing and re-writing, editing and agonizing. And it’s done. Or as complete as it can be, in the time I’ve had to finish it. I’ve placed the initial order, and hope to have copies available at the Symposium – perhaps sooner to OB members.
(The first order I placed was relatively small, because I don’t know how many people will be interested in reading it. If you’d like to put your name on the list for the first run, please email me here. That’ll help ensure I’ve got enough copies available and am not printing more than is necessary.)
I still feel a little tongue-tied. It’s difficult to explain a change that occurs gradually. That’s the reason for the book. To sit here and attempt to explain it in context, in one sitting on the blog, is impossible. To attempt to explain it in a series of blog posts and have some of it lost in translation when a reader misses a post just doesn’t cut it. And the effects are still occurring, because the learning is still happening full-throttle, which makes it even more difficult.
But I feel pressure to begin to speak about all of this at some point, because so many people are writing in and asking, “Where the *&#$! is the blog???”
So I’m going to start trying to share this subject with you again… and if my thinking seems a little wonky, or I say something that appears to have come from a shift in perspective, please do your best to reserve judgment until the book’s out and you can fully understand and appreciate where I’m coming from.
Rowan and I often go out into the woods locally here, conducting “field research”. It’s not as glamorous or scientific as it sounds. Mostly, we leave out goodies, check on the ones we left last time, attempt to build a respectful rapport with a specific group of hairy individuals, and then hike around while I teach her about different plants and animals. (She’s the only three year old I know who can identify bleeding hearts, scotch broom and snake grass accurately…) She’s a trailblazer, unafraid in the woods, and I’m always beside her with an enormous cannister of UDAP bear spray at my side.
Lately, there have been multiple sightings of a bigfoot near here. He appears, according to several independent eyewitness reports, elderly, gray-bearded and he limps. He has been sighted, coincidentally, around the fringes of an area that I’ve been working personally for some time due to the number of sighting reports that I’ve collected here over the years. Most recently, he was seen digging in trash cans, presumably looking for food.
I have never published all those other reports that I’ve gathered. Sharing information while trying to protect the Big Guys at the same time has left me walking that fine line I always mention. When it comes to reports in an area near me, or exact locations of recent reports in general, I usually decide to err on the side of caution and not publish them. I’ve been running OregonBigfoot for many years now, and have done my best not to publish any details that I feel might endanger these guys.
But a local blogger has been publishing recent reports she’s been receiving from this area, including exact location, time, date, etc. The more she published, the more alarmed I became. I called her, and asked her to reconsider.
Why?
It’s sufficient, I think, to publish a general location. If you’re interested in reaching out to others who’ve had a sighting, “west of [town name]” would suffice, or “near [town name]“. But publishing the exact SPOT where a creature was recently sighted is encouraging anyone within driving distance to show up at that precise location. And you have absolutely no control over what they might do once they get there.
As a result of those blog posts, people have been out in these same woods lately, trying to catch the image of poor old Mr. Limpy on a game camera. I don’t suppose there’s much harm in that… especially since experience tells me it won’t work. *grin* It’s truckloads of yahoos with guns that I worry about – or even the individual, armed and determined. Now, this blogger was certainly not calling for folks to run out and hunt this thing down. But no blogger can control who reads the information he or she decides to publish or what each individual decides to do with it, which is the very reason I have always had a policy of erring on the side of caution.
In addition to detailing the exact locations of the sightings shortly after they happen, there is a pervasive sensationalistic aura of “Bigfoot may be a danger to humans” on this particular blog which concerns me. Encounters at a certain lake have been covered regularly: all of an aggressive nature. If the creature there is behaving aggressively, perhaps it’s because it wishes to be left alone. Telling more people about its presence and thereby possibly encouraging the curious to visit by being sure that everyone knows EXACTLY where that lake is doesn’t bode well for “protecting” anyone – human or Sasquatch – despite the argument that this information is being disseminated so that people can be “forewarned”. It’s a remote lake. How many readers, honestly, would coincidentally end up there if they weren’t advised of its location? But how many thrill-seekers will end up there now?
Regarding another location, a witness wrote in claiming to have been standing at the back of his truck in a forest, when a Sasquatch came up and tossed him over an embankment, injuring him, and began to eat his lunch. It was described as an “attack”. Seems to me that this hairy fellow was simply hungry, and the witness was in the way. If he’d been literally ATTACKED by a Sasquatch, I doubt he’d be here to tell about it.
