2010 Countdown, 10 days of Appreciation: Day 02 Cliff Barackman

We want to spend the final days of 2010 appreciating those who have supported us this year. Three years ago, we could of never hoped for this much success. Our only goal was to search, dig and find the most topical Bigfoot news, make a modest mark and if we were lucky contribute value to the community.

We will save the last day for our fans, without your tips comments and suggestions we wouldn't have the mass appeal we have. For now, we would like to recognize Cliff Barackman.



Hands down. No one has taught us more about the 'Squatch then Cliff Barackman. His approach that there are no absolutes and multiple possibilities enables him to have an encyclopedic knowledge of Sasquatch theories at the tip of his tongue.

In a single sitting he can share any trait attributed to Sasquatch and credit where the data came from. When your out in the field with him, its even better. Cliff has been a great supporter of Bigfoot Lunch Club and we would like to thank him by listing his most popular blog posts of all time.

Thank you Cliff for making this one of the greatest years ever.

McKenzie River Footage Investigation: Preliminary Report

BackgroundOn Saturday June 28, 2008 three men set out to make a fly fishing video on the Upper McKenzie River in the Willamette National Fo...

Mike Greene's Thermal Video

Last Spring, I was overjoyed to find out that Mike Greene, a good bigfooting friend of mine, managed to obtain video footage of a sasquatch ...

McKenzie River Footage: An Unfolding Investigation

When Matt Moneymaker and I were in Pennsylvania at the end of August, he received a voicemail indicating that new possible footage of a sasq...

Back to Silver Star Mountain

The photographs purportedly showing a sasquatch on the top of Silver Star Mountain in southern Washington State have been weighing heavily o...

Kapre Sighting in the Philippines

About a week and a half ago, I was out with a friend enjoying a beverage. A tall man sitting nearby joined our conversation, which eventua...

"Strange Days with Bob Saget" Gets a New Premiere Date

I recently reported the premiere of "Strange Days with Bob Saget" on this blog.  As it turns out, the network changed its mind and bu...

Martian Bigfoot

Not being one to lie about bigfoot stuff, I found it difficult to find a suitable April Fool's post.  I think this will do the trick in...

Sandy River Project Site #1 Update

If you are a regular visitor to this blog or my website, you know I am monitoring two properties east of Portland, OR. I recently received w...

The Chehalis Project

A decade ago, a sighting report was submitted to the BFRO that started a two-year effort to obtain photographs of sasquatches that seemed to...

EXTERNAL LINKS
Cliff's Cast Impression Database
Cliff's North American Bigfoot Site
Cliff's North American Bigfoot Blog

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Our First Post ever on Cliff
A good Week for Cliff Barackman

2010 Countdown, 10 days of Appreciation: Day 01 Toby Johnson

We want to spend the final days of 2010 appreciating those who have supported us this year. Three years ago, we could of never hoped for this much success. Our only goal was to search, dig and find the most topical Bigfoot news, make a modest mark and if we were lucky contribute value to the community.

We will save the last day for our fans, without your tips comments and suggestions we wouldn't have the mass appeal we have. For now, we would like to recognize Toby Johnson.



We know Toby has learned cloning technology and refuses to share with the rest of us. Without duplicating himself, there is no way one man could have accomplished as much as he did during the first annual Oregon Sasquatch Symposium. We know he had help, but no one can deny how much he put into the event himself.

He's on his way towards the 2nd annual symposium and, trust us, we will have more info on that as we get closer to the event.

Toby was our gateway drug to bigfooting community, when we began our blog we had only read about other Bigfooters, because of Toby we were able to meet them, talk to them, drink beer with them! And of course talk Squatch.

Thanks Toby for being a friend of Bigfoot Lunch Club. We salute you. We will see you at next years 2nd Annual Oregon Sasquatch Symposium.

Check out next years line up below!

BETH HEIKKINEN
Beth Heikkinen is an independent researcher living in the Pacific NW. Beth's first daytime sighting happened 50 miles from her home. Since that time, and with the help of wonderful people, her background now includes tacking, backpacking and hiking.

LEE TRIPPETT
In the nearly 50 years of active research regarding the Sasquatch phenomena, Lee has come to the conclusion that Sasquatch has a very unique form of conscience reference; such as "There is an awareness for play, exploration, hunting/gathering, safety and shelter...a intuition compared to our need for reasoning. In addition, their ability for focused coherent emotional energy and ability to manipulate the high density subtle energy of a remarkable conscious universe. Also known by quantum as the intelligence invisible energy field that is independent of time, space and form."

THOM POWELL
Thom authored a book about Sasquatch research entitled "The Locals" which was described by reviewer Lisa Kearns as, "a brilliant combination of science and storytelling". His was the first book to suggest many fairly radical ideas that have since been endorsed by many contemporary researchers, such as habituation, infrasound, paranormal elements, human levels of intelligence in the Sasquatch, awareness of cameras, and much more.

