Moderated Bigfoot- Anybody Seen one?

[WGBH]

Hi John....I have a thought concerning what might have caused you to feel the way you did.

Did you get that impression....that it was 'human', to some degree??

No I did not get the impression that it was human to any degree. I looked more ape to me.

As far as the fear. I have no idea.

 

[kitakaze]

Your report in '98 and your involvement in '06 in Bigfootery with a person who gets together with other Bigfoot enthusiasts and looks for Bigfoot - what was going on between then for those intervening 8 years?

If you mean personally, I guess the most notable thing would have been getting sober.

OK, so dealing with an alcoholism symptomatic of the PTSD was the most notable. But you submitted your encounter to the BFRO and then what? You obviously must have been doing something else in relation to Bigfoot before hooking up with other people to look for Bigfoot. You made the effort to make a report. What came after that, Bigfoot-wise? Books, forums, BFRO... that type of thing.

2006 and beginning to discuss in 2008 with your fellow enthusiasts you very own personal sighting as a kid - why the hold up?

Kit, I am not following this last question, but do you mean why the hold up telling my fellow enthusiasts? I STILL have trouble discussing my encounter in person, even around Bigfoot friends. It is a lot easier to do on a internet forum like this.

PS. I'm sorry if I got your question wrong.

No, no. You got it right. The hold up was you were scared of ridicule from fellow Bigfooters. That was why you didn't discuss it when you first started hanging out with them until 2008. Who was the first person you told via internet and who was the first person you told face to face after you started getting together with Bigfooters in '06?

 

[WGBH]

OK, so dealing with an alcoholism symptomatic of the PTSD was the most notable. But you submitted your encounter to the BFRO and then what? You obviously must have been doing something else in relation to Bigfoot before hooking up with other people to look for Bigfoot. You made the effort to make a report. What came after that, Bigfoot-wise? Books, forums, BFRO... that type of thing.

In 98 I googled Bigfoot and the BFRO web site came up. So I made my report. No, after I made the sighting report and did the enterview with the BFRO researcher I was not involved in any Bigfoot until 06. No forums, No anything.


No, no. You got it right. The hold up was you were scared of ridicule from fellow Bigfooters. That was why you didn't discuss it when you first started hanging out with them until 2008. Who was the first person you told via internet and who was the first person you told face to face after you started getting together with Bigfooters in '06?

Here is how I got involved in Bogfooting.In 06 I saw the program Sasquatch "Legend meets Science" on TV. Because of my sighting it started to interest me. I googled Bigfoot and Started reading the BFF and other information on Bigfoot like Bobbie Short's web page.

Everything was fine until I made the mistake of copying and pasting my BFRO sighting report on the forum. I was attacked and ridiculed, and eventually banned from the BFF. I think most of it was due to the BFRO hatred on the BFF.

I became heavily involved in listening and chatting on all the blog talk Bigfoot radio shows. I still am involved and I substitute host on many of the shows.

The first person I told personally via the internet about my sighting was Mike Killen who is a board member of NESRA and the host of the blog talk radio show The Bigfoot Quest. We chatted online about my encounter. He was the person who suggested I contact Billy Willard. Other then the BFRO researcher, he was the first person I talked to about my encounter in 25 years.

The second person I told via phone intrerview was your friend Melissa Hovey. I think this was shortly before she interviewed me on her radio show. If you listen to that show you can hear how nervous I was.

The first people I talked to about it to face to face were Billy Willard and Tom L. They are the co-directors of my group Sasquatch Watch of VA. This occured on the car ride to the 2008 Ohio Conference. This was in May 2008 and was the first time I returned to the woods in 26 years.

 

[RayG]

Ray, I have no idea why it messed me up so bad. The animal never threatened me at all. I would love to answer that. All I can tell you is I have never felt fear like that before or since. It was probably just the fact that I was a kid and a "monster" was right there in front of me.

Have you discussed this fear with a professional to try and determine why it messed you up so bad?

RayG

 

[WGBH]

Have you discussed this fear with a professional to try and determine why it messed you up so bad?

RayG

No Ray I have not. But at this point with the sleep problems I am still dealing with. I have begun to consider seeing a professional.

 

[Blackdog]

I was attacked and ridiculed, and eventually banned from the BFF. I think most of it was due to the BFRO hatred on the BFF.

You're playing the victim here John. IIRC you weren't exactly Mr. Congeniality yourself. Your banning had nothing to do with your encounter or the vilification of the BFRO.

