About Those Sasquatch Structures…
Posted by: Nick Redfern on April 13th, 2012
Without doubt, one of the more curious aspects of the Bigfoot puzzle is that concerning those strange tree-based structures found where Sasquatch is said to lurk.
I’ve personally stumbled upon a number of such creations in the last decade in Texas alone. The first picture that accompanies this post was taken by me at Greer Island, Lake Worth, Texas – back in the summer of 2005 – when me and Lone Star State-based cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard were out at the lake, chasing down its legendary and notorious “Goatman” controversy.
It was kind of odd and ironic that we should have been investigating reports (including then-recent reports, I should add) of one particular cryptid, only to come across a curious structure most often associated with a very different one!
Regarding the second picture, I took this one in early 2008 when, along with Lance Oliver, who runs the Denton Area Paranormal Society (DAPS), I headed off to Lake Ray Roberts, Texas, where there was a flurry of Bigfoot action a number of years ago, and where – in the heart of the woods of the lake – we came across many such structures.
The thing that I found most fascinating about the Lake Ray Roberts discoveries was that the tree-limbs in question were significantly thick, and it would have taken someone – or something – with a considerable degree of strength to not only bend and inter-link the branches, but also in several cases to have literally torn them off the trees.
I intend making a return trip to Lake Ray Roberts in the near future, so if anyone wants to come along, let me know…
About Nick Redfern
Punk music fan, Tennents Super and Carlsberg Special Brew beer fan, horror film fan, chocolate fan, like to wear black clothes, like to stay up late. Work as a writer.
Gosh I wish I could go. Money, ministry obligations, other things keep me from it. One day I’ll go on an expedition, but not anytime soon.
Makes me wonder how many of these Sasquatch nests are spotted and not recognized for what they are…
Had my second sighting at Ray Roberts. A friend and co group member has done his due diligence out there, someone you ought to get to know if ya don’t know him yet, Discojelly himself, Mr.Courts Griner.
Member of the Timberline Bigfoot Group. We will be going out there soon ourselves.
No one has ever seen a sasquatch ever build a structure, or ‘gate’, or use them as road signs. Let’s just blame everything in the woods that we don’t see occur on them as well! Instead of thinking that most of these are natural, you jump to thinking a bigfoot had to do it? Why stop at a bigfoot? It could have been aliens from mars! Or kids, or weather and time…. As a person with hundreds of acres of trees in AZ and in Utah, I think it’s safe to say that these are natural. I have trees above 6000 feet that look just like this, and I have trees at sea level in the hottest part of Arizona (where there is NO bigfoots) that look just like this. You give trees a bad cold spell, some wind, a dry month, bad soil…. They do some weird things. It just blows me away that anyone in their right mind would ever jump to a conclusion that a bigfoot did this. No one can even prove they are real, yet they are blamed destroying trees? Why stop there? Let’s blame them for the fences that fall over, the holes in the signs, downed power lines… You can’t learn from something by never seeing one actually do it.
What always perplexed me were “tipis” bigfoot apparently left behind. I’ve seen very small ones, carefully made, and ones large enough for me to drive a truck under. One fellow researcher once speculated to me that the little tipis are where adult bigfoot were teaching their children the construction techniques.
To this day I’ve no idea.
But like Nick, I’ve seen these many times in active BF areas. These are not like the “structures” shown in this article. Those could be covered with pine branches and put into use quickly. What I’m talking about it a more pointed structure that looks, well, like a Native American tipi.
These were never rare in my area. What say the rest of you?
Ironwood, retired BF researcher
I took a class this spring at a state-sponsored seminar that dealt with the construction of this type of structure. It was a class in primitive survival techniques.
The structure we were taught to construct bore a strong resemblance to the first one shown. If done correctly, the completed structure will be both wind and rain resistant. The photo looks like one in the early stages of construction. Of course, it could also be a completed structure that had deteriorated.
Minimalist survival enthusiasts build this type of structure for overnight shelter. There is a movement in this country that involves camping and hiking with only the barest of equipment.
I suspect that many of the structures attributed to Sasquatch are actually man-made by survivalists.
Yeah I am sort of curious why of all the possibilities, bigfoot seems to be the most plausible cause for these…Really? So no other option seems more probable? We are just going to go with bigfoot? I just don’t understand.
This tree structure topic really grates at me as I’m quite certain that what we’re seeing in these tree tangles, teepees or whatever has absolutely nothing to do with sasquatch. I do though make a very hard distinction between these structures and the occasional “pointing arrow” usually found near a game trail. I have not personally observed any of the pointing sticks and readily acknowledge that they may be something sasquatch related. Anyone familiar with my posts knows about my out-doors background; or at least I wish they did. I’m sick of sounding like I’m tooting my own horn. It is what it is, though—suffice to say I was born in the early fifty’s and have spent the great bulk of my existence in the woods. By “woods” I don’t mean the 5 acre wood lot behind my house, what I mean is: wilderness.
