QUOTE
Bluff Creek bluff
I found the Kal Korff expose, "The Making of Bigfoot" [FT192:34-39] a
fascinating read. He claims to have unearthed 40 witnesses who mainly
hailed from the Yakima, Washington, area. All these remarkable people
were able to keep their mouths shut for 37 years. Astonishing!
Some years ago, I attended a Bigfoot conference where poster-sized
"blow-ups" of the Bluff Creek creature's face were on sale. I was
struck by the "humanity" in its features, unlike the woodenness
present in the mask worn by Bob Heironimus. The photo I saw was very
convincing as a real animal not the described stuntman.I regret not
having purchased a copy when I had the opportunity. I am also intrigued
by the described carvings of Bigfoot prints from blocks of wood and/or
concrete. No mention is made of how they were convincingly imprinted
on the forest floor. In what manner was the required weight applied?
Renowned Bigfoot scholar Rene Dahinden stated publicly shortly before
his death that very few people seemed to be aware that it was a
three-hour walk uphill from the parking lot to the Patterson site at
Bluff Creek. So why was that location chosen when all the necessary
gear had to be hauled so far? Methinks that if all the "explanations"
provided in Greg Long's book were offered to Dahinden, then that ever
volatile researcher would have ignited the Bluff Creek forest with his
response --probably also incinerating those who claim responsibility
for the alleged fabrication.I wonder about Long's commitment to the
Bigfoot "legend". As a resident of the Pacific Northwest, he must have
been exposed for years to sighting reports. Does he deny the
creature's existence?
My own interest in this subject was sparked in 1971 when, on a camping
trip in a remote valley 75 miles (120km) north of Vancouver, my son
and I found 200 or more footprints on a sandbank, presumably made by
five Sasquatch family(?) members, as there were five different print
sizes. At the time, we had no desire to find the owners of the prints.
Then in the early 1980s I came across several footprints in the muskeg
on an extended canoeing trip on the Bowron Lake circuit in central
British Columbia.
I never cease to be amazed at the number of sighting reports I run
across, without actively looking. In the last five years alone, I have
spoken to a First Nations chief from the Queen Charlotte Islands who
reported encounters. Then upon visiting Bella Bella, a small Indian
community on the northwest British Columbia coast, I was provided with
four more reports of sightings made on various beaches, one of which
was from a bush pilot coming in to land on an inlet. In 2004, a
contact in northern British Columbia phoned to describe how the
residents in a small Indian village had had four sightings within a
month. One creature was observed "bathing"(?) in a nearby river
Another resident claimed to have taken a photograph of a Sasquatch.
None of the above has been reported in the press. If I hear about so
many reports (and, I repeat, I'm not looking), how many other
out-of-touch communities and remote workers have their own memorable
stories to tell about these "mythical" unobtrusive creatures that
apparently survive so well away from our expanding population?
Graham Conway
Delta, British Columbia
I found the Kal Korff expose, "The Making of Bigfoot" [FT192:34-39] a
fascinating read. He claims to have unearthed 40 witnesses who mainly
hailed from the Yakima, Washington, area. All these remarkable people
were able to keep their mouths shut for 37 years. Astonishing!
Some years ago, I attended a Bigfoot conference where poster-sized
"blow-ups" of the Bluff Creek creature's face were on sale. I was
struck by the "humanity" in its features, unlike the woodenness
present in the mask worn by Bob Heironimus. The photo I saw was very
convincing as a real animal not the described stuntman.I regret not
having purchased a copy when I had the opportunity. I am also intrigued
by the described carvings of Bigfoot prints from blocks of wood and/or
concrete. No mention is made of how they were convincingly imprinted
on the forest floor. In what manner was the required weight applied?
Renowned Bigfoot scholar Rene Dahinden stated publicly shortly before
his death that very few people seemed to be aware that it was a
three-hour walk uphill from the parking lot to the Patterson site at
Bluff Creek. So why was that location chosen when all the necessary
gear had to be hauled so far? Methinks that if all the "explanations"
provided in Greg Long's book were offered to Dahinden, then that ever
volatile researcher would have ignited the Bluff Creek forest with his
response --probably also incinerating those who claim responsibility
for the alleged fabrication.I wonder about Long's commitment to the
Bigfoot "legend". As a resident of the Pacific Northwest, he must have
been exposed for years to sighting reports. Does he deny the
creature's existence?
