The Bayer Stone Head: What Is It?

What face stares out from the nearly thirty-pound stone head found in the ground in 1932, in New Paltz, New York? Are the features extremely ape-like or child-like? How does it compare to the Columbia River stone heads discussed in the Sasquatch literature?

Does the stone head’s smile remind us of that Tsimishian carved mask’s smile (below) dated to several hundred years ago from British Columbia, and mentioned as relevant to Sasquatch research?

Stone head owner David Chisholm, who only marginally has become aware of Bigfoot studies recently, passed along to me photographs of the carved stone head.

The head is about the size of a child’s head, being 8 7/8 inches tall and 8 inches thick; the circumference is just under 24 inches.

As mentioned above, it was found in New Paltz, New York, in 1932. It was dug up by William Bayer at the age of 9 while he was helping dig a grave. As the young Bayer related the story to his son (who is David Chisholm’s friend) years later, he surmised it was at about four feet deep when he found it. There was no Indian mound involved. It has been a Bayer family’s possession since it was found in 1932, until Chisholm recently obtained it. The stone has been used as a doorstop in Wisconsin for almost 50 years. It has been relatively unknown by the Bigfoot community, and only was recently mentioned to other interested parties and discussed elsewhere. (Chisholm came to me independently with his questions and information several days ago, but I wanted to do some background checking – as I do with all submissions to Cryptomundo – before documenting this here.)

Today, the carved head is owned by David Chisholm. The Bayer family’s and Chisholm’s attempts to have the stone head aged or authenticated have been frustrated by individual investigators who take photographs and do not follow through. He has given me permission to consider this find here, to discover if anyone knows about any other such carved heads from the East, and what his next best step would be to authenticating this relic.

One person in the past said the head was “several hundred years old,” partially due to the carving styles on it. But Chisholm is still looking for someone with credentials to example, authenticate, and shed more light on its origins. Needless to say, however, he will not relinquish physical control, for obvious reasons. Since he lives in the Washington D. C. area, perhaps there is a key person at the new American Indian museum or the Smithsonian who might be interested?

Within Sasquatch research, carved stone heads have been discussed for some time; see especially anthropologist Roderick Sprague’s well-known article hyperlinked here.

Found along the lower Columbia River in Oregon, these stone heads were first described by pioneer paleontologist O. C. Marsh in 1877. Please see below, various images of these Pacific Northwest carved heads.

Is the carved head found in New York State the only one known from the East? What other types of stone heads exist within the archaelogical record for the East? It is much larger than the PNW examples, which weigh around seven pounds. What does the size tell us?

The “Bayer Head” is an intriguing find. What could it be showing us? A good representation of a Windigo (an Eastern Bigfoot to some)? A carving of someone’s pet? A North American Ape head chiseled in stone, which was seen elsewhere on an ancient trade route of the Iroquois, among various southeastern First Nations? A likeness of a person? Native American art of a child? A long-haired individual? What?

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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