Kentucky is where Bigfooting is at

In a two-week poll we asked Bigfoot Lunch Club fans which websites they visited most. Kentucky Bigfoot came out on top.

There are two good reasons why Kentucky Bigfoot topped our list.

1) Kentucky is a hotspot. The much anticipated Erickson Project has claimed to have convincing evidence from Kentucky. Plus, Kentucky will be showcased in two shows this coming TV season; Finding Bigfoot and Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy.

2) The second and larger reason for Kentucky Bigfoot topping the list is the Organization itself. They are as authentic as researchers can be, extremely organized and they reach out to their audience. They are inclusive and share their research publicly. Their self-described purpose, "...is to obtain 'one' database as to monitor population density and migration patterns for all reported Kentucky Bigfoot encounters. To determine authenticity, credit is given to each source and witnesses are contacted whenever possible. The information contained therein is being used solely for research and educational purposes.

Lead by Charlie Raymond, a high school teacher and IT Specialist. Charlie holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Florida. He developed this website to document all credible bigfoot encounters in Kentucky. He believes bigfoot to be a "flesh and blood" unidentified hominid, VERY closely related to us.

Out of 165 voters we ended up with 18 listings the top ten list is below.

01.) Kentucky Bigfoot
02.) BFRO
03.) Tristate Bigfoot
04.) Cryptomundo
05.) Oregon Bigfoot
06.) Bigfoot Encounters
07.) MABRC
08.) FB/FB
09.) Bigfoot Field Reporter
10.) Bigfoot Evidence

The pie chart below shows the percentages of the votes with Kentucky Bigfoot commanding 22% of the votes.



Our hats are off to Kentucky Bigfoot, we salute your contribution to bigfooting.

You can continue to vote for your favorite website at our facebook page

Spiegel Online: Hiking the Redwoods with California's 'Squatchers'

Brandon Kiel, 41, is a San Francisco-based field researcher with the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (Photo: Gabriela Hasbun / DER SPIEGEL)

"I like the romantic notion of our search, this wonderful gray area," Kiel says. If Bigfoot is actually discovered one day, he notes: "Then all of this will be over."

Germans are interested in Bigfoot too, Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.

This is a thoughtful article that reflects bigfooting in a way we may not get in the American mainstream press.

A Passion for Bigfoot
By Philip Bethge

The plaintive howl echoes through the forest sounding like a muffled "whoop, whoop, whoop." Brandon Kiel pauses to listen in the dark, holding his breath for a moment before drawing air into his lungs.

Once again, Kiel cups his hands in front of his mouth and imitates the call: "whoop, whoop, whoop." The sound echoes back through the night, but all else is silence. Bigfoot isn't answering.
"The season is favorable," Kiel says, with a touch of disappointment. "But it's always possible that the animals are not in the area." The blueberries are ripe, and the calves of the Roosevelt elk, one of Bigfoot's favorite foods, haven't matured yet.

Kiel, 41, is a field researcher with the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), a group based in the United States. The creature he is looking for is said to be clever, shy and stealthy -- an expert at camouflaging itself. But here in the redwood forests of northern California, Kiel is hoping he'll be blessed with hunter's luck. He and 20 fellow field researchers are on an expedition to track down Bigfoot.

The Believers

Kiel calls the ominous creature "Squatch," short for "Sasquatch," a word in a Native American language that means "wild man of the woods". The shaggy, mythical creature -- half ape, half human -- is believed to be powerfully built, reach heights of up to 2.5 meters (over 8 feet) and weigh up to 230 kilograms (500 pounds), and it allegedly spends its time skulking through the forests of North America. So far, there is no real evidence of the existence of this alleged primate species. Indeed, human beings have never actually gotten their hands on a Sasquatch, either dead or alive.

Nevertheless, experienced "Squatchers" like Kiel are convinced that the animal exists. Even the Native Americans in the region had songs praising this mysterious miniature version of King Kong. Dozens of huge footprints have been found. Hundreds of eyewitnesses from the Canadian province of British Columbia all the way down to Florida -- including police officers, park rangers and professors -- claim to have laid eyes on the creature. The literature even mentions tufts of hair and a Bigfoot toenail found near the Grand Canyon.

