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.
Interview conducted on 05/03/2015.
