Future Post: Collection of Interviews with Tribal Elders

The Beginning

"1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

It is written in the Bible, God created everything. According to native legends from all over North America, including some of the tribal communities of the First Nations of Canada there is a Creator. God. Each tribe may have another name for the Creator. Some believe in the Christian God and some do not. Multiple variations of the creation of earth and their tribe still exist today. This article will give evidence of multiple stories verbatim from tribal elders from around the US.  This collection of tribal elder belief's of what Bigfoot maybe has been a long 6 years. Most of these have been collected from over the phone interviews and several are from actual sit down conversations. These are word-for-word nothing has been deleted or added. The Honobia Bigfoot Conference administration stands neutral in the decision of what or who the Bigfoot may or may not be.

#1 Sioux Tribe (North America) Lakota Elder

"The Lakota Sioux do not normally talk about the Big Man. That is what they are called to our people. He is the Big-Brother to us, in the Dakota dialect they are called "chiye-tanka"  it means great or big elder brother. He (Bigfoot) knows everything, he is wise of us and the universe. He is also known as a trickster, shapeshifter. They can take on many forms. He is both physical and spiritual being. Today they are not talked about by many people. They are seen up in the mountains, not here down low. I have been told by several other elders that they are here to help us, man, meaning our people to respect what the creator has put for us. We disrespect our blessed giving's and the chiye-tanka is distant from us"


#2 Northwest Tribe (Name requested to be withheld) North America

"I will talk briefly, we do not talk about the Bigfoot. I will share this, "the hairy giant that steals children" it is our legend that the giants, you call Bigfoot or Sasquatch are stealers of children. They have taken and they have given. They live in caves, they are creations different than us. Man has not respected them for a long time. I do not know what they are, other than I am told by the old ones, that they (Bigfoot) are a spirit, but lives in flesh". That is all I will say.

#3 Choctaw Nation (North America-Eastern Oklahoma) Choctaw Elder

"I am 81 years old, my father before he died was 97, when he was a little boy about 7 or 8 years old was told of the giants of the woods. I have heard many names over the years. But traditional Choctaw name is given as "shampe".  Meaning he is unpleasant to look at, ugly. He is not good to some, I am told he steals children and women. That is what I am told they use to do, not now, the Bigfoot are wise and know that if they continued to do what they use to white people would hunt them down. We would too.  I think the shampe and your Bigfoot are two different beings, the old and what was told. Your Bigfoot is a much more personal being of what is there, they only steal food from people. They keep to themselves and live their lives apart from us. I believe that they have a meaning to be here as we do, I feel they are protectors of something here on Earth. I don't know what, but they watch and listen to us. I feel they are watching everything we do, if you live here in the country, they are there, you just do not know it. People need to understand they are not to be hunted, and people should leave them alone"

#4 Choctaw Nation (NA-Southern Oklahoma) Choctaw Elder introduced to me by Elder #3

