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.