Bigfoot: Lost Coast Tapes Director Talks Bionic Man, Wildboy and In Search of

Three Bigfoot; The Lost Coast Tapes, The Bionic Man's Nemesis, and Wildboy's companion

The Lost Coast Tapes is one of four Bigfoot "found footage" films released this year. The other three titles are Exist, Bigfoot County, and the internationally award-winning film The Woodsman.

In an interview published October 13th , 2012, MovieWeb talks to Bigfoot: Lost Coast Tapes director, Corey Grant. Our favorite part of the interview is where Grant talks about Bigfoot in popular culture referencing Leonard Nimoy's In Search of, The Bionic Man's Bigfoot, and Sid & Marty Krofft's Bigfoot and Wildboy. Below is an excerpt of grant reminiscing about these various Bigfoot, including his own approach to his movie's Bigfoot.

So you probably grew up with In Search Of, in an era when Bigfoot was fairly new, and pretty scary to kids of our generation.

Corey Grant: I am such a fan of In Search of..., and I loved Bigfoot on The Six Million Dollar Man! (Laughs)

He was kind of a weird dude, that ol' Bigfoot on the Six Million Dollar Man...

Corey Grant: (Laughs) My friends and I have probably watched that clip on Youtube a million times. We are reminiscing and laughing, because we didn't know how funny this thing was at the time.

Did you have the Bigfoot doll? He was like a weird looking stoner from Jersey with a 70s 'stache and a very hairy chest. He had the creepiest eyes...

Corey Grant: (Laughs) Actually, I did have that doll. I also had Steve Austin and the truck...}

And they would drive around and have adventures together behind the couch. I know what you're about. I see where this movie is coming from!

Corey Grant: (Laughs) Yeah!

What about Bigfoot and Wild Boy? That had to be around the same time as The Six Million Dollar Man, but not as many people remember Bigfoot and his pet human Wild Boy...

Corey Grant: No, I haven't really seen too many Bigfoot movies, to be honest with you. I remember seeing something when I was about six or seven. I don't know what it was. But it freaked me out about Bigfoot. I haven't really seen anything since then. I did see Harry and the Hendersons, but that was completely different.

You should look up Bigfoot and Wild Boy. It's from the Kroffts, the guys that did HR Pufnstuf and Sigmund the Seamonster. It was about this kid that was left in the woods as a baby. Bigfoot raised him, and they became this superhero team.

Corey Grant: Are you serious?

Yeah, it was craziness!

Corey Grant: I want to see that!

There have been so many different bigfoots over the years. What went into crafting the look of your particular Bigfoot?

Corey Grant: We had a guy who created a design for us early on. But we had to go with the Jaws approach, where its more affective the less you see of the body. You see glimpses. But you don't really see the details. Where I think a lot of people go wrong, unless you are really intent on spending a lot of time and effort in getting this right...Every movie has a different look for Bigfoot, and when they just put it out there, I think it loses the audience.

Read the entire interview at MovieWeb.com 

NY Dept of Environmental Conservation: Do not Harm Bigfoot

Is Bigfoot protected by the shield of the
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation?

"..you and others are free to pursue Big Foot for the purpose of documenting their existence provided none are harmed..." -- Mark Kandel, Regional Wildlife Manager, NYSDEC - Region 9

In a press release yesterday (10-22-2012) Peter Wiemer, of the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo, announced, "Bigfoots / Sasquatches are a Protected Species per the New York State DEC..."

This is based on a letter to Peter Wiemer signed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC). Huffington Post ran an article disputing the claim, we received a copy of the letter written from the NYDEC to Peter Wiemer today. Please read below.

Mr. Weimer,
    I am responding for Commissioner Martens to your recent e-mail requesting protection for "Big Foot" or "Sasquatch". This is also a follow up to our recent phone conversation regarding the same. As discussed on the phone, the DEC does not recognize the occurrence of Big Foot in the state, therefore it is not addressed directly in our hunting regulations. Because it is not addressed there is no open season on Big Foot and they may not be taken. We are confident that the current laws and regulations afford adequate protect for Big Foot if one were to be found in NY.
    Under the current laws and regulations you and others are free to pursue Big Foot for the purpose of documenting their existence provided none are harmed and you abide by the laws and regulations pertaining to trespass on private property and use of public lands. For information on the use of DEC managed lands see our website, www.dec.ny.gov.
    I hope this response addresses your concern. Please feel free to contact me if I can be of any further assistance.
MK

Mark Kandel
Regional Wildlife Manager
NYSDEC - Region 9
182 East Union Street
Allegany, NY 14706
Phone (716) 372-0645
FAX    (716) 372-2113
mxkandel@gw.dec.state.ny.us

Protected species? Maybe not, but depending how you look at it, Bigfoot does seem to be protected by default because the NYDEC does not recognize Bigfoot as occurring in the state. Even if they do not recognize the occurrence Bigfoot, the dept. does seem to acknowledge that Bigfoot do occur, especially when they give permission to "...pursue Big Foot for the purpose of documenting their existence provided none are harmed..." You could argue that the letter proactively forbids any harm coming to Bigfoot.