"I was born in southern Oklahoma in 1930, I went to a school for indian children, I enisted in the US Army in 1949, was sent to Germany in 1950, where I spent 2 years as a mechanic. I met another indian from Oklahoma, Marty was his name he was from Kellyville, Ok (Northeastern) We became good friends and spent many nights talking about home, one night talked about our tribes history, Marty was Cherokee, he spoke of folklore alot, the"Little People" that were like medicine magicians and would also be very mischievous, but it was the Bigfoot that we talked about for endless hours, Marty would also call them "Giants from the sky" he used Cherokee but I forget how it was spelled or even how to pronounce it.
Marty said his father would tell of great elders of the tribe that would tell of a time when man would converse with the Bigfoot, I asked him about the name he used, all I can remember is he said that the Bigfoot came from above, not like in a space craft or anything like that, he said, they came from heaven, they were not suppose to be here, but they are, we have known about them for many years. My time was up and came back to Oklahoma and started to work in the forestry service as a firefighter, I did that for couple of years and then moved to Arkansas to join the highway department. I lived near Union Town, Arkansas and had 20 acres with a small house. One night in the summer of 1959 I was coming home from work and stepped out of my truck and heard this scream that was so loud it hurt my ears, it came from behind my home, I became concerened it was a mountain lion and ran into my home to retrieve my rifle, I had a old western style 357. cal lever action by the door.
I went to the kitchen window looked around, never saw anything and did not hear another sound the rest of the night. It was 3 days later I heard the sound or scream again this time it was in the early morning just before day light, my bedroom window was slightly open, I had no air conditioning in those days, the scream sounded like it was not to far off and to the north. While laying there I remember the stories from Marty about the Bigfoot screams and noises they make.  Later that day I was at work and drinking coffee with two other men about my age, I asked them straight, have any you ever seen a Bigfoot around here, one of them named Steve, didn't say a word and actually just sit looking at his coffee cup, the other one his name was John looked at Steve, looked down and cleared his voice and asked me "Why do you ask that" I said I think I am hearing one at my house, John said "you know the old timers around here, specially indians will not talk about the Bigfoot", Steve looked over at me and said your Indian aren't you, have you not heard about the Bigfoot from your Dad or someone? I didn't know what to say, little embarrassed about not knowing some of my own folklore and culture that related to the Bigfoot, but again more wondering why my own father never told me the things I have learned from Marty. Well I learned why from John, we sat and drank our coffee in silence, several other co-workes came in and sat down, John said we will finish this later.
Two nights later John came over to my home and we sat out front in the yard, John was from Northern Arkansas, he said he grew up in the mountains of the Ozarks and came from a very pour family, he was of german and italian decent, is father came to America in the early 1900s to find work. John lived in a small home (he called it a shack) just outside of what is now Bella Vista. John explained that while he was growing up he heard the strangest and scary sounds coming from the ridgetops of the mountains around his home, his father had a friend that was Indian, he did't remember what tribe or what language he would speak, his father's friend told him and his brother's one night, that (he would point towards the direction the sounds would come from) that is the screams from the old ones, they are people of the forest, they do not speak to us, they are not our enemy, but they are also not our friends, they live in their own world, they walk like we do, but they are not like us, and they do not live in houses like us. John said his father asked his friend where do they come from? All that he remembers hearing is "They came from above" they are not from here. This elder began to gather as much stories and information as he could, he wanted to know more, it wasn't until 1978 when he had conversation with an elder from the Creek Nation that he heard other names for the Bigfoot. It is now after all these years that he has realized that the Bigfoot is not talked about publicly by native people for one reason, "the rest of the world is blind to the truth". what he is referring to is, since we have technology, we have busy lives, and we are always in a hurry, we have not taken the time to see who we are and where we have came from. To this elder, Bigfoot is a sign and a message that we need to realize our world is more than just water, land, and people. The bigger picture we are missing, the Bigfoot is not a monkey or a ape of some kind, it is a breathing, living, and real creation of something God had no intentions of creating, they are here among us to live out their lives til the Lord comes back. I will write what I know and more of what I have heard from others. (I will upload to a new post soon as I have received it)

http://honobiaoklachito.blogspot.com/2015/03/interview-with-tribal-elder-oklahoma.html 

 



Investigative File Case 005-2015 "Campers See Strange Things in the Woods"

Open Case File  004-2015
Location: SE Oklahoma (Near Daisy, Ok)

Case Type: Eye Witnesses Observed Possible Sasquatch

Time Frame: 2015 (May)

