Today in Bigfoot History | JAN 16, 2002 | Prints Found Near Skinny Bigfoot Sighting

Photograph of a possible track found by Ray Crowe Near Skinny Bigfoot Sighting

"very, very skinny, 9 foot tall, hairy man" --Linda Boydson's description of what she saw on January 9th and later reported on January 16th.

Today, January 16th, 2002, Wireless Flash Weird News reports a sighting of a "skinny" Bigfoot standing in the middle of the freeway:

Wireless Flash Weird News: January 16, 2002

Bony Bigfoot Almost Street-Meat

MULTNOMAH FALLS, Ore. (Wireless Flash) -

An Idaho family recently had a run-in with a Bigfoot that almost turned into a run-over - as in road kill. Linda Boydson claims she and her son came within inches of running over an unusually-thin Bigfoot while driving near Multnomah Fall, Oregon. Boydson says she was zooming around a corner on the freeway late one night and saw a "very, very skinny, 9 foot tall, hairy man" standing in the slow lane. She barely missed hitting the creature - probably because it was so skinny. However, despite being super-thin, Boydson doesn't think the Sasquatch was bulimic because it looked as muscular as a well-toned athlete. However, Boydson admits her first thought when she saw how bony the Bigfoot looked was "Go eat something, Sasquatch!"

In the January 2002 Track Record, issue #113, Ray Crow of the International Bigfoot Society wrote about the investigation he and Thom Powell did. You can read the report below.

Multnomah County, Oregon
January 9th, 2002

On 1-84, westbound lane, about 3-4 miles west of Multnomah Falls, between, mile markers 26 and 27. Driving 65-70 mph, when the 7-8 foot tall creature was seen by Jason Boydston, and his mother Linda, who was driving, at 9:15 PM.

Creature crossed in front of car toward railing on freeway to the right, as if it was heading toward the Columbia River.

She nearly hit it, missing by two feet. It was dark and overcast when the creature crossed swiftly, swinging its arms.

It had broad shoulders, skinny waist, and was completely covered in dark brown hair, and had a rounded, dome shaped head.

On January 13th myself (Ray Crowe) and wife Theata investigated the area at milepost 28, where there was a place along the freeway to park the car. Underneath an overpass there was access to the Columbia River and I did a brief survey.

Four tracks were found, one filled with silt as if the tide had receded (tides recorded upstream as far as Beacon Rock by Lewis and Clark in 1804), another seven inch impression was photographed three feet away. It was one and a quarter inches deep, and appeared to have killed plant growth.

Another three feet away, a skidded track was noted that also killed plant life.

A fourth possible track, more of a mark, was noted another three feet away. All appeared to be coming from the river and following the bank eastward.

As I walked the riverbank, Theata made a car count, noting there were about 18 vehicles a minute westbound at 3:00 pm along this busy section of the freeway on Sunday afternoon.

At 9:15 pm on a Wednesday weeknight traffic has been somewhat lighter. Even at 3 pm...there were occasional breaks in traffic when I might have crossed the freeway walking rapidly.

UPDATE: In the comments below, Author Thom Powell mentioned there are more details about this story to be found in his popular  book, "The Locals." We wanted to make sure you knew where to get your signed copies of this book at ThomSquatch.com!

Looking to Travel the Columbia River Gorge? Check out Columbia River Gorge lodging and Columbia River Gorge attractions.

Today in Bigfoot History | JAN 15, 2003 | 3 Day British Bigfoot Expedition

The British Bigfoot posing in front of the Union Jack

"I have seen the beast!" -- Jon Downes after a 3 day expedition searching for the British Bigfoot

Today, January 15th, in 2003, Jon Downes ventured out to  Bolam Lake to investigate an encounter reported by three fishermen earlier in the month. Mr. Downes with five other members of the Twilight Worlds Paranormal Research Group left for the area near the lake and three of the members saw the British Bigfoot.

Nick Redfern recounts the Jon Downes experience as well as the fishermen's encounter that proceeded it in an article for FATE magazine in 2005. You can read the excerpt below:

 "In an article published in the North of England Evening Chronicle of January 6, 2003, it was stated: "A yeti with glowing eyes is living in a North East park, according to a fisherman's tale. A report on a website dedicated to hunters of the Yeti and his Big Foot buddy carries details of three encounters between the half-ape creature and three pals.  

