The Sasquatch Scheme
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on August 9th, 2007
Daryl Colyer, one of my colleagues with the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy, has shared his thoughts on what many think is a government cover-up of Bigfoot.
This is part one of his theory.
Nowadays it seems those of us interested in researching the sasquatch phenomenon repeatedly encounter notions of huge conspiracies and cover-ups. Indeed, there seem to be conspiracy theories dealing with just about anything having any semblance of mystery to it.
While, in all honesty, I find theories of large-scale conspiracies and cover-ups to be romantic and entertaining, most such assertions are just not tenable.
Having spent six years in USAF intelligence, I learned from experience that it’s not easy to keep something a secret. It takes an incredibly concerted and expensive effort, even when almost everyone involved greatly desires to keep the secret, and especially in the face of others who are working hard to uncover the secret. The Air Force devoted an enormous amount of time, money and human resources to extensively train us to withhold what we knew and to resist any efforts to compel us to disclose sensitive information, even in the event of being shot down, captured and tortured.
There were numerous protocols to which we all adhered as part of these concerted training efforts. We knew that there were potentially terrible consequences for disclosing sensitive intelligence, beyond the personal guilt and shame of betraying one’s country, which could have led to imprisonment or in some cases, death. We had to constantly be on guard even during seemingly innocuous phone conversations with loved ones and idle talk with neighbors; we were trained that our enemies had the potential of piecing together small bits of information gleaned from many sources to form a larger picture. To almost all of us, due to our training, mindset and discipline, it became almost instinctive to behave in such a manner, in speech and other ways, that did not betray what we had been trained to protect: vital and sensitive national security secrets. The US military has historically been quite good at it, but as I mentioned, such vigilance has come at great expense, and has never been 100% successful. (There have been a few historical cases of betrayal in the modern age; names such as Clyde Conrad and John Walker come to mind.)
As indicated earlier, it’s been suggested that there may be some sort of conspiracy to withhold information that the sasquatch or “bigfoot” is indeed roaming remote North American forests. Such a conspiracy would no doubt be on a large scale and would necessarily involve hundreds, perhaps thousands, of individuals. Possibly the cover-up would have to be maintained by disparate entities, both private and governmental, for years, maybe even decades, with no betrayals (so far). Granted, withholding information pertaining to an officially undiscovered North American ape does not compare to national security secrets, but I still find such a scenario implausible.
Is there any one group or entity that is even capable of successfully managing and pulling off such a cover-up? I know from experience that the US government is capable of managing campaigns that guard information related to national security that are much more complex (than any ostensible sasquatch cover-up) and involve copious amounts of information, but as I mentioned, such campaigns come at great expense and effort, and they are not foolproof. I find it difficult to accept that any other entity would even be capable of such a cover-up. To my knowledge, no other entity has the wherewithal to even implement a campaign dedicated to such action, regardless of desire or motive.
Besides, the US government is made up of many smaller entities characterized by their own interests, roles and modi operandi.
For example, the US Forest Service is dedicated to the managed utilization of timber and wildlife on 191 million acres. The National Park Service, responsible for 81 million acres of national parks, wildlife refuges and sanctuaries, is really more about conservation, preservation and protection. The Bureau of Land Management administers 264 million acres of public lands within a framework of numerous laws and is responsible for managing many land conditions, most of which are located in 12 western states.
One would think that any government conspiracy to withhold information about the sasquatch would surely involve individuals from one or more of these three governmental agencies (and potentially the forest and wildlife agencies of the various states). Let me point out that these agencies are typically not made up of highly-trained, highly-motivated military personnel; to the contrary, they are mostly made up of bureaucrats, as well as law enforcement personnel, technicians and biologists.
In my mind, the biggest question is not who would conduct such a campaign to cover up the sasquatch’s existence, but why would anyone want to do so? What compelling reason(s) would someone or some group have to keep the existence of the sasquatch a secret?
I mentioned earlier in this paper that there have been a few breaches of security in recent US military history. The same “Why?” question can be asked regarding those cases. Why did Walker, Conrad and others betray their country by divulging sensitive information?
The answer? Money.
We will explore Daryl’s thoughts on the money angle of the Sasquatch Scheme next week in part two.
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 popular conspiracy theories, all of them, represent nothing more than the near-total collapse of the average American’s ability to think critically. Mr. Colyer’s comments are an all-too-rare relief from the continuous lunacy of the woo-woo-tinfoil-hat crowd.
