A New Paradigm

  

 On the Ghost Theory website, Henry Patterson wrote:     

     Time to change things up a bit.     

     Thom Powell is a science teacher from Portland, involved in the search for Bigfoot not from the point of view of someone who has anything to prove, rather as someone who recognizes there are things in the world we do not know. He is also an author in this field, taking his research and creating fiction around it, basically changing names and places but telling the stories he has encountered and experienced as they are. Thom was one of my favorite speakers during the conference, in part because he proposes a different perspective on the field of research and has made some observations that others either have not or are not discussing.         

Not new among his thoughts is the idea that it is probably pointless to try to convince anyone else that there is an undiscovered primate resident in the world. This creature, if it indeed exists is notoriously shy, and undoubtedly intelligent enough to avoid humans. He was in agreement with several of the other presenters in the belief that Bigfoot seem to be aware of cameras, even to the point of removing trail cams from trees. Of course, the question does arise; What is the difference between a creature of which there are no confirmed photos because it avoids cameras, and a creature that is simply not there? While it is true there are no confirmed photos, there are photos of some merit, so you can decide on that one for yourself. 

     On the subject of photos, he has a few observations that are either so simple that no one has really bothered to say them and they offer a sort of “oh, yeah” moment, or possibly no one has seen them. Bigfoot are well adapted to their environment and blend into the background. They can be there and people present not see them at all, however, they show up later in photos and videos. Some portion of this can be explained away as Pareidolia, but not all. Of course as a result of this most photos and videos Bigfoot are taken by people who were not aware of the presence of the creature. Many of these are taken by children who are playing with dad’s camera? Is this because Bigfoot are curious about our children and more inclined to peek when they are around? Or do they just prefer “veal?” You Tube would now seem to be the medium of choice for propagation of such photos and videos, as well as the vast number of fakes and mis-identifications out there and as a result, no one cares.

     Footprints? Thom has his own collection

     Including a rare handprint visible in the upper right corner. He was also on the team that acquired the debated Skookum cast. It was at his suggestion that the team left out bait after an uneventful few days that resulted in the discovery of the cast.
     There is work being done in the field of Bigfoot communication (and an upcoming article on a presentation on that very subject) but a relatively new element to that research is the idea that Bigfoot use infrasound as part of their vocalization. We are all familiar with Ultrasound, coming from bats and marine mammals. We have even “decoded” some identifying elements of dolphin and whale communication. It was only 1984 that elephants were discovered to use infrasound, or sounds below the limit of human hearing at around 20 Hz. Infrasound carries over long distances and allows animals that employ it to keep in communication with each other without revelaing their presence to others who cannot hear it. Sound familiar?
     Ha, ha, “sound!” Get it.
     Oh well…
     Infrasound is certainly within the capabilities of Bigfoot, as will be indicated in the article on communication. If we believe the infrasound theory or not, there is communication of a sort that occurs. In one way the “Gifting” where humans will leave food, and return later to find objects, feathers being the most common, left in place of the food. Tree and rock knocking is another form of communication.
Thom relates a story in which he is visiting a couple who have reported Bigfoot raiding a freezer in a shed on their property. Demonstrating the noted shyness of cameras, when he placed a trail came to view the approach to that area, the raiding stopped and activity moved to another part of the property. He attempted to gain their attention by employing some tree knocking of his own, striking a tree in patterns of three knocks repeatedly over the course of a few hours he got no reply. Having to return home, he left very early in the morning to drive the four or so hours ahead of him. Upon returning home, getting out of his car he heard three knocks. Thom himself draws no conclusion from this, only proposes the idea that infrasound is known to carry long distances, as does tree knocking, and wonders if there is a “coconut telegraph” in operation among an intelligent creature with potentially higher intelligence than we might realize. Could it be a coincidence. Yes it could.
     On the stranger, and in my opinion less plausible side, in his investigations Thom has encountered individuals who claim to have had direct communication with Bigfoot at a level beyond crediting without believing in psychic phenomena. During his investigation of the same property where he placed trail cams, he met an individual unrelated to that investigation, in fact unaware of it, who claimed to have recurring communication with the creatures. Deciding to conduct an experiment he asked for a message to be relayed. Without revealing the location of his cameras (or revealing to the owners of the property that he had spoken to this other individual) he requested that one of the creatures please reveal itself to the camera. Two weeks later he was informed the message had been delivered. Two days later the result was a blob-squatch. Either the top of a head with the typical high conical profile, or the shadow of a head on the trees across the small clearing where the camera had been placed.
     Coincidence? Certainly possible. Proof of Bigfoot? No. For those of you following these articles I mentioned the idea that Bigfoot has a sense of humor in “gifting.” Well, as a next experiment Thom requested that could they please leave behind a specific object. One of the contentions among detractors is the lack of any sort of remains of a Bigfoot ever having been found. Thom requested a bone.
Two weeks later and the message had been delivered. Less than 48 hours later, discovered at the base of the tree where the trail cam was mounted, was a piece of bone.

     This bone had the shape of possibly a bit of cranium, or pelvis or scapula, but contained an odd honeycombed core like that of a bird. It was not easily identifiable so was sent off to study. Analysis of the fragment in question: breast bone of an Emu. Here is where things get muddy. Ten miles from the location of the cameras there was an emu farm where the birds are raised as meat animals. Apparently when the message was delivered it was not specified that the bone be of a deceased member of the species. I have to admit, while I would love to believe all of this, the fact that the emu farm was owned and operated by the father of one of the couple who owned the property that has been under surveillance does seem too much of a coincidence.
     Thom’s books are Shady Neighbors and The Locals and signed copies are available through his website. Whether you believe or not, if you are looking for an entertaining story about interactions with Bigfoot I would recommend them.
     (It was a pleasure to meet Henry Patterson, contributor to  www.ghosttheory.com , at the PNW Primal People Conference, in Richland, Washington.  And, thank you to Henry for writing such a great summary of my presentation on the Ghost Theory website, which I reprinted here.)

