Finding Bigfoot All Over the Place in Willow Creek

The popular Animal Planet show, Finding Bigfoot, recently invaded our sleepy little mountain town. Willow Creek often bustles with Squatching enthusiasts, but this last summer has been simply ridiculous. What Mecca is to Islam, what Jerusalem is to those other religions, this place seems to be for Bigfooters.

On top of the usual parade of Bigfoot-interested tourists, the BFRO came to town to hold an expedition up in Bluff Creek, and then another down in the coast redwoods area west of here. After that the four stars of Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot came knocking on our door, trailing behind them a vast retinue of camera people, boom mikes, lighting arrays, producers, location scouts, managers and a large U-Haul trailer. The Bigfoot Motel sign read “No Vacancy” for nearly two weeks, and the townsfolk woke up again to the fact that they are, indeed, living in the “Gateway to Bigfoot Country,” whether or not they even care for a moment in their daily lives about the hirsute legend that surrounds them.

Since we’re friends with James “Bobo” Fay and Cliff Barackman, as well as Matt Moneymaker to some extent, Bigfoot’s bLog was not only called upon to help out the producers in finding locations here in town and up in Bluff Creek, but we also found ourselves involved in a number of the filming scenarios and after-hours conversations. It was a fun time had by all, but also an interesting view into the process of “Reality” TV production. The cast and crew spent 11 days in the area after at least a couple of weeks of pre-production planning, and worked filming over 12 hours a day in the cases we observed, all for a television airing time of less than two hours.

Bob Gimlin with Willow Creek Bigfoot Elder, Al Hodgson. At the “Bigfoot Collection” Museum.

And yes, Bob Gimlin did come to town, and even returned to the Bluff Creek Patterson-Gimlin film site. Bob was even more convinced than he was in is first return in 2003 that he had found the spot of the first sighting. Another fascinating revelation was the arrival of the two sons of Jerry Crew, long absent from Bigfooting and Willow Creek, who attended the show’s town hall meeting at the local VFW Hall. They brought some real Bigfooting relics with them.

Bigfooting history was made! … even if they did not exactly “Find” Bigfoot.

You’ll find yet more information on the Bluff Creek Film Site Project there, too, as well as a bit of a Bigfooting Holy Grail: a photo of an original grocery sack note and map drawn by Bob Titmus, and placed on Jerry Crew’s tractor on the Bluff Creek Road in 1958. This note shows the location of the Bigfoot track finds.

Bob Titmus’ grocery sack note to Jerry Crew, left on the tractor window up in Bluff Creek, 1958. The map is on back.

(This is the Unexpurgated Version of the one published back in the summer, which caused ire and rage over at Animal Planet for its supposedly revealing all the “secret” revelations of the show. As it turns out, the broadcast version left many of the best parts, and most of the best Bigfoot history, on the cutting room floor. More blog fodder for us!)

Another post published recently covered perhaps the youngest squatcher on record to reach the true PGF site. Read about it here:

Keep yourself posted on the progress of the Bluff Creek Film Site Project, with amazing revelations coming out now on Bigfoot’s bLog

Rogues Gallery at the Museum: James “Bobo” Fay, Bob Gimlin, Al Hodgson, Tom Yamarone, Cliff Barackman and Steven Streufert

About Steven Streufert
Steven Streufert Explorer of hidden dimensions. VISIT: BIGFOOT BOOKS 40600 Highway 299, P.O. Box 1167 Willow Creek, CA 95573-1167, USA. Or on the web: http://bigfootbooks.webs.com Bigfoot Books is an all-purpose used and rare book shop located in the heart of Bigfoot Country, and specializing in Sasquatchiana, among many other interesting things. CALL: 530-629-3076 CONTACT: [email protected]

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