CONNECTICUT HILL

For those of you that don't know much about me I live in the Southern Tier area of New York.  As I have been researching Bigfoot in our area, there is one area that people bring up over and over again and that is Connecticut Hill.  Connecticut Hill is the largest Wildlife Management Area in New York State, totaling 11,045 acres. It's located sixteen miles southwest of Ithaca and one mile northeast of Alpine.   I have applied Robert W. Morgan's criteria from his book "Bigfoot Observer's Field Guide" for a research area to the Connecticut Hill State Game Lands and this area has it all (except a Native American reservation).  (As a side note, if you don't have this book it should be the next one you purchase!)
  

   

In my research I have came up with some interesting reports about activity in this area.  The first story I came across was from an article written in January of 2015 on the Cryptozoology News website.  It was titled "Terrified New Yorker Loses Expensive Equipment After Seeing ‘Bigfoot.’" The article goes on to tell about a man and his friend that were hiking along the Vanloon Road in Connecticut Hill when they encountered the beast in Dec. 8, 2013. “It was around 8.30 a.m., about an hour till daylight, an hour or an hour and a half. You could hear kind of a woosh!, woosh!, as if you are going through frozen grass,” he reported. That’s when the two noticed the purported cryptid, just at about 100 yards, getting off the road and walking under a tree branch toward a thick patch of woods. “I could see the upper body, and as it was walking, it covered a lot of ground in between, you know, something that you and I would cover in two to three minutes. This thing was enormous.”

The animal was described by the witness as having “solid charcoal black” short hair and 4-foot wide shoulders. “I could see like a shine to it, you could see the muscle mass to it. Judging by the branches I saw it go under, and going back to that, it was at least 9-feet tall. It had to duck down a little bit to bet under that branch. The branch stood at 8 feet and 4 inches.” 

 

     Another story I found was from OregonBigfoot.com.  This incident took place in August of 2003. " It was closed to Swan Road and it was night time.  A man who was camping with a small group said that he heard  what sounded like someone taking a large log and banging it against a tree about 2:30 AM.  They reported that the bullfrogs that had been very loud the day before fell silent the next morning and their dog ran away.  While looking for their pet, the woman said she had an overwhelming feeling of being watched and smelled a terrible sound that made her think there may be something dead nearby."   

    

     I found the next story on the GCBRO website from February of 1999.  This occurred about 9:30 at night.  "A man and two friends were snowmobiling and stopped in a field to fix a broken snowmobile. While the men were working on the sled they heard a loud scream from the woods on the edge of the field. It was nothing they had  ever heard before.  they said being outdoorsmen they were caught by surprise because it wasn't a noise they had ever heard before. They heard the scream twice in one spot and then once in another spot about five minutes later. They  didn't hear any movement but they reported that there was alot of snow on the ground. They shined a flashlight in the area of the sounds but didn't see anything."
     I am asking that anyone that has information that they would like to share about this area or any other area that is nearby please contact me! 
 

 

TWIN TIER OUTDOOR EXPO

This coming weekend, March 4th and 5th is the Twin Tiers Outdoor Expo at the First Arena in downtown Elmira, NY.

                                                http://www.twintiersoutdoorexpo.com/
If you have never visited the expo it is a lot of fun!  I am really excited this year to be able to help Mr. Peter Wiemer at his table for "We Wan Chu" Cottages on beautiful Chautauqua Lake and for his "Bigfoot Experience Show"!  I have been to Chautauqua Lake twice for the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo and is an absolutely beautiful lake!  Here is a picture I took in 2015:

Being able to spend a weekend or a whole week here would be such a great time and "We Wan Chu" cottages would provide the perfect spot for a stay.  For all of you fishermen, I have heard that the there are great adventures to be had on the waters of Chautauqua!  And of course, for all of my bigfooting friends, this area has many reported sightings and Mr. Wiemer has lots of information that he can share with you! There will be three "Bigfoot Experience" shows this weekend at the expo.  If you want to check out some of Mr. Wiemer's work you should see the movie "I've Seen Bigfoot" that he produced. If you would like more information here is a link to his page: http://clbigfootexpo.com/

So, if you have time this weekend stop by the Twin Tiers Outdoor Expo and check out all of the great things to experience in the great outdoors in our area.  Oh and if you see the "SquatchandSee" logo please stop us and say hello!

