A Bigfoot Story

Bigfoot: In august of 1992 while camping in a remote forested area of northeastern Washington, my Fiance and I experienced an encounter with the ledgendary beast that went on for two weeks.
The area that we were in has a high bear population along with cougars, bobcats deer,elk, moose and other lessor animals as well. For the first two days of our outing we observed bear and bear sign pretty much everywhere around camp and took precautions to reduce the possibility of "invasion" by hungary bears into our camp supplies. On the third day of camping something strange happened, all bear activity ceased! No new bear sign could be found nor were any bears observed. I have been a hunter and outdoorsman all my life here in the P.N.W. and had never seen such an abrupt stop to bear activity for no apparent reason!

We decided to scout further from camp in order to attempt locating the bears. During treks along game trails leading to likely areas where bears may be found, we both heard noises of "something" moving when we would move but stop when we would stop.Whatever it was it appeared to be following us. Several times we experienced the un-mistakable feeling of being watched but observed nothing that would support that feeling. The most startling circumstance occured while we were in an old marshy bowl that still contained water, we found bear but we also found "something" else too. At first we heard noises coming from within the marsh that indicated a bear was foraging around old stumps, digging into them. A short time went by and this first bear came into view. We watched for several minutes when suddenly for no apparent reason, the bear stood up on its hind legs and sniffed into the wind then just as quickly dropped down on all four feet and galloped down wind watching over its shoulder as it ran as if it expected to be chased. We were certain that there was no chance that the bear had caught our scent as the conditions of wind could not take it that direction. Puzzled, we remained and observed another bear slowly working its way into the spot that the previous bear had so suspiciously vacated. Once the bear reached that spot it too stood on its hind feet, sniffed into the wind then turned and dropped to all fours and wasted no time in galloping down wind as the first bear had done. This bear was also watching behind it as it ran as though it too expected something to be chasing it! To my knowledge the only animals that will spook bear (black) that way are Humans and Grizzlies. We remained in that location hoping to get a look at whatever spooked the bears but after approx. 20 minutes decided that we needed a better vantage point and so, climbed to a spot around the other side of the marsh that allowed us to see down into the marsh a little better. There we waited.

We sat there in silence hoping to see what had spooked the bears when we began hearing the strangest noise. The sound was coming from the thick brush to our right, after several moments of listening to this we concluded that something very large was attempting to close on our position sneaking along slow and carefully. As that was taking place and before we could draw further conclusions a second and third such sound began coming from directly up the mountain moving down towards us and the other coming from our left. The thick brush prevented us from seeing into the forest more than 20-30 yards at best. As we sat there listening to these sounds which by now convinced us that we were being converged upon by three large animals simultaneously and from three different directions, I began to get very concerned as in my experience this circumstance was quite out of the ordinary for bear behavior and cougars are not known to stalk prey in thi mannor. There was virtually no possibility that other humans were in the area playing a prank. I let the animals approach to what may have been approximately 30 yards or so and then decided that this action had to be stopped as our saftey may well be compromised. With that, I used a .22 pistol to fire shots well over the top of each position that the sneaking sounds were coming from. Upon firing the shots all sounds stopped abruptly! the woods around us got very quiet. I traded the .22 for my .44 magnum and decided to very slowly re-trace our steps down out of that area while carfully watching for movement in the surrounding brush. It took about 30 minutes to reach the road on which we had come to the game trail leading up the mountain. We had a more open field of fire at that point and stopped there for several minutes discussing the odd events. After a time, we began heading back to camp when we were drawn up short at the observence of a large stick lying across the road that was not there when we had come up the road earlier. The marsh area that we had just left contained several old cottenwood trees, this "stick" was from a cottenwood tree! It lay along side three distinct sets of very large tracks that appeared to be very,very fresh! The stick in question was about 5 feet long . Along the center of the shaft was what appeared to be an image left by a very large sweaty hand however, the thumb was not used in opposition to the four fingers rather, it lay along side them. The hand print was nearly twice the width of my own and wrapped completely around the shaft so that the finger tips must have overlapped the palm near the under side of the wrist.

The footprints were not real distinct due to the surface of the road, hard damp well packed soil, but they were clearly evident. They had come out onto the road from the direction of the marsh and travelled north on the road for approx. 20 yards before re-entering the forest on the opposite side of the road. The largest set measured 18 inches in length, 7 inches across the ball of the foot. The walking stride of these tracks measured 6 feet. The second largest set of tracks measured 17.5 inches in length , 7 inches across the ball of the foot. The walking stride of these tracks was 5.5 ft. Both these sets of tracks appeared to contain five toes and bore a human shape accept that they were very flat, no apparent arch. The most interesting set of tracks were the third and smallest, they measured 17 inches in length, 7 inches wide across the ball if the foot. However, these tracks showed only four toes on each foot and in walking revealed that the left foot was being partially dragged as it walked. The walking stride of these tracks was short, 3.5-4.5 ft. Perhaps it was injured somehow.

