Wisconsin Bigfoot’s Bad Hair Day
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 29th, 2006
Former newspaper reporter and current Wisconsin cryptozoological author Linda Godfrey was able to get the late 2005 sighting of Matt Wakeley in her new book, Hunting the American Werewolf, published in March 2006. But it wasn’t until recently that she was able to sit down with the eyewitness and turn his description into a forensically-correct drawing. Here is the result:
Wakely’s sighting took place near White Pigeon Road and Highway B, in southeastern Walworth County, Wisconsin, last fall. But as the author of the successful 2003 book, The Beast of Bray Road, Godfrey writes: “I’d like to make it very clear that this is NOT the creature known as the Manwolf or the Beast of Bray Road.”
Linda Godfrey says in her blog:
This creature is also different from the witness sketches by Judy Wallerman and David Pagliaroni, who both drew very classic Bigfoot with the usual “cape” of fur touching the shoulders, not wild-haired like the above creature (which Matt estimated at 7 feet tall). It does resemble Coleman and Huyghe’s The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti, and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide’s Erectus Hominid, I think, except for what Matt calls the “80s big hairdo.”
Yes, you have got to love that hair.
Linda Godfrey might be correct. What do you think?
I see another hint of a different type, however. Since the only example of the Erectus Hominid in North America is what I consider an “accidental,” the pug-nosed, shorter-armed, stocky, out-of-place Minnesota Iceman being displayed in the upper Midwest in the 1960s, I would suggest something else. This thin Wisconsin creature may have more in common with a juvenile Marked Hominid (or eastern Bigfoot or Windigo, a probable geographical subspecies). Good descriptions of Momo-types (an adult Marked Hominid) have been reported, for instance, from Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Looking in the new 2006 edition of my book, The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates, compare Linda’s drawing with the drawing of the “Pennsylvania Creature,” shown on page 47. I would say Wakely’s bad hair beast could be a match with a younger version of the Pennsylvania Creature. There’s even a hint of a bad hair day with that 1970s’ hairy hominid.
The Marked Hominids are frequently seen in the upper Midwest. There’s the classic case, for example, of the Cobalt, Ontario, sightings (pages 48-49) that took place in 1906, 1923, 1946, and 1970. Even its specific name gives a hint of the attention the Cobalt witnesses gave to the head hair on that special Bigfoot. The locals at first called it “Yellow Top,” and then in the 1970s, “Old Yellow Top,” because of its yellow-colored mane.
Are the hair stylists for Bigfoot-types in Wisconsin deciding to take a whole new trendy leap? Clearly, a focus on head hair seems to be obvious in the region. And, at least, in human eyes, it may be going from the tinted-look to the really wild side!
Has anyone else noticed any shifts in body hair displays, over time or regions?
Thanks to Linda Godfrey for sharing this new material.
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.
Dear Loren,
Speaking of wild hairdos–as you may remember from my comments on another “Cryptomundo” article a couple of weeks ago,I’ve long had something of a problem with “Momo’s” completely hair-covered face. Such a hairdo, I would think, would really be a serious visual handicap to a wild creature! It would hardly enhance the creature’s ability to see where he or she is going, or either prey, predators, or human intruders!
Cheers,
T. Peter
TPP: Like everything else, it all depends on your point of view. Hair-in-the-face appears to not be a problem for English Sheepdogs, who look like the canid world’s version of Momo:
Could the big hair be a defence mechanism the same way dogs hackles rise, cats fluff themselves up etc, to look more threathening when confronted?
It may be instinctive.
Well there goes the visual I had of a BF with a finger stuck in an electric socket!
Seriously how this would tie in with a multi-color look I have no idea. However the look in the drawing hints to me of a younger BF whoes head hair is well on the way to the ‘classic’ adult look, but in an intermediate stage.
hey loren & everyone good afternoon very interesting wisconsin sasquatch encounter update. happy memorial day. thanks bill please keep me informed ok 🙂
My speculation on this matter – shaggy hair, matted hair, etc. – is that these could be solitary juveniles or adults, most likely males.
Grooming is a very important ritual for all of the social great apes. It creates and strengthens bonds, smoothes tension, etc. This is along with the very real hygenic benefits – clean, groomed, parasite-free coats, etc. So my hack theory is that the cryptid primates with unkempt, matted, dirty coats are solitary for some reason – either through natural progression or some kind of trauma or strife. They aren’t being groomed regularly, so their coats become shaggy, matted, etc.
