bigfoot big heart

8/13/2019 Bigfoot Big Heart

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/bigfoot-big-heart 1/7by ARIELE M HUFF


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/bigfoot-big-heart 2/7

Surely we should treat them with the

same eonsideration and kindness as

we show to other humans; and as we

re ognize human rights so too shoidd

ive rec ognize the rights of the great

apesf Yes.—|anc Goodall

Zege i ids co me in a ll s i zes: Pau l Bun yan to l ep rec hau ns . O f course , ce r ta in

o n e s a r c u n q u e s t i o n a b l y a u t h e n t i c : se q u o i a s t o a n c i e n t b o n s a i — J o h n

W ayn e to Sh i r l ey Tem ple . Yet o th e r l egends beg in as fan tas ie s , t he n—

a m a z i n g s o m e a n d v a l i d a t i n g o t h e r s — t u r n o u t t o b e g e n u i n e a ft e r a l l.

T h e S i l v e r - b a c k e d G o r i l la , K o m o d o D r a g o n , a n d P a n d a B e a r w e r e c o n -

s ide red pure ly m yth ic a l un t i l f a ir ly recen t ly . A poss ib le new com er fo l lows

in those p aw and c law pr in t s . Ac tua l ly , he ob l i t e ra te s seve ra l in each s tep . He can t h e lp

i t . H e h a s u n c o m m o n l y b i g f e e t .

A t tempt ing to l i f t tbe ve i l o f mys te ry a round Sasqua tch , the B ig foo t F ie ld Resea rchers

O r g a n i z a t i o n ( B F R O ) is a la r g e a n d p r e s t i g i o u s g r o u p , c o m p l e t e w i t h m a s s i v e w e b s i t e

a n d n o t a b l e s l ik e j a n e C o o d a l l w e i g b i n g i n o n t h e s u b je c t . M a n y z o o l o g ic a l e x p e r ts t a k e

qu i te se r ious ly the l ike l ihood o f such a c rea tu re . Desc r ip t ions sugges t i t migh t he ak in

t o J a p a n e s e w o o d a p e s . T h e p l e n t i f u l n u m b e r o f r e c o r d e d s i g h t i n g s , a l o n e , s ug g e s t s t h a t

so m eth ing o t the k ind sha res space wi th us on our p lane t . Repor t s a re sca t t e red a ll ove r

the wor ld and ac ross a b road t ime l ine f rom pr imi t ive t a le s to recen t news s to r ie s .

D o c u m e n t e d s i g h t i n g s w e r e c o u n t e d a t 2 0 0 0 ( 3 0 0 0 w i tn e s s e s) b y B B C W i l d l if e i n a

1998 news s to ry .

Skep t ic s say a l ack o f images i s r ep ud i a t io n en ou gb , bu t r e sea rchers pa r ry wi th the

f ac t th a t m a n y n o c t u r n a l a n i m a l s a re l es s p h o t o g r a p h e d a n d t h a t s o m e o t h e r a n i -

m a l s a re sk i t t is h , e a si ly a v o i d i n g h u m a n c o n t a c t . A d d t o t h a t , N o r t h A m e r i c a i s

e s t i m a t e d t o c o n t a i n o n l y 1 0 ,0 0 0 o f t h e s e l o n g - l e g g e d b i p e d s . C o m p a r e t h a t t o 6 5 0 ,0 0 0

t o 7 0 0 ,0 0 0 b l a c k b e a r s , w b i c h , e v en a t t h o s e n u m b e r s , r a re l y w a i t a r o u n d t o

pose . Of course , tbe deb a te rages on abo u t whe the r the B ig -

foo tage t aken i s c red ib le . {Roger Pa t t e r son and B ob G im l in

sho t the famo us f i lm in 19 67 , and i t bas been cha l -

l enged and de fended ever s ince . )

A n o t h e r q u e s t i o n r a is e d b y d o u b t i n g T h o m a s e s

i s tbe absence o f co rpses . Th ey co n te nd tha t

anv th i ng tha t lives shou ld be foun d d ead .