With that we speculated that Bigfoot had paid us a visit and must be very curious about us, but it was hard to concieve even tho the evidence spoke clearly. We seriously discussed gettin out of the area as we were 24 miles from anyone or anyplace and had no idea what the intentions of these animals(if any) were. Although they had not given reason by thier action that they represented any threat to us other than being sneaky! I decided that we can be sneaky too and besides, I was curious as they were.

                                                                       
                                                                  
Part 2


The forth day, Aug. 6th I awoke before the sun had broken over the mountain. As I made coffee and considered the predicament that we were in, I decided to better arm myself until such time as I determined that we were safe or not. I uncased my Remington mod. 700 Classic, caliber 300 weatherby magnum. I hand loaded for this rifle at the time and used Nosler partition 180 gr. jsp bullets @ 3200 fps. A load which delivers massive tissue damge resulting in quick, clean kills. I set the 3x9 Leupold scope site on 3x and was never far from that rifle at camp and used it as a constant companion while afield.( I should point out that I had no intention of shooting or killing any of these animals. Our personal safety required that I take every precaution as we were dealing with a completely unknown and un-predictable animal ) When d. woke up and got some coffee in her, she asked if I had heard any of the noises around camp last night, I had. It sounded as though several large animals were in close proximity of camp moving about and breaking sticks as they did. There was no attempt by them to enter camp, I geuss they were satisfied by keeping an eye on us while keeping thier distance.
This day we planned to follow the main road north for a mile or so and see what we could see. D was pleased to see that I had brought out the rifle, she was much more at ease with that along. After starting out we came upon the tracks made yesterday, still very visible and fresh in appearance. "Man-o-Man" the size of those tracks really hit me now! They were very, very large and I felt priviledged to have such an opportunity as this. My enthusiasum for this encounter however, was not shared by D. I had attempted to prepare her for my style of camping long before we got up there, no people, no stores, no nothing but the woods, the animals and the wonderful freedom of being in the woods alone to explore and discover interesting things! I had no idea of just how interesting the "things" would be! Moving past those prints we stalked our way along the road taking care to move slowly and observe all that was possible using all of our senses. After several hundred yards we began to hear what sounded like heavy foot falls to our left(west) out in the timber. It appeared to be following along as we went, but stayed out of sight. We went for approx. 150 yards further up the road well aware of the presence of this animal all the while when the sound just stopped. We continued on for another 100 yards or so and found an 18 inch track in the center of the road, it appeared freshly made, but no other tracks were found there. This track indicated that the animal may have turned to look over it's shoulder in mid stride as the toes had dug in quite deep as it took this step. Deciding that these animals probably considered us as intruders and were likely curious sbout us as well, we returned to camp not wanting to push them or our luck too far.

Once at camp we ate lunch and discussed the situation. Not much to talk over as neither of us had any idea of what we were up against or what to expect. D mentioned that she had heard alot of activity close to camp coming from an area south of camp but not very far away. I thought an investigation into that was in order so began a systematic search of the area surrounding camp. Approximately 60 yards south of camp I came across what appeared to be a "bed" where grass and small plants had been smashed flat covering an area measuring 5x6 ft. With a magnifying glass I inspected the bed for evidence hoping to find clues about what had made this impression. I found numerous hair strands that were reddish brown in color and measured 8-10 inches in length. I kept those as I had not seen such hair as that before. The evidence showed that whatever it was that had made that bed was not a deer, bear, elk or cow.The hairs were similar to human hair but thicker and the ends came to a very gradual point, not like human hair that has been cut.

We went to bed around 10:30pm and lay awake listening. At 11pm we began to hear sounds coming from the grassy bed area. I do not know what the hell they were doing but as the sounds continued to get more robust and strange I could not help coming to the conclusion that they were engaged in some kind of "wrestling" match as you could hear occasional heavy landing noises and grunting with the impact at times. I last remember looking at the clock as I fell asleep listening to the stirrings of the animals at 3am.

Friday Aug.7th: Up with the sun and checked for sign around camp, nothing noteworthy. This day I wanted to check out a basin from which Hall creek flowed and perhaps see one of the animals. D was not to thrilled about the idea and decided to stay at camp. I left the rifle with her and took off up the old road travelling northeast of camp.I took along my .44 magnum just in case. After going about 1/2 mile I began to hear something following me from out in the forest east of me. This animal stayed with me for nearly a mile and I must admit that I was not comfortable at all with that! But after a while and the animal not attempting to close in on me, I got relaxed and worried less. However, with that, I was not comfortable leaving D back at camp as she had not been used to camping like this and was probably getting scared. After approx. 3 miles I decided to return to camp as I had found no physical evidence and could not help worrying about D.

