Thom Powell Has Some Questions, And Answers, About the Freeman Footage

With the death of Freeman in 2003, it is assumed that rights to the Freeman footage reverted to his widow, Nancy. But all my attempts to locate her and verify this have proven futile. Paul lived in the eastern Washington town of Walla Walla, prior to his death. he also kept a cabin on the Washington coast around Long Beach. None of the Freemans I contacted in those towns claim any connection to Paul or even knew of him. Meanwhile, two separate individuals, one representing a TV show, have approached me in hopes of finding Nancy Freeman, or whoever else currently holds rights to this famed footage. And so I issue this appeal to hear from anyone who might know who currently hods the rights to the Freeman footage.

This question of ownership is a far easier one to answer than the questions and mysteries that are inherent in the video clip itself. Authenticity of the clip is one big question in the minds of some, but not for me. Just prior to his death, Paul and Nancy Freeman came to my house in Oregon to do an interview for a British TV production. An informed and competent interviewer quizzed Paul on numerous aspect of his field work in general and the video in particular. As his wife sat facing him only ten feet distant, Paul insisted that the footage was authentic. That’s good enough for me. I don’t think there are too many souls who, staring their own mortality in the face, not to mention their life-long spouse, would sit there and tell lies. But beyond circumstantial evidence and personal assurances, the video itself, especially when the whole raw footage is viewed, bespeaks an authenticity that is not as evident when the much the shorter clip taht is usually found on internet sources is viewed.

Prior to filming the subject of interest, the footage made on Paul’s camcorder shows a trackway that Paul found near Deduck Springs. On t he video, he competently documents the trackway which he credits to a juvenile sasquatch. Then he makes multiple plaster casts, measurements, and of course, video documentation. What most may not realize is that Freeman had been schooled by Dr. Grover Krantz in how to cast and measure trackways.

Freeman’s detailed knowledge of the remote Blue Mountains and his keen sense of animal tracking was valued by Dr. Krantz, who saw Freeman as the most experienced and competent field man in the area surrounding Pullman, Washington, where Krantz was a professor at Washington State. Freeman was so prolific at uncovering bigfoot evidence that some, like Dahinden and Byrne, doubted his honesty, and they said so on multiple occasions. It is my considered opinion that their statements stemmed from a combination of ego and narrow range of experience that prevented these high-profile researchers from accepting the fact that Freeman was far more capable and successful at gathering the much sought evidence than they would ever be.

Yet for all his savvy as a field man, Freeman lived an austere life in which money was always tight. While some suppose that money was the root motivation for fakery, I would point out that on such limited means, Freeman could not have pulled off the costuming ruse on his video that is alleged by some. And, the raw footage clearly shows the work of a diligent and well-trained field man. What is not seen on the video footage is a short clip between the casting of a trackway and the creature segment. Between these to segments was a short clip of a child’s birthday party at a restaurant. I removed the segment out of privacy concerns but its existence on the original camcorder tape illustrates to my satisfaction that Freeman was using his one and only camcorder for anything and everything of intereste in his life that was worth documenting on video tape. While the sasquatch research was the reason for the camcorder;’s existence, Freeman was just a regular guy with a regular life including relatives’ birthday party in between trips to the Blue Mountains in search of sasquatch evidence.