Pennsylvania's sasquatch saga continues
Oh, where to start? There are a lot of developments on Pennsylvania's Sasquatch Mystery (tm). Let's start with the above photos. Indeed, these are the photos at the center of the debate.
The above photos were taken by a camera with an automatic trigger set up by hunter Rick Jacobs in Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest on Sept. 16. Jacobs released the images to The Associated Press, which sent them out to its member newspapers with the following caveat: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT AUTHENTICATE THE CONTENT OF THESE IMAGES. Just so we all know, in capital letters, where the Associated Press stands on this issue.
Some say the creature in the images is a "juvenile sasquatch."
Skeptics say it's just a bear with some sort of skin infection. (Don't ask. I'm not an expert on bear skin infections.)
And so we have a spat regarding these images, which are "very significant to bigfoot research," according to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, which appears to be taking the lead in the investigation.
The BFRO, taking exception to some skeptical quotes that have appeared in the media, issued a long defense on its Web site (scroll down to the green box). Here's an excerpt:
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To local journalists in Pennsylvania: Here is your next story regarding the Jacobs Photos:
Pennsylvania Game Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser has been quoted by various newspapers as saying the strange looking animal in the Jacobs photos is "definitely" a "skinny mangy bear." People outside of Pennsylvania may not know about the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) and their history of deceitful denials of mountain lions.
A significant percentage of people in PA say the PGC is the least trusted government agency in the state, because the PGC has stated for years, emphatically, that there are no mountain lions in Pennsylvania, even though hundreds of people in Pennsylvania, including many government employees, have seen mountain lions.
It seems that credible people in PA who have clearly seen a mountain lion do not like to be told that they did not see a mountain lion. Until earlier this year (2007) the PGC routinely offered unwavering denials to mountain lion sightings, until a farmer named Roger Madigan saw one, along with several other people, on his farm after a large outdoor party which included a roast pig cookout. Roger Madigan is a Pennsylvania State Senator.
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It turns out that Madigan IS a state senator. I checked.
So the BFRO appears to be using the Mountain Lion Defense to prove that bigfoot could be hanging out somewhere deep in the forests of Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, we have the following other developments:
--- Rick Jacobs, who took the photos, said he won’t release the exact location where they were taken because the BFRO is worried people will destroy the animal’s habitat.
--- In Elk County, some folks hope bigfoot will be good for business.
--- Any Google News search will reveal that this story has spread far from Pennsylvania, at the very least into Canada, Germany, France and Australia. (Who would have though they're so intrigued by sasquatches Down Under?)
--- The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., perhaps coincidentally, recently profiled Daniel Perez, an electrician who is the editor and publisher of Bigfoot Times and co-founder of the Center for Bigfoot Studies, both of which he operates from his home. Perez is "investigating" the Pennsylvania photos and holds out hope that one day, he will have his own sighting. "I think about it all the time," he said.
Clearly, there is still much to sort out on the bigfoot issue in Pennsylvania. In the meantime, if you're still voracious for more information, you can go rent or buy "The Legend of Boggy Creek." This flick is described on imdb.com as "an early 1970's docudrama about a Sasquatch-type creature that terrorized the small town of Fouke, Arkansas for several years. Many of the persons who claim to have experienced these events actually played themselves in this movie version." Sounds irresistible, huh?
Sarah, From California · November 6, 2007 6:27 PM
What I don't understand, is why is it soo hard to believe "Bigfoot" is real? If you think about it, at one time I am sure people would have never believed that Gorilla's existed either. Why is it so easy to know dinosaurs used to roam the earth but not the Loch Ness. Or that we may have evolved from apes. Does anyone wonder why, if we evolved from monkeys, that they suddenly stopped evolving now? What if this "bigfoot" could be an ape of some sort that is evolving. There are new species being discovered every day in jungles, forests, and the ocean floor, and still more that may never be discovered. If it is so easy for some to believe in a God of some sort, why is hard to believe there is an ape that might be bigger than the gorilla and closer to mankind!
Adam · November 7, 2007 10:59 AM
Yeah, what she said.
Nancy · November 7, 2007 11:51 AM
Here in Arizona, if you call Game and Fish and tell them you saw a jaguar or a jaguarundi, they will tell you it was a mountain lion or a bobcat.
manny · November 7, 2007 9:48 PM
I used to live in the allegheny area of Pa. My family and I used to go camping and hiking out there. I woke one morning when I was 4 and standing outside, filling the whole window was one of these creatures watching me sleep. Scared me half to death. I had no idea that's what it was at the time. My sis and I found a foot print in the swamp down behind our house that looked like what you see in casts of b.f. prints.