As I walked along the roadway I came to a corner in the road where the surface of the road was compacted moist clay like soil where my own foot prints were clearly visible. This is where I observed a most significant piece of evidence, something had used what appeared to be two fingers to wipe up scent from a couple of my boot tracks! Further investigation of these marks convinced me that such was indeed the case. I even attempted to replicate the marks to learn what I could about the animal that made them. As a reasonably strong individual, I was only able to come a little bit close to making a like mark by placing all of my upper body weight on the pad of one thumb, then drag it across the surface of the road! Even though this did cause my thumb to get a bit tender, I was caught up in the recognition that the animal that made the smudge or wiping marks in the first place was indeed a very powerful animal! In carfully searching the area for its tracks, I found none and under the conditions of the road surface and plant life thereon, I began to suspect that these animals are intelligent and very crafty woods-wise creatures. Now I had a problem, these animals are clearly displaying the ability to reason (in my opinion) I hurriedly returned to camp to find D very anxious and worried. D said that about 30 minutes after I had left camp something began pounding rocks together in a rythmic pattern from up on the ridge nearby the road that I had gone up. She thought it was me, I told her that it was not, D turned a bit pale at that and went on to advise me that she had also heard several very distinct "yells" that sounded similar to an elephants trumpeting but went on for a much longer period of time. She said that one was a very long way off but the other appeared to be pretty close.

Perhaps we were in over our heads but I was facinated by the smudge marks and the display of what I took to be intelligent thought on the part of these animals.I was not able to hear any of the noises that D had described as they were likely covered by the sounds of the creek which for the most part paralled the road I went up. That night we went to bed about 11pm having sat around the fire talking and listening. I had begun messing around with a chunk of wood as we did using my hatchet to form the piece of wood into an owl. The chopping noise created a pattern of rythme that would stop and go as I checked progress. This would turn out to be significant.

As we lay in our sleeping bags we began to hear rustling noises nearby camp but coming from the creek. Listening, we were brought out of any thought of sleep as whatever they were doing they were not fooling around about it! We heard the sounds of large rocks being hurled into the creek with a force that indicated great power in the throwing of the rocks! The splashing and the rocks impacting other rocks created a very violent sound in the night. This went on for nearly an hour then abruptly stopped and we fell asleep not hearing anything more.


                                                                    
Part 3



Aug 7th and 8th came and went with nothing out of the ordinary going on. I thought it strange that having spent so much of thier time watching us they would suddenly stop with no apparent reason that we could understand.
Aug 9th. Sunday morning I decided to scout around camp and search for any new sign. Finding none, I thought I would take a look at a ridge that went north east of camp. D stayed at camp. By now she was not too thrilled about going out into the forest as she was content that the animals were leaving us alone and perhaps we should not provoke them! I took up my rifle and headed out advising D that I would be back in an hour or so. I thought that there was a possibility that the Sasquatch had been using this ridge as a route in this area and wanted ti look for evidence that supported my theory. I zig-zagged my way up the ridge until I reached a heavily timbered saddle where the ridge ended. It began to rain so I took refuge under a large yellow pine. As I sat there, a feeling that something was wrong came over me. I tried to dismiss this feeling but it would not subside so I then made a hasty retreat back to camp. At camp d was excited and scared as she explained what had happened shortly after I had left camp. Upon the ridge that I had gone up and about 30 minutes after leaving camp D began to hear rocks being knocked together in a series of 4 to 5 impacts then stop and repeat. She heard this several times but said that the noise stopped probably 20 minutes prior to my arrival at camp. I had found no tracks or other evidence that Sasquatch had been using that ridge but then the rocky terrain did not lend itself well to leaving tracks of any kind. D was certain that the rock noises were coming from a spot 125 yards or so, from camp. I went to the vicinity and searched for what ever evidence there may be but found nothing. That night between 3:30 and 4:30am we lay awake listening to the violent sound of some major brush and sticks being thrashed about and broken. The sound of this action caused me to lose my comfort level with the presence of these animals as I had gotten accustomed to thier activity and noise but this was something different! The animal making this noise had no regard at all for the amount of noise it was making. The sounds appeared to be coming from the bed area that we had found earlier. Eventually, the sound stopped and nothing was heard approaching camp. Things returned to normal.

