Monday, November 24, 2008

Often seen, seldom proven Critters of the North Coast.



Picture stolen from "Smalfut" (get it?) they go on and on about copyrights and possible actor royalties. The picture is taken from the, now world famous, Patterson-Gimlin Film.



BigFoot!
Robin Shelly said...
I was told by a government hunter one time that there are wolverines in the Covelo area.


Old Man River said:
Well, I eat my entry on another thread. I did not see this little critter, but saw the darker version, the fisher...It was a little larger than a large otter, body a bit different, and the rear legs clearly designed more for land than water. Thanks for correcting my memory, and I look forward to telling my other witnesses that we blew the ID. Martens and fishers are very different.



"oldmanriver said...
Thanks for opening the can Ross.I elicited a Bigfoot story from a Piercy local in the 80's. Grizzled fellow who had his sighting between Piercy and the coast. If I can recollect without embellishing...the basic story was a nightime encounter with an unknown creature. The usually fearless dog is intimidated and won't go outside while somethin' big picked up a 50 gallon drum and repeatedly smashing it on a corrugated tin roof shed or animal pen(?). The clincher for me believing him was his description of the rank odor, something I have experienced more than once in my own suspicious encounters. That's another story or two.


Many people have heard stories, or have made honest mistakes about what they have seen here in the Eel River Valley. The thing that I like about having this blog is that I get to hear some of these stories. An honest person will have to agree that these stories are fascinating, even if you really don’t believe them. But, if enough people corroborate the story, you began to believe that they are real, and you must reevaluate your position. Telling these stories, and hearing them, is what I’ve come to call “bullshistory”. Or twice told tales, that are fun to tell whether you believe them or not. Any honest historian, or researcher, will tell you that they want to hear these stories, whether they are real or not, or if it was a case of mistaken identity, and that they add to the depth of their research.

When talking about Myth, Legend, and unusual sightings on the North Coast, Bigfoot will always come up. Before we go any farther here, I want to say that I do I do not believe in Bigfoot. Having said that, deep in my soul I know that there is a possibility that Bigfoot exists, and I would be overjoyed if one was positively identified. But, you are not going to get me to say that “I believe in Bigfoot.” I don’t want to join that most maligned group of North Coast Critters called: “The People That Believe in Bigfoot.” But I listen very intently to what people have to say when they say that they have seen Bigfoot. In the back of my mind I listen for that little tiny bit of evidence that says: “There, that proves it… there is a Bigfoot.”


Some people call Bigfoot “Sasquatch”. They say that is what the Indians called him. There has been so many legends and stories that Bigfoot has indeed become real in the minds of North Coasters. There is a division of science that the newcomers brought us. (They have to have a new name for everything, that’s the only way that they can feel smarter than us) The name for the study of Bigfoot is called “Cryptozoology”, formerly known as “Bullshistory”.


Bigfoot is reported to be a giant and up to ten feet tall. The most common tale about Bigfoot is that he stinks. I’ve not heard a good enough description of the stink to put it here, but maybe somebody feels up to describing it for us. Some say that he makes vocalizations. I’ve heard Mountain Lions and Badgers make noises that would scare the living crap out of you, and believe me they sound way bigger than they are.


Now, the people that know me, know that I’m a hopeless romantic, and I like to believe whatever anybody tells me. Well, I been told that I am a descendant of a great King of the British Isles Called “Bran The Blessed”. He was a giant, (I don’t know if he stunk) and he was big enough that he could wade the Irish Sea and move back and forth from Ireland to England. My name is "Branscomb. A "comb" or a "coombe" is a valley. “Bran” is a Welsh name for “Raven” so all of the ravens were named after Bran. Some say that he turned into a raven when he died. So I've been told that Branscomb means "From Brans Valley". All I know “for sure” is that Brans head is buried in White Mount in London, and there is a Castle there today with Royal Ravens that are protected by Her Majesty Elisabeth the Queen of England. "You could look it up". So, she believes the story, and I also really want to believe the story, In my heart I feel that it is real.