People can come up with anything these days. A conspiracy for bigfoot?! That’s going over the edge. Why in the world would the government cover up bigfoot facts and sightings ect.? Crazy in my opinion.
My favorite Bigfoot conspiracy story is the one that has the National Guard wisking away a bunch of charred Sasquatch corpses in the wake of the St Helen’s erruption. Great Story.
I have a friend I’ve know since childhood who subscribes to a lot of these conspiracy theorys. Whether it UFO’s, JFK, the Masons; he’s on it. Sometimes I would attempt to break it down for him and try to convince him why these in the end don’t hold any water.
I eventually gave up when I realized I was always back to square whenever I talked to him. These stories are kept alive because there is always somebody looking for fantastic explanations for the mundane.
I’m pretty open-minded…and really, you don’t have to be open-minded to believe that there is, or will be, a “them.” (as in, “they” are watching 🙂 People are corrupt, and power and technology are vehicles for that corruption. In fact, you’d have to be foolishly “open-minded” to NOT believe that there is, or will be, a “them.” Globalism will inevitably lead to the Bayberry of Lewis’ “That Hideous Strength.”
I say all that to say this: I see no reason why “They” would give a flying leap whether or not the public knew about a rare North American ape species. That’s stupid.
Of course it’s just silly to think our government would try to hide anything from the public. That’s never happened before! Protection of lands currently used for mining and timber industries and the Spotted owl syndrome are just a couple of good reasons, I feel, a cover-up could exist. Again, money.
Agreed, Loren, such things are highly doubtful. Interesting article though, thanks.
Scott C., “they” might give a flip about Bigfoot’s discovery if it led to millions and millions of acres of logging being shut down.
It’s completety plausible.
The US goverment may have a very good reason to keep Bigfoot a secret, why? Perhaps for some super-soldier experiment.
The 101st Hairborne!
As I’ve said before, there are those, whether Colyer or anybody else likes it or not, who stand to lose with this thing’s discovery.
I just can’t see the timber guys sitting idly while they potentially lose a bajillion acres of timber cutting because bigfoot gets discovered.
If tomorrow the feds announce the existence of a large gigantowhateverus that stands 7-8 feet tall and shares 99% DNA with humankind, what will that do to campgrounds in national forests and parks in North America? How many moms and dads would take their children camping in the North American outback after learning that such an animal exists, even in low population numbers?
Again, there’s a lot at stake here. Don’t believe otherwise for a second.
Besides, it sure seems to me like sometimes there’s a smear campaign about the whole thing.
I doubt the discovery of bigfoot would lead to millions of acres of logging being shut down. I would never say that all conspiracy theories are invalid but I just don’t see any reason why authorities would want to cover up the existence of bigfoot… there’s little to gain from such a cover up and I daresay that there would be much to gain from public recognition of such an animal.
In my mind, the biggest question is not who would conduct such a campaign to cover up the sasquatch’s existence, but why would anyone want to do so? What compelling reason(s) would someone or some group have to keep the existence of the sasquatch a secret?
Exactly the same question comes to my mind. Why? What reason would the government have to cover up the BIG ONES existence? It’s not like Bigfoot is a matter of national security, unless, unless they really are trying to make SUPER SOLDIERS. (Not) Seriously though, why would they?
I am not really a big fan of conspiracy theories myself, and I agree with a lot of what Mr. Coyler said about how difficult it is to maintain a huge secret like this. It is easy to come up with ideas of omnipotent organizations who plot behind the scenes and use their covert machinations to keep everyone in the dark about what “really happens”, but I don’t think many realize how extraordinarily difficult and expensive this would be. It would be an incredible feat of organization, funding, and resources to orchestrate a conspiracy of this magnitude and I feel perhaps the romantic notions of such things are a bit removed from the actual feasibility of pulling them off.
I will say that I think the situation here is different than any sort of government intelligence training and the precautions needed in such a field. Mr. Coyler goes into great depth about how much training was needed to make sure that secrets weren’t given away, even under torture, and how difficult it is to make sure there are no betrayals. It is discussed how careful they had to be in order to make sure information was not leaked in phone conversations or whatnot. But I think it is important to remember that these are not secret government plans or top secret technological information we are talking about here. We are talking about Bigfoot.