HENRY FRANZONI
Henry made the very first Bigfoot websites on the Internet and also helped many currently notable footers build their websites/databases and moderated the first Bigfoot newsgroup and the first Bigfoot email discussion group...to which Henry is stated as saying, "I apologize for that, please forgive me."

DR. MATTHEW JOHNSON
On July 1, 2000, Dr Johnson and his family ran into a Sasquatch about one mile up the mountain from the Oregon Caves National Monument Park. Since their encounter, Dr Johnson has led numerous research expeditions surrounding the Oregon Caves as well as near Grants Pass, Oregon. His encounter and subsequent research expeditions have helped him to become a sensitive listener to others who've had encounters and need someone to talk to. Dr. Johnson also works through the issue of PTSD with the witness, a process he deeply understands.

RON MOREHEAD
He is best known for his audio evidence of indistinguishable vocalization, known as The Sierra Sounds. The Sierra Sounds Volume #1 "Bigfoot Recordings" is a selection of audio clips captured by Morehead, that reveal very clear Bigfoot vocalizations captured on a crisp night at a remote wilderness camp.

SCOTT NELSON
Nelson is retired U.S. Navy Cryptologic Technician Interpreter (Crypto-Linguist), and he worked for Naval Intelligence, logging thousands of hours of collection and transcription of voice communications.

BOB GIMLIN
Expected Guest of Honor.

EXTERNAL LINKS
Oregon Sasquatch Symposium
Buy OSS tickets and T-Shirts now!

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Our Coverage of Last Years Symposium

Utne Reader: The Meaning of the Yeti and Sasquatch

We like it when "outsiders," standing on the precipice, respectfully peak into our Bigfoot community. The idea and notion one can fall in love with the pursuit and wonder of Sasquatch without jumping in with both feet is, to us, a beautiful thing.

This is the case with David Doody's Utne Reader article. It is nice to have one of these high brow literary types view us from the precipice with respect and delight.

The Meaning of the Yeti and Sasquatch
12/15/2010 5:18:01 PM
by David Doody
I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for a Bigfoot story. The idea that there is something that might be avoiding the long hand of scientific scrutiny makes my day. I smile when I hear of a new frog or monkey out there. But, it’s bitter sweet, as any new discovery reminds me that soon there really will be no place on this planet to hide.

Frank Bures, writing for Minnesota Monthly, comes to the same conclusion in his article “The Search for Sasquatch.” Bures’ desire to believe in such a thing as a “9-foot-tall monkey” led him into the north woods of Minnesota, along with 41 other fellow Bigfoot explorers, to try to prove what no one else has proved before. But through the course of his adventures Bures realizes that proof of discovery would mean one less magical thing left out there, away from human touch.

[W]hat would happen if we actually found Bigfoot?...

I felt a wave of sadness sweep over me at the thought. The reason I had always loved the idea of Bigfoot was that, if he was real, it meant the world still contained mysteries, things that were yet unknown and maybe even unknowable. It meant the woods were still big and dark enough to harbor something like Sasquatch. Bigfoot was like a hairy wood sprite loping through my dreams—the spirit of the wild! Find him and, well, he’d be just another monkey.

Across the globe another writer, Ben Judah, delves into the Romit Valley in Tajikistan in search of the Yeti. Like Bures in northern Minnesota, Judah meets many avid believers. Two hunters tell him, “He has wool, black wool, and these breasts…” and “Oh yes, I was up in the glade, and he attacked my donkey. It was very frightening. He looked like a wild man—or a clever monkey.”

Whereas Bures is left with a feeling of wonder when contemplating Bigfoot’s existence, Judah has a slightly different take away:

Living close to nature, without thorough schooling, peasants have always been frightened of the mythical wild man. In the 18th century, the oppressed central European peasantry was gripped by a terror of aristocratic vampires in the run-up to the French Revolution.

The hysteria raged for a generation. Thousands of sightings were reported. Villages swore by Christ they knew what they had seen. The Austro-Hungarian Empress Maria Theresa was concerned enough to dispatch her personal physician to investigate whether or not vampires existed. They were not real, but poverty, oppression, ignorance and superstition were.

With political reform across the continent in the 19th century, the swarms of fairies, Woodwose, beasts and ghosts that had inhabited European minds for centuries slowly faded away. But in Romit, I touched a living myth.

Judah begins his essay by telling us that “Dushanbe is not a real city. It isn’t a real capital and Tajikistan is not a real country.” That, in the end, is really what his story is about. He does not expect to find an ape-like creature towering over him in the mountains of Tajikistan. Rather, Judah is trying to figure out why people believe in things that are so clearly made up.

In the end, these stories are doing different things—both great in their own way and both highly entertaining. As for me, I think I’ll continue to hope that there are new frogs and cats out there, as well as something that might have gotten stuck somewhere on the evolutionary path between monkeys and us.

Image by Bob Doran, licensed under Creative Commons.

External Links
SRC: Utne Reader
Minnesota Monthly: The Search for Sasquatch
Standpoint: Tajikistan: In Search of the Yeti