BIGFOOT SCENIC

CALIFORNU HWY 299

CALIFORNIA HWY 169

Mdp Is not to scale)

Orleans orks of

Willow^I Creek

t

BIC IDEAS: [Above] A igantopithecus

skull rests in the Bigfoot wing of tbe

Wiilow Creek-China Flat Museum. [Right]

Float in Happy Camp's Bigfoot Jamboree

parade Bigfoot's SUV [Opposite poge]

Tbis 18-foot statue of Bigfoot that towers

over the Bigfoot Scenic Byway entrance

was created from scrap m etal.



- r ~ t ~

Believers insist that most animals in the "montane" areas do not remain around for long

after death—are torn asunder and eaten by scavengers as well as degraded by forces of

weather and acidic leaf mold. Black bears are again cited as seldom leaving a salvageable

carcass.

MAN o r MARVELhow the masters at Marvel Comics a mys-

terious figure, and they may draw the

Uncanny X-Men 120. He was the

o befriended Dr. Bruce The Hulk Banner,

spirit of the G reat Beast Tanaraq.

Understanding the phenomenon ot the Bigfoot mystique takes the researcher

back through a nimiber of aliases. For example, Gigantopithecus a large ape

who frequented Indochina possibly up until around 300,000 years ago, left

beh ind eno rm ou s fossilized jawbones and mo re than 1,000 tee th. It's conjectu red by

some that the Gigantos was the precursor of Sasquatch, having crossed from Asia to

North America during the Ice Age over the Bering Land Bridge.

Native groups all over the world have varying names for the same description of crea-

ture. Many appellations are Anglicized forms of native names. Yeti (another name for

the "Abom inable Snowm an."} is an altered form of the Tibetan miti—-a combinat ion of

the word for person mi and the word for animal ti. Also, Sasquatch first used in west-

ern Canada, began as an Indian cognomen for "wild people." KwakiutI Legends, from

the Bigfoot Byway area, call him "Big Figure," avoiding the foot fetish of current days.

"Bigfoot" came about in the 1950s when plaster casts were taken of human-like but

huge footprints at some construction sites.

The most recent name is X-Creatures a program produced by the BBC's Natural

History unit . This show was created to discredit sightings and legends.

HAIRY HENDERSON^ f all the portrayals Bigfoot has inspired ,

# none cuts closer to what believers would

Harry and the Hendersons.

harm . Harry, as

Hall, was gent leness incarnate-a

a bigfoot bride and

back to the forest for good.

f course, among the many animals on earth that are scant in number, shy of

human contact, and rarely documented, few others have reached the renown

of Bigfoot. Why does this simian so capture our imaginations? We invent

books and movies around it , people them with lookahke characters l ike Chewbacca and

Wiploc (an alien in Earth Girls Are Easy who was ftirry until an early episode haircut)These shaggy dogs of film represent the attraction of the untamed and feral. Primitive

peoples worshiped animals like lions- for their courage, bears for their strength, and apes

for cleverness. Thick pelts and large mass have always been part of the mystique of such

anim als. It's no surprise tha t the legendary Bigfoot packs such a wallop .

Larger than life and possessing humanoid characteristics, Bigfoot presents an intrigu-

ing yet frightening potential . Understandably so—the woods are scary enough with

bears, wolves, and bobcats. However, investigators claim members of the Foot group are

more like Harry {Harry and the Hendersons than King Kong in a rage. (Even King could

be nice—|ust ask Fay Wray }

Data from sigbtings shows an unusually amiable attitude, especially for such a large

animal. Reportedly, Sasquatch are indulg ent of each other, children, small animals, and

women. {Men and aggressive dogs seem to present a threat that can occasion rockthrowing—to frighten them away—or a swat at a barker if it does not desist.)

Bigfoot, also known for being organized and orderly, does not destroy

areas where it forages and is also thought to leave gifts: Live kittens, piles

of stones.evergreen placed provide

GROWLING GOURMET\ n f a r m and fuzzy might not be on the menu, but the cartoon epicure

of Cooking with Bigfoot serves up something just as delicious:

laughs- lots o f t h e m - w i t h a snarling side of satire. The online adult ani-

mation series (which shares more ingredients with South Park thanDisney) was written by Greg Beato and drawn by Todd Gallina until the

franchise folded in 2004. Archived episodes remain at cookingwithbig-



Observations all have Foot walking upright with a "compliant" cross-country skiing

style of stride, one foot in front of the other but five feet apart, a graceful glide.

