Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Finding Bigfoot...In West Virginia

I find it amazing that not one redneck hunter has managed to shoot one and not one of the 5 billion game cameras hanging in the woods has managed to get a photo of one. They definitely exist though..........

Thank you, Sunil. I was going to let him know that I get hounded all the time, but so far I have only been rarely caught on camera and, often, when I am, I'm armed so people don't stick around and ask a lot of questions!

Holy crap, I'm embarrassed to admit how hard I laughed at this.

Nope never met Todd or seen pictures of him.

Got a picture? I could show it around.

Todd, did you ever go fishing in Nebraska in the early 1980's? after dark?

36 reported cases of Sasquatch killings the past 180 years, according to Bigfoot nuts. Also, I have seen several game camera images, but it's hard to tell what's authentic and what's not - if any of it is. Bottom line, there are believers and skeptics. Hard to believe 1000's of US/CA sightings the past 100 years are all faked/imagined. I'm still a skeptic, but there are lots of hardcore people out there writing about this stuff and living their lives dedicated to the pursuit of them. Check this link out - pretty vague, but just goes to show you:
http://robertlindsay.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/why-has-no-hunter-ever-shot-and-killed-a-bigfoot/

Since religion is a definite no-no as far as discussion, and rightfully so, I will refrain from making what I perceive as the most obvious comparison.

Suffice to say I feel those who believe in the possibility of Sasquatch, do so because of their exposure to what they feel is proof, of one kind or another. Maybe it was a personal encounter, or coming across a line of footprints, or perhaps their belief stems from reading the literally thousands of eyewitness reports.....could they all be faked, or misrepresented, or mistaken? Certainly some are...but ALL of them?

So, in the absence of tangible, physical proof.....we're back to faith. Now where have I heard that before??

Agree Sparky. Thousands of sightings worldwide can't be discounted. Yep, most are false but if only 1 is real...

As far as the link about hunters shooting them, I would hate to do that and find that it really is human.

I think we can say with utmost certainty that we all believe in and love...............
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......the Messin' with Sasquatch commercials from Jack Links.

If a person could get a T.V. show and get paid to travel around the country free,it might make that person and the people that work him to "BELIEVE". Shucks,I could almost find Elvis( next show for sure) if only I could get a grant or some backing by people who didn't have to work for their money. Do you ever think about what the Sasquatch groupies would look like?

Certainly the Finding Bigfoot TV show has introduced a large number of Americans to the Sasquatch phenomenon. However if that is their only source of information on the subject, then it's easy to see why they scoff. That show is, in my opinion, nothing but Hollywood hijinks...not to be taken seriously, just entertainment.

In North America, Sasquatch reports and sightings go back hundreds of years...long before Matt Moneymaker and his crew came to primetime.

In addition, there are reports of similar creatures worldwide. All going back centuries. In North America it's Sasquatch, or Bigfoot...in China it's the Yeren.... In Nepal it's the Yeti....in the jungles of southeast Asia and Sumatra they call it the Orang Pendek...the Australians have the Yowie....

Are they all hoaxes, or mis-identifications? Many surely are, and can be eliminated as such. But like Dave said, what about the ones that can't?

The most compelling part of the show for me is the "town hall" meetings where they invite anyone interested to attend a discussion about Sasquatch. They request a show of hands for anyone who feels they have seen something they can't explain, and invariably there are 25-30 people who relate their stories. They could all be mistaken, or fame seekers, or nutso - but when they interview ex military, police/highway patrol officers, or biologists I find their accounts difficult to dismiss. Cryptozoology has always fascinated me, so I find certain parts of the show engaging.

Yep, science likes everything neat and tidy. And I respect that, and know that the burden of proof lies mainly with the believers, not the academics....folks like anthropologist Jeff Meldrum notwithstanding.

Academia considered the Coelecanth extinct, until one was pulled up off the coast of Madagascar in 1938. Stories about the Kraken were dismissed as sailor's tales until the carcasses began washing up on shore. Now the genus Architeuthis is widely recognized and accepted.