"Well now, you'll be amazed when I tell you that I'm sure that they exist... I've talked to so many Native Americans who all describe the same sounds, two who have seen them. I've probably got about, oh, thirty books that have come from different parts of the world, from China from, from all over the place...." Jane Goodall




Photo from anoymous taken in the Yollo Bolly's.

54 comments:

Anonymous said...

i still believe my story about the big indian kid makes a lot of sense!that is,it would explain a lot about the sightings around the willow creek area in the 50s.

Anonymous said...

I still say I smelled and heard it, but I can't describe it.

Anonymous said...

that Anonymous wasn't me....that makes two of us with smellings and hearings but not sightings...

Fred Mangels said...

I've always wondered if the smells people have attributed to Bigfoot were really that of some other animal. Now that you've brought up badgers...how about someone in the woods where a badger is nearby, making grunting sounds while digging a hole for whatever reasons?

Ernie Branscomb said...

I have a friend, who I would describe as quite credible, saw bigfoot run across the road in miranda a few years back.

Indie said...

Famous Bigfoot Smellings throughout History, a PBS special.

Ernie, there are only a few things in my life right now that give me a belly-laugh, which I treasure mightily. One of them is reading your blog.

Here is the line that did it this time:

"I am a descendant of a great King of the British Isles Called “Bran The Blessed”. He was a giant, (I don’t know if he stunk)" LOL!

Also, I love knowing the term cryptozoology. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Robin Shelly said...
I was told by a government hunter one time that there are wolverines in the Covelo area.

My father, whose family resided in the mountains between Blocksburg and the Klamath-Trinity also talked of wolverines.

Bigfoot? If I say there is no such thing to the legend, will it upend the economy based upon the iconic legend of the mysterious creature? Then, YES, by all means YES, Virginia, there is a Bigfoot.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Good analogy Eko. Nobody has ever found a “Santa Claus” bone, and nobody has ever found one in the wild, and nobody has ever found for sure where he lives. I heard rumors that he lives at the North Pole. Someday one of those submarines that surface up there by ramming their conning tower through the ice is going to poke a hole through good old St. Nick’s bedroom. But plenty of people have seen him, and we all really want to believe that he is real, but…..

Anonymous said...

The reason I am willing to share my olfactory and audible anomalous experiences is cause I haven't really settled in my mind that it was a Bigfoot, and I do enjoy non-abusive responses.
However,in my recounting of the bullshistory of my life, I will be telling my nurses on the dementia ward that I rebutted alternative explanation seekers by simply saying There are no badgers on Mt. Shasta.
So I did some footwork, if driving may be called that, and went to where you would think that the stories would be kept. The Bigfoot giftshop! Very nice young man with a neutral take on it all gave me some info and directed me to one book in particular. He hadn't heard my barrels on the corrugated shedroof story, but he allowed as how there are a number of heavy barrels getting moved a distance stories.
One point he sorta cleared up was that it was the fellow who, on his deathbed, confessed to having laid some of the famous big tracks that got some attention years back. The infamous WC movie is another matter, and apparently that film has been analyzed and shows muscle movement right under the skin....?
Some Native Americans called him Ridgerunner. When the original People have elaborate rituals about a creature, as they do in the NW, I am moved to believe there is something there.
Wish I could elicit some logger/bigfoot possible encounters.
Well. I have learned a bunch about critters lately here. Would love to hear that the deep throated howl screech was a horny mountain lion. Warning if you start a mountain lion thread I will be a storytellin' thar too!
Sorry for the length...

Anonymous said...

Poor Bigfoot hasn't gotten a fair shake since Fats Waller dissed him in 1941...

"Man oh man them things are too big
Oh your feets too big
Can't Twist, cause ya feets too big
Can't Shake it, cause your feets too big
You just don't make it, cause your feets too big
Come on walk that thing
Never heard such walkin' Mercy
Where'd ya get em
Oh your (???) extremities are colossal
To me you look just like a fossil
You've got me walkin', talkin' and squarkin''
Your feets too big, too big, too large
Yeah, your feets too big
Don't want cha, cause your feets too big
I can't stand ya, cause your feets too big
I'm mad at cha, cause ya feets too big"

Ernie Branscomb said...

