Speaking of the Bigfoot Rendezvous
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on July 6th, 2006
I attended the Bigfoot Rendezvous several weeks ago in Pocatello, ID. I had a great time. I saw some friends and colleagues that I had not seen in some time, others that I had seen only months or even weeks earlier.
Yesterday, the Boise Weekly published an article about the event.
The article focuses on wildlife biologist John Mionczynski, who told his story of a strange encounter he had in 1972.
It also mentions several of the other characters who attended.
POCATELLO–A hulking 6-foot 3-inch believer cornered John Mionczynski as he left the lectern. "I know you’re a skeptic, right? But look here." The man jabbed a photo with his thick finger. "See. See. That’s Bigfoot."
I peeked over the man’s meaty shoulder to see a grainy black and white of trees and shadows. I felt like I was flunking an ink blot test.
He prodded Mionczynski. "Obviously you see that’s Bigfoot there. What do you think of that?"
The man then presented a shot of an oval smudge on a gray background, captioned: "Bigfoot in UFO."
As a wildlife biologist, Mionczynski has spent years tracking bears through Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains. He’s the sort of man Marlboro puts on billboards and the gray at his temples is the only suggestion that he is nearly 60 years old.
Mionczynski grinned at the big zealot and said, "I think you have a great imagination."
The man arched an eyebrow and, with Gandhi-like dignity, lumbered off.
"You have to listen to what they have to say and just try to be courteous to people like that," Mionczynski said.
At the conference, one sasquatch-sized man demonstrated Bigfoot’s heavy, arm-swinging stride. A woman described several encounters where she didn’t see Bigfoot, but found puddles of Bigfoot urine. Another time she heard what could only have been Bigfoot flatulence. Another man with a California surfer accent talked about a woman who, after being abducted by Bigfoot, was returned to civilization years later, wild and crazy.
"They had to keep her in a cage," he said.
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.
Why is it the fringe lunatics who think of Bigfoot as a UFO driving shape shifter are the only ones who get press.
I guess if they actually covered legitimate research they would find it boring.
IDIOTS!
chrisandclauida2,
The bulk of the article does cover those doing legitimate research, John Mionczynski and to a lesser extent, Jeff Meldrum.
Honestly, when I was in San Antonio about two months back for the lectures associated with Craig’s “Bigfoot in Texas” exhibit (more talks in SA this weekend BTW), I found Meldrum’s talk to be the most fascinating, intelligent, fact filled discourse on plaster casts and foot anatomy I ever heard. Meldrum’s explanation of flexion points and the features found in plaster casts are the kind of facts that make natural skeptics like myself take notice.
Unfortunately I noticed people getting up and leaving during Jeff’s talk more than I did during others (granted a couple of those were folks with antsy, fidgeting children in tow, and maybe I was shocked by the few ‘runaways’ because I was finally excited to be getting some “meat” instead of another Weekly World News style report.)
But, I guess all that analysis of the hard evidence just isn’t as fascinating as Bigfoot’s caged love slave.
Not a bad story once you go over and read the whole thing.
Sadly, it’s the whack jobs that are usually the most vocal. Most normal people are a little tenative and shy. The loons will call up every paper in town to tell their story. Back in my editor days, there was one particular nut job that called the paper twice a day every day for almost two weeks to tell me about his perpetual motion machine. He was fully prepared to unveil his invention provided I could set it up, so that President Bush would be there for the ceremony.
Yes, I did finally send a reporter to check out the machine. The conceptual model worked great — except that it had to be plugged into an outlet.
Good evening Craig…much obliged
The lunatic fringe does not help the cause of preserving and protecting such a wonderous creature….now…more than ever they need our help…JMHO
seeing is believing…save the sasquatch
ole bub and the dawgs
I’ve noticed that the majority of “bigfoot researchers” seek attention through their own self-generated hype. It is like a comic book series with an array of combative villains, altruistic heroes, charlatans, frauds, mouse potatoes, carpetbaggers, capitalists, sycophants and crazies. And I freaking love it!
aaha,
All “fame” is self-created in this way. If working for newspapers taught me only one thing, it is how important artificially generated hype is to “fame” (whether on a micro or macro level).
You never know one these fringe types could be the one to find and prove the Big Guy is out there to the rest of the world.