Sniper's Adventures

CREEPY WIGGLES! AAAAAH! THEY"RE EATING MY BRAINS!

2009-05-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

The Dillon M134 Gatlin Gun

2009-01-25T08:19:00.001-08:00

Redneck Houseboat

2009-01-23T18:00:00.001-08:00

The Woodspeople One: The Beginning

2009-01-11T09:46:00.000-08:00

You Must WATCH THIS!!!

Richard Dawkins: How would you feel about a half-human half-chimp hybrid?

2009-01-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

Dawkins speculates about how a human-chimp hybrid or the discovery of a living Homo erectus would change the way we see the world.

read it!

Green Swamp - Sitting by the Pasture day after Xmas

2008-12-27T09:32:00.000-08:00

I Knew It!

2008-11-26T14:02:00.000-08:00

Can Bigfoot “sense” human activity through the electronic items that humans bring into the interactions? Can Sasquatch “hear” cameras? Is what is being learned about this leading to findings that may impact the search for evidence of Bigfoot?

Read William Dragonis here.

The Wildman of Kentucky

2008-11-26T07:38:00.001-08:00

Heeeeere little piggy!!!

2008-11-21T15:35:00.001-08:00

Cryptid Hunt: And this kid is only 16 years old now!

2008-11-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

Cryptidhunt

From Bigfoot to Nessie, CryptidHunt deals with the search for various cryptozoological creatures reportedly seen around the world. With hidden cameras and underwater photographic equipment, each episode examines the most compelling and credible evidence from photos, video, footprints, hair, bones, and even eyewitness accounts! From ship captains to scientists, to police officers and credible eyewitnesses. CryptidHunt searches for the hidden and the unknown.

"They're hidden for now, but not for long" Series premiere October 31, 2008 Halloween! Episode Guide

October 31st-- "America's Loch Ness Monster"
November 28th-- "Creature of Whitehall"
December 26th-- "Giant Squid Caught"
TBA-- "Mothman"
TBA-- "Bigfoot"
TBA-- "Beast of Gevuadan"
TBA-- "Swamp Ape"
TBA-- "Russian Snowman"
TBA-- "Fishzilla"
TBA-- "The Jungle Yeti"
TBA-- "Phantom Black Cats"

Age: 15
Country: United States
Occupation: Filmmaker
Companies: Swordfish Films
Interests and Hobbies: Filmmaking, Tae Kwon Do (Blue Belt) and Cryptozoology
Movies and Shows: Monster Quest, Animal X, Oregon Bigfoot: Search For A Living Legend, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science, Giganto: The Real King Kong, Man vs Wild, Chasing Discovery
Music: Sum 41 and U2
Books: Cryptozoology Books
Website: http://www.cryptid.zoomshare.com

The Franchi 20 Gauge

2008-10-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

Two Gooses and a Duck

2008-10-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

The Bowie Song

2008-10-15T18:12:00.001-07:00

Doug Found Some Prints

2008-10-11T13:26:00.001-07:00

A Short Video of Me Doing a Cute Trick With a Lighter and a Candle

2008-09-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

Blobsquatch

2008-09-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

Do You Know This Person?

2008-09-22T11:48:00.001-07:00

JUST IN FROM PFIZER

2008-09-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

Pfizer Corp. announced today that Viagra will soon be available in
liquid form, and will be marketed by Pepsi Cola as a power beverage
suitable for use as a mixer. It will now be possible for a man to literally pour himself a stiff one.

Obviously we can no longer call this a soft drink, and it gives new
meaning to the names of ; 'cocktails', 'highballs' and just a good
old-fashioned 'stiff drink'. Pepsi will market the new concoction by
the name of: MOUNT & DO.

Castle Howard - photos by Curt DiCamillo

2008-09-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

My friend who runs the National Trust for Scotland just returned from a trip and sent me some beautiful pictures of Castle Howard in England. You might remember from an earlier blog that Curt is the brother of Kate DiCamillo.

National Trust for Scotland Home Page

O Little Town of Boggy Creek

2008-09-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

The Foulke Monster is An Environmentalist

2008-09-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

Found! Inside a Chick Fil'a bag....

2008-09-15T14:50:00.001-07:00

Bill and Jerry Connecting...

2008-09-14T18:07:00.001-07:00

New Sighting Report from Near Ocala National Forest, Marion County Florida

2008-09-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

The witness said the sightings took place the last week of July, 2008.

Witness was driving to work in very early morning hours (about
4:30am) from Ocala to Orlando as she has done for many years. She
said movement on the right side of the road caught her eye and she
slowed at first thinking it might be a deer about to dart across the
road. She said she saw something duck under a rail fence that had
the two bottom rails out of a particular section. The creature then
stood up on two legs and covered the ten or twelve feet from the
fence to the road quickly then crossed the road in front of her in
four or five strides. She estimated the distance from her to the
creature at about 125 feet.

The creature then walked into the driveway of a home and started
rumaging through the bed of a pick up truck as though it was looking
for something. It was at this time that her car approached and the
creature became aware of its presence. She said the creature stopped
moving and its head followed the vehicle as it passed by.

Witness described the creature as being at least seven feet tall,
dark fur (either brown or black), long arms, and although she could
not make out facial features, she said the coloring of the face
reminded her of that of a German Shephard. The creature had a
hunched posture and looked as though its build was quite lean.
Witness said the creature had an "ape-like" walk but she remarked on
how fluid and athletically it moved. The creature did not make any
movements or motions toward her car though she felt that they met
eyes because she felt a chill run up her spine when she realized
that the creature was looking directly at her. She sped back up and
continued on her way.

Witness then reported driving on the same road at about the same
time the next morning and, as she passed by the same residential
area, she says she saw what she believes was the same creature
walking through the neighborhood. She slowed only slightly and does
not believe the creature saw her the second time.

Physical details:
At least 7' tall
Long dark fur (3-4")
Hunched posture
Lean build
Long arms
Ape-like gate
Surprisingly agile

Witness said creature appeared to be foraging the first day and she
assumed it was doing the same the next day. She first saw the
creature clearly in her headlights as it crossed the road and there
was some ambient light in the neighborhood in question that allowed
her to see the creature as she passed by both days.