Investigator: Troy Hudson, Sasquatch Genome Project

This report was submitted to the investigator through a law enforcement contact. The law enforcement officer (LEO) was contacted by the owner of the property where the incident occurred. The LEO contacted this investigator 2 weeks after the incident.
The location of the incident is private property and the owner along with several friends were camping over a weekend in order to cleanup up after recent storms and high winds that had knocked several large trees down across trails that are used to travel back and forth between the hunting areas and main roads that lead to the property. This particular weekend saw heavy overcast and no moon, light rain off and on most of the day and night. The second night of their stay proved to be a night everyone will never forget.
The day was spent running a chain saw and moving heavy brush, one of the campers (nicknamed Bill) said he remember while he worked, he had the uneasy feeling of someone watching him all day long. The property owner (nicknamed Adam) said he had felt the uneasy feeling in the past but just passed it off as being far out in the "boonies". The third friend (nicknamed Steve) said he remember hearing whistles coming from the woods during the day while one of the other's were running the chain saw, but never put much thought into it, he thought he was just hearing the chain saw making echo sounds through the trees. It was later in the night after it had gotten dark that it was only Steve by the camp fire thinking of turning in. All three had separate small pump tents that they were using. Steve began to hear what he described as "heavy foot steps" in the woods juts outside their camping area. The foot steps were coming from behind Adam's tent. Adam called out to Steve, "hey what the heck are you doing behind my tent?" Steve replied it wasn't him and that he was still sitting by the fire".
Both Adam and Bill got dressed and stepped out of their tent to find Steve sitting by the fire trying to add more wood. Adam saw a wild look on Steve's face and asked what's wrong.
Steve pointed over between Adam's and Bill's tent and said "I just saw huge (curse word) red eyes about 9 feet off the ground" All started putting more firewood onto the fire, Bill went back for his flashlight. Adam said he heard something breathing really hard just as Bill unzipped his tent.
Bill stepped back over the fire and started to scan the dense woods behind their tents. Just then all three heard something crashing through the woods behind them, they spun and Bill pointed his flashlight in that direction. Soon as he pointed it in the area of the noise, all three heard a loud growl with what sounded like to them tree branches being broken in a manner only described as someone being extremely angry. All three took turns retrieving rifles and hand guns from their tents and vehicles. Adam was asked by Steve and Bill what the heck is on your property, "Bigfoot?" Adam replied "I know I heard stories but I don't believe it" "It has to be a bear". They all started to scan 360 degrees around their camp, at one point Bill saw what is referred to as eye shine, he described it as two huge eyes reflecting off his flashlight. He yelled out and Adam said he just saw the reflection when whatever it was backed further into the darkness. When all three started to talk about what is going on, Adam said what ever the eyes are they are at a minimum of 8 feet above the ground or something in a tree.
It remained quiet the rest of the night, all three remained awake and the next morning they searched the area behind their tents, they discovered only 1 inch diameter branches being broke at the height of 7 feet but they were very skeptical due to wind damage within the forest from the heavy storms a week before.  



  Investigator's Notes: This investigator talked with the landowner over the phone on several occasions. His story never changed and you can hear the concern in his voice as to what they all saw that night. Since this incident he will only go to the property armed and with someone else. There are no structures on the property, he or no one else stays on the property. It is only used for camping and hunting throughout the year. "Bill and Steve" were interviewed over the phone separately and their stories also were similar to the owner's but their voices seem to be honest and with concern as to what they encountered that night left them with questions. All three are in their mid-30's and have more than 60 years of hunting and woodland skills combined. They all said it could be a bear, but it was Steve that said what he observed very briefly with the eye shine seemed like a man's eyes shining in the glimmer of light from the camp fire. He said he only saw it less than a second was very tall and the shadow of the tent from the campfire blocked his view. There were no odors associated with bears. While he was sitting there and Adam/Bill was getting out of their tents, he knew in his heart that wasn't a bear or another human being, but he was so afraid to say anything he just had the look of concern/terror on his face that is when Adam asked him "what's wrong".
This investigator believes they all had encounter with something that wasn't a bear or another human being, they really could not say for 100% certain what it was they saw or heard as to being a Bigfoot. They have never seen one or heard one before.  This encounter has been played and replayed over and over in the past by hundreds of witnesses. This encounter is almost exactly the same as others just the names and locations are changed. No pictures were taken of the tree branches, no foot prints, or other evidence were discovered. The landowner did say he has felt very uneasy at times being on the property as if being watched. (This is described by many other witnesses). This investigation will remain open.

