Doubts about Bigfoot in Saltville

ABINGDON, Va. -The news spread like the proverbial wildfire recently. There allegedly had been a sighting of a Bigfoot near Saltville and some of the pros were coming to hunt the critter and film a TV program about it. The beast was the buzz of local gossip.

For anyone unaware of what a Bigfoot is let me set the record straight. No, I am not talking about my youngest brother, Ron, nor either of my cousins Buzz or Wayne Smith. Nor am I referring to either Gregg or Tim Sholes, all five of whom take about a whole steer hide to make them a pair of shoes. I am referring to the mysterious man-like beast referred to by numerous names in numerous cultures throughout much of North America and in the rest of the world as well. In the mountainous regions of Asia a similar creature supposedly exists in the Himalayan mountains where it is called the Yeti or Abominable Snowman.

The folks coming to hunt the critter were from Animal Planet. Generally I enjoy Animal Planet programs. They normally are professionally produced and scientifically backed. They tend to be well done educational programs about various types of animals inhabiting our planet. For that reason alone I was looking forward to the Animal Planet crew coming to Saltville to investigate a supposed "Bigfoot" sighting in the Saltville area. I had not really heard much about it, just that someone, somewhere in the Saltville area had allegedly seen what they believed to be a Bigfoot, the mysterious ape-like animal that turns up here and there. I had heard from someone that the critter was seen on Flat Top Mountain near what is called Aistrop Hollow. Flat Top Mountain has (I believe) 50,000 plus acres of wilderness. So it would perhaps be a suitable hiding place.

Read on:  http://www2.swvatoday.com/news/2012/feb/17/doubts-about-bigfoot-saltville-ar-1697601/

Sasquatch investigators keep the faith alive

Charleston City Paper
Mary Beth Pope knows what she saw. On a clear night in November 2007, while hiking on an overgrown logging road in Sumter National Forest with four fellow members of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, she heard a crunch of leaves and twigs, glanced to her left, and saw an eight-foot-tall creature walking alongside her. It had shaggy fur and arms that swung down by its knees, and it was perhaps 30 feet away. She froze in her tracks and tried to stay calm.

Read on...

BIGFOOT NEWS: Salt Fork State Park

The Bigfoot Field Reporter ™: Salt Fork is for Lovers

By Bigfoot Hunter

Dakota had been riding his 4 wheeler on the property when he came to within 30 feet of a 7 foot tall dark brown bigfoot. He froze and the bigfoot simply turned and headed towards the south end of the property. Dakota did a 180 and high tailed ...The Bigfoot Field Reporter ™

Bonaduce, Williams to star in 'Bigfoot'

NEW YORK, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Danny Bonaduce, Barry Williams, Howard Hesseman and Sherilyn Fenn are to star in the TV movie "Bigfoot," U.S. cable network Syfy said Thursday.
Bruce Davison will direct and also appear in the movie, alongside actor Andre Royo and rocker Alice Cooper.

"When Bigfoot is discovered in South Dakota, two life-long rivals [Williams and Bonaduce] battle to capture the creature -- one to exploit it and one to save it," a synopsis said.
The movie is scheduled to premiere on Syfy later this year.
Bonaduce is best known for his work on "The Partridge Family," while Williams co-starred on "The Brady Bunch."Read more:

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2012/02/02/Bonaduce-Williams-to-star-in-Bigfoot/UPI-71131328240704/#ixzz1mFy5Jnb1

Do you believe Bigfoot exists?

FOX Carolina 21Does Bigfoot exist? Seminar at Wofford may prove so
WHNS Greenville
Renowned "bigfoot" researcher Dr. Jeff Meldrum of the Idaho State University will speak at 2 pm Friday, Jan. 20, at Wofford to students studying "urban legends" during the January Interim. The program, to be held in the Olin Teaching Theater in the ...

Read on (video at site) ...

NM: Tracking Bigfoot (via Chad Arment)

SANOSTEE — There's only one rule when it comes to hunting for Bigfoot: Don't.

Whether you call it Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Skookums or one of the more than 60 names American Indian tribes have given the legendary beast, the harder you look, the less likely it is you'll find him, said Frank Smith, supervisor of the Sanostee Senior Center and keeper of tales from the various recent sightings.

"If you look for it, you never see it," Smith said Wednesday. "You have to be in the right place at the right time. Or maybe it's the wrong place at the right time."

The lunchtime conversation Wednesday at the senior center briefly turned to Bigfoot. The topic got smiles, chuckles and the occasional knowing smile. Many don't believe the stories of sightings, but a few swear they have seen the creature firsthand.

They are not alone.

Mobile photo messages, emails and word-of-mouth stories have circulated the northeastern chapters of the Navajo Nation in recent months. Some photos show giant footprints in the snow or mud; others show shadowy figures at water's edge or among trees.

All of the accounts are similar: a hulking, hairy figure is sighted standing or walking upright, leaving giant footprints in the earth and spooking animals and humans. Other reports tell more gruesome tales of slaughtered or missing livestock.

But the particulars of each story vary as much as the people who tell them.

Raymond Peter, of Sanostee, remembers the first time he encountered Bigfoot. 

A sheepherder, Peter was in the Chuska Mountains at about 5 p.m. on July 4, 2009.

"First, my dog Stookie started to growl," Peter said through an interpreter. "I looked to where the dog was growling. Bigfoot didn't see me, but I saw Bigfoot."

Gesturing with his tattered NYC baseball cap, Peter indicated the creature was 8 or 9 feet tall, gray in color and about a quarter of a mile away.

"I could smell him," he said. "He really stinks, like it doesn't take a shower."

The creature was walking among the trees, heading west, Peter said. His face was covered in "shaggy hair" and his legs were "big, like tree stumps."

After the creature left, Peter said he found giant footprints in the damp earth.

"I didn't have a gun," he said. "After I saw that, I didn't want to be there anymore."

Bigfoot sightings on the Navajo Nation are not uncommon, especially on the pinion- and juniper-covered Chuska Mountains that frame the Sanostee community and tower over portions of the Nation in New Mexico and Arizona. Sheepherders often camp high in the mountains during the summer with their livestock.

The mountains have become prime Bigfoot hunting grounds even for outside experts. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization sent a team in October 2002 to the Chuska Mountains to investigate reports of sightings.

