The Mormon Conspiracy and Bigfoot

Here is a posting first seen on Cryptomundo on February 5, 2008. It stirred up discussion of a topic some would like to keep quiet. But it won’t go away. Please note, I am reporting here, not stating any stance, one way or another. I am merely trying to highlight an issue that is out there, being talked about in back room conversations and campfire exchanges. With this summer bringing forth Mitt Romney as a national presidential candidate, Mormonism may or may not be a topic in politics. But it is already one within the politics of Bigfoot hunting. We should not be afraid to tackle it here again. (Comments from 2008 have been retained.)

Look, no one wants to talk about it straightforwardedly, so let me bring this to the fore.

In the journal published as a book, Intermediate States: The Anomalist 13, I deal with a touchy subject in my article “Between Worlds: The Three Nephites.”

In terms of cryptozoology, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) have figured into some of the backstories and rumors linked to Bigfoot for a long time. Let’s sort through some of these links.

A few would have you believe there is a Bigfoot Mormon Mafia. What dots are being connected?

The late Grover Krantz grew up in a devout Mormon family, and his parents were actually living in a heavily Mormon location (Rockford, Illinois) when he was born. Krantz later rejected his Mormon roots, to further his scientific thinking.

Jeff Meldrum is [or was] a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and reportedly writes books, according to his critics, “defending the historical veracity of the Book of Mormon, in essence saying he thinks American Indians are decendents of Jews who emigrated here thousands of years ago.”

Are Mormons behind all cryptofilm productions? What details are being connected here?

Doug Hajicek, the executive producer of “Monster Quest” was raised a Mormon, although his current status as a LDS member is unclear. He is not, however, a member of the subgroup headed by an estranged relative. Perhaps someone has their Hajiceks confused?

Haijeck’s half-brother is Elder John J. Hajicek, one of the leaders, along with James Strang, of the Sabbath-keeping Mormons. This branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has accepted the reality, apparently, which says Cain and Bigfoot are one in the same. A cryptofiction version of these thoughts can be found in Clan of Cain: The Genesis of Bigfoot by Shane Lester. But John Hajicek has nothing to do with “Monster Quest.”

Sunn Classics Pictures, a Mormon-owned documentary production company, did produce films in the 1970s, on Bigfoot, Noah’s Ark, and other mysteries outside the mainstream. Of course, they made one on Lincoln’s assassination too, and the company happened to be located in Utah, where Mormon ownership might be expected.

John Green, writing on July 25, 2004, to the editor of The Skeptical Inquirer, addressed some of the rumors floating among skeptics that the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot footage was created by the film company American National Enterprises of Salt Lake City, and they produced a hoax. It is intriguing that it has come to a point that Green would even have to say this. He wrote that it has been…:

I suppose if people look hard enough they can find conspiracies whereever they want to find them.

But perhaps the truth here is a little more innocent and subtle. It has often been acknowledged that to be a Mormon one must allow for a more open-minded approach to life, which happens to include cryptozoology and other anomalist topics. Maybe it is nothing more than that at work, at least in a few cases. Or maybe it is nothing at all.

In terms of full disclosure, it must be stated that some of us who aren’t LDS are open-minded too. After all, I grew up with more than a dash of Aimee Semple McPherson in me, at least until zoology, anthropology and cryptozoology took over my life in 1960.
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Update:

Perhaps it is merely a coincidence, but I noted after I wrote the above, over at 10 Zen Monkeys, a new blog essay appeared about “The Morman Bigfoot Genesis Theory.”

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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