The Muntjac Deer and Vu Quang ox, both large, land dwelling animals, remained undiscovered by science until 1994 and 1992, respectively. And new primate species, albeit smaller than we're talking about here, continue to be documented. In nearly every case, the animals in question were well known to the people indigenous to the area......just not to the scientific community, which scoffed at the reports.

Oh yeah, there's more to discover.

Hey, I've got Italian blood running through my veins at a 3/4 concentration, so I do manage to hold a little color! Of course, it's northern Italian so I do look rather pasty next to Sunil! For video evidence, take a gander at this link and you'll see there were actually several of us at Sunil's place that might fall into the Bigfoot category!

Just caught the latest episode of Finding Bigfoot held in Indiana. Was hoping to see Tony, Cecil or Scott at the town hall meeting. Dang.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1IH32x1EQ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao5sv-e0wpM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7riRm0kxRRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyVsHNEBeBk

Nope. I make too much noise here so they stay away.

No town hall meeting for me. But, a few years ago, our local small town library hosted a bigfoot researcher from Ohio one evening. It was done tongue-in-cheek, as part of their "monster week" celebration leading up to Halloween. It was a very interesting presentation, with audio recordings, photos, stories...all the usual stuff.

But from my perspective, the most interesting thing occurred when the evening was winding down, and the speaker had finished his presentation and was fielding questions from the audience. The guy seated right in front of me reached into a duffel bag and pulled out a plaster cast of a large footprint that he claimed to have made around the Lake Monroe area, approx 25 miles East of my area.

And this wasn't someone unknown to those of us in the audience either. He was an EMT, local to our county, and had lived here for years.

Years ago I spent a lot of time on Monroe, and there were always stories, newspaper reports, and folks who claimed that "it" was seen again at so-and-so, or that huge footprints had been found here or there.

Knowing someone personally, (As I do), who has experienced unusual, seemingly Sasquatch related happenings will tend to cloud your objectivity...when someone you know very well is truly frightened, and it shows in every aspect of their behaviour, it becomes harder to dismiss the story outright. That's not to say that they haven't been mistaken, or the victim of a prank or hoax, only that they believe it to be true, and are suffering for it.

I have been lurking here for many months, reading and learning. I registered two days ago and certainly did not expect this to be my first post.

I live the lowcountry area of SC - there are vast expanses of beautiful salt marshes here, with many hummocks, or small islands in the marsh that aren't inhabited and aren't accessible from land, and it is almost always an amazing experience to spend a little time treading quietly around one. I have seen so many types of birds, bugs, snakes, raccoons, deer, age-old trees, indian arrow heads and pottery fragments. I even saw a peacock once. Heard it first and it scared the hell out of me.

Seeing this post I quoted above made the hair on my arms and legs stand up for the second time in life - the first time happened a late winter afternoon seven years ago on a unnamed hummock deep in the marshes behind Pritchard’s Island. I have to leave for a meeting right now, but I will tell you that this post brought that smell back to my memory as clear as the day I encountered it.

There are many things that I am afraid of – namely a government that wants to remove my freedom, but also deep dark water, sharks, etc…nothing really on land, but that day I was terrified like I have never been in my life - almost to the point of paralysis.

Welcome to Pond Boss, I think!

Welcome to the forum, Yellow Jacket. Strong first post, and you have me sitting on the edge of my seat! Hope to learn the rest of this episode soon.

Indeed, welcome, Yellow Jacket! This may be one of the most intriguing first posts in a long time. Can't believe you left us hanging! Wrap up that meeting and finish the story, especially since my family and I are headed to the low country in a month!

I'm hesitant to post the story I'm familiar with for fear of being labeled even more unusual than I already am...

But I'll gladly read someone else's! Welcome YellowJacket!

