1984, London, Ohio: Resident Repeatedly Calls Animal Protective Services Due to Strange Noises

TODAY IN BIGFOOT HISTORY!

1984, London, Ohio: Resident Repeatedly Calls Animal Protective Services Due to Strange Noises

Shirley Crumb, of Wood’s Edge Road in London, Ohio makes several calls to the Humane Society of Madison County, to report hearing the howls of an injured animal behind her house.

Starting around 2:30 in the afternoon, Ms. Crumb started reporting hearing the scuffling and moaning of a wild dog or maybe other sort of raccoon causing a disturbance in her backyard.  Ms. Crumb keeps several exotic birds in her home and was concerned the birds were getting agitated.

After sundown, Ms. Crumb left eight more messages for the Humane Society claiming that there was an injured animal in her backyard.  She investigated with a flashlight.  And tried to capture the cries on her cordless phone.  Again she stated her concerns for her exotic birds.

At approximately 11:08 PM, Ms. Crumb telephoned the local police department to report a transient man in her tool shed.  She saw a very tall, over 8 feet,  smells like compost, and with gigantic bare feet.  The police arrive at 11:38 PM and find no one in the shed, but do find evidence that a creature had been staying there.  Fur was all over the ground and large ape like tracks were left in the ground.

Ms. Crumb remains convinced she was visited by a Bigfoot.

1998, Marble Mountain Wilderness, California: Man Collects Bigfoot Scat

TODAY IN BIGFOOT HISTORY!

1998, Marble Mountain Wilderness, California: Man Collects Bigfoot Scat

One of the only known samples of Sasquatch scat collected in the wilderness was reported by Walt Peterman of Santa Cruz, CA.  While Mr. Peterman was vacationing in the Marble Mountains, he went of a long multi-day hike.  On the third day of his trip, he awoke to the worst smell he ever smelled.

When he investigated the odor’s origin, Mr. Peterman discovered a large pile of poop near his campsite. It was unlike any pile of poop Mr. Peterman, an experienced outdoors man, had ever come across.  He immediately found a container to collect a sample.

As he hiked out of the wood, Mr. Peterman was convinced he was followed.  He heard weird noises – howls, tree knocking, and snapping of branches – behind him.  On the night before he reached his car, his campsite was attacked. His tent was ripped, his supplies eaten, his belongings scattered around the area.

After several hours, Mr. Peterman was able to collect all his things.  With the notable exception of the container which contained the Bigfoot scat sample. Mr. Peterman remains at a loss as to what attacked his campsite or why they would have absconded with a poop sample.

2004, Weehut Lake, Blue ridge, Georgia: Hiker and Dog Attacked By Bigfoot

TODAY IN BIGFOOT HISTORY!

2004, Weehut Lake, Blue ridge, Georgia: Hiker and Dog Attacked By Bigfoot

Donald Jungman took his dog, Tiger, out for a walk. While Jungman sat and watched the ducks on Weehut Lake, Tiger bounded around chasing bees and sniffing everything in sight.

Jungman noticed, at some point, that Tiger had been very quiet for sometime.  So Jungman started shouting for Tiger to come.  “Come Here, Boy!” Jungman called out several times, as he started to pace back and forth.  Tiger usually bounded out of his hiding place after the third or fourth call.  This day, Tiger did not respond.

Jungman heard what sounded like a tree snapping in two, it was a loud thunder clap of branches and bark.  Then Jungman heard Tiger’s ferocious barking.  He ran in the direction of the commotion.

Jungman came to a clearing, where he saw Tiger, back hair bristling, teeth barred, barking and barking at something just beyond the thicket.  Jungman sternly called for Tiger to come.  The dog was in his own little world of fury.

Just as Jungman was close enough to put the leash on Tiger, a large branch flew over them and landed with a muddy thump.  Then a barrage of rocks and pebbles came raining down on Jungman and his dog.  Tiger yelped and ran in the opposite direction.  As Jungman turned to follow, he swears he saw a reddish haired Bigfoot in the trees, paws full of rocks, laughing at their retreat!

2002, Fort Defiance State Park, Estherville, Iowa: Youth Group Finds Bigfoot Prints

TODAY IN BIGFOOT HISTORY!

2002, Estherville, Iowa: Youth Group Finds Bigfoot Prints

Lauren Phillips and Drake Smith, leaders of the Unitarian middle school youth group, were leading an day trip to Fort Defiance State Park.  While occupying the kids with pine cone hunting and simple leaf identification activities, Cindy ‘Babe’ Trunk, age 12, discovered some odd impressions around one of the Elm Trees.