Shady Neighbors Takes Off

Ghetto children in Portland, Oregon, learning to read actual books

    Shady Neighbors, the fascinating novel by author Thom Powell, has taken off. This is the first book ever to combine the subjects of bigfoot and baseball, and reveal through an engaging story many of the hidden truths to the bigfoot phenomenon that have been collected over three decades of intensive field research. Shady Neighbors has been re-edited and greatly improved in response to reader feedback. Five star reviews are the norm and reader feedback is overwhelmingly positive. Requests for speaking engagements are numerous. Appearances by author Thom Powell are scheduled in Oregon for Portland,  Coos Bay, Library (April 15th), Richland, WA, and Gresham, Ore (in the Fall.). Radio interviews have been constant, the next one being Jeffrey Pritchett's  Paranormal Examiner show on April 9th.
     The Shady Neighbors saga began in 1996 when Ray Crowe published in his newsletter a sighting report out of Yacolt, Washington. In that issue of The Track Record, veteran field man and former Little League coach Larry Lund described an unusual sasquatch encounter back in 1979, in which a reddish brown sasquatch came out of the nearby forest and strode onto a baseball diamond during a game! It was broad daylight! The sun shone brightly, reflecting richly on the chestnut-colored coat of hair. The small crowd of spectating parents stared in stunned disbelief.  Someone called out to the creature and it fled. Later another sighting occurred near the field's concession stand.
     The very idea that a sasquatch would have any interest in the venerable American game of baseball, and even a Little League game, no less, was an idea that author Thom Powell knew right away would be a fantastic plot element for a novel. Over the next couple years, Powell worked on a manuscript.  Yet, as any aspiring novelist knows, there was still a huge amount of work to do if the rough manuscript was ever going to become a completed novel. The project stalled along the way and  the manuscript gathered dust on a shelf for over two years before Powell shared it with fellow author and sasquatch devotee, Joe Beelart.  Even in its rough form, Joe loved the story and encouraged Thom to see the project through to publication.  Shortly thereafter, Powell was enlisted to give a  bigfoot talk at a record store in Eugene, Oregon, with two other authors, Autumn Williams and her mom, Sali Sheppard.  Afterward, the trio of authors were discussing future projects and Sali offered her editing help to reinvigorate the stalled Shady Neighbors project. With brutal efficiency, Sali sharpened and improved Powell's slightly disjointed literary style. The Shady Neighbors novel was now vastly improved and the project was up on the front burner.
      After this complete rewrite, the real work began: proof reading for errors and inconsistencies, of which there were thousands.  Anyone who has ever tried to proof-read their own work knows how one's mind does not allow them to see minor mistakes when the same text has already been read multiple times.  Joe Beelart came to the rescue. He helped enlist numerous sasquatch experts and volunteer editors like Toby Johnson, musician Tom Yamarone, screenwriter Christopher Munch, author and writing teacher Kirk Sigurdsen, baseball coach Randy Schimmel, artist Karen Van Horn, librarian Lynn Strathman, artist Alicia Bateman, author Dmitri Bayanov, two very literate middle school students Iris Parshley, and Kendra Autumn, and especially Sarah Ross, the writing teacher in the classroom next door.  A cover was designed by graphic artist Guy Edwards, and with that the vastly-improved Shady Neighbors novel was ready for a beta-test on Amazon.com.  Feedback from  initial reviewers was very positive indeed, though one main criticism surfaced again and again: the book still had numerous typographical errors that were as elusive to author Thom Powell's scrutinizing eye as 'Bigfoot' himself.
       An experienced proof-reader was desperately needed, and in answer to his prayers,  along came a keen-eyed angel and experienced copy editor from San Diego named Molly Hart Lebherz. Molly carefully combed the tome, finally ferreting out over a hundred typographical errors.  This latest batch of corrections were eventually processed and a new, perfect edition of Shady Neighbors was now ready to roll off the Amazon presses.
      Author Thom Powell will be forever grateful to the entire team of celebrity editors who generously donated so much of their valuable time to this project.  The reading public is now invited to enjoy the fruits of so many people's literary labor. Truth be told, there is  no big money to be made in the publishing of this kind of niche literature that speaks to the bigfoot phenomenon.   Rather, the motivation for undertaking such a huge project came from a desire to create an entertaining story that also revealed some profound hidden truths.  These are truths that emerged over three decades of researching the bigfoot phenomenon.
      It all started with a bigfoot sighting on the baseball diamond.  That report led author Thom Powell to the revelation that baseball was indeed the perfect metaphor for the whole bigfoot phenomenon, for, like the bigfoot phenomenon, baseball appears at first to be a simple, almost silly game. Yet, the hidden complexities of both subjects, once revealed, become as enormous as they are profound.
     As Mickey Mantle once said, "When I first went pro, I couldn't believe how much I didn't know about a game I'd been playing all my life."  Mickey Mantle could just as well be talking about the sasquatch mystery and Shady Neighbors will show you why.
     Copies of Shady Neighbors can be obtained through Amazon.com, or you can order a signed copy directly from author Thom Powell by clicking here.

The London Tracks: Where Serendipity Met Synchronicity

Part of the London, Ore. trackway at sunrise

Serendipity (def.)- Accidental scientific discovery; specifically a discovery made while looking for something else.

       Max wasn't trying to find bigfoot, or even bigfoot evidence.  He was looking for an old car to buy.  He never found the car, but he did find some of the best bigfoot evidence ever discovered. Talk about serendipity.
      Max Roy, of Eugene, Oregon is an antique car buff.  He sometimes drives the rural roads around Eugene looking for old cars that he might buy and restore. Last Sunday, February 12th, Max was cruising the Weyerhauser-London Road south of Eugene looking for a car he could use for parts. He decided to stop alongside a reservoir to take a half-hour walk.  What ensued is one of the most remarkable combinations of serendipity and synchronicity that I have yet encountered.
     Max and headed for the trail when he encountered a pet owner who was coming the other way.  This unidentified gentleman cheerfully informed Max that, while he was walking his dog, he should keep an eye out for some bigfoot tracks a short distance up the trail.  Max knew a little bit about bigfoot.  He had seen the cable TV series and his interest was piqued by this unexpected invitation to inspect real evidence for himself.  The unidentified dog owner pulled out his cell phone and showed Max a photo he had taken.  Now Max knew what to look for.  Max headed down the trail and sure enough, he happened across three plainly visible large barefoot tracks. Later, that day, Max happened to tell his insurance agent and friend about the tracks he'd seen.
     The insurance agent's keen interest took Max completely by surprise. He insisted that this was a big deal.  Max needed to return to the site, he insisted,  with a camera and a ruler and get proper photographs.  It was this unexpected conversation that initiated yet another remarkable series of events.  Max went back and got the photo.  Then he decided to take his insurance agent's advice and put the photo in front of someone who might know what to do with the track find.  As it turned out, Max had a pretty good idea where he might find such a person.

