Bigfoot remains a fascinating possibility

By David Little

As an avowed skeptic, I have a hard time admitting my fascination with Bigfoot. But I can't deny it: I'm intrigued.

Let the insults fly.

It's been brewing in me since childhood, and it follows me around in adulthood. My first research paper, in the eighth grade, was about Bigfoot. My first crack at fiction writing, in the ninth grade, had Bigfoot as a central topic (something about a young man who goes in search of the creature that doesn't want to be found, and gets lost himself and dies very uplifting).

I've lived most of my life in Bigfoot country, and whenever I go hiking I try to spot the big monkey. Two weeks ago, standing on a ridgetop at 7,000 feet in the Marble Mountains and looking at a vast roadless wilderness as far as we could see, I told a friend, "If there is a Sasquatch, that's where it would be. It could live down there forever and never have to worry about being seen."

That constant fascination is why on Wednesday I couldn't pass up the chance to listen to Ron Brown, part of Lake Oroville's summer speaker series. Brown, who recently moved to Oroville, delivered a talk titled, "Bigfoot — Legend Meets Science." A theater of roughly 50 people heard Brown speak from a scientific point of view about whether Sasquatch exists.

Brown, who says he received a doctorate in zoology, has participated in several expeditions in search of proof of Sasquatch. He has never seen the creature but says he has documented footprints, hairs and scat samples that appear to be from a primate that walks upright and is unknown in North America.

Brown's a believer, but he's careful. Scientists who believe in Sasquatch are ostracized, and you can imagine the funny looks Brown gets when he speaks to groups. But Sasquatch is enjoying a renaissance of sorts.

There have been several science-based articles in newspapers and magazines, along with a Discovery Channel special earlier this year.

Next month in Willow Creek, a Sasquatch Summit will attract hundreds of scientists, expeditionists and other Bigfoot fanatics. Jane Goodall, a believer, is expected to speak.

Willow Creek is the cradle of Bigfoot. Though tales of a North American ape have been circulating for centuries, the term Bigfoot was coined by a newspaper where I used to work. The Humboldt Times used the term in 1958 to describe the massive tracks left at a construction site over several days. That story was discredited as a prank when Ray Wallace, the construction crew foreman, died last year.

His family said he had created the footprints as a practical joke.

Wallace's supposed prank fed a legend that had lived for years. Then in 1967, just north of Willow Creek in a place called Bluff Creek, the first supposed film of Bigfoot — dubbed the Patterson film — was taken. Brown showed that film Wednesday along with another film that was taken 20 years later, 25 miles away.

Willow Creek, not surprisingly, claims Bigfoot as its favorite son. The Humboldt County town of about 1,500 people has a big wooden carving of Bigfoot right out on Highway 299, which is called the Bigfoot Scenic Byway. The town has a Bigfoot Country Club, Bigfoot Rafting, Bigfoot Lumber, Bigfoot Recycling and Bigfoot Motel.

Many people in town think of Bigfoot as nothing more than a good tourism ploy. But others talk convincingly of their certainty of the primate's existence. These are God-fearing, level-headed people. But for every one of them, you get many more zany ones, like the people who listen to late-night-radio conspiracy shows, or the man from Modoc County who called the newspaper where I was working in Redding to tell us he had discovered a family of Bigfoot (or is it Bigfeet?). He knew right where two adults and two juveniles were, and he had written President Bill Clinton to ask for $20,000 so he could relocate the animals to Washington, D.C.

The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization learns of about 400 sightings a year. About one in 10 is considered credible. Three from Butte County, dating back to 1980, are listed as credible on the BFRO Web site, including one near Butte Meadows, one near Forest Ranch and one above Lake Oroville.

The big, hairy ape seems to follow me everywhere. But a few plaster casts and hair samples aren't going to convince me. I need something more. Bones, DNA, infrared imagery or a persuasive film. Until then, I'll remain intrigued but unconvinced.

From: Chico Enterprise-Record, 24 August 2003.