Aug 10th Thismorning at 8am I once again decided to look for evidence of the sounds made the night before, I went to the bed area and found it disturbed but not torn up as I had expected too. I found several more hair strands which I kept. Began a trek up the road north of camp to see if any new tracks could be found. Shortly after leaving camp and just after crossing the bridge over Hall ck. A black bear stepped out onto the road not 6 ft. from me! I drew my .44 and took several giant steps backward attempting to put some distance between us. The bear appeared to be as surprised as I was and while I was busy taking my "evasive action" the bear did too ! It ran northwest into the timber and did not waste any time getting gone.Releived at that I continued on my way. Perhaps the bear was responsible for all the noise early this am. I returned to camp a short time later not wanting to leave D alone for too long. After an hour at camp, we walked up the road that I had gone up earlier. shortly after crossing the bridge we began to hear the familiar sound of something follwing us but staying out in the timber out of sight as we travelled along. As this was going on we also began to hear what sounded very much like rocks being thrown into a small tributary ck. to our left. This sound was unmistakable and could only ahve been made by throwing rocks into the creek and to my knowledge bears did'nt do that!!! I even went so far as to throw some rocks into the creek myself to test the sound for similarity to what we had been hearing, they matched to our satisfaction. These sounds followed us up and back down the road nearly to camp where they stopped and could no longer be heard. A couple hours later we sat around camp eating lunch and from up on the mountain side opposite of the creek approx. 150 yards from camp we began to hear a very unusual sound which was being made in a rythmic pattern but not the same as when the rocks were being knocked together. This sound was the same as if you bang your teeth together while keeping your lips closed, but the volume it made as compared to mine gave the impression of a very large and dense bone structure of the jaws and teeth of the animal making it. The strangest thing about it was the fact that after a while we recognised this sound as an almost perfect replica of the chopping noise that I had made several nights ago while shaping the chunk of wood into an owl with a hatchet! I searched invain with binoculars to see the animal responsible as it was not far awy up the mountain. D and I thought that we should go home and see if we could get some help with this problem. During the entire time we did not once attempt to crowd or otherwise approach one of the animals when we knew it was in close proximity. I was simply not comfortable with any attempts to do so as we could not be certain what they would consider a threat against them and since they had not made any attempts to threaten or harm us, we thought it was best to leave well enough alone.

Returning home I contacted John Green in British Columbia, a noted Sasquatch researcher. After telling John of our encounter and the physical evidence, He suggested that I contact Grover Krantz of Washington State University for more help. Krantz was more interested in the behavior displayed by the animals than the physical evidence. One thing that troubled me was the fact that during the entire time of this encounter, not once did we actually observe one of the animals. This was attributed to the fact that I was constantly armed and the consensus is that Sasquatch recognize firearms and avoid exposure therefore. I would not reject this theory but on the otherhand, I am not entirely convinced that this is in fact the case although under the circumstances it certainly is one plausible explaination. Krantz suggested that due to the ongoing nature of our encounter, the Sasquatch had possibly been forced to remain in the area for some reason, (perhaps an accompanying female was giving birth) and the Sasquatch were guarding against intrusion by us. The foul stench often reported during Sasquatch encounters was not observed by D or I. We did, on numerous occasions, smell a very strong animal smell unlike any that I can recall but did not smell a foul stench or odor. After several days and not having gotten any assistence in man power from one of the researchers, we decided to return to Hall ck. alone, and continue investigating as best we could.

Many, Many Thanks To Mike For His Story



Brent Floeting's 1994 Bigfoot Encounter:


BigFoot Encounter- 1994
Written by Brent Floeting

All Rights Herein Protected

My purpose is to report my 1994 encounter to the BigFoot investigative community at large.

I would like to thank Brent Floeting for sending me his story, and allowing me to share with all of you.

Here is My 1994 Encounter:  BigFoot Encounter- Lake Curlew

I have been going to Lake Curlew in NE Washington State for 30 years.  It is 10 miles north of the town of Republic.  In 1994, my immediate family and I rented a small cabin on the lake at one of the resorts.

We go there to fish, lie in the sun and have a good time and the fishing is very good there.  It was mid July and it was very dry and hot.  This area of Washington State is arid in the summer and cold in the winter.  It is sparsely populated with Ponderosa pine and a small human population.

The third evening that we were there,,we had gone fishing and caught a lot of trout.  I cleaned them and put their guts in the garbage can outside of our cabin. I mention this because I have always believed that these fish guts brought the lead BF into the resort.  Lately, I am not convinced of that.

At about 2:30 AM I was awoken by something. I knew not what it was,,,but I was just about to fall back asleep when the encounter happened.  It was at that point that I lied awake for the next 5 minutes or so and listened as two animals spoke back and forth to each other.  I say animals,,but the fact is that I really do not know what they were.   I am inclined to believe that they were BF because of my comprehensive encounter.

There was this one right at the cabin and another one was way back in the bush.  I call them animals now,,but I soon realized as I lied there that they were BigFeet.  One knows immediately what you have when this kind of an experience happens to you. 

The one at the cabin was the lead animal.  I could tell from the time intervals between their responses that they were 800-1000 yards apart.  They had a very sophisticated communication going back and forth.  I have been to many BF web sites with BF vocalization audio. Frankly they mostly sound like a bunch of monkeys in the bush.  That one audio report from Ohio was simply horse pucky!

The one back in the bush was asking the one at the cabin if it was OK to come on in.  She asked it at least 6 times during the course of the episode.  I say "she" because it was obvious to me that the one at the cabin was male by his aggressiveness.  She was REALLY nervous and I don't think that she wanted to come in,,,but she kept asking him if it was OK.  She was the better communicator with a more sophisticated and wider ranged speech pattern.

