Pine Ridge Update: 9/06
Posted by: Loren Coleman on September 7th, 2006
The cryptozoological events at the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Oglala Sioux continue to occur. Despite debates about what it is, whatever is being encountered is still being seen.
The sightings have been recorded via police scanners and confirmed by the Chief of Police. But other members of other agencies are seeing these Sasquatch.
Backchanneling emails from law enforcement individuals working on site inform me that a serious situation is developing in South Dakota. It appears that definite proof of the Bigfoot being encountered at the reservation is mounting.
For reasons of confidentiality and safety, all I can say presently is that law enforcement records indicate that as recently as September 4th, the Bigfoot was encountered at 3 a.m. north of Pine Ridge. As officers from a variety of agencies got closer to the large mass, which is reportedly very quick, it hid behind pine trees. It was also picked up on equipment employed in the search for this “thing,” as one officer termed it to me.
One of the scopes being used responds to heat and cold, is usually employed by the drug task force unit, and during September registered a definite “hit” for almost ten minutes. The “hit” was not human, but now understood by the officers using it to be what is being reported as the “Bigfoot.”
(The image at top may be clicked to enlarge it. Does the Pine Ridge Bigfoot look like this one drawn by Paul Smith for the cover of my book Bigfoot! The True Story of Apes in America?)
Anyone wishing to backchannel me info on these events may email me directly at Loren Coleman [at] maine [dot] rr [dot] com – thank you.
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.
Whether Pine Ridge or the White Mountains, the Native Americans are going to be the ones to disclose nature’s Big secret.
I have to say that shooting to wound a Sasquatch is not the best idea. At best, it might be almost imposible to pull off with a moving target due to the generally small size of the target being aimed at (Arm or leg). That’s why police officers are trained to fire at the central mass of a target, so there’s a greater chance of hitting it.
Just imagine trying to shoot the arm of a person that is rapidly walking through the woods, constantly moving in and out of foliage and blocking the shot. You stand a better chance of accidentally shooting the creature in the torso.
That being said, this really is an intriguing case and I hope that something comes of it!
Ideological differences of opinion when it comes to harming animals of any sort aside, photos can be hoaxed and videos can be hoaxed.
The only way to prove the existence, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is to collect a live/dead specimen.
Maybe this means tranquing one (although I’d hate to be the guy who accidentally shot a kid in a gorilla suit full of enough drugs to stop his heart) or maybe it means killing one. Hopefully though it means eventually capturing and chipping one for field tracking or finding an already dead body.
In the same way that I’d hate to be the guy who shot a person full of enough tranq to drop a grizzly bear, I’d also have just enough doubt that it could be a person to never pull the trigger on a gun of any kind.
I think what is called for is to do what is being done here and collect reports, determine which areas of the country are most likely to produce the evidence, and wait until live capture or obtaining a naturally deceased corpse is feasible.
Anything else, well… regardless of how you feel about collecting animals, there is always the off chance that it is just some fool kid having fun with a gorilla suit (and maybe a recent growth spurt), and regardless of how we feel about hoaxers, no kid (or adult) deserves to lose their life over a bad joke.
Patience and perseverance