For tbose w ho still consider Bigfoot a monster, let's sum up. He's tall, ha s lots of hair,

tnoves gracefully, is easy-going and tidy, and he brings presents. Big feet, big heart?

.*••

ne location with the largest number of sightings bas titled itself for its most

elusive residents.

An 89-mile stretch of Highway 96, the Bigfoot Scenic Byway is in a breath-

taking Northern California area surrounded by the Siskiyou Mountains, the Klamath

Mo untain s, the K lamath National Forest, the Kiamath River, and a series of creeks tu m-

bling over and surrounded by current-rounded rocks of all sizes. Running north-south

parallel to 1-5 to the east and the coast to the west, the byways northern end is marked

by Happy Camp while Willow Creek is at i ts southern terminus.

Tho ugh the State of Jefferson Byway that leads from 1-5 to H ap py C am p is lovely, the

scenery makes a distinct change as that stretch of Highw ay 96 becom es the Bigfoot Byway

At the exact point where the byways intersect, Happy Camp has an imposing

Sasquatch sculpture, standing in front of the Kiamath Knot Art Gallery (called the Knot

Place) which is dressed entirely in a gauzy aqua mural offish in water. The Sasquatch

statue is built with donated scraps of metal and unraveled chain link fencing, which

makes up his hair. While Ralph Starritt lent his artistic expertise and designed the head

of the creature, Cheryl Wainw right w as the local organizer of the project. W ith her fam-

ily and oiber volunteers from the community, Wainwright got the sixteen-foot statue

formed and upright.

Do wn the road in H app y Ca m p is Java Bob 's Bigfoot D eli. Un til recently, tbis was

t gath ering place tor "foot" lovers. Althoug h it is now closed , it still spo rts a wall-sized

Bigfoot painting and footprints up to the door.

River Park, down at the Klamath River below Happy Camp, is the first real taste of

the Bigfoot Byway The bridge over Indian Creek out of the city leads directly into this

strand of never-ending viewpoints

Wbeehng down the peaceful byway, travelers find it hard to foctis on anything but the

stunning rock faces shooting sky'ward with trees climbing from crevices and the sparkling

water rushing and leaping down sinuous channels. Around each curve, a new gasp steals

attention even from safely navigating tbe frequent switchbacks. (Share tbe driving chores

so everyone gets a chance simply to stare and keep the camera out of its case.)

The most notable difference along this 89 miles of Highway 96 is the closeness of the

creek and river views as well as the far-reaching distance up and down river that is visi-

ble from each spot along the road. It's like one continuous scenic pullout

Clear Creek is the first town after Happy Camp. It's tiny, hut it bas a building tbat

used to be a roadhouse and. In yet another earlier incarnation, was a stage stop. The locals

say Clear Creek has the best and biggest swimming hole. Follow the Idds for a swim.

Somes Bar is the next small town and is notable as the site for an Agricultural

Department work center associated with the Karuk tribe. (Karuk are upriver

people and the Yurok are down river.) Ishi Pishi Falls is close to Somes Bar

and is the only part of the K lamath River that is considered "u nrun nable" by

rafters. Be sure to stop and ponder the power of rushing water.

BOUNCY BUMBL

ankin and Bass said it best: If you'r

ing abominable, don't fret. Put a sta

tree an d have yourself a holly, jolly holid

least, that's the lesson learned from the

faced, bug-eyed Bumble in the 1964 An

classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Re

According to Rick Goldschmidt, autho

webmaster at rankinbass.com the o

Bumble figure was T6 inches tall and c

in yak hair . Does that mean-as prosYukon Cornelius once claimed—that a

Bumble would bounce? You bet. The B

an d Rudolph bounce ratings at CBS eac

BIONIC BRUTE

hafs more exciting than a six-mi

dollar cyborg? A six-million-doMar c

bat t l ing a b ionic Sasquatch That 's

Universal Studios concluded in 1976 wh

turned Bigfoot into an al ien-contr

android and pitted him against compute

astronaut Steve Austin in The Six MDollar Man. So popular d id the two

episode "The Secret of Bigfoot" play t

spawned a Bionic Bigfoot action figure c

by Kenner Products. Bigfoot was enlist

return to TV and visit Tbe Bionic Woman

fo l lowing fal l .