Her communications threads were along the line of, "Is it OK to come in?  Is it OK?  Is it OK to come in?  Is it OK"?  She was REALLY nervous and it was obvious to me that he was the "point".  I believe that she was only one of a number lying back in the weeds.  I do not know that from anything that I sensed or heard, but I could tell that he was the lead group member.  They tend to work as a team with one of their big boys going in first.  He was REALLY big and I would guess around 800 lbs. and very tall.  I say this because an 800 pound animal under 6 feet is probably a very big fatso.  I am drawing on my Physics classes that explained "scaling" to me.

At one point right near the end of the experience,,,,he became quite nervous too.  I got the very distinct impression that he had an internal clock going and knew that he had a window of time that he was working with.  I also sensed that he knew that I was awake in the cabin.  This guy was very LOUD, however he did not seem to care that he was alerting anyone with his talk.

I have been asked to characterize their speech and vocalizations.  So,,,I went out on an Internet search to see if I could find anything like it.  None of the BF audio, I listened to sounded even close.  I did listen to an audio sampling at Ron Morehead's site that had a small amount of similarity to what I heard.  It is still possible for me today to remember what I heard because it was so different. I can somewhat imitate the guy outside of my cabin,,,although when I did so for a so-called BF investigator a few weeks ago,,,I about coughed up a lung doing it.  I was not able to get that power into it,,,and I am 280 pounds and 6"5".  This BF investigator mentioned the low end of a lion's roar and that comes close to it.

I am a degreed Communications major with many years of audio, video and film  production under my belt.  Those of us in this industry refer to the audio projection I heard as "power".  It is nearly impossible for a human to have that low end to one's voice and yet able to project without distortion and noise.  That is one of the reasons that I was able to gauge the size of this guy outside of my cabin.  It is really an easy extrapolation skill,,and then if you couple that with  the physics law of "scaling",,,you can come close to estimating the size of the animal.

I will digress at this time by listing a number of
mental images that are still with me today as follows:

Large Animal -   In the range of 800-1000 lbs.  Again, I gauged this from the power and intensity of his   voice.

Hungry Animal - He was brought in by the smell of the fresh fish guts that I had thrown into the              garbage can earlier that evening.  NB:  I am not convinced today however that this                                was the main reason hat he was there.  It occurs to me that an
animal of this size must eat all of the time and I am sure that it knew that a few                                    fish guts was not much of a lunch.

Extremely complex language and vernacular - It's modulation was controlled with an articulation that demonstrated speech patterns.  Their discourse was timed for the distance between the two.  I do not believe that their tongues played a major part,,but rather they used their whole body to project and more likely their lungs played the biggest role.  They did not talk over each other, but each waited until the other one had finished.  Methinks that is because of the distance involved between the two.  I am reminded of a one-second delay when I have spoken on a satellite phone to people.  Each realizes that they must listen fully, pause and then respond.  Most common bush animals do not do this.

I lived and worked at my Grandfather's logging and tourist camp in the wilds of Ontario, Canada.  I used to lie awake at night and listen to the wolves howl.  They were usually miles apart from each other and yet could talk back and forth,,,however,,,a wolf generally does not wait for the other one to finish before he replies.  I have been told many times by the F&B side of the aisle that I was hearing a bear, Elk, ad infinitum that morning.  I know what these animals sound like in the wilds and I believe that many of these naysayers have never even camped out in the bush,,,let alone heard these animals in the wild.

Strange sense of impaired cognitive capacities - This is the meat and substance of my encounter.  It is difficult to put this into words.  In the audio business we call it "Harmonic Resonance".  This is like you throwing a rock into a pond.  It makes harmonic ripples.  If you throw another one in shortly thereafter, you will see that the ripples from the first stone interfere with the ripples from the second stone.  In the audio recording world, we call it "Dis-harmonic resonance".  It is also termed as "Noise".

The animal outside of my cabin was able to manipulate cognitive resonance and in essence generated "noise" into the surrounding environment to soften or eliminate my thoughts.  If you don't think that this is possible,,,one should consider what Airline companies are doing to eliminate noise in the cabin of the aircraft.  They are able to eliminate 80% of the noise in the cabin by generating other noise that "cancels out" the noise you hear as a passenger.  This is what this animal did to me that morning!

I am a trained Photographer and had all of the gear with me and for some reason I did not even consider snapping off the shot of my life!  I did not wake my wife or anyone else within our cabin to alert them of what was going on right by them.  In fact, I do not believe that anyone else inside of my cabin or anyone else within the resort heard this creature.  This guy was LOUD!

I did not look out through my window with a flashlight and I shortly fell back to sleep.  This is one of the most confusing aspects of my encounter.  I am a very curious person by nature and would not have simply gone back to sleep.  Some folks on the other side of the BF aisle had told me that I was dreaming, that I was drunk, that I was having a dream manifestation, that I was just plain chicken, or that it was a bear.  When this happens to you, then you will know immediately what is occurring and that you are not dreaming.