I have been seeing these tree structures forever. I distinctly remember asking my dad about these teepees and other snarls when I was five or six, while squirrel hunting in the Catskill Mountains of New York, one of the more cosmopolitan rural areas I’ve traipsed around. I never received an explanation other than “wind” or “winter storms”. Over the years I have seen literally hundreds of these structures in every rural area I have been in. My observation is that they seem to be found in the same types of cover; always. They are particularly common in new growth areas of young broom hickory, beech, gum, maple saplings and hornbeam. I cannot except that these structures are the work of sasquatch. If they are then the population and distribution of sasquatch is on a par with that of porcupines and grey squirrels.
I have on several occasions been out in the woods in areas during periods of zero degree or colder, windy winter weather. Tending traplines necessitates these sojourns; one has to tend his traplines religiously to be successful at trapping fur bearers; the weather is no excuse. I never ran a trapline shorter than 2 miles, and multiple lines are always set: sometimes with the aid of a snowmobile; 5 or more are set, in a round robin fashion. Again in order to make a living many sets are required. In the process of negotiating these traplines on foot, one covers a lot of territory; and sees a lot of trees. When the thermometer really gets “down there” and the wind is blowing in these new growth areas it’s not unusual to hear a 4 or 5 inch tree break with a load gunshot like crack. It will make you jump right out of your snowshoes. I don’t specifically know this for a fact but I tend to believe that the causative factor in a healthy tree breaking as described may be the very low freezing temperature. I’ve also witnessed big tree branches and parts being blown about the woods until they get tangled in other trees. In my observations sometimes a hard glazed and crusted snow surface provides an almost friction free surface upon which to slide. Admittedly this doesn’t account for the tree breaks in warm temperate climes. It would be very interesting to know what trees are found broken and snarled and when. Given enough wind though these same tree limbs etc. could conceivably travel across any hard ground and in some cases remain airborne long enough to get tangled.
Apart from my field observations; these tree structures such as the ones in this thread are in my opinion just too archaic to be made by sasquatch. I believe any shelters constructed by sasquatch will be far better engineered than those shown above and similarly depicted elsewhere. Additionally I have found that these structures are very frequently located in areas affording sparse concealment opportunities; certainly our friend knows how to find ideal locations away from sandfly infested lowlands. If these structures are sasquatch related then the population of these hominids numbers in the several hundred per county: any rural county USA.
I know that many amateur investigators see red when I voice these opinions. I’ve actually had folks break off e-mail relationships because I rained on their tree structure parades. Oh-well.
One of the most misinterpreted aspects of Sasquatch, “evidence” is tree structures. Wind and the effects of harsh elements can produce rather curious and odd formations in the wilderness. While the phenomenon is genuine, and there have been authentic tree formations located through the years that were more than likely created by a Sasquatch, I would hesitate to declare that they are nearly as prevalent as the amount of people who claim to have found them.
Greetings All,
Like Nick I’ve found structures in unusual places and their construction by human survivalists can’t be ruled out. However, when we find stacked stones or other odd stone-works in places where few people go it does raise serious questions about who built them.
One only needs to spend some time in areas frequented by the species to realize something odd is going on. It remains my belief that by employment of the latest generation of digital cameras we may get some answers to some of our questions. My best,
PS: I became curious about why these tangles might occur in the Dallas / Ft. Worth metro area. Certainly there is no extremely cold weather that could freeze trees brittle. I looked into the yearly wind records and bingo: winds to 50 MPH are not uncommon in the Lake Ray Roberts / Denton TX area; not to mention the regular severe thunderstorm and tornadic activity. Trees take a real beating in areas such as this; flat topography, lack of wind braking conifer forests.
I believe the reason they get associated with Bigfoot, is as Nick said. Some of those branches and trees are thick–and snapped. While I’d buy wind could snap a tree, placed within a structure like that makes me think something living did it. And something strong enough to snap a tree several inches in diameter has to be strong and I doubt too many people would have the strength to do it (unless there’s an aggressive population of super strong humans who get together to snap trees in the woods throughout the U.S. that I don’t know about–there’s accounts of 3-8″ diameter trees being broken throughout most of the states in relation to Bigfoot sightings).
That’s another reason Bigfoot gets tied into this. There are lots of accounts of finding trees and large branches broken in relation to BF sightings.
Now I’m also not going to say that every branch configuration in the woods is a Bigfoot structure, because trees and branches do fall on a regular basis because of age, insects, wind, and so on. However, I think what we’re talking about here is the structures that stand out–as in they don’t look like natural happenings in nature.
And I appreciate Desertdweller’s insights on primitive structures! Very cool.
Windfall, ice, heck, I’ve seen large branches break off trees in perfect stillness and land in such a way they could be interpreted as being “placed there”. The one that really got me was outside of Mt. Rainier park. It was a 6 inch fir twisted off at the four foot level (and fresh). The location was remote (no road or trail nearby), and the portion of the tree that had been removed was nowhere to be seen.