A follow-up conversation with the witness revealed that she was
quite shaken by the experience to the point where she has not
returned to the area since the confirming second day sighting. (She
wasn't quite sure if she really saw what she did the first day.) She
used the words "reality changing" about her experience.

Those of us that have had our own experiences can empathize with her
instinctual reaction but her aloof behavior when it comes to
providing location information has given, at least to me, a dubious
air to her claim. She has been very forthcoming in relating the
events but has dried up completely when it comes to allowing me even
to know where this happened. The only location information I have
gotten from her at all is that she thought the Ocala National Forest
was about ten miles away.

Dr. Jeff Meldrum Names It "Anthropoides Ameriborealis"

2008-09-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

Last October, Meldrum presented some of his evidence to a symposium of 40 paleontologists at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History, and emerged with a peer-reviewed published paper acknowledging that what he'd collected were not the prints of a known species, nor were they hoaxes, but genuine casts of an unknown North American primate.

Meldrum was given the authority to classify the beast with a taxonomic name, the Anthropoides Ameriborealis, which translates into North American ape. It might not seem like much compared with a body in a freezer, but in the uphill battle of Bigfoot science, it's a huge step, and as close to acknowledged scientific proof as anything seen to date. " It has certainly helped me shift the perception from that of tabloid fodder into the area of biology." says Meldrum. "But a new species will only be recognized when DNA is collected."

Here is a PDF of the actual paper.

George Carlin on Growing Old and Dying

2008-09-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

“The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What’s that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating in a spa with central heating and you finish off as an orgasm.”

Scientists Interested In Large Footprint Discovery

2008-09-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Fossil Imprint Is 11 Inches Wide, 15 inches Long

Reported By Dennis Ferrier

POSTED: 6:23 pm CDT September 5, 2008

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- A retired Cookeville builder has discovered a mysterious set of large footprints on his property. Harold Jackson is an amateur archaeologist who enjoys collecting arrowheads and other Native American artifacts. But the most extraordinary find of his life came on his property near the Caney Fork River.For months he stepped on a rock near his house that caught his eye. Finally, he brought the unusual rock home and cleaned it up. After all of the mud was removed, a remarkable discovery was revealed.

Read the rest here

Most Human-chimp Differences Due To Gene Regulation - Not Genes

2008-09-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

The vast differences between humans and chimpanzees are due more to changes in gene regulation than differences in individual genes themselves, researchers from Yale, the University of Chicago, and the Hall Institute in Parkville, Victoria, Australia, argue in the 9 March 2006 issue of the journal Nature.

The scientists provide powerful new evidence for a 30-year-old theory, proposed in a classic paper from Mary-Claire King and Allan Wilson of Berkeley. That 1975 paper documented the 99-percent similarity of genes from humans and chimps and suggested that altered gene regulation, rather than changes in coding, might explain how so few genetic changes could produce the wide anatomic and behavioral differences between the two.

Read the rest here

Two New Sasquatch Books

2008-09-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

Giants, Cannibals & Monsters by Kathy M. Strain - available here

The Hoopa Project by David Paulides - available here
and also at the Hancock House publishers website.

Rick Noll says either or both books are suitable for reading in the bathtub.

Here he is, MR. BILL GREEN!

2008-09-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

Bill is one of the nicest and most involved people on the internet. He has his own website and radio show. Here he is holding up a cast footprint from Northern California, the Bluff Creek area.

Why?

2008-08-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

‘Bigfoot’ still attracts believers

Despite recent hoax, the mythical creature’s popularity endures

By CHRISTIAN BOONE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Friday, August 29, 2008

Without the benefit of handlers, publicists or even a stylist, Bigfoot once again wandered into the spotlight.

Even though the half-man, half-ape’s latest comeback in Georgia ended badly, don’t assume we’ve seen the last of him. The creature, or at least the myth, endures, in spite of all the wannabe P.T. Barnums who have tried to cash in on his fame.

the rest of the story...

The Minnesota Iceman Hoax Interview

2008-08-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

Brian's conversation with Verne Langdon, a Hollywood musician/sideshow promoter/filmmaker/special effects-costume designer, etc. etc.

Verne claims to have known Frank Hanson, the guy behind one of the greatest bigfoot hoaxes of all time, the Minnesota Iceman.

You will need Quicktime to listen. Very interesting and entertaining guy!

Interview

Running After Fame and Fortune....

2008-08-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

I have an old friend from years ago who has gotten somewhat famous and wealthy. We have not talked for at least 20 years, but we dated for a month or two back in the late 1980's, and I was best friends with her brother for many years.

Here is the trailer for the second movie made from one of her books. The first one was called Because of Winn-Dixie. This new movie is called T he Tale of Despereaux.

Movie Trailer

It's a weird feeling when someone I knew very well years ago becomes famous and wealthy, especially when I have never had any desire for wealth and fame myself, and of course i wonder what my life would be like if we had stayed together and gotten married, had children, etc.

But if that had happened, she might never had become a famous writer, right?

This poem by Emily Dickinson sums it up for me.

I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too?

Then there's a pair of us — don't tell! They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog

To tell your name the livelong day To an admiring bog!

-Emily Dickinson

Trailer for "The Man God Forgot" the Ben Matine Story

2008-08-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

The Six Million Dollar Man Meets Bigfoot - Shades of "Beowulf"

2008-08-23T12:04:00.000-07:00

Funny!!!

2008-08-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

The Inside Story

2008-08-22T06:31:00.001-07:00

Middleman files theft complaint against Bigfoot hoaxers

By CHRISTIAN BOONE, KATHY JEFCOATS

Thursday, August 21, 2008

The two Georgia men who admitted pulling off the Bigfoot hoax claim to be good ole boys just out for a laugh.

But an Indiana man who says he paid the duo $50,000 for a Bigfoot body alleges “they’re cops that perpetrated a fraud.”

William Wald Lett Jr. of Eaton, Indiana, filed a theft complaint Thursday with the Clayton County police against two men who allegedly took his money. Though the men are not identified in the complaint, authorities think they are former Clayton police Officer Matt Whitton and former corrections officer Rick Dyer.

Lett said he brokered and videotaped the transaction on behalf of Tom Biscardi, a legendary Bigfoot hunter in California. Biscardi said he’d repay the loan to Lett at 50 percent interest within 90 days.