"I am convinced that the Sasquatch exists," says British Columbia wildlife biologist John Bindernagel. For years, Bindernagel has put his academic reputation on the line by not only believing in Sasquatch, but also studying it. "I estimate the population of the animal to be several thousand at least," says Bindernagel, who has already written several books on Bigfoot.

Bindernagel also has a theory on how Bigfoot reached the American wilderness. He speculates that Gigantopithecus, an extinct genus of giant ape, once migrated from Asia across the same land bridge in what is now the Bering Strait that the first humans are believed to have crossed to reach North America.

The Squatchers

Bigfoot is believed to be particularly prevalent in the area around the town of Klamath, in northern California, where a group of adventurous souls has gathered on this October day. Camouflage clothing is de rigueur, and the mood is euphoric. The most avid members of the group have studied the BFRO's expedition handbook, which informs readers to expect "type 1" inspections: a visit by "one or more" Bigfoots to the tent camp while everyone is sleeping, "most often between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m."

No one in the group questions whether the creature exists. Instead, they discuss its biology. The Squatch is "mainly nocturnal," Kiel says. It lives in groups and is "stinky, musky." Its diet includes "roots, slugs, frogs, deer, elk, fish, onions and berries." It literally licks its fingers after eating a meal of skunk cabbage.

Kiel has a round face with a vandyke beard, and he keeps his hair cropped short. When asked whether he has ever encountered the creature, he says: "Sure, just a couple of weeks ago."

In late July, he explains, the Squatchers gathered at Bluff Creek, less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) east across the mountains. "We had walked about a mile and a half, when someone suddenly said: 'There's a Sasquatch sitting by the side of the road,'" Kiel recounts. "I didn't believe him, so I asked: 'Is it a bear?' But he was adamant."

Kiel grabbed an infrared camera and peered through the viewfinder. "And, sure enough," he says, "there was the heat signature of a very large animal with its back to us, without a neck, with massively broad shoulders and a pointy head. You could see it from the waist up. I was totally flabbergasted." Kiel claims that the creature then turned around and looked at him twice. The intimate exchange of glances lasted about 15 minutes. Then Kiel, the expedition leader, decided to pull out. "I wanted to be respectful," he says.

The area around Bluff Creek is well known among Bigfoot aficionados. It was where, on Oct. 20, 1967, a legendary amateur film was shot depicting a massive, hairy beast strolling through a riverbed for a few seconds.

Film experts -- and even special-effects artists working for the Disney corporation -- have repeatedly scrutinized the blurred, grainy footage. But the evidence remains unclear. Is the creature a person in an ape suit or a world sensation of cryptozoology, the search for animals whose existence has yet to be proven? The man who shot the video, a rodeo rider named Roger Patterson, continued to insist that the film was authentic up until his death in 1972.

At the BFRO camp in California, at any rate, no one questions the authenticity of the Patterson video. In fact, almost everyone in the group claims to have already seen a Bigfoot at least once. "I was elk hunting", says Rey Lopez, a government employee who lives near Sacramento. "At first I thought it was another hunter, but then I realized that it was a Sasquatch with whitish hair."

Alleged Proof

We pile into Lopez's large pickup truck and drive out into the night. After a few miles, he stops the truck on a parking lot in the middle of the woods. The group uses headlamps with red lenses to avoid startling the beast. After a brief walkie-talkie test, everyone is ready to go out "Squatching," the nightly foray into Bigfoot territory.

We spend the next few hours whispering and stumbling through the same woods in which parts of Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" were filmed. The undergrowth is wet, and the red light is barely strong enough to illuminate annoying roots poking out of the ground. Kiel, the expedition's leader, stops every once in a while and sends his "whoop" calls out into the night. Sometimes he also blows on a high-pitched whistle or hits trees with a large "Squatch knocker" -- in layman's terms, a branch -- hoping the hollow sound might attract Bigfoot.

Meanwhile, Robert Collier, who lives near Los Angeles, continues to observe everything with his night-vision goggles, which he proudly points out are "military grade." His eyes look green in the device's light.

The whole production has only one purpose: to somehow convince the woodland beast to communicate with the group. "Bigfoots have been known to answer us," says Kiel. "We experience time and again that rocks are thrown at us." He also points out that "wood-knocks," "whoops" and "screams" are regularly heard echoing from the undergrowth.

