MonsterQuest Creator Speaks Out
Posted by: Loren Coleman on November 19th, 2008
Recently, there was a great outpouring of feedback from you, the readers of this blog, who are also the audience of History’s “MonsterQuest,” regarding “Sasquatch Attack II”. Due to this, the series creator Doug Hajicek has sent an email exclusively to you via Cryptomundo.
Hajicek has addressed his viewers here before.
It is good to receive this message from him, and his unedited missive is shared below:
Dear MonsterQuest Viewers,
Although I can never forgive myself for picking apparently the wrong date for our Snellgrove expedition in Aug. it was the same week in Aug… that we had 3 previous experiences with something at that cabin. The date of this expedition has to be planned months in advance. All participants have lives, families and jobs, not to even mention air date deadlines that were extended by the network so we could be at the right place at the right time.
I certainly realize how disappointed folks get when we do not have a encounter, as hoped even though we allowed extra days and technology never before tried on this trip. Nobody was more disappointed than me…that all was quiet at the cabin.
I have always tried to bring mainstream scientists and credible researchers on all of my TV shows and that includes the MQ field work and expeditions, this is important in the advancement of the “subject” for many reasons. I have always put forth great effort in raising the bar scientifically with my programs starting with “Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science.”
I also hope folks can see past what appears to be failed field experiences and appreciate and learn from the effort, for it is those “failed” but tried efforts that we all learn something. Some new ideas – some old – that we all can build on as researchers, enthusiasts, thinkers and scientists in all areas of cryptozoology. We also provide eyewitness testimony not to mention history, science, forensics, natural history, drama. With audience support we can continue to raise the bar.
The Bottom Line Is:
MonsterQuest is the exact type of programming I am passionate about wanting to watch and I am very proud to be part of producing it.
Sincerely,
Doug Hajicek
MonsterQuest Series Producer/Creator
For an updated schedule of what’s on “MonsterQuest” next, see here.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
As a volunteer researcher with the TBRC, I have made many trips into remote areas where there had previously been reported bigfoot sightings, or even where our own team members had had their own field observations, only to endure days and nights of nothing but mundane wildlife activity.
This happens probably 95% of the time when we are in the field. Was it a waste? No way. We always come away with more experience and knowledge,
The point is, I greatly appreciate MonsterQuest and highly enjoy the program, particularly the episodes dedicated to the pursuit of the sasquatch or bigfoot.
Am I disappointed when our TBRC team or the MonsterQuest team on each episode is not successful in finding evidence or proving once and for all that the animal exists? Of course I am disappointed; every time I am in the field, I have optimism that THIS TIME will be THE time. But, I absolutely love the way that MonsterQuest seriously probes the question of whether or not unlisted species could exist and seriously looks into it. Each episode subject is treated respectfully and those who are conducting the research are afforded a measure of respect. Very few other programs resist the temptation to, at least a little bit, lampoon cryptozoology. When MonsterQuest features skeptics, the skeptics are normally not disrespectful, condescending or mocking; they simply state their position in a professional manner. This is very commendable.
This fall, the TBRC had the pleasure of working with MonsterQuest for an upcoming episode (“The Creature of Boggy Creek”), in which I was a participant. It was an enjoyable and great experience. I hope the episode is received well.
I think MonsterQuest is an excellent program and I hope the show continues for many seasons.
Best wishes to Doug and the rest of the MonsterQuest team; keep your head down and keep working hard – you’re doing great.
Well said Doug….and Daryl
Congratulations and kudos to you and your organization for bringing the MQ series to the History Channel.
Given the quality and promise of the MQ series, perhaps our expectations are unrealistic. I salute your innovative efforts bringing scientists, state of the art equipment, resources and common sense to cryptozoological research.
I commented you had “over promised and under delivered” on the Sasquatch Attack II episode…upon reflection, many of us may have unrealistic expectations…allow me to retract that comment. I’m sure no one was more disappointed than you and your team by the absence of “squatch” activity at the Snelgrove cabin site.
May I humbly suggest there is an abundance of “squatch” activity in North America…most of which is ignored and seldom scientifically investigated. The posts of the past week reflect a high level of interest in a series devoted exclusively to “the Big Folks”…JMHO
live and let live…
ole bub and the dawgs
Hi. I saw already “Sasquatch Attack 2”, and although there was good stories (the sighting by the ladies in the blueberry field, for example), it was somewhat inconclusive (the DNA tests, for example).