Below is the full Press Release provided to us from Peter Wiemer:

For immediate release:
October 22, 2012
New York State Hunters – Bigfoots / Sasquatches are a Protected Species per the New York State DEC…

Peter Wiemer, of the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo, requested in a letter dated July 29, 2012 to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Martens to enact a non hunting regulation of Bigfoots in New York State.

The NYS DEC official response made by Mark Kandel on the Commissioner’s behalf, stated, “the DEC does not recognize the occurrence of Big Foot in the state, therefore it is not addressed directly in our hunting regulations. Because it is not addressed there is no open season on Big Foot and they may not be taken.” By not being listed in the hunting syllabus of NYS, any non-listed species then becomes a Protected Species per my phone conversation with Mark Kandel said Peter Wiemer.

Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, are large human like beings covered in hair and standing upwards of eight to ten feet tall. Steve Kulls, a Bigfoot researcher from the Adirondacks, NY reported at the Expo that the first documented sighting of a Bigfoot in the USA was in Sackets Harbor, NY in 1818. This, along with many other documented sightings in NYS over the years, has raised the interest level in Bigfoot as well as in protecting these beings from being mistakenly hunted for sport or food as being allowed in the State of Texas.

“With Deer season opening in NYS as well as from the point of tourism and the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo, we wanted to find out for sure if Bigfoots could be hunted and killed in NYS. With the DEC’s reply, we wanted to inform the hunters from or visiting New York State in leaving no doubt as to the killing of a Bigfoot is illegal according to the NYS DEC’s current hunting laws. Accordingly, the same goes for other species like Panthers, Mountain Lions and more, which are also not listed for hunt thus being a protected species in NYS, said Peter.”

Peter Wiemer, an award winning special events director, created the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo because of his genuine belief in Bigfoots as well as the popularity of Bigfoot inspired TV shows. The Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo was written up in the August 2013 issue of Convene Magazine, and is currently the only Bigfoot convention in New York State.

On Friday, October 12th, 2012, “Finding Bigfoot”, Animal Planet’s number one rated TV show held a Town Hall Meeting in Lafayette, PA, one county South and East of Chautauqua county for a show in their upcoming season looking in the area of The Allegheny National Forest. “There were seven eyewitnesses to Bigfoot sightings from Chautauqua County who came forward to me in the months prior to our first Expo on May 6th, so it stands to reason that Bigfoots are also in the counties to the South of Chautauqua in Pennsylvania as well as to the North and East in New York State as being reported by eyewitnesses over the past two centuries.”

The 2nd annual Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Weekend & Expo is planned for April 26th, 27th & 28th, 2013. More information along with pictures and videos can be found at the Expos website.  

#   #   # 

Below is the excerpt from the Huffington Post article from the NYSEC perspective, although as you can see from the information above, it is not the full story.

In an email to The Huffington Post, Kandel denied that his department took any such action.

"New York State has taken no action with regard to listing or protecting Bigfoot," he said.

But sasquatches aren't without some legal protections, according to a previous email from Kandel to Wiemer which stated that, "there is no open season on Bigfoot and they may not be taken."

Mike Greene, of Thermal Bigfoot Footage Fame, Speaks in NC

Mike Green Captured a Bigfoot with a Thermal Camera

The Bigfoot Thermal video is still considered one of the most compelling videos in recent history.  Also known as the Squeaky Footage, due to the squeaky toy used to draw the Sasquatch in, this film was recorded by former EMT Mike Green.

Matt Moneymaker, co-host of the TV show Finding Bigfoot says of the video, "This is the most important footage of a Sasquatch since Paterson/Gimlin film taken over 40 years ago...”

Mike Green will be visiting the Archdale library to speak and answer question. You cane read the details below reprinted from the Courier Tribune. 

ARCHDALE — Bigfoot researcher Michael D. Greene will talk about his nationwide quest for the legendary beast at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2, at the Archdale Public Library, 10433 S. Main St., Archdale.

The event is free and the public is invited.

In search of Sasquatch, Greene has traveled from Bella Coola, British Columbia, to the Teslin River, Yukon Territory, to Bluff Creek, Calif., to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, to the Adirondack Mountains of New York state, Florida’s Everglades and to North Carolina, where he now makes his home near Salisbury. He has a thermal film image of what appears to be a Sasquatch moving through the North Carolina woods at night and in 2011 was filmed by an Animal Planet crew for the show “Finding Bigfoot.”

Greene has a master of science degree in behavioral psychology, is a court-qualified Questioned Documents Expert and for 20 years was Chief Investigator for a state fraud bureau.

He is a pilot and a former EMT and an 18-year member of the National Ski Patrol. When not “Squatching” he can be found sailing his catamaran “ALL I ASK” out of Norfolk, Va.

For more information, contact Jonathan Farlow at (336) 431-3811 or jfarlow@randolphlibrary.org.

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