Michigan sightings of Bigfoot keep legend alive
Phil Shaw holds up a map marking over 100 Bigfoot sightings in Michigan during the last 15 years. He made a presentation on Bigfoot to the Optimist Junior Club at Surline Middle School.Now ever since I was a kid I always was fascinated by the reports. To me, Sasquatch is one of the most enigmatic topic in science.
As skeptical as I am, this is one of the instances that I really am biased towards believing that there is an upright giant hairy creature roaming the United States and the rest of the world. A creature that has yet to be studied and cataloged by main science. To me, there are hundreds maybe even thousands of reports of this creature from folks that have nothing to gain or who want nothing other than to just tell of what they have witnessed.
The following are reports from the BFRO shown on the mlive.com site:
The Bigfoot Field Research Organization, a group that operates expeditions and tracks Bigfoot sightings across the nation, lists 102 Michigan Bigfoot sightings on its Web site at www.bfro.net. Those anonymous sightings include listings from the following counties:
Crawford: In 2000, a woman heard vocalizations and was harassed by an unseen animal determined to be a Bigfoot by researchers.
Arenac: In 2003, a hunter near Standish found a Bigfoot hiding in the bushes. The creature eventually ran off.
Alcona: In 2006, a bow hunter near Glennie heard vocalizations determined by researchers to come from a Bigfoot.
Ogemaw: In 2007, a lady observed a 7- to 8-foot-tall hairy creature cross Rose City Road near Lupton.
Oscoda: In 2008, a bird hunter near Mio happened across a sleeping Bigfoot. He says he could smell the animal even before he saw it.
WEST BRANCH – An illusion of the light, a figment of the shadows, a trick played on a travel-weary eye?
Hard telling.
A quick glimpse was all that Phil Shaw and his wife ever received, but he was certain of this much: The creature that crossed the forest clearing stood upright, was much larger than a man and moved in a way that was definitely non-human.
“There was an opening in the trees and this guy was just going across there,” says Shaw. “She and I looked at each other and at the same time we said, ‘Did you see what I saw?’“We didn’t see any hair or clothes, like you would on a human. And he had a funny gait, which is often the case in a Bigfoot sighting; people say their movements are not quite human.”
That was three years ago during a family vacation to the Canadian Maritime Provinces.
Returning home to Ogemaw County, Carol Shaw put the beastly episode out of her mind, claiming one of those first three possibilities probably holds the truth.
But not Phil Shaw.
Three years worth of studies and interviews have only strengthened his belief that Bigfoot is lurking out there.
“I’m just intrigued by the possibility that Bigfoot is real, I guess,” Shaw says, noting there are more than 100 recorded sightings in Michigan. “I’m convinced there is something to this. There is far more evidence to prove there is a Bigfoot than there is evidence to suggest that there is not.”
Shaw is not shy when it comes to discussing Bigfoot. He’ll deliver a presentation to any group that invites him. Still, he is well aware that most folks don’t take the idea of a 700-pound, ape-like creature running through the local forest too seriously.
“I think people are spooked by it,” he says. “I don’t know why – I’m not talking religion, I’m not talking politics, I’m not talking sex. Why should they be spooked? You can tell they are embarrassed because they try to change the subject.”
He admits that the Bigfoot phenomenon attracts more than its share of charlatans and frauds, such as the rubber-ape suit frozen in ice that was presented to the world last fall during a nationally televised press conference. Perpetrators of those frauds cast an air of suspicion over those seeking honest answers and legitimate discussion about Bigfoot’s possibility, Shaw said.
Yet enough legitimate evidence, published books and articles and first-hand accounts exist that Shaw can’t dismiss the idea of an unknown giant ape living in relative isolation among us.
“There are a limited number of motion pictures and films. We have photographs. We have footprints and hand castings – there are thousands of those,” Shaw says. Add to that body impressions, scat and hair samples, beds and structures and, the way Shaw sees it, the evidence points to the existence of Bigfoot.
What’s more, the group of believers is growing ever larger and includes anthropologists, biologists and wildlife experts.
Nationally, there are more than 5,000 claimed sightings and similar creatures are a world-wide phenomenon stretching back centuries. Counting the notorious Sasquatch of the Pacific Northwest, Florida’s skunk ape, Ohio’s grassmen, the Himalayan yeti and others, Bigfoot is part of a very large family, too.