The creature knew that I was awake in the cabin. He was very nervous of this and when he became aware of it,,he hurried himself and "conformed to a time window".  The female out in the bush was afraid from the outset and hurried him in the last few moments of the encounter.  She kept saying, "What is happening,,,what is going on,,,what is happening, hurry up, hurry up".  I could clearly understand her.. not in terms of human language but I knew what she was saying.

About 5 hours later at 7:30 AM, I told asked my cabin occupants if they heard all of that racket earlier in the morning.  They had heard nothing.  I explained my encounter and a few of us went up to the resort store and told the resort owner what had happened.  The resort owner just snickered at me.  I could tell however that he had heard that type of story before.  This would not be good PR for his resort,,contrary to what some people think.

I want to end my report by telling everyone who reads it that Ray Ambrosini and his web site have given me an opportunity to tell my story in all of it's details.  Ray did not threaten me, tell me I was crazy, ban me from his web site, or send cookies to my home computer.  One web site actually defaulted me to a vulgar Brittany Spears and Mr. "T" site when I tried to access his web site.  This good doctor deleted all of my "discussion forum" postings and other postings from his members that questioned his beliefs. I had two other major BF web sites ban me for trying to file my report because it had the smell of "paranormal" associated with it. 

Ray has given me an open slate at his web site,,,,,and for that I am deeply appreciative.   I am a simple person that had a complex experience in NE Washington State in 1994.  I just wanted to report it to the BigFoot community.  I had no idea that the community was so fractured in it's beliefs,,nor to the extent that some felt it necessary to threaten me, ban me and call me crazy.  I would go so far as to say that some on the flesh and blood side of the aisle have a "cult" mentality with a "fascist" slant to them.  I had a number of these cult members email me away from their web site membership and tell me how they are afraid to speak unless it conforms to the leader of the web site and the flesh and blood philosophy.  So what are they afraid of?  I can only imagine how main players in this controversy must be treated.

I do not know, but I would like for others who read my encounter to educate me.  That is my story.

Brent Floeting


Bigfoot Tracks In BC's Yoho National Park

By Charles Reid
Charlottetown Guardian
7-26-2


November moonlight shone through the overhanging trees onto a pair of large human-like tracks headed for a waterfall's frozen pond.
The first track was sharp, the second was scuffed as if the maker had slipped before walking across the ice.

Because Islander Robert Jones (not his real name), 23, had camped and hiked throughout his life and he had seen animal tracks, he said he had no doubt the one-inch deep tracks in the fresh snow belonged to a sasquatch.

"No animal makes that kind of track. It was clearly five-toed. (You could) see the individual toes. I put my shoe ? it's size 11 ? next to it and it was half that still. It looked like a big human foot, about the same size as mini-snowshoes."

The sasquatch is a mythical, large, hairy, gorilla-like creature witnesses say lives in the northwestern part of Canada and the United States. Its name comes from B.C.'s Coast Salish First Nation term, sasqits or hairy man.

Witnesses say it walks on two legs like a human, but has a flat, ape-like face. Sasquatch sightings and tracks have been reported in North America for 200 years.

It's called Bigfoot in the United States and Yeti in Nepal, an country in Asia's Himalayan mountains.

For Jones and a co-worker he calls Kelly (not his real name), who was along for the hike, reality and folklore suddenly mixed that late fall day in 2000. They were five kilometres from civilization and panic washed over them in a wave, Jones said. "There's a sense of fear that comes over you. Kelly's a tough fellow. He grew up being a boxer. He was freaking out and getting all anxious. Kelly grabbed a large stick." For several minutes they stood in the clear, cold night and listened to the forest. It was unbearably quiet, said Jones. "You have to understand it's a deafening silence. There's almost too much noise because there's no noise. By this time we were a little freaked out. There was a sense of uneasiness, a sense we were being watched."

Jones, originally from Bedford, N.S., worked as a bellman during the summer and fall for the swanky $700-a-night Emerald Lake Lodge in Yoho National Park. Kelly, from Vancouver, B.C., had been at the lodge several months before Jones arrived.

Just over the Alberta border, B.C.'s 1,310-square-kilometre Yoho butts up against Banff National Park. It would fit into the area between Charlottetown and Summerside from east to west and Cavendish and Tryon from north to south.

The Emerald is part of a resort chain in the Rocky mountains. It sits about 210 kilometres northwest of Calgary, about 15 kilometres along an access road linked to the Trans-Canada Highway.

Trails into the mountains lead from employee residences and Jones and Kelly would often hike them after their 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift. Both wore headlamps similar to miners' lamps that night, but bright moonlight lit the trail so they didn't need to use them.

Jones said they'd been on this offshoot of the main trail before and decided to walk the metre-wide path to a 10-metre high waterfall. A tiny stream trickled down the almost frozen waterfall. Behind it was a cave about three metres up in the rock.

At the pondside they saw the tracks. They vanished on the pond's frozen surface.