Armed with scented bait as well as tracking and recording equipment, the team spent five days camping in the mountains and searching for evidence of Bigfoot.

"With only four full days to spend there, we were limited in what we could accomplish and, like everyone else who looks for this creature, we were surrounded by thousands of square miles of forested mountains, valleys, canyons and it could be anywhere," team members wrote in an online report.

"We chose to rely mainly upon finding tracks as a way of detecting the presence of Sasquatches," the team wrote. "That was possible because of a characteristic of the Chuska Mountains that is surprisingly rare; instead of being hard and rocky, the ground is covered by rich, soft topsoil that takes tracks extraordinarily well."

The team did not find any evidence linked to Sasquatch, but after researching the mountains, the team found that the likelihood of meeting Sasquatch face-to-face was very low.

Based on the assumption that Sasquatch lives in black bear country, it is likely that the creature dwells in the Chuska Mountains, the organization found. The estimated population of black bears in North America around the time the team visited the Navajo Nation was about 685,000.

"Even using a generous estimate of 10,000 Sasquatches in North America, it would mean that for each Sasquatch, there are at least 68 bears," the team wrote in its report. "So, at best, in the Chuskas with 300 bears, there could have been 4.4 Sasquatches, and for us to have any real expectation of seeing one of those Sasquatches during our four days in the Chuskas we would have had to see at least 68 bears.

"We didn't see any bears (we saw one fresh track and one bear dropping). And if the North American Sasquatch population is around 1,000, we would have needed to see about 685 bears before having a statistical chance of seeing a Sasquatch," the report states.

"The same reasoning applies to finding the tracks of the two animals," the team found.

The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, when reached by email this week, confirmed it was familiar with the Chuska Mountains. The organization did not immediately respond to a request for a phone interview.

The organization was founded in 1995 and is touted as the only scientific research organization exploring the Bigfoot mystery.

Most consider Bigfoot to be a large, hairy, bipedal non-human primate distributed across North America, though the concentration varies greatly. Staffed by a group of stanch believers, the organization describes the beast as a creature unlike any other.

"Its massiveness, deviation from human bearing and different gait leave no doubt in the mind of observers that they have seen a creature different from man or known animals," the organization's website states.

A handful of Sanostee residents agree with that description. They are the few who claim encounters with Bigfoot, despite what doubters may say.

"I know what people think," Peter said. "People don't believe until they see it."

Reported sightings of Bigfoot on the Nation come in waves. Historically speaking, dozens of sightings were reported in 1973. Another wave of reports of strange phenomena came in 1989.

More recent sightings were reported in January 2011, November 2011 and last month, Smith said. Those sightings range from actual views of the big animal to footprints left in mud or fresh snow.

And some residents believe Bigfoot had a presence in the area even in prehistoric times.

Carved into the bluffs north of Sanostee are etchings reminiscent of the big creature. Although no records exist to indicate when the pictures were formed or who made them, some locals point to them as further evidence that Bigfoot roams these hills.

Some of the pictures show giant figures with oversized hands and feet with six toes. Other pictures are simply enormous footprints.

Sanostee resident Jerry Lewis said he recently saw Bigfoot in the Chuskas when he took his horse and donkey into the mountains.

"My animals froze and I saw the thing walk over the hill," Lewis said through an interpreter. "It was taller than 8 or 9 feet, taller than the bushes, upright and hairy."

Lewis also observed holes punched into the ice in his livestock trough holes that looked like they were made by a fist.

Seeing Bigfoot may not be a good thing, however, Lewis said. Navajo legend states that when such creatures start coming back, it's an indication that the end of the world is near.

"Things that are happening now are things we learned about," Lewis said. "Once people know how everything works, when there's nothing else to learn, some of these creatures start coming back."

Smith, however, takes a lighter view of Bigfoot. Although he believes some of the stories, he doesn't think the beast is a threat.

"I feel like it's probably hanging around here," he said. "To me, from all the stories I've heard, he's afraid of humans. Maybe he thinks we look funny, too."

http://www.daily-times.com/ci_19895147

Article: If You Spot Bigfoot, Should You Shoot Him?

In the new Animal Planet reality TV show optimistically titled "Finding Bigfoot," a team of experts examines video of an alleged Sasquatch spotted in the Canadian Rockies. The video, shot by a man named Todd Standing, shows something large and dark, standing atop a wooded ridge and then ducking back behind a bush. It could pretty much be anything, and when the experts concluded that the subject was probably not a Bigfoot, Standing expressed his frustration: "No video is ever going to be evidence, ever. It's never going to be good enough…"

Standing, like many Bigfoot researchers, misses the problem: It's not so much that any Bigfoot video is inherently worthless, it's that his video, like all that have come before it, is of such poor quality that there's no way to know what we're seeing. It could have been anything – a guy in a dark jacket (or gorilla costume), a bear or even Bigfoot. The fatal flaw in Bigfoot photos and videos is the image quality, not the image subject. If Standing, the "Finding Bigfoot" team, or anyone else shot well-lit, clear video of what was obviously a 12-foot-tall, hairy bipedal creature in the woods, that would be compelling.

But even the highest-quality photograph or video can't be considered definitive proof of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or any other mythical beast. Similarly, if the goal is to simply make scientists and the general public take Bigfoot seriously, then some verified remains of the creature – be they hair, teeth, blood, bones or something else – would do the trick. [Infamous 'Yeti Finger' Flunks DNA Test]

But definitive proof is a very high standard. Most Bigfoot enthusiasts — and the general public — would be satisfied with nothing less than the rock-solid definitive proof offered by a living or dead specimen.

This issue brings up a longstanding debate within the Bigfoot community: Would be ethical to shoot and kill a Bigfoot? Some say yes, because that's the only way to prove they exist, and once proof is found, funds could be made available to protect them as an endangered species. Others say no -- that because Bigfoot sightings are so rare, they must have very small populations and killing one might drive the animals to extinction. Shooting a suspected Bigfoot with tranquilizer darts is an option that has gained some steam.

Ethics and the lethal-or-nonlethal debate aside, there's a good reason aiming your gun at a Bigfoot could be a bad idea: It might be illegal. A Texas teen shot what he believed to be a Chupacabra earlier this year, and while charges were not brought against him, if the creature turned out to be someone's dog or a mangy coyote, he could potentially havefaced a felony charge.