Photo of the original track taken by Max Roy

      Being a career car salesman, Max always noticed people's cars, and one car in his neighborhood stood out when it came to bigfoot.  It was a black SUV that was decorated with stickers of bigfoot tracks. Surely, Max supposed, a person with bigfoot tracks all over his car would be interested in this track find. On his way home, Max detoured down the street where he'd seen the bigfoot car, but it wasn't there.  Later, he drove by again and saw the car, but the bigfoot tracks weren't on the car anymore. Still, being a 'car person' Max was certain it was the same car that had once been festooned with footprints. Max knocked on the door. A woman answered and Max explained the reason for his interruption.  The woman explained that the car used to belonged to her ex-husband, Toby Johnson, but now it was hers. She didn't care much about bigfoot evidence, but the polite woman assured Max that her ex, Toby, would be very interested. She gave Max Toby's number and, being a man of persistence and determination, Max continued his quest. He rang up Toby.  Now, ya gotta be impressed by any individual who would go so far out of his way for a situation like this that had no obvious personal benefit.  Eugene, Oregon, as it turns out, is full of people like that, and Max is one of them: community-oriented, alternative-minded folks who are very open to fringe ideas like 'bigfoot evidence'.
     Max later confessed that it was actually his insurance agent (and friend) who had impressed upon him the importance of this serendipitous discovery. Anyway, Max wasn't going to let his insurance agent down, and at last, Max had a bigfoot expert on the phone.  Soon after being alerted, Toby Johnson and his friend 'Tracker' were making their way south out of town toward the London Road.

Synchronicity (def.)- The coincidental occurrence of events that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality

     Sure enough, there were three exquisite seventeen inch tracks waiting for them right beside the walking path. Although they had no previous experience with casting bigfoot tracks, Toby and Tracker set about preserving the evidence of Bigfoot's passing.     Toby decided to call his buddy and casting expert Cliff Barackman for some casting advice. Meanwhile, Tracker took off on a whim to survey the surroundings and apply his tracking skills to resolve the question of exactly what this creature was doing when these tracks were made. What Tracker found next was beyond belief.  While searching the surrounding area, Tracker happened across a whole bunch more tracks.  There were over a hundred tracks in the mud of the exposed lake bed! They weren't the same size as the first tracks. It appeared as though a second, smaller creature had ventured across a broad expanse of fine-grained lake bed sediment. The scope of this track find just went from interesting to epic. Tracker dashed back to inform Toby. Toby got back in touch with Cliff, who was just leaving a school science fair where he was making a guest appearance.  Cliff jumped in his truck, got on the freeway,  and headed south out of Portland.
     It was now Thursday, Feb, 16th. Cliff cleared his schedule and headed 130 miles up the Willamette Valley toward Eugene and Cottage Grove. Toby also alerted Chris Minniear in Cheshire and John Bull of Eugene, and me. Cliff notifed Autumn Williams. I e-mailed a message to Jeff Meldrum.  Meanwhile, I was also pinned down at a school science fair (it's science fair season, you know).  Chris left Newport, purchased 200 pounds of hydrocal-white at a landscape supply place, and headed for the scene.  John, Chris, and Cliff converged on the scene and spent the entire night casting seventy prints.  Autumn Williams showed up and cast another. The team pulled seventy track from the scene before they ran out of plaster. At least thirty more tracks remained in the ground, gradually deteriorating by the combined forces of time and weather.. By late Friday, Guy Edwards, Beth Heikkenen, Toby Johnson, Tracker, and myself were back at the scene with more plaster.
      It was dark, windy, and raining when we arrived on the scene.  The wind was blowing away the covers that Toby had made for the tracks. Sticky mud caked thicker and thicker on our shoes with every step.  My flashlight batteries were fading.  There just wasn't the time to stand there and debate the question of whether the tracks were legitimate or not. We just had to get the evidence preserved before it washed away. In any case, I had already spoken with Cliff by phone and he was confident that the tracks were, in fact, the real deal. That was good enough for me. In some of the most adverse weather conditions imaginable, we put our chins down and got busy. We managed to cast the remaining thirty or so tracks.  (A detailed diagram of the track find can be viewed at Guy Edward's blog, Bigfoot Lunch Club.)

Beth Heikkenin (l.), Toby Johnson, and Guy Edwards casting tracks at night in a rainstorm

     It did occur to us as we worked in the wind and rain that this was not an ordinary track find. Usually, a track find consists of only one, or maybe two tracks.  We usually stand there debating the pros and cons of whether the one track is authentic. Then we casually mix a small batch of plaster, cast the best track, and shine on another one, if there is another one.  This job, on the other hand, was enormous. We didn't get excited, or even try to grasp the enormity of the situation.  There wasn't time for that.  We just worked until the job was done, at which time we were soaked to the bone, and covered in  mud. There was no jubilation, just exhaustion. Around midnight we crashed in a near by motel room, returning to the scene the next morning before dawn to take measurements, make photographs, and extract the now-cured casts from the sticky mud.
 

