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Bigfoot rumor has Hot Springs abuzz
by John Boyle, staff writer - published September 13, 2006 4:47 pm
HOT SPRINGS – Judy Cook has a theory about the alleged Bigfoot sightings in Madison County recently.
“I think it’s one of my great-great-great uncles up there with his big wooly beard,” Cook said, enjoying a good laugh in the Hillbilly Market.
“Maybe it’s the one that got my ducks,” Wendy Johnson chimed in, noting that three of her ducks disappeared recently. “Maybe he got hungry and wanted some duck stew.”
The Wednesday edition of the News-Record & Sentinel newspaper had this Madison County town of 650 people buzzing Wednesday. A front-page story described how the Big Foot Field Researchers Organization visited the area Sept. 6 to investigate an unnamed family’s claims of numerous Bigfoot sightings. Consisting of about 20 people from all over the country, the group spent four days tracking the legendary ape-like creature.
The whole Bigfoot legend took a hit four years ago in Seattle, Wash., when family members of Ray L. Wallace, who had recently died, announced that Wallace launched the Bigfoot legend in 1958 and was simply wearing a big ape suit.
But such claims hold no water with the BFFRO. Founder and Southern California resident Matt Moneymaker told the newspaper that the terrain around Hot Springs is perfect sasquatch habitat.
In the parking lot of Ramsey’s Gift Shop, local residents David Woody and Jimmy Holt weren’t buying that. About the most excitement this town sees are hikers coming through on the Appalachian Trail or tourists stopping in to soak in the naturally warm mineral waters.
“I been here all my life and been all up and down that river, and I’ve never heard tell of nothing like that,” said the 70-year-old Holt, an avid bear hunter.
But asked what they would do if they encountered the beast on a misty mountain pass, both men had the same reply: “I’d have to run.”
[CAPTION]by John Boyle, staff writer - published September 13, 2006 4:47 pm
HOT SPRINGS – Judy Cook has a theory about the alleged Bigfoot sightings in Madison County recently.
“I think it’s one of my great-great-great uncles up there with his big wooly beard,” Cook said, enjoying a good laugh in the Hillbilly Market.
“Maybe it’s the one that got my ducks,” Wendy Johnson chimed in, noting that three of her ducks disappeared recently. “Maybe he got hungry and wanted some duck stew.”
The Wednesday edition of the News-Record & Sentinel newspaper had this Madison County town of 650 people buzzing Wednesday. A front-page story described how the Big Foot Field Researchers Organization visited the area Sept. 6 to investigate an unnamed family’s claims of numerous Bigfoot sightings. Consisting of about 20 people from all over the country, the group spent four days tracking the legendary ape-like creature.
The whole Bigfoot legend took a hit four years ago in Seattle, Wash., when family members of Ray L. Wallace, who had recently died, announced that Wallace launched the Bigfoot legend in 1958 and was simply wearing a big ape suit.
But such claims hold no water with the BFFRO. Founder and Southern California resident Matt Moneymaker told the newspaper that the terrain around Hot Springs is perfect sasquatch habitat.
In the parking lot of Ramsey’s Gift Shop, local residents David Woody and Jimmy Holt weren’t buying that. About the most excitement this town sees are hikers coming through on the Appalachian Trail or tourists stopping in to soak in the naturally warm mineral waters.
“I been here all my life and been all up and down that river, and I’ve never heard tell of nothing like that,” said the 70-year-old Holt, an avid bear hunter.
But asked what they would do if they encountered the beast on a misty mountain pass, both men had the same reply: “I’d have to run.”
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credit: Special to the Citizen-Times Tracking Bigfoot members of the BFRO group met in Hot Springs last weekend. According to the groups wesbsite the weekend trip was sold out.