But this sense of fear, the sensationalism of aggression, these cries of “these things are in our woods and are a danger to us” are what causes people to get out the torches and pitchforks. THAT’S what concerns me more than anything. And when this perception of “aggressive” Sasquatch is published in the same breath as encouraging people to take note of sightings in the woods where my daughter and I go, I begin to feel a bit alarmed.
I’ve seen it time and time again: bored high-schoolers or guys with too much testosterone and too little sense get wind of the “monster” hanging out around their local forests, and form a posse. Next thing you know, the woods are full of aggressive, frightened trigger-happy fools with weapons.
Is it really a concern? Has it happened before? Sure. In fact, it’s been a common reaction for over at least the last century.
10th June 1897
Wildman seen again
The Marion Daily Star
He Wears Nothing but Hair, Which is Long and Curly.
The wild man who created so much terror among the inhabitants near Rome, O., several weeks ago by his strange actions has again been seen. Charles Lukens and Bob Forner, while cutting timber a few miles from Rome, claim they encountered a wild man and after a severe struggle say they were able to drive the gorillalike object into his supposed retreat among the cliffs.
They describe the terror as being about six feet tall and his only covering, apparently, a mat of long, curly hair. From their description of the supposed wild man is he undoubtedly the same seen a number of times several weeks ago.
Women and children are now more thoroughly frightened than ever and are afraid to venture from their homes lest they meet the wild creature. A posse of determined men will scour the country now until the terror is located and captured or killed.
*****
The Coshocton Tribune
Thursday Evening, June 12, 1930
Ohio’s Ape Is Again Seen In Fremont Vicinity
FREMONT, June 12 Interest in the “ape mystery” which has gripped this county for the past week, was heightened today when Frank Binder of Rice Tp., near here, reported that he saw the prowling anthropoid.
Posses of farmers and deputies from the county sheriff’s office organized immediately and started an intensive search in the district. It was believed the animal is in thickets several miles north of this city.
Binder described the beast as a large gray animal. He declared that he chased it for some distance thru a corn field but finally lost trace of it. The animal had a “peculiar style of running,” Binder said.
The strange animal was first reported seen on the western outskirts of Norwalk. A group of tourists from Detroit told city authorities they saw an ape. A motorist from Mansfield made the next report which was followed by numerous stories from truck drivers and tourists.
A thorough search by a large posse last week-end failed to reveal any trace of an ape.
*****
‘Furry Thing’ Eludes Posse, Titusville Herald, September 21, 1938
Corry, PA, Sept. 20. – (AP) – Fears of a “furry thing resembling an ape” subsided today in this Erie county community after a posse of farmers failed to locate the mysterious animal in a 48-hour search.
The “thing” popped up Sunday [September 18] at the edge of a woods three miles south of Corry and sent Rose Marie Clabbatz, 13, and two smaller children of Howard Clabbatz, scurrying across the fields to their father.
Clabbatz listened to their breathless story about an animal that “started chasing us” and organized a hunting party of 50 persons, many with guns.
Yesterday Frank Ross and Fred Lindstrom said they spied the beast ambling near their farms, on the edge of a woods. Ross said “it” appeared to be four feet tall and “resembled an ape.”
Clabbatz said he believed the animal left the vicinity and now “the women folk and kids dare to go out again.”
Some discounted the ape story, saying the mysterious animal probably was a bear cub walking on its hind legs.
*****
1972
“…a group of teenagers hunted several Bigfoot which had been seen around The Dalles in Oregon. One of the hunters saw a 7 ft (2.1 m) creature in a crouching position and blasted it in the chest with his 12-gauge shotgun…”
****
1972, Illinois
By June, hundreds of reports of Cohomo were called in from people young and old alike. Finally, in July, police organized a huge “posse” to try and track down the beast. The hunt ended comically when one of the volunteers got excited and shot himself in the leg.
****
Calls came into the Stayton police station of an “eight foot tall hairy monster,” and monster hunters were quick to look for the creature. Fortunately the police stopped a group of teens, armed with guns and beer, who decided to go monster hunting, before they could do any damage.
http://forteanswest.com/wordpress-mu/oregonlowfi/tag/conser-lake/
These are just a few of dozens of such instances in which folks with too much fear and too little understanding of the subject decide to take it upon themselves to attempt to control that which they cannot. But that’s what people do when they’re afraid, isn’t it? Isn’t my plea to this blogger an ironic example of the same? While I support everyone’s right to free speech and the dissemination of information, I believe that journalists – professional and amateur alike – have a certain responsibility to consider the potential ramifications of that which they choose to publish.