At sunrise, Toby Johnson compares his stride to the track casts


    Family obligations beckoned and as soon as we were through, Guy and I headed back down the valley toward Portland.   Beth and Toby stayed in the area and rested.  Tracker joined them and the trio headed back out into the surrounding woods in search of any other evidence that might corroborate the view that sasquatches were indeed circulating in the London area. For the next two nights the team penetrated logging spur roads under the direction of John Bull, the most experienced local field man. While they did not have any eyeball sightings, the experiences they had on those night investigations left absolutely no doubt in their minds that a group of sasquatches was in the area.
     One road they penetrated was so spooky that two of the five nocturnal investigators turned back before they got very far from the car.  Three remaining investigators, Toby, Beth, and Tracker, pressed on. While there was a vague uneasiness being felt by the group, their considerable experience with these night outings enabled them to forge ahead. They crept along without flashlights, for two miles up a long hill. They reached a darkened clearing at the crest of the hill when the group began to feel very ill-at-ease. As they stood there peering into the night, the feeling gradually became more intense. Soon, the trio was completely overcome.  Their legs simultaneously turned to jelly.  They couldn't stand up.  They fell to the ground and just lay there, face down on the dark, wet ground.  They had been rendered helpless in the face of forces they could not even see, much less understand.
     Toby asked me to emphasize that, at least for he and Beth, it was definitely not  fear that they were feeling.  He describes it as more like a feeling of awe and wonder. Based on previous experience, they knew what the source of the intense vibe was. There was no doubt in their mind that it was coming from a sasquatch. I think that there was a certain reassurance they derived from this knowledge and that made the situation more tolerable. Tracker, on the other had, had no prior experiences on which to draw from.  He had never experienced anyhting like this before and, for him, the vibe and the sudden powerlessness and vulnerability was much more frightening.
     Add to that the fact that Tracker was also the only one of the three that was wearing a sidearm.  One wonders whether that sidearm was perceived by the creatures they confronted.  It seems Tracker was the target of the most intensely debilitating vibe. Was the stronger feelings of terror Tracker was feeling due to his lack of previous experience or because he was armed and the creatures knew it? Now, there's a question sasquatch researchers can endlessly debate.
     In any case, the situation continued to evolve beyond the control of the group. Now the group was on the ground. Their skin tingled like they were being microwaved and they couldn't move.   Their emotions surged. This is what sasquatch field researchers (like Chris Noel in Vermont)  refer to as 'getting zapped', and boy did they get zapped!
     Their strength gradually returned, and they all felt very sleepy.  It was all they could do just to stay awake. They were eventually able to get back on their feet.  By now, they had had much more excitement than they bargained for.  They were clearly 'outgunned' and it was time for a strategic retreat. The slightly traumatized trio headed back down the long dark road toward their car. The fact that Toby and Beth had both experienced such bewildering events at least once before enable them to maintain some perspective and recover from this harrowing experience.  Tracker, being completely new to the sasquatch business, had no such previous experience.  The powerlessness of the whole matter caught Tracker completely by surprise and left him feeling particularly traumatized.
     As the trio descended the road, I just happened to ring Toby's cell phone.  They were still high enough on the hill to get cell coverage and Toby picked up.  He told me what just happened. "Yikes! Sounds like you guys just got zapped," I observed, with my usual knack for stating the obvious..
     "No doubt about it.  We just need some time to recover."
     I hung up.  I felt a bit sorry for them but I still couldn't help but smile. It may not have been a sighting, but I knew full well what it all meant.  They had encountered a powerful adult or maybe a group of adult sasquatches. The eager-beaver researchers had gotten too close and they got a taste of the power these beings can bring to bear. It's the sasquatch's way of saying, "That's far enough. You will not come any closer."
     The next day, Joe Beelart and I returned to the scene of the London track find to take more photos and have another look around.  Beth and I headed up the road to the scene of the 'zapping'. We walked up the long logging road as she recounted the experiences of the night before.  Somewhere along the way last night, Beth had lost a glove.  I strongly suspected we would not only find the glove, but we would do so under slightly mysterious circumstances. We did.  It was lying in the middle of the road, right in the clearing where they had been zapped. A foot-long stick had been neatly placed atop the glove, as if to keep the glove from blowing away. We found a curious configuration of sticks in the woods twenty feet away from the glove.   Other than that, it looked and felt like a very ordinary patch of woods that day.  We left some gifts of food and trinkets. Beth went off to be alone with her thoughts. We walked back to the car without incident and met up with Joe Beelart and John Bull.
     That's the way it goes in the bigfoot field research game.  One night, the woods brims with menace, mystery, maybe even terror, and the next day, it's just an ordinary patch of woods. By light of day, we saw a few stick signs and other subtle clues to possible sasquatch presence, but nothing definitve.
      It is my guess that Toby, Beth, and Tracker bumped into the same group of creatures that left the tracks in the mud by the lake.  They got too close and they got a taste of the formidable power that these creatures have. You might say, they were 'shown the door' and were instructed through actions, not words, that it was time to leave. They had the kind of intense experience that most field researchers wish for, but when it happens it is no fun at all.  The feeling of powerlessness and vulnerability is deeply frightening and very humbling.
    A day in the life of the bigfoot field researcher.


The result a long night's work



Lifting out the last cast the next morning.



     Only time will tell, but I tend to agree with the observations made by Cliff Barackman on his recent blog post. Cliff observed that the London trackway is some of the most significant evidence ever found, just by virtue of the sheer volume of evidence, if nothing else.  The changes in the shape of the foot and the splay of the toes from track to track is a thing to behold. Cliff also observed that the remarkable degree of cooperation and quick action that was exhibited by a diverse collection of dedicated amateur researchers was a thing to behold. It was 'citizen science' at it's finest. I think we will be talking about the events of February 16th through 20th, 2012 for a long time to come.

      The exact quality and quantity of physical evidence will not be fully known for a while. The casts have to cure for two full weeks before cleaning can even be started, and there are over a hundred casts to clean. The trackway sat out in the elements for the better part of a week before it was fully discovered and ultimately cast, but the earth that the tracks were taken from was a nearly ideal substrate for the preservation of fine details. It is beyond rare to find so many tracks in bare earth, especially in the lush rainforest of western Oregon, where vegetation and plant litter usually covers every square inch of ground.
     The amount of detail that the casts will yield when they are cleaned can only be supposed, but with so much material to work from, the potential for extracting detailed information from the casts seems enormous. Then there's the anecdotal experiences of the team during the subsequent night investigations. F&B researchers will roll their eyes at the events that are being described, but they fail to grasp the courage, experience, and utter reliability of the field team that made these remarkable observations.   Their night experiences, in my view, support not only the view that the tracks are authentic, they also support numerous other accounts by field researchers continent-wide that suggest these beings have considerable ability to manipulate fields of energy that we are not even close to understanding. Some people want to call that 'paranormal'. I prefer to call it unknown. Whatever it is, it can be corroborated by Ron Morehead, Chris Noel, and a host of others who have personal experience with this feeling of being completely immobilized in situations where they managed to put themselves in close proximity to a sasquatch. 

    As Cliff Barackman said, this series of events is a shining example of cooperation and team work, but even the best team cannot do anything without good, timely information.  For that, we have to recognize the remarkable effort and achievement of Toby Johnson, Max Roy, Max's insurance agent, and even the anonymous dog-walker who first alerted Max to the tracks. Somewhere in Lane County, Oregon walks the patron saint of bigfoot researchers and I doubt we will ever know who he is. It all seems like such a happy accident; a synchronicity.  But, I sometimes wonder whether there are ever any real accidents.  Maybe Toby was meant to find those tracks.  When I first saw those tracks cutting a broad arc across the exposed lake bed, I could see no obvious reason why that creature was even out there in the first place. There was no food or shelter to be found, and the tracks indicate the creature never interacted with the lake itself. It clearly was not a traveling creature on the move.  It just took a stroll out across the lake bed as a bigger creature stood guard on the bluff in the distance.
     The creature that walked the mud flat was just admiring the scenery, or it walked out there for the deliberate purpose of leaving tracks. But, why would it do that? We'll never know for sure but I certainly enjoy speculating. I can't help but wonder whether the creatures just felt like giving us a gift. They threw us a bone, and it was a very meaty bone, at that.  I tend to think it was all a gesture that was meant for Toby Johnson.  Toby lives nearby, he's always out skulking about the woods in that area at night without a flashlight, and so the sentient local sasquatches must surely know of him. If they do, they must also know that Toby is one of the most good-hearted, live-and-let-live bigfoot researchers you can find. He's not carrying weapons, or cameras, though he does have an iPhone. Toby clearly grasps the subtleties, the feng shui that would endear him to the creatures that he calls our 'forest friends.'