In fact, noisy audio recordings bear witness to the creature's supposed vocabulary, including sounds like blood-curdling screams and obscure-sounding jibberish. Particularly avid Squatchers say they've managed to make out bits of Russian and ancient Chinese in the audio soup.

Even some of the creature's genetic material is allegedly in circulation. Kiel claims that Melba Ketchum, a veterinarian based in Timpson, Texas, has analyzed dozens of hair samples, but that the results of her research have yet to be published. Nevertheless, there are rumors in the community that tissue from two dead Bigfoots is in refrigerated storage at Ketchum's laboratory.

Ketchum declines to comment, though, and the Squatchers have waited in vain for her to make an appearance at their annual Bigfoot conferences, which regularly attract several hundred attendees.

'A Good Excuse to Go Camping'

Does all of this sound crazy? Sure it does. And, yet, there are some questions that remain unanswered. For example, the 1992 discovery of a new bovine species, the Saola, in the jungles of Southeast Asia has given the Squatchers hope. The Saola lives in an area that is no less densely populated than many of the forested areas in the United States.

Couldn't it be possible that a shrewd giant ape has been hiding undiscovered in the forests of North America for centuries?

"It's a good excuse to go camping," says Bill Brewer, who harbors a healthy degree of skepticism despite being a BFRO member. Squatching, he says, also happens to be a lot of fun.

Perhaps this explains why these hikers in the northern California night seem undaunted in their enthusiasm, even though the woods remain stubbornly silent until the early morning hours. But at least that gives them a good reason to come back soon.
And it might also be that the Squatchers don't even want to find the mysterious, broad-shouldered creature after all.

"I like the romantic notion of our search, this wonderful gray area," Kiel says. If Bigfoot is actually discovered one day, he notes: "Then all of this will be over."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
SRC: Spiegel Online

The Most Refreshing Bigfoot Research

BLC Editor Guy Edwards (left) doing his best impression of Bigfoot bLog editor Steven Streufert (right) Photo: Tom Yamarone

"...I HAVE been thinking how nice it would be to get my nose out of the old Bluff Creek topo maps, and start thinking about and blogging on new topics. That IS coming up, so watch out. I am going to take on the entire world of Bigfooting, and some of it won't be too pretty."
-- Steven Streufert in reaction to his post

Everything that we felt had been missing in bigfoot research can be found today at Bigfoot's bLog. We recomend you go back to the previous sentence and click that link, read the post and come back here. Don't worry the link will open a new window and we will be here when you get back.

Why do we love the research by Robert Leiterman, Steven Streufert, Rowdy Kelly? because its thoroughly tangible, inclusive and open to review.

THOROUGHLY TANGIBLE
This is research you can almost touch and feel. All the different overlapping maps, photographs and illustrations make the data approachable from multiple angles. The physicality of the bluff creek area feels almost with in reach.

INCLUSIVE
Anybody who's been in the community knows most of the research is exclusive. Information is not easily shared between camps, and more often than not, ideas compete against each other instead of shaping each other. This usually results in a slow roll out of any conclusion (like the recent DNA stuff) or ideological mudslinging from differing camps.

On Streufert's blog, in additional to his teams own fieldwork, he includes others who have researched Bluff Creek in great detail MK Davis and Bill Munns weaving a pretty good tapestry of what we can know about bluff creek.

OPEN TO REVIEW
Another obstruction in Bigfoot research is the ownership issue. Some are possessive over their research, Streufert and the rest throw it all out there. They don't hold on to bits and pieces and tease it out. They share enough information so we can explore the data ourselves. The maps and illustrations are extremely detailed.

For you long-time fans it wouldn't surprise you Bigfoot Lunch Club would have such high praise for this new Bluff Creek research. Inclusiveness is in our editorial DNA.

Bigfoot Lunch Club salutes Robert Leiterman, Steven Streufert, Rowdy Kelly. For giving us something we can dig our teeth into. This is how the community should be sharing research, this is how the community should be sharing each others data.

