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| George Haas pioneer of disseminating Bigfoot news and research |
In 1969 on January 2nd George Haas, the organizer, archivist, and spokesman of the Bay Area Group of Bigfoot investigators, publishes the first issue of The Bigfoot Bulletin a two-page newsletter that allowed Bigfoot researchers to actually compare and share notes.
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| A diagram of a Bigfoot hand trap, the type of ideas you would see in The Bigfoot Bulletin |
The Bigfoot Bulletin was a new kind of venture in North American hominology, much approved at the time both by René Dahinden and John Willison Green. In Fact one chapter of Green's Year of the Sasquatch (1970) is devoted to that newsletter. Green writes:
One of the most significant developments of the year 1969, at least from a Sasquatch hunter's point of view, was the birth of an unassuming little publication called the Bigfoot Bulletin. For years people who were spending their spare time and money running down Sasquatch reports have talked about the need for a means of communication, but none ever did anything about it. Some kept in fairly regular contact by letter, but others did little or no writing, only dropping in during their travels or telephoning at intervals that might be years apart. Quite a few didn't know that anyone else was active in the field at all.
The man who changed all that is George Haas, of Oakland, California. George has worked at a variety of outdoor jobs and has been a keen woodsman for many years, but he got into the Sasquatch business via the bookshelf. From correspondence with George I know that his experience included a period as Ranger in Charge of the Calaveras Big Trees State Park in California and six years in Yellowstone National Park where he designed, built, and operated an 18-acre reforestation nursery.As someone who has been blogging about Bigfoot since 2007, I am reminded of my hard-copy predecessors. Men like George Haas, Ray Crow, and Mike Rugg; men who were compelled by research and were interested in sharing as much insight on Bigfoot as possible. These Bigfoot newsletters were made with typewriters, scissors, paste and are still impressive today.
The first issue of the Bigfoot Bulletin came out on January 2, 1969. It was just two mimeographed pages. The first item reported the finding of 16-inch tracks in the snow on the Bluff Creek Road, December 2, 1968. Most of the rest of the first page listed published articles on the subject in current papers and magazines, but on Page 2 was an article by Jim McClarin, who has continued to be the Bulletin's most prolific contributor. It was the first of a series of old-time stories to reach a modern audience in the Bulletin.
Despite its growth in size and circulation, George Haas has continued to distribute it (the Bulletin) free of charge, as well as handling an ever-growing volume of correspondence resulting from it.
A number of Sasquatch hunters are basically more inclined to compete than co-operate — because they each want to be the first to bring one in. From this point of view some already object to the Bulletin as making too much hard-won information available at no cost and no effort to anyone who comes along. But for those whose main interest is to see the facts brought home to a doubting world, the Bigfoot Bulletin is an undiluted blessing. No one can buy the Bulletin. It is sent only to those who contribute information.
Click the following link to see the Bigfoot Bulletin archives
You can also buy archives of Ray Crows newsletter, "The Track Record."