Note: The property is located off a county road and is mountain side terrain. The property coverage is 160 acre plot.

Interview with a Long-Term Witness (Honobia Bigfoot Staff Member Troy Hudson)

Each month we will post interviews with long-term witnesses. The label of long-term witness is what we call a witness that has had more than one sighting of a Sasquatch (both day and/or night) and continues to have encounters, experiences, and/or visual observations of Sasquatch either by accident or on investigative purposes. Our second interview will be with Honobia Bigfoot Conference Staff Member Troy Hudson.

 

When did you get involved in the Bigfoot Phenomenon?  I was sitting in my office, while I was still working for the US Government when a co-worker had asked "your from Oklahoma right?" I said yes, and he had asked me if I had ever seen a Bigfoot. I didn't know where he was going with this and I said "I have heard some things maybe, why?" he showed me a website (BFRO) and that they were conducting a Bigfoot Expedition in Honobia, Oklahoma (SE Oklahoma) I told him I know exactly where this was, I grew up not to far from there and use to go through there as a child. I contacted the BFRO and went on the expedition in 2005, rest is history!

When did you see your first Sasquatch? It had to be in 1981, summer at a Boy Scout Camp near Talihina, Ok. North of Honobia, Ok myself and another Boy Scout snuck out of our tent, were trying locate the sound of knocking, like you hear when someone is cutting wood. This sound had been going on for hours, we thought who would cut wood for hours. We were told by the scout staff there it was "some old hermit, that live up on the mountain". We were not convinced, we snuck out of the tent maybe about midnight, or something like that. We walked maybe 10 minutes or so, got scared thought we would get lost, turned back to start heading back, came to a small clearing and saw a tall, very tall figure just inside the woods, this figure we thought was a scout master or someone of the staff. We ran down into a dry creek bed, and tried to sneak back to camp, every time we tried to come up out of the creek we saw this dark figure standing at the top of the creek bank. We finally found the camp and discovered that all the adult staff were sleeping on their cots. It wasn't until we got home and both my friend and I were in my living room when my mom said "You boys know some lady saw a Bigfoot in her back yard near your Boy Scout camp". She blew our minds, then we talked about it, saw the TV news report and it was next to the Camp Tom Hale Boy Scout Camp, from that point on that night has stuck in my mind just as if had happened yesterday. I would have been 12 years old at the time.

How did it affect you? It really didn't make sense then, I actually had forgot about it, until that day in my office when my co-worker had asked me if I had seen one. Then that memory came flooding back into my mind, but I didn't tell the story, I didn't want him making fun of me and for the reason, I was mid-level management within my office and had lots of responsibility for the agency I was working for and didn't want that to be the joke of the office.

How many field investigations have you conducted? During my days with BFRO, I would conduct several case report investigations a month, if the report was within hour or two of me, I would travel to conduct a field investigation and interview of the witnesses, It was some what of a easy process, since I have been working in law enforcement and conducted investigations on various levels. This process was no different, other than conducting investigations on Bigfoot sightings, I came to find it was much more fun and I would use these times to do min-expeditions. I usually had another BFRO member with me and to answer your question, when I was with BFRO from 2004-2009, if I am correct maybe in the neighborhood of 110 case reports. Out of that I think there was maybe 10-12 that were hoaxed or fake reports. Since 2009, doing this independently, and working with the Sasquatch Genome Project 2010-present, some where in the area of 80 actually sighting reports with on site field investigations. According to my journal, I have been keeping since 2011, I have more than 50 phone interviews and several medium to large field expeditions in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kentucky. 

How many people do you know that have seen them? Hmm, wow let me think, all the people I knew in BFRO, all the witnesses I have interviewed, personal friends that have been out with me, people I have talked with at our conference in Honobia, and wow that is a hard number to come up with to be accurate. Just to be completely honest, I wouldn't begin to think of a number of people, but just a round estimated guess, somewhere it the neighborhood of 350-375, maybe more, I have been doing this as I said since 2005, that is a lot of people from then till now, that is 10 years all together.

