Final Thought

This project was started for my father to see if he is just crazy and with a very over active imagination. Through my project I read a book of Robert Pyle talking about his own experience with Bigfoot and his quest to find if he/she is real or not. I even watched videos on the scientist who research these creatures and most well know is Loren Coleman. Which of who I read numerous books he has written on Bigfoot. I even watched a video on when Bigfoot was found in the woods in Georgia. This was later found to be fake and not a real creature and just a mask.

This video just helped me to come to my final opinion about Bigfoot. Bigfoot to me will and always will be fake. My father and I sat down and discussed this project the other day and he was still trying to persuade me to say real. But with what I read in the numerous books and saw in the videos. Even the best researchers could not find anything that could have been held up in court. And Robert Pyle in his book even says that many sightings are old men who wanted to make a name for themselves and to just stir trouble. So after reading that I felt like every sighting was just a fake. My interview with Jamee, it wasn't that I thought she was crazy but just that there could of been so many different things on her farm. And that is why I cant say real.

Now that I have finished the project fully I've wondered what I would have done differently. And I loved what I researched on but if I could go back I would not have picked Bigfoot at all. Something easier that I could have thought more deeply into. Bigfoot just wasn't that interesting to me. I didn't find it be intriguing at all or even remotely interesting so I wish i would have done a complete different topic.

In this video it is explaining cryptozoology and their struggle to find information. Cryptozoology is the study of mysterious animals. They want to know what they saw, or know what is out in their backyard. It is a fear that rises in them and they want to know more to settle this fear. Many are specialized in this area and they are nervous to know what they don't know anything about, and what could be lurking in there backyard. One even says, "It is a problem!"

This video just shows a view into what these scientist that study these creatures think. Because as a outsider I think they are all whacked out in the head. But after watching this video I understand more what they are thinking about and why they research these creatures. I understand what they are truly looking for and that is the unknown. and everyone is afraid of the unknown and want to know more about it. And that is what these scientist specialize in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxRJH4vqkcY

Loren Coleman

There is a interview done with Loren Coleman, and he explains his part and what he does in looking for cryptic sightings. Loren Coleman has traveled the world to research cryptozoological evidence and folklore since alleged sightings of the Abominable Snowmen caught his attention over four decades ago. "Cryptozoology literally means the study of hidden animals. The term comes from the Greek word krypto, meaning hidden, unknown, secret, enigmatic, mysterious plus zoo which means animal and logos means to study... these unknown animals called cryptids are those that are known to human but not verified by science," Coleman comments. He also say that "They have yet to be discovered by zoology, although they may be well known to local or native peoples through sightings, folklore, and traditions. Therefore, in general, cryptozoology only concerns itself with animals large enough to make an impact on humans, and is not about every search for and discovery of microscopic or small new animals." Loren goes on to to say that Bigfoot is the number one cryptic, and every researcher is looking for.

This was a amazing source to read about. Loren Coleman is one of the most popular Bigfoot researchers. I also have numerous books I have been reading written by him. In this interview he is very interesting because to me, its like rambling about something that I don't even think is real. But that he is so passionate and interested, and even dedicated to finding out more on Bigfoot makes me want to find more. Loren makes me want to search for Bigfoot myself, find something unknown and mysterious.

Bigfoot Image

View of Bigfoot have evolved over the years, but it seems Bigfoot has stayed the same. The first images of Bigfoot were described as Sasquatch or "another tribe." These creatures were considered a lost race of humans. Or just "Sasquatch as hairy Indians." And this also includes, back in the 1950's media would carry reports of Yeti or Abominable Snowman. Many movies were starting to be made, an image to visually see and to picture this creature. A movie worth mentioning was The Legend of Boggy Creek. This movie was released in 1972. Many sitings were reported in Boggy Creek, but the reporting in the late 60's and 1971 had great press. Although the movie was of course not real, the footage of river bottoms, fog, and vegetation along Boggy Creek made this town look very spooky. Many after this movie came out and moved away from Boggy Creek. This movie was just a huge part in many researchers to start walking the woods and study was Bigfoot there.

Loren Coleman in his book BIGFOOT! The True Story of Apes in America includes every aspect of what you would need to learn from and research his work. I feel this book helps helped me understand where many get the thoughts that Bigfoot is real. And in this chapter it is huge to think that media started it all. There of course were reports before numerous movies. But the media gave it a face and an original name of Bigfoot. And I think this just came down to the fact that you can't always believe what you see in the news. And a movie is just a movie, for pleasure.
Coleman, Loren. BIGFOOT! The True Story of Apes in America. New York: Pocket, 2003. Print.