Fats Waller, Your feets Too Big

This kind of music is a post that I want to do someday, but I don't feel qualified. I would like to get Mr hucks take on it. Or Ekovox. Or Ed Densen. But these amazing musicians are what gave us modern music. All musicians got their start from these people.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Fats waller, Honneysuckle Rose

Ernie Branscomb said...

Seasme Street version, Your Feets Too Big

Anonymous said...

From Bigfoot to Bigbird!!

Ernie Branscomb said...

Attention Deficit Disorder can be a lot of fun if you live it!

Anonymous said...

No comment on your mental faculties. !! means I love it!!
Some blogs have a music to them, a flow of associations with few sour notes.
I think all of us who visit here appreciate the that flow of info and humor and goodwill found here. Keep it up.!!

Anonymous said...

there was a logger by the last name of wallace that was doing the foot print thing of bigfoot,as a joke.this was probably in the late 50s early 60s.his son fessed up to all this after his dad died.i read this in a newspaper artical about ten years ago.i kept the artical, but its buried in a book somewhere now.the sons name was tom.i went to grammer school in redway with a boy named tom wallace.i always wonder if it was the same people???

Anonymous said...

Hoopa and Yuroks know this being as Omah, or Oh-mah, translated as boss of the woods.

Anonymous said...

Trinidad Sightings?
2007:
http://www.bigfootencounters.com/stories/trinidadCA07.htm
Other locations mentioned.

Anonymous said...

My Hupa friends from high school had a little phrase that goes like this......"Hippies are living proof that Indians mated with Bigfoot."

Robin Shelley said...

Great picture, Anonymous! Who is that? Allen Frost?

Anonymous said...

Here is some mighty fine bullshistory on the subject:
On the Trinidad thread a poster made the comment that BF doesn't have much bodyfat:" 'How do you know anything about a BF's "fat layer'?

Back in the war, the other one, no, the one before that, his great-great grandaddy and a buddy, rebel soldiers fighting their way out of a union ambush, got lost in the snowy wastes of the Appalacians in winter, they found a Grizzly and a Sasquatch freshly dead in the snow, both dead from an epic mortal battle. They were freezing, and drew straws, one slit open the Grizzly and one slit open the Sas, and they wriggled in among the warm intestines to survive the night....

While the Grizzly was well fed and fattened up for the winter, the Sasquatch was lean, hence g-g-granpa's buddy didn't make it, and from then on, handed down from father to son is the wisdom... 'Don't bivouac in a dead Sasquatch, they don't have much of a fat layer'

A distant 3rd cousin twice removed went to college with George Lucas and told him this story, which he stole and adapted into Episode V"

Now that is a bullshistorian! http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.php?showtopic=19764

Anonymous said...

Robin? If the picture in my 7:38 posting is what you are asking about---it is VE Holbrook.

Anonymous said...

EkoVox... you may be onto something. Another name I have seen used for BF is kononpaiochis: literally people of the north who don't brush their hair. hmmm

Ernie Branscomb said...

Trinidad Bigfoot link

Ernie Branscomb said...

Trinidad Bigfoot forum link

These links are made out of the two url's above.

Ernie Branscomb said...

national geograpics take on the subject, thanks to Omr

spyrock said...