     So, call me paranormal, but I'm pretty sure 'the locals', know Toby Johnson.  In any case, I'm sure glad I know him. In fact, I'm definitely going to nominate Toby Johnson for 'Bigfooter of the Year'.
     And, I'm going to go out and put bigfoot stickers all over my car. 

The only two casts that have been cleaned so far are these two that were broken in transport and are being repaired.



The Mysteries of the Paul Freeman Footage

     Even among sasquatch researchers, most do not realize just how enigmatic the above footage, shot by ultimate field man Paul Freeman, truly is. There are several mysteries that surround this genuine video footage of a sasquatch, taken in 1984. The first mystery is just who owns the legal rights to the footage.  

     With the death of Freeman in 2003, it is assumed that rights to the Freeman footage reverted to his widow, Nancy.  But all my attempts to locate her and verify this have proven futile. Paul lived in the eastern Washington town of Walla Walla,  prior to his death. he also kept a cabin on the Washington coast around Long Beach. None of the Freemans I contacted in those towns claim any connection to Paul or even knew of him. Meanwhile, two separate individuals, one representing a TV show, have approached me in hopes of finding Nancy Freeman, or whoever else currently holds rights to this famed footage. And so I issue this appeal to hear from anyone who might know who currently hods the rights to the Freeman footage.

     This question of ownership is a far easier one to answer than the questions and mysteries that are inherent in the video clip itself. Authenticity of the clip is  one big question in the minds of some, but not for me.  Just prior to his death, Paul and Nancy Freeman came to my house in Oregon to do an interview for a British TV production. An informed and competent interviewer quizzed Paul on numerous aspect of his field work in general and the video in particular.  As his wife sat facing him only ten feet distant, Paul insisted that the footage was authentic. That's good enough for me. I don't think there are too many souls who, staring their own  mortality in the face, not to mention their life-long spouse, would sit there and tell lies. But beyond  circumstantial evidence and personal assurances, the video itself, especially when the whole raw footage is viewed, bespeaks an authenticity that is not as evident when the much the shorter clip taht is usually found on internet sources is viewed. 

     Prior to filming the subject of interest, the footage made on Paul's camcorder shows a trackway that Paul found near Deduck Springs. On t he video, he competently documents the trackway which he credits to a juvenile sasquatch. Then he makes multiple plaster casts, measurements, and of course, video documentation. What most may not realize is that Freeman had been schooled by Dr. Grover Krantz in how to cast and measure trackways.  

     Freeman's detailed knowledge of the remote Blue Mountains and his keen sense of animal tracking was valued by Dr. Krantz, who saw Freeman as the most experienced and competent field man in the area surrounding Pullman, Washington, where Krantz was a professor at Washington State.  Freeman was so prolific at uncovering bigfoot evidence that some, like Dahinden and Byrne, doubted his honesty, and they said so on multiple occasions.  It is my considered opinion that their statements stemmed from a combination of ego and narrow range of experience that prevented these high-profile researchers from accepting the fact that Freeman was far more capable and successful at gathering the much sought evidence than they would ever be. 

     Yet for all his savvy as a field man, Freeman lived an austere life in which money was always tight. While some suppose that money was the root motivation for fakery, I would point out that on such limited means, Freeman could not have pulled off the costuming ruse on his video that is alleged by some.  And, the raw footage clearly shows the work of a diligent and well-trained field man.  What is not seen on the video footage is a short clip between the casting of a trackway and the creature segment.  Between these to segments was a short clip of a child's birthday party at a restaurant. I removed the segment out of privacy concerns but its existence on the original camcorder tape illustrates to my satisfaction that Freeman was using his one and only camcorder for anything and everything of intereste in his life that was worth documenting on video tape. While the sasquatch research was the reason for the camcorder;'s existence, Freeman was just a regular guy with a regular life including relatives' birthday party in between trips to the Blue Mountains in search of sasquatch evidence. 

     But there is yet another, more compelling reason why I am absolutely certain that Freeman didn't fake anything: He could not have possibly done so. I direct the viewer's attention to the time stamp on the video as seen on the YouTube-posted segment. At time 4:08, just as Freeman utters, "Oh, there he goes!" the subject steps behind what looks to be a grand fir tree trunk that is between 12 and 18 inches in diameter.  And remarkably, an instant later, the creature steps out from behind another, still smaller tree, that looks to be about a foot distant of the first tree. Yet, the subject is never seen to cross what appears to be an open gap between the two trees!  The quality of the video and the distance to the subject makes it difficult to be absolutely certain of the gap between the two trees but, to the best of my ability to discriminate, it does appear that there is a gap between the two trees. To the extent that  folks like to post replies to these blog posts, I invite them to offer their own opinions of this question in the comments box at the bottom of this post.

     The very first time I ever watched this video, this anomaly jumped off the screen at me, yet it seems that this oddity is not perceived by most who view this clip. One person who did notice it was Dar Addington, a long time friend of Freeman's.  I recently spoke with Dar while trying to locate Freeman's widow, Nancy. Dar reflected on the many evenings that she, Wes Summerlin, and Vance Orchard spent in Paul's basement, viewing the footage over and over again, trying to resolve that very question of just what was going with respect to the subject of the vieo and the two trees. Between them, the group just could not come up with an answer for just what the video shows. Nor can I, but it kinda looks paranormal.  

     Some suppose that the subject passed behind the first tree, ducked down, crossed the gap between the trees, then stood back up to emerge from behind the second tree. Of course, it makes no sense whatsoever that, if concealment was the purpose, the subject would stand back up and proceed on its merry way in plain sight. On the other end of the spectrum of possibilities, I know of persons who seriously postulate that something truly paranormal in nature has been dutifully documented by Freeman's eighties-era camcorder. Indeed, I know of other witnesses who insist they saw a sasquatch step behind a tree that was too narrow to conceal its broad and bulky form, then disappear. (see pg.169, The Locals, author: moi). I hesitate to get all paranormal in a post like this that is read by every Tom, Dick, and Harriet sasquatch researcher on six continents, but I'll do it anyway because the mystery seems to be right there on the tape. Most will say that there is not really a gap of empty space between the trees. That seems likely, but that isn't the way it appears to me. Just sayin'

     Now for the next mystery: At time stamp 4:13 on the video, the subject gives a very quick glance toward the videographer (Freeman).  This is huge for two reasons. First, it defies the view that a costumed person is the subject.  The flick of the head is so rapid that a head inside a costume hood would spin independently of the mask.  No person is an costume would risk such a move unless the hood was glued to their head.  Sorry skeptics, but that flick of the head say one thing to me that isd loud and clear: That ain't no mask! And here is the second problem: that very same move defies everything that is assumed to be true about the sasquatch creatures based on study of the Patterson-Gimlin footage (PGF). 