Anyway, the program must keep going. If this is a “hot spot” for bigfoot activity, why not to continue and try again and again? The discovery of a species like Bigfoot will worth it and it will bring a lot of new information about the evolution of hominid species. If there are reports such as the big creature seen by the ladies, then scientists have to verifty them.
I think researches continue in the field because they start to see some consistency in bigfoot reports: a big and hairy, nocturnal, furtive humanoid. It was reported by the native americans, by the spanish explorers, by european colonizers and it is continued to be reported by modern people, so people is seeing something.
I believe in MonsterQuest program, some episodes are better than the others, (I started to believe because a friend from my dad told once me he had seen in the woods a scary black bird, bigger than an andean condor, so the only thing I can relate it is with Birdzilla or the mythical Thunderbird). but anyway, we have to remember that is is difficult to make a program about undiscovered creatures: you just cannot enter into the woods and take a pic of something you don’t see. So I will agree to make special surveillance in the cabin, to install some solar cells and batteries to get some power source and operate the cameras for months, and maybe installing also infrarred devices. Food can be used as bait (blueberries?), for example) and from time to time vocalizations can be amplified with loudspeakers.
(We want to attract Sasquatch, not to scare him away with hidden traps).
Greetings.
K. A.
I know a lot of people feel dissapointed when nothing is found but when you’re searching for secretive wild animals it will take a good bit of luck to find them. At least they’re getting professionals out there to search and funding these expeditions, as Loren has said it isn’t easy to get funding for cryptozoology.
I enjoyed working with MonsterQuest and thought the episode on Native American bigfoot beliefs was outstanding. The topic is rarely explored on television, and it’s even rarer for Native people to share their stories. MQ was even allowed to have an expedition on tribal land! The show may not be perfect, but they are doing some good things. We should be just as quick to compliment as we are to criticize.
I am personally looking forward to the 2009 shows.
I am somewhat confused by the negative comments I’ve read pertaining to Monster Quest… do viewers actually believe there must be proof or evidence in every episode for it to be entertaining and informative? The show is about FINDING the truth… the SEARCH for these “monsters” is the show’s whole point. To react negatively because they didn’t find evidence of Bigfoot or any other of the show’s subjects seems to undermine the entire process. I find it entertaining and in many ways insightful. I also find that it is in a way proving that a lot, if not most, of these “monsters” do not in fact exist and are misjudgments or are easily explained phenomena. I can’t wait until they come up with solid evidence for some of the more interesting subjects… good job either way.
Maybe I was a bit harsh but my point had nothing to do with finding a Bigfoot.
My disappointment was over the fact of half the show being spend reviewing old stuff, repeating old dialog, rehashing old scenes. I didn’t see the sense in spending an hour on essentially a review mixed with 10 minutes of new stuff. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but you get the idea.
I realize that it’s hard to put together a show like this not to mention the travel and the people’s personal lives. However, if you are going to put something on the air as bad as this last episode maybe things need retooled or reexamined.
I can handle that there was no interaction with the subject but the format I can not.
Mr. Hajicek,
Perhaps you can avoid future disappointment by picking better titles for your episodes. My main issue with “Sasquatch Attack II” was the fact that the episode title was completely misleading. If I remember correctly, you didn’t find evidence of a sasquatch, nor were you attacked by one.
Thank you for your time.
I’m not sure if I screwed this up and this is a second posting or not… but here goes….
Let’s start off with the fact that I love Monster Quest revel in that it is mostly honest in its reporting of facts of whatever case it happens to be reporting on.
But in the case of the “Sasquatch Attack” I have to stop you and ask a couple of questions. I believe that the History Channel has a budget and that it gives each of its programs a decent budget to work with. Don’t they give Monster Quest enough of a budget to protect each and every member of the expedition? If so, they why aren’t you protecting the expedition? I don’t want to be snide, but haven’t you heard of motion sensors or seismographs? Equipment sensitive enough to detect a creature that is supposed to weigh in at over 800 pounds should have been deployed and you should have been able to determine that this thing was 200 yards away from you before it threw a rock. What about night vision? What about FLIR? I mean how many members of the team need to be awake? Haven’t you ever heard of “remote sensing equipment”? This animal is said to produce an odor similar to a skunk, there must be some type of equipment out there used by some spy that could tell you, “hey, there’s a nasty smell out here!” Frankly, when the rock came up on the roof and nobody knew what threw it up there, I was immediately pissed that nobody had a FLIR camera – Somebody call Ghost Hunters! They have one!!!