SUPER SQUATCH

ew mascots fuel the good-natured fury of Squatch, the hir-

sute symbol of the Seattle SuperSonics. Whether he's

^Mtaf^ing the basketball during half-t ime or pumping a fuzzy

list into the air during a late-game rally, Squatch connects with

In fact, Squatch is the second Bigfoot-insp ired icon to represent ^.'

the Sonics. The first was Whe edl e-b orro we d from the childrens' '



I Hodgson, a fifty-year resi

dent of Willow Creek, ran

Hodgson s Department Store,

on early Bigfooters gathering

place. He knew Bob Titmusan d Roger Patterson among others. asts

were also m ade of footprints Hodgson

found in 1963. He points out that many

tracks are destroyed in the casting

process due to the prints being in silt or

sand. This factor also often wipes o ut dis-

tinguishing details like derm al ridges. At

82, Hodgson tells merican Road that

this is the last interview he plans to do.

A ME R I C A N R O A D How did you get

involved in all things Bigfbor?

H O D G S O N When the first cast was made

and Willow Creek was the center of it all, I

would have nothing to do with it. It was a

hoax, and I wasnt going to have anything to

do with it. But along comes a very nice lady

by the name of Betty Allen who wrote a

guest column in a Eureka [California] paper.

Betty kept after me, telling me it would be

good for our business [Ai ran a department

store in Willow Creek] and at last she asked

me to take her cousin from San Francisco up

to Bluff Creek, as they had found new tracks

Orleans is the next city and actually has a few businesses on each side of the road.

(From the highway, the last two look like a few homes clinging between the river and

the road with sheer cliffs on either side.) Orleans main attraction is the Mining

Co mp any gas station, cafe, and motel. The con glomeration of them is all decorated

with rusting but interesting mining equipment. Inside, the cafe walls are decorated in

iron frying pans with calligraphic names of people and businesses on them. These func-

tion as business ads or as personal tributes to tbe cafe and its delicious food. There's a

"museum" area with some antique bottles that the owners plan to restore to mint con-

ditio n. The bald man neq uin beh ind glass in a dusky co rnet at the entran ce is so realis-

tic and unexpected that it scares unsuspecting newcomers. State troopers frequent this

spot and give parking lot recommendations for the chili and burgers. The tribal signs

switch from Karuk to Yurok somewbere around Orleans.

Famous Bluff Creek comes between Orleans and Weitchpec and is the place where

Roger Patterson and Bob Cimlin filmed what is said to be a female Sasquatch as she

hurries across the rocky bed toward the opposite hillside.

At W eitchpe c (the next tiny town) , the Klamath River goes west, but since the frinity

joins it there, you can be fooled into thinking you are still going down the Klamath.

Weitchpec and Hoopa (the next town) are on the Hoopa Reservation, which has a

museum and a native home site, where you can see traditional tribal houses and get

information about the area's earliest residents—barring, perhaps, Bigfoot

Willow Creek comes next and is a larger town compared to all the others, including

Hap py Ca mp . Willow Creek was initially called Chin a Flat for the Ch inese min e work-

ers who lived there during the gold rush. Willow C reek and H appy Ca mp have a friend-

ly rivalry for which can have the most Bigfoot iconic goodies stationed around the

town. Willow Creek wins by sheer number of "Bigfoot" businesses and statues, as well

that morning (Thursday).

1 hey had covered some of

the tracks with large

pieces of bark, otherwise

they would have all been

dusted out from the log-

I weakened, so come Saturday, we went up,

and sure enough, they were there. We made

casts, but wasn't impressed. Again, Betty said,

"Af, why don't you go down in the creek and

see if maybe you might find some." And. yes, f

found tracks. I was not convinced, but I was

impressed. I found tracks on several occasions

afi:er that, but I wasn't a believer, though I

knew most of the well-known Bigfooters. I

wasn't [a believer] until we made the deal to

bring the Bob Titmus casts to Willow Creekand build the Bigfoot wing on the museum. I

told my bible study group about those plans.

One couple held back and was the last to leave.

The lady said, "AJ, I saw one, but I don't want

you to tell anyone as my family have made too

much fun of me already." Th at did it.

