Melissa Hovey Billed as the #1 Female Bigfoot Researcher in the Country

Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo Bills Melissa Hovey as the Number One
 Female Bigfoot Researcher in the Country (click pic to enlarge)

The above is an edited and cropped screen shot from the official Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo page. Recently the The Post-Journal, a paper based in Jamestown, New York, announced the inaugural Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo set for May 4-6 in Mayville. We provide an excerpt below and a list of the speaker line up.

Expo To Discuss Bigfoot Sightings Event Set For May 4-6 In Mayville
April 22, 2012
The Post-Journal
MAYVILLE - The inaugural Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo will take place May 4-6 at the Chautauqua Suites.

Melissa Hovey, one of the speakers coming to the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo and one of the leading female bigfoot researchers in the country, has defended herself against a copyright infringement of a photograph she owns and has copyright of a Bigfoot picture she will show publicly at The Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo. [You will want to read Bigfoot Lunch Club's exclusive Melissa Hovey Photo Coverage]

Hovey will discuss at the Expo the emotional turmoil a witness to a Bigfoot sighting can go through, and the toll such an experience can and does have on the personal and professional lives of people who are simply talking about being witness to something they can't explain.
This turmoil and fear of has touched upon a number of eyewitnesses that have come forward to Peter Wiemer, Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo chairman, in telling and emailing him about their personal eyewitness sightings here in Western New York.

"They are remaining anonymous, because of their genuine fear of being ridiculed and the fear of being outcast by their peers and professions," Wiemer said in a news release...

...Events open to the public include a town hall-type meeting on May 4; a Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Golf Championship at WoodCrest Golf Course at 9 a.m. May 5; and a Bigfoot Expedition in the early evening on May 5.

The event culminates with the Expo on May 6, which will also include a Bigfoot Poster Contest for children and adults.

For more information, visit ChautauquaLakeBigfoot.com.

The line-up of the four speakers from the article is below (these are the same bios that are pulled directly from the speaker line up at ChautauquaLakeBigfoot.com.

Wildlife expert and educator Larry Batson and his wife, Cheryl, have appeared on television shows and traveled around the country with their wildlife show. They have rescued animals ranging from baboons to snakes to large felines and travel to many schools and public events educating children and adults on the natural history of wild animals. Batson will speak both May 5 and 6, and will have some of his animals with him.

Sasquatch expert says creature is alive and well in U.S. wilderness
Read more: www.vcstar.com

Melissa Hovey is a paralegal and Bigfoot researcher from Ohio. She is the president of the American Bigfoot Society. Melissa is also a member of Sasquatch Watch of Virginia, and a former member of the TBRC. Since beginning her research in 2005, Ms. Hovey has started her own blog and forum entitled "The Search for Bigfoot." In 2007, she began co-hosting Internet radio shows starting with "Let's Talk Bigfoot," then she joined, "The Sasquatch Experience," with Sean Forker in February 2008. In June 2008, she began co-hosting a new program on Blogtalk radio, with Monica Rawlins, her friend and former TBRC board member and field researcher, called, "The Grey Area." Ms. Hovey was also featured on the all-female expedition episode of the History Channel's "MonsterQuest" titled, "Bigfoot" during the show's first season.

Billy Willard is president of an environmental consulting firm. He oversees various types of environmental assessment and cleanup projects such as leaking underground petroleum tanks, environmental site assessments and soil and groundwater remediation. He is an OSHA hazwoper supervisor and holds many other credentials. He became interested in the Bigfoot phenomena early in life as a child after watching such movies as the "Legend of Boggy Creek" and the "Creature From Black Lake." In 2005, Wilard and his son Josh formed Sasquatch Watch of Virginia. Billy is vice president of the American Bigfoot Society, a director for The Alliance of Independent Bigfoot Researchers, member of the Northeast Sasquatch Researchers Association and a member of the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society.

In addition, Willard used to host an Internet radio program every Monday night at 9 p.m. on the Blogtalk Radio Network called "Sasquatch Watch Radio." Each week he has guests from around the world that include Bigfoot researchers and eyewitnesses. The shows are archived and available for listening.

Steve Kulls began his quest in 1998 seeking knowledge from other researchers in the field. Kulls said he believes in a "boots on the ground" methodology of obtaining evidence for or against, evidence regarding the Sasquatch mystery. Kulls said he has had five sightings in the last 12 years and a handful of what he describes as "most likely, close encounters" with the creatures, after initially entering the field quite skeptical. Kulls has appeared internationally on television, radio and in print as well as appearing on the History Channel's "MonsterQuest" series (Bigfoot in New York) and on the NatGeo Channel's "The Truth Behind" series (The Truth Behind: The Loch Ness Monster).