Still, those who claim to see Bigfoot are often met with derision. Shaw, retired from the federal Farmers Home Administration, says the only reason he dares to speak out is “because I don’t have a boss that can fire me.”
“You can’t blame people for not saying anything,” Shaw said. “A lot of these sightings go back 10, 15, 20 years. They say, ‘I mentioned it to my family and they ridiculed me so much I never mentioned it again.’ And for every one that comes forward, there are 10 or 15 sightings that are never told.”
By Shaw’s argument, the creatures prevent detection by residing remotely, often in swamps and mountain ranges. And he feels they are closer to apes than man – bipedal with lots of hair, good night vision, mainly herbivore. Close encounters indicate they smell bad, a completely understandable result of their swamp environment, Shaw says.
Those who have heard vocalizations, including locals, call them haunting.
The sound they make is long and low, but it can be quite loud,” Shaw said.
“If they’re intelligent at all, and I think they are, they could remain undetected,” Shaw says. “They’re very shy, like a bear, and it’s lucky they are. If they offended one of us, we’d get up a posse and go out and kill them.”
Shaw has been part of a posse before, though he wasn’t looking to bag a Bigfoot. But the Bigfoot Field Research Organization, a scientific research group, does hold organized expeditions across the country. Shaw participated in one that took a group of Bigfoot believers through the Upper Peninsula woods on an unsuccessful search for the creature.
Sooner or later someone will meet with success, Shaw says, and deliver hard evidence - an irrefutable photograph, a video or DNA evidence. In the meantime, the Internet has expanded the capacity for scientists, backyard researchers and Bigfoot believers to communicate and share ideas.
It also has become a way for first-time observers, many of whom previously either did not believe or gave the legend no thought, to share their stories.
Until, like Shaw, they saw a Bigfoot for themselves.
“People should be more open minded; that’s my conclusion,” Shaw said. “If anyone is out in the woods, take a camera. You might only have a minute or two, but that might be enough time to get a photo.”
Full source: Mlive.com
Written by Javier Ortega - javier@ghosttheory.com
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PLEASE TAKE THIS VERY SERIOUS!!!!!!!
My name is Nancy….I have been in the forest camping and trying to pay down my finances since March 0f 2009. I have also camped althrough Michigan most of my life,but i never thought I would actually be so close to the legend of bigfoot.
SUNDAY 30th 2009:
The day started like any other, around 7:30 pm the cyotes started really howlling and were very active before sunset this night, including a wolf which I have heard before. Around 8:45pm
a gut wrenching howl scream wailling started sounded from the far north east cornner of camp(mabie a mile sound drift)into a dry swamp area. one sound was enough to know it was nothing normal about it and if I heard it there certanlly are otheres, or were because if your a novice camper you woul be shaken from your very soul of its how. NO NO NO it is not the cry when two bobcats copulate…..two wolfs or any other, nor is it the matting calls from the bears or there howl this is distinct and I should know since I have for over 30 years followed all info on BIGFOOT for years now…..never ever expecting to come so close…..IT IS OUT THERE IN TH MANISTE NATIONAL FOREST EVEN AS I TYPE THIS!!!!! I am not afraid of this creature at all. That night was a long one first
howl ( North East direction) second approx 5-6min(North West of camp) third howl (South) of camp in a half perimiter about 400-700ft away. I was not alone in camp and it shook up my male visitor.
Monday 31st 2009:
I decided to track for prints……very intelligent creature……..since the steps fly over ferns with minnimal breakage however prints are there and no mistaking where they are or whom it is from. once I spotted a print the second foot print was harder to find since it does notn take dirt roads ony off the side of them and let me tell you now it would have to stand approx 8 or more feet high to have a print sink in the dryer soil. the legnth of the gate is 5-7feet………..another night of howllings but it shifted that night to the southwest on an angle tward the great nordhouse dunes arae……………it is important that only a serious and mature person read this IT IS NOT A JOKE!!!!!!!!!!
it does exist out there and soon others will have the proof.
The strange part was even though that howl drifted all night on and off sometimed to a distance of 5miles or more it was the same distinct sound and at dawn it had made its migration back to the north eastern cornner of my camp…..
