Is This Jan Klement?
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on April 21st, 2006
As Loren discussed here on Cryptomundo several days ago, the identity of Jan Klement, the author of The Creature: Personal Experiences With Bigfoot, is shrouded in mystery.
Rumors throughout the Bigfoot circles were that Dr. Paul Johnson, a professor at Duquense University in Pittsburgh, PA, was the mysterious Jan Klement.
I met Dr. Johnson in May 2005 at the Ohio Bigfoot Conference where he was a scheduled speaker. During the break after his presentation, I introduced myself and asked him point blank if he was the author of the book. He seemed a little suprised and told me that I was the 2nd person that had asked him that. I asked "The 2nd person today?" He replied, "No, the 2nd person that had ever asked him that question." I was more than a little suprised to learn this.
He told me that he was not Jan Klement, but that he thought that he knew who it was, a colleague of his from Duquesne. While I took notes that day, I wanted to make sure that my facts were straight so I sent Dr. Johnson an email, getting his written thoughts on the matter.
The man you refer to was Prof. Walter Skinner. He taught geology and physics at Duquesne. When I first met him in the early 1970s, we realized that both of us were Roberto Clemente fans. I was not aware of his interest in Bigfoot until he gave a seminar on sasquatch here at Duquesne around 1978. The talk concerned sightings in the far west, not local ones. I told him I was investigating creature sightings in Pennsylvania, but I don’t recollect his response to that. After that we seldom talked about Bigfoot. I was not aware of Jan Klements’s book until a newspaper reporter, who had interviewed me in the past, sent me a photocopy of the book. He found it on a table at a flea market in Pennsylvania. This was probably around 1991-1992. By then Skinner had retired and I didn’t make any connection with him. I would estimate that Skinner has been dead for at least 15 years, if not longer. He lived somewhere in Ohio and commuted back and forth to work. I do not know where he was from originally. It is unlikely that his wife is still living.
I read the book, found it interesting, but considered it to be fiction because the story violates everything we know about the Pennsylvania Bigfoot. I lent my photocopy to someone who never returned it so I no longer have one. It wasn’t until the mid 1990’s that people began asking me if I was Jan Klement. Then somehow I found out that the writer was a Clemente fan. I’m not sure who told me that. Perhaps it was in the book itself. I don’t recollect. It was then that I thought about the possibility of it being Walter Skinner. Beyond that I have no proof.
Most of the people who knew Skinner are long gone, but when I get a chance this summer, I’ll try to track down others who knew him.
And if I get any updates from Dr. Johnson, you’ll read them here on Cryptomundo.
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.
A mystery within the mystery!
The Roberto Clemente -> Jan Klement clue is a good one. I will look more deeply into that angle, as I reread the new edition of this book for more hints, if there are any in the added enhancements.
Walter Skinner is also the name of Mulder and Scully’s boss on the TV show “The X-Files”. A coincidence?
BTW, Paul Johnson has been asked if he is “Jan Klement” many times, and I wonder if he felt he was pulling your leg claiming that you were only the second person to ask. Even his email seems to indicate this was a frequent event. I did, in personal and in print, and so did several others.
Interesting. An obvious first step would be to contact Duquesne and see if they have any records of a Walter Skinner formerly teaching there.
I read “The Creature” in what is evidently a condensed version on the “Bigfoot: Fact or Fantasy” website (the creature’s notorious cow pasture sex scene is missing, I don’t know how much else, having never read the original). Some of it seems plausible, some things sound incredible. It’s hard to believe whoever wrote it was a scientist, though, just based on the writing style if nothing else. All I can say is the book must have been jotted down hastily, like unedited notes.
This article caught my attention especially since Im a huge Clemente fan who grew up in Pittsburgh and whose interest in Bigfoot stems from sightings in the pacific northwest in the early 70’s. I worked in the North Cascades in the early eighties and Sasquatch was listed in the Army Corps of Engineers manual as a living mammal in the region. My father graduated from Duquesne in the 60’s. Just thought that was pretty wild.