   

BEST WISHES TO TOM YAMARONE

Hello everyone!  It's been a long time since I have posted here - basketball season has taken much of my attention but the season is over and I can now give my attention back to my other passion - BIGFOOT!  The first thing I want to do is send prayers and best wishes to Mr. Tom Yamarone!  I met Mr. Yamarone in 2015 at the Ohio Bigfoot Conference.  One of the first things I did when I got home was to download as many of his songs that I could find!  He is very talented and has added so much to the Bigfoot Community through his talents along with being a genuinely kind and friendly person!  If you have never heard Mr. Yamarone's songs you are really in for something special.  I have left a few here for you to listen to! 

"There's Bigfoot in Ohio"

"Jerry Crew"

"Roger and Bob"

Sadly on February 5th of this year, Mr. Yamarone suffered a massive stroke and he will have a long road of rehab ahead of him.  Many of his friends have set up different ways that anyone who would like to help Mr. Yamarone can.  Here are a few:

Youcaring Account for Tom Yamarone https://www.youcaring.com/search/go?w=tom%20yamarone

   

For those of you with Facebook you can purchase a special edition "yamsrocks" caricature from "The Art of Eerie Eric" for $15.00 with all proceeds going to Tom Yamarone!

If you know of any other accounts or benefits set up for Mr. Yamarone please feel free to put that information in the comment section or let me know and I will post it - the more help that we can give the better!  Also if you did not know - Mr. Yamarone has been invited to speak at the 2018 Ohio Bigfoot Conference and I am looking forward to seeing him then!  Until then I will be keeping him in my prayers!

SNYPE AND MORE FUN

This past weekend, I was invited by Mr. Rusty Aldrich of the Northern Sasquatch Research Society to attend the Southern New York Paranormal Expo in Binghamton, NY with him.  This was my first time being a "presenter" at a show and I have to say that it was a great experience!  To get ready for the show we had a new logo designed for my blog.  We also got new business cards, a sign and new t-shirts so people would know who I am and what I do.  Here is the new logo: 



The best part of the day was getting to spend so much time with Mr. Aldrich !  Not only was he kind enough to invite me and share his table with me, but he shared so much information!  I also met the guys from "Let's Talk Ghosts Radio" who also discuss Sasquatch as well and they invited me on their show! We all also discussed a potential research trip to Connecticut Hill near my home in New York!  

This coming weekend is the Chautauqua Lake Bigfoot Expo.  This is a great opportunity for us in New York to hear some great presentations and to hear about Bigfoot!  This year Mr. Marc DeWerth is going to be speaking, this is the man that I look up to the most in the bigfoot community and I am so excited to see him and hear him speak!  Also, Steve Kulls will be presenting again this year - his presentation was awesome - especially for us New Yorkers!  Sybilla Irwin is also going to be speaking and if her presentation is anything like her presentation at the Ohio Bigfoot Conference it is something special - her talents are amazing! It should be a great weekend in Chautauqua!  If you are interested the information to attend is here.  If you do decide to go please make sure you stop and say hello! 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SUMMER AND SASQUATCH

Summer break is almost here (in New York state we are in school until June 23rd!) and I have decided to commit a large part of my summer to Sasquatch! 

I have a few books set aside to read which I will be reviewing here on this blog. Mr. Dave Gibson has reached out to me and shared his book "Living Among Sasquatch: A Primer" which I have almost finished and have really enjoyed!  This will be the first book that I will review in the next week or so.  I will also be reading Dr. Russ Jones' book "Tracking the Stone Man: West Virginia's Bigfoot" and Loren Coleman's "Bigfoot!  The True Story of Apes in America."   

Along with reading, there are some projects that I would like to work on.  I have started looking at taking recorded sightings in New York State and studying the time of year that these sightings have occurred.  I am interested in seeing if there are any migration patterns. I also plan to map the years of sightings in New York State to see if any patterns can be seen there as well.  I have also picked up maps of the counties near where I live (Chemung, Steuben, Tompkins, in New York and Bradford and Tioga in Pennsylvania) and am going to work on a database of local sightings and evidence.  So for any of you living in this area that have any information you would like to share please don't hold back!

I am also going to start practicing casting footprints with the animal tracks that I have found around my house.  Since I have never casted a footprint I want to practice in case I ever get the opportunity to cast an actual bigfoot track.   This guy has been roaming around our backyard so I am hoping he leaves a nice track for me to cast!