in my search for spyrock, i came across some hpi, haunted paranormal investigators, out of sacramento that were going on a ghost hunt to covelo back in december of 2007. i couldn't go as i had my final medicine wheel class the same weekend. but here is just a taste of the that visit from holly delaughter. Bigfoot lives here and is referred to as the Wild Man of the Woods. I have seen this species myself and have a report on file with the BFRO, along with many others (google Covelo and Bigfoot). There are also what the elders refer to as Little People who roam the hills and hollows at night. Then there is also Shadow people. There are UFO sightings galore! There's not a single inch of this valley that's not anciently occupied with spirits leading the way. I have lost time on Hwy 162 with a witness in my car, slipped into another dimension.
some of these people couldn't stay away and went back for another visit recently around the 15th of november. my whole return journey to spyrock started with a day off during the 2005 legion tournament at yountville to go visit covelo and parking right next to my families tombstone in the white people's cemetery. they've been talkin to me ever since. not audible, but you know, inaudible. of course, i try to stay positive and i only attract positive spirits. when i was younger and believed more in fear based things, i would run into dark beings sometimes. the indians say that when you are in a vortex place your emotions tend to get exaggerated. so if you feel fear, pretty soon you'll start feeling terrified, or vice versa.
if you are happy, you will probably start feeling wonderful. i would rather be happy so i gave up all the scary monsters. nowadays, i'm more likely to be nicer to them if one showed up.
i might try to help them pass into the light or give them a cheeseburger.

Robin Shelley said...

Anon 8:29,

I was referring to the "anonymous" picture of a big man standing behind a log somewhere in the Yollo Bollys that Ernie posted. I couldn't get anything but an error when I tried your link. Is this the same picture I would find there?

Robin Shelley said...

Ross,
I would like to know more about the Wallace footprints because I remember, as a very little girl, seeing a footprint as big as one whole newspaper page, in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. I think I remember that it was found on Cahto but I could be wrong about that. That's the first time I remember hearing about Big Foot &, since I had an excellent view of Cahto right out my backdoor then, it was a chilling & thrilling thought. Stayed with me, I guess, as I've hoped ever since to at least see the guy once in my life.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Okay folks, The picture at the bottom is a hoax. It was actually taken in the Yollo Bolly's but it is a man standing there. They got to laughing about what a bad picture it was and it occured to them that it looked like bigfoot. From there things just seem to get out of hand...

Ernie Branscomb said...

I do know Tom Wallace though. He and his wife Wendy moved away a few years ago. I'm not sure where they went,

He didn't seem like the type to do that kind of a joke, but who knows.

Anonymous said...

A Liberal Republican was spotted up on 36 a few years back...

Anonymous said...

In hopes that this will tell you a bit more about the Wallace case here is another url. http://www.bigfoot-lives.com/html/skeptical_views_about_bigfoot.html
The Patterson tape is on this site if you can wait for the load. I dunno about that one. Like oldmanriver, I don't neccessarily believe, but like with the famous Blue Book UFO report, a careful reading of the literature will still find around 10% of the phenomena unexplained. Seems more honest to admit we don't know everything yet, than to think we have seen, heard, or smelled it all.
Somewhere I saw a name of the Wallace kid who was loud on the subject, but it wasn't the name that ross mentioned

Anonymous said...

Here is the url for one of my favorite accounts by a man with three academic pedigrees. It starts about 1/4 of the way down.
http://www.bigfootforums.com/index.php?showtopic=21916. I will talk to Ernie today and figure out how to post it as a link.
Local Dem, you must at least try to be believable here... a liberal Republican up 36...what a whopper. Did you smell it too?

Anonymous said...

would of been tom's dad,doing the foot prints.

Anonymous said...

http://www.bfro.net/news/Wallace.asp

Anonymous said...

check out my last post!its about ray wallace

Ernie Branscomb said...

Ross, thank-you for the link. I always thought the the revelation by the Wallace boys was true fact, but their conter hoax, was worse than believing in Bigfoot.

I made you URL into a link. Some folks apreciate that. Thanks again.

Bigfoot tracks called a hoax, but the revelation is more hoaxy than the foottracks

Anonymous said...

From Ray Wallace's obit:
"Also surviving are three sons, Michael Wallace of Castle Rock, Larry Wallace of Winlock and Richard Wallace of Toledo" (Washington) ..and there was another son Gary who preceded him in death.
Don't think our locale has any claim to fame on this one.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the info on the wallace sons. i was screwed up,as usual,been too many years!

Anonymous said...