          

        "They tell how they spend hours in Bolam Lake near Belsay, Northumberland, pike fishing late at night. But their tranquility was disturbed on one fishing trip by a catch they did not expect to make. The anonymous writer tells how he was between his friends Neil and Nathan walking on a wooden path back to the car park, just after midnight. "About halfway along the path I turned around to talk to Nathan. He was further back along the path, picking his bag up off the track. Behind him, standing in the middle of the track, was a dark figure. The light was moonlight and shining through the trees.'  

          

        "The others did not see it at first until he pointed it out to them. He said it was "a dark figure, looked about eight feet tall, heavy built, its eyes, or what seemed to be its eyes, glowed in the darkness. We ran, top speed, all the way back to the car.' "  

          

        Interestingly, the newspaper revealed that during the previous March, a similar creature had been seen on a hill close to the remains of an Iron Age settlement near the park's boundary. On January 15, 2003, Jon Downes headed to Bolam to conduct a firsthand investigation of the sightings. Four days later, he telephoned me: "I have seen the beast, " he said quietly and with a degree of fear and trepidation in his voice. It transpired that Jon and five members of a local research group, the Twilight Worlds Paranormal Research Group, were on watch at Bolam Park the previous evening as darkness began to fall. Suddenly "something " appeared that defied all explanation, said Jon. He and three of the group only caught a glimpse of it for the briefest of moments, but the fast-moving creature was around eight feet tall, three feet wide, and dark in color.  

          

        Although lost in the failing light and the trees, Jon was able to determine that the "creature " seemed to be without real form and, incredibly, one-dimensional in appearance.  

You can read the Nick Redfern's full article about other British Bigfoot encounters at Bigfoot Encounters.

Today in Bigfoot History | JAN 14, 2001 | Bigfoot Compels More Scientists

How we picture Sasquatch being welcomed by academia

Today in 2001, Theo Stein of the Denver Post wrote an article originally titled, "Not All Scientists Doubt Bigfoot Now." it was later retitled when it was archived as, "Legend of Bigfoot put to test,
Mounting evidence gives many reason to believe."

The headline may have changed due to the push back from Science Frontiers magazine. We will get to that a little bit later.

Overall the Denver Post article listed a few Colorado Bigfoot hotspots, but it mostly centered around the premise that respected scientist were gaining interest in studying the Bigfoot phenomena:

An eclectic assortment of scientists and academics is testing the proposition that Bigfoot isn't a myth but an ice age survivor that has managed to persist just outside the vision of Western science. Drawing on each other's disciplines, these researchers are sharing information and applying sophisticated forensic techniques as never before.

As the article continues, it focuses on an Idaho State University professor named Jeff Meldrum.

One of the few academic Bigfoot researchers is physical anthropologist Jeff Meldrum, an Idaho State University professor who has examined hundreds of claimed footprints from Bigfoot, also called Sasquatch in the Northwest. Many he has rejected as hoaxes, others as misidentifications. But more than 100, he said, represent the trace of an unknown animal with a big, flat foot and five toes.

Meldrum's lab in Pocatello is crammed with typical academic paraphernalia. Posters of evolutionary trees festoon the walls, rubber models of ape feet and hands sit in a cabinet. Bulging bookshelves, charts and cabinets sit full of papers relating to his main area of study of how our stiff, stub-toed running foot evolved from the flexible, grasping ape foot of our distant ancestors.

Rather than simply an enlarged human foot, Meldrum said, the Sasquatch foot displays a unique combination of recognizably different anatomic features to solve the problem of two-footed locomotion. The result is a proportionally wider, flatter appendage with long, flexible toes and a spring-loaded, ape-like hinge in place of our stiff arch.

"This animal's little toe is about the same length as my little finger," he said, holding his hand up against the side of one of his casts. "This toe probably has the same grasping ability as my finger, too."

The entire article reads differently depending on the headline, once the headline was softened it seems to be a balance of scientific Bigfoot advocates with a sprinkle of skepticism. Michael Shermer, publisher of the magazine Skeptic is quoted as saying, "If you believe in Bigfoot, you most likely believe in the Loch Ness monster, the lost continent of Atlantis, whatever."

Science Frontiers had a highly critical response to Theo Stein, based on the initial headline, "Not All Scientists Doubt Bigfoot Now." Besides chiding Mr. Stein's approach to listing Colorado hotspots, Science Frontiers also argues that science will never be compelled by the current evidence:

Surely, this is enough to convince everyone of Bigfoot's reality. Not so! To recognize Bigfoot officially scientists must have a living specimen, a corpse, or at least a good skeleton. They do not.

You can read the entire Denver Post article at Bigfoot Encounters. Even better, you can read Science Frontiers response there too.