Detroit Lakes Online: the Hunt for the Illusive Bigfoot

Cryptozoologists Ken Gerhard and Ron Coffey speak during the first Shooting Star Paranormal Convention Photo by Jerry Ecklund

“…one half of the human population lives on less than 10 percent of the Earth's land, and three quarters on only 20 percent.” --American Association for the Advancement of Science

The Detroit Lakes Online covers the Shooting Star Paranormal Convention and talks to Ken Gerhard about some of the most frequently asked question by bigfoot skeptics.

There are nearly 10,000 different new species discovered on the planet Earth annually, while over half of the land is uninhabitable for humans.

According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, “…one half of the human population lives on less than 10 percent of the Earth's land, and three quarters on only 20 percent.”

In other words, that’s a rather large area for undiscovered species to remain that way, including one of the most sought after “cryptid” which goes by many names — Yeti, Sasquatch, B’gwas or the Skunk Ape.

But almost everyone knows it by its most common name — Bigfoot.

That’s where cryptozoologists like Ken Gerhard enter the picture, as they hunt for creatures or monsters like Bigfoot.

Gerhard has appeared on television shows such as “MonsterQuest” and the History Channel’s special “The Real Wolfman” and recently was one of the featured presenters at the Shooting Star’s Paranormal Convention.

The pursuance of discovering animals which have never been seen by humans has brought Gerhard to over 26 countries in the world and it’s a passion which actually started with his childhood in Minnesota, where he lived until the age of 12.

“I’ve been fascinated all my life with the animals such as Bigfoot,” Gerhard said. “I’ve always read up on them and watched every television show about them. It’s just been a life-long passion.”

When Gerhard goes out for an investigation for one of his cryptids — which is the term used for the undiscovered animals of cryptozoology — it can last for days or weeks on end.

He and his group will spend days hiking the area, searching for clues or evidence of a cryptid, such as hair or blood samples.

“Many times, we investigate during the night, since we believe most of these cryptids are nocturnal,” Gerhard added.

The investigators do call-blasting, which is a vocalization call to attract the species in and capture evidence of their existence.

But the number one cryptid and the Holy Grail of cryptozoology is the discovery of a real Bigfoot.

Gerhard, who wears his trademark leather cowboy hat, has hunted for Big-foot across the United States.

His best evidence to date has been his recording of a vocalization during one of his camp-outs.

“I am familiar with all the sounds of animals in the U.S. and this particle one sounded like a primate, similar to the ones I heard down in South America,” Gerhard explained. “It was very deep, loud and aggressive sounding.”

He went on to add the best evidence of the existence of Bigfoot includes track castings and the Patterson film, which was taken in 1967 depicting what looks like an ape — or Bigfoot — running through a clearing in the forest.

So why, through the many years of searching for Bigfoot, has not one been discovered?

Gerhard said even though there is potentially thousands of such creatures in the U.S. region, that still makes them very rare and enough to put them on the endangered species list.

“Secondly, they choose to live in remote areas and they sense humans are their biggest threat,” Gerhard said. “Much like a bear, they have very keen senses and can pick up people early and flee to a more remote area.”

Another reason why sightings are so rare is they are nocturnal and nomadic.

Even the question of why no carcass of a Bigfoot has ever been found can be explained, Gerhard said.

“You very rarely find animal carcasses in the wild, because Mother Nature disposes of them very quickly by fast decay and scavengers spreading their bones about,” he added. “I’ve talked to hunters who have hunted for many years and they say they don’t come about many carcasses.

“There also is the theory they bury their own dead like the Neanderthals did. That also decreases the odds of stumbling across one of (Big-foot’s) body.”

With 10,000 species discovered yearly — with most being insects or mollusks — Gerhard does believe the discovery of a Bigfoot species is close.

That alone could advance the thought of human evolution.

But there is plenty of area to cover and for Big-foot to hide, making the ultimate goal of proving the existence of one of the most sought after cryptids in the world a most difficult one.

If that time ever does come, it will be a mile-stone for the ages.

“It would be one of the greatest discoveries of the century,” Gerhard concluded.
src: DL Online

Hitler, Thanksgiving and Bigfoot

Who would have known Hitler tried to thwart Thanksgiving by replacing it with Bigfoot day? Fortunately, in this case, Bigfoot was just as elusive for him.

