On the Track With William Dranginis
Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 17th, 2008
Thirteen years ago, William Dranginis saw Bigfoot. Fifty grand, a van, and a camera in a log later, the quest continues.
William Dranginis knows what you’re thinking, so maybe it’s best to get a few things straight right from the start. He’s not crazy, delusional, some lunatic on the fringe. For the most part, he’s your average suburban family man. Lives on a quiet street in Manassas. Has a great wife and two daughters; just became a grandfather. Has a good job designing surveillance equipment for the Windermere Group, an Annapolis-based technology firm that does contract work for the government.
He can’t help that he saw Bigfoot in the woods near Culpeper, Va., on March 11, 1995. Two witnesses were with him, both FBI agents. It’s not like he imagined the incident. In the 13 years since, he has spent more than $50,000 trying to prove Bigfoot exists. He has created sophisticated surveillance systems—wait till you hear about his new Eye Gotcha system!—and even designed a tricked-out research van with parabolic microphones and thermal and night-vision cameras….
So begins an article about Cryptomundo’s friend, Bill Dranginis, in today’s issue of Washington City Paper.
The story contains a good array of photographs, nicely highlighting the work Dranginis is undertaking. They are worthy visuals for the profile.
In conjunction with the article, City Paper has also posted a video (which, unfortunately, appears to have been taken offline), which has Bill telling of his firsthand encounter, showing him investigating a new case, and looking at his interview. The video had made a nice companion to the article and photos.
As an editorial aside, I heartily congratulate Bill on getting a decent, sane profile out of this latest media encounter! Well-done.
Dranginis walks where Bigfoot might have at the “Southern Virginia Research Location.” (Photograph by Darrow Montgomery)
Dranginis monitors his motion-detection camera. (Photograph by Darrow Montgomery)
Dranginis demonstrates his Eye Gotcha invention. (Photograph by Darrow Montgomery)
The Eye Gotcha system includes a camera in a log decoy. (Photograph by Darrow Montgomery)
Dranginis checks the angle of his surveillance camera. (Photograph by Darrow Montgomery)
Is it Bigfoot hair or plant material? (Photograph by Darrow Montgomery)
Dranginis’ Bigfoot bait/peanut butter has been sitting there since ’04. (Photograph by Darrow Montgomery)
A DNA dart for Dranginis’ dart gun. (Photograph by Darrow Montgomery)
Every spring, Dranginis buys another case of Bigfoot Ale, hoping he’ll find the creature and the beer will become a collector’s item. (Photograph by Darrow Montgomery)
The dog once slimed in the woods (Photograph by Darrow Montgomery)
The cover story by Eric Wills is entitled “Hot for Creature.”
Go to their site (click on title of the article above) to read the entire story. That way you will also find the paper has a fascinating online interactive timeline at the bottom of their article, demonstrating “An overview of Dranginis’ search for Bigfoot, beginning in 1995.” It is a nice feature, and one that would be interesting to see with other Bigfooters.
From the article:
After 13 years of research and more than $50,000, Dranginis has some grainy video footage and photos, tracks he’s discovered, eyewitness accounts—and still no hard evidence. He’s posted this motto on a sheet of paper in his basement: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
Lest we forget, one of Bigfooter William Dranginis’ priority goals is sharing the experience of the search for Bigfoot in the classroom.
Personally, I would like to thank Bill Dranginis, once again, for his donation of unbreakable, kid-friendly, nearly transparent two-part clear urethane display casts of the footprints of various hominoids, to the International Cryptozoology Museum. It has been great working with Bill on this educational project of cast exchanges. Dranginis’s specially designed casts are a great resource invention.
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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.
This is a wonderful new article about our great friend and researcher William Dranginis.
Man I wish he would have come to my school when I was younger that’s awesome that he does that.
I was lucky enough to meet Bill at the Ohio Conference in May. He is the smartest and nicest researcher you could ever hope to meet. I wish him all the best.
Yay! I’ll get one of these on my way to Metro Monday morning.
But nice to have the online preview.
Here’s an interesting snippet:
“The scientist was stumped by the hair, though—was it animal? human?—and sent it to another lab for analysis. The conclusion: llama hair.
“Dranginis sent the hair to an Arizona lab for mineral analysis, which indicated it came from a human who ate red deer meat, plants, and clay—no processed foods. “I’ve never seen a llama eat deer meat,” Dranginis says. He sent the hair to a lab in Copenhagen for DNA testing, and the results came back as wolf or dog. Three tests, three different results, and no closer to his goal.”
Just a little tidbit for everybody out there who thinks proof is an easy thing. Or that artifacts are how we will get there.