Please Help Save The Bigfoot Museum

This will most likely be the last time I ask for your help and support to keep the Discovery Project going and the Bigfoot Museum open. Apparently the Little Museum That Can, can’t. Our last couple of cries for help have had very little response. What’s worse a few of our most generous donors have stopped communicating altogether for no apparent reason.

It’s not that I don’t get positive feed back on a daily basis by those who visit the museum. Just yesterday three folks came in expecting to be entertained by a crackpot with a bunch of fake stuff,only to find a passionate scholar who has obviously done an in-depth study that changed their attitude on the subject. I guess the addage out of sight out of mind applies here. For several years we provided a newsletter which had a lot to do with keeping the interest up. But as it turned out I couldn’t keep it going alone, especially due to an eye ailment and the amount of time I spend talking to visitors and working on the book and other related projects.
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From the beginning there have been obstacles such as the County Planning Department and the need to seek funding sources. But this is the case with all worthwhile endeavors these obstacles must be overcome. A local newsman once referred to me as a “Renaissance Man” and in that context this museum and quest have been to me both agony and ecstasy. The agony is due to the position of poverty I now find myself in and the awareness of enemies who are seeking to do harm to myself and the project. For example, someone has been throwing bottles and other things at the museum and our cars parked outside on and off for a number of years. Two weeks ago the rear window of my minivan was taken out by a bottle which cost $280 to replace. A couple of days ago the new window was also destroyed. I have discovered in a big way what its like to have too much month at the end of the money.

It gets worse: CalTrans just announced a plan for road improvements on Highway 9 starting Feb 9 for 6-9 months. Four designated sections, three north of the Graham Hill intersection and one starting a couple of miles south to Paradise Park. The northern locations will utilize single lane delays allowing back and forth tourist traffic as usual. However, the southern section is designated as full closure 24/7, Graham Hill Road as detour (which stops the back and forth flow of the tourist traffic coming up from the coast.) Announced as a “done deal,” this smacks of taxation without representation. The last time this happened (2010, 4 mo.), the 12 or so businesses south on the virtual cul-de-sac suffered as much as a 55% loss in revenue. It took a miracle donation from a stranger on the East coast to keep the Bigfoot Museum from closing in 2011! Full road closure is too extreme. And if the plan continues for the better part of a year as they are predicting, it could be the end of the little museum that can. There are ways to mitigate the detrimental effects: A. Work at night; B. Have one lane open with delays C. Compensate for lost revenue, etc. etc. Last time over a dozen local businesses rolled over and let it happen. Not this time. I will not be able to survive another
attack of this kind. I will have to fight.

So what is the ecstacy you ask? It’s in the knowledge I’ve gained and the wonderful people I’ve met and hosted here at the museum. I like to compare our project here with Roger Patterson’s quest. He spent eight years in search of Bigfoot before he got the money shot. He was a poor man when he and Gimlin headed for northern California in October 1967. He enlisted Gimlin for the trip because Bob was a gifted horseman and a consummate outdoorsman and because Roger had no vehicle nor money for gas. He filmed a Sasquatch for all the world to see and Gimlin witnessed the event. Seven months before this event In March of 1967 I wrote a 37 page report for an Anthropology class at Stanford suggesting Bigfoot was a legitimate topic warranting further study and included a map with the Six Rivers National Forest highlighted. It was my intention to back-pack into the Trinity Alps with a couple of friends during the summer and let Bigfoot find us. But I met a young woman early that summer and my expedition plans were abandoned, so when the PG Film was shown

I was ecstatic in the knowledge that Patterson got the job done right where I had been headed. The Bigfoot Discovery Museum has been open since 2004 and over the past 10 years we have collected proof of Sasquatch presence here in Santa Cruz via eye witness testimony with corroborating physical evidence. I hope to continue now to produce educational materials about our discoveries, and attempt to make contact, but I cannot continue to support this endeavor without operating capital from other sources.

So I am now seeking investors, partners, venture capitalists or whomever can provide $5k/month in operating capital to continue the quest. If I can’t raise enough funds I’ll more than likely be forced to sell the museum along with the land it sits on here in Felton. Please spread the word. There must be someone out there who can help and recognizes the value of the endeavor. I have personally put over $500,000 into this project but currently have nothing but time and experience left to invest.

Fighting for my livelihood and to continue the quest for knowledge,

Michael Rugg
Bigfoot Museum Owner

What can you do to help? Contact our local elected representatives in government about the road closure and let them know you agree this is “Highway Robbery” and you’re behind us in this protest. You could also seriously consider sending a donation as we desperately need additional funds just to make it through the next two months. Perhaps you know an investor who might like a piece of the action with proper working capital the museum would be solvent.

PayPal donations to: harrybiped@yahoo.com
Checks to Capritaurus
P.O. Box 153
Felton, CA 95018

Here are the people to contact and protest the “Highway Robbery”:

Mark Stone, Assemblyman
701 Ocean Street 318-B Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Tel: (831) 425-1503

Bruce McPherson, 5th District Supervisor
or Robin Musitelli, his analyst 454-2200
email: bruce.mcpherson@santacruzcounty.us
robin.musitelli@santacruzcounty.us

Project Manager:
Doug Hessing 805 549-3386
Doug.hessing@dot.ca.gov

Local CalTrans Manager:
john.olejnik@dot.ca.gov