QUOTE
Sasquatch patrol coming to Price County
Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization to conduct two mid-summer expeditions
Ryan Stutzman - THE-BEE
Thursday, May 18th, 2006 11:03:08 AM
An international group that purports a dedication to unlocking the mystery of bigfoot plans expeditions to the woods of Price County beginning next month.
The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, or BFRO, will conduct two, three-day back-country outings in search of sasquatch sign. It is not yet clear exactly where in Price County they intend to go.
Approximately 25-45 participants will be charged $400 per vehicle for the privilege of tagging along to "base camp." There, they will learn what the BFRO claims is exclusive knowledge for detecting evidence of bigfoot – and possibly even hear or see one of the creatures.
The search party will camp in tents, and food is the responsibility of each participant, according to the BFRO Web site, www.bfro.net. The expeditions are scheduled for June 22-25 and June 29 to July 2. The first expedition is booked, but the second still has space available, according to the Web site.
Local sasquatch reports
The expedition was spurred in part by the accounts of a local man who claims to have seen a bigfoot on two different occasions in the Lugerville area. Don Young told THE-BEE that the eyewitness sasquatch accounts, which are featured on the BFRO Web site but are not attributed, are his. Young says his most recent sasquatch siting was in September 2003 in a cedar swamp near Rock Creek Road.
Young claims that he and a 6- to 7-feet tall bigfoot creature engaged in a sort of cat-and-mouse game for almost an hour. He had another encounter in a swamp three miles away about a year earlier, he says.
The BFRO Web site also includes a report of bigfoot tracks and "vocalizations" observed by a couple near Park Falls in December 2004. The report does not identify the couple.
Local skeptics
Lugerville resident David Kelly, who has a lifetime of experience in the back country of the area, is highly skeptical that there is such a creature roaming the woods of Price County.
"I've spent a lot of time out in the woods since I was a little kid, and I've never seen any evidence," he said. "But if I did see it, and I was armed, then I'd have proof. I'd throw a tag on it."
Kelly said old Lugerville myths refer to an elusive "creek devil," a giant, hairy, bi-pedal creature that thrives stealthily in the swamps.
"I would take it with a grain of salt," Kelly said. "It makes me kind of laugh, actually."
The area where Young says he saw the sasquatch is primarily county forest land. THE-BEE asked Eric Holm, a Price County forester, whether he has ever seen any evidence of bigfoot.
"Well yeah," he said sarcastically. "But I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want people to think I was crazy."
Holm said one of his colleagues wears size 15 boots, and that person might go barefoot in the Lugerville area before the expedition arrives.
BFRO prides itself on detecting hoaxes, according to its Web site.
Holm, like many other skeptics, hopes he is proven wrong.
"I hope they find one," he said.
An enduring national curiosity
Nationally, a small but dedicated contingent clings to the possibility that a large primate has eluded mainstream science for hundreds of years in the deep forests of Asia and the Americas. And most die-hard skeptics openly share an amused endearment for the story.
The most common point of skepticism is that nobody has ever produced a sasquatch body or skeleton.
Sasquatch are described as a sort of man-like ape with unusually large feet. They are said to be 7- to 10-feet-tall, and many who claim to have seen the creatures say that they carry an unbearable stench.
Reports of sasquatch sightings have come from areas as diverse as Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma and Connecticut, but bigfoot lore is most commonly associated with the primeval forests of the Pacific Northwest.
BFRO is based in Southern California and is headed by a man named Matt Moneymaker. Moneymaker and the BFRO are widely cited in paranormal news circles and have been featured in national dailies such as USA Today.
When asked whether law enforcement has any interest in the BFRO expeditions in Price County, Sheriff Wallace Krenzke said people are free to pay for a sasquatch expedition if they so choose.
Meanwhile, nobody from the BFRO has contacted the forestry department about camping permits, Holm said.
THE-BEE left a telephone message at the BFRO office in California, but the message was not answered before press time.
Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization to conduct two mid-summer expeditions
Ryan Stutzman - THE-BEE
Thursday, May 18th, 2006 11:03:08 AM
An international group that purports a dedication to unlocking the mystery of bigfoot plans expeditions to the woods of Price County beginning next month.
The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, or BFRO, will conduct two, three-day back-country outings in search of sasquatch sign. It is not yet clear exactly where in Price County they intend to go.
Approximately 25-45 participants will be charged $400 per vehicle for the privilege of tagging along to "base camp." There, they will learn what the BFRO claims is exclusive knowledge for detecting evidence of bigfoot – and possibly even hear or see one of the creatures.
The search party will camp in tents, and food is the responsibility of each participant, according to the BFRO Web site, www.bfro.net. The expeditions are scheduled for June 22-25 and June 29 to July 2. The first expedition is booked, but the second still has space available, according to the Web site.
Local sasquatch reports
The expedition was spurred in part by the accounts of a local man who claims to have seen a bigfoot on two different occasions in the Lugerville area. Don Young told THE-BEE that the eyewitness sasquatch accounts, which are featured on the BFRO Web site but are not attributed, are his. Young says his most recent sasquatch siting was in September 2003 in a cedar swamp near Rock Creek Road.
Young claims that he and a 6- to 7-feet tall bigfoot creature engaged in a sort of cat-and-mouse game for almost an hour. He had another encounter in a swamp three miles away about a year earlier, he says.
The BFRO Web site also includes a report of bigfoot tracks and "vocalizations" observed by a couple near Park Falls in December 2004. The report does not identify the couple.
Local skeptics
Lugerville resident David Kelly, who has a lifetime of experience in the back country of the area, is highly skeptical that there is such a creature roaming the woods of Price County.
"I've spent a lot of time out in the woods since I was a little kid, and I've never seen any evidence," he said. "But if I did see it, and I was armed, then I'd have proof. I'd throw a tag on it."
Kelly said old Lugerville myths refer to an elusive "creek devil," a giant, hairy, bi-pedal creature that thrives stealthily in the swamps.
"I would take it with a grain of salt," Kelly said. "It makes me kind of laugh, actually."
The area where Young says he saw the sasquatch is primarily county forest land. THE-BEE asked Eric Holm, a Price County forester, whether he has ever seen any evidence of bigfoot.
"Well yeah," he said sarcastically. "But I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want people to think I was crazy."
Holm said one of his colleagues wears size 15 boots, and that person might go barefoot in the Lugerville area before the expedition arrives.
BFRO prides itself on detecting hoaxes, according to its Web site.
Holm, like many other skeptics, hopes he is proven wrong.
"I hope they find one," he said.
An enduring national curiosity
Nationally, a small but dedicated contingent clings to the possibility that a large primate has eluded mainstream science for hundreds of years in the deep forests of Asia and the Americas. And most die-hard skeptics openly share an amused endearment for the story.
The most common point of skepticism is that nobody has ever produced a sasquatch body or skeleton.
Sasquatch are described as a sort of man-like ape with unusually large feet. They are said to be 7- to 10-feet-tall, and many who claim to have seen the creatures say that they carry an unbearable stench.
Reports of sasquatch sightings have come from areas as diverse as Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma and Connecticut, but bigfoot lore is most commonly associated with the primeval forests of the Pacific Northwest.
BFRO is based in Southern California and is headed by a man named Matt Moneymaker. Moneymaker and the BFRO are widely cited in paranormal news circles and have been featured in national dailies such as USA Today.
When asked whether law enforcement has any interest in the BFRO expeditions in Price County, Sheriff Wallace Krenzke said people are free to pay for a sasquatch expedition if they so choose.
Meanwhile, nobody from the BFRO has contacted the forestry department about camping permits, Holm said.
THE-BEE left a telephone message at the BFRO office in California, but the message was not answered before press time.