Paris, TX Bigfoot Expedition Account
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on April 6th, 2007
The account below is from a fan of Cryptomundo. He participated in Biscardi’s Paris, TX Bigfoot Expedition to Capture “America’s King Kong.”
Craig,
I participated in the Paris, Texas expedition led by Tom Biscardi this past weekend and thought that your readers might like a description of my experiences. First, by way of introduction, I am a free lance writer with a Ph.D. in Religion and Philosophy. My area of interest includes new and esoteric religious movements. Accordingly, I am the author of “Elvis Religion: The Cult of the King” (August 2006) and “UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Culture” (forthcoming, August, 2007). I am currently completing research for “Weird Science and Bizarre Beliefs: Mysterious Creatures, Amazing Technology, and Lost Civilizations.” All are published by IB Tauris of London and distributed in the US by Palgrave Macmillan. I participated in the Paris event as a paying ticket-holder without any previous connection to Biscardi or any other members of the team. I was there on Thursday and Friday nights.
On Thursday I was shown a series of Bigfoot tracks from which team members made plaster casts. I was a witness to one of those casts being removed from the ground. I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the tracks – but I can vouch for the fact that there were tracks and that casts were made from them.
Later that night I participated in an excursion with several others in which we were transported by boat across Pay Mayse Lake from the base camp. We were taken over in two groups – I was in the second. When I arrived a member of the first group reported a sighting. Once again I cannot vouch for the authenticity of this report. Shortly thereafter the weather took a turn or the worse. We experienced high winds, lightning, and heavy rain. Base camp reported that the weather would not permit them to return for us so we sought shelter from the wind against an embankment and other members of the team built a fire. We were there all night, until about 6 the next morning. I do not know whether or not there was a tornado but we did experience high winds, rain, and lightning. As an Alabamian, I can assure your readers that the foul weather was not just in the imagination of the folks from California. I’m grateful to the experienced and calm response of our guides who helped us find shelter and built a fire in extremely unfavorable weather. At some point during the night, we were informed by radio that another team had reported a sighting. On arrival back at base camp I observed that all of the tents had been blown over or collapsed.
On Friday night I participated in a team of four whose task was to explore an area on the lake which had reportedly been the scene of various sightings in the past. We used various forms of equipment, I operated a heat sensitive camera, and we explored the swampy areas around the points and coves of that portion of the lake. If anything, the weather on the second night was worse than the first. Again, we experienced heavy winds, heavy rain, and frequent lightning. This combined with near flood conditions made for difficult exploring. We followed a strictly lights-out policy which made things even worse. After completing our maneuver, lasting maybe two hours, I went back to the hotel. Later I learned that another of our groups had reported another sighting.
That is all I know. I had no sighting myself but I can vouch for the fact that casts of tracks were made, that the weather was bad – perhaps the worse I have ever been out in – and that sightings were reported by other members of our group. I later spoke with those folks who made the first two reports and am lead to believe that they are sincere.
ThanksGregory L. Reece, Ph.D.
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
The expedition led by Biscardi in which Mr. Reece was a participant sounds for the most part pretty sincere. Whether the sightings were actual or not, the rest seems like it was pretty much true to form. They did have some pretty wicked weather in Texas a few days ago, in which what we got here in Arkansas the other night. It is a shame the weather was so bad that a full excursion was almost impossible. Thanks Mr. Reece for the report and thanks Craig for posting it.
It would been more believable if their were no sightings or for that matter no tracks. Bigfoot turns up when no one is out there looking specifically for the sasquatch.
Bob Michaels: I felt the exact same way you did. Oh sure. Lookee that; tracks! Hey, boys and girls, sightings! Of course the groups are separated! Why do you think that is…?
Then I thought: wait a minute here.
Haven’t we heard this sort of thing before? Of course Patterson saw a Bigfoot; he was out there to get film and make money. Of course all the photos are blurry. Unless they’re clear; then they’re too good. Of course you see one when you’re going out there specifically to see one. And of course you don’t get a photo when you’re unprepared to get one because you didn’t think you’d see one and just weren’t ready. Uh huh. Suuuuuuuuuure.
Right? It’s ALWAYS too good to be true.
We shouldn’t presume that nothing real happened because Biscardi happened to be there. After all, as the Chinese say, even a blind pig finds an acorn now and then.
And if we don’t hear anything else from this…[sigh] par for the course. For bigfoot in general, right?
Thanks to Craig and Dr. Reece…
I’m curious what prompted you to join the Biscardi folks in pursuit of these critters.
There are many independent researchers who share their research areas.
TBRC offers excellent outings free of charge. Several NABF members are scientist/visitor friendly.
Live and let live…
ole bub and the dawgs
I think his whole thing with reported sightings and tracks smacks of a show put on for the “tourists”. It’s an old trick. Sounds like people paid good money to hunt bigfoot. A few footprints were provided and then a few “sightings”, probably a Biscardi confederate in a monkey suit. Biscardi should run one of those roadside tourist traps. He could call it “Biscardi’s Bigfoot World” I can see the handpainted sign now: “‘Come hunt Bigfoot with the world renowned expert. Enjoy the thrill of discovering REAL footprints of this unknown creature! Experience the excitement of searching for bigfoot! Who knows maybe YOU will see the the mysterious beast!”
Maybe Biscardi could wear khaki and sport a pith helmet for the full effect.
hey craig interesting update about this.. expedition im sure we will hear more updates about it soon. thanks bill green
I think Mr. Reece gave a very honest account of events without embellishing or giving into any temptation to exagerrate what happened. He makes a point of saying that he cannot vouch for certain things that happened and does not even try to insist that the tracks were real. I found his account quite refreshing and free of bias. It is too bad he didn’t make a sighting himself. I enjoyed reading his account, and I do not doubt what he says at all, but what I do wonder about is the authenticity of reports from Biscardi’s group. So many sightings in one expedition without any confirmation through photos even though they seemed to be well prepared is odd to me. This is one of the problems with Biscardi now. He has become so known as a huckster that it is the “cry wolf” thing, even if he comes up with genuine stuff, people are going to view it with a good deal of skepticism. I know I will. In a way it is a shame.
Even the sincere can be self-deluded…or should that read “especially the sincere”?
Thank you for your report, Dr. Reece. It’s good to know there were some sensible people out there on that excursion. Too bad you had such rotten weather.
It’s easy for an armchair “explorer” like myself to think every minute of every event involving Biscardi is like some low-rent version of Geraldo. I still wouldn’t trust either of them with my lunch money.