QUOTE
Speaking of Bigfoot
By Jim Lenhoff/SPECIAL TO THE MERCURY-REGISTER
Ron Brown's recent talk at the Lake Oroville Visitor Center about Bigfoot, followed by Rex Burress's column, both referred to a sighting of the illusive creature on Table Mountain.
It was several years ago that a Mr. Stickley caused great interest when he reported being scared one moonlit night by a huge hairy monster standing behind his outhouse near Oregon City. Surely it must have been Bigfoot. The report created quite a sensation and inspired the titular of one of the West's Bigfoot organizations to visit the area.
He was an extra tall, large man and showed this writer a plaster casting he supposedly made from a print found on Stickley's property. Oddly, when I happened to look down at his own feet they were about size 13, approximately the same size as the imprint. Our German Shepherd, who was usually quite gregarious, growled at him when he entered the Cherokee Museum.
Naturally, everyone was quite curious, so I set out to do a little research on my own. I learned that in the late 1920s the feds captured several large brown bears at Yellowstone Park and turned them loose in our area. There still may be one or two around as evidenced from the raiding of bee hives at Cherokee. They are known to stand high and even walk on their hind legs, easily resembling a humanoid figure at a distance or at night.
A few years ago, while driving down the Forbestown Road, I had my own encounter with what could have been Bigfoot. Fortunately, as he crossed the road in front of me walking upright on his two hind legs, I saw his face and realized he was a black bear. As I watched him lumber down the embankment away from me, I would have sworn it was Bigfoot, especially from his back side, had I not already seen his protruding nose and jaw.
Perhaps the first use of the name Bigfoot was when the chief of Ishi's tribe was given that nickname because he had six toes on one foot. There is also a well-documented record of an Indian who lived up the Feather River Canyon whose body was covered with hair. He was embarrassed by the phenomenon and became pretty much of a hermit, some saying in part because he was teased about being half man and half bear.
By Jim Lenhoff/SPECIAL TO THE MERCURY-REGISTER
Ron Brown's recent talk at the Lake Oroville Visitor Center about Bigfoot, followed by Rex Burress's column, both referred to a sighting of the illusive creature on Table Mountain.
It was several years ago that a Mr. Stickley caused great interest when he reported being scared one moonlit night by a huge hairy monster standing behind his outhouse near Oregon City. Surely it must have been Bigfoot. The report created quite a sensation and inspired the titular of one of the West's Bigfoot organizations to visit the area.
He was an extra tall, large man and showed this writer a plaster casting he supposedly made from a print found on Stickley's property. Oddly, when I happened to look down at his own feet they were about size 13, approximately the same size as the imprint. Our German Shepherd, who was usually quite gregarious, growled at him when he entered the Cherokee Museum.
Naturally, everyone was quite curious, so I set out to do a little research on my own. I learned that in the late 1920s the feds captured several large brown bears at Yellowstone Park and turned them loose in our area. There still may be one or two around as evidenced from the raiding of bee hives at Cherokee. They are known to stand high and even walk on their hind legs, easily resembling a humanoid figure at a distance or at night.
A few years ago, while driving down the Forbestown Road, I had my own encounter with what could have been Bigfoot. Fortunately, as he crossed the road in front of me walking upright on his two hind legs, I saw his face and realized he was a black bear. As I watched him lumber down the embankment away from me, I would have sworn it was Bigfoot, especially from his back side, had I not already seen his protruding nose and jaw.
Perhaps the first use of the name Bigfoot was when the chief of Ishi's tribe was given that nickname because he had six toes on one foot. There is also a well-documented record of an Indian who lived up the Feather River Canyon whose body was covered with hair. He was embarrassed by the phenomenon and became pretty much of a hermit, some saying in part because he was teased about being half man and half bear.