Watch the video below in full screen mode to read the subtitles. Or click Hitler Finds Out He Can't Find Bigfoot to see it on YouTube.

Utah Valley University Reviews Dr. Jeff Meldrum

“There have been several different humanoid species at a time in history. There is evidence that Neanderthals coexisted with the human species, and there have been six different humanoid species in the last 20,000 years.” -- Jeff Meldrum

The UVU Review is the independent, student-run newspaper for Utah Valley University. Despite comparing Bigfoot and Yetis to monkeys and monsters, UVU staff writer, Faith Heaton, does a pretty good job relaying Dr. Meldrum's arguments for the evidence for sasquatch. Read the full article below.

The room was overflowing with people sitting in the aisles as students, professors and community members gathered to listen to Jeff Meldrum discuss the possibilities of Sasquatch being more than a myth. The lecture sponsored by the Humanities department was held Friday, Nov. 11, and received much curiosity on campus.

“There is the traditional legend of Sasquatch, but is there evidence behind the lore?” Meldrum said as he began his presentation. Meldrum is a physical anthropologist and currently teaches at Idaho State University. He dedicated a large portion of his life to studying the history, folklore and evidences surrounding “big foot.” Along with traveling to Russia and parts of China, Meldrum has tracked the Sasquatch figure around the U.S. as well.

Meldrum walked the audience through the history of different interpretations of Sasquatch, or “the wild man,” beginning with Enkidu and Gilgamesh and going into the myth of Grendel and Beowulf. He laughed about the different movies and depictions of the Sasquatch figure.

Meldrum also discussed the ancestry and evolution of monkeys and how that potentially ties in with Sasquatch by showing several different slides.

“There have been several different humanoid species at a time in history,” Meldrum said. “There is evidence that Neanderthals coexisted with the human species, and there have been six different humanoid species in the last 20,000 years.”

With such a varying range of evolved human and ape-like species throughout history, Meldrum made the connection that it is very possible that the Sasquatch figure could be one of these variations coexisting with the human race today. However, Meldrum pointed that through studies, it still remains hard to determine if the Sasquatch is more of an ape or man.

In his argument that the Sasquatch could potentially be considered to have more of a monkey ancestry, Meldrum cited evidences that apes can grin, have breasts, and can walk upright on two legs, just like humans. These are all characteristics that have been linked to the Sasquatch by several eye witness accounts.

“But, people often see what they want to see, so eye witness accounts aren’t always totally reliable,” Meldrum said. People have also taken footage of the Sasquatch walking in the forest, carrying only a crude stick. “Humans often carry and collect objects,” Meldrum said as he continued to weigh the characteristics of human versus monkey traits apparent in Sasquatch.

Meldrum also cited the historical sightings of Sasquatch, beginning with several stories and footprints appearing in several Asian countries. He feels that the “Yeti” monster reported about in the Himalayan mountains may be an ancestor figure to the current day Sasquatch. Meldrum’s main line of expertise involves the footprints and tracking of the Sasquatch. He has studied several different imprints in mud and sand, and he possesses fossilized models to figure out the movement of the massive “big foot.”

Meldrum meets much skepticism with his theories and worldwide research associated with chasing the evidence of Sasquatch.

“When a friend said, ‘Well after all, these are just stories,’ I replied, ‘Yes. Stories that shed hair, leave footprints, and are seen by eyewitnesses.’”

By Faith Heaton – Staff Writer
Photos by Gilbert Cisnero

SRC: UVU REVIEW

New York Times has High Regard for Christophers Munch's Bigfoot Movie, "Letters From the Big Man"

“I have no question of their existence, [I know] people who were in situations where they were living among sasquatch, literally, and had developed a climate of mutual trust,” --Christopher Munch, Director of Letters from the Big Man

You can read our previous coverage of Letters From The Big Man. We covered this fantastic movie from it's premier at the Sundance Festival to interviewing the genius behind the Sasquatch Costume, Lee Romaire.

Not only is Christopher Munch's true-to-life Sasquatch movie the most respectful towards the Sasquatch phenomena, it is also probably one of the most respected Sasquatch movies. How do we know? Read the newest New York Times article below.