Snow had fallen about 12 hours earlier, Jones said, so there was no chance this was an old animal track which thawed and refroze into a distorted shape.

The men returned using a different trail. Before they headed back, they paid close attention to the ground and when he saw the same track again he knew it wasn't a dream.

"We could clearly see it again coming back down. If you'd seen it you'd know this wasn't a shadow."

When they got back, Jones told his co-workers what they had seen. People who had worked at the lodge for several years weren't shocked because stories of sightings and reports of weird noises in the woods had floated around the lodge for years.

A sighting like this doesn't surprise wildlife biologist John Bindernagel either. The sasquatch is a real animal and he's got the tracks to prove it, he said in a telephone interview from his British Columbia home.

In 1988, he found sasquatch tracks near his house on Vancouver Island.

He poured plaster into the prints and when it dried he pulled out casts 15 inches long and eight inches wide ? about a man's size 20 shoe. A man who wears size 11 shoes usually has a foot about 10 inches long and four inches wide.

Bindernagel said because wildlife biologists have routinely used tracks as evidence an animal exists, the hundreds of prints found in Canada and the United States point to an undiscovered animal living in North American forests.

"We can be pretty sure there's a large mammal in North America we haven't seen before. We do have a lot of evidence we have to work with."

In North America there's a database of over 3,000 items, including reported sightings, hundreds of plaster casts of tracks and pictures and film of the animal.

It's this evidence that prompted Bindernagel to publish his book, North America's Great Ape: the Sasquatch, in 1998. It's a field guide to the sasquatch's habits and behaviours. It also includes drawings of what it looks like based on evidence he's gathered since 1963 when he was an undergraduate at Guelph University.

Because the sasquatch doesn't fit into a neat slot for scientists to study, there wasn't categorized information available for witnesses to identify what they saw.

And that's why, Bindernagel said, he wrote the book.

"It doesn't fall into anyone's bailiwick, so to speak. I'm not saying it should be in a field guide but if it was, people can say that's what I saw. It's those people I think I can help."

The argument for the sasquatch being a large ape instead of a primitive human is based on witnesses' reports of it throwing rocks, swinging sticks and vocalizing when they were noticed.

Jane Goodall, a scientist who studied chimpanzees in the wild, documented similar behaviours when chimps perceived a threat.

Research of African mountain gorillas found they occasionally release a rotten egg smell from glands when threatened. Many people have claimed they've smelled this scent before or after seeing a sasquatch.

So if wildlife biologists ignore evidence, they're not doing their job, Bindernagel said, and new animals aren't discovered.

"It's very frustrating. With my colleagues, I'm just getting very, very tired. They're not looking at the evidence. Wildlife biologists shouldn't ignore it. We're stuck with not just disbelief, but denial. It's not a matter of belief, it's not a matter of faith. This is mainstream biology. We will look bad when we find it."

But for Neb Kujundzic, a UPEI philosophy professor and department chair, the validity of Bindernagel's research depends on how it stands up to long-term scientific study.

All scientific discoveries are theories until another scientist comes along and proves or disproves it, he said in an interview in his book-lined UPEI office.

"Theories are respected solely because they haven't been refuted yet. The essence of science is refutation."

Using the scientific method, a scientist presents a hypothesis then tries to find evidence to prove it. For the scientist's theory to be valid it has to always return the same result and stand up to new evidence. This means a hypothesis implies a correlation.

Kujundzic used 400 bowls of chili as an example.

He always gets a headache after eating a bowl of chili ? that's the hypothesis. If he still gets a headache after 400 bowls that's the correlation. This correlation should be provable no matter where or when he eats the chili.

But, said Kunjudzic, if the person eats bowl 401 then doesn't get a headache, the hypothesis isn't valid. Something has changed and the hypothesis gets retooled.

This is how the scientific method is supposed to work, said Kujundzic.

"There you see it, others you don't. If you see it, it should be all over the world."

And it's the difference between science and pseudo-science. It's like a straight line versus a circle.

Open-ended science is a straight line on which a theory is presented and evidence given to prove or disprove it, while close-ended pseudo-science is a circle in which a theory is presented, but it can't be refuted because there's no evidence.

As an example of pseudo-science, Kujundzic used theories that extraterrestrial knowledge helped ancient Egyptians and Central America's long-dead Aztecs build pyramids.

But, he said, it doesn't mean discoveries like the H. Pylori ulcer-causing bacteria, once laughed at by scientists who thought ulcers were caused by stress, won't eventually be accepted.

"It emerged from kookland to mainstream science."

As for Jones, the sasquatch has become mainstream. "I'd always had that thought, but never thought I'd see anything. I'm not a fool, I know what I saw."

But, Jones who now lives in Winsloe, said he'd like to return and hike the trail again.

"I believe we saw something. I'd like to go back."

� Copyright 2002 Charlottetown Guardian

http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=A2863A



Giant Bigfoot Tracks Found In Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

Giant hominid tracks were found on a Native American reserve near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (population 34,181) in late July 1998.