Lett, 56, said he met the men the night of Aug. 14 in the Clayton County Justice Center parking lot, handed over cash, followed the men to a nearby house and loaded a freezer containing a frozen, furry object onto a trailer.

Lett said a third, unidentified man guarded the Sasquatch “corpse” at the house. “They were really on edge,” Lett said of Whitton and Dyer.

When Lett got back to Indiana, the object thawed and was revealed to be a Halloween costume.

“They were in a panic about getting that money,” said Lett, who calls himself “an investor,” not a Bigfoot tracker.

Whitton and Dyer appeared on WSB-TV Wednesday and admitted to their roles in the hoax, saying it was a practical joke. Neither Whitton, Dyer or their recently hired attorney, Steve Lister, have returned repeated telephone calls seeking comment. Whitton and Dyer were not home when a reporter visited their last reported addresses.

Lett said that once the hoax was revealed, Whitton and Dyer contacted him to apologize for taking his money.

“They told me they wouldn’t have taken it if they had known it belonged to me,” Lett said. “So I told them to just give it back and put an end to it.”

They refused, allegedly telling the financier they had planned to make some $500,000 from their hoax.

“They’re not quite grasping the fact they’ve committed a felony,” Lett said.

Clayton Police Capt. Greg Dickens said suspects are not identified in incident reports until charges are filed. The case may be assigned to a detective today.

“I think the solvability expectation in this case is pretty high,” he said.

Whitton, 28, was fired Tuesday after six years with the department because of his involvement in the hoax, said police Chief Jeff Turner. Dyer, 31, worked at three different state prisons, according to Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council records.

However, he now sells used car over the Internet and drives a truck for Big Foot Towing Co.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/clayton/stories/2008/08/21/bigfoot_theft_claim.html

Q&A about the BIGFOOT TOAST auction on eBay

2008-08-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

Big Foot Toast

Q:	I have a three part question. Has MonsterQuest contacted you about Bigfoot Toast? If so, will they be bringing camera traps to your kitchen in hopes of capturing more Bigfoot toasts or possibly a giant squid egg salad sandwich? If camera traps are to be placed in your kitchen by MonsterQuest, can I come over? I think camera traps are cool.	Aug-20-08
A:	I concur Camara Traps are cool. MonsterQuest has not contacted me yet. However, if you want to come hang out and stare at the toaster you are more than welcome. Just let me know so I won't be there...because to be honest with you that is just a little weird.
Q:	Is the Bigfoot toast in a climate controlled room? I would also like to know if it could be kept near or in the same room as animal crackers?	Aug-20-08
A:	Great question. Yes, Bigfoot Toast is in a Ziploc bag on the counter in my kitchen. The thermostat in my house is set at 71 unless, of course, the wifey messes with it and then it set to about 18 below. As for animal cracker co-existance I'd guess the lions, tigers, bears, and elephants could hold their own if confrontation were eminent.
Q:	Is this edible?	Aug-19-08
A:	Is this edible? Yes, but so are Monkey’s Brain. Should you eat it? No, just like Monkey’s Brain.
Q:	Do you think if I ate the toast, then went number two on the floor, bigfoot would grow out of it?	Aug-19-08
A:	Only someone that likes the Cleveland Browns would ask such a question. No, I do not think that would happien.
Q:	With the recent revelation that the bigfoot body found was actually a rubber gorilla suit, how can I be assured that this is real and not just a fake? This would be the final piece in my bigfoot collection. I must be assured before I put down a weeks pay for an item as rare as this.	Aug-19-08
A:	Currently the bid is at $31.00 bucks. If you only make $31.00 a week you have some other things to ponder. THIS TOAST IS NOT FOR YOU.
Q:	Are you sure this is the image of Big Foot? If you turn the image on its side it looks like Michael Phelps swimming.	Aug-19-08
A:	This is obviously Bigfoot. Do you see 8 pieces of chinese bling bling on its' neck. Besides, who eats a sandwich from the side? Everyone knows you smell your fingers when eating a sandwich.
Q:	I prefer rye bread. Is this possible?	Aug-19-08
A:	Preference is the seed of racism. As for possibilities, anything is possible. Anything...
Q:	I was wondering if you had located the Cookie Monster sippy cup. If you find it and are able to include it in the auction, or have a subsequent auction containing it and the toaster, I might be interested in bidding.	Aug-19-08
A:	The search for the Cookie Monster sippy cup is still underway but I believe you are overlooking the real value here. There are only a few videos with bigfoot in them versus Cookie Monster who I used to watch on the daily. He even helped me learn how to count. To each his own. When I find Cookie I will contact you first.
Q:	Do you know if it is a male or female bigfoot? I can not tell in the photo. I have the image of a male bigfoot on a paper towel I used to clean up some spilled juicy-juice. I am in search of a male big foot image. I plan to use the images atop the cake at my daughter's upcoming wedding.	Aug-19-08
A:	I do not know if she is a male or if he is a female. Either way, why would you want 2 male images on top of your daughters wedding cake. Will your duaghters marrage only be recognizes as a union in California and Massachusetts?
Q:	Who do you think would win in a fight Chuck Norris or Big Foot?	Aug-19-08
A:	That is the dumest question submitted so far. Everybody knows Chuck Norris would first scare Bigfoot hairless then whoop his tail for being bald.
Q:	What guarentee could you offer that Big Foot Toast won't morph into Swampthing as mold over takes it as it ages?	Aug-19-08
A:	I can virtually garentee that WILL happied. Therefor, you are getting a two for one. Even more reason to bid.
Q:	Is BIGFOOT TOAST right for me?	Aug-19-08
A:	If you have to ask, then NO.
Q:	I'm not a toast collector, but I do collect bagels, cressant rolls and biscuits. I was wondering if you could toast a bagel and see what happens. I was just curious because a bigfoot bagel would be a superb addition to my collection and toast really doesn't do it for me.	Aug-18-08
A:	You must be French. Unfortunately bagels, cressant rolls, and biscuits won't fit in the slots on my toaster. Besides,I couldn't tell you where to buy a bagel if I had to. Who toasts biscuits and cresseant rolls?
Q:	What flavor of Smuckers Preserves were you about to put on this amazing piece of toast?	Aug-18-08
A:	Asking that is like asking someone who they voted for or how much money they make. BUT since I like Smuckers so much I will plug their delectable perserves. The reality is if it were not for Smuckers there would be no Bigfoot Toast. The answer to your question is Apricot-Pineapple. Thanks for the question.
Q:	If you do decide to end the auction and go on a 58 city tour, what cities would you likely visit? Are you in need of a promoter? I would like to quit my job at the cheese sandwich factory and assist you along the way.	Aug-18-08
A:	I have no ideas as to what cities we would visit. I just said 58 because thats my favorite number. As to you jumping on board, you sir are not the first to ask. My main concern is the stardum and recognition that one would gain from such an experience, in such a short amount of time, could be devistating. Look at Joey Budafuco, Macaulay Culkin, David Lee Roth, or Michael Phelps to name a few. Before you knew it you'd be in rehab and I'd be getting sewed. Thanks for your interest but I think you should stick to what you know best. Don't quit your crappy cheese job.
Q:	Feel The Pulse! Your Being Featured At GetOnPulse.Com	Aug-18-08
A:	All this exposure and fame is starting to go to my head. I am considering ending the auction and taking the toast on a 58 city tour.
Q:	Have you had a reputable authority examine this toast to verify it's authenticity? Someone such as Tom Biscardi, Billy Mays, or the BFRO?	Aug-18-08
A:	No, sorry, nobody has authinticated the toast yet. Not due to lack of trying. Apparently, Tom Biscardi is too busy, in Califonia pulling a hoax on America, to even return an email. Billy Mays has come down with a bad case of the gout and BFRO is just some guy behind a computer trying to make money off the unsuspecting Bigfoot loving community. Thanks for your interest.
Q:	After diligently researching and examining the past 4 days, I believe this to be one of the most extraordinary finds of the new millenium. I purchased 50 loaves of Nature's Own Double Fiber Wheat bread and while I tried to duplicate the finding by any means possible, including incorporating my jedi mind tricks;duplicate, I was not able. Believe it's bigfoot, I do.	Aug-18-08
A:	You would have been better off purchasing this toast if you went out and bought 50 loafs of Nature's Own. Thanks for the testing results though. Perhaps it will help "those" that do not believe.
Q:	Are you a toast collector? If so, I have a large vintage premium toast collection that I recieved from my fathers inheritance. Might you be interested? I can send pics, negotiable on prices.	Aug-17-08
A:	No, I am not a toast collector. Currently I only collect toe nails and scabs, none of which are for sale. I may be interested in your collection depending on what toasts you have in it. Please send me some pics.
Q:	I would like to know if there was any strange smell exuding from the toaster. I hear they have a pungent odor, also could you please inform us as to what setting the toaster was on when the toast popped up? Some of us are a bit skeptical regarding the validity of this extraordinary find and would also like a DNA sample before we bid.	Aug-17-08
A:	There was a hint of burnt hair in the air now that I think about it but nothing out of the ordinary. Toaster was and still is set to 6. DNA testing takes days and I am not sure if you can extract DNA from toast. Thanks for your questions.