Sporting Big Feet and a Heart to Match
By DENNIS LIM
Published: November 4, 2011

IN five features over two decades Christopher Munch has cultivated a singular career on the margins of the independent film world. Although his debut, “The Hours and Times” (1991), was grouped with the emerging New Queer Cinema, Mr. Munch, 49, has never fit in with a movement, and it’s hard to think of another working American filmmaker with a similar sensibility or array of interests.

Christopher Munch, the director of “Letters From the Big Man.”
If anything, his movies are testaments to private obsession and imagination. From the young engineer who attempts to salvage a Yosemite Valley rail line in “Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day” (1996) to the middle-aged bohemian single mother and former radio D.J. dying of cancer in “The Sleepy Time Gal” (2001), Mr. Munch’s protagonists are all dreamers of a sort. Although his films range widely in their idiosyncratic themes and settings, they are of a piece in their serene melancholy and their loving attention to the unruly details and irreducible dimensions of individual lives.

If there is one thing above all that defines Mr. Munch’s work, it is a disarming sincerity, a willingness to risk awkwardness and even absurdity by taking seriously an outlandish premise. Imagining the lost weekend John Lennon spent with the Beatles manager Brian Epstein in Barcelona, Spain, “The Hours and Times” is at once tactful and assured in its conjectures. “Harry and Max” (2004) treats with almost surreal matter-of-factness the relationship between two incestuous brothers who both happen to be in boy bands.

Mr. Munch’s wholehearted commitment to eccentric material has never been clearer than in his new film, “Letters From the Big Man,” a parable about man and nature in the form of a beauty-and-the-beast tale, involving a forestry worker (Lily Rabe) and a sasquatch (Isaac C. Singleton Jr. in a hairy bodysuit and face makeup).

“Letters,” which opens at the IFC Center in Manhattan this Friday, grew out of Mr. Munch’s desire to make a movie in the Klamath-Siskiyou eco-region of southwestern Oregon. “Connection with landscape is a fundamental thing for me,” he said over Skype recently from a cabin he was renting in rural Oregon, not far from where he shot the film. “It’s always a way in — to understand a physical geography and to feel close to aspects of a place.”

This expanse of Pacific Northwest wilderness, with its green mountain ridges and crystalline rivers, is also a repository of sasquatch lore. Mr. Munch’s views on the phenomenon changed as he researched it. As recently as six or seven years ago, he said, “it was not something I had any sense about.” Looking at depictions in popular culture, he found only jokey curios: B movies with titles like “The Legend of Boggy Creek.” But the more time Mr. Munch spent in the region the more determined he was to make a film that aligned with the view of indigenous cultures in which, he said, the “sasquatch is honored and sought out for his wisdom.”

“Letters From the Big Man” started as a broader story that played out against the backdrop of the controversial salvage logging operation that followed a devastating wildfire in 2002. But after trying unsuccessfully to finance the film as a larger project, Mr. Munch narrowed the scope to focus on Ms. Rabe’s character, Sarah, an artist and hydrologist. Getting over a breakup, she takes on an assignment to do field research for the Forest Service on stream life in a burn zone.

Even though Mr. Munch had traversed the area extensively on foot for months before shooting, there was only so much planning he could do. His regular cinematographer, Rob Sweeney, said that several locations required fairly long hikes. “Often finding a place to shoot a scene, securing it and getting our crew there, figuring out how to stage and light it — that would all happen in one day,” Mr. Sweeney said.

Ms. Rabe, best known for her theater work, described the experience as a lesson in self-sufficiency. They were the smallest of crews in the remotest of settings, and Sarah spends much of her screen time alone. The first day of shooting, Ms. Rabe said, she was dropped from a helicopter in a field while Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Munch observed from afar. “It was a very lonely experience for me, which was exactly right for the part,” she said.

The strange magic of “Letters From the Big Man” has much to do with its readiness to believe in the possibility that sasquatch exist. Mr. Munch is prepared to go further and declare himself fully convinced. “I have no question of their existence,” he said. His circle of acquaintances in Oregon includes “people who were in situations where they were living among sasquatch, literally, and had developed a climate of mutual trust,” he said.