The point is, you simply can't know for sure if the mysterious, burly figure you have lined up in your sights is the real beast, or a bear or someone's pet – or, even worse, just a person in a gorilla suit.
This story was provided by Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience.


Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and author ofScientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries. His website is www.BenjaminRadford.com.

http://www.livescience.com/18063-shoot-bigfoot.html

Central China's Shennongjia Nature Reserve named national 5A-Class Scenic Spot (via Lindsay Selby)

WUHAN, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Shennongjia Nature Reserve, the rumored hometown of a Bigfoot-like ape-man, was named one of the nation's 5A-Class Scenic Spots by the country's National Tourism Administration on Monday, local authorities said Tuesday.

Located in the northwestern mountains of Hubei Province, the Shennongjia Forestry District, which administers the nature reserve, was established in 1970.

As the only well-preserved sub-tropical forest ecosystem in the world's mid-latitudes, Shennongjia boasts rich natural forest resources with more than 5,000 species of animals and plants.

Being dubbed a national 5A-Class Scenic Spot means Shennongjia Nature Reserve has become a comprehensive tourist area with charming scenery and high-quality service, said Liao Mingyao, an official with the Shennongjia Forestry District.

The Shennongjia area has long been rumored to be the home of the "Yeren," literally "Wild man." The creature is also referred to as "Bigfoot," like the legendary North American ape-man. In the past 100 years, more than 400 people have claimed to have seen the creature, but no hard evidence of the creature's existence has been found.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/travel/2012-01/10/c_131352760.htm

Hiking the Redwoods with California's 'Squatchers'

Amateur researchers in the United States continue to eagerly search for the mysterious creature known as Bigfoot, staking out California's redwood forests at night in their hunt for the elusive beast. Despite many claimed sightings, the existence of Sasquatch has never been proven. Yet that hasn't stopped the obsessed from pursuing his giant footprints.

The plaintive howl echoes through the forest sounding like a muffled "whoop, whoop, whoop." Brandon Kiel pauses to listen in the dark, holding his breath for a moment before drawing air into his lungs.

Once again, Kiel cups his hands in front of his mouth and imitates the call: "whoop, whoop, whoop." The sound echoes back through the night, but all else is silence. Bigfoot isn't answering.

"The season is favorable," Kiel says, with a touch of disappointment. "But it's always possible that the animals are not in the area." The blueberries are ripe, and the calves of the Roosevelt elk, one of Bigfoot's favorite foods, haven't matured yet.

Kiel, 41, is a field researcher with the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), a group based in the United States. The creature he is looking for is said to be clever, shy and stealthy -- an expert at camouflaging itself. But here in the redwood forests of northern California, Kiel is hoping he'll be blessed with hunter's luck. He and 20 fellow field researchers are on an expedition to track down Bigfoot.

Read more here ...

Bigfoot nests found in Russia?

London: Experts from Russia, Canada, the US and Sweden went on an expedition to Siberia and reportedly found nests of the elusive Bigfoot or the legendary creature yeti.

The experts said they discovered "strangely twisted" trees in the remote part of Russia, which suggested that a creature was building nests in the same way as orangutans and gorillas, The Sun reported.

The trees had been twisted together by force to form an arch in the Kemerovo region, an area known for frequent sightings of the yeti.
"We didn't feel like the trees we saw in Siberia had been done by a man or another mammal. Twisted trees like this have also been observed in North America and they could fit with the theory that Bigfoot makes nests," said John Bindernagel, a 69-year-old biologist.

The ape-like yeti is believed to live in forests of North America and Russia. Sightings have also been reported in France. A similar creature is said to live in the Himalayas.

IANS

http://zeenews.india.com/news/eco-news/bigfoot-nests-found-in-russia_741830.html

Scientists Say Mythical Monster The Yeti Is Real, Lives In Siberia

Posted by JacobSloan on October 24, 2011

103770942The existence of a giant, apelike monster, alternately known as Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman, Sasquatch, et cetera, has long been scoffed at and dismissed as a hoax. However, an international team of scientists say the mythical beast is real and roaming the furthest reaches of Russia. Via TIME:

Scientists and yeti enthusiasts believe there may finally be solid evidence that the apelike creature roams the vast Siberian tundra.

A team of a dozen-plus experts from as far afield as Canada and Sweden have proclaimed themselves 95% certain of the mythical animal’s existence after a daylong conference in the town of Tashtagol in the Kemerovo region, some 2,000 miles east of Moscow. In recent years, locals there have reported sightings of the yeti, also known as the abominable snowman.

The Kemerovo government announced on Oct. 10 that a two-day expedition the previous weekend to the region’s Azassky cave and Karatag peak “collected irrefutable evidence” of yetis’ existence on the wintry plateau.

“Conference participants came to the conclusion that the artifacts found give 95% evidence of the habitation of the ’snow man’ on Kemerovo region territory,” read a statement. “In one of the detected tracks, Russian scientist Anatoly Fokin noted several hairs that might belong to the yeti,” it added. The group also discovered footprints, a presumed bed and various other markers.

The scientific community has historically disputed the existence of the yeti given scant conclusive evidence. But numerous sightings of such creatures have been reported in Himalayan countries and in North America, where it is known as Sasquatch, or bigfoot.

http://www.disinfo.com/2011/10/scientists-say-mythical-monster-the-yeti-is-real-in-siberia/

Seattleite stars as skeptic on Sasquatch series

A two-hour special, "Finding Bigfoot: Birth of a Legend," airs Oct. 30 on Animal Planet. In this outing, a team of Sasquatch hunters, which includes Seattle's Ranae Holland, traipses through a California redwood forest to visit the site where the Patterson-Gimlin footage of a supposed Bigfoot was filmed 50 years ago.

By Rob Owen
Special to The Seattle Times

There's something comfortably predictable about Animal Planet's "Finding Bigfoot." Each week, a team of Sasquatch aficionados research reports of Bigfoot sightings and spend a night in the woods searching for the hairy creature. And each week they come away without proof of Bigfoot's existence; yet they remain undaunted, ready to go back out again.

It's not an unfamiliar television format, one popularized most recently by other paranormal cable series like Syfy's "Ghost Hunters" franchise and A&E's recently concluded "Paranormal State."

The first season of "Finding Bigfoot" aired during the summer, drawing an average 1.2 million viewers, making it one of Animal Planet's top series. A second season is in the works for early next year, and a two-hour special, "Finding Bigfoot: Birth of a Legend," airs tonight at 9.