Brenda · November 8, 2007 10:26 AM
Love your site...first time posting.
I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of South-western Virginia (not West Virginia). We have no "official" sightings of cougar either, but there have been a number of sightings by locals for years.
We own 240+ acres adjoining Jefferson National Forrest and have LOTS of wildlife. Less than 2 weeks ago, our adjoining landowners (father and son) were hunting (with permission) the top of the ridge of our land. BOTH of them saw a cougar! Not only that, but earlier this spring another neighbor who lives down the road made it a point to come by and tell us a cougar ran across the road where our property gate is at the road. Furthermore, another local farmer found a partially eaten deer 12 feet up in his tree!
Well, VDGIF can say "no cougars" all they want, but even my grandpa mentioned seeing tracks on his farm in the 80's when he was still living.
Brenda in Virginia
Walter Mitty · November 8, 2007 10:53 PM
I saw a sasquatch last weekend flying a UFO with Elvis as the co-pilot. They landed at a local gas station, which was near a big lake, and Jimmy Hoffa got out and refueled the UFO with Ethanol. About 45 seconds later, a Plesiosaur popped its head out of the lake, which scared the Easter Bunny which, unbeknownst to me, was standing behind me, and he was so frightened he dropped the newspaper he was holding. The headline of the paper, which was dated Nov 7, 2000, said "Gore beats Bush." I decided to head home in my hybrid vehicle and I also took the paper and lined my pet cougar's cage with it. On the way home, I stopped to pick up my pictures of my vacation in Atlantis.
Kassia · November 9, 2007 11:24 AM
Do you even believe in yourself, Walter?
And wow! That is SO not a picture of a bear!
Joe · November 10, 2007 11:49 AM
Why do we humans want to destroy or deny everything we cant control?
Wendy · November 13, 2007 2:07 AM
What peeves me is an obvious attempt to bilk the public. What's that you say? You see no attempt to con cash from the weak-minded? Then you have proven my point. To be more specific, P.T. Barnum's point, "There's a sucker born every minute." Ever been fishing? You don't usually catch much without the right bait. Another peeve is the haste to jump to a conclusion which cannot be supported. Let's first prove the existence of bigfoot before we see one in every indistinct photo. This is obviously a photo of a bear. This BFRO organization wants your money. Upon reading about them, I see it is owned by a rather short and plump individual named Matt Moneymaker. I suspect this to be a fabricated name, tongue-in-cheek perhaps, but an obvious attempt to mock the suckers paying to go camping with a bunch of kooks. Now, I'm sure they are very nice people, but paying someone to allow you to camp with them is simply insane. Birds of a feather seems appropriate here. What is "supposed" to be a face sniffing the ground is the up-turned object that appears in the first photo and has been moved from it's original location in the second. I suspect the object is some kind of round, dark dish. It's not a short bigfoot sniffing the ground, it's a bear looking straight at the camera. Conclusion: Someone should be ashamed of themselves for suggesting otherwise. Karma seems appropriate here.
Dave · December 1, 2007 12:32 PM
Every first nation language has a noun for bigfoot or sasquatch, not an adjective like mystical being, or monster man, a noun like horse or cow. Could we be the ones who are missing something?
Ignoring or refusing to look at or accept evidence doesn't make it go away. It is what it is.
michelle and sarah · December 30, 2007 9:05 PM
we were in the woods one time and we heard someone or something. we thought
it was our brother. it wasnt because we ran home and he was playing video games. two nights after, our mom went down to talk with our neighbors (down the street). our brother got so scared that he got his airsoft gun and we got our friend taylor. we threw a water bottle down and we heard someone running after it after ut stopped rolling. we live on the boarder of westmorland and alleghany county. we thought that it was a garbage picker that comes on our street at first until we saw this story.
sasquatch fighter · February 15, 2008 7:45 AM
I say we find this so called sasquatch and take him down a notch or 2. we can keep him in a cage and call him harry
Rudy Miller · March 7, 2008 2:39 AM
Well, this string is kind of interesting. I'm looking online for mountain lions in Pa Because I saw one. So now we have cats and big foot. Cool
Are you people on CRACK! Step away from the pipe.
That looks more like a picture of my mother in law than big foot.
Yes I believe there are things in the PA woodlands that are rare such as mountain lions or maybe even snipe or a jack olope or 2 but Big foot is a creature that a group of 30 year old Virgins thought up.
But for the sake of argument, this deer season if I see one of them I'll Splatter his ass so you crack heads can have your proof.