November 29, 2009

Georgia Booger Attracts Familiar Name

Cryptomundo has reported on Georgia’s “Belt Road Booger” in the past (e.g. in 2006), and recently newspapers have recycled the stories (e.g. on October 14, 2009 and October 31, 2009).

Now, on this Sunday, November 29, 2009, Jeff Bishop of Georgia’s Times Herald alerts us to a vaguely familiar name that has turned up like a bee to media honey before.

Calling his piece “Bigfoot researchers pick up on ‘Booger.'” Bishops notes:

Thomas Finley, a Bigfoot researcher who lives in Essex, England, is the latest to become interested in the local booger tales.

“He sounds like such a magnificent beast!” said Finley.

Finley said he first became interested in the subject of “unknown animals” in 1968, after he and his brother attended the Olmsted County Fair in Rochester, Minn.

“There on the Midway we came across this sideshow with a strange ape-man-like creature frozen solid in a block of ice,” he said. “I was only 8 years old at the time, and it really was the most frightening thing I have ever seen in my life.

“The creature was very muscular and looked very much like modern Bigfoot reports,” said Finley. “I saw this same sideshow display in 1988, and it was not the same creature on display. I often wonder the fate of the original creature as it piqued the curiosity of the Smithsonian Institution and the FBI at the time.”

He said his creature collection has been active since 1973, when he was in the eighth grade.

“I started to collect newspaper and magazine articles on sightings of these creatures — not only Bigfoot, but other creatures such as ‘Nessie,’ the Loch Ness Monster of Scotland, and the Yeti.”

He also became interested in reports of a “Lizard Man” in South Carolina in the 1980s.

“My collection contains a large number of Bigfoot memorabilia and footprint castings as well as a 23-inch tall sculpture of a female Bigfoot, and a large bust of one as well,” he said….

Finley said he has “branched out” into collecting and researching not only “unknown animal” reports, but also paranormal events, UFOs, ghosts, and other mysteries.”

* * *

“They are very clever and intelligent and have the ability to cause confusion and panic to those in pursuit of them,” he said. “Millions of dollars have been spent over the last 30 years looking for these giants, and only small pieces of evidence are found — mainly hair samples and, most recently, a toenail in Arizona.

For those who can read between the lines in these brief passages, you might find the fingerprints of someone who has a habit of showing up at various recent Bigfoot media-mentioned events. Perhaps a certain individual is now sending in another advance man to talk to the media? Perhaps not. Nevertheless, we all know who is behind promoting that Arizona toenail story.

Finley reports on his website that he lives in London, his hometown is Spring Valley, Minnesota, and his birthdate is January 5, 1959. But, if as he says, he was 8 years old in 1968, when he reportedly saw the Minnesota Iceman, then his ages don’t match.

Please observe with caution that despite Thomas Finley mentioning that he had a brother formerly interested in these subjects, the individual who in 1973 was directly involved in marginal Bigfoot investigations spelled his name, allegedly, as “Gene Findley.” The nearness in the spelling of these two people’s names appears to just be a coincidence.

Tom Biscardi and Gene Findley, as pictured in Saga Magazine, December 1973, which detailed their close working relationship with Ivan Marx and his family.

Filed under Bigfoot, Breaking News, Conspiracies, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoology, Swamp Monsters