In this outing, the team, which includes Seattle's Ranae Holland, traipses through a California redwood forest to visit the site where the Patterson-Gimlin footage of a supposed Bigfoot was filmed 50 years ago.

The "Finding Bigfoot" team is made up of three true believers and one skeptic. Holland, a research field biologist/ecologist with a degree in aquatic ecology from the University of Washington, is the skeptic.

When she's not out searching for Bigfoot, Holland makes her home on Lake Union. For now her place is sublet while she's on the hunt.

"I have not been home very much," she said earlier this month during a break from production in southwest Virginia for a season-two episode. Production wraps in early December.

"Then I get to come home. Some of my friends are chefs, so I'm looking forward to getting some fantastic Seattle food. Then I can recharge my batteries."

A South Dakota native, Holland, 41, worked as a field-biologist contractor before "Finding Bigfoot," often spending time collecting research samples in the wilderness.

Connection with father

Her interest in Bigfoot dates back to watching "In Search of ... " and 1970s-era Bigfoot movies with her father. Although she's a fan of the mystery of Bigfoot, she does not believe the creatures exist.

"I can't wrap my head around that there's a bipedal primate running around the woods of North America. ... There's not enough proof to say I believe," she said.

"But I'm fascinated by the idea of the phenomenon and intrigued by the reports. ... I'm curious by nature and I'm a problem solver. So I say, 'Here's the mystery, let's figure it out one way or another.' "

Holland said her role on "Finding Bigfoot" is to make sure the show's true believers "are not pulling stuff out of nowhere." She wants them to apply scientific methodology to their expeditions.

After Holland's father died in 2003 and she found herself in the woods, she went online to find reports of Bigfoot sightings. That's how she established an email and phone relationship with Matt Moneymaker, founder of the Bigfoot Field Research Organization and one of the stars of "Finding Bigfoot." He gave her access to the group's database of Bigfoot sightings.

"I love to find out Bigfoot stories wherever I'm doing field work," Holland said. But she had no aspirations to appear on TV before "Finding Bigfoot" and initially rejected invitations.

After seeking advice from respected science community colleagues, she gave in.

"They were like, 'Why not?' And I said, 'But if you Google my name, "Bigfoot" will come up.' And they said, 'You know in your heart you're a skeptic, and anyone who knows you knows how you feel and that you love Bigfoot stories,' " she recalled.

"And being on the show has not affected me professionally at all."

Voicing viewers' doubts

"Finding Bigfoot" executive producer Keith Hoffman said Holland's skepticism is a key ingredient in the series.

"She represents the viewer a lot of times," he said. "Viewers want to see people who don't just totally believe."

"Finding Bigfoot" does not take itself too seriously; hence the inclusion of a badly computer-animated Bigfoot in some re-created scenes. And the show's cast has a sense of humor. In tonight's episode, Holland is encouraged to let loose with a Bigfoot call.

"It wasn't so much a call as it was a yodel," she says afterward. "I am a quarter Norwegian, after all."

In the show's first season, one episode was filmed in Washington's North Cascades; the team visited a site on Silver Star Mountain where a photo was taken of what's purportedly a Bigfoot.

There are no plans to return to the state in season two, but Holland is hopeful another Washington episode could be on tap if the series is extended to a third season.

"I hope we'll get back there," she said. "That is a hot spot for [reports of Bigfoot] activity."

In the meantime, Holland said she's having fun tramping woods all over the country with the "Finding Bigfoot" crew. She especially enjoys when the show invites locals to town-hall meetings to discuss their own Bigfoot encounters.

"Doing this Bigfoot show at times makes me feel close to my dad," she said. "Seeing 10-year-olds come to the town halls with their fathers really brings my relationship with my father full circle."

Rob Owen: RobOwenTV@gmail.com

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/television/2016615960_bigfoot30.html?prmid=head_main

Sasquatch, rare woodpecker among strange Stennis tales

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011

By MICHAEL NEWSOM - mmnewsom@sunherald.com

Isolated within a sprawling buffer zone protected by highly secure entrances, the John C. Stennis Space Center is an easy target for paranormal stories.

The large site’s mystique has spawned some wild theories about what goes on inside it and its buffer zone -- 212 square miles of mostly wilderness and swamp. Stennis workers get some strange inquiries about what goes on there from those interested in UFOs and other topics, said Marco Giardino, NASA historian at Stennis.

“You get some strange phone calls that all NASA centers get,” Giardino said. “You know, people who wear aluminum-foil helmets or are being looked at by aliens. There are people who think we caused climatic change by landing on the moon. There are people who don’t think we landed on the moon. You get a cross-section of crazies that all NASA centers get.”

But despite the calls, there’s nothing odd going on there, Giardino said.

“We have a very vibrant tourist program,” Giardino said. “People get to come here on tour buses all the time. The mainstream public is pretty well aware of what we do, and none of it is sneaky or nefarious.”

Cajun Sasquatch?

The rocket-testing center is bordered by two large marshlands -- Honey Island Swamp and Devils Swamp. Some interesting tales have come from Honey Island Swamp, Giardino said.

Some believe the “Cajun Sasquatch” roams the Honey Island Swamp, which is on the western side of the Stennis buffer zone near the Louisiana state line. The creature is also known in south Louisiana lore as the “Honey Island Swamp Monster” or in some cases la bête noire, which is French for “the black beast.” The creature has been described as hairy, with fur colors ranging from orangey, black, grey or brown, in various news stories and television interviews dating as far back as the early 1970s. Some descriptions say it’s about 7 feet tall and weighs 400 pounds.

“(La bête noire) is what the Cajuns call their Bigfoot,” Giardino said. “Old Cajuns swear that it jumps on their flatboats and also leaves huge footprints.”

Giardino said Stennis officials don’t get as many calls about the beast as they did years ago.

There are other legends about something called the “loup garou,” which is French for werewolf, living in the nearby swamps of Louisiana

“It is such a massive wilderness that it has been identified as one of the potential places that bigfoot, or ‘la bête noire’ or the other mythical swamp beasts live,” Giardino said. “On its own, it’s really a place full of mystery, and still has bears and alligators and God knows what-all in it.”

Ivory-billed woodpecker?