Santa Claus bones have been preserved apparently in both Italy and Turkey...
"In 1087 some Italian merchants broke into the tomb and removed the bones of Santa Claus to Bari, where the famous church of San Nicola di Bari was built. Miraculously, enough other bones were found in Myra and transferred to the Antalya Museum." http://www.allaboutturkey.com/demre.htm . And sad to say Santa bones were available on Ebay in 2006: http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=6938
Selling Santa's bones!!

Anonymous said...

no shame in not remembering correctly Ross, i've been telling a marten story about a fisher for a decade or more.

Anonymous said...

Years ago,1972 now that I think of it, I was bartending at Astrinsky's south of Phillipsville. I got to be friends with a fellow named Jim, well known in Garberville, and since he's still living I won't give his last name. I'm sure you know him, Ernie.
One day the subject of Bigfoot came up and Jim said: "I don't know about some of that stuff but I Know the guys who started the whole thing." He told me he was working on road construction out on 299 and there were two brothers from Washington on the crew. It might have been a Washington outfit contracting. My memory is that one of the brothers was a foreman. Jim said these guys carved themselves a 20 inch wooden foot and stole off into the woods one night. The next day one of them came into camp and said he had found some huge footprints. Sure enough, there were prints but my recollection was that these guys only carved one foot and all the prints were right feet. They called the Times Standard and they sent a reporter who sensed a good story. The reporter could see that the whole deal was fake but he played it straight and it was a sensation back in Eureka. Jim said he found out these brothers had already pulled the same stunt in Washington.
I ran into Jim in Eureka a couple of years ago and asked him about it. He said I remembered the story well and that was exactly what happened. I asked if he'd record it for me and he agreed but I have never gotten back to him. Maybe soon.

Anonymous said...

hey ernie can we name the second bigfoot pic Brisquatch

Anonymous said...

The first genuinely funny comment I've made in weeks, and Ernie decides to censor it!

Ernie Branscomb said...

Anon,
I don't remember deleting anything. are you sure it was posted? try again maybe it was just too easy to take the wrong way.

Post again and we will take a vote on funny, I'm all for humor if it is not hurtful.

Anonymous said...

OK. Thanks for the second chance, Ernie. I will post the message word for word the same way I did the first time. I only ask people to keep in mind that I have a heart full of love even for people whose intoxicant-of-choice is different from mine.

Anonymous said...

Considering how many Bigfoot sightings owe their existence (IMHO) to imaginative (not to say flakey) marijuana users, I say the name of the big critter should be changed from Sasquatch to Potpatch.

Anonymous said...

Now if you don't think that is funny, you have my permission to knock me down with a feather!

Ernie Branscomb said...

Well anon, I wouldn't have deleted that. At least not on purpose. I don't know what happened. But thanks for giving me a second chance. I think that it's kinda funny.

I don't know what your intoxicant of choice is. Mine's beer, and I've never tried Marijauna, but if the world runs out of beer, I'm going to be scouting out some brownies.

Thanks for the humor, I need all that I can get.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Ernie! Beer used to be my favorite intoxicant. It's so cold and bubbly! Tasty, too! Now I take a little red wine each evening. But not to excess. I only become truly intoxicated these days on politics, but I have a sneaking suspicion that politics is not good for me. Whenever I delve into politics, people call me names! So I plan to watch a little less news on TV and read some of the wonderful books I have been filling my bookcases with for the last forty years or so.

By the way, if you see Bigfoot, tell him Hello for me. He'll know who you mean.

Bye for now, Ernie!

Anonymous said...

I certainly don't mind a poke at the tokers joke...but I would like to request an equal time thread for those who see pink elephants!

olm said...

Bigfoot sighted in today's Times-Standard.

Bigfoot is not at all imaginary for many inland residents
Jessie Faulkner/The Times-Standard
Posted: 05/30/2009 01:24:16 AM PDT

http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_12484307


Last year, 2008, there was Bigfoot sighting reported just south of Laytonville, on 101 at the Shimmins Ridge turnoff.
A bit of Googling revealed, the witness was a Laytonville Chamber of Commerce member.
Last year, same time period, Laytonville gussied up the downtown, installing pretty crosswalks, etc.
Coincidence?