One of the biggest projects I have for the summer is to establish a research area.  I am using the criteria that Robert W. Morgan has developed in his book "Bigfoot Observer's Field Manual."  I also am interested in doing some investigation in an area called Connecticut Hill between Elmira and Ithaca, NY.  Connecticut Hill is an eight-mile trail considered to be the largest Wildlife Management Area in New York State. This area has had some interesting stories come out of it. One story that caught my attention was shared on the Cryptozoology News website. It is reported that two men had an encounter in December of 2013 “...I could see like a shine to it, you could see the muscle mass to it. Judging by the branches I saw it go under, and going back to that, it was at least 9-feet tall. It had to duck down a little bit to get under that branch. The branch stood at 8 feet and 4 inches...”  If you are interested in reading this article it can be found here: http://cryptozoologynews.com/terrified-new-yorker-loses-expensive-equipment-seeing-bigfoot/  Another story I have found interesting from the Connecticut Hill area happened in July of 2007.

  "...It must have seen me come up over the hill and I remember that was the thing that actually scared me the most… it was having something looking right at me, there is no question that it knew I was there. And I froze and it was not moving, so for a moment I was questioning what I was seeing, but there was a certain authenticity about it that had me scared and it didn’t look like a suit or like, you know, a stuffed animal or something like that...” This article can also be found in the Cryptozoology News website http://cryptozoologynews.com/connecticut-man-reports-bigfoot-sighting/  From these reports this is definitely an area I am anxious to explore! I will also be traveling to Saranac Lake, NY this summer.  I have heard that there has been some activity in this area lately and look forward to doing some investigations there. 

Lastly, Mr. Rusty Aldrich has invited me to present at the CNY Crypto-Paracon on August 13th in Old Forge, NY.  For information about this conference go to: http://www.cryptoparacon.com/show-schedules.html. I am so excited and want to send a huge thank you out to Mr. Aldrich for this opportunity! 

As always, if you should have any information to share with me or suggestions please either e-mail me or leave a comment!

THANK YOU JOHN GREEN

I can not let today go by without recognizing the life of a legend in the world of  bigfoot research.  Mr. John Green has passed away at the age of 89.  We owe so much to this man - researcher, investigator and author.  John Green was the last of the original investigators of the tracks found in Bluff Creek in the 1950s - the evidence that really would begin bigfoot research. When I think of those days it builds an excitement inside of me.  It is this excitement that makes me want to pursue my dream of being a researcher. So I must thank John Green for imparting on me this excitement.

John Green was also kind enough to share his invaluable  knowledge in his writings and database.  His books "Sasquatch the Apes Among Us" and  "On the Track of the Sasquatch" along with a number of articles and interviews are must reads for anyone interested in the subject.  One of my favorite interviews was done by Mr. Gerry Matthews in 2004. His database has also been valuable to me as I have used it in data collection and projects of my own.  So I must thank John Green for sharing his knowledge.

I have a deep respect for the men of this generation that questioned things they saw and were told. Men who investigated to determine the truth.  So often times today people just rely on what others tell them and act upon it without any true thought on their part.  So again, I must thank John Green for showing me to think for myself and question everything. 

For those of you that had the opportunity to meet and spend time with John Green I will say that I am very jealous.  I can only hope to attain the amount of knowledge and experience that he had.  While other kids have heroes like Lebron James, I have heroes like John Green. 

OBC PART TWO

As I said previously, the morning of May 14th was awesome and I got some great stuff, but the best part of the day was the lectures in the afternoon.  Mr. John Kirk and Ms. Winona Alexis were the emcees for the day and as I stated before I love listening to Mr. Kirk speak. They did a fantastic job with the introductions of each speaker! 

Word cloud of my first blog

The first lecture of the day was Guy Edwards.  He is a researcher and author of the blog "The Bigfoot Lunch Club."  I found out that we have a common interest in data collection.  He showed us a "word cloud" (we call it a wordle in my school.)  This is a way of looking at a piece of writing.  It makes the words that are repeated the most the largest, showing what the writer found most important.  Above there is a word cloud of my first blog.  I think this could be a great tool to use with eyewitness accounts!  You could take an account and see what the eyewitness found most important or you could take all of the accounts from one place or a season of the year or such and see what is most prominent.  I found this exciting to think that such a simple program could be such a useful tool!  He also shared how he visualized data - again something that I enjoy!  As a researcher, I believe that organizing your data and looking at it in as many different ways as possible is so important. Mr. Edwards also called himself a "bigfoot hopeful" - I guess that is what I am too! 

Dr. Esteban Sarmiento

The next speaker was Dr. Esteban Sarmiento.  Dr. Sarmiento is a primatologist and biologist with a very impressive career.  (I also think that it is pretty cool that I have seen him on Monsterquest.)  I think his message was very important.  As "bigfoot hopefuls" sometimes we want to have an encounter so badly that we can trick ourselves into hearing or seeing things that aren't really there - "if you seek you will find."  If I have learned anything it is that a researcher must have a healthy skepticism.  They must question everything!