In addition to menacing, mythical swamp beasts, there have also been reports of the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker living in the woods around Stennis, Giardino said. The scientific community has been at odds over the last several years about whether the large woodpecker, long thought to be extinct, has actually died out. There have been some sightings of the bird near the facility, as well as other areas across the southeastern United States.

In spring 2005, after various alleged witness accounts from across the country surfaced, along with a reported video of one of the birds taken by a University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor, some scientific groups declared the ivory-billed woodpecker wasn’t extinct. Others in the scientific community disputed that claim.

Giardino said there have been reports of the relatively large woodpecker, which has a wingspan of up to 3 feet, living in the buffer zone. It’s often confused, though, with its common, smaller cousin, the pileated woodpecker.

Whether there’s a Sasquatch, or the rarest of birds, living there, the sprawling marsh of Honey Island Swamp can capture the imagination, Giardino said.

“It’s huge,” Giardino said. “As you drive toward Louisiana, there is nothing but trees and waterways. It’s a really beautiful place, but I wouldn’t be there at night, bête noire or not.”

http://www.sunherald.com/2011/10/26/3534149/sasquatch-rare-woodpecker-among.html

Knobby legend lives on: History of bigfoot sightings brings the curious to Casar (via Chad Arment)

Calvin Thompson
Monday, Aug 29 2011

CASAR — It's been five months since Knobby, the legendary bigfoot of Cleveland County, was last sighted, but many of the residents of Casar and the surrounding area are still feeling his presence.

"People think I'm more of a kook, is all," said Thomas Byers, who reportedly saw Knobby on March 22, and managed to capture grainy video footage of an apparently furry, brownish humanoid. At first, Byers was bombarded by news agencies and people looking for more information.

Byers claims he has since seen additional signs of the creature, and said he has a friend who has seen it multiple times while hunting.

Casar resident Tim Peeler says he saw another, taller hairy beast back in June of 2010, but has since grown tired of the publicity and the media attention.

"I don't like to talk about it no more," Peeler said, recently.

Byers said he has not let the media attention get to him because he is certain of what he saw, be it a real sasquatch or a hoax.

`It's good for the economy'

Casar store owners have capitalized on the creature's popularity.

"We need to be on the map somehow," said Tim White, owner of White's General Store in the Casar town square.

White's is one of the Casar stores that churns out Knobby memorabilia for residents and tourists alike. White sells Knobby T-shirts and "Git" sticks and said his store gets occasional visits from travelers from across the country.

Tourists interested in Knobby have actually garnered a lot of business, leading White's General Store to open the "Knobby Store" each year at the Cleveland County Fair.

"It was real good last year," White said. "Now it's not booming like when Mr. Peeler saw it."

He also holds two of the items which have achieved near-legendary status in Knobby folklore- the "Knobby Trumpet," a homemade device used to call Knobby, and the original "Git" stick, which Knobby witness Peeler said he used to ward off the creature. White said that the objects are the originals used by Peeler.

"It's good for the economy, if nothing else," said J.R. Smith, another Casar resident, and friend of White's. "There may be something out there; I ain't gonna say."

White is also undecided about what lurks in the forests around Casar.

"I believe he (Peeler) saw something," White said.

http://www.shelbystar.com/news/casar-57939-history-knobby.html

Bigfoot in Banff?

If nothing else, the news is bound to make big strides with the Banff tourism industry.

No longer will Alberta's best-known mountain park depend solely on breathtaking scenery and abundant wildlife to impress visitors and lure overseas tourists.

And no more envy towards other famous vacation spots like Loch Ness and Lake Okanagan, where legendary creatures are rumoured to lurk.

Banff now has Bigfoot. Lots and lots of Bigfoots, in fact.

Yes, it's an allegation that would have Ripley wondering whether to Believe it or Not, and P.T. Barnum reaching for his cheque book, but the mountains are a hotbed for the huge-footed primates.
That's the assertion of a dedicated bigfoot research organization based near Calgary, which claims not only to have video and photo evidence of the mythical beast, but DNA proof as well.

"When I first started, I was a skeptic, but not anymore — now I'm a wholehearted believer in the species," said Todd Standing, spokesman for the Sylvanic Bigfoot group.

Standing's allegations of a Bigfoot colony living near the border of Banff and Kootenay National Park will raise many eyebrows, but his evidence has piqued the interest of the Discovery Channel.
This week, crews from "Finding Bigfoot," a hit show on Discovery's Animal Planet channel, are filming in the Calgary area, and Standing says the upcoming episode will be centred upon Sylvanic's discoveries.

"We've had exceptional results and we're working with people doing DNA analysis," said Standing.
He says preliminary results from hair samples sent in for testing suggest an unknown species of primate, while video and photographs suggest a creature larger than a gorilla, with human-like features.

Of course, it's that latter evidence that's bound to have the skeptics taking sasquatch-sized swipes at Standing, particularly the photographs he says are proof of Bigfoot.

Paranormal footage, as a rule, is supposed to be grainy, badly-focused and jittery, as if the camera was assembled by Fisher-Price and mounted to the bumper of a gravel truck.

Not Sylvanic: Standing boasts a collection of sharp video clips and crisp photographs of Bigfoot, showing far, far more than the usual hirsute primate dashing behind the nearest bush.

Instead of blur, we get full-face portraits of the creature, peering from behind trees.

"I've had multiple interactions with them, and I've filmed them and photographed them on many occasions," said Standing.

"It's a real, living breathing animal, which I got within 60 or 70 yards of."

What the producers of Finding Bigfoot make of all this remains to be seen, as their quartet of sasquatchologists examines the Alberta evidence to see if it's on solid footing.

The show has gone across North America investigating sightings of the creature, with the network "committed to looking for the Bigfoot until it's found."

Standing says he has — though he knows his belief in Bigfoot and the proof he produces from the Banff backwoods opens him to mockery, derision and the suggestion he should sober up.
But he accepts the skepticism, because he originally joined the Sylvanic team with the intent of disproving the ancient story of an ape-like creature hiding in the wilderness of North America.

"I thought it was a combination of hoaxes and mistaken identities, and I wanted to prove it wasn't true," said Standing.

Now, he says Bigfoot is a fact — and within weeks, he hopes to have the DNA evidence to prove it.
"We hope to have results by October," said Standing.