Drake was the first one on the scene, “Babe called me over. She was very excited.  She was hopping up and down and pointing at an area of exposed dirt. There were definite footprints there.”

Lauren confirmed that the prints were much larger, “…closer to 14 to 16 inches long and at least 8 inches wide at the widest part.”

Babe tried to keep the other children at bay, but in their enthusiasm to see, most of the better impressions were scuffed or trampled out.

1884, Mississippi River, Arkansas: Filbert McHattie Raises Funds for the Bigfoot Preservation Guild

TODAY IN BIGFOOT HISTORY!

1884, Mississippi River, Arkansas: Filbert McHattie Raises Funds for the Bigfoot Preservation Guild

Famed confidence man, Filbert McHattie boarded the newly christened City of Providence riverboat operated by the Anchor Line out of Illinois, armed with a carpet bag full of disguises, coupon receipt books, and large parchment guarantees. All worth nothing more than the price of the paper they were printed on.

Filbert McHattie spent the first leg of the City of Providence‘s journey dressed as a frontier priest enticing the good widows and prune faced gentlemen to help the poor Indian savages who had burned all their bibles to stay warm during last year’s brutally cold winter.  McHattie’s tale of Christianizing the Savages brought in nearly four dollars.  A fine two days worth of work.

McHattie, during the return trip, attempted a confidence that was as timely as it was risky.  A few years prior, in about 1882, noted American frontier’s man, Daniel Boone was reported to have encountered a wilderness monster – called in the popular press  – Bigfoot.  Of all the very real dangers out in the wilds of the ever expanding Nation, all these were overshadowed, at least in the popular imagination, by the looming shadow of a real, live monster.

McHattie capitalized on this fascinated panic. Spinning a tale of how the creatures were ancient descendants of Cain and who were taunted and hunted by man.  Depending on how this story went over with McHattie’s mark, he either withdrew the Bigfoot Preservation Guild stocks or the Bigfoot Hunter’s Sustaining Bill.  The latter being slightly more expensive since, McHattie felt it was favored by unsavory brutes prone to drink.

A few of these momentous documents survive, mainly in private collections, and in the Sanford Library’s Grifters’ Collection, which can only be viewed every third Wednesday of each month and by only then by prearrangement.

1946, Leaf River, Illinois: Fisherman Interrupted by Bathing Bigfoot

TODAY IN BIGFOOT HISTORY!

1946, Leaf River, Illinois: Fisherman Interrupted by Bathing Bigfoot

Tom Griffin was fishing early in the morning.  While he was eating the cheese sandwich he made for his lunch, he heard some very violent splashing coming from a few hundred yards away, down river.  Thinking maybe a bear or maybe some deer were crossing the river, he continued on with his lunch.

When the splashing got closer, Griffin became more alarmed.  If not for his safety, then for the integrity of his fishing lines.  He stood up and walked a little way down stream, keeping an eye on his belongings.  He heard a low muttering growl, then saw an eight foot tall monster splashing around in the middle of the river.

Griffin stood there, shocked.  Could that really be a Bigfoot in the middle of the river?  And could it really be washing itself like a bathing human?  Griffin was not sure he was willing to find out.  He turned right around and ran out of the woods.  A few hours later he returned with a few friends to gather up his fishing rods and cooler.

He never told anyone about the bathing Bigfoot, though he did write it down in the front of his family bible.  The story was found after Griffin’s death by his daughter, who has no reason to discount her father, since he was a very honest man.

1998, Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico: Thermal Vision Camera Captures Three Bigfoot

TODAY IN BIGFOOT HISTORY!

1998, Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico: Thermal Vision Camera Captures Three Bigfoot

Amateur photographer, Ted Wilkins, captured several figures moving across the field of vision of a set of infrared cameras he set up in the Valles Caldera National Preserve.  Wilkins hoped to capture some nocturnal migrations of small marsupials.

Instead, what Wilkins discovered while reviewing the previous night’s footage were several large ape like creatures with very warm heat signatures crossing his camera’s field of vision.  The littlest one, probably around 6 feet tall, lingered the longest on camera.  The tallest and broadest, close to 12 feet tall with a shoulder breadth of nearly 4 feet, walked slowly but steadily across the field.  The middle sized one scurried behind, tossing something ahead of it, then scooping it up and tossing it again.

Wilkins interpreted the creatures to be a family of Bigfoot.  The smallest one being the mother, the tallest the father, and the middle sized one a child, possibly playing with a crude ball or other toy.

While the video is compelling, it does not prove anything, really.