     Even a narrowly experienced armchair researcher seems know that "Patty," the subject in the PGF turns her entire upper torso in order to asses the cameraman's (Patterson's) intent. The way the whole upper torso pivots is seen as an indication that the subject is indeed a 'great ape,' and that is how great apes, with thick upper necks, have to move in order to look back. Well, that may be fine for the subject in the PGF, but the subject in the Freeman footage moves exactly like a person would. The upper torso barely pivots. It give a quick flick of the head and all the motion is taken up in the neck. If apes have to rotate their upper torso, this ain't no ape! 

     Some see this as an indication of fakery, but I would argue that they are overly committed to a point of view that is based on one prior data set, and that is the PGF.  If Freeman was involved in fakery, he had over a decade to study the PGF before he made his video.  Wouldn't he have his confederate in the costume  replicate the movements seen in the PGF for purposes of consistency?  Speaking of consistency, what's with the pot belly on the subject of the Freeman footage? Either it's a pregnant female or a somewhat rotund creature of either gender. Why would fakers add that feature and display more contradictions to the view that sasquatches are robust and agile creatures? Just as with the breasts on Patty, st seems to be a risky addition to a costuming ruse if believability is the goal.

      The next item is the better yet.   At 4:15, (just as Freeman exclaims, "Jeezus!") the subject steps behind a ten-or-so-year-old Douglas fir tree and stops cold. Freeman lowers the camcorder (presumably to secure his footing,) then raises it again.  Based on some rapid camera movements, he seems to be experiencing difficulty locating the now-motionless subject that is hiding behind the young tree.  The astuteness of this move by the video subject cannot be overstated. Until the subject moves again, it is utterly indistinguishable from the tree in front of it.  At least to me, this speaks volumes of the subjects knowledge of camouflage and concealment.  Whatever the subject is, that thing knew exactly how to use its adaptive coloration and profile in conjunction with the native foliage to utterly conceal itself in plain sight. How many times has the armchair researcher read eyewitness accounts that describe a creature that concealed itself in plain sight by remaining completely motionless.  That is exactly what we see here, and in that respect, the degree of savvy displayed by the subject surpasses anything we see on the PGF.  Despite its inferior image quality, the Freeman footage is actually more informative than the PGF in this respect. It gives us much more information about creature cleverness and concealment in response to human presence. 

     And the mysteries do not end there. Another huge question in my mind is where the subject ultimately went. Freeman puzzles over this matter audibly on the video tape.   Unfortunately, Paul took his camera off the subject for a brief instant as he secured his footing, and never saw it again.  He can be heard to utter, "There's two of 'em" but it is never clear what makes him say this.  One must assume he heard "brush popping from two separate locations. "Where'd he go?" Paul asks as he scans the forest through the viewfinder.

     In my view, there are only three possible answers to this question. The first one is that the subject hid behind another bush. Or, it dropped to the ground and stayed there. There are witnesses who describe a sasquatch belly-crawling on the ground to avoid detection. This move does have precedent in the annals of eyewitness sasquatch sighting reports. The problem is that Freeman was so close to it. As he continued to approach the place where the subject was last seem,  it seems like Freeman would have stepped on it if it was lying on the ground, and seen it if it was hiding behind a bush.   Then there's the third possibility that is sure to be rejected out-of-hand by any flesh-and-blood bigfooters. I'll say it anyway because it has to be considered, especially since it's what the camcorder shows. The dang thing disappeared!  Sorry, but there is also precedent for this idea.

     Paul Freeman was as flesh-and-blood as they come, but ,to his dying day, Freeman could not resolve the question of where that thing went in the moment he took his camera off of it. One thing we have definitely learned from the freeman footage is , if you ever get your lens on a sasquatch, don't take it off for any reason. I spoke with Freeman about this when he came to my house.  I didn't raise any paranormal possibilities with him but I certainly entertained them in my own mind, having already collected a number of accounts (See The Locals, Chap. 9, ibid)  One witness even claimed to have witnessed a shimmer of light as the subject of his  sighting disappeared from view in the middle an open clear cut in broad daylight.  Freeman's situation, on the other hand, is a bit more nebulous, owing to the fact that he took the camera off his subject and his visibility was significantly restricted by forest vegetation.

     Of one thing I feel certain: No hoaxer would end a hoaxed video in this way.  If Freeman and some confederate had gone to the trouble of procuring a suit, they would most surely try to construct a scene that was as credible as they could possibly make it, and that would mean having the creature shamble off over the hill, getting smaller and farther away all the while.  No hoaxer would cast aspersions on an already dubious scenario by have their costumed apparition dematerialize at close range. Yet, this seems to be one solid interpretation of what the video shows. 

     Could Paul Freeman's video clip actually be credible evidence that the sasquatch creature do indeed possess paranormal attributes? Like I said, Freeman himself certainly did not want to go there.  I, on the other hand, am not afraid to, especially since I have other accounts to support it. In any case, like it or not, it seems to be what the video shows. I reject the idea that the subject is lying on the ground, even though I considered it thoroughly.  Freeman was no dummy and he was too close to the thing to overlook it if that's what it was doing.  Heck, I expect he would have tripped over it as he attempted to follow its direction of travel.  I invite readers to weigh in on this question in the comment box below, although I cringe at the thought of what kind of vitriolic exchange this could precipitate. All I ask is that responders stick to the issue and remain civil. 

     A few conclusions can be drawn from careful study of the Paul Freeman footage. The first one is the most speculative to some but not to me: The Freeman footage is the real deal. I knew Paul well enough to know he did not and could not have faked that video.  Not only is his integrity secure in my view, but there are just too many peculiar aspects to that video that were beyond Paul's understanding, not to mention his ability to fake. 

   Another conclusion that I endorse, at the risk of enraging others, is that there is definitely something paranormal going on in that video. Even if one does not buy the bit about the creature crossing an open gap between trees, the manner in which the subject cleared the area instantaneously and at close range is extremely suspicious. A third conclusion is that the neck mobility shown in that video invalidates not only simple costuming as an explanation, but it also invalidates the idea that the subject is a lower form of primate that, like the subject in the PGF, is said to have limited neck mobility. The video clearly shows something else, and that is the same neck mobility as any person. 