If that's the case, tourism officials in Banff will surely be thrilled. As it is, they welcome the attention of the popular television show, saying any link with Bigfoot is a bonus for visitors.

"Anything interesting that attracts people is a good thing — it seems like some harmless fun," said Mary Morrison, manager of travel media relations for Banff Lake Louise Tourism.

"I mean, who wouldn't want to see a Bigfoot?"

Michael.platt@sunmedia.ca
http://www.banffcragandcanyon.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3280492

Minnesota: Expert discredits Bigfoot footprint find

Jana Peterson, Duluth News Tribune
It was a little over a year ago when the Siltanen brothers found the footprints. Checking for bear bait on a Monday morning, it wasn't bear tracks they found in the freshly plowed field. In fact, they weren't sure what they found.

"We found about 75 of these footprints," Robert Siltanen said. "My brother had plowed the field Friday and seeded it Sunday. We found the footprints on Monday morning."

Siltanen said the prints measured 4 inches wide and 11½ inches long, with a 42-inch stride from heel to toe.

"There have been (Bigfoot) sightings in the (Kettle River/Automba) area," Siltanen said, adding that he knew of at least three more-recent ones and recalled people in high school talking about Bigfoot sightings. "So we started snooping around, and we called all the neighbor ladies to see if they'd seen anything."

The really strange part, Siltanen said, was the fact that the footprints seemed to appear 60 feet from the outer edge of the field, then continue toward the woods. There were no prints leading onto the field.

"Who the heck knows," he added. "It's one of those unexplained situations."

He made casts of the footprints using plaster of Paris, which are displayed in an old shoebox. The prints are quite different: The left one looks almost deformed, with the smaller toes practically stacked on top of each other..

The brothers, who are the third generation in their family to farm their land in Kettle River, said they also hear strange noises early in the morning, sometimes a scream, other times a low moan.

Robert Siltanen imitated the moan.

Roger Siltanen laughed.

"It was hell walking to the deer stand after that," Roger Siltanen said. "I don't know how I would react to seeing one."

Robert Siltanen said a man named Jim Hebb from a Minnesota Bigfoot organization came and looked at the prints three weeks later and guessed they could belong to a juvenile Bigfoot.

However, in a response to viewing photographs of the footprint casts together and compared to Robert Siltanen's bare foot, Idaho State University professor Jeff Meldrum said the prints look very human.

Meldrum, an anatomy professor whose specialty is primate and human locomotion and the adaptation of the foot for walking on ground, is well-known as an expert on reported Bigfoot casts. He initially became interested in doing serious research on the legendary North American ape after seeing about 35 to 45 clear prints in the ground in 1996.

"My forte is footprint evidence," said the professor, who also published a book, "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science," in 2006. In endorsing the book, noted primatologist Jane Goodall said, "Jeff Meldrum's book `Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science' brings a much-needed level of scientific analysis to the Sasquatch — or Bigfoot — debate."

Although his recent film and television credits include Monster Qwest and National Geographic programs, the Idaho State University professor has not worked with the "Finding Bigfoot" television cast … at least not directly.

"They did send some prints after they found the first Georgia footprints," Meldrum said. "But I

couldn't get back to them in time. I concluded they were bear tracks. One of the hosts raved about those tracks, that they were some of the best he'd seen.

"It's unfortunate," he added. "You get these amateur `experts' making silly pronouncements, and the skeptics use it as ammunition to discredit all the evidence that comes to light."

On the subject of Sasquatch and footprints, Meldrum said the more-credible Bigfoot prints have several things in common:

They exhibit a flat, archless foot that shows a greater degree of flexibility in the mid-foot.

They have a much greater width and length than a human foot.

The toes tend to be more squarely aligned; there's less of an angle from the big toe to the little toe. There's also less of a size difference between the big toe and the smaller toes, although the big toe is still bigger than the rest.

Meldrum has no trouble making the call on the Siltanen casts on the basis of two photographs.

"The photo of the man [Robert Siltanen] with the cast is the most telling," Meldrum said. "There are so many resemblances [between his foot and the print] … I'd be surprised if it's not his foot or someone closely related to him."

Robert and Roger Siltanen both insist the footprints were not their own.

"We might (stretch the truth), but we wouldn't do this," Roger Siltanen said. "It's still a mystery if they (Bigfoot creatures) are really out there or if it's someone that's had too much to drink … or it's an elaborate hoax."

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/207804/

Local "Monster" Mania

Five years ago this summer, the attention of the world focused on the farm fields of Clarence -- for one big, hairy reason.


Bigfoot.
Hans J. Mobius, a Clarence farmer and horseman, claimed he saw a hulking apelike creature while out working on his 100-acre farm. He supplied photos as proof. Remember those images of a furry black monster standing next to Mobius' John Deere Gator?

For a moment, monster-hunters around the globe turned their attention to Western New York.

Now, five years later, the excitement has largely died down. Mobius said he still gets inquiries about his Bigfoot sighting -- but not nearly as much as when it first happened.

"It went around the world. I had people from Australia calling me, from all over the world," Mobius said. "There are people that are very interested. They believe there is a sasquatch around. They wanted to see my property."

"I kind of liked the activity," he said. "It's quiet out here."

Today Mobius maintains he doesn't know -- or even much care -- whether that was Bigfoot he saw five summers ago, or a creatively dressed prankster.

"If it was real, I really saw one," he said, matter-of-factly. "And if it wasn't -- it wasn't."

But one thing is certain: His experience with the "Clarence Bigfoot" is not out of the ordinary for Western New York.

In our region's history, there have been claims of sea serpents and lake monsters, ghosts and goblins, and -- yes, more than once -- yeti-like creatures of unusual size.

Western New York seems to be chock-full of monsters and mysteries, if you know where to look.

It's also full of people who believe these stories and think they have meaning.

As well as people who scoff at the tales -- and say we're only fooling ourselves.

The Clarence Bigfoot
Mobius' brush with the large biped covered in black fur is typical of monster stories in Western New York.

First of all, it makes a great tale. A senior citizen farmer runs into sasquatch while surveying a stand of trees and happens to take pictures? Great legend material there.

It's also the type of story that inspires both skepticism and credulity.

Mobius' farm was visited by Bigfoot-hunters from the West Coast, who came to town to film the farm site and their search for the creature there.

Others, including Mason Winfield, a local author on supernatural and paranormal subjects, point out that there have been yeti- or sasquatch-like sightings in Western New York before, for instance, in the Southern Tier.