Ask seller a question

My response to last nights radio show - Billy Willard

2008-08-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

I just issued this statement everywhere…

First off, I would like to say that things said last night of
Squatchdetective Radio are NOT the opinions of Billy Willard or
Sasquatch Watch of Virginia. It is plain and simple…Mr. Biscardi and
the two GA boys were all involved in a hoax! I will not let it
stand. I was caught unaware of the things that were going to be
discussed last night on the show and was left silent and shocked just
like everyone else. I'm here to tell you now; I will no longer be
silent on this.

Tonight at 7:30 pm eastern on Squatchdetective Radio, I will be
meeting Steve Kulls at his layover at an airport. We will run a show
where Steve can speak openly and freely about the many things he
knows. Just so everyone understands (and please don't think I'm
trying to make any excuses for what Steve said) he is in a location
in Muncie, Indiana where the fake body was being kept. He did not
know where he was, had no transportation and was surrounded by the
members of Searching for Bigfoot. He is now safely on his way to the
airport to head home and he will have a 2 hour layover where I will
be meeting up with him for the show tonight.

We, as Bigfoot field researchers, have to end these ridiculous
claims, and as much as I hate to take my focus away from Bigfoot
research, it looks as if I will need to for just a short time. I
could need help. A lot of folks here have been in this field a lot
longer than I have. That organization has hurt this field of
research in the eyes of science and critics abroad, and it needs to
come to a stop.

If anyone has any suggestions or would like to contact me for any
reason, please feel free to do so. But as it stands, I will not let
this stand. I'm on a mission.

Thank you
Billy Willard
Sasquatch Watch of Virginia

FOX News - The Hoax Exposed

2008-08-19T07:56:00.001-07:00

How a REAL one will be found....

2008-08-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

This was posted by a college professor at the BFF (look to your right) and sums up pretty much how most of us feel.

Hi folks,

[Note: For all you "Enchanted" fans out there, the awkward title to this thread goes to the tune of the hit song from the movie.]

Well now that we've had our fun, the smoke has cleared (and revealed nothing but mirrors), and two idiots and a nutjob have again sullied the names of all the good people genuinely trying to produce some evidence of these $%$# things, I thought I'd point out something obvious.

Let's assume for the moment that bigfoots are real, living, breathing, eating, mating, pooping, suckling, growing, dying creatures. How will we know when someone really does have that proof we're all hoping for.

It'll happen one of two ways:

1) A paleontologist/archaeologist/anthropologist will publish a paper in a leading, peer-refereed journal that describes some significant bone or other remains from which a new species of large, bipedal, non-human primate can be described and placed in North America, and dated to within the last, say, 500 years. In advance of the publication, the major news networks will get wind of the story and run some advance hype that may or may not include statements from the scientists who did the analysis that immediately portray why what they say they have is indeed what they have.

