Paranormal Bigfoot and the Tide of Perception

   'You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.' Dylan

Maybe it's lazy thinking, maybe it's the natural progression of opinions over time, prodded by the frustration of lack of evidence, but more and more people in the world of Bigfoot research are veering to what Thom Powell calls the 'woo woo', the weirdness, the inexplicable aspects of Sasquatch reports that do not fit neatly into the hard science box.  Click here for more.

                                                               Erik Beckjords idea of Patty

Doc Meldrum must be really tired of fighting off wackjobs (like me) who pepper him with bizarre, wholly unscientific questions like 'So, ah, Doc..if Bigfoots can, like, disappear whenever they want, why don't they just come to the supermarket to get their donuts and stuff?'

'I like the ones with sprinkles.'

When I asked him this (not really, I asked far more sciency questions) he was very patient and didn't seem all that rehearsed, but always answered the way a professor who likes his job would answer: by not saying much.

Why not? Because we STILL don't know very much. Let's make some lists.

What We Know For Sure -

Sasquatch witness reports number in the thousands. While visual sightings don't constitute solid evidence, there's a powerful pattern here that requires more digging.

The Patterson/Gimlin Film. The holy grail of BF evidence, it's been so deeply researched that the possibility that it represents actual photographic proof also begs more research from science types.

We have DNA. Ketchum and Sykes have tried to get the word out that 'novel DNA' from 'non-human' sources have been found repeatedly among the many samples submitted and tested. This said, the internet argument rages on because, on the internet ANYBODY can pose as being intelligent and correct about something and cause crapstorms of controversy. The task of ferreting out what is true and real becomes very onerous, so we're often left hanging unless scientific methods are published and consensus is reached by at least a few educated and trained specialists.

  Sykes and Ketchum...I think.

What We THINK We Know-

Sasquatches can disappear at will. Lots of stories, but of course, no photographs. (Unless you count Todd Standings strange photos, or Melissa Hovey's 'Sasquatch back' game cam picture, considered by supporters to be among the best out there.) Yes, photographing an invisible creature might be a contradiction by description, but the rumors of Bigfoot vanishing mid-step are fairly numerous.

Bigfoot can read minds, communicate telepathically. Why not? This is such a highly personal claim that unless it happens to you, it will always be up for dispute. Those that claim to hear them in their head are also growing in number. Is this a form of social media hypnosis?

Sasquatches can 'zap' humans, other animals. Reports, again, anecotal, suggest that people who see a Bigfoot are momentarily paralyzed, and/or feel incapacitated by sudden sickness, which lifts after the encounter is over. Again, a highly personal perception, but I myself have had an very unusual experience during an overnight stay at Derek Randle's Olympic Project site. After Derek announced a night hike to check some bait stations, I headed for my van to get my audio gear. The moment I stepped out the door of the main meeting place, I was hit by a strong wave of nausea. It so palpable that I nearly fell against the side of the building, but managed to weave my way to the van, parked in the pasture between the meeting hall and the treeline. I felt like my body had dropped in temperature to the point where I was instantly shivering. The outside temp was cool, but not freezing. I got to the van and crawled in back and it was all I could do to get inside my sleeping bag. My head pounded, I shivered and I think I slept for a few minutes. When I came to, I was sweating and felt the dizziness and pain was gone. I got up, grabbed my gear to join the group but back at the shop they were gone. I have never had a sudden onset illness like that before or since.

Bigfoot travels interdimensionally. This claim falls as a subset of the invisibility aspect, but there are visual reports of Sasquatches coming into and going out of view through a sort of window that opens and closes in plain view. Skeptics chalk this up to tv shows like Star Trek or Stargate, but believers suggest a connection between the phenomenon and the writers of those shows. Even though I'm a crazy 'bizarre' bigfoot aficionado, this idea makes me chuckle.

So...Scientists vs. Non-scientists/laymen, the debate will continue vs. Educated Professional and Ordinary people, but let's make a formal list of the Notables here too:

Notable People Who Believe Bigfoot Is A Flesh And Blood, Physical Creature That Is Just Really Good At Avoiding Humans Camp.

Dr. Meldrum - He's never going to cave and say he heard one in his head or saw it disappear in front of his eyes. He'd almost certainly lose his tenure and his job at Idaho State. We need him, too. Somebody has to hold the line and not buy into things that cannot be proven. Stay the course, Doc.

Dr. Bindernagel – Dr. B is unlikely to change his mind either. I watched in person at the Ocean Shores Sasquatch Summit when Bindernagel, a guest at the request of Todd Standing, brought in to back up Standings' claim of BF activity in Ontario, actually BACKED AWAY from agreeing with Standing at the moment he took the stage. It was surprising, as Meldrum was much more enthusiastic about Standing. Todd's face visibly dropped when Dr. B said, paraphrased, 'Well, no, actually, I never saw an actual footprints on that hillside.'

Notable People Who Originally Thought Sasquatches Were Forest Apes, But Now Think They Are Paranormal.

The way the wind is blowing tells me that the following people are among a growing group who have come around in their thought process to accept that Bigfoot is not just a human-throwback, but a special lifeform that can do things humans cannot.

Johnson, Davies and Carlson

Dr. Matthew Johnson. Johnson saw a big hairy creature while hiking with his family at the Oregon Caves Monument. He claimed that it followed him as he hurried his family to safety. Today Johnson has stated publicly that he thinks Sasquatch creatures can travel through portals, read minds and communicate mentally with humans.

Scott Taylor. Taylor is a BFRO investigator who had worked hard at vetting reports that come in to the BFRO hq. He knows the importance of detailed questioning, checking for sign(s) and following up on further developments. Recently he has visited Johnson's Southern Oregon Interaction Area and on Dr. J's Youtube site he concurs that 'there's Squatch in this area.' Also he is on board with them possessing unusual capabilities.

Adam Davies. Brit cryptozoologist and author approached the subject of Bigfoot as a physical creature but after a visit with another researcher, John Carlson to Matthew Johnson's original Southern Oregon Habituation Area had an encounter with small, hairy creatures that seemed to appear out of a portal.
He speaks about the experience rarely, but agrees that there is far more to the phenomenon that meets the eye.

John Carlson. Davie's tent mate on that visit also experienced high strangeness and both basically agree on what they witnessed. The only difference, as Carlson has said in radio interviews is that he felt the 'entities were evil', and possibly 'demonic' whereas Davies seems to stop short of that classification, at least in public.

'Be vewwy vewwy qwiet!'

People Who Have Thought All Along That Bigfoot Was A Ghost/Spirit/ET.

Kewaunee Lapseritis. Author and Master Herbalist, Lapseritis is deep into the esoterics of other-worldly Bigfoot, beginning as a Naturalist, he dove head first into the paranormal fray when he was contacted by both an ET and a Sasquatch at the SAME TIME. That would twist anybody's melon, but Mr. L seems pretty constant and clear in his lectures, citing the messages he continues to receive that repeat warnings to humans that we're messing things up and it's probably too late to all come together and fix it.

Indian Peoples All Over The Nation. Look at any First Nations myth about Monsters and you will find the Sasquatch mentioned as a 'people' or 'tribe' not much different than them, aside from having the ability to do all the aforementioned stuff like go invisible and read minds. It's always hard for white people, non-natives to accept the wildness of these claims, but more and more they are beginning to make sense. Non believers = Zero. Indian Peoples – One.

This list is going to grow as time goes on, of course. And I maintain that the 'woo woos' will gain ground over the scientists, perhaps at our peril, but at least we MIGHT learn something about Sasquatch and in turn, something about ourselves.