How many people do you know that have them near or visit their homes, or property? Well, when I was with BFRO I was operating on-going site investigations with 2 families in Texas and 1 family in SE Oklahoma. Those investigations went on from about 2006-2009, I would visit those locations as much as I could, I gained a lot of knowledge from those locations. Since then, working with the Sasquatch Genome Project, I have been involved in 3 locations in Texas, and 4 locations in Oklahoma. These sites have offered the best in learning the Sasquatch behavior and research information. That's 10 families I know and worked with, and there have been no less than 10 families I have interviewed and worked with either over the phone or through emails that have long-term activity on or near their property.

What's your thoughts on the Sasquatch population within Oklahoma? North America? In Oklahoma, I know there are 77 counties in Oklahoma, I can place reports of sightings in 66 counties in Oklahoma, Sasquatch doesn't pay attention to county lines, so I would just guess some sighting could be of the same Sasquatch, but I have had several incidents that occurred on the same date within hours of each other in different counties that were hundreds of miles apart. However, just my guess with on-going investigations with central, NE, and SE Oklahoma, I would be safe to say there is possibly between 150-200 across Oklahoma as a state, but remember that near state lines of Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas we could be counting ones that come and go from state to state.

What do you think the Sasquatch are? That is a real hard question to be defined, since my beginning with all of this and being involved in the DNA project with Dr. Melba Ketchum and seeing the realism of the science in what the DNA says. That's really hard to have one answer, I am still trying to take all of this in. My spiritual beliefs of what I know from a tribal mindset, I really think they are of old, relic style God-made people like spiritual being. I am not saying they are human, "I think they are type of people". As it has been said many times by elders, they are another tribe of people. That is all I will say about that.

Where do you think they come from? The same feelings I have, I really have no clue, I won't say what people suggest where they are from, in my beliefs they have always been here, all I know at this point is they were made just as we were from God.

What do you think about science and Sasquatch? I am kinda old fashion when it comes to science, I know you need science for medicine and learning to keep us healthy and safe, but I am really stuck in the old Indian mind, God created everything you see around us, except technology, man created that, God created us and the Sasquatch in my opinion, if God wanted us to know about the Sasquatch why didn't he give us a book or instruction manual, in some tribal ways, you do not try and figure out what the Creator was thinking when he made something, you just respect his creations and work parallel to what God created. I know science has it's place in our world, but the Sasquatch is more than just some two-legged being roaming the earth as we do. Sorry I am getting to far past your question, I personally think science is not the answer, we should find the answer about Sasquatch in our own minds and hearts. Each person is different and have their own feelings and beliefs, let each person have their own decision if they are real or not.

You have any comments for anyone that is wanting to have an experience or see one? I would say do some research before you go into the woods. If you find a location you think there is Sasquatch activity, go with a friend, never go alone, and go with respect. Do not try and bait them or try and trick them, they are smarter than you think.

Interview conducted on 05/03/2015.

UPDATE**Honobia Bigfoot Conference and Festival 2015

Good Morning Everyone

Just little update here from Honobia, Oklahoma couple weeks ago the little community of Honobia was a victim of extreme weather. Hundreds of trees down and several buildings suffered damaged on Christ 40. a.k.a Kiamichi Mountains Christian Mission.

 

Insert: Clean up is underway.

 

 

 

Several highways and country roads are closed due to heavy damage.

 

 

 

Insert: This is the only highway north to Clayton, Ok. It will be closed for awhile.

 

 

However the conference and festival is still scheduled for October 2015. The only changes are that the festival portion will go all the way up til 4:00 PM on Sunday the 4th of October. So if you want to stay and enjoy the food and vendors please don't rush to go home. More activities from the Bigfoot Conference staff maybe planned (for Sunday) stay tuned for further details. See everyone there!