But one of Western New York's well-known investigators of the paranormal, Joe Nickell, a former magician and private investigator, said the Clarence Bigfoot is more than likely a case of "Big Suit."

In other words: After investigating the facts, Nickell says the safe bet is that the Clarence sighting was of a man wearing a large ape suit. Whether someone was trying to prank Mobius, or there is some other explanation for why the sighting happened where it did, Nickell said it may be difficult to ever tell.

"I don't make any accusations -- but that is definitely a man in a suit," said Nickell, who delves into the case in a new book, "Tracking the Man-Beasts: Sasquatch, Vampires, Zombies and More," out from Amherst's Prometheus Press.

Nickell said you don't have to be a full-time paranormal investigator, as he is, to deduce something about the Clarence Bigfoot.

"If there are photographs that look like a man in a suit, that's as far as you have to go," Nickell said. "If the pictures look fake, it's likely fake. That's as far as I need to go -- until someone provides some further information."


Silver Lake serpent
The facts of the Silver Lake serpent are simple, yet shiver-inducing. In 1855, dozens of residents of the area around Silver Lake in Wyoming County reported seeing a giant, snakelike creature in the placid waters of the lake. The serpent surfaced so many times that summer that tourists began to visit the village of Perry hoping for a glimpse and the local newspaper even ran a special "Serpent Edition," reporting details of the various sightings.

After that, the serpent disappeared. In 1857, a local hotel burned down, and some material discovered in the attic -- coils of wire and canvas, according to some reports -- were thought to be the remains of the celebrated monster.

The question remains: a hoax or no?

Nickell said he doesn't believe the story of the serpent -- but he doesn't believe the story of the elaborate hoax, either.

"It just wouldn't have worked," he said. He posits a different theory: otters swimming in the lake -- which he thinks would have been unfamiliar enough to residents in 1855 to be mistaken at a distance for one large snake.

Winfield, an author of numerous books whose new volume, "Iroquois Supernatural," will be published this fall by Vermont's Bear & Company press, said the skepticism over the Silver Lake serpent may be well-founded. "Silver Lake was almost certainly a hoax," he said.

But, said Winfield, there are other long-standing stories of water monsters in the area --from both Native American and other sources -- that aren't so easily explained.

"Many of the lakes in Western New York have some kind of a serpent legend," Winfield said. "Canandaigua, Seneca, Cayuga, even some of the smaller ones. Sometimes, whites see things that Native American sources say used to be there - and whites didn't know the legends."

Whatever the true story of the serpent's origin, Wyoming County tourism officials said there's no doubt the slithery creature was good for business.

"It was really big news in the 1800s when it happened -- there were articles as far away as the Chicago Tribune," said Meghan Stearns, director of tourism and marketing at the Wyoming County Chamber & Tourism office. "There was a lot of tourism at the time related to the sea serpent. That's what Perry was known for across the Northeast: the Silver Lake sea serpent."

Today, Stearns said, Perry and Silver Lake are trying to recapture interest in the old snake story, to boost the community's profile.

"It kind of died down for a little bit, lost some interest," she said. "They're trying to find ways to bring the sea serpent back Ñ to bring that story back again."

The Lake Erie monster
Lake Erie, a relatively shallow body of water, wouldn't seem to be a setting that would inspire monster lore. And yet the lake has had its share of "lake monster" sightings, stretching back to the very beginnings of recorded history in the city.

The creature even has a name: Bessie.

"There are tremendous serpent legends from Lake Erie," said Winfield. "There have been sightings for at least 200 years. They come from all the old papers."

One major year for sightings was 1817, said Elizabeth Burns, a University at Buffalo graduate student in history who is writing her doctoral dissertation on sea serpent stories.

In that year, people claimed to have seen a large serpentlike monster in Lake Erie near Buffalo; there were also many reports that year of serpent sightings in New England, particularly at Gloucester, said Burns.

There were some differences in the sightings, she said.

"You had hundreds of people who saw the New England sea serpent, whereas the numbers in Lake Erie were much less," said Burns, who lives in North Buffalo. "Because of that, the Lake Erie [serpent] is a little scarier. We don't really know what we're dealing with."

Sharen Trembath, a lake expert and coordinator of the Western New York portion of the Lake Erie Beach Sweep each fall, said she wonders if some of the "monster" stories surrounding Lake Erie weren't really sightings of a much more prosaic kind of fish: a giant sturgeon.

That antique species of fish could grow to more than 6 feet long, Trembath said.

Burns, a Salt Lake City native, said she has spent plenty of time pondering the reasons people report "serpent" sightings in bodies of water..

"The temptation is to say mass hysteria," she said.

But that doesn't seem to fit the entire situation, whether the case happens to be New England or Lake Erie, Burns said.

"The thing is, it keeps happening, year after year," she said. "Big hotels go up to support the hunt. That doesn't sound like mass hysteria to me.

"The fact of the matter is, it was undoubtedly real to these people."

http://www.buffalonews.com/life/article513471.ece

Bigfoot's Bizarre Cousin Sighted in Michigan

Nain Rouge - a Personal Account and Historical Records

by David Claerr

Early on a mid-summer morning, the air fragrant with the scent of lush greenery and flowers, my brother and I were at the edge of a large, uncultivated field covered in thick overgrowth. In front of us was a stand of tall reed-like pigweed that grew up to seven feet high. The rough, pithy stems of the plants grew very close together, not more than two or three inches apart, and formed a dense thicket that stretched for perhaps a quarter-mile ahead of us. There were only a few trails through the thicket leading to the wood-lined meadowlands beyond.


We stood on a mowed clearing that served as a fire-break between the overgrown field and the housing tract where we lived. As we were about to head for one of the trails, we heard something or someone forcing its way through the thicket, smashing through the pigweed. It was making guttural noises almost as if muttering under its breath, disgruntled from having to force its way through the raspy barrier of stems. In fact, I mentally pictured an old farmhand in overalls tramping through the overgrowth. We paused because it seemed to be headed directly towards us.

It was thrashing the weeds vigorously, snapping the pithy stems and stomping the ground as it thrust its way forward. We instinctively froze in our tracks.

Suddenly it reached the abrupt end of the thicket, and stopped in surprise at the clearing which it didn't see until the very last moment. We were directly in its path.