"The discovery of a footprint a third of a metre in length has members of a Saskatchewan reserve looking for signs of an elusive creature steeped in aboriginal (Native American) legend."

"Curiosity seekers point out that the tracks coincide with the disappearance of a dog and a bull on the Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation in northern Saskatchewan."

"The prints were spotted July 26 by Janet Gamble, who was jogging near her home."

"'When I noticed the footprint, I looked around to see it again, and stepped all over another print,' Gamble said. 'Realizing what I'd seen, I just panicked.'"

"Gamble and her husband Dennis followed the tracks which cut through the brush along the side of the road."

"Her husband and his brother videotaped the tracks after realizing how easily they could be washed away."

"In an effort to determine the actual nature of the footprints, the Gambles contacted the RCMP, the University of Saskatchewan and rserve (tribal) elders."

"'The RCMP told us they couldn't do much else (unless) something serious happened like a mutilation,' said Dennis Gamble."

"'The anthropology department of the university didn't seem very interested, he added."

"Archie Baptiste of the Red Pheasant reserve told them it was caused by Mistysen."

"Baptiste said Mistysen, which translates to big man or big person, are legendary creatures that do not go near people and always hide."

"Eugene Gandypie, a friend of the Gambles who helped with the tracking, doesn't understand why the RCMP aren't involved."

"'Early in the spring, a nearby farm had a bull go missing. It was later found dead with several bites taken out of it,' said Gardypie. 'Just this past week (i.e. August 1, 1998--J.T.), another bull has gone missing, and so has a Rottweiler from another farm.'"

"Gardypie said there were several droppings in the area that he said were not animal or human."

"'I don't know what it is, but with a 14-inch-by- 7-inch-wide print and a stride of 6 feet,' he said, 'It is definitely strange.'"

Prince Albert is on Provincial Highway 2 about 87 miles (119 kilometers) north of Saskatoon. (See the Citizen of Prince Albert, Sask. for August 1, 1998.

Many thanks to Graham Conway of UFO*BC and Lou Farrish of UFO Newsclipping Service for this newspaper article.)


Bigfoot Tracks In BC
Strawberry Patch?
6-13-3


DUNCAN (BC Newspaper Group) - Francis Joe kneels beside a trail of huge footprints crossing the strawberry field beside his home at the end of Boys Road. Joe, 78, was born on the Native reserve south of Duncan and has never seen tracks like these before. He believes they belong to a legendary ape-like creature the Cowichan people call Thumquas and others call a sasquatch or bigfoot.
"That's not the tracks of an ordinary human. You could tell if it had shoes on," he says.
Something tramped across Joe's fields sometime Sunday night, leaving a straight line of 15-inch tracks running north to south, three feet apart in soft soil.

His fields are bounded by bush to the north and the Cowichan River to the south, likely ruling out a trespasser. Joe paid no mind to dogs yapping outside Sunday because they often "bark all night." Local fishermen recently told him they've heard growling noises in the brush along the river.
The tracks also led to memories of when his three daughters saw what they think was a sasquatch at the end of Wilseem Road about 30 years ago.
"It was just getting dark and it was standing by a ditch just staring at us," remembers daughter Jeanne Bob, who claims she a saw bigfoot about 40 feet away.
"It was really big, black and hairy, and had a very strong smell. I wasn't kidding then and now I really believe it."
John Kirk, president of the B.C. Scientific Cryptozoology Club, says the footprints in Joe's berry patch are "a hoax or it's the real thing."
The soil was too soft to reveal a double ball on the foot, an indicator some investigators believe sets real sasquatch tracks from phonies.
The double ball would be needed to carry the weight of an eight-foot creature, Kirk said.
"Each foot print also has to be different because of walking mechanics. With fakes, every footprint is exactly the same."
The three-inch depth of the tracks at Joe's is also significant, he said.
"An imprint deeper than a human's indicates a greater weight."
Tons of sasquatch sightings have been reported between Tofino, Ucluelet and Sproat Lake since last August, he said. "They're seen as often as a cougar."
Kirk's been chasing the bigfoot phenomena since 1987.
He and his group also study the cadborosaurus sea monster -- like those spotted in Saanich inlet -- and lake creatures.
He says sasquatches are "flesh-and-blood biological creatures but the mystery is how they've avoided human capture for so long."
"We've never found their bones either but bones decompose relatively quickly in the Pacific Northwest."
However, sasquatch sightings are worldwide.
"Obviously there has to be a viable breeding population; their range is huge.
"No one knows for sure what the sasquatch is," he said. "If anything, they're a man-like creature but not necessarily in the hominid family."
Proof positive about the bigfoot will happen if hair or flesh can be DNA tested, he said.
Meanwhile, Kirk advises residents to carry a camera "and don't shoot it, it's totally harmless."
Sightings can be reported by calling 321-0412 or 338- 8482.
http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=bc_home&articleID=1344492
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