     Indeed, the biggest problem with the Freeman footage is that, despite its brevity and poor resolution, it shows too much.  Upon careful examination,  it raises some deeply troubling issues, especially in the mind of those who wish to maintain an utterly flesh-and-blood interpretation of the whole sasquatch phenomenon. Of course, there is a simple way to maintain a flesh-and-blood perspective in the face of the data supplied by the Freeman footage: call it a fake.  Sorry folks, but I, for one, am not buying that,  I did my best in this essay to explain  the reasons why I don't think that works. 
    In a recent blog entry entitled, "To be or not to be..."   writer Melissa Hovey. asks,  "Are the opinions of the “paranormal crowd” so weak, they can’t withstand some questions or the scrutiny of the “flesh and blood community"?"   Scientific evidence of paranormal events seems to be a bit of a contradiction in terms but, O.K., here is it: the Freeman footage.  I'd call it evidence, but not proof.  Like it or not, I think the Freeman footage is some of the best evidence of paranormal activity you can find.  In the end, that's why the video is so damn important. But you have to look at it and look carefully, then be willing to ask some questions that don't have easy answers.  
     As Freeman himself said in the interviews I posted here, it has never been shown to be a fake, but I doubt it will seal the deal in the minds of Ms, Hovey nor to mention the Ben Radford-style skeptics. But it's still there and, based on my own investigations and interviews with Freeman himself, I'm saying it's the real deal. Now, if I could just figure out who owns the dang thing?

'The Times' They Are A-Changin'

Actress Lily Rabe scrambles a ridge above the remote and scenic Illinois River in a scene from Christopher Munch's classic of sasquatch cinema, 'Letters From the Big Man.'

     Big news! Not only has the New York Times just published a review of a 'bigfoot movie,' but they reviewed the flick in absolutely glowing terms!  Editors gave a remarkable amount of 'ink' (space on the page) to the November 10th review of "Letters From the Big Man", a brand new film by Christopher Munch. The review, by Manohla Dargis, praises Christopher's eccentric bit of film-making that advances the previously wacky premise that humans can and do interact with the very same sasquatches that most Americans do not even take seriously.
     Of course, those of us who have been in the 'bigfoot biz' for a while know that credible accounts of 'habituation' between humans and sasquatches do indeed exist, despite the lack of concrete evidence.  Becasue of this lack of evidence, such claims are not even taken seriously most bigfoot researchers, who adhere to the decades-old dogma that while sasquatches do exist, they are wild apes incapable of higher thought, language, and culture. If most bigfoot researchers don't even buy it, you can forget about suggesting such ideas seriously to the general public through popular media, right?  Enter Christopher Munch.
     Now background for newbies: As the new century turned, I published a book that lent credence to this and several other previously unexplored ideas that existed only on the lunatic fringe of sasquatch research.  In "The Locals", I went way out on a limb and stated that claims of habituation, a mutually amicable relationship between a sasquatch and a human, were indeed factually-based.  Naturally, I was vilified by those who felt that I was besmirching the good name of sasquatch researchers everywhere by giving serious consideration to such lunacy. But the times were about to change, and "The Locals" helped change them.  My left-field take on the sasquatch phenomenon resonated with an increasing number of other field researchers who were also encountering events and witnesses of their own that did not jibe with the conventional thinking that prevailed in the insular word of 'sasquatch researchers.' Bigfoot devotees still favored a more conventional view that sasquatches were wild apes; a radical view in it's own rite when it was first pioneered by journalist John Green in the 1950's and later endorsed by scientist Grover Krantz in the 1970's..
     One day, after 'The Locals' has been out for a couple years and only about six copies had been sold, I got a call from an obscure independent film-maker named Christopher Munch.  He share with me his idea for a very different cinematic portrayal of a sasquatch.  Christopher seemed to be looking for reassurance that his desire to portray habituation between a human and a sasquatch actually has some possible basis in fact.  I assured him that, based on my dubious research, it did. Christopher journeyed up to Portland, we talked, and I showed him some local areas that might make good film locations. I vividly recall one particular meeting with Christopher and Kirk Sigurdsen, another local Portland writer and devotee of paranormal pursuits. Over dinner at the Stonecliff Inn in Carver, Oregon, Kirk and I regaled Christopher with so many stories of bizarre and remarkable interactions between humans and sasquatches that, by the time Christopher left the restaurant, he was more-confident than ever that his radical concept of sasquatch/human interaction was as valid and as it was cinematically ground-breaking.
     A couple years later, "Letters from the Big Man" was completed, and now it gone even farther: it has captured much-deserved attention on a pretty big stage.  It may not be evidence, but Chris' film is imagery that enables viewers to visualize habituation,in very vivid, literal terms.  In making this film, Christopher Munch has done the cinematic equivalent of building a bridge across the Grand Canyon. He has portrayed friendly human/sasquatch interaction, an idea seen until now as absurdly fantastic, as not just genuine, but touching and profound. An idea had been previously relegated to realm of the lunacy, even among already crazy sasquatch researchers, can now be discussed much more seriously.  
    Like many others who take sasquatch seriously, I'm thrilled to witness Christopher's recognition, not only for his sake, but for our own. Christopher has done all he can to earn much-needed credibility not just for me, but others like Janis Coy, Autumn Williams, and Mary Green  who championed this radical idea ten years ago.  I hope everyone who pursues this quirky endeavor called 'sasquatch research' gets to see this fine film. I was fortunate enough to witness its inception and to get to provide some encouragement when it was needed. In return, I got to view a copy of the film as it was being edited and again when it was completed. I loved it, but I am biased. Now, we learn that New York Times reviewer Manohla Dargis loves it, too.  This is more remarkable than it sounds.  It wasn't very many years ago that The Times, like all newspapers regularly lampooned the ridiculous notion that  the sasquatch even existed. They exploited the subject with shoddy journalism such as that one notorious piece by Seattle Times hack-reporter Bob Young.  In 2003, Young's bit of shoddy journalism set serious treatment of the sasquatch subject back an entire decade.  Now, after much heavy lifting by guys like Christopher and gals like Autumn Williams and now Manohla Dargis, we have battled back, and incredibly, even the ever-intransigent New York Times has significantly changed their tune.  Through the work of Christopher Much, Manohla Dargis and The New York Times has given movie-goers and readers reason to think again about the widely held view that bigfoot is nothing but a joke! Thank you, Christopher.
     To quote Bob Dylan, " 'The Times,' they are a changin' "
   Click here to view the NYT Review of 'Letters From the Big Man"

New York Times Goes Sasquatch

Brilliant make-up and costuming transforms Isaac Singleton into the best cinematic sasquatch ever portrayed.