2) A logging truck flattens one on its grill, and within 24 hrs the entire world gets to see clear photos on the news of its entire body, including definitive close-ups of its hands, feet, face, etc. Anyone who sees these photos will be immediately convinced that they are looking at the remains of an animal that's been hit by a logging truck - with zero ambiguity, we'll just know we're seeing something real. The people involved in the accident will have called the state troopers; the troopers will get the state/provincial/federal wildlife officials to check it out - and confirm its authenticity - and the body will be professionally examined and curated in a research museum, most likely one affiliated with a major university in that region. In the days following the accident, if you requested a photo of the overseeing anatomist removing the liver from the body, you could probably see it. Everything would be above board, the chain of custody would be clear, and in the following months, scholarly articles describing the creature in excruciating detail - and assigning it a scientific name - would appear in the primary literature.

While it's understandable that the museum wouldn't let just any yokel off the street come and examine the specimen, there would be no "men in black", no involvement from "the military." There'd be no effort to cover anything up, because there'd be no reason to. Forget all the juvenile conspiracy fantasies and just own up to the fact that when it really happens, there'll be no way for us not to know about it.

What do the two scenarios above have in common? The proof comes first. THE PROOF COMES FIRST. There's no "go to our website," no "we will reveal our evidence on such and such a date," no "undisclosed location," no T-shirts, no expeditions, no low-resolution, dissatisfying photographs. We will see it all, up front, when we first hear the story.

"That's how we'll know!"

(Sing it with me)

"That's how we'll know . . .

he's discov'd."

The Biscardi Blunder

2008-08-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

Well, this has got to be the biggest hoax of all time.

I can't even believe it. This guy, Tom Biscardi, has go to have balls of titanium to do this... to take it this far.

Stay tuned.

I can't wait to see how this turns out.

STORY

Man recounts his meeting with Bigfoot

2008-08-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

By GARY CORSAIR, DAILY SUN

In the early-morning blackness, partially bathed in a Hollywood-weird glow of incandescent light and rolling fog, Dan Jackson slowly uncoiled from a half-hour crouch in his hiding place behind a garbage Dumpster.

What he saw — the very thing he had spent 20 years looking for — was so terrifying, Jackson would see it in his broken sleep for months.

A dark, hairy head. Glistening black eyes. A mouth full of bared teeth clenched in rage.

“He was huffing like a damn freight train,” recalled Jackson, a venomous-snake expert from Lithia, who claims he came face to face with a fearsome creature he once didn’t believe existed

The Full Story...

Rene Dahinden, John Green and Robert W. Morgan talk: Kill, or No Kill?

2008-08-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

Do you have what it takes to become a member of the MABRC?

2008-08-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

New Paint!

2008-08-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

Kitchen - Beige

Living Room - Lemongrass Green

Bedroom - Golden Yellow

Just another Utube hoax?

2008-07-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

The "Real Deal", or just another hoax?

This one looks very real to me...

Feral Boy seen by more than Two Dozen People in the Company of a Sasquatch

2008-07-28T04:41:00.000-07:00

This story from Vancouver dates from 2000, eleven years after a small plane crashed in the wilderness there and all passengers were killed, but "Madeleine's baby Marcel was missing and the remains of the 1 year old infant were never found."

The blond haired wild boy appears to be about 12 years old.

Read the story here...

Hairs found in Indian jungle are of 'no known species' say scientists

2008-07-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

Bigfoot: New evidence

Hairs found in Indian jungle are of 'no known species' say scientists

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
Sunday, 27 July 2008

It is right up there with the Loch Ness monster: the subject of claimed sightings, passionately promoted by believers, dismissed by the scientific community. But now experts say they have found the best evidence to date that the yeti might – just conceivably – be real.

Tests at Oxford Brookes University on hairs which local people believe came from a yeti in an Indian jungle have failed to link them with any known species and are said to bear "a startling resemblance" to those brought back from the Himalayas by Sir Edmund Hillary half a century ago.

Read the rest...

Here...

RUSSIA 2008: Search for the Wildman

2008-07-27T05:41:00.000-07:00

In June of 2008 a British team went on a three week expedition into the mountains near Karbadino Balkaria in southern Russia, in search of the fabled almasty or wildman.

Read entries from their blog. As of this posting, the last entry was July 12th, 2008. They did not see or hear any almasty, but collected lots of evidence in the form of bones and hair and dung, which is now being analyzed.

The problem with these expeditions, in my opinion, is that they are never in one location for more than one week.

The Expedition Blog

July 5, 2008, Gunder Woods

2008-07-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

What do you think?

The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land

2008-07-25T17:08:00.001-07:00

From The Times

July 25, 2008

He ventured forth to bring light to the world

The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers

Gerald Baker

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

For the rest...

New York Times - Gerald Baker on Obama

Larry King Live!

2008-07-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

Larry King has been doing a series of shows on UFOs recently. He is interested in this subject, and he gets good ratings when he does these interviews. The Larry King Live show has a huge viewing audience, so...

I have emailed Larry's people about doing a show on Sasquatch Researchers. I mentioned Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Dr. John Bindernagle, and a couple of field researchers as possible guests, and emphasized the idea that this is of interest to the US public and would get him good ratings.

If you are interested in contacting Larry King about this, please go to CNN.com, Larry King Live, and click on the contact link towards the bottom left of the page, "send your questions and comments..."

Deleted Scene from Bruce Almighty

2008-07-18T11:54:00.000-07:00

Recent Bigfoot Sighting at Flat island Preserve, Lake County, Florida

2008-07-18T04:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=19958

On 7/15/2007, I conducted extensive telephone interviews separately, with both witnesses. The first was a young adult male. He stated that their interest was first drawn by a sound of wood knocking against wood, in an area where such a sound was unusual; that being in an uninhabited preserve. He stated that when they went to investigate the sound, they saw an animal that may have been upright, and was of approximately 300 to 400 lbs. He stated that the animal was moving straight away from him, at a distance that he estimated at less than 100 yards. He stated that the figure appeared to be furry, but he was not sure of that fact.

The second witness was much more expressive and offered considerably more detail. Her recollection was that they were sitting in the wilderness area, and heard the sound of cracking bushes and branches, and the sound of loud walking. She had the distinct sensation of being stared at, and asked the other witness to stop staring at her, whereupon he responded that he was not. Early in the incident, she stated that she first heard a heavy breathing sound, then heard moaning sounds and asked the first witness if he had heard them, and he responded in the negative. She stated that they had indeed heard the wood knocking sound, and went to investigate. As they did so, she expressed that their distance was less than 50 yards when they saw the creature. She described it as 7' - 8' tall, she did not recall hair, but did recall that she marveled that it "looked really buff" (very muscular and well built). Neither witness noticed any unusual smells or other sensation. Upon their sighting of the creature, the first witness exclaimed that they were seeing a Bigfoot.

