Bigfoot meets the Yardley Yeti

Column by J. D. Mullane - Bucks County Courier Times

Bigfoot hunter Tom Biscardi is on the phone from California.

“What's the story out there with the Yardley Yeti? Whaddya got?� he asked.

I told him I have been swamped by reports from people in Lower Bucks County (but mostly in the Yardley/Lower Makefield area) who have seen a strange dog-like creature.

“From what I can tell,� I said, “it could be a feral dog, a fox with mange or a mutant chipmunk.�

Biscardi chuckled lightly.

“Chipmunk,� he said wryly.

“Did you know,� he asked, “that you made all the Bigfoot alerts? Your story has hit nationally and internationally.�

The Yardley Yeti — an “international� hit? I asked.

Yes, among Bigfoot enthusiasts, he said.

Biscardi has spent 33 years researching and hunting Bigfoot, the alleged monster-like creature that stalks thick woodlands from Oregon to Pennsylvania. Biscardi has been doing it full time for two years. He has a Web site dedicated to his work. (Searchingforbigfoot.com.)

He called me for clarification on the creature. “Yeti� is usually a name associated with Bigfoot. Since Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) are in their annual north-to-south migrating season, he wondered if a wandering Bigfoot is the source of alarm.

“I know there is a migration path out there, and they could be going through your town,� he said.

I don't think this thing is Bigfoot, I said. It's more like Little Foot, or little feet.

“OK, well, I'm talking about hominids; things that walk on two feet,� he said.

This is definitely a four-footed animal, I told him. Probably a fox flushed from its habitat.

Again, he chuckled.

“From the descriptions you've given me, I think you have to ask: Can all these people seeing this thing be nuts? Can they all be hallucinating? Can they all think this thing is a chipmunk gone berserk?� he asked.

I chuckled lightly.

“I'm not going to try to convince you,� he said. “I read your [previous columns] and I'm sure you're going to get more calls.�

He was right. Readers (including lots of kids) are calling to say they have seen a Yardley Yeti-like thing but have also heard it howling and “screaming� in Lower Makefield and Bristol Township.

Here's “Kate� from Morrisville:

“I saw it. It was unlike any animal I've ever seen. It was some sort of mutant. It looked like an anteater crossed with a lemur, but it was reddish, like a setter. The thing was [angry], making a really scary, shrieking noise. We have a weird Pennsylvania thing here,� she said.

I was also contacted by horror story writer Jonathan Maberry.

He said he and his wife took a picture of the Yardley Yeti last October in Doylestown. Maberry believes it's a fox with mange. (Don Polec of Action News interviewed Maberry and is planning a piece on the Yardley Yeti Wed-nesday at 11 p.m., Maberry said.)

“Actually, sightings like the Yardley Yeti go back 500 years in Great Britain, where they are known as the barghest, which are spectral hounds. The "Hound of the Baskervilles' was based on the barghest,� Maberry said.

Maberry describes the barghest in his recent book, “Vampire Universe,� a fascinating and chilling compendium of supernatural creatures. (After reading Maberry, don't go to bed with the lights off.)

Barghests, or “Hell hounds,� he writes, appear as death omens. They emerge from the shadows to chase victims, or “stand baying in the forest near a home where someone is doomed to die.�

Uh, I think I prefer Bigfoot.

A Glimpse of the "Yardley Yeti"?
By Don Polec

There have been increasing reports of a feral creature roaming the rurul reaches of Bucks County that no one can explain

OK, So calling it a "yeti" is sort of overhyping it, I admit, but when the local police keep getting reports like this, civic promoters feel, why not exploit it? Let's face it, it's a marketting goldmine. I mean who ever heard of Loch Ness BEFORE the monster showed up? And besides, "Yardley Yeti" has such an alliterative ring to it... (presumably winning out over the "Bucks county Bigfoot" or the "Solebury Sasquatch")
Anyway, I can personally attest to the authenticity of these sightings, since I'VE seen this creature first hand. It's noteworthy when you almost hit a creature with your car ... THAT YOU CAN'T IDENTIFY.. When it dashed across Eagle road in Upper Makefield and into the woods, I was at a loss not only as to what it was, but as to how I would even describe it to anyone... "Well, it sort of looked like.................. uh. ........ "

The best I can do is say it was a quadruped, grey in color, about the size of a large german shepherd, skinny, really ratty looking, body parts that seemed oddly out of proportion, too large for a fox, legs too long for a coyote or dog, head too small for it's size, and REALLY in need of some grooming and big dish of alpo.

This is similar to reports that have been coming in to Lower Makefield police headquarters over the past several months, although some reports cite a smaller tan-colored animal. The creature in the photos looks like some bizarre cross between a mangy golden retriever and a kangaroo, but is exactly like the gangly thing that ran in front of my car. Sort of like a dog put together by a committee that couldn't agree on what it should look like.

By the way, the digital pictures were taken in a parking lot near New Hope by a local author named Jonathan Maberry who works at the Writer's Corner in Doylestown and -- get this -- writes HORROR novels... And also non-fiction works about the paranormal involving odd and unexplained creatures. Talk about having inspiration plopped right into your lap. Wow.