Patterson Dies + 35: Anniversaries of 2007

This is the week, 35 years ago that Roger Patterson, rodeo rider, songwriter, and Bigfoot hunter, died. Thirty-five years! How time flies.

During the next twelve months you will find your calendar filled with anniversaries that hit close to home, if you are interested in cryptids and other "strange things" that happen all the time.

This year is the 400th anniversary of the founding of Virginia’s Jamestown colony and is (according to various media) the biggest milestone of the year in the United States of America. Intriguingly, 2007 will see the publication of many books about Virginia, including Weird Virginia.

If you are a reader of UFOmystic, you know that this year is the 60th anniversary of Kenneth Arnold’s first "flying saucer" sighting (June 24, 1947). The Modern Era of UFOs started then. You may not know that it is the 10th anniversary year for the Phoenix Lights too. In the world of Fortean phenomena, it is easy to find anniversaries, because frogs fall from the sky, UFOs are seen, and strange things happen all the time.

There are stories of coincidence and chance, and intersections and strange things told, and which is which and who only knows? And we generally say, "Well, if that was in a movie, I wouldn’t believe it." Someone’s so-and-so met someone else’s so-and-so and so on. And it is in the humble opinion of this narrator that strange things happen all the time. And so it goes, and so it goes. And the book says, "We may be through with the past, but the past ain’t through with us." – Ricky Jay, as the Narrator in Magnolia (1999; directed by Paul Thomas Anderson).

Why are frogs falling from the sky? – Philip Seymour Hoffman, as Phil Parma in Magnolia.

Within cryptozoology, the anniversaries are sometimes less obvious. But this year, for whatever reason, has an onslaught of several significant milestones. Why are they important? Because often books about these events appear in such years and more remembrances occur, frequently revealing new information.

Foremost, of course, is the the 40th anniversary of the famed Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin footage taken at Bluff Creek, California (October 20, 1967). The Modern Era of Bigfoot studies began.

The 40th anniversary most mentioned, of course, is due to the Patterson-Gimlin footage (October 20, 1967), as I’ve said. But it must be noted that there was a wave of Bigfoot sightings back then, and Mothman-related events related to the collapse of the Silver Bridge (December 15, 1967).

The 30th anniversary of the Dover Demon sightings (April 21-22, 1977), Black Panther killings of livestock in Ohio (beginning April 25, 1977), and the Lawndale Big Bird near-abduction (July 25, 1977) will be remembered. Thirty years ago, 1977 became known as the "Year of the Creature" because there were so many Bigfoot and other creature sightings, especially in the Midwest.

This 20th anniversary year for a minor series of Loch Ness sightings in 1987 will probably be forgotten by most.

The 10th anniversary of an American Bigfoot flap might or might not be recalled. The biggest attention in 1997, however, was on a definite increase of Asian activity with Yeren hunts in China and Nguoi Rung research in Vietnam. The first Indonesian coelacanth was seen in a fish market in September 1997.

In 2008, by the way, we’ll celebrate the 70th anniversary of the discovery of the first coelacanth (December 23, 1938).

Loren Coleman 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.

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