What someone said above about juvenile hair growth might also be a factor.
you could be right.Often only one adult male is allowed in some family groups of animals and the young males are turned out of the group. There could be a shortage of females, to start a new family group with.
Or they could just be teenagers LOL
Interesting… as some of you know, I’m currently writing a novel in which I’ve freely accentuated reports of eastern hominids being “violent” (in lack of a better, neutral term in my mind right now). To differentiate my creature from the average bigfoot, I’ve taken on the description of Old Yellow Top (conveniently so too, the story happens in about the same region), in whichcase I was attracted to the so called ‘mane’. In my novel, however, the mane has a purpose, as the theory in my head is that the creature in my book is a north-eastern cousin of your average western sasquatch. The differentiation is basically comparable to the grizzly and the polar bear. Each is suited to a different habitat. In this case, the mane of this hominid serves as a windbreaker in the boreal forests. I won’t give too much away from the biology I came up for it, but oddly enough, the more I research to confirm the plausibility of such a creature existing, the more I find parallels with real sightings. Any corrolation between these ‘maned’ sightings and weather?
Sorry folks, the book will be French 🙂
looks more like an aboriginal man with an over active pituitary gland.
Does not accord with morphology of the majority of Bigfoot sightings. Could indicate misperception.
He’s “got a little Captain in him” haha…thats a cool picture, but I agree that it looks more like a tribal man than a bigfoot.
Chymo says: “Does not accord with morphology of the majority of Bigfoot sightings.”
What morphology is being discussed? This thing shows many facets of the mystery. 🙂
The slender nature of this unknown hominid or hominoid does appear to match the apparently juvenile descriptions, from various types of Bigfoot of the West and East.
The hair, of course, is discussed above, and is the focus of most comments. If a creature is going to have long hair that covers its face, I guess there are days when the head hair might be shorter (in the young? at some times of the year? after a close encounter with a forest fire?) or in a different configuration (after swimming?). Even English sheepdogs don’t always have their fur in their faces.
As to this thing’s nose, that’s relatively human-looking, and more like a Neandertal or some Homo erectus, I suppose.
What else do people see in this drawing?
I appreciate everyone’s comments, and I agree that this creature is more human-looking than your average Bigfoot. The witness also thought that was true, yet he was convinced this wasn’t a human. The extra long arms were one giveaway, and the very pronounced brow ridge and other facial structure another. I’m also not sure if I made the mouth area quite as prominent as he said it was. In any drawing, there is bound to be some amount of misperception. No drawing done from someone else’s memory can be as accurate as a photograph. But Matt was satisfied that we had pictured it as accurately as possible according to what he remembered. And again, the feet are drawn “generically” since they were obscured from his view by weeds and brush. They could have looked much different.
Loren, I did also think of your Marked Hominid as a good possibility. I showed Matt your Field Guide after he had made his sketches; (he had never seen the book before) and the Erectus was the one he thought came closest to what he saw. I think the idea that this is a juvenile or adolescent individual could also explain a lot. Thanks for all the comments – Linda Godfrey
I have an old book by John Napier( on Yeti) somewhere in my bookselves, in which there are reports from sherpas about Yeti with long hair over their faces. If I have time I’ll look it out when I get home.
I remember once seeing a report of a similar-looking creature from the midwest, maybe Indiana. The report had a drawing, more human-looking than the average bigfoot, visible neck, long wild head hair.
Could these creatures be Mark Hall’s “Homo gardarensis” perhaps?
Mark A. Hall’s Homo gardarensis = my and Patrick Huyghe’s Marked Hominid. Indeed, I coined the name to honor Mark A. Hall’s work on this type.
To me looks like a young BF. A bad hair day kinda of funny to me because I do not have hardly any left and now I envy him.
BF:”Hmmm… What does THIS button do?”……ZAP…”ohhh.”
Lol maybe they use something as hair gel normally and this young guy is just a rebel?
If Wisconsin is anything like mid-western Ohio, the late 80s “big hair” styles may finally be coming into style in the backwoods (or maybe it’s more like trendy Austin, TX, and the BF there are ahead of the trend curve and growing out their retro-cool 80s hair)