Page 18 - 20090506 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - May / June 2009

18 Researchers to hunt Bigfoot 18 Researchers to hunt Bigfoot Researchers to hunt In a 2002 interview with National Krant, who sought to give gravitas to what Researchers to hunt Bigfoot Public Radio, the primatologist said she cryptozoologists have dubbed Gigantopithecus Bigfoot believes that the creature could exist. She said americana. The stories are invariably interesting, They will scour the Kiamichi she based that assessment on descriptions given sometimes strange, often humorous and always They will scour the Kiamichi to her by American Indians, who reported two Mountains this weekend. sightings and described sounds they'd heard. entertaining. It's a good read, particularly if Mountains this weekend. By SUSAN HYLTON Some people have dismissed Bigfoot you've ever camped in a wilderness and By SUSAN HYLTON sightings in Oklahoma as actually black bear wondered what lurks in the darkness just HONOBIA — Some 25 to 30 sightings. But unlike bears, Lee said, a Bigfoot beyond the dying campfire light. researchers will be braving the southeastern walks upright exclusively and — at 7 to 8 feet The writer, who has a degree in history Oklahoma woods this weekend in search of the tall — is much taller than a black bear. and the sociology of science from the reclusive Bigfoot. "We're not just a bunch of country University of Pennsylvania, lets readers make The Kiamichi Mountains provide the hicks," said Lee, a network administrator. their own conclusion. apelike creature a habitat that's rich with deer, Hundreds of people attend the Honobia He does note in the preface that he berries, honeysuckle and plenty of woodsy Bigfoot Festival and Conference each year. This doesn't believe the big boy exists. Yet you won't cover, believers say. year it will be held Oct. 2-3 and sponsored by find that bias in reading his book. "You could hide an army in there and the Talihina Chamber of Commerce. [] "I'm willing to concede people out there never know it," said D.W. Lee of Stilwell, might see something they otherwise can't Author explores bigfoot global director of the Mid-America Bigfoot Author explores bigfoot explain," he said in a telephone interview Research Center. Friday. "I personally don't believe it is a big fascination In October in Honobia, the researchers fascination hairy beast. But a lot of people are very sincere saw "eye shine" from a creature standing about about what they've seen. 8 feet tall, he said. By Paul Fattig "There are the hoaxsters out there," he "They would get close enough that the Mail Tribune continued. "But there is also a real core group of campfire would shine in their eyes and it would people who are very sincere and earnest, just show green," Lee said. When Josh Buhs sent an e-mail in the trying to understand what their friends have Like ghost hunters, the Bigfoot fall of 2006, I was initially more than a little seen or they have seen themselves." researchers will be equipped with night-vision dubious. Reared in California, Buhs recalled first goggles and scopes, along with an array of "I am a historian, currently working on a learning of the bigfoot legend as a youngster. audio and video equipment. They will record cultural history of bigfoot," he wrote. "I saw He also has camped throughout the Northwest. hours of footage from the trail for viewing after your recent article, 'I've Always Believed There "The approach I wanted to take was not, their trip. Is a Bigfoot,' and liked it very much. 'Yes, it does exist' or 'No, it doesn't,' but to look Lee said the creatures typically throw "As it happens, I have just finished a at how Americans think about nature and our rocks at them when they're sitting around a chapter that concerns Ron Olson, and I was ideas about wilderness, particularly in the 19th campfire. wondering if you could pass on my e-mail and century," he said. "I also wanted to look at the "If they wanted to hit you, they would," home address to him, and tell him I would be different ways the bigfoot legend has spread. It he said. "It's like they just want to see how interested in having his reaction to the chapter," is very ubiquitous." you'll react. Other times you may get in areas he added. He also explores why there was so much where you're not welcome. If you're close to the He was referring to a Sept. 3, 2006, "Off interest in the creature at different times in our little ones — the young Bigfoot — they're the Beaten Path" column about Eugene resident history, including the 1970s. going to make sure you leave." Ron Olson who, with his father and a friend, "I didn't expect to find this many people The only time Lee said he became built the bigfoot trap near what is now involved or the detailed information that was fearful in the woods was during a trip to the Applegate Lake in 1974. As the headline out there," he said. "When you get into the Chelsea area in northeastern Oklahoma. indicated, Olson was — and is — a bigfoot microscopic anatomy of a footprint cast, that's "I saw three groups of Bigfoot going believer. very specific ... I had a blast writing it." across a field in front of me," he said. My skepticism was twofold: First, the He is now researching a book about the About a year ago in the Chelsea area, big fellow with the size 18 footprint has been Forteans, folks who follow the work of Charles the researchers poured a cast of a footprint, 15 known to attract a few oddballs. Secondly, as Hoy Fort, an early 20th-century writer who inches long and 5 inches wide, that they believe one who has been inching toward completing a devoted his life to phenomena on the thin edge was made by a Bigfoot. book for years, I know how difficult it is to between fact and fantasy. They've photographed other footprints finish the marathon. "I think that could be very interesting," along logging roads in the Kiamichi Mountains Turns out my dubiousness was he said. [] of southeastern Oklahoma. unfounded. Mountain-area natives and Sasquatch- "Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a track followers are familiar with what they say Legend" was published Friday by the are the creature's distinctive screams and University of Chicago Press. Written by Buhs, whoops. 36, of Vacaville, Calif., the 279-page hardback Lee said Bigfoot is intelligent and can is available for $29 at a bookstore near you, as mimic the sounds of other animals. well as at amazon.com. A reviewer's copy "We do hear a lot of owl calls, but you arrived here two weeks ago. can tell it's not an owl because it's like an 800- The skillfully written book isn't about pound owl hooting at you," he said. debunking the legend or proving the big guy About five years ago, Lee's group exists. Rather, Buhs, whose other book, "The received a report from a man hunting deer in a Fire Ant Wars," was published by the same tree stand in the Kiamichi Mountains. It seems printing house in 2004, explores the cultural that his pager went off, and after he turned it off, phenomenon created by the Sasquatch lore. he heard something in the woods mimicking its Buhs takes us around the world, from beep-beep sounds. Olson's bigfoot trap on the upper Applegate "When he turned around, he saw River to the search for Yeti in the snowy Bigfoot standing there," Lee said. "His words Himalayan peaks with Sir Edmund Hillary. You were that it was a 'big something' that he just will read about Roger Patterson, who shot the didn't want no part of." grainy film footage of an alleged bigfoot along Perhaps Jane Goodall gives skeptics Bluff Creek in the Klamath River drainage and some pause. Washington State University professor Grover