Cryptofiction award-winning author tracks Lewis and Clark
through Pacific Northwest in search of Bigfoot.
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Cryptofiction award-winning author tracks Lewis and Clark |
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Ever rendezvous with a Bigfoot? I hadn’t either until this past summer. Nor had I ever been to Pocatello, ID. And believe it or not, the thing the two had in common was Idaho State University. The first annual Bigfoot Rendezvous was held June 16th through the 18th, 2006 on the campus of ISU. Part scientific symposium, conference, and festival, the event brought field researchers, professors, skeptics, eyewitnesses, curious onlookers, and myself together to hopefully shine some critical light on the question of the existence of a large, North American bipedal primate. Known to most as Bigfoot, this legendary cryptid has captured the imagination of thousands for decades. And the fact that a major university would associate itself with the infamous beast is a sign of the credibility and growing authenticity the phenomenon is experiencing. Myself, being a fiction writer, probably didn’t do much to further the subject’s credibility, but hopefully I entertained a few attendees. I spoke on the last day and discussed the psychology of believers and non-believers alike. And believe you me, the psychology of both was in ample attendance. Suffice it to say the university’s security was visible and in force the entire hot, summer weekend. The presence of such personalities and the resulting security may not be surprising, but what was surprising was the presence of some very intelligent minds operating on both sides of the debate. Dr. Jeff Meldrum of ISU carried the banner for the scientific argument in favor of the animal’s existence, while author Benjamin Radford squared off from the skeptical corner. In between there was Forest Archeologist for the US Forest Service Kathy Moskowitz Strain, researchers Christopher Murphy, M.K. Davis, Darrell Smith, John Mionczynski, and film maker Doug Hajicek. The highlight for me was probably the long awaited unveiling of legendary field researcher Rick Noll’s Skookum cast. We’ve all seen footprint casts. There are so many of them that they almost lose their significance. But the Skookum cast is evidence on an entirely different level. During a massive field expedition on the slopes of Mt. St. Helens in Washington State, Noll and team set up food caches throughout the area to lure in specimens they believed were responding to their call blastings (supposed recorded Sasquatch calls are played over a loud speaker at night to elicit responses and lure individuals in to the area). At one particular cache, where the ground happened to be clear and muddy, they found their fruit lure had been eaten and disturbed. More importantly they eventually realized they had an impression in the ground that they believed had been made by a Sasquatch lying down to eat the apples (a behavior gorillas exhibit as they eat apples). The cast is quite impressive in its size, though it takes an anatomy expert far more proficient than me to decipher it. (See photo to the right). Short of rendezvousing with a flesh and blood Bigfoot, the first annual Bigfoot Rendezvous was as close as I can come to experiencing the mysterious beast in person. It is a weekend I will never forget. Thank you to the organizers for inviting me. If you ever get the chance to rendezvous in Pocatello with Bigfoot, do it. You won’t regret it. And it just might surprise you when you leave thinking that Dr. Meldrum made some convincing points, that those casts look too real to fake, and those eyewitnesses actually believed what they were saying. Just be careful, though. You don’t want to take things too far and count yourself among the believers. |
Fellow Authors Below is a list of some of my peers. If you're an author and would like to be listed, contact me at mail@ericpenz.com.
Allan Rousselle, |
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