Posted on 10/15/2005 10:25:10 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
JEFFERSON, Texas - Next to a lifelike replica of a giant ape head, the believers milled around tables Saturday covered with casts of large footprints, books about nature's mysteries and T-shirts proclaiming "Bigfoot: Often Imitated, Never Invalidated."
While they can have a sense of humor about it, the search for the legendary Sasquatch is no joke for many of the nearly 400 people who came here to discuss the latest sightings and tracking techniques at the Texas Bigfoot Conference.
"It's not a matter of believing, like faith, when you believe in something you can't see," said Daryl G. Colyer, a Lorena businessman who has investigated hundreds of reported Bigfoot sightings in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
"It's a flesh-and-blood animal that just has not been discovered yet. And I think we're getting closer and closer and closer," Colyer said.
Outlandish theories about the origin of Bigfoot abound, including that it might be an extraterrestrial. Many believe that a towering, ape-like creature descended from a prehistoric 9- to 10-foot-tall gorilla called a Gigantopithecus, and that it now inhabits North American forests.
Hoaxes have been a large part of the making of the Bigfoot legend. California construction company owner Ray L. Wallace donned 16-inch wooden feet to create tracks in mud in 1958, and it led to a front-page story in a local paper that coined the term "Bigfoot."
But there have been more than 2,550 seemingly credible Bigfoot sightings reported in North America the past century, according to Christopher L. Murphy's 2004 book "Meet the Sasquatch."
Murphy believes thousands more witnesses are too afraid of ridicule to come forward.
"You see one of these things and it changes your whole perception of reality," said Craig Woolheater, the office manager of a Dallas company who co-founded the Texas Bigfoot Research Center in 1999, five years after he said he saw a hairy creature walking along a remote Louisiana road.
Colyer and others estimate that about 2,000 are in North America today, reclusive nocturnal animals living in thickly wooded areas with waterways, eating meat and plants and making nests out of trees and brush.
Pictures and film footage are often disputed, such as the 1967 footage of a creature walking near a California creek. Most evidence centers on hundreds of casts of footprints collected since the 1950s.
Jimmy Chilcutt, a retired fingerprint analysis expert for the Conroe Police Department, said many of the hundreds of prints he examined belonged to a primate, but not a human, ape, gorilla or chimpanzee.
Like Chilcutt, other well-respected professionals have come forward to say such evidence should not be dismissed.
"To me it's still an open question, but here's some evidence that warrants some serious consideration, so give it a chance," said Jeff Meldrum, associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University who has studied more than 150 casts of footprints. "This is not a paranormal question; it's a biological question."
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On the Net:
Texas Bigfoot Research Center: http://www.texasbigfoot.com
Novelist Eric Penz, of Seattle, Wash., signs one of his books for a buyer Saturday, Oct. 15, 2005, at the Texas Bigfoot Conference in Jefferson, Texas. The event, hosted by the Texas Bigfoot Research Center, drew enthusiasts and researchers of the legendary creature. The skull is a creation based on calculations from the jaw fossil, Penz said. (AP Photo/D.J. Peters)
There's a bigfoot in my bedroom right now.
What's easier to believe? That there's a creature called 'bigfoot' or that complex, sentient human beings evolved from pond scum?
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan speaks to the Millions More Movement rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., October 15, 2005. Thousands of African-Americans are rallying to mark the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March and focus on problems faced by the country's poor. REUTERS/Micah Walters
Rev. Al Sharpton speaks at the Millions More Movement on the National Mall, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2005 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
Meanwhile, In Washington, DC, a Big Mouth Rally was also held.
Scholar Cornel West speaks with members of the media, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2005, on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan holds his Millions More Movement march on Saturday on the National Mall. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
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Have any "nests" ever been found?
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Dr. Phil Greta van Susteren would like to talk to you. lol
LOL
One would think that by now the heavily armed rural population would have shot a few of them, providing the evidence and settling the question. Like the story with that gigantic hog "hogzilla" somewhere in GA. Or are the Bigfeet a protected species?
I wonder if Medved went?
----Have any "nests" ever been found?----
A professional geologist/engineer that I knew was a smoke jumper for awhile. He said one time they had jumped into a remote site in Northern California fighting a fire. They came across what he claimed might have been a "nest" - large trees and brush piled up and wedged in between trees to form a 3-sided (as I recall) "fort". However, he said they were about 50 miles or some such distance away from any roads or trails. He said it also stunk to high-heaven. He wasn't the type to maake stuff up.
I like to think that there is something running around out there that we don't know much about. Plus - they make great bedtime stories for my kids!
What the? It`s a werewolf!
Those bed times story's are not always so great. My older cousin (about 15) and I were staying at my grandmothers one summer. A younger cousin came (about 8) to stay for a day or two. While he was there Les (my older cousin) and I engaged in a late evening conversation about sasquatch while our younger cousin listened in. Later that night the young cousin had a strange odor about him and we asked grandma to investigate it seems the boy had shit himself because after our conversation he was afraid to go down to the outhouse.
This jack-aas is ripe for all sorts of diseases.
Why can't some folks get a haircut, bathe, and shave.
well at the least he could fix that four lane highway running between his front teeth. He is a scholar; finding a dentist can't be that tuff can it.
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