Read on here: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/606009/bigfoots_bizarre_cousin_sighted_in.html?cat=70

Messing with Sasquatch may not be such a good idea

CHATHAM – There’s something amiss in the backwoods of Chatham, something potentially big. Lately there’s been talk around certain areas of town of an unusual howling and screeching sound as well as evidence of some very large footprints.


Since June there have been at least five to six instances of residents discovering or hearing evidence that the infamous Bigfoot may be lurking somewhere in the Chatham community. One case in particular has garnered some attention from local police, as well as a few proclaimed Big Foot experts.

On Wednesday, June 15, 2011, Michael Patrick’s mother was getting the liner to her pool changed at her residence, when workmen noticed an abnormally large footprint under the apple tree in the back yard and brought the footprint to Patrick’s attention.

Over the years Patrick and his mother had, at times, heard bizarre noises, but had always passed them off as coming from some common forest animal. But they weren’t the only ones that had heard the sounds either. The night before the footprint was found a neighbor had also commented about unusual sounds.

“My neighbor has a German Shepherd, and it heard something that night that spooked him. The dog went outside to investigate, but came back cowering, now it won’t leave its owner’s side,” Patrick said.

Unsure about what exactly the footprint was, and concerned for his mother’s safety, Patrick called the Chatham Police Department. An officer came to investigate the scene, but was unable to determine what might have caused the print.

“The responding officer stated that there was a large footprint approximately 18 inches long and 8 inches wide, and it appeared there were five claw marks,” Chatham Police Department Deputy Chief, Vernon Foli said.

To give you an idea how big 18 inches is, retired NBA center Shaquille O’Neil's feet are approximately 15 inches long, and he wears a size 23 shoe. The average human being’s foot measures approximately 9 ½ inches. Most shoe size charts end at a size fifteen shoe. An 18-inch footprint is about the size of a healthy newborn baby. Considering the size of the print, it’s understandable for a person to show a little concern if they found such a print in their yard.

Patrick documented his discovery on Facebook where he struck up a conversation with a friend. Patrick’s friend knew John Winterbauer, a Bigfoot investigator. Winterbauer in turn contacted local Bigfoot expert Stan Courtney.

Courtney has documented sightings and gathered sound recordings and evidence of Bigfoot for years. He has interviewed over two hundred witnesses who have seen Bigfoot.

“I literally know hundreds of people who’ve seen these animals. There have been lots of them in central Illinois. I’ve recorded lots of sounds that other researchers and witnesses believe come from these animals. People in Springfield don’t realize it, but there have been a lot of reports from the Sangamon River around Riverton.” Courtney said in a previous interview.

Courtney said that there have been five to six other reports of finding footprints and howling in the Chatham area since June.

So why is Bigfoot in Chatham? Well it’s hard to say really. Patrick’s property does back up to a wooded stream which flows into Lake Springfield. Courtney proposed that the creature was drawn to the house because of the apple tree that grows in Patrick’s mother’s back yard.

Stan Courtney explained to Patrick that the apple tree might have somehow been interpreted as a gift of food. In the past the Patrick’s had noticed that apples from the tree had been picked, but only to a certain height. They believed that the culprit was a wily raccoon, but the large footprint seemed to suggest otherwise. Courtney told Patrick that a creature such a Bigfoot will usually return the favor, and present a gift of its own as a show of appreciation in the form of a dead animal or a strange arrangement of flowers.

The day after his meeting with Courtney, Patrick discovered the Sasquatch’s gift, a decapitated rabbit, near his mother’s house. In Courtney’s account he stated that the rabbit had, “its head pulled off, not bitten or cut, but just simply pulled off.”

Since that strange June evening, no more incidents have occurred at Patrick’s mother’s residence. You might think that such a strange series of events would frighten most people in to staying out of the back yard, but the occurrence has not deterred Patrick’s mother from going about her normal routine.

“She’s not scared, she continues to do her yard work, she thinks it’s neat. My mom has never been skeptical of it.” Patrick said.

While his mother may not be skeptical of what happened, others aren’t ready to pin the event on Bigfoot just yet. Vernon Foli posed a possible explanation, albeit an indirect one.

“One thing I can tell you is that approximately ½ mile south of this location is the former Grindstone Valley Zoo that use to have exotic animals. The zoo is no longer in existence but the owner is Brad or Larry Reynolds and he still has some animals at this location,” Foli said.

Could the print have come from an animal from the old zoo? The Reynolds had kept large animals such as buffalo, antelope, elk, deer, tigers, leopards, monkeys, and zebras while the zoo was open. Or could it be a bear footprint? It’s widely believed by many that there are no bears in Illinois, but with their presence in neighboring states, Wisconsin and Missouri, would it be so far fetched to think that there are indeed bears in Illinois?

At this point it’s hard to tell what exactly made the footprint, but with other accounts of strange happenings and unusual howls and screeches in Chatham, many residents are raising an eyebrow.

“I definitely don’t think it was a hoax, and it was more than just a coincidence. I think that people should just be a bit more vigilant and careful, because you never know what you’re going to find out there,” Patrick said.

By Kevin Tremain (ourtowns.sj-r.com)


http://www.sj-r.com/ourtowns/chatham/x121481200/Messing-with-Sasquatch-may-not-be-such-a-good-idea

New Bigfoot Evidence Filmed in Kansas (Video)

A new Bigfoot movie popped up on YouTube Monday, this time from Kansas, not normally a hotbed of Sasquatch activity. The video is, as usual, very shaky. Why can't people learn how to use a camera when they shoot these things? Maybe they're truly scared?


The one-minute video shows a loping "creature" passing from tree to tree as a family shoots from the other side of a fenced-in area. The quick glimpses of the mystery cryptid recall the film that started it all, the Roger Patterson movie.


Comments from the family making the video sound authentically surprised, with a mom, pop and child. Dad sounds like a cartoon character himself, but the kid sounds pretty scared. Mom becomes a true believer...

Truthfully, the thing looks like somebody walking by in a monkey suit, but the unusual feature of actual daylight, as opposed to a night-vision view or grainy 16mm footage lends a bit of credence.

There's only one way to find out. Calling all crypto-zoologists! Get your video processing tools out and weigh in on this one, please... since the series finale of Finding Bigfoot left the world with a big, fat zilcho.

Have a look:

http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979614186