This blogger believes she’s warning her readers of a threat in the woods. I’d counter that she may be unwittingly contributing to a bigger one.
What if some hyper-vigilant, would-be bigfoot hunter decides to stay up at this lake where people are being “attacked”? He’s nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs thanks to all of the “horror” stories he’s read about this place. He steps out of his tent when he hears bipedal walking and heavy breathing… and blows away some innocent, asthmatic camper heading for the outhouse.
Frankly, I’m afraid for Old Mr. Limpy, too; that someone might actually happen upon him intentionally and harm or harass him. Yes, harass. He’s got enough to worry about. He’s presumably injured and trying to survive. The last thing he needs is folks tromping through the woods, seeking him out, attempting to assuage their curiosity by exploiting his weakness.
I’m concerned as well, to some extent, that my three-year old and I might wander into the wrong spot while I’m happily conducting the same research I’ve been doing for months out here – regardless of the Mr. Limpy sightings – and happen upon a gun-toting group who were tipped off by the local blogger. And what about the pressure the looky-loos may be putting on the local Sasquatch population? While these things generally aren’t aggressive, each of us is an ambassador for all of us and the last thing I need is to take my daughter into the woods with a group of Sasquatch who are irritated with humans in general.
I went and left some food out for the old guy. No cameras. I hiked in, left goodies, and quietly hiked out. I didn’t attempt to “find” him. And that’s the difference. Others are out to prove Bigfoot exists, feeling justified in exploiting this one’s weakness in order to do so. I just wanted to give him a hand if I could.
Taking a photograph of him would be just… icky. My grandfather passed away about a month ago. Can you imagine me taking a photo of him on his deathbed, and posting it on the internet, because a group of people were curious what it looked like when someone was dying a slow, painful death from liver cancer?
I’m sorry to make the point so… pointedly. But I’m bothered by this. It sounds like the poor old guy is suffering and having a hard time of it. He’s not a “specimen”. He’s an individual. Chasing him down and trying to take pictures of him, like some sort of paparazzi, in an attempt to prove a point to the world is disturbing to me.
Can you see how my views have changed? Gone are the days when Autumn Williams would be out in the woods setting up camera traps. Some of you might feel that makes me a hypocrite because I’m asking others to consider doing something very different from what I once did. But that is the point of this post. To illustrate the fact that my views have changed drastically, because of my work with Mike. Because I have come to understand these folks who live in our forest VERY differently. They are not ” a species”. They are individuals.
This blogger made a comment at the end of one of her recent posts: “I ‘believe’ we have a right to know about the being, bigfoot. We need to know he exists so that we can look for him while in the forest, to simply admire and if need be, to protect ourselves from him.”
I understand her curiosity. And I share it. We all do. But does our “right” to appease our inquisitiveness supersede the rights of those beings that we’re curious about and who share the planet with us?
What about his right to live in peace?
I am generally a stickler for giving credit when quoting another source. However, I have not posted a link to the blog in question here, only because I prefer not to send further traffic that direction – and subsequently into these woods – while the author continues to publish exact locations of recent sighting reports. I would ask, again, that she please reconsider. There are enough people out here chasing bigfoot as it is.
Education, I believe, is the best form of protection – for them, and for us. Are these beings dangerous? If they’re trying to survive and you get in their way, perhaps. Something that weighs 600-800 lbs. and is irritated with you has the capacity to injure you if it sees you as a threat. But if you’re “attacked” because you impose yourself upon his space out of rabid curiosity with no thought to his feelings on the matter, and you shoot in “self-defense”… is it really self-defense?
Respect them. Respect their right to exist as they do, without feeling the need to “prove” it or “classify” them or pressure their survival any more than we already do. Respect the fact that they will interact with you if THEY choose to do so. Respect the fact that they will let you know if you’re not respecting them… and don’t put yourself in a situation in which you may have to “defend” yourself.
Attempt interaction if you will, leave them gifts if you choose… but as Mike has reminded me numerous times: “You can’t extend a hand in friendship… and have a camera in the other.”