My own interest in this subject was sparked in 1971 when, on a camping
trip in a remote valley 75 miles (120km) north of Vancouver, my son
and I found 200 or more footprints on a sandbank, presumably made by
five Sasquatch family(?) members, as there were five different print
sizes. At the time, we had no desire to find the owners of the prints.
Then in the early 1980s I came across several footprints in the muskeg
on an extended canoeing trip on the Bowron Lake circuit in central
British Columbia.
I never cease to be amazed at the number of sighting reports I run
across, without actively looking. In the last five years alone, I have
spoken to a First Nations chief from the Queen Charlotte Islands who
reported encounters. Then upon visiting Bella Bella, a small Indian
community on the northwest British Columbia coast, I was provided with
four more reports of sightings made on various beaches, one of which
was from a bush pilot coming in to land on an inlet. In 2004, a
contact in northern British Columbia phoned to describe how the
residents in a small Indian village had had four sightings within a
month. One creature was observed "bathing"(?) in a nearby river
Another resident claimed to have taken a photograph of a Sasquatch.
None of the above has been reported in the press. If I hear about so
many reports (and, I repeat, I'm not looking), how many other
out-of-touch communities and remote workers have their own memorable
stories to tell about these "mythical" unobtrusive creatures that
apparently survive so well away from our expanding population?
Graham Conway
Delta, British Columbia
QUOTE
It's all in the movies
Mainstream science is often wary of showing any interest in
cryptozoological cases, so it is a delight when such a case examined
by a mainstream authority -- especially when reportable results
emerge. A recent example features Jurgen Konczak, associate professor
in the School of Kinesiology (the mechanics body movement) and
director of the Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratodes at Minnesota
University. Last winter Prof Konczak agreed to examine the famous
footage shot by Roger Patterson of an alleged Bigfoot striding across
Bluff Creek, California. Although not confirming that the entity was
an unknown species, he commented in the university's magazine, 'Link',
that its walk was not that of a typical ape, as it exhibited some
human qualities, yet was not a normal human walk either concluding:
"If it was a guy in and ape suit, he certainly did a good job trying
to be peculiar". Such a statement from someone so eminently qualified
and experienced in kinesiology as Prof Konczak is of particular note,
not merely because it independently corroborates similar statements
made in the past by Russian cryptozoologists and by the late Prof.
Grover Krantz, a veteran Bigfoot investigator, but also because,
unlike these latter figures, Konczak has no professional interest in
Bigfoot. Thus his comments stem from a wholly unbiased objective
standpoint, based solely upon the evidence and thereby uninfluenced by
anything else on record appertaining to Bigfoot. Konczak's views were
also included in a Bigfoot documentary produced by local film-maker
Doug Hajicek and aired last autumn on Outdoor Life Network; it may be
aired again this coming spring.
(Pioneer Press, St Paul, Minnesota, 7 Feb 2005)
Mainstream science is often wary of showing any interest in
cryptozoological cases, so it is a delight when such a case examined
by a mainstream authority -- especially when reportable results
emerge. A recent example features Jurgen Konczak, associate professor
in the School of Kinesiology (the mechanics body movement) and
director of the Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratodes at Minnesota
University. Last winter Prof Konczak agreed to examine the famous
footage shot by Roger Patterson of an alleged Bigfoot striding across
Bluff Creek, California. Although not confirming that the entity was
an unknown species, he commented in the university's magazine, 'Link',
that its walk was not that of a typical ape, as it exhibited some
human qualities, yet was not a normal human walk either concluding:
"If it was a guy in and ape suit, he certainly did a good job trying
to be peculiar". Such a statement from someone so eminently qualified
and experienced in kinesiology as Prof Konczak is of particular note,
not merely because it independently corroborates similar statements
made in the past by Russian cryptozoologists and by the late Prof.
Grover Krantz, a veteran Bigfoot investigator, but also because,
unlike these latter figures, Konczak has no professional interest in
Bigfoot. Thus his comments stem from a wholly unbiased objective
standpoint, based solely upon the evidence and thereby uninfluenced by
anything else on record appertaining to Bigfoot. Konczak's views were
also included in a Bigfoot documentary produced by local film-maker
Doug Hajicek and aired last autumn on Outdoor Life Network; it may be
aired again this coming spring.
(Pioneer Press, St Paul, Minnesota, 7 Feb 2005)