They left the area and returned to next day to find "huge footprints" that were long and wide, and shaped like very large human prints with visible toes. They did not photograph them.

Based on this startling experience, they searched the internet and found the BFRO website, and decided to file a report. It should be noted that in the process of filing the report, the female witness urged the male witness to include more details in the report, which he did not. These details are reported here.

Upon being asked, "What do you think you saw?” the second witness stated, "We saw a Bigfoot, and it really scared me!" or something to that effect.

While the initial report is sparse in content, I found in the interviews that the witnesses were serious and credible, considering the detail of those personal interviews. It is the opinion of this investigator that the experiences reported herein did occur, and that these two individuals likely saw a specimen of the creature of our interest.

Yes, Virginia, Bigfoot is in Virginia too!

2008-07-17T11:22:00.001-07:00

William Dranginis of Manassas Virginia saw a Bigfoot 13 years ago (1995) while walking in the woods with two friends who just happened to be FBI agents. He has been obsessed with proving the creature's existence ever since.

Thanks to Loren Coleman for featuring this story on Cryptomundo.

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/dranginis-profile/

Florida researcher Pat Rance

2008-07-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

Florida researcher Pat Rance with a cast he made in Green Swamp in April of 2006.

Chasing the myth of Bigfoot

By GARY CORSAIR, DAILY SUN

The grainy, shaky footage captured the world’s attention and sparked debate that still rages. But in Florida, Patterson’s film caused barely a ripple of interest among old-timers.

Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti, Skunk Ape, Wookie, Abominable Snowman, Swamp Ape, Shaawanoki, Shadow People — whatever you want to call it — was old news.

Very old news.

“I trace reports of hairy men back to the age of the Seminoles and the Miccosukee Indians meeting the Spaniards. The Indians had a long history throughout North America, but first in what is now Florida. We can probably say safely the 1600s,” says Bobbie Short, an independent Bigfoot researcher since 1985 and owner/editor of Bigfootencounters.com.

“Old-timers living on the edge of the Green Swamp tell stories of Mudwamps that came through the sugarcane fields,” says Dan Jackson, venomous snake expert from Lithia who claims to have encountered the Skunk Ape three times during 20 years of searching for the mysterious creature. “An old woman I talked to remembers her daddy telling her, ‘Don’t ever go into the sugarcane fields at night because the Mudwamps will cry like a baby to get you to go in there and they’ll take you.’”

Mudwamps?

“When I asked her, ‘What is a Mudwamp?’ she said, ‘A big old hairy thing that stunk something terrible,’” Jackson said. “She called it a Mudwamp; we call it Bigfoot or Skunk Ape. According to her, these things were known by man to exist.”

We’ll call it Bigfoot.

According to The Bigfoot Casebook (Granada Publishing 1982) and researchers Ramona Clark Hibner and Short, there were at least 60 Bigfoot sightings in Florida 1947 to 1977.

That’s a conservative estimate.

“A lot of people who saw the creature never reported it. And you can’t blame them. People take enough crap for saying they saw a Bigfoot,” said Diane Stocking, who heads Stocking Hominid Research Inc. from her home outside Mims, Fla. “For every report we hear, there might be 15 that don’t get reported.”

Evidently, Dean Averrick wasn’t afraid of ridicule. He told people he saw one wading in water near Miami in 1954. Neither was a group of hunters who reported seeing one in the Big Cypress Swamp in 1957.

Interestingly, the aforementioned Florida sightings occurred before Bigfoot drew national attention in a December 1959 True magazine article describing discovery of large, mysterious footprints in Bluff Creek, Calif., where Patterson would make his famous film nearly eight years later.

Bigfoot was here

While searchers traipsed through the woods of the Pacific Northwest trying to find the creature with huge feet, sightings continued in Florida.

And — hold on to your hats — much of the evidence that Bigfoot exists came from the north- central part of the state.

The same Green Swamp believed to be inhabited by Mudwamps around the turn of the century — a 110,000-acre labyrinth of wetlands, flatwoods and cypress domes stretching across Lake, Sumter and Polk counties — continues to intrigue Bigfoot searchers.

“We were finding dozens of footprints,” says Pat Rance, an independent primate researcher from Longwood who says he briefly saw a Bigfoot in the Green Swamp.

Stocking, who has been researching Bigfoot (she and Short prefer the term Sasquatch) for 36 years, says one of the most credible reports happened in October 1977 in the Ocala National Forest when S.L. Whatley, a 67-year-old Baptist minister allegedly stood eye-to-eye for 30 seconds with a “great, hairy creature.”

Whatley told a Marion County newspaper that he was cutting wood when he saw the creature, “… standing upright, in the middle of some palmetto bushes, and that sapsucker was at least 7 1/2, maybe 8 feet tall.” According to Whatley, the creature had “dark, lighter-than-black hair on its head and chest, not much on its arms, and none on its face. It had kind of a flat face, a flat nose. Its eyes were sunk in its sockets.”

Verifying Whatley’s story is impossible, but many people in that neck of the woods believe.

“Most of the people who have been around here a long time do. They sure do,” says Gary Roberts, who works at Fort McCoy Hardware. “Bay Swamp. That’s where he’s at. My buddy, who been hunting out there for 16 years, he swears it’s out there.”

In summer 1980, Jim Bliss, who was then living in Umatilla, claims to have found giant footprints in the Ocala National Forest about five miles northwest of Alexander Springs.

“When I saw the footprints, I was just flabbergasted. These prints were six feet apart. This thing was huge,” says Bliss, who now lives in Ocklawaha.

Bliss learned of the footprints from a Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputy he was friendly with.

“A guy operating a road grader saw something in the road. He thought it was a man, but as he got closer he could see it was a large bipedal creature. He stopped the grader, ran to his car and got out of there,” Bliss says.