Mr. Munch’s closest collaborators do not share these beliefs. “I’m definitely a doubter,” Mr. Sweeney said. “But Chris has convictions, and they are intriguing.” He added that Mr. Munch was “somewhat seriously” hoping to get a real sasquatch to appear in the film. “But when that didn’t work out, he made the costume,” Mr. Sweeney said. “I think the sasquatch’s agent wouldn’t agree to the rates.” While Mr. Sweeney remained unswayed, he spoke of Mr. Munch with fondness: “Chris has a sweet naïveté along with a piercing intelligence, and that’s an unusual combination.”

Ms. Rabe sees the film as an off-the-grid fantasy, with the big man a possible projection of the lonely, disappointed Sarah. “What she’s really going through, for me, was: Am I going to be able to be a part of society?” she said. “Or do I need to kind of disappear?” While Mr. Munch’s interpretation was more literal, she said: “It was never a disagreement. He loved that I felt the way that I did, and I was so fascinated by the way that he felt. One doesn’t exclude the other.”

Lily Rabe plays a lonely part-time worker for the National Forest Service in Christopher Munch's “Letters From the Big Man.”
Before his screening at Sundance in January, Mr. Munch read a letter on behalf of the sasquatch that began: “Do not be frightened of us. We are people just like you.” Reporting from the festival in The New York Times, Manohla Dargis wondered if Mr. Munch “was pulling our collective leg.” He insists he was not (the letter, he said, was procured through an animal communicator). “It’s very easy to write it off as New Age pablum, but that actually is what they keep drilling into us,” he said.

Mr. Munch recognizes that such talk opens himself up to dismissal or hostility. Nonetheless, “the ideas of the film are heartfelt, and they’re borne out by personal experience, not based on some unreasoned belief,” he said, adding that he comes from a family of scientists — his father was an astrophysicist — and is not generally prone to mysticism.

His own views aside, Mr. Munch said he was careful to make a film “that does work as a metaphorical comment on our society.” The myth of the sasquatch, he added, “represents a longing to make sense of whatever it is that’s incomplete in us” — an urge palpable in all his films.

Mr. Munch admitted that he sees in Sarah’s frustration with mainstream society some of his own conflicts, having toiled for years as an independent artist in an increasingly inhospitable environment. “Twenty years ago I think I had high promise in terms of some sort of a career and yet not a strong sense of where I wanted to go,” he said. “Now I think I have very little promise of a career but a very strong sense of what I want to make.”
SRC: New York Times

The Hydra of Bigfoot DNA research

In Greek Mythology the Hydra was a creature that had multiple heads, each of which, if cut off, grew back as two. We couldn't think of a better fitting analogy for the recent Bigfoot DNA research.

Many folks have tried to define Bigfoot DNA via hair samples, saliva, scat, etc. The DNA research was mostly being done by universities and other facilities that were presented with the evidence, but not really interested in the saquatch phenomena as a whole.

The Erickson Project was a means to get serious about Bigfoot evidence and DNA in particular. Melba Ketchum, a DNA expert, joined the team and eventually a statistician named Richard Stubstad. At one point they were working for the same team, but now they seem to be going in different directions like the many haeads of a hydra. recently there have been a few updates to what Melba and Richard have been up to.

Melba Ketchum is currently the highest profile person working to define Bigfoot DNA. She studied at Texas A&M University where she received her doctorate in Veterinary Medicine. In 1985 she founded DNA Diagnostics, a self-described leader in all types of DNA testing including: human and animal forensics, human and animal paternity and parentage testing, disease diagnostics, trait tests, animal and human identity testing, species identification and sex determination.

In recent news Melba Ketchum, the current queen of Sasquatch DNA research, has announced that the presentation of her research has taken longer than expected and has "assembled a renowned team, each of us with our own specialties."

You can read her full statement below:

Ok, for the sake of time ( and I hope all of you understand), I will answer everyone publicly here. I keep getting a lot of emails from everyone wanting to know the status of the project. Though I cannot give details or timing, I will assure everyone that all is well and we are continuing to move forward.

Good science cannot be forced or quickly completed. If it is not extremely thorough, then it will all be for naught and any paper rejected outright. So, I ask you to be patient and understanding and realize that extreme scientific overkill is required in order to convince a world full of skeptical scientists. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof". This is what we are doing. When we started this, I thought we would be finished in a few weeks, but instead as Sasquatch are known to do, they threw us curve balls even with their DNA which can be as elusive as they are. Thank goodness we are past that! As a result, we have assembled a renowned team, each of us with our own specialties to make this project "extraordinary".

