July 26, 2012

Bigfoot’s in the ‘Burbs

Bigfoot in the New Jersey Burbs is a new book from William Taylor that has just been published, and for which there’s an extensive blurb that reads as follows:

“Anyway, one of my friends, about two years older than I, absolutely REF– USED to go in the woods there. We’d romp around the pines everywhere and anywhere else, but he just wouldn’t go in that part of the forest. This is even when we were older teens. See, he claimed that years prior he has seen … something in those woods. A big, hairy man, face covered in hair, standing slouched in the woods staring at him.” – Near Lakehurst, New Jersey – 1980s.

Bigfoot shows up in some unexpected places. There are thousands of reports of encounters of Bigfoot type creatures in North America and the state of New Jersey has its share, with over 200 encounters reported in modern times. The Kittatinny Mountains and the Pine Barrens are two of the places in New Jersey where this unknown hominid has revealed itself most frequently, but sightings have also occurred in areas where one would least expect. Marlboro, Middletown, and Mahwah, are just three of the typically suburban New Jersey towns that have had more than one sighting in the relatively recent past.

The Big Red Eye, the Big Hairy Man, the Bag Man and the Jersey Devil are some of the commonly used names of the Bigfoot/Sasquatch type creatures that have been seen or heard in the woods, swamps and occasional backyards of the Garden State. Whatever name it goes by, reports in New Jersey of encounters with wild hairy men date back to the 19th century and have continued into the present. Reports alone do not prove the Big Red Eye is lurking in the swamps of Mahlon Dickerson Reservation in Morris County, or that the hairy, bi-pedal version of the Jersey Devil, is watching you change your tire, on a moonless night, from just inside the tree-line along Route 72. Something strange is creeping through the forests though, so on your next hike through Allaire State Park, when the birds stop chirping, the bugs stop buzzing, the hair on your arms stands-up, and you feel like you are being watched, consider the experiences of others in that area that are described in the book, and head straight back to the car, then bar.

Bigfoot in the New Jersey Burb’s compiles the more modern sightings and encounters with Bigfoot like entities in the state and offers guidance for where these creatures can be found.

We have broken the encounters into four broad sections, and examine historical and modern accounts in (1) North Jersey, (2) South Jersey, (3) Out of the Way Places and (4) a section we call The Turnpike. In each of the four major sections, we narrow down concentrations of sightings and encounters to General Areas of Interest, and then finally “Hot Spots”.

Bigfoot in the New Jersey ‘Burbs provides seasoned Bigfoot researchers, amateur “Squatch” enthusiasts and curious Jersey residents who think nothing fun ever happens in the state, with details of recent sightings and the reasons why these unknown two legged primates tend to be seen in specific areas.

The book contains twenty-two maps, recent rarely seen track photos; real accounts of Bigfoot sightings, advice and techniques that will help the reader maximize their chances of running into a Bigfoot “in our great but not completely paved over yet state.”

Filed under Bigfoot, Books, Cryptotourism, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Eyewitness Accounts, Lair of the Beasts, Sasquatch