Jamee Williams Lutz

Jamee is one of my fathers friends. She lives in Anniston , Alabama. I visited Jamee at her house with my dad. Jamee and my dad are old friends. I interviewed her about Bigfoot. She has had past experience with Bigfoot her self. As a child she lived on a farm and was always running around the family farm. One day as she was running around something caught her eye. A big black figure, she has never thought twice about it since as a child she had glasses but now thinking back on her experience she thinks twice about what she saw. She now thinks and has realized that this black figure she saw as a Bigfoot. As a intelligent women she realizes she sounds stupid saying she saw Bigfoot as a child, but she thinks or knows that is what she saw. Jamee now as a older women tells her friends, "I'm not crazy, I know what I saw. I saw a huge black figure I can't even describe the fear I had."

Jamee was a pleasure to interview. She was very shy though to speak of Bigfoot with me. I know her and my dad talk often about Bigfoot, but I think as, me, a outsider she thought I would think she was crazy. This is how i came to know of Jamee. My dad told me her story and how he even thought this story seemed off. But she answered everything I asked like; how do you think seeing Bigfoot has changed your views about other creatures that could be out there, and did you ever want to see this big black creature in your life again, or did you ever think you were going crazy thinking you saw Bigfoot. As I interviewed Jamee, I'm not knocking her, but it seemed very strange. And that as a kid could remember a black figure she saw. the figure could have been a tree, a dog, anything on a farm, maybe even a cow. Since I know Jamee know I know she is not crazy, but i would evaluate how many people I would tell this Bigfoot story to because its not very trustworthy for research or sightings.

Where Bigfoot Walks

The book Where Bigfoot Walks, Crossing the Dark Divide, was written by Robert Michael Pyle. The book is full of chapters of Pyle's destinations and experiences. The Dark Divide is the name where Bigfoot sightings are recorded often. While he trekked through the Dark Divide, Pyle found a giant fossil footprint. This Dark Divide is the region stretching across the mountains and plateaus of Washington and northern California. Pyle also talks with Northwest Coast Indians, and he asked them questions. These Indians tell him about their encounters with the creature. One Indian tells him, "I went on foot in there for fifteen miles, spent days and days, and saw no sign of that Bigfoot... I think its a hoax." This Indians is discussing when he went through the Dark Divide. Robert even goes to a conference in British Columbia in 1994. At this conference all he learned was that many of these guys were not interested in finding Bigfoot but they actually wanted to be Bigfoot. Ultimately Pyle discovers a few things about Bigfoot - and a lot about the human need for something to believe in and the need for wilderness in our lives.


As I started this research project I was very interested in looking at what researchers say about Bigfoot and what they have found. I was very open-minded about it. In this book though, even a researcher is being let down by his findings. when Pyle attended the conference he was sad to come by men who just are itching to find something out there. Many hunters just wanting to kill something. Kill something no one has ever seen before. Which makes this source good for my research particularly because I realized how unauthentic every sighting can be. how made up the sightings can be.



This book was a little hard to read and get into. I skipped around in the different chapters to make it interesting to read. The book itself was pretty boring and not what i would pick to read. But for the benefit of my research it helped me. And I feel this book helped me make my decision on how I feel about Bigfoot. And that made this book great to read. Pyle never found what he wanted to. Yes, the fossil of the foot was amazing but besides that he was disappointed. and so am I with my findings.

Pyle, Robert Michael. Where Bigfoot Walks Crossing the Dark Divide. New York. Houghton Mifflin, 1995. Print.

Hoax, Pranks, the full bit.

In the book The Life and Times of a Legend BIGFOOT written by Joshua Blu Buhs, he discusses in the Bigfoot chapter about a man of the name Crew who lived in Salyer, California. On August 27, 1958, he went to work doing road service. crew parked by his bulldozer and noticed a few footprints in the leveled earth but didn't think much about them. Once he got into the bulldozer and looked down he realized the prints were big and manlike. When he discussed this prints to Shorty a fellow worker they discussed that it may be responsible for other disturbances. The summer before a 450 pound drum of diesel fuel was missed placed and a 700 pound spare tire found its way into a ditch. But in this area there is history of practical jokes, stories of giant turtles and panthers, and even sea serpents. Someone even made the comment that Crew's mysterious tracks were left by Paul Bunyan's two year old son. The new went on the write a story that the footprints may be from a gigantic, retarded Indian. The Indian was said to have run away from a camp. Or of a boy whose parents tied him to a tree, entirely naked except for a wide leather belt. He was over six feet and weighed about 250. He had rather long hair all over his body. Many of these tales were versions of older legends told and passed down.