Thank you for the welcome, and sorry about having to cut out before finishing the post...I'll give you the brief version:

Your visit to this area is well timed, as late winter is a perfect time to be outside here. It is also a great time to wander around natural areas because the mosquitoes / ticks / chiggers are usually not around and the snakes are normally laying low. The marsh water is generally clear and you can pull an oyster right out of the cold water and enjoy the essence of the ocean.

I have two young children at the moment, but before their arrival, I had a little of something I think I used to call ‘free time’ and one of my favorite things to do was get out in the marshes and wander. Some of the hummocks here are privately owned, and many are owned by the state – they are all protected now. Quite a few old timers in this area have long established fish camps on the islands – ramshackle cabins with rickety docks and simple living arrangements that are used as get-a-ways for weekends fishing offshore, or for a place to drink too much brown liquor and not get in trouble with the wife.

Most of the uninhabited hummocks you can have a look around if you remain respectful of the natural beauty and aren’t hunting or leaving trash, etc., and it was a Friday afternoon in January that I found myself dropping the anchor in the sandy shore and wandering into the subtropical forest. Even during winter here, there is usually a riot of bird / insect / frog noises in the woods, and the first twinkling of something unusual I felt that day was when the noises stopped.

I don’t know if it was sudden, or gradual, and to be honest I don’t recall noticing the ‘noise’ before, but I do know that in a quick moment, I realized that it was utter silent around me. Usually that is nature’s sign that something different is happening, and at first, I thought it was because of my presence there in a place that say a person very, very rarely.

I squatted down for a minute and sat quietly and just listened and watched and saw….absolutely nothing. No birds, no bugs – nothing was moving. I am a religious man, but not a superstitious man, and I have never in my life had anything I can’t explain happen to me, or been witness to anything extraordinary, but as I sat there motionless amongst the palmettos and scrub pines I felt the hair on the back of my neck begin to stand up. I tried to shake it off, but my memory is very clear in the moments that followed. I began to realize that I was recognizing the feeling of being watched.

Deer season was over by that point, and while it would be very unusual to see another person there, I began to look around for a man in the brush, or up in a tree. I say it would have been unusual because the approach I took to the hummock was almost certainly the only way a man could have gotten there, and there were no other footprints on the shore, no boat visible, etc. I was unarmed except for a small pocket knife, and cell coverage is unavailable in that area, so my caution light was on.

I committed myself to remain put until I felt at ease and I sat still for probably 10 minutes or more. It remained absolutely quiet, and the feeling of being watched did not leave me. I recall beginning to feel silly and was mustering myself to take the skirt off and put my pants back on, and that is when I became aware of that smell.

Well written account! Did you witness anything other than the smell? Is this the end of the story?

To continue...

There is a unique smell to the marsh here - you can usually be most aware of it at low tide when the pluff mud is exposed - there are bacteria in the mud that mildly sulfury odor that mixed with salt air, salty water and all the other nature around you is actually really pleasant.

This was not that smell. It smelled like death to me, and it smelled like sour, wet burlap and it smelled like breath.

I sat like a stone wondering if there was a gator hole that I was close too, but I was on high ground, and gators will not winter too far from fresh water. I saw no brush move, or branches sway, but I was aware that that smell was getting stronger, and at that point I realized that even the hair on my legs was standing out.

I was terrified like I had never been in my life. I recall wanting to scream, but cound not make a noise from my mouth, and I recall wanting to run, but I was too afraid to run. The most vivid recollection I have of those moments are of the absolute silence that hung in the air like a blanket, and of that smell, and of the intense feeling of being watched.

At some point, I did remember that there was a boat not too far from me that I had the key to, and I convinced my legs to move, and move they did - like a gold metal sprinter.

There is still a large ding in the fiberglass floor of my boat where I threw the anchor in. I got the hell out of there, and I have never been back, and I will never go back.

I don't know what I met up with that day, as I never saw it, but I am convinced that if I remaind there, I would have come to a bad end.

I joined the forum to show you guys about my pond plans, and hopefully I'll get to that soon, but when I'm on my land which is away from the coast in part of the ACE Basin, I am never unarmed when I am in the woods.