If there was a conspiracy here, then in my opinion it has kind of a fool proof security built in. There would not be as much training needed in keeping sensitive data a secret when anyone who came forward with stories of Bigfoot existing or of timber companies suppressing the truth of giant hairy hominids would most likely be ridiculed and not believed anyway. Realistically, who is going to believe a whistle-blower who comes forward and gives away information on a plot to keep Bigfoot a secret? Let’s face it, most of the general public would probably treat them as a loon and their story would more likely show up in a tabloid than in a newspaper. I think if there is a conspiracy, then it is unlikely that, short of someone producing a body, there is really anything for them to worry about as far as people leaking information or coming forward as any such information would likely not be treated seriously by the general public anyway.
If you really look at it and see the general response of the public running the gamut from mild amusement to ridicule towards the people who have made sightings, video footage, and even petitions to get Bigfoot protected, I don’t think the logging companies or government have anything to lose much sleep over just yet. Even if they know Bigfoot is out there, it hasn’t threatened their livelihood yet.
The thing with the business angle is Daryl, it still doesn’t have to be a “concerted” or “organized” conspiracy. It doesn’t have to be as big as going to the top of the company ladder. All that has to happen is for the guy behind the desk to derisively snort at a crew foreman and say “You want me to give your crew a free day so we can check to see if we have a fairy-tale character in the woods?”, and, voilá, the stage is set from that point on. No one will say anything, because nobody wants to be crazy. (I had to fire him boss, the guy was crazy. Kept saying he saw bigfoots behind every damn tree.)
I mean, let’s face it. Even if you don’t work for a lumber company, most folks would be reluctant to tell folks what they saw because of the general climate of derision such a claim generates in our society. When the culture at large has that attitude it doesn’t take a concerted conspiracy to keep things covered up. All one has to do is just “go with the flow” and, as you note, where money (either money to be made by companies from natural resources, or equal money without making more work for oneself if a forest/interior/ wildlife service employee).
There’s no need for any massive government funded conspiracy. The ridicule enjoyed by any brave enough to step forward also keeps any official agency from reporting anything, and from dissuading any employees who report from the same. Local decisions by local managers. Nobody wants their police station/ranger station (oh god the Kokanee comparisons would be unrelenting)/government office to be ridiculed in the media and lose credibility.
As for logging, what company would openly admit there was a large, undiscovered mammal requiring massive investigation and protection, living in their scheduled-for-clearcut leased land?
No, the massive ‘conspiracy’ exists within the media. The unwritten mantra:
Bigfoot story? Spin it funny!
The concept of a government conspiracy, in collaboration with the lumber industry in the Pacific Northwest, is elegantly and interestingly proffered in the novel “Cryptid” that was published in 2005/06 I think. Loren knows about it, because he wrote a positive review of it.
Daryl/Loren,
I believe the boat has been missed here, because the the premise is not the gov’t has information on bigfoot, but how that info was obtained. 20 years ago we had satellites that could photograph you smiling at it and count your teeth. The NRO cannot divulge technical information about its capabilities because of its classified nature. What I mean to say is for instance, theoretically, a murder was committed in the middle of nowhere on a moonless night and one of our satellites photographed it. Nowadays the technology can capture not only the perp, victim, and exact time, but most probably the make, model and serial number of the weapon used. But the Office cannot divulge its capabilities even if it’s an unsolvable crime, due to national security and the highly classified nature of the technology. So that said, Mr. Bigfoot will still be an enigma to us all until maybe Mr. Bigfoot wants to be found and become social.
Stay tuned for part two tomorrow.
I believe if there is any sort of cover-up going on, it’s not concerted; it’s at the local level as a result of Joe Bureaucrat keeping his mouth shut and his head in the sand.
Also, I will also talk a little about how to many people, the Endangered Species Act and the Northern Spotted Owl are synonymous with lost jobs, lost income and lost opportunities.
But remember, the Endangered Species Act pitted the federal government against the timber industry in the case of the Northern Spotted Owl.
Would not the same thing happen if the sasquatch were to be officially discovered tomorrow? The government would, hopefully, declare it to be an endangered species. (The Endangered Species Act is designed to restrict use of land where endangered species reside). At that point, perhaps millions of acres of land would suddenly be unavailable to logging. This is exactly what happened with the Northern Spotted Owl.