    It's rare indeed that distinguished (and sometimes stuffy) publications like the New York Times will treat such fringe topics as the sasquatch with dignity and respect.  But that is precisely what they have done this Sunday in the Movies section of The Times.  The reason for the positive treatment is to recognize the cinematic accomplishment of the sasquatchs' best friend in Hollywood, Christopher Munch.
     As previously mentioned on this blog, Christopher has crafted the best and more factually correct cinematic presentation of the sasquatch phenomenon ever attempted in a fictional film. If you click on the link provided here you will be taken to the surprisingly lengthy treatment of the film and Christopher's utterly contemporary, even forward-thinking, view of the subject that he so capably presented in this landmark film.
     I hope everyone with an interest in the subject gets a chance to see this film someday. It is decidedly 'indie' and therefore, not an easy film to find in local movie houses. I suggest that interested souls appeal to the operators of your local theater to consider a screening of this fine flick. Credit also goes to reporter Dennis Lim for his courageous departure from the typical media skepticism and lampooning that the sasquatch topic usually gets, as well as the willingness of Dennis' editor, Manohla Dargis, who resisted the temptation to take the article in a more disdainful direction.  Also, Christopher tells me that Manohla Dargis is planning a review of "Letters from the Big Man" that will appear in The Times later this week.  Watch for that one folks. Meanwhile, click and enjoy one of the most positive presentations of the sasquatch subject you will EVER see in a major American daily newspaper. 
      Could the sasquatch subject finally be earning some much overdue credibility.  If so, we all owe a huge thanks to the work of the brilliant director, Christopher Munch. In case you missed the link to the Times piece above, here it is again:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/movies/letters-from-the-big-man-starring-lily-rabe.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Director Chris Munch scouts film locations on the Clackamas

Surprise State Department Memo Confirms Yeti's Existence

   Veteran researcher Bobbie Short has passed along something truly amazing.  Ms. Short forwarded a 1959 letter written by a U.S. diplomat in Nepal that appears to verify the existence of the yeti in that Asian country. The unclassified document was accidentally discovered by U.S. News and World Report columnist Paul Bedard and his associate, Lauren Fox.
     As one can plainly see by perusing the one-page Foreign Service memo (above), it matter-of-fact-ly directs embassy personnel to explain the three rules of yeti-hunting to any Americans (like members of the 1959 Tom Slick's expedition) who might show up in Nepal in search of the yeti.  Essentially, the rules state that there is a fee to pay to Nepal's government in order to get your yeti-hunting permit, that any photographs or physical remains that might be found are property of the Nepalese government, and yeti-hunters must  not  share photos or evidence of yetis with any news media. The most surprising statement in the memo is the specific directive that yetis "must not be killed or shot at except in an emergency arising out of self-defence."
     Talk about a smoking gun, there can be no doubt that this memo acknowledges the existence of the creatures that are so plainly discussed.  The more one knows about how State Department memos are generated, the more significant this document becomes. Memos circulated to U.S. Embassies reflect official government positions that are developed as a result of high-level meetings inside the U.S. Government (usually Cabinet-level,) and after more meetings with high level members of the foreign governments that they concern. Memos like this one are the practical directions to embassy personnel that reflect policy matters that are established at these high levels meetings.  First come the meetings,  the policy emerges,  then the memos are issued that direct the lower-level State Department personnel as to what was decided.  All such memos would reflect the policy that was mutually agreeable to not only our government but also the other governments, which in this case is the government of Nepal. That's just the way the State Department operates.
     In the late 1950's, when this memo was generated, Texas oil man Tom Slick was mounting a series of expeditions to the Himalayas in search of the Yeti. Obviously, these plans caught the attention of  U.S. and Nepalese officials. It was likely the Slick expeditions that prompted the need to develop an official policy about yeti-hunting. Closed-door meetings certainly ensued or this memo would not have been written to explain the policy. If U.S. officials did have any doubts about the existence of the Yetis that Slick was pursuing, the Nepalese representatives at such a meeting would have straightened them out.  "Hell, yes, they exist..." is my guess as to what the Nepalese officials would have said to any skeptical U.S. officials if there indeed were any.  I doubt there was any skepticism on the part of U.S. officials if they had access to military sources of information.  Extensive military intelligence about the region was gathered during and after World War II, and something as significant as the yeti would not have been overlooked by the uber-thorough military intelligence operatives that existed then as well as now.
     One wonders why the path of secrecy was chosen in the event that yeti-hunters like Tom Slick did manage to gather photos or physical remains of the yeti. Perhaps the Nepalese government wanted to take all the credit for such an important scientific discovery. I doubt it. Perhaps the Nepalese revered the yeti so highly that they did not want these mystical or sacred beings to be 'outed', or even hassled.  Or, perhaps our own government knew a good deal more about the yeti than we ever realized and there is some higher secret to these creatures that warranted high levels of government and military secrecy. We may never know, but what is clear is that secrecy was imposed as a matter of official policy, and the existence of these beings was essentially a  foregone conclusion.
     Could the memo be a fake? I don't think so. It was not discovered by some eager-beaver bigfoot researcher like myself or even the sharper-eyed Bobbie Short.  It just doesn't have the look of a prank like Biscardi's stupid bigfoot-in-a-bathtub shenanigans of a few years back. The letter was discovered by Paul Bedard, a Washington D.C. columnist for U.S. News and World Report who wasn't even looking for it,  and who had absolutely no interest in yetis or bigfoots.
     So, who was Ernest Fisk, author of the memo? Can his existence be verified. Yes. Ernest Fisk was indeed a real person in American diplomatic circles. The details of his professional and academic life can be read on the Archives website for Fisk's  Alma mater, Oberlin College.  Fisk graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio in 1928, he was a reporter in Ohio before WWII, and after the war he was a twenty-year career diplomat in Pakistan, India, and then Nepal.  Just as the letter indicates, Fisk was indeed the Counselor of Embassy in Katmandu, Nepal from 1959 to 1962 according to Oberlin College archives. Fisk died in 1992.
     I'm no detective but I'm calling this memo legit. I just wonder whether its discovery was entirely accidental or whether this memo might have been leaked to the press.  Why would existence of the yeti be leaked to the press at this point in history?  Because the tight lid that has been kept on the whole sasquatch/bigfoot/yeti question is about to blow off and the government knows it.
     The train has already left the station. The existence of undiscovered hominids is about to become common knowledge world-wide, if it hasn't already. And when the bigfoot scat finally hits the fan, the reaction of the scientific community is very predictable because it has been observed so many times before. Whether it's the platypus, the mountain gorilla, the Coelocanth, or any of a host of other scientific discoveries, it always unfolds the same way. For decades, scientists will vehemently deny the validity of the subject and even ridicule the very idea that it could be true. ("If it was true, we would know!")  Then they ignore the subject as well as all the heretics who continue to insist it is true. But when the discovery can no longer be denied, the official story suddenly changes. That is when science, and the government, declare that, yes, the new discovery does indeed exist and, by the way, they knew it all along.