The stories upon stories told in this chapter are insane. They all sound like a small town trying to make a name on the map. A bunch of old men with nothing better to do with there time. All the stories were pranks and set up for a good paper. Everything was published to the papers. And even int his chapter they discussed a contest where you could send in the funniest practical joke and get a reward. The whole chapter was exciting to read to just think about the imaginations these men have.

Blu Buhs, Joshua. The Life and Times of a Legend BIGFOOT. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2009. 66-87. Print.

BigFoot Found!

This video is a news real informing us about three men in California who said they found bigfoot. They found the Bigfoot in Georgia, where they shot him. They have put him in a freezer to keep it preserved. The man they interview is Tom Biscardi, a Bigfoot hunter, very famous. They inlisted this man to come to Gergia and see this creature in person and scope it out. In the interview Biscardi says he went to this freezer and saw it in person and that it is clearly real. He even poked at it. The anchor women, Megan, notices how fake the face of the Bigfoot in the freezer looks. She compares the face to a maks, a halloween mask. All he can say is that yes its real, Tom even invites Megan to come see this creature in person to prove it is real.

This is just the biggest bull crap I've ever seen. That this is what the news would report is crazy to me. The face obviously looks fake. And it clearly is a prank, which shows all the information I have found is just proving me right and my father wrong. (About Me, to undertand)

Momo

In Loren Coleman's book Mysterious America he begins his Bigfoot chapter with a detailed case. It takes place in northeastern Missouri. The name of the monster that is reoccurring is the "Momo", which is a the newspapers abbreviations for "Missouri Monster". It was along River Road that stretched north from Highway 54 along the Mississippi River. Here there is a long standing tale of a phantom man who walks the streets then disappears. Mary Ryan and Joan Mills were not on this road in July 1971 but not far from it. Ryan and Mills had taken the highway back to St. Louis because they were looking for a nice picnic spot. They found a promising spot, they turned of on a dirt road put the blanket down and got out the food. Mary Ryan recalls, "We were eating lunch when we both wrinkled up our noses at the same time. I never smelled anything as bad in my life." Joan commented that they were smelling a whole family of skunks. Then suddenly her jaw drops and she points towards a brushy thicket behind her companion. Ryan says, "It was half-ape and half-man." And according to Mills, "Then it made a gurgling sound like someone trying to whistle underwater." They tell you that the half-ape half-man stayed its distance from them and eventually wasnt interested anymore. they knew that there story would be very hard to believe but there commetn on that is "but all you have to do is go into those hills to relize that an army of those things could live there undeteced."


This case is helpful to my source to understand what people have seen and to hear different stories. But as a non believer myself I'm trying to be convinced and this didnt work. The whole story just seemed way to thought out to be real. And I couldnt take any of it seriously. The writing was great through out the chapter but this case just turned me off because it seemed to be trying to hard to say "Hey, Bigfoot is sooo real."

Coleman, Loren. Mysterious America. New York, NY: Pocket Books, 2001. 188-205. Print.

A Look Back into History

The knowledge known about Bigfoot in America was passed down through Indian tales. Folklore, legends, and many stories demonstrate a known knowledge of many unknown hairy primates on the continent. Many stories are familiar, around two centuries ago , Native Indonesians passed down elaborate tales of "wild men of the woods,"today are known as orangutans. Native Africans also told stories discussing there local "monster ape." The "monster ape," allegedly kidnapped and killed natives but today is recognized by zoologist as the mountain gorilla. A survey in 1970 by Mark A. Hall and Loren Coleman on native traditions describes these creatures and the locations these stories originate from. They wrote "A vast folklore and a belief in a race of very primitive people with revolting habits is from northern California up into the Arctic lands themselves." These location not only cover the stretch of the Pacific coast but also the rugged territory to the east, into Greenland. These creatures were described as very tall, fully haired, and sometimes carnivorous.

This source is very helpful in this topic because it helps many understand the stories of Bigfoot and how they've been passed down. And how Native traditions of these tales were originated at and based on. The point of this blog is to make a decision on if Bigfoot is real or not. But first background information is needed for the understanding of the topic itself. And I think understanding the history behind different takes on Bigfoot is caused by the tales first told two centuries ago. Which makes this source very helpful to fulfill the background information needed in fully understanding the topic before it is well researched.

Coleman, Loren. BIGFOOT! The True Story Of Apes In America. New York: Pocket, 2003. Print