According to a newspaper report, sheriff’s deputies made casts of 17-inch-by-6-1/2-inch footprints found near a bulldozer. In the story, Sgt. Dee Kirby speculates that if the prints were real they were made by a creature “10- to 12-feet tall” and weighing “close to 1,000 pounds.”

Bliss also made plaster casts of prints deputies overlooked beyond a shallow creek. Those prints started Bliss on a two-year search for Bigfoot in the wooded, swampy area. He was unsuccessful, but remains convinced Bigfoot exists.

“I believe it wholeheartedly. There’s something there,” Bliss said. “I know where he lives, but I can’t convince anyone to go there with me. He lives in Billy’s Bay, back behind Alexander Springs. There’s no doubt in my mind there is one. There’s been tons of people that’s seen them.”

He’ll get no argument from the Bigfoot Research Organization. The BFRO Web site lists a handful of sightings in Lake and Marion counties, including:

December 1985 — A motorist sees a “huge blackish-brown creature” run across a road between Tavares and Lake Jem.

June 1990 — Man in woods west of Tarrytown sees something with reddish-brown hair, long arms, oval head and “kinda blurry” squatting in a tree line 300 to 400 feet away.

July 1997 — A family camping near Half Moon Lake in the Ocala National Forest sees a “bigfoot” drinking water from a stream.

January 2000 — A birding enthusiast using binoculars viewed something with “grayish-black skin around its face” peeking from behind a tree for “several long minutes.”

September 2004 — A woman living near the edge of the Ocala National Forest near Ocklawaha sees a “huge, man-like creature … as tall as our orange tree” run into the woods.

Stocking, a former BFRO curator, says most reports don’t hold up under scrutiny.

“In 35 years, I’ve probably interviewed 150 people who claim to have seen a Bigfoot, a Florida Skunk Ape, a creature they couldn’t explain. Of that number, I’d say five were credible. Definitely less than 10,” Stocking said.

Short is quick to dismiss BFRO reports of recent Bigfoot activity in Florida.

“Not much has happened in Florida since the 1970s; nothing credible, anyway, but there have been a lot of misidentifications and so forth,” Short says. “Most of us in ‘serious’ research believe nothing credible has happened in Florida in 30 years. It is my opinion they have moved north into the swamps of Georgia, where there are yearly reports.”

Perhaps the Bigfoot did head north, but you’ll never convince Jackson, who spent years of trial and error tracking a creature he happened upon while hunting wild boars. Jackson says he found the elusive Skunk Ape in 2002 — and survived a face-to-face encounter so terrifying that he will never again seek the creature.

Tomorrow: The encounter.

Gary Corsair is a senior writer with the Daily Sun. He can be reached at 753-1119 or gary.corsair@thevillagesmedia.com.

http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/articles/2007/12/27/news/news01.txt

B&W images

2008-07-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my B&W images. Let me know what you think.

Mt. Hood Revisited.

2008-07-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

A request was made to go back and take some reference photos, to establish if anything different could be seen when compared to the origianal photograph. Obviously the same stump that was in the original photo is STILL THERE!

We shall name this one 'Stumpsquatch".

Live Feed from Kentucky

2008-07-12T06:50:00.000-07:00

This is the live video feed that has been broadcasting from somewhere in the mountains of Kentucky. This area has had Sasquatch activity for over 50 years. So far we have heard screams, howls, growls and grunts, seen eyeshine in the middle of the night, and seen a running figure in the distance.

Soon the feed will change and the picture will improve; upgrades are in progress.

http://www.kentuckyincident.com/livefeed/video.aspx

Here is the video blog of the father of the guy who runs the Kentucky feed. He has been living with these creatures his whole life.

http://grizzlyhuffman.blogspot.com/

Are these guys for real? What do you think?

2008-07-11T12:42:00.001-07:00

Two hikers see an upright ape running off into the brush in Apalachicola National Forest

2008-07-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

-They described it as being 'about 7 foot tall, with bulky shoulders and huge body'. It had black, hanging, or 'fuzzy' hair and their overall impression of the creature was that it was 'strong'. They stated that it had 'big' hands but they could not see the feet and lower legs because of the thick brush, and they both commented on how surprised they were that it could get through such thick undergrowth so easily.

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=23570

Mt. Hood, Friday, June 27, 2008, at 2:05 p.m. Pacific time.

2008-07-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

'This picture was taken while we were driving down the road with our camea from home. I wanted to see what I could capture that was moving into the woods that couldn’t be seen. I took this from the car as we drove the road. I was so excited when we put this on the computer and this figure of a Bigfoot was walking back into the woods. This is the area we’ve been working for two years now.'

Dianna Martin

(This is the original photo - look in the exact center)

Go to work with Sniper

2008-07-10T05:39:00.000-07:00

Central Florida Wilderness

2008-07-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the areas where I hunt here in Florida.

The Florida Skunkape

2008-07-09T10:28:00.000-07:00

By Kathleen Laufenberg, DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER August 14, 2005

It's big. It's hairy. It stinks. It lurks in the woods - and it's been spotted near Tate's Hell.

It's Florida's own monster: the Skunk Ape, known in other parts of the world as Bigfoot, Yeti, the Abominable Snowman and Sasquatch.

True believers say the Skunk Ape is real (stop rolling your eyes!). Files at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirm that many people say they've seen one.

A few freethinkers hope to spot the legendary creature themselves this fall. That's when Scott Marlowe - a manly man, unafraid to hike into the swamps during the wee hours, when alligators bellow and owls cry - leads an expedition in search of the Skunk Ape, somewhere in the wilds of Florida.

"We will definitely be roughing it," the 51-year-old from Winter Haven said. "We will be in the wild, and we will be camping..., but we'll also have an RV headquarters to work out of."

Marlowe says he has had two close encounters with Skunk Apes, said to be 7 feet tall and outrageously stinky.

"I was actually beaned by one," he said of his latest encounter, in June.

It happened while he and two Discovery Channel filmmakers were tracking a family of Skunk Apes. (A film about the Skunk Ape later aired as "Animal X" on Discovery.) Marlowe says one of the creatures threw a stick and whopped him on the head, drawing blood.