TUESDAY-WENESDAY same tracked more prints now I will set perimiter traps snares……..harmless but I intend to prove the existance once and for all
Nancy,
Interesting.
Perhaps you can record the howling that you are hearing at nights, so that we can take a listen.
Maybe setting up trailcams would be a good idea.
-Javier
So is there any updates?
Over the weekend, I was up fishing on the White River and camping in the Manistee National Forest not too far from Hesperia. On Saturday, October 10, one of the guys at camp talked about a weird call he heard on Friday night. After we laid down, around 11:30 p.m. Saturday my friend and I both heard this call for ourselves. It made a series of 4 or 5 vocalizations in a span of 10 seconds or so and then no more. I have never heard such a call before. The three of us who heard this sound have no idea what it was and have spent quite a bit of time in the outdoors. We actually joked around that the sound might have been a bigfoot researcher gathering data as one of the guys thought they saw someone with a bigfoot research license plate. Has anyone been in that area doing research? Anyways, I thought I’d add my recent experience to this discussion. Any thoughts?
Mark,
There hasn’t been any new reports that I’m aware of, but your thinking of it possibly being a Bigfoot researcher doing what the call “Call Blasting” makes perfect sense.
If I run across any reports, I’ll update you.
-Javier
My name is Paul Lead Investigater From SPPIT. We have concluded That This Primate Lives Among Us. We have been in the Huron National Forest in Luzerne,MI since 2006. aRE Findings are 15-17inch Primative foot inpressions in the dirt and snow. 8mm Footage of a dark brown ape like with a werwolf head that seemed to be in close to shoulders, More like no neck, Black skin very large eyes.Thank You, Strange.Primate.Paranormal.Investigation.Team.
SPPIT re: We will be back in Luzerne,MI in Dec-20-2009. We will be tracking This Primate Bigfoot With Avet Trackers. Through Snow or dirt we will Find more proof and, Document are finds. Thank You Lead Investigater Paul.
BIGFOOT Sighting Report: On May-2006> Off of 72-in Menter,MI,In a swampy erea 2 Investigators from SPPIT Claimed that they encountered a Redhaired Upright walking Byped Apelike, very large Primate not Known to zooalogy.8mm Footage was 5-6min Long. Primate was standing behind Heavy Brush. Very poor Quality of film, But something is in this film, And it is not a bear or dear, Or any known Species in this Erea. RE: SPPIT is out to Investigate and, Document OR, Debunk………….
SPPIT/Paul,
Do you have the film evidence available online? If so, can you forward GhostTheory a copy so that we may analyze it?
-Javier
Sorry Are Footage is Being Anolyzed By, Dr. Jeff Meldrum From MonsterQuest Has copy of the 8mm Film. Scientist are wanting more proof of this Elusive Primate, Such as hair or footcastings. We are still searching on snowmobiles at the present time. We are Tracking in Rose City,Mi Also. Are Respond Unit is in Lewiston,Mi-Investigating Recent Sightings of Bigfoot. We haved Named This Primate Yobie of Foly swamp in Luzerne,Michigan State Forestry.Thank You Paul Colombo-Bigfootclick@yahoo.
I have been a hunter and an outdoorsmen since i was born. My family grew up in the outdoors, so i know different noises and animals. it was in Kent County (Cedar Springs Greenville MI area) my brother had shot a deer mid Oct. 2001. as we were tracking the deer we heard some screams. i thought it may have been a Bobcat, but sounded quite different than the ones i have heard in Roscommon MI where i grew up. the screams we heard were very loud and close. it made the hair stand up on our necks! it was circling us for over an hour. it was a swampy area so all sounds seem worse than normal, but this was not a cat like creature like we thought or should i say hoped. i’m now starting to think that we were just a short distance away from a Bigfoot!!!!!!!!!
Paul,
Why 8mm film? When was the video done?
Some People Ask ,how does Bigfoot survive in The winter,.Well It’s very possible to survive the harsh winters in northern MI, It’s very easy to get under cover, sush as Bears and dears coyotes. These animals can handle the winter, I dont see why a large primate cant survive the cold as well. These Primates feed in the winter also they can make a underbunk with branches and and broken trees.