Bigfoot faithful descend upon Willow Creek

By Sara Watson Arthurs

Willow Creek — They came from all over — academics, believers, and the merely curious — to the Bigfoot Capital of the world, intending to take a scientific approach to a topic usually discussed in whispers and jokes.

Part pilgrimage, part scientific convention, the International Bigfoot Symposium is taking place in Willow Creek this weekend. An estimated 220 people had registered by Friday morning.

The symposium began Friday at the Willow Creek-China Flat Museum, which is hosting the conference.

Presenters and attendees were mostly Bigfoot believers, but tended to be jovial rather than defensive when talking about skeptics. Thomas Steenburg, who traveled from Canada to speak at the conference, said it was interesting explaining the purpose of his trip to United States customs officials.

Steenburg said he believes Bigfoot exists, but even if it doesn't forums like the symposium are necessary "because it's a very important part of our cultural folklore."

D. Jeffrey Meldrum, associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University, said it was a thrill to meet other Bigfoot experts who he'd previously only known through e-mail.

"It's almost like a family reunion," he said.

Jimmy Chilcutt, a crime scene investigator from Conroe, Texas, has studied the dermal ridges on the footprints of apes as well as humans. Chilcutt said some of the castings of footprints said to be Bigfoot's don't match any known primate.

"This is something nobody can fake, because nobody has that expertise," he said.

The conference includes trips to Bluff Creek, where Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin made the renowned film they said was of Bigfoot in 1967. Experts in anthropology and primatology from across the United States and as far away as Moscow are giving presentations on this and other evidence from Bigfoot believers.

The conference agenda boasts items such as "Certain elements of reported Sasquatch intimidation behavior, such as projectile-throwing, are consistent with display behavior of great apes and a few other primates" and "Sasquatch may be the modern analog of a locomotor adaptation — bipedalism on flat flexible feet that was the norm for the majority of hominid evolutionary history."

With topics like that, the conference agenda might seem intimidatingly wonkish to some. But conference attendees were eager to meet the anthropologists, have fun and learn a lot.

David Osborne of Chino said he's been fascinated by Bigfoot since he was a child. He said at the first gathering like this he attended, a meeting of Bigfoot aficionados in Oregon, he didn't know "what percentage of normal people versus crackpots" to expect but found that the former made up 80 to 90 percent of attendees.

Those who say they've seen Bigfoot include the most ordinary of people, he said.

Indeed, a diverse group milled around outside the museum on Friday — men and women, young and old, most wearing jeans and T-shirts in the heat but some dressed less casually.

Connie Anderholm of Eureka said she's always been fascinated by Bigfoot stories from all over the world. Mary Brown of Modesto said her visit is the culmination of research after a "frightening encounter" she had while camping in Alpine County several years ago. Lesley Butterfield of Victoria, British Columbia, was attending with her husband, a "Bigfoot nut."

Butterfield said she and her husband were excited to see all the Bigfoot experts and devotees in one place at one time.

"The big thing that I hope for is that people will understand that these are truly animals running around out there — not just somebody's imagination," said Al Hodgson of the museum, who organized the conference.

From: Eureka Times-Standard, 13 September 2003.