Such are the perils of monster hunting - or, to use a gentler term, cryptozoology: the study of, and search for, creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Marlowe - who has held various jobs, including schoolteacher and computer technician, and is working on a bachelor's degree in computer science - teaches a cryptozoology class at the Florida Keys Community College. Anyone with an Internet connection can take the class, which includes a deep-woods expedition.

But before you join a crew of Skunk Ape hunters, know that you risk encountering ticks, snakes and worse - the antics of snorting friends ("You're doing what?") who hoist imaginary glasses to their lips, implying that your judgment is sadly clouded.

If you're like Marlowe, you shrug, smile and forge onward. If you're more of a ham, you could borrow a line from the Bard: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Or you could wisely choose to tell no one of your plans.

The ape files

Before "The X-Files," there were the Skunk Ape files: two fat folders at the state's Wildlife Commission offices in Tallahassee. Not surprisingly, the files (which go back to the 1960s) are full of strange accounts and requests.

One man wrote to say he'd lived with a family of Skunk Apes for six months. Others asked whether they needed special permits to bag one. (The official answer: No, because they don't EXIST! And surely if they did, some wildlife officer would've slapped a radio collar around one's neck by now.)

Perhaps the saddest story in the file, though, is the saga of the Green Swamp creature. A wild man was spotted in the swamps of Sumter County in 1990 and 1991. He was finally tracked down and caught by Sheriff Don Page. The swamp man's name was Hu Tu Mei. He was a 39-year-old Taiwanese mariner.

He had wandered off unnoticed from Tampa General Hospital's psychiatric ward eight months before his capture in the swamps. According to news reports, he'd apparently survived by eating small wild animals raw and occasionally stealing food and other items from barns and mobile homes.

After they treated him to plates of food at the jail, the deputies told the man he'd soon be able to go home to Taiwan. Later that evening, he killed himself by wrapping a belt around his neck.

Such a sad ending to the tale of the Green Swamp creature. But it's the only tale in the files that has an ending. The story of the Skunk Ape goes on and on.

Why?

"That's one of those things that's always going to be around. I think people need those myths and legends," said Robert Daniels, a recently retired Florida wildlife officer of 27 years.

He's seen some strange things in the Panhandle woods, the 52-year-old said, but never a Skunk Ape (also called a Swamp Ape).

So, what is the strangest thing he's seen in the woods?

That would be a ghost. Daniels said he saw it many years ago, at the Lake Jackson Indian Mounds.

But that's another story.

What the ... ?

Bill Arnold, on the other hand, has never seen a ghost. But he says he has gotten a good, unexpected look at a Skunk Ape.

The longtime owner of Arnold Bicycle Sales & Service Shop in Columbus, Ga., has property in Wakulla County and plans to retire here. So he's often in the area and enjoys going to the beach on St. George Island.

He saw the Skunk Ape, he said, on his way to St. George. (And no, he said, he had not been drinking or doing anything else to impair his faculties.)

He was on County Road 67, a long, lonely stretch of road that winds near Tate's Hell and cuts through acres of undeveloped land. It was one day about this time last summer, he said, around 6:30 p.m., when he spotted something large and dark crossing the road on two legs.

"When I first saw it, I thought it must be a bear," the 52-year-old said. "As I got closer and closer, ... I thought it might be a hunter. A big, hairy hunter."

But then he realized it couldn't be a human, either. It was too big - "probably 8 feet tall" - and it had furry hair "pretty much from top to bottom." He couldn't tell if it was male or female. It had no neck. When it turned to look at his approaching truck, its upper torso turned rather than just its head.

It was a big, hairy ape, he said. And then it was gone, disappearing into the woods on the other side.

And although he's willing to have his name in the newspaper, he said, "I don't tell a lot of people."

He learned quickly it was best not to.

"I got a kind of guarded reaction. 'Oh yeah, sure, uh-huh.'"

He'd heard the story of the Florida Skunk Ape before his sighting, he said, but never thought much of it. But now, "I believe it more because I feel like I really did see it."

Whenever he takes that same road, he's always on the lookout. He keeps a camera ready, just in case.

(Which may not help, even if he snaps one. Photos of Skunk Apes abound, from blurry snapshots in grocery tabloids to clear photos of what looks suspiciously like Chewbacca, the Wookiee in the "Star Wars" movies. Wait - maybe what Arnold saw was a Wookiee!)

Making a monkey

If you stop in at J.R.'s Aucilla River Store on U.S. Highway 98, across from the Aucilla River Wildlife Management Area, you'll see something that owner Lester Walker Jr. - known to all in this remote area as J.R. - calls a swamp monkey.

You'll find the mysterious stuffed creature along with other stuffed wild animals, such as wild boar, bobcats, turkeys and quail.

Walker, 54, will spin a yarn to inquiring newcomers that the swamp monkey is a creature he shot after it fell from tall trees into his boat. ("I always keep a 9millimeter with me," he said matter-of-factly, "'cause down here 911 is a long distance.")

But before his patrons leave, he tells them the truth: It's just something he rigged up using "a deer tail turned upside down."

Still, his pseudo swamp monkey has sparked plenty of tales about the legendary Skunk Ape. Walker's not a believer: "I've never seen anything like that. Just bears. There's a lot of bears around here." But he just smiles and nods. If he's in the mood, he might share his tale of the strangest creature (other than the humans) he's ever encountered in the Aucilla River woods.

It happened, he said, back in about 1970.

"I thought I saw two hogs, and I got out of my truck. I had a 45 with me, and I thought I was ("Gunsmoke" TV Marshal) Matt Dillon with it. I snuck out there to the edge of the bushes."

But what he found wasn't a wild boar.

"It was a big black cat. This thing was about 60, 70 pounds. I knew not to be messing with something like that."

So, quietly, he climbed back in his truck and left.

Today, he's still not sure what he saw. And though it may not be a yowzer of a tale, as many Skunk Ape stories are, it's his. And he has a simple but wise philosophy when it comes to swapping tales of Things I Saw in the Swamps: "I don't mess with your stories, and you don't mess with mine."

That's sage advice to all who seek the Florida Skunk Ape.

Emily and Reesy

2008-07-09T09:37:00.000-07:00

The Broom Man

2008-07-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

DOH!

2008-07-08T13:01:00.000-07:00

Sniper's Excellent Adventures

2008-07-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

Coming soon...