If everyone will hang in there, I promise it will be worth the wait. We have the proof, now just give us the opportunity to present it in a form that will even convince skeptics. Thanks so much for all of your emails and support. Best wishes to all.

Richard Stubstad is a Registered Civil Engineer and Statistician who graduated from U.C. Berkeley (MSCE) in 1969.Within a few months, Richard made contact with Adrian Erikson, Robert Schmalzbach (“Java Bob”), Shannon Sylvia and Dr. Melba Ketchum, among others, and initiated the mitochondrial sequencing of several purported sasquatch samples through Dr. Ketchum’s DNA diagnostics laboratory in Texas.

According to Mike Rugg, owner of the Bigfoot Discovery Museum in the video below Richard Stubstad has begun his own independent Bigfoot DNA research.

Ray Crowe Gathers Group in Portland, Oregon

[Ray Crowe is] not just a bigfoot hunter, but an editor, event organizer, field investigator, and generalized paranormalist and Fortean. He co-founded The Western Bigfoot Society...He kept an open mind, but always "kept his skepticals on." -- Steven Streufert, BIGFOOTS bLOG

"Crowe spent a lifetime researching Bigfoot, concurrently while establishing the Western Bigfoot Society, publishing one of the first Bigfoot newsletters, The Track Record. The newsletter was filled with valuable information about Bigfoot habitat, sightings, behavior and forensic data." -- Loren Coleman, Cryptomundo

After nearly 5 years of keeping a low profile in the Bigfoot community, Ray Crowe is planning a small gathering in Portland, Oregon. If your in the area you can catch him and guest speaker Thom Powell at Patties Home Plate Cafe this Saturday November 5th, starting at 6pm.

We hope to see you there. There is probably no one more responsible for introducing more people to the Bigfoot community than Ray Crowe. Through his grass root gatherings and his newsletter the "The Track Record," Ray Crowe made Bigfoot research accessible to anyone.

Ray has made several TV appearances including the Daily Show, Japanese TV and has been a guest on Art Bell twice.


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BIGFOOT'S bLOG reveals the reality of Finding Bigfoot's P/G Film episode

Rogues Gallery at the Museum: James "Bobo" Fay, Bob Gimlin, Al Hodgson, Tom Yamarone, Cliff Barackman and Steven Streufert. Photo snapped by a crew member whose name we didn't catch.

"It should be said here and now that the film crew were on the right spot, as identified by Bob Gimlin, but the recreation shown in the show was done down on the gravel bar edge of the creek for better filming. The ACTUAL film site is back on the elevated sand bar BEHIND where you see Bobo walking. [Bobo's Path] is not the true track-way of the creature seen in the PGF." -- Steven Streufert

Steven Streufert appeared on last sundays Finding Bigfoot Episode. He is the owner of Bigfoot Books and the editor of BIGFOOT'S bLOG. We are big fans of his blog and have huge respect for his "tell-it-like-it-is" style (see Bigfoot Wars Pt. II).

Below is a short excerpt from his experience. His post sheds some light on what we had wished they would have spent more time on in the episode. After the excerpt jump to his post!

And, by the way, we have REDISCOVERED the PATTERSON-GIMLIN FILM SITE, or so it seems, and we have documented it. Yes, that means we have found the big trees and the stumps, and will almost certainly be able to re-trace the creature's track-way as in the film. That news is going to be coming out slowly here on this blog. I've also been posting on the MUNNS REPORT thread on the BIGFOOT FORUMS. It looks absolutely certain, to me anyway, that we have indeed found the site. So, stay tuned for yet more BLUFF CREEK FILM SITE PROJECT. (See under "Favorites" through this link.) It should be said here and now that the film crew were on the right spot, as identified by Bob Gimlin, but the recreation shown in the show was done down on the gravel bar edge of the creek for better filming. The ACTUAL film site is back on the elevated sand bar BEHIND where you see Bobo walking. That is not the true track-way of the creature seen in the PGF.

Read the Rest at BIGFOOT'S bLOG