BIGfoot News

Last month, a hunter named Rick Jacobs discovered this photo on his camera after having set it on automatic timer in the Allegheny National Forest. He was hoping to photograph deer.

Allegeheny National Forest is in the same neck of the woods as my homeland of rural Western Pennsylvania. There are lots of thickly wooded areas where someone (or something) could roam undetected, and many Bigfoot sightings have been reported. Our oral family history includes the legend of my mom and brother chasing old Sasquatch away from our field back in the late '60s. Even though I was a youngin', I remember a big racket and my brother scrambling outside in his tidy whities with his bow and arrow, and my mom with her deadly stringmop, to defend the homestead. They came back wide-eyed believers!

Getting back to the point of this Bigfoot tale; the hunter showed the photo to the Bigfoot Research Organization, whose representative said it appears to be a "juvenile Sasquatch." The Pennsylvania Game Commission saw the same photo and declared it to be, without a doubt, a mangy bear. (A photo of a mangy bear appears the left for your comparison.) Think preconceived notions played a role in either authenticating or debunking the evidence?

This week, two big Bigfoot events occur. The History Channel will broadcast a program "Sasquatch Attack" on Wednesday, November 7 at 10 p.m. (Eastern time) as part of its ongoing Monsters series. Then, on Saturday, November 10, the Texas Bigfoot Organization hosts its annual conference. Sasquatch willing, and if the flood waters don't rise, I plan to make the 3-hour tour. At the very least, I'll find a rockin' t-shirt.

Am I a believer? Yes, Virginia, there is a Sasquatch, because (like Santa) it's a lot more fun that way!

~TikiKris