A ME R I C A N R O A D Tell me about your con-

nection to Roger Patterson.

H O D G S O N Our store became a place for all

the Bigfootets to check in to see if there was

anything new going on, and Roger was one of

them. He asked me to call him if any new

tracks were found. John Creen asked if I would

meet his chartered plane and take him, a track-

ing dog, and handler to the sighting of some

new tracks. After they left, I called Roger and

told him, but as I said to him, they [the

Sasquatch] most likely had left the area, bu

Roger said he thought he'd come anyway. The

next I heard from him was a phone call saying,

"Al, I got a picture of the son ot a Buck."

A ME R I C A N R O A D How do people react to

learn you believe in the phenomenon?

H O D G S O N I think m ost laughed b ehind

my back; however, I don't believe tbat is the

case anymore, as more and more are coming

forward and telling about seeing. Do I believe

all of them? No way, but there are some that Ibelieve are true.



f :1 ^--

as a Bigfoot avenue and a really good mu seum — the W illow C reek/C hina Flat M useum

with a Bigfoot wing that has an impressive number of castings, the jawbones and teeth

of Gigantopitbecus, and a huge copy of the Patterson film's best stop fratne.

Beside the byway's natural grandeur though, a cornet-of-the-eye magic occurs—not

a sign or a statue. Surely, that was a dark face watching from the underbrush, a tall fig-

ure slipping behind that boulder, a faint scent or sound. However, encounters with

Bigfoot are not described as subtle : the smell overp owerin g, the wooflng thu nd ero us,

the size differential terrifying. Sh ould you co me face to face or within clear view or heat-

ing—never doubt—you will be fully alert and riveted.

Visitors to byway towns soon fmd the topic is riveting too. The court of public opin-

ion is conve ned here daily. No on e, it seems, is on tbe sidelines, thoug h m otives aren't

always clear.

A woman heckles a psychologist who lectures on his encounter at the 2006 Bigfoot

Jamboree celebration in Happ y Cam p. I saw the animal, he asserts, pound ing his fist

with emotion. She curses, calls him an idiot, disputes him repeatedly, and then, chang-

ing tack, pleads with bim not to reveal the existence lest others exploit the creature.

Later, residents nod sagely and conjecture she belongs to a local tribe devoted to pro-

tecting Bigfoot from intrusion.

It may be too late for tbat: He's everywhere. Half the businesses use his name or

image, and he's the object of lots of local artwork. Some of this tribute is humorous,

some has a mystical air, and some projects the pathos of an animal. The latter are the

most affecting . . . even disturbing.

Encompassing every possible viewpoint, locals may scotlf make off-color jokes, offer

up prayers, make impassioned pleas, or provide detailed evidence. What remains true

for all is the inexorable presence of Sasquatch, reflecting back to eacb what kind of per-

son holds his/her kind of belief

Whether travelers come for the visual splendor, the hiking, the river rafting, the gold

panning, or a glimpse of so-far tinrecognized species, the Bigfoot Scenic Byway fills all

the senses—to overflowing.

If we stay long eno ugh , we also discover— in the search for Bigfoot— we find ourselves.

HE RTS AND FLOWERS: Flora and fafills the Bigfoot Scenic Byway. [Oppositpage, top] Tbis bigfoot stands amongflowers at a gas station in Willow Creek

[Above] Morning glory tattoos ad orn thearm of Ann H ansen, cashier at Quigley sStore in Klamatb River California.

ARIELE M. HUl-F

American Road.

ilw Soiior lirliror of

PHOTO CREDITS: Scrap metal Bigfhot sculp-

ture courtesy byways.org. Marvel ComicsSasquatch by Clayton Henry, from promotional

cover to Alpha Flight #2. Coo king With

Bigfoot ch r cters appear courtesy Todd Gallina

and Todd Gallina Productions. Bumble photo

courtesy Rick Co ldschmidt. au thor o / 'Rudolph

the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Making of the

Rankin/Bass Holiday Classic, an d rankin-

ba.ss.com. Scjuatch (SuperSonics) photo courtesy

Nigel C ooper Photography Aelditional B igjoot

Scenic Byway photographs and Al Hodgson por-

trait by Brad Huff

bigfoot big heart

Documents