It's a Wrap!

The Animal Planet Finding Bigfoot crew was overwhelmed by the turnout of Bigfoot researchers, witnesses and enthusiasts. Thanks to the Ohio chapter of the BFRO, the crowd exceeded 160 in numbers, more than any other Town Hall meeting Finding Bigfoot has held!

We had advertised for everyone to arrive by 6 pm for the 7 pm meeting. I arrived at 6:20 and was blown away by the amount of cars in the parking lot! I gathered up my gear and headed towards the entrance of the Deerassic Park auditorium. Upon entering I was instructed to fill out the paperwork that gives Animal Planet permission to use your photos and video. Ugh, I did not want my fat butt seen on t.v. so hopefully I hid well enough.

I heard my name called out and I turned to see Dr. Russ Jones and his posse standing at the doorway. I joined them and was introduced to several BFRO members including Mark Maisel. I have to tell you, I might join the BFRO just for the eye candy! We chatted for awhile as more and more people were filtering in.
Mark then asked one of the producers if it was ok for me to take pictures and I was given permission.

I scanned the room looking for familiar faces. In attendance were Don Keating and his wife Missey. Shocker! I thought Don wouldn't be in the same room with Matt given their history. I had also heard a rumor that Don told the folks at Salt Fork that if they let the Finding Bigfoot crew hold their town hall meeting at the lodge that Don would not use Salt Fork ever again for another conference. Well guess what folks, that is one big, fat lie! I talked to several key people who assured me that there was no merit to that statement. Case closed!

There were so many people that I have never met before in attendance and Russ was keeping count of every butt in every seat, not including the crew.

We were all asked to take our seats and as I was sitting in the back row, I looked over my right shoulder and saw Matt, Cliff and Ranae standing in the shadows prepared to make their grand entrance.

The trio entered and marched down the aisle to an eruption of cheers and applause! They looked tired but happy. They have been traveling non-stop for so many weeks now and will not get a break until December. The new season will air in January.

Well, as you can imagine, filming a television show is quite the production. There were several times when the audience was asked to repeat scenes and the Finding Bigfoot gang were instructed to stand here, stop, say that again, refresh the battery pack, etc.

The trio introduced themselves to the audience and then asked how many people had witnessed a Bigfoot, or heard one or had a story to tell. At least 40 hands shot up and, as we would soon find out, the crew was going to listen to every single one.

The stories were the same we hear every day and soon they had gotten through all but one. The very last hand standing was that of Phil Brocco. He stood up to introduce himself and I thought to myself "Oh no." At the first utterance of his name, the audience and crew were taken aback by his unusually high pitched voice. Matt's expression was priceless! Phil began talking about his experience and how he was "meditating in the lake" and he heard the movement of something large all around him but when he heard a loud splash in the water, he screamed, "you know, like a man". When he said that the crowd erupted in laughter and it was the perfect ending to the long and tedious production.

The producers then informed the audience that they could meet and mingle with the crew for about 10 minutes.

During the production, Matt Moneymaker gave Don Keating all of the credit for putting Ohio Bigfooting on the map. It was nice to see Don get the recognition that he deserves.

Don and Matt shook hands and took pics together during the meet and greet and the entire crew were very gracious posing for pictures and speaking to their fans.

Bobo could not be in attendance as it was his shift to camp out with the gear. He was missed.

Several witnesses remained to plot their sightings on the map and after about 45 minutes the crowd dissipated to some stragglers who wanted to talk and take pictures with the gang.

I ended up chatting with Cliff for about 15 minutes, catching up with him. He looked so extremely handsome and glowing. I am so happy for him. Before we knew it, the crew had packed up and I never did get a chance to meet Matt. His loss. ;)

All in all it was a great representation of Ohio researchers and we proved our sincerity and dedication to the quest.

Great job guys!

Finding Bigfoot in Ohio

Tims of a feather flock together....that's all I'm sayin 'bout that!

Tim Stover so humbly posted this on his Facebook page: "Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet wants to film me next Sunday for an interview and recreation of my 1992 sighting for a future episode. Wow I'm nervous ! Thanks to Natalie the field producer for the wonderful phone call!" He then receives a bunch of congratulations and encouragement from his fans and adds this sweet little comment, "Thanks. I'm a little nervous but people tell me I'm a natural in front of a camera or during my public appearances." So proud of our little Timmy!

Then his good buddy Fasano felt he needed to commend Stover for his hard work via his Youtube account.

On the other side of town, Joedy Cook is nursing his wounded ego because he is shocked and surprised that the Finding Bigfoot producers didn't respond to his numerous attempts to woo them with his charms. In his own words, (misspelled words and all) he laments: "i dont think there going to use me for the show. i'm the only bigfoot researcher in ohio thet written several books on the ohio bigfoot. i think i'm a threat to them becouse i know what i'm talking about. they ask to for information on saltfork state park sightings and bigfoot in ohio, so i sent info on my books and thats the last i heard from then oh well lol.

How DARE they do that to Joedy! Of course him and Stover represent Ohio's finest Bigfoot researchers!

Well, as Billy Green says, to be continued indeedy! I will be there tonight at the Town Hall meeting at Deerassic Park to get first hand information to share with you all!

Saturday Night Squatching

You know, sometimes you just get the fever to be out in the woods and that's how it hit me this past Saturday. I was working at Macy's till 7:45 pm. On my feet all day and my 12th day in a row of working between both jobs. Nancy Snodgrass called me that afternoon and had invited me to come down with them. They have a 3 room tent, an air mattress and enough food for 12 people.
So I planned it out, I would get home by 9 throw some stuff in the Squatchmobile and be there by midnight. Why the hell not??? I had no other plans!
I arrived at the handicap area at 11:45 pm at Salt Fork State Park. Nancy and Bernie were creeping around the parking lot trying to scare me. Come on guys! You KNOW I am fearless!

All of a sudden I am hearing whistles and howls and wood knocks and I'm thinking, What the heck is going on here? Well, it turns out that there were 6 other researchers in the area.

It was great to see all my old friends and there was a flurry of activity and conversations as they all played catch up with me.

We settled into our two groups and pretty much chatted the whole night. At times Nancy would speak to her unseen friends in the woods. At one point I heard a very strange "wuh wuh wuh wuh wuh" sound that was low and reverberating. If anyone has an explanation for that I'd appreciate it because I had also heard that sound in Honobia, Oklahoma in 2009.

Black walnuts are falling from the trees this time of year so you have to be careful as to what you call rock throwing. Well, we had both. There is a definitive whiz and a thud from a 2 lb rock. Especially when you feel the breeze going past your head.

This would go on all night, stopping for periods of time. After a period of silence Nancy decided to start singing Should I stay or Should I go by the Clash. I joined in and the critics were not happy. A couple more rocks were thrown but that was about it.

We then headed back to camp at 4 a.m. and I was asleep within 5 minutes.
We woke 4 hours later and Nancy prepared a 4 course breakfast all from one pan!
After breakfast, Nancy and I headed back to the area to check for rocks, etc. No luck. Well now we are confused because not only are there no rocks, there are no walnuts in the area we thought they'd be in. Again, another fun night in the woods, but nothing conclusive.
We hiked down into the woods and found some cool stick structures.

We headed back to camp because I wanted to leave to get back in time to watch the Browns play.

There is no such thing as a bad night in the woods as far as I'm concerned. It beats a good day at work every time!

I will be heading down again this Wednesday to report on the events at the Town Hall meeting being held by the Finding Bigfoot production. I will take pics and share the hijinx with you!

Till then!