Tom Yamarone sang a few of his songs, including his new song "I Know There is Bigfoot in Ohio" which was very good!  You can hear some of his other songs on Youtube if you haven't ever gotten a chance to hear his songs.  Here is his new song from the conference:

In between the lectures there were door prizes and auctions.  I bought a replica of a telegram written by John Green and sent to Bob Titmus for my office.  It simply says, "Wish to join Bluff Creek trip please phone collect immediately" and is dated November 17, 1958.  This was less than one month after Jerry Crew's track finds and castings.  This would be John Green's first trip of many to Bluff Creek. 

On my office wall now

Bob Gimlin was next, and even though I had the opportunity to listen to him speak last year it is always an awesome experience.  Every time I hear him speak about his experience I learn something new about what happened in Bluff Creek.  I found it fascinating the details he gives about the incident and what his thoughts were during it.  He is very sincere and friendly.  I am always excited to hear him speak and get to talk with him. 

Mr. Bob Gimiln and I from
the 2015 conference

After the dinner break, we were treated to Sybilla Irwin's presentation.  If you have never seen Ms. Irwin's sketches you are really missing out!  She meets with people who have had encounters and sketches what they describe that they have seen.  She was kind enough to allow me to post one of my favorites here in my blog.  She says that "...this is that sketch that has been used eight times as a base!  One of my favorite witnesses!"  She is starting up a new business that is going to take her on the road to work with witnesses one on one.  I highly encourage you to check out her blog (http://www.sybillairwin.com/)!  After witnessing her talent you may even want to support her new business with  $7.00 a month. I walked away thinking how can anyone call these creatures monsters?  My mom said these sketches were captivating and after she explained what that meant I agreed with her - I couldn't take my eyes off of these faces. 

Sketch by Sybilla Irwin

Cliff Barackman ended the lectures with a presentation about foot casts (his favorite topic).  He owns the second largest foot cast collection in the world!  Mr. Barackman of course is on the show "Finding Bigfoot' but he has been a bigfoot researcher for over twenty years. 

Track from Salt Fork

What I found very interesting from his lecture is what you need to study when you are lucky enough to find a print and get it casted.  Also Cliff shared how a bigfoot is believed to be able to move his foot on three axes, have elongated toe and heal segments, have flat feel with no longitudinal arch and there is no difference in the heel and ball depth -  so this would account for differences between a bigfoot print and another animals' or a human. 

Marc Dewerth inducting Mr. Robert W. Morgan
into the Ohio Bigfoot Hall of Fame 

Two very special moments at the conference were the inductions of Robert W. Morgan and Smokey Crabtree into the Ohio Bigfoot Hall of Fame.  Robert W. Morgan Robert W. Morgan is the founder and chairman of the American Anthropological Research Foundation and researcher. In 1974 he began this organization. He calls the beings that he has encountered the "Forest Giant People" which shows that he believes them to be more human than not.  If you have never read "Bigfoot Observer's Field Manual" it is, in my opinion" one of the must reads for any serious bigfoot researcher!  The information given is easy to understand and apply.  I am currently using to map out my research area and am hoping it will lead to success soon!  The next inductee, Smokey

Lyle Blackburn accepting
Smokey Crabtree's induction
into the Ohio Bigfoot Hall of Fame

Crabtree, passed away on January 16th of this year so Mr. Lyle Blackburn was there to receive his induction and you could tell that it was an emotional experience for him - which I believe speaks to the character of both men.  From the presentation that Lyle Blackburn gave, I really wish I could have met Smokey Crabtree.  He seemed like an extremely interesting person.  Besides his ties with the Fouke Monster, which are legendary, it seems that he had an  extraordinary life.  One of the next books that I will purchase and read will be "To Close to the Mirror: The Continuing Story of the Life of Smokey Crabtree" upon Mr. Blackburn's recommendation. 

Of course I can not end this post without writing about Mr. Marc Dewerth.  Besides being a wonderful human being he is extremely dedicated to the Ohio Bigfoot Conference.  Like I have said it is the best weekend of the year for me and it is because of his hard work and passion for this conference that it is such a wonderful event - I also want to thank him for his friendship.

My friend Marc Dewerth

These lectures made me increasingly excited to continue with my research and I will never forget the time I have spent at the Ohio Bigfoot Conference.