Now with that point, I’ve only established that some may actually have the motive to see that bigfoot remains undiscovered. However, as my piece tomorrow will say, I doubt seriously that any group has the ability to suppress such a discovery in an organized concerted manner.
Conspiracy Theory? I doubt it. But I wouln’t mind having one of those satellites that can “count your teeth”. I would photograph the forests and jungles all day.
I don’t understand why people are so quick to throw away any bit of reasoning that “they” haven’t been plotting these so called “conspiracies” for centuries. That’s a huge problem with this country, if people are not even remotely open minded; they always look for an answer that makes sense, because if you were to know too much, it would cause an overload in your perfect hum-drum so predictable reality of life where everything is fictional. There is a Bigfoot conspiracy and it will continue. Why do you think all these mainstream pansies are so quick to discredit sassy?? Because they are told to. We cannot know about anything “mysterious”.
I would agree with the assumption that BF would have an unfavorable impact on the logging/timber industry if he was territorial and remained in one specific area, but ole “sassy” has been spotted in most if not all the US and Canada. So I don’t believe proving the existence of BF would affect any logging industry locally. BF’s problem with the gov’t would be its nomadic propensity and would run the USDA nuts if indeed he is nomadic as I think he is. Has anyone ever really given any thought to how it would affect Mr. Bigfoot if he is “outed”? How would you even study a North American ape or ape-like being like bigfoot if proved to be real? I for one would like to try but he can out run me. Heck, he can out walk me. Conspiracy? I doubt it, unless he’s all ready been caught and studied by the gov’t and found to be immortal or his snot cures cancer or…
The thing that people forget about conspiracies is how they are constantly being discovered every day. Just look at some of the things the tobacco or pharmaceutical companies get up to all the time, and don’t even get me started about government conspiracies. Are they grand? Are they all-encompassing? Do they hint at some deeper, darker secret? Nope, not at all. Most are quite petty, some almost pointless, while most are clearly designed to make as much money as possible with minimum risk. by the time they are exposed, the deed’s usually already been done, that’s why as old ones are discovered new ones are formed in their place.
My point is this- yes, there are conspiracies, lots of them, all around us, all the time. But most are quite limited in scope and power, and (Hopefully) most are exposed, in time.
If a BF conspiracy exists, it must be on a small scale, possibly several small, bureaucratic cabals operating independent and unknowingly of each other, with a good deal of fortuitous happenstance added into the mix. To be anything else would require much more time and effort than it would be worth to anybody, and that’s what it almost always boils down to- money.
Quote from Mr. Coyler: “While, in all honesty, I find theories of large-scale conspiracies and cover-ups to be romantic and entertaining, most such assertions are just not tenable.”
In a way I guess Mr. Coyler is right. The U.S. Air Force’s Survival School he attended during his stay in the military decided in 2003 (after his attendance at that particular school) that since the training areas were known to be within in the well documented range of some of these animal, they would actually show depictions of, and include them in the descriptions of the animals on a “survival” map the trainees were given. The map info included a list of animals the trainees might encounter during their training. Since all that info was contained on the map, there does not appear to be a conspiracy as far as the USAF is concerned.
It’s not a conspiracy “thing” with the various federal and state agencies that are well aware of these creatures; its just that they don’t want to deal with them. What the heck can they do except set aside “Wilderness Areas”, and special “walk-in” hunting areas where there are known populations of them, and just hope to heck they stay in them. What are they going to do with them if the public is fully aware of them? No one can control their movements, they can’t catch them to relocate them, and they very well may be relic humans which no federal or state agency has the authority or the means to deal with.
Just think about it.
Defactor, that’s interesting that you brought up the SERE Training School that I attended.
When I went through, I can’t remember who it was, but while out in the field, one of the guys in our element happened to ask one of our instructors about bigfoot sightings. I remember distinctly that he mentioned one particular sighting by a trainee while out in the field in SERE training. He also talked about a few other sightings. We were a little spooked about it at the time, since we all slept well away from each other in parachute lean-tos. (It averaged about 0 degrees fahrenheit, and there were several feet of snow on the ground during my balmy stay there near Fairchild AFB, Washington. We had to escape, evade and do everything in snowshoes).
“They’re everywhere, and there is nothing we can do about it.” I’ve read that here.
Daryl, that was a great article and you hit the nail on the head. As you pointed out, it is an extremely difficult challenge to keep even military secrets. It becomes more problematic for other agencies and private companies.