 

[desertgal]

No Ray I have not. But at this point with the sleep problems I am still dealing with. I have begun to consider seeing a professional.

Well, I wonder...forgive me if I play amateur psychologist here, and if this has been asked before, I don't mean to replicate the question...but is it possible that there is something else that happened, around the same time, that is the cause of your distress, and your nightmares about Bigfoot are a manifestation of that something else? You mentioned PTSD and a battle for sobriety. It has been my experience-and, again, I'm not a psychologist or a psychiatrist, but a recovering addict and psychiatric patient-that addictions are often the result of childhood trauma. It's not uncommon for people to substitute one childhood experience for another as the source of their trauma, if the real source is too painful to confront.

Just a thought. For what it is worth, I think seeing a professional would be to your benefit, and I wish you the best either way.

 

[William Parcher]

Everything was fine until I made the mistake of copying and pasting my BFRO sighting report on the forum. I was attacked and ridiculed, and eventually banned from the BFF. I think most of it was due to the BFRO hatred on the BFF.

I tried to find this on BFF, but couldn't. I did see where you pasted your BFRO report into a Dismal Swamp thread, but there was no attacking or ridicule there. Somebody recommended that you start your own thread, but I never found one. Is there a thread sitting on BFF that shows these people going after you and you being banned?

 

[Drewbot]

JC-
This question relates to after the encounter.

Have you since been diagnosed with a sleep disorder?

Narcolepsy, Sleep Apnea, RLS, etc...?

And... Just to clarify, how old were you when you had the sighting?

Thanks

 

[WGBH]

JC-
This question relates to after the encounter.

Have you since been diagnosed with a sleep disorder?

Narcolepsy, Sleep Apnea, RLS, etc...?

And... Just to clarify, how old were you when you had the sighting?

Thanks

I was 17 and possibly Sleep Apnea. I snore, but it's not diagnosed.

 

[WGBH]

You're playing the victim here John. IIRC you weren't exactly Mr. Congeniality yourself. Your banning had nothing to do with your encounter or the vilification of the BFRO.

I did not say my sighting was the cause of it. But it sure started there. I said "eventually led to".
As I have stated here before I was finally banned because of who I associate with in the field.
I have documentation to prove it. But who cares? It's done and I hate that cess pool anyway.

 

[WGBH]

I tried to find this on BFF, but couldn't. I did see where you pasted your BFRO report into a Dismal Swamp thread, but there was no attacking or ridicule there. Somebody recommended that you start your own thread, but I never found one. Is there a thread sitting on BFF that shows these people going after you and you being banned?

I was not banned as a result of that directly.It was later on. There were other issues and I am not completely without fault of course. As far as what happened to the thread or what thread it was on. I don't know or care. It was a battle zone everywhere. What does this have to do with my sighting? Why dig up old dirt?

 

[WGBH]

Do not turn this into a discussion about what happened on the Bigfoot Forums. I have no interest in re-opening those old wounds and it has no relevence on my sighting. I will not bring it up again and will not answer questions about it.

 

[WGBH]

Well, I wonder...forgive me if I play amateur psychologist here, and if this has been asked before, I don't mean to replicate the question...but is it possible that there is something else that happened, around the same time, that is the cause of your distress, and your nightmares about Bigfoot are a manifestation of that something else? You mentioned PTSD and a battle for sobriety. It has been my experience-and, again, I'm not a psychologist or a psychiatrist, but a recovering addict and psychiatric patient-that addictions are often the result of childhood trauma. It's not uncommon for people to substitute one childhood experience for another as the source of their trauma, if the real source is too painful to confront.

Just a thought. For what it is worth, I think seeing a professional would be to your benefit, and I wish you the best either way.

You thoughts are fine,fair and welcome. It was not really a battle for sobriety. It was more of a behavior problem. I do not think I ever got to the point of physical dependency on alchohol. I was just partying every night and I mean EVERY night. I stopped cold turkey.

Yes I do think it is some type of PTSD.

 

[makaya325]

You thoughts are fine,fair and welcome. It was not really a battle for sobriety. It was more of a behavior problem. I do not think I ever got to the point of physical dependency on alchohol. I was just partying every night and I mean EVERY night. I stopped cold turkey.

Yes I do think it is some type of PTSD.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being totally sure it wasnt a bf, and 10 being a bf for sure, where would you fall?

 

[WGBH]

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being totally sure it wasnt a bf, and 10 being a bf for sure, where would you fall?

Since no one is perfect, I will say a 9.

 

[atpeace]

WGBH,
(Since May 2008) Have you found anything at all while out in the woods with fellow searchers that has been even slightly helpful to you in your search for answers to your encounter? Or, in your discussions with them? In other words, do you feel they (sincere proponents) are getting anywhere it all?
ap

i guess I'm wondering if anything in particular has you at a 9? other than that one day so long ago?

 

[HarryHenderson]

JC, I know you won't appreciate this much, but I vividly remember a time in the past where you weren't so sure of exactly what it was you saw. And I don't mean your general description of the incident has changed really, just that you were at one time more open to the notion you could have simply 'misidentified' something. Going so far as to utter the words (essentially these words - as I remember them in my mind at least) "Harry, I don't know what I saw, but it did scare the snot out of me. I was 17, up in a tree blind and I didn't even want to be there in the first place. I was coerced to go along on that hunting trip cause I'm not even a hunter." Is that even close to anything you remember saying 'back when'? As a caveat, much of that particular discussion was in a 'Saturday night chat room' situation, so a record probably doesn't exist, but I think you already know I 'like you' and there's nothing genuine to be gained on any of our parts by my 'making it all up'.

Is it simply a case of you being more sure now, based on others' descriptions etc.? I'm asking because it's an important distinction IMO. At one time, it could have been deduced, by your own words, that what you saw was possibly ANOTHER HUNTER IN A GHILLIE SUIT, for example, but now you're 90% (?) sure it was a Bigfoot? Are you sure sure?

 

[WGBH]

JC, I know you won't appreciate this much, but I vividly remember a time in the past where you weren't so sure of exactly what it was you saw. And I don't mean your general description of the incident has changed really, just that you were at one time more open to the notion you could have simply 'misidentified' something. Going so far as to utter the words (essentially these words - as I remember them in my mind at least) "Harry, I don't know what I saw, but it did scare the snot out of me. I was 17, up in a tree blind and I didn't even want to be there in the first place. I was coerced to go along on that hunting trip cause I'm not even a hunter." Is that even close to anything you remember saying 'back when'? As a caveat, much of that particular discussion was in a 'Saturday night chat room' situation, so a record probably doesn't exist, but I think you already know I 'like you' and there's nothing genuine to be gained on any of our parts by my 'making it all up'.

Is it simply a case of you being more sure now, based on others' descriptions etc.? I'm asking because it's an important distinction IMO. At one time, it could have been deduced, by your own words, that what you saw was possibly ANOTHER HUNTER IN A GHILLIE SUIT, for example, but now you're 90% (?) sure it was a Bigfoot? Are you sure sure?

No Harry, I know you would not make it up. I think you may have the context mixed up there. I know it was a "Bigfoot" but wasnt the discussion that night about what is a Bigfoot? Harry, I have always told you and everyone else it was a big ape. It was not a bear, it was not a man. As far as a Ghillie suit. LOL! This is rural North Carolina in the early 80's, most of those people were lucky to have shoes. It was also private property.Yes I was co-erced to be there by my friend, but it was also a new and interesting experience for me. Hell no, Im not a hunter. I had no intention of shooting anything. They knew that! That is why they stuck me alone out in that tree stand and they told me was the worst one of the 3.

I can still see this thing clearly in my head. It is probably burned into my memory. I said 9 because I am very sure about what I saw. I would have said 10 but then the skeptic world would have chased me out of here with torches and pitch forks.

 

[WGBH]

WGBH,
(Since May 2008) Have you found anything at all while out in the woods with fellow searchers that has been even slightly helpful to you in your search for answers to your encounter? Or, in your discussions with them? In other words, do you feel they (sincere proponents) are getting anywhere it all?
ap

i guess I'm wondering if anything in particular has you at a 9? other than that one day so long ago?

No, I have not seen anything in the past year. Experienced some sounds, smells and prints.Call that what you want. We only had activity worth mentioning ONCE. Right now I am not searching the woods for answers. I am following people around and getting comfortable. I am not looking for Bigfoot.

My discussions with them are usually about who is the hottest female Bigfoot researcher. No, I do not feel we are getting anywhere. I feel we need to try new ideas.

I dont need to see Bigfoot (again). I need proof. If I saw Bigfoot again I probably would not tell anyone. It would be nice if my friends saw one. They deserve it. They work hard out there.