There are conspiracies, but they are small, of shorter term duration and usually get discovered and outed somewhere along the way. Nixon and Watergate is a perfect example of a conspiracy, and what usually happens to them. I’ve worked for a “outdoors” state agency for 20+ years and interact regularly with the National Park Service, the Forest Service and US Fish & Wildlife as well as various other state agencies. To get everyone on the same page on mundane issues is extremely difficult and usually frustrating. But for everyone to cooperate on a massive secret that eventually requires you to bring in private entities as well? Forget it Gee, some folks really don’t understand how laborious and inefficient bureaucracy can be. Massive, long-term conspiracies are only easy to carry out on the ‘X-Files.’
Without diverging too far, someone pointed to “globalism” as if it were a conspiracy. Actually, it is more a mindset or consensus that many politicians and bureaucrats have gradually accepted over time, in part due to our rapidly advancing communications and travel technology that “shrink” the planet. Documents are out and not that secretive that reveal the opinions of politicians, corporate heads and financial insitutions. Will your government lie and omit details? You bet. The decrease of nationalism and rise of globalism doesn’t get much press because most journalists and news organizations see nothing wrong with it. Our society also has information overload and sometimes when such a story does run, it doesn’t get noticed or simply fails to create groundswell of public opinion. Politicians often count on public apathy!
But my point is, globalism is not a deep, dark secret, orchestrated by a handful of elites who have managed to pull the wool over hundreds of millions of peoples’ eyes for decades or centuries (depending on the conspiracy you subscribe too).
Let me use a few examples from personal experience. In the 1965, there were perhaps a dozen black bears in our state. The bear population has increased gradually , now up to maybe 500. However our state wildlife agency officially said very, very little about bears. They do put out a pamplet now what to do when you meet a bear or one raids your property. But again, all low-key. I really can’t recall any major news releases about bears unless one showed up in the Wal Mart dumpster and such. Some would say the game folks engaged in a conspiracy. Nope, it was a consensus – let the bears do their thing naturally and we will neither encourage or discourage it. The population is reaching a point now where management will become more active.
I think the same thing is happening with mountain lions. They are showing up where they were extirpated a hundred or so years earlier. At first they were all “misidentification” or “escaped pets.” However, photographs combined with DNA and stomach content analysis reveals otherwise in many cases. The evidence could not be denied. Again the approach is low-key and by consensus, not conspiracy. Let nature take its course and neither hinder or help the lions. I believe that in the next 10-15 years, you see see viable breeding populations in areas where they’ve extirpated for decades.
On a humorous note, many years ago, our agency was accused of stocking rattlesnakes on public lands and hiding the fact This conspiracy even got picked up in a few papers. I was even personally confronted about it. I asked the person how we were doing this. He replied that we were “seeding them from helicopters.” I then told him he was right and that we paying people to help us. This drew a reaction from the group. I said “We need someone to put those tiny parachutes on the snakes before we drop them. A snake will still splat and die if you drop it from tree top level.” LOL Once everyone knew how foolish their seeding conspiracy sounded, I said rattlesnakes were already part of the natural environment – why would need to spend money to introduce more? One thing that triggered this was sightings of black helicopters. Yes, and there were black helicopters buzzing public lands! Unmarked (for camouflage) state patrol copters looking for pot fields and meth labs in the woods.
Moving on to Sasquatch, the problem is not a government conspiracy. The problem is the lack of the irrefutable smoking-gun evidence that nobody could deny. Based on a couple of first hand accounts from friends of mine and the fact they have stuck to the same story for many years, I have to hold the door open to the possibility. I know some of the northern and mountain Indian nations take these things very seriously. I don’t know Jeff Meldrum but his credentials make me take pause that he is taking these things seriously. At the very least, there is a phenomena here that is part of our culture and collective folklore and that alone makes the subject of Bigfoot worthy of the study. But the burden of proof rests with Crypto seekers and looking for or fighting a grand “government conspiracy” will only deflect attention from the effort to find the hard proof of Sasquatch.
Not trying to be overly skeptical with my blathering. Just trying to make sure that people apply some critical thinking in these issues.
I dont think theres a conspiracy but let me remind you of one thing.
Historicaly the us government has shown no interest in